StrongerBible

parrēsia

παρρησία

GreekG3954“boldness, confidence, ...”

Appears 31 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mrk 8:32Jhn 7:4Jhn 7:13Jhn 7:26Jhn 10:24Jhn 11:14Jhn 11:54Jhn 16:25Jhn 16:29Jhn 18:20Act 2:29Act 4:13Act 4:29Act 4:31Act 28:312Co 3:122Co 7:4Eph 3:12Eph 6:191Ti 3:13Phm 1:8Heb 3:6Heb 4:16Heb 10:19Heb 10:351Jn 2:281Jn 3:211Jn 4:171Jn 5:14
Compound of
pasπᾶςall1269G3956
rheō, ereōἐρέωto say46G4483
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradepar-ray-SEE-ahnoun

What parrēsia means

free and fearless openness: speaking out in the open, plainly, and with confidence, holding nothing back

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

The word is built from two pieces meaning "all" and "speech," so at root it is "saying everything, holding nothing back." It began in ancient Athens as the free citizen's right to speak his mind in the public assembly, the very thing a slave could not do. From there it broadened in two directions at once: as a virtue it was courageous truth-telling, but it could also tip into a vice, the shameless license of someone who says whatever he likes with no restraint. That darker edge does not appear in the New Testament, but it explains why the word always carried a sense of risk, even when it was praised.

The New Testament keeps the positive shades and binds them together around one idea: free, fearless openness under risk. A single use can lean toward any of them depending on the scene. When Jesus speaks plainly instead of in riddles, it is the plainness shade. When he acts in the open rather than hiding, it is the public shade. When the apostles preach the gospel under threat without flinching, it is bold confidence. And when a believer comes to God in prayer or stands unashamed at the final judgment, it is confidence of a deeper kind: the settled assurance of someone welcome in God's presence.

What ties the senses together is freedom from fear. The Athenian spoke freely because he was no slave. In the New Testament the same freedom is given rather than inherited: it comes from the Spirit, and from what Christ has done, so that the uneducated, the powerless, and the prisoner can all have it. The word travels from a political privilege to a gift of grace without changing its basic shape.

Nuances

1aplainly, frankly: saying a thing straight out rather than in riddles or veiled figures
Mrk 8:32Jhn 10:24Jhn 11:14Jhn 16:25Jhn 16:292Co 3:12
1bopenly, in public: out in the open where all can see, as opposed to in secret
Jhn 7:4Jhn 7:13Jhn 7:26Jhn 11:54Jhn 18:20Col 2:15
1cboldness in speaking: the fearless confidence to proclaim or to speak frankly, even under threat
Act 2:29Act 4:13Act 4:29Act 4:31Act 28:312Co 7:4Eph 6:19Php 1:201Ti 3:13Phm 1:8
1dconfidence before God: the believer's free, unashamed standing to approach God and to face him without fear
Eph 3:12Heb 3:6Heb 4:16Heb 10:19Heb 10:351Jn 2:281Jn 3:211Jn 4:171Jn 5:14

What scholars say about parrēsia

The major critical lexicons (BDAG, LSJ, Schlier in TDNT, EDNT, Louw-Nida, Silva's NIDNTTE, and Spicq's TLNT) converge on a tripartite NT mapping: (1) frankness or plainness of speech (John 16:25, 29; Acts 4:13; 2 Cor 3:12), (2) public openness, "openly" versus "in secret" (John 7:4, 13, 26; 11:54; 18:20; Col 2:15), and (3) boldness or confidence, especially before God (Heb 3:6; 4:16; 10:19, 35; 1 John 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14; Eph 3:12). BDAG groups senses 1 and 2 as the underlying speech-meaning and treats confidence-before-God as the distinctively NT theological development. Schlier reconstructs a three-stage history (classical-political, Hellenistic-ethical, religious in the LXX, Philo, and the NT) and renders the NT sense as joyful confidence joined to openness. The decisive bridge is the LXX (Lev 26:13; Prov 1:20; 13:5; Wisdom 5:1, the righteous standing in much boldness at the eschatological reckoning) and Philo (Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres 5-29, where a clean conscience plus friendship with God yields boldness before God), the direct conceptual ancestor of Hebrews and 1 John. On background priority scholars divide: Schlier, van Unnik, and Marrow weight the LXX/Jewish-Hellenistic stream (confident standing before God), while Fredrickson, Mitchell, and Foucault-influenced readings weight the Greco-Roman moral-philosophy stream (the frank speech of the philosopher-friend, marked against the flatterer). On subjective versus objective, older pietistic readings treat NT parrhesia as an inward attitude, while Lane, deSilva, Mitchell, and Pervo insist it is primarily a public, performative, socially risky practice. In John the word oscillates between "openly" (versus secretly) and "plainly" (versus in figures), two aspects of one revelatory event. In Acts it is the visible token of the Spirit's filling (4:29-31). In Hebrews it is bold access to God through the blood of Jesus (4:16; 10:19), with a Yom Kippur typology (Attridge), and the public confession to be held fast (3:6; 10:35); Lane stresses the public-confessional weight against Attridge's cultic emphasis, though most current work (Mitchell, Koester, deSilva) reads them as integrated. In 1 John perfect love casts out fear, and boldness is what remains.

