StrongerBible

manthanō

μανθάνω

GreekG3129learn, find out, ...

Appears 25 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 9:13Mat 11:29Mat 24:32Mrk 13:28Jhn 6:45Jhn 7:15Act 23:27Rom 16:171Co 4:61Co 14:311Co 14:35Gal 3:2Eph 4:20Php 4:9Php 4:11Col 1:71Ti 2:111Ti 5:41Ti 5:132Ti 3:72Ti 3:14 (2×)Tit 3:14Heb 5:8Rev 14:3
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyman-THAH-nohverb

What manthanō means

to learn: to gain knowledge, understanding, skill, or a settled practice, whether by being taught, by finding out, or by experience

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary Greek word for learning, the exact partner of the word for teaching. What ties its uses together is a single movement: something a person did not have before is taken in and made their own. The word does not fix in advance how that happens, so the New Testament uses it across the whole range of how people come to know things.

Most often it means being taught: sitting under an instructor, receiving a body of teaching, being schooled. From there it stretches naturally in a few directions. It can mean grasping the point of a saying, a parable, or a sign, the way we say "learn the lesson." It can mean taking up a habit or practice until it becomes second nature, for good or ill. It can mean coming to know something firsthand through what a person lives through. And it can simply mean finding out a fact by asking.

Because the related noun for a disciple is built on this verb, several passages give the plain word a deeper weight: to learn is not only to store up information but to be shaped by a teacher and a way of life. That fuller sense is carried by the setting, not by the word on its own, but it is why learning in these writers so often reaches past the head into how a person actually lives.

Nuances

1ato be taught, learn by instruction: to receive and take in teaching, knowledge, or skill from a teacher or source
Mat 11:29Jhn 6:45Jhn 7:15Rom 16:171Co 14:311Co 14:35Eph 4:20Php 4:9Col 1:71Ti 2:112Ti 3:72Ti 3:14 (2×)
1bto grasp a lesson, learn what something means: to draw out the point of a text, a parable, or a sign
Mat 9:13Mat 24:32Mrk 13:281Co 4:6
1cto learn to do something, take up a practice: to come to act in a habitual way, for good or ill
1Ti 5:41Ti 5:13Tit 3:14
1dto learn by experience: to come to know something firsthand through what one lives through
Php 4:11Heb 5:8
1eto find out, ascertain: to learn a fact by asking or inquiry
Act 23:27Gal 3:2

What scholars say about manthanō

μανθάνω is the standard Greek verb for acquiring knowledge or skill from Homer on, the lexical correlate of διδάσκω. The New Testament preserves the classical range: instruction (with an accusative of content or an infinitive of what is to be done), coming to realize through experience (Heb 5:8, traditionally read with the ἔμαθεν/ἔπαθεν assonance, though the wordplay is rhetorical, not lexical), and ascertaining a fact by inquiry (Acts 23:27; Gal 3:2). BDAG groups the uses under gaining knowledge by instruction, coming to a realization through experience, and finding out; LSJ and Louw-Nida register the same spread, with a distinct nuance of forming a habit (1 Tim 5:13). Rengstorf (TDNT 4:390-461) emphasizes that in the New Testament the characteristic object of learning is the will of God in Christ, so that the verb draws close to the vocabulary of discipleship built on its cognate μαθητής, without losing its plain everyday sense.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. μανθάνωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. μανθάνωlexicon
  • Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 27.12, 27.15, 36.22lexicon
  • K. H. Rengstorf, 'μανθάνω, μαθητής,' TDNT 4:390-461theological-dictionary

All attested forms of μανθάνω

second-aorist active imperative 2p

μάθετε

Mat 9:13, Mat 11:29, Mat 24:32, Mrk 13:28

second-aorist active indicative 2p

ἐμάθετε

Rom 16:17, Eph 4:20, Php 4:9, Col 1:7

second-aorist active infinitive

μαθεῖν

1Co 14:35, Gal 3:2, Rev 14:3

present active imperative 3p

μανθανέτωσαν

1Ti 5:4, Tit 3:14

second-aorist active indicative 2s

ἔμαθες

2Ti 3:14, 2Ti 3:14

second-aorist active participle nominative m s

μαθὼν

Jhn 6:45, Act 23:27

perfect active participle nominative m s

μεμαθηκώς

Jhn 7:15

present active imperative 3s

μανθανέτω

1Ti 2:11

present active indicative 3p

μανθάνουσιν

1Ti 5:13

present active participle accusative n p

μανθάνοντα

2Ti 3:7

present active subjunctive 3p

μανθάνωσιν

1Co 14:31

second-aorist active indicative 1s

ἔμαθον

Php 4:11

second-aorist active indicative 3s

ἔμαθεν

Heb 5:8

second-aorist active subjunctive 2p

μάθητε

1Co 4:6