PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels — Volume 2
James Hastings · 1,290,716 words · 1269 reading sections
Section 181
(j) Doubtful cases. — We must finally consider some passages in which it is doubtful whether we must attribute to Mk. priority or posteriority. In !Mk 6^ Ave find oi'x ovros ianv 6 t{ktwv ; where Mt IS''^ has 6 Tov TeKTovos vios and Lk 4'-- I'ios 'lioar)<p. Here the correction might be on the part of theFirst and Third…
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5. Other characteristics of diction in Mark. — The style of the Second Gospel may be gathered to a large extent from what has preceded. For its Aramaic tinge see below, § v. A few favourite modes of speech remain to be noticed. The use of the historic present is especially common, and this contributes largely to the vi…
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* Mk. uses T« opo; -rav 'E>.xiiiv here and in 1426 ; but in 111 we muse probably accentuate the last word as oxjtone — -rpo; to opes TO 'Ekaiiv (B k r) — i.e. the substantive is 'Ekxiuv, ' an olive grove ' (as in Ac II2 x^o opou; roij xfxXoufycivou 'E>.ociiivo;). See Deissmann, Bibl. Stud. p. 208 f., and Swete, St. Mar…
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Kovfi 5** ( = '?'? Kn'^, syr i**" . . *^n r> ^/ . \ / with I yudh quiescent, syr^ wanting: some Greek MSS read A:of,tu ; see also below); Kop3av 7" ( = irip, syr'**'^„C;3CLO,syri»^,_»_LC:?a_C. pji:JQ_Cl>eing the usual Sjriac name for the Eucharist) ; e<p4>ada. 7** ( = nrf^K) ; a^^d U^ ( = k;><, again in Ro 8'*, Gal …
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Phrases like dvo 8vo 6^, av/xTroa-ia cvixirbcna &^, Trpaa-ial Trpaaiai Q^" are Aramaic or Hebrew idioms. Also several other Aramaic phrases have been noted, as 'sons of the bridechamber ' 2'^ (so Mt. Lk. ), 'sons of men' 3^^ (see § vii. 2 below), elire SodTjvai 5^, fiia TU!v aa^^dTiov 16- (positive for super- lative), …
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If tlie Aramaic-original theory be true, we must put back the date considerably, as Mr. Allen (luc. cit.) sees, probably to a d.ate before A.D. 60 ; and then the Gospel is not likely to have been written in Rome. In this last detail the ecclesiastical testimony is again contradicted by the theory. There is a line of a…
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Jerusalem are silent about the Long Ending ; and this would be very significant if it were not that Cyril of Alexandria and Theodoret are also silent, though they must have known verses which were in wide circulation in their time. Here we must note, further, that the fact that the Short Ending could scarcely have been…
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The presence of the Intermediate Ending also militates against the last twelve verses being the work of St. Mark. It shows that in very early times, how early we cannot say, these verses were not unanimously received. The evidence of Iren.-eus, however, shows that they were adopted as an ending to the Gospel not later …
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posed the ' oracles " (\671a) in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted tliem (j/p^i/i/ei'O-f, aorist— the interpreting did not go on in Papias" own day) as he could. We need not here discuss the ques- tion of the original language of Mt., but the argu- ment which we are now considering is that, whereas our pres…
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The argument from tlie omission by Luke of a Markan section is inconclusive. He had a long section to introduce (§ iii. i (a) above), and it was natural for liim to omit something, to make room for iiis new matter. Tiie section of Mk. is found, in tiie same order, in Mt., and therefore, if this argument held good, it w…
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Now, tlie argument whicli we are considering suggests that these inserted phrases were originally in Mk., but were omitted or altered bj- a later editor. Is this in the least probable? There is no reason that we can conceive win* the}' should have been omitted or altered. In some cases it is most improbable that anythi…
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Thus, although there is nothing in the nature of tilings why our Second Gospel should not lie an edited form of tlie original document that lay before Matthew and Luke, the reasons alleged by Schmiedel will hardly convince us that this is the case. Salmon's argument really depends on the view taken of the last twelve v…
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On SHECIAL points : Blass's Philology of the Gospels (ori- ginal language, and the text) ; Deissniann's Bible Studies, Eng. tr. 1901 (the language) : Dalman's Words of Jesus, Eng. tr. 1902 (esp. on the Aramaisms) ; Westcott-Hort's New Testament in Greek, as above, and Salmon's Textual Criticism (the Greek text); Burkit…
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/ MARRIAGE MARRIAGE 13; 2. Betrothal. — This was a binding transaction declaring the fact of prospective nianiage, and specifying the terms agreed upon by the contract- ing parties, that is, by those acting on their be- half. Altliough in both families the intention of marriage might have been decidetl ujwn hy the …
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The bridegroom's friend (Jn 3^) must be dis- tinguished from • the children of the bride-cham- ber" (Mt 9"), who were simply the invited guests. In Jud;¥a there were two such • friends,' one acting for the bridegroom, the other for the bride. They conducted all the preliminary inquiries, made the bargains as to downy, …
