"Good" (in any sense, often as noun)
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Agathos names what is good, sound, morally fitting, beneficial, and worthy in the sight of God. It can describe a good tree, a good gift, a good person like Barnabas, good works prepared by God, or the good purpose toward which God works all things for those who love Him.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀγαθός (G18) · Open the biblical lexicon
Agathos names what is good, sound, morally fitting, beneficial, and worthy in the sight of God. It can describe a good tree, a good gift, a good person like Barnabas, good works prepared by God, or the good purpose toward which God works all things for those who love Him.
The BSB source-word alignment has 101 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include good (64), good things (6), a good (4), [the] good (3), a clear (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:45. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (21), Luke (16), Matthew (16), 1 Peter (7).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Agathos names what is good, sound, morally fitting, beneficial, and worthy in the sight of God. It can describe a good tree, a good gift, a good person like Barnabas, good works prepared by God, or the good purpose toward which God works all things for those who love Him. The word is not merely pleasant or useful. In the New Testament it keeps asking where goodness comes from, what goodness produces, and how goodness is recognized.
Jesus roots all true goodness in God Himself, while the apostles show that redeemed people bear good fruit because grace has made them new. Agathos therefore helps readers distinguish moral beauty, useful benefit, and divine purpose without reducing goodness to comfort, public approval, or religious performance.
Agathos gathers moral excellence, beneficial purpose, and fitting fruit under the larger truth that God is the source and measure of what is truly good.
That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Jesus says the Father gives sun and rain to the evil and the good, so agathos can mark moral distinction while also exposing God's generous kindness to both.
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
The good tree image ties agathos to fruit, showing that goodness is not a label only but a life that produces what matches its nature.
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
Nathanael's question about Nazareth uses agathos inside skepticism, and Philip answers by inviting him to see Christ rather than argue from reputation.
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Barnabas is called a good man because his character is joined with fullness of the Holy Spirit, faith, and fruitful encouragement in the church.
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
Paul locates the good in God's purpose for those who love Him, not in the immediate pleasantness of every circumstance.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
Good works are prepared by God for those created in Christ Jesus, placing agathos within grace and new creation rather than merit.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
James traces every good and perfect gift to the Father, so agathos becomes a word of worship and dependence rather than self-credit.
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. Good as inner moral excellence and actual benefit to others, contrasting with merely outward appearance.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 102 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
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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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 101 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀγαθός is a primary word - no further derivation.
Defines moral action consistent with God’s covenant intent.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The core insight of agathos is that biblical goodness is both Godward and fruitful. The word does not allow goodness to float as a vague moral preference, and it does not let believers define good by what feels beneficial in the moment. The Father is good and gives good gifts. A good tree bears good fruit. A good servant or witness shows a life shaped by faith and the Spirit.
Good works belong to the new creation because God prepared them beforehand. Romans 8:28 guards the deepest pastoral use: the good God works is not the removal of every pain but the fulfillment of His saving purpose in Christ. Agathos therefore teaches readers to receive goodness from God, discern it by fruit, and practice it as grace-formed obedience.
Romans.8.28
Agathos is an adjective that can describe people, actions, fruit, gifts, and divine purpose. Its range includes moral quality and beneficial fittingness, so context must decide whether the emphasis is character, usefulness, outcome, or God's own goodness.
The Old Testament repeatedly locates goodness in the Lord, His gifts, His law, and His steadfast purpose. The New Testament continues that pattern by showing goodness embodied in Christ, produced by the Spirit, and practiced as grace-formed obedience.
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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain