StrongerBible

epoikodomeō

ἐποικοδομέω

GreekG2026“build on, build up, ...”

Appears 7 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Co 3:10 (2×)1Co 3:121Co 3:14Eph 2:20Col 2:7Jud 1:20
Compound of
epiἐπίupon/to/against909G1909
oikodomeōοἰκοδομέωto build40G3618
Word studyep-oy-ko-do-MEH-ohverb

What epoikodomeō means

to build on what is already standing: to add further construction to a foundation that has already been laid.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary Greek verb for building (οἰκοδομέω) with the word for "on" fastened to the front, and that small addition changes what the verb claims. It never describes starting from nothing. It assumes that something already stands, that someone else may well have put it there, and that the new work goes on top of it. In every New Testament use the thing already standing is Christ or the message about him, and the new work is people.

Paul uses it for the builders. He laid a foundation in Corinth and other people are now building on it, so the live question is no longer what the foundation is but what the builders are using: gold and silver, or wood and straw. The verb throws all the weight onto the second stage of the job, the stage that will be inspected.

Elsewhere the same verb turns the people into the building rather than the builders:

  • believers in Ephesus were set in place on the foundation of the apostles and prophets
  • a church in Colossae is being built up in Christ, the way a plant is rooted in soil
  • Jude's readers are told to build themselves up on the faith they already hold

In each case the base is not up for discussion. It is already laid, and the only open question is what rises on it.

Nuances

1ato keep building on a foundation someone else has already laid, so that the builder answers for what is added rather than for the base.
TranslatabilityDirect
1Co 3:10 (2×)1Co 3:121Co 3:14
1bto be built onto a foundation already in place, so that people become part of one structure.
Eph 2:20
1cto grow stronger on a footing already given: to be built up in Christ, or to build one another up in the faith.
Col 2:7Jud 1:20

What scholars say about epoikodomeō

The lexicons treat this as a single compound verb with no homonymy: the preposition ἐπί prefixed to οἰκοδομέω, with the prefix semantically active ("build upon, build on to what already stands") rather than merely intensive. BDAG divides the New Testament occurrences into two groups: building on something already built (1 Cor 3:10, 12, 14; Eph 2:20, passive), and a figurative extension meaning to build up or strengthen (Col 2:7; Jude 20). LSJ documents the same architectural force across classical and Hellenistic Greek, where the verb regularly describes raising a further structure on an existing one, which is why the prefix cannot be treated as ornamental. Commentators on 1 Corinthians 3 observe that the compound is what carries the argument of the passage: because the foundation is fixed and unrepeatable (v. 11), all accountability falls on the superstructure and the materials chosen for it. In Ephesians 2:20 the aorist passive is usually read as a single act of incorporation into an existing edifice, with the following verses shifting to present-tense growth language; the sense division adopted here separates that passive incorporation from the active, reciprocal upbuilding of Jude 20 for that reason, while retaining BDAG's broader two-way grouping as the underlying analysis.

Sources

  • BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., s.v. ἐποικοδομέωlexicon
  • LSJ (Liddell-Scott-Jones), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., s.v. ἐποικοδομέωlexicon
  • Otto Michel, "οἰκοδομέω κτλ.," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), vol. 5dictionary
  • Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDNTTE), 2nd ed., s.v. οἰκοδομέωdictionary
  • Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans, 2000), on 1 Corinthians 3:10-15commentary
  • Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, Word Biblical Commentary 42 (Word, 1990), on Ephesians 2:20commentary

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

All attested forms of ἐποικοδομέω

present active indicative 3s

ἐποικοδομεῖ

1Co 3:10, 1Co 3:10, 1Co 3:12

aorist active indicative 3s

ἐποικοδόμησεν

1Co 3:14

aorist passive participle nominative m p

ἐποικοδομηθέντες

Eph 2:20

present active participle nominative m p

ἐποικοδομοῦντες

Jud 1:20

present passive participle nominative m p

ἐποικοδομούμενοι

Col 2:7