What does ἁγνεία (hagneía) mean in the Bible?
ἁγνεία names purity as a quality of moral and relational integrity. The local New Testament index counts two direct occurrences, both in Paul's instructions to Timothy.
Greek · G47
ἁγνεία
Purity
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
ἁγνεία G47
Pronunciation hagneía
What does ἁγνεία (hagneía) mean in the Bible?
ἁγνεία names purity as a quality of moral and relational integrity. The local New Testament index counts two direct occurrences, both in Paul's instructions to Timothy.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἁγνεία (G47) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G47?
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include purity (2).
Where does ἁγνεία (hagneía) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Timothy 4:12. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Timothy (2).
What This Word Actually Means
ἁγνεία names purity as a quality of moral and relational integrity. The local New Testament index counts two direct occurrences, both in Paul's instructions to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4:12, purity stands alongside speech, conduct, love, and faith in the example Timothy is to set for believers. In 1 Timothy 5:2, Paul requires Timothy to treat younger women as sisters with absolute purity.
Together, the two uses show that purity is not merely private or abstract. It governs conduct within relationships of ministry trust, especially where access, age, and gender create opportunities for harm or exploitation. The related adjective ἁγνός provides responsible word-family context, but it is not another occurrence of this noun and should not replace the two direct passages as evidence.
For teaching and pastoral care, ἁγνεία is a positive call to transparent integrity. A minister's counsel, attention, and care must not be corrupted by self-interest, sexual desire, favoritism, or the misuse of spiritual authority.
How the Bible Uses It
ἁγνεία occurs twice in the New Testament, both in 1 Timothy. The direct passages place purity inside exemplary conduct and family-shaped ministry relationships. Related purity vocabulary may provide labeled canonical context, but this noun's claims must remain governed by 1 Timothy 4:12 and 1 Timothy 5:2.
- 1Tim.4.12
Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Paul places ἁγνεία as the final term in a five-part description of exemplary ministry: speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Timothy is to answer contempt for his youth by setting a visible example rather than merely asserting authority. Purity therefore belongs to the whole pattern of credible conduct.
- 1Tim.5.2
Older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
Here ἁγνεία functions as a relational modifier — it governs the mode of pastoral relationship with women. Paul is not prohibiting pastoral care across gender lines but specifying its character: familial, not familiar in the wrong sense. The 'all purity' (ἐν πάσῃ ἁγνείᾳ) intensifies the demand — there is no percentage of pastoral relationship that is exempt from this quality. This usage makes ἁγνεία specifically a guardian of ministry integrity, not merely of private morality.
- 2Cor.11.2
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Paul uses the related adjective ἁγνήν in a betrothal image for the church's presentation to Christ. This is word-family and canonical evidence, not a third occurrence of ἁγνεία. It may support a broader theology of purity only when that distinction remains explicit.
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 purity 2× 1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Timothy 5:2
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row 1 Timothy 4:12
Aligned rows 2
Books represented 1
1 Timothy 2
Source forms
ἁγνείᾳ 2x hagneia 1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Timothy 5:2
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular 2x 1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Timothy 5:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- ἁγνεία in 1 Timothy is specifically a pastoral virtue — a quality required of those who hold positions of trust and access within the congregation. Applying it as a general purity call without the relational and ministerial context narrows a broader term and misses Paul's specific concern about ministry integrity.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that ἁγνεία refers only to sexual abstinence or chastity. The word covers the full integrity of pastoral conduct — in word, life, and relationship — not one category of behavior.
- Do not claim that ἁγνεία (the state of purity) and ἁγνίζω (G48, the act of purifying) describe the same thing. ἁγνεία names a condition — the quality of a life unmixed and transparent; ἁγνίζω names a process — the active movement toward that condition. Using either to stand for the other loses the distinction between the destination and the journey.
Lexical sourcePassage context
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Purity emphasizing moral and sexual integrity, not merely ceremonial cleansing
Strong's G47
Lexical occurrences 2 verses Greek text appearances 2 times Word forms 1 form 2 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link 1 Timothy 5:1-2 Source Gloss
purity
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
1 Timothy 4:12 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
ἁγνείᾳ. agneia
purity, chastity
Read verse 1 Timothy 5:2 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
ἁγνείᾳ. agneia
purity, chastity
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 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 2 Case pattern Dative (2) Number pattern Singular (2)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Dative · Singular · Feminine 1 Tim 4:12 · 1 Tim 5:2 2×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Moral cleanliness and integrity.
Showing 1 selected witness from 2 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἁγνεία is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Relationships within the church must be guarded by holiness, especially across gender and age differences. 1 Timothy 5:1-2
Canonical Themes
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
ἁγνεία names a quality that must be visible in pastoral ministry. Paul uses the noun twice in 1 Timothy, first within Timothy's public example and then within his treatment of younger women. These settings show why purity is more than a private claim. Ministry creates trust and access that can be exploited, so integrity must govern how a pastor speaks, acts, counsels, and relates to people under his care.
The pastor who walks in purity does not mistake access for license or allow relational warmth to become sexualized, manipulative, or self-serving. Paul's family language gives the relationship a concrete shape: older women are to be treated as mothers and younger women as sisters. The related adjective in 2 Corinthians 11:2 adds a responsibly labeled canonical parallel concerning the church's presentation to Christ, but it does not add another occurrence of this noun.
Teaching should therefore begin with the two direct passages, then use related vocabulary only to illuminate a broader biblical call to integrity without turning word-family association into lexical proof.
Anchor passage
1Tim.4.12
Doctrinal connections
- 1 Timothy 4:12 uses ἁγνεία directly within Timothy's visible example in speech, conduct, love, and faith.
- 1 Timothy 5:1-2 uses ἁγνεία directly to govern family-shaped pastoral care, especially toward younger women.
- 1 Timothy 3:1-7 supplies nearby book context for above-reproach ministry character without adding another occurrence of the noun.
- 2 Timothy 2:20-22 supplies canonical context for fleeing youthful passions and pursuing righteousness with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
- 2 Corinthians 11:2 uses the related adjective ἁγνήν in the church-as-bride image; it is a canonical parallel, not a direct noun occurrence.
- G53 ἁγνός is the related adjective with broader New Testament use; word-family relationship must not be treated as identity or occurrence evidence.
ἁγνεία is a noun related to the adjective ἁγνός (G53). The noun names purity as a quality or condition, while G48 ἁγνίζω names the act of purifying. That word-family distinction helps prevent the noun and verb from being treated as interchangeable. It does not establish G37 or G40 as direct roots, and it does not authorize priestly, Nazirite, or ceremonial claims. The two direct New Testament uses place the noun in exemplary conduct and pastoral relationships.
From Old to New Testament
This source does not record exact governed Septuagint evidence for ἁγνεία, so priestly, Nazirite, sanctuary, and ceremonial claims must not be presented as lexical background for the noun. Broader biblical themes of holy conduct may be taught as canonical synthesis when they are established from their own passages. For this entry, 1 Timothy 4:12 and 1 Timothy 5:2 govern the direct claims, while the related adjective in 2 Corinthians 11:2 remains a labeled canonical parallel.
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