StrongerBible

anakainizō

ἀνακαινίζω

GreekG0340“renew, restore”

Appears 1 time · tap a cell to see the verses

Heb 6:6
Compound of
anaἀνάeach13G303
kainosκαινόςnew44G2537
Word studyResearch-gradeah-nah-kai-NEE-zohverb

What anakainizō means

to renew, restore: to bring someone or something back to a former condition

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

The word means to make something new again, to bring it back to a state it once held. Greek writers used it for renewing a war or a broken peace, reviving an old legend, and rebuilding a temple; Jewish and Christian writers stretched it to the renewing of a person.

The weight falls on the "again" more than on the "new." In the Greek Old Testament this verb regularly translates the ordinary Hebrew word for renewing (חדשׁ), and its most memorable use there is the prayer of Lamentations, "renew our days as of old." The renewal it names looks back to a former condition rather than forward to something never seen before.

That backward-looking flavor matters for its single New Testament appearance. The letter to the Hebrews reached for this older, restoration-shaped word rather than the newer term Paul favored for spiritual renewal (ἀνακαινόω), and many scholars read that choice as pointing to a return to a condition once held, not a brand-new act of re-creation.

Heb 6:6
Heb 6:6

In Hebrews 6:6 the verb is active but names no subject, so scholars disagree over whose renewing of those who have fallen away is called impossible, and whether that impossibility is final or only practical.

  • majorityThe impossibility is final and rests on God's own work: because Christ was offered once for all, there is no basis for a second entry into repentance, so no particular agent is really in view. The once-for-all structure of the letter's argument supports this reading.; Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1989), 167-170; Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGTC; Eerdmans, 1993), 319-323; William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8 (WBC 47A; Word, 1991), 141; Craig R. Koester, Hebrews (AB 36; Doubleday, 2001), 315
  • minorityThe impossibility is practical rather than absolute: it describes what Christian teachers and the community cannot accomplish in reclaiming such people, while God's own power to restore them is not denied.; F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, rev. ed. (NICNT; Eerdmans, 1990), 148-149; B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 3rd ed. (Macmillan, 1903), 165-168

What scholars say about anakainizō

ἀνακαινίζω is a New Testament hapax at Hebrews 6:6, universally glossed "to renew, restore, bring back to a former state" (BDAG 55; Louw-Nida 13.71; Muraoka, GELS). It is a classical literary verb (Isocrates, Areopagiticus 8; Plutarch of renewing a war; Josephus of Jehoiada's temple restoration) and, tellingly, absent from the documentary papyri (Moulton-Milligan). In the Septuagint it renders Hebrew חדשׁ and is consistently backward-looking (Ps 102-103 LXX; Lam 5:21, "renew our days as of old"), the closest antecedent to Hebrews' πάλιν ... εἰς μετάνοιαν. Hebrews prefers this classical and Septuagintal form over Paul's cognates ἀνακαινόω (2 Cor 4:16; Col 3:10) and ἀνακαίνωσις (Rom 12:2; Titus 3:5), which most treat as lexically synonymous (Trench; Behm, TDNT 3; BDAG; Silva, NIDNTTE); Attridge, Ellingworth, and Lane read the choice as favoring covenantal restoration over Pauline new creation. The older qualitative-versus-temporal contrast between καινός and νέος (Trench; Behm) is qualified by Louw-Nida and Silva. At 6:6 the active infinitive has no stated subject, and commentators divide between an absolute, theological impossibility (Attridge, Ellingworth, Lane, Koester, Cockerill) and a practical one (Bruce, Westcott), with the once-for-all structure of the letter reinforcing the former reading.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament), 3rd ed. (2000), 55, s.v. ἀνακαινίζωlexicon
  • J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, §13.71lexicon
  • T. Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Peeters, 2009), s.v.lexicon
  • J. Behm, "καινός κτλ.," in TDNT, vol. 3 (Eerdmans, 1965), 447-454dictionary
  • Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2nd ed. (Zondervan, 2014), article on καινόςdictionary
  • Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1989), 167-171commentary
  • Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGTC; Eerdmans, 1993), 319-325commentary
  • William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8 (WBC 47A; Word, 1991), 141-142commentary
  • F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, rev. ed. (NICNT; Eerdmans, 1990), 148-149commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of ἀνακαινίζω

present active infinitive

ἀνακαινίζειν

Heb 6:6