Thayer's
STRONGS NT 599: ἀποθνῄσκωἀποθνῄσκω, imperfect
ἀπέθνῃσκον (
Luke 8:42); 2 aorist
ἀπέθανον; future
ἀποθανοῦμαι,
Romans 5:7;
John 8:21, 24 (see
θνῄσκω); found in Greek writings from
Homer down;
to die (
ἀπό, so as to be no more; (cf. Latin
emorior; English
die off or out, pass away); German
absterben,
versterben);
I. used properly
1. of the natural death of men: Matthew 9:24; Matthew 22:24; Luke 16:22; John 4:47; Romans 7:2, and very often; ἀποθνῄσκοντες ἀποθνῄσκοντες subject to death, mortal, Hebrews 7:8 (Buttmann, 206 (178)).
2. of the violent death — both of animals, Matthew 8:32, and of men, Matthew 26:35; Acts 21:13 etc.; 1 Peter 3:18 L T Tr WH text; ἐν φόνῳ μαχαίρας, Hebrews 11:37; of the punishment of death, Hebrews 10:28; often of the violent death which Christ suffered, as John 12:33; Romans 5:6, etc.
3. Phrases: ἀποθνῄσκειν ἐκ τίνος, to perish by means of something, (cf. English to die of), Revelation 8:11; ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτία, ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, fixed in sin, hence, to die unreformed, John 8:21, 24; ἐν τῷ Ἀδάμ by connection with Adam, 1 Corinthians 15:22; ἐν κυρίῳ in fellowship with, and trusting in, the Lord, Revelation 14:13; ἀποθνῄσκειν τί, to die a certain death, Romans 6:10 (θάνατον μακρόν, Chariton, p. 12, D'Orville edition (l. i. c. 8, p. 17, 6, Beck edition; cf. Winers Grammar, 227 (213); Buttmann, 149 (130))); τῇ ἁμαρτία, used of Christ, 'that he might not have to busy himself more with the sin of men,' Romans 6:10; ἑαυτῷ to become one's own master, independent, by dying, Romans 14:7 (cf. Meyer); τῷ κυρίῳ to become subject to the Lord's will by dying, Romans 14:8 (cf. Meyer); διά τινα i. e. to save one, 1 Corinthians 8:11; on the phrases ἀποθνῄσκειν περί and ὑπέρ τίνος, see περί, the passage cited δ. and ὑπέρ I. 2 and 3. Oratorically, although the proper signification of the verb is retained, καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνῄσκω I meet death daily, live daily in danger of death, 1 Corinthians 15:31, cf. 2 Corinthians 6:9.
4. of trees which dry up, Jude 1:12; of seeds, which while being resolved into their elements in the ground seem to perish by rotting, John 12:24; 1 Corinthians 15:36.
II. tropically, in various senses;
1. of eternal death, as it is called, i. e. to be subject to eternal misery, and that, too, already beginning on earth: Romans 8:13; John 6:50; John 11:26.
2. of moral death, in various senses;
a. to be deprived of real life, i. e. especially of the power of doing right, of confidence in God and the hope of future blessedness, Romans 7:10; of the spiritual torpor of those who have fallen from the fellowship of Christ, the fountain of true life, Revelation 3:2.
b. with the dative of the thing (cf. Winers Grammar, 210 (197); 428 (398); Buttmann, 178 (155)), to become wholly alienated from a thing, and freed from all connection with it: τῷ νόμῳ, Galatians 2:19, which must also be supplied with ἀποθανόντες (for so we must read for Rec.elz ἀποθανόντος) in Romans 7:6 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 159 (150)); τῇ ἁμαρτία, Romans 6:2 (in another sense in Romans 6:10; see I. 3 above); ἀπό τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου so that your relation to etc. has passed away, Colossians 2:20 (ἀπό τῶν παθῶν, Porphyry, de abst. animal. 1, 41 (cf. Buttmann, 322 (277); Winer's Grammar, 370 (347))); true Christians are said simply ἀποθανεῖν, as having put off all sensibility to worldly things that draw them away from God, Colossians 3:3; since they owe this habit of mind to the death of Christ, they are said also ἀποθανεῖν σύν Χριστῷ, Romans 6:8; Colossians 2:20. (Compare: συναποθνῄσκω.)