StrongerBible

homoioō

ὁμοιόω

GreekG3666“compare, liken, ...”

Appears 15 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 6:8Mat 7:24Mat 7:26Mat 11:16Mat 13:24Mat 18:23Mat 22:2Mat 25:1Mrk 4:30Luk 7:31Luk 13:18Luk 13:20Act 14:11Rom 9:29Heb 2:17
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeho-moy-OH-ohverb

What homoioō means

to bring into likeness: to set one thing beside another as its like, either by comparing them in words or by actually making one resemble the other.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This one verb travels a short distance between two ideas that English keeps apart: comparing two things in speech, and making one thing truly resemble another. At heart it simply sets two things side by side as alike. Whether that likeness is only pictured in words or actually comes about depends on the sentence.

The New Testament puts it to work in strikingly different places:

  • it opens most of Jesus' kingdom parables, asking what the kingdom of heaven can be compared to
  • it warns disciples not to become like people who pray with empty repetition
  • it describes the Son being made like his human brothers in every way

Behind it stands the Hebrew verb דמה, the word Isaiah uses when he throws down the challenge, "To whom will you liken God?" Jesus takes up that same family of language, but turns it toward gentle invitation: the kingdom, once beyond all comparison, is now brought within reach of an ordinary story.

Greek thinkers used this verb for the soul's climb toward becoming like God, yet the New Testament pointedly avoids it for that purpose, preferring other words for being shaped into Christ's likeness, such as the verb for being transformed (μεταμορφόω). Its heaviest moment runs the other direction entirely: in Hebrews it is God who is made like us.

Nuances

1ato compare, to liken: to ask what one thing may be set beside so as to reveal what it is like.
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 11:16Mrk 4:30Luk 7:31Luk 13:18Luk 13:20
1bis like, has come to be like: the set phrase that opens a kingdom parable, likening the kingdom of heaven to a scene or story.
Mat 7:24Mat 7:26Mat 13:24Mat 18:23Mat 22:2Mat 25:1
Mat 13:24

Whether Matthew's parable-introduction formula (the past-tense "the kingdom of heaven has become like" in Matthew 13:24; 18:23; 22:2, and the future "will be likened" in 7:24, 26; 25:1) carries an ingressive, eschatological force or is simply a stylized comparative opener meaning "is like."

  • majorityA stylized comparative opener with no special force, functionally "the kingdom of heaven is like"; the tense belongs to the parable form and is not a marker of the kingdom's arrival, and the formula is not a divine passive.; U. Luz, Matthew 8-20, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2001), 261-265; R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Eerdmans, 2007), 526-528; J. Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew, NIGTC (Eerdmans, 2005), 544; K. R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent (Eerdmans, 2008); R. Booth, "God as the Agent of Kingdom Growth," JETS 62.4 (2019): 705-719
  • minorityThe verb keeps an effective, ingressive nuance, "the kingdom has come to be like," affirming that the kingdom has already dawned in Jesus' ministry, with the future forms pointing to its consummation.; J. Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, rev. ed. (Scribner, 1972); D. A. Carson, "The ὅμοιος Word-Group as Introduction to Some Matthean Parables," New Testament Studies 31 (1985): 277-282; W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, Matthew, ICC (T&T Clark, 1991-2004)
1cto be made like, to become like: to be brought into real resemblance with someone or something, in nature or condition.
TranslatabilityApproximate
Mat 6:8Act 14:11Rom 9:29Heb 2:17

What scholars say about homoioō

ὁμοιόω is a denominative verb from ὅμοιος, appearing 15 times in the New Testament (eight in Matthew, once in Mark, three in Luke, once each in Acts, Romans, and Hebrews). The lexica map two poles: an active transitive "make like, liken, compare" and a passive "be made like, become like" (BDAG; LSJ I.1 "make like" vs I.2 "liken, compare," the latter originally middle and "later in Act.," with LSJ citing Matthew 11:16 as its lead witness). Louw and Nida file the word under the semantic domain of comparison. In the Septuagint it renders Hebrew דמה some three dozen times, concentrated in the poetic-prophetic books, and inherits the force of Isaiah's polemical "to whom will you liken God?" (Isaiah 40:18, 25; 46:5) and the parallel Lamentations 2:13. The most-debated question, framed by Jeremias and refined by Carson (NTS 1985) and Davies-Allison, is whether Matthew's ὡμοιώθη parable formula bears an ingressive-eschatological force or is a stylized comparative opener; the latter is argued by Luz, France, Nolland, Snodgrass, and Meier, and the recent consensus (Booth, JETS 2019) is that it is not a divine passive. In Hebrews 2:17 the passive ὁμοιωθῆναι is read by Attridge, Koester, Ellingworth, Lane, and Cockerill as the real assumption of humanity, inverting the Platonic-Philonic tradition of ὁμοίωσις θεῷ that the New Testament otherwise declines to use.

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., 2000), s.v. ὁμοιόωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ὁμοιόωlexicon
  • J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (1989), §64.4lexicon
  • J. Schneider, "ὅμοιος κτλ.," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 5:186-199dictionary
  • M. Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDNTTE), 2nd ed. (2014), s.v. ὅμοιοςdictionary
  • D. A. Carson, "The ὅμοιος Word-Group as Introduction to Some Matthean Parables," New Testament Studies 31 (1985): 277-282article
  • W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, ICC (T&T Clark, 1991-2004)commentary
  • U. Luz, Matthew 8-20, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2001)commentary
  • R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Eerdmans, 2007)commentary
  • K. R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent (Eerdmans, 2008)monograph
  • H. W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1989), 94-96commentary
  • J. Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, rev. ed. (Scribner, 1972)monograph
  • R. Booth, "God as the Agent of Kingdom Growth," JETS 62.4 (2019): 705-719article

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

All attested forms of ὁμοιόω

future active indicative 1s

ὁμοιώσω

Mat 11:16, Luk 7:31, Luk 13:18, Luk 13:20

aorist passive indicative 3s

ὡμοιώθη

Mat 13:24, Mat 18:23, Mat 22:2

future passive indicative 3s

ὁμοιωθήσεται

Mat 7:24, Mat 7:26, Mat 25:1

aorist active subjunctive 1p

ὁμοιώσωμεν

Mrk 4:30

aorist passive indicative 1p

ὡμοιώθημεν

Rom 9:29

aorist passive infinitive

ὁμοιωθῆναι

Heb 2:17

aorist passive participle nominative m p

ὁμοιωθέντες

Act 14:11

aorist passive subjunctive 2p

ὁμοιωθῆτε

Mat 6:8