metechō

μετέχω

GreekG3348“partake, share in, ...”

Appears 8 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Co 9:101Co 9:121Co 10:171Co 10:211Co 10:30Heb 2:14Heb 5:13Heb 7:13

Compound of

metaμετάwith/after477G3326

echōἔχωto have/be716G2192

Root family

metechōμετέχωto share8G3348
- metochosμέτοχοςpartaker6G3353
- metochēμετοχήparticipation1G3352

Word studymeh-TEH-khoverb

What metechō means

to have a real part in something held in common: to take your share of it, or to count as one of those who hold it

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This verb is built from the everyday Greek word for "to have" with a prefix meaning "along with". At root it says: to have something along with other people. In use it reports a plain fact about who holds what. A person does not stand beside the thing, looking on. He holds a genuine part of it, and so do others.

That one idea stretches across four kinds of holding in the New Testament:

a worker's rightful claim on a share of what his labor has earned
a portion of food and drink taken from a table already set out
the flesh and blood the Son came to hold in common with the children
bare membership, that a man came from one tribe rather than another

The last of those looks like a different word in English, since translations say "belonged to another tribe". But it is the same picture: to hold a place among those who make up that tribe.

The nearest relative is another Greek verb for sharing (κοινωνέω), and Hebrews 2:14 sets the two side by side in a single sentence. That verb keeps the bond between the sharers in view, so it can even run the other direction, toward giving someone a share of what is yours. This word keeps the shared thing itself in view: what matters is that you hold a part of it. A third relative, the verb for receiving a portion (μεταλαμβάνω), names the moment the portion comes to you rather than the fact of holding it. And the noun built on this verb (μέτοχος) names the person who holds the share, the partner.

Paul leans hard on the word in 1 Corinthians 10. Many people eating from one loaf are one body, because each holds a part of that one loaf. And a person cannot take his share at the Lord's table and at the table of demons, because holding a share of something ties him to it. The argument only works because the word means an actual stake, not a gesture.

Nuances

1ato have a rightful claim on a share of what your work or your position has earned

1Co 9:101Co 9:12

1bto take your share of food or drink that has been set out

TranslatabilityDirect

1Co 10:171Co 10:211Co 10:30Heb 5:13

1cto come to hold in common something that already belongs to others, such as their very nature

CertaintyStrong

Heb 2:14

Whether the change of verb in Hebrews 2:14, from the word used of the children who share flesh and blood to this word used of the Son who took the same, marks a real difference in how each party holds human nature.

majorityThe two verbs are used interchangeably here, and both say that the Son came to hold the same human nature as the children.; Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia), on 2:14; William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8 (Word Biblical Commentary 47A), on 2:14
minorityThe change is deliberate: the children hold flesh and blood as their own by birth, while the Son took hold of a nature that was not originally his.; B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews, on 2:14

1dto belong to a group, holding a place among those who make it up

Heb 7:13

What metechō does not mean

English versions scatter this one verb across renderings that look unrelated: "partake of" the bread, "share in" the crop, "have" a right of support, "belonged to" another tribe. Nothing on the English page shows that the same word stands behind all four, so a reader tracing the idea through Hebrews and 1 Corinthians will not see the connection unless someone points it out.

Do not load the word with the warmth English speakers hear in "communion". It is an ordinary word for holding a share, and Paul uses it of a farmhand's cut of the harvest and of eating at a pagan table in the very same letter. The holiness of what is shared comes from the loaf or the table, not from the verb.

The word's parts, "to have" plus "along with", are a fair guide here, but do not press them into a theology of union. Greek words often drift from their parts, and this one is settled by how it is actually used: having a portion of something.

Finally, this verb is not the same as the other Greek verb for sharing (κοινωνέω), even though both are translated "share". Hebrews 2:14 uses both in one sentence, and whether the author meant anything by the change is a live question among scholars rather than a settled point to build on.

What scholars say about metechō

The lexica treat this as one verb with a small range, construed with the genitive of the thing shared. BDAG divides it into having a part or share in something (1 Cor 9:10, 9:12; Heb 2:14), partaking of food and drink (1 Cor 10:17, 10:21, 10:30; Heb 5:13), and belonging to a group, with Heb 7:13 as the instance: Jesus phules heteras metescheken, he belonged to a different tribe. LSJ documents the same construction across classical Greek, where the compound belongs to civic, commercial and cultic sharing and is regularly paired with the genitive of the thing and the dative of the co-sharer. On 1 Cor 9:10 the object of metechein is unexpressed; Fee (NICNT) and Thiselton (NIGTC) supply the crop from the agricultural figure and read the clause as the worker's claim on the produce. On 1 Cor 10:14-22 Thiselton stresses that the verb carries the force of Paul's argument: the many who partake of the one loaf are constituted one body, and the incompatibility of the two tables follows from real participation rather than symbolism. On 1 Cor 10:30 the disputed word is chariti, whether with thanksgiving or by grace; the reference of metecho to eating is not in doubt. The one contested point for this verb is Heb 2:14, where the author writes koinoneo of the children and metecho of the Son. Westcott read the change as deliberate, koinoneo of community of nature and metecho of taking part in what was not originally one's own; Attridge (Hermeneia), Lane (WBC) and Ellingworth (NIGTC) treat the pair as stylistic variation, a conclusion supported by the interchangeability of the two verbs elsewhere in Hellenistic usage.

Sources

BDAG, s.v. μετέχωlexicon
LSJ, s.v. μετέχωlexicon
Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia), on 2:14 and 7:13commentary
Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC), on 2:14commentary
B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews, on 2:14commentary
Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC), on 9:1-14 and 10:14-22commentary
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT), on 9:7-12commentary

metechō

What metechō means

to have a real part in something held in common: to take your share of it, or to count as one of those who hold it

Nuances

What scholars say about metechō

Sources

All attested forms of μετέχω

present active infinitive

perfect active indicative 3s

present active indicative 1p

present active indicative 1s

present active indicative 3p

present active participle nominative m s

second-aorist active indicative 3s

What metechō means

to have a real part in something held in common: to take your share of it, or to count as one of those who hold it

Nuances

Related words

The English words used to translate metechō

How metechō differs from similar Greek words

metechō in the other biblical languages

What scholars say about metechō

Sources

All attested forms of μετέχω

present active infinitive

perfect active indicative 3s

present active indicative 1p

present active indicative 1s

present active indicative 3p

present active participle nominative m s

second-aorist active indicative 3s