Reprobate

The apostle to the Romans, (chap. i. 28.) hath this awful expression, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, " The doctrine of reprobation is of all others the most solemn. The expression of the apostle of God giving them over to it doth not convey that the Lord makes them reprobate, but leaves them in it. It is they that have gone on to harden their heart, and they are left in that hardness of heart; for God doth not give grace to bring them out of it, therefore they are given over, or given up, in being left alone to this state ofreprobation.

It should seem that the word is equivalent to that of rejection; such as in the case of Cain, Gen. 4: 5; such as Esau, Heb. x2: 16, 17. Hence the prophet, speaking of all such, saith, "reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them." (Jer. vi. 30.) Awful doctrine! (See Jude 4 - 13. Tit. i. 16. See vagabond.)

Rejected as not enduring the test of worthiness, Jer 6:30 . Some men are spoken of as reprobate even in this life, being hardened in sin and unbelief, 1Ch 1:28 2Ti 3:8 Tit 1:16 .\par

maas. God’s ancient people in their condition of moral debasement are compared to ’reprobate silver,’ or ’refuse silver’ as in the margin, Jer 6:30; or, as is read in Isa 1:22, ’thy silver is become dross,’ rejected.

In the N.T. the word is ἀδόκιμος, ’disapproved,’ and is applied to the wicked, and to those also who having engaged in the race fail to reach the goal. Rom 1:28; 2Co 13:5-7; 2Ti 3:8; Tit 1:16. The same word is translated ’rejected,’ and is descriptive of such as, in spite of gracious ministry, produce only that which is natural to fallen man. Heb 6:8. It is also translated ’castaway’ in 1Co 9:27, where the apostle Paul represents himself as keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection, lest having preached to others he himself should be rejected. This appears to indicate the possibility of a man, after having preached the gospel to others, being himself disapproved; failing to reach the goal through lack of self-discipline.

REPROBATE.—The Heb. word so rendered in Jer 6:30 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ; RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘refuse’) has its meaning explained by the context. ‘Refuse silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.’ Like metal proved to be worthless by the refiner’s fire (Jer 6:29), they are thrown away (cf. Isa 1:22). In the NT, in accordance with the meaning of the Gr. word (adokimos), ‘reprobate’ is used of that which cannot abide the proof, which, on being tested, is found to be worthless, had, counterfeit, and is therefore rejected. ‘A reprobate mind’ in Rom 1:28 (with tacit reference to the previous clause, ‘they did not approve to have God in their knowledge’) is, as the context shows, a mind depraved and perverted by vile passions. To such a mind God abandoned those who wilfully exchanged His truth for a lie (Rom 1:25). In 1Co 9:27, St. Paul declares that he ‘buffets’ his body and ‘brings it into bondage,’ lest, having preached to others, he himself should be rejected (reprobate). The figure is that of an athlete who, through remissness in training, fails in the race or fight (for the opposite figure, cf. 2Ti 2:15). In 2Co 13:6-7, the word (‘reprobates’) occurs three times, in each case as opposed to genuine, true. Christ is in them, except they be reprobates, i.e. false to their profession, hence rejected by God. Let them ‘prove’ themselves by this test (2Co 13:5). St. Paul trusts that they will know that he abides this test (2Co 13:6); but let them think of him what they will, if only they themselves do what is honourable (2Co 13:7). ‘Reprobate’ here is contrasted with what is ‘approved,’ ‘honourable’; it is identified with ‘doing evil.’ In 2Ti 3:8, certain are described as ‘corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith,’ where both moral corruption and false speculation as the result of this corruption seem intended. They fail, brought to the test of ‘sound’ or ‘healthful’ doctrine (2Ti 1:13-14, 2Ti 4:3). Similarly Tit 1:16 speaks of those who, denying God by their works, are ‘unto every good work reprobate.’ Their hypocrisy is brought home to them by their wicked lives. ‘Professing that they know God,’ they are proved by their works to be counterfeits, imposters. The word occurs, finally, in Heb 6:8, where those whom it is impossible ‘to renew again to repentance’ are compared to ground which, receiving the rain oft upon it, and being tilled, brings forth only thorns and thistles, and is ‘rejected.’ From all this we may conclude that ‘reprobate,’ generally, denotes a moral state so had that recovery from it is no longer possible; there remains only judgment (cf. Heb 6:8). It is only to be added that the term has no relation in Scripture to an eternal decree of reprobation; at least, to none which has not respect to a thoroughly had and irrecoverable condition of its objects. Cf. Predestination.

