φιλοτιμέομαι
To aspire
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
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Canonical witness: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
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What does φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai) mean in the Bible?
φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai) is a Greek word meaning "to aspire". φιλοτιμέομαι, -οῦμαι (φίλος, τιμή), [in LXX: 4Ma. Expresses intentional mission to unreached regions.
Full entry for φιλοτιμέομαι (G5389) · Browse the biblical lexicon
Meaning
Ambitious striving for honor or reputation, often directed toward spiritual rather than worldly status
(φίλος, τιμή), [in LXX: 4Ma.1:35 A ;] to love or seek after honour, hence, to be ambitious, emulous (Plat., Plut., al.): with inf., Rom.15:20, 2Co.5:9, 1Th.4:11.
Why This Word Matters
Expresses intentional mission to unreached regions. Romans 15:14-21
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 1×
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 3 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)
Biblical Occurrences
Each occurrence shows the passage reference, the original language term as it appears in that context, its transliteration, and the contextual sense.
Word Pictures (Robertson)
A.T. Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament (1930–31) discusses this term in the following chapters. Open any chapter and go to the Word Pictures tab to read his verse-by-verse commentary.
A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (1930–31) — public domain