The Rapture Solution - Greek Prepositions and Revelation 3:10

Gray-Haired Perspective

Greek Prepositions and Revelation 3:10

Revelation 3:10 promises, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."

If "keep from" doesn't mean "keep from" then what does? In the book we pointed out that the combination of words conveys the meaning. The preposition "from" has different meanings when used with different verbs.

Some on both sides of this debate have suggested that if a different meaning were intended, then a different preposition would have been used. The chart below lists alternate prepositions. These prepositions, like most words in any language, can carry different meanings depending on the surrounding words.

I'm not a Greek scholar, but on the surface it appears to me that John in Revelation 3:10 used the most common preposition which conveyed the correct idea.

Greek Word (with # in New Englishman's Greek Concordance)	New Testament Usage (listed in order of frequency)	Comments
en (in, with, among, through, by) #1722	Used about 2661 times About 447 times by John	Used with teereo (keep) 4 times, 3 by John.
ek (from, of, out of) (occasionally in, through) #1537	Used about 899 times About 302 times by John	Used in Revelation 3:10. Used with teereo (keep) also in John 17:15, where it does not mean emergence from within, but rather a staying outside.
apo (from, of, out of) (occasionally in, by) #575	Used about 645 times About 62 times by John	Used with teereo (keep) 1 time, James 1:27.
dia (through, by, because of) #1223	Used about 611 times About 74 times by John
exo (out, out of, without, forth) #1854	Used 65 times 17 times by John
koris (without, beside) #5565	Used 39 times 3 times by John
exothen (without, outward, outside) #1855	Used 11 times Once by John
ektos (outside, unless, out of) #1623	Used 9 times None by John
aneu (without) #427	Used 3 times None by John

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