Inheritance
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Κληρονομία names an inheritance, a possession received because of a granted relationship and promise rather than ordinary wages. Paul draws on Israel's inheritance language to explain what God freely gives His people in Christ.
Reader summary
Full entry for κληρονομία (G2817) · Open the biblical lexicon
Κληρονομία names an inheritance, a possession received because of a granted relationship and promise rather than ordinary wages. Paul draws on Israel's inheritance language to explain what God freely gives His people in Christ.
The BSB source-word alignment has 14 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include inheritance (10), an inheritance (2), [his] inheritance (1), an inheritance [that is] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 21:38. Its strongest book concentrations include Ephesians (3), Acts (2), Hebrews (2), Luke (2).
Κληρονομία names an inheritance, a possession received because of a granted relationship and promise rather than ordinary wages. Paul draws on Israel's inheritance language to explain what God freely gives His people in Christ. Galatians 3 contrasts inheritance by promise with inheritance treated as a payment secured by law. Ephesians 1 joins the inheritance to the sealing presence of the Holy Spirit, who is its pledge until final redemption.
Colossians 3 places the promised inheritance before servants whose earthly status offered little security, reminding them that they serve the Lord Christ. The word therefore carries gift, belonging, hope, and future possession. It does not teach that believers earn heaven through service, nor that every Old Testament land promise can be transferred without attention to covenant development and fulfillment in Christ.
Paul uses κληρονομία for the promised possession God grants His people in Christ. Promise, the Spirit's pledge, faithful service, and future redemption shape its pastoral force.
Because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The promised inheritance dignifies ordinary service because the Lord Christ sees and will reward His servants, without turning the gift into wages earned from God.
Who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.
The Holy Spirit is the pledge of the inheritance, giving present assurance while directing hope toward the completed redemption of God's possession.
For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.
Paul contrasts law and promise as bases of inheritance: God's grant to Abraham depends on His promise rather than human achievement.
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. In NT, primarily God's promised kingdom and spiritual blessings given to believers through Christ, not earned property.
In NT, primarily God's promised kingdom and spiritual blessings given to believers through Christ, not earned property.
(κληρονόμος) [in LXX chiefly for נַחֲלָה, also for יְרֻשָּׁה, etc. ;] prop., an inherited property, an inheritance: Mat.21:38, Mrk.12:7, Luk.12:13 20:14; in general, a possession, inheritance: Act.7:5, Heb.11:8; of the Messianic Kingdom and its blessings, Act.20:32, Gal.3:18, Col.3:24, Eph.1:14, 18 5:5, Heb.9:15, 1Pe.1:4.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an inheritance
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Read versean inheritance
Read versean inheritance
Read versean inheritance
Read versean inheritance
Read versean inheritance
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Read versean inheritance
Read versean inheritance
Read versean inheritance
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 3 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 14 lexical occurrence verses.
κληρονομία is built from this root:
Directs hope toward eternal realities rather than present stability.1 Peter 1:1-12
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Inheritance language teaches believers to receive their future as children and heirs, not as laborers bargaining with God. Galatians 3 insists that the promise rests on God's gracious grant to Abraham and reaches its fulfillment in Christ. Ephesians 1 gives present assurance through the Holy Spirit while keeping hope directed toward a redemption still to be completed.
Colossians 3 brings that future into the workplace: servants can render sincere service to Christ because their true inheritance does not depend on earthly rank. This does not make obedience optional. Grace creates a people whose work is offered to the Lord, but their obedience responds to a promised gift rather than purchasing it. Teachers should let inheritance join assurance, holiness, patience, and resurrection hope without shrinking the promise into material prosperity or an escape from embodied new-creation life.
Col.3.24
Κληρονομία belongs to the word family of heir and inheritance. It can refer to the act or result of inheriting and to the possession received. In Paul's theological use, the surrounding language of promise, grant, sonship, Spirit, and redemption prevents a merely commercial reading.
Israel received land as the Lord's covenant gift, yet the prophets and Psalms also widened hope toward God Himself, an enduring portion, and restored creation. In the New Testament, the promise is gathered in Christ and extends to a redeemed people who await resurrection and the renewal of all things.