StrongerBible

ehis

εἷς

GreekG1520one, a, ...

Appears 359 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 5:18 (2×)Mat 5:19Mat 5:29Mat 5:30Mat 5:36Mat 5:41Mat 6:24 (2×)Mat 6:27Mat 6:29Mat 8:19Mat 9:18Mat 10:29Mat 10:42Mat 12:11Mat 13:46Mat 16:14Mat 17:4 (3×)Mat 18:5Mat 18:6Mat 18:10Mat 18:12Mat 18:14Mat 18:16Mat 18:24Mat 18:28Mat 19:5Mat 19:6Mat 19:16Mat 19:17 (2×)Mat 20:12Mat 20:13Mat 20:21 (2×)Mat 21:19Mat 21:24Mat 22:35Mat 23:8Mat 23:9Mat 23:10Mat 23:15Mat 24:41 (2×)Mat 25:15Mat 25:18Mat 25:24Mat 25:40Mat 25:45Mat 26:40Mat 26:69Mat 27:14Mat 27:15Mat 28:1
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyHACEadjective

What ehis means

one: the number one, and from it the idea of being a single thing, or being unified into one.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

At heart this is just the number one, the word you use to count a single item among many: one sheep out of a hundred, one coin, one hour. From that plain counting sense the word reaches in several natural directions, and the New Testament uses every one of them.

It can simply pick out a single instance ("a" or "a certain" person), much the way English uses "a." It pairs with itself to sort things into groups ("one... and another"). And in a set phrase it marks the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection.

Its weightiest use is the leap from counting to oneness. To say two people become "one flesh," that many members form "one body," or that Father and Son "are one" is still the number one, but now it means undivided unity rather than a tally. This is also the word behind the Bible's bedrock claim that God is one: not one god among several, but the single God there is. Plain counting and profound oneness are the same word, and the reader has to feel which is in view.

Nuances

1athe number one: a single item counted among others.
Mat 5:18 (2×)Mat 18:24Mat 18:28Mat 20:12Mat 25:15Mat 25:18Mrk 12:42Luk 15:4Luk 15:8Luk 17:22Co 11:24Rev 9:12
1ba single one, one and the same; many joined into one undivided whole.
Mat 19:5Mat 19:6Mrk 10:8Jhn 10:16Jhn 10:30Jhn 11:52Jhn 17:11Jhn 17:21Jhn 17:22Jhn 17:23Rom 12:5Eph 5:31
1cthe one and only God; that there is a single God, not many.
Mat 19:17 (2×)Mrk 2:7Mrk 12:29Mrk 12:32Rom 3:301Co 8:41Co 8:6Gal 3:20Eph 4:61Ti 2:5Jas 2:19Jas 4:12
1da, a certain one: a single unspecified person or thing, used much like the English "a."
Mat 8:19Mat 9:18Mat 19:16Mat 21:19Mat 22:35Mat 26:14Mat 26:21Mat 26:69Mrk 12:42Rev 8:13Rev 18:21Rev 19:17
1eone... another: paired with itself to sort people or things into two groups.
Mat 6:24 (2×)Mat 20:21 (2×)Mat 24:40Mat 24:41 (2×)Mat 27:38Mrk 10:37Luk 16:13Luk 17:34Luk 17:35Jhn 20:12Gal 4:221Th 5:11
1ffirst: in the fixed phrase for the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection.
Mat 28:1Mrk 16:2Luk 24:1Jhn 20:1Jhn 20:19Act 20:71Co 16:2

What scholars say about ehis

The standard lexica (BDAG, LSJ) treat this as a single word, the cardinal number one, with a small fan of well-attested extensions: the emphatic "a single, one and the same," the indefinite use as "a / a certain one" (which BDAG and the grammars note is reinforced by Semitic idiom and by developments in later Greek toward the modern indefinite article), the distributive "one... another," and the ordinal-like "first" in the fixed phrase for the first day of the week. The theological weight, as TDNT (Stauffer) and the New Testament theologies stress, lies in the move from number to unity: the oneness of God in the New Testament echo of Israel's confession (Mark 12:29; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6), the "one flesh" of Genesis 2:24 cited by Jesus and Paul, and Paul's "one body" with many members. These uses are widely regarded as a deliberate use of the number to assert undivided unity and uniqueness, not a separate word.

Sources

  • BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), s.v. εἷςlexicon
  • LSJ (Liddell-Scott-Jones), s.v. εἷςlexicon
  • Ethelbert Stauffer, "εἷς," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 2:434-442dictionary
  • F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and R. W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament (BDF), §§247, 302reference
  • Murray J. Harris, "εἷς," in New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (NIDNTT) 2:720-723dictionary

All attested forms of εἷς

nominative m s

εἷς, Εἷς

Mat 8:19, Mat 9:18, Mat 18:24, Mat 19:16, Mat 19:17, Mat 19:17, Mat 20:21, Mat 20:21

accusative m s

ἕνα

Mat 6:24, Mat 6:27, Mat 10:42, Mat 13:46, Mat 16:14, Mat 18:6, Mat 18:16, Mat 18:28

nominative n s

ἓν, ἕν, Ἓν

Mat 5:18, Mat 5:29, Mat 5:30, Mat 6:29, Mat 10:29, Mat 18:12, Mat 18:14, Mrk 4:8

accusative f s

μίαν

Mat 5:19, Mat 5:36, Mat 17:4, Mat 17:4, Mat 17:4, Mat 19:5, Mat 20:12, Mat 21:19

accusative n s

ἓν, ἕν

Mat 12:11, Mat 18:5, Mat 25:18, Mat 25:24, Mat 27:14, Mrk 9:37, Mrk 14:20, Luk 5:3

genitive m s

ἑνὸς, ἑνός

Mat 6:24, Mat 18:10, Luk 16:13, Act 17:26, Act 17:27, Act 21:26, Rom 5:12, Rom 5:15

dative f s

μιᾷ

Mrk 16:2, Luk 5:12, Luk 5:17, Luk 8:22, Luk 13:10, Luk 20:1, Luk 24:1, Jhn 20:1

nominative f s

μία

Mat 5:18, Mat 19:6, Mat 24:41, Mat 24:41, Mat 26:69, Mrk 10:8, Mrk 12:42, Mrk 14:66

dative m s

ἑνὶ, ἑνί

Mat 20:13, Mat 25:40, Mat 25:45, Luk 4:40, Luk 11:46, Luk 12:52, Luk 15:7, Luk 15:10

dative n s

ἑνὶ

Rom 12:4, Rom 15:6, 1Co 12:9, 1Co 12:13, Eph 2:16, Eph 2:18, Php 1:27, Col 3:15

genitive f s

μιᾶς

Luk 14:18, Luk 17:34, Luk 22:59, Act 24:21, 1Ti 3:2, 1Ti 3:12, Tit 1:6, Heb 12:16

genitive n s

ἑνὸς, ἑνός

Luk 10:42, Rom 5:16, Rom 5:18, Rom 5:18, Eph 4:16, Rev 6:1, 1Co 12:12, Gal 3:16