τέλος
télos · G5056 · Greek · 41 occurrences
Meanings
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end
A point of time marking the end of a duration
ExamplesMatthew 10:22 “And you will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
Matthew 24:6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
Matthew 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.
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outcome, result, end
The result of an event or process, with special focus upon the final state or condition
ExamplesMatthew 26:58 But Peter was following Him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and he came inside and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.
Romans 6:21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
Romans 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
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purpose, intent, goal
The purpose of an event or state, viewed in terms of its result
ExamplesRomans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
1 Timothy 1:5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith.
1 Peter 1:9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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completely, totally, entirely, wholly
A degree of completeness, with the possible implication of purpose or result
ExamplesLuke 18:5 yet because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice; otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He would depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
2 Corinthians 1:13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end;
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duty, tax, revenue
Payments customarily due a governmental authority
ExamplesMatthew 17:25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?”
Romans 13:7 Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.
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finally, in conclusion
(An idiom, literally: the end) A marker of a conclusion to what has preceded, but not necessarily the conclusion of a text
Examples1 Corinthians 15:24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
1 Peter 3:8 To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble;
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
13 occurrences in 11 groups
- ὅςwho, which, that 3
- Other words · 10 groups that occur once or twice (10) 10
Named alongside itApposition
3 occurrences in 4 groups
- Αalpha 1
- ζωήlife 1
- σωτηρίαsalvation 1
- Ωomega 1
What it doesIt is the subject
4 occurrences in 4 groups
- ἐγγίζωto draw near 1
- εἰμίto be 1
- ἥκωto come, to have come 1
- καταντάωto come to 1
What is done to itIt is the object
7 occurrences in 4 groups
- ἔχωto have 3
- εἴδωto know 2
- κομίζωto carry to 1
- λαμβάνωto receive, to take 1
What it is said to bePredicate
7 occurrences in 7 groups
- ἔργονwork, deed 1
- θάνατοςdeath 1
- ἀγάπηlove 1
- καῦσιςburning 1
- οὐnot 1
- τίςwho? what?, why? for what reason? 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ΧριστόςChrist, Messiah 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
12 occurrences in 4 groups
- εἰςto 15
- ἕωςuntil, to, as far as 4
- ἄχριuntil 4
- μέχριuntil, as far as 2
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.
Contrasting words 1 word
- ἀρχή archḗ · G746 · beginning, to begin
- τέλος ('end, conclusion, outcome') and ἀρχή ('beginning, origin, first cause') form a genuine lexical antonym pair of temporal boundary concepts, opposing the terminal point of a process or sequence to its point of origin.
In the other Testament 2 words
- נֶצַח netsach · H5331 · forever, forever and ever
- τέλος (télos, G5056) denotes a termination point or conclusion reached (telos as goal/end/limit), whereas נֶצַח (netsach, H5331) emphasizes duration extending indefinitely (perpetuity, 'forever') or completeness to the uttermost; they align where Hebrew perpetuity concepts are rendered into Greek eschatological/completion terminology, particularly in passages describing endurance 'to the end' or final outcomes.
- סוֹף çôwph · H5490 · end, rear, last
- Hebrew סוֹף and Greek τέλος both denote the termination or conclusion of an act, state, or temporal sequence, with τέλος carrying additional nuances of purposive goal or limit not always present in the simpler Hebrew term.
Semantic domains 6 entries
- Duty, tax, revenue57.179
- Paul instructs, “Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7).
- Finally, in conclusion61.17
- Peter closes his exhortation, “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble” (1 Peter 3:8).
- End67.66
- Jesus says, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
- Completely, totally, entirely, wholly78.47
- Paul writes concerning those who hinder the gospel, “with the result that they always reach the limit of their sins. But wrath has come upon them fully” (1 Thessalonians 2:16).
- Outcome, result, end89.40
- James writes, “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (James 5:11).
- Purpose, intent, goal89.55
- Paul writes to Timothy, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5).
