The Greek word θάνατος, thanatos occurs 120 times in the New Testament. Its basic meaning is death. However, it is used figuratively (Matt. 4:16; Luke 1:79; Rom. 7:24; 1 John 3:14; Rev. 6:8) and in reference to pestilence (Rev. 9:6; 18:8). Many of its usages are strictly referring to physical death (Matt. 10:21; Mark 7:10; Luke 2:26; John 8:52; Acts 2:24; Rom. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:22; 2 Cor. 11:23; Phil. 1:20; Col. 1:21; Heb. 2:9). It is also used for spiritual death, non-physical death (John 5:24; 8:51; James 5:20; Rev. 2:11). There are also places in the Scriptures where the death can be either physical or spiritual (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21; 2 Cor. 1:9-10; 2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 2:15; James 1:15). in light of annihilationism since so many of its adherents affirm that when the Bible speaks of a person dying, it often means nonexistence. But this is to beg the question. Words me with a median context and since we can see that this Greek word thanatos can be used literally and figuratively, we must be careful not to automatically insert meaning into any particular text.
- Greek word: θάνατος, thanatos
- Meaning: death
- Strong’s #: G2288
Frequency: 120 occurrences
Summary of the meaning of the Greek word thanatos, ‘death’ in all verses where it occurs in the New Testament.
- Figurative, 14 occurrences
- Matt. 4:16; Luke 1:79; Rom. 7:24; 8:2, 6; 2 Cor. 2:16; 3:7; 1 John 3:14; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:6, 13, 14; 21:8
- Pestilence, 2 occurrences
- Rev. 9:6; 18:8
- Physical and Spiritual death, 26 occurrences
- Rom. 1:32; 5:12, 14, 17, 21; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:5, 10, 13; 1 Cor. 15:21, 26, 54, 55, 56; 2 Cor. 1:9, 10; 4:11; 4:12; 7:10; 2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 2:15; James 1:15; 1 John 5:16; Rev. 21:4
- Physical death, 62 occurrences
- Matt. 10:21; 15:4; 16:28; 20:18; 26:38, 66; Mark 7:10; 9:1; 10:33; 13:12; 14:34, 64; Luke 2:26; 9:27; 22:33; 23:15, 22; 24:20; John 8:52; 11:4, 13; 12:33; 18:32; 21:19; Acts 2:24; 13:28; 22:4; 23:29; 25:11; 25:25; 26:21; 28:18; Rom. 5:10; 6:3, 4, 5, 9; 8:38; 1 Cor. 3:22; 11:26; 2 Cor. 11:23; Phil. 1:20; 2:8, 27, 30; 3:10; Col. 1:21; Heb. 2:9, 14; 5:7; 7:23; 9:15, 16; 11:5; 1 John 5:17; Rev. 2:10, 23; 12:11; 13:3, 12.
- Spiritual death, 4 occurrences
- John 5:24; 8:51; James 5:20; Rev. 2:11
| TABLE OF ALL NEW TESTAMENT USAGES OF THANATOS, θάνατος | ||
| Address | Verse | Meaning |
| Matt. 4:16 | “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” | Figurative |
| Matt. 10:21 | “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. | Physical death |
| Matt. 15:4 | For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ | Physical death |
| Matt. 16:28 | “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” | Physical death |
| Matt. 20:18 | “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, | Physical death |
| Matt. 26:38 | Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” | Physical death |
| Matt. 26:66 | what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!” | Physical death |
| Mark 7:10 | For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; | Physical death |
| Mark 9:1 | And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” | Physical death |
| Mark 10:33 | saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. | Physical death |
| Mark 13:12 | Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. | Physical death |
| Mark 14:34 | And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” | Physical death |
| Mark 14:64 | You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. | Physical death |
| Luke 1:79 | To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” | Figurative |
| Luke 2:26 | And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. | Physical death |
| Luke 9:27 | But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” | Physical death |
| Luke 22:33 | But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” | Physical death |
| Luke 23:15 | No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. | Physical death |
| Luke 23:22 | And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” | Physical death |
| Luke 24:20 | and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. | Physical death |
| John 5:24 | “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. | Spiritual death |
| John 8:51 | Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” | Spiritual death |
| John 8:52 | The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ | Physical death |
| John 11:4 | But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” | Physical death |
| John 11:13 | Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. | Physical death |
| John 12:33 | But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. | Physical death |
| John 18:32 | to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die. | Physical death |
| John 21:19 | Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!” | Physical death |
| Acts 2:24 | But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. | Physical death |
| Acts 13:28 | And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. | Physical death |
| Acts 22:4 | I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, | Physical death |
| Acts 23:29 | and I found him to be accused over questions about their Law, but under no accusation deserving death or imprisonment. | Physical death |
| Acts 25:11 | If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.” | Physical death |
| Acts 25:25 | But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. | Physical death |
| Acts 26:31 | and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment.” | Physical death |
| Acts 28:18 | And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death. | Physical death |
| Rom. 1:32 | and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 5:10 | For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. | Physical death |
| Rom. 5:12 | Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 5:14 | Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 5:17 | For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 5:21 | so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 6:3 | Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? | Physical death |
| Rom. 6:4 | Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. | Physical death |
| Rom. 6:5 | For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, | Physical death |
| Rom. 6:9 | knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. | Physical death |
