Semantic Range and Overarching Idea

While the specific lexical data are available elsewhere, all three New Testament uses convey the notion of an agent causing something weighty—most often judgment—to come down upon a target. The verb is causative, focusing on responsibility: someone’s action precipitates an outcome that must be faced.

Occurrences in the New Testament

1. Acts 5:28 – human rulers worried about being charged with blood-guilt.
2. 2 Peter 2:1 – false teachers incur ruin by their own heresies.
3. 2 Peter 2:5 – God Himself unleashes the flood on a corrupt world.

Acts 5:28 – Corporate Accountability for Innocent Blood

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

The Sanhedrin fears Peter’s preaching will press the charge of Jesus’ death squarely onto the leaders. Epagō highlights moral causation: if the apostles keep proclaiming Christ’s innocence, the authorities cannot evade the verdict that they stand liable. The text underscores a biblical principle stretching from Genesis 4:10 through Revelation 6:10—innocent blood cries out, demanding redress.

2 Peter 2:1 – Self-Inflicted Judgment on False Teachers

“They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.”

Here the verb shifts from external accusation to self-inflicted ruin. By smuggling in heresies, deceivers pull the penalty down upon their own heads. Peter’s warning echoes Old-Testament regulations that impose the penalty on the instigator of idolatry (Deuteronomy 13). The immediacy of “swift destruction” reminds the church that doctrinal error carries inevitable consequences, even if temporal judgment appears delayed.

2 Peter 2:5 – Divine Intervention in Universal Judgment

“…if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people…”

Epagō now portrays God as the active subject. The verb frames the Flood not as a random catastrophe but as a purposeful act of justice. Noah’s preservation amid the deluge shows that while judgment falls inexorably, grace remains available to the righteous. The verse also furnishes the backbone for Peter’s eschatological argument: because God once brought judgment on a global scale, He will again intervene definitively at the end of the age (2 Peter 3:5–7).

Theological Themes

• Moral causation: actions inevitably summon repercussions under God’s moral order.
• Blood-guilt and atonement: Acts 5:28 points forward to the only effective removal of guilt—the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:14).
• The peril of doctrinal deviation: 2 Peter 2:1 links false teaching with destruction, reinforcing apostolic calls to guard “the faith once for all delivered” (Jude 3).
• Divine sovereignty in judgment: 2 Peter 2:5 assures believers that history is never out of God’s hands; He both restrains and releases judgment according to His righteousness.

Historical and Intertextual Resonances

• Jewish legal thought regarded the shedding of innocent blood as contaminating the land (Numbers 35:33). Acts 5:28 presupposes that worldview.
• Second-Temple literature (e.g., 1 Enoch) uses Flood imagery to warn later generations, paralleling Peter’s argument.
• Early Christian catechesis employed Noah as a typological forerunner of baptism (1 Peter 3:20–21), further linking epagō with themes of judgment and salvation.

Ministry and Pastoral Significance

• Preaching: The verb reinforces the preacher’s duty to expose sin while offering the remedy in Christ; refusing to proclaim truth leaves hearers unaware of impending judgment.
• Church discipline: Elders must guard doctrine, remembering that tolerated heresy “brings” ruin on the body.
• Evangelism: Just as Noah served as a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), believers today announce both judgment and rescue.
• Personal holiness: Recognizing the causative chain between sin and consequence motivates vigilance and dependence on grace.

Practical Applications

1. Examine teaching for fidelity to apostolic truth; error is never harmless.
2. Cultivate a corporate conscience that refuses to shift blame for innocent blood—whether historical (the cross) or contemporary (modern injustices).
3. Anchor hope in God’s proven ability to preserve the righteous amid sweeping judgment.
4. Let every act of witness, like Peter’s in Jerusalem, magnify Christ’s innocence and saving power, even when authorities resist.

Summary

Epagō threads together scenes of human culpability, falsehood’s suicide, and divine retribution. Each occurrence calls the reader to reckon with spiritual cause and effect. Whether spoken by anxious rulers, warned by an apostle about wolves in sheep’s clothing, or narrated in the account of the Flood, the verb insists: what one brings about must eventually be faced—unless covered by the mercy found in Jesus Christ.