ἀπαλλοτριόω

From the study of Ephesians 2:12

Range of meaning

To estrange, make a stranger of, exclude. Passive: to be estranged or alienated.

Against the English

"Alienated" (ESV, BSB, WEB), "aliens" (KJV), "excluded" (NIV, NASB). "Alienated" today often suggests a feeling of disconnection. The Greek is about status: being treated as belonging elsewhere.

How it drifted

Modern psychological use of "alienation" (feeling estranged) colours the English word.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Psalm 57:4 (58:3): "sinners are estranged from the womb." Elsewhere in the New Testament: Ephesians 4:18 ("alienated from the life of God") and Colossians 1:21.

From the study of Ephesians 4:18

Range of meaning

To estrange or alienate, to make someone a stranger to something or to transfer it to another's ownership. In the passive it means to be shut out from, to be a foreigner to. Classical writers used it of handing property to another owner and of people becoming estranged.

Against the English

'Alienated' (KJV, ESV, BSB, WEB, YLT) keeps the 'stranger/foreigner' idea. 'Separated' (NIV) and 'excluded' (NASB) are fine but lose the picture of being a foreigner, outside the household.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT it appears only at Eph 2:12, 4:18 and Col 1:21. In the Septuagint, Ps 57:4 (58:3) says 'the sinners are estranged from the womb', and Ezek 14:5 says 'they are all estranged from me through their idols'. Ephesians 2:12 uses it for Gentiles as 'aliens from the commonwealth of Israel... without God in the world'.

From the study of Colossians 1:21

Range of meaning

Built from allotrios, 'belonging to another, foreign, someone else's'. The verb means to make something another's, to estrange or alienate. In the passive it means to be estranged, cut off, made a stranger to. It describes a relationship or a status: standing outside a household, people, alliance or bond of loyalty where one should belong.

Against the English

Most English versions say 'alienated'. That is accurate at root, but modern English 'alienated' mostly means a feeling: lonely, disaffected, out of place. The Greek describes where you stand, as a stranger or outsider to a relationship, whether you feel it or not. The BSB and NIV add 'from God'. That is a fair reading of the context, but it is not in the Greek.

How it drifted

Since the 19th century, 'alienation' has picked up philosophical and psychological meanings (Hegel, Marx, existentialism, modern psychology) that centre on the inner experience of being disconnected. The older sense of being made a foreigner or estranged from a relationship has faded.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX (Greek Old Testament): Ps 57:4 (= 58:3 Heb.) 'sinners are estranged from the womb' (apēllotriōthēsan, for Hebrew zōrû, 'be estranged'). In Ezek 14:5, 7 God speaks of Israel's hearts 'estranged from me' through their idols, which links estrangement with idolatry and with the inner life. Jer 19:4 uses it for profaning ('making foreign') a place. Pauline letters: Eph 2:12 'estranged from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants'. Eph 4:18 'estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance in them', which again links estrangement with the mind. Hellenistic Greek: the verb is used for estranging allies, loyalties or property.