Greek word · G855

ἄφαντος

aphantos

disappearing

Unseen, invisible, made to disappear. It is formed from the negative a- and phainō/phantos ('shine, appear, visible'). Classical writers use it for things that vanish from view, especially divine or supernatural figures. It appears only here in the New Testament and not in the Septuagint.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἄφαντος, -ον

(φαίνομαι), poët. and late prose (MM, see word)

invisible, hidden: Luke 24:31.†

(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 Luke 24:31

Range of meaning

Unseen, invisible, made to disappear. It is formed from the negative a- and phainō/phantos ('shine, appear, visible'). Classical writers use it for things that vanish from view, especially divine or supernatural figures. It appears only here in the New Testament and not in the Septuagint.

Against the English

'Vanished' (KJV, ESV, NASB) and 'disappeared' (BSB, NIV, WEB, NLT) are fair, but they can suggest a stage trick or a ghostly fading. YLT's 'became unseen' is closest to the Greek, which describes a state (invisible), not a movement.

How it drifted

KJV's 'vanished' comes through Tyndale from the Latin Vulgate's evanuit ('he vanished'). In modern English 'vanish' carries magic-show and ghost-story associations that the Greek does not have.

Used elsewhere in the period

Euripides, Orestes 1494–1497: Helen 'became invisible' (ἄφαντος) from the palace as the gods snatch her away. Similar wording appears in Jewish texts. In 2 Maccabees 3:34 the angelic young men speak and then 'became invisible' (ἀφανεῖς ἐγένοντο), the same structure of adjective plus 'became'. When the angel Raphael leaves in Tobit 12:21, the family 'no longer saw him'. The angel of the LORD 'departed from his eyes' in Judges 6:21.

Where it appears

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 24:31 ἄφαντος vanished

    Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.

    Here: 'Unseen, invisible', made from a- ('not') and the root for 'appear'. This is the only place it occurs in the New Testament. Greek writers used it for divine figures who suddenly become invisible. It says he could no longer be seen. It says nothing about how he left.

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