What does αἵρεσις (haíresis) mean in the Bible?
αἵρεσις (haíresis): A chosen opinion or doctrine; a sect formed by those holding distinctive beliefs or principles.
Greek · G139
αἵρεσις
Sect
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αἵρεσις G139
Pronunciation haíresis
What does αἵρεσις (haíresis) mean in the Bible?
αἵρεσις (haíresis): A chosen opinion or doctrine; a sect formed by those holding distinctive beliefs or principles.
Full entry for αἵρεσις (G139) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G139?
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include sect (3), party (2), a sect (1), differences (1), factions (1).
Where does αἵρεσις (haíresis) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 5:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (6), 1 Corinthians (1), 2 Peter (1), Galatians (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 sect 3× Acts 24:5, Acts 26:5, Acts 28:22
party 2× Acts 5:17, Acts 15:5
a sect 1× Acts 24:14
differences 1× 1 Corinthians 11:19
factions 1× Galatians 5:20
heresies 1× 2 Peter 2:1
Show sample aligned rows
Acts 5:17 αἵρεσις to party Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Acts 15:5 αἱρέσεως to party Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Acts 24:5 αἱρέσεως to sect Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Acts 24:14 αἵρεσιν to a sect Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 26:5 αἵρεσιν to sect Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Acts 28:22 αἱρέσεως to sect Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 1 Corinthians 11:19 αἱρέσεις to differences Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural Galatians 5:20 αἱρέσεις to factions Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 2 Peter 2:1 αἱρέσεις to heresies Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Acts 5:17
Aligned rows 9
Books represented 4
Acts 6 1 Corinthians 1 Galatians 1 2 Peter 1
Source forms
αἱρέσεις 3x haireseis 1 Corinthians 11:19, Galatians 5:20, 2 Peter 2:1
αἱρέσεως 3x haireseōs Acts 15:5, Acts 24:5, Acts 28:22
αἵρεσιν 2x hairesin Acts 24:14, Acts 26:5
αἵρεσις 1x hairesis Acts 5:17
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 3x Acts 15:5, Acts 24:5, Acts 28:22
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural 2x 1 Corinthians 11:19, 2 Peter 2:1
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 2x Acts 24:14, Acts 26:5
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 1x Galatians 5:20
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Acts 5:17
Evidence Summary
Greek word. A chosen opinion or doctrine; a sect formed by those holding distinctive beliefs or principles.
Strong's G139
Lexical occurrences 9 verses Greek text appearances 9 times Word forms 5 forms 9 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 24:1-9 Source Gloss
sect
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Acts 5:17 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
αἵρεσις airesiv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse Acts 15:5 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
αἱρέσεως airesewv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse Acts 24:5 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
αἱρέσεως· airesewv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse Acts 24:14 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
αἵρεσιν, airesin
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse Acts 26:5 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
αἵρεσιν airesin
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse Acts 28:22 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
αἱρέσεως airesewv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse 1 Corinthians 11:19 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
αἱρέσεις aireseiv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse Galatians 5:20 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
αἱρέσεις, aireseiv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read verse 2 Peter 2:1 Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
αἱρέσεις aireseiv
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
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 5 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 5 Aligned forms 9 Case pattern Accusative (4) Number pattern Singular (6)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Acts 5:17 1×
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Gal 5:20 1×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Acts 15:5 · Acts 24:5 · Acts 28:22 3×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Acts 24:14 · Acts 26:5 2×
Accusative · Plural · Feminine 1 Cor 11:19 · 2 Pet 2:1 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Party or faction.
Party or group.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
αἵρεσις is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Labels Christianity as a divisive movement. Acts 24:1-9
Reflects how Christianity was perceived among Jewish communities. Acts 28:17-22
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.
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