† κατέχω (suppress)

This is a more emphatic form of ἔχειν. It means 1. “to hold fast,” “to hold back;” 2. (spatially) “to occupy;” 3. (juridically) “to occupy,” “to hold in possession.” It is also used in various ways intr., e.g., as a technical nautical term for “to make for,” “to steer towards,” “to land at.”

Of the many special meanings the following have religious significance, a. κατέχεσθαι can mean “to be possessed or inspired,” also κατοχή, “possession,” “inspiration,” “ecstasy,” κάτοχος and κατόχιμος, “possessed,” “inspired,” “enraptured.” This usage derives from the Thracian worship of Dionysus with its ecstatic character. In the class. period it gradually comes to be used of other deities, esp. those related to Dionysus like the Phrygian Sabazios. In relation to Apollo and the Muses it is figuratively used for artistic inspiration or ecstasy, and in this sense it is an important term in Plato, particularly in the dialogue Ion. Along with other ecstatic terms like μαίνεσθαι or ἔνθεος, the word expresses the passivity of man in relation to daemonic or divine possession (→ ἔχειν 3. and 4.), Underlying the figure is perhaps the thought of the spatial entry of the numen into man and man’s being in the power of the other (→ 817, n. 4). b. A very different use is that of κάτοχος and κατοχή for the “prisoner of God” and “imprisonment in God’s service,” e.g., in the worship of Serapis. The reference is to communal ascetic life in the temple precincts, a distant parallel to the monastic life.

In the LXX κατέχειν occurs 50 times in all portions, and it is always trans. The predominant meaning is 1. “to hold fast.” It is worth noting that in a few instances it is used of states which possess man. In this connection we find single occurrences of κάτοχος and κατόχιμος for possession by evil spirits.

In the NT, too, sense 1. (“to hold fast”) is “redominant.3 It is used a. of one man holding another, Lk. 4:42; Phlm. 13.
It is also used b. of holding fast spiritual values, instruction received or a course or attitude begun (in the good sense): Lk. 8:15; 1 C. 11:2; 15:2 (“if to this day you have kept (in memory) and still keep (in your hearts) the word which I once declared to you as good news”); 1 Th. 5:21; Hb. 3:6, 14; 10:23.

Maintaining the blessings of salvation received is here again, as in the simple form, regarded as a particularly important Christian virtue. We can understand this in the light of the early Christian situation. The Christian state is one of blissful possession and yet also of a long struggle for survival and recognition in a world which views things so very differently. Only by this holding fast can present possession become eternal and heavenly possession. In the last resort this is true of the Church in every age.

It is also used in a bad sense c. of “holding illegally,” “holding in prison” (with ἐν) in R. 1:18; 7:6.

Rather along the same lines it means d. “to prevent an evil person or power from breaking out” (as one imprisons criminals to protect society against them), 2 Th. 2:6, 7.

This mysterious apocalyptic passage with its reference first to a neutral and then to a masculine restraint which holds back the last great outbreak of ungodly forces has been much discussed. In spite of N. F. Freese5 we must regard the two as identical. αὐτόν (v. 6) refers to the man of sin (v. 3). More recently it has been seen that the concepts have a mythological background. This may explain the combination of the neuter and masc. The mysterious ungodly force which will be let loose just before the end, the mystery of iniquity (v. 7), takes concrete shape in an ἄνθρωπος (v. 3), and therefore the κατέχων (who does not have to be a historical magnitude and might be an angel) is a concrete manifestation of the principle of restraint (τὸ κατέχον). A more exact interpretation is hardly possible. The favourite reference to the pax romana hardly fits the personal ὁ κατέχων. May it be that the → νῦν (v. 6) suggests allusion to events or a person who came into view only after Paul’s stay in Thessalonica (v. 5)?

2. The sense of “to occupy a place” is found only at Lk. 14:9.
3. “To possess” is the sense in 1 C. 7:30. In 2 C. 6:10 (→ ἔχειν, 826) we have the thought that the wealthy is as free as the poor and the poor as rich as the lord of the whole world. The pass. is used for possession by sickness (with something of all the various senses) in Jn. 5:4.


. Vol. 2: Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (829–830). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.