📖 Biblical Definition
Kairos is God's time — not the tick of the clock but the fullness of purpose. Every event in redemptive history unfolds within a kairos: Creation, the Flood, the Exodus, the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, Pentecost, and the final Parousia. The pivotal declaration is Gal 4:4: "But when the fullness of time (τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου) had come, God sent forth his Son." History does not drift — it moves toward appointed moments of divine intervention, and the whole biblical narrative is structured around these kairos moments.
Jesus opens His ministry with an announcement of kairos: "The time (ὁ καιρός) is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). His hour — the hour of the cross — dominates the Gospel of John: "My hour has not yet come" (2:4) gives way to "Father, the hour has come" (17:1). The entire cosmos bends around that kairos. The disciples are called to discern the signs of kairos (Matt 16:3) and to redeem the time, making the most of every opportunity (Eph 5:16; Col 4:5 — ἐξαγοράζεσθε τὸν καιρόν).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Kairos does not appear directly in Webster 1828, as it is a Greek loanword that entered theological and scholarly Eng...
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Kairos does not appear directly in Webster 1828, as it is a Greek loanword that entered theological and scholarly English after his era. However, Webster defines SEASON (the closest English equivalent): "A fit or suitable time; a convenient or proper time or opportunity… To season, in theology, is to render profitable and saving." The concept of "the fit time" — appointed by providence — pervades Webster's treatment of time, opportunity, and providence throughout the dictionary.
📖 Key Scripture
• Mark 1:15 — "The time (καιρός) is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
• Galatians 4:4 — "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law."
• Ephesians 5:15–16 — "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time (ἐξαγοράζεσθε τὸν καιρόν), because the days are evil."
• Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 — "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."
• Romans 13:11 — "You know the time (τὸν καιρόν), that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Western culture is entirely dominated by chronos — productivity metrics, deadlines, schedules, optimized calen...
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Modern Western culture is entirely dominated by chronos — productivity metrics, deadlines, schedules, optimized calendars, time management systems. The result is a civilization that is chronologically busy but kairotically blind. We have no capacity to recognize the appointed moment because we do not believe in a God who appoints moments. History is just one thing after another, not the unfolding of divine purpose toward a promised end.
Even in the church, kairos-awareness has been largely replaced by programming cycles and fiscal years. The prophetic calling to discern "the signs of the times" — to recognize what God is doing now, in this generation — is dismissed as presumptuous or mystical. The result is a church that is always planning and rarely responding, always managing time and never redeeming it. The great irony: the people who have been told that history is moving toward a glorious kairos-fulfillment live as if nothing particularly matters about this specific moment in history.
Usage
• "The Incarnation was not a reaction to human sin — it was a kairos event ordained before the foundation of the world, arriving precisely when God had determined."
• "Paul commands us to redeem the kairos. That means recognizing this specific cultural and historical moment as a God-appointed opportunity for gospel advance — not squandering it on comfort or cowardice."
• "The church that loses kairos-sensitivity loses its prophetic voice. We can only speak to the moment we can see, and we can only see the moment we are watching for."
Related Words
🔗 Related by Strong’s Roots
Entries that share at least one Hebrew/Greek root with this word.