What does γάρ (gár) mean in the Bible?
Gar is a Greek conjunction often rendered for, because, or since. It normally introduces explanation, grounding, confirmation, or the reason a previous statement should be understood as true.
Greek · G1063
γάρ
For
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γάρ G1063
Pronunciation gár
What does γάρ (gár) mean in the Bible?
Gar is a Greek conjunction often rendered for, because, or since. It normally introduces explanation, grounding, confirmation, or the reason a previous statement should be understood as true.
Reader summary
Full entry for γάρ (G1063) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1063?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1,042 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include for (619), - (233), because (60), Indeed (19), vvv (18).
Where does γάρ (gár) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 1:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (144), Matthew (124), 1 Corinthians (106), Luke (97).
What This Word Actually Means
Gar is a Greek conjunction often rendered for, because, or since. It normally introduces explanation, grounding, confirmation, or the reason a previous statement should be understood as true. The word is common, but it is not filler. In gospel passages it often reveals the logic of the sentence: Jesus is named because He will save His people from their sins, God gave His Son because He loved the world, Paul is not ashamed because the gospel is God's power for salvation, and all need grace because all have sinned.
Gar does not make the doctrine by itself. It helps the reader follow the inspired reason, explanation, or support that the passage supplies.
How the Bible Uses It
Gar often grounds a statement by giving its reason or explanation. These representative passages show gospel naming, divine love, salvation power, human need, grace, and received tradition being explained by for or because logic.
- Matt.1.21
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
The angel explains the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.
- John.3.16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The verse begins with for, grounding the surrounding call to faith in God's love and gift of His Son.
- Rom.1.16
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
Paul explains why he is not ashamed of the gospel: it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes.
- Rom.3.23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Paul grounds the universal need for justification in the fact that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory.
- Eph.2.8
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Paul grounds salvation in grace through faith and identifies it as God's gift, not a human source of boasting.
- 1Cor.15.3
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Paul introduces what he passed on as of first importance, grounding the gospel summary in the received apostolic message.
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 for 619× Matthew 1:20, Matthew 2:5, Matthew 2:6, Matthew 2:13
- 233× Matthew 2:2, Matthew 3:3, Matthew 3:15, Matthew 5:29
because 60× Matthew 1:21, Matthew 7:25, Matthew 7:29, Matthew 14:4
Indeed 19× Mark 9:41, Mark 12:14, Luke 6:44, Luke 18:25
vvv 18× Mark 16:8, Luke 1:48, Acts 19:40, Acts 26:26
. . . 13× Acts 16:37, Acts 19:32, Romans 5:19, Romans 6:19
(For 7× John 3:24, John 4:9, John 6:64, John 21:7
Now 6× Mark 7:3, John 4:44, John 19:36, 2 Corinthians 9:1
[but] 5× Acts 8:39, Galatians 5:5, Hebrews 8:8, 2 Peter 1:9
In fact 5× Luke 20:36, John 4:18, 2 Corinthians 11:20, 2 Corinthians 12:11
And 4× Luke 20:40, 1 Corinthians 15:41, Hebrews 3:4, 2 Peter 1:11
[and] 3× Matthew 6:32, John 19:31, James 1:24
( - 2× Luke 9:14, John 4:8
( for 2× Hebrews 7:11, Hebrews 7:19
[So] 2× 1 Corinthians 8:11, 2 Corinthians 2:1
But 2× 1 Corinthians 2:10, Philippians 3:20
Even 2× 1 Corinthians 4:15, 2 Corinthians 12:6
For [it is] 2× Romans 2:13, Ephesians 2:8
For [when] 2× Hebrews 7:12, Hebrews 9:19
since 2× Mark 11:13, 2 Corinthians 12:11
though 2× Romans 5:7, 1 Corinthians 9:19
Why 2× Matthew 27:23, Mark 15:14
Yet 2× Romans 9:11, 1 Corinthians 9:16
[ It began with] 1× Acts 19:24
[Although] 1× Hebrews 13:11
[As] 1× 1 Corinthians 3:19
[How can] 1× John 7:41
[It is not our intention] 1× 2 Corinthians 8:13
[It is] 1× Acts 28:20
[It is] just as 1× Romans 10:11
[Now] 1× Matthew 14:3
[These things] 1× Matthew 24:6
[When] 1× Hebrews 6:13
[which] 1× 2 Timothy 2:16
about 1× 2 Corinthians 8:10
After all 1× 1 Thessalonians 2:19
Although 1× 1 Corinthians 5:3
And since 1× Hebrews 8:3
As for 1× Acts 7:40
because [it is] 1× 2 Corinthians 1:24
Don’t 1× 1 Corinthians 11:22
even though 1× Mark 16:4
For [although] 1× John 6:71
Furthermore 1× John 5:22
Or 1× Mark 8:37
that 1× Mark 9:6
then [ is the issue ] 1× Philippians 1:18
to keep 1× Acts 18:18
truly 1× Hebrews 7:26
Very 1× Romans 5:7
you are indeed 1× 1 Thessalonians 4:10
