Child
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G3516 ordinarily identifies an infant or little child and can extend figuratively to immaturity. Jesus thanks the Father for revealing truth to little children in Matthew 11:25 and Luke 10:21, while children praise Him in Matthew 21:16.
Reader summary
Full entry for νήπιος (G3516) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3516 ordinarily identifies an infant or little child and can extend figuratively to immaturity. Jesus thanks the Father for revealing truth to little children in Matthew 11:25 and Luke 10:21, while children praise Him in Matthew 21:16.
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a child (5), infants (2), to little children (2), an infant (1), childish ways (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:25. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (6), Galatians (2), Matthew (2), 1 Thessalonians (1).
G3516 ordinarily identifies an infant or little child and can extend figuratively to immaturity. Jesus thanks the Father for revealing truth to little children in Matthew 11:25 and Luke 10:21, while children praise Him in Matthew 21:16. These uses forbid contempt for actual children or the assumption that child language always means blameworthy ignorance. Paul uses the identity in several rhetorical settings.
Romans 2:20 quotes the self-understanding of the law-confident teacher; 1 Corinthians 3:1 addresses believers as infants in Christ because jealousy and division show immaturity; 1 Corinthians 13:11 repeats child language five times within an analogy about a stage left behind; Galatians 4 compares a child heir with slavery under guardians and the elementary principles; and Ephesians 4:14 warns against remaining infants carried by deceptive teaching. Hebrews 5:13 likewise connects infancy with inexperience in the word of righteousness.
The governed table also assigns G3516 to 1 Thessalonians 2:7, where its source form is ἤπιοι and its translation is gentle. That row must remain visible without forcing an infant sense into the verse or resolving its textual and coding history here.
Fifteen governed rows in eleven verses cover literal children, rhetorical stage language, spiritual immaturity, and one source-specific gentle form.
You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
The verse commends the Father's revealing action and receptive dependence.
I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly, as infants in Christ.
The following jealousy and division explain the rebuke, while in Christ prevents treating the hearers as outside grace.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching.
Corporate growth in truth and love supplies protection against manipulated instability.
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. Spiritually immature or undeveloped in knowledge; opposite to mature perfection in Christ.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
Read versean infant, child, unlearned
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 5 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 1 selected witness from 14 lexical occurrence verses.
νήπιος is built from this root:
G3516 does not make childhood a synonym for sin. Jesus receives praise from children and speaks of the Father's revelation to little ones. Paul can also use infancy as stage language when a church remains divided, unstable, or inexperienced. Maturity therefore cannot mean losing humility and dependence, nor can tenderness mean protecting destructive immaturity forever.
Ephesians places growth inside a body equipped by gifted servants, speaking truth in love so people are not carried by deceptive schemes. That model opposes leaders who shame questions, withhold knowledge, demand childlike compliance, or make themselves indispensable. A healthy church protects actual children, honors vulnerable learners, names harmful patterns patiently, and equips people toward discernment and responsible participation.
The 1 Thessalonians 2:7 form also reminds teachers that source evidence may preserve a textual complication that must be disclosed rather than converted into an easy illustration.
Eph.4.14
The witness contains fifteen adjective-coded rows in eleven verses, including five forms in 1 Corinthians 13:11. Cases and numbers vary across literal and figurative settings. The 1 Thessalonians 2:7 form ἤπιοι, rendered gentle, is orthographically and semantically distinct from the usual νήπιος forms and must retain its source-specific note.
Psalms celebrates praise from the mouths of children, and wisdom traditions value instruction that produces discernment. The New Testament preserves both receptive lowliness and accountable growth, so neither child contempt nor enforced dependency reflects the whole witness.