A doer carries something into practice rather than merely hearing it, while this Greek noun can also identify a poet in a literary setting. James calls hearers to become doers of the word and warns against self-deception.
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Reader summary
Full entry for ποιητής (G4163) · Open the biblical lexicon
A doer carries something into practice rather than merely hearing it, while this Greek noun can also identify a poet in a literary setting. James calls hearers to become doers of the word and warns against self-deception.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include doers (2), a practitioner (1), doer (1), does not carry it out (1), poets (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 17:28. Its strongest book concentrations include James (4), Acts (1), Romans (1).
A doer carries something into practice rather than merely hearing it, while this Greek noun can also identify a poet in a literary setting. James calls hearers to become doers of the word and warns against self-deception. His mirror comparison describes the failure to retain and act upon what has been heard, and his account of the effective doer includes continued attention to the law of freedom.
Acts uses the noun when Paul mentions the Athenians' own poets during his argument about God and idols. Context therefore decides whether the person performs an instruction or composes words. James's call to action should be heard fully, without turning obedience into a purchase price for salvation or Paul's quoted poets into authorities over his whole proclamation.
James contrasts active response with forgetful hearing, while Paul's speech identifies poets as quoted speakers. Doing the word and composing poetry are different contextual uses of the noun.
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
James commands doing the word after calling for humble reception of the planted word, warning that hearing alone permits self-deception.
But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
Continued attention distinguishes the effective doer from the forgetful hearer, with the following verses naming speech and care for vulnerable people.
‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’
Paul identifies the Athenians' poets as quoted voices before arguing against material idols and calling hearers to repent.
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. One who actively produces or performs, whether composing poetry or doing deeds, not merely speaking or knowing.
One who actively produces or performs, whether composing poetry or doing deeds, not merely speaking or knowing.
(ποιέω), [in LXX: 1Ma.2:67 * ;] in cl.,
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.
a doer, performer, poet
Read versea doer, performer, poet
Read versea doer, performer, poet
Read versea doer, performer, poet
Read versea doer, performer, poet
Read versea doer, performer, poet
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 3 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 5 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
ποιητής 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.
James's mirror comparison exposes a response that stops at observation. The hearer sees and then forgets, while the effective doer continues attending and acting. The surrounding instructions make that action recognizable through restrained speech, care for orphans and widows, and resistance to pollution by the world. This is more concrete than congratulating people for knowing religious vocabulary.
Yet the noun does not settle every question about how obedience relates to justification; those questions require reading the relevant arguments, including Paul's account of grace and redemption. Acts also prevents a rigid translation: the same noun there identifies poets whose words Paul uses within his proclamation. Good teaching can call for embodied obedience while distinguishing literary activity and preserving salvation's grounding in God's grace through Christ.
Jas.1.22
The attributed Greek record distinguishes doer and poet uses. James supplies the object being practiced, while Acts' quoted literary voices require the poet sense rather than a command-performance label.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 places God's words within daily remembering and instruction. James's hearing-and-doing appeal can be compared with that attention to lived response, without treating the noun as a claim that human performance purchases God's saving grace.