The Greek word τρόπον has different shades of meaning, What is the meaning of τρόπον as used in Acts 1:11?
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Your question, interesting as it is could be improved greatly by quoting the verse in question and also by showing where there is controversy. it isn't obvious from the question how else it might be take him. Thanks.– RuminatorCommented Feb 21, 2019 at 17:46
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1 Answer
"τρόπον" (tropon) is from the root word "tropos" which BDAG gives two basic meanings:
- the manner in which something is done, manner, way, kind, guise; eg, 2 Thess 2:3, 3:16, Rom 3:2, Acts 1:11, 15:11, 27:25, Matt 23:37, etc
- the way in which a person behaves or lives, ways, customs; eg, Heb 13:5.
Analytical Lexicon of the GNT by Friberg et al has almost identical results; so does Souter and Newman.
Thus, the angels told the disciples in Acts 1:11 that Jesus would return from the sky in the same way they saw him go into the sky. Note the deliberate Greek contrast of prepositions and verbs suggesting that while the direction of travel was opposite, Jesus' manner/style of movement would be the same. That is, Jesus would return physically and visibly from the sky and not simply appear on earth as some suggested and against which Jesus specifically warned (Matt 24:26, Luke 21:8, etc).
The purpose of this comment appears to reinforces the frequent statements of Jesus (Matt 24:30, 26:64, Mark 13:26, 14:62) and the prophets (Dan 7:13, Rev 1:7) that Jesus would return from the direction of the clouds, and thus, Christians are to "look up" (Luke 21:8) for Jesus to complete the final process of Redemption.