To feel shame for something
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Epaischynomai means to be ashamed of someone or something, to feel shame toward it, or to shrink back because association carries disgrace. The moral value depends on the object and the passage.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπαισχύνομαι (G1870) · Open the biblical lexicon
Epaischynomai means to be ashamed of someone or something, to feel shame toward it, or to shrink back because association carries disgrace. The moral value depends on the object and the passage.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include is ashamed of (2), [Jesus] is not ashamed (1), do not be ashamed of (1), I am not ashamed (1), I am not ashamed of (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 8:38. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Timothy (3), Hebrews (2), Luke (2), Mark (2).
Epaischynomai means to be ashamed of someone or something, to feel shame toward it, or to shrink back because association carries disgrace. The moral value depends on the object and the passage. Romans 6 describes appropriate shame over former sins whose outcome is death. Romans 1 and 2 Timothy reject shame toward the gospel, the Lord’s testimony, faithful suffering, or an imprisoned servant of Christ.
Jesus warns against being ashamed of Him and His words in a sinful generation. Hebrews gives the astonishing counterpoint that Jesus is not ashamed to call the sanctified His brothers and that God is not ashamed to be called the God of those seeking the better country. The verb does not teach that every feeling of shame is harmful or that boldness is automatically faithful.
Scripture redirects shame away from Christ and His gospel toward sin, while grounding Christian courage in God’s saving power, Christ’s solidarity, and promised glory.
Epaischynomai marks shame or reluctance to be identified with someone or something. Scripture evaluates that shame by its object, moving believers away from sin and toward open allegiance to Christ.
If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Jesus warns against distancing oneself from Him and His words under hostile social pressure. His future coming supplies the final horizon.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
Paul’s lack of shame rests on what the gospel is and does. God’s saving power, not Paul’s temperament, grounds the confession.
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
Here shame is fitting because it concerns former practices whose fruit was death. Grace changes both allegiance and moral evaluation.
So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.
Timothy must not withdraw from the Lord’s testimony or Paul’s chains. The alternative is gospel suffering sustained by God’s power.
For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Jesus openly identifies with those He sanctifies. His solidarity supplies assurance to a people addressed amid suffering and temptation.
Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
God owns the pilgrims who desire the better country and has prepared a city for them. Their hope receives His covenant approval.
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. Shame directed outward toward others or their judgment, not mere inner embarrassment about oneself.
Shame directed outward toward others or their judgment, not mere inner embarrassment about oneself.
to be ashamed (of): absol., 2Ti.1:12; with accusative of person(s), Mrk.8:38, Luk.9:26; with accusative of thing(s), Rom.1:16, 2Ti.1:8 1:16; ἐπί, with dative of thing(s), Rom.6:21; with inf., Heb.2:11; with, accusative of person(s), and inf., Heb.11:16,
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
Read verseI am ashamed
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 11 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
ἐπαισχύνομαι is built from these roots:
The refusal to feel shame for the gospel or for imprisoned believers reflects courageous allegiance to Christ. 2 Timothy 1:15-18
Paul confronts the temptation to distance oneself from the gospel when it brings social cost or suffering. 2 Timothy 1:8-12
Epaischynomai asks what a person is unwilling to be associated with and why. Jesus’ warning in Mark 8 places present social shame under the future glory of the Son of Man. Romans 1 grounds Paul’s public confidence in the gospel as God’s saving power for everyone who believes, while Romans 6 shows that shame can be morally fitting when grace exposes the dead fruit of former sin.
Second Timothy makes the choice concrete: Timothy must not distance himself from the Lord’s testimony or Paul’s imprisonment but share gospel suffering by God’s power. Hebrews then moves from command to assurance. Jesus is not ashamed to call the sanctified His brothers, and God is not ashamed to be called the God of pilgrims who desire the better country He has prepared.
Christian courage is therefore more than personal fearlessness. It is a response to God’s saving action, Christ’s identification with His people, and the coming glory that reorders present disgrace.
Rom.1.16
Epaischynomai is a middle or passive-form verb whose complement identifies the person, words, testimony, chains, conduct, or covenant association in view. Negation is theologically important in several passages. The local BSB word table contains nine New Testament verse witnesses.
Scripture contrasts the shame of sin and idolatry with the vindication of those who trust God. The New Testament centers that reversal on Jesus, whose present reproach gives way to glory and who openly claims His sanctified people.
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