The Greek verb apechomai (the middle/passive of apechō) means to hold oneself away from, to refrain, or to abstain. In the New Testament, it is used for specific ethical abstentions that mark Christian identity.
Apechomai is the verb of holy boundary-drawing. The Jerusalem Council's letter (Acts 15:29) called Gentile believers to abstain (apechomai) from idolatrous food, blood, strangled animals, and sexual immorality — the minimal ethical markers that would enable Jewish-Gentile fellowship. Paul's powerful application comes in 1 Thessalonians 5:22: 'Abstain (apechomai) from every form of evil.' This is not a timid avoidance but an active, willed separation — the same energy that draws us to God turns us away from what corrupts. Peter similarly urges: 'Abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul' (1 Peter 2:11).