ἐκ τούτου, “on this”; neither exclusively “from this time” ἔκτοτε (Euthymius), “from this moment onwards” (Lücke), nor exclusively “on this account,” but a combination of both. Cf. John 19:12. Here the time is in the foreground, as is shown by the οὐκ ἔτι following. Lampe has: “Qui ab illo tempore Iesum deserebant, clare indicabant, quod propter hunc sermonem istud fecerint”. πολλοὶ ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω … περιεπάτουν. Many of those who had up to this time been following Him and listening to His teaching, returned now to their former ways and no longer accompanied Jesus. [ὀπίσω δὲ νόει μοι, καὶ τὸν πρότερον βίον αὐτῶν, εἰς ὃν πάλιν ὑπέστρεψαν, Euthymius.] εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω occurs John 18:6; John 20:14; also Mark 13:16. But the most instructive occurrence is in Psalms 44:18, οὐκ ἀπέστη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν, where the literal sense passes into the spiritual meaning, apostasy, abandonment of God.

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Old Testament