What does ἀληθής (alēthḗs) mean in the Bible?
Ἀληθής (alēthḗs) means true, truthful, genuine, or reliable. Jesus' opponents flatter Him as truthful even while plotting to trap Him, so a true statement can be spoken with a false motive.
Greek · G227
ἀληθής
True (as not concealing)
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ἀληθής G227
Pronunciation alēthḗs
What does ἀληθής (alēthḗs) mean in the Bible?
Ἀληθής (alēthḗs) means true, truthful, genuine, or reliable. Jesus' opponents flatter Him as truthful even while plotting to trap Him, so a true statement can be spoken with a false motive.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀληθής (G227) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G227?
The BSB source-word alignment has 26 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include true (9), valid (5), real (3), honest (2), truthful (2).
Where does ἀληθής (alēthḗs) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 22:16. Its strongest book concentrations include John (14), 1 John (2), 1 Peter (1), 2 Corinthians (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Ἀληθής (alēthḗs) means true, truthful, genuine, or reliable. Jesus' opponents flatter Him as truthful even while plotting to trap Him, so a true statement can be spoken with a false motive. In John 6, Jesus calls His flesh true food and His blood true drink, identifying the reality and sufficiency of the life He gives rather than inviting crude materialism. People later confess that everything John said about Jesus proved true.
Paul directs believers' sustained thought toward whatever is true, and Third John commends Demetrius through corroborating testimony that is true. The adjective may describe a person, teaching, provision, report, object of reflection, or witness. Truthfulness depends on correspondence to reality and reliability, not on the speaker's sincerity alone or the rhetorical force of a claim.
How the Bible Uses It
Ἀληθής describes what is true or reliable: Jesus' character despite insincere praise, the genuine life He gives, John's accurate witness, truth worthy of disciplined thought, and corroborated testimony about Demetrius.
- Matt.22.16
They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance.
The delegation accurately calls Jesus truthful and impartial, but the surrounding plot shows that speakers may weaponize true praise through dishonest intent.
- John.6.55
For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.
Jesus identifies His flesh as true food and His blood as true drink within a discourse that locates eternal life in receiving and abiding in Him.
- John.10.41
Many came to Him and said, “Although John never performed a sign, everything he said about this man was true.”
People recognize that John's signless ministry nevertheless gave a wholly true witness about Jesus, measuring prophetic faithfulness by accurate testimony rather than spectacle.
- Phil.4.8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.
Paul places whatever is true first in a disciplined catalogue for Christian thought, joining truth to honor, justice, purity, loveliness, and commendable excellence.
- 3John.1.12
Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.
Demetrius receives converging testimony from the community, the truth itself, and the elder, whose readers know his witness is reliable.
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 true 9× John 10:41, John 21:24, Romans 3:4, Philippians 4:8
valid 5× John 5:31, John 5:32, John 8:13, John 8:14
real 3× John 6:55, Acts 12:9
honest 2× Matthew 22:16, Mark 12:14
truthful 2× John 3:33, John 8:26
[the] true 1× 1 Peter 5:12
[the] truth 1× John 19:35
a man of truth 1× John 7:18
genuine 1× 2 Corinthians 6:8
truthfully 1× John 4:18
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 22:16 ἀληθὴς to honest Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Mark 12:14 ἀληθὴς to honest Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular John 3:33 ἀληθής to truthful Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular John 4:18 ἀληθὲς to truthfully Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular John 5:31 ἀληθής to valid Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular John 5:32 ἀληθής to valid Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular John 6:55 ἀληθής to real Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular John 6:55 ἀληθής to real Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular John 7:18 ἀληθής to a man of truth Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular John 8:13 ἀληθής to valid Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 22:16
Aligned rows 26
Books represented 12
Matthew 1 Mark 1 John 14 Acts 1 Romans 1 2 Corinthians 1 Philippians 1 Titus 1 1 Peter 1 2 Peter 1 1 John 2 3 John 1
Source forms
ἀληθής 13x alēthēs John 3:33, John 5:31, John 5:32, John 6:55
ἀληθῆ 4x alēthē John 10:41, John 19:35, Philippians 4:8, 1 Peter 5:12
ἀληθὴς 3x alēthēs Matthew 22:16, Mark 12:14, John 21:24
ἀληθές 2x alēthes Acts 12:9, 1 John 2:27
ἀληθὲς 2x alēthes John 4:18, 1 John 2:8
ἀληθεῖς 1x alētheis 2 Corinthians 6:8
ἀληθοῦς 1x alēthous 2 Peter 2:22
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular 10x John 5:31, John 5:32, John 6:55, John 8:13
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 6x Matthew 22:16, Mark 12:14, John 3:33, John 7:18
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 3x Acts 12:9, 1 John 2:8, 1 John 2:27
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural 2x John 10:41, Philippians 4:8
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x 1 Peter 5:12
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x John 19:35
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular 1x John 4:18
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x 2 Peter 2:22
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not assume that a speaker's accurate words reveal an honest heart; Matthew's delegation speaks truth about Jesus while intending to trap Him.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that John's lack of signs weakened his testimony when hearers explicitly confess that all he said about Jesus was true.
