595. apothesis

Lexical Summary

apothesis: Removal, putting away, laying aside

Original Word: ἀπόθεσις
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apothesis
Pronunciation: a-PO-the-sis
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-oth'-es-is)
KJV: putting away (off)
NASB: laying aside, removal
Word Origin: [from G659 (ἀποτίθημι - lay aside)]

1. a laying aside
{literally or figuratively}

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

putting away, laying aside

From apotithemi; a laying aside (literally or figuratively) -- putting away (off).

see GREEK apotithemi

HELPS Word-studies

595 apóthesis (from 659 /apotíthēmi, "put away, let go") – properly, a putting off (letting go) to remove (set something aside); a resignation from a previous obligation; (figuratively) removal, by the supernatural hand of God.

[The prefix (apo) shows 595 (apóthesis) involves a look back (away from what is let go) – to what comes next (L-S).]

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from apotithémi
Definition
a putting away
NASB Translation
laying aside (1), removal (1).

Thayer's Greek Lexicon

STRONGS NT 595: ἀπόθεσις

ἀπόθεσις, ἀποθεσεως, ἡ ἀποτίθημι, a putting off or away: 2 Peter 1:14; 1 Peter 3:21. (In various senses from Hippocrates and Plato down.)

Topical Lexicon

Meaning and Conceptual Background

ἀπόθεσις evokes the deliberate act of setting something aside so that it no longer encumbers. In ordinary Greek it could describe removing a garment or discarding refuse; in Scripture it is chosen for two strategic moments in Peter’s letters where the action is decisive, irreversible, and grounded in the saving work of Christ.

Occurrences in the New Testament

1 Peter 3:21 and 2 Peter 1:14 contain the only appearances of ἀπόθεσις. Both speak of a “putting off,” yet each casts the act in a different sphere—first the moral-spiritual sphere of baptismal cleansing, then the physical-eschatological sphere of departing this life.

Baptism and the New Covenant Cleanse (1 Peter 3:21)

“Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.

1. External versus internal. ἀπόθεσις highlights what baptism is not: merely washing the skin. By naming the removal of “dirt” Peter prevents confusion between ceremonial ablution and the inner cleansing secured by Christ’s resurrection.
2. Conscience transformed. The “pledge of a clear conscience” portrays baptism as the believer’s public testimony that the guilty conscience has been laid aside in Christ’s finished work.
3. Continuity and fulfillment. Under the Old Covenant cleansing rites were many; the new covenant introduces one decisive “putting off,” symbolized in water and realized in union with the risen Lord (cf. Hebrews 10:22).

Mortality, Departure, and Resurrection Hope (2 Peter 1:14)

“I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me”.

1. The body as a tent. Peter calls his mortal frame a σκηνώμα (“tent”) and speaks of its forthcoming ἀπόθεσις. The metaphor underscores the temporary nature of earthly life and the pilgrim character of the believer.
2. Christ-given certainty. The Lord had foretold Peter’s death (John 21:18-19); now the apostle embraces that prophecy. Laying aside the body is neither accident nor defeat but a transition governed by Christ’s word.
3. Eschatological assurance. ἀπόθεσις does not imply annihilation but anticipates resurrection. The tent is folded; the inhabitant awaits a “building from God, an eternal house in heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Broader Biblical Parallels

While ἀπόθεσις itself is rare, the vocabulary of “putting off” saturates exhortations to holy living. Believers are urged to “put off your former way of life” (Ephesians 4:22), “put off all these: anger, rage, malice” (Colossians 3:8), and “lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12:1). These passages resonate with Peter’s usage: salvation inaugurates a decisive break with defilement, whether of conscience or of body.

Historical Reflection in the Early Church

Early baptismal liturgies often included a literal removal of clothes before immersion, dramatizing ἀπόθεσις of the old life. Church fathers such as Tertullian emphasized that the true cleansing is “in the conscience, not the flesh,” echoing 1 Peter 3:21. In funeral homilies, the laying aside of the body was preached as a hopeful pause before resurrection, drawing on 2 Peter 1:14.

Ministry Implications Today

1. Catechesis on Baptism. Teachers can employ ἀπόθεσις to clarify that baptism testifies to an inward reality already wrought by grace.
2. Counseling the Dying. Peter’s serene anticipation models how believers may speak of death—as a God-appointed moment of laying aside the tent, not as extinction.
3. Pursuit of Holiness. The once-for-all ἀπόθεσις at conversion becomes the pattern for daily choices; sin is treated as something to discard, not manage.
4. Funeral Liturgy. Scripture permits language that honors the body yet acknowledges its temporary status, directing mourners to the promise of a resurrected body.

In both salvation’s beginning and life’s end, ἀπόθεσις reminds the Church that Christ supplies a radical cleansing and a certain hope, enabling believers to lay aside defilement now and mortality later, confident of resurrection glory.

Forms and Transliterations

αποθεσις απόθεσις ἀπόθεσις apothesis apóthesis

Englishman's Concordance

1 Peter 3:21 N-NFS
GRK: οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπου ἀλλὰ
NAS: saves you -- not the removal of dirt
KJV: (not the putting away of the filth
INT: not of flesh a putting away of [the] filth but

2 Peter 1:14 N-NFS
GRK: ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόθεσις τοῦ σκηνώματός
NAS: knowing that the laying aside of my [earthly] dwelling
KJV: I must put off [this] my
INT: is the putting off of the tabernacle

Strong's Greek 595
2 Occurrences

ἀπόθεσις — 2 Occ.