Phulasso: On Guard

. Word of the Week

June 6, 2026

 

Phulassō: On Guard

 

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness..

2 Peter 3:17 NASB

 

Getting into prison – as a visitor! – is like running a gauntlet.

First you have to send the application for approved visitor status.  Then there are the background checks.  Finally you end up on the approved list.

Then you have to reserve a time for the visit.  Once you get on the schedule, you arrive at the facility, wait until they open the gate, and wait for a second gate to open.  You present your ID, sign the register, go through the scanner and walk through one more gate.  Only now can you walk across the courtyard to make your visit.

Obviously, someone is taking great pains to make sure no one gets out and nothing harmful gets in!

The high level of scrupulous care reminds me of an important New Testament word that describes a similar commitment to purposeful protection.  It lends urgency to one of the exhortations that Peter used to conclude his second epistle.

The Greek word is phulassō [fuh-LAHSS-oh], usually translated “guard” or “keep.”  Occurring 31 times in the New Testament, it is linked to a Greek word for jail, the holding tank for prisoners waiting for someone to decide how to treat them.

We see that meaning in New Testament passages like Luke 8:29, where a demon-possessed was chained and kept under guard. Or Acts 12:4, where four squads of soldiers were assigned to keep Peter from escaping from prison. This was a serious responsibility; they were supposed to keep Peter in  and keep anyone else from getting in to rescue him.  When they failed to keep out the angel of God, they were executed!

The word applied to other settings as well.  On the night of Christ’s birth, shepherds were in the fields “keeping watch” over their flocks (Luke 2:8).  Their job was to ensure that no thieves or wild animals got in to harm the flock.

Similarly, a person might stand watch to protect his house from thieves, as Jesus once mentioned (Luke 12:21).

In each case, phulassō involved scrupulous care to prevent anything from harming a person or thing of importance.

The Bible also depicts this kind of careful guardianship in important spiritual areas.

1. God guards His people.

This is a major theme in the Old Testament, and it appears clearly in the New.  Examples:

God guarded Noah from destruction by the flood (2 Peter 2:8).

Jesus declared that He had protected His disciples to the end (John 17:12).

God is able to guard us from stumbling (Jude 24).

God can guard us from the evil one (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

2. We are to keep God’s commands.

Also prominent in the Old Testament is the requirement that God’s people be careful to protection the Lord’s commands from being ignored.  We keep them in force by obeying them.  Examples in the New Testament:

         The rich young ruler claimed that he had kept all the commandments (Matthew 19:20).

Paul urged his Gentile converts to keep the requirements decided at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 16:4).

Paul paid the bill for a Jewish ceremony in order to show that He kept the Law (Acts 21:24; see also Romans 2:26; Galatians 6:13).

Return now to Peter’s words for one more truth about phulassō.

Verses that use the word often specify what you are supposed to guard.  Acts 22:30, for instance, mentions that Paul guarded the garments of the men who stoned Stephen.

But when Peter ends his second epistle with the instruction to “Guard,” he doesn’t say, “Guard the faith” or “Guard the gospel.”  A look at the context makes it clear that he means “Guard yourselves!” (2 Peter 3:17)

None of us are invulnerable to temptation or deception.  It is easy to slowly drift or to be subtly fooled, even if you have been a believer for a long time.

The stakes are high and we need to be constantly vigilant to make sure that nothing enters our lives that would distract us or divert us from the truth.

 

Study Hint:

You can dive deeper on this word by examining the other words that are in the same word family.

• Phulakē – guard, watch, prison – 47 times
• Phulakizō – cast into prison – Acts 22:19
• Phulax – a guard, keeper – Acts 5:23; 12:6, 19

 

Coming Up

What word most clearly catches the purpose of 1 John?  Clearly, the obvious choice is “fellowship.”  Next week we will offer an analysis of this delightful word, the key to John’s epistle.

©Ezra Project 2026