Exploring the Meaning of Paromoiazo in Greek

παρομοιάζω means “to resemble,” and it appears once in the New Testament, in Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27. In that setting it functions as the hinge between a direct address (“Woe to you…”) and a vivid comparison that exposes a mismatch between outward appearance and inward reality.

Root and Related Words

παρομοιάζω is related to

paromoios (παρόμοιος), “like” (Strong’s G3946)

and is described as deriving from that word. The relationship is visible at the level of form: both share the element paromoi-, and the verbal ending of παρομοιάζω marks it as an action-word built from a “likeness” term.

Occurrences

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27)

In this saying, παρομοιάζω drives the comparison that Jesus uses to interpret the moral and spiritual condition of his hearers. The line begins with direct accusation—“Woe to you… hypocrites!”—and then turns with “For you are like…” to a concrete image that carries the argument. The resemblance is not framed as a minor similarity but as a defining likeness: the scribes and Pharisees are presented as matching, in a significant way, “whitened tombs.”

The comparison itself is carefully structured in the sentence, and the force of the verb is felt as the contrast unfolds. On one side of the likeness stands what is visible: “outwardly appear beautiful.” On the other side stands what is hidden: “inwardly… full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” The resemblance is therefore anchored in a two-layered reality—external appearance versus internal content. The verb introduces not merely a description of tombs but a lens through which to see the “hypocrites”: they can present a surface that looks “beautiful” while concealing what is contaminating and death-associated within.

Because the image is “whitened tombs,” the resemblance is also tied to the idea of deliberate outward treatment. A whitened tomb is a tomb whose exterior has been made to look a certain way; the wording emphasizes appearance (“outwardly appear beautiful”) as distinct from what the thing truly contains (“inwardly… full”). In this way παρομοιάζω serves a rhetorical function: it brings the audience to agree with an obvious evaluation of the image—something can look attractive on the outside while being repulsive or defiling inside—and then applies that evaluation to the religious leaders being addressed.

The rest of the verse explains the likeness rather than leaving it to imagination. Jesus does not only say that they “resemble” tombs; he specifies the relevant points of correspondence: outward beauty contrasted with inward uncleanness and death. The verb therefore introduces a comparison that is immediately interpreted within the same sentence, making the resemblance unmistakably moral in implication. The clause “which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly…” is not incidental description; it is the logic of the resemblance, and it sets the terms by which the “hypocrites” are being judged.

Sense and Usage

In Matthew 23:27, “to resemble” functions as a tool for exposure. The comparison does not soften the criticism; it intensifies it by moving from abstract accusation (“hypocrites”) to an image that embodies hypocrisy as a split between what is presented and what is real. The verb frames resemblance as a matter of congruence between a person’s public face and a physical object known for containing death and impurity. That is, the resemblance is not based on superficial likeness alone (shape, color, or any incidental feature), but on a deeper parallel in how something is experienced: what is seen and admired is not what is actually inside.

The specific features highlighted in the verse show how this resemblance operates. First, it is a resemblance in appearance: “outwardly appear beautiful.” The phrasing implies an evaluation performed by observers—what people see from the outside. Second, it is a resemblance in contents: “inwardly… full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” The inner reality is described with “full,” a word of saturation rather than trace presence, and with two linked elements: “dead men’s bones” and “all uncleanness.” The resemblance thus carries the idea of an interior that is not merely flawed but thoroughly characterized by what is unclean.

Within this verse, παρομοιάζω also sets up a moral diagnosis that depends on contrast. The resemblance is meaningful precisely because “outwardly” and “inwardly” are opposed. Without that internal opposition the comparison would collapse into a simple likeness; with it, the comparison becomes an indictment of discrepancy. The verb, then, participates in a larger rhetorical pattern where a striking image interprets the target’s character. Here, the character being addressed is described as able to “appear” one way while “inwardly” being another. The verb is the gateway into that interpretive move.

The imagery chosen for the resemblance suggests that the issue is not merely private failing but a condition that has implications for purity and defilement. “Tombs” are associated in the verse itself with “dead men’s bones” and “uncleanness,” so the comparison locates the problem in categories of contamination and death, not only in categories of aesthetic deception. Even without stepping beyond the verse, the language makes clear that the “inwardly” described condition is considered profoundly incompatible with the “beautiful” exterior. The verb “to resemble” binds those two domains—external display and internal defilement—into a single picture of hypocrisy.

Because this is a direct address (“Woe to you… For you are like…”), the use of resemblance is also confrontational. The verb does not ask the hearers to explore an analogy at a distance; it applies the resemblance directly to “you,” making the comparison personal and immediate. The rhetorical shift from naming (“scribes and Pharisees”) to classifying (“hypocrites”) to comparing (“like whitened tombs”) shows how the verb serves an escalating argument: the resemblance clarifies and intensifies the charge.

Imagery

Matthew 23:27 attaches παρομοιάζω to a stark visual contrast: a surface that “appear[s] beautiful” and an interior “full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” The verb makes that contrast more than a description of tombs; it turns it into a mirror held up to the people being rebuked. The power of the image lies in the way resemblance invites the listener to “see” hypocrisy as something that can be inspected from two angles—what is displayed outwardly and what is present inwardly—so that the beauty of the surface cannot be taken as evidence of inner cleanliness.

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).