A gate- warden
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thyroros means doorkeeper or gatekeeper, the person watching or opening an entryway. The New Testament gives four direct witnesses: a doorkeeper charged to keep watch in Jesus' parable of the absent master, the gatekeeper who opens for the shepherd in John 10, and the doorkeeper or servant girl at the high priest's courtyard when Peter enters and then denies association with Jesus.
Reader summary
Full entry for θυρωρός (G2377) · Open the biblical lexicon
thyroros means doorkeeper or gatekeeper, the person watching or opening an entryway. The New Testament gives four direct witnesses: a doorkeeper charged to keep watch in Jesus' parable of the absent master, the gatekeeper who opens for the shepherd in John 10, and the doorkeeper or servant girl at the high priest's courtyard when Peter enters and then.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include doorkeeper (2), gatekeeper (1), watching the door (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 13:34. Its strongest book concentrations include John (3), Mark (1).
Thyroros means doorkeeper or gatekeeper, the person watching or opening an entryway. The New Testament gives four direct witnesses: a doorkeeper charged to keep watch in Jesus' parable of the absent master, the gatekeeper who opens for the shepherd in John 10, and the doorkeeper or servant girl at the high priest's courtyard when Peter enters and then denies association with Jesus.
The word is ordinary household or courtyard language, but the passages use it to press watchfulness, rightful access, voice recognition, and vulnerable moments at thresholds. Pastorally, thyroros helps readers consider who watches the door, who is recognized, and how disciples behave when entry into a dangerous space tests allegiance.
Thyroros appears in four direct New Testament witnesses. It names the doorkeeper who must keep watch, the gatekeeper who opens to the shepherd, and the courtyard doorkeeper whose question becomes part of Peter's denial scene.
It is like a man going on a journey who left his house, put each servant in charge of his own task, and instructed the doorkeeper to keep watch.
Jesus uses the doorkeeper in a watchfulness parable. The role becomes a call to alert readiness.
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
The gatekeeper opens for the true shepherd. The image supports voice recognition and rightful access.
But Peter stood outside at the door. Then the disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.
The doorkeeper controls access to the courtyard. The threshold places Peter near danger and testing.
At this, the servant girl watching the door said to Peter, “Aren’t you also one of this man’s disciples?” “I am not,” he answered.
The one watching the door asks the question that begins Peter's denial. The doorway becomes a place of exposed allegiance.
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. Literally a doorkeeper; figuratively represents those who guard entrance or access to spiritual truth.
Literally a doorkeeper; figuratively represents those who guard entrance or access to spiritual truth.
(θύρα, + οὖρος, a guardian) [in LXX: 4Ki.7:11 (שׁוֹעֵר), Eze.44:11 (פְּקֻדָּה), 2Ki.4:6 4:1 II Est.7:1-28 * ;] a door-keeper, porter: ὁ, Mrk.13:34, Jhn.10:3; ἡ, Jhn.18:16-17
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a door-keeper, porter
Read versea door-keeper, porter
Read versea door-keeper, porter
Read versea door-keeper, porter
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 4 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.
θυρωρός is built from this root:
Thyroros is a doorway word, and doorways matter in the selected passages. In Mark 13, the doorkeeper must keep watch because the master may return at any time. In John 10, the gatekeeper opens to the shepherd, and the sheep respond to the shepherd's voice. In John 18, the doorkeeper marks the threshold into the high priest's courtyard, where Peter's hidden fear becomes open denial.
The preacher should not make the doorkeeper the hero of each scene, but should notice what the role exposes. Entrances reveal readiness, recognition, and allegiance. Some doors open for the true Shepherd; some thresholds test whether a disciple will confess or deny Him.
John.10.3
Thyroros combines door or gate language with watching or guarding. It is a role word, and the narrative setting supplies the theological force.
Gatekeepers and watchmen in Scripture often mark responsibility at thresholds. The New Testament uses this role language for readiness, shepherd access, and a courtyard scene of denial.
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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain