Original Word: συνεσθίω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: sunesthió
Pronunciation: soon-es-thee'-o
Phonetic Spelling: (soon-es-thee'-o)
KJV: eat with
NASB: ate, eat, eats
Word Origin: [from G4862 (σύν - along) and G2068 (ἐσθίω - eat) (including its alternate)]

1. to take food in company with

eat with.

From sun and esthio (including its alternate); to take food in company with -- eat with.

see GREEK sun

see GREEK esthio

Word Origin
from sun and esthió
Definition
to eat with
NASB Translation
ate (2), eat (2), eats (1).

STRONGS NT 4906: συμφάγω

συμφάγω, see συνεσθίω.

STRONGS NT 4906: συνεσθίωσυνεσθίω; imperfect συνήσθιον; 2 aorist συνέφαγον; to eat with, take food together with (cf. σύν, II. 1): τίνι, with one, Luke 15:2; Acts 10:41; Acts 11:3; 1 Corinthians 5:11 (2 Samuel 12:17); μετά τίνος, Galatians 2:12; Genesis 43:31; Exodus 18:12 (cf. Winers Grammar, § 52, 4, 15). (Plato, Plutarch, Lucian).

Root Sense and Semantic Field

The verb carries the nuance of intentionally sharing a meal, implying welcome, identification, and mutual participation. In Scripture the act of eating together regularly marks covenant relationship, hospitality, and the recognition of shared standing before God.

Occurrences in Scripture

• Luke 15:2 – Religious leaders complain that Jesus “eats with” tax collectors and sinners.
• Acts 10:41 – Chosen witnesses “ate and drank with” the risen Lord, underscoring bodily resurrection and apostolic credibility.
• Acts 11:3 – Critics confront Peter: “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them,” highlighting the controversy surrounding Gentile inclusion.
• Galatians 2:12 – Peter “used to eat with the Gentiles” until pressure from Jerusalem caused withdrawal, revealing the tension between gospel liberty and ethnic prejudice.
• 1 Corinthians 5:11 – The church must refuse to “even eat” with a professed believer persisting in unrepentant sin, guarding holiness within the fellowship.

Table Fellowship in First-Century Culture

Sharing a meal signified far more than consuming food; it created an atmosphere of equality, loyalty, and friendship. In Jewish tradition, table fellowship was bounded by ceremonial cleanness, making an invitation an implicit declaration of acceptance. Greco-Roman banquets similarly expressed social status and alliance. Against this backdrop the New Testament uses 4906 to expose and dismantle barriers antithetical to the gospel.

Gospel Implications

1. Mission to Sinners (Luke 15:2) – Jesus’ willingness to eat with moral outcasts embodies divine mercy, signaling that repentance, not pedigree, grants access to the kingdom.
2. Resurrection Witness (Acts 10:41) – Apostles eating with the risen Christ affirms His physical return from death and establishes eyewitness testimony as the foundation of proclamation.
3. Jew-Gentile Unity (Acts 11:3; Galatians 2:12) – The Spirit’s inclusion of Gentiles demands shared tables. Peter’s vacillation in Antioch reveals how cultural pressure can obscure gospel truth, but Paul’s rebuke shows that justification by faith necessarily produces ethnic reconciliation.
4. Church Discipline (1 Corinthians 5:11) – The same table that welcomes repentant sinners must refuse obstinate hypocrites, preserving the purity of the Lord’s people and warning the unrepentant.

Theological Themes

• Justification and Equality – Food laws and ethnic customs cannot divide those justified in Christ; meal-sharing concretely demonstrates unity.
• Holiness and Separation – Refusal to eat with a false brother distinguishes the church from the world and calls the offender to repentance.
• Incarnation and Resurrection – Eating underscores the real humanity of Jesus both before and after the resurrection.
• Eschatological Foretaste – Every faithful shared meal anticipates the marriage supper of the Lamb, where redeemed humanity will dine together without division.

Ministry Applications

1. Hospitality as Evangelism – Inviting unbelievers to the table reflects Christ’s outreach and opens doors for gospel conversations.
2. Multicultural Fellowship – Congregations should model Antioch by crossing cultural lines at potlucks, small groups, and communion, embodying the unity Christ purchased.
3. Church Discipline – Elders must have courage to withdraw table fellowship from unrepentant professing believers, upholding both love and purity.
4. Communion Practice – The Lord’s Supper, the church’s central meal, demands self-examination and mutual acceptance, mirroring the lessons embedded in 4906.

Pastoral Considerations

• Guard against partiality; evaluate whether social preferences influence whom believers invite to their homes.
• Teach the congregation the difference between Christlike hospitality to sinners and compromise with sin inside the body.
• Use shared meals to comfort the grieving, disciple the young, and integrate newcomers, reflecting the early church’s rhythm of “breaking bread from house to house.”

Christological Insight

Jesus’ pattern of eating with sinners both before and after the resurrection displays His identity: the seeking Shepherd, the atoning Lamb, and the triumphant, embodied Lord. Whenever believers “eat with” one another in His name, they bear witness that He still receives sinners and that His resurrection life forms a new family.

συμφαγείν συνεσθιει συνεσθίει συνεσθιειν συνεσθίειν συνεφαγεν συνέφαγεν συνέφαγες συνεφαγομεν συνεφάγομεν συνησθιεν συνήσθιεν sunephages sunephagomen sunesthiei sunesthiein sunesthien sunēsthien synephages synéphages synephagomen synephágomen synesthiei synesthíei synesthiein synesthíein synesthien synēsthien synḗsthienInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts