To join
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G2853 is a Greek verb for joining, uniting, attaching, associating, or clinging firmly, drawing on the image of things glued together. Romans 12:9 commands sincere love to detest evil and cling to what is good, making moral attachment active and discerning.
Reader summary
Full entry for κολλάω (G2853) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2853 is a Greek verb for joining, uniting, attaching, associating, or clinging firmly, drawing on the image of things glued together. Romans 12:9 commands sincere love to detest evil and cling to what is good, making moral attachment active and discerning.
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to join (2), unites himself (2), [and] hired himself out (1), are piled (1), be united to (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 19:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), 1 Corinthians (2), Luke (2), Matthew (1).
G2853 is a Greek verb for joining, uniting, attaching, associating, or clinging firmly, drawing on the image of things glued together. Romans 12:9 commands sincere love to detest evil and cling to what is good, making moral attachment active and discerning. Acts 9:26 says Saul tried to join the disciples in Jerusalem, but they were afraid because they did not yet believe his conversion, showing that community belonging and prudent caution can coexist.
First Corinthians 6:17 says the person united to the Lord is one with Him in spirit, within a contrast involving embodied sexual union. Other uses concern marriage, joining a group, associating across ethnic barriers, dust clinging, hired dependence, and sins reaching heaven. G2853 opens moral allegiance, church belonging, marriage, sexuality, social association, and discernment.
It corrects both isolated spirituality and demands that union language erase consent, safety, membership boundaries, or embodied responsibility.
G2853 describes firm joining or attachment between persons, a person and the Lord, moral good, a group, work, dust, or accumulated sin. The object and relational context distinguish faithful union, social association, dependence, and contamination.
Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
Sincere love is expressed through rejecting evil and clinging firmly to what is good.
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
Saul seeks to join the Jerusalem disciples, whose fear remains understandable until Barnabas offers credible testimony.
But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.
Paul describes union with the Lord as spiritual oneness within an argument that treats bodies and sexual conduct as morally significant.
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. Physical adhesion metaphorically applied to close personal attachment or spiritual union with someone or something.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
Read verseI glue, cleave, keep company with
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 verb appears across 11 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)
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Indicates relational commitment alongside belief.Acts 17:32-34
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2853 makes attachment consequential. Romans does not define sincere love as indiscriminate closeness; love rejects evil and bonds itself to good. Acts 9 shows why belonging sometimes develops through accountable testimony. Saul's conversion is real, the disciples' fear is understandable, and Barnabas helps bridge the gap. Grace does not require a threatened community to suspend discernment.
First Corinthians affirms that bodies and sexual unions matter while locating the believer's deepest allegiance in union with the Lord. These texts challenge both disposable relationships and coercive belonging. Churches should offer genuine pathways into community, explain expectations, protect confidentiality, and allow trust to grow. Marriage and sexual ethics require truth, fidelity, consent, and care; spiritual language cannot sanctify exploitation.
Joining Christ does not dissolve personal agency or make a leader the indispensable bond. Sincere love clings to good, makes room for tested reconciliation, and respects boundaries where access would be unsafe.
Rom.12.9
G2853 is related to glue and describes joining or sticking closely. It commonly appears with a dative object, identifying the person, group, good, work, or Lord to whom someone attaches, while physical dust and accumulated sins preserve concrete imagery.
The Greek verb frequently renders Hebrew clinging language used for covenant loyalty and marriage. In the New Testament, attachment to the Lord, good, spouse, and community remains embodied and ethical rather than dissolving distinctions or responsibility.