heautou identifies a person or group in relation to itself: acting on, possessing, examining, or directing something to itself.

The supplied verses most often use the term to direct an action, condition, or benefit back to the same person or group, as in examining, deceiving, cleansing, or living for themselves. It also marks what belongs to a person or group, including one’s own interests, spouse, children, bread, or body, and appears in plural settings of mutual relation among the same group.

1. Action or result directed back to the same person · dominant

   Accusative and dative forms place the person or group as the one affected by an action or receiving its result. In 1 Corinthians 11:28 the APB renders the clause "Let a person examine himself," while 2 Corinthians 13:5 has the repeated call to "Examine yourselves" and "test yourselves"; 2 Timothy 2:21 likewise describes someone who "cleanses himself."

   1 Corinthians 11:281 Corinthians 11:291 John 1:82 Corinthians 13:52 Timothy 2:211 Timothy 6:10
2. What belongs to the person or group · common

   Genitive forms mark a possession or concern belonging to the same referent. In 1 Corinthians 10:24 the APB renders a contrast between "his own things" and "the things of the other"; 1 Corinthians 7:2 speaks of each man’s wife and each woman’s husband, and 2 Thessalonians 3:12 of eating "their own bread."

   1 Corinthians 10:241 Corinthians 13:51 Corinthians 7:21 Thessalonians 2:112 Thessalonians 3:12Ephesians 4:16
3. Relation within the same group · occasional

   Plural forms occur where the clause concerns members of a group in relation to that group itself. In 1 Corinthians 6:7 the APB renders "judgments among yourselves," and 1 Thessalonians 5:13 says, "Be at peace among yourselves"; 1 Peter 4:10 places the group in mutual service, "serve one another."

   1 Corinthians 6:71 Thessalonians 5:131 Peter 4:102 Corinthians 10:12

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the supplied verses, the APB commonly presents the term with forms such as "himself," "themselves," "yourself," and "own," and in plural group settings with "among yourselves." These renderings confirm the clauses' self-reference rather than supplying a separate definition for every form.