Freedom; (figuratively) pardon
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ἄφεσις can mean release, and in many New Testament passages it refers to the forgiveness or remission of sins. Paul's blessing in Ephesians 1:7 names forgiveness within what believers have in Christ, drawing His blood, redemption, trespasses, and divine generosity into the same clause.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἄφεσις (G859) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἄφεσις can mean release, and in many New Testament passages it refers to the forgiveness or remission of sins. Paul's blessing in Ephesians 1:7 names forgiveness within what believers have in Christ, drawing His blood, redemption, trespasses, and divine generosity into the same clause.
The BSB source-word alignment has 17 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include forgiveness (8), [the] forgiveness (5), . . . (1), forgiven (1), have been forgiven (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:28. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (5), Luke (5), Hebrews (2), Mark (2).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
ἄφεσις can mean release, and in many New Testament passages it refers to the forgiveness or remission of sins. Paul's blessing in Ephesians 1:7 names forgiveness within what believers have in Christ, drawing His blood, redemption, trespasses, and divine generosity into the same clause. Acts repeatedly presents forgiveness of sins as part of the apostolic proclamation in Jesus' name. Hebrews 9:22 and 10:18 discuss forgiveness within the author's contrast between repeated offerings and Christ's sacrifice.
The release sense can help readers hear forgiveness as more than denial that wrong occurred. Yet the noun alone does not specify a complete theory of atonement, the administration of baptism, the believer's later confession, or a social program. Those questions require their full passages and the wider canonical witness. Pastorally, the word supports assurance in God's gracious provision while leaving repentance, confession, justice, and reconciliation to be handled by the texts that address them.
The local index records about 17 occurrences of ἄφεσις. Luke 4:18 uses it for release, while many Gospel, Acts, Pauline, and Hebrews settings use it with sins or trespasses for forgiveness.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
In Paul's syntax, forgiveness explains the redemption believers possess in the beloved Son, with His blood and God's lavish grace framing the statement. The noun does not by itself define every aspect of redemption or union with Christ.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter joins repentance, baptism in Jesus Christ's name, forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Spirit. The verse establishes a close relationship among them but should not be reduced to a causal sequence supplied by arrows or used alone to settle later baptismal debates.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,
In the Isaiah quotation, ἄφεσις expresses release for captives and the oppressed. Jubilee is a possible canonical background, but the occurrence itself should not be equated automatically with every later use concerning forgiveness of sins.
According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Within its covenant comparison, Hebrews observes that purification commonly involved blood and that forgiveness is not apart from bloodshed. The verse's qualifier and surrounding argument should remain visible; it is not a standalone formula for every Old Testament act of forgiveness.
And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.
Hebrews concludes that where sins and lawless acts have been forgiven, no further offering for sin remains. The claim concerns the sufficiency of Christ's offering in the chapter's sacrificial argument; it does not abolish confession, repentance, discipline, or repair after sin.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Pardon as active release from sin's penalty, not mere overlooking or suspension of judgment
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 17 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
deliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
Read versedeliverance, pardon, complete forgiveness
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 3 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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 8 selected witnesses from 17 lexical occurrence verses.
ἄφεσις is built from this root:
Points toward remission grounded in Christ’s atoning work.Acts 10:24-48
Defines the nature of Christ’s redemptive mission.Acts 13:13-41
Central promise of the gospel offered to all who believe.Acts 26:9-18
Central blessing proclaimed in the gospel message.Luke 3:1–6
Expresses the heart of gospel benefit.Luke 4:14–30
ἄφεσις lets a preacher follow forgiveness through several distinct settings. Luke 4 uses the word for release in Jesus' Isaiah reading. Acts proclaims forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name. In Ephesians 1, the noun occurs inside a blessing that attributes believers' release from trespasses to God's lavish grace in Christ. Hebrews 10 says that forgiveness means no additional offering for sin remains within its argument about Christ's sufficient sacrifice.
Together these passages support assurance without turning the noun into a complete doctrinal system. Preaching should therefore announce God's gracious forgiveness while preserving the canonical place of repentance, confession, accountability, and repair. The end of repeated sacrifice is not permission to minimize present sin or its harm.
Eph.1.7
ἄφεσις belongs to the ἀφίημι word family and can denote release, dismissal, pardon, or remission. Luke 4:18 displays the release sense, while constructions with sins or trespasses display the forgiveness sense. The related verb has a wider range than the noun, so its uses for leaving, allowing, debts, or forgiveness should not all be imported into every occurrence of ἄφεσις.
Isaiah 61 supplies the immediate scriptural source quoted in Luke 4:18, and Leviticus 25 provides a broader release setting often associated with Jubilee. Gospel and apostolic passages then use ἄφεσις for forgiveness of sins. These connections are useful when kept as a canonical comparison rather than treated as proof that every forgiveness occurrence carries the entire Jubilee institution.