StrongerBible

sunedrion

συνέδριον

GreekG4892“council, Sanhedrin, ...”

Appears 22 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 5:22Mat 10:17Mat 26:59Mrk 13:9Mrk 14:55Mrk 15:1Luk 22:66Jhn 11:47Act 4:15Act 5:21Act 5:27Act 5:34Act 5:41Act 6:12Act 6:15Act 22:30Act 23:1Act 23:6Act 23:15Act 23:20Act 23:28Act 24:20
Compound of
sunσύνwith131G4862
hedraiosἑδραῖοςsteadfast3G1476
Word studyResearch-gradesoo-NEH-dree-onnoun

What sunedrion means

council: a formally seated body of leaders gathered to deliberate and judge, above all the ruling court in Jerusalem

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

At root the word means "a sitting together." In everyday Greek it named any officially convened council that met to decide matters, and the New Testament keeps that flexibility while pointing it mostly at one target: the ruling council in Jerusalem, the body English Bibles often simply call "the Sanhedrin." That council was made up of the leading priests, the elders of the leading families, and the scribes, with the high priest presiding.

The same word stretches naturally in three directions that all share the one idea of an authorized council. It can name:

  • the standing leadership body itself, gathered to decide the fate of Jesus and, in Acts, of his followers
  • a particular session of that body, and by a small step the very room in which it met
  • the local Jewish courts of a town, which is why the word turns up in the plural when Jesus warns his disciples they will be handed over to "councils"

These are shades of one meaning rather than separate words: in each case it is a lawful assembly of leaders sitting in judgment. Which shade is in view is settled by the context, not by the word on its own, and the reader has to supply that context. A related complication sits underneath the word: how organized and permanent this Jerusalem council actually was in the first century is one of the long-running debates of New Testament history, and it colors how the trial scenes are read.

Nuances

1athe ruling council in Jerusalem: the aristocratic court of chief priests, elders, and scribes, chaired by the high priest
Mat 5:22Mat 26:59Mrk 14:55Mrk 15:1Jhn 11:47Act 5:21Act 5:27Act 5:34Act 5:41Act 6:12Act 6:15Act 22:30
1ba session of the council, and by extension the room where it met
Luk 22:66Act 4:15
1clocal Jewish courts: the town-level tribunals a person might be hauled before, named in the plural
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 10:17Mrk 13:9

What scholars say about sunedrion

The major lexica converge on a three-way division of the NT usage. BDAG distinguishes (1) the high council in Jerusalem of chief priests, elders, and scribes under the presiding high priest; (2) local Jewish councils attached to synagogues, plural συνέδρια (Matt 10:17; Mark 13:9); and (3) a session or meeting of such a body, with metonymic extension to the meeting-place (Acts 4:15; Luke 22:66). Louw-Nida assigns the two institutional senses to domain 11 (§§11.80-11.81) and cross-references γερουσία and πρεσβυτέριον. The word (σύν + ἕδρα, "a sitting together") was in classical and Hellenistic Greek the ordinary label for any formally constituted deliberative or judicial council (LSJ), used by Polybius for the Achaean and Aetolian league councils and even the Roman senatus, and by 2 Macc 14:5 / 4 Macc 17:17 for a royal council. The LXX employs it generically, rendering סוֹד at Prov 11:13; 15:22; Jer 15:17. Lohse (TDNT 7.860-871) traces the technical Judean sense as a later crystallization; the Hebrew loanword סנהדרין that titles the Mishnaic tractate is borrowed back from the Greek. Josephus applies at least four terms (γερουσία, βουλή, κοινόν, συνέδριον) to the Jerusalem leadership and repeatedly speaks of the body being convened, which fuels the central historical debate over whether a permanent institution existed before 70 CE. Schürer (rev. Vermes-Millar-Black) and Blinzler defend a single standing aristocratic senate; Büchler, Zeitlin, Hoenig, and Mantel posit two contemporaneous bodies (political συνέδριον vs. religious court); Rivkin radically differentiates βουλή, בית דין, and συνέδριον; Goodblatt, McLaren, Goodman, and Mason deny any permanent institution and read each συνέδριον as ad hoc; Sanders, Saldarini, Grabbe, and Brown occupy a middle position (a real aristocratic council under the high priest, but not the Mishnaic institution). Brown (Death of the Messiah) rejects the two-body theory yet describes Mark 14 as a "session" rather than a technical "trial"; Bock (Blasphemy and Exaltation) defends the historical plausibility of the blasphemy charge. Keener, Barrett, and Fitzmyer read Luke's consistent τὸ συνέδριον along aristocratic-priestly lines with metonymic extension to the meeting-place at Acts 4:15.