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It is noteworthj' that Jesus in His quotation of Gn 2*^ does not follow the Heb. reading, in which «j hio of the LXX has no equivalent. Polygamy Is not excluded by the Hebrew, but is obviously inconsistent with the LXX statement, and even more so with the inference drawn from the passage by Jesus. It is from this point…
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It were, however, unjust to disparage Martha. She was of a practical turn, but she was verj- far from stupid. She was mistress of the house, and she was as a mother to her unworldly sister. There was evidently a close sj-nipathy between them. During the dark davs which succeeded their brother's death, thej- had been ea…
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(2) 'From whom seven demons had gone forth.' In Jewish parlance, immorality was a form of i 140 MAKY MARY, THE VIRGIN demonic possession,* and, just as the grace of the Holy Spirit is called ' sevenfold,' t so sevenfold possession might signify complete abandonment to the dominion of unclean passion. Cf. Mt 12*^ =…
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Only one member of her immediate family is alluded to in the NT, viz. her .sister (Jn W^). Tliis sister of the Virgin was most probably Salojiie, wife of Zebedee, and mother of James and John. We know from tlie other Gospels (Mt 27*, Mk 15*) that Salome Avas present at the Crucihxion, and it is quite in accordance with…
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3. Mary remained with her kinswoman in Judah ' about three months,' probably waiting (cf. Lk 1** with Y.^) till after the birth of John the Baptist, and then returned to Nazareth. It is probably at this point that we ought to put the commencement of the narrative in Mt., which records Joseph's intention to put Marj- aw…
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I took her to his own home (Jn lO'-*-^"^-). It is not a ; little remarkable, in view of later develojtnients, i tliat no fewer than three of these allusions seem to i guard airainst an undue feeling of veneration for 142 MASTER MATTHEW the mother of our Lord, In the story of the feast at Cana, His words, though not…
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Before the call of Matthew, Jesus had resided at Capernaum, had left it, and had gone back to it (Mk l-i- ^» 2') ; and it is .safe to conclude that Matthew, a dweller in or n.ear the city, had heard the fame of Jesus, and perhaps he may have been among those who souglit Kim (Mk 1^). Jesus, too, may have noticed the pub…
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Kingdom, that in St. Luke is predominantly material capable of a more universalistic • inter- pretation. Secondly, in the treatment of the large amount of material which is common to the two Gospels. A good example is to be found in tlie discourse on tlie La.-t Things. WhjlstiJt. Mattliew emphasizes the close connexion…
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Now it is clear that the details thus sketched furnish a very small j^art of the significance of the / Gospel to the editor. The miracles proved Christ's power, or illustrated His attitude towards Phari- saism, or showed Him to be the Messiah of the OT. But to what end was He powerful, and, if the Messiah, where was Hi…
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MATTHEW (GOSPEL) MATTMKVV (GOSPEL) 145 (24-"). But they were to search beneath the letter of the OT for its spiritual meaning. Their ' right- eousness ' was to exceed that of tiie scribes and Pharisees, because tliey were to interpret the Law of Moses in a sense which would make it more far- reaching in its ettect u…
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Of several of these parables it will rightly be felt that, as originally spoken, they had a wider meaning and scope than that liere given, and one which is inconsistent with the narrow limits of the Kingdom to be inaugurated imniediatelv after the fall of Jerusalem. That is quite true. But the question is not. What did…
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(2) The Jeivish-Christinn clement. — Of course the wliole conception of the Kingdom of the heavens as sketched above is Jewish-Ciiristian in character. But there are other Jewish-Christian features in the Gospel, (a) One is the interest shown in St. Peter. He was one of the earliest of Christ's dis- ciples (4^8), and C…
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118-25 has been claimed as late because the idea of virgin- birth is 'quite foreign to Judaism.' As a matter of fact this idea is thoroughly Eastern (as well as Western), and must have been familiar to every Palestinian Jew who had read theSeptua- gint. And in other respects the narrative is Jewish through- out. The oc…
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tion of Christ's Person and work which was domi- nant in the Palestinian Church in the middle of the 1st cent. A.D. To Christians there Jesus was the Jewish King-Messiah. His life on earth was only the prelude to His sovereignty. For He was to come again as Son of Man at the' end of the age, and that was imminent, and …
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efl'ect in the selection, and arrangement, and in- terpretation of such of His sayings as lent them- selves to the impression which it was desired to produce. The most obvious instance of this process may be found in Mt.'s treatiiietit of Mk 10112 That narrative is perfectly clear, colierent, and decisive. The Pharise…
