What does κόκκος (kókkos) mean in the Bible?
The Greek noun kókkos names a grain, seed, or kernel. In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus uses a mustard seed in parables of the kingdom and in sayings about faith.
Greek · G2848
κόκκος
A kernel of seed
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κόκκοςG2848
Pronunciationkókkos
What does κόκκος (kókkos) mean in the Bible?
The Greek noun kókkos names a grain, seed, or kernel. In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus uses a mustard seed in parables of the kingdom and in sayings about faith.
Reader summary
Full entry for κόκκος (G2848) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2848?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include seed (2), vvv (2), a kernel (1), a mustard seed (1), a seed (1).
Where does κόκκος (kókkos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:31. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), Matthew (2), 1 Corinthians (1), John (1).
What This Word Actually Means
The Greek noun kókkos names a grain, seed, or kernel. In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus uses a mustard seed in parables of the kingdom and in sayings about faith. The small planted grain becomes a large garden plant, while seed-sized faith speaks to reliance on God rather than a measurable spiritual quantity that activates power. In John 12, a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying bears much fruit, an image Jesus uses as His death approaches and then extends to costly discipleship.
In 1 Corinthians 15, the seed illustrates continuity and transformation between what is sown and the resurrection body God gives. The noun itself does not promise rapid ministry growth, miraculous control, financial increase, or healing. Nor does the grain's death authorize leaders to demand self-erasure, remain in abuse, or treat preventable harm as fruitful sacrifice.
Responsible teaching keeps the seed inside its parable, saying, christological setting, or resurrection argument. Small beginnings, dependence, death, fruitfulness, and transformation are related images, but the text supplies each relationship rather than the lexeme carrying a single theology of growth.
How the Bible Uses It
Kókkos is the small grain Jesus uses for kingdom and faith comparisons, the wheat kernel that bears fruit through death, and the seed Paul uses to explain resurrection transformation. Its compact image serves several arguments without becoming a universal growth law.
- Matt.13.31
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field.
Matthew begins a kingdom parable with a deliberately small planted seed whose later growth pictures the surprising scope of the kingdom.
- Matt.17.20
“Because you have so little faith,” He answered. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus answers the disciples' failure by contrasting their little faith with mustard-seed faith, directing attention toward genuine dependence rather than a technique for commanding outcomes.
- Mark.4.31
It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth.
Mark emphasizes the mustard seed as the smallest seed in the ordinary sowing world of the parable before describing its conspicuous growth.
- Luke.13.19
It is like a mustard seed that a man tossed into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
Luke places the seed in a garden and highlights the grown plant's sheltering branches as part of Jesus' kingdom comparison.
- Luke.17.6
And the Lord answered, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
After the apostles ask for increased faith amid demanding teaching on forgiveness, Jesus uses the tiny seed and impossible transplant to redirect confidence toward God.
- John.12.24
Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Jesus interprets His approaching hour through a wheat kernel whose death produces fruit, then calls servants to follow Him under the Father's honor.
- 1Cor.15.37
And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.
Paul uses the difference between a sown seed and the plant God gives to defend both continuity and transformation in bodily resurrection.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itseed2×Matthew 13:31, Matthew 17:20
vvv2×Luke 13:19, Luke 17:6
a kernel1×John 12:24
a mustard seed1×Mark 4:31
a seed1×1 Corinthians 15:37
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 13:31κόκκῳtoseedNoun - Dative Masculine SingularMatthew 17:20κόκκονtoseedNoun - Accusative Masculine SingularMark 4:31κόκκῳtoa mustard seedNoun - Dative Masculine SingularLuke 13:19κόκκῳtovvvNoun - Dative Masculine SingularLuke 17:6κόκκονtovvvNoun - Accusative Masculine SingularJohn 12:24κόκκοςtoa kernelNoun - Nominative Masculine Singular1 Corinthians 15:37κόκκονtoa seedNoun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 13:31
Aligned rows7
Books represented5
Matthew2Mark1Luke2John11 Corinthians1
Source forms
κόκκον3xkokkonMatthew 17:20, Luke 17:6, 1 Corinthians 15:37
κόκκῳ3xkokkōMatthew 13:31, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:19
κόκκος1xkokkosJohn 12:24
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular3xMatthew 17:20, Luke 17:6, 1 Corinthians 15:37
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular3xMatthew 13:31, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:19
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular1xJohn 12:24
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Growth applications should honor hidden seasons, ordinary means, differing outcomes, and the fact that visible size is not a complete measure of kingdom faithfulness.
