PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels — Volume 1
James Hastings · 1,289,916 words · 1288 reading sections
Section 721
'In the hands of the Pharisees, Judaism finally became petrified.' It was a body of rules and doctrines which laid the main stress on conduct and outward ceremonies, — a rigid mould without plasticity or capability of expansion. It could only react in antagonism towards one who offered a religion of the spirit, a worsh…
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2. The Jewish supremacy. — It was generally believed that the Kingdom would come through an act of power, in which God would visit His people, — the Jews, — delivering them from all their enemies, so that they might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness for ever (Lk 1'^). Men of the type of Simeon, Zacha…
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Two points have recently been much in dispute : (o) Whether in view of the grammatical possibilities of Aramaic, as used in the time of Jesus, He could have applied to Himself the phrase •Son of Man* or 'Man' as a title, basing on Dn 7^^: and (6) Whether He could have done this so habitually as our Gospels represent. E…
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(b) The Resurrection. But generations of faithful Israelites passed, and the Messiah did not come. Would they miss the glory when it came? At least since the time of the Syrian persecution (B.C. 168-165)— the time of the Apocalypse of Daniel— it was taught that death formed no in- superable barrier to the inheritance o…
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' messenger ' [Mai 3'] or through the Me: 'Son of David' [Is U'"-]), in which He eifectually visits His people with His mercy, and breaks the arm of the unrighteous peoples, who forget God and oppress them. These heathen return to Sheol (Ps 9"); but the covenant of Jahweh with His faithful people is established for eve…
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• Haupt, Die Eschatul. Aussajm Jem in den Sifnopt. Emn- qdien. Berlin, 1895. " t Johannes Weiss, DU Predlgt Jesu, vam Reiehe GotUt, Cottinjren, 1900. ; Titius, Die mutest. Lehrc vm der Seliijkeit, pt. i. 1895. ESCHATOLOGY ESCHATOLOGY 529 lowly love. (6) It was a Kingdom which, while coming ultimately from God and…
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The same line of solution seems available in the ase of the other passaijes. Thus in the passage Mt 12""', esp. .."-s (cf. Lk UUff., esp. v.M), a main element in thr- .ifr,.!^-' - a:;ain the element of attack. The Pharise.^ in-- i. H.i ... demons may be subdued by the power - i i 1 prince. Jesus answers that …
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2. His Messianic consciousness.— Of great signi- ficance in this connexion is tin- Ti'mptation. 'The all that accompanied it were (o be mediated and, indeed, effected by Himself. Prophecy " ' record of this canmn His own, and the l;i ■ n.arratives of the I!; must be sought in The latter, therefore t cstimony than I…
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Messiah submit to a violent death, but taken along with the testimony of the rest of the NT (say, especially, the I'auline and Petrine Ep]).) it shows conclusively the practically predominant importance of this event — or rather signal serrirc — in the mind and faith of the Christian Church. For every one text in the E…
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532 ESCHAT0L0(3Y ESCHATOLOGY tlieir owu generation. It is inconceivable that an expectation so confident and definite could have rested on anything but a definite reminiscence of words used by Jesus which seemed capable of only one interpretation. Is it, then, possible to justify such sayings as Mk 9' 13''" II apar…
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The other is that the elusive language of the seer is not rfelusive. ' Jesus does not set Himself to utter dark sayings ; but His practical instinct keeps Him from dazzling His hearers with an excess of light. He gives them all the light they can take ; but it does not follow either that this is all that fills the rece…
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II. ESCHATOLOGY IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.— We pass by questions as to the date or authorship of tliis Gospel. The writing may be placed with conlidence near the border dividing the 1st and 2nd centuries. It does not matter for our purpose on which side of the border it is placed. To the eyes of most Anglo-Saxon critics t…
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We may call this, if we choose, the idealism of the Johannine Gospel and of the early Church ; but the question is worth pondering wlietlier any- thing less than an idealism which rested on a sure, if profound, basis of truth, could have held the Church to its loyalty to the unseen Jesus in face of the disappointment o…
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3. Its attihnh- In E.rh„iuh.,i:i piopcr.-Yet it has to be o1i-.ct\(mI, tuially, that, while the futur- istic element is not prominent in the Johannine Gospel, it is by no means eliminated. It may be felt, indeed, that the terms in which it is expressed involve a departure from (or, at any rate, a trans- formation of) t…
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LlTEEATURE.— For the literature on Kschalology in general or on Scriptural Eschatolofjy see the art. * Eschatology ' in Hastings' DB and in Encyc. Biblica. It is indispensable for the student of the Gospels to understand the genesis and scope of Jewish apocalyptic literature, and for this purpose the Intro- ductions in…
