Remnant
This word occurs only twice as a substantive in the English NT, both instances being in the Epistle to the Romans.
1. Rom 9:27, (WH [Note: H Westcott-Horts Greek Testament.] , with AB Eus. The Textus Receptus reads with later authorities. The latter variant probably originated in the desire to make St. Pauls word correspond exactly with that of the passage in Isa 10:22, which he is here quoting from the Septuagint : And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved (Septuagint , ).
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 present is afterwards modified by his prophetic forecast of the ultimate return of the whole people, when all Israel shall be saved (Rom 11:26).
The passage in Isaiah is one of central significance. The prophet is convinced that the Assyrians, the instruments of Gods punishment, will overthrow 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 who submit to Gods word spoken by the prophet. We have here for the first time the dissociation 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 (). The Septuagint rendering, , lends itself more directly to St. Pauls 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 effective answer to Jewish criticism.
2. Rom 11:5, (WH [Note: H Westcott-Horts Greek Testament.] , ): Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. The comparison here is with the seven thousand men who during the religious persecution of Ahabs reign had not bowed the knee to Baal (1Ki 19:18). The reference, as in 1Ki 9:27, is to the small body of faithful believers who constituted the true Israel, in contrast with the recreant and disobedient majority. The remnant in the time of Elijah and that in the time of Isaiah are prototypes of the believing minority of Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah.
Literature.-The Commentaries on Romans in loc.; F. Delitzsch, Jesaia2, Leipzig, 1869, on Isa 10:22; G. F. Cehler, Theology of the OT, Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1874-75, ii. 381 ff.; G. A. Smith, Expositors Bible, Isaiah, London, 1888-90, i. 126 ff.
Dawson Walker.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
REMNANT
Although the nation Israel as a whole was Gods people, only a minority of the people ever truly believed. While the majority carried out their rituals without any attitude of genuine repentance or faith, there were always the few who were truly devoted to God. This faithful minority is consistently referred to as the remnant. Israel may have been Gods people in the national sense, but the remnant were Gods people in the spiritual sense. They were the true Israel (Rom 9:6-7; Rom 9:27).
When Gods people of Old Testament times rebelled against him, the prophets announced Gods judgment upon them. Time and again the prophets declared that God had rejected his unfaithful people but would preserve the faithful remnant. One task of the prophets was to build up and encourage the remnant (1Ki 19:18; Isa 1:9; Isa 8:16-19; Isa 10:20-23; Isa 28:5; Jer 15:19-21).
The prophets saw that events were heading towards a judgment far greater than anything the people had met previously. The nation would be conquered, Jerusalem destroyed and the people taken into captivity. But God would still preserve a remnant, so that after a time in captivity, some would return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, the city and the nation (Ezr 9:13-15; Isa 11:11-12; Isa 11:16; Mic 2:12).
After the return, the people as a whole again became unfaithful to God, but there was always a remnant of faithful believers. From this remnant the Messiah eventually came (Mic 5:2-3; Mic 5:7-8; Zec 8:11-12; Mal 3:16-18; Mat 1:18-21; Luk 1:5-7; Luk 2:25-38).
Still the majority of Israel rebelled against God, this time rejecting the Messiah. But a remnant received him. This faithful minority of old Israel became the nucleus of the new people of God, the Christian church (Luk 24:44-49; Joh 20:20-22; Act 1:13-15; Act 2:1-4).