James Orr.

As a Calvinistic term, it refers to one who is rejected by God, beyond pardon or redemption; the opposite of the "elect," those who assume that they are predestined to salvation. In Catholic usage, only one who dies impenitent is reprobate, and of that state only God is judge.

rep´rṓ-bāt: This word occurs in the English Bible in the following passages: Jer 6:30 (the Revised Version (British and American) “refuse”); Rom 1:28; 2Co 13:5, 2Co 13:6, 2Co 13:7; 2Ti 3:8; Tit 1:16. In all these cases the Greek has ἀδόκιμος, adókimos. The same Greek word, however, is found with other renderings in Isa 1:22 (“dross”); Pro 25:4 (“dross”); 1Co 9:27 (“castaway,” the Revised Version (British and American) “rejected”). The primary meaning of adokimos is “not-received,” “not-acknowledged.” This is applied to precious metals or money, in the sense of “not-current,” to which, however, the connotation “not-genuine” easily attaches itself. It is also applied to persons who do not or ought not to receive honor or recognition. This purely negative conception frequently passes over into the positive one of that which is or ought to be rejected, either by God or men. Of the above passages 1Co 9:27 uses the word in this meaning. Probably Rom 1:28, “God gave them up unto a reprobate mind” must be explained on the same principle: the noús of the idolatrous heathen is permitted by God to fall into such extreme forms of evil as to meet with the universal rejection and reprobation of men. Wettstein’s interpretation, “an unfit mind,” i.e. incapable of properly performing its function of moral discrimination, has no linguistic warrant, and obliterates the wordplay between “they refused to have God in their knowledge (ouk edokı́masan),” and “God gave them up to a reprobate (= unacknowledged, adokimos) mind.” Even Tit 1:16, “unto every good work reprobate,” affords no instance of the meaning unfit, but belongs to the following rubric.

The close phonetic resemblance and etymological affinity of dokimos to the verb dokimázō, “to try,” “test,” has caused the notion of “being tested,” “tried,” and its opposite of “being found wanting in the test” to associate itself more or less distinctly with the adjectives dokimos and adokimos. Thus the more complex meaning results of that which is acknowledged or rejected, because it has approved or not approved itself in testing. This connotation is present in 2Co 13:5, 2Co 13:6, 2Co 13:7; 2Ti 3:8; Tit 1:16; Heb 6:8. In the first two of these passages the word is used of Christians who ostensibly were in the true faith, but either hypothetically or actually are represented as having failed to meet the test. “Reprobate unto every good work” (Tit 1:16) are they who by their life have disappointed the expectation of good works. The “reprobate (rejected) land” of Heb 6:8 is land that by bearing thorns and thistles has failed to meet the test of the husband man. It should be noticed, however, that adokimos, even in these cases, always retains the meaning of rejection because of failure in trial; compare in the last-named passage: “rejected and nigh unto cursing.”

Literature.

Cremer, Biblisch-theologisches Worterbuch der neutestamentlichen Gracitat¹⁰, 356-57.