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The order was held together by the strictest discipline. Full membership was granted only after a novitiate of two years, and then upon an oath to reveal everything to the members and nothing to the outside world. Offenders against the rules of the order were punished by exclusion ; and as tliey were still held bound b…
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ETERNAL FIRE ETERNAL FIRE 537 form. Most of the \ ; have ceased to expect an equitable imagery of retribution to the hfe after death. The Book of Enoch is the j^reat storehouse of teachinij on this subject. For the impure an{;rels and the faithless ani^elic rulers an abyss of fire is prepared, in which, .after the…
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(2) Whi/ is the fire called eternal ?— In Mt 25"-«« the adjective oWnos is used with reference to ' the fire,' ' punislnnent,' and 'the life,' and no satisfying reason has been given for saying that, as regards the first two, it means ' time limited,' and, as regard.s the last, ' time unlimited.' If Christ's purpose ha…
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In Jn 17^ we read what has to some extent the manner of a definition : 'This is life eternal, that (IVa) they should know thee the only true God, and iiim whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.' So far as this text furnishes a definition, it seems clearly to imply that ' eternal life' consists in such a knowledge of …
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ETERNAL LIFE ETERNAL LIFE si5oken of in contrast with ' death ' and ' perishing.' The believer ' sliall not perisli, but have eternal life ' (3"), ' hath passed out of the death into the life ' (S^''), ' shall never see deatli,' nor ' taste of death ' (8^'- ^\ ' shall never perish ' (10=8). He who has not tlie life i…
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This idea of eternal life as a glorious future in- heritance finds also frequent expression in the Epistles. Those who ' by patience in well-doin" seek for glory and honour and immortality ' shall receive eternal life as a reward of the righteous judgment of God (Ro 2'). All who are made free from sin and become servan…
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In collating the teaching of the Gospels, full em- phasis must be gixen to the ftdlowing postulates : 1. The certainty of retribution is inseparably bound up ivith the revelation of Jesus as to the mill and rhfirricter of God. The Father who ' Seeth in secret' and rewards unobtrusive righteousness (Mt &■"■) will render…
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(1) Especially the great sayings in which the '' note of the universality of grace rings so clear (Jn S'"- "), and the persistent search of the lost (Lk 15''-8) and tlie all-embracing work of Jesus are so abso- lutely declared (Jn 1-* 12^'- '-), have been dwelt upon as justifying ' the larger hope.' The e.xact award of…
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W. H. r)y.soN. ETERNAL SIN.-The RV of Mk 3=» [aiojnov a/Mprrj/jiaTOi, so NBL ; C* ^''' D read afiaprias) ; AV ' eternal damnation ' (/cpia-eu!, .so AC=), ' a strong translation of an incorrect text' (Morison). It is not surprising that the latter explanation of a difficult word {a.ij.dpTr]/j.a) should have found its wa…
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A word of wider meaning and more general application is DJiiy, connected with Assyr. vlldmi, meaning 'remote time.' D^iy is frequently used of the fast-days (Is 639. ", Mie 51 T" etc.), people (Is 44'', Jei- 515), hills (Gn 4926, Hab 36). It is also used, like ly, of God or His attributes as existing from the remote pa…
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Theology, \-o\. ii. pp. 364-39S; Salmond, 77. (A,, ' I'.nrine of Iminortaiity ; OreWi, Die hebr, SynnH^, I. ' !:,ri,j. keit\'i\&xi\,Geschichteder Israel. Rcli'ji'' i ' mi the NTsee the various NT theologies, esperi;,;; j hlag and H. Holtzmann. Cf. also Samuel Da\ I'l-'n, /a.'/.m, nf the Last Things ; Toy, Judaism a…
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» Cf. J. Weiss, Das dlteste Emngelium t Cf. J. Weiss, Die Schrifirn des NT, die Gegeiiimrt erklart (190S), l. i. p. 238 ff. )/6. p. 413ff. . i. p. 238 § /^. p. aberseUt und fiir 544 ETHICS ETHICS In an account of tlie Ethics of Jesus, the reader also looks for a comparison and contrast between Him and His Jewi…
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From these preliminaries we turn to the exposi- tion proper, premising that we shall on principle iient Our purpose is to survey the figure of Jesus in its specific operation, and what better situation for this can we find than the actual scene of His con- flict with His environment ? It was the friction with that env…
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The words about the cleansing of cups and platters, and about the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, certainly sound so contemptuous as to compel us to ask whether Jesus set any value what- ever upon the ceremonial side of the Law, and, in particular, upon the special casuistical precepts of the scribes. The question …
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The boldness of Jesus in thus essaying to make a distinction within Scripture itself, and to dis- criminate between the law of God and human accretions, is of great moment for us. He has re- course to a mode of criticism which might be called subjective, but which really merits the attribute prophetic. This 'Prophet,' …
