To confute, admonish
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Elencho can mean expose, convict, reprove, rebuke, or refute. The shared movement is bringing what is wrong, false, or hidden into the light so that truth is established and an appropriate response follows.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐλέγχω (G1651) · Open the biblical lexicon
Elencho can mean expose, convict, reprove, rebuke, or refute. The shared movement is bringing what is wrong, false, or hidden into the light so that truth is established and an appropriate response follows.
The BSB source-word alignment has 17 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include rebuke (2), [and] are convicted (1), [and] confront (1), can prove Me guilty (1), expose [them] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 18:15. Its strongest book concentrations include John (3), Titus (3), Ephesians (2), 1 Corinthians (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Elencho can mean expose, convict, reprove, rebuke, or refute. The shared movement is bringing what is wrong, false, or hidden into the light so that truth is established and an appropriate response follows. John uses the verb for evil deeds exposed by the light and for the Spirit’s conviction of the world. The Pastoral Epistles use it for public rebuke of persistent sin, patient reproof in preaching, refutation of contradiction, and stern correction aimed at sound faith.
The word does not authorize irritation, humiliation, or indiscriminate confrontation. Its object, evidence, setting, manner, and restorative purpose must be read from the passage. Faithful correction serves truth, protects the church, calls for repentance, and remains governed by patience, instruction, justice, and the hope of spiritual health.
Elencho brings wrongdoing, falsehood, or contradiction into the light through exposure, conviction, reproof, rebuke, or refutation. Context determines the agent, manner, and restorative aim.
Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Exposure belongs to John’s contrast between hiding from the light and coming to the light. The verb reveals deeds rather than authorizing human suspicion.
And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
Jesus attributes conviction of the world to the coming Spirit. The following verses define the threefold concern.
But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.
Public rebuke follows the passage’s evidence protections and concerns persistence in sin. The stated aim includes warning the church.
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.
Reproof belongs with proclamation, rebuke, encouragement, patience, and instruction. The charge rejects both silence and harsh impatience.
He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.
An overseer’s ability to refute contradiction grows from holding the faithful word and encouraging through sound teaching.
This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sternly, so that they will be sound in the faith
The stern rebuke has a stated restorative aim: soundness in the faith. Severity is bounded by truth and spiritual health.
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. Rebuke that brings conviction by exposing fault, not mere surface reproval without moral effect.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 17 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
Read verseI rebuke, expose
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 16 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 17 lexical occurrence verses.
ἐλέγχω is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Describes judicial exposure of unbelief.1 Timothy 5:17-25
Describes the Spirit’s role in exposing unbelief.John 16:1–15
Public sin in leadership requires visible correction for the church’s protection.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Elencho joins truth to responsible exposure. In John 3, evil avoids the light because exposure reveals deeds; the passage does not invite speculative accusation. In John 16, Jesus promises the Spirit’s conviction concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, so human teachers must not claim the Spirit’s unique work as their own power. First Timothy 5 requires evidence protections before public rebuke of persistent sin.
Second Timothy 4 places reproof beside preaching, encouragement, patience, and instruction. Titus 1 requires an overseer to hold the faithful word so that refutation arises from sound teaching, and even stern rebuke aims at soundness in faith. Biblical correction is therefore neither cowardly silence nor uncontrolled severity. It names real wrong through God’s truth, uses a fitting setting and manner, protects the vulnerable, and seeks repentance, health, and fidelity to Christ.
2Tim.4.2
Elencho can focus on exposing, convincing, correcting, rebuking, or refuting. The direct object, agent, evidence, and discourse decide the emphasis. The local Greek artifact currently groups about 17 occurrences. Related verbs for warning, admonishing, and rebuking should not be treated as exact synonyms.
Prophets, wisdom teachers, and covenant leaders expose sin by God’s word, while the law also requires truthful witnesses and just procedure. The New Testament places correction under Christ’s lordship, the Spirit’s convicting work, apostolic truth, and the goal of a healthy church. Elencho serves that ministry without replacing pastoral judgment.