Impure (ceremonially, morally (lewd) or specially, (demonic))
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Ἀκάθαρτος means unclean, impure, or not fit for a sacred sphere. The Gospels most often use it for demonic spirits whose presence oppresses people, and Jesus gives His disciples authority to drive them out while healing sickness.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀκάθαρτος (G169) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἀκάθαρτος means unclean, impure, or not fit for a sacred sphere. The Gospels most often use it for demonic spirits whose presence oppresses people, and Jesus gives His disciples authority to drive them out while healing sickness.
The BSB source-word alignment has 32 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include unclean (21), an unclean (4), - (1), [an] unclean (1), {you} unclean (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 10:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (11), Luke (6), Acts (5), Revelation (5).
Ἀκάθαρτος means unclean, impure, or not fit for a sacred sphere. The Gospels most often use it for demonic spirits whose presence oppresses people, and Jesus gives His disciples authority to drive them out while healing sickness. Acts records Peter's decisive correction: God has shown him not to call any human being common or unclean, preparing table fellowship and gospel welcome among Gentiles.
Revelation uses uncleanness within Babylon's demonic and detestable imagery. The adjective can mark ritual status, moral pollution, forbidden creatures, or hostile spirits, but it must never become a verdict on a person's inherent worth. Agent, object, covenant setting, and God's cleansing action determine the category and its resolution.
Ἀκάθαρτος marks uncleanness in ritual, moral, creaturely, or demonic settings. Jesus defeats unclean spirits, and God forbids Peter from applying the label to people He welcomes.
And calling His twelve disciples to Him, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and sickness.
Jesus delegates authority over unclean spirits alongside healing, making deliverance part of His compassionate mission rather than entertainment or fear-driven spectacle.
As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, He was met by a man with an unclean spirit, who was coming from the tombs.
The man among the tombs is oppressed by an unclean spirit, yet Jesus addresses and restores the person rather than identifying the man himself with the oppressor.
They had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those troubled by unclean spirits were healed.
Crowds come to hear Jesus and be healed, and those troubled by unclean spirits receive deliverance under His authority.
He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
Peter explicitly learns not to call any person common or unclean, so the vision's food imagery serves God's welcome of Gentile people and table fellowship.
And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
Fallen Babylon becomes a dwelling for unclean spirits and detestable creatures, portraying corrupt imperial society under demonic desolation.
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. Unclean spanning ceremonial impurity, moral corruption, and demonic possession—Judaism's ritual purity framework applied theologically.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 30 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
unclean, impure
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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 10 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 32 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀκάθαρτος is built from these roots:
Highlights the moral corruption opposed to Christ’s holiness.Mark 1:21–28
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Uncleanness language draws boundaries, so its biblical use requires unusual care. In the Gospels, unclean spirits oppress human beings whom Jesus restores; the sufferer must not be collapsed into the spirit. Acts 10 then makes the human application explicit: Peter may not call any person unclean when God grants Gentiles welcome and the Spirit. Revelation still uses impurity imagery for Babylon's demonic corruption, showing that moral and spiritual categories remain real.
The gospel neither abolishes holiness nor permits dehumanization. Churches should resist evil, pursue cleansing in Christ, welcome people across ethnic and social boundaries, protect those experiencing distress, and avoid speculative diagnoses that shame vulnerable people or substitute labels for patient care.
Matt.10.1
Ἀκάθαρτος negates καθαρός, clean or pure. It may describe spirits, foods, animals, actions, or conditions, and the relevant purity system or moral context supplies its force.
Israel's purity laws teach holy distinction and access to worship, while prophets expose moral pollution. Jesus cleanses and the Spirit marks Gentile believers as welcomed by God.