To dishonor
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Ἀτιμάζω (atimázō) means to dishonor, disgrace, or treat someone as though they have little worth. In John 8:49 Jesus rejects the charge that He has a demon and names the true moral reversal: He honors His Father, while His opponents dishonor Him.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀτιμάζω (G818) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἀτιμάζω (atimázō) means to dishonor, disgrace, or treat someone as though they have little worth. In John 8:49 Jesus rejects the charge that He has a demon and names the true moral reversal: He honors His Father, while His opponents dishonor Him.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include dishonor (1), dishonoring (1), do you dishonor (1), have dishonored (1), of suffering disgrace (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 12:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (2), Acts (1), James (1), John (1).
Ἀτιμάζω (atimázō) means to dishonor, disgrace, or treat someone as though they have little worth. In John 8:49 Jesus rejects the charge that He has a demon and names the true moral reversal: He honors His Father, while His opponents dishonor Him. Their treatment of the Son reveals their failure to honor the Father who sent Him.
The New Testament applies dishonor in several directions. The apostles rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer disgrace for Jesus' name (Acts 5:41). Paul says lawbreaking dishonors God despite religious boasting (Rom. 2:23). James rebukes assemblies that dishonor the poor while flattering the rich (Jas. 2:6). Romans 1:24 describes bodies dishonored within idolatrous desire and judgment.
The word calls the church to examine whom it treats as disposable. Honor is not mere politeness or unquestioning deference to status. Biblical honor begins with God, recognizes Christ, protects the dignity of people made in God's image, and refuses favoritism. At the same time, suffering dishonor for Christ does not make all humiliation righteous or require people to accept abusive treatment without boundaries and accountability.
The verb contrasts Jesus' honor of the Father with His opponents' dishonor, then exposes religious hypocrisy, persecution, and contempt for the poor.
“I do not have a demon,” Jesus replied, “but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
Jesus identifies His conduct as honor toward the Father and His opponents' accusation as dishonor toward the sent Son.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
Dishonor imposed by persecutors becomes a cause for joy because it is borne in faithful identification with Jesus.
You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
Religious possession and boasting cannot compensate for conduct that dishonors the God who gave the law.
But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
Favoritism in the assembly treats the poor as without honor and contradicts faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
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 treat someone with contempt or public shame, stripping them of honor and dignity
To treat someone with contempt or public shame, stripping them of honor and dignity
(ἄτιμος), [in LXX for בּוּז, קָלָה, etc. ;] to dishonour, insult: Mrk.12:4, TTr., mg., WH, Luk.20:11, Jhn.8:49, Rom.2:23, Jas.2:6; pass.: Act.5:41, Rom.1:24 (cf ἀτιμάω).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I disgrace, dishonor
Read verseI disgrace, dishonor
Read verseI disgrace, dishonor
Read verseI disgrace, dishonor
Read verseI disgrace, dishonor
Read verseI disgrace, dishonor
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 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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 6 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)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀτιμάζω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Dishonor reveals a value system. Jesus' opponents dishonor the Son while claiming zeal for God, Paul confronts law-boasting that dishonors the Lawgiver, and James exposes a congregation that assigns honor according to wealth. The apostles show another side: shame imposed for Christ cannot define their true worth, so they rejoice that His name is greater than the court's verdict.
Teaching ἀτιμάζω should help believers distinguish social shame from moral guilt. The church must honor God, confess Jesus, welcome the poor, and resist contempt. It must also avoid telling wounded people that enduring humiliation is always holy. Suffering for Christ may be faithful; tolerating preventable abuse or protecting powerful wrongdoers is not the same thing.
John.8.49
The verb negates honor and can describe social disgrace, moral treatment, or bodily dishonor. The source and standard of honor must be read from context.
The honor of God and care for the poor are persistent covenant concerns. The New Testament centers honor in the Father-Son relation and reshapes social status around allegiance to Christ.
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