Greek word · G4835

συμπαθής

sympathēs

sympathetic

From syn- 'with' and pathos 'experience, suffering, feeling'. It means affected by the same things, feeling with someone, sharing in their suffering. In Stoic writing it could even describe the 'sympathy' that binds all parts of the cosmos together.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament.

What it means

συμπαθής, -ές

(σύν, πάσχω) [in LXX: Job 29:25 A (אָבֵל), 4Ma.5:25 א, 4Ma.13:23 4Mac 15:4 * ;]

1. affected by like feelings, sympathetic: 1 Peter 3:8.

2. exciting sympathy (Jb, l.with; Dion. H.).†

(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 3:8

Range of meaning

From syn- 'with' and pathos 'experience, suffering, feeling'. It means affected by the same things, feeling with someone, sharing in their suffering. In Stoic writing it could even describe the 'sympathy' that binds all parts of the cosmos together.

Against the English

'Sympathetic' (BSB) is the word's own descendant and is close. 'Having compassion one of another' (KJV) and 'having fellow-feeling' (YLT) catch the mutual, sharing sense. Modern 'sympathetic' can mean only mild agreement ('I'm sympathetic to your view') or distant pity. The Greek means entering into another person's experience.

How it drifted

The English word has weakened over time toward 'feeling sorry for' or 'agreeing with'.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is the only occurrence of the adjective in the New Testament. The verb sympatheō appears in Heb 4:15 (Christ 'sympathises with our weaknesses') and Heb 10:34 (believers who 'shared the sufferings' of prisoners). 4 Maccabees 13 links sympathy closely with brotherly love when describing the seven martyred brothers, the same pairing found here.

Similar words

Where it appears

1 Peter · 1

  1. 1 Peter 3:8 συμπαθεῖς, sympathetic,

    Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.

    Here: Literally 'feeling-with' or 'suffering-with': sharing one another's experience, especially suffering, as your own. The pressure this letter's readers were under makes the word pointed.

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