ὀνειδίζω (on-i-did'-zo): The unjust rebukes of the world together with the penetrating rebuke of Christ which, if received, can become for us a final Beatitude
[Reading Time: 8 minutes]
This is a companion piece to the 6th c. text featured earlier, The Reflections of Abba Zosimas, which, as noted, is in many ways a living exposition of Mt 5:10-12 & 5:38-48. That is to say, the “burning medicine of Jesus,” which Zosimas also speaks of as the “medicine of dishonor,” may be the very thing that Christ uses in our lives to heal our souls in deeper ways.
In this word study we will examine this verb which is often translated “to insult” or “reproach,” finding that, although the majority use comprises unjust attacks and unfounded assaults on our character, oneidízō, nevertheless, is used by Jesus Himself to correct and instruct (מוּסָר [musar]) His followers in a way that mysteriously works His life, suffering and death into our being that we can then become living witnesses of His Grace:
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful (lýpē);
Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Heb 12:11).
ὀνειδίζω (oneidízō)
Etymology & Dictionary Definition
From ὄνειδός (oneidos), a reproach, used only 1x in the NT in Lk 1 when Elizabeth proclaims at the conception of a son in her old age,
Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach (oneidízō) among the people (Lk 1:25).
Further, from the verb, ὄνομαι (onomai), To blame, revile (which is only found in classical texts).
In the NT oneidízō comes to mean both the unjust reproaches of the world upon the people of God and yet the penetrating rebuke of Christ Himself upon His disciples that are a “medicine”—maybe the only medicine—that will actually heal us.
10 occurrences in the NT
6x in the Gospels (the focus of this post)
4x in the Epistles
Summary Synthesis: The Gospels
The initial use of oneidízō is presented in the final beatitude, wherein the believer enters into the horror and injustice of the sufferings of Christ, yet in ways that paradoxically work eternal blessing.
From here it moves to the rejection of this beatitude by man and the eternal “woe” that follows.
The Gospels then directs our eyes to the Passion of Jesus, Who is the only One that can live out this final Beatitude, as He takes into His very being the eternal “woe” of fallen man, becoming totally rejected, abandoned, smitten of God and reviled by man, in this way opening fallen man to the eternal blessings of the Covenant.
Yet the Gospel does not end here, but closes with a final warning by Jesus Himself. If we through unbelief and hardness of heart reject the witness of the Crucified and Risen Christ, then we give up the Beatitude of the Kingdom and give ourselves over to eternal woe. For this He rebukes His disciples and, as is the argument of Zosimas, allows us to continually suffer rebukes throughout the course of our lives, be they just or unjust, so that the blessed healing of the Crucified Christ can enter more deeply into the every crevice of our being.
Detailed Analysis
The opening occurrence comes in the final Beatitude:
Blessed are you when they revile (ὀνειδίσωσιν [oneidízō]) and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake (Mt 5:11; parallel in Lk 6:22).
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Mt 5:12).
This persecution and the false accusations work in us true joy that the world and our circumstances cannot take away; for it connects us to the true, prophetic witness of the Kingdom.
Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10).
This final beatitude—this climax of the Christian life in the believer’s union with Christ in His suffering and death—forms the opening occurrence of oneidízō.
The next occurrence in the Gospel is not, however, of unjust, unwarranted, groundless accusations upon innocent persons, but rather the righteous rebuke of Jesus Himself:
Then He began to rebuke (ὀνειδίζειν [oneidízō]) the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent (ὅτι οὐ μετενόησαν [metanoeó]):
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes…” (Mt 11:20-21).
If we reject the witness of Christ Himself, refusing His “mighty works” and signs that bear witness to the eternal Kingdom, then we take into ourselves the curses of sin. And for us, as Christ declares, there will be nothing left but eternal “woe.”
The final use in Matthew (with its parallel in Mark 15) comes full circle. Having announced to His disciples the pathway of the Kingdom in the Beatitudes that climaxes in the believer’s persecution in This Age, Christ Himself now lives this reality out as the incarnate witness to what will finally happen when the eternal holiness of God encounters fallen man and his fallen religious systems.
Falsely accused, rejected, stripped, beaten, taking into Himself our griefs and carrying our sorrows yet deemed by us to be stricken, smitten and afflicted, hanging on a cross between criminals, Christ endures still more:
Mt 27
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled (ὠνείδιζον [oneidízō]) him in the same way (cf. Mk 15:32).
