A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK

A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels — Volume 2

James Hastings · 1,290,716 words · 1269 reading sections

SECTION 1201

Section 1201

through the medium of the sacraments of which the Church is the sole dispenser. 2. Gregory the Great was not an original thinker on Christological questions. He went far beyond Augustine in his ecclesiasticism and sacramental- ism, and while professing to be a devout follower of Augustine, greatly enervated his doctri…

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SECTION 1202

Section 1202

i. Next to that of Augustine, the most potent influence on mediaeval Christology in the West was that of the unknown writer (probably active during the later years of the 6th cent.) whose Ec- clesiastical Hierarchy, Heavenly Hierarchy, Divine Names, and Mystical Theology were credited to Dionysius the Areopagite, conve…

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SECTION 1203

Section 1203

6. That the influence of the Areopagite and of Maximus was brought mightily to bear upon the orthodoxy of the East is manifest in the Fountain of Knowledge of John of Damascus (d. about 754), who yet uncompromisingly maintained the per- sistence of two wills in the Person of Christ (Chi'ist unitedly willing in correspo…

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SECTION 1204

Section 1204

9. A far more evangelical type of mystical Christology is found in the writings of Hugo of St. Victor (d. 1114) and Richard of St. Victor (d. 1173). In them the theosophy of Erigena was transformed into ecstatic enjoyment of God Him- self. They were unable to find satisfaction in the Church doctrine of the transubstant…

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SECTION 1205

Section 1205

insisted that the humanity of Christ was individual and personal. 14. Abelard (d. 1142) was essentially Sabellian in his doctrine of the Trinity, and insisted that, being unchangeable, God could not have become some- thing which He was not eternally. He rejected such expressions as ' God is man,' ' Man became God.' He…

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SECTION 1206

Section 1206

16. Gerhoh of Reichersberg (d. 1169) protested most earnestly against the Nestorianism or Nihil- ianism involved in the teachings of Abelard and Peter I;ombard, and maintained that ' the man born of the virgin mother is in truth also to be called the Most High, not only in the nature of the Word always most high, but a…

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SECTION 1207

Section 1207

CHRIST IN THE MIDDLE AGES 859 of human nature as such, ajid attributed to it a capacity for the Divine tliat enabled it through tlie Word to gain an intuitive view of creation that may be said to be infinite in its scope. In tlie Incarnation the infinite etliical suscejjtibility of the human soul was filled by the in…

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SECTION 1208

Section 1208

860 CHRIST m EEFORMATION THEOLOGY freely used during the Middle Ages. It needs scarcely be said that the Evangelical and Catliar- istic parties utterly repudiated . the use of pic- tures of Christ and crucifixes as idolatrous. — See Christ in Art. Literature. — Writings of the theologians whose opinions are presente…

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SECTION 1209

Section 1209

Luther always declared that he accepted the doctrine, and nothing but the doctrine, of the ancient Church on the Person of Christ. ' No one can deny,' he says, ' that we hold, believe, sir^g, and confess all things in correspondence with the Apostles' Creed, that we make nothing new therein, nor add anything thereto, a…

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SECTION 1210

Section 1210

But if Luther accepted the old formulas de- scribing the nature of God and the Person of Christ, he did so in a thoroughly characteristic way. He desired to state them in plain German, so that they could appeal to the 'common man.' Neither he nor any of tlie Reformers believed that theology, which for them was, or ough…

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SECTION 1211

Section 1211

'This is the first principle and most excellent article, how Christ is the Father : that we are not to doubt that whatsoever the man says and does is reckoned, and must be reckoned, as said and done in heaven for all angels ; and in the world for all rulers ; in hell for all devils ; in the heart for every e\il con- sc…

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SECTION 1212

Section 1212

' To know .Jesus in the true waj' means to know that He died for us, that He piled our sins upon Himself, so that we hold all our own affairs as nothing, and let them all go and cling only to the faith that Christ has given Himself for us, and that His sufferings and piety and virtues are all mine. When I know this, I …

