φίλος

Matthew 11:19 φίλος a friend

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”

Here: Someone who shares your table and your loyalties. Calling him their 'friend' says he has made himself one of them.

Luke 7:6 φίλους friends

So Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof.

Here: Close associates, probably social equals or trusted members of his circle. In that culture, sending friends meant sending people who spoke with your own voice.

Luke 7:34 φίλος a friend

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

Luke 11:5 φίλον, φίλε, a friend,, Friend,

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

Here: A friend, in a world where friendship carried real obligations of mutual help. This relationship is the ground on which the man dares to ask at all.

Luke 11:6 φίλος a friend

because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’

Luke 11:8 φίλον friend

I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

Here: The word picks up the story's opening, 'Which of you has a friend…' (v.5). In village life a friend was someone you had a real duty to help, not simply someone you liked.

Luke 12:4 φίλοις friends

I tell you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

Here: This is the only place in Matthew, Mark and Luke where Jesus calls his disciples "my friends." In that world a friend was someone bound to you by loyalty and trusted with your confidences. Jesus says it just before talking about betrayal, exposure and death.

Luke 14:10 φίλε, Friend,

But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you.

Luke 14:12 φίλους friends

Then Jesus said to the man who had invited Him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid.

Here: Friends in the ancient sense: social peers bound to you by mutual favours and obligations, and not only people you like.

Luke 15:6 φίλους friends

comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

Here: Friends: the people tied to him by loyalty and affection. Luke has already reported Jesus being mocked as a "friend (philos) of tax collectors and sinners" (7:34).

Luke 15:9 φίλας friends

And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin.’

Luke 15:29 φίλων friends

But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

Here: His own friends, not his father or the household. Even the celebration he wanted was apart from his father. The words echo the friends and neighbours called to celebrate in the two earlier parables (15:6, 9).

Luke 16:9 φίλους friends

I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

Here: In that world, a friend was someone bound to you by kindness given and returned, not just someone you liked. Money given away creates people who are bound to you in gratitude.

Luke 21:16 φίλων, friends

You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.

Here: 'Friends' in the ancient sense: people bound to you by chosen loyalty and obligations both ways. Luke alone adds them to the list, so that every circle of trust, from blood to choice, is included.

Luke 23:12 φίλοι friends

That day Herod and Pilate became friends; before this time they had been enemies.

John 3:29 φίλος friend

The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

Here: Here this is a recognised wedding role, not just a pal. The "friend of the bridegroom" (Hebrew shoshbin) helped arrange the marriage and served the groom at the wedding.

John 11:11 φίλος friend

After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”

Here: Someone bound to you by affection and loyalty. It picks up the sisters' message, 'the one you love (phileis) is sick' (v. 3), and Jesus widens it to the whole group: he is *our* friend.

John 15:13 φίλων friends

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Here: "Friends, loved ones." The word comes from the same root as phileō, "to love", so a philos is literally "one who is loved". In the next two verses Jesus calls the disciples his friends and says friends, unlike slaves, are told what their master is doing.

John 15:14 φίλοι friends

You are My friends if you do what I command you.

Here: Placed early for emphasis. It picks up the last word of v.13 ("lay down his life for his *friends*"), so the disciples are told that they are the friends Jesus is about to die for.

John 15:15 φίλους, friends,

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

Here: Friends in the strong ancient sense: loyal intimates who are trusted with plans and share each other's life, like the 'friends' of a king or Moses speaking with God 'as a man speaks to his friend'. Verse 13 has just defined such friends as people one dies for.

John 19:12 φίλος a friend

From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”

Here: In Roman politics, a “friend” of a powerful man was a loyal client and ally whose position depended on his favour. It is not mainly a word about personal affection.

Acts 10:24 φίλους. friends.

The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

Acts 19:31 φίλοι, friends,

Even some of Paul’s friends who were officials of the province of Asia sent word to him, begging him not to venture into the theatre.

Acts 27:3 φίλους [his] friends

The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care.

James 2:23 φίλος a friend

And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.

Here: A friend in the ancient sense: a loyal intimate who shares counsel and interests. It echoes Isaiah 41:8 and 2 Chronicles 20:7 and Jewish tradition. It also contrasts with James 4:4, where "friend of the world" means enemy of God.

James 4:4 φίλος a friend

You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

Here: "A friend": someone bound to another by loyalty and shared interests. It echoes 2:23, where Abraham "was called God's friend".