The Greek noun antapodosis (ἀνταπόδοσις) means repayment, requital, or reward — the act of rendering back what is due. It appears once in the New Testament in Colossians 3:24, where Paul grounds the motivation for slave-service in the promise of divine reward.
Colossians 3:22–24 is one of the New Testament's most revolutionary social teachings. Paul addresses enslaved workers: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters — since you know that you will receive an inheritance (antapodosis of the inheritance) as a reward from the Lord." The word antapodosis reframes the economics of labor: every act of faithful service, unseen and unrewarded by any human master, is logged in God's account. He who serves faithfully in the smallest role will receive from God a reward proportionate to the faithfulness, not the status, of the service. This principle extends to all Christian work — parenting, ministry, marketplace labor — done unto the Lord.