To teach (in the same broad application)
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G1321 is the common New Testament verb for teaching or giving instruction. It can take a person, content, or both in view, and it appears across the activity of Jesus, the apostles, other teachers, and the promised work of the Holy Spirit.
Reader summary
Full entry for διδάσκω (G1321) · Open the biblical lexicon
G1321 is the common New Testament verb for teaching or giving instruction. It can take a person, content, or both in view, and it appears across the activity of Jesus, the apostles, other teachers, and the promised work of the Holy Spirit.
The BSB source-word alignment has 97 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include teaching (14), to teach (13), teach (12), taught (10), He taught (6).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 4:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (17), Mark (17), Acts (16), Matthew (14).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G1321 is the common New Testament verb for teaching or giving instruction. It can take a person, content, or both in view, and it appears across the activity of Jesus, the apostles, other teachers, and the promised work of the Holy Spirit. The verb identifies instruction; the passage determines the teacher's authority, the content, the hearers, and the intended response.
Matthew 28:20 places teaching within disciple-making: the nations are to be taught to observe all that Jesus commanded, under his continuing presence. Mark 1:22 reports the crowd's astonishment because Jesus taught as one having authority and not as the scribes. The verse states the contrast but does not require speculative reconstruction of every scribal method or allow later teachers to claim Jesus' unique authority for themselves.
Second Timothy 2:2 describes entrusted transmission to faithful people able to teach others. Romans 12:7 names teaching within a differentiated gift list. John 14:26 promises that the Advocate will teach and remind Jesus' disciples of what he said; that promise grounds confidence in their witness but does not authorize any teacher to label personal impressions as direct revelation. Teaching can form obedience, yet teachers remain accountable for truth, love, character, and the freedom of hearers from coercion.
G1321 names instruction in varied settings. Jesus teaches with authority, disciples are commissioned to teach his commands, apostolic teaching is entrusted for further transmission, teaching operates as a gift, and the Advocate promises to teach and remind Jesus' first disciples.
And teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Teaching is an ongoing part of making disciples, with Jesus' commands defining the content and his presence framing the work. The verse does not grant teachers authority to enforce obedience through manipulation.
The people were astonished at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
Mark records the crowd's astonishment at Jesus' authority. Christian teachers serve this authoritative Lord and text; they do not inherit his authority as personal immunity from testing.
And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.
The entrusted content and the faithfulness of those receiving it govern the transmission. The sequence supports continuity without making institutional control, lineage claims, or repetition without examination the measure of truth.
If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
Teaching appears among differentiated gifts within one body. The verse affirms focused exercise of the gift without saying every member has the same role or that giftedness removes accountability.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
Jesus promises the Advocate's teaching and reminder to the disciples in the Farewell Discourse. Application to later teaching must preserve that original audience and connection to Jesus' words.
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. Instructional transmission of content to persons; emphasizes active teaching role over passive reception.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 97 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
Read verseI teach
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
How this verb appears across 80 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 96 lexical occurrence verses.
διδάσκω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Emphasizes ongoing doctrinal formation in the church.1 John 2:24-27
The Spirit’s teaching ministry confirms apostolic truth and equips believers to discern error.Acts 15:30-35
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Teaching shapes people, which is why the New Testament treats it as both gift and responsibility. Matthew 28 gives teachers defined content rather than personal dominion: everything Jesus commanded. Mark 1 directs attention to Jesus' authority, not to a later teacher's ability to sound authoritative. Second Timothy calls for faithful transmission to people capable of teaching others, and Romans places teaching among gifts exercised within one body.
John 14 anchors the Advocate's teaching in remembering Jesus' words. These passages encourage clarity, continuity, and formation toward obedience, but they also require humility. Teachers can misunderstand, harm, manipulate, or overstate. Faithful instruction welcomes testing, distinguishes Christ's authority from the teacher's role, protects learners from coercion, and recognizes that growth depends on God's work rather than performance metrics alone.
Matt.28.20
G1321 is a standard verb for teaching or instructing. Grammar and context identify who teaches, whom they teach, and what content is supplied. Related nouns for teacher, teaching, and doctrine belong to the same word family but have their own distributions and cannot be substituted mechanically.
Israel's Scriptures command parents, priests, sages, and covenant leaders to teach God's words in their assigned settings. These patterns provide canonical background for transmission and formation, while New Testament instruction is explicitly centered on Jesus' commands and apostolic witness.