Uprising
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G4714 is a Greek noun that can mean standing or continued existence and, more commonly in narrative settings, dissension, uprising, insurrection, or riot. Acts 15:2 describes sharp dispute over Gentile believers, after which the church appoints representatives to take the question to apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
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Full entry for στάσις (G4714) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4714 is a Greek noun that can mean standing or continued existence and, more commonly in narrative settings, dissension, uprising, insurrection, or riot. Acts 15:2 describes sharp dispute over Gentile believers, after which the church appoints representatives to take the question to apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include insurrection (3), [The] dispute (1), a dispute (1), dissension (1), engaging (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 15:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), Luke (2), Hebrews (1), Mark (1).
G4714 is a Greek noun that can mean standing or continued existence and, more commonly in narrative settings, dissension, uprising, insurrection, or riot. Acts 15:2 describes sharp dispute over Gentile believers, after which the church appoints representatives to take the question to apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Acts 19:40 records a city official warning that the Ephesian crowd risks a charge of rioting because its commotion lacks lawful justification.
Acts 23:10 says a dispute between Pharisees and Sadducees became so violent that a commander feared Paul would be torn apart and ordered his removal. Hebrews 9:8 uses the distinct sense of the first tabernacle still standing. G4714 opens institutional disagreement, civic disorder, political accusation, violence, and status. It corrects language that calls every protest an insurrection and rhetoric that romanticizes a crowd merely because its cause feels urgent.
G4714 can name a standing condition or, depending on context, dissension, uprising, insurrection, and riot. Political and conflict uses vary in severity, so translators and readers must attend to actual conduct, accusation, authority, and danger.
And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
A sharp dispute over Gentile inclusion is redirected into a representative, communal discernment process in Jerusalem.
For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.”
The Ephesian assembly is warned that its disorder could be charged as rioting because no lawful cause explains the commotion.
The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.
A theological dispute becomes physically dangerous, and the commander removes Paul to prevent the crowd from tearing him apart.
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. Standing position that extends to strife, dissension, or open rebellion against authority.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
standing, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
Read versestanding, place, dissension
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 9 lexical occurrence verses.
στάσις is built from this root:
Shows the gravity of doctrinal conflict.Acts 15:1-5
G4714 warns against both euphemism and exaggeration. Acts 15 contains sharp conflict, but the church does not let volume decide doctrine. Representatives travel, testimony is heard, Scripture is considered, leaders deliberate, and a written judgment is communicated. Acts 19 and 23 show crowds whose volatility creates public danger. In one case a civic official disperses an unjustified assembly; in another a commander physically removes the person at risk.
These narratives do not supply a simple theology of every modern protest, police response, rebellion, or state. They do insist that conduct matters. Peaceful dissent, civil disobedience, disorder, and armed insurrection are not interchangeable labels. Governments and institutions can abuse public-order language to suppress truthful opposition, while movements can minimize threats committed in their name.
Christian discernment protects life, verifies facts, resists collective blame, and seeks accountable venues for grievances. When conflict becomes immediately dangerous, separation and emergency protection can be faithful acts rather than failures of dialogue.
Acts.15.2
G4714 derives from standing and can denote a standing state, position, party, dissension, or uprising. New Testament conflict contexts range from sharp dispute to insurrection and riot, while Hebrews 9:8 preserves the distinct sense of remaining standing.
Israel's history distinguishes lawful assemblies, prophetic protest, factional strife, and revolt, while wisdom warns about mobs and hot-tempered conflict. The New Testament calls communities to peace and public witness without granting rulers or crowds unchecked power.