Foundation
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Themelios means a foundation, foundational structure, or that which is laid beneath a building. Paul says no foundation can replace Jesus Christ, describes God's household as built on the apostolic and prophetic foundation with Christ as cornerstone, calls the church a supporting base of the truth, and declares God's firm foundation marked by divine knowledge and departure from wickedness.
Reader summary
Full entry for θεμέλιος (G2310) · Open the biblical lexicon
Themelios means a foundation, foundational structure, or that which is laid beneath a building. Paul says no foundation can replace Jesus Christ, describes God's household as built on the apostolic and prophetic foundation with Christ as cornerstone, calls the church a supporting base of the truth, and declares God's firm foundation marked by divine.
The BSB source-word alignment has 16 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include foundation (8), foundations (4), [a] foundation (2), [his] foundation (1), [the] foundation (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 6:48. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (3), Luke (3), Revelation (3), Hebrews (2).
Themelios means a foundation, foundational structure, or that which is laid beneath a building. Paul says no foundation can replace Jesus Christ, describes God's household as built on the apostolic and prophetic foundation with Christ as cornerstone, calls the church a supporting base of the truth, and declares God's firm foundation marked by divine knowledge and departure from wickedness.
Hebrews speaks of elementary teaching as a foundation from which believers press toward maturity. The images are related but not interchangeable: Christ is the unique ground, authorized witness establishes the household's teaching, the church upholds truth publicly, and basic instruction supports further growth. None authorizes an institution or leader to displace Christ or become immune from correction.
Themelios supplies architectural language for Christ, apostolic witness, the church's truth-bearing vocation, God's secure work, and elementary teaching. Each context specifies what is foundational and what is built upon it.
For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
First Corinthians 3:11 says no one can lay another foundation beyond the one already laid, Jesus Christ. Every ministry work is then tested upon Him.
Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:20 pictures God's multiethnic household built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone that orders the structure.
In case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
First Timothy 3:15 calls the living God's church the pillar and foundation or support of the truth. The household must uphold what belongs to God rather than invent it.
Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
Second Timothy 2:19 says God's firm foundation stands with seals declaring that the Lord knows His own and that everyone naming His name must depart from wickedness. Security and holiness remain joined.
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God,
Hebrews 6:1 urges believers to move toward maturity rather than repeatedly laying a foundation of elementary teachings. Progress builds from, rather than abandons, the foundation.
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. Foundation as both literal structural base and metaphorical spiritual ground for faith, doctrine, or character.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 15 lexical occurrence verses.
θεμέλιος is built from this root:
Symbolizes stability under divine testing.2 Timothy 2:14-19
Despite doctrinal corruption, God's saving work and covenant community remain secure.Luke 6:46–49
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Themelios makes stability derivative rather than self-created. In Corinth, Christ alone is the laid foundation and every teacher's work faces testing. Ephesians describes apostolic and prophetic witness as foundational while Christ remains the cornerstone aligning the whole household. First Timothy gives the church a supporting vocation toward truth, not ownership over truth.
Second Timothy seals God's firm work with both His knowledge of His people and their obligation to leave wickedness. Hebrews finally refuses two errors: abandoning elementary gospel realities and endlessly relaying them without mature construction. Churches stand firmly when Christ governs, Scripture-borne witness sets the lines, doctrine produces holiness, and leaders build accountable work that can be tested.
Institutional survival is never the foundation's ultimate purpose.
1Cor.3.11
Themelios denotes a foundation or foundational element laid beneath a structure. It may function substantivally or adjectivally, and each metaphor assigns different participants to the building image.
Zion's promised cornerstone, the tested stone, temple foundations, and wisdom's house prepare for New Testament building imagery. False security in a physical temple is repeatedly judged.