He Departed Into A Mountain: A Word Study Of ἈπΕΡΧΟΜΑΙ

Ἀπέρχομαι is one of three cognates of the verb ἔρχομαι (I come, go) that appear over 100 times in the New Testament. The other two are ἐξέρχομαι (I come out, go out) and εἰσέρχομαι (I come in, go in).

Like the other two cognates, the word ἀπέρχομαι is a compound verb that consists of the root word ἔρχομαι and a preposition appended as a prefix, in this case the preposition ἀπό which has the general spatial sense of away from.

DEPARTURES

The primary meaning therefore of ἀπέρχομαι is “I go away from”, hence “I depart”.

In Mark 5:20, the demon possessed man disobeys the instructions of Jesus to go home to his friends and tell them how much the Lord had done for him. Instead ἀπῆλθεν καὶ ἤρξατο κηρύσσειν “he went away and began to proclaim” in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him.

In John 6:22, the crowd sees only one boat and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples but that they ἀπῆλθον “went (had gone) away” alone.

In Matthew 16:4, Jesus, after rebuking the Pharisees and Sadducees for seeking a sign from him, καταλιπὼν αὐτοὺς ἀπῆλθεν “left them and departed”.

Perhaps one the most poignant departures in the Gospels occurs a little later in Matthew 19:22 when the rich young man is told that all he has to do to be perfect is sell all he owns, give the money to the poor and follow Jesus. The young man of course ἀπῆλθεν λυπούμενος “went away sorrowful”.

In addition to applying to people leaving point X for point Y, ἀπέρχομαι in the sense of departure can also apply to the cessation of a state or a condition such as an illness.

In Mark 1:41-42, Jesus stretches out his hand and touches a leper, saying “…, be clean”. καὶ εὐθυς ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ’ αὐτου ἡ λέπρα “and immediately the leprosy left (went away from) him” (similarly in Luke 5:13).

ARRIVALS

There are a few passages within the Gospels where, at first glance, ἀπέρχομαι appears to mean the exact opposite of “I go away from”.

In Mark 3:13, Jesus goes up onto a mountain and calls to him “those who he desired” and ἀπῆλθον πρὸς αὐτόν (they came to him). However, a case can be made that there is a sense of both departure and arrival in this brief phrase. Those whom He called departed from wherever or with whomever they were, and journeyed “to Him” on the mountain.

More difficult to explain is Revelation 10:8-9 where the visionary is told by a voice from heaven to “take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and the land. καὶ ἀπῆλθα πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον…(so I went to the angel). Perhaps a case can be made again for a sense of both departure and arrival but the sense of departure is vestigial at best and, in all probability, non-existent.

There are also passages where ἀπέρχομαι can be translated as simply “go” rather than “go away”. In these cases the verb is followed by a preposition such as εἰς specifying the location.

In Mark 6:36 Jesus orders His disciples to dismiss the crowd ἵνα ἀπελθόντες εἰς κύκλῳ ἀργοὺς καὶ κώμας “to go into the surrounding countryside and villages”. However, I like to think that the meaning of these sorts of passages can easily accommodate a sense of departure in translation e.g. to go away into the surrounding… . A little clumsy perhaps, but not a lot clumsy.

Such are the vagaries of language and one of the reasons you are studying New Testament Greek. Right?

Good News

Ἀπέρχομαι can also be used in the sense of a sort of cumulative departure, such as a spread or transmission of a message.

In Mark 4:24 the fame of Jesus ἀπῆλθεν…εἰς ὅλην τὴν Συρίαν “spread (i.e. went out) into all Syria”.

Bad News

As mentioned, ἀπέρχομαι is a compound verb from ἔρχομαι and ἔρχομαι, pin as many labels on it as you like, is a recalcitrant verb.

It is a verb whose principal parts use multiple roots that involve stem vowel changes. It is a bit of a monster, but monsters can be tamed.

If you sit down and learn these principal parts and their conjugation, your reading of the New Testament will be so much the better for it.