What does συμπάσχω (sympáschō) mean in the Bible?
G4841 occurs twice and describes suffering with another. In Romans 8:17, present participation in Christ's sufferings stands beside the future promise of being glorified with him.
Greek · G4841
συμπάσχω
To suffer with
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συμπάσχω G4841
Pronunciation sympáschō
What does συμπάσχω (sympáschō) mean in the Bible?
G4841 occurs twice and describes suffering with another. In Romans 8:17, present participation in Christ's sufferings stands beside the future promise of being glorified with him.
Reader summary
Full entry for συμπάσχω (G4841) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4841?
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include suffers with [it] (1), we suffer with [Him] (1).
Where does συμπάσχω (sympáschō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 8:17. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (1), Romans (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G4841 occurs twice and describes suffering with another. In Romans 8:17, present participation in Christ's sufferings stands beside the future promise of being glorified with him. First Corinthians 12:26 says that if one body part suffers, every part suffers with it. The two forms relate participation in Christ's path and solidarity within Christ's body, but the rare verb does not by itself provide a complete doctrine of suffering.
Romans places the form amid adoption, the Spirit's witness, present sufferings, creation's groaning, believers' groaning, hope, and the Spirit's help. Suffering with Christ does not mean that pain earns adoption, validates salvation, or guarantees spiritual rank. It does not make every illness, loss, abuse, injustice, accident, consequence, or self-inflicted harm a special participation in Jesus' suffering. The promised glory relativizes suffering's duration without calling suffering good or eliminating lament, treatment, protection, justice, and repair.
First Corinthians uses the body analogy after insisting that apparently weaker parts are indispensable and should receive special honor and care. Shared suffering means that another member's harm matters to the whole community. It does not require identical feelings, unrestricted access to details, forced disclosure, emotional fusion, untrained crisis management, or one depleted person carrying every burden. Solidarity can include listening, meals, money, advocacy, accommodation, protection, professional care, investigation, and patient presence.
Neither occurrence authorizes leaders to create pain as formation, pressure people to stay in danger, or demand suffering stories as proof of loyalty. A church must not spiritualize abuse, disability, mental illness, poverty, grief, chronic pain, or medical need. To suffer with someone is to oppose abandonment and indifference while respecting consent, privacy, capacity, lawful duties, and the affected person's own voice.
Lexical sourcetextual_evidenceBook contextPastoral applicationPassage contexttheological_synthesis
How the Bible Uses It
The two governed present active forms connect suffering with Christ in Romans 8 and suffering together as members of one body in First Corinthians 12.
- Rom.8.17
We suffer with Him
Co-suffering belongs to the heir's Christ-shaped path and remains joined to promised glory.
- 1Cor.12.26
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it
The body image makes one member's suffering a concern for the whole without erasing distinct roles, capacities, or experiences.
Book contextPassage 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 suffers with [it] 1× 1 Corinthians 12:26
we suffer with [Him] 1× Romans 8:17
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Romans 8:17
Aligned rows 2
Books represented 2
Romans 1 1 Corinthians 1
Source forms
συμπάσχει 1x sympaschei 1 Corinthians 12:26
συμπάσχομεν 1x sympaschomen Romans 8:17
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural 1x Romans 8:17
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x 1 Corinthians 12:26
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Offer concrete help and sustained presence without demanding details, access, emotional performance, physical touch, public gratitude, or a rapid recovery.
- Shared suffering can include protection, treatment, accommodation, money, meals, transport, advocacy, investigation, and respect for a person's stated limits.
- People who are depleted, disabled, grieving, or under care remain full members of the body even when they cannot carry another person's burden.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim visible suffering proves faith, union with Christ, salvation, or future glory.
- Do not claim pain is good in itself or that every hardship has been specially assigned for spiritual growth.
- Do not shame people who seek safety, treatment, medication, rest, legal help, or distance from a harmful person.
- Do not require identical emotion, constant availability, or unlimited disclosure from members of a caring community.
- Do not make another person's suffering into a sermon illustration, fundraising device, loyalty test, or public testimony without consent.
- Do not use one-body language to block boundaries, privacy, investigation, discipline, or separation where safety requires it.
- Do not infer weak faith from groaning, exhaustion, unanswered questions, disability, trauma, or inability to speak.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Shared suffering with another; Paul emphasizes believers' participation in Christ's sufferings and mutual Christian compassion.
Strong's G4841
Lexical occurrences 2 verses Greek text appearances 2 times Word forms 1 form 2 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Romans 8:17 Source Gloss
to suffer with
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Shared suffering with another; Paul emphasizes believers' participation in Christ's sufferings and mutual Christian compassion.
(Rec. συμπ-), [in Al.: 1Ki.22:8 * ;]
2to sympathize with (Plat., Arist.).
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.
Romans 8:17 Verb First Person Plural Present Active Indicative
συμπάσχομεν, sumpascomen
I suffer together with
Read verse 1 Corinthians 12:26 Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
συμπάσχει sumpascei
I suffer together with
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 1 Aligned forms 2 Tenses Present Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 2×
Present Active Rom 8:17 · 1 Cor 12:26 2×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 2 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 2
Voice
active 2
Mood
indicative 2
NT Occurrences
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)
Where It Appears in Scripture
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Biblical Witnesses
Sharing in Christ's sufferings as co-heirs of God's kingdom
Members of body sympathizing with and bearing one another's pain
Word Origins
συμπάσχω is built from these roots:
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
G4841 binds hope and solidarity without glorifying pain. Romans 8 places suffering with Christ inside adoption already witnessed by the Spirit and glory still awaited, while the chapter gives language for groaning, weakness, hope, and divine help. First Corinthians makes one member's suffering matter to the entire body after honoring members commonly treated as weaker.
Churches therefore stay present, share practical burdens, protect vulnerable people, and refuse indifference. They also respect consent, capacity, privacy, professional roles, and safe boundaries. Suffering neither purchases belonging nor grants authority, and shared care never requires people to seek harm, remain in danger, disclose trauma publicly, or exhaust themselves beyond faithful limits.
Anchor passage
1Cor.12.26
Doctrinal connections
- Romans 8:12-30 - Spirit-led children, heirs, suffering, glory, creation's groaning, bodily redemption, hope, weakness, intercession, and God's purpose
- First Corinthians 12:12-27 - one body, many members, baptism, difference, indispensable weakness, honor, equal care, shared suffering, and shared rejoicing
- Second Corinthians 1:3-11 - God's comfort, affliction, shared consolation, severe pressure, deliverance, prayer, and gratitude
- Hebrews 2:9-18 - Jesus tasting death, many children brought to glory, shared flesh and blood, liberation, merciful priesthood, and aid in testing
- Hebrews 10:32-35 - remembered affliction, public exposure, solidarity with prisoners, property loss, confidence, and lasting possession
- First Peter 4:12-19 - fiery trial, sharing Christ's sufferings, glory, rejection of wrongdoing, entrusting oneself to God, and continuing good
Both governed forms are present active indicatives. Romans uses first-person plural for suffering with Christ; First Corinthians uses third-person singular for one body part suffering with another. The present forms describe the relationships in their sentences but do not prescribe constant intensity or identical experience.
From Old to New Testament
Israel's Scriptures combine communal lament, care for vulnerable neighbors, protest against injustice, refuge from danger, and hope in divine deliverance. Those patterns enrich Christian solidarity without becoming direct occurrences of this Greek compound.
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