- Costly-discipleship language must preserve consent, safety, truth-telling, and protection from abuse; Christ's redemptive death is not a leader's license to consume others.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that mustard-seed faith guarantees any requested miracle or proves that an unanswered prayer reflects inadequate faith.
- Do not claim that every death, loss, failed project, or harmful situation will automatically produce greater ministry fruit because a grain dies in John 12.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. A tiny grain, especially mustard seed, symbolizing insignificant beginnings that produce disproportionately large results.
Strong'sG2848
Lexical occurrences7 versesGreek text appearances7 timesWord forms3 forms7 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
a kernel of seed
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 13:31Noun Dative Singular Masculine
κόκκῳkokkw
a kernel, grain
Read verseMatthew 17:20Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κόκκονkokkon
a kernel, grain
Read verseMark 4:31Noun Dative Singular Masculine
κόκκῳkokkw
a kernel, grain
Read verseLuke 13:19Noun Dative Singular Masculine
κόκκῳkokkw
a kernel, grain
Read verseLuke 17:6Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κόκκονkokkon
a kernel, grain
Read verseJohn 12:24Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
κόκκοςkokkov
a kernel, grain
Read verse1 Corinthians 15:37Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
κόκκον,kokkon
a kernel, grain
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 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.
Form patterns3Aligned forms7Case patternAccusative (3)Number patternSingular (7)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · MasculineJohn 12:241×
Dative · Singular · MasculineMatt 13:31 · Mark 4:31 · Luke 13:193×
Accusative · Singular · MasculineMatt 17:20 · Luke 17:6 · 1 Cor 15:373×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
John 12:20-36κόκκοςkókkos
grain, seed
Luke 13:18–21κόκκῳkókkos
Seed, grain
Mark 4:30–34κόκκοςkókkos
seed, small grain
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
κόκκος is a primary word - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
Illustrates life through death.
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
Kókkos makes a small, ordinary object carry several carefully bounded teachings. The mustard seed parables contrast modest beginnings with a kingdom whose reach becomes unexpectedly visible. Jesus' sayings about mustard-seed faith do not praise inner spiritual volume; they challenge disciples to rely on God amid failure, forgiveness, and tasks beyond self-sufficiency.
John 12 moves to a wheat kernel. Jesus' own approaching death will bear much fruit, and following Him may involve costly service, but His voluntary, redemptive mission cannot be used to demand that vulnerable people remain under another person's violence. Paul draws on sowing again in 1 Corinthians 15, not to explain personal success but to defend bodily resurrection: God gives a transformed body with real continuity to the person sown.
Seed imagery therefore resists both triumphalism and despair. Smallness is not failure, visible scale is not the only sign of God's work, and death does not defeat God's resurrection purpose. Faithful teaching lets Christ, kingdom, faith, and resurrection remain distinct while receiving the common encouragement that God's life-giving action exceeds what the seed alone appears able to become.
Anchor passage
John.12.24
Doctrinal connections
- Matthew 13 uses the planted mustard seed to portray kingdom growth from an unimpressive beginning rather than to guarantee institutional size.
- Matthew 17 places mustard-seed faith after disciple failure, directing confidence away from technique and toward God's sufficiency.
- Mark 4 describes the seed within ordinary ancient sowing speech, so its smallest-seed wording should serve the parable rather than a modern botanical contest.
- Luke 17 joins the faith saying to difficult teaching about rebuke, repentance, and repeated forgiveness, not to personal wish fulfillment.
- John 12 centers the dying wheat kernel on Jesus' approaching hour and fruitful death before extending the call to His servants.
- First Corinthians 15 uses seed and plant to defend resurrection continuity and transformation under God's creative power.
Kókkos is a masculine Greek noun for a grain or kernel. The object named alongside it identifies mustard or wheat; the noun itself does not encode smallness, death, faith, or resurrection. Those meanings arise from comparison, narrative setting, and the predicates attached to the grain in each passage.
From Old to New Testament
Old Testament seed language joins creation, descendants, sowing, harvest, promise, and judgment, while particular prophetic texts may use growth or planting images in their own ways. Jesus draws on the familiar agricultural world without making G2848 a direct equivalent of every Hebrew seed term. His wheat kernel points first to His own death, and Paul's seed analogy serves the resurrection body.
The canonical movement leads from God's life-giving work in creation and promise to Christ's fruitful death and the bodily resurrection God grants, while preserving each passage's vocabulary and covenant setting.