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SECTION 1213

Section 1213

Tliiw chariU'teristic of Reformation tliouoht and of lleforniation piety, tliat Christ fills the whole sjjliere of God, apjiears everywhere in the writings of tlie Reformers and in the rites and worship of the Reformetl Churches, and may be illustrated, if not exhaustively described, in the following in- stances of its…

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SECTION 1214

Section 1214

3. The Reformers declare that Christ is the only revealer of God. ' W^e would never recognize the Father's grace and mercy,' says Luther in his Large Catechism, ' were it not for our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the mirror of the Father's heart.' ' We are not affrayed to cal God our Father,' says the Scots Confession, ' …

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SECTION 1215

Section 1215

All the Reformers taught that the efficacy of the sacraments depends on the promise of Christ contained in their institution, and they insisted that word and sacrament must always be taken together. Thus Luther points out in the Babylonish Captivity of the Church, that one objection to the Romish practice is that the …

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SECTION 1216

Section 1216

CHRIST IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 865 1. The Lutheran Church led the ^vay in this scholastic development, by its endeavours to set in clearer li<j;ht the unity of tiie God-manhood of Christ. Tlie Formula of Concord (1577, published in the Book of Concord, 1580) struck a compromise between the diverjient views of the …

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SECTION 1217

Section 1217

These explanations of an intelligence that writhed under its own obvious inconsistencies, served only to bring in doubt the reality of Christ's human life, and more moderate views at length prevailed. The Saxon Decision of 1624 expressed a view favour- able to the Giessen theologj'^ ; ' We constantly affirm that He u.s…

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SECTION 1218

Section 1218

2. The Reformed Church took a different path. Its theologians held fast to the principle of the Middle Ages, that finite human nature is not capax infiniti ; but they applied it, as the Middle Ages had failed to do, to set in stronger relief the reality of Christ's human life. They considered the imity of Christ to be …

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SECTION 1219

Section 1219

i. The Arminian doctrine was a via inedia be- tween the Socinian and the orthodox doctrine. The Arminian theologians adhered to the doctrine of the Trinity, but maintained that the Son, as begotten of the Father, was essentially subordinate, though still a Person within the Deity. They also maintained the full humanity…

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SECTION 1220

Section 1220

868 CHRIST IN MODERN THOUGHT the extent to which it was likely to affect ideas of Christ. In essence and at the outset the gospel appeared as a revolutionary idealism, inverting the old standards of excel- lence and the old criteria of truth, yet not outwardly revolu- tionary in its immediate aims. Continuous with t…

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SECTION 1221

Section 1221

revealing power of his experience ; to the whole man in action and passion the inner meaning of things comes nearest. Under the above mentioned impulses the modern mind has passed through the realms of nature, history, personal experi- ence to a more complete mastery of knowledge. The effort has brought great gain to …

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SECTION 1222

Section 1222

CHRIST IN MODERN THOUGHT 869 the Ethical Christ, (3) the Jesus of History or the Historical Christ. (1) The Christ of Speculation. — Each of the transcendental philosophies involved a speculative Christology. The first phase appears in Kant (1724-1804). The work of Kant in religious theory is the work of a pioneer. …

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SECTION 1223

Section 1223

Whatever is, nature and spirit, is within the Absolute. It embraces all reality. It is the meeting point, — the neutrum, the ' indifference point,' — of subject and object, preserving the opposite alongside the negation for each per se. Moreover, it is living, concrete, being by ceaseless self-birth a mobile, willing, …

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SECTION 1224

Section 1224

Hegel admits with Schelling the absolute unity of all things and the identity of the subject and object. But while Schelling, in order to explain how everything is derived from this unity, takes his point of departure in the Absolute, Hegel starts from the Idea (German, Idee), and professes by the force of dialectic al…

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SECTION 1225

Section 1225

' B}- religiosity — the inner power and spirit of religion — I understand not an instinct groping towards the Divine, and not mere emotional devoutness ; for God, if He be God, must be the very heart of life, of all thinking and all action, and not a mere object of devout passion or of belief. That is no real knowledge…

