# G3498 - nekros **Strong's:** [G3498](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3498/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** nek-ros' **Part of speech:** adjective; frequently used substantively (*hoi nekroi*, "the dead") **Hebrew equivalent (LXX):** מֵת (*met*); the broader Hebrew vocabulary for death includes [H4194 - mavet](/codex/h4194-mavet/), the noun "death". **NT occurrences:** 128, concentrated in Acts (resurrection preaching), Romans, 1 Corinthians (esp. 15), Ephesians, Colossians, Hebrews, Revelation. ## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG) 1. **Dead (literal)**, physically dead; corpse / cadaver. The standard medical-physical sense. 2. **Subject to death / mortal**, possessing the property of mortality ([Heb 6:1](/codex/hebrews-6-1/); 9:14, "dead works"). 3. **Dead in trespasses and sins (figurative-spiritual)**, the Pauline sense; humans in their fallen state are *spiritually dead*, alienated from the life of God, incapable of producing life-in-God on their own resources ([Eph 2:1](/codex/ephesians-2-1/), [5](/codex/ephesians-2-5/); [Col 2:13](/codex/colossians-2-13/)). The Augustinian doctrine of total depravity rests on this lexical-conceptual base. 4. **Dead to (something), relational severance**, Paul's *we died to* idiom: dead to sin ([Rom 6:2](/codex/romans-6-2/), [11](/codex/romans-6-11/)), dead to the Law ([Rom 7:4](/codex/romans-7-4/); [Gal 2:19](/codex/galatians-2-19/)), dead to the world ([Col 3:3](/codex/colossians-3-3/)). ## Theological force, the resurrection-axis word *Nekros* is the central pivot-term of NT resurrection-Christology and resurrection-soteriology. It is the word over which the theological action turns, Christ rises *ek nekrōn* ("from among the dead"); believers are raised with Him. **The kerygmatic formula.** The earliest Christian preaching has a fixed two-part shape: (a) Christ died, (b) Christ rose *from the dead* (*ek nekrōn*). The [1 Cor 15:3-7](/codex/1-corinthians-15-3-7/) creed (cf. [Pre-Pauline Creeds](/codex/pre-pauline-creeds/) and [1 Corinthians 15.3-8](/codex/1-corinthians-15-3-8/)), datable to within ~5 years of the resurrection, uses the formula in its most condensed form: "Christ died for our sins... He was raised on the third day." The *raised-from-the-dead* idiom is irreducibly *nekros*-shaped. **The Pauline soteriological extension.** Paul applies the resurrection-vocabulary to the believer's spiritual condition with sustained intensity: - **[Romans 6:1-11](/codex/romans-6-1-11/)**, believers were "buried with Him through baptism into death... so we too might walk in newness of life... considering yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" - **[Ephesians 2:1-6](/codex/ephesians-2-1-6/)**, "you were *dead* in your trespasses and sins... but God... made us alive together with Christ... raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him" - **[Colossians 2:13](/codex/colossians-2-13/)**, "when you were *dead* in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him" The pattern is consistent: humans are *nekros* in their natural state; God's action *in Christ* moves them from *nekros* to *zōē* (life). The whole soteriological architecture is resurrection-shaped, and the resurrection from *nekrōn* of Christ is the ground-and-pattern of the believer's resurrection from spiritual *nekros*. **The eschatological resurrection.** The *resurrection of the dead* (*anastasis nekrōn*, cf. [G0386 - anastasis](/codex/g0386-anastasis/)) is the eschatological consummation. [1 Cor 15](/codex/1-corinthians-15/) mounts the most extensive NT defense of bodily resurrection on the basis of Christ's resurrection: "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless... if from the dead (*ek nekrōn*) Christ has not been raised, then we are of all men most to be pitied." The believer's hope of bodily resurrection rests on the *nekros*-defeating prior fact of Christ's resurrection. **Apologetic load.** *Nekros* carries the weight of the central Christian historical claim: a man named Jesus was *dead* (literally, irreversibly, by Roman crucifixion) and was *raised from the dead* (literally, bodily, with eyewitness attestation). Every variant of "the resurrection didn't happen", swoon-theory, hallucination-theory, conspiracy-theory, mythologization, has to negotiate the *nekros* status: was Jesus actually dead? Did He actually emerge from death? The *nekros* word is what makes the resurrection a falsifiable historical claim rather than a metaphor. ## Notable verses ### The resurrection of Christ (kerygmatic) - **[1 Corinthians 15.3-8](/codex/1-corinthians-15-3-8/)**, "Christ died for our sins... He was raised on the third day" - **[1 Corinthians 15:12-20](/codex/1-corinthians-15-12-20/)**, "if from the dead Christ has not been raised"; "now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep" - **[Romans 1.4](/codex/romans-1-4/)**, "declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead (*ex anastaseōs nekrōn*)" - **[Romans 4:24](/codex/romans-4-24/)**, "Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" - **[Romans 6.9](/codex/romans-6-9/)**, "Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again" - **[Romans 10.9](/codex/romans-10-9/)**, "if you confess... and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead" - **[Acts 