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A somewhat similar desire to avo d words which might seem out of harmony with OT regulations has probably caused the omission in Mt 128 of the clause, ' The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,' found in Mk 227. Lastly, an example of over-emphasis due to arrangement of * For divorce by a woman among…
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This will partly explain the large part which sayings referring to the near approach of the Kingdom play in the First Gospel. Some of these occur only in this Gospel, as, e.g., 10-' IS'--"-^" ^-^■■*- *'-'^ 19^ 25'-^^- 3'-*fi. In other cases a saying, the original form of which was found in the Second Gosjiel, has been …
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could be but a superficial process. It was to be 'for a testimony.' Moreover, there is nothing in the Gospel to suggest an unconditioned equality of Jew and Gentile. The supposition is rather pro- bable that the editor assumed that such Gentiles as became Christians would do so as proselytes of the Jewish - Christian C…
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The principal meal of the whole day was the Sflwvov, wliich was eaten after the day's work was hnished (see Lk 17'). This would naturally be about the time of the going down of the sun, which will explain tiie Lukan narrative of Jesus and the two disciples at Emmaus (irpbs eairepav, Lk 24-^^- )• This was the time of ti…
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At first sight it may seem strange that Jesus should countenance the Jewish custom of Sabbath banqueting, which was carried to such excess that its character for luxury became proverbial. At the same time we must remember that the prin- ciple which lay at the root of this method of feast- ing was the honour of the Sabb…
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more flexible vocabulary than the others. On the only occasion of his using the verb KaTaKslaffai (Lk 5^^ [D has here dvaKeL/jLevuv]) for sitting at meals, he seems to employ it because he has already, in the immediately preceding context, made use of the same word to express a different idea (cf. o^^). The same might,…
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1. The Synoptic Gospels.— Although these do not employ the title ' mediator,' they throughout imply tliat the teaching, life, and death of Jesus were mediatorial. The familiar old division of His mediatorial functions into those of Prophet, Priest, and King is roughly correct, though it may be better to designate them …
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154 MEDIATOR MEDIATOR to hold communion. They apjjiopriate the atone- ment, and as they appropriate it, it becomes for them a i)ropitiation. 2. Acts of the Apostles and Epp. of St. Peter, St. Jude, and St. James. — The simple teaching about our Lord conveyed in Acts, more especially in chs. 1-12, and in the First E…
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But it is the Passion of Christ, the 'precious blood,' that fills this letter with its peculiar glow. By that blood, ' as of a lamb without blemLsh and without spot,' we were ' redeemed ' (1^*- ^*). It is a moral redem])tion, changing a former ' manner of life' into a better type of conduct. His action involved a patie…
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The third gi'oup of Epistles — Phil., Col., Eph. — illustrates these doctrines more fully. Ph 2^"^' lays s])ecial stress ui)on the self-sacritice involved in the Son of God taking 'the form of a servant.' In hejiven lie had ' the form of God,' but He ' emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the li…
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L 156 MEDIATOR MEDIATOR Father through the Son, — clone outside us before it was done in us. (ii.) The death of Christ removes the wrath of God. — Sinners are exposed to God's wrath (Ko 118.3:-' 23 510 n2S)_ xhis wrath is not vindictiveness, but the attitude of a loving Father towards that Avhich destroys the very…
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(c) The sacrifice of Christ had these notes, (i. ) It was the expression of the perfect obedience of His toill to the will of the Father. No animal sacrifices can take away sins. They rather bring sins to remembrance than purge them away. Bulls and goats cannot give to God a conscious, voluntary, moral sacrifice. This …
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The special value of the Epistle to the Hebrews is that it presents to us the mediatorial work of Christ as a work of Divine worship. Without worship, Christianitj- would be merely a philo- sophy. And the author satisfies one of the deepest needs of the human .soul when he teaches us the relation between Christ and Hi…
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{(:) Although in the Fourth Gospel the word A670S is applied to the Son of God in the Pro- logue only, the same doctrine pervades the whole book. ' \Ve beheld his glory' {V^) is shown to be true by the record which follows. In the Synoptics, Jesus seems, to speak most of His own mH'stry pr ^ '>, xnen ; here He rather s…
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Ch. 6 throws further light on our Lord's teaching about His Atonement. The great discourse therein contains three sections, the first Cliristological (G-""*"), the second more definitely Soteriological (6"-5i), the third Eucharistic (652-5!*). In the first, Jesus requires belief in Himself as the living Lord, and bread…
