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International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Answer:

an'-ser: In our English Bible the word "answer" does not always mean a simple reply to a question.

1. In the Old Testament:

Six different words are translated by answer.

(1) It is frequently used where no question has been asked and in such cases it means a word, a statement.

(2) It also means a response (Job 21:34; 34:36).

(3) It often means a declaration or proclamation from God where no question has been asked. See the many passages that read: "The Lord answered and said."

(4) The other words translated "answer" or "answered" in the Old Testament are unimportant shadings and variations.

2. In the New Testament:

The words translated "answer" are not so varied.

(1) It sometimes means an apology, a defense (1Pe 3:15; Ac 24:10,25).

(2) It may mean simply "to say" (Mr 9:6).

(3) It may mean a revelation from God (Ro 11:4).

(4) It is also used to apply to unspoken thoughts of the heart, especially in the sayings of Jesus; also by Peter to Sapphira (Ac 5:8).

Written by G. H. Geberding

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
A-1 Noun Strong's Number: g612 Greek: apokrisis

Answer:

lit., "a separation or distinction," is the regular word for "answer," Luk 2:47; 20:26; Jhn 1:22; 19:9.

A-2 Noun Strong's Number: g610 Greek: apokrima

Answer:

akin to No. 1, denotes a judicial "sentence," 2Cr 1:9, AV, and RV, margin, or an "answer" (RV, text), an answer of God to the Apostle's appeal, giving him strong confidence. In an ancient inscription it is used of an official decision. In a papyrus document it is used of a reply to a deputation.
See SENTENCE.

A-3 Noun Strong's Number: g5538 Greek: chrematismos

Answer:

"a Divine response, an oracle," is used in Rom 11:4, of the answer given by God to Elijah's complaint against Israel. See the verb under CALL.

A-4 Noun Strong's Number: g627 Greek: apologia

Answer:

a "verbal defense, a speech in defense," is sometimes translated "answer," in the AV, Act 25:16; 1Cr 9:3; 2Ti 4:16, all which the RV corrects to "defence." See Act 22:1; Phl 1:7,16; 2Cr 7:11, "clearing." Once it signifies an "answer," 1Pe 3:15. Cp. B, No. 4.
See CLEARING, DEFENCE.

Note: Eperotema, 1Pe 3:21, is not, as in the AV, an "answer." It was used by the Greeks in a legal sense, as a "demand or appeal." Baptism is therefore the ground of an "appeal" by a good conscience against wrong doing.

B-1 Verb Strong's Number: g611 Greek: apokrinomai

Answer:

akin to A, No. 1, above, signifies either "to give an answer to a question" (its more frequent use) or "to begin to speak," but always where something has preceded, either statement or act to which the remarks refer, e.g., Mat 11:25; Luk 14:3; Jhn 2:18. The RV translates by "answered," e.g., Mat 28:5; Mar 12:35; Luk 3:16, where some have suggested "began to say" or "uttered solemnly," whereas the speaker is replying to the unuttered thought or feeling of those addressed by him.

B-2 Verb Strong's Number: g470 Greek: antapokrinomai

Answer:

anti, "against," and No. 1, a strengthened form, "to answer by contradiction, to reply against," is found in Luk 14:6; Rom 9:20.

B-3 Verb Strong's Number: g5274 Greek: hupolambano

Answer:

signifies

(a) "to take or bear up from beneath," Act 1:9;

(b) "to receive," 3Jo 1:8;

(c) "to suppose," Luk 7:43; Act 2:15;

(d) "to catch up (in speech), to answer," Luk 10:30; in sense (d) it indicates that a person follows what another has said, either by controverting or supplementing it.
See RECEIVE, SUPPOSE.

B-4 Verb Strong's Number: g626 Greek: apologeomai

Answer:

cp. A, No. 4, lit., "to talk oneself off from" (apo, "from," lego, "to speak"), "to answer by way of making a defence for oneself" (besides its meaning "to excuse," Rom 2:15; 2Cr 12:19), is translated "answer" in Luk 12:11; 21:14; in Act 19:33, AV and RV both have "made defence;" in Act 24:10; 25:8; 26:1,2, the RV has the verb to make a defence, for the AV, "to answer," and in Act 26:24 for the AV, "spake for himself."
See DEFENCE, EXCUSE, SPEAK.

B-5 Verb Strong's Number: g483 Greek: antilego

Answer:

"to speak against," is rendered "answering again" in the AV of Tts 2:9 (RV, "gainsaying").
See CONTRADICT, DENY, GAINSAY, SPEAK.

B-6 Verb Strong's Number: g4960 Greek: sustoicheo

Answer:

lit., "to be in the same line or row with" (sun, "with," stoichos, "a row"), is translated "answereth to" in Gal 4:25.

Note: Cp. stoicheo, "to walk" (in line), Gal 5:25; 6:16. For hupakouo, rendered to answer in Act 12:13, RV, See HEARKEN, No. 1, Note.

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