ἀπαλλοτριόω (apallotrioō)
apallotrioō
to alienate
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 3 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The verb apallotrioō means to cut someone off from a group or relationship, creating a state of estrangement. It carries the sense of being shut out from fellowship and intimacy with others. In the New Testament, this word appears only three times, all in the letters of Paul: Ephesians 2:12, Ephesians 4:18, and Colossians 1:21.
The word combines a prefix meaning "away from" with a root related to being an outsider or stranger. This etymology highlights the social and relational rupture it describes. In Ephesians 2:12, Paul uses it to describe Gentiles who were once separated from the community of Israel. In Ephesians 4:18 and Colossians 1:21, the passive form describes people alienated from God due to their own sinful mindset or actions.
This term emphasizes a broken connection rather than just distance. It is not merely physical separation but a spiritual and relational exclusion. The sources note that this estrangement is something that can be remedied through reconciliation, as Paul later explains in the same letters. The word underscores the seriousness of sin’s effect on human relationships with God and each other.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word apallotrioō describes a deep sense of separation, like being shut out from a community or cut off from a loved one. In the New Testament, Paul uses it to show how sin creates distance between us and God, leaving us feeling like strangers with no hope. This is not just physical distance but a spiritual break that affects our entire relationship with the Creator.
Yet this word also carries a message of hope because estrangement can be healed. Through Christ, what was broken is made whole again. If you have ever felt far from God or disconnected from others, remember that reconciliation is possible. You are invited back into fellowship, no longer an outsider but a member of God’s family.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 3 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- alienated3×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι2×
- ἀπηλλοτριωμένους1×
Key Verses
-
Ephesians 2:12
that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Paul uses this word to describe Gentiles who were once excluded from Israel’s covenant community, highlighting the social and spiritual rupture sin causes.
-
Ephesians 4:18
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts.
The passive form here shows how hardness of heart leads to being cut off from God’s life, emphasizing the personal responsibility in maintaining that separation.
-
Colossians 1:21
You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,
Paul reminds believers that they were once enemies in mind and deeds, underscoring the depth of alienation before Christ’s reconciling work.