To establish
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Στηρίζω means to make firm, strengthen, or establish someone so that instability gives way to steadiness. Paul's uses show that this strengthening is both God's work and a ministry believers pursue for one another.
Reader summary
Full entry for στηρίζω (G4741) · Open the biblical lexicon
Στηρίζω means to make firm, strengthen, or establish someone so that instability gives way to steadiness. Paul's uses show that this strengthening is both God's work and a ministry believers pursue for one another.
The BSB source-word alignment has 13 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include strengthen (4), [and] strengthen (1), are established (1), has been fixed (1), He may establish (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 9:51. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (3), 1 Thessalonians (2), 2 Thessalonians (2), Romans (2).
Στηρίζω means to make firm, strengthen, or establish someone so that instability gives way to steadiness. Paul's uses show that this strengthening is both God's work and a ministry believers pursue for one another. In 1 Thessalonians 3, Paul prays that the Lord will establish the believers' hearts in holiness as they await Christ's coming. In 2 Thessalonians 2, encouragement and strengthening in good word and deed follow the call to stand firm in apostolic teaching.
Romans 1 shows Paul's desire to visit and strengthen the church through shared spiritual encouragement. The verb does not promise an untroubled temperament or self-generated resilience. It describes firmness produced through God's grace, truth, prayer, holy obedience, and the mutual ministry of Christ's people.
Paul uses στηρίζω for God-given and church-mediated strengthening that produces steadiness in faith, holiness, speech, and action. The verb is relational and means-directed rather than a slogan for personal toughness.
So that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
The Lord establishes hearts for blameless holiness in view of Christ's coming, joining future hope to present love and obedience.
Encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.
Strengthening follows gospel comfort and enables every good word and deed; it is not mere emotional reassurance detached from truth.
For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
Paul expects mutual encouragement when he visits Rome, showing that strengthening ministry is not a one-directional display of apostolic superiority.
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 strengthen or establish someone in faith, character, or commitment through active support and confirmation.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
13 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
Read verseI fix firmly, strengthen
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 11 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 3 selected witnesses from 13 lexical occurrence verses.
στηρίζω is built from these roots:
Assures believers that God secures them in the gospel.Acts 15:30-35
Reveals Christ’s unwavering resolve toward His redemptive mission.Luke 9:51–56
Highlights the stabilizing role of spoken exhortation.Romans 16:25-27
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Christian stability is not the denial of weakness but the gracious establishment of weak people in truth and holiness. Paul prays because the Lord must strengthen hearts. He teaches because God uses apostolic truth to steady believers. He longs for fellowship because churches are strengthened through gifts, encouragement, and shared faith. First Thessalonians 3 also defines the direction of this firmness: increasing love and blameless holiness before God at Christ's coming.
Second Thessalonians 2 joins steadiness to good words and deeds after turmoil over false teaching. Romans 1 adds mutuality, since Paul expects to be encouraged along with the saints he hopes to strengthen. Teachers can therefore call believers to stand firm without pretending that firmness is self-made. The church becomes steady as God works through His Word, prayer, obedient practice, and the patient presence of His people.
1Thess.3.13
Στηρίζω has the sense of fixing firmly or making stable. Its objects in these passages include hearts and believers themselves. The infinitives and prayer forms highlight intended strengthening, while the contexts supply the means and moral direction: truth, comfort, love, holiness, and good works.
The Psalms repeatedly ask God to establish steps and strengthen hearts according to His word. Jesus prays for Peter and commands him to strengthen his brothers. The apostolic churches continue that pattern as God establishes His people through gospel truth while they await the final steadiness of resurrection life.