Recollection; by implication, recital
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Μνεία names remembrance or mention, and Paul's uses make memory active in thanksgiving and prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 1:2, remembering the church before God includes gratitude for work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope.
Reader summary
Full entry for μνεία (G3417) · Open the biblical lexicon
Μνεία names remembrance or mention, and Paul's uses make memory active in thanksgiving and prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 1:2, remembering the church before God includes gratitude for work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (2), I remember (2), memories (1), remember (1), remembering you (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 1:9. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Thessalonians (2), 2 Timothy (1), Ephesians (1), Philemon (1).
Μνεία names remembrance or mention, and Paul's uses make memory active in thanksgiving and prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 1:2, remembering the church before God includes gratitude for work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope. In 2 Timothy 1:3, Paul's constant remembrance of Timothy expresses covenant affection and sustained intercession amid separation and suffering.
Ephesians 1:16 joins remembrance to requests that God give wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The noun is not nostalgia or mental recall for its own sake. Paul brings people to mind before God, lets remembered grace produce thanksgiving, and turns concern into petition. Christian remembrance becomes a ministry of love when it recalls persons truthfully, recognizes God's work, and carries them in prayer.
Paul's μνεία is prayerful remembrance. He remembers churches and coworkers before God, giving thanks for grace and asking for their growth and endurance.
We always thank God for all of you, remembering you in our prayers
Paul's remembrance names evidence of grace in the Thessalonians and turns that memory into thanksgiving before God.
I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as did my forefathers, as I constantly remember you night and day in my prayers.
Constant remembrance of Timothy in prayer expresses durable affection and gospel fellowship across absence and suffering.
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
Remembering the Ephesian believers leads Paul to ask for deeper knowledge of God, enlightened hope, and apprehension of divine power.
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. recollection; by implication, recital
(μιμνήσκω), [in LXX for זָכַר, its parts and derivatives ;] remembrance, mention (= μνήμη) : Php.1:3; μ. ποιεῖσθαι, with genitive of person(s), Rom.1:9, Eph.1:16, 1Th.1:2, Phm 4 (cf. Psa.111:4); μ. ἔχειν, with genitive of person(s), 1Th.3:6, 2Ti.1:3 (on the seel. in Rom.12:13, see ICC, in I.; Field, Notes, 163).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
remembrance, recollection
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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 2 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.
μνεία is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Paul's prayer life is populated by remembered people. He does not treat memory as a private archive of feelings. When the Thessalonians come to mind, he names their faith, love, and hope before God. When he remembers Timothy, gratitude and longing become persistent intercession. When he remembers the Ephesians, he asks for wisdom, enlightened hearts, hope, inheritance, and power.
This pattern trains churches to remember one another theologically and affectionately. We recall grace without idealizing people, acknowledge suffering without letting anxiety have the final word, and turn concern toward the God who acts. Teachers can encourage concrete prayer lists and deliberate remembrance, while warning against performance or guilt-driven formulas.
The pastoral strength of μνεία lies in attention shaped by love: persons are not forgotten, God's work is recognized, and their spiritual good is regularly sought before His throne.
1Thess.1.2
Μνεία is related to the memory word family and can mean remembrance or mention. Paul's recurring construction of making remembrance in prayer shows that the noun often refers to deliberate mention before God, not merely an involuntary recollection.
Memorial language in Israel's worship brings persons and God's saving acts into covenant remembrance. The Psalms remember the Lord's works in distress. Paul carries that pattern into church life as he names believers before God in thanksgiving and petition, awaiting the day of Christ.