StrongerBible

epaischunomai

ἐπαισχύνομαι

GreekG1870“be ashamed of, be unashamed of”

Appears 11 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mrk 8:38 (2×)Luk 9:26 (2×)Rom 1:16Rom 6:212Ti 1:82Ti 1:122Ti 1:16Heb 2:11Heb 11:16
Compound of
epiἐπίupon/to/against909G1909
aischunōαἰσχύνωbe ashamed5G153
Word studyResearch-gradeep-ai-SKHOO-nom-aiverb

What epaischunomai means

to be ashamed of someone or something: to publicly disown a person or thing because the surrounding culture treats it as a disgrace.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This word is not really about a private feeling of embarrassment. In the world of the New Testament a person's worth was set by public reputation, awarded or withheld by the watching community. To be ashamed of someone in this sense was to refuse to be seen with them, to deny any tie to them so that their low standing would not rub off on you. The word almost always points at a specific target: a person, an action, or a particular matter you are ashamed about.

That is why the same verb works in three directions that look different on the surface but share one core:

  • Most often it is the warning aimed at followers of Jesus: do not disown him, his message, or his imprisoned servants just because the world counts a crucified leader and his people as shameful.
  • Once it names the believer's own past, the life now looked back on with shame.
  • In the letter to the Hebrews the verb flips: God and the exalted Christ are the ones who are not ashamed, refusing to be embarrassed by their lowly, suffering people.

Held together, these uses show the New Testament writers doing one bold thing. They do not pretend reputation no longer matters. Instead they move the court that hands out honor and shame. The verdict that counts is no longer the crowd's but God's, and by that verdict the things the world despised, a cross, a prisoner's chain, a band of nobodies, turn out to be the place of honor.

The payoff is a single clear logic: followers are told not to be ashamed of Christ precisely because Christ and God are first shown to be unashamed of them.

Nuances

1ato disown Jesus, his message, or his people under social pressure; the disciple's temptation, set against openly owning him.
Mrk 8:38 (2×)Luk 9:26 (2×)Rom 1:162Ti 1:82Ti 1:122Ti 1:16
1bto be ashamed of one's own former way of life, now looked back on with regret.
Rom 6:21
1cof God or Christ: to be unashamed of lowly or suffering people, refusing to treat the tie to them as a disgrace.
Heb 2:11Heb 11:16

What scholars say about epaischunomai

Built from αἰσχύνομαι ("to feel shame") with the prefix ἐπί, which both intensifies and directs the verb at a definite object (LSJ; Bultmann, TDNT; Spicq, TLNT). Louw-Nida (25.189-190) treats it as largely synonymous with the simplex but notes that it specifically names the object of shame; the demanded target appears as an accusative, an infinitive, or ἐπί + dative (only at Rom 6:21, matching LXX Isa 1:29). The compound is rare in the documentary papyri (absent from Moulton-Milligan), giving the NT usage a deliberate, literary flavor, and rare in the LXX (Job 34:19; Ps 118:6 LXX, the verbal parallel to Rom 1:16; Isa 1:29 A), where it renders the Hebrew shame roots בּוֹשׁ and חָפֵר. The dominant scholarly reading sets every NT occurrence within the Mediterranean honor-shame matrix (Malina, Neyrey, Moxnes, deSilva): shame is a public, group-ascribed status, and the verb names public allegiance or dissociation under pressure rather than a private feeling. On Rom 1:16 Cranfield, Dunn, Moo, Hays, and Wagner stress the Septuagintal trust-formula (Ps 118:6; Isa 28:16, quoted at Rom 9:33; 10:11), while Jewett and Moxnes press the Greco-Roman honor-claim ("a social and ideological revolution"); Longenecker holds both operate together. France, Yarbro Collins, Marcus, Fitzmyer, Bock, and Bovon read Mark 8:38 / Luke 9:26 as eschatological challenge-riposte in which the verb functions as the opposite of confessing (ὁμολογεῖν). Towner, Marshall, Knight, Mounce, and Johnson read the triad in 2 Tim 1:8, 12, 16 against the contagious disgrace of a chained prisoner (Rapske). Attridge, Ellingworth, Lane, Koester, and deSilva read Heb 2:11 and 11:16 as the divine inversion, God as the patron whose ascription overturns the world's court of reputation. The model's critics (Crook, Lawrence, Avrahami) seek refinement rather than abandonment of the honor-shame framework.

Where scholars disagree about epaischunomai

Whether Paul's "I am not ashamed of the gospel" (Romans 1:16) is primarily Old Testament confidence language (the promise that the one who trusts God will not be put to shame) or primarily a Greco-Roman public honor-claim that the gospel, though counted disgraceful, is the place of true honor.

  • contestedPrimarily Septuagintal trust language, echoing Psalm 118:6 LXX and Isaiah 28:16 LXX (quoted at Romans 9:33 and 10:11): confident hope that the gospel will not disappoint at the final judgment.; C.E.B. Cranfield, Romans, ICC (1975); Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (1996); Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (1989)
  • contestedPrimarily a Greco-Roman honor-claim: against a culture that found a crucified savior innately shameful, Paul's refusal to be ashamed declares a social and ideological revolution.; Robert Jewett, Romans, Hermeneia (2007), 136-138; Halvor Moxnes, "Honour and Righteousness in Romans," JSNT 32 (1988): 61-77
  • contestedBoth backgrounds operate together: the Septuagintal trust-formula and the Greco-Roman public profession are intended at once.; Richard N. Longenecker, The Epistle to the Romans, NIGTC (2016)
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

  • Rudolf Bultmann, "αἰσχύνω κτλ.," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 1:189-191dictionary
  • Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (1994), s.v. ἐπαισχύνομαιlexicon
  • Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (LSJ), s.v. ἐπαισχύνομαιlexicon
  • Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 25.189-190lexicon
  • Robert Jewett, Romans, Hermeneia (2007), 136-138commentary
  • C.E.B. Cranfield, Romans, ICC (1975)commentary
  • Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (1996)commentary
  • Halvor Moxnes, "Honour and Righteousness in Romans," JSNT 32 (1988): 61-77article
  • R.T. France, The Gospel of Mark, NIGTC (2002)commentary
  • Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark, Hermeneia (2007)commentary
  • Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, NICNT (2006)commentary
  • Luke Timothy Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy, Anchor Bible (2001)commentary
  • Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia (1989)commentary
  • Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews, NIGTC (1993)commentary
  • David A. deSilva, Despising Shame: Honor Discourse and Community Maintenance in the Epistle to the Hebrews (1995)monograph
  • Bruce J. Malina, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology, 3rd ed. (2001)monograph
  • Patrick W. Skehan and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, Anchor Bible (1987)commentary
  • Zeba A. Crook, "Honor, Shame, and Social Status Revisited," JBL 128 (2009): 591-611article

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

All attested forms of ἐπαισχύνομαι

aorist passive subjunctive 3s

ἐπαισχυνθῇ

Mrk 8:38, Luk 9:26

future passive indicative 3s

ἐπαισχυνθήσεται

Mrk 8:38, Luk 9:26

present middle-or-passive indicative 1s

ἐπαισχύνομαι

Rom 1:16, 2Ti 1:12

present middle-or-passive indicative 3s

ἐπαισχύνεται

Heb 2:11, Heb 11:16

aorist passive indicative 3s

ἐπαισχύνθη

2Ti 1:16

aorist passive subjunctive 2s

ἐπαισχυνθῇς

2Ti 1:8

present middle-or-passive indicative 2p

ἐπαισχύνεσθε

Rom 6:21