ἀπʼ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἀπʼ

   ap

   from
2. sentence🔊 ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν γνώσεται περὶ τῆς διδαχῆς πότερον ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν ἢ ἐγὼ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ λαλῶ

   e-AN tis THE-lêi TO THE-lê-ma au-TOU poi-EIN GNO-se-tai pe-RI TÊS di-da-KHÊS PO-te-ron ek TOU the-OU es-tin Ê e-GÔ ap e-mau-TOU la-LÔ

   if anyone wants to do his {the} will will know about {the} teaching whether from {the} God is or I from myself speak

Exegesis

The particle poteron {πότερον | pó-te-ron} introduces an indirect question structured around two alternatives, joined by ē {ἢ | ē}: ek tou theou estin {ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν | ek toû theoû é-stin}, “whether it is from God,” or egō ap’ emautou lalō {ἐγὼ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ λαλῶ | egṓ ap’ e-mau-toû la-lô}, “or I speak from Myself.” The prepositions ek and ap mark a sharp contrast of origin, divine versus merely human. In translation, the Greek word order is slightly smoothed so that the conditional clause precedes the main clause, and the indirect question is rendered with “whether” and “or whether,” preserving the sense of testing the source of the teaching while maintaining natural English syntax.

Root and etymology

kteino🔊 κτείνωkappa tau epsilon iota nu omega

“to kill, slay”