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In the NT use of the word, meekness (rpoi-nys, j TrpaoTTjs) is commonly interpreted as meaning ! gentleness of disposition, peaceableness of temper i in the face of provocation and ^^Tong. It is the spirit of one who is not easily provoked, but keeps j under control the natural instinct to a.ssert oneself I and to reta…
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3. Meekness in relation to men.— When we think of meekness in regard to the wrongs and opposition of men, we find that it is characterized by the same heroic qualities and is attended by similar blessed results. It is a virile and noble thing. The out- ward garb of meekness may, indeed, be Avorn by men in whom there ar…
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win to penitence and friendlj- relations bj' patience and forbearance (Gal 6\ 2 Ti 2^5, Tit 3-). Whether there should be any bounds to this acceptance of personal wrong is a question which has been brought into great prominence in our day by the teaching of Tolstoi. According to the Russian moralist, who has preached …
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MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. — There can be no full appreciation without some analysis : the friend who is tmderstood is loved the better. That ' love is blind ' is singularlj- false, save when the word is restricted to an unworthy meaning. True love gives insight always ; and the power it gives of divining what to others …
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and has changed the estimation of this quality in the eyes of mankind. ' I am in the midst of you as he that serveth ' (Lk 222"), jjg would say, or show them even more vividly in deed ( Jn 13^'). ' I am meek and lowly in heart' (Mt IP*) was what He felt as He welcomed the weary, and gave thanks that the highest wisdom …
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In this connexion a word must be said on His relation to the stock of Israel. All His personal habits and customs, all His infonnation. His re- ligious premises, found their starting-points in the national life and customs of Israel, and in the Scrip- tures and other cun-ent ideas of its noblest minds belonging to prev…
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164 MEXTAL CHARACTERISTICS MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS and often serves a verj' useful purjiose ; but it is always a second-hand way of winning truth. The trulj- creative mind does not need it, and does not use it, but reaches truth by direct intuition, or makes it spontaneously. He did so. 5. The last observation leads …
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ages as Mt 18^'"'", or the directions given before the first mission (10'''-^) ; but in these nothing is more noticeable than the utter absence of all abstractions, and all provisions for distant contin- gencies, every idea being expressed in concrete form, and in immediate connexion with the conditions of the work in …
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' The evil is null, is nought, a silence implying sound.' And much of the Lord's teaching shows that the sense of form and the feeling for language which belong to them were His in a remarkable degree. Perhaps it was not entirely the power of His own personality', nor yet the substance of what He said, but also in par…
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166 MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS MERCY last day ' He Avould awake and raise up ' every one tliat belioldeth the Son and believeth on Iiiin ' (Jn 6*"). For Himself, He looked through death to His own resurrection, which He again and again told His disciples to expect as the day of His de- parture drew nearer ; and for the r…
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Literature. — Bernard, Mental Characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ ; Adamson, Studies of the Mind in Christ ; Latham, Pastor Pastonun ; Du Hose, Gospel in the Gospels ; art. Char- acter OF Christ, and the Literature there cited. E. P. Boys-Smith. MERCHANT.— See Trade and Commerce. MERCY.— 1. Mercy of God. — Mercy…
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2. Mercy of man to man. — We have seen that it is the aim of the Divine mercy to reproduce itself in the spirits of men. As mercy has two parts, pity and active benelicence, we are commanded to love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth (1 Jn 3^"). This is Christ's teaching in Mt 9'^ 12' 23-'', and i…
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1. The idea of merit in the Gospels.— We note, first, that the use of the conception is frequent in the Gospels in connexion with a general view of God as the Judge and Rewarder of good and evil deeds. This conception of God was in fact that dominant at the time of the ministry of our Lord, God's relation to men being …
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Cf., on the same point, Holtzmann (i. p. 196) :— ' This remarkable parable annuls the idea of reward in apply- ing it, completely destroys the relation of merit and right, of performance and reward in general.' We note, finally, to the same effect, the gracious abundajice of the reward in Mk lO^", Mt 24«-« 25^1-23, L…
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Summing uii our results, we have in the NT the liasis of a doctrine of Christ's merit as the worth to GckI (and men) of His human work carried on throughout His life, and culminating in His death. This worth of Christ's work is estimated by God along the lines of Christ's ol>edienoe to His will (the work of Christ l)ei…
965 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.