αἵρεσις (haíresis) can name a sect, school, party, faction, chosen opinion, or destructive heresy. 14, Paul acknowledges that opponents call the Way a sect while affirming continuity with the Law and Prophets.
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Full entry for αἵρεσις (G139) · Open the biblical lexicon
αἵρεσις (haíresis) can name a sect, school, party, faction, chosen opinion, or destructive heresy. 14, Paul acknowledges that opponents call the Way a sect while affirming continuity with the Law and Prophets.
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).
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).
G139 can name a sect, school, party, faction, chosen opinion, or destructive heresy. In Acts. 24. 14, Paul acknowledges that opponents call the Way a sect while affirming continuity with the Law and Prophets. In Gal. 5. 20, factions appear among works of the flesh that fracture communal life. In 2Pet. 2. 1, false teachers secretly introduce destructive heresies and deny the Master.
G139 opens teaching on group labels, disputed orthodoxy, factional rivalry, patient examination, harmful doctrine, and accountability for teachers. It does not prove that every minority group is false, make disagreement sinful, or authorize leaders to label critics heretics without evidence. The label therefore requires evidence about teaching, conduct, power, and communal fruit before it becomes a moral verdict.
G139 ranges from a recognizable school, party, or sect to factional division and destructive teaching. Acts often uses it descriptively for Jewish parties or the accused Christian movement, while letters can use it negatively for community-fracturing factions or ruinous doctrines.
I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,
Paul admits that opponents call the Way a sect but grounds his worship and hope in Israel's God, Law, Prophets, resurrection, and clear conscience.
Idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
Factions belong to a cluster of rivalries, divisions, jealousy, and rage opposed to life by the Spirit.
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
False teachers covertly introduce destructive teachings, deny the Master, exploit others, and bring ruin upon themselves.
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. A chosen opinion or doctrine; a sect formed by those holding distinctive beliefs or principles.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea self-chosen opinion, a sect
Read versea 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.
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
αἵρεσις is built from this root:
Labels Christianity as a divisive movement.Acts 24:1-9
Reflects how Christianity was perceived among Jewish communities.Acts 28:17-22
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G139 warns against destructive division without giving the majority automatic possession of truth. In Acts, Sadducees and Pharisees are called parties, Paul recalls belonging to a strict sect, and accusers call the Way a sect. The label alone does not decide whether a group is faithful. Paul answers accusation with publicly examinable claims about Scripture, resurrection, worship, hope, and conscience.
In Galatians, factions sit beside rivalry, jealousy, and rage as works that destroy shared life. First Corinthians acknowledges that differences can reveal what withstands testing, but this is not praise for manufactured conflict. Second Peter focuses on teachers whose covert doctrine denies the Master and whose greed exploits people. Faithful discernment therefore tests both confession and fruit, protects room for principled disagreement, and refuses smear tactics.
A community may name genuinely destructive teaching, but it should state the claim precisely, present evidence, allow response, protect vulnerable people, and avoid using the charge to preserve a leader's power.
Acts.24.14
G139 is a Greek noun whose senses include choice, school, sect, party, faction, and heresy. Context determines whether it neutrally identifies a group, criticizes divisive rivalry, or describes destructive doctrine.
Israel's prophets test leaders and teachings by covenant truth and public fruit, while Jesus and the apostles distinguish necessary truth-telling from status rivalry, exploitation, false witness, and schismatic pride. Jesus' followers were accused as a suspect movement, while apostolic discernment tests confession and fruit without making institutional majority the measure of truth.