noun · feminine
parrēsias
Strong’sG3954
freedom, confidence
stem parrēsi-31 times in the New Testamentin 11 of 27 books4 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
παρρησία refers most basically to openness or plainness in speaking – the freedom to say what one thinks without concealment 13. This sense covers speaking boldly and without restraint, as well as speaking or acting openly and publicly rather than in secret or obscurely 13. Strong's similarly describes it as outspokenness, frankness, and publicity 2, and Dodson's gloss of "freedom" reflects this same root idea 4.
From this same root the word also came to mean confidence or boldness, in the sense of the fearlessness that goes along with freedom of speech 1. Strong's notes this as an implied sense of assurance 2, and Dodson's gloss of "confidence" matches it 4.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
παρρησία, -ας, ἡ
(< πᾶς + ῥῆσις, speech), [in LXX: Le 26:13 (μετὰ π., קוֹמְמִיּוּת), Pr 1:20 10:10, Wi 5:1, al.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3954 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpar-rhay-see'-ah
all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, publicity; by implication, assurance
Fromfrom G3956 and a derivative of G4483;
King Jamesbold (X -ly, -ness, -ness of speech), confidence, X freely, X openly, X plainly(-ness).
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
(πᾶς, ῥῆσις) outspokenness, frankness, freedom of speech, claimed by the Athenians as their privilege, ἐλεύθεροι παρρησίᾳ θάλλοντες οἰκοῖεν πόλιν κλεινῶν Ἀθηνῶν Refs 5th c.BC+; ἔχειν π. Refs 5th c.BC+; δημοκρατίας οὔσης οὐκ ἔστι π. Refs 5th c.BC+; περὶ παρρησίας, title of work by Philodemus.
2 in bad sense, licence of tongue, ἡ εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς π. Refs 5th c.BC+
3 freedom of action, Refs 5th c.AD+; π. ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου power of life and death, Refs; licence, permission, Refs 6th c.AD+; παρρησίᾳ ἐκτέμνεται τὸ δέρμα without fear, Refs 6th c.AD+; ἤγαγον ὑμᾶς μετὰ παρρησίας openly, LXX
4 liberality, lavishness, κεκόσμηκε τὸν αὑτοῦ βίον τῇ καλλίστῃ π. Refs 2nd c.BC+; ἐπὶ τῇ.. τῶν καμάτων καὶ πάσης ἐπιμελείας παρρησίᾳ Refs 3rd c.AD+; = copia, Refs
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | parrēsias2×παρρησία | parrēsiais |
| object accusative | parrēsian10×παρρησίαν | parrēsiain |
| direct address vocative | parrēsiar | parrēsiair |
| of, belonging to genitive | parrēsiau5×παρρησίας | parrēsiaiu |
| to, for dative | parrēsia14×παρρησίᾳ | parrēsiai |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
parrēsia is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
31 occurrences, every one of them listed
parrēsias“confidence”subjectnominative singular2×
2 Corinthians 7:4pollas mi parrēsias pros vin, pollas mi kauchēsias huper …Great is my confidence in you; great is my pride …
1 John 5:14kai houtas atō tas parrēsias han echanō pros auton, hoti ean …And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If …
parrēsian“confidence”objectaccusative singular10×
Acts 4:13Theōrarōntois de tan tou Petrou parrēsian kai Iōannou kai katalaberantois hoti anthrōpois …When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized …
Ephesians 3:12en ho echanō tan parrēsian kai prosagōgan en pepoithēsia dia tau …… we may enter God’s presence with boldness and confidence.
1 Timothy 3:13“boldness”… bathmon heautoi kalon peripoiolō kai pollan parrēsian en pistia ta en Christo Iēso.… acquire for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Philemon 1:8Dio, pollan en Christo parrēsian echarōntos epitassarō si tem anēkarōntem,So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do …
Hebrews 3:6… hos oikos anō nis, ean tan parrēsian kai tem kauchēmem tau elpidau katechaneia.… if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we …
Hebrews 10:19Echarōntois oun, adelfoir, parrēsian eis tan eisodan teiu hagieiu en …Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place …
Hebrews 10:35mē apobalaveia oun tan parrēsian vu, hotinas echatō megan misthapodosian,So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.
1 John 2:28“confidence”… en auto, hina ean faneriteia echaneia parrēsian kai mē aischunineia apo autou en …… children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
1 John 3:21… ean tas kardias mē katagnōskateiō nu, parrēsian echanō pros ton theon,… do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
1 John 4:17… teleiotē tas agapas meta nu, hina parrēsian echaneiō en ta hēmera tau krisiau, …… us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for …
parrēsiau“boldness”of, belonging togenitive singular5×
Acts 2:29Androir adelfoir, exestinarōntem legara meta parrēsiau pros vin peri tou patriarchou David, …Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and …
Acts 4:29… kai dōasar toi douloi su meta parrēsiau pantau lalarō ton logon su,… to speak Your word with complete boldness,
Acts 4:31“boldness”… lalale ton logon tou theou meta parrēsiau.… all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 28:31“boldness”… tou kuriou Iēsu Christou meta pantau parrēsiau akōlutōs.… about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:16proserchoneiō oun meta parrēsiau to throno tau charitau, hina labaneia …… approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy …
parrēsia“openly”to, fordative singular14×
Mark 8:32“openly”kai parrēsia ton logon lalate. kai proslaberantos tos …He spoke this message quite frankly, and Peter took Him aside and began to …
John 7:4“openly”… krupte poiatō kai zētatō autos en parrēsia arō; ei houteim poiasō, fanerasar siauton …… wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the …
John 7:13“openly”oudenos mentoi parrēsia lalate peri autou dia ton fobon …Yet no one would speak publicly about Him for fear of the …
John 7:26“openly”kai ide parrēsia lalatō kai oudenem auto legalō; mēpote …… He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying anything to Him. Have the …
John 10:24… sis asō tos christos, legasar ni parrēsia.… You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
John 11:14tote oun legata autoi tos Iēsus parrēsia; Lazaros apothnēskata,So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
John 11:54“openly”Tos oun Iēsus ouketi parrēsia peripatate en toi Ioudaioi, alla aperchata …… a result, Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but He withdrew …
John 16:25… ouketi en paroimiai lalami vi alla parrēsia peri tou patrou apangelami vi.… this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
John 16:29“plainness”… tois mathētois autou; Ide nun en parrēsia lalasō, kai paroimian oudenan legasō.His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and without figures …
John 18:20apokrinita auto Iēsus; Mis parrēsia lalamē to kosmo; mis pantote didaskama …“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I …
2 Corinthians 3:12“boldness”Echarōntois oun toioutan elpidan polla parrēsia chronō,Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are …
Ephesians 6:19“boldness”… en anoixia teu stomeu mu, en parrēsia gnōrizara tem mustēriem teu euangelieu… whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel,
Philippians 1:20… en oudene aischunimi, alla en panta parrēsia hōs pantote kai nun megaluniti Christos …… be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ …
Colossians 2:15… archain kai tain exousiain deigmatizata en parrēsia, thriambeuarantos autoin en auto.… powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them …