What does ὄψις (ópsis) mean in the Bible?
G3799 can name outward appearance or a face. John 7:24 contrasts judgment according to appearance with righteous judgment.
Greek · G3799
ὄψις
Face
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ὄψις G3799
Pronunciation ópsis
What does ὄψις (ópsis) mean in the Bible?
G3799 can name outward appearance or a face. John 7:24 contrasts judgment according to appearance with righteous judgment.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὄψις (G3799) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3799?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include face (2), outward appearances (1).
Where does ὄψις (ópsis) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 7:24. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Revelation (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G3799 can name outward appearance or a face. John 7:24 contrasts judgment according to appearance with righteous judgment. John 11:44 names Lazarus's face wrapped with a cloth as he emerges from the tomb. Revelation 1:16 compares the risen Christ's face to the sun shining at full strength. The noun therefore spans ordinary visible presentation, an actual human face, and apocalyptic comparison. It does not make physical appearance morally suspect or reveal an invisible essence by itself.
Jesus' instruction in John 7 belongs to a contested discussion about his healing, the law, and inconsistent judgment. It calls for judgment governed by what is right, not permission for intrusive surveillance, amateur diagnosis, vigilantism, or certainty about another person's motives. It must not authorize discrimination based on race, ethnicity, skin tone, disability, scars, age, sex, body size, clothing, poverty, religious dress, or gender expression. The surrounding dispute also cannot be generalized into blame against Jewish people.
John 11 uses the noun in a bodily detail that confirms Lazarus still bears burial wrappings; Jesus tells those present to unbind him. Revelation uses visual analogy within a symbolic vision of Christ's glory. Neither verse supplies an ideal human face, an ethnic portrait of Jesus, or a rule about veiling, burial practice, attractiveness, health, or holiness. People with facial difference, blindness, low vision, disfigurement, or altered appearance remain image-bearing persons rather than sermon illustrations.
Lexical sourcetextual_evidencePassage contextPastoral applicationBook context
How the Bible Uses It
Three governed uses distinguish appearance as a basis for judgment, Lazarus's wrapped face, and a visionary comparison of Christ's face with the sun.
- John.7.24
Stop judging by outward appearances
Appearance is rejected as an inadequate basis for judgment; righteous judgment still requires truth, consistency, humility, and the passage's moral frame.
- John.11.44
His face was wrapped with a cloth
The noun refers directly to Lazarus's face within the bodily signs of burial and release.
- Rev.1.16
His face was like the sun shining at its brightest
The comparison belongs to a symbolic vision and emphasizes overwhelming radiance.
Passage contextgenre
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 face 2× John 11:44, Revelation 1:16
outward appearances 1× John 7:24
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 7:24
Aligned rows 3
Books represented 2
John 2 Revelation 1
Source forms
ὄψις 2x opsis John 11:44, Revelation 1:16
ὄψιν 1x opsin John 7:24
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 2x John 11:44, Revelation 1:16
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x John 7:24
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Replace first impressions with evidence, consistent standards, humility, and a reviewable process.
- Describe people in ways that preserve dignity and avoid turning visible difference into a lesson for others.
- Use qualified safeguarding, legal, medical, or mental-health assessment when real risk is at issue.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that you can discern another person's heart, diagnosis, danger, or identity by appearance.
- Do not claim that righteous judgment permits discrimination, public shaming, harassment, or bypassing due process.
- Do not claim that Lazarus's face cloth establishes a universal burial or covering practice.
- Do not claim that Revelation 1 provides a literal portrait or preferred human complexion.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Appearance or countenance visible to sight, emphasizing what is seen rather than inner identity.
Strong's G3799
Lexical occurrences 3 verses Greek text appearances 3 times Word forms 2 forms 3 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
face
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 7:24 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὄψιν, oyin
the features, outward appearance
Read verse John 11:44 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ὄψις oyiv
the features, outward appearance
Read verse Revelation 1:16 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ὄψις oyiv
the features, outward appearance
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 2 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 patterns 2 Aligned forms 3 Case pattern Nominative (2) Number pattern Singular (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine John 11:44 · Rev 1:16 2×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine John 7:24 1×
Word Origins
For the Preacher and Teacher
G3799 does not set outer appearance against a supposedly obvious inner truth. John 7 rejects appearance as the controlling basis for judgment and calls for righteousness within a concrete legal and healing dispute. John 11 simply names Lazarus's covered face as he comes out of the tomb and needs others to unbind him. Revelation 1 uses a sun-bright simile for Christ's face within apocalyptic vision.
Preaching should therefore resist racism, colorism, ableism, ageism, body shaming, dress policing, facial profiling, and spiritualized guesses about character. Responsible judgment depends on evidence, consistency, humility, due process, and protection from harm. Visionary imagery magnifies Christ; it does not supply an ethnic portrait or rank human faces.
Anchor passage
John.7.24
Doctrinal connections
- John 7:14-24 - teaching, law, healing, circumcision, and consistent judgment
- John 11:38-44 - Lazarus called out, bodily restoration, and communal unbinding
- Revelation 1:9-20 - apocalyptic vision, Christ's radiance, authority, and reassurance
- 1 Samuel 16:6-13 - human sight, divine knowledge, and David's selection
- James 2:1-9 - partiality based on visible wealth and social presentation
- 2 Corinthians 5:11-17 - evaluation beyond fleshly standards within Christ's reconciling work
John 7:24 contains the lone accusative singular. John 11:44 and Revelation 1:16 use nominative singular forms. Shared morphology in the latter two does not collapse ordinary facial reference into apocalyptic simile.
From Old to New Testament
Israel's Scriptures frequently contrast limited human sight with God's knowledge and also use radiant-face imagery. Those themes provide canonical context, but they do not turn G3799 into a technical term for inward character.
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