What does εὐάρεστος (euárestos) mean in the Bible?
Εὐάρεστος means pleasing or acceptable, especially what is pleasing to God. Paul makes this approval a governing aim of embodied discipleship.
Greek · G2101
εὐάρεστος
Fully agreeable
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εὐάρεστος G2101
Pronunciation euárestos
What does εὐάρεστος (euárestos) mean in the Bible?
Εὐάρεστος means pleasing or acceptable, especially what is pleasing to God. Paul makes this approval a governing aim of embodied discipleship.
Reader summary
Full entry for εὐάρεστος (G2101) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2101?
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include pleasing (3), well-pleasing (2), [and] pleasing (1), [is] pleasing (1), please (1).
Where does εὐάρεστος (euárestos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 12:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (3), 2 Corinthians (1), Colossians (1), Ephesians (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Εὐάρεστος means pleasing or acceptable, especially what is pleasing to God. Paul makes this approval a governing aim of embodied discipleship. In 2 Corinthians 5, whether living in the present body or awaiting resurrection life, believers aspire to please Christ because all will appear before His judgment seat. Ephesians 5 calls children of light to discern what pleases the Lord rather than simply copy surrounding darkness.
Colossians 3 identifies children's obedience to parents as pleasing in the Lord within a household code that also commands fathers not to embitter them. The adjective does not teach salvation by pleasing performance or grant human authorities unlimited power. Grace places believers in Christ and trains them to seek the Lord's approval in concrete obedience.
How the Bible Uses It
Paul uses εὐάρεστος for conduct acceptable to the Lord. Pleasing God is a grace-shaped ambition tested through discernment, embodied obedience, and accountability to Christ.
- 2Cor.5.9
So we aspire to please Him, whether we are at home in this body or away from it.
Paul's ambition to please Christ rests within resurrection hope and accountability before Christ's judgment seat, not anxiety about earning union with Him.
- Col.3.20
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Children's obedience is pleasing in the Lord, a qualification that places family authority under Christ and alongside the father's duty not to provoke.
- Eph.5.10
Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
Believers actively test what pleases the Lord as they walk as children of light and expose the fruitless works of darkness.
Book contextPassage context
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 pleasing 3× Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:20, Hebrews 13:21
well-pleasing 2× Philippians 4:18, Titus 2:9
[and] pleasing 1× Romans 12:1
[is] pleasing 1× Romans 14:18
please 1× 2 Corinthians 5:9
pleases 1× Ephesians 5:10
Show sample aligned rows
Romans 12:1 εὐάρεστον to [and] pleasing Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular Romans 12:2 εὐάρεστον to pleasing Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular Romans 14:18 εὐάρεστος to [is] pleasing Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 2 Corinthians 5:9 εὐάρεστοι to please Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural Ephesians 5:10 εὐάρεστον to pleases Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular Philippians 4:18 εὐάρεστον to well-pleasing Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular Colossians 3:20 εὐάρεστόν to pleasing Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular Titus 2:9 εὐαρέστους to well-pleasing Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural Hebrews 13:21 εὐάρεστον to pleasing Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Romans 12:1
Aligned rows 9
Books represented 7
Romans 3 2 Corinthians 1 Ephesians 1 Philippians 1 Colossians 1 Titus 1 Hebrews 1
Source forms
εὐάρεστον 5x euareston Romans 12:1, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:10, Philippians 4:18
εὐάρεστοι 1x euarestoi 2 Corinthians 5:9
εὐάρεστόν 1x euareston Colossians 3:20
εὐάρεστος 1x euarestos Romans 14:18
εὐαρέστους 1x euarestous Titus 2:9
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 3x Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:10, Colossians 3:20
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular 2x Romans 12:1, Philippians 4:18
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural 1x Titus 2:9
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular 1x Hebrews 13:21
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x 2 Corinthians 5:9
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Romans 14:18
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Keep God's scriptural commands, not another person's preferences, as the measure of what is pleasing to the Lord.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that εὐάρεστος teaches acceptance with God earned by moral performance; Paul's ethical summons addresses people who belong to Christ.
