Greek word · G4916

συνθάπτω

synthaptō

be buried with

To bury together with someone; used literally of joint burial (e.g., burying a person with another or with grave goods). In the NT only here and Colossians 2:12, both of believers' burial with Christ through baptism.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

συν-θάπτω

to bury together with: in symbolical sense, of baptism, σὐτῷ (with Christ), Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12.†

(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 Romans 6:4

Range of meaning

To bury together with someone; used literally of joint burial (e.g., burying a person with another or with grave goods). In the NT only here and Colossians 2:12, both of believers' burial with Christ through baptism.

Against the English

English "buried with him" is accurate. KJV's present tense "we are buried" obscures the Greek past tense (aorist), which points to a definite past event: the readers' baptism.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical and Hellenistic Greek use it of literal joint burial (Herodotus, Sophocles). Paul belongs to a family of "with Christ" compound words he either coins or repurposes: "crucified with" (6:6), "live with" (6:8), "raised with" (Col 2:12; Eph 2:6), "suffer with," "glorified with" (Rom 8:17). The early creed Paul passes on in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 runs "he died… he was buried… he was raised": burial is the step that confirms the death was real.

From the study of Colossians 2:12

Range of meaning

To bury someone together with another person: placing two in the same grave, or burying one alongside the other. Figuratively, to share fully in someone's death.

Against the English

"Buried with him" is accurate. English cannot easily show the compound form (with + bury) or the passive, so the sense that this happened to the readers, and that they share Christ's own grave, can fade.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rare. In ordinary Greek it describes literal joint burial (LSJ). In the NT it appears only here and in Romans 6:4 ("we were buried together with him through baptism into death"), both times about baptism. Paul's wider 'with-Christ' vocabulary includes crucified with (Rom 6:6; Gal 2:19), died with (Rom 6:8), and made alive with (Col 2:13; Eph 2:5).

Where it appears

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 6:4 συνετάφημεν We were buried

    We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

    Here: "We were buried together (with)." A past, completed event (aorist tense), and passive: something done to us. The prefix syn- ("with") ties believers to Christ's own burial, the step that seals a death as final.

Colossians · 1

  1. Colossians 2:12 συνταφέντες having been buried with

    And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.

    Here: "Having been buried together with." The syn- prefix means sharing the same grave. The past-tense passive form describes something done to the readers once and for all. It continues the "you" of verse 11, so their burial with Christ explains the 'circumcision not made by hands'.

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