Exploring the Meaning of Pathema in Greek

πάθημα refers to suffering, a term used in several Pauline contexts and in Hebrews to speak of hardship that is experienced, endured, and interpreted in light of Christ. In these passages it can describe both the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings borne by believers, sometimes as struggle, sometimes as something shared, and sometimes as something that yields endurance and comfort.

Occurrences

Romans 7:5: “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.”

Here πάθημα is set within a portrayal of life “in the flesh,” where inward forces “worked in our members” toward an outcome described as “fruit to death.” In this framing, suffering is tied to a condition of embodied life under the pressure of “sinful passions,” emphasizing the way such suffering belongs to a destructive moral trajectory rather than to consolation or hope.

Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.”

πάθημα is temporal and comparative: “this present time” is marked by sufferings, but those sufferings are weighed against “the glory” yet to be revealed. The word contributes the felt heaviness of present hardship, while the sentence refuses to let present suffering set the final value of the future.

2 Corinthians 1:5: “For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.”

In this verse πάθημα is explicitly “of Christ,” and it is described as something that can “abound to us.” Suffering is not merely an individual burden but something that overflows in relation to Christ; at the same time, the verse balances that abundance with an equally overflowing “comfort…through Christ,” so that suffering and comfort are paired realities rather than unrelated experiences.

2 Corinthians 1:6: “But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.”

πάθημα is portrayed as shared and productive. The affliction of one party is “for your comfort and salvation,” and the comfort of one party is “for your comfort,” with an effect: it “produces…patient enduring.” The “same sufferings” are not isolated episodes but a common experience that becomes the context in which endurance is learned and displayed.

2 Corinthians 1:7: “Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort.”

πάθημα here marks participation: the audience are “partakers of the sufferings.” That participation is the basis for a “steadfast” hope, because suffering and comfort are linked as shared portions. The word contributes to a communal logic: to share sufferings is to stand within the same sphere where comfort is also shared.

Galatians 5:24: “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.”

In this statement the term appears within the “passions” associated with “the flesh,” which those who “belong to Christ” have “crucified.” Suffering is thus associated with the realm that is put to death, and the verse depicts a decisive break: the old set of driving forces is treated as condemned, not cultivated.

Philippians 3:10: “that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death,”

πάθημα is presented as “fellowship,” a shared participation that belongs alongside knowing Christ and experiencing “the power of his resurrection.” The sufferings are not only endured; they are entered as a communion that shapes the believer, described as “becoming conformed to his death.” In this scene, suffering functions as a relational and formative category tied closely to Christ himself.

Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly,”

πάθημα is intensely personal (“my sufferings”) and bodily (“in my flesh”), yet explicitly oriented toward others: “for your sake” and “for his body’s sake.” The word contributes to the paradox of “rejoice” alongside suffering, and the verse presents suffering as something that can be borne in a representative or ministerial way, connected to “the afflictions of Christ” and to the welfare of “the assembly.”

2 Timothy 3:11: “persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all.”

Here πάθημα is paired with “persecutions” and anchored to concrete events (“those things that happened to me”). The verse highlights endurance (“I endured”) and deliverance (“The Lord delivered me out of them all”), so that suffering is cast as the experience of hostile opposition from which one may be rescued, even if one must first pass through it.

Hebrews 2:9: “But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.”

πάθημα is concentrated into “the suffering of death,” directly tied to Jesus. The verse places that suffering as the ground for exaltation (“crowned with glory and honor”) and as purposeful for others (“taste of death for everyone”). The word therefore contributes to a depiction of suffering that is not random: it is located in the death of Jesus and set within a movement from humiliation to honor.

Hebrews 2:10: “For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

In this line πάθημα appears in the plural (“through sufferings”) and is placed within a broad, purposeful account: “bringing many children to glory.” Suffering is the means by which “the author of their salvation” is made “perfect,” so the word contributes a sense of suffering as instrumental within a saving trajectory moving toward glory.

Hebrews 10:32: “But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;”

πάθημα is remembered as part of a past season (“the former days”) following enlightenment. The phrase “a great struggle with sufferings” portrays suffering as something that can be wrestled with and endured, and the call to remember presents endurance in suffering as an identifiable chapter in the community’s story.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages πάθημα functions as a flexible label for the lived experience of hardship, ranging from inwardly driven misery tied to “the flesh” to outwardly imposed pressure described as persecution and struggle. Romans 7:5 and Galatians 5:24 place the term within the sphere of fleshly forces—desires and impulses that work in the body and must be decisively put to death. In that setting, suffering belongs to a pattern that leads toward death rather than toward the settled hope and comfort found elsewhere.

Romans 8:18 provides a different contour: sufferings are present and real, but they are assigned a limited weight when compared with future glory. This does not minimize the experience; it relocates its significance by placing it within a horizon that is bigger than the present moment. Hebrews echoes a similar forward movement, but it roots the pattern in Christ: “the suffering of death” leads into “glory and honor” (Hebrews 2:9), and “sufferings” are linked with the bringing of “many children to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). In these uses, suffering is bound up with the path by which salvation’s outcome is reached.

Second Corinthians and Philippians foreground the relational and communal dimensions of πάθημα. The sufferings are “of Christ” and can “abound” to believers (2 Corinthians 1:5), and believers can be “partakers of the sufferings” (2 Corinthians 1:7). This creates a shared field of experience in which suffering is not a private isolate but something that marks a community and its leaders together. Moreover, suffering is depicted as something that can produce something else: comfort given by God becomes the means that “produces…patient enduring” in others undergoing “the same sufferings” (2 Corinthians 1:6). Philippians 3:10 deepens this by describing “the fellowship of his sufferings,” presenting suffering as a mode of participation that shapes conformity to Christ’s death.

Two passages highlight the concrete texture of suffering. Colossians 1:24 locates it “in my flesh,” yet insists it is for the good of others and connected to Christ’s afflictions and Christ’s body, “the assembly.” 2 Timothy 3:11 names sufferings that happened in specific locations and pairs them with endurance and divine deliverance. Together these show πάθημα as something that can be narrated historically, borne bodily, shared communally, and interpreted theologically—without losing its character as genuine hardship.

Imagery

The word’s imagery clusters around pressure and participation. Hebrews speaks of suffering gathered into the single, climactic reality of “the suffering of death,” followed by crowning with “glory and honor” (Hebrews 2:9). Second Corinthians and Philippians depict suffering as something that can be shared—“partakers,” “fellowship”—so that the image is not only of weight pressing down but also of people standing together under it, with comfort and endurance spreading through the same relational bonds (2 Corinthians 1:6–7; Philippians 3:10). Hebrews 10:32 adds the picture of “a great struggle with sufferings,” evoking the sustained contest of continuing faithfully while hardship presses in.

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).