Within a few years the church consisted largely of non-Jews. Within it, however, were the believing Jews, the faithful remnant, the spiritual Israelites who believed in Jesus the Messiah and became part of his church (Act 13:43; Act 16:1; Act 17:2-4; Act 18:8; Rom 2:28-29; Rom 9:6-8; Rom 11:1-5).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Remnant
REMNANT.See Israel, p. 387b.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Remnant
remnant: Remnant is the translation of , yether, what is left over (Deu 3:11; Deu 28:54; Jos 12:4, etc.); of , she’ar, the rest (Ezr 3:8 the King James Version; Isa 10:20, Isa 10:21, Isa 10:22; Isa 11:16, etc.; Zep 1:4); more frequently of , she’erth, residue, etc. (2Ki 19:4, 2Ki 19:31; 2Ch 34:9; Ezr 9:14; Isa 14:30, etc.). As the translation of the last-mentioned two words, remnant has a special significance in the prophecies of Isaiah, as denoting a holy seed, or spiritual kernel, of the nation which should survive impending judgment and become the germ of the people of God, being blessed of God and made a blessing (compare Mic 2:12; Mic 4:7; Mic 5:7, Mic 5:8; Mic 7:18; also Zep 2:7; Zep 3:13; Hag 1:12, Hag 1:14; Zec 8:6; Joe 2:32). Paul, in Rom 9:27, quotes from Isa 10:22 f, the remnant (kataleimma, what is left over shall be saved; compare also Rom 11:5 (where the word is lemma) with 2Ki 19:4. Several other Hebrew words are less frequently translated remnant: ‘ahar, after; yathar, to be left over, etc.; in the New Testament (the King James Version) we have also loipos, left, remaining (Mat 22:6; Rev 11:13, etc.).
For remnant the Revised Version (British and American) has overhanging part (Exo 26:12), rest (Lev 14:18, etc.); on the other hand gives remnant for posterity (Gen 45:7), for rest (Jos 10:20; 1Ch 4:43; Isa 10:19), for residue (Hag 2:2; Zec 8:11), etc.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Remnant
This word constantly occurs in the O.T. in the sense of ‘the rest of the people.’ In every crisis in the history of Israel there has been a remnant: this was seen in the time of Ahab (1Ki 19:18), and so too in the introduction of Christianity (Luk 2:38), and that it will be so in the future is abundantly evident from the testimony of the prophets. There will be great prosperity in the land, and God will cause the remnant of His people to possess it. Zec 8:12: cf. Rev 12:17. When God’s people are unfaithful to His calling, He secures His own purpose in a remnant.
The prophetic language in the Psalms is not that of the mass of Israel, but of the remnant, in whom the Spirit of Christ speaks; and it is in the Psalms that the remnant is first seen as distinguished from the ungodly nation. The idea of a remnant is found also in the address to the church in Thyatira, and to that remnant (‘the rest’) it was said, “That which ye have already hold fast till I come.” Rev 2:24-25. They represent the faithful in the time of the supremacy of the apostate Popish system.
A remnant represents morally the original whole, and does not imply an inferior remaining portion. It is of God’s grace that any are enabled to be stedfast to the original truth and calling during a general apostasy from it.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Remnant
an adjective (akin to leipo, “to leave”) signifying “remaining,” is used as a noun and translated “the rest” in the RV, where the AV has “the remnant,” Mat 22:6; Rev 11:13; Rev 12:17; Rev 19:21. See OTHER, RESIDUE, REST (the).
“that which is left” (akin to leipo, “to leave”), “a remnant,” is used in Rom 11:5, “there is a remnant,” i.e., there is a spiritual “remnant” saved by the gospel from the midst of apostate Israel. While on one sense there has been and is a considerable number, yet, compared with the whole nation, past and present, the “remnant” is small, and as such is an evidence of God’s electing grace (see Rom 11:4). In the Sept., 2Ki 19:4.
hupo, “under,” signifying “diminution,” and No. 2, is used in Rom 9:27, some mss. have kataleimma, which has virtually the same meaning (kata, “down, behind”), “a remnant,” where the contrast is drawn between the number of Israel as a whole, and the small number in it of those who are saved through the Gospel. The quotation is chiefly from the Sept. of Isa 10:22-23, with a modification recalling Hos 1:10, especially with regard to the word “number.” The return of the “remnant” is indicated in the name “Shear-Jashub,” see Isa 7:3, marg. The primary reference was to the return of a remnant from captivity to their own land and to God Himself; here the application is to the effects of the gospel. There is stress on the word “remnant.”