Greek word · G4649

σκοπός

skopos

goal

From the verb skopeō, "to look at, watch". It can mean (1) a lookout or watchman (its oldest sense in Homer), (2) a mark or target you aim at, as in archery, (3) the goal or aim of an action, and in moral philosophy the aim of a whole life.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

σκοπός, -οῦ, ὁ

[in LXX chiefly for צָפָה ;]

1. a watcher, watchman (Ezekiel 3:17, al.).

2. a mark on which to fix the eye (Wisdom of Solomon 5:12, 21, al.). Metaphorical, of an aim or object: Philippians 3:14.†

(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 Philippians 3:14

Range of meaning

From the verb skopeō, "to look at, watch". It can mean (1) a lookout or watchman (its oldest sense in Homer), (2) a mark or target you aim at, as in archery, (3) the goal or aim of an action, and in moral philosophy the aim of a whole life.

Against the English

KJV "mark" and modern "goal" are both accurate. "Mark" keeps the idea of something you fix your eyes on. "Goal" can sound like a modern target you set for yourself, but here the mark has been set by God, not chosen by Paul.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) it means a target for arrows: Job 16:12 and Lamentations 3:12 ("he set me as a mark for the arrow"). Wisdom 5:12 has an arrow shot at a target. Greek moral writers, the Stoics among them, used skopos for the aim of a life and sometimes distinguished it from telos, the end itself. In the New Testament the noun appears only here.

Where it appears

Philippians · 1

  1. Philippians 3:14 σκοπὸν [the] goal

    I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

    Here: The thing you keep your eyes fixed on. Here it is the marker at the end of the racecourse. It has no article, so it reads as a set phrase: "toward the mark".

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