Where scholars disagree about sunedrion

Whether the συνέδριον named in the Gospels and Acts was a permanent, formally constituted institution before 70 CE, or an aristocratic council convened ad hoc by the high priest, and whether the Greek sources and the later Mishnaic Sanhedrin describe the same body.

  • majorityA real aristocratic council of chief priests, elders, and scribes under the high priest did function, but it was not the fixed 71-member Mishnaic institution; its power was often informal and it appears as much when convened as when in continuous session.; Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah (Doubleday, 1994), 1.339-397; E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief (SCM/TPI, 1992), 472-490; Anthony J. Saldarini, "Sanhedrin," Anchor Bible Dictionary 5.975-980
  • minorityThere was one standing Jerusalem Sanhedrin, an aristocratic senate headed by the high priest exercising continuous political, judicial, and religious authority, of which the Mishnah preserves an anachronistic memory.; Emil Schürer, History of the Jewish People, rev. Vermes-Millar-Black (T&T Clark, 1979), 2.199-226; Josef Blinzler, The Trial of Jesus (Westminster, 1959)
  • minorityTwo distinct contemporaneous bodies existed: a political council of priestly and lay aristocrats and a separate religious or scholarly court, which the sources have confused.; Adolf Büchler, Das Synedrion in Jerusalem (Vienna, 1902); Solomon Zeitlin, "The Political Synedrion and the Religious Sanhedrin," JQR 36 (1945-46): 109-140; Hugo Mantel, Studies in the History of the Sanhedrin (Harvard University Press, 1961)
  • minorityNo permanent institution called "the Sanhedrin" existed before 70 CE at all; every συνέδριον in the sources is an ad hoc council called into being by the ruler or high priest for a specific occasion.; David Goodblatt, The Monarchic Principle (Mohr Siebeck, 1994), ch. 4; James S. McLaren, Power and Politics in Palestine (JSOT Press, 1991)
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

  • Danker, BDAG, 3rd ed. (2000), s.v. συνέδριον, senses 1-3lexicon
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the NT Based on Semantic Domains, 2nd ed. (1989), §§11.80-11.83lexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. συνέδριονlexicon
  • Eduard Lohse, "συνέδριον," TDNT 7.860-871dictionary
  • T. Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Peeters, 2009), s.v.lexicon
  • Emil Schürer, History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, rev. Vermes, Millar, Black (T&T Clark, 1979), 2.199-226monograph
  • David Goodblatt, The Monarchic Principle: Studies in Jewish Self-Government in Antiquity (TSAJ 38; Mohr Siebeck, 1994)monograph
  • Ellis Rivkin, "Beth Din, Boulé, Sanhedrin: A Tragedy of Errors," HUCA 46 (1975): 181-199article
  • Solomon Zeitlin, "The Political Synedrion and the Religious Sanhedrin," JQR 36 (1945-46): 109-140article
  • Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah (ABRL; Doubleday, 1994), 1.328-397commentary
  • E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE - 66 CE (SCM/TPI, 1992), 472-490monograph
  • Lester L. Grabbe, "Sanhedrin, Sanhedriyyot, or Mere Invention?" JSJ 39 (2008): 1-19article
  • Darrell L. Bock, Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus (WUNT 106; Mohr Siebeck, 1998)monograph
  • Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (Baker, 2012-15), 2.1131-1146commentary
  • C. K. Barrett, The Acts of the Apostles (ICC; T&T Clark, 1994-98), 1.238-239commentary
  • Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Acts of the Apostles (AB 31; Doubleday, 1998)commentary

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

All attested forms of συνέδριον

accusative n s

συνέδριον

Luk 22:66, Jhn 11:47, Act 5:21, Act 6:12, Act 22:30, Act 23:20, Act 23:28

dative n s

συνεδρίῳ

Mat 5:22, Act 5:27, Act 5:34, Act 6:15, Act 23:1, Act 23:6, Act 23:15

genitive n s

συνεδρίου

Act 4:15, Act 5:41, Act 24:20

nominative n s

συνέδριον

Mat 26:59, Mrk 14:55, Mrk 15:1

accusative n p

συνέδρια

Mat 10:17, Mrk 13:9