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 1:20 γὰρ to for Conjunction Matthew 1:21 γὰρ to because Conjunction Matthew 2:2 γὰρ to - Conjunction Matthew 2:5 γὰρ to for Conjunction Matthew 2:6 γὰρ to for Conjunction Matthew 2:13 γὰρ to for Conjunction Matthew 2:20 γὰρ to for Conjunction Matthew 3:2 γὰρ to for Conjunction Matthew 3:3 γάρ to - Conjunction Matthew 3:9 γὰρ to For Conjunction
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 1:20
Aligned rows 1,042
Books represented 27
Matthew 124 Mark 66 Luke 97 John 64 Acts 80 Romans 144 1 Corinthians 106 2 Corinthians 77 Galatians 36 Ephesians 11 Philippians 13 Colossians 6 1 Thessalonians 23 2 Thessalonians 5 1 Timothy 13 2 Timothy 14 Titus 6 Philemon 3 Hebrews 91 James 15 1 Peter 10 2 Peter 15 1 John 3 2 John 1 3 John 2 Jude 1 Revelation 16
Source forms
γὰρ 923x gar Matthew 1:20, Matthew 1:21, Matthew 2:2, Matthew 2:5
γάρ 117x gar Matthew 3:3, Matthew 4:10, Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:30
γὰρ* 2x gar Mark 13:22, 2 Corinthians 2:1
Parsing patterns
Conjunction 1,042x Matthew 1:20, Matthew 1:21, Matthew 2:2, Matthew 2:5
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- When preaching a verse with for or because, show what claim is being explained and what reason the passage supplies.
- Use gar to strengthen careful argument tracing, not to overstate a connection that the paragraph does not make.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that gar always introduces the same kind of reason. It may explain, ground, confirm, or clarify according to context.
- Do not claim a doctrine from the word for alone. The doctrine rests in the statement and reason the passage joins.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. for
Strong's G1063
Lexical occurrences 1,039 verses Greek text appearances 1,067 times 16 shown below Word forms 1 form 1,039 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
for
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 1,067 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 1:18 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 1:20 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 1:21 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 2:2 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 2:5 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 2:6 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 2:13 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 2:20 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 3:2 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 3:3 Conjunction
γάρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 3:9 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 3:15 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 4:6 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 4:10 Conjunction
γάρ, gar
for
Read verse Matthew 4:17 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
Read verse Matthew 4:18 Conjunction
γὰρ gar
for
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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 1039
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Matt 1:20 · Matt 1:21 · Matt 2:2 · Matt 2:5 · Matt 2:6 · Matt 2:13 · Matt 2:20 · Matt 3:2 · Matt 3:3 · Matt 3:9 · Matt 3:15 · Matt 4:6 · Matt 4:10 · Matt 4:17 · Matt 4:18 · Matt 5:12 1039×
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
The core insight of gar is that Scripture often shepherds readers by reasoning with them. The conjunction may look small, but it tells the reader that an explanation is coming. Matthew 1 explains Jesus' name by His saving mission. Romans 1 explains Paul's confidence by the gospel's saving power. Romans 3 explains human need by universal sin. Ephesians 2 explains salvation as grace and gift.
This is not abstract grammar. It teaches readers to follow the argument God has given. Good preaching does not merely quote the verse after gar; it shows how the Spirit has joined claim and reason in the text.
Anchor passage
Rom.1.16
Doctrinal connections
- Rom.1.16 uses gar logic to ground gospel boldness in God's power for salvation.
- John.3.16 begins with gar in a context where God's saving love explains the Son's giving and the call to believe.
- Rom.3.23 grounds the universal need for grace in the universal reality of sin.
- Eph.2.8 grounds salvation in grace through faith and guards against boasting.
- 1Cor.15.3 introduces the gospel Paul received and passed on as of first importance.
- G3767 Oun often marks therefore logic, while gar usually supplies the reason or explanation behind a claim.
Gar is postpositive in Greek, often appearing second in its clause while being translated first in English. Readers should trace it backward to the statement it supports and forward to the reason it introduces.
From Old to New Testament
Biblical revelation often gives reasons: covenant commands are grounded in God's identity and redemption, prophetic indictments explain guilt, wisdom gives grounds for instruction, and apostolic gospel summaries explain salvation. Gar serves that reasoning pattern in Greek texts without becoming the substance of the reason itself.
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