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International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Answer:

an'-ser: In our English Bible the word "answer" does not always mean a simple reply to a question.

1. In the Old Testament:

Six different words are translated by answer.

(1) It is frequently used where no question has been asked and in such cases it means a word, a statement.

(2) It also means a response (Job 21:34; 34:36).

(3) It often means a declaration or proclamation from God where no question has been asked. See the many passages that read: "The Lord answered and said."

(4) The other words translated "answer" or "answered" in the Old Testament are unimportant shadings and variations.

2. In the New Testament:

The words translated "answer" are not so varied.

(1) It sometimes means an apology, a defense (1Pe 3:15; Ac 24:10,25).

(2) It may mean simply "to say" (Mr 9:6).

(3) It may mean a revelation from God (Ro 11:4).

(4) It is also used to apply to unspoken thoughts of the heart, especially in the sayings of Jesus; also by Peter to Sapphira (Ac 5:8).

Written by G. H. Geberding

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Answer:

lit., "a separation or distinction," is the regular word for "answer," Luk 2:47; 20:26; Jhn 1:22; 19:9.

Answer:

akin to No. 1, denotes a judicial "sentence," 2Cr 1:9, AV, and RV, margin, or an "answer" (RV, text), an answer of God to the Apostle's appeal, giving him strong confidence. In an ancient inscription it is used of an official decision. In a papyrus document it is used of a reply to a deputation.
See SENTENCE.

Answer:

"a Divine response, an oracle," is used in Rom 11:4, of the answer given by God to Elijah's complaint against Israel. See the verb under CALL.

Answer:

a "verbal defense, a speech in defense," is sometimes translated "answer," in the AV, Act 25:16; 1Cr 9:3; 2Ti 4:16, all which the RV corrects to "defence." See Act 22:1; Phl 1:7,16; 2Cr 7:11, "clearing." Once it signifies an "answer," 1Pe 3:15. Cp. B, No. 4.
See CLEARING, DEFENCE.

Note: Eperotema, 1Pe 3:21, is not, as in the AV, an "answer." It was used by the Greeks in a legal sense, as a "demand or appeal." Baptism is therefore the ground of an "appeal" by a good conscience against wrong doing.

Answer:

akin to A, No. 1, above, signifies either "to give an answer to a question" (its more frequent use) or "to begin to speak," but always where something has preceded, either statement or act to which the remarks refer, e.g., Mat 11:25; Luk 14:3; Jhn 2:18. The RV translates by "answered," e.g., Mat 28:5; Mar 12:35; Luk 3:16, where some have suggested "began to say" or "uttered solemnly," whereas the speaker is replying to the unuttered thought or feeling of those addressed by him.

Answer:

anti, "against," and No. 1, a strengthened form, "to answer by contradiction, to reply against," is found in Luk 14:6; Rom 9:20.

Answer:

signifies

(a) "to take or bear up from beneath," Act 1:9;

(b) "to receive," 3Jo 1:8;

(c) "to suppose," Luk 7:43; Act 2:15;

(d) "to catch up (in speech), to answer," Luk 10:30; in sense (d) it indicates that a person follows what another has said, either by controverting or supplementing it.
See RECEIVE, SUPPOSE.

Answer:

cp. A, No. 4, lit., "to talk oneself off from" (apo, "from," lego, "to speak"), "to answer by way of making a defence for oneself" (besides its meaning "to excuse," Rom 2:15; 2Cr 12:19), is translated "answer" in Luk 12:11; 21:14; in Act 19:33, AV and RV both have "made defence;" in Act 24:10; 25:8; 26:1,2, the RV has the verb to make a defence, for the AV, "to answer," and in Act 26:24 for the AV, "spake for himself."
See DEFENCE, EXCUSE, SPEAK.

Answer:

"to speak against," is rendered "answering again" in the AV of Tts 2:9 (RV, "gainsaying").
See CONTRADICT, DENY, GAINSAY, SPEAK.

Answer:

lit., "to be in the same line or row with" (sun, "with," stoichos, "a row"), is translated "answereth to" in Gal 4:25.

Note: Cp. stoicheo, "to walk" (in line), Gal 5:25; 6:16. For hupakouo, rendered to answer in Act 12:13, RV, See HEARKEN, No. 1, Note.