StrongerBible

skotos

σκότος

GreekG4655“darkness, dark, ...”

Appears 31 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 4:16Mat 6:23 (2×)Mat 8:12Mat 22:13Mat 25:30Mat 27:45Mrk 15:33Luk 1:79Luk 11:35Luk 22:53Luk 23:44Jhn 3:19Act 2:20Act 13:11Act 26:18Rom 2:19Rom 13:121Co 4:52Co 4:62Co 6:14Eph 5:8Eph 5:11Eph 6:12Col 1:131Th 5:41Th 5:51Pe 2:92Pe 2:171Jn 1:6Jud 1:13
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradeSKOH-tosnoun

What skotos means

darkness: the absence of light, used both for real physical dark and, far more often, for the realm and condition of life cut off from God

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

At its base this word names plain physical darkness, the absence of light. But the New Testament reaches for it most often as a picture, and the picture works because of a single relationship that holds it all together: darkness is whatever the light of God, and finally the light that is Christ, shines into, shows up, drives out, or finally shuts away.

From that one center the word fans out into several settled uses. It can describe

  • a mind that cannot see the truth
  • a way of living that loves to hide its deeds
  • the whole sphere and power of evil that a person is rescued out of
  • the final dark of judgment reserved for those shut out from God

These are not separate words that happen to look alike; they are shades of one idea, and a verse can sit near the line between two of them.

What ties them is not the dark itself but what stands against it. Darkness in this book is never an equal rival to the light. It is always the thing acted upon:

  • the condition people sit in until light dawns
  • the sphere they are carried out of
  • the place into which the condemned are cast

Even at its most menacing it is on the losing side.

Nuances

1aphysical darkness: real absence of light, including darkness that falls as a sign of dread
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 27:45Mrk 15:33Luk 23:44Act 2:20Act 13:11
Mat 27:45

Whether the darkness over the land at the crucifixion was a literal solar or atmospheric event or an apocalyptic literary sign.

  • majorityAn apocalyptic sign built from Old Testament texts such as Amos 8:9, Joel 2, and Exodus 10, not a natural event, since a Passover full moon makes a solar eclipse impossible.; R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, vol. 2, pp. 1034-1043; J. Marcus, Mark (Anchor Bible)
  • minorityA literal solar or atmospheric darkening.; Apologetic tradition citing the chronographer Phlegon
1binner darkness: a mind or inner self that cannot see the truth
Mat 6:23 (2×)Luk 11:35
1cmoral darkness: a way of living opposed to God, with deeds that hide from the light
Jhn 3:19Rom 13:121Co 4:52Co 6:14Eph 5:111Jn 1:6
1dthe realm and power of darkness: the whole sphere of life apart from God that a person sits in and is rescued out of
Mat 4:16Luk 1:79Luk 22:53Act 26:18Rom 2:192Co 4:6Eph 5:8Eph 6:12Col 1:131Th 5:41Th 5:51Pe 2:9
1ethe darkness of judgment: the final outer dark reserved for those shut out from God
Mat 8:12Mat 22:13Mat 25:302Pe 2:17Jud 1:13
Mat 8:12

Whether the outer darkness in Matthew names final exclusion from God or only loss of reward for unfaithful believers.

  • majorityIt is an apocalyptic image of definitive exclusion from God's salvation, paired with weeping and grinding of teeth and drawing on the prison-gloom of fallen angels in 1 Enoch.; W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC), vol. 2; U. Luz, Matthew (Hermeneia)
  • minorityIt pictures a saved but unfaithful disciple losing reward and being shut out of the feast, not perishing.; Z. C. Hodges, in Free Grace interpretation

What scholars say about skotos

The standard lexica (BDAG, LSJ, Louw-Nida, Spicq's TLNT) and Conzelmann's classic study in TDNT trace this word from Homer onward across physical darkness, the dark of death, blindness, secrecy, and ignorance, a wide classical range the New Testament inherits rather than invents. The Greek Old Testament made it the regular rendering of the Hebrew word for darkness, and Hellenistic Jewish writing, especially the Wisdom of Solomon and the Dead Sea Scrolls, developed its moral, cosmic, and end-time depth. Recent scholarship (Raymond Brown, Joerg Frey, John Ashton, Richard Bauckham, John J. Collins) has set the New Testament's light-and-darkness imagery firmly within this Jewish apocalyptic world, treating the Qumran parallels as the closest analogy rather than a direct source, and has set aside older theories that derived it from later Gnostic myth. Across the New Testament the word operates in one unified field with several theological functions, held together by its relation to the light that is Christ.

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., s.v. σκότοςlexicon
  • LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. σκότοςlexicon
  • C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, vol. 3, pp. 265-270lexicon
  • H. Conzelmann, 'σκότος κτλ.', in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 7, pp. 423-445dictionary
  • H. Ritt, 'σκότος', in Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 3, pp. 255-256dictionary
  • M. Silva (ed.), New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, s.v. σκότος / σκοτίαdictionary
  • R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah, vol. 2, pp. 1034-1043commentary
  • W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC), vol. 2commentary
  • R. E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (Anchor Bible 29-30)commentary
  • J. Frey, 'Johannine Dualism: Reflections on Its Background and Function', in The Glory of the Crucified Onemonograph
  • J. J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrollsmonograph
  • D. Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon (Anchor Bible 43), pp. 303-313commentary

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

All attested forms of σκότος

genitive n s

σκότους

Luk 22:53, Act 26:18, Rom 13:12, 1Co 4:5, 2Co 4:6, Eph 5:11, Eph 6:12, Col 1:13

nominative n s

σκότος

Mat 6:23, Mat 6:23, Mat 27:45, Mrk 15:33, Luk 11:35, Luk 23:44, Act 13:11, Eph 5:8

accusative n s

σκότος

Mat 8:12, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:30, Jhn 3:19, Act 2:20, 2Co 6:14

dative n s

σκότει

Mat 4:16, Luk 1:79, Rom 2:19, 1Th 5:4, 1Jn 1:6