to get all the way there: to reach a place, a person, or a goal, arriving rather than merely drawing close.
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
In older Greek this verb meant to get somewhere first, to beat someone else to a place or to a piece of news. By the time of the New Testament it had mostly relaxed into the simpler idea of just getting there, and the older competitive edge shows up only where the sentence names someone to be ahead of.
What holds all seven New Testament uses together is the end of the trip rather than the trip itself. That is the difference between drawing near and actually landing: the Greek word for approaching (ἐγγίζω) reports that a gap is closing, while this verb reports that the gap is gone.
Israel chased a standard of righteousness and never got to it.
Paul and his team carried the good news all the way to Corinth and not one step short.
The Philippians are told to keep in step with the point they have already reached.
The same finality gives the word its punch when something arrives on people instead of the other way round. Jesus says the rule of God has come upon his hearers, and Paul says the anger of God has come upon those who keep blocking the message: in both, something has actually landed on named people. Only once does the old sense of getting there first survive, where Paul assures the Thessalonians that those still alive at the Lord's coming will not get ahead of the Christians who have already died.
Nuances
1ato reach what you were heading for: to get to a place, or to attain a goal you have been chasing.
TranslatabilityDirect
Rom 9:312Co 10:14Php 3:16
1bof something arriving on people from outside: to come upon them, to land on them.
Mat 12:28*Luk 11:20*1Th 2:16
Mat 12:28
Whether the verb in Matthew 12:28 and its parallel in Luke 11:20 asserts that the kingdom of God had actually arrived in the exorcisms of Jesus, or only that it had reached his hearers without being fully realized.
majorityThe aorist marks accomplished arrival: the kingdom has come upon the hearers, not merely drawn near, so the exorcisms are the kingdom present.; BDAG, s.v. φθάνω; C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom (1935)
minorityThe verb reports arrival but is not precise enough to settle the extent of it; the saying describes a preliminary breaking in of God's rule rather than its consummation.; W. G. Kümmel, Promise and Fulfilment: The Eschatological Message of Jesus (SBT 23; 1957); R. F. Berkey, "ΕΓΓΙΖΕΙΝ, ΦΘΑΝΕΙΝ, and Realized Eschatology," Journal of Biblical Literature 82 (1963)
1cto get there ahead of someone else: to arrive before them.
The Greek says the thing has finished its journey and landed on these particular people, which is the whole force of the sentence.Mat 12:281Th 2:16
Both
Both describe something reaching people from outside rather than something they went out and fetched for themselves.Luk 11:20
Only come upon
In English, coming upon something often suggests a chance discovery, like coming upon a stranger on a path, an accidental note the Greek does not carry.
The English phrase can also sound vague about timing, where the Greek is pointed that the arrival has already happened.
Says the distance has actually been covered and the thing has arrived, so it is rendered "has come upon" or "reached" rather than "is near".Mat 12:28Luk 11:202Co 10:141Th 2:16
Is used of reaching a goal or standard someone was striving for, often translated "attain", which is a target hit rather than a place approached.Rom 9:31Php 3:16
Can mean getting somewhere ahead of someone else, arriving first, so the comparison is between two parties rather than between a traveler and a destination.1Th 4:15
Both
Both are used of God's reign closing in on people in the Gospels, which is why the difference between being near and having arrived matters so much here.Mat 4:17Luk 10:9Mat 12:28Luk 11:20
Both can describe real ground covered toward a place or a group of people, not only a figure of speech.Act 22:6Mrk 11:12Co 10:14
Both are used of trouble bearing down on people, so either can carry a warning about coming judgment.Luk 21:20Luk 21:281Th 2:16
Describes the closing of a gap while the traveler is still on the way, so the destination is in view but not yet reached.Luk 18:35Luk 19:29Act 9:3Luk 24:28
Announces that a promised moment is close at hand, usually rendered "is near" or "is at hand", without claiming it has landed yet.Mat 3:2Mrk 1:15Rom 13:121Pe 4:7Jas 5:8
Can be a summons to move toward God, or a comment on whether people are close to him, so it carries a sense of relationship rather than of distance covered.Jas 4:8Heb 7:19Mat 15:8Heb 10:25
Is used of people moving in on someone, whether to listen to him or to lay hands on him.Luk 15:1Luk 22:47Act 21:33Act 23:15
καταντάωthe word for putting in at a fixed destination at the end of a route, a narrower travel word than this one, which also covers something arriving on people.
