ἀποκρίνομαι - a teaser for SovereignGrace but open for all

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graceNpeace

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2016
2,180
107
63
#1
Just a word I came across while researching other things...
ἀποκρίνομαι
is a very interesting word with plenty of occurrences in the GNT.

A basic resource will translate it simply as - I answer.
However there is plenty more if one is prepared to dig a little!

ἀποκρίνομαι is a deponent verb. What this means is that is has a middle/passive form but is actually active in meaning.
In classical Greek there is an active form of this verb and it's meaning is along the lines of "separate, select, distinguish".
In its deponent form however it is only used to signify an answer given in verbal form.

The verb itself is a combination of two words:
ἀπό
, which is a preposition meaning "from, out of, away from" and, κρίνω, a verb, which simply means "I judge".

Although, as already stated ἀποκρίνομαι does mean "I answer", the context is so much more than simply blurting out word salad as a response to a query. The implication is very much a considered thoughtful response that comes from a thorough sifting and discerning of all the facts at hand.
There is no suggestion that means
ἀποκρίνομαι is a verbal response where the mouth (or pen, or keyboard) is moving faster than the brain!

To give an answer was a weighty issue that demanded a lot of consideration.
This is not to suggest that in all situations that an answer would be delayed while a person thought long and hard about the answer. The answer might be given immediately but would nonetheless express all the hallmarks of a well-considered answer. This approach to verbal expression fits well with the Hellenized culture of the day where philosophical debate was normal and a man could be taken at his word.
This was indeed an era when words meant something!

How different this is to our current culture where hasty and ill-considered "shoot-from-the-hip" one-liners are the norm and the attitude can often be summed up by the phrase "Don't confuse me with facts!"

This is just a very small dip into the world of Koine Greek, a teaser so to speak - not much more than a word study really, but the implications for this forum are indeed undeniable!

 
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SovereignGrace

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2016
5,455
236
63
#2
So, may I ask what the OP is addressing? Thanks in advance.
 

graceNpeace

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2016
2,180
107
63
#3
So, may I ask what the OP is addressing? Thanks in advance.
Well who, is primarily you, but anyone with an interest in Koine is welcome to chip in.

Please do not interpret anything written in the OP as a criticism - rather - in your case - a compliment.
I have been closely watching your answers on several threads and appreciate the thought and insight contained therein.
You might say encapsulating all that ἀποκρίνομαι is meant to mean!
 

SovereignGrace

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2016
5,455
236
63
#4
Well who, is primarily you, but anyone with an interest in Koine is welcome to chip in.

Please do not interpret anything written in the OP as a criticism - rather - in your case - a compliment.
I have been closely watching your answers on several threads and appreciate the thought and insight contained therein.
You might say encapsulating all that ἀποκρίνομαι is meant to mean!
Trust me, I am all too guilty of the 'shooting-from-the-hip' postings. I am not offended at being rebuked, as I see it being in love that someone does that. Brother P4T can attest to what I am about to say. We used to lock horns on another site, he of the sovereign grace stripe and I of the free will flavor. I used to think those guys were lost, as there was no way their God was the God I served. However, the more I debated them, the more ground I lost, biblically speaking. Then one day he posted something about the lost not being free in any way, and that included the will. It was like a 'ding!' went off. That was right. If the will of the lost was not free, then it was enslaved to sin. It went from there to now where I am today.

Another thing, on 6/14/2012, I lost my precious mommy. I posted a thread on the 'Prayer Forum' titled 'She's Gone' and explained that my mommy had died that morning. Then he, preacher4truth, sent me a PM, and I could tell he sent it from his heart. Here was a guy who I had locked horns with, had some snarky comments towards each other, and yet, in one of the worst moments of my life, he reached out to me the best he could, seeing we were 100's of miles apart. I will never forget that. Oh, and my free will companions on that site? I got ZERO PM's from them, yet a rival who I had debated many times before, was the only one to reach out to me.
 