- Do not use pleasing-the-Lord language to make parental, pastoral, or institutional authority absolute.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Morally pleasing to God or authorities; behavior that demonstrates alignment with divine or moral standards.
Strong's G2101
Lexical occurrences 9 verses Greek text appearances 9 times Word forms 6 forms 9 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Romans 12:2 Source Gloss
fully agreeable
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Morally pleasing to God or authorities; behavior that demonstrates alignment with divine or moral standards.
well-pleasing, acceptable: Rom.12:2; with dative of person(s), Rom.12:1 14:16, 2Co.5:9, Eph.5:10, Php.4:18; id. before ἐν, Tit.2:9 (κυρίῳ), Col.3:20; ἐνώπιον, Heb.13:21 (for ex. in Inser., see Deiss., BS, 215).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 12:1 Adjective Accusative Singular Feminine
εὐάρεστον euareston
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Romans 12:2 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
εὐάρεστον euareston
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Romans 14:18 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
εὐάρεστος euarestov
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse 2 Corinthians 5:9 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
εὐάρεστοι euarestoi
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Ephesians 5:10 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
εὐάρεστον euareston
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Philippians 4:18 Adjective Accusative Singular Feminine
εὐάρεστον euareston
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Colossians 3:20 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
εὐάρεστον euareston
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Titus 2:9 Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
εὐαρέστους euarestouv
acceptable, well-pleasing
Read verse Hebrews 13:21 Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
εὐάρεστον euareston
acceptable, well-pleasing
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 6 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 6 Aligned forms 9 Case pattern Nominative (5) Number pattern Singular (7)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Neuter Rom 12:2 · Eph 5:10 · Col 3:20 3×
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Rom 14:18 1×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine 2 Cor 5:9 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Rom 12:1 · Phil 4:18 2×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine Titus 2:9 1×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter Heb 13:21 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
God's will that is good, pleasing, and perfect for believers
striving to be well-pleasing to Christ in all circumstances
learning what is acceptable to the Lord through spiritual discernment
a fragrant offering acceptable and well-pleasing to God
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
εὐάρεστος is built from these roots:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
The desire to please God can be distorted into anxious performance, yet Paul treats it as a proper Christian ambition. Second Corinthians 5 grounds that ambition in Christ's death, resurrection hope, and coming evaluation. Ephesians 5 expects believers to learn and test what pleases the Lord as those already made light in Him. Colossians 3 applies the principle within family life while keeping every household member under the Lord's commands.
This order matters. Believers do not obey in order to become loved sons and daughters; in Christ they seek the Father's pleasure and the Lord's approval. Nor may a parent, pastor, or institution claim that pleasing them is automatically pleasing God. Scripture supplies the test. Faithful teaching will join assurance and accountability, grace and effort, inward motive and outward conduct, directing conscience toward Christ rather than toward human applause.
Anchor passage
2Cor.5.9
Doctrinal connections
- 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, resurrection hope and the ambition to please Christ
- Ephesians 5:1-17, walking in love and light while discerning God's pleasure
- Colossians 3:18-4:1, household obedience under the Lord
- Micah 6:6-8, what the Lord requires rather than performative religion
- Psalm 19:12-14, words and meditation acceptable before God
- Romans 12:1-2, living sacrifice and discerning God's good and pleasing will
Εὐάρεστος is an adjective formed from well and pleasing. It may modify a sacrifice, conduct, or person as acceptable to God. The dative or surrounding reference typically identifies the one pleased, which is crucial when distinguishing God's approval from people-pleasing.
From Old to New Testament
The sacrifices and lives acceptable to God are defined by covenant faithfulness rather than display. Christ perfectly pleases the Father and offers Himself for His people. United to Him, believers present embodied lives and spiritual sacrifices acceptable through grace.
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