Greek word · G370
ἀνάξιος
anaxios
unworthy
Unworthy, not of the right weight or value; inadequate, unfit, unqualified for something. With a genitive it means "unfit for X".
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἀν-άξιος, -ον
(ἀ- neg., ἄξιος), [in LXX: Jeremiah 15:19 א2 (זָלַל), Esther 8:13, Sirach 25:8 * ;]
unworthy: with genitive, 1 Corinthians 6:2 (MM, VGT, see word).†
(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 Corinthians 6:2
- Range of meaning
Unworthy, not of the right weight or value; inadequate, unfit, unqualified for something. With a genitive it means "unfit for X".
- Against the English
KJV/WEB "unworthy" can sound like moral undeservingness ("I am unworthy"). Paul means competence: "Are you not qualified?" BSB and other modern versions rightly say "not competent".
- How it drifted
In English religious language "unworthy" is mostly about moral or spiritual merit, so the plain sense of "unqualified" gets lost.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found in classical and Hellenistic Greek for being inadequate or not good enough for a task or honour. The New Testament uses it only here. The related adverb anaxiōs, "in an unworthy manner", appears in 1 Cor 11:27.
Similar words
Where it appears
1 Corinthians · 1
-
1 Corinthians 6:2 ἀνάξιοί unworthy
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
Here: Not "morally undeserving" but "not up to it, unqualified". Paul asks whether people destined to judge the world are unqualified to handle small disputes.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.