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homoiōs

ὁμοίως

GreekG3668likewise, in the same way

Appears 31 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 22:26Mat 26:35Mat 27:41Mrk 4:16Mrk 15:31Luk 3:11Luk 5:10Luk 5:33Luk 6:31Luk 10:32Luk 10:37Luk 13:3Jas 2:251Pe 3:11Pe 5:5
Root family
Word studyho-MOY-oceadverb

What homoiōs means

in the same way: doing or being like what has just been described, so too, likewise

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is a small connecting word that points back to something just said and claims that the next thing matches it. Its plain force is "in the same way": whatever happened, or whatever should be done, applies again here, in the same manner. English most often carries it with "likewise" or "so too."

The word does the same job across very different settings. It ties parallel items together in a story (a second brother marries the widow, and a third, and so on down the line), it stacks up examples in an argument, and it lines up parallel instructions in a household ("in the same way, wives...", "in the same way, husbands..."). In each case the point is correspondence: this new case belongs with the one before it and is to be understood, or acted on, the same way.

Because it is a pure word of comparison, it carries no meaning of its own beyond "matching what came before"; its content is borrowed entirely from whatever it is being compared to. That is why it reads so smoothly in translation and rarely needs explaining.

Mat 22:26Mat 26:35Mat 27:41Mrk 4:16Mrk 15:31Luk 3:11Luk 5:10Luk 5:33Luk 6:31Luk 10:32Luk 10:37Luk 13:3

What scholars say about homoiōs

ὁμοίως is the adverb of ὅμοιος ("like, similar"), from the Indo-European root for "same, together," and functions as a marker of similarity or correspondence. The lexicons are unanimous: BDAG ("likewise, so, similarly, in the same way"), LSJ ("in like manner, alike, equally"), and Louw-Nida (§64.4, a marker of similarity in manner) give the same sense, with no sub-entries or disputed range. It occurs 31 times in the NT, heavily in Luke and the epistolary paraenesis (1 Cor 7; 1 Pet 3), where it coordinates parallel instructions, and correlatively in John 5:19; 6:11; 21:13 for the matching of one act to another. It belongs to a cluster of Koine similarity adverbs alongside ὡσαύτως and the hapax παραπλησίως (Heb 2:14), and to the word-group ὅμοιος / ὁμοιόω / ὁμοίωμα / ὁμοίωσις treated by J. Schneider, TDNT 5:186-199. Moulton-Milligan documents the same colorless comparative use throughout the papyri, confirming it as ordinary rather than technical vocabulary.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ὁμοίωςlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ὁμοίωςlexicon
  • J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, §64.4lexicon
  • J. Schneider, "ὅμοιος, ὁμοιότης, ὁμοιόω, ὁμοίωσις, ὁμοίωμα, παρόμοιος, παρομοιάζω," TDNT 5:186-199theological-dictionary
  • J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ὁμοίωςlexicon

All attested forms of ὁμοίως

adv

ὁμοίως, Ὁμοίως

Mat 22:26, Mat 26:35, Mat 27:41, Mrk 4:16, Mrk 15:31, Luk 3:11, Luk 5:10, Luk 5:33