In Prayer for a Person the Holy Spirit said, "Reprobate"

What does it mean to have a reprobate mind?

The first use of the word reprobate is in Jeremiah 6:30: "Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them".

In this verse, the word reprobate is the word maas- which means to despise, to loathe or reject.  The comparison of people’s thinking/choices to silver refinement is here: When refining silver (and other metals) there is something called “dross” that is a by product of the purifying of the metal.  Dross is: waste, refuse, a waste product taken off molten metal during smelting, essentially metallic in character – it has little value. Dross is considered reprobate- because it is impure and of no value to the silversmith. This verse lays out an understanding of the perspective attributed to reprobate in the Old Testament.

In Jeremiah 6:30: ‘Reprobate silver shall men call them’- refers to the people who choose to not heed God’s word- and choose instead to walk their own way- the worlds way of thinking. The byproduct of this is impure, waste and of no value. In the Old Testament, walking with reprobate thinking caused the ultimate separation between men and God- that final separation was death- without hope of salvation. Spirit was only upon people- and it could be removed if they did not walk according to His word, His way.

The phrase “reprobate mind” is found in Romans 1:28 in reference to those whom God has rejected as godless and wicked. They “suppress the truth by their wickedness,” and it is upon these people that the wrath of God rests (Romans 1:18). The Greek word translated “reprobate” in the New Testament is adokimos, which means literally “unapproved, that is, rejected; by implication, worthless (literally or morally).” 

REPROBATE—that which is rejected on account of its own worthlessness (Jer. 6:30; Heb. 6:8; Gr. adokimos, “rejected”). This word is also used with reference to persons cast away or rejected because they have failed to make use of opportunities offered them (1 Cor. 9:27; 2 Cor. 13:5–7)."

A reprobate mind is a mind that is given over to sinful passions and ungodly desires. It is another way of describing a person who is set on satisfying the flesh and not on the Spirit of God. It is a person who rejects God and does what is self-serving instead of what God desires. Therefore, someone who is reprobate is under the condemnation of God. Such a person does not attend church, does not care about the things of God, does not read the word, and does not pray. They are judged by God and are under condemnation, so they have no conviction of their sin or desire for God.

Romans 1:18-23 The Message (MSG) Ignoring God Leads to a Downward Spiral - But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

Romans 1:28-32 The Message (MSG)  Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!Romans 1:28, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."

At the end of a passage documenting human ungodliness (vv 18–27), Paul uses a wordplay to sum up his indictment. Since humanity tested and rejected (ou dokimázō, lit “not accept as proved” the knowledge of God, God gave them over to an adókimos mind, i.e., a way of thinking that, having been tested and found wanting, is rejected as base and worthless."

Paul describes two men named Jannes and Jambres as those who “resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith" (2 Timothy 3:8). Here the reprobation is regarding the resistance to the truth because of corrupt minds. In Titus, Paul also refers to those whose works are reprobate: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus1:16). Therefore, the reprobate mind is one that is corrupt and worthless.

2 Timothy 3:6-9 The Message (MSG) These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself “truth.” They get exploited every time and never really learn. These men are like those old Egyptian frauds Jannes and Jambres, who challenged Moses. They were rejects from the faith, twisted in their thinking, defying truth itself. But nothing will come of these latest impostors. Everyone will see through them, just as people saw through that Egyptian hoax.

Titus 1:10-16 The Message (MSG)  For there are a lot of rebels out there, full of loose, confusing, and deceiving talk. Those who were brought up religious and ought to know better are the worst. They’ve got to be shut up. They’re disrupting entire families with their teaching, and all for the sake of a fast buck. One of their own prophets said it best:

The Cretans are liars from the womb,
    barking dogs, lazy bellies.

He certainly spoke the truth. Get on them right away. Stop that diseased talk of Jewish make-believe and made-up rules so they can recover a robust faith. Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re real creeps, disobedient good-for-nothings."

The Greek word for reprobate occurs 8 times in the New Testament but is translated into the English using various words. But, this does not mean perfection. It means that Christians struggle against their sin, but they are not judged by God as to have a reprobate mind. 

As you can see, there is a variety of meanings in the English for what reprobation is. But generally, the word means to test and find lacking.  

2 Corinthians 13:5-9 The Message (MSG)  Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.

We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.

Thanks to the life and sacrifice that Christ endured for us, we are now in the administration of Grace- meaning, that when we do wrong, and honestly acknowledge before God, our sins will be forgiven.  During this administration of Grace, we also have the ability to get permanently born again of God’s spirit. We have been given the gift of salvation by simply proclaiming Romans 10:9 & 10- and believing it in our heart. When that occurs- we have permanent seed of God... but with that seed, we need to learn to live according to his word – and all the truth’s therein.... otherwise, we still can have our minds and thinking turned aside to reprobate thinking. 

Romans 10:4-10 The Message (MSG)
4-10 The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it’s not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story—no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying?

The word that saves is right here
as near as the tongue in your mouth,
as close as the heart in your chest.

It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” 

Hebrews 6:4-8 The Message (MSG)  Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.

2 Corinthians 5:16-20 The Message (MSG)  Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 The Message (MSG)  I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.

John 14:25-27 The Message (MSG) Jesus said, “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

Resurrection Life

Would you want to go back to your old life? I would never want to go back to a life of depression and fear. I didn’t like myself and the guilt of sin was almost more than I could bear. I can’t count the times I turned over a new leaf only to have it wither and die. On the day I encountered Jesus I passed from death to life. When you receive Jesus, He will make you your true self—your child-of-God self (John 1:12 The Message). Depression gives way to happiness and joy; self-hatred gives way to the love of God and for God. You learn to [habitually] live and behave in newness of life; this is resurrection power at work in you to make your ordinary life extraordinary. Hold your head high; don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. (Colossians 3 The Message).

PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, you are the resurrection and the life. Your resurrection power is in me, and I am appointed and anointed by you to abound in eternal work for your Kingdom. My victory is assured as I walk uprightly before you. No good thing will you withhold from me! I am accomplishing great exploits for your kingdom, and the best is yet to come, in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Scripture Reading
John 11:25
Psalm 84:11

1 Corinthians 15:58 Living Bible

Recommended Resource: A Godward Life by John Piper & Repairing the Reprobate Mind by Debbra Sweet

~Bits and Pieces of Reprobate-mind