What does ἁγνίζω (hagnízō) mean in the Bible?
ἁγνίζω means to purify or cleanse. The local index records about seven New Testament uses.
Greek · G48
ἁγνίζω
To purify
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ἁγνίζω G48
Pronunciation hagnízō
What does ἁγνίζω (hagnízō) mean in the Bible?
ἁγνίζω means to purify or cleanse. The local index records about seven New Testament uses.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἁγνίζω (G48) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G48?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include purify (2), [and] purified himself (1), [Since] you have purified (1), I was ceremonially clean (1), purifies (1).
Where does ἁγνίζω (hagnízō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:55. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), 1 John (1), 1 Peter (1), James (1).
What This Word Actually Means
ἁγνίζω means to purify or cleanse. The local index records about seven New Testament uses. John 11:55 and Acts use it for Jewish purification associated with Passover, a vow, and temple presence. James, 1 Peter, and 1 John use it for hearts, souls, and persons. The shared lexical idea is purification, while the object and setting determine whether the action is ritual, moral, communal, or hope-shaped.
James 4:7-10 places the command to purify the heart inside a call to submit to God, resist the devil, draw near, repent, and humble oneself. The parallel language about hands and hearts addresses conduct and divided loyalty, but the verse does not teach that a person earns God's nearness by reaching a prior level of purity.
First Peter 1:22 joins purified souls, obedience to the truth, sincere brotherly love, and the command to love one another deeply. First John 3:1-3 joins purification to the hope of seeing Christ and becoming like Him. In both passages purification is directed beyond private self-scrutiny toward truthful obedience, deep love, and Christ-centered hope. These uses do not make human effort an addition to Christ's saving work or promise sinless completion before His appearing.
Lexical sourceCanonical parallelPassage contextPastoral applicationBook contexttheological_synthesis
How the Bible Uses It
The local index records about seven uses of ἁγνίζω. John and Acts describe Jewish purification in festival, vow, and temple settings. James, 1 Peter, and 1 John apply purification to hearts, souls, and hopeful Christian conduct. The contexts distinguish these uses without requiring a theory that the later texts replace the earlier meaning.
- Jas.4.8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James pairs cleansing the hands with purifying the heart in a larger summons to submit, resist, draw near, repent, and humble oneself. The aorist imperative urges the action but does not by itself prove a once-for-all inner crisis.
- 1Pet.1.22
Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
Peter describes purified souls in connection with obedience to the truth and genuine brotherly love, then commands deep love from a pure heart. The perfect participle presents a prior action with present relevance; the verse's theological force comes from the whole gospel context, not from aspect alone.
- 1John.3.3
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.
The subject, everyone who has this hope, performs the purifying action in response to Christ's appearing and promised likeness. The present form suits an active pattern of conduct, while the sentence makes hope its motive.
- Acts.21.24
Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.
Jerusalem elders ask Paul to purify himself with four men under a vow and pay their expenses so reports about his teaching may be answered publicly. The narrative records a Jewish vow and temple setting; it does not by this verb alone settle every theological question about Paul's action.
Passage contextgrammatical
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 purify 2× John 11:55, James 4:8
[and] purified himself 1× Acts 21:26
[Since] you have purified 1× 1 Peter 1:22
I was ceremonially clean 1× Acts 24:18
purifies 1× 1 John 3:3
purify yourself 1× Acts 21:24
Show sample aligned rows
John 11:55 ἁγνίσωσιν to purify Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Plural Acts 21:24 ἁγνίσθητι to purify yourself Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 2nd Person Singular Acts 21:26 ἁγνισθεὶς to [and] purified himself Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 24:18 ἡγνισμένον to I was ceremonially clean Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular James 4:8 ἁγνίσατε to purify Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural 1 Peter 1:22 ἡγνικότες to [Since] you have purified Verb - Perfect Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 John 3:3 ἁγνίζει to purifies Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 11:55
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 5
John 1 Acts 3 James 1 1 Peter 1 1 John 1
Source forms
ἁγνίζει 1x hagnizei 1 John 3:3
ἁγνίσατε 1x hagnisate James 4:8
ἁγνισθεὶς 1x hagnistheis Acts 21:26
ἁγνίσθητι 1x hagnisthēti Acts 21:24
ἁγνίσωσιν 1x hagnisōsin John 11:55
ἡγνικότες 1x hēgnikotes 1 Peter 1:22
ἡγνισμένον 1x hēgnismenon Acts 24:18
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural 1x James 4:8
Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 2nd Person Singular 1x Acts 21:24
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Acts 21:26
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x John 11:55
Verb - Perfect Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x 1 Peter 1:22
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x Acts 24:18
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x 1 John 3:3
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- James 4:8 does not tell wounded or repentant people to make themselves flawless before God will receive them. The verse calls sinners to draw near, cleanse their conduct, purify divided hearts, and humble themselves under God's promise of grace.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that ἁγνίζω teaches self-purification independent of the gospel. First Peter 1 joins purification to obedience to the truth, new birth, the enduring word, and deep love.
