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.