What does ὑπακοή (hypakoḗ) mean in the Bible?
G5218 names obedience, the responsive hearing that submits to what is heard. In Paul, obedience is bound to faith, Christ, and the gospel.
Greek · G5218
ὑπακοή
Obedience
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ὑπακοή G5218
Pronunciation hypakoḗ
What does ὑπακοή (hypakoḗ) mean in the Bible?
G5218 names obedience, the responsive hearing that submits to what is heard. In Paul, obedience is bound to faith, Christ, and the gospel.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὑπακοή (G5218) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5218?
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include obedience (8), obedient (3), to obedience (2), [to the] obedience (1), make it obedient (1).
Where does ὑπακοή (hypakoḗ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 1:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (7), 1 Peter (3), 2 Corinthians (3), Hebrews (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G5218 names obedience, the responsive hearing that submits to what is heard. In Paul, obedience is bound to faith, Christ, and the gospel. Romans opens with the obedience that comes from faith and contrasts Adam's disobedience with Christ's obedience. Second Corinthians applies obedience even to thoughts brought under Christ. The word helps teachers avoid separating faith from allegiance.
For preaching and teaching, this companion keeps the term tied to its cited Pauline settings before moving toward doctrine or application. The aim is not to turn a Greek gloss into a sermon by itself, but to help readers notice how the word functions inside Paul's argument, relationships, warnings, and gospel-centered exhortation with patient clarity.
How the Bible Uses It
G5218 moves from gospel response to Christ's representative obedience and then to the disciplined obedience of the church.
- Rom.1.5
Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
Romans 1 links grace, apostleship, the nations, and the obedience that comes from faith.
- Rom.5.19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Romans 5 contrasts Adam's disobedience with Christ's obedience, grounding salvation in the representative work of Christ.
- 2Cor.10.5
We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Second Corinthians 10 extends obedience to every thought taken captive to Christ, showing that gospel obedience reaches the mind.
Passage context
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It obedience 8× Romans 5:19, Romans 16:19, Romans 16:26, 2 Corinthians 10:6
obedient 3× Romans 6:16, 2 Corinthians 7:15, 1 Peter 1:14
to obedience 2× Romans 6:16, Romans 15:18
[to the] obedience 1× Romans 1:5
make it obedient 1× 2 Corinthians 10:5
Show sample aligned rows
Romans 1:5 ὑπακοὴν to [to the] obedience Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Romans 5:19 ὑπακοῆς to obedience Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Romans 6:16 ὑπακοήν to obedient Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Romans 6:16 ὑπακοῆς to to obedience Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Romans 15:18 ὑπακοὴν to to obedience Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Romans 16:19 ὑπακοὴ to obedience Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Romans 16:26 ὑπακοὴν to obedience Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 2 Corinthians 7:15 ὑπακοήν to obedient Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 2 Corinthians 10:5 ὑπακοὴν to make it obedient Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 2 Corinthians 10:6 ὑπακοή to obedience Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Romans 1:5
Aligned rows 15
Books represented 5
Romans 7 2 Corinthians 3 Philemon 1 Hebrews 1 1 Peter 3
Source forms
ὑπακοὴν 5x hypakoēn Romans 1:5, Romans 15:18, Romans 16:26, 2 Corinthians 10:5
ὑπακοήν 3x hypakoēn Romans 6:16, 2 Corinthians 7:15, Hebrews 5:8
ὑπακοῆς 3x hypakoēs Romans 5:19, Romans 6:16, 1 Peter 1:14
ὑπακοῇ 2x hypakoē Philemon 1:21, 1 Peter 1:22
ὑπακοή 1x hypakoē 2 Corinthians 10:6
ὑπακοὴ 1x hypakoē Romans 16:19
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 8x Romans 1:5, Romans 6:16, Romans 15:18, Romans 16:26
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 3x Romans 5:19, Romans 6:16, 1 Peter 1:14
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular 2x Philemon 1:21, 1 Peter 1:22
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 2x Romans 16:19, 2 Corinthians 10:6
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
Avoid claiming...
Passage contexttheological_synthesisPastoral application
Evidence Summary
Greek word. obedience
Strong's G5218
Lexical occurrences 14 verses Greek text appearances 15 times Word forms 4 forms 14 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
obedience
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
15 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 1:5 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοὴν upakohn
obedience
Read verse Romans 5:19 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ὑπακοῆς upakohv
obedience
Read verse Romans 6:16 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοήν, upakohn
obedience
Read verse Romans 6:16 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ὑπακοῆς upakohv
obedience
Read verse Romans 15:18 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοὴν upakohn
obedience
Read verse Romans 16:19 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοὴ upakoh
obedience
Read verse Romans 16:26 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοὴν upakohn
obedience
Read verse 2 Corinthians 7:15 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοήν, upakohn
obedience
Read verse 2 Corinthians 10:5 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοὴν upakohn
obedience
Read verse 2 Corinthians 10:6 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοή. upakoh
obedience
Read verse Philemon 1:21 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοῇ upakoh
obedience
Read verse Hebrews 5:8 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοήν, upakohn
obedience
Read verse 1 Peter 1:2 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοὴν upakohn
obedience
Read verse 1 Peter 1:14 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
ὑπακοῆς, upakohv
obedience
Read verse 1 Peter 1:22 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
ὑπακοῇ upakoh
obedience
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.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 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.
Form patterns 4 Aligned forms 14 Case pattern Accusative (7) Number pattern Singular (14)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Rom 16:19 · 2 Cor 10:6 2×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Rom 5:19 · Rom 6:16 · 1 Pet 1:14 3×
Dative · Singular · Feminine Phlm 1:21 · 1 Pet 1:22 2×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Rom 1:5 · Rom 6:16 · Rom 15:18 · 2 Cor 7:15 · 2 Cor 10:5 · Heb 5:8 · 1 Pet 1:2 7×
Word Origins
ὑπακοή is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
G5218 helps teachers keep faith and obedience in Pauline order. Obedience does not purchase grace, but grace creates a submitted people. Christ's obedience is the saving center, and the church's obedience is the fitting response. Paul can therefore speak of gospel mission, justification, and mental captivity to Christ without making obedience a rival to faith.
Anchor passage
Rom.1.5
Doctrinal connections
- Rom.1.5 - Romans 1 links grace, apostleship, the nations, and the obedience that comes from faith.
- Rom.5.19 - Romans 5 contrasts Adam's disobedience with Christ's obedience, grounding salvation in the representative work of Christ.
- 2Cor.10.5 - Second Corinthians 10 extends obedience to every thought taken captive to Christ, showing that gospel obedience reaches the mind.
Obedience or faithful hearing is the reviewed display gloss for G5218. In this Pauline-focused companion, local STEP TAGNT evidence shows about 10 Pauline use(s), with common forms including N-ASF 5, N-GSF 2, N-NSF 2. Treat these form signals as support for reading the passage, not as a replacement for context.
From Old to New Testament
Paul's obedience language gathers mission, justification, and discipleship under Christ. Grace does not cancel obedience; it creates the people who obey from faith.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain