ἔκτρωμα (ektrōma)
ektrōma
untimely birth
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The noun ektrōma refers to an abortive or untimely birth, essentially describing a miscarriage. Its etymology suggests something that has been "wounded" in the womb, pointing to a life that did not reach full term. This stark, biological image is rare in Scripture, appearing only once in the New Testament.
Paul uses this difficult word in 1 Corinthians 15:8 to describe his own encounter with the risen Christ. By calling himself an ektrōma, he emphasizes his spiritual inadequacy and premature status among the apostles. He views his conversion not as a natural progression, but as a sudden, unexpected intervention that defied normal expectations.
While the term carries a negative connotation of failure or incompleteness in its literal sense, Paul repurposes it to highlight grace. It serves as a powerful metaphor for how divine calling often arrives unexpectedly, transforming perceived weakness into a platform for testimony.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word ektrōma describes an untimely birth, a life that did not reach its natural term. It is a stark, biological image of something incomplete or premature. In the ancient world, such a description carried heavy shame and a sense of failure. Yet Paul uses this difficult term in 1 Corinthians 15:8 to describe his own encounter with the risen Christ.
By calling himself an ektrōma, Paul highlights how sudden and unexpected his conversion was. He did not arrive at faith through a slow, natural progression. Instead, he experienced a divine intervention that defied all human expectation. This metaphor reminds us that our spiritual standing does not depend on our perfection or our timeline.
God’s grace often meets us in our perceived inadequacy. What feels like a failure to us can become a platform for His testimony. Your story, with all its unexpected turns, is held within His sovereign plan. You are known and loved exactly as you are, not despite your history, but through it.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- untimely birth1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ἐκτρώματι1×
Key Verses
-
I Corinthians 15:8
and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
Paul uses this rare term to describe his sudden, unexpected conversion as an apostle, emphasizing that his calling was a direct intervention of grace rather than a natural progression.