StrongerBible

thronos

θρόνος

GreekG2362“throne, seat”

Appears 64 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 5:34Mat 19:28 (2×)Mat 23:22Mat 25:31Luk 1:32Luk 1:52Luk 22:30Act 2:30Act 7:49Col 1:16Heb 1:8Heb 4:16Heb 8:1Heb 12:2Rev 1:4Rev 2:13Rev 3:21 (2×)Rev 4:2 (2×)Rev 4:3Rev 4:4 (3×)Rev 4:5 (2×)Rev 4:6 (3×)Rev 4:9Rev 5:13Rev 7:10Rev 11:16Rev 12:5Rev 13:2Rev 16:10Rev 19:4Rev 20:4Rev 20:11Rev 21:5Rev 22:3
Word studyResearch-gradeTHRO-nossnoun

What thronos means

throne: the formal seat that marks supreme authority, and by extension the reign exercised from it

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

A throne is not just a chair. From the earliest Greek writers the word names the tall, stately seat of a king or a god, set apart from ordinary chairs and stools by its grandeur and its footstool. To name someone's throne is to name where their authority is located, so the word easily comes to stand for the rule itself: to sit on a throne is to reign, and to be cast down from one is to lose power.

In the Bible this everyday royal image carries an enormous theological weight, because the throne is above all the place where God reigns over heaven and earth. The senses below are not different words but the same throne seen in different settings:

  • the heaven where God sits
  • the seat the risen Jesus now shares with the Father
  • the lesser thrones promised to God's people
  • the false thrones of God's enemies
  • the ordinary thrones of human rulers

The whole book of Revelation is organized around a single question this word keeps asking: who sits on the throne?

At the edge of its range the plural can name a class of heavenly beings, the "thrones," listed among the unseen powers. Even there the word keeps its core idea of seated authority, now applied to ranks of created spiritual powers rather than to a literal seat.

Nuances

1aGod's own throne in heaven: the place from which he reigns over all things
Mat 5:34Mat 23:22Act 7:49Heb 8:1Rev 1:4Rev 4:2 (2×)Rev 4:3Rev 4:5 (2×)Rev 4:6 (3×)Rev 4:9Rev 4:10Rev 5:1
1bthe throne of the Messiah: the royal seat of David promised to Jesus, which after his resurrection becomes the heavenly throne he shares with the Father
Luk 1:32Act 2:30Heb 1:8Heb 4:16Heb 12:2Rev 3:21 (2×)Rev 5:6Rev 12:5Rev 22:1Rev 22:3
1cthrones given to God's people: the seats of authority and judgment promised to the faithful in the age to come
Mat 19:28 (2×)Mat 25:31Luk 22:30Rev 4:4 (3×)Rev 11:16Rev 20:4
1da counter-throne: the seat of power claimed by God's enemies in opposition to his rule
Rev 2:13Rev 13:2Rev 16:10
1ean ordinary human ruler's throne: the seat of an earthly king or potentate
Luk 1:52
1fthrones as a rank of heavenly powers: a class of unseen spiritual beings named after the seat of authority
Col 1:16

What scholars say about thronos

θρόνος is attested already in Mycenaean Linear B (to-no) for an inlaid palace chair, and Beekes classifies it as Pre-Greek. From Homer on it denotes the formal, footstool-equipped seat of gods and kings, sharply differentiated from δίφρος, καθέδρα, βῆμα, and reclining couches; the tragedians pair it with σκῆπτρον as the emblem of kingship, and Hellenistic royal ideology yields the metonymic sense kingship/dynasty (Moulton-Milligan on OGIS 383). In the LXX it renders Hebrew כִּסֵּא roughly 130 times (Hatch-Redpath); notably the כַּפֹּרֶת is never θρόνος but always ἱλαστήριον, a lexical separation with consequences for Hebrews and Rom 3:25. The Chronicler's identification of Solomon's throne with YHWH's throne (1 Chr 28:5; 29:23) feeds the messianic enthronement matrix of Luke 1:32, Acts 2:30, and Heb 1:8 via Ps 110:1. The phrase θρόνος δόξης (Jer 14:21; 17:12) becomes standard in 1 Enoch and at Matt 19:28; 25:31, whose closest parallel is the Son of Man enthroned for judgment in the Similitudes of Enoch (1 En 62). In Revelation the word occurs about 47 times and structures the book around the question who sits on the throne, climaxing in the singular shared throne of God and the Lamb (Rev 22:1-3). Standard treatments: BDAG 459-460; LSJ; TDNT III.160-167 (Schmitz); NIDNTTE II.458-461 (Silva ed.); Moulton-Milligan. On the throne as a marker of divine identity see Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel; on the enthronement-as-atonement reading of Hebrews, Moffitt, Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection.

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, 3rd ed., s.v. θρόνος, 459-460lexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. θρόνοςlexicon
  • O. Schmitz, "θρόνος," TDNT III.160-167lexicon
  • NIDNTTE (Silva ed.), II.458-461lexicon
  • Moulton-Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. θρόνοςlexicon
  • Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel (Eerdmans, 2008), 172-181monograph
  • David M. Moffitt, Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews (NovTSup 141, Brill, 2011)monograph
  • G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC, Eerdmans, 1999), 320-330commentary
  • J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, 149-152commentary

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

All attested forms of θρόνος

genitive m s

θρόνου

Mat 19:28, Mat 25:31, Heb 8:1, Heb 12:2, Rev 1:4, Rev 4:3, Rev 4:4, Rev 4:5

dative m s

θρόνῳ

Mat 23:22, Heb 4:16, Rev 3:21, Rev 3:21, Rev 4:9, Rev 5:13, Rev 7:10, Rev 19:4

accusative m s

θρόνον

Luk 1:32, Act 2:30, Rev 4:2, Rev 12:5, Rev 13:2, Rev 16:10, Rev 20:11

nominative m s

θρόνος

Mat 5:34, Act 7:49, Heb 1:8, Rev 2:13, Rev 4:2, Rev 22:3

accusative m p

θρόνους

Mat 19:28, Rev 4:4, Rev 4:4, Rev 11:16, Rev 20:4

genitive m p

θρόνων

Luk 1:52, Luk 22:30

nominative m p

θρόνοι

Col 1:16