Greek word · G699

ἀρεσκεία

areskeia

pleasing

'The desire or effort to please.' In classical moral writing it was often negative: obsequiousness, toadying, currying favour. Positive uses exist, especially in Jewish Greek, for pleasing God.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἀρεσκία (Rec. -εία), -ας, ἡ

(ἀρέσκω), [in LXX (-εία): Proverbs 31:30 (חֵן) * ;]

pleasing, desire to please: Colossians 1:19 In Gk. writers (Arist., Polyb.), most frequently in bad sense, but in π., Inscr., and in Philo, as above (see Deiss., BS, 224; MM, see word; Cremer, 642).†

(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 Colossians 1:10

Range of meaning

'The desire or effort to please.' In classical moral writing it was often negative: obsequiousness, toadying, currying favour. Positive uses exist, especially in Jewish Greek, for pleasing God.

Against the English

'All pleasing' (KJV, YLT), 'please him in all respects' (WEB, NASB), 'please him in every way' (BSB, NIV), 'fully pleasing' (ESV). All are accurate. None can show the irony that the word often meant fawning on people.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is its only occurrence in the New Testament. Greek moralists used the related ἄρεσκος for the 'obsequious man', and Lightfoot notes that the noun usually had a bad sense in classical writers. Philo turns it toward God (e.g. On the Creation 144, of seeking to please the great Ruler). The Greek of Proverbs 31:30 uses the plural for a woman's 'charms', which are 'false'. Honorary inscriptions also use it for eagerness to please a city or benefactor.

Where it appears

Colossians · 1

  1. Colossians 1:10 ἀρεσκείαν pleasing

    so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

    Here: This is its only use in the New Testament. In ordinary Greek it often meant fawning, crowd-pleasing behaviour. Here it is aimed at the one Master whose approval counts. The implied object is the Lord.

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