It can mean getting there first, ahead of somebody else. Paul promises that believers still alive when the Lord comes will not reach him before the believers who have already died (1 Thessalonians 4:15).1Th 4:15
It is the word for God's kingdom and God's anger arriving on people where they stand, something that overtakes them rather than a place they travel to: the kingdom of God has already come upon you (Matthew 12:28,Luke 11:20), and God's anger has at last caught up with those who kept shutting the message down (1 Thessalonians 2:16).Mat 12:28Luk 11:201Th 2:16
Both
Both can simply say that the trip was finished and the traveler got to the people he was aiming for: Paul reaching Derbe and Lystra (Acts 16:1) and Agrippa reaching Caesarea (Acts 25:13), and Paul reminding the Corinthians that his own work came all the way to them (2 Corinthians 10:14).Act 16:1Act 25:132Co 10:14
Both stretch past geography to reaching a standard or a stage of growth: everyone coming together into full maturity (Ephesians 4:13), Israel running after a right standing it never reached (Romans 9:31), and believers told to keep walking by the ground they have already covered (Philippians 3:16).Eph 4:13Rom 9:31Php 3:16
This is the travel word of Acts, marking one stop after another on a journey by road or by sea: Ephesus (Acts 18:19), Miletus (Acts 20:15), Ptolemais (Acts 21:7), Puteoli (Acts 28:13), and the harbor the sailors hoped to make before winter (Acts 27:12). Its companion word never marks a stage of a trip like this.Act 18:19Act 20:15Act 21:7Act 27:12Act 28:13
It can point at a destination nobody has arrived at yet, spoken of as hope rather than as ground already covered: the promise the tribes of Israel keep hoping to reach (Acts 26:7), and the resurrection of the dead that Paul presses toward without claiming to have got there (Philippians 3:11).Act 26:7Php 3:11
καταλαμβάνωto catch up with what you were chasing and take hold of it, adding a grip on the prize that this word leaves out.
Is the word for covering the distance and getting all the way there, as Paul says his work reached as far as Corinth itself and did not stop short.2Co 10:14
Can mean getting there first, arriving ahead of somebody else, as Paul promises that the living will not go on ahead of those who have already died.1Th 4:15
Marks how far along a road people have already come, with nothing said about holding anything: whatever point we have reached, Paul writes, we should keep walking by that.Php 3:16
Announces the plain fact that something is now here, arrival without any capture: God's kingdom has reached the people listening to Jesus.Mat 12:28Luk 11:20
Both
Both describe reaching a goal that people are chasing, and both can report that the chase came up short. Paul sets them side by side in a single sentence: the nations who were not chasing a right standing with God laid hold of it, while Israel, chasing the law, never got there. He does the same in Philippians 3, where the prize is not yet in his hand and the road is already partly travelled.Rom 9:30Php 3:12Rom 9:31Php 3:16
Both can run the other way round, so that the thing arrives on people rather than people arriving anywhere: a day of reckoning reaching those who are not watching, and God's anger reaching its full measure.1Th 5:41Th 2:16
Pictures a chase that ends in a grip: something gains on what is ahead of it and closes over it, as darkness gains on a traveller who is still walking, and as the night fails to close over the light.Jhn 12:35Jhn 1:5
Used of grabbing a person with brute force, a grip strong enough to throw the body down.Mrk 9:18
Used of catching someone in the act, so the wrongdoing is not merely reported but seized on the spot.Jhn 8:3Jhn 8:4
Reaches into the mind, of taking in a fact until you see how things really stand, which is why English versions here read "perceive" or "comprehend" rather than "arrive".Act 4:13Act 10:34Act 25:25Eph 3:18
When a goal is in view, this word puts it in the hand: the runner closes his fingers on the prize, and Paul says he has not yet got hold of what Christ got hold of him for.1Co 9:24Php 3:12Php 3:13
προφθάνωthe compound built on this verb, whose prefix pins down the getting there first, used of Jesus raising a subject before Peter could bring it up.
phthanō in the other biblical languages
מְטָאAramaic“to reach”the Aramaic verb in Daniel for something reaching its target, a decree landing on a king or a figure brought right up to the throne, which this Greek verb regularly renders.
