What does στίγμα (stígma) mean in the Bible?
G4742 has one governed occurrence. In Galatians 6:17, Paul says he carries in his body the marks of Jesus.
Greek · G4742
στίγμα
Mark
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στίγμα G4742
Pronunciation stígma
What does στίγμα (stígma) mean in the Bible?
G4742 has one governed occurrence. In Galatians 6:17, Paul says he carries in his body the marks of Jesus.
Reader summary
Full entry for στίγμα (G4742) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4742?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include marks (1).
Where does στίγμα (stígma) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Galatians 6:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Galatians (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G4742 has one governed occurrence. In Galatians 6:17, Paul says he carries in his body the marks of Jesus. The plural noun can refer to marks, brands, or scars, but the verse does not specify their shape, number, exact cause, or appearance. Galatians' closing contrast with compelled circumcision and Paul's wider accounts of bodily suffering support reading these as embodied signs of costly allegiance, while remaining contextual support rather than additional G4742 evidence.
Ancient marks could be connected with ownership, punishment, military service, devotion, injury, or other forms of identification. That background can clarify why the noun conveys visible belonging, but Galatians 6:17 does not identify Paul as literally branded in any one of those systems. The verse does not describe miraculous copies of Jesus' wounds, prescribe tattoos or scarification, or settle present-day questions about tattoos, medical scars, cultural marking, disability, self-harm, trafficking brands, or body modification.
Paul's statement contrasts a body marked by gospel suffering with teachers who pressure others' bodies while avoiding persecution for Christ's cross. The criticism concerns coercion, boasting, and gospel requirement, not contempt for Jewish people, circumcision, medicine, or bodies. The marks do not make pain holy in itself or give a leader superior rank, immunity from questions, or authority over another person's body.
The closing request that no one cause Paul trouble addresses the letter's conflict and his costly apostolic witness. It cannot be used by leaders to refuse correction, investigation, financial review, safeguarding, or accountability. Faithfulness may leave visible or invisible costs, but Christians must not seek injury, remain in abuse, display trauma as proof, compare scars, or deny medical and mental-health care.
Lexical sourcePassage contextbackground_synthesisPastoral applicationBook contexttheological_synthesis
How the Bible Uses It
The single governed form appears in Galatians 6:17, where Paul names bodily marks connected with Jesus at the close of his argument about cross, coercion, boasting, and new creation.
- Gal.6.17
I bear on my body the marks of Jesus
Paul's marked body closes a dispute involving compelled bodily status, avoidance of persecution, boasting in the cross, and new creation.
Passage context
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 marks 1× Galatians 6:17
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Galatians 6:17
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
Galatians 1
Source forms
στίγματα 1x stigmata Galatians 6:17
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x Galatians 6:17
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Keep the one direct verse primary and treat claims about scars, brands, slavery, soldiers, devotion, or named persecutions as background or contextual inference.
- Honor bodies and trauma without asking people to display scars, disclose histories, remain in danger, or compare suffering.
- Judge Christian leadership by truthful character and accountable conduct, not by sacrifice stories, visible wounds, claimed persecution, or emotional force.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that Paul had miraculous copies of Jesus' crucifixion wounds or that believers should seek such marks.
- Do not use this verse to settle whether tattoos, scarification, medical procedures, cultural marks, or every form of body modification is right or wrong.
- Do not claim that Jewish circumcision is shameful or that Jewish people are defined by fleshly boasting.
- Do not pressure anyone to accept injury, abuse, unsafe service, untreated trauma, or self-harm as proof of belonging to Jesus.
- Do not claim that a leader's scars, sacrifices, illness, poverty, imprisonment, or opposition remove the need for investigation and accountability.
- Do not infer spiritual failure from an unmarked body or spiritual superiority from visible marks.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. A mark made by piercing or branding, carrying connotations of ownership, servitude, or deliberate identification.
Strong's G4742
Lexical occurrences 1 verse Greek text appearances 1 time Word forms 1 form 1 reference Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
mark
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
A mark made by piercing or branding, carrying connotations of ownership, servitude, or deliberate identification.
(στίζω, to prick), [in LXX: Sng.1:11 (נְקֻדָּה) * ;] a tattoed mark or brand: τὰ σ. τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Gal.6:17 (see Lft., in l; Deiss., BS, 349; LAE, 303; MM, xxiii).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Galatians 6:17 Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
στίγματα stigmata
a mark or brand
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 1 Case pattern Accusative (1) Number pattern Plural (1)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Accusative · Plural · Neuter Gal 6:17 1×
For the Preacher and Teacher
G4742 appears only in Paul's closing claim that his body bears the marks of Jesus. The surrounding contrast matters: other teachers seek a favorable bodily display, pressure people toward circumcision, and avoid persecution, while Paul boasts in the cross and points to cost carried in his own body. The marks therefore witness to allegiance without becoming a badge of superiority.
Responsible teaching honors embodied suffering, names coercion, and refuses to manufacture a universal pattern from one verse. It protects Jewish people and bodies from contempt, does not demand visible scars, and never lets trauma, injury, mystical claims, or ministerial sacrifice replace evidence, character, safety, consent, or accountability.
Anchor passage
Gal.6.17
Doctrinal connections
- Galatians 6:11-18 - Paul's own hand, outward display, compelled circumcision, persecution avoidance, cross-boasting, new creation, marks, grace
- Galatians 2:19-21 - death to law, crucifixion with Christ, embodied life by faith, the Son's love, and grace
- 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 - fragile bodies, affliction, Jesus' dying carried in the body, Jesus' life revealed, and service to others
- 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 - imprisonment, beatings, stoning, danger, labor, weakness, escape, and apostolic counter-boasting
- Philippians 3:7-11 - knowing Christ, resurrection power, shared sufferings, conformity to death, and hoped-for resurrection
The one governed form is στίγματα, an accusative neuter plural. The singular lexeme can denote a mark, brand, or scar, while the plural in Galatians refers to marks borne in Paul's body. Lexical background offers possible associations but cannot identify their exact form or origin.
From Old to New Testament
Biblical themes of belonging to God, bodily suffering, faithful service, and protective marking can provide broad canonical context. No Hebrew mark or wound passage should be treated as a direct lexical occurrence or proof that Paul's marks reproduce another figure's wounds.
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