Exploring the Meaning of Ektrepho in Greek

ἐκτρέφω expresses the act of nourishing or rearing, language of sustained care that provides what is needed for growth. In Scripture it appears in two closely related household instructions in Ephesians, one describing how a person treats his own body and one directing how fathers are to treat their children.

Root and Related Words

ἐκτρέφω is built from two elements: ek (ἐκ), “out from” (Strong’s G1537), and trepho (τρέφω), “to feed” (Strong’s G5142). The combined form suits contexts where care is not a momentary act but a drawing-out, ongoing provision that sustains and brings something along.

Occurrences

Ephesians 5:29 — “For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;”

Here ἐκτρέφω appears in a comparison built on what is taken as obvious human behavior: a person does not hate his own flesh, but instead treats it with active care. The verb is paired with “cherishes,” so the picture is not merely providing food in a narrow sense, but tending one’s body with sustaining attention. Within the sentence, ἐκτρέφω anchors the positive alternative to “hated”: the natural posture toward one’s own flesh is to supply what it needs so that it is preserved and maintained. The final comparison (“even as the Lord also does the assembly”) uses that everyday, embodied experience to make the point vivid: the kind of care envisioned is continuous and personal, the way one looks after oneself rather than the way one might perform an impersonal duty.

Ephesians 6:4 — “You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

In this instruction to fathers, ἐκτρέφω is set in direct contrast with a harmful parental posture: “don’t provoke your children to wrath.” The verb marks the constructive alternative—fathers are to “nurture” rather than irritate or embitter. The immediate context specifies the manner of this nurturing: it is “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” That framing gives ἐκτρέφω a clearly formative direction. The action is not simply keeping children alive, but rearing them by providing the kind of ordered training and teaching that shapes a child’s development. In the flow of the sentence, ἐκτρέφω gathers up everything involved in steady parental care and places it under the guidance of what is fitting “of the Lord,” so that the father’s role is not reactive (provoking) but constructive (nurturing).

Sense and Usage

Across these two occurrences, ἐκτρέφω moves within the same domestic sphere—body and household—and in both cases it names care that is sustained, intentional, and directed toward well-being. In Ephesians 5:29, the object is “his own flesh,” and the act belongs to the instinctive, self-preserving pattern of daily life: one keeps oneself going by attending to one’s needs. In Ephesians 6:4, the object is “your children,” and the act belongs to the responsible, guiding work of parenthood: one brings children along by steady provision expressed through “discipline and instruction.”

The definition “to nourish/rear” fits this pair of contexts because the verb comfortably spans physical and developmental care without needing to change its basic idea. “Nourish” captures the bodily reference in 5:29, where the flesh is treated as something to be maintained and cared for; “rear” fits the parental setting in 6:4, where children are shaped over time. Yet the two uses remain linked by the same underlying picture: nurture is not a single corrective moment but an ongoing practice, the opposite of neglect, hostility, or provocation. The juxtaposition with negative actions in both verses sharpens the term’s force. In 5:29, “hated” sets a stark alternative, so ἐκτρέφω carries the sense of active goodwill toward what belongs to oneself. In 6:4, “provoke… to wrath” sets the alternative, so ἐκτρέφω carries the sense of patience and constructive guidance that refuses to cultivate anger.

These passages also show ἐκτρέφω functioning as a verb of relationship. A person’s relationship to his own body is assumed to be marked by care; a father’s relationship to his children is commanded to be marked by nurture. The verb therefore serves as a bridge between what is treated as natural (a man nourishes his own flesh) and what is required as moral responsibility (a father nurtures his children). In both, the action is oriented toward preserving and developing what is entrusted to one’s care—either one’s own embodied life or the life of one’s children—so that the relationship is characterized by attentive provision rather than harm.

Imagery in Context

In Ephesians, ἐκτρέφω carries everyday imagery: the steady tending of a body and the steady raising of children. The first scene evokes ordinary self-care—nourishing and cherishing one’s own flesh—used to illuminate the Lord’s care for the assembly (Ephesians 5:29). The second evokes the household’s formative work—nurturing children through “discipline and instruction”—set against the danger of stirring up wrath (Ephesians 6:4). Together they present nurture as a pattern of life that builds up rather than breaks down, expressed in consistent acts of care within the closest bonds.

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).