4509. rhupos

Lexical Summary

rhupos: Filth, dirt, impurity

Original Word: ῥύπος
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: rhupos
Pronunciation: HROO-pos
Phonetic Spelling: (hroo'-pos)
KJV: filth
NASB: dirt
Word Origin: [of uncertain affinity]

1. dirt
2. (morally) depravity

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

filth.

Of uncertain affinity; dirt, i.e. (morally) depravity -- filth.

HELPS Word-studies

4509 rhýpos (a masculine noun) – properly, "grease-filth," soiling all it touches; (figuratively) uncleanness that results from doing what is morally unfit, i.e. what is unacceptable because (morally) filthy (LS).

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
a prim. word
Definition
filth
NASB Translation
dirt (1).

Thayer's Greek Lexicon

STRONGS NT 4509: ῤύπος

ῤύπος, ῤύπου, ὁ, from Homer down,filth: 1 Peter 3:21 (Buttmann, § 151, 14; Winer's Grammar, § 30, 3 N. 3).

Topical Lexicon

Essential Idea: Physical Dirt as a Figure for Moral Defilement

The noun ῥύπος identifies ordinary grime that clings to the body or clothing. Scripture elevates the term, making bodily uncleanness a vivid picture of sin’s deeper stain. In 1 Peter 3:21 the word becomes a foil: baptism is not about “the removal of dirt from the body” but about the inner transformation God alone accomplishes.

Old Testament Foundations of Cleansing

• Leviticus repeatedly links outward washing with restored fellowship (Leviticus 15:5-11; Leviticus 16:30).
• Prophets turn the imagery toward moral renewal: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean” (Isaiah 1:16).
• Psalm 51:2 pleads, “Wash me from my iniquity,” binding tangible washing to spiritual forgiveness.

New Testament Usage: 1 Peter 3:21 in Its Context

Peter has just spoken of Noah, whose family “was saved through water” (1 Peter 3:20). He immediately clarifies that Christian baptism saves, “not the removal of dirt (ῥύπος) from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”. The verse insists:

1. Water alone cannot cleanse the conscience.
2. Salvation rests on Christ’s resurrection, which baptism publicly identifies.
3. The outward rite gains meaning only when it expresses an inward pledge (ἐπερώτημα) worked by grace.

Theological Significance

1. Ceremonial insufficiency—Hebrews 9:13-14 contrasts animal-blood washings with Christ’s blood that “purifies our conscience.”
2. Regeneration—Titus 3:5 speaks of the “washing of new birth,” the Spirit’s act, not external scrubbing.
3. Sanctification—Ephesians 5:26 describes Christ cleansing the Church “by the washing with water through the word,” showing preach­ing and baptism together point to a life-long cleansing.

Filth and Conscience

ῥύπος stresses what baptism does not do; the conscience is cleansed not by water but by divine verdict (Romans 8:1). The believer’s appeal is for God to apply Christ’s finished work. Thus the term guards against sacramentalism while still affirming baptism’s ordained place.

Historical Reception

• Early apologists such as Justin Martyr underscored inner renewal over external ablution.
• Augustine warned against trusting in “the water outside you” rather than the Spirit who works within.
• Reformers echoed Peter’s distinction, affirming sola fide yet preserving baptism as commanded testimony.

Pastoral and Discipleship Applications

1. Evangelism—emphasize that no ritual, however biblical, substitutes for faith in the risen Lord.
2. Catechesis—teach candidates that baptism testifies to cleansing already granted in Christ.
3. Counseling—remind believers battling guilt that the conscience is purified by blood, not by re-baptism or human penance.

Illustrations for Teaching

• Washing hands removes surface dirt but cannot touch the bloodstream; likewise, only Christ’s atonement reaches the heart.
• Noah’s flood eliminated worldly corruption; baptism signals that the old self has been judged and a new creation begun.

Related Passages

Psalm 51:7; Isaiah 4:4; Ezekiel 36:25; Matthew 23:25-26; John 13:8-10; Acts 22:16; 2 Corinthians 7:1; James 1:21; Revelation 7:14.

Summary

Strong’s Greek 4509, ῥύπος, appears once yet carries weighty theological freight. Scripture uses the humble notion of bodily grime to caution that external rites, however sacred, must never eclipse the cleansing effected by the resurrected Christ. True purity flows from the cross, is sealed by the Spirit, and is joyfully proclaimed in baptism.

Forms and Transliterations

ρύπον ρυπου ρύπου ῥύπου ρύπω rhypou rhýpou rupou

Englishman's Concordance

1 Peter 3:21 N-GMS
GRK: σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπου ἀλλὰ συνειδήσεως
NAS: you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh,
KJV: the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
INT: of flesh a putting away of [the] filth but of a conscience

Strong's Greek 4509
1 Occurrence

ῥύπου — 1 Occ.