Only the Greek verb is used of getting somewhere ahead of someone else. Paul promises that believers still alive when the Lord comes will not get there before those who have already died, and he reminds the Corinthians that his team was the first to carry the good news all the way to them.1Th 4:152Co 10:14
Only the Greek verb is used of reaching, or failing to reach, a goal a person has been chasing. Israel ran hard after a standard of righteousness and never arrived at it, and Paul tells the Philippians to keep in line with the point they have already reached.Rom 9:31Php 3:16
Both
The Greek verb is the standard rendering of the Aramaic one. Where Daniel says a sentence from heaven reached the king, the Greek translations of that book reach for this verb, and the New Testament writers use it the same way when Jesus says the kingdom of God has come upon his hearers.Dan 4:24Mat 12:28Luk 11:20
Both are used of something announced beforehand catching up with the people it was aimed at. The decree spoken over Nebuchadnezzar lands on him within the year, and Paul writes that God's anger has at last come upon those who keep blocking the message.Dan 4:281Th 2:16
Both mark the instant something set in motion lands on its target rather than the travelling that got it there. The one coming with the clouds gets all the way to the Ancient of Days, and Paul says his team got all the way to Corinth with the good news of Christ.Dan 7:132Co 10:14
Only the Aramaic verb measures how far something physically goes. A tree's top and a king's greatness get as high as the sky, and men thrown down never get as far as the bottom of the pit.Dan 4:11Dan 4:20Dan 6:24
Only the Aramaic verb is used of a date fixed in advance finally coming round, the moment when judgment is given and the holy ones take the kingdom.Dan 7:22
Only the Aramaic verb pictures someone being brought right up in front of a figure seated on a throne, where the whole point is that the traveler is now standing in that presence.Dan 7:13
נָשַׂגHebrew“to overtake”the Hebrew for overtaking, catching up with what is fleeing or being chased, close to this word's sense of a blessing or a judgment finally reaching the people it was aimed at.
Can mean getting there first, ahead of someone else. Paul promises that believers still alive at the Lord's coming will not get to him before those who have already died, a use that looks forward at who arrives ahead of whom rather than back at who is closing in from behind.1Th 4:15
Measures how far your own advance has carried you, with nobody being chased at all: Paul says his mission travels reached as far as Corinth, and he tells the Philippians to keep living by the stage of growth they have already reached.2Co 10:14Php 3:16
Both
Both picture a consequence catching up with people who thought they had left it behind. Moses warns that the curses will run Israel down, and Zechariah says God's words caught up with the ancestors; Paul says in the same way that wrath has come upon those who kept piling up their sins. Where Greek-speaking readers met this Hebrew threat in their Bibles, the Greek word here is the one that carried it.Deu 28:45Zec 1:61Th 2:16
Both can name the goal a person chased after and failed to reach. Israel pursued a righteousness based on law and never got to it; in the same way an unfaithful wife runs after her lovers without catching them, those who take the wrong road never make it back to the paths of life, and Jacob tells Pharaoh his years have not reached his fathers'.Rom 9:31Hos 2:7Pro 2:19Gen 47:9
This is the word of the chase: a pursuer closing the gap and laying hold of someone who is running away. Laban catches up with the fleeing Jacob, Pharaoh's chariots reach Israel at the sea, the men of Jericho are told they can still catch the spies, and the Babylonian army seizes Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho.Gen 31:25Exo 14:9Jos 2:52Ki 25:5
Carries a whole use about money that the Greek word never has: whether a person's hand can stretch far enough to pay. The law repeatedly scales an offering to what the worshiper can afford, and the same expression covers a poor Israelite who later comes into enough means to buy himself back.Lev 5:11Lev 14:21Lev 25:26Lev 27:8Ezk 46:7
Stretches to one stretch of time running into the next: in the promise of plenty, the threshing still goes on when the grape harvest arrives and the grape harvest still goes on when it is time to sow again.Lev 26:5
קָדַםHebrew“to meet”the Hebrew for coming out in front of someone, to meet them or to get in ahead of them, matching the older sense this word keeps where the living do not get ahead of the dead.
