καύχημα
kaúchēma · G2745 · Greek · 11 occurrences
Meanings
-
to boast
To express an unusually high degree of confidence in someone or something being exceptionally noteworthy
Examples1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
2 Corinthians 9:3 But I have sent the brothers, in order that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you will be prepared;
Hebrews 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our hope.
-
what one boasts about
(Derivative of καυχάομαι ‘to boast,’) The referent of boasting, namely, that which one boasts about
Examples2 Corinthians 1:14 just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.
Hebrews 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our hope.
-
the right to boast
The justification for boasting
ExamplesRomans 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God.
1 Corinthians 9:15 But I have used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make my boast an empty one!
2 Corinthians 5:12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.
-
basis of pride, reason for being proud
The basis for or the content of one’s feeling of legitimate pride
ExamplesRomans 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God.
2 Corinthians 1:14 just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus.
Galatians 6:4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting, but to himself alone, and not to another.
How it’s used In 7 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
6 occurrences in 3 groups
- σύyou 3
- ἐγώI, we 2
- ἐλπίςhope 1
Named alongside itApposition
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- σύyou 1
What it doesIt is the subject
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- κενόωto cause to lose power 1
- περισσεύωto abound, to be left over 1
What is done to itIt is the object
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἔχωto have 2
- κατέχωto hold fast, to hold back 1
- κενόωto cause to lose power 1
What it is said to bePredicate
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- ἐγώI, we 1
- καλόςgood 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- εἰςto 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἀφορμήfavorable circumstances 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
In the other Testament 1 word
- תִּפְאָרָה tiphʼârâh · H8597 · greatness, glory, beauty
- Greek καύχημα denotes the object or act of boasting (neutral to positive in biblical usage), while Hebrew תִּפְאָרָה denotes beauty, glory, or honor as an objective quality; the equivalence holds where Israel or believers are described as God's 'glory/pride' (the object of His boast), but תִּפְאָרָה's primary semantic domain is aesthetic/honorific excellence rather than boasting per se.
Semantic domains 4 entries
- Basis of pride, reason for being proud25.203
- καύχημα names the ground or object of boasting — the thing pointed to as the reason for pride. In Romans 4:2, Paul reasons that “if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God,” treating καύχημα as the basis Abraham might have claimed.
- To boast33.368
- The same noun can also carry the plain act of boasting itself. In Philippians 2:16, Paul urges the church to hold to the word of life “so that on the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain,” his καύχημα being the boasting he hopes to have in them.
- What one boasts about33.371
- καύχημα also denotes the specific content or object one boasts about. In 2 Corinthians 1:14, Paul tells the Corinthians “that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus,” naming each other as the actual content of their mutual boasting.
- The right to boast33.372
- In a related but distinct nuance, καύχημα can name the standing or right to boast that one holds. Hebrews 3:6 speaks of the household of Christ as those “who hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our hope,” treating the hope itself as grounds entitling them to boast.
Word family 5 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon καυχήματος, τό (καυχάομαι), very rare in secular authors; the Sept. for תְּהִלָּה,…
1. that of which one glories or can glory, matter or ground of glorying: Rom 4:2; 1 Cor 9:15; 2 Cor 1:14; Phm 2:16; τό καύχημα ἔχειν εἰς ἑαυτόν μόνον, his glorying confined to himself (R. V. in regard of himself alone), Gal 6:4; τό καύχημα τῆς ἐλπίδος, the matter for glorying which hope gives, i. e. the hope, of which we glory, Heb 3:6.
2. As γέννημα, δίωγμα, θέλημα. ἴαμα, κήρυγμα (2 Tim 4:17), κλαῦμα, πλήρωμα, φρόνημα, etc., are used for γέννησις, δίωξις, θέλησις, κτλ. (cf. Ellicott on Phm 4:6), so also (which H. A. W. Meyer persists in denying (as respects the New Testament (see his note on Rom 4:2); so Ellicott and Lightfoot on Gal 6:4; Lünem. on Heb. as above)) is καύχημα used for καύχησις (Pindar Isthm. 5, 65 (cf. Meyer on Phm 1:26 note; on the apparent use of nouns in μά in an active sense see Lightfoot on Colossians, p. 257f)), a glorying, boasting: 1 Cor 5:6; Phm 1:26; ὑπέρ τίνος (see καυχάομαι, under the end), 2 Cor 5:12; 2 Cor 9:3.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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