To make (or consider) profane (ceremonially)
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 the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Koinoo means to make common, defile, or treat as unclean, with usage shaped by purity, heart, and holiness contexts. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the word to correct a mistaken focus on external intake by teaching that defilement comes from what proceeds from the heart.
Reader summary
Full entry for κοινόω (G2840) · Open the biblical lexicon
Koinoo means to make common, defile, or treat as unclean, with usage shaped by purity, heart, and holiness contexts. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the word to correct a mistaken focus on external intake by teaching that defilement comes from what proceeds from the heart.
The BSB source-word alignment has 14 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include defile (5), Do not call anything impure (2), - (1), [these are what] defile (1), ceremonially unclean (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 15:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (5), Matthew (5), Acts (3), Hebrews (1).
Koinoo means to make common, defile, or treat as unclean, with usage shaped by purity, heart, and holiness contexts. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the word to correct a mistaken focus on external intake by teaching that defilement comes from what proceeds from the heart. The point is not that bodies, habits, or obedience are unimportant. It is that moral uncleanness is not solved by surface boundary keeping while the heart remains evil.
In Acts 10 and 11, the heavenly voice tells Peter not to call common or impure what God has made clean, preparing him to receive Gentiles according to God's action. Hebrews uses the word within ceremonial cleansing logic. The companion must therefore distinguish ritual category, moral defilement, and gospel inclusion without making one passage erase the others.
Koinoo is used where purity categories and moral diagnosis meet. Jesus teaches that food entering the body does not defile a person in the way the Pharisaic dispute assumes; evil from the heart defiles. Acts uses the word in Peter's vision to mark God's cleansing action as decisive for Gentile reception. Hebrews recalls ceremonial uncleanness and cleansing under the old covenant. The word helps readers handle purity language without contempt, legalism, or moral evasion.
A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”
Jesus states the principle that what enters the mouth does not defile a person, but what comes out does. The word shifts attention from external intake to heart expression.
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.
Jesus explains that what comes from the mouth comes from the heart and defiles. Defilement is traced to inward moral corruption.
Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”
Mark preserves the contrast between outside entry and what comes out of a person. The word serves Jesus' teaching on true moral uncleanness.
All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”
Jesus concludes that the listed evils from within defile a person. Koinoo is tied to concrete sins, not vague impurity feelings.
The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
The heavenly voice tells Peter not to call impure what God has made clean. The word prepares Peter for Gentile inclusion by God's command.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
Hebrews uses ceremonial uncleanness language while contrasting old-covenant cleansing with Christ's greater work. The word remains tied to worship and cleansing categories.
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. To deem ceremonially unclean or profane; Jesus redefines defilement as internal moral corruption, not external ritual violation.
To deem ceremonially unclean or profane; Jesus redefines defilement as internal moral corruption, not external ritual violation.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
15 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
Read verseI make unclean, regard as unclean
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 14 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
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.
κοινόω is built from this root:
Reflects the core accusation of temple violation. Acts 21:27-36
Koinoo helps readers avoid two opposite errors. One error treats holiness as external management, as if washed hands, food boundaries, or visible distance could purify an evil heart. Jesus refuses that shortcut by naming defilement that comes from within. The other error treats purity language as embarrassing or obsolete, as if Scripture's concern for clean and unclean had no theological weight.
Acts 10 shows God Himself declaring what Peter must not call common, and Hebrews uses ceremonial cleansing to explain the superior cleansing secured through Christ. The word therefore teaches that God cares about holiness deeply, but He defines and accomplishes cleansing on His terms. Heart defilement must be confessed, and God-cleansed people must not be despised.
Mark 7:20
Koinoo is related to the idea of making common, treating something as no longer set apart, and thus defiling or declaring unclean in purity contexts. Context determines whether the issue is ritual, moral, or communal.
Old Testament clean and unclean categories prepare readers to understand why Jesus' heart diagnosis and Peter's vision are so significant. The New Testament does not trivialize holiness; it relocates cleansing under God's authority and Christ's work.
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