Greek word · G679

ἄπταιστος

aptaistos

without falling

Made from 'not' + ptaiō, 'to stumble, trip, strike one's foot'. Literally: not stumbling, sure-footed, not tripping. Figuratively: not falling into error, failure or sin. It can describe a person or a path.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἄ-πταιστος, -ον

(πταίω), [in LXX: 3Ma.6:39 * ;]

without stumbling, sure-footed: metaphorically (MM, see word), Jude 1:24.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jude 1:24

Range of meaning

Made from 'not' + ptaiō, 'to stumble, trip, strike one's foot'. Literally: not stumbling, sure-footed, not tripping. Figuratively: not falling into error, failure or sin. It can describe a person or a path.

Against the English

KJV 'from falling', BSB/WEB/NIV/ESV 'from stumbling', YLT 'not stumbling'. The 'stumbling' versions keep the picture of feet on a road. 'Falling' is accurate, but modern readers tend to hear it as the doctrinal phrase 'falling from grace'.

How it drifted

There is no drift in the word itself. The risk comes from loading it with later debates about losing salvation or about sinless perfection. The word is a picture of walking, not a doctrinal term.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of a sure-footed horse that does not stumble (Xenophon, On Horsemanship 1.6). It appears in the Greek Jewish writing 3 Maccabees (6:39, as cited in BDAG). The root verb ptaiō appears in the NT for moral failure: 'stumble in one point' (Jas 2:10), 'we all stumble in many ways' (Jas 3:2). The sister letter has 'you will never stumble' (2 Pet 1:10).

Where it appears

Jude · 1

  1. Jude 1:24 ἀπταίστους from stumbling

    Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

    Here: It appears only here in the New Testament. Literally 'un-stumbling', a word used elsewhere for a sure-footed horse. The picture is a traveller kept on his feet on a dangerous road, so that he does not fall into sin and walk away from the faith the way the people in Jude's warning examples did.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.