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Bible Dictionaries
Reproach
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or So far as the Revised Version rendering of the apostolic writings is concerned, this word represents the Greek ὀνειδισμός, It occurs twice in the Pauline Epistles and three times in Hebrews, and affords interesting instances of references to OT thought and employment of OT language. The word ὀνειδισμός belongs to the sphere of Hellenistic as distinct from classical Greek. It is of frequent occurrence in the Septuagint throughout the later prophetic writings and, for the most part, represents the Hebrew חָרְפָּח.
St. Paul (Romans 15:3), in appealing to the ‘strong’ to bear the infirmities of the ‘weak,’ adduces the example of Christ, who ‘also pleased not himself, but’-and here the Apostle breaks the grammatical construction in order to introduce intact an OT quotation-‘the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me.’ This is an exact employment of the words of Psalms 68:10 in the Septuagint (English Version Psalms 69:9), οἱ ὀνειδισμοὶ τῶν ὀνειδιζόντων σε ἐπέπεσον ἐπʼ ἐμέ. The general purport of this psalm is to describe the sufferings of the typically righteous man at the hands of the ungodly. Many passages from it are referred to our Lord in various parts of the NT. In Psalms 69:10 the righteous sufferer is represented as speaking to God and as saying that he has to bear the reproaches uttered against God. St. Paul here puts the words into our Lord’s lips, who is conceived as speaking, not to God, but to a man, and as saying that in enduring reproaches He was bearing, not His own sufferings, but those of others.
The passage so used is an interesting example of the way in which St. Paul takes OT phraseology out of its original context and employs it for his own purpose. In the hands of one who viewed Psalms 68 as Messianic in its reference, this procedure was both legitimate and appropriate.
In 1 Timothy 3:7 the Apostle, enumerating the characteristics requisite for a bishop, says that ‘he must have good testimony from them that are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.’ There is considerable uncertainty as to the exact meaning of this passage. One question is, whether ‘reproach’ is to be taken alone, or whether ‘reproach and snare of the devil’ is to be treated as all one phrase. Some, perhaps feeling that ‘reproach of the devil’ is an impossible expression, διαβόλου here in the general sense of ‘slanderer,’ and translate, ‘lest he fall into the reproaches and snares prepared by slanderers.’ On the whole, the Revised Version as given above seems to afford the most natural meaning. A bishop’s life must be such as not to forfeit the approval in general of surrounding non-Christian society. Should he fail to secure this general approval, there is the probability that his life is open to adverse criticism and that he may thus fall a prey to the wiles of the tempter.
Hebrews 10:33 recalls how the readers of the Epistle had been ‘made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions’; but the passages of greater interest in this book are Hebrews 11:26 and Hebrews 13:13. The reference in each is to the ‘reproach ‘of Christ. In Hebrews 11:26 it is said that Moses accounted ‘the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.’ The ‘reproach’ which Moses endured is called ‘the reproach of the Christ’ because it was on account of his belief in God’s saving purpose that he suffered it. ‘The reproach which Moses suffered in the fellowship of the People of God-the hardship, contempt, and the like, inflicted at the hands of the Egyptian world then-was the same as that inflicted on Christ in the days of His flesh, and the same as was borne by the Hebrew believers in their day, or as is borne by believers at all times. Though the reproach and the sufferings are the same, however, Christ is worthy to give name to them; to others they derive their meaning from having been endured by Him, and in Him they reached their climax’ (A. B. Davidson, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Edinburgh, n.d., p. 228). The Statement does not necessarily imply belief on the part of Moses that a personal Christ was to come. What he did believe in was the fulfilment of God’s promise, which, in point of fact, was fulfilled in the coming of Christ.
In Hebrews 13:13 the readers are exhorted to ‘go forth unto him [Jesus] without the camp, bearing his reproach.’ They must make their choice between Christianity and Judaism, for the two cannot be amalgamated. Christ’s death ‘without the gate’ was the symbol of His being cast out of the community and religious life of the OT Israel. To realize the full power of His redeeming work, His followers must abandon ‘the camp’-the sphere within which the religious life and ordinances of Israel prevail-and must go forth to Him. To be branded as a traitor and to be deprived of Jewish privilege was ‘the reproach of the Christ.’ This His followers must share.
It is not improbable that the language of Psalms 89:50-51 underlies both of these passages in Hebrews (Septuagint Ps 88:51, 52), μνήσθητι κύριε, τοῦ ὀνειδισμοῦ τῶν δούλων σου … οὖ ὠνείδισαν τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα τοῦ Χριστου σου.
In the Authorized Version the word ‘reproach’ occurs in two passages in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 11:21 it is used to translate the Greek ἀτιμία (Revised Version ‘disparagement’). In 2 Corinthians 12:10 it is used to translate ὕβρις (Revised Version ‘injury’).
Dawson Walker.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Reproach'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/r/reproach.html. 1906-1918.