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Christ endures the curses of the Covenant, literally becoming a curse for us (γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα, Gal 3:13). And in the unspeakable horror, He does not lash out at His persecutors. He does not defend His rights. He bears the insults, the reproaches silently as a lamb led to the slaughter never opening His mouth (Is 53:7; cf. I Pet 2:23).
And to this example (ὑπογραμμὸν) we ourselves ourselves are called, declares Peter, that we should follow in His steps (I Pet 2:21). For it is this willing and humble entrance into the sufferings of Christ, filled with injustice and oppression, that will become the χάρις—The living witness of the Grace of God—to our fallen world.
Is this possibly why Zosimas tells us in Part IV. Healing from Christ, the following:
a. He also said: ‘If someone perceives that another person has brought upon him affliction or harm or slander or any other evil, and in return he weaves thoughts against that other person, then he is actually conspiring against his own soul, just as if the demons were doing this.
It is actually possible to bring this upon oneself. What do I mean by “weaving”? If you do not imagine the other person to be like a healer, then you are bringing upon yourself the greatest harm.
Why do you say that the other person has caused you suffering? That person has actually brought you cleansing. Moreover, you should think of that person as a healer, sent to you by Christ. You ought to suffer for the sake of that person (Acts 9:16), and you should regard that person as your benefactor.
b. ‘If you have not been alienated from evil, and do not wish to be alienated from it, then the Lord you God is not to blame for this. To suffer is quite appropriate for the soul that is unhealthy.
Were you not unhealthy you would not be suffering.
Therefore you owe your brother a favor; because it is through him that you have come to know your illness. You should accept whatever he offers you, as if it were healing medicine sent to you by Jesus. Yet, not only do you not express gratitude to him, but you even weave thoughts against your brother.
What you are really saying to Jesus is that you do not wish to be healed by Him; you do not wish to receive His medicine; you prefer to decay in your wounds; and you wish to submit to the demons.
What then can the Lord do?
For, insomuch as the Lord is good, He gave us His holy commandments in order to purge our evils by cauterizing and cleansing them. Therefore, anyone who wishes and longs to be healed is obliged to endure whatever the doctor offers in order to be delivered from the illness.
From the rejected, insulted, stricken and Crucified Christ Who suffered the rebukes of the world, we move to the Risen Christ Who rebukes His disciples for their “hardness of heart;” for it is this which has blinded them from seeing Him as the Suffering Servant of JHWH, the Lamb of God Who is the only one that can take away the sins of the world.
In Mark 16, when the resurrected Jesus appears to the eleven who had already disbelieved (apistéō) the witness of Mary Magdalene (v. 9-11) as well as the two who met Jesus on the road to Emaeus (v. 12-13), the Scriptures say that He,
upbraided (ὠνείδισεν [oneidízō]) them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen (v. 14).
This is how the Gospels close—a warning against unbelief and hardness of heart which the OT and NT witness makes clear will leave us “overthrown in the wilderness” to become like the Israelites, fallen and destroyed by the destroyer (I Cor 10:1-10). For such unbelief and hardness of heart works in us to eternally shut our eyes and ears and hearts from the transformative healing in Christ Jesus (Mt 13:10-15; cf. Is 6:8-10).
A closing warning.
Yet to bring this back to the opening occurrence in the final Beatitude, we might contend that the Lord allows us to suffer the rebukes and insults and false accusations of man and the peirasmos in the wilderness of our lives because, if received them by grace through faith, they can become an ultimate blessing and beatitude upon us, breaking down the hardness of our spirits such that we can see and experience and finally bear witness to the crucified life of the Christ.
And we have exceeded the time for this study (the goal being 5-8 minutes), we present below the final four uses in the Epistles below with no commentary (though we may come back to this in a Part II.)
Rom 15
1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches (oneidismói) of those who reproached (oneidízō) You fell on Me.”
I Tim 4
7b but exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach (ὀνειδιζόμεθα [oneidízō]), because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
Jam 1
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (hupomonḗ). 4 But let patience (hupomonḗ) have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (téleioi) and complete (holóklēros—literally, able to endure. every [holos] lot in life [kleros]), lacking nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach (μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος [oneidízō], and it will be given to him.
And finally,
I Pet 4
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God…
7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins” (In the Hebrew of Prov10:12, the text reads, “love covers all sin” [כָּל־פְּשָׁעִים תְּכַסֶּה אַהֲבָה])…