‘Reprobate’ is the rendering of the Greek word ἀäüêéìïò, which is need in the NT only by St. Paul and only of persons, except in Heb_6:8, where it is used of the land. It is the negative form of äüêéìïò (from äÝ÷ïìáé), ‘acceptable,’ ‘tested,’ ‘worthy,’ and means ‘unacceptable,’ ‘unworthy,’ ‘rejected after trial.’ ‘Reprobate silver shall men call them,’ says Jeremiah of God’s degenerate people, ‘because the Lord hath rejected them’ (HEB 6:30 Septuagint ). In Rom_1:28 St. Paul uses the word when speaking of the natural condition of the heathen world, alienated from God, abandoned to their lusts and passions and to a reprobate mind (åἰò ἀäüêéìïí íïῦí), as if, having failed to avail themselves of the light of nature, they were now left without it altogether and without hope of amendment at all. A ‘reprobate mind’ in the judgment of St. Paul is proof of the deep depravity of the heathen and at the same time its awful punishment. In 1Co_9:27 St. Paul uses the word in a passage where he is comparing the Christian life in its strenuousness to the contests in the Grecian games. In them the racer or the boxer must contend strictly according to the rules, for if he is found fouling a rival or transgressing the rules of the contest, he is liable to be cast out of the lists and scourged, and at any rate will be declared disqualified for a prize. It was in this spirit that Ignatius, on the way to martyrdom at Rome, entreated the prayers of his fellow-Christians so as to be found worthy of the lot he had set before him, that in the end he might not be found ‘rejected’ ἀäüêéìïò) (Ignatius, ad Trall. xii. 3). See Castaway. Elsewhere St. Paul urges the necessity of earnest self-examination and the dote following of Christ if his readers would escape this reproach (2Co_13:5-7); and utters words of solemn warning against men who after having made a Christian profession become depraved in mind and heart, or content themselves with an outward profession, whilst, as regards the faith and every good work, they are discredited, ‘reprobate’ (2Ti_3:8, Tit_1:16).

The passage in Heb_6:8 where ἀäüêéìïò is used not of persons but of the land is, taken in connexion with its preceding context, very suggestive. The land which drinks in the rain and brings forth the looked-for crop receives blessing of God, but that which receives the same benign influence and produces only thorns and thistles is ‘rejected’ (ἀäüêéìïò), gets no share of that blessing, but is tit only, like Sodom and Gomorrah, for the fire. It is in these solemn words that the writer sums up his urgent message to the Hebrew Christians to press on unto perfection and to be on their guard against spiritual sloth, which may issue in falling away. He speaks as if a fall from grace were possible even on the part of those who have experienced spiritual enlightenment and renewal, as if there were a point even in the spiritual life where backsliding becomes apostasy, and the man who crucifies the Son of God afresh and puts Him to an open shame is beyond repentance rejected, reprobate. St. Paul and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews in these passages are not presenting a reasoned system of predestination and election, but rather dealing with what may happen under the stress and strain of temptation and trial in the ordinary tenor of the Christian life, and emphasizing the need of diligence and watchfulness, if they and their readers would make their calling and election sure.

Of ‘reprobation’ as the issue of a Divine decree there is no direct statement in the NT, St. Paul, indeed, seeming deliberately to avoid any such statement. When asserting the Divine sovereignty under the figure of the potter who makes of the same lump one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour, he asks, ‘What if Cod, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory?’ (Rom_9:21-23). The distinction drawn by the Apostle when speaking of ‘the vessels of wrath’ and ‘the vessels of mercy’ in the above passage is significant. Of the former he uses the passive and impersonal form, ‘fitted to destruction’; of the latter he speaks in the active voice, ‘the preparation’ being directly attributed to God. Our Lord similarly distinguishes between the sentence which no will pass in the Judgment on those on His right hand and that on those on His left. To the former, the address is, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father’; to the latter, ‘Depart, ye cursed,’ the blessing being all of God, the curse entirely of themselves. In the same connexion ‘the everlasting fire’ is ‘prepared for the devil and his angels,’ but the Kingdom to which the righteous are summoned is prepared for them ‘before the foundation of the world.’

It is interesting as a matter of NT interpretation to notice that three of the most notable of the Reformed Confessions-the Heidelberg Catechism, the Revised Thirty-nine Articles, and the Scots Confession of 1560-pass the subject of reprobation over in silence.

Thomas Nicol.