Quick Definition
θρησκεία, ας, ἡ n.f. ritual worship, religion
Strong's Definition
from a derivative of 2357; ceremonial observance
KJV Usage: religion, worshipping
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, f. | -ας | θρησκός
53.1 · Religious Activities · Religious Practice
religion, piety appropriate beliefs and devout practice of obligations relating to supernatural persons and powers In a number of languages there is no specific term equivalent to ‘religion,’ but one may always speak of this phase of culture by some phrase such as ‘how to act toward God’ or ‘what one does to placate spirits’ or ‘how one worships.’
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
θρησκεία thrēskeia 4x
religious worship, Col. 2:18; religion, a religious system, Acts 26:5; religion, piety, Jas. 1:26, 27*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
**† θρησκεία (-κία, T), -ας, ἡ
(< θρῆσκος), [in LXX: Wi 14:18, 27, Si 22:5 A, IV Mac 5:6, 13*;]
religion in its external aspect (MM, Exp., xv), worship: Ac 26:5, Ja 1:26, 27; θ. τῶν ἀγγέλων, Col 2:18.†
SYN.: v.s. θρῆσκος.
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
θρησκεία. As against the common idea that θρησκεία means only ritual, Hort (on Jas 135) has shown that the underlying idea is simply ‘‘ reverence of the gods or worship of the gods, two sides of the same feeling ”—a feeling which, however, frequently finds expression in θρησκεῖαι or ritual acts. Of this use of the plur. a good example occurs in a ii/A.D. Rainer papyrus published by Wessely (A@ranzs, p- 56) where precautions are taken πρὸς τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ .. - ἵνα μήκετι αἱ τῶν θεῶν θρησκεῖαι ἐμποδίζοί--- οὐνται (cf. 1 Macc οδδ): see also another Rainer papyrus, Chrest. I. 721° (a.D. 234), where it is reported—pmSéva δὲ τῶν ἱερέω[ν ἢ] ἱερωμένων ἐνκαταλελοιπέναι τὰς [θρ]ησκείας, and cf. the curious inser. from Talmis in Nubia, 7d. 7319 (A.D. 247-8), where the strategus gives orders that all ‘‘swine” should be driven out of the village—mpds τὸ δύνασθαι τὰ περὶ τὰ ἱερὰ θρήσκια κατὰ τὰ νενομισμένα γείνεσθαι. In the Delphic inscr., first published by Bourguet De γεύμς Delphicis, 1905, p. 63f., which has proved of such importance in dating Gallio’s proconsulship, and consequently in fixing a point in the Pauline chronology (see s.v. Γαλλίων), the words érerfpyfoa δὲ τὴ]ν θρησκεί[αν τ]οῦ “Amd[ANwvos] | τοῦ Πυϑίου are put into the mouth of the Emperor Tiberius, | to which Deissmann (.S¢. Paz/, p. 251) furnishes a parallel from the same source in a letter of Hadrian’s to Delphi: καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀρχαιότητα τῆ]ς πόλεως Kal εἰς τὴν τοῦ κατέχοντος αὐτὴν θεοῦ θρησ]κείαν ἀφορῶν (Bourguet, p- 78). We may add Sy/ 65648 (Ephesus—ii/A.D.) which describes | as θρησκεία the keeping of the month Artemision as sacred to the tutelary goddess, OG/S 51318 (beginning of iii/A.D.) in honour of a priestess—etoeBGs πᾶσαν θρησκείαν ἐκτελέσα- | σαν τῇ θεῷ, and the interesting passage quoted by C. Taylor (Exp T xvi. p. 334) in illustration of Jas 17° from the end of c. 12 of the Ποιμάνδρης of Hermes Trismegistos—Kat τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ θεός, TO πᾶν . . . τοῦτον τὸν λόγον, ὦ τέκνον, προσκύνει καὶ θρήσκευε. θρησκεία δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ μία ἐστί, μὴ εἶναι κακόν, ‘Set hoc deus est, universum . . . hoc verbum, o fili, adora et cole. Cultus autem dei unus est, malum non esse” (ed. Parthey, Berlin, 1854). For the verb see derives the Ionic word from the root of θεράπων, θεραπεύω : cf. θρόνος.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
θρησκεία (thrēskeia) — religion. θρησκ-εία, Ionic dialect θρησκ-είη, ἡ, (θρησκεύω) religious worship, cult, ritual, ἡ περὶ τὰ ἱρὰ θ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]: plural, rites, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
2. religion, service of God, [LXX+NT]; ἑκατέρα θ., i.e. Christianity and Paganism, [Refs 4th c.AD+]; θ. τῶν ἀγγέλων worshipping of angels, [NT]
3. in bad sense, religious formalism, ἀντὶ ὁσιότητος [Refs 1st c.AD+]; θ. βιωτική vulgar superstition, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]