What does δόγμα (dógma) mean in the Bible?
δόγμα (dógma): Official decree or ruling with binding authority, whether civil, religious, or apostolic
Greek · G1378
δόγμα
A law (civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical)
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δόγμα G1378
Pronunciation dógma
What does δόγμα (dógma) mean in the Bible?
δόγμα (dógma): Official decree or ruling with binding authority, whether civil, religious, or apostolic
Full entry for δόγμα (G1378) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1378?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include decrees (3), a decree (1), decisions (1).
Where does δόγμα (dógma) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 2:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (2), Colossians (1), Ephesians (1), Luke (1).
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 decrees 3× Acts 17:7, Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14
a decree 1× Luke 2:1
decisions 1× Acts 16:4
Show sample aligned rows
Luke 2:1 δόγμα to a decree Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular Acts 16:4 δόγματα to decisions Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural Acts 17:7 δογμάτων to decrees Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural Ephesians 2:15 δόγμασιν to decrees Noun - Dative Neuter Plural Colossians 2:14 δόγμασιν to decrees Noun - Dative Neuter Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 2:1
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 4
Luke 1 Acts 2 Ephesians 1 Colossians 1
Source forms
δόγμασιν 2x dogmasin Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14
δόγμα 1x dogma Luke 2:1
δόγματα 1x dogmata Acts 16:4
δογμάτων 1x dogmatōn Acts 17:7
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Neuter Plural 2x Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x Acts 16:4
Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural 1x Acts 17:7
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular 1x Luke 2:1
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Official decree or ruling with binding authority, whether civil, religious, or apostolic
Strong's G1378
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 4 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 2:1-20 Source Gloss
a law (civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical)
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Official decree or ruling with binding authority, whether civil, religious, or apostolic
(δοκέω), [in LXX chiefly for דָּת, טְעֵם ;]
1an opinion.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 2:1 Noun Nominative Singular Neuter
δόγμα dogma
a decree, edict, ordinance
Read verse Acts 16:4 Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
δόγματα dogmata
a decree, edict, ordinance
Read verse Acts 17:7 Noun Genitive Plural Neuter
δογμάτων dogmatwn
a decree, edict, ordinance
Read verse Ephesians 2:15 Noun Dative Plural Neuter
δόγμασι, dogmasin
a decree, edict, ordinance
Read verse Colossians 2:14 Noun Dative Plural Neuter
δόγμασιν, dogmasin
a decree, edict, ordinance
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 4 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.
Form patterns 4 Aligned forms 5 Case pattern Dative (2) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Neuter Luke 2:1 1×
Genitive · Plural · Neuter Acts 17:7 1×
Dative · Plural · Neuter Eph 2:15 · Col 2:14 2×
Accusative · Plural · Neuter Acts 16:4 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Roman imperial edict or official governmental ordinance issued by Caesar
Jewish ceremonial and civil law, particularly regulations separating Jews from Gentiles
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
δόγμα is built from this root:
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