What does φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai) mean in the Bible?
φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai): Ambitious striving for honor or reputation, often directed toward spiritual rather than worldly status
Greek · G5389
φιλοτιμέομαι
φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai): Ambitious striving for honor or reputation, often directed toward spiritual rather than worldly status
Reading a lexicon entry
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φιλοτιμέομαιG5389
Pronunciationphilotiméomai
What does φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai) mean in the Bible?
Full entry for φιλοτιμέομαι (G5389) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5389?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include I have aspired (1), to aspire (1), we aspire (1).
Where does φιλοτιμέομαι (philotiméomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 15:20. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Thessalonians (1), 2 Corinthians (1), Romans (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItI have aspired1×Romans 15:20
to aspire1×1 Thessalonians 4:11
we aspire1×2 Corinthians 5:9
Show sample aligned rows
Romans 15:20φιλοτιμούμενονtoI have aspiredVerb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular2 Corinthians 5:9φιλοτιμούμεθαtowe aspireVerb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 1st Person Plural1 Thessalonians 4:11φιλοτιμεῖσθαιtoto aspireVerb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowRomans 15:20
Aligned rows3
Books represented3
Romans12 Corinthians11 Thessalonians1
Source forms
φιλοτιμεῖσθαι1xphilotimeisthai1 Thessalonians 4:11
φιλοτιμούμεθα1xphilotimoumetha2 Corinthians 5:9
φιλοτιμούμενον1xphilotimoumenonRomans 15:20
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 1st Person Plural1x2 Corinthians 5:9
Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive1x1 Thessalonians 4:11
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular1xRomans 15:20
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Ambitious striving for honor or reputation, often directed toward spiritual rather than worldly status
Strong'sG5389
Lexical occurrences3 versesGreek text appearances3 timesWord forms3 forms3 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkRomans 15:14-21Source Gloss
to aspire
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
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.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 15:20Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
φιλοτιμούμενονfilotimoumenon
I desire very strongly
Read verse2 Corinthians 5:9Verb First Person Plural Present Middle or Passive Deponent Indicative
φιλοτιμούμεθα,filotimoumeqa
I desire very strongly
Read verse1 Thessalonians 4:11Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Infinitive
φιλοτιμεῖσθαιfilotimeisqai
I desire very strongly
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 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.
Form groups3Aligned forms3TensesPresentVoicesMiddle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality1×
Present MiddleRom 15:201×
Indicativestates a fact or reality1×
Present Middle2 Cor 5:91×
Infinitiveverbal noun — the action in abstract1×
Present Middle1 Thess 4:111×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 3 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present3
Voice
middle3
Mood
infinitive1indicative1participle1
NT Occurrences
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)
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
To aspire eagerly, make it one’s ambition.
Showing 1 selected witness from 3 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
φιλοτιμέομαι is built from these roots:
Why This Word Matters
Expresses intentional mission to unreached regions.Romans 15:14-21