StrongerBible

kenodoxia

κενοδοξία

GreekG2754“vain conceit, vainglory, ...”

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Php 2:3
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradekeh-noh-DOX-ee-ahnoun

What kenodoxia means

vainglory: craving honor, praise, or reputation that a person has not actually earned

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This Greek word is built from two pieces, "empty" and "glory" (the second half could also mean "opinion" in older Greek). Put together it names a glory with nothing inside it: a reputation or standing a person reaches for but has not earned. English Bibles render it "vainglory," "vain conceit," or "empty pride."

Paul uses the word once, in his appeal for unity (Philippians 2:3), where he tells the church to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vainglory but in humility to count others more important than themselves. In a Roman colony like Philippi, where public honor and rank were prized and openly competed for, this named a live temptation: jockeying for status and applause inside the community itself.

The word gains extra force from what comes next. A few verses later Paul says that Christ "emptied himself" and took the place of a servant. The same idea of emptying runs through both moments: people grasp at an empty glory they have not earned, while Christ let go of the real glory that was already his. Most interpreters think Paul chose this word on purpose to set up that contrast.

Php 2:3

Disputed

Whether the "glory" half of the word means public honor and reputation (so the vice is chasing unearned prestige) or "opinion" (so it is an empty, inflated opinion a person holds of himself).

  • majorityThe word means empty glory: the pursuit of honor and reputation a person has not earned. This is the reading of the modern lexica and most commentators on Philippians.; BDAG, s.v. κενοδοξία; Gordon D. Fee, Paul's Letter to the Philippians (NICNT, 1995), 187-90
  • minorityThe word means empty opinion: an inflated, baseless opinion a person holds of himself. This older reading is preserved in earlier lexicography.; R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, sec. xlix; Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. κενοδοξία
  • minorityThe word deliberately holds both together, a mix of personal vanity and dependence on public opinion.; Markus Bockmuehl, The Epistle to the Philippians (BNTC, 1997), 111-14

What scholars say about kenodoxia

κενοδοξία is a compound of κενός ("empty, hollow") and δόξα, formed through the adjective κενόδοξος. Because δόξα in Hellenistic Greek carried both "opinion" and "glory, reputation," the compound is genuinely double-valued, and LSJ preserves the split: sense I "liability to vain imagination" (Epicurus, Philodemus) and sense II "vanity, conceit" (Polybius, Wisdom 14:14, Philo, Plutarch, Philippians 2:3). Epicurus coined the term for the false beliefs that generate ruinous desires; Polybius and the later moralists narrowed it to ambitious self-display, and Philo, the largest pre-Christian user, holds both senses together. In the Septuagint the word-family appears only in the Hellenistic-Jewish Wisdom of Solomon (14:14) and 4 Maccabees (2:15). For Paul's single use at Philippians 2:3 the modern lexica and commentators come down decisively on the honor sense: BDAG glosses "a state of pride which is without basis or justification, vanity, conceit, excessive ambition," and Louw and Nida place it under arrogance and pride. Fee, O'Brien, Spicq, Hansen, Hellerman, and Reumann read the term against Philippi's Roman honor culture, and most take Paul's word choice as a deliberate setup for the statement that Christ "emptied himself" (2:7). The sole New Testament occurrence of the related adjective κενόδοξος is Galatians 5:26.

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 (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd ed., 2000, s.v. κενοδοξίαlexicon
  • LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., s.v. κενοδοξίαlexicon
  • Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 2nd ed., 1989, sec. 88.221lexicon
  • Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, vol. 2, 1994, 304-06dictionary
  • Gordon D. Fee, Paul's Letter to the Philippians (NICNT, 1995), 187-90commentary
  • Peter T. O'Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians (NIGTC, 1991), 179-83commentary
  • Joseph H. Hellerman, Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi (SNTSMS 132, 2005)monograph
  • R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, sec. xlixmonograph

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

All attested forms of κενοδοξία

accusative f s

κενοδοξίαν

Php 2:3