Exploring the Meaning of Kopos in Greek

κόπος refers to labor, and in these passages it appears both in literal descriptions of work and in broader, lived contexts where effort is measured, rewarded, and endured. The word shows up in Jesus’ sayings about work already done, in Paul’s teaching about ministry work and its reward, and in lists that place labor alongside hardship.

Occurrences

Matthew 26:10: “However, knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good work for me.”

In this scene Jesus defends a woman’s action by naming it “a good work.” The point is not the critics’ complaint but the value of the deed itself: what she has done is framed as labor rendered to Jesus, assessed as good and therefore not to be treated as a problem.

Mark 14:6: “But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me.”

Mark’s parallel likewise puts “good work” at the center of Jesus’ response. The word marks her act as labor with a purpose “for me,” so that the act’s character (work) and its beneficiary (Jesus) together justify leaving her in peace.

Luke 11:7: “and he from within will answer and say, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you’?”

Here the term appears in the mouth of someone resisting interruption. The “bother” is not abstract; it is linked to a concrete household situation—door shut, children in bed—and to the effort of getting up and giving what is requested. The labor is the disruption and exertion the speaker refuses to take on.

Luke 18:5: “yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ ”

In the parable’s logic, repeated requests become an ongoing demand that feels like labor imposed on the judge. The widow’s persistence is cast as something that “wear[s] me out,” depicting the cost as cumulative: continual coming turns the situation into sustained exertion the judge seeks to end by acting.

John 4:38: “I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Jesus contrasts reaping with labor already expended by others. The sentence places labor in a sequence of work: some do the strenuous work that prepares for a harvest, others arrive at the stage where they can gather results. Labor is thus portrayed as real effort that can be shared across people and across stages, so that one group “enter[s] into” what another group has produced through work.

1 Corinthians 3:8: “Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

Labor here is individualized and evaluated. Planting and watering are aligned as cooperative activities (“are the same”), yet each person’s labor remains genuinely his own, and reward is distributed “according to” that labor. The word anchors accountability: work is not swallowed up by the group, even when the work is coordinated.

1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Paul’s encouragement ties labor to endurance and steadiness. The surrounding phrases (“be steadfast, immovable,” “always abounding”) picture sustained effort over time, and the assurance given is that such labor is not empty or wasted “in the Lord.” The word therefore serves to dignify continued work by placing it under a promise that it will not prove futile.

2 Corinthians 6:5: “in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;”

In a compressed list, labor stands alongside experiences of affliction and deprivation. The term functions as one item among pressures that mark Paul’s ministry: not only dramatic sufferings like beatings and imprisonments, but also the grinding reality of labors, paired here with “watchings” and “fastings,” suggesting effort that consumes time and strength.

2 Corinthians 10:15: “not boasting beyond proper limits in other men’s labors, but having hope that as your faith grows, we will be abundantly enlarged by you in our sphere of influence,”

Labor becomes something that can belong to others and therefore must not be appropriated for self-praise. Paul rejects boasting “in other men’s labors,” treating labor as credit-bearing work that sets boundaries for what one may claim. The term thus carries an ethical weight: labor creates a kind of rightful ownership of accomplishment.

2 Corinthians 11:23: “Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often.”

Here labor is part of an argument about service, offered in comparative terms (“more so,” “more abundantly”). The word marks quantity and intensity: Paul presents his labor as exceeding that of rivals, and he places it next to imprisonments, beatings, and repeated exposure to death. Labor, in this frame, is not comfortable productivity; it is strenuous work within a life marked by suffering.

2 Corinthians 11:27: “in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.”

This further list adds texture by pairing labor with “travail,” then setting both among sleeplessness and physical lack. Labor is experienced as part of bodily hardship: it belongs in the same breath with hunger, thirst, cold, and exposure, indicating that work is carried out under conditions that tax the whole person.

Galatians 6:17: “From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body.”

“Trouble” here is something Paul refuses to accept any longer, and he grounds that refusal in what he already bears on his body. The term points to imposed effort and disturbance—additional demands that would add to a life already marked by physical cost. In context, the word gathers up the idea of burdensome pressure that others might try to place on him.

Sense and Usage

Across these occurrences, κόπος consistently names labor in ways that highlight its cost. At one end, the word can describe a discrete deed evaluated for its quality: in Matthew 26:10 and Mark 14:6, a particular act is called “a good work,” and the term places the action in the category of real effort offered to Jesus. The focus is not on how difficult the act was, but on what it is: work, and work that deserves to be recognized as good rather than criticized.

In Luke 11:7 and Luke 18:5, labor is felt as disruption and weariness. The person inside the house regards the request as a “bother” precisely because it requires getting up and giving; the judge regards the widow’s persistence as something that will “wear me out.” In both scenes, the word’s labor-sense is vivid because it attaches to time, inconvenience, and depletion. Labor is not merely activity; it is activity experienced as a drain or an imposition.

John 4:38 and 1 Corinthians 3:8 place labor within a chain of work and reward. In John, labor precedes reaping, and workers can benefit from labor they did not perform: others have labored, and the disciples enter into that labor. In 1 Corinthians, labor is apportioned to individuals even in cooperative ministry (“he who plants and he who waters”), and it becomes the measure by which reward is assigned. These passages treat labor as something that produces results others may enjoy, yet remains identifiable enough to be credited to particular workers.

Paul’s letters also show that labor can be sustained, repeated, and publicly defensible. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, labor is paired with steadfastness and abundance in “the Lord’s work,” framing it as continuing effort that is guaranteed not to be empty within that sphere. In 2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:23; and 11:27, labor is placed among beatings, imprisonments, sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, cold, and exposure. The word functions there as a bridge between external persecution and internal exhaustion: it names the ongoing exertion that accompanies and compounds hardship.

Finally, 2 Corinthians 10:15 and Galatians 6:17 show labor’s social edge. Labor can be claimed improperly—boasting in “other men’s labors”—which implies that labor establishes a legitimate basis for recognition and that stealing that basis is out of bounds. Labor can also be increased by others through “trouble,” the burdensome pressure Paul rejects because his body already bears marks of costly service. In these uses, labor is not only what someone does; it is also what someone can be made to carry.

Imagery

The passages give κόπος a set of concrete pictures: a defended “good work” done for Jesus; a shut door and a reluctant rising from bed; a judge worn down by continual visits; sowing and watering that lead to a reward; reaping that builds on another’s toil; and a life in which labor sits beside hunger, sleeplessness, and physical exposure. Together these scenes present labor as effort that can be praised, shared, measured, and endured, and also as pressure that can be wrongly shifted onto someone else.

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).