- Do not isolate “true food” from John 6's call to believe in and abide in the Son.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. True to fact and reality, unconcealed; contrasts with ἀληθινός (genuine/ideal)
Strong's G227
Lexical occurrences 26 verses Greek text appearances 25 times 16 shown below Word forms 9 forms 26 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Philippians 4:8 Source Gloss
true (as not concealing)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 25 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 22:16 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἀληθὴς alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse Mark 12:14 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἀληθὴς alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 3:33 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 4:18 Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
ἀληθὲς alhqev
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 5:31 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής. alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 5:32 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 7:18 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 8:13 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής. alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 8:14 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 8:16 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 8:17 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 8:26 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 10:41 Adjective Nominative Plural Neuter
ἀληθῆ alhqh
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 19:35 Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
ἀληθῆ alhqh
unconcealed, true
Read verse John 21:24 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἀληθής alhqhv
unconcealed, true
Read verse Acts 12:9 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
ἀληθές alhqev
unconcealed, true
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 9 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 9 Aligned forms 26 Case pattern Nominative (22) Number pattern Singular (22)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine John 5:31 · John 5:32 · John 6:55 · John 8:13 · John 8:14 · John 8:17 · John 21:24 · Titus 1:13 · 3 John 1:12 10×
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 22:16 · Mark 12:14 · John 3:33 · John 7:18 · John 8:26 · Rom 3:4 6×
Nominative · Singular · Neuter Acts 12:9 · 1 John 2:8 · 1 John 2:27 3×
Nominative · Plural · Neuter John 10:41 · Phil 4:8 2×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine 2 Cor 6:8 1×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine 2 Pet 2:22 1×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter John 4:18 1×
Accusative · Plural · Neuter John 19:35 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine 1 Pet 5:12 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Things that are true to fact, conforming to reality, worthy of contemplation
Reward that is real and actual, genuine in substance versus deceptive
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 26 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἀληθής 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
Truth must be loved, not merely uttered. Jesus' questioners say accurate things about His integrity while approaching Him with a trap, proving that orthodoxy on the lips can serve duplicity in the heart. John 6 places reality in Christ Himself: His self-giving is the true provision without which hearers have no life, and the discourse must be read through abiding faith rather than detached literalism.
John the Baptist's testimony is vindicated despite the absence of signs because every word about Jesus proves reliable. Paul then makes truth a habitat for the mind, surrounded by moral excellences that prevent truthful thought from becoming cold or malicious. Third John shows communal discernment through converging witness. Teachers should commend accuracy, integrity, and verified testimony while warning that true vocabulary cannot sanctify manipulation.
The God of truth forms truthful people.
Anchor passage
Matt.22.16
Doctrinal connections
- Matthew 22:15-22, true praise spoken within a deceptive trap
- John 6:47-58, Jesus as true food and drink
- John 10:40-42, John's reliable witness without signs
- Philippians 4:4-9, disciplined thought on whatever is true
- 3 John 9-12, corroborated testimony about Demetrius
- Psalm 119:151-160, the truth of all God's words
Ἀληθής is an adjective meaning true or reliable and can modify persons, statements, testimony, or realities. Predicate use asserts truthfulness; context establishes whether the emphasis is accuracy, genuineness, or trustworthiness.
From Old to New Testament
The Lord is the God of truth, His word is true, false witnesses are condemned, and covenant faithfulness requires honest speech. Jesus embodies truth and sends witnesses whose testimony must be tested.
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