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SECTION 1226

Section 1226

Divine simply in the unique and perfect snti.sfaotion He. supplies to the needs of the Ijclievin;,' coiiscienie ; and in the unicjue and perfect nnuiiicr in wliich nj Himself realized tliis sati.-lactioM in llis iN-r.-Min. The culiiiiiiatiiig point of Siiiieieniiaciierh theory is the atlinnation of the .siiperniitiini…

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SECTION 1227

Section 1227

' There must be added [to Schleiermacher's theory] the preg- nant truth that this religion, like all religions and all spiritual activities, can only be rightly set forth in the fellowship which, on the presupposition of the redeeming work of the Founder, exists as the sharing and spreading of this redeeming activity. …

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SECTION 1228

Section 1228

tlie must urgent necessities of the moral life. It lias, indeed, other relations and aspects that tran- scend experience and, consequently, our under- standing. All that can be said there is, Exit in mystcria. Ilitscldian modesty is often misunder- stood. But it has served to clear the ground within the range of spirit…

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SECTION 1229

Section 1229

(3) The Christ of History. — Concurrently with the foregoing movements has gone another, simpler indeed, and, since there are no truths which more readily gain assent or are more firmly retained than those of an historical order, more within the grasp of the popular mind, but also for that very reason more nearly touch…

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SECTION 1230

Section 1230

The work of Strauss was continued with modi- fications peculiar to themselves by Bruno Bauer and others, and suggested the more serious labours of the Tiibingen School, headed by F. C. Baur (1792-1860). The all-important problem was now the historical reality of Jesus. Baur, differing in this from Strauss, seeks a so…

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SECTION 1231

Section 1231

Kenan's Life of Jesus is penetrated by a pro- found feeling of His human personality, its charm, its potence, its pre-eminence, its capability to create a faith. It has been shown to be inaccurate in details, and meagre and uncertain in its know- ledge, especially of the Jewish environment in which Jesus grew up. It di…

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SECTION 1232

Section 1232

876 CHRIST IN JEWISH LITERATURE from the letter to the spirit, from the feeling of a slave to the love of a cliild, from self-seeking to brotlierly love, from the dominion of the visible to that of the invisible ; and His death showed that He was ready and determined to offer in order to procure these benefits, not H…

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SECTION 1233

Section 1233

On the Experience movement there is an extensive literature associated with Schleiermacher, his theology and his influence on theology ; and with Ritschl and his school (chiefly in Ger- man), cf. in English, Pfleiderer, Development of Theology in Germany and in Great Britain in 19th century ; Adams Brown, Essence of Ch…

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SECTION 1234

Section 1234

In accordance with the brief sketch just given, it will be convenient to treat the subject chrono- logically under the three heads of (i. ) the Tal- niudic Literature, (ii. ) the Mediaeval Literature, (iii. ) Modern Literature. i. Christ in the Talmudic Literature.— The period included under this head extends from the…

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SECTION 1235

Section 1235

878 CHRIST IN JEWISH LITERATURE time was thirty-three years old (Bab. Sank. 1066). He was punished in Gehenna by means of boiling filth (Bab. Gitt. 566, SI a). He was ' near to the kingdom ' (Bab. Sanh. 43a). He had five disciples (ib. ). Under the name of Balaam he was excluded from the world to come (M. Sanh. x. 2)…

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SECTION 1236

Section 1236

Literature. — Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 1904 ; Laible-Dalman, Jesus Chriatus vm Talmud [Eng. tr. by Streane] ; also, Mead, Did Jesus live 100 years B.C. ? ii. Christ in Mediaeval Jewish Literature. — There are to be distinguished a popular and a serious treatment of tlie subject by Jewish writers in…

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SECTION 1237

Section 1237

The other editions follow, more or less closely, the line sketched (mt above, though in detail there is considerable variety. All of them describe the seduction of Miriam by Joseph Pandira, some with a disgusting relish of obscenity. The remainder of the story is variously embellished with wonder- working and low come…

