What does εὐδοκία (eudokía) mean in the Bible?
Εὐδοκία names good pleasure, favorable intention, goodwill, or a desire judged good. Paul uses it for both divine and human intention.
Greek · G2107
εὐδοκία
Goodwill
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εὐδοκία G2107
Pronunciation eudokía
What does εὐδοκία (eudokía) mean in the Bible?
Εὐδοκία names good pleasure, favorable intention, goodwill, or a desire judged good. Paul uses it for both divine and human intention.
Reader summary
Full entry for εὐδοκία (G2107) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2107?
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include desire (2), good pleasure (2), well-pleasing (2), good purpose (1), goodwill (1).
Where does εὐδοκία (eudokía) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:26. Its strongest book concentrations include Ephesians (2), Luke (2), Philippians (2), 2 Thessalonians (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Εὐδοκία names good pleasure, favorable intention, goodwill, or a desire judged good. Paul uses it for both divine and human intention. Ephesians 1 locates adoption through Jesus Christ in the good pleasure of God's will, grounding salvation in His gracious purpose. Second Thessalonians 1 asks God to fulfill every good desire and work of faith by His power so that Christ is glorified in His people.
Philippians 1 contrasts preachers driven by envy with those who proclaim Christ from goodwill and love. The noun does not make every sincere desire righteous, nor does God's good pleasure disclose every secret detail of His will. Context tests human motives and reveals the saving purpose God has made known in Christ.
How the Bible Uses It
Paul uses εὐδοκία for gracious divine pleasure and morally good human intention. God's saving will grounds adoption, while human goodwill must bear faithful fruit by His power.
- 2Thess.1.11
To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith,
Paul prays that God will bring good resolve and faith-produced work to completion by power, locating faithful desire within divine enablement.
- Eph.1.5
He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Adoption through Christ flows from the good pleasure of God's will and leads to praise of His glorious grace.
- Php.1.15
It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
Goodwill describes a loving motive for preaching Christ, in contrast to envy and rivalry even when the same Christ is verbally proclaimed.
Passage contextBook 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 desire 2× Romans 10:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:11
good pleasure 2× Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9
well-pleasing 2× Matthew 11:26, Luke 10:21
good purpose 1× Philippians 2:13
goodwill 1× Philippians 1:15
on whom His favor rests 1× Luke 2:14
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 11:26 εὐδοκία to well-pleasing Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Luke 2:14 εὐδοκίας to on whom His favor rests Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Luke 10:21 εὐδοκία to well-pleasing Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Romans 10:1 εὐδοκία to desire Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Ephesians 1:5 εὐδοκίαν to good pleasure Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Ephesians 1:9 εὐδοκίαν to good pleasure Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Philippians 1:15 εὐδοκίαν to goodwill Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Philippians 2:13 εὐδοκίας to good purpose Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 2 Thessalonians 1:11 εὐδοκίαν to desire Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:26
Aligned rows 9
Books represented 6
Matthew 1 Luke 2 Romans 1 Ephesians 2 Philippians 2 2 Thessalonians 1
Source forms
εὐδοκίαν 4x eudokian Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9, Philippians 1:15, 2 Thessalonians 1:11
εὐδοκία 3x eudokia Matthew 11:26, Luke 10:21, Romans 10:1
εὐδοκίας 2x eudokias Luke 2:14, Philippians 2:13
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 4x Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9, Philippians 1:15, 2 Thessalonians 1:11
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 3x Matthew 11:26, Luke 10:21, Romans 10:1
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 2x Luke 2:14, Philippians 2:13
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- When speaking of goodwill, identify whose intention is meant and how the passage evaluates its content and fruit.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not use God's εὐδοκία to claim knowledge of secret providential details not revealed in the passage.
- Do not assume a preacher's sincere or positive intention makes the ministry faithful; Philippians 1 tests motive alongside the message.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. God's sovereign pleasure and delight in choosing or approving, not mere human preference or satisfaction.
Strong's G2107
Lexical occurrences 9 verses Greek text appearances 9 times Word forms 3 forms 9 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 10:1-24 Source Gloss
goodwill
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.
Matthew 11:26 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκία eudokia
good-will, favor
Read verse Luke 2:14 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκία. eudokia
good-will, favor
Read verse Luke 10:21 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκία eudokia
good-will, favor
Read verse Romans 10:1 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκία eudokia
good-will, favor
Read verse Ephesians 1:5 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκίαν eudokian
good-will, favor
Read verse Ephesians 1:9 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκίαν eudokian
good-will, favor
Read verse Philippians 1:15 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκίαν eudokian
good-will, favor
Read verse Philippians 2:13 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
εὐδοκίας. eudokiav
good-will, favor
Read verse 2 Thessalonians 1:11 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
εὐδοκίαν eudokian
good-will, favor
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 3 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 3 Aligned forms 9 Case pattern Accusative (4) Number pattern Singular (9)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Matt 11:26 · Luke 10:21 · Rom 10:1 3×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Luke 2:14 · Phil 2:13 2×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Eph 1:5 · Eph 1:9 · Phil 1:15 · 2 Thess 1:11 4×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
God's intentional will or purpose in revealing hidden things to the humble
God's sovereign will and purpose in predestination and adoption through Christ
God's deliberate purpose or counsel regarding redemption and the fullness of times
Divine approval and goodwill bestowed upon those who are good
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
εὐδοκία 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
Good pleasure is not arbitrary mood. Ephesians 1 places God's εὐδοκία within His deliberate grace, adoption through Christ, redemption, and the praise of His glory. That revealed purpose gives believers assurance without inviting speculation about everything God has not disclosed. Second Thessalonians 1 shows that human good resolve still needs God's power to become a work of faith worthy of the calling.
Philippians 1 adds moral discernment: two people may say the same gospel words while one acts from goodwill and another from rivalry. Teachers should therefore avoid both cynicism and naivety about motives. We receive God's gracious intention with worship, pray for good desires to mature into faithful deeds, and examine ministry motives under love and truth.
Human goodwill is not saving grace, but grace renews intention so that Christ may be glorified in the lives of His people.
Anchor passage
2Thess.1.11
Doctrinal connections
- Ephesians 1:3-14, God's pleasure, adoption, redemption, and praise
- 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12, calling, good resolve, power, and Christ's glory
- Philippians 1:12-18, rival and loving motives in preaching
- Isaiah 53:10-12, the Lord's saving pleasure prospering through the Servant
- Psalm 40:6-8, delight in doing God's will
- Luke 2:14, divine favor and peace announced at Christ's birth
Εὐδοκία is related to εὐδοκέω and combines the sense of good with pleasure or approval. It can refer to God's favorable purpose, human goodwill, or good desire. The possessor and surrounding action identify whose intention is in view.
From Old to New Testament
The Lord delights to accomplish His saving will through the Servant and forms obedient delight in His people. In Christ, God's gracious pleasure secures adoption, and the Spirit renews human intentions toward love, faith, and good works.
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