"natural, agreeable to nature, Rom. 1:26, 27; following the instinct of nature, as animals, 2 Pet. 2:12*"
Definition and meaning
natural, agreeable to nature, Rom. 1:26, 27; following the instinct of nature, as animals, 2 Pet. 2:12*
In the original Greek the word is written: φυσικός
Historical context
Paul wrote Romans from Corinth, one of the most important commercial cities in the empire. Rome had a Jewish population of around 50,000. The letter addresses real tensions between Jewish believers with centuries of Torah tradition and Gentile believers with no such background. Emperor Nero was on the throne. Within ten years he would execute both Paul and Peter.
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 physikos (G5446) across the King James Bible.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
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Common questions
Strong's G5446 (physikos) is a Greek word that means: natural, agreeable to nature, Rom. 1:26, 27; following the instinct of nature, as animals, 2 Pet. 2:12* It appears 3 times in the King James Bible.
The word physikos (G5446) appears 3 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G5446 is physikos, a Greek word defined as: natural, agreeable to nature, Rom. 1:26, 27; following the instinct of nature, as animals, 2 Pet. 2:12*. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
physikos is a Greek word found in the New Testament.