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SECTION 1238

Section 1238

A further illustration is found in the book en- titled Juhasin, by R. Abraham Zacuth (b. 1504). This is a sort of dictionary of biography for the period of the Talmud, but containing also refer- ences to other periods. On p. 15 (ed. Filippowski, London, 1857) is the following notice of Jesus : And the truth (is this) …

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SECTION 1239

Section 1239

It will have been observed that nothing has been said of the opinion of Maimonides about Jesus. In such of his works as the present writer has been able to consult he has found no allusion whatever. Dr. M. Friedlander, in his work on The Jewish Religion, p. 227, quotes from Maimonides, but without giving the exact refe…

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SECTION 1240

Section 1240

The workof Jost {Gesch. d. Judenthums u. s. Sek- tm, 1863) shows less of exaggeration than that of /Griitz, and perhaps even more of personal venera- tion towards Jesus. Jost's chief contribution is his indignation against the 'judicial murder' of Jesus. There was no regular trial, such as Jewish law required. There wa…

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SECTION 1241

Section 1241

CHRIST IN MOHAMMEDAN LITERATURE.— i. In the Koran.* — The earliest mention of Jesus Christ in the Koran is in ch. 19, the Stiratti Maryam, which was delivered in Mecca. It refers to His birth — ' Make mention in the Book, of Mary, when she went apart from her family eastward, and took a veil to shroud herself from the…

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SECTION 1242

Section 1242

It is said that Mary was thirteen or fifteen years old when the announcement was made to her. The commentators .say that Jesus was specially set apart to speak in the cradle, and later on to the Jews. The phrase ' son of Mary ' had become so fixed in Mohammed's mind that he puts it into the mouth of the Angel, even wh…

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SECTION 1243

Section 1243

' The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and His word which He conveyed into Mary, and a Spirit from Him. Believe, therefore, in God and His apostles, and say not " Three" (i.e. there is a Trinity). Forbear ! it will be better for you. God is only one God. Far be it from His glory that He should hav…

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SECTION 1244

Section 1244

Then Mary said to Gabriel : ' If people ask iiow the child was born, Avliat shall I rei)iy ? ' He said : ' Say, " I have .seen no man, I am fasting ; I speak with none about it." ' It is said tliat wiien tiie Jews found her and tlie child iinder the tree, they began to make a tumult and reproached her, saj'- ing, ' Nei…

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SECTION 1245

Section 1245

One day when a crowd was following Jesus, they said they were hungry. The Apostles urged him to relieve them. This relief came in the form of a tray of God from heaven. When Jesus and the Apostles saw it, they ottered thanks to (xod. Then Jesus said : ' Let the most pious one amongst you lift up the cover of the tray.'…

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SECTION 1246

Section 1246

said : ' After my death trays full of light will come, and by the blessing of that light you will know the languages of all tribes. ' Some say that the Jews, by the advice of that bad king, and by means of an old Apostle, seized Jesus and imprisoned him all night, and in the morning prepaied a cross on which to crucif…

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SECTION 1247

Section 1247

E. Sell and D. S. Margoliouth. PAUL. — It is fortunate that our subject is limited for us at the outset. We are not called upon to consider the life and theology of St. Paul per se and in all their bearings, but only in that particular relation which belongs to a Dictionary of 'Christ and the Gospels.' That aspect alo…

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SECTION 1248

Section 1248

It is therefore a mistake to place theology, as religious thought, in contrast with raligious feel- ing, and to call the one warm and living and the other cold and dead. It is the nature of feeling to be warm, and the nature of an intellectual process to be by comparison cold. But the two things should not be opposed t…

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SECTION 1249

Section 1249

We have spoken of faith in Christ ; it is a further question how far this faith is related to detailed knowledge of Christ's life and teaching. We shall have to estimate the extent of this presently. For the moment we need only note that, whether in greater or less degree, St. Paul must have had some such knowledge, an…

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SECTION 1250

Section 1250

For the sake of clearness we have tried to dis- tinguish the particular causes that contributed to make the theology of St. Paul what it is. But because we have singled out these causes, we of course do not suppose that only one was at work at a time. Very often two or more were at work together, subtly blended and pas…

