The same absence of interest in abstract analysis explains the silence of the NT on the question of the relative parts played by man and God in re- pentance. The attitude of tlie NT writers is rather that of the normal believer, who knows that his attitude of mind changed (see above), and that he once willed a very difierent set of actions, while he is equally sure that tliis change couhi never have happened apart from the grace of God (Roll"'). The argument in Ro 9'^"'" is not intended to prove that
God arbitrarily grants repentance to some and with- holds it from others (cf. the catalogue of warnings given to Israel, Bo 10) ; but only that if God's favours are withheld, God cannot rightly be blamed (.see Sanday-lleadlam, ICC, 'Romans'", 1902, p. 2-1811'.). On the other hand, with regard to the ethical consequences of repentance, there is no ambiguity whatever : a fact w hich is the more re- markable since the belief in the near approach of the Parousia might have been expected to lead to an ' Interimsethik,' or, as some of the Thessalonian converts believed, to no ethics at all (1 Th 5', 2 Tli 3"). The same thing may be seen clearly in the Epistle of Barnnlms, in which the apocalyptic section is followed immediately by the transcription of the 'Two Waj's.' (See Schweitzer, Geschichtc (Icr pnvlinischen Forschiing, 1911, who points out that the same stress on the importance of ethics in the descriptions of the coming world after the Parousia ellectually distinguishes Jewish and Christian from p.agan eschatology.)
But in truth, no multiplied references to repent- ance were necessary. No Christian could forget the new light in which he had come to look upon his past life (the paganism around him would make this impossible), nor the act of loving self-surrender to a new personal inlluence which accompanied it (Ac 20=' ; cf. Mk l'». He fi') ; and, though he might fail to display at the first all the graces of a mature Christian character (Eph 4™), he knew that repent- ance and faith together had wrought a real deliver- ance for him (1 P 4") ; and if he had felt less sorrow at the time than we might have expected for sins which hitherto be had not thought of as sins, ho now regarded them with the more loathing and contempt.
Literature. — R. J. Drummond, Iir!ati(m of the Apoatoh'c Tniching to the Teaching of Chi-isl. Eclinbiirgh, l!)l)0 ; H. H. Henson, Sloral Discipliiw in the Chnst'iiii Church, I.oniloii, ]90.^t, esp. ch. iv. ; R. J. Knowling, The Teslimoni/ of St. Paul to Chritt, do., 1905; H. Weinel, St. I'aid : The Man and llis Work, Eng. tr.,do., l!liit'. ; W. P. DuBose, The Gositel accord- ing to St. Paul, do., 1907 ; R. Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?, do., 1912; W. M. Macgregor, Christian Freedom, Edinburgh, 1914. \V. F. LOFTHOUSE.
REPHAN (Ac 7«, so RV ; AV ' Reraphan,' WH 'Rompha,' 'Tisch. ' Romphan '). — St. Stephen in his speech is quoting from LXX of Am S-". Nime of the above forms is known at all as the name of a god elsewhere, the suggestion of Lip.sius that it isconnected with thename repa-n-neteru, ' youngest of the gods,' a title of the god Seb( = Saturn), being too far-fetched. The Hebrew has Chinn, which may have been read as Ketvan, and changed into Jiephan, a similar change of 3 to t in LXX occur- ring in Nah P. The Hebrew Kcwan might repre- sent the Babylonian Kaawanu, ' Saturn ' (Sihrader, KAT-, 1883, "p. 409f., Eng. tr., 18S5-S8, ii. 141 f.), but more probably it is not a proper name at all (W. R. Smith).* "The mention of the 'star' is all that is requisite for St. Stephen's purpose, namely, to show that the foreign idolatrous ]danet-worship had crept in and meant ajiostasy from the true worship of Jahweh. See, further. Commentaries on Acts and Amos. F. W. WoESLEY.
REPROACH.— So far as the RV rendering of the apostolic writings is concerned, this word represents
• • The words □D'n'jN 3D1D ['starof.voiirGod'Jarea g:lose, asis indicated by the fact that the Septuapint read them before Vai<i>av=]V2. The iiloss arose from the idea that Chiun is equivalent to the Syriac KC-wan, a Persian name of the planet Saturn. But the date of Amos forbids this interpretation. Both nOD and p'D must be common nouns in the construct state, probably " the shrine of your (idol) king and ttie stand of your images," i.e. the portable shrine and platform on wliich the idols were exhibited antl borne in processions * {OTJC', London, 1892, p. 294 n. ; of. also Pruphcts of Israel, do., 1882, p. 401).
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REPROACH
REPROBATE
the Greek dveidiafids. It occurs twice in the Pauline Epistles and three times in Hebrews, and allbrds interestin<; instances of references to OT thou<;lit and employment of OT language. The word (Sj-ei- St<T/i6s belongs to the spliere of Hellenistic as distinct from classical Greek. It is of frequent occurrence in the I-XX throughout the latijr pro- phetic writings and, for the most part, rejnesents the Hebrew nj-in.
St. Paul (Ro 15'), in appealing to the ' strong ' to bear the infirmities of the 'weak,' addm^s 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 re- proached thee fell upon me.' This is an exact employment of the words of Ps 68'" in the LXX (EV 69^), ol dvetSiff^oi Tujv 6v€L5i^6tfTwv ff€ iTT^ir^aov iir ili(. The general purport of this psalm is to describe the suU'erings 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 v.i" the righteous suH'erer is repre- sented as speaking to God and as saying that he has to bear the reproaches uttered against God. St. Paul here puts tlie 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 sufi'erings, but those of others.