Word family 29 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Also from the root τέλος
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon τέλους, τό (cf. Curtius, § 238), from Homer down, the Sept. mostly for קֵץ; 1. end, i. e.…
1. end, i. e.
a. termination, the limit at which a thing ceases to be, (in the Greek writings always of the end of some act or state, but not of the end of a period of time, which they call τελευτή; in the Scriptures also of a temporal end; an end in space is everywhere called πέρας): τῆς βασιλείας, Lk 1:33; ζωῆς, Heb 7:3; τοῦ καταργουμένου, 2 Cor 3:13; τά τέλη τῶν αἰώνων, 1 Cor 10:11 (τέλος τῶν ἡμερῶν, Neh 13:6; τῶν ἑπτά ἐτῶν, 2 Kgs 8:3: ἀρχή καί τέλος καί μεσότης χρόνων Wis. 7:18); equivalent to he who puts an end to: τέλος νόμου Χριστός, Christ has brought the law to all end (πᾶσιν Χριστός ἀνθρώποις τέλος τοῦ βίου θάνατος. Demosthenes, 1306, 25), Rom 10:4; cf. Fritzsche at the passage, vol. ii, p. 377f πάντων τό τέλος, the end of all things (i. e. of the present order of things), 1 Pet 4:7; also in the phrases ἕως τέλους, 1 Cor 1:8; 2 Cor 1:13; μέχρι τέλους, Heb 3:6 (Tr marginal reading WH brackets the clause), 14; ἄχρι τέλους, Heb 6:14; Rev 2:26. What 'end' is intended the reader must determine by the context; thus, τό τέλος denotes the end of the Messianic pangs (dolores Messiae; see ὠδίν) in Mt 24:6, Mt 24:14 (opposed to ἀρχή ὠδίνων); Mk 13:7 (cf. 9); Lk 21:9; τό τέλος in 1 Cor 15:24 denotes either the end of the eschatological events, or the end of the resurrection i. e. the last or third act of the resurrection (to include those who had not belonged to the number of οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσία αὐτοῦ), 1 Cor 15:24 cf. 1 Cor 15:23; see DeWette ad loc.; Weizel in the Theol. Studien und Kritiken for 1836, p. 978; Grimm in the Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Theol. for 1873, p. 388ff; (yet cf. Heinrici in Meyer (6te Aufl.) at the passage). εἰς τέλος — to the very end apointed for these evils, Mt 10:22; Mt 24:13; Mk 13:13; also at the end, at last, finally, Lk 18:5 (Vulg.in novissimo) (i. e. lest at last by her coming she wear me out; but others take it equivalent to Hebrew לָנֶצַח (cf. Job 14:20 etc. see Trommius) and connect it with the participle, lest by her coming to the last i. e. continually; see ὑπωπιάζω, under the end); Jn 13:1 (others, to the uttermost, completely (cf. our to the very last); see Westcott, and Weiss (in Meyer 6te Aufl.) at the passage; Grimm on 2 Macc. 8:29), cf. ἀναπάω, under the end (Xenophon, oec. 17, 10; Hesiod, Works, 292; Herodotus 3, 40; 9, 37; Sophocles Phil. 409; Euripides, Ion 1615; Aelian v. h. 10, 16); to the (procurement of their) end, i. e. to destruction (A. V. to the uttermost (cf. references as above)), 1 Thess 2:16 (for לְכָלָה, 2 Chr 12:12); τέλος ἔχειν, to have an end, be finished (often in Greek writings), Lk 22:37 (others give τέλος here the sense of fulfilment (cf. τελέω, 2)); equivalent to to perish, Mk 3:26. τό δέ τέλος, adverbially, finally (denique vero): 1 Pet 3:8 (Plato, legg. 6, p. 768 b.; καί τό γέ τέλος, ibid. 5, p. 740 e.; but generally in secular authors τέλος in this sense wants the article; cf. Passow, ii, p. 1857a; (Liddell and Scott, under the word, I. 4 a.)).
b. the end i. e. the last in any succession or series: (ἡ) ἀρχή καί (τό) τέλος, of God, who by his perpetuity survives all things, i. e. eternal, Rev 1:8 Rec.; Rev 21:6; .
c. that by which a thing is finished, its close, issue: Mt 26:58; final lot, fate, as if a recompense: with a genitive of the thing, Rom 6:21; Heb 6:8; 1 Pet 1:9; with a genitive of the person whom the destiny befalls, 2 Cor 11:15; Phm 3:19; 1 Pet 4:17; τοῦ κυρίου (genitive of author), the closing experience which befell Job by God's command, Jas 5:11 (referring to Job 42 (especially verse 12)).
d. the end to which all things relate, the aim, purpose: 1 Tim 1:5 (often so in philos. from Plato, de rep. 6, p. 494 a. down; cf. Fritzsche on Romans, ii., p. 378).
2. toll, custom (i. e. an indirect tax on goods; see φόρος and κῆνσος): Mt 17:25; Rom 13:7 (Xenophon, Plato, Polybius, Aeschines, Demosthenes, others; 1 Macc. 10:31 1 Macc. 11:35).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 6 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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