Through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)
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dia is a Greek preposition that most often helps a reader trace means, mediation, agency, cause, or reason. It can be rendered through, by means of, because of, or on account of, but the governed case and the sentence around it decide the force.
Reader summary
Full entry for διά (G1223) · Open the biblical lexicon
dia is a Greek preposition that most often helps a reader trace means, mediation, agency, cause, or reason. It can be rendered through, by means of, because of, or on account of, but the governed case and the sentence around it decide the force.
The BSB source-word alignment has 667 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include through (192), by (81), because of (55), for (37), because (29).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 1:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (91), Acts (74), John (59), Matthew (59).
Dia is a Greek preposition that most often helps a reader trace means, mediation, agency, cause, or reason. It can be rendered through, by means of, because of, or on account of, but the governed case and the sentence around it decide the force. Pastorally, the word is valuable because Scripture often teaches by showing how God acts, through whom blessing comes, and by what means salvation is received.
John can say that all things were made through the Son. Paul can say that believers are justified through redemption and saved by grace through faith. Hebrews can say that we are sanctified through Christ's sacrifice. The word should send teachers back to the passage's actor, action, means, and result rather than making a small preposition carry a doctrine by itself.
Dia appears across the New Testament as a flexible through word. In these anchors it marks God's word as the means of life, a way that leads to destruction, creation through the Son, justification through redemption, salvation through faith, and sanctification through Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus answers temptation by saying that human life comes through every word from God's mouth. The preposition helps mark the means by which life is sustained under God's speech.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
The broad way leads through a gate toward destruction. Here the preposition belongs to the path image and must be taught as part of Jesus' warning about two ways.
Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
All things were made through the Word. The word supports the prologue's mediation language while the verse itself names the Son's role in creation.
And are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Believers are justified freely by grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. The word helps trace the saving means without making redemption impersonal.
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Salvation is by grace through faith. The phrase distinguishes grace as the saving source and faith as the receiving means within Paul's gift language.
And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Sanctification is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all. The word serves the larger priestly argument about Christ's completed offering.
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. through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 645 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
through, on account of
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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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Dia is most useful when it slows the reader down enough to follow the grammar of grace. Scripture does not speak of salvation, creation, sanctification, or judgment as abstractions floating loose from God's action. It says all things were made through the Son, believers are justified through redemption, and salvation is received through faith. The preacher should therefore ask what the preposition is relating, then let the surrounding sentence set the theological weight.
This protects both doctrine and application: faith is not treated as the saving source, Christ's sacrifice is not treated as a mere example, and a phrase of means is not inflated beyond the text's own claim.
Eph.2.8
With the genitive, dia often marks through or by means of; with the accusative, it often marks because of or on account of. These are tendencies, not shortcuts. Case, governed noun, and discourse flow should decide the reading.
Old Testament patterns of God acting by His word, through chosen servants, and by appointed sacrifice prepare readers for New Testament through language centered on Christ's person and work.