ἄτομος (atomos)
atomos
instant
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The adjective atomos literally means "indivisible" or "uncuttable." It combines a negative prefix with a root meaning to cut, describing something that cannot be divided into smaller parts. In biblical Greek, this physical sense is applied metaphorically to time, referring to an instant or a moment so brief it has no internal duration.
This word appears only once in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 15:52. Paul uses it to describe the suddenness of the resurrection change at the last trumpet. By choosing a term that implies an uncuttable point in time, he emphasizes that the transformation happens instantly, without any measurable interval or gradual process.
Its rarity makes its usage distinctive. While other words for time exist, atomos highlights the abruptness of divine action. It suggests that the event is not just fast, but fundamentally indivisible—a single, complete moment where history shifts from one state to another without a bridge in between.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word atomos describes a moment so brief it cannot be cut into smaller pieces. In 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul uses this term to describe the resurrection change at the last trumpet. This single instant marks a complete shift from mortality to immortality. There is no gradual process or waiting period involved in this divine act.
For your faith, this offers profound comfort. The transformation you await is not a slow, uncertain journey but a sudden, guaranteed event. God’s power operates beyond human time scales. When the trumpet sounds, the change will be immediate and total. This certainty anchors our hope in Christ’s victory over death.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- an instant1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ἀτόμῳ1×
Key Verses
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I Corinthians 15:52
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
Paul uses atomos to emphasize that the resurrection transformation happens in a single, indivisible instant without any measurable interval.