Themself
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
” The grammar identifies reflexive direction; the sentence supplies its moral and theological meaning. Jesus calls disciples to deny themselves, Paul says that those for whom Christ died should no longer live for themselves, and several passages proclaim that Christ gave or offered Himself for His people.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἑαυτοῦ (G1438) · Open the biblical lexicon
” The grammar identifies reflexive direction; the sentence supplies its moral and theological meaning. Jesus calls disciples to deny themselves, Paul says that those for whom Christ died should no longer live for themselves, and several passages proclaim that Christ gave or offered Himself for His people.
The BSB source-word alignment has 319 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include himself (65), . . . (35), yourselves (26), themselves (25), his (16).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (58), Matthew (32), 2 Corinthians (29), John (27).
Heautou is a reflexive pronoun that directs an action, relation, or possession back to the subject, with English forms such as “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “themselves,” or “oneself. ” The grammar identifies reflexive direction; the sentence supplies its moral and theological meaning. Jesus calls disciples to deny themselves, Paul says that those for whom Christ died should no longer live for themselves, and several passages proclaim that Christ gave or offered Himself for His people.
The same grammatical family can therefore appear in warnings against self-centeredness, commands of self-denial, descriptions of ordinary self-reference, and declarations of the Son’s voluntary self-giving. Faithful teaching begins by identifying the subject and action. It must not treat every reflexive form as a command to deny oneself or flatten Christ’s unique saving action into a general lesson about human sacrifice.
Heautou points an action or relation back to its subject. Its theological significance depends on who the subject is and what the sentence says that subject does.
Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
The reflexive pronoun identifies the self that must be denied in following Jesus. The command belongs to cross-shaped discipleship under His lordship.
Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
Luke includes daily cross-bearing in the call to deny oneself. Reflexive grammar serves an ongoing pattern of allegiance, not self-hatred.
And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
Christ’s death and resurrection redirect the center of believers’ lives. The reflexive form identifies the self-directed life that the gospel displaces.
And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
The pronoun points back to Christ as the One who voluntarily gives Himself. Paul grounds the call to loving conduct in His sacrificial action.
Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.
The reflexive expression identifies Christ as both the priestly offerer and the One offered once for all. Hebrews governs the uniqueness and finality of His sacrifice.
He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Two reflexive relations appear within Christ’s saving purpose: He gives Himself and purifies a people for Himself. The passage defines redemption and belonging.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Reflexive pronoun emphasizing the subject's action upon itself; also used reciprocally for "one another
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 339 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
himself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read versehimself, herself, itself
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 10 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 333 lexical occurrence verses.
ἑαυτοῦ is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Heautou helps readers follow the direction of action. In Mark and Luke, the disciple denies himself in order to follow Jesus, a command aimed at allegiance rather than contempt for embodied personhood. Second Corinthians 5 contrasts living for oneself with living for the crucified and risen Christ. Ephesians 5 and Hebrews 7 place reflexive language in proclamations of the Son’s voluntary love and once-for-all priestly self-offering.
Titus 2 declares that He gave Himself to redeem a people and purify them for His own possession. These texts share reflexive grammar but not identical subjects, actions, or redemptive roles. Christ’s self-giving accomplishes salvation; the disciple’s self-denial responds to His lordship and grace. Faithful teaching makes that order unmistakable. It traces who acts, what the action accomplishes, and how the gospel redirects life away from self-rule toward Christ.
Titus.2.14
Heautou is a third-person reflexive pronoun that inflects for case, gender, and number. It refers back to the clause’s subject, but English rendering varies with syntax and idiom. The local BSB word table contains about 319 aligned hits, while the normalized artifact preserves its governed count basis.
Scripture repeatedly contrasts self-exalting autonomy with trustful obedience and presents sacrificial love as giving oneself for another’s good. The New Testament centers that pattern in the Son who gives Himself to redeem His people. Heautou marks reflexive relations within these passages without making all self-reference morally equivalent.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain