What does ἄκαρπος (ákarpos) mean in the Bible?
Akarpos means unfruitful, barren, or failing to produce the expected result. Jesus says the word becomes unfruitful when the cares of the age and deceitfulness of wealth choke it.
Greek · G175
ἄκαρπος
Barren (literally or figuratively)
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ἄκαρπος G175
Pronunciation ákarpos
What does ἄκαρπος (ákarpos) mean in the Bible?
Akarpos means unfruitful, barren, or failing to produce the expected result. Jesus says the word becomes unfruitful when the cares of the age and deceitfulness of wealth choke it.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἄκαρπος (G175) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G175?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include unfruitful (4), fruitless (2), unproductive (1).
Where does ἄκαρπος (ákarpos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:22. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (1), 2 Peter (1), Ephesians (1), Jude (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Akarpos means unfruitful, barren, or failing to produce the expected result. Jesus says the word becomes unfruitful when the cares of the age and deceitfulness of wealth choke it. Paul tells believers to learn to devote themselves to good works for urgent needs so they will not be unfruitful. Second Peter says growing qualities such as knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, affection, and love keep believers from being ineffective and unfruitful in knowing Christ.
The adjective does not reduce people to productivity or imply that illness, infertility, disability, or hidden seasons are spiritual failure. The passages identify specific expected fruit: persevering reception of the word, practical good, and maturing knowledge of Jesus.
How the Bible Uses It
Akarpos describes failure to bear the fruit a passage expects. Anxiety and wealth can choke the word, neglected good works leave needs unmet, and absent growth produces ineffective knowledge. Fruitfulness is Christ-shaped life, not constant visible output.
- Titus.3.14
And our people must also learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet the pressing needs of others, so that they will not be unfruitful.
Titus 3:14 says believers must learn to devote themselves to good works for urgent needs so they will not be unfruitful. Fruit is practical, learned service that meets real necessity.
- Matt.13.22
The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Matthew 13:22 says the seed among thorns hears the word, but worldly care and wealth's deceit choke it and make it unfruitful. Competing loves prevent persevering yield.
- 2Pet.1.8
For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Second Peter 1:8 says possessing and increasing the listed virtues keeps believers from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Growth, not instant perfection, is the emphasis.
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 unfruitful 4× Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19, 1 Corinthians 14:14, Titus 3:14
fruitless 2× Ephesians 5:11, Jude 1:12
unproductive 1× 2 Peter 1:8
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 13:22 ἄκαρπος to unfruitful Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Mark 4:19 ἄκαρπος to unfruitful Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 1 Corinthians 14:14 ἄκαρπός to unfruitful Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Ephesians 5:11 ἀκάρποις to fruitless Adjective - Dative Neuter Plural Titus 3:14 ἄκαρποι to unfruitful Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 2 Peter 1:8 ἀκάρπους to unproductive Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural Jude 1:12 ἄκαρπα to fruitless Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 13:22
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 7
Matthew 1 Mark 1 1 Corinthians 1 Ephesians 1 Titus 1 2 Peter 1 Jude 1
Source forms
ἄκαρπος 2x akarpos Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19
ἄκαρπα 1x akarpa Jude 1:12
ἄκαρποι 1x akarpoi Titus 3:14
ἀκάρποις 1x akarpois Ephesians 5:11
ἄκαρπός 1x akarpos 1 Corinthians 14:14
ἀκάρπους 1x akarpous 2 Peter 1:8
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 3x Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19, 1 Corinthians 14:14
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural 1x 2 Peter 1:8
Adjective - Dative Neuter Plural 1x Ephesians 5:11
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Titus 3:14
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural 1x Jude 1:12
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not label disability, infertility, illness, unemployment, hidden service, or slow growth as spiritual unfruitfulness.
- Do not measure fruit only by numbers, visibility, income, institutional expansion, or constant activity.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not label disability, infertility, illness, unemployment, hidden service, or slow growth as spiritual unfruitfulness.
- Do not measure fruit only by numbers, visibility, income, institutional expansion, or constant activity.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Unproductive spiritual state: lacking results or benefit in Christian life and witness
Strong's G175
Lexical occurrences 7 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 5 forms 7 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Titus 3:12-15 Source Gloss
barren (literally or figuratively)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 13:22 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἄκαρπος akarpov
unfruitful, barren
Read verse Mark 4:19 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἄκαρπος akarpov
unfruitful, barren
Read verse 1 Corinthians 14:14 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἄκαρπός akarpov
unfruitful, barren
Read verse Ephesians 5:11 Adjective Dative Plural Neuter
ἀκάρποις akarpoiv
unfruitful, barren
Read verse Titus 3:14 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ἄκαρποι. akarpoi
unfruitful, barren
Read verse 2 Peter 1:8 Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ἀκάρπους akarpouv
unfruitful, barren
Read verse Jude 1:12 Adjective Nominative Plural Neuter
ἄκαρπα, akarpa
unfruitful, barren
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 7 Case pattern Nominative (5) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 13:22 · Mark 4:19 · 1 Cor 14:14 3×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Titus 3:14 1×
Nominative · Plural · Neuter Jude 1:12 1×
Dative · Plural · Neuter Eph 5:11 1×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine 2 Pet 1:8 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
Lacking productive outcome.
Showing 1 selected witness from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἄκαρπος is built from these roots:
Why This Word Matters
Fruitfulness is the expected evidence of salvation; persistent barrenness contradicts the purpose of grace. Titus 3:12-15
Canonical Themes
For the Preacher and Teacher
Akarpos is a warning about failed spiritual outcome, not a verdict on human worth. In Jesus' parable, the word is genuinely heard but crowded out by anxiety and wealth's false promises. Titus directs believers toward learned good works that meet urgent needs, while Second Peter describes virtues that increase and make knowledge of Christ active rather than empty.
None of these texts authorizes a church to treat sick, disabled, infertile, elderly, grieving, or less-visible people as barren. Fruit belongs to God's word and grace working through perseverance, love, character, and service. Some fruit grows slowly or beyond public view. Pastoral care should remove thorns, support faithful practices, and recognize genuine growth without turning disciples into production units.
Anchor passage
Matt.13.22
Doctrinal connections
- Word and response: hearing must persevere beyond the choking pressures of anxiety and wealth.
- Idolatry: wealth deceives by promising security and significance it cannot provide.
- Sanctification: Christian virtues are to be possessed and increasing over time.
- Knowledge of Christ: true knowledge becomes effective through transformed character.
- Good works: grace trains believers to meet urgent and practical needs.
- Human dignity: fruitfulness never establishes a person's worth, which rests in bearing God's image and belonging to Christ.
Akarpos combines alpha privative with karpos, "fruit," and means without fruit, unproductive, or ineffective. The expected fruit may be literal or metaphorical and must be identified from context.
From Old to New Testament
Prophets and wisdom use fruitful and barren imagery for covenant response, justice, and blessing, while the Psalms picture the righteous as trees bearing fruit in season. The timing and source remain God's.
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