Excuse

"a pretense, pretext" (from pro, "before," and phemi, "to say"), is translated "excuse" in Joh 15:22, RV, for AV, "cloke;" "cloke in 1Th 2:5 AV and RV. See CLOKE, PRETENCE, SHOW (Noun).

"without excuse, inexcusable" (a negative, n, euphonic, and apologeomai, see C, No. 1, below), is used, Rom 1:20, "without excuse," of those who reject the revelation of God in creation; Rom 2:1, RV, for AV, "inexcusable," of the Jew who judges the Gentile.

lit., "to speak oneself off," hence "to plead for oneself," and so, in general, (a) "to defend," as before a tribunal; in Rom 2:15, RV, "excusing them," means one "excusing" others (not themselves); the preceding phrase "one with another" signifies one person with another, not one thought with another; it may be paraphrased, "their thoughts with one another, condemning or else excusing one another;" conscience provides a moral standard by which men judge one another; (b) "to excuse" oneself, 2Co 12:19; cp. B. See ANSWER.

is used in the sense of "begging off, asking to be excused or making an excuse," in Luk 14:18 (twice), Luk 14:19. In the first part of Luk 14:18 the verb is used in the Middle Voice, "to make excuse" (acting in imagined self-interest); in the latter part and in Luk 14:19 it is in the Passive Voice, "have me excused."