Lord: God
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κύριος names one who has rightful authority, whether a human master in ordinary use or the Lord whose authority governs life before God. In the Pastoral Epistles, the word is concentrated around Christ Jesus our Lord, the Lord who strengthens His servant, the Lord whose appearing must shape faithful obedience, the Lord who knows those who are His, and the Lord who rescues His people into His heavenly kingdom.
Reader summary
Full entry for κύριος (G2962) · Open the biblical lexicon
κύριος names one who has rightful authority, whether a human master in ordinary use or the Lord whose authority governs life before God. In the Pastoral Epistles, the word is concentrated around Christ Jesus our Lord, the Lord who strengthens His servant, the Lord whose appearing must shape faithful obedience, the Lord who knows those who are His, and the.
The BSB source-word alignment has 716 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Lord (403), [the] Lord (114), of [the] Lord (52), master (41), Sir (14).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 1:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (107), Luke (104), Matthew (80), 1 Corinthians (66).
This entry includes 10 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
κύριος names one who has rightful authority, whether a human master in ordinary use or the Lord whose authority governs life before God. In the Pastoral Epistles, the word is concentrated around Christ Jesus our Lord, the Lord who strengthens His servant, the Lord whose appearing must shape faithful obedience, the Lord who knows those who are His, and the Lord who rescues His people into His heavenly kingdom.
The letters do not use κύριος as a religious ornament. The title places ministry, doctrine, endurance, prayer, church conduct, and hope under the authority of the risen Christ. Paul can bless Timothy with grace from Christ Jesus our Lord, thank the Lord who appointed him to service, charge Timothy to keep the commandment until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, and rest his final confidence in the Lord who will rescue him.
The word also requires careful contextual reading. Some occurrences name Christ directly; some occur in scriptural or doxological language where divine authority is in view. Pastoral teaching should therefore avoid both vagueness and overclaim. κύριος calls the church to confess Christ, obey His command, depart from iniquity, and endure with confidence because the Lord knows, strengthens, judges, rescues, and reigns.
In the Pastoral Epistles, κύριος frames Christian ministry as service under the Lord Jesus Christ. The title joins grace, apostolic appointment, faithful command keeping, moral separation, final rescue, and doxological worship.
To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
The greeting joins God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord as the source of grace, mercy, and peace. Lordship is not detached from mercy; it is the authority from which pastoral grace comes.
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, that He considered me faithful and appointed me to service.
Paul thanks Christ Jesus our Lord for strengthening and appointing him. The Lord is not only the one to be served, but the one who enables service and entrusts ministry.
Keep this commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Timothy must keep the commandment until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lordship gives obedience an eschatological horizon rather than reducing faithfulness to short-term discipline.
Which the blessed and only Sovereign One—the King of kings and Lord of lords—will bring about in His own time.
The doxological title Lord of lords sets every human ruler and claimant to power beneath God's appointed appearing. The local context magnifies sovereignty without turning the passage into a slogan.
Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone naming the Lord must turn away from iniquity. The seal holds assurance and holiness together.
And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Near the end of his life, Paul entrusts rescue and safe arrival to the Lord. Lordship becomes hope under threat, not merely command over conduct.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. One who possesses ultimate authority; in NT, distinctively applied to the risen Jesus Christ alongside God.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 748 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
lord, Lord, master, sir
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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 9 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 8 selected witnesses from 713 lexical occurrence verses.
Affirms Christ’s authority over life, death, and final judgment.Acts 2:14-41
Declares Christ’s authority over covenant sign and law.Acts 9:1-19
Affirms Jesus’ authority.Colossians 3:18–4:1
Affirms divine authority.Luke 1:39–56
Affirms Jesus’ sovereign authority over covenant institutions.Luke 2:1–20
Affirms the divine authority and covenant identity of Jesus.James 1:1
Declares Jesus’ divine authority and sovereignty.
Affirms Christ’s divine authority and exalted status.
Affirms sovereign authority over divine ordinance.
Expresses Christ’s sovereign authority.
Recognition of risen authority.
Repeatedly applied to Christ, grounding all authority under Him.
Calling Jesus ‘Lord’ affirms His exalted authority and demands personal allegiance.
Saul’s acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord marks decisive submission.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
In the Pastoral Epistles, κύριος is the title that places ministry under accountable authority and steady hope. Paul is not simply saying that Jesus is important to Christian identity. He teaches Timothy and Titus to carry out church life before the Lord who has the right to command, the mercy to strengthen, and the power to rescue. The Lord appoints Paul to service, appears as the horizon of obedience, knows His own amid confusion, requires those who name Him to depart from iniquity, and brings His servant safely into the heavenly kingdom.
This protects Lordship from two distortions. It is not a cold command structure, because the Lord gives grace and strength. It is not a soft devotional label, because naming the Lord requires holiness. For shepherds and teachers, the word presses every ministry question into a better frame: not what preserves control, comfort, or reputation, but what faithful service looks like before the Lord who sees, commands, sustains, and will appear.
2Tim.2.19
κύριος can refer to a human master, an owner, God, or Christ, depending on context. In the Pastoral Epistles the title most often functions christologically, especially in phrases such as Christ Jesus our Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord who strengthens and rescues. The same word can also appear in doxological or scriptural phrases, so the referent must be governed by the surrounding clause rather than assumed mechanically.
The title Lord carries the Old Testament weight of God's covenant authority while the New Testament applies it to Jesus in confession, worship, and obedience. The Pastoral Epistles do not develop that whole argument in abstract form; they show its pastoral result. The Lord who is confessed is the Lord whose appearing governs conduct, whose name requires holiness, and whose kingdom is the destination of suffering servants.