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by the plain and simple word of truth. Of an entirely different character are the two final antitheses, viz. those relating to non-resist- ance and love of enemies, as given in Mt 5^"^' ""■**. In the foregoing precepts we have simply the utterances of a more earnest moral sensibility ; here we have the language of exu…
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Literature.— J. Weisa, Die Predigt Jem vom Seiche Gottes ; Bousset, J'eSM Predigt in ihrem Gegensatz zum Jvdentum; Jacoby, NT Ethik, bk. i.; R. Mackintosh, Christ and the Jewish Law. Johannes Weiss. EUNUCH (ewvoCxos ; ffTrdduv occurs sometimes in LXX [see Gn 37=" and Is 39', with which, however, cf. the corresponding…
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And as it was with His treatment of this form of cruelty practised by the strong upon the help- less, so it was with the mutilation of the body self- inflicted for so-called religious purposes. To the present writer it seems probable that Jesus made a conscious and deliberate reference to this practice (see Driver's 'D…
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How did this second sense arise ? Can any links of connexion be traced between the earlier and the later signification '; Is it possible to ascertain the time at which the later usago began ? Tliese ques- tions are best answered liy st.udyinu (hi' references to the term in the Chunk Ui>;tnni .'.t iMisel.ius. It is obvi…
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If this argument is sound, the origin of the later import of the term must be sought in another quarter. That quarter is not remote. The Church possessed from early days four narratives of our Lord's life, and to these first the term ' Gospel ' and subsequently its plural ' Gospels ' was applied. It was necessary to re…
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LiTERATTOE.— Commentaries on the NT passages ; art. ' Evan- gelist ' in Hastings' DB ; works on the organization and history of the Early Church ; Suicer, «. i). ; Zahn, ' Die Tiersymbole der Evangelisten ' in Forschungen, ii. ; art. ' Evangelists' in Did. of Christian Antiquities ; Farrar, Messages of the Books^ 13. …
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(2) Pain, sorroiv, disease, and death. — The EVIL 551 Gospels lend no countenance to the view that moral evil is the only genuine evil, and that physi- cal evil is not evil in the strict and projier sense. Pain, sorrow, disease, and death were regarded by .lesus as things which ought not to be, and He .spent much of…
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The position of Satan in the Universe is so exalted, and the power ascrihed to him in the NT so great (cf. esp. Mt 4^, :in 1430), that some have regarded Jesus as a Dualist. But the authority attributed to Satan in the NT, though great, is sub- ordinate. The devils recognize the power of Jesus, and come out at His word…
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EVOLUTION (CHRIST AND) EVOLUTION (CHRIST AND) 553 This difficulty, Iiowever, on deeper considera- tion is not incompatible with a wider view of the Evolutionary process. There were several stages in the known pathway of the upward movement from the star mist, in which thfi prncess lieoan, to man, in whom terrestrial …
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(1) As the Ideal Man, Je-sus revealed the possi- bilities and determined the type of perfect man- hood for the race. This was done under special conditions, and at a given moment of time and place, race and environment. He was born in Palestine, during the reign of Herod, ' of the seed of David' (Ro l-*) ; i.e. He was …
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audi delii till i higher nmmnials at man. Here there is inori; selfdenial on the part of the vigorous and rn\>. behalf of the helpless and the weak. (:S) Tli^ good for till- bad, a fart manifested (in the n. onl.v among ethical persons, and exemplili'.ii i i as one of the most potent forces for 11m i i | - 1 i t i o…
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EXAMPLE EXAMPLE 555 e a gr _ law of the Kingdom of God that life in tliis world must be sacrificed, if need lie, that life eternal may be gained as a permanent possession. After the Saviour's life of service, the due reward will be honour from God. When the heavenly voice spoke, the Saviour was consoled and uplifte…
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Christ is represented as the ' image '—si'«i»— which Christians are to resemble (Ro 829, 1 co 16-19, 2 Co 3I8, Col 310). But those passages also which represent Christ as the image of God must be taken no less into account ; for Christ's claim to an uncondi- tional personal authority is expressly based upon the fact th…
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pressly included the judgment of the world, c..(/. Jn 5=-) is based not upon His proiihetic office alone, but upon that unity of word and deed which con- stituted the perfect revelation of tlie will of God Jesus' own Person was not left out of His gospel (cf. Harnack's statement, Wesen des Christentums, p. 91 : ' Nich…
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4. Tlu' actn.il m/ii/ih/ o{ the picture of Christ as example implies the genuine humanness of the life and the adequate fulness and clearness of the picture. Furthermore, the example must be cap- able of universal application. As to the human- ness of the life of Jesus, it is suflficient in this con- nexion to jioint o…
