To dispute, refuse
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Ἀντιλέγω (antilégō) means to speak against, contradict, oppose, or answer in resistance. Simeon says the child Jesus will be a sign spoken against (Luke 2:34), placing opposition within the Gospel's earliest witness to His divisive significance.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀντιλέγω (G483) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἀντιλέγω (antilégō) means to speak against, contradict, oppose, or answer in resistance. Simeon says the child Jesus will be a sign spoken against (Luke 2:34), placing opposition within the Gospel's earliest witness to His divisive significance.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include are speaking against (1), argumentative (1), contradict (1), contradict [it] (1), contradicted (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 2:34. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (4), Luke (3), Titus (2), John (1).
Ἀντιλέγω (antilégō) means to speak against, contradict, oppose, or answer in resistance. Simeon says the child Jesus will be a sign spoken against (Luke 2:34), placing opposition within the Gospel's earliest witness to His divisive significance. In John 19:12 the crowd's shouted claim about Caesar counters Pilate's attempt to release Jesus and uses imperial loyalty to intensify pressure for crucifixion. John records a particular coalition and moment in the passion narrative, not a warrant for hostility toward Jewish people.
Acts 13:45 describes jealous opponents contradicting Paul's preaching, while Romans 10:21 quotes Isaiah's picture of a disobedient and opposing people. Titus 1:9 requires an overseer to hold the faithful word, encourage by sound teaching, and refute those who contradict. The same lexical family can therefore describe resistance to truth and the responsible answer given to error.
The verb does not make every disagreement rebellion against God. Christians may question interpretations, appeal decisions, and correct leaders. Faithful refutation depends on Scripture, sound teaching, patience, and love; it does not rely on intimidation, contempt, or political threat. Teachers should examine whether they are defending truth or merely defending status, and they must refuse ethnic generalization from conflict texts.
The verb moves from opposition to Jesus, through contradiction of apostolic preaching, to the overseer's duty to answer error with sound doctrine.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
Opposition to Jesus is anticipated within Simeon's Spirit-given witness to His mission and its searching effect.
From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”
Political accusation is used to oppose release and pressure Pilate toward condemnation of Jesus.
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.
Luke identifies jealousy and blasphemous contradiction among specific opponents of the apostolic message.
But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Paul's citation holds divine patience and human resistance together within an argument that continues toward mercy and rejects Gentile boasting.
He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.
Qualified oversight answers contradiction through faithful teaching that both encourages and refutes.
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 speak against someone or oppose their claims through direct contradiction or refusal to comply.
To speak against someone or oppose their claims through direct contradiction or refusal to comply.
cοntradict, oppose, resist (see Field, Notes, 106; MM, VGT, see word); absol.: Act.28:19, Rom.10:21, Tit.1:9 2:9; with dative, Jhn.19:12, Act.13:45; with accusative and inf., Luk.20:27 T; pass., Luk.2:34, Act.28:22.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
Read verseI speak or say in opposition, contradict
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 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)
ἀντιλέγω is built from these roots:
Contradiction is not measured merely by who speaks most forcefully. In the passion narrative, political pressure helps move Pilate toward injustice. In Acts, jealousy drives opposition to apostolic preaching. Titus gives the church a positive pattern: hold firmly to the faithful word, encourage believers, and refute error through sound teaching. This means truth has content and error must sometimes be opposed, but the method matters.
Christian leaders do not manufacture agreement through fear or treat every question as rebellion. They reason from Scripture, listen carefully, distinguish honest inquiry from destructive teaching, and correct with patience. Conflict passages involving Jewish opponents must never be generalized into contempt for Jewish people; all sinners need the same Messiah and mercy.
John.19.12
The compound emphasizes speaking in opposition. Context determines whether the opposition resists truth or whether a teacher is rightly answering contradiction.
Prophets repeatedly face contradiction while God patiently holds out His hands to a resistant people. The New Testament centers that opposition in the rejected Messiah and equips the church to answer error faithfully.
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