Exploring the Meaning of Genos in Greek

γένος speaks of family descent and belonging. In the passages below it can mark a category (“kind”), a people-group (“race”), a circle of relatives, or a line of descent traced to an ancestor.

Occurrences

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,” (Matthew 13:47)

Here γένος frames a sweep that is indiscriminate with respect to family-grouping or category: the net brings in fish “of every kind.” The point of the image is breadth—many distinct groupings end up gathered together in one catch.

“But this kind doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.”” (Matthew 17:21)

In this saying, γένος identifies a particular family-grouping within a larger problem: “this kind” that “doesn’t go out” under ordinary circumstances. The term isolates a specific class distinguished by its resistance, and the sentence then names the means associated with that class.

“Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.” (Mark 7:26)

γένος locates the woman by descent: “a Syrophoenician by race.” Mark pairs that identification with her request, so her family background is part of how the scene situates her as she petitions on behalf of her daughter.

“He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.”” (Mark 9:29)

As in Matthew 17:21, γένος marks a family-grouping within the broader phenomenon—“this kind.” The sentence treats that grouping as having a characteristic mode of removal: nothing else suffices “except by prayer and fasting.”

“Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest.” (Acts 4:6)

γένος describes an extended family circle: “relatives of the high priest.” In this gathering, the word highlights how kinship networks surround the office, filling out the group present alongside named individuals.

“Joses, who by the apostles was also called Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race,” (Acts 4:36)

γένος again marks descent—“by race”—but here it is used to situate Barnabas’s origin in relation to a place: “a man of Cyprus by race.” Along with “a Levite,” this labels him by inherited belonging as part of his introduction.

“On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh.” (Acts 7:13)

γένος refers to Joseph’s family descent as a fact newly disclosed in the narrative: “Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh.” The term ties Joseph not merely to personal identity but to his people-line and kin connections, now made public.

“The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.” (Acts 7:19)

In Stephen’s recounting, γένος is a collective family-line—“our race”—that suffers exploitation. The word binds the mistreatment, the reference to “our fathers,” and the threatened children into one story about what happens to a people as a descended group.

“Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.” (Acts 13:26)

γένος appears in the address “children of the stock of Abraham,” where it functions as a way of naming a line of descendants. The phrase grounds the audience’s identity in a family ancestry, alongside a second group described by their posture toward God.

“‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28)

γένος is used to articulate a relationship of descent: “we are also his offspring.” The term conveys a family-line idea in a theological claim, drawing on the language of generation and belonging rather than mere association.

“Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.” (Acts 17:29)

γένος continues the prior sentence’s logic: “Being then the offspring of God.” The family-descent premise becomes the basis for a conclusion about what is inappropriate to imagine—if the relationship is framed as offspring, then thinking of the Divine Nature as a crafted object is treated as unfitting.

“He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,” (Acts 18:2)

γένος situates Aquila with an inherited identifier connected to geography: “a man of Pontus by race.” In the flow of the sentence, that descriptor stands beside other markers (Jewish identity, recent movement from Italy, travel with Priscilla), helping sketch who he is in terms of origin and connections.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, γένος consistently organizes people or things by family descent and the groupings that flow from it. In Matthew 13:47 it is applied broadly to creatures in the sea: the dragnet gathers fish “of every kind,” so the kingdom image assumes variety of groupings and a single collecting action that spans them. The same grouping sense appears in the exorcism sayings (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29), where “this kind” marks a specific class within a larger reality and allows a focused statement about what characterizes that class—what succeeds, and what does not.

In Acts and Mark, the word most often identifies human descent. Mark 7:26 uses it to locate a woman’s background (“a Syrophoenician by race”), not as an abstract label but as a concrete descriptor attached to a person who speaks and begs. Acts repeatedly employs γένος for kin networks and descended lines: a circle of “relatives of the high priest” (Acts 4:6), an individual’s stated origin “by race” (Acts 4:36; Acts 18:2), and Joseph’s ancestry newly “revealed” (Acts 7:13). In Stephen’s account, the term gathers the community under one family-line identity—“our race”—so that the wrong done is not merely against isolated individuals but against a people bound by descent (Acts 7:19). Paul’s synagogue address similarly invokes ancestry with “children of the stock of Abraham” (Acts 13:26), using family descent as a way to name an audience and to frame the sending of “the word of this salvation.”

Acts 17:28–29 shifts γένος into a direct claim of relationship to God: “we are also his offspring,” then “Being then the offspring of God.” The family-descent idea becomes an argument: if humans stand in an offspring relation, then conceptions of the Divine Nature should not be reduced to crafted materials. In these verses, γένος still carries its core notion of family and descent, but it functions rhetorically to shape thought about God by the logic of what offspring implies.

Imagery

The word’s imagery ranges from the tangible to the relational: a net closing around “fish of every kind” (Matthew 13:47), a stubborn “kind” that requires particular means (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29), and the web of descent that places individuals and communities—relatives around a high priest (Acts 4:6), a man introduced by race (Acts 4:36; Acts 18:2), a people remembered as “our race” across generations (Acts 7:19). In Athens it becomes family language pressed into service for reasoning: “Being then the offspring of God” (Acts 17:29) anchors an appeal about what should and should not be imagined of the Divine Nature.

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).