Eidos names an appearance or form, with a use for kind or sort in the instruction to abstain from every form of evil. Luke describes the Spirit descending in bodily form like a dove and the changed appearance of Jesus' face during prayer on the mountain.
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Reader summary
Full entry for εἶδος (G1491) · Open the biblical lexicon
Eidos names an appearance or form, with a use for kind or sort in the instruction to abstain from every form of evil. Luke describes the Spirit descending in bodily form like a dove and the changed appearance of Jesus' face during prayer on the mountain.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include form (3), appearance (1), sight (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 3:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), 1 Thessalonians (1), 2 Corinthians (1), John (1).
Eidos names an appearance or form, with a use for kind or sort in the instruction to abstain from every form of evil. Luke describes the Spirit descending in bodily form like a dove and the changed appearance of Jesus' face during prayer on the mountain. John places the Father's unseen form within Jesus' argument about testimony and His hearers' failure to receive the One sent to them.
Paul contrasts walking by faith with sight while speaking about present bodily life and future life with the Lord. These passages do not make visibility unreliable in every setting or turn a noun into a complete explanation of God's nature. First Thessalonians joins avoidance of evil to testing and holding what is good. A suspicious appearance alone cannot replace the careful discernment that the surrounding instructions require.
Five direct BSB witnesses concern the baptism scene, Jesus' changed appearance, the Father's testimony, faith during present bodily life and avoidance of evil. Visible form and moral kind must retain their distinct contexts.
And the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Luke reports the Spirit's descent in bodily form like a dove while the heavenly voice identifies Jesus as the beloved Son.
And as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became radiantly white.
The change in Jesus' face occurs while He prays, within the glory scene whose voice tells the disciples to listen to Him.
And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form,
Jesus addresses hearers who have not received the Father's testimony or the One He sent; their particular response remains part of the argument.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Walking by faith belongs to Paul's confidence about present embodied life and being with the Lord, not a command to ignore available evidence.
Abstain from every form of evil.
Avoiding every form of evil follows testing all things and holding what is good, so mere suspicion cannot substitute for discernment.
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. appearance
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
visible form, shape, appearance, kind
Read versevisible form, shape, appearance, kind
Read versevisible form, shape, appearance, kind
Read versevisible form, shape, appearance, kind
Read versevisible form, shape, appearance, kind
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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
εἶδος is built from this root:
First Thessalonians does not isolate the avoidance of evil from the work of discernment. The community is told not to despise prophecies, to test all things and to hold what is good. Eidos contributes the breadth of the refusal of evil without turning public suspicion into proof. Second Corinthians adds a different contrast: present life is lived in faith while believers await being with the Lord.
Paul still speaks about what is done in the body and the aim of pleasing Christ. Luke's baptism and mountain scenes likewise give visible events a place within testimony about Jesus. Teaching the noun should therefore resist both gullibility and a rejection of evidence. Ask what has been witnessed, what the passage actually affirms and how the community can discern good faithfully without treating unfamiliar people as morally suspect.
1Thess.5.22
Eidos is a neuter noun whose case forms fit the described appearance, sight or kind. Shared spelling across these passages does not erase their different objects or turn physical appearance into a moral classification.
Deuteronomy 4:9-20 remembers a voice heard at Horeb without a form seen and warns against making an idol. First Samuel 16:6-13 also shows the limits of judging by outward appearance. These supporting settings do not replace John's argument or add occurrences to the five Greek noun witnesses.