to investigate
anakrino denotes examining a person, claim, or matter to reach an assessment or establish what is true.
The attested use most often concerns examination in response to accusations, defenses, or official inquiry; it also describes assessing spiritual matters or testing written teaching, and, in food-related instructions, refraining from inquiry prompted by conscience.
Senses in use
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Examine in an accusation or official inquiry · dominant
In Luke 23:14, the aorist active participle occurs as the speaker says that, after examining the accused before the listeners, he found no basis for the charges. The same investigative setting appears in Acts 12:19, where Herod examines the guards, and in Acts 24:8, where examining the accused is said to enable the facts of an accusation to be ascertained. In 1 Corinthians 4:3 and 1 Corinthians 9:3, the forms concern being examined by others and answering those who examine.
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Assess or discern matters and teaching · common
In Acts 17:11, the present active participle describes examining the writings daily to see whether the message was so. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 and 1 Corinthians 2:15, the present forms occur in statements about spiritual discernment, while 1 Corinthians 14:24 places the passive form alongside an unbeliever being convicted and examined by all.
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Make inquiry concerning food · occasional
In 1 Corinthians 10:25 and 1 Corinthians 10:27, the present active participle occurs in instructions to eat what is sold or set before a person while making no inquiry on account of conscience. The APB renders the clause in both verses with “investigating nothing.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously uses “examining,” “examined,” “discerned,” and “investigating,” according to the surrounding clause. These renderings present examination of persons, matters, writings, and spiritual things, but the translation does not identify a fixed English equivalent for each occurrence.