To come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)
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ἔρχομαι (erchomai) is a broad motion verb meaning to come, go, arrive, or make one’s way, with direction understood from the speaker’s viewpoint and the scene. Its theological importance comes from who comes, where, and why.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἔρχομαι (G2064) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἔρχομαι (erchomai) is a broad motion verb meaning to come, go, arrive, or make one’s way, with direction understood from the speaker’s viewpoint and the scene. Its theological importance comes from who comes, where, and why.
The BSB source-word alignment has 634 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include came (71), come (53), comes (39), to come (24), will come (22).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:2. Its strongest book concentrations include John (157), Matthew (114), Luke (101), Mark (86).
This entry includes 21 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
ἔρχομαι (erchomai) is a broad motion verb meaning to come, go, arrive, or make one’s way, with direction understood from the speaker’s viewpoint and the scene. Its theological importance comes from who comes, where, and why. John the Baptist announces that the stronger One is coming after him. He later sees Jesus coming and identifies Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin.
Jesus promises to come again and receive His disciples into His presence. Acts declares that the ascended Jesus will return in the same manner in which He was taken into heaven, and Revelation closes with His promise, “I am coming soon,” answered by the church’s prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus. ” The lexeme also describes countless ordinary arrivals, so it does not itself mean incarnation, conversion, judgment, or second coming.
Responsible teaching follows subject, destination, purpose, tense, and literary setting before drawing a doctrine of Christ’s coming.
ἔρχομαι names coming, going, or arriving. The selected passages focus on the promised and identified Messiah, Jesus’ movement toward people, His promised return, and the church’s answering prayer.
And he proclaimed: “After me will come One more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
John defines his ministry in relation to the stronger One who comes after him. The arrival language serves humility and expectation, while Jesus’ identity and authority are developed by the surrounding proclamation and narrative.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
An ordinary visible approach becomes the setting for John’s extraordinary testimony. The motion verb describes Jesus coming toward John; the title and saving claim lie in John’s Spirit-governed witness about the Lamb.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
Jesus joins His going, preparation, return, and reception of the disciples. The promise aims at personal communion with Him, not speculation about heavenly architecture detached from the farewell discourse.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”
The angels direct the disciples away from passive sky-gazing toward the mission Jesus has given. The same ascended Jesus will return, preserving personal identity, bodily hope, and accountable waiting.
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The canon closes with Christ’s promised coming and the church’s answering appeal. Hope takes the form of trust, prayer, holiness, and readiness under the testimony of Revelation.
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. Movement with emphasis on arrival or outcome; distinct from πορεύομαι's focus on the journey itself.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 642 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 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 628 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 631 lexical occurrence verses.
ἔρχομαι is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Identifies Jesus as the expected Messiah.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The Christian hope is not that an abstract event will arrive but that Jesus Himself will come. Mark begins with the stronger One announced by John, and the Fourth Gospel lets John see Jesus walking toward him before naming Him as the Lamb who takes away sin. The motion is ordinary; the Person and testimony make it saving news. In the farewell discourse, Jesus’ departure is not abandonment.
He promises to prepare, return, and receive His disciples so that they may be with Him. Acts guards that hope from escapism. The same Jesus who ascends will come again, but the disciples are first sent as witnesses in the Spirit’s power. Revelation finally turns promise into prayer. Christ says He is coming soon, and the church answers, “Come, Lord Jesus. ” Faithful expectation therefore looks backward to the Lamb’s saving work, upward to the reigning Christ, outward in witness, and forward to His personal return.
The verb alone proves none of this; the passages together declare who is coming and how His people wait.
Rev.22.20
ἔρχομαι is deictic: English may render it “come” or “go” depending on viewpoint, destination, and idiom. Its forms cover ordinary movement and highly significant arrivals. Subject, modifiers, tense, discourse, and destination determine whether a passage concerns present approach, promised return, or routine travel.
The Old Testament speaks of the Lord coming to save, judge, dwell with His people, and establish His reign, while promising a coming Davidic ruler and servant. The New Testament identifies Jesus as the promised One whose first coming accomplishes redemption and whose return completes resurrection and new-creation hope.
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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain