"uncleanness; lewdness; impurity of motive, 1 Thess. 2:3"
Definition and meaning
uncleanness; lewdness; impurity of motive, 1 Thess. 2:3
In the original Greek the word is written: ἀκαθαρσία
Historical context
Rome had controlled Judea since 63 BC. Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple into one of the most magnificent structures in the ancient world — and simultaneously murdered members of his own family. The common people paid multiple layers of taxation and were politically powerless. Into that world a carpenter from Galilee began teaching that the kingdom of God had arrived.
The people who first heard this word were not reading a book — they were living through empires, oppression, exile, and covenant. Every word carried the weight of that reality. Understanding it changes how you read Scripture.
Scripture references
These are the most notable occurrences of akatharsia (G167) across the King James Bible.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
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Common questions
Strong's G167 (akatharsia) is a Greek word that means: uncleanness; lewdness; impurity of motive, 1 Thess. 2:3 It appears 10 times in the King James Bible.
The word akatharsia (G167) appears 10 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G167 is akatharsia, a Greek word defined as: uncleanness; lewdness; impurity of motive, 1 Thess. 2:3. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
akatharsia is a Greek word found in the New Testament.