Exploring the Meaning of Ekdapanao in Greek

Ekdapanao means “to expend,” and it appears once in the New Testament, in Paul’s personal appeal to the Corinthians. In its single use it stands in a paired expression, setting active expenditure alongside being expended for the sake of others.

Root and Related Words

Ekdapanao is connected with the verb dapanao (δαπανάω), “to spend” (Strong’s G1159), and with the preposition ek (ἐκ), “out from” (Strong’s G1537). The combined form naturally suggests expenditure conceived with an “out-from” orientation—an outlay that proceeds outward.

Occurrences

“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?” (2 Corinthians 12:15)

In this sentence Paul places ekdapanao (“spend”) first in a coordinated pair: “spend and be spent.” The first verb presents Paul as the acting subject who willingly directs resources outward; the second (“be spent”) completes the picture by moving from what he does to what happens to him. Together they create a two-sided portrait of costly ministry: not only disbursing something, but undergoing depletion in the process.

The adverbial framing intensifies this: “most gladly” makes the expenditure voluntary rather than coerced, and it is aimed “for your souls,” giving a specific object in view. The word therefore sits in a context where the speaker is not describing a transaction for personal gain, but an outwardly directed outlay bound up with love. That is reinforced by the immediate follow-up question: “If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?” The expenditure is paired with the risk that it may not be reciprocated. In this scene, then, the verb contributes a sense of intentional outlay that may increase even when affection from the recipients decreases.

Even though “spend” could be heard in a narrow material sense, the wording of the verse anchors it to a broader personal commitment: the one who expends does so “for your souls,” and does so in tandem with being expended. The effect is to portray expenditure as something that touches both what one has and what one is—an outflow of self that is measurable in cost, not merely in sentiment.

Sense and Usage

With only a single attested New Testament use, ekdapanao is best read by the immediate rhetorical structure in which it appears. It functions as a concrete verb of outlay: Paul chooses a verb that can carry the weight of real cost and then reinforces it by pairing it with the passive idea “be spent.” This pairing prevents “spend” from being reduced to a one-time gift or a single act of generosity; the verse depicts an ongoing willingness to pour out resources and strength until the giver himself bears the mark of that outlay.

The presence of “most gladly” further shapes the nuance. Expenditure is not portrayed as reluctant loss but as embraced cost. That does not make the cost unreal; rather, it frames the act as purposeful and consented to. The target phrase “for your souls” gives the expenditure a personal and pastoral direction. It is not an undefined scattering of effort but a directed outflow tied to the welfare of the recipients in the most personal terms the verse provides.

The sentence also shows how such expenditure can sit alongside relational tension. Paul’s question—“If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?”—places the outlay under the shadow of possible misinterpretation or lack of response. In that light, ekdapanao contributes to a portrait of love that is willing to incur cost without securing equal return. The verb’s force in this verse is therefore not merely about the act of expending, but about what sort of love is willing to expend: a love prepared to continue outward outlay even when it is met by diminishing affection.

Because the verb appears in a statement about personal resolve (“I will”), its sense is future-facing and volitional. It marks not a report of a completed expenditure but a commitment to expend. The verse thereby uses expenditure language to convey determination: Paul sets his own willingness to pay a cost as something settled, even as he acknowledges that increased love may coincide with decreased love from others.

Imagery

The imagery of ekdapanao in 2 Corinthians 12:15 is the imagery of outflow—something going out from the giver until it becomes “spent.” Joined to “be spent,” the word evokes a picture of a life poured outward for the sake of others, where the measure of love is not declared in abstract terms but shown in what one is prepared to give up and to endure.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).