κοιμάω

Koimao means to sleep, and in several New Testament settings it becomes a reverent way to speak of death. The word does not deny that death is real, painful, or an enemy. It also does not treat death as harmless sentiment. Its pastoral force comes from the resurrection horizon. Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep, then goes to wake him. Stephen falls asleep after entrusting himself to the Lord.

Paul says David fell asleep after serving God in his generation, and then contrasts David with the risen Christ. In 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians, believers who have died are described as those who have fallen asleep because Christ has been raised as firstfruits. The word therefore helps readers speak honestly about death while refusing hopelessness.

Koimao moves from ordinary sleep language into a resurrection-shaped way of naming the death of God's people. John 11 shows Jesus using sleep language before raising Lazarus. Acts applies the term to Stephen and David. Paul uses it repeatedly in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4, where Christ's resurrection governs grief, hope, and future bodily life.