Incorruptibility; genitive, unending existence; (figuratively) genuineness
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ἀφθαρσία names incorruptibility or imperishability, the condition of not being subject to decay. Paul uses it most fully in 1 Corinthians 15, where the perishable body is raised imperishable and mortality puts on immortality.
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Full entry for ἀφθαρσία (G861) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἀφθαρσία names incorruptibility or imperishability, the condition of not being subject to decay. Paul uses it most fully in 1 Corinthians 15, where the perishable body is raised imperishable and mortality puts on immortality.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include imperishable (3), immortality (2), [show] integrity (1), an undying [love] (1), with [the] imperishable (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 2:7. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (4), 2 Timothy (1), Ephesians (1), Romans (1).
ἀφθαρσία names incorruptibility or imperishability, the condition of not being subject to decay. Paul uses it most fully in 1 Corinthians 15, where the perishable body is raised imperishable and mortality puts on immortality. The word describes God's resurrection transformation, not an indestructible quality that human beings generate for themselves.
Romans 2:7 speaks of those who seek glory, honor, and immortality as they persist in doing good. Second Timothy 1:10 locates the unveiling of life beyond decay in Christ's appearing and the gospel's proclamation. Ephesians 6:24 uses the same noun in a compact closing blessing whose relation to believers' love for Christ is translated in several ways, including undying love, sincerity, or incorruptibility. That final use should be acknowledged without forcing the resurrection sense directly into the phrase.
Paul uses ἀφθαρσία for the imperishability sought in hope, displayed through the gospel, and bestowed in bodily resurrection. Ephesians 6:24 has a compact and debated construction that should not be flattened into the resurrection uses.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable.
Paul contrasts the body sown in corruption with the body raised in incorruption. The chapter's repeated language makes bodily resurrection and divine transformation the controlling setting.
And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,
Christ's appearing has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. The sentence attributes this disclosure to His saving work rather than to philosophical discovery.
Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
The closing blessing joins grace with love for the Lord Jesus Christ ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ. Because the phrase is construed and translated in more than one way, a single English rendering should not carry the whole interpretation.
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. Imperishable, immortal existence; the resurrection body's eternal, incorruptible nature distinct from mortal decay.
Imperishable, immortal existence; the resurrection body's eternal, incorruptible nature distinct from mortal decay.
(ἄφθαρτος), [in LXX: Wis.2:23 6:19, 4Ma.9:22 4Mac 17:12 * ;] incorruptibility, immortality: Rom.2:7, 1Co.15:42 15:50 15:53-54, 2Ti.1:10; ἀγαπώντων . . . ἐν ἀ., Eph.6:24 (see AR, in l). ἀ-φθορία, -ας, ἡ (φθείρω), [in LXX: Hag.2:17 (שְׁדֵפָה)* ;] uncorruptness: Tit.2:7 (Rec. ἀφθορία).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
indestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
Read verseindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortality
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 2 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀφθαρσία 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.
First Corinthians 15 gives ἀφθαρσία its clearest pastoral force. Christian resurrection hope is not contempt for the body or confidence that the present body is naturally indestructible. Paul says what is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption and that the perishable must put on the imperishable. The transformation language keeps hope centered on God's act.
Second Timothy 1 widens that hope by grounding the disclosure of deathless life in the saving appearance of Jesus. A preacher can therefore speak honestly about decay and death without granting them the final word. The promise concerns embodied resurrection by God, not denial of grief, avoidance of medicine, or a technique for preserving earthly life.
1Cor.15.42
ἀφθαρσία is a feminine noun related to the adjective ἄφθαρτος and contrasts with φθορά, corruption or decay. The local normalized artifact records about seven New Testament occurrences, five in the accusative and two in the dative. Case form does not determine the theological sense; syntax and discourse do.
Daniel 12:2 supplies an Old Testament horizon of bodily awakening, while the New Testament resurrection passages describe transformation beyond corruption. The connection is canonical rather than a claim that Daniel uses this Greek noun.
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