Epaischunomai: Acknowledging Connections

Word of the Week

April 18, 2026

Epaischunomai: Acknowledging Connections

 

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.

2 Timothy 1:8 NASB

 

Would you distribute a business card that said, “Direct descendant of Adolf Hitler”?

Or a Facebook posting that announced, “Political advisor to Benedict Arnold”?

After the assassination of John Kennedy, few people went around claiming to be buddies of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Why not?

Because we instinctively avoid connecting our names with people who are publicly despised.

We aren’t proud of such connections.  Instead, they are a source of shame.  We’re embarrassed to let people know that we have a tie to someone.

Shame is a familiar feature of modern society.  But it’s not just a modern experience. You can find references to it all the way back to the Bible.  In fact, the New Testament uses a Greek word for shame that helps give a proper perspective on it.

The Greek word is epaischunomai [eh-pie-SKOO-nah-my].  This verb is normally translated as “to be ashamed,” and it occurs in nine different verses.

The ancient Greeks knew about shame, and they used this word to describe anything which was ugly or disgraceful.  That led to the emotion of shame.  For the secular Greeks, shame was not so much a religious fear of the gods, but the pain of being the target of society’s ridicule.

In the Old Testament, shame took on a new flavor.  The word was more often used to describe the judgment of God.  By the time the Lord finished bringing disaster on His enemies, they would be disgraced.

When we come to the New Testament, we see a consistent message:  Don’t be ashamed!

• Jesus warned his followers not to be ashamed of Him or His words.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels (Luke 9:26; see also the parallel in Mark 8:38).

Christians often pay a price for acknowledging the Lord in hostile environments, and it can seem safer to hide faith.  But Jesus calls for bold commitment to Him.

• The apostle Paul was perpetually in trouble because of his stand for the message of Jesus Christ. If anyone had reason to back off from a high-risk, high-profile ministry, it was the oft-beaten, thrice-shipwrecked Paul.  But was he ashamed of his unpopular message?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16).

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12).

• Not everyone is as tough as Paul. When he wrote about sufferings in 2 Timothy 1:12, he was locked in a maximum security cell waiting for the executioners to come for him.  A younger, perhaps more timid associate like Timothy had good reasons to hesitate about showing up for a visit.  That’s why he urged him to stand boldly for the faith.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8).

He had the example of another believer who had regularly risked his life to serve Paul’s needs, unashamed of the old warhorse, ready to be connected to him.

The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains (2 Timothy 1:16).

There is no reason to be ashamed of following Jesus.  When we do, we can look for the reward of knowing that He is not ashamed to have His name linked with ours, to claim us as His own.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:16).

For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren (Hebrews 2:11).

 

Study Hint:

In contemporary usage, we often use the word “shame” to describe the painful feeling that we are worthless.  It often goes beyond the guilt that says, “I did something bad” to announce, “I am bad.”  New Testament usage most often uses epaischunomai for the urge to disassociate ourselves from someone or something.

The word we have chosen is a particularly intense form of the idea.  You can expand your study by looking up the core verb for shame:  aischunō.

Coming Up

The epistle to Titus is a masterful presentation of effective church leadership.  Paul lays out the priorities for ministry clearly, and uses the perfect Greek word to describe the link between belief and behavior.

©Ezra Project 2026