To exploit
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πλεονεκτέω (pleonekteō) means to overreach, exploit, defraud, take advantage, or gain at another person’s expense. In 1 Thessalonians, the verb belongs to a warning against violating or exploiting a brother in a sexual matter, where desire cannot be separated from another person’s holiness and the Lord’s judgment.
Reader summary
Full entry for πλεονεκτέω (G4122) · Open the biblical lexicon
πλεονεκτέω (pleonekteō) means to overreach, exploit, defraud, take advantage, or gain at another person’s expense. In 1 Thessalonians, the verb belongs to a warning against violating or exploiting a brother in a sexual matter, where desire cannot be separated from another person’s holiness and the Lord’s judgment.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include exploit (2), Did I exploit (1), should not outwit us (1), we have exploited (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 2 Corinthians 2:11. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (4), 1 Thessalonians (1).
πλεονεκτέω (pleonekteō) means to overreach, exploit, defraud, take advantage, or gain at another person’s expense. In 1 Thessalonians, the verb belongs to a warning against violating or exploiting a brother in a sexual matter, where desire cannot be separated from another person’s holiness and the Lord’s judgment. In 2 Corinthians, Paul warns that Satan can outwit a church through a failure to complete discipline with forgiveness and comfort.
He also repeatedly denies exploiting the Corinthians, including through the coworkers he sent, placing financial and ministerial conduct under scrutiny. The verb is relational: one party seeks more by diminishing another’s freedom, resources, body, trust, or spiritual good. It does not require that exploitation look openly violent or that the exploiter admit greedy intent.
Scripture therefore calls churches to examine consent, money, authority, secrecy, retaliation, and benefit. Yet allegations also require truthful process; Paul’s denials belong to a pattern of transparent conduct and accountable partners, not to a leader’s demand for unquestioned trust.
πλεονεκτέω describes gaining unfair advantage, violating another, being outmaneuvered, or exploiting through ministry relationships. All five New Testament occurrences expose harm that can hide inside desire, discipline, money, and entrusted authority.
And no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.
The warning follows the command to abstain from sexual immorality and to control one’s body in holiness and honor. Sexual sin is not private appetite only; it can violate and take advantage of another person, and the Lord sees the wrong.
In order that Satan should not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Paul urges forgiveness and comfort for the disciplined person so that grief does not overwhelm him and Satan does not gain an advantage. Both refusal to confront sin and refusal to restore the repentant can become destructive openings.
Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.
Paul places non-exploitation beside not wronging or corrupting anyone as he appeals for restored affection. His claim invites the Corinthians to assess his conduct, not merely admire his office.
Did I exploit you by anyone I sent you?
Paul extends financial accountability to his representatives. A ministry cannot excuse indirect extraction by saying the senior leader did not personally receive the money.
I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps?
Titus and the unnamed brother are evaluated by the same non-exploitative pattern. Shared Spirit and shared footsteps should produce observable consistency across a ministry team.
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 take unfair advantage or defraud someone, often implying cunning exploitation rather than open wrongdoing.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I take advantage of
Read verseI take advantage of
Read verseI take advantage of
Read verseI take advantage of
Read verseI take advantage of
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 4 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 4 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
πλεονεκτέω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Exploitation seeks an advantage that another person pays for. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul refuses to describe sexual conduct as a private exchange between appetites. Holiness includes not violating or taking advantage of another, and the Lord avenges such wrong. Second Corinthians widens the field. A church can be outmaneuvered when discipline becomes permanent grief rather than repentant restoration.
Leaders can also exploit through money, emissaries, or the emotional pressure attached to ministry. Paul answers suspicion by pointing to a consistent pattern shared with Titus and another brother. This is not immunity from inquiry; it is conduct open to examination. Churches should therefore build financial controls, independent reporting paths, safeguarding practices, restorative discipline, and meaningful consent into ordinary life.
They should listen carefully when someone names coercion and investigate without retaliation. They should also avoid public verdicts built on rumor alone. Truthful accountability protects both the vulnerable and the integrity of just process. The opposite of exploitation is not vague niceness but love that refuses hidden gain, shares power responsibly, repairs harm, and walks in the light.
1Thess.4.6
The verb belongs to the ‘have more’ word family and moves from covetous desire toward overreaching action. Passive forms can mean being outwitted or taken advantage of. The object may be a person or community, and the kind of gain must be inferred from sexual, financial, disciplinary, or rhetorical context.
The law condemns false weights, withheld wages, sexual violation, bribery, and oppression of the poor, widow, orphan, and stranger. The prophets expose leaders who feed themselves at the flock’s expense. The New Testament brings these concerns into sexual holiness, church discipline, gospel finance, and leadership, with Christ’s self-giving love standing against grasping advantage.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
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Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain