Amemptos describes being blameless or without fault in the respect being discussed. Luke 1:6 commends Zechariah and Elizabeth's walk in the Lord's commandments, without claiming that they have never sinned or that their childlessness proves a fault.
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἄμεμπτος (G273) · Open the biblical lexicon
Amemptos describes being blameless or without fault in the respect being discussed. Luke 1:6 commends Zechariah and Elizabeth's walk in the Lord's commandments, without claiming that they have never sinned or that their childlessness proves a fault.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include blameless (1), blamelessly (1), faultless (1), in blamelessness (1), without fault (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 1:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Philippians (2), 1 Thessalonians (1), Hebrews (1), Luke (1).
Amemptos describes being blameless or without fault in the respect being discussed. Luke 1:6 commends Zechariah and Elizabeth's walk in the Lord's commandments, without claiming that they have never sinned or that their childlessness proves a fault. Philippians 2:15 calls believers toward conduct that shines in a crooked generation, following an instruction against complaining and arguing.
In Philippians 3:6 Paul names his former faultlessness with respect to righteousness in the law, then counts such gains as loss beside knowing Christ. First Thessalonians 3:13 prays for hearts established in holiness before God, while Hebrews 8:7 uses the adjective in an argument about the first covenant. The word requires its stated standard and context; it cannot turn reputation or moral achievement into a substitute for righteousness through faith in Christ.
The five direct uses concern obedient lives, visible communal conduct, Paul's former law-based credentials, prayer for holiness at Christ's coming, and the first covenant's adequacy. Their different standards prevent a single absolute claim of human sinlessness.
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
The narrative commends the couple's obedient walk before mentioning their lack of children, so barrenness is not presented as evidence of blame.
So that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
Blameless conduct follows the rejection of complaining and arguing and serves a community's visible witness as God's children.
As to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
Paul describes a former legal credential within a list he immediately revalues as loss in comparison with Christ.
So that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
The prayer connects established hearts, holiness, and Christ's coming with the Lord's increase of love among His people.
For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.
The hypothetical faultlessness of the first covenant belongs to the argument for the better covenant mediated by Jesus.
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. Blameless character before others; free from legitimate accusation or reproach in conduct
Blameless character before others; free from legitimate accusation or reproach in conduct
(μέμφομσι), [in LXX chiefly for תָּם ;] blameless, free from fault (in π. of a marriage-contract; M, Th., I, 3:13; cf. MM, VGT, see word): Luk.1:6, Php.2:15 3:6, 1Th.3:13 (WH, mg., -ως) Heb.8:7.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
blameless
Read verseblameless
Read verseblameless
Read verseblameless
Read verseblameless
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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
ἄμεμπτος is built from these roots:
Blamelessness needs a reference point. Luke commends a couple's faithful walk while still narrating their longing and later testing; Paul can describe his former law-related faultlessness while confessing that knowing Christ surpasses it. This is not permission to disregard obedience. Philippians 2 presses for a visible life free from the complaining and rivalry that damage communal witness, and First Thessalonians prays for holiness expressed through growing love.
The teaching task is to hold credible conduct and dependence on Christ together without converting the adjective into an impossible autobiography of never having failed. Hebrews' covenant use further warns against treating every occurrence as a psychological judgment of an individual. Read the stated respect, the surrounding argument, and the direction of the appeal.
Php.3.6
Amemptos is a Greek adjective for blamelessness or freedom from fault. A negated word form does not by itself establish lifelong sinlessness; the referent and stated respect distinguish persons' conduct from Hebrews' covenant argument.
Genesis 17:1 calls Abraham to walk before God and be blameless within God's covenant address. This supports the theme of integrity before God without equating the underlying Hebrew and Greek lexical identities or making Abraham's obedience the purchase price of the promised covenant.