StrongerBible

antikeimai

ἀντίκειμαι

GreekG0480“adversary, oppose, ...”

Appears 8 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Luk 13:17Luk 21:151Co 16:9Gal 5:17Php 1:282Th 2:41Ti 1:101Ti 5:14
Compound of
antiἀντίfor22G473
keimaiκεῖμαιto lay/be appointed26G2749
Word studyResearch-gradean-TEE-kay-myverb

What antikeimai means

to be set against someone or something: to stand opposed, resist, or run contrary

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its root this is a plain word for opposition: one thing set against another. It can describe forces or ideas pulling in opposite directions, and it can describe people who take a stand against someone. English reaches for several words to carry it (oppose, be contrary to, opponent, adversary), but the underlying picture stays the same: one side set over against the other.

When the word points to people, it usually names concrete human opponents:

  • the religious leaders shamed when Jesus heals on the Sabbath
  • the hostile authorities disciples will face
  • the many who resist Paul's work at Ephesus

Greek often turns the verb into a noun, so it reads like a label, "the ones opposing," or simply "the opponents."

In a few places the word carries a heavier charge. The Greek Old Testament had used it to translate the Hebrew vocabulary of enemies, including the word for the accuser (Satan). So when Paul describes an end-time figure who "opposes and exalts himself" over everything called god, the term borrows that adversarial weight. Even then it never becomes a proper name for the devil in the New Testament; that fixed usage appears only in later Christian writers.

Nuances

1ato stand opposed or run contrary: two forces, or a thing and a standard, set against each other
Gal 5:171Ti 1:10
1ban opponent or adversary: a person or group actively set against someone
Luk 13:17Luk 21:151Co 16:9Php 1:281Ti 5:14
1Ti 5:14

Whether "the adversary" (τῷ ἀντικειμένῳ) in 1 Timothy 5:14 designates Satan or a human outside critic of the church.

  • majorityA human outside opponent ready to slander the church, since the surrounding concern is reputation and reviling, Paul uses the explicit names for the devil elsewhere when he means the devil, and the separate mention of Satan in the next verse distinguishes the two.; Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC), s.v. 1 Tim 5:14; Mounce, Pastoral Epistles (WBC), s.v. 1 Tim 5:14; Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (NICNT), s.v. 1 Tim 5:14
  • minoritySatan, on the strength of the reference to Satan in the next verse and the comparison with 1 Peter 5:8, where the same idea of an adversary is applied to the devil.; BDAG, s.v. ἀντίκειμαι; EDNT, s.v. ἀντίκειμαι
1cthe one who sets himself against God: an end-time adversary who exalts himself over all worship
2Th 2:4

What scholars say about antikeimai

The lexica agree on a single core sense that widens by register. LSJ groups the verb spatially ("lie opposite"), technically (Aristotle's τὰ ἀντικείμενα, the logical "opposites" of Categories 10), and personally ("resist, be adverse"), citing Exodus 23:22 LXX and Luke 13:17 for the last. BDAG collapses these into "be opposed to, be against" and treats the substantival participle ὁ ἀντικείμενος / οἱ ἀντικείμενοι as "adversary, opponent, enemy," flagging 1 Timothy 5:14 as possibly Satan and 2 Thessalonians 2:4 as the eschatological anti-God figure. Louw-Nida assigns every New Testament instance to domain 39.1 (Hostility, Strife). The decisive background is the Septuagint, where ἀντίκειμαι renders the Hebrew vocabulary of enmity (שטן, צרר, איב): Exodus 23:22 ("I will be an adversary to your adversaries"), Esther 9:2, Isaiah 41:11, and above all Zechariah 3:1, where the accuser's opposing action is rendered by the infinitive τοῦ ἀντικεῖσθαι, with Theodotion's Job going further and rendering הַשָּׂטָן itself as ὁ ἀντικείμενος. Büchsel (TDNT 3:654), EDNT, and NIDNTTE sort the eight New Testament occurrences into ethical (Gal 5:17), doctrinal (1 Tim 1:10), human opposition to the gospel (Luke 13:17; 21:15; 1 Cor 16:9; Phil 1:28), and Satan/antichrist territory (1 Tim 5:14; 2 Thess 2:4). Commentators on 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (Wanamaker, Malherbe, Beale, Best, Bruce, Weima) read ὁ ἀντικείμενος as the "man of lawlessness" modeled on Daniel 11:36 LXX, empowered by but distinct from Satan (2:9); Peerbolte and Nicholl place the figure in the continuous Beliar tradition. On 1 Timothy 5:14 the lexica (BDAG, TDNT, EDNT, NIDNTTE) lean toward Satan on the strength of the following verse, while the modern commentary tradition (Marshall, Knight, Mounce, Towner, Johnson, Collins) leans toward a human outside critic, some allowing the ambiguity is deliberate. Galatians 5:17 is the flagship text of the "apocalyptic Paul" debate over whether flesh and Spirit are cosmic powers (Martyn, de Boer) or orientations within the believer (Bruce, Moo), though that dispute concerns σάρξ and πνεῦμα rather than this verb, whose sense of mutual opposition is not itself in question.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. ἀντίκειμαιlexicon
  • BDAG, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd ed., s.v. ἀντίκειμαιlexicon
  • Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, 39.1lexicon
  • Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἀντίκειμαιlexicon
  • Büchsel, "κεῖμαι κτλ.," TDNT 3:654theological-dictionary
  • EDNT, s.v. ἀντίκειμαιtheological-dictionary
  • Silva, NIDNTTE, s.v. ἀντίκειμαιtheological-dictionary
  • Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT), on 1 Cor 16:9commentary
  • Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC), on 1 Cor 16:9commentary
  • Martyn, Galatians (Anchor Bible), on Gal 5:17commentary
  • Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians (NIGTC), on Gal 5:17commentary
  • Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (NIGTC), on 2 Thess 2:4commentary
  • Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC), on 1 Tim 5:14commentary
  • Mounce, Pastoral Epistles (WBC), on 1 Tim 5:14commentary
  • Peerbolte, The Antecedents of Antichrist (Brill, 1996)monograph
  • Nicholl, From Hope to Despair in Thessalonica (SNTSMS 126)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of ἀντίκειμαι

present middle-or-passive participle nominative m p

ἀντικείμενοι

Luk 13:17, Luk 21:15, 1Co 16:9

present middle-or-passive indicative 3s

ἀντίκειται

Gal 5:17, 1Ti 1:10

present middle-or-passive participle dative m s

ἀντικειμένῳ

1Ti 5:14

present middle-or-passive participle genitive m p

ἀντικειμένων

Php 1:28

present middle-or-passive participle nominative m s

ἀντικείμενος

2Th 2:4