Violation
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Παράβασις is a transgression, the crossing of a known boundary or violation of an expressed command. Romans 2 uses it against the religious boaster who possesses the law yet dishonors God by breaking it.
Reader summary
Full entry for παράβασις (G3847) · Open the biblical lexicon
Παράβασις is a transgression, the crossing of a known boundary or violation of an expressed command. Romans 2 uses it against the religious boaster who possesses the law yet dishonors God by breaking it.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include transgression (3), breaking (1), transgressed (1), transgressions (1), transgressions [committed] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 2:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (3), Hebrews (2), 1 Timothy (1), Galatians (1).
Παράβασις is a transgression, the crossing of a known boundary or violation of an expressed command. Romans 2 uses it against the religious boaster who possesses the law yet dishonors God by breaking it. Galatians 3 says the law was added because of transgressions until the promised Seed came, placing the term inside Paul's contrast between law and promise. First Timothy 2 recalls Eve's deception and transgression within Paul's instructions for the gathered church.
The noun is therefore more specific than a general word for human brokenness: it highlights violation where a boundary has been given. It does not imply that sin exists only when someone possesses the Mosaic law, nor may one occurrence settle every disputed question surrounding its passage. Its use should lead to accountability, need for promise, and dependence on Christ.
Paul uses παράβασις for crossing a revealed boundary. It exposes law-breaking, clarifies the law's role, and underscores humanity's need for the promised Christ.
And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
Eve's transgression is cited in a tightly argued and debated church-order context; the lexical fact of boundary-crossing does not by itself resolve every interpretive question in the passage.
Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.
The law's relation to transgressions is temporary and subordinate to the prior promise, lasting until the arrival of the promised Seed, Christ.
You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
Possessing and teaching the law cannot shield the person who transgresses it; Paul's question exposes hypocrisy and God's impartial judgment.
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. violation
(παραβαίνω), [in LXX: Psa.101:3 (שֵׂט), 4Ki.2:24 A, Wis.14:31, 2Ma.15:10 * ;]
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.
a transgression
Read versea transgression
Read versea transgression
Read versea transgression
Read versea transgression
Read versea transgression
Read versea transgression
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 4 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
παράβασις is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Transgression brings moral clarity because it names a boundary crossed, not merely a feeling of imperfection. Romans 2 turns that clarity toward the law-possessor who condemns others while violating the very law in which he boasts. Galatians 3 explains that the law's exposure and ordering of transgressions does not overturn God's earlier promise; it serves until the coming of the Seed.
First Timothy 2 uses the language within a creation-and-fall argument that requires attention to the whole passage, not a lexical shortcut. Teachers can therefore use παράβασις to clarify accountability without pretending the noun alone solves every theological question. The word exposes rebellion, humbles the privileged, and demonstrates the need for a righteousness and inheritance given through promise.
Its canonical direction is not toward confident self-repair but toward Christ, in whom the promise is fulfilled and sinners are redeemed from the law's curse.
1Tim.2.14
Παράβασις is related to παραβαίνω, to step across or transgress. The image of crossing helps explain why the noun commonly presupposes a known boundary. It should not be flattened into every possible term for sin, wrongdoing, trespass, or lawlessness.
Adam and Eve cross God's stated command, Israel repeatedly transgresses covenant boundaries, and the prophets expose that breach. Paul shows that law identifies and multiplies accountable transgression while the promise reaches its fulfillment in Christ, the obedient Seed and last Adam.