A child (as produced)
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τέκνον names a child or offspring, and the Pastoral Epistles use it in both spiritual and household senses. Timothy and Titus are Paul's true or beloved children in the faith, showing the warmth and responsibility of discipling relationships.
Reader summary
Full entry for τέκνον (G5043) · Open the biblical lexicon
τέκνον names a child or offspring, and the Pastoral Epistles use it in both spiritual and household senses. Timothy and Titus are Paul's true or beloved children in the faith, showing the warmth and responsibility of discipling relationships.
The BSB source-word alignment has 99 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include children (68), Child (10), son (4), [his] child (2), [his] children (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (14), Matthew (14), Mark (9), Romans (7).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
τέκνον names a child or offspring, and the Pastoral Epistles use it in both spiritual and household senses. Timothy and Titus are Paul's true or beloved children in the faith, showing the warmth and responsibility of discipling relationships. The same word appears in overseer and deacon qualifications, where children and household management become part of public credibility.
First Timothy 5 uses children and grandchildren to teach family responsibility toward widows before the church carries the burden alone. The word therefore helps readers connect affection, discipleship, family duty, and church order without collapsing spiritual children into natural children or treating household texts as mere private life.
τέκνον in the Pastoral Epistles moves between spiritual children in ministry and literal children in households. Paul calls Timothy and Titus his children in the faith, entrusting them with grace-shaped ministry. The same word appears in leadership qualifications and widow care, where children reveal household credibility and family responsibility before God.
To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Timothy is Paul's true child in the faith. Spiritual child language names gospel relationship, not biological descent.
Timothy, my child, I entrust you with this command in keeping with the previous prophecies about you, so that by them you may fight the good fight,
Paul's child language carries charge and trust. Affection does not remove responsibility; it frames Timothy's fight for faithful ministry.
An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity.
An overseer's children are part of household credibility. Public care for the church is tested by dignified care at home.
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife, a good manager of his children and of his own household.
Deacon service is also tested through children and household management. The church does not separate public service from ordinary faithfulness.
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
Children and grandchildren must learn godliness by caring for their own family. Household obligation is treated as worship that pleases God.
To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul calls Timothy his beloved child. Ministry succession is personal, affectionate, and grounded in grace from God.
You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
The child in ministry must be strengthened by grace in Christ. Spiritual family language leads to endurance, not sentimentality.
To Titus, my true child in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus is Paul's true child in a common faith. The word can name shared gospel identity across ministry generations.
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.
Elder qualification includes children whose lives do not undermine the household's credibility. The passage connects family formation with church order.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Physical offspring or spiritual descendants; designates those belonging to a father or exemplar.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 99 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
Read versea child, descendent, inhabitant
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 10 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 99 lexical occurrence verses.
τέκνον is built from this root:
Affirms genuine familial relationship with God grounded in His initiating love.1 John 3:1-3
John highlights regeneration and adoption, underscoring intimate belonging rather than distant affiliation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
τέκνον gives the Pastoral Epistles a family vocabulary that is both affectionate and accountable. Paul calls Timothy and Titus his children, but that language carries ministry charge, grace, endurance, and stewardship of the faith. The same word names literal children in overseer and deacon households, where public credibility is tested by dignified family management.
First Timothy 5 then turns children and grandchildren toward care for widows, making family responsibility part of godliness before God. The word therefore refuses two reductions: spiritual child language is not mere sentiment, and household child language is not private trivia. In these letters, children reveal discipleship, responsibility, and the church's visible order.
1Tim.1.2
τέκνον can refer to a literal child or to a spiritual child. The Pastoral Epistles use both senses. Possessive language such as 'my child' and phrases like 'in the faith' point to discipleship, while household qualification and widow-care texts point to natural family relations.
Scripture often treats children as gifts, heirs, learners, and responsible members of households. The Pastoral Epistles carry that concern into church order by joining spiritual family, literal family, and intergenerational responsibility under the grace of Christ.