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SECTION 1251

Section 1251

and Mark, and with others in the church at Antioch (Ac 13^), who could not fail to instruct him as to what was new and distinctive in the teaching of Christ. In Gal 1^^ he speaks of him- self as paying a visit to Peter at Jerusalem and spending a fortnight in his company. Both there and in Gal 2- a considerable compari…

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SECTION 1252

Section 1252

Already in the infant Church, following, as we believe, hints of the Lord Himself, there was a tendency to explain the death of the Crucified by means of principles inherent in the OT, by the idea of sacrifice and by the idea of vicarious suffering ; on the one hand, by the analogy of the Levitical sacrifices, and, on …

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SECTION 1253

Section 1253

8. God the Father. — There are three ways in which St. Paul adds to the doctrine of God the Father : (i. ) By discriminating and correlating the spheres of Him whom we call God the Father and of Him whom we call God the Son. The designa- tions were already current, and the tendency to discriminate or define all grew ou…

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SECTION 1254

Section 1254

YI. Comparison with the teaching of Christ. — We are now in a better position to take a coup d'oeil of the relation of St. Paul's mission and teaching as a whole to that of his Mast»r. It has been rightly observed by more than one of those who have treated of the subject (see Knowling, Testimoni/ of St. Paul to Christ,…

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SECTION 1255

Section 1255

(iii.) It might be said of each of the foregoing heads, and it maj' be said specially of tliat which turns upon the relativity of the teaching tiiat emerges from history, that at most the objection does but amount to this, that the theology of St. Piiul, .so far as it rests on tiie grounds enumerated, is subject to the…

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SECTION 1256

Section 1256

249" fr. ; ii. 267* ff. Annunciation, i. 74". Anointing, i. 78*, 416*; ii. 171*, 264". Answers, ii. 461*. Antipas, i. 721" ; ii. 378". Antonia, i. 856" ; ii. 709*. Anxiety, i. 271". Apocalyptic Literature, i. 79" ; ii. 173a. Apocrypha, i. 94". Christ's Use of, ii. 274*. Apocryphal Gospels, i. 671* ; ii. 705*. Apost…

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SECTION 1257

Section 1257

in Art, i. 308", 675* ; ii. 859". in Early Church, ii. 849*. in Jewish Literature, ii. 876''. in Middle Ages, ii. 8531-. in Modern Thought, ii. 867", 513". in Mohammedan Literature, ii. 882*. in Reformation Theology, ii. 860*. in Seventeenth Century, ii. 864". Christs (False), i. 574*. Christian (Name), i. 316*.…

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SECTION 1258

Section 1258

479"ff.,542", 565'", 639*, 794*. Duty, i. 502*, 154*. 896 INDEX OF SUBJECTS Eagle, i. 65". Ear, i. 503*. Earthly and Heavenly, i. 503*. Earthquake, i. 504*. Easter, i. 255'' ff. Eating and Drinking, i. 504''. Eber, i. 504''. Ebionism, i. 504'', 483*. Eccc Homo, i. 507* ; ii. 758^ Education, i. 507^ 222", …

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SECTION 1259

Section 1259

Gennesaret (Lake of), ii. 587''. Guest, i. 694". Ubiquity, ii. 280*. Land of, i. 640". Guest-chamber, i. 695". Thing, i. 744". Cientiles, i. 641" ; ii. 1941', 296'\ Guide, i. 695". Home, i. 745". Court of, ii. 709\ Guile, i. 436". Honesty, i. 746". Gentleness, i. 643". Guilt, i. 696"; ii. 630" ff. Honey, …

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SECTION 1260

Section 1260

Iscariot, i. 907*, 41*, 244", 293" ; ii. 239*. Judge, Christ as, i. 141*, 337*, 422*, 914* ; ii. 396", 615". Judging (by men), i. 913", 176" ; ii. 241*. Judgment, i. 914*, 93*, 528*, 540". Private, i. 156*. Judgment Day, i. 421*. Just, i. 915*. Justice, i. 915". Justification, i. 917", 697"; ii. 515", 533", 545*, …

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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.