To debate
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G4802 is a Greek verb for discussing, deliberating, questioning together, debating, or disputing. Luke 24:15 says the two travelers were talking and deliberating when the risen Jesus drew near and walked with them, placing discussion inside grief and incomplete understanding.
Reader summary
Full entry for συζητέω (G4802) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4802 is a Greek verb for discussing, deliberating, questioning together, debating, or disputing. Luke 24:15 says the two travelers were talking and deliberating when the risen Jesus drew near and walked with them, placing discussion inside grief and incomplete understanding.
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include are you disputing (1), arguing (1), began to ask (1), debate (1), debated (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 1:27. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (6), Acts (2), Luke (2).
G4802 is a Greek verb for discussing, deliberating, questioning together, debating, or disputing. Luke 24:15 says the two travelers were talking and deliberating when the risen Jesus drew near and walked with them, placing discussion inside grief and incomplete understanding. Mark 12:28 describes a scribe who hears debate, recognizes Jesus' good answer, and asks a sincere question about the greatest commandment.
Acts 9:29 says Saul spoke and debated with Greek-speaking Jews who then tried to kill him, sharply separating argument from violence. Other uses concern disciples discussing resurrection, a crowd asking about Jesus' authority, and opponents testing Him. G4802 opens shared inquiry, disagreement, learning, testing, and escalation. It corrects the belief that debate is inherently faithless and the opposite belief that winning an argument permits humiliation, threats, or treating conversation partners as enemies.
G4802 describes people examining, questioning, or disputing something together. The same activity can serve learning, sincere inquiry, hostile testing, or unresolved conflict. Purpose, posture, power, and result clarify the use.
And as they talked and deliberated, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them.
Two grieving disciples deliberate about recent events as the unrecognized risen Jesus comes near and joins their journey.
Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
A scribe listens to debate, notices that Jesus answered well, and brings a substantive question rather than merely seeking victory.
He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
Saul debates in Jerusalem, but his opponents cross from argument into an attempt to kill him.
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 debate
(Rec. συζ-), -ῶ, [in LXX: Neh.2:4 AB1 (בָּקַשׁ pi.) * ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
10 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
Read verseI seek together, discuss, dispute
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 verb appears across 9 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)
συζητέω is built from these roots:
G4802 makes room for unfinished understanding. On the Emmaus road, the disciples are processing devastating events, and Jesus joins their conversation before correcting and opening Scripture. Their questions are not treated as contamination. Mark's scribe demonstrates that someone can listen to controversy and still recognize a good answer and ask sincerely.
Acts shows the boundary debate must never cross: opponents answer argument with attempted killing. Christian deliberation should be patient with grief, precise about claims, open to evidence, and attentive to people who carry less institutional or social power. A meeting is not truly open if questioning costs employment, membership, safety, or reputation. Debate can clarify real differences, but it cannot by itself repair harm or establish every fact.
Facilitators may set time and conduct boundaries, separate hostile parties, or end an unsafe exchange. The aim is faithful truth and neighbor-love, not performance. Sometimes the wisest next step is study, mediation, investigation, or protected distance rather than another public argument.
Luke.24.15
G4802 combines language of seeking with togetherness and can mean examine together, discuss, debate, or dispute. The verb itself does not establish whether the exchange is sincere or hostile; narrative descriptions of motive and response supply that judgment.
Job, wisdom literature, prophets, and legal texts preserve questions, arguments, and reasoned cases before God and neighbor. The New Testament continues robust deliberation while subjecting speech to truth, gentleness, courage, and love.