The Thread That Binds: When “That One” Becomes “This One Also”

There is a word in the Greek tongue that seems small, yet it carries the weight of connection. Twenty-three times the Holy Spirit saw fit to place this word upon the pages of the New Covenant. It is the joining of two smaller words — the simple conjunction “and” with the demonstrative pronoun “that one” — and from this union comes kakeînos. It means “and that one,” “that one also,” “him also,” “them also.” It is the word that refuses to let anyone stand alone. When the Scripture speaks of one person or one truth, this little word reaches out and says, “There is another also — and they are bound together.” You must understand that in the Greek world, words like this were common in everyday speech, mere grammatical glue. But the apostles took this ordinary connector and used it to weave together the most extraordinary tapestry — the joining of the Father and the Son, the linking of believers to their Messiah, the binding of the Old to the New.

The Root of Connection: From Two to One

Look closely at how this word is formed. It comes from two Greek words: kaí, meaning “and” or “also,” and ekeînos, meaning “that one” or “that person.” The ancient sages of Israel understood that language itself reveals the nature of God — for He is the One who speaks worlds into being. When you see kakeînos in the Greek text, you are seeing a deliberate act of joining. The classical Greek writers used this word simply to say “and that one” without much thought. But when the writers of the Septuagint — that Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures — needed to render the Hebrew wə-hû or wə-hî (“and he” or “and she”), they often chose kakeînos. This is the bridge between the two Testaments: the Hebrew love of connection, where one generation is linked to the next, finds its echo in this Greek word. The early church understood that this word was not merely grammatical — it was theological. When Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the churches, he used such connective language to show how believers are joined to Christ as branches to a vine.

The First Appearance: A Glimpse of the Pattern

The first time you encounter kakeînos in the New Testament, it appears in the Gospel of Matthew, in a context that reveals its deepest meaning. Yeshua speaks of the Father who sends rain on the just and the unjust — and then He says that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. The word appears in the teaching about not being anxious, where the Master says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:26-30). Here kakeînos connects the care of the Creator for the smallest creatures to His care for you. The pattern is established: what is true of that one — the bird, the lily — is also true of this one, the child of the covenant.

The Apostolic Use: John’s Gospel of Connection

It is the beloved apostle John who uses kakeînos most frequently, and his usage reveals the depth of this word. In his Gospel, John writes with a vision that sees all things joined in the Messiah. When John the Baptist testifies about Yeshua, he says, “He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what He has seen and heard, yet no one receives His testimony. Whoever receives His testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent utters the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:31-35). Then comes that crucial kakeînos: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). The word binds the Son to the Father, the believer to the Son. John’s theology is one of inseparable connection — what belongs to the Son belongs also to those who are in Him. The early church father Clement of Rome understood this when he wrote that we are “joined to the will of God through Christ.” This is not mere association; it is organic union.

The Septuagint Bridge: Hebrew Roots in Greek Soil

When you trace kakeînos back through the Septuagint, you discover something profound. This Greek word often translates the Hebrew wə-hû — a simple phrase meaning “and he” or “and that one.” But in the Hebrew mind, this was never merely grammatical. When Moses spoke of the promised land, he said that the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it (Deuteronomy 30:5). The connection between the fathers and the children is not accidental — it is covenantal. The Septuagint translators, when they rendered such passages, chose kakeînos to show that the same God who acted for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the same God who acts for you. In the book of Isaiah, when the prophet speaks of the Servant of the Lord, he says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The Septuagint uses connective language to show that what happened to that Servant affects this people. This is the inter-testamental bridge: the Hebrew sense of generational solidarity becomes the Greek word of personal inclusion.

The Messianic Fulfillment: Christ the Great Connector

Now you must see how the New Testament writers apply kakeînos to the person and work of Yeshua. This is where the word becomes alive with messianic fire. In the Gospel of Luke, when the risen Christ walks with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, their eyes are kept from recognizing Him. He opens the Scriptures to them, beginning from Moses and all the prophets, interpreting in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). Then, when He breaks bread with them, their eyes are opened. And Luke writes that He vanished from their sight. But they say to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). The word kakeînos appears in the context of that burning — the connection between the prophetic word and the living Word. In the apostolic preaching, Peter declares that “God anointed Yeshua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). The early church understood that what was true of the Messiah — His anointing, His suffering, His glory — is also true of His body. As the apostolic tradition teaches, you are joined to Him in His death and in His resurrection. The word kakeînos becomes the thread that binds your story to His story.

The Personal Invitation: You Are That One Also

And now, beloved, this word comes to you. You have heard how kakeînos weaves together the Father and the Son, the prophet and the fulfillment, the Old Covenant and the New. But the most sacred use of this word is yet to come — it is the moment when the Spirit whispers to your heart that you are included. The apostle John writes in his first letter, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). Then he uses kakeînos to say, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). That word links your present identity to your future glory. You are not merely a distant observer of the messianic story — you are that one also. The same God who raised Yeshua from the dead will also raise you. The same Spirit who anointed the Son now dwells in you. The same love that the Father has for the Son is given to you. So let this word be your anchor: when the Scripture speaks of the Messiah’s faithfulness, hear it as your faithfulness also. When it speaks of His victory, know it as your victory also. And when the day comes that you see Him face to face, you will hear those words that have been true from before the foundation of the world: “You are that one also — and you are Mine.” Go now, and live as one who is joined to the Eternal.