:--Become dead, (cause to be) put to death, kill, mortify.
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G2289 describes causing death or being put to death and can also speak figuratively of believers becoming dead to an old relation or putting sinful deeds to death by the Spirit. The verb can name literal execution, threatened martyrdom, Christs bodily death, death in relation to the law, or Spirit-enabled rejection of bodily deeds, so physical killing and theological metaphor must never be confused.
Reader summary
Full entry for θανατόω (G2289) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2289 describes causing death or being put to death and can also speak figuratively of believers becoming dead to an old relation or putting sinful deeds to death by the Spirit. The verb can name literal execution, threatened martyrdom, Christs bodily death, death in relation to the law, or Spirit-enabled rejection of bodily deeds, so physical killing and.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include put Him to death (3), have them put to death (2), died (1), He was put to death (1), not killed (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 10:21. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Romans (3), Mark (2), 1 Peter (1).
G2289 describes causing death or being put to death and can also speak figuratively of believers becoming dead to an old relation or putting sinful deeds to death by the Spirit. The verb can name literal execution, threatened martyrdom, Christs bodily death, death in relation to the law, or Spirit-enabled rejection of bodily deeds, so physical killing and theological metaphor must never be confused.
In 1Pet. 3. 18, christ the righteous suffered for the unrighteous once for all, was put to death in the body, and was made alive to bring people to God. In Rom. 7. 4, through the body of Christ believers became dead to the law so that they might belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit for God. G2289 opens teaching on the decisive death of Christ, the costly witness of persecuted believers, and the Spirit-given work of refusing practices that lead toward death.
It corrects body-hating interpretations of mortification and refuses uses of death language that encourage self-harm, violent coercion, punitive control, or denial of the bodies God will raise. G2289 gathers severe realities without glorifying death: Christ is put to death in the body for sins and made alive, believers die to the law through His body so that they may belong to the risen One and bear fruit, and by the Spirit they put the bodys deeds to death and live.
The gospel does not command destruction of the body; it announces Christs once-for-all suffering and Spirit-enabled freedom from practices opposed to life. For G2289, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. G2289 does not teach salvation by self-punishment, command hatred of physical desire or creaturely needs, erase the literal violence of persecution, or authorize anyone to threaten death in the name of holiness.
G2289 appears across passages that develop Christs atoning death, resurrection life, persecution, union with Christ, freedom from condemnation, Spirit-led holiness, and embodied hope. For G2289, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
Christ the righteous suffered for the unrighteous once for all, was put to death in the body, and was made alive to bring people to God.
Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Through the body of Christ believers became dead to the law so that they might belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit for God.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Paul contrasts death-producing life according to the flesh with putting the bodys deeds to death by the Spirit and truly living.
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.
Greek word. To put to death literally, or metaphorically to mortify/deaden the body's desires through spiritual discipline.
To put to death literally, or metaphorically to mortify/deaden the body's desires through spiritual discipline.
to put to death: with accusative, Mat.10:21 26:59 27:1, Mrk.13:12 14:55, Luk.21:16, 2Co.6:9, 1Pe.3:18; pass., Rom.8:36. Metaphorical: Rom.8:13; pass., with dative, (in relation to), Rom.7:4.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
Read verseI put to death, subdue
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 11 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)
θανατόω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2289 gathers severe realities without glorifying death: Christ is put to death in the body for sins and made alive, believers die to the law through His body so that they may belong to the risen One and bear fruit, and by the Spirit they put the bodys deeds to death and live. The gospel does not command destruction of the body; it announces Christs once-for-all suffering and Spirit-enabled freedom from practices opposed to life.
G2289 describes causing death or being put to death and can also speak figuratively of believers becoming dead to an old relation or putting sinful deeds to death by the Spirit. The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: 1Pet. 3. 18 shows that christ the righteous suffered for the unrighteous once for all, was put to death in the body, and was made alive to bring people to God, while Rom.
7. 4 Shows that through the body of Christ believers became dead to the law so that they might belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit for God. Rom. 8. 13 adds that paul contrasts death-producing life according to the flesh with putting the bodys deeds to death by the Spirit and truly living. G2289 opens teaching on the decisive death of Christ, the costly witness of persecuted believers, and the Spirit-given work of refusing practices that lead toward death.
It corrects body-hating interpretations of mortification and refuses uses of death language that encourage self-harm, violent coercion, punitive control, or denial of the bodies God will raise. A church teaching G2289 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support.
G2289 does not teach salvation by self-punishment, command hatred of physical desire or creaturely needs, erase the literal violence of persecution, or authorize anyone to threaten death in the name of holiness.
1Pet.3.18
G2289 is a Greek verb meaning to put to death, cause death, or be made dead; with a dative relation or metaphorical object it can describe death to a former bond or the ending of sinful deeds.
Israel learned that sin leads to death while sacrificial and covenant patterns pointed beyond themselves. The New Testament centers death language on Christs righteous suffering, resurrection, union with Him, and the Spirits life-giving work, not on contempt for embodied creation.