Reaching a goal you have been straining toward, the way a runner reaches a mark. Paul says Israel chased a standard of righteousness and never got there, and he tells his readers to keep living by whatever ground they have already gained. The Hebrew word never measures progress toward a standard like this.Rom 9:31Php 3:16
Covering real distance and getting all the way to a place with a message. Paul reminds the Corinthians that he was the first to reach as far as their city with the good news.2Co 10:14
Saying that God's reign has already landed on the people standing there, an arrival they did not go out to meet and cannot reverse. This is the word behind the announcement that the kingdom of God "has come upon you".Mat 12:28Luk 11:20
Both
Both words can describe trouble getting to a person before there is any way out of it, which is why the Greek word is a standard way of rendering the Hebrew one into Greek. Hebrew poetry has the ropes of death closing in on the psalmist, and the Greek word says the same kind of thing about a judgment that has already arrived.2Sa 22:6Psa 18:51Th 2:16
Both can mean getting there first, ahead of someone else in time. Paul promises that Christians still alive will not go on ahead of those who have died, and the Hebrew word covers rising before daybreak and running ahead of a plan you want to dodge.1Th 4:15Psa 119:147Jon 4:2
Going out to meet travelers on the road and putting food and water in front of them, which makes withholding that welcome an act of hostility worth remembering for generations. Israel recalls being refused bread and water, while desert people carry water out to the thirsty.Deu 23:4Neh 13:2Isa 21:14
Walking up to God with something in hand, the ordinary language of approaching him in worship. A worshipper asks what he should bring when he comes before God, a crowd is called to come into his presence with thanks, and a sufferer says his prayer gets there at daybreak.Mic 6:6Psa 95:2Psa 88:13
Squaring off against an enemy face to face, stepping into his path rather than waiting for him. The psalmist asks God to go out and cut his attacker off, and Isaiah promises the Assyrian king will never get in front of Jerusalem with a shield.Psa 17:13Isa 37:332Ki 19:32
God's loyal kindness pictured as a person who comes out to meet you. Blessing reaches the king before he has finished asking, mercy is asked to hurry out to a beaten people, and steadfast love walks in front of God himself.Psa 21:3Psa 79:8Psa 89:14
What scholars say about phthanō
The standard lexica treat φθάνω as one verb with a range, not as homonyms. LSJ documents the classical force, to come or do first, to anticipate, to overtake; BDAG sorts the seven New Testament instances into three groups: to precede (1 Thess 4:15), to arrive at or attain, construed with εἰς or ἄχρι (Rom 9:31;Phil 3:16;2 Cor 10:14), and to come upon, construed with ἐπί and the accusative (Matt 12:28;Luke 11:20;1 Thess 2:16). Moulton and Milligan document the same weakening in the non-literary papyri, where the verb often means no more than to arrive, which is why the older sense of anticipation survives in the New Testament only at 1 Thess 4:15, where a rival party is explicitly in view. TDNT and EDNT both observe that the aorist in the kingdom sayings marks accomplished arrival while leaving the extent of that arrival to context. The disputed ground is therefore not the lexical sense but the weight placed on Matt 12:28 and Luke 11:20: C. H. Dodd built his realized eschatology in part on the claim that ἔφθασεν asserts full arrival, W. G. Kümmel replied that the exorcisms are a proleptic manifestation rather than the consummation of the kingdom, and R. F. Berkey argued in JBL 82 (1963) that neither ἐγγίζειν nor φθάνειν is precise enough to bear the weight either side had placed on it. Beasley-Murray reviews the debate and concludes that the verb settles arrival without settling extent.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. φθάνωlexicon
LSJ, s.v. φθάνωlexicon
TDNT, s.v. φθάνω, προφθάνωtheological-dictionary
EDNT, s.v. φθάνωtheological-dictionary
J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sourceslexicon
C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom (1935)monograph
W. G. Kümmel, Promise and Fulfilment: The Eschatological Message of Jesus (SBT 23; 1957)monograph
R. F. Berkey, "ΕΓΓΙΖΕΙΝ, ΦΘΑΝΕΙΝ, and Realized Eschatology," Journal of Biblical Literature 82 (1963)article
G. R. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom of God (1986)monograph