Futile or empty assesses something that does not achieve the purpose the passage names. Paul says that faith would be futile if Christ had not been raised, then explicitly announces that Christ has indeed been raised.
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Reader summary
Full entry for μάταιος (G3152) · Open the biblical lexicon
Futile or empty assesses something that does not achieve the purpose the passage names. Paul says that faith would be futile if Christ had not been raised, then explicitly announces that Christ has indeed been raised.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include futile (2), [is] worthless (1), empty (1), worthless (1), worthless things (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 14:15. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (2), 1 Peter (1), Acts (1), James (1).
Futile or empty assesses something that does not achieve the purpose the passage names. Paul says that faith would be futile if Christ had not been raised, then explicitly announces that Christ has indeed been raised. James calls religion worthless when a person's unbridled tongue contradicts the profession, and Acts records Paul and Barnabas urging the crowd away from worthless things toward the living Creator.
The adjective therefore concerns a stated condition, practice or object of reliance rather than a universal verdict that life or people lack value. Keep the conditional argument intact, identify the conduct being assessed and hear the positive response the passage supplies. This word cannot turn Paul's hypothetical consequence into his final gospel conclusion or justify labeling a distressed person hopeless.
Its seriousness belongs to the actual failure or false reliance described, alongside resurrection, truthful practice and turning to God.
Conditional futility without resurrection, a religion contradicted by uncontrolled speech and worthless objects of worship receive distinct assessments. The stated alternatives preserve Christ's resurrection, lived care and the living Creator rather than a general declaration of hopelessness.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Faith's futility is the consequence Paul states if Christ has not been raised; verse 20 expressly announces the resurrection, so the condition must not be paraphrased as his settled conclusion.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.
The professedly religious person's uncontrolled tongue and self-deception make the religion worthless in this assessment, followed by care for distressed orphans and widows as part of the stated contrast.
“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
Paul and Barnabas reject sacrifice to themselves and call the crowd away from worthless things toward the living Creator; their own humanity and God's goodness remain explicit in the appeal.
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. Empty of real effect or substance; futile efforts that produce nothing of lasting value.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
vain, unproductive, godless
Read versevain, unproductive, godless
Read versevain, unproductive, godless
Read versevain, unproductive, godless
Read versevain, unproductive, godless
Read versevain, unproductive, godless
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 5 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 2 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
μάταιος is built from this root:
Describes idols as empty and incapable of saving.Acts 14:8-20
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Paul tests the denial of resurrection by stating what would follow: if Christ has not been raised, faith is futile and people remain in their sins. He then directly announces that Christ has indeed been raised. A sermon that quotes the futile-faith line as Paul's final assessment would reverse the argument's movement. James makes another specific assessment, testing a religious profession against an unbridled tongue and then naming care for orphans and widows.
Acts places worthless things within the apostles' appeal to turn from offered worship of themselves toward the living God. These statements are serious judgments about particular reliance, conduct or hypothetical failure, but they do not authorize contempt for a distressed person's existence. Teaching must keep the object, condition and response visible. The word exposes what cannot fulfill its claimed purpose while the passages direct readers toward resurrection hope, accountable practice and the Creator's goodness.
1Cor.15.17
The licensed Greek adjective describes vain, useless or futile things in several contexts. Faith under an expressly denied-resurrection condition, religious practice and objects of worship are different assessed subjects. Related empty vocabulary and translated Old Testament parallels remain separate identities rather than one merged canonical judgment about all human value.
Psalm 94:9-13 names the Lord's knowledge of human thoughts, the witness cited within Paul's wisdom argument. Jeremiah 2:4-7 separately rebukes the named people's departure after worthless idols. These Hebrew settings retain their own claims and add no permission to turn the Greek adjective into a private insult or a verdict that another person's life is without worth.