Face
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G4383 is the ordinary noun for a face and can extend through idiom to presence, personal encounter, outward appearance, the front or surface of something, and a person regarded by status. Its seventy-six governed forms include literal faces, falling facedown, seeing someone face to face, appearing before an authority, God's presence, Christ's face, public view, superficial judgment, flattery, and scenes in which a.
Reader summary
Full entry for πρόσωπον (G4383) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4383 is the ordinary noun for a face and can extend through idiom to presence, personal encounter, outward appearance, the front or surface of something, and a person regarded by status. Its seventy-six governed forms include literal faces, falling facedown, seeing someone face to face, appearing before an authority, God's presence, Christ's face, public.
The BSB source-word alignment has 76 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (19), face (17), [the] face (4), [the] presence (4), facedown (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (13), 2 Corinthians (12), Acts (12), Matthew (10).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G4383 is the ordinary noun for a face and can extend through idiom to presence, personal encounter, outward appearance, the front or surface of something, and a person regarded by status. Its seventy-six governed forms include literal faces, falling facedown, seeing someone face to face, appearing before an authority, God's presence, Christ's face, public view, superficial judgment, flattery, and scenes in which a face is struck or disfigured. Translation must follow each phrase rather than assign one theological meaning to every form.
Paul's Corinthian letters provide concentrated uses. Believers now see dimly and await face-to-face fullness, Moses' face belongs to the old-covenant comparison, unveiled faces behold or reflect the Lord's glory, and God gives knowledge of divine glory in the face of Jesus Christ. These texts support real hope, transformation, and Christ-centered revelation, but G4383 alone does not define the final vision, guarantee a mystical sight, identify Jesus' physical features, or justify anti-Jewish readings of Paul's veil language.
Other occurrences confront appearance-based judgment. God shows no favoritism, teachers may flatter faces for advantage, and Paul distinguishes outward appearance from the heart while also confronting Peter to his face. Literal faces can display joy, grief, fear, injury, and bodily difference, yet appearance does not establish character, consent, competence, truthfulness, mental health, or spiritual condition. Pastoral use must resist racism, colorism, ableism, beauty hierarchy, facial shaming, surveillance, coercive eye contact, and violence while honoring embodied presence and truthful encounter.
Seventy-six governed forms move among literal face, presence, encounter, appearance, public view, partiality, and person-directed idioms.
Then we shall see face to face
The phrase contrasts present partiality with future fullness and directness.
The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
The gospel makes God's glory known through Christ within Paul's creation-light comparison.
I opposed him to his face
Paul's direct confrontation concerns publicly consequential conduct and does not prescribe one method for every conflict.
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. Face or presence; idiomatically means personal appearance, condition, or showing favoritism based on external circumstances.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 78 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
the face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
Read versethe face, countenance, surface
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 7 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 5 selected witnesses from 76 lexical occurrence verses.
πρόσωπον 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.
A face can signal presence without revealing the whole person. Scripture speaks of meeting face to face, falling facedown, judging by outward appearance, striking a face, knowing God's glory in Christ's face, and finally seeing God's face. G4383 therefore brings embodiment and interpretation together. Human beings encounter one another through bodies, yet facial features, expressions, eye contact, beauty standards, disability, and public image do not settle truth or worth.
Christian presence should be attentive without becoming invasive. Direct confrontation can serve truth, but it is not always safe or wise. Hope looks toward fuller knowledge and God's final presence, while present ministry honors consent, protects injured and vulnerable people, rejects favoritism, and refuses to turn charisma or visible emotion into spiritual authority.
2Cor.4.6
Seven noun morphology labels account for the seventy-six forms. Case and number place the face within different constructions, while prepositions and idioms can shift the rendering toward presence, before, appearance, person, surface, or face to face. Morphology identifies grammatical relation but does not determine whether a face is literal, idiomatic, theological, or evaluative.
The Greek Old Testament frequently renders Hebrew panim language with this noun, carrying senses of face, presence, before, and surface. The Aaronic blessing, Moses narratives, and prayers that God not hide his face provide important background, but each New Testament claim must still be governed by its own text.