Eschew (1578) ekklino by Greek Word Studies

Turned aside (1578) (ekklino from ek = out, out from + klíno = incline, bend, turn aside or away) basically means to lean in the wrong direction, to bend out of the regular line, to bend away. It means to stir clear of, stay away from, avoid. It means to turn aside or deviate from the right way or course (exemplified by the use in the Septuagint of Malachi 2:8, Deut 5:32) Ekklino was used to describe a soldier’s running the wrong way or deserting. Another secular use describes staying clear of prickly shrubs. Hippocrates used this word to describe a dislocation. Ekklino is used only 3 times in the NT (Rom. 3:12; 16.17" class="scriptRef">16:17; 11" class="scriptRef">1 Pet. 3:11) but 127" class="scriptRef">27" class="scriptRef">27" class="scriptRef">27 times in the Septuagint (LXX) -- Gen. 18:5; 9.2-Gen.19.38" class="scriptRef">19:2f; 38:16; Exod. 10:6; 23:2; Num. 20:17, 21" class="scriptRef">21; 21:22; 22:23, 26, 33" class="scriptRef">33; Deut. 2:27; 32" class="scriptRef">5:32; 16:19; 17:11; 20:3; 4.17" class="scriptRef">24:17; 27:19; 29:18; 31:29; Jos. 1:7; 23:6; Jdg. 2:17; 4:18; 10:16; 14:8; 18:3, 15" class="scriptRef">15; 19:11f, 15; Ruth 4:1; 1 Sam. 8:3; 12:20; 14:7; 15:6; 17:53; 25.14" class="scriptRef">25:14; 2 Sam. 2:19, 21; 3:27; 6:10; 1 Ki. 11:2, 4, 9; 15:5; 16:28; 22:43; 2 Ki. 4:8, 10f; 5:12; 13.9" class="scriptRef">1 Chr. 13:9, 13; 2 Chr. 20:10, 32; 34:2, 33; Neh. 9:19; 13:26; Job 23:11; 24:4; 29:11; 31:7; 34:20, 27; 36:19; 40:2; Ps. 14:3; 17:11; 27:9; 34:14; 37:27; 44:18; 53:3; 55:3; 101:3; 109:23; 119:21, 51, 102, 115, 157; 125:5; 139:19; 141:4; Prov. 1:15; 3:7; 4:15, 27; 5:12; 7:25; 9:4, 16; 10:25; 14:16, 27; 15:24, 27; 16:17; 17:23; 18:5; 24:7; 28:9; Isa. 9:20; 10:2; 66:12; Jer. 5:23, 25; 14:8; 18:14; Lam. 3:35; Ezek. 16:27; Dan. 9:5, 11; Hos. 5:6; Joel 2:7; Amos 2:7; 5:12; Zeph. 1:6; Mal. 2:8; 3:5, 7 Here are the other NT uses... Now urge you, brethren, keep your eye on (skopeo) those who cause dissensions and hindrances (see skandalon) contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away (ekklino - present imperative = continually keep aloof from, shun) from them. (Ro 16:17-note) "(Peter is summing up how a believer is to live in pagan society) AND LET HIM TURN AWAY (aorist imperative = do it now!) FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; LET HIM SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT. (1Peter 3:11-note) (Peter is quoting the Septuagint translation of Ps 34:14) Comment: Notice Peter in staccato-like fashion issues 3 commands, all in aorist imperative, calling for urgent action. Remember that in general the power to carry out the commands in the NT calls for the believer to renounce self effort and rely on Spirit enablement. So even though we do not see the Spirit specifically mentioned, His presence and the need to rely on His power is implicit. And this principle applies to all the NT imperatives, of which there are over 1000 (aorist and present imperatives)! The picture conveyed by ekklino is of one bending aside from one's course -- in this verse in Romans the idea is turning from God's way and in the other two NT uses the idea is "bending aside" at the approach of evil. In short ekklino describes morally deviating from the right path. All (no exceptions except the God-Man Jesus) men are inclined to leave God’s way and pursue their own (cf. Isa 53:6). All have deviated, bent away from, steered clear of and swerved (so as to miss) godliness and virtue. The active voice indicates that the turning away is a deliberate choice and that they have not accidentally lost their way! Spurgeon commenting on the OT Psalm (Ps 14:3) which Paul quotes here, writes "Without exception, all have apostatized from the Lord their Maker, from his laws, and from the eternal principles of fight. Like stubborn heifers they have sturdily refused to receive the yoke; like errant sheep they have found a gap and left the right field...The life of unregenerate humanity is in direct defiance of the law of God." (Treasury of David) This truth is illustrated so clearly by Adam's action to disobey a direct commandment of God "Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life." (Ge 3:17) As discussed above, to "turn aside" indicates a personal choice...so when I was "in Adam", every time I was confronted with Truth and God's righteous demand and provision to make me righteous, I chose to shun that truth, even to eschew it (avoid because one despises or loathes) the result being that I turned away from Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Author and Perfecter of faith! In this life men can choose to "avoid" Jesus to a certain extent but one day " at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Php 2:10,11-note). Ekklino is used to describe Samuel's sons who desired riches over godliness, the text recording that "His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted (LXX = ekklino = they deviated from [imperfect tense describes the fact that they did this over and over]) justice." (1Sa 8:3) In the final NT use, Peter quoting the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT) from Ps 34:14 writes that believers should "turn away from (ekklino) evil and do good...seek peace and pursue it." (1Pe 3:11-note) Ekklino although used only 3 times in the NT is found 122 times in the Septuagint. For example, the psalmist exhorts us to "Depart (ekklino) from evil, and do good, so you will abide forever." (Ps 37:27-note) In another psalm David prays a prayer that would be good for every saint "Do not incline (ekklino) my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies." (Ps 141:4-note) The psalmist writes that "The arrogant utterly deride me, yet I do not turn aside from (ekklino) Thy law." (Ps 119:51-note) "I have not turned aside from (ekklino) Thine ordinances, for Thou Thyself hast taught me." (Ps 119:102-note) "Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, yet I do not turn aside from (ekklino) Thy testimonies." (Ps 119:157-note) ><>><>><> ONE WHO TURNED ASIDE FROM HIS WAY -- The great evangelist Dwight L. Moody told of being asked by the warden of a large prison in New York City to speak to the inmates. Because there was no chapel or other suitable or safe place to speak to the group, he preached from a gangway at one end of a large tier of cells, unable to see the face of a single prisoner. After the message he asked permission to talk face-to-face with some of the men through the bars of their cells. He soon discovered that most of the men had not even been listening to his message. When Moody would ask an inmate why he was in prison, the man almost invariably declared his innocence. He would insist that a false witness testified against him, or that he was mistaken for the person who really committed the crime, or that the judge or jury was prejudiced against him, or he would give some other reason he was unjustly incarcerated. Moody said... “I began to get discouraged, but when I had gotten almost through I found one man with his elbows on his knees and two streams of tears running down his cheeks. I looked in at the little window and said, ‘My friend, what is your trouble?’ He looked up with despair and remorse on his face and said, ‘My sins are more than I can bear.’ I said, ‘Thank God for that.’ ” The evangelist was thankful because he knew that no man is open to God’s way until he forsakes his own way, that he will not seek salvation until he admits he is lost. TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS: hama êchreôthêsan (3PAPI): (Ge 1:31; 6:6,7; Mt 25:30; Philemon 1:11) In his fifth charge Paul makes an incredible statement stating in essence that mankind is useless, unprofitable, of no benefit! Haldane - They have become corrupted, or have rendered themselves useless; for everything that is corrupted loses its use. They are become unfit for that for which God made them; unprofitable to God, to themselves, and to their neighbor. (Haldane, R. An Exposition of Romans) Barnes comments that together indicates that They are as one; they are joined, or united, in this declension. The expression denotes union or similarity. (Barnes Notes on the NT)

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Eschew (1578) ekklino

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