THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.

a-for': Archaic for "before" of time, or "formerly"; frequently occurs as compound, as in "aforetime," "aforehand," etc.; in the New Testament most commonly for the Greek prefix, pro, in compound words (Ro 1:2; 15:4); at other times, for Greek adverb pote, "at some time," "once" (Joh 9:13; 1Pe 3:5; Col 3:7).