ὑπόλειμμα

From the study of Romans 9:27

Range of meaning

'What is left behind, remainder, remnant.' It can mean leftover food or goods. In Israel's Scriptures it usually means the people who survive war, famine or exile, and through whom the nation goes on.

Against the English

In everyday English a 'remnant' is a scrap, like a leftover bit of fabric: small, unimportant, what nobody wanted. In the prophets the remnant is the opposite. It is the part that matters, the stump that sprouts again (Isa 6:13), the 'seed' that keeps the line alive (Rom 9:29). Calling it 'only a remnant' highlights how few they are. Calling it 'the remnant' highlights that someone is left.

How it drifted

Ordinary English 'remnant' means leftovers. The prophets' meaning was a word for survival and continuation, and it has mostly faded outside Bible-reading circles.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament uses κατάλειμμα / ὑπόλειμμα and related words for Hebrew שְׁאָר (she'ar) and שְׁאֵרִית (she'erit), 'remnant': Gen 45:7; 2 Kgs 19:30–31; Isa 10:20–22; Mic 2:12. Isaiah named a son Shear-jashub, 'a remnant will return' (Isa 7:3). The idea carries on in the Dead Sea Scrolls, where the community sees itself as the faithful remnant (e.g., Damascus Document 1:4–5). Paul picks up the word again at Rom 11:5: 'a remnant chosen by grace'.