Where scholars disagree about parrēsia

Whether New Testament boldness (parrhesia) is primarily an inward attitude of confidence or primarily an outward, public, socially risky practice of speaking and standing in the open.

  • majorityPrimarily a public, performative practice: bold speech and a public stance taken under real social danger, not mainly a private feeling.; William L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 (WBC 47B; Word, 1991); David A. deSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Hebrews (Eerdmans, 2000); David E. Fredrickson, "Παρρησία in the Pauline Epistles" (Brill, 1996)
  • minorityPrimarily an inward disposition of confidence or joyful assurance before God.; Heinrich Schlier, TDNT V (Eerdmans, 1967), 882-86

Which background stream most shapes the New Testament use: the Jewish-Hellenistic line (the Septuagint and Philo, where it means confident standing before God) or the Greco-Roman moral-philosophy line (the frank speech of the philosopher-friend, set against the flatterer).

  • contestedThe Jewish-Hellenistic stream is decisive: New Testament boldness is reshaped by Jewish theology into the confident standing of the righteous before God.; W.C. van Unnik, "The Christian's Freedom of Speech in the New Testament," BJRL 44 (1961-62): 466-88; Heinrich Schlier, TDNT V (Eerdmans, 1967), 877-86
  • contestedThe Greco-Roman friendship and moral-philosophy stream is decisive: the word names the frank, risky speech of a true friend and moral guide.; David E. Fredrickson, "Παρρησία in the Pauline Epistles" (Brill, 1996); Alan C. Mitchell, "Holding on to Confidence: Παρρησία in Hebrews" (Brill, 1996)
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, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd ed. (2000), 781, s.v. παρρησίαlexicon
  • LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. παρρησίαlexicon
  • Heinrich Schlier, "παρρησία, παρρησιάζομαι," TDNT V (Eerdmans, 1967), 871-86lexicon
  • H.-C. Hahn, "παρρησία," EDNT 3:45-47lexicon
  • Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament 3:56-62lexicon
  • Stanley B. Marrow, "Parrhēsia and the New Testament," CBQ 44 (1982): 431-46article
  • W.C. van Unnik, "The Christian's Freedom of Speech in the New Testament," BJRL 44 (1961-62): 466-88article
  • David E. Fredrickson, "Παρρησία in the Pauline Epistles," in John T. Fitzgerald, ed., Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech (NovTSup 82; Brill, 1996), 163-83monograph
  • Alan C. Mitchell, "Holding on to Confidence: Παρρησία in Hebrews," in Fitzgerald, Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech, 203-26monograph
  • Harold W. Attridge, Hebrews (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1989), 114, 140, 284-86, 301commentary
  • William L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 (WBC 47B; Word, 1991), on 10:32-35commentary
  • Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John (AB 30; Doubleday, 1982), 380-82, 526-32commentary
  • Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (AB 29/29A; Doubleday, 1966-70)commentary
  • Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles (Eerdmans, 1998), 194-96commentary

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

All attested forms of παρρησία

dative f s

παρρησίᾳ

Mrk 8:32, Jhn 7:4, Jhn 7:13, Jhn 7:26, Jhn 10:24, Jhn 11:14, Jhn 11:54, Jhn 16:25

accusative f s

παρρησίαν

Act 4:13, Eph 3:12, 1Ti 3:13, Phm 1:8, Heb 3:6, Heb 10:19, Heb 10:35, 1Jn 2:28

genitive f s

παρρησίας

Act 2:29, Act 4:29, Act 4:31, Act 28:31, Heb 4:16

nominative f s

παρρησία

2Co 7:4, 1Jn 5:14