2.24](/codex/acts-2-24/)**, "God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death" - **[Acts 3.15](/codex/acts-3-15/)**, "you put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead" - **[Acts 4:10](/codex/acts-4-10/)**, "by the name of Jesus Christ... whom God raised from the dead" - **[Acts 17:31](/codex/acts-17-31/)**, "He has furnished proof... by raising Him from the dead" ### The resurrection of believers - **[1 Corinthians 15.42-44](/codex/1-corinthians-15-42-44/)**, "so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body" - **[1 Corinthians 15:51-52](/codex/1-corinthians-15-51-52/)**, "we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed" - **[1 Thessalonians 4:16](/codex/1-thessalonians-4-16/)**, "the dead in Christ will rise first" - **[Revelation 20:5](/codex/revelation-20-5/), [12-13](/codex/revelation-20-12-13/)**, the resurrection-of-the-dead at the great white throne ### Spiritual death / regeneration - **[Ephesians 2:1-6](/codex/ephesians-2-1-6/)**, "you were dead in your trespasses and sins... made us alive together with Christ" - **[Colossians 2:13](/codex/colossians-2-13/)**, "when you were dead in your transgressions... He made you alive together with Him" - **[Romans 6:11](/codex/romans-6-11/)**, "consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" - **[John 5:24-25](/codex/john-5-24-25/)**, "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" - **[Luke 15:24](/codex/luke-15-24/), [32](/codex/luke-15-32/)**, the prodigal son: "this son of mine was dead and has come to life" ### Dead works / dead faith - **[Hebrews 6:1](/codex/hebrews-6-1/); [Hebrews 9.14](/codex/hebrews-9-14/)**, "dead works" - **[James 2:17](/codex/james-2-17/), [26](/codex/james-2-26/)**, "faith without works is dead" ### Christ's authority over the dead - **[John 11.25](/codex/john-11-25/)**, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies" - **[John 11:43-44](/codex/john-11-43-44/)**, Lazarus called from the tomb - **[Revelation 1.18](/codex/revelation-1-18/)**, "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore... I have the keys of death and of Hades" ## Patristic / scholarly note The early Christian preaching (cf. C.H. Dodd, *The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments*, 1936) is shaped around the *nekros / egeiro* pair. The kerygmatic formulas in Acts (esp. Peter's Pentecost sermon, [Acts 2](/codex/acts-2/); the Cornelius episode, [Acts 10:34-43](/codex/acts-10-34-43/)) all center on *Iēsoun ho theos ēgeiren ek nekrōn* ("Jesus, whom God raised from the dead"). This is the *minimum* content of the apostolic message, and *nekros* is the load-bearing word. **Athanasius** (*De Incarnatione* 26-32) develops the resurrection-from-the-dead logic into a full Christology: God's victory over death is the consummating sign of His incarnational mission. **[Cyril of Alexandria](/codex/cyril-of-alexandria/)** (*On the Unity of Christ*), Christ's death-and-resurrection as the *one act* in which the Two Natures meet most decisively. **Augustine** (*Sermons*; *Enchiridion*), develops the *spiritually-dead-made-alive* tradition from [Eph 2](/codex/ephesians-2/) / [Col 2](/codex/colossians-2/) / [Rom 6](/codex/romans-6/). In modern Reformed theology, **John Murray** (*Redemption Accomplished and Applied*, 1955) gives the classic treatment of *nekros* / *zōopoieō* (made alive) in the *ordo salutis*, regeneration as the *resurrection of the spiritually dead*, monergistic by necessity (the dead cannot raise themselves). **Anthony Hoekema** (*Saved by Grace*, 1989) and **Sinclair Ferguson** (*The Christian Life*, 1981) follow. In **resurrection apologetics**, **N.T. Wright** (*The Resurrection of the Son of God*, 2003) is the magisterial treatment, arguing the *bodily*-resurrection-from-the-dead claim is irreducible, first-century Jews would not have invented the *nekros*-overcome category as metaphor; the *anastasis nekrōn* claim is *historically* the only adequate explanation of the apostolic-Christian movement. **Gary Habermas** + **Mike Licona**, *The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus* (2004), develops the same line as a "minimal facts" argument. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Central anchors: [1 Corinthians 15.3-8](/codex/1-corinthians-15-3-8/), [Romans 6:1-11](/codex/romans-6-1-11/), [Romans 10.9](/codex/romans-10-9/), [Ephesians 2:1-6](/codex/ephesians-2-1-6/), [John 11.25](/codex/john-11-25/), [Acts 2.24](/codex/acts-2-24/), [Revelation 1.18](/codex/revelation-1-18/). ## See also - [G0386 - anastasis](/codex/g0386-anastasis/), *anastasis* (resurrection), the noun for the act - [G1453 - egeiro](/codex/g1453-egeiro/), *egeirō* (to raise), the verbal correspondent - [G2222 - zoe](/codex/g2222-zoe/), *zōē* (life), the antonym - [G2288 - thanatos](/codex/g2288-thanatos/), *thanatos* (death), the abstract noun for the state - [G2198 - zao](/codex/g2198-zao/), *zaō* (to live), the verb on the other side of resurrection - [Argument from the Resurrection](/codex/argument-from-the-resurrection/), the central apologetic the word grounds - [Pre-Pauline Creeds](/codex/pre-pauline-creeds/), the kerygmatic-formula context - Passages: [1 Corinthians 15](/codex/1-corinthians-15/), [Romans 6](/codex/romans-6/), [Ephesians 2:1-6](/codex/ephesians-2-1-6/), [John 11](/codex/john-11/), [Acts 2](/codex/acts-2/)