Greek word · G317

ἀναγκαστῶς

anankastōs

necessarily

Anagkastōs: by force or constraint, under pressure, because it is required. Hekousiōs: voluntarily, of one's own free will, deliberately. (In Hebrews 10:26 it is used negatively, of sinning "deliberately".)

Appears once in the Greek New Testament.

What it means

ἀναγκαστῶς

adv.,

necessarily or by constraint: opposite to ἑκουσίως, 1 Peter 5:2 (rare).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Peter 5:2

Range of meaning

Anagkastōs: by force or constraint, under pressure, because it is required. Hekousiōs: voluntarily, of one's own free will, deliberately. (In Hebrews 10:26 it is used negatively, of sinning "deliberately".)

Against the English

"Not by constraint, but willingly" (KJV) and "not under compulsion, but willingly" (ESV) are accurate. The NLT's "not grudgingly" catches the reluctant feeling but less of the outside pressure the word implies.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hekousiōs is used in the Septuagint for voluntary worship: "Willingly (hekousiōs) I will sacrifice to you" (Psalm 54:6 [53:8 in the Greek]). The free/forced contrast was a standard one in Greek moral writing (compare Philemon 14, "not by compulsion but of your own accord"). In Greek cities, wealthy citizens were sometimes pressed into costly public duties against their will, so "serving under compulsion" was a familiar idea.

Similar words

Where it appears

1 Peter · 1

  1. 1 Peter 5:2 ἀναγκαστῶς under compulsion

    Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

    Here: "Because you are made to": serving because someone is pressing you to, or because you can't get out of it, rather than from inner consent. The word appears only here in the New Testament.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.