- Do not claim that Acts 21:24 names the vow as Nazirite or that Paul's participation settles the status of ceremonial law for Gentile believers. Luke records the elders' proposal, Paul's action, and the public purpose; further conclusions require the wider canonical argument.
Passage contextCanonical parallel
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to purify
Strong's G48
Lexical occurrences 7 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 4 forms 7 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 21:15-26 Source Gloss
to purify
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 11:55 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Subjunctive
ἁγνίσωσιν agniswsin
I cleanse, purify
Read verse Acts 21:24 Verb Second Person Singular Aorist Passive Imperative
ἁγνίσθητι agnisqhti
I cleanse, purify
Read verse Acts 21:26 Verb Aorist Passive Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
ἁγνισθεὶς agnisqeiv
I cleanse, purify
Read verse Acts 24:18 Verb Perfect Passive Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
ἡγνισμένον hgnismenon
I cleanse, purify
Read verse James 4:8 Verb Second Person Plural Aorist Active Imperative
ἁγνίσατε agnisate
I cleanse, purify
Read verse 1 Peter 1:22 Verb Perfect Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
ἡγνικότες hgnikotev
I cleanse, purify
Read verse 1 John 3:3 Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
ἁγνίζει agnizei
I cleanse, purify
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 4 Aligned forms 7 Tenses Aorist, Perfect, Present Voices Active, Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 1×
Aorist Active John 11:55 1×
Imperative command or strong request 2×
Aorist Passive Acts 21:24 1×
Aorist Active Jas 4:8 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 3×
Aorist Passive Acts 21:26 1×
Perfect Passive Acts 24:18 1×
Perfect Active 1 Pet 1:22 1×
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Present Active 1 John 3:3 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 7 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 4 perfect 2 present 1
Voice
active 4 passive 3
Mood
participle 3 imperative 2 indicative 1 subjunctive 1
NT Occurrences
John 11:55 ἁγνίσωσιν aorist active subjunctive subjunctive Acts 21:24 ἁγνίσθητι aorist passive imperative imperative Acts 21:26 ἁγνισθεὶς aorist passive participle participle Acts 24:18 ἡγνισμένον perfect passive participle participle James 4:8 ἁγνίσατε aorist active imperative imperative 1 Peter 1:22 ἡγνικότες perfect active participle participle 1 John 3:3 ἁγνίζει present active indicative ongoing
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
To cleanse ceremonially.
Showing 1 selected witness from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἁγνίζω is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Shows cultural sensitivity without altering gospel doctrine. Acts 21:15-26
For the Preacher and Teacher
ἁγνίζω teaches best when its different objects remain visible. People near Passover purify themselves, Paul enters a vow-related purification with four men, James calls divided hearts to purification, Peter describes souls purified in obedience to the truth, and John says Christ-centered hope leads a person to purify himself. The verb links these passages at the level of cleansing, but it does not erase their different covenantal and literary settings.
For Christian teaching, James, Peter, and John provide a strong pattern. Purification belongs with repentance and humble nearness to God, with sincere love inside the church, and with hope fixed on Christ's appearing. It is neither ritual performance presented as saving merit nor private moral polishing detached from grace and community. Teachers should also resist making tense or derivation prove more than the clauses say.
The gospel context, the named object of purification, and the purpose stated in each passage carry the theological weight.
Anchor passage
Jas.4.8
Doctrinal connections
- John 11:55: Passover pilgrims purify themselves before the feast.
- Acts 21:23-26: Paul joins four men in vow-related purification at the elders' request.
- Acts 24:17-18: Paul describes being found purified in the temple while bringing gifts and offerings.
- James 4:7-10: purification belongs with submission, repentance, humility, and drawing near to God.
- 1 Peter 1:22-25: purified souls are directed toward sincere and deep love under the enduring word.
- 1 John 3:1-3: those awaiting Christ's appearing respond by purifying themselves as He is pure.
ἁγνίζω is related to the adjective ἁγνός, pure. It is a verb meaning to purify or cleanse, but the -ίζω ending must not be treated as a mechanical proof of one causative nuance in every occurrence. Its objects include persons, hearts, and souls. Aspect helps describe how an occurrence presents the action, while the clause and discourse establish whether the purification is festival-related, vow-related, repentant, communal, or eschatological.
From Old to New Testament
Israel's Scriptures distinguish clean and unclean, call worshipers to prepare for holy service, and repeatedly join outward worship with truthful hearts and just conduct. New Testament uses of ἁγνίζω retain recognizable Jewish purification settings in John and Acts. James, Peter, and John apply purification language to divided hearts, obedient souls, shared love, and hope in Christ. The canonical connection is real, but no single Greek verb turns those varied passages into one uninterrupted ritual system.
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