REBUKE AND REPROVE. These two words are the usual translations of two closely related words in the Greek text. When we keep in mind the distinction between these Greek words, a flood of light is thrown upon the passages in which they occur.The word “rebuke” is the general translation of the word epitimao (ἐπιτιμαο). This word is used when one rebukes another without bringing the one rebuked to a conviction of any fault on his part. It might be because the one rebuked was innocent of the charge, or that he was guilty but refused to acknowledge his guilt. Examples of the first are seen in the action of Peter rebuking the Lord Jesus (Matt. 16:23), the disciples rebuking the children for accepting the blessing of our Lord (Matt. 19:13), and the crowd rebuking the blind man for calling upon Jesus (Luke 18:39). Illustrations of the second are found in the case of the repentant robber rebuking his fellow malefactor (Luke 23:40), and Jesus rebuking the demon (Mark 9:25), neither rebuke having any effect upon the recipient.The second word is elegcho (ἐλεγχο) and is usually translated by the word “reprove.” This word speaks of a rebuke which V 19, p 71 results in the person’s confession of his guilt, or if not his confession, his conviction of his sin. The word is used in Job 5:17 (Septuagint). “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth.” It is God’s reproof of His own that results in conviction of sin and their confession. “Reprove” in Proverbs 19:25 (Septuagint) is from elegcho (ἐλεγχο). The person who has spiritual understanding will respond to a rebuke from God by acknowledging his guilt and confessing it.Our Lord uses the word when He says, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John 8:46). Elegcho (Ἐλεγχο) is the correct word here, for it was used in the Greek law courts not merely of a reply to an opposing attorney, but of a refutation of his argument. No one could prove any charges of sin against our Lord. No one could bring charges against Him in such a way as to convince Him that He was guilty.But what a flood of light is shed upon the great passage, “And when he (the Holy Spirit) is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). What a commentary upon the work of the Holy Spirit in the case of the unsaved whom He brings to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Here epitimao (ἐπιτιμαο) would not do, for the unsaved are not guiltless nor do those whom the Holy Spirit reproves, refuse to acknowledge and confess their guilt. The word “world” here must be interpreted in a limited way because of elegcho (ἐλεγχο). The word here refers to those of the unsaved who are brought by the Holy Spirit into the place of salvation. The reproof spoken of is an effectual one. The rest of the unsaved hate the light and do not come to the light, lest their deeds be proven to be evil and they be put under obligation to confess their guilt (John 3:20). With the help of these definitions and illustrations of epitimao (ἐπιτιμαο) and elegcho (ἐλεγχο), the student of the English Bible is now prepared to study for himself the passages in which each is found. V 19, p 72Epitimao (Ἐπιτιμαο) occurs in the following places and is translated in the A.V., by the words “rebuke” and “charge”: Matthew 8:26, 12:16, 16:22, 17:18, 19:13, 20:31; Mark 1:25, 3:12, 4:39, 8:30, 32, 33, 9:25, 10:13, 48; Luke 4:35, 39, 41, 8:24, 9:21, 42, 55, 17:3, 18:15, 39, 19:39, 23:40; II Timothy 4:2; Jude 9.Elegcho (Ἐλεγχο) is found in the following places and is translated by the words “reprove, convict, tell a fault, convince”: Matthew 18:15; Luke 3:19; John 3:20, 8:9, 46, 16:8; I Corinthians 14:24; Ephesians 5:11, 13; I Timothy 5:20; II Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9, 13, 2:15; Hebrews 12:5; James 2:9; Revelation 3:19.Bastazo (Βασταζο). This is one of the many colorful words in the Greek New Testament. It has a variety of meanings; to take up with the hands, to bear what is burdensome, to bear away, to carry off, to pilfer. Moulton and Milligan in their Vocabulary of the Greek Testament report the following uses of the word. The word appears in a secular manuscript of A.D. 117 in a formula about taxation, where it has the sense of “endure.” It appears in the sentence “No one will endure your cheek.” How this latter phrase has remained with us. The Ephesian church could not bear (bastazo (βασταζο)) them that are evil (Rev. 2:2, 3). It could not endure them in the same sense that no one could endure the cheek, the insults, sarcasm, gainsaying, cutting words, rudeness, and abuse of the unknown person mentioned in that early manuscript.A document of the third century speaks of the Emperor Trajan granting an audience to rival Greek and Jewish emissaries from Alexandria, “each bearing (bastazo (βασταζο)) their own unique, private gods.” How like in usage is this to the words in Acts 9:15, “He (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear (bastazo (βασταζο)) my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” Closely allied to this usage of V 19, p 73 bastazo (βασταζο) is that found in a papyrus manuscript which contains a spell in which the words occur, “I carry the corpse of Osiris … should so-and-so trouble me, I shall use it against him.” Compare Galatians 6:17 where Paul says, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear (bastazo (βασταζο)) in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” The word “marks” is from the Greek stigma (στιγμα), which comes over into the English language in our word “stigma,” and means, “a mark pricked in or branded upon the body.” According to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked into their bodies to indicate to what master or general they belonged, and there were even some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods.Thus, Paul says that he bears branded on his body, the scars and marks left there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, beatings and scourgings he endured for the Lord Jesus, and which proved him to be a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ. Thus he could exhort Timothy to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (II Tim. 2:3). In our Galatian passage, he says in effect that he has suffered enough from the Judaizers who dogged his footsteps for many long years, and that his body scarred as the result of suffering for his Lord, should be enough to cause them to let him alone in his declining years and give him a little time of peace and rest. So, as the bearing (bastazo (βασταζο)) of a particular amulet associated with the god Osiris was used as a charm against an adversary, so the scarred body of the apostle should be enough to dissuade the Judaizers from their continued attacks upon him. And just as these Greek and Jewish emissaries bore their own unique private gods before Trajan in their dress, language, actions, and testimony, so Paul was to do the same before the Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. V 19, p 74A common use of bastazo (βασταζο) was “to pilfer,” throwing a flood of light on John 12:6 where Judas is said to have “had the bag, and bare (pilfered bastazo (βασταζο)) what was put therein.” In Matthew 3:11, we have “whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.” Bastazo (Βασταζο) was firmly established in its usage of “to take off someone’s sandals,” and it has this meaning here. Compare Mark 1:7. It was not a question of wearing Messiah’s sandals, but of taking them off for Him, a slave’s duty. What humility on the part of John.The word also meant “to bear what is burdensome,” and is used in that meaning in the following places: Matthew 8:17, 20:12; Mark 14:13; Luke 7:14, 14:27, 22:10; John 10:31, 16:12, 19:17, 20:15; Acts 3:2, 15:10, 21:35; Romans 15:1; Galatians 5:10, 6:2, 5, 17; Revelation 2:2, 3. There is another Greek word which is the simple unqualified word meaning “to bear.” When bastazo (βασταζο) is used, the writer wishes to add some detail to the simple idea of carrying something. One should always look for that additional idea. The reader should study these places listed for the additional light which the word bastazo (βασταζο) sheds upon the meaning of the passage. It will paint many a vivid picture in his mind’s eye.DEITY AND DIVINITY. There are two Greek words translated “Godhead” in the New Testament, occurring but once each, theiotes (θειοτες) and theotes (θεοτες). The Greek words are not however identical in meaning.Paul uses the first in Romans 1:20, where he speaks of the fact that mankind can see the theiotes (θειοτες) of God as it looks at the created universe. Trench observes, “Paul is declaring how much of God may be known from the revelation of Himself which He has made in nature, from those vestiges of Himself which men may everywhere trace in the world around them. Yet it is not the personal God whom any man may learn to know by these aids: He can be known only by the revelation of Himself in His Son; but only His V 19, p 75 divine attributes, His majesty and glory … It is not to be doubted that St. Paul uses this vaguer, more abstract, and less personal word, just because he would affirm that men may know God’s power and majesty … from His works, but would not imply that they may know Himself from these, or from anything short of the revelation of His eternal Word.”Peter in his second epistle (1:3) uses the word theia (θεια) which is closely allied to theiotes (θειοτες), to describe God’s power. The word is translated “divine” in the A.V. Paul uses theion (θειον) in Acts 17:29 where it is translated “Godhead.” In Romans 1:20 he is speaking of what may be known of God through nature. In his message to the Greek philosophers at Athens, he argues that the fact that we are the offspring of God by creation, gives us a picture, though inadequate, of what God is like. However, He cannot be known in a personal way through this means. Thus, in these passages, he is speaking of the divine aspects of Deity, but not of Deity as in itself absolute. The word theiotes (θειοτες) was used in classical Greek to speak of something in which there was a manifestation of the divine, of some divine attributes, but never of absolute deity. The word was used when a human being was raised to the rank of a god. He was therefore divine. But absolute deity was never ascribed to him by this word. The word