To answer
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G611 names answering or responding, and John uses it as a repeated doorway into conflict, testimony, misunderstanding, and confession. People answer John the Baptist, Jesus answers signs-demanding authorities, Jesus answers Nicodemus with new-birth necessity, and Peter answers Jesus with words of dependence.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀποκρίνομαι (G611) · Open the biblical lexicon
G611 names answering or responding, and John uses it as a repeated doorway into conflict, testimony, misunderstanding, and confession. People answer John the Baptist, Jesus answers signs-demanding authorities, Jesus answers Nicodemus with new-birth necessity, and Peter answers Jesus with words of dependence.
The BSB source-word alignment has 231 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include replied (58), answered (45), vvv (15), - (10), asked (10).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:15. Its strongest book concentrations include John (78), Matthew (55), Luke (46), Mark (30).
This entry includes 5 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G611 names answering or responding, and John uses it as a repeated doorway into conflict, testimony, misunderstanding, and confession. People answer John the Baptist, Jesus answers signs-demanding authorities, Jesus answers Nicodemus with new-birth necessity, and Peter answers Jesus with words of dependence. The word is ordinary, but in John ordinary answers reveal spiritual posture.
Some replies press for credentials, some expose limited categories, and some become confession because Jesus' words have nowhere else to be replaced. G611 therefore helps teachers watch dialogue carefully. A response in John is not filler between events. It often discloses whether the speaker is resisting, asking, misunderstanding, or being drawn toward truth.
G611 marks replies in John that move scenes forward. Answers can expose unbelief, receive correction, open deeper teaching, or confess dependence on Jesus' words.
“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
The delegation answers John the Baptist with narrowing questions. Their reply shows official inquiry pressing for identity categories.
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know.
John answers by pointing away from himself to the One standing among them. His reply protects witness from self-importance.
On account of this, the Jews demanded, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?”
The authorities answer Jesus' temple action by demanding a sign. Their response shows how a true sign can be sought from a resistant posture.
Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
Jesus answers Nicodemus by naming the necessity of new birth. The reply does not flatter partial recognition; it takes him to the deeper need.
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Jesus answers the Samaritan woman by turning the conversation from water to the gift of God and living water.
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Peter answers that Jesus has the words of eternal life. This answer becomes a confession of dependence after many turn away.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. To answer or respond; Hebraically, to begin speaking or introduce new topic in conversation.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 250 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
How this verb appears across 232 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 232 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀποκρίνομαι is built from this root:
Christ’s refusal to answer fulfills servant prophecy.Luke 23:6–12
Hebrew roots and equivalents that share conceptual or etymological ground with this Greek word.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G611 gives teachers a simple but fruitful way to slow down in John. The Gospel is full of conversations where a reply reveals the speaker's spiritual location. John the Baptist answers by refusing center stage and directing attention to Jesus. The temple authorities answer Jesus' sign-act with a demand for proof. Jesus answers Nicodemus by moving from polite recognition to the necessity of new birth.
He answers the Samaritan woman by naming the gift of God. Peter answers after a crisis of discipleship by confessing that Jesus has the words of eternal life. These answers are not interchangeable. They show how words spoken back to Jesus can become resistance, misunderstanding, humble witness, or faith.
John.6.68
G611 commonly introduces a reply. Its pastoral value comes from the surrounding dialogue. In John, track the question or action that caused the answer and the direction the answer moves the scene.
Biblical dialogue often reveals the heart before God, from Adam's answer in the garden to prophets, psalms, and Gospel encounters. John focuses that pattern on how people answer Jesus and His witnesses.