ἀπεκδύομαι

From the study of Colossians 3:9

Range of meaning

To strip off completely, to undress oneself of something. It is built on ἐκδύω ('take off clothing') with an extra prefix ἀπό ('away'), which makes the removal thorough and final. In the middle voice it can mean 'strip off from oneself' or 'disarm, strip' others (Col 2:15).

Against the English

'Put off' (KJV, WEB, YLT), 'taken off' (BSB, NIV) and 'laid aside' (NASB) all get the basic idea. NLT's 'stripped off' best keeps the force of the double prefix. None of them clearly signals that this is clothing language, and the image of changing clothes carries the whole sentence into v. 10 ('having put on the new').

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb is very rare. Colossians is among its earliest known uses, and Lightfoot noted that it does not seem to appear before Paul. Its related noun ἀπέκδυσις appears in Col 2:11 ('the stripping off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ'), and the verb in 2:15, where God strips the powers. Clothing as a picture of identity and moral character is common in the Hebrew Scriptures: Zech 3:3–5, where filthy garments are removed from Joshua the high priest and clean ones put on; Isa 61:10, 'clothed with garments of salvation'; Job 29:14, 'I put on righteousness'. Paul uses it elsewhere: Gal 3:27, 'as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ'; Rom 13:12–14; Eph 4:22–24.

From the study of Colossians 2:15

Range of meaning

To strip off completely, to take off clothing. The base verb dyō is about putting clothes on or taking them off, and the two prefixes (apo, 'away', and ek, 'out of') make the stripping complete and final. It can be used of stripping off one's own clothes, or of stripping someone else, as a victor strips a fallen enemy of armour and clothing.

Against the English

BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB all have 'disarmed', which is a fair reading of the military picture but narrows it: stripping in the ancient world took away both weapons and dignity. KJV's 'spoiled' meant 'despoiled', i.e. stripped of possessions as spoils. WEB and YLT keep 'stripped'.

How it drifted

KJV's 'spoiled' has drifted badly: in 1611 it meant plundered or stripped, and today it means ruined or pampered.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb is hardly attested before Paul. Its only New Testament uses are here and in Colossians 3:9 ('having stripped off the old self'), and the related noun apekdysis appears in 2:11 ('the stripping off of the body of the flesh'). Paul may have coined it or picked it up from little-used vocabulary. Stripping the defeated was standard practice in Greek and Roman warfare: the victor took the armour, and captives in a triumph were displayed humiliated.