RELIGION. — The uses of the word ' religion ' in the apostolic writings may be classified umler three heads.
1. In Gal !"'• 'louSaiVr^os is twice translated ' the Jews' religion.' St. Paul reminds the Galatians tliat they had heard of his manner of life aforetime when he followed Judaism, and that they knew his proficiency in Judaism. In this context the literal rendering ' Judaism ' is to be preferred, for the factious rather than the religious aspect of Judaism is prominent. The EV ' Jews' religion ' is an ' un- fortunate' translation, because 'it implies a de- finite separation between the two religions which did not then exist, . . . and it puts this view into the mouth of Paul, who steadfastly persisted in identifying the faith of Christ with the national religion. . . . Here 'Ioi;5aiVr;u6s denotes Jewish partisanship, and accurately describes the bitter party spirit which prompted Saul to take the lead in the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the Church. . . . He advanced beyond his fellows in sectarian prejudice and persecuting zeal ' (F. Kendall, in EGT, 'Galatians,' London, 1903, p. 153 f.).
2. The Greek adjective Sfundal/iuv is rendered in Ac 17-^ ' superstitious '(RV) and ' religious' (RVm). The derivative noun Sciaidaifiovla is rendered in Ac 2.5"* 'religion' (RV) and 'superstition' (RVm). The dominant meaning of the words in classical Greek is 'due reverence of the gods,' but in the 1st cent. A.D. they had a depreciatoi-y sense and signified 'excessive fear of the gods' (cf. E. Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek, Oxford, 1889, p. 45). It does not, however, follow that ' religion ' is an impossible rendering in the address of Festus to the Jewish king, Agrippa, who paid outward de- ference to the Jewish religion. But although Felix is not likely to ' have used the term offen- sively ... he may well have chosen the word because it was a neutral word (verbum ijAtrov, Bengel) and did not commit him to anything definite' (R. J. Knowling, iaEGT, 'Acts,' London, 1901, p. 497). 'Superstitious' is more probably, though not certainly, the correct translation in Ac 1"--. St. Paul was addressing Athenians, and they 'would instinctively recall the literary associations of the word. ... In point of fact, the words ii^ 6fi(Ti5aifioi'€(rT^povs give, in a form as little offensive as possible, St. Paul's view of Athenian idolatry already noticed by the historian (v.'^). The ws brings out the fact that the word ScuyiSaiiioveaHpovs expresses the s])eaker's own impression ' (F. H. Chase, The Credibility of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, London, 1902, p. 2l:i).
3. In Ac 26^ and Ja l-"- 'religion' is the render- ing of 0p7i(TKeia which in Col 2'" is translated ' wor- shipping.' The contemporary n.eaning of the word
is religion in its external aspect — ' cultus religiosus, potissimum externus' (Wilke-(irimm, Clrrvis Novi Vest., 18(58). It is appropriately used by St. Paul in his address to Agrippa (Ac 26'). Calling to remembrance his life as a Pharisee, the Apostle claims to have been ' a zealous and diligent per- former ... of the outward service of God ' (R. 0. Trench, Hj/nunyiiis of the iVy", London, 1890, p. 175). In Ja I-*'-, when the word is rightly understood, there is no support for those who dis- parage inward and spiritual religion, nor for those who so exalt its outward aspects as practically to identify it with morality and works of benevolence. What St. James asserts of such works is that they are 'the body, the 6pri<rKeia, of which godliness, or the love of God, is the informing soul. . . . 'fhe apostle claims for the new dispensation a superior- itj' over the old, in that its very dprjuKtia consists in acts of mercy, of love, of holiness, in that it has light for its garment, its very robe being righteous- ness ; herein how much nobler than that old, whose dpTjdKila was at best merely ceremonial and formal, whatever inner truth it might embody' (K. C. Trench, op. cit. p. 176, who says, 'these observa- tions are made by Coleridge, Aids to Bejlection, 1825, p. 15'). J. G. Taskek.
REMISSION.— See Forgiveness.
REMNANT. — This word occurs only twice as a substantive in the English NT, both instances being in the Epistle to the Romans.
1. Ro 9^, viT6\€ip.ixa (WH, i.7r»iM/^a) with X*AB Eus. The TR reads xardXfi^^a with later authori- ties. The latter variant probably originated in the desire to make St. Paul's word correspond exactly with that of the passage in Is lO-'^, which he is here quoting from the LXX : ' And Isaiah crielh concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that sliall be saved ' (LXX, ri Kara- Xeififxa avTup crw^Tjcerat),
The Apostle is expressing, in language adapted from the OT, his conviction that only a remnant of the Jews will be saved, a conviction forced upon him by the repeated experiences of his missionary journeys. This sad outlook on the immediate ))resent is afterwards modified by his prophetic forecast of the ultimate return of the whole people, when 'all Israel shall be saved' (11-').
The passage in Isaiah is one of central signifi- cance. The prophet is convinced that the Assyrians, the instruments of God's punishment, will over- throw not only Samaria but Jerusalem. As a State, Judah will be destroyed. The only survivors will be the ' remnant,' the group of true-hearted believers w-ho submit to God's word spoken by the prophet. We have here for the first time the dis- sociation of the religious from the national life, the conception of a Church as free from political associations. Of this ' remnant ' the prophet says that it ' shall return ' (niir;). The LXX rendering, (xiiiB-qaeTai., lends itself more directly to St. Paul's reference to the Messianic salvation. To show, as he does here, that not only the calling of the Gentiles, but also the partial rejection of the Jews, was foretold in the prophetic writings, was both a ground of assurance to himself and an eflective answer to Jewish criticism.