To agree
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Συντίθεμαι (syntíthemai) means to agree together, arrange jointly, or make a compact. In John 9:22 the parents of the man born blind speak cautiously because they fear exclusion: the authorities have agreed that anyone confessing Jesus as the Christ will be put out of the synagogue.
Reader summary
Full entry for συντίθεμαι (G4934) · Open the biblical lexicon
Συντίθεμαι (syntíthemai) means to agree together, arrange jointly, or make a compact. In John 9:22 the parents of the man born blind speak cautiously because they fear exclusion: the authorities have agreed that anyone confessing Jesus as the Christ will be put out of the synagogue.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include agreed (1), concurred (1), had already determined (1), have agreed (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 22:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (2), John (1), Luke (1).
Συντίθεμαι (syntíthemai) means to agree together, arrange jointly, or make a compact. In John 9:22 the parents of the man born blind speak cautiously because they fear exclusion: the authorities have agreed that anyone confessing Jesus as the Christ will be put out of the synagogue. Their agreement creates an institutional consequence that shapes public speech and leaves the healed man to answer for himself. John narrates an intra-Jewish conflict over Jesus; the text must not be used against Jewish people or synagogues generally.
Luke 22:5 uses the verb for the agreement to pay Judas. Acts 23:20 describes a coordinated request designed to enable an ambush against Paul, while Acts 24:9 describes accusers joining in the charges before Felix. Agreement can therefore unite people around betrayal, deception, or accusation. The word itself does not make consensus evil; it reveals that shared commitment inherits the moral character of its object and means.
Churches rightly form covenants, policies, and shared decisions, but agreement must remain accountable to truth and justice. Institutional unity cannot sanctify retaliation against confession, suppression of testimony, or coordinated harm. Faithful communities protect conscience, distinguish discipline from coercion, give accused people due process, and ensure that dissent or truthful reporting does not trigger informal exile.
The verb describes agreements surrounding Judas' payment, exclusion of Jesus-confessors, an ambush against Paul, and coordinated accusation.
They were delighted and agreed to give him money.
Agreement links Judas' betrayal with leaders willing to pay for access to Jesus away from the crowd.
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
An institutional agreement creates fear and pressures the parents to distance themselves from their son's confession and testimony.
He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of acquiring more information about him.
A coordinated request conceals an intended ambush, showing agreement joined to deception and violence.
The Jews concurred, asserting that these charges were true.
The accusers jointly affirm the case against Paul before the governor.
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 agree
to place or put together, in various senses. Mid.,
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I make an agreement, agree
Read verseI make an agreement, agree
Read verseI make an agreement, agree
Read verseI make an agreement, agree
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 4 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)
συντίθεμαι is built from these roots:
Agreement is morally powerful because it turns individual intent into shared action. In John 9, a policy of exclusion shapes what frightened parents are willing to say. Luke and Acts show agreements connected to betrayal, ambush, and accusation. The biblical warning is not that all institutions or covenants are corrupt. It is that consensus cannot replace truth, and unity cannot excuse coercion.
Churches should ask what their formal and informal agreements reward, punish, conceal, or make difficult to confess. Faithful governance protects due process, allows truthful dissent, names conflicts of interest, and refuses retaliation against witnesses. The church's deepest unity is in Christ and His truth, not in preserving appearances or silencing costly testimony.
John.9.22
The middle-form verb describes parties arriving at or binding themselves to a shared arrangement. Context supplies whether the compact is lawful, deceptive, coercive, or benign.
Scripture values covenant faithfulness and wise agreement but condemns conspiracies and false witness. The New Testament tests communal unity by allegiance to Christ, truth, and justice.
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