Exploring the Meaning of Tis in Greek

τίς asks a question of identity or specification: “which?” It appears throughout the Gospels in pointed questions that expose motives, clarify values, and press listeners toward a concrete answer in the moment.

Root and Related Words

Related to τις (tis), “one” (Strong’s G5100), from which τίς derives.

Occurrences

Matthew 3:7: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

Here τίς frames a confrontation as a demand for identification: the leaders are challenged to name the source of their sudden urgency. The question does not merely request information; it presses the hearers to account for how they came to their present posture—approaching baptism—under the shadow of coming wrath.

Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.”

In a saying about salt losing its distinctiveness, τίς sharpens the impossibility: “with what” will re-salting happen? The question forces attention to means—what could restore what has been lost—and thereby heightens the warning implied by the final outcome of being thrown out and trampled.

Matthew 5:46: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?”

τίς pinpoints the issue of evaluation: “what reward” follows love that simply mirrors what is already returned? By asking for the specific reward that could be claimed, the question undermines self-congratulation and sets the action beside a comparison (“Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?”) that strips away any presumed moral advantage.

Matthew 5:47: “If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?”

In the same line of reasoning, τίς turns the listener toward measurable difference: “what more” is actually being done? The question requires the hearer to identify what, if anything, exceeds common social expectation, especially when even the tax collectors match such behavior.

Matthew 6:3: “But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,”

Within instruction about merciful deeds, τίς focuses on the content of the action: “what your right hand does.” The warning is framed as a kind of internal secrecy—one part of the self not scrutinizing the other—so that the deed is not turned into a self-observed performance.

Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Here τίς gathers anxiety into concrete categories: “what you will eat… what you will drink… what you will wear.” The questions of “which” things will supply life and body are set in contrast with a larger claim about life and body exceeding the items that anxiety obsessively itemizes.

Matthew 6:27: ““Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?”

τίς presses for a specific example from the audience: “Which of you” can produce the desired result. The question is structured to expose the emptiness of anxiety’s promise by demanding a demonstrable case—someone who can extend life by worry.

Matthew 6:28: “Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,”

Though translated “Why,” τίς functions as an interrogative that calls for reasons: what grounds anxiety about clothing? The question introduces an invitation to observe (“Consider the lilies of the field”) and thereby redirects attention from restless calculation to the observable pattern of growth without toil or spinning.

Matthew 6:31: ““Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’”

τίς appears as the anxious refrain itself: “What will we eat?… What will we drink?” and again as means, “With what will we be clothed?” The repeated questions portray anxiety as a loop of unspecified needs demanding specification—exact provisions, exact sources—before trust can rest.

Matthew 7:3: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?”

τίς interrogates perception and judgment: what explains the selective sight that notices a speck in another while ignoring a beam in oneself? The question exposes a mismatch between attention and self-awareness, forcing the hearer to face the disproportion that the imagery makes unmistakable.

Matthew 7:9: “Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?”

Here τίς asks for identification within the group: “who is there among you” that would answer a child’s request with something harmful or useless. By demanding a particular person as an example, the question assumes the answer should be “no one,” using common parental instinct to make the point compelling.

Matthew 7:14: “How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it.”

Although translated “How,” the interrogative force associated with τίς heightens the statement into an arresting evaluation: it draws attention to the specific character of the gate and way—narrow and restricted—and to the concrete outcome that only a few find it.

Sense and Usage

Across these sayings and challenges, τίς consistently drives toward specification: it asks for the “which” that identifies a person (“who warned you,” “which of you,” “who is there among you”), a means (“with what will it be salted,” “with what will we be clothed”), a concrete item of concern (“what you will eat… drink… wear”), or an evaluative remainder (“what reward do you have,” “what more do you do”). In each setting the question form narrows the listener’s escape routes. Instead of allowing vague claims—about repentance, righteousness, generosity, or worry—τίς presses for an answer that can be named, measured, or pointed to.

This interrogative “which?” often works rhetorically by expecting silence: a question that exposes inconsistency (seeing a speck but ignoring a beam), futility (adding a moment to lifespan by anxiety), or moral emptiness (loving only those who love you). Elsewhere it functions by tightening attention to the “with what” of restoration or provision, showing how quickly a hearer’s confidence depends on identifying a source and method. Even where the English rendering is “why” or “how,” the effect remains the same: a direct demand for the specific grounds, scale, or character of what is being described.

Imagery in Context

The scenes that τίς introduces are vivid and ordinary: salt losing flavor, hands acting without self-observation, meals and clothing, lilies growing, a speck and a beam in eyes, a child asking for bread, a narrow gate and restricted way. In each case the question “which?” ties the image to a decision point—forcing hearers to locate themselves within the picture and to answer with more than generalities.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).