What does καταλλάσσω (katallássō) mean in the Bible?
G2644 means to reconcile, to bring parties from hostility into restored relationship. Paul uses it most decisively for God's action through Christ.
Greek · G2644
καταλλάσσω
To reconcile
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καταλλάσσω G2644
Pronunciation katallássō
What does καταλλάσσω (katallássō) mean in the Bible?
G2644 means to reconcile, to bring parties from hostility into restored relationship. Paul uses it most decisively for God's action through Christ.
Reader summary
Full entry for καταλλάσσω (G2644) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2644?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include be reconciled (2), having been reconciled (1), reconciled (1), reconciling (1), we were reconciled (1).
Where does καταλλάσσω (katallássō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 5:10. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (3), Romans (2), 1 Corinthians (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G2644 means to reconcile, to bring parties from hostility into restored relationship. Paul uses it most decisively for God's action through Christ. Romans 5 describes enemies reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Second Corinthians 5 says that God reconciled believers to Himself through Christ, did not count their trespasses against them, and entrusted the message of reconciliation to His ambassadors. The word also appears in marriage instruction, where restoration between estranged spouses is a genuine good within the limits of the passage.
Reconciliation is not pretending that no wrong occurred. In the gospel, real guilt is addressed through Christ's saving death and the reconciled are summoned to receive God's peace. In human relationships, truth, repentance, justice, safety, and wise accountability remain necessary. Teachers must not use the word to force immediate access, remove consequences, or return someone to danger. God's reconciliation creates peace through costly grace; it does not make peace a slogan that conceals evil.
How the Bible Uses It
G2644 moves from enemies reconciled to God through Christ's death to a church entrusted with the truthful message of that peace, with a narrower use for marital restoration.
- Rom.5.10
For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!
While humanity was hostile to God, reconciliation came through the death of His Son; the action begins with God and leads into life through the risen Christ.
- 1Cor.7.11
But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
Paul names reconciliation as the desired direction after marital separation, but the verse must be read with the whole chapter and must not be used to erase safety, truth, or accountability.
- 2Cor.5.18
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
God reconciles believers to Himself through Christ and gives them a ministry that announces His completed work rather than manufacturing peace by human technique.
Passage contextBook context
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It be reconciled 2× 1 Corinthians 7:11, 2 Corinthians 5:20
having been reconciled 1× Romans 5:10
reconciled 1× 2 Corinthians 5:18
reconciling 1× 2 Corinthians 5:19
we were reconciled 1× Romans 5:10
Show sample aligned rows
Romans 5:10 κατηλλάγημεν to we were reconciled Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 1st Person Plural Romans 5:10 καταλλαγέντες to having been reconciled Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Corinthians 7:11 καταλλαγήτω to be reconciled Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 3rd Person Singular 2 Corinthians 5:18 καταλλάξαντος to reconciled Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Singular 2 Corinthians 5:19 καταλλάσσων to reconciling Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular 2 Corinthians 5:20 καταλλάγητε to Be reconciled Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Romans 5:10
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 3
Romans 2 1 Corinthians 1 2 Corinthians 3
Source forms
καταλλαγέντες 1x katallagentes Romans 5:10
καταλλάγητε 1x katallagēte 2 Corinthians 5:20
καταλλαγήτω 1x katallagētō 1 Corinthians 7:11
καταλλάξαντος 1x katallaxantos 2 Corinthians 5:18
καταλλάσσων 1x katallassōn 2 Corinthians 5:19
κατηλλάγημεν 1x katēllagēmen Romans 5:10
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 2nd Person Plural 1x 2 Corinthians 5:20
Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 3rd Person Singular 1x 1 Corinthians 7:11
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 1st Person Plural 1x Romans 5:10
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Singular 1x 2 Corinthians 5:18
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Romans 5:10
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x 2 Corinthians 5:19
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Let Romans 5 establish that reconciliation with God rests on Christ's death for enemies, not on human negotiation.
- When applying G2644 to human relationships, distinguish forgiveness, peace-seeking, restored trust, and physical access rather than treating them as identical.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not use G2644 to pressure a harmed person into immediate contact, restored trust, or unsafe proximity. Human reconciliation requires truth, repentance, justice, and wisdom.
- Do not present reconciliation with God as a human negotiation or moral improvement. Paul grounds it in God's action through the death of His Son.
Pastoral applicationPassage contexttheological_synthesis
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Exchange of enmity for friendship; God actively changes hostile relationship into reconciled communion.
Strong's G2644
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 3 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 Source Gloss
to reconcile
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Exchange of enmity for friendship; God actively changes hostile relationship into reconciled communion.
