Religion
θρησκείαStrong’s G2356thrēskeia
Appears in 4 verses of the New Testament
In short
Thrēskeia is the Greek word usually translated “religion” and “worship”. It appears in 4 verses of the New Testament.
“Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.”
Meaning
Usually translated “religion” and “worship”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.
How it's translated
- religion 3
- worship 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- James 2
- Acts 1
- Colossians 1
3 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Colossians 2:18Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
- James 1:26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
- James 1:27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Greek dictionary
θρησκεία thrēskeia · religion
θρησκεία (-κία, T), -ας, ἡ (θρῆσκος), [in LXX: Wis.14:18, 27, Sir.22:5 A, 4Ma.5:6 4Mac 5:13 * ;] religion in its external aspect (MM, Exp., xv), worship: Act.26:5, Jas.1:26-27; θ. τῶν ἀγγέλων, Col.2:18.† SYN.: see: θρῆσκος (AS)
From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “religion” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
RELIGION, noun
relij'on. [Latin religio, from religo, to bind anew; re and ligo, to bind. This word seems originally to have signified an oath or vow to the gods, or the obligation of such an oath or vow, which was held very sacred by the Romans.]
- religion in its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfections of God, in the revelation of his will to man, in man's obligation to obey his commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties.
- religion as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practice, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellow men, in obedience to divine command, or from love to God and his law. James 1:26
- religion as distinct from virtue, or morality, consists in the performance of the duties we owe directly to God, from a principle of obedience to his will.
- Any system of faith and worship.
All definitions
- The rites of religion; in the plural.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Greek, not from any one translation.