| Rom. 6:16 | Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 6:21 | Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 6:23 | For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 7:5 | For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 7:10 | and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 7:13 | Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rom. 7:24 | Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? | Figurative |
| Rom. 8:2 | For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. | Figurative |
| Rom. 8:6 | For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, | Figurative |
| Rom. 8:38 | For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, | Physical death |
| 1 Cor. 3:22 | whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, | Physical death |
| 1 Cor. 11:26 | For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. | Physical death |
| 1 Cor. 15:21 | For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 1 Cor. 15:26 | The last enemy that will be abolished is death. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 1 Cor. 15:54 | But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 1 Cor. 15:55 | O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 1 Cor. 15:56 | The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 2 Cor. 1:9 | indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 2 Cor. 1:10 | who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 2 Cor. 2:16 | to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? | Figurative |
| 2 Cor. 3:7 | But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, | Figurative |
| 2 Cor. 4:11 | For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 2 Cor. 4:12 | So death works in us, but life in you. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 2 Cor. 7:10 | For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 2 Cor. 11:23 | Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. | Physical death |
| Phil. 1:20 | according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. | Physical death |
| Phil. 2:8 | Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. | Physical death |
| Phil. 2:27 | For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. | Physical death |
| Phil. 2:30 | because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me. | Physical death |
| Phil. 3:10 | that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; | Physical death |
| Col 1:22 | yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— | Physical death |
| 2 Tim. 1:10 | but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Heb. 2:9 | But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. | Physical death |
| Heb. 2:14 | Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, | Physical death |
| Heb. 2:15 | and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Heb. 5:7 | In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. | Physical death |
| Heb. 7:23 | The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, | Physical death |
| Heb. 9:15 | For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. | Physical death |
| Heb. 9:16 | For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. | Physical death |
| Heb. 11:5 | By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. | Physical death |
| Jas 1:15 | Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Jas 5:20 | let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. | Spiritual death |
| 1 John 3:14 | We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. | Idiom |
| 1 John 5:16 | If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. | Physical and Spiritual death |
| 1 John 5:17 | All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. | Physical death |
| Rev. 1:18 | and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. | Figurative |
| Rev. 2:10 | ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. | Physical death |
| Rev. 2:11 | ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’ | Spiritual death |
| Rev. 2:23 | ‘And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. | Pestilence |
| Rev. 6:8 | I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. | Figurative |
| Rev. 9:6 | And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. | Physical death |
| Rev. 12:11 | And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. | Physical death |
| Rev. 13:3 | I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; | Physical death |
| Rev. 13:12 | He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. | Physical death |
| Rev. 18:8 | “For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.” | Pestilence |
| Rev. 20:6 | “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” | Figurative |
| Rev. 20:13 | “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.” | Figurative |
| Rev. 20:14 | “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” | Figurative |
| Rev. 21:4 | “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” | Physical and Spiritual death |
| Rev. 21:8 | “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” | Figurative |
Dictionaries and Lexicons consulted
- “θάνατος thánatos; gen. thanátou, masc. noun from thnḗskō (2348), to die. Death…Generally and of natural death (John 11:4, 13; Rom. 8:38; Phil. 1:20; Heb. 7:23). To taste or to experience death (Matt. 26:38; Mark 14:34,…Spoken of a violent death, e.g., as a punishment, guilty of death (Matt. 26:66; Mark 14:64); worthy of death (Luke 23:15; Acts 23:29); to sentence someone to death (Matt. 20:18; Mark 10:33); death on the cross (Phil. 2:8)…Often in the Sept., thánatos has the sense of destruction, perdition, misery, implying both physical death and exclusion from the presence and favor of God in consequence of sin and disobedience, but never as extinction.
- Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000
- ‘of dying—‘to die, death.’ ἀποθνῄσκωa: ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ κἂν ἀποθάνῃ ζήσεται ‘whoever believes in me will live even though he dies’ Jn 11:25; ἵνα τις ἐξ αὐτοῦ φάγῃ καὶ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ ‘so that if anyone eats of it, he will not die’ Jn 6:50. In Jn 6:50 ἀποθνῄσκω must be understood in a spiritual rather than in a strictly literal sense. This bold figurative language is characteristic of the Gospel of John and should not be eliminated, though in some languages a strictly literal translation may be understood only in a literal sense and thus lead to misinterpretation.
- Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996.
- “θάνατος, ἀθάνατος [thanatos /than·at·os/] n m. From 2348; TDNT 3:7; TDNTA 312; GK 2505 and together with Strongs 1 as GK 115; 119 occurrences; AV translates as “death” 117 times, and “deadly” twice. 1 the death of the body. 1A that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which the life on earth is ended.
- Strong, James. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995.
Return to Annihilationism Page