Desdichado

Senior Member
Feb 9, 2014
8,768
837
113
#5
Trust me, I am all too guilty of the 'shooting-from-the-hip' postings. I am not offended at being rebuked, as I see it being in love that someone does that. Brother P4T can attest to what I am about to say. We used to lock horns on another site, he of the sovereign grace stripe and I of the free will flavor. I used to think those guys were lost, as there was no way their God was the God I served. However, the more I debated them, the more ground I lost, biblically speaking. Then one day he posted something about the lost not being free in any way, and that included the will. It was like a 'ding!' went off. That was right. If the will of the lost was not free, then it was enslaved to sin. It went from there to now where I am today.

Another thing, on 6/14/2012, I lost my precious mommy. I posted a thread on the 'Prayer Forum' titled 'She's Gone' and explained that my mommy had died that morning. Then he, preacher4truth, sent me a PM, and I could tell he sent it from his heart. Here was a guy who I had locked horns with, had some snarky comments towards each other, and yet, in one of the worst moments of my life, he reached out to me the best he could, seeing we were 100's of miles apart. I will never forget that. Oh, and my free will companions on that site? I got ZERO PM's from them, yet a rival who I had debated many times before, was the only one to reach out to me.
Sovereign Grace doesn't mind a rebuke
I look upon his stance admiring
In my land he would be made Duke
Were I King

But that doesn't matter
This I will show him
Instead of sympathetic patter
I'd send him an asinine poem
 

Angela53510

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2011
11,780
2,937
113
#6
I think the OP is reading a bit too much into this word. Greek compound words, as I have explained with words, including prefixes, do not always correspond to Word A + Word B = a magnificent joining of two words.

In fact, sometimes, it does mean two words. Other words, can be intensified, or taken in totally different directions. Or sometimes, as in the case of ἀποκρίνομαι, it simply means "I answer." Or, sometimes "I reply." Bauer (BDAG) also has an alternate meaning of "the continuation of discourse" or "to begin, speak up."

Ἀποκρίνομαι is found 231 times in the NT. It appears in the present deponent, the aorist active/middle and the aorist passive.

Sometimes, a word is just a word. And in this case, that is all ἀποκρίνομαι is. A simple word "I answer!" Or often, "Jesus answered!" ἀποκριθεὶς

Oh yes, sometimes ἀποκριθεὶς is found with another word, like λέγω. (lego) So "Jesus answered and said," That is just a form the Greeks liked to use, and it is acceptable to to translate it as "Jesus said" or "Jesus answered."
 

graceNpeace

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2016
2,180
107
63
#7
Trust me, I am all too guilty of the 'shooting-from-the-hip' postings. I am not offended at being rebuked, as I see it being in love that someone does that. Brother P4T can attest to what I am about to say. We used to lock horns on another site, he of the sovereign grace stripe and I of the free will flavor. I used to think those guys were lost, as there was no way their God was the God I served. However, the more I debated them, the more ground I lost, biblically speaking. Then one day he posted something about the lost not being free in any way, and that included the will. It was like a 'ding!' went off. That was right. If the will of the lost was not free, then it was enslaved to sin. It went from there to now where I am today.

Another thing, on 6/14/2012, I lost my precious mommy. I posted a thread on the 'Prayer Forum' titled 'She's Gone' and explained that my mommy had died that morning. Then he, preacher4truth, sent me a PM, and I could tell he sent it from his heart. Here was a guy who I had locked horns with, had some snarky comments towards each other, and yet, in one of the worst moments of my life, he reached out to me the best he could, seeing we were 100's of miles apart. I will never forget that. Oh, and my free will companions on that site? I got ZERO PM's from them, yet a rival who I had debated many times before, was the only one to reach out to me.
An interesting story, and commiserations about your Mom!

This last post actually proves my point about you!
You held a position, strongly.
Yet when given good evidence for a contrary position you actually considered it, and when it was convincing you changed your position.

