A plea ("apology")
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G627 names a defense or reasoned reply, often in a legal, public, or accountable setting where a person answers questions, accusations, or challenges concerning conduct and hope. The noun can describe courtroom defense, apostolic explanation, vindication, or an answer concerning Christian hope; tone and purpose come from the passage rather than from the noun alone.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀπολογία (G627) · Open the biblical lexicon
G627 names a defense or reasoned reply, often in a legal, public, or accountable setting where a person answers questions, accusations, or challenges concerning conduct and hope. The noun can describe courtroom defense, apostolic explanation, vindication, or an answer concerning Christian hope; tone and purpose come from the passage rather than from the.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include defense (4), [the] defense (1), defend himself (1), eagerness to clear yourselves (1), give a defense (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 22:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (2), Philippians (2), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Peter (1).
G627 names a defense or reasoned reply, often in a legal, public, or accountable setting where a person answers questions, accusations, or challenges concerning conduct and hope. The noun can describe courtroom defense, apostolic explanation, vindication, or an answer concerning Christian hope; tone and purpose come from the passage rather than from the noun alone.
In 1Pet. 3. 15, peter calls believers to honor Christ as Lord and be prepared to give an answer for their hope with gentleness and respect. In Acts. 25. 16, festus explains that Roman custom gives an accused person opportunity to face accusers and answer their charges before being handed over. G627 opens teaching on giving truthful reasons for Christian hope while joining clarity to gentleness, respect, due process, and confidence in Christ rather than argumentative dominance.
It corrects combative apologetics that prizes winning over faithful witness and spiritualized silence that denies accused or harmed people a fair opportunity to answer charges. G627 makes defense accountable rather than aggressive: First Peter grounds an answer for hope in sanctifying Christ as Lord and requires gentleness and respect, Festus describes the Roman practice of allowing an accused person to face accusers and answer charges, and Paul remembers standing alone at his first defense while responding without vengeance toward those who deserted him.
For G627, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. The noun does not require every believer to master debate, guarantee a sympathetic hearing, authorize harassment in the name of evangelism, or make polished speech proof of innocence.
G627 appears across passages that develop defense, hope, witness, due process, gentleness, respect, accusation, gospel confirmation, truth, and accountable speech. For G627, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,
Peter calls believers to honor Christ as Lord and be prepared to give an answer for their hope with gentleness and respect.
I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand a man over before he has had an opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself against their charges.
Festus explains that Roman custom gives an accused person opportunity to face accusers and answer their charges before being handed over.
At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.
Paul recalls that no one stood with him at his first defense, yet he asks that their desertion not be charged against them.
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. A formal defense speech, especially before authorities; not apology but legal vindication or reasoned justification.
A formal defense speech, especially before authorities; not apology but legal vindication or reasoned justification.
(ἀπολογέομαι), [in LXX: Wis.6:10 * ;] a speech in defence: Act.25:16, 2Co.7:11, Php.1:7, 16, 2Ti.4:16; with dative of person(s), 1Co.9:3, 1Pe.3:15; before πρός, Act.22:1.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
Read versea verbal defense
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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀπολογία is built from this root:
G627 makes defense accountable rather than aggressive: First Peter grounds an answer for hope in sanctifying Christ as Lord and requires gentleness and respect, Festus describes the Roman practice of allowing an accused person to face accusers and answer charges, and Paul remembers standing alone at his first defense while responding without vengeance toward those who deserted him. G627 names a defense or reasoned reply, often in a legal, public, or accountable setting where a person answers questions, accusations, or challenges concerning conduct and hope.
The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: 1Pet. 3. 15 shows that peter calls believers to honor Christ as Lord and be prepared to give an answer for their hope with gentleness and respect. , while Acts. 25. 16 shows that festus explains that Roman custom gives an accused person opportunity to face accusers and answer their charges before being handed over..
2Tim. 4. 16 adds that paul recalls that no one stood with him at his first defense, yet he asks that their desertion not be charged against them.. G627 opens teaching on giving truthful reasons for Christian hope while joining clarity to gentleness, respect, due process, and confidence in Christ rather than argumentative dominance. It corrects combative apologetics that prizes winning over faithful witness and spiritualized silence that denies accused or harmed people a fair opportunity to answer charges.
A church teaching G627 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support. The noun does not require every believer to master debate, guarantee a sympathetic hearing, authorize harassment in the name of evangelism, or make polished speech proof of innocence.
1Pet.3.15
G627 is a Greek noun for a speech in defense or an answer given in response to scrutiny, related to the verb for speaking in ones defense; legal and relational settings specify its force.
The Old Testament includes testimony before rulers, truthful protest, wisdom in speech, and appeals for vindication. The New Testament places defense within witness to Christ, fair hearing, suffering, partnership in grace, and hope, not within a mandate to treat every neighbor as an opponent.