StrongerBible

huperēphanos

ὑπερήφανος

GreekG5244“proud, arrogant, ...”

Appears 5 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Luk 1:51Rom 1:302Ti 3:2Jas 4:61Pe 5:5
Compound of
huperὑπέρabove/for159G5228
phainōφαίνωto shine/appear31G5316
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradehoo-per-AY-fah-nosadjective

What huperēphanos means

arrogant: the person who inwardly sets himself above other people, and above God, and so looks down on them

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This word names a very particular kind of pride. It is not the loud bragging of the show-off, nor the bullying cruelty of the person who tramples others for sport. It is the quiet, inward attitude of someone who has decided he stands higher than everyone around him, and who therefore holds them in contempt. The picture built into the word is of a person who makes himself conspicuous, who towers over the rest, at least in his own estimation. Its home is the heart, before it ever shows up in words or actions.

Greek writers before the New Testament used it mostly this way, for the haughty and overbearing, though once in a while they could stretch it to mean splendid or magnificent. The Bible drops that positive shade completely: here the word is always an accusation. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, this one word was chosen to carry a whole shelf of Hebrew words for pride, and in the process it took on a sharp edge. The arrogant person became, above all, the one who lifts himself up against God.

That is why the same short saying keeps returning in the New Testament, quoted almost as a settled formula: God lines up against the proud like an army facing an enemy, but gives grace to the lowly. Mary sings that God scatters the proud in the secret thoughts of their hearts. Paul lists the proud among people who have turned their backs on God. The proud are not merely unpleasant individuals; they are the standing opposite of the humble people God favors, and their pride is treated as something close to the root of all sin, because it begins with turning away from God.

Luk 1:51Rom 1:302Ti 3:2Jas 4:61Pe 5:5

What scholars say about huperēphanos

In classical and Hellenistic Greek ὑπερήφανος is overwhelmingly negative (haughty, overbearing), with a rare positive use in Plato ("magnificent, splendid"); Theophrastus (Characters 24) defines the corresponding vice as "a certain contempt for everyone except oneself." The etymology is traditionally taken as ὑπέρ + a stem of φαίνομαι, "showing oneself above" (LSJ, Thayer, BDAG), though Frisk labels the derivation "unclear" and Leumann proposes a back-formation from a root meaning "overwealthy." The LXX makes the word a Sammelbegriff (Bertram, TDNT 8:295-307) for a range of Hebrew terms for pride (זֵד, גֵּאֶה, גָּאוֹן, לֵץ), eliminating the positive sense and forging a religiously loaded concept: the arrogant one who exalts himself against God. Proverbs 3:34 LXX (κύριος ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται, ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσιν χάριν) is the locus classicus, its verb ἀντιτάσσω a military image of God arraying himself against an enemy. All six New Testament occurrences of the word group (five adjectival, plus the noun ὑπερηφανία in Mark 7:22) draw on this matrix; James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 cite Prov 3:34 LXX in the same modified form (ὁ θεός for κύριος), reflecting a common early Christian catechetical tradition also attested in 1 Clement 30.2 and Ignatius, Ephesians 5.3. Trench's classic distinction sets ἀλαζών (boastful in words), ὑπερήφανος (proud in thought), and ὑβριστής (insolent in deed) on an ascending scale, broadly followed by BDAG, Spicq, Louw-Nida (domain 88), and NIDNTTE, with recognized overlap. The word's distinctive nuance is that it locates pride in the heart, prior to outward expression, making it the most theologically fundamental of the Greek pride terms.

Where scholars disagree about huperēphanos

The etymology of ὑπερήφανος. The traditional derivation takes it from ὑπέρ ("above") plus a stem of φαίνομαι ("appear, show"), yielding "one who shows himself above others"; this drives most theological reflection on the word. Frisk labels the derivation "unclear" and Leumann argues the word is a back-formation from an unattested term meaning "overwealthy" (from ἄφενος, "wealth"), so that the connection with "appearing" is a folk etymology. As the standard scholarship notes, the debate has little bearing on the word's biblical meaning, which is settled.

  • majorityCompound of ὑπέρ + φαίνομαι, "showing oneself above."; LSJ, s.v. ὑπερήφανος; BDAG, s.v. ὑπερήφανος
  • minorityOrigin uncertain; possibly a back-formation from a term meaning "overwealthy," the link to "appearing" being a later folk etymology.; H. Frisk, Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, s.v. ὑπερήφανος; M. Leumann, Homerische Wörter (1950), 116 n. 83
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, s.v. ὑπερήφανοςlexicon
  • G. Bertram, TDNT 8:295-307, 525-29, s.v. ὑπερήφανος κτλ.theological-dictionary
  • R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, §xxixreference
  • C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, 3:391-95lexicon
  • J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, domain 88.206-222lexicon
  • M. Silva (ed.), New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, "Pride"theological-dictionary
  • H. Frisk, Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, s.v. ὑπερήφανοςlexicon
  • W. Grundmann, TDNT 8:1-26, s.v. ταπεινός κτλ.theological-dictionary

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

All attested forms of ὑπερήφανος

accusative m p

ὑπερηφάνους

Luk 1:51, Rom 1:30

dative m p

ὑπερηφάνοις

Jas 4:6, 1Pe 5:5

nominative m p

ὑπερήφανοι

2Ti 3:2