Pride
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G2746 is a noun for boasting, an act of glorying, or an expressed reason for pride. Its eleven current-witness instances are distributed among Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and James, with one form in each verse.
Reader summary
Full entry for καύχησις (G2746) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2746 is a noun for boasting, an act of glorying, or an expressed reason for pride. Its eleven current-witness instances are distributed among Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and James, with one form in each verse.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include boasting (4), boast (1), boasting [of mine] (1), I boast (1), I exult (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 3:27. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (6), Romans (2), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Thessalonians (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G2746 is a noun for boasting, an act of glorying, or an expressed reason for pride. Its eleven current-witness instances are distributed among Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and James, with one form in each verse. Romans 3 excludes boasting under the principle of faith, while Romans 15 locates Paul's exultation in Christ Jesus concerning service to God. Second Corinthians uses the noun in questions of conscience, confidence in coworkers and churches, collection accountability, and Paul's constrained response to rival claims. First Thessalonians names believers as a crown of boasting before Jesus at His coming. James condemns boasting in presumptuous plans.
These uses require more than labeling every positive claim as pride or every ministry report as faithful testimony. The immediate passage identifies the ground, audience, and accountability of the boast. People must never be treated as trophies, and grace language must not become cover for self-promotion.
G2746 ranges from boasting excluded by faith to conscience-based testimony, accountable confidence in churches and coworkers, joy before Christ, and arrogant planning condemned by James. The ground and direction of the boast control its moral character.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.
Paul asks where boasting is and answers that it is excluded by the law of faith. The word is controlled by the justification argument, not by a general suspicion of every kind of glad testimony.
For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
Paul can speak of boasting when the ground is the testimony of conscience under God's grace, not self-made status. The word must distinguish self-exaltation from grace-governed testimony.
After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
Paul calls the Thessalonian believers his hope, joy, and crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus. The word can name ministry joy when the glory belongs to Christ and the people are not treated as trophies.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Boasting or glorying; Paul contrasts false self-glorying with legitimate glorying in Christ alone.
Boasting or glorying; Paul contrasts false self-glorying with legitimate glorying in Christ alone.
(καυχάομαι), [in LXX for תִּפְאָרָה (1Ch.29:13, Eze.16:12, al) ;] a boasting, glorying: Rom.3:27, 2Co.11:10 11:17, Jas.4:16; before ὑπέρ, 2Co.7:4 8:24; ἐτί, with genitive, 2Co.7:14; ἔχω τὴν κ. ἐν Χρ. Ἰησ., Rom.15:17; στέφανος καυχήσεως (Ez. l.with, al.), 1Th.2:19; of the cause of glorying, a boast ( = καύχημα), 2Co.1:12.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
the act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
Read versethe act of boasting, exultation
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 3 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
καύχησις is built from this root:
Salvation by faith removes every human basis for self-exaltation. James 4:13–17
Identifies prideful self-reliance as sinful. Romans 3:27-31
G2746 helps teachers handle Paul's careful theology of boasting. Romans 3 closes the door on every claim that would make justification rest on human distinction, law-keeping, ethnic advantage, or moral achievement. Yet Paul does not flatten the word into silence about all joy or testimony. He can speak of boasting in conscience, in the churches, and in people who will stand before Christ, because that boasting is governed by grace and ordered toward the Lord.
The pastoral issue is the ground of confidence. If the self is the ground, boasting competes with grace. If the Lord is the ground, testimony becomes a way of honoring His work without stealing His glory.
Rom.3.27
Every governed G2746 row is feminine singular: six function nominatively, three occur in the genitive, and two stand in the accusative. English renderings include boasting, boast, pride, reason for boasting, and exultation. Those choices reflect each construction and should not be used to assign a positive or negative value before the surrounding argument is read.
Romans 3 places excluded boasting within the scriptural argument that God justifies Jews and Gentiles through faith. Romans 15 then permits exultation only in Christ Jesus concerning service to God. James 4 recalls wisdom warnings against presumption by condemning proud plans that speak as though tomorrow were under human control.
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