4.6.1 - Stephanos

The Greek word for crown is Stephanos in the following passages:

Jesus’ crown of thorns (Mtt. 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5).
Man crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:7).
Jesus crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9).
Paul’s Philippian believers (Php. 4:1).
Paul’s Thessalonian believers (1Th. 2:19).
The Twenty-Four Elders (Rev. 4:4 +, 10 +).
The rider on the white horse (Rev. 6:2 +).
Locusts from the abyss (Rev. 9:7 +).
Woman with twelve stars (Rev. 12:1 +).
One like the Son of Man (Rev. 14:14 +).
Believer’s Crowns.

Significantly, in instances where the royalty of Jesus is plainly in view (Mtt. 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5), the crown used is not diadēma, but stephanos.

When they had twisted a crown of thorns [ stephanos], they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mtt. 27:29) [emphasis added]

Here the Roman soldiers clearly are mocking Jesus as royalty, yet He is wearing the stephanos. This use is contrary to the assertion that stephanos is a victor’s crown whereas diadēma represents royalty. Hemer explains the use of stephanos for royalty in this situation because the crown of thorns is literally a wreath: “There is certainly no reason for denying στέφανος [stephanos] its most usual sense here. It is ’wreath’, not “diadem”, Kranz, not Krone. The “crown of thorns” is admittedly στέφανος [stephanos] in the evangelists (Mtt. 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5), but that was literally a garland. To the soldiers it meant mock royalty; perhaps to the writers it also implied victory.”¹ But this fails to explain why Jesus is crowned with a stephanos in other contexts where a wreath is not in view (Heb. 2:9; Rev. 14:14 +).

The evidence that the Romans understood Jesus as claiming to be a king and not a victor is overwhelming (Mtt. 27:11, 29, 37; Mark 15:2, 9, 12, 18, 26; Luke 23:3, 37, 38; John 18:33, 39; 19:3, 12, 14, 19, 21). Moreover, Jesus is frequently found wearing the stephanos . Those who assert that the horseman of Rev. 6:2 + cannot be Christ because he is wearing a stephanos need to make this determination from other factors.

Notes

¹ Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), 72.