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But all these various aspects of our relation to our Examjjle presuppose the vital fellowship of a personal faith. No ' imitation ' of Christ is accord- ing to the gospel if it is anything else than an essential aspect of the life of faith. With all its rare beauty and power, the Imitation of Christ by Thomas k Kempis …
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The fact of Clirist's nttitude of aloofness toward the Gentile m nrM I hninuliout His earthly ministry is quite evidiiii . In t\|iliiiiation of it various con- siderations lia\c- lo Iji- taken into account. (1) His vocation as • a minister of the circumcision ' (Ro 15") led Him to avoid as far as possible work among ■S…
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♦ Being forbidden to enter a walled town, they could not worship in the synagogue in such places ; but in unwalled towns a corner was frequently reserved for them in the syna- gogue, on condition that they were the first to enter and the last to depart (see Hastings' DB iii. B7»). (v.='), which suggests an authoritati…
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In Mt 16" Jesus promises to St. Peter the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, so that whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. In Mt 18"''* He makes a similar pro- mise to the Church geneially, or to the Twelve as representing the ecdesia— …
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These guests had evidently received a previous invitation, as is customarj' in the East, which they had accepted (vv."'- '0. Their unanimity, the absence of an adversative aWi. or U, and the order of the words, eoiiibiiie to make TrapatTeioSai a sur- prise wlieii it .■..iiifs i,oiuia~t v.i'). They did not uivc u (liicc…
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3. In a purely frfurative sense it is found in Mt T'-" and Lk 6^'- ■*- (the mote in the brother's eye) ; also in Mt 6=- "-'', Lk 11" ('The lamp of the body is the eye '), where the eye is spoken of as reflecting the spiritual condition of the heart, though even here it is possible that the thought of the expression of …
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The figure of the averted or hidden face (Dt 31", Is 53') that declines to meet the look of supplica- tion, owes its origin to the fact that Orientals are largely swayed by the strongest feeling of the moment, and can be moved from their previous purpose by well directed emotional apjieals. When one man is .seeking to …
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FACT AND THEOEY 563 )f tlie religious life of man. This dues <a\vay \\'itli I truth caiiie tu them. The questiuu, tiieielure, really resolves itself into that of the trustworthiness of Christ and His Apostles as teachers of doctrine. The evidence for their trustworthiness is just the I evidence for Christianity as …
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whatever interpretat of Christ and His A|i. had definite iil.:i~ .a- t how He came int.. tlii what His death mean: stances, and those only the language 1.-' it i^ plain that they \li.. (Ill 1-1 was, W'hy and na.il.l, N\liy He died, and To take only a few in- regard to one fact, viz. Christ's death, it is scarcely a …
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Christ is probably of least significance in the theology of Biedermann, who held that Jesus is simply the first realization of the idea of Divine Sonship(iJo/;T/wi((/:, ii. §81.'j). Whereas Lipsius, though an opponent of the Ritschlian school, resembles it in the emphasis laid upon Christ. Thus in the essay already cit…
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'--' 'hing in religion is life. But this life must express ardlyinin ■* " ' ' ' ~ ' Is of ( of other religions because the life is higher. Christianity, therefore, is neither a series of facts nor a sum of dogmas, but a spiritual life. We have not space to show the inconsistency of Dreyer's supposed escape from hist…
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tianity or the Christian facts, this school empha- sizes its importance as part of the essence of Christianity ; but in order to maintain its inde- pendence of the results of historical criticism, falls back upon one fact, \\7.. — the so-called 'historic Christ.' It is not meant that Christianity is independent of the …
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The logical results of the aliandonment of an external authority in religious knowledge have been recently exliibited in the new theological school which follows the method of Comparative Religion. For if Christ is only human, and the Christian revelation not supernatural, it will be impossible to maintain the absolute…
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7. The place of ' faith ' in the teaching of Jesus. I Literature. 568 FAITH FAITH 1. Introductory.— Iv. the NT the term 'faith' has two main meanings, which may he distin- guished as active and passive senses, viz. : (1) belief, ' the frame of mind which relies on another,' and {2)JideHfi/, 'the frame of mind which…
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■ Tht Lord I this thou niayest learn Shepherd is (regarded) as spake and the world wa believed'in t/ie Lard and (Ek IS^y. Thensanj Mu! 'ses. If they be- ie\o in the Lord. From believes ill the faithful in the word of Him who is faith whereby Israel s|iake and the world was ; for because srael believed in tlie Lord,…
934 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical reference work (1906–1908); OCR text from Internet Archive. Historical scholarship and terminology reflect its era; OCR may contain errors. Verify quotations and current scholarly claims independently.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.