Consider the flat-earthers (pardon, the KJVO crowd) that you are currently debating:
For them, evidence and the weighing of evidence is not part of their world.
On of the reasons that I advocate people learning Biblical languages is that silly arguments like the KJVO issue just melt away into irrelevance.
There is nothing like looking at the Biblical Greek or Aramaic, and then at any Bible translation to realize the imperfections and difficulties inherent in any translation, both in a word-for-word sense and in the larger meaning sense as applied to a portions of Scripture that are larger than mere verses or phrases.

In the case of the original KJV given what the translators were working with they did in fact do a superb job, but in no sense of the word could it be called "inspired" as applied to the Christian doctrine of the Inspiration of Scripture.

You and I both know that our view of the world generally, and certainly in the context of Christian doctrine, is incomplete and imperfect.
The whole point of the exercise though is to get closer to God - theology (broad definition) is nothing more than learning about the one who loves you and you love in return:

19 [FONT=&quot]We love Him[/FONT][FONT=&quot][a][/FONT][FONT=&quot] because He first loved us.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 1 John 4:19[/FONT]
 

Angela53510

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2011
11,780
2,937
113
#8
PS. I am all for using Greek and Hebrew, and encouraging people to learn Biblical languages. Strangely, when I looked at the seminary course offerings, I figured I would take all the courses, and then quit before I did Hebrew and Greek.

Instead, I gave Greek a stab, and got caught up with it, and fell in love with Greek. Besides winning the Greek award for top student. But, if you don't speak or read and write English well, nor have a good grammar background, probably a difficult road to walk. A lot of the men not only dropped out of Greek and/or Hebrew, but some dropped out of seminary when they hit Biblical languages, which was a real shame.

Well, one probably shouldn't have been in seminary, till he figured out a way to get the chip off his shoulder, but others had to switch to Master's of Theological Studies and such, which really doesn't make sense to me. I mean, how can you study theology without the Biblical languages? Better to be a pastor than be someone who is a theologian without Greek and Hebrew.

Anyway, I just finished Intermediate Biblical Greek, and my passion for it has been restored. I just need to get that Hebrew back up to snuff, and who knows what will happen? LOL
 

graceNpeace

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2016
2,180
107
63
#9
I think the OP is reading a bit too much into this word. Greek compound words, as I have explained with words, including prefixes, do not always correspond to Word A + Word B = a magnificent joining of two words.

In fact, sometimes, it does mean two words. Other words, can be intensified, or taken in totally different directions. Or sometimes, as in the case of ἀποκρίνομαι, it simply means "I answer." Or, sometimes "I reply." Bauer (BDAG) also has an alternate meaning of "the continuation of discourse" or "to begin, speak up."

Ἀποκρίνομαι is found 231 times in the NT. It appears in the present deponent, the aorist active/middle and the aorist passive.

Sometimes, a word is just a word. And in this case, that is all ἀποκρίνομαι is. A simple word "I answer!" Or often, "Jesus answered!" ἀποκριθεὶς

Oh yes, sometimes ἀποκριθεὶς is found with another word, like λέγω. (lego) So "Jesus answered and said," That is just a form the Greeks liked to use, and it is acceptable to to translate it as "Jesus said" or "Jesus answered."
My little discourse was about much more than just a synthesis of two words, a preposition and and a verb.
Much of my conclusion about the word is based on the fact that the word does have an active form cousin (not found in the GNT) with an interesting and complementary meaning.
There is a shared etymology here that cannot be ignored!
 

graceNpeace

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2016
2,180
107
63
#10
PS. I am all for using Greek and Hebrew, and encouraging people to learn Biblical languages. Strangely, when I looked at the seminary course offerings, I figured I would take all the courses, and then quit before I did Hebrew and Greek.

