Exploring the Meaning of Kakourgos in Greek

κακοῦργος designates a “criminal,” a label that appears in Luke’s crucifixion narrative and in Paul’s description of his imprisonment. In these passages it marks people as liable to punishment, even death, and sets the social and legal frame within which suffering and accusation are interpreted.

Root and Related Words

κακοῦργος is connected with ἔργον (ergon), “work” (Strong’s G2041), and κακός (kakos), “evil/harm: evil” (Strong’s G2556). The association of these two elements forms the word’s basic shape and helps explain why it functions naturally as a label for someone treated as a wrongdoer within public justice.

Occurrences

Luke 23:32: “There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death.”

Here κακοῦργος identifies two individuals who are not merely accompanying Jesus but are being escorted under a sentence that ends in execution. The wording “led with him to be put to death” frames them as condemned persons, and the term “criminals” supplies the reason society has for handling them this way: they belong to the category of those punished by the state. The verse also introduces a contrast by placing them in the same procession as Jesus; the narrative places “two criminals” beside him at the level of outward treatment even before the crucifixion itself is described.

Luke 23:33: “When they came to the place that is called “The Skull”, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.”

In this scene κακοῦργος functions spatially and narratively. It marks the two men as Jesus’ crucifixion companions—“with the criminals”—and then fixes their positions: “one on the right and the other on the left.” The term does more than fill out the cast; it supplies the category by which onlookers could read the scene. Crucifixion is presented as an execution carried out in company with those publicly identified as criminals, and the placement on both sides underscores that Jesus is displayed between them as part of the same penal spectacle.

Luke 23:39: “One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!””

Now κακοῦργος narrows from a pair to an individual: “One of the criminals.” The label stays in view even as the man speaks, so his words are heard as coming from someone already under the sentence implied by “was hanged.” The insult—“If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”—shows the criminal pressing for deliverance from his immediate punishment, and the term “criminal” keeps the focus on his status as someone suffering a deserved legal end within the story’s public setting. The word thus colors the exchange: the demand for rescue is voiced from the place of a condemned criminal sharing the same execution site.

2 Timothy 2:9: “in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.”

Here κακοῦργος is applied to Paul’s situation: he is in “chains” and describes his treatment “as a criminal.” The comparison indicates that the hardships and restraints he endures are the kind commonly associated with criminals—confinement, public shame, the loss of freedom—regardless of the cause he is serving (“in which” he suffers hardship). The second sentence—“But God’s word isn’t chained.”—sets his criminal-style treatment alongside the unstoppable movement of the message. In this verse the term highlights the severity of Paul’s imprisonment by naming it in the strongest social category available in ordinary life: the category of a criminal.

Sense and Usage

Across these four uses, κακοῦργος operates as a public designation tied to punishment. In Luke 23 it belongs to the execution narrative: the criminals are “led … to be put to death,” are crucified “with” Jesus, and are described as “hanged.” The word therefore functions as more than a neutral description; it is the story’s shorthand for people whose fate is being carried out under penal authority. Luke’s repeated use also keeps the reader oriented: the men beside Jesus are not accidental bystanders but recognized criminals whose presence shapes how the crucifixion scene would be perceived.

Within that crucifixion setting, the term also contributes to characterization. When “one of the criminals … insulted him,” the narrative retains the label as a kind of frame around the man’s speech: his taunt comes from someone facing death. The demand “save yourself and us” is grounded in the immediate reality of execution, and the term “criminal” anchors that reality by identifying the speaker’s place within it. The word thus holds together status (criminal), circumstance (hanged), and speech (insult and demand) in a tightly bound portrait.

In 2 Timothy 2:9, the same label is moved from an execution hill to a prison context, yet it continues to carry the weight of stigmatized treatment. “Chains” are named explicitly, and “as a criminal” describes the manner in which Paul is handled—harshly, as though he belonged to the criminal class. The contrast that follows—“But God’s word isn’t chained.”—does not change the meaning of κακοῦργος; instead, it shows what the label accomplishes rhetorically: it underscores how extreme the apostle’s suffering has become while simultaneously placing limits on what such treatment can ultimately restrain.

Taken together, these passages show κακοῦργος as a word of social and legal location. It identifies someone as the kind of person for whom public coercion is considered fitting: being led to death, being crucified, being hanged, being chained. Whether applied to the two men executed beside Jesus or used as a comparison for Paul’s imprisonment, it marks the boundary between ordinary suffering and suffering associated with criminal condemnation.

Imagery

In Luke the word’s imagery is inseparable from the visible scene of punishment: condemned criminals are led out, crucified, and hang while they speak. In 2 Timothy the imagery becomes auditory as well as visual—chains are heard and felt—yet the term still evokes the same public reality: treatment that belongs to criminals, set against the declaration that “God’s word isn’t chained.”

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).