Strong’s G139 · Greek
αἵρεσις
haíresis
Definition
properly, a choice, i.e. (specially) a party or (abstractly) disunion
Etymology
from G138 (αἱρέομαι);
Where the KJV renders it
- heresy (which is the Greek word itself)
- sect
Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.
What the first audience heard
A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.