What does ἴσος (ísos) mean in the Bible?
ἴσος means equal or alike in measure, standing, or claim. In John 5:18, the word appears in the narrator's explanation that Jesus' opponents understood Him as making Himself equal with God.
Greek · G2470
ἴσος
Similar (in amount and kind)
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ἴσος G2470
Pronunciation ísos
What does ἴσος (ísos) mean in the Bible?
ἴσος means equal or alike in measure, standing, or claim. In John 5:18, the word appears in the narrator's explanation that Jesus' opponents understood Him as making Himself equal with God.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἴσος (G2470) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2470?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include equal (3), inconsistent (2), equality (1), in full (1), same (1).
Where does ἴσος (ísos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 20:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), Acts (1), John (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
ἴσος means equal or alike in measure, standing, or claim. In John 5:18, the word appears in the narrator's explanation that Jesus' opponents understood Him as making Himself equal with God. That sentence is doctrinally weighty, but it must be read within John's whole argument about the Son's relation to the Father.
The pastoral value is precision. John is not presenting Jesus as an independent rival deity, nor as a mere creature with religious importance. The passage moves into Jesus' own explanation: the Son does what He sees the Father doing, gives life, and receives honor. The word points to the seriousness of the charge and the greatness of the Son.
How the Bible Uses It
John 5:18 uses ἴσος in the narrator's explanation that Jesus' opponents perceived Him as making Himself equal with God.
- John 5:18 connects the equality claim to Jesus calling God His own Father.
- John 5:19-23 immediately guards the claim by describing the Son's relation to the Father, His works, His life-giving authority, and the honor due to Him.
- The word carries Christological weight in this context, but the passage, not the adjective alone, supplies the doctrine.
- The term should not be used to suggest rivalry between the Father and the Son.
ἴσος appears in one of John's most important identity moments. The narrator explains why the conflict intensifies: Jesus was not only healing on the Sabbath, but calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
John immediately prevents careless interpretation. Jesus does not answer as a rival to the Father. He speaks as the Son whose works, life, judgment, and honor are inseparable from the Father.
The word is therefore powerful, but governed. It helps readers see why John 5 matters for Christology, while keeping the claim tied to the Son-Father relation revealed in the passage.
In John 5, ἴσος belongs to a high Christological scene where Jesus' identity, works, life-giving authority, judgment, and honor are set in relation to the Father.
Passage contexttheological_synthesisPastoral application
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 equal 3× Matthew 20:12, John 5:18, Revelation 21:16
inconsistent 2× Mark 14:56, Mark 14:59
equality 1× Philippians 2:6
in full 1× Luke 6:34
same 1× Acts 11:17
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 20:12 ἴσους to equal Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural Mark 14:56 ἴσαι to inconsistent Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural Mark 14:59 ἴση to inconsistent Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular Luke 6:34 ἴσα to in full Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural John 5:18 ἴσον to equal Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular Acts 11:17 ἴσην to same Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular Philippians 2:6 ἴσα to equality Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural Revelation 21:16 ἴσα to equal Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 20:12
Aligned rows 8
Books represented 7
Matthew 1 Mark 2 Luke 1 John 1 Acts 1 Philippians 1 Revelation 1
Source forms
ἴσα 3x isa Luke 6:34, Philippians 2:6, Revelation 21:16
ἴσαι 1x isai Mark 14:56
ἴση 1x isē Mark 14:59
ἴσην 1x isēn Acts 11:17
ἴσον 1x ison John 5:18
ἴσους 1x isous Matthew 20:12
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural 2x Luke 6:34, Philippians 2:6
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x Acts 11:17
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural 1x Matthew 20:12
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x John 5:18
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural 1x Mark 14:56
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Mark 14:59
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural 1x Revelation 21:16
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Let John 5 give the Christological scope before drawing doctrinal synthesis.
- Keep divine equality and filial relation together.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that the adjective alone proves the full doctrine of the Trinity.
- Do not weaken John 5:18 into only a misunderstanding by hostile opponents, because the narrator reports the charge within John's inspired narrative.
theological_synthesisPassage context
Evidence Summary
Greek word. similar (in amount and kind)
Strong's G2470
Lexical occurrences 8 verses Greek text appearances 8 times Word forms 7 forms 8 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
similar (in amount and kind)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 20:12 Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ἴσους isouv
equal, identical
Read verse Mark 14:56 Adjective Nominative Plural Feminine
ἴσαι isai
equal, identical
Read verse Mark 14:59 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ἴση ish
equal, identical
Read verse Luke 6:34 Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
ἴσα. isa
equal, identical
Read verse John 5:18 Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
ἴσον ison
equal, identical
Read verse Acts 11:17 Adjective Accusative Singular Feminine
ἴσην ishn
equal, identical
Read verse Philippians 2:6 Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
ἶσα isa
equal, identical
Read verse Revelation 21:16 Adjective Nominative Plural Neuter
ἴσα isa
equal, identical
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 7 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 7 Aligned forms 8 Case pattern Accusative (5) Number pattern Plural (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Mark 14:56 1×
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Mark 14:59 1×
Nominative · Plural · Neuter Rev 21:16 1×
Accusative · Plural · Neuter Luke 6:34 · Phil 2:6 2×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine Matt 20:12 1×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine John 5:18 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Acts 11:17 1×
Word Origins
ἴσος is built from this root:
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
What this word opens up
This word opens the seriousness of John 5: Jesus' identity cannot be reduced to a healer or teacher. The narrator presents a conflict over divine sonship, equality, works, life, judgment, and honor.
What it corrects
It corrects readings that flatten John 5 into a Sabbath controversy only, and readings that treat equality language as independence from the Father.
Framing suggestions
Frame ἴσος with John 5:18-23. The equality claim must be held together with the Son's perfect relation to the Father.
Illustrations
Watch points
- Do not isolate ἴσος from Jesus' explanation in John 5:19-23.
- Do not use the word to imply that the Son is a separate deity competing with the Father.
Passage contexttheological_synthesisPastoral application
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