Lexicon :: Strong's G112 - atheos

ἄθεος, -όν, (θεός) [from Pindar down], without God, knowing and worshipping no God, in which sense Aelian v. h. 2, 31 declares ὅτι μηδεὶς τῶν βαρβάρων ἄθεος; in classic authors generally slighting the gods, impious, repudiating the gods recognized by the state, in which sense certain Greek philosophers, the Jews (Josephus, contra Apion 2, 14, 4), and subsequently Christians were called ἄθεοι by the heathen (Justin, Apology 1, 13, etc. On the application of the term to Christians by the heathen see Bp. Lghtft.'s note on Ign. ad Trall. 3, vol. ii. p. 160.). In Ephesians 2:12 of one who neither knows nor worships the true God; so of the heathen (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:5; Galatians 4:8); Clement, Alex. protr, 2:23, p. 19 Pott. ἀθέους... οἱ τὸν ὄντως ὄντα θεὸν ἠγνοήκασι, Philo, leg. ad Gai. § 25 αἰγυπτιακὴ ἀθεότης, Hosea 4:15 Symm. οἶκος ἀθεΐας, a house in which idols are worshipped, Ignatius ad Trall. 10 ἄθεοι τουτέστιν ἄπιστοι (of the Docetae); [others understand Ephesians, the passage cited passively deserted of God, Vulg. sine Deo; on the various meanings of the word see Meyer (or Ellicott)].