(Att.. -ττω; cf. ἀλλάσσω) [in LXX: Jer.48:39 (חָתַת), 2Ma.1:5 2Mac 7:33 2Mac 8:29 * ;] prop., to change, exchange (esp. of money); hence, of persons, to change from emnity to friendship, to reconcile (for exx. in cl., see Thayer„ LS): of the reconciliation of man to God (Lft., Notes, 288; ICC on Ro, l.with; DCG, ii, 474, 797), 2Co.5:18-19; pass Rom.5:10, 2Co.5:20; of a woman returning to her husband, 1Co.7:11 (cf. ἀπο-καταλλάσσω).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 5:10 Verb First Person Plural Second Aorist Passive Indicative
κατηλλάγημεν kathllaghmen
I reconcile
Read verse Romans 5:10 Verb Second Aorist Passive Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
καταλλαγέντες katallagentev
I reconcile
Read verse 1 Corinthians 7:11 Verb Third Person Singular Second Aorist Passive Imperative
καταλλαγήτω)· katallaghtw
I reconcile
Read verse 2 Corinthians 5:18 Verb Aorist Active Participle Genitive Singular Masculine
καταλλάξαντος katallaxantov
I reconcile
Read verse 2 Corinthians 5:19 Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
καταλλάσσων katallasswn
I reconcile
Read verse 2 Corinthians 5:20 Verb Second Person Plural Second Aorist Passive Imperative
καταλλάγητε katallaghte
I reconcile
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.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 3 Aligned forms 6 Tenses Aorist, Present Voices Passive, Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Aorist Passive Rom 5:10 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 3×
Aorist Passive Rom 5:10 1×
Aorist Active 2 Cor 5:18 1×
Present Active 2 Cor 5:19 1×
Imperative command or strong request 2×
Aorist Passive 1 Cor 7:11 · 2 Cor 5:20 2×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 5
Voice
passive 4 active 1
Mood
imperative 2 participle 2 indicative 1
NT Occurrences
Romans 5:10 κατηλλάγημεν aorist passive indicative completed Romans 5:10 καταλλαγέντες aorist passive participle participle 1 Corinthians 7:11 καταλλαγήτω aorist passive imperative imperative 2 Corinthians 5:18 καταλλάξαντος aorist active participle participle 2 Corinthians 5:20 καταλλάγητε aorist passive imperative imperative
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 Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
A wife returning to friendship with her husband, restoring marital relationship
God's work changing humanity from enmity to friendship through Christ
Enemies of God changed to friends through Christ's death, restoring relationship
Passive sense, people being changed from alienation to restored relationship with God
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
καταλλάσσω is built from these roots:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
G2644 makes reconciliation a gospel accomplishment before it becomes a ministry assignment. Romans 5 does not portray neutral people negotiating peace with God. It portrays enemies reconciled through the death of His Son and saved through His risen life. Second Corinthians 5 then entrusts reconciled people with a message: God acted through Christ, dealt with trespasses, and now appeals to others to receive that peace.
This order protects ministry from manipulation. Christians announce and embody the truth; they do not control another person's response. It also protects pastoral care. Human reconciliation is a worthy aim, including in marriage, but it cannot be reduced to restored proximity. Where serious harm has occurred, truth, repentance, justice, safety, changed conduct, and accountable wisdom matter.
The cross reveals reconciliation as costly grace, never as pressure to conceal evil.
Anchor passage
Rom.5.10
Doctrinal connections
- Rom.5.6-11 - Christ dies for the ungodly and enemies, so reconciliation rests on God's love and the Son's saving death rather than human initiative.
- 2Cor.5.14-17 - Christ's death and resurrection create a new creation people whose changed way of seeing prepares the ministry of reconciliation.
- 2Cor.5.18-21 - God reconciles through Christ, entrusts the message to ambassadors, and grounds the appeal in Christ's sin-bearing work.
- Col.1.19-23 - Peace is made through the blood of Christ's cross, joining reconciliation to holiness, perseverance, and hope in the gospel.
- Eph.2.13-18 - Christ reconciles Jew and Gentile to God in one body through the cross, creating peace that overturns hostility without erasing truth.
- 1Cor.7.10-16 - Marital reconciliation is a real good within concrete covenant instruction, but the passage also addresses separation and the believer's limits over another person's choices.
To reconcile is the reviewed display gloss for G2644. In this Pauline-focused companion, local STEP TAGNT evidence shows about 6 Pauline use(s), with common forms including V-2API-1P 1, V-2APP-NPM 1, V-2APM-3S 1. The aorist forms often present reconciliation as decisive divine action or its announced appeal; voice and subject must be read in each sentence.
From Old to New Testament
The Old Testament peace offerings, covenant restoration, prophetic promises of peace, and repeated calls to return to God prepare the categories that Paul centers in Christ's cross. The lexical bridge is thematic rather than a claim that one Greek verb carries every earlier text.
Sources
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