Word studies · Greek · Strong's G2817
κληρονομία · klēronomía · appears 14 times in the New Testament
In one line: What belongs to you because you belong to God's family.
and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,
1 Peter 1:4
Klēronomia is inheritance — a possession received by belonging to a family rather than by earning, and kept for you rather than by you.
The New Testament uses klēronomia for what belongs to God's children: the kingdom, eternal life, the promise given to Abraham. Peter calls it “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” which locates its security outside the heir.
Klēronomia comes from klēros, “a lot” — as in casting lots — and nemō, “to apportion.” The word remembers how Israel received the land: by allotment rather than conquest of merit, each tribe given its portion by lot from God's hand.
Modern “inheritance” suggests waiting for someone to die; the biblical word emphasizes belonging. Because heirship follows from being a child, Paul can argue straight from adoption to inheritance — “if children, then heirs” — with nothing in between.
Klēronomia (G2817) appears 14 times in the New Testament, and its root klēros — a lot cast to decide an allotment — is where English gets “clergy.”
Inheritance ties Christian hope to family standing rather than performance, which is why it can be spoken of as certain while still future. It also carries the Old Testament's land promise forward: what Israel received in Canaan, the church receives in a renewed creation.
When you feel your standing with God rests on your last week's performance, remember that heirs inherit by birth, not by record. Name one thing you are trying to earn that has already been promised.
heirship, i.e. (concretely) a patrimony or (genitive case) a possession
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.
Matthew 21:38But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.
Mark 12:7Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
Luke 12:13He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.
Acts 7:5For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.
Galatians 3:18who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:14Press and hold inheritance in any chapter and this study opens on the verse you are reading, with the lexicons, every occurrence and the commentaries beside it. The Bible is free to read.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Strong's definitions are public domain. Counts come from The Pillar's own tagged text.