Word study

Immortality

2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “immortality”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “immortality” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀφθαρσία aphtharsíaindestructibility, incorruptibility, immortalitytranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G861Noun  ·  Translated: imperishable 3, immortality 2, with 1, undying 1

    Romans 2:7 To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

    2 Timothy 1:10 And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • ἀθανασία athanasíaimmortalitytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G110Noun  ·  Translated: immortality 2, immortal 1

    1 Corinthians 15:53 For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

    1 Corinthians 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

    Full study and all 3 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

What the Bible says about immortality: passages by topic →

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Short definition: Dodson Greek Lexicon (2010, public domain). Full entry: G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922, public domain). Strong’s Greek Dictionary (1890) in the edition by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen (CC0). These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.