StrongerBible

kainos

καινός

GreekG2537new, fresh

Appears 44 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 9:17Mat 13:52Mat 26:28Mat 26:29Mat 27:60Mrk 1:27Mrk 2:21Mrk 2:22Mrk 14:24Mrk 14:25Mrk 16:17Luk 5:36 (3×)Luk 5:38Luk 22:20Jhn 13:34Jhn 19:41Act 17:19Act 17:211Co 11:252Co 3:62Co 5:17 (2×)Gal 6:15Eph 2:15Eph 4:24Heb 8:8Heb 8:13Heb 9:152Pe 3:13 (2×)1Jn 2:71Jn 2:82Jn 1:5Rev 2:17Rev 3:12 (2×)Rev 5:9Rev 14:3Rev 21:1 (2×)Rev 21:2Rev 21:5
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studykai-NOSSadjective

What kainos means

new in kind: fresh and unlike anything before it, not merely recent in time

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

Greek had two words for new. One simply meant recent, lately arrived, young in age. This is the other one, and it points to newness of nature rather than newness of date. A thing called new in this sense is not just the latest of its type; it is different in quality, a fresh kind that supersedes or outshines what came before. The contrast is with the worn-out and the obsolete, not with the old-as-in-ancient.

That gives the word a wide reach. At the plain end it describes objects that have never been used: wineskins still able to stretch, a tomb no body has lain in, a piece of cloth straight off the loom. From there it stretches to the curiosity people chase after, the latest idea no one has heard before. And at its fullest it carries the great promises of the New Testament: a new covenant, a new self, a new song, a new heaven and earth. In those settings new does not mean recent. It means a transformed order that replaces the old one and will not wear out in turn.

The senses below run along that line from the literal to the transformative. They share a single core: something marked off from what preceded it by being of a different and better quality.

Nuances

1afreshly made and never used; not worn out
Mat 9:17Mat 27:60Mrk 2:21Mrk 2:22Luk 5:36 (3×)Luk 5:38Jhn 19:41
1bnovel; an idea or report not heard before, often chased as the latest thing
Act 17:19Act 17:21
1cnew in nature: a transformed reality that replaces and surpasses the old order
Mat 26:28Mrk 14:24Luk 22:20Jhn 13:341Co 11:252Co 3:6Heb 8:8Heb 8:13Heb 9:151Jn 2:71Jn 2:82Jn 1:5

What scholars say about kainos

The standard lexica treat καινός as a single, well-understood lemma whose force is qualitative newness. BDAG distinguishes the unused or recently-made object (new wineskins, new tomb) from what is new in nature or contrasted with the old, and notes the novelty sense in Acts 17. The classic synonym discussion is Trench, who set καινός (new in form or quality, the opposite of worn out and effete) against νέος (new in time, recent), a distinction Behm develops in TDNT (s.v. καινός, νέος) while cautioning that the two are not always kept rigidly apart in Hellenistic Greek. The theologically loaded uses, the new covenant of Jeremiah's prophecy and the new creation, draw their weight from this qualitative sense.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. καινόςlexicon
  • J. Behm, "καινός, νέος," TDNT 3:447-454theological-dictionary
  • R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, §lxmonograph
  • LSJ, s.v. καινόςlexicon

All attested forms of καινός

accusative f s

καινὴν, καινήν

Jhn 13:34, Heb 8:13, 2Pe 3:13, 1Jn 2:7, 1Jn 2:8, 2Jn 1:5, Rev 5:9, Rev 14:3

accusative n s

καινὸν, καινόν, καινότερον

Mat 26:29, Mrk 14:25, Luk 5:36, Rev 2:17, Rev 3:12, Act 17:21

nominative f s

καινὴ

Mrk 1:27, Luk 22:20, Act 17:19, 1Co 11:25, 2Co 5:17, Gal 6:15

genitive f s

καινῆς

Mat 26:28, Mrk 14:24, 2Co 3:6, Heb 9:15, Rev 3:12

accusative m p

καινούς, καινοὺς

Mat 9:17, Mrk 2:22, Luk 5:38, 2Pe 3:13

accusative m s

καινὸν

Eph 2:15, Eph 4:24, Rev 21:1

accusative n p

καινὰ

Mat 13:52, Rev 21:5

genitive n s

καινοῦ

Luk 5:36, Luk 5:36

nominative n s

καινὸν

Mrk 2:21, Jhn 19:41

dative f p

καιναῖς

Mrk 16:17

dative n s

καινῷ

Mat 27:60

nominative n p

καινά

2Co 5:17