☀️
← Back to Lexicon
G1113 · Greek · New Testament
γογγυστής
goggystes
Noun, masculine
grumbler, murmurer, complainer

Definition

Goggystes (γογγυστής) is the agent noun of goggyzo — a grumbler or chronic murmurer. It appears only once in the New Testament (Jude 16), where Jude characterizes the false teachers invading the church as 'grumblers and fault-finders [goggystai].' This is one of the sharpest condemnations in the New Testament epistles.

Usage & Theological Significance

Jude's use of goggystes links the false teachers to the most rebellious figures in Israel's history. The wilderness generation's murmuring against God led to judgment (Numbers 11, 14, 16–17). Jude sees the same spirit in the antinomian teachers of his day — people who grumble against spiritual authority, follow their own desires, and flatter others for personal gain (Jude 16). Grumbling, when it becomes a character trait, is a theological problem: it reveals a heart that has not surrendered to God's goodness. The antidote is not suppression but transformation — the grateful heart cannot chronically grumble.

Key Bible Verses

Jude 1:16 These people are grumblers [goggystai] and fault-finders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
Numbers 14:2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, 'If only we had died in Egypt!'
Numbers 16:11 It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?
1 Corinthians 10:10 And do not grumble, as some of them did — and were killed by the destroying angel.
James 5:9 Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged.

Related Words

External Resources

🌙
☀️