The New Year is just around the corner. It’s a time when many people make resolutions, hoping to be a better person in some way. Some fail, some succeed.
One of the words for new in the New Testament is kainos. Kainos can mean new, fresh, unused, or novel. “New in quality or fresh in development or opportunity, because ‘not found exactly like this before.'” (biblehub.com)
This new is apparently new in quality, but not in time. The other word for new (neos) has to do with time. So if I understand correctly, if you’re talking about something happening more recently in time, then you would use neos. But if you’re talking about something that is new in quality, you would find kainos. Frequently neos is translated as young.
For example: 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (Both with kainos.) So you’re not a new creation time-wise. You’ve been living 20, 30, 40– and so on–years. You have a new quality to your life.
Here’s a verse with both. Matthew 9:17 NIV Neither do people pour new(neos) wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new(neos) wine into new(kainos) wineskins, and both are preserved. (So, I suppose the point here would be that the wineskins don’t have to be new as in just made, but new as in the quality of them. Whereas the wine would be new as in freshly made. It’s a little difference that doesn’t come through in the English.)
Verses:
Matthew 26:29 NASB But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.
Mark 1:27 NIV The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching–and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”
Luke 22:20 KJV Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Many versions use covenant for testament.)
John 13:34 ESV A new command I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
John 19:41 NASB Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
Acts 17:19 NIV Then they took him (Paul) and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?”
1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Galatians 6:15 NIV Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.
Ephesians 4:24 NASB and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Hebrews 9:15 ESV For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
2 Peter 3:13 KJV Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
1 John 2:7-8 NASB Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.
2 John 1:5 NIV And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.
Revelation 2:17 ESV He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Revelation 3:12 KJV Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Revelation 5:9 NIV And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Revelation 14:3 ESV And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Revelation 21:1-2 NASB Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:5 NIV He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
The G/K number for kainos is 2785.
The Strong’s number for kainos is 2537.