Instead, I gave Greek a stab, and got caught up with it, and fell in love with Greek. Besides winning the Greek award for top student. But, if you don't speak or read and write English well, nor have a good grammar background, probably a difficult road to walk. A lot of the men not only dropped out of Greek and/or Hebrew, but some dropped out of seminary when they hit Biblical languages, which was a real shame.

Well, one probably shouldn't have been in seminary, till he figured out a way to get the chip off his shoulder, but others had to switch to Master's of Theological Studies and such, which really doesn't make sense to me. I mean, how can you study theology without the Biblical languages? Better to be a pastor than be someone who is a theologian without Greek and Hebrew.

Anyway, I just finished Intermediate Biblical Greek, and my passion for it has been restored. I just need to get that Hebrew back up to snuff, and who knows what will happen? LOL
That is fabulous - I look forward to your erudite exegesis, not only of the Koine, but of the Hebrew/Aramaic as well!
 

Sagart

Senior Member
May 7, 2017
366
29
28
#11
Bauer (BDAG) also has an alternate meaning of "the continuation of discourse" or "to begin, speak up."
The meaning “to begin” or “speak up” is frequently found in the gospels and once in Acts, but the King James Version consistently mistranslates the word ἀποκρίνομαι as “answered,” creating sentences that make no sense because no one was being answered! For example, in the King James Version, we read,

Matthew 26:63. But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

More accurate translations such as the NASB, 1995, give us translations such as this,

Matthew 26:63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

When Jesus kept silent, the high priest began to speak and said….
 

Angela53510

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2011
11,780
2,937
113
#12
The meaning “to begin” or “speak up” is frequently found in the gospels and once in Acts, but the King James Version consistently mistranslates the word ἀποκρίνομαι as “answered,” creating sentences that make no sense because no one was being answered! For example, in the King James Version, we read,

Matthew 26:63. But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

More accurate translations such as the NASB, 1995, give us translations such as this,

Matthew 26:63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

When Jesus kept silent, the high priest began to speak and said….

When a verb adds "began to" with it, it is called the ingressive or inceptive form of the verb. And yes, it is often missed in the KJV and elementary translations. I was working through a Summer Reader last year, and I began to realize that there were so many "he answered" uses of the verb, it was almost boring. Second semester, we really got into the use of things like the ingressive, and it really makes the meanings a lot deeper. Without changing the meanings of the word!

As for a preposition and a verb having a deeper meaning, obviously in some cases, it does. But I do not think ἀποκρίνομαι is one of those verbs. The fact is, sometimes "answer" is just "answer." As for early Church literature, I have only touched on that! Another level above my pay grade. It was the last passage we had to translate, and didn't even appear on the final, as the prof decided it was too difficult.

And Hebrew is going to take a lot of work, before I can share insight again. Marc was our resident Hebrew expert, and he hasn't been around much lately, sadly!
 

Zmouth

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2012
3,391
134
63
#13
The meaning “to begin” or “speak up” is frequently found in the gospels and once in Acts, but the King James Version consistently mistranslates the word ἀποκρίνομαι as “answered,” creating sentences that make no sense because no one was being answered! For example, in the King James Version, we read,

[FONT=&quot]Matthew 26:63. But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.[/FONT]

More accurate translations such as the NASB, 1995, give us translations such as this,

[FONT=&quot]Matthew 26:63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”[/FONT]

When Jesus kept silent, the high priest began to speak and said….
[FONT=&quot]Since it is written that he who is of God hears Gods words it is obvious that the KJV translation really messed up inserting that the high priest answered if your Bible says that Jesus remained silent.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
 

SovereignGrace

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2016
5,455
236
63
#14
Well who, is primarily you, but anyone with an interest in Koine is welcome to chip in.

Please do not interpret anything written in the OP as a criticism - rather - in your case - a compliment.
I have been closely watching your answers on several threads and appreciate the thought and insight contained therein.
You might say encapsulating all that ἀποκρίνομαι is meant to mean!
Thank you for the kind words.