theiotes (θειοτες) should therefore be translated in such a way as to bring out the thought of divinity, namely, that state of being in which the individual has divine characteristics. Paul in Romans 1:19 uses the Greek word theos (θεος) which speaks of absolute deity, and then in the next verse says that the created universe shows His eternal power and divinity, using theiotes (θειοτες).The other word theotes (θεοτες) occurs in Colossians 2:9, where Paul says that “In him (the Lord Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The Greek is very strong V 19, p 76 here. One could translate, “For in Him corporeally there is permanently at home all the fulness of the Godhead.” That is, in our Lord Jesus in His incarnation and in the permanent possession of His human body now glorified, there resides by nature and permanently the fulness of the Godhead. The word “Godhead” is from our second word theotes (θεοτες). The word expresses Godhead in the absolute sense. It is not merely divine attributes that are in mind now, but the possession of the essence of deity in an absolute sense. The Greek Fathers never use theiotes (θειοτες) but always theotes (θεοτες) as alone adequately expressing the essential Godhead of the three several Persons in the Holy Trinity. The Latin Christian writers were not satisfied with divinitas which was in common use, but coined the word deitas as the only adequate representative of the Greek word theotes (θεοτες).In these days when translators of the modernistic school will render the last sentence of John 1:1 “And the Word was divine,” translating the word theos (θεος) which means “absolute deity” by the word “divine,” it behooves those who believe in the absolute deity of the Lord Jesus, to use the expression “deity of Jesus Christ,” rather than “divinity of Jesus Christ.” Paul never spoke of the divinity of Jesus Christ, always of His deity. Our Lord does have divine attributes, but He is also God the Son, possessing the same essence as God the Father, and is co-equal with the other two members of the Trinity in His deity.BAPTIZE UNTO REPENTANCE. John the Baptist makes the statement, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance” (Matt. 3:11). Peter says, “Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). The word “unto” signifies “result.” For instance, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). The word “for” in our second text has the same meaning. V 19, p 77 Are we to understand that water baptism as administered by John the Baptist and Peter, resulted in the repentance of those who were the recipients of it, in the face of the fact that repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the unsaved, this repentance being “unto life,” that is, resulting in life (Acts 11:18)?The words “unto” and “for” in Matthew 3:11 and Acts 2:38 are from the Greek preposition eis (εἰς). Dana and Mantey in their excellent treatment of Greek prepositions based upon the papyri findings, give as one of the uses of this word, “because of.”* This usage is found in Matthew 12:41 where the men of Nineveh repented at or because of the preaching of Jonah, and in Romans 4:20, where Abraham did not stagger in unbelief, because of the promise of God. In the case of the men of Nineveh, Jonah’s preaching was the cause of their repentance. In the case of Abraham, the reason why he did not stagger in unbelief, was because of the promise of God. The word “stagger” here is from a Greek word which means “to vacillate between two opinions.” Thus it was the repentance of those who received John’s message which was the cause of their baptism. The same was true of Peter’s at Pentecost. John’s words were, “I indeed baptize you with water because of repentance,” and Peter’s, “Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission of sins.” That this is the correct translation and interpretation of our texts is also seen from the testimony of Josephus to the effect that John the Baptist baptized people only after they had repented: “Who (John) was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing (with water) would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to V 19, p 78 the putting away of some sins, but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness.” John’s words, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matt. 3:8), clearly show that he demanded some evidence of salvation before he would baptize a person.Thus, we have the scriptural meaning of water baptism. It is the testimony of the person to the fact of his salvation. The only proper recipient of water baptism therefore is one who has received the Lord Jesus as his personal Saviour, and is trusting in His precious blood for salvation from sin.
The Greek text thus clears up a difficulty found in the English translation. Baptism is not the prerequisite of repentance, much less its cause, but the testimony of the one who has entered the door of salvation. V 19, p 79
* Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament.
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 19 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 70–79.
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