PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church — Volume 1
James Hastings · 1,014,604 words · 1012 reading sections
Section 601
gi-io_ fi^Q freedom of Christian service must be in-actically manifested, in foi-bearance and brotherly love and liberality. gu-18 Peroration, summing up the main points of the Epistle, and the final benediction. Tiie Apostle calls attention to the fact that at any rate for these closing verses he has dispensed with t…
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(d) Christolvgy. — The Divinity of Christ is taken for granted (4^). The reality of His human nature is indicated by references to His birth of a woman (4^), His nationality (31"), His Crucifixion (3'), and His Resurrection (li). That He is man not individ- ually but inclusively {i.e. not ' a man ' but ' man '), is sho…
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* McGiffert (History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, p. 172fE.) is almost alone in arguing that the two visits of Ac 15 and Ac 11 are really one and the same. VOL. I. — 28 panion is Barnabas (Gal 2^ Ac IP") ; each account mentions the relief of the poor (Gal 2", Ac 11-"). In support of the alternative view it i…
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See, further, Acts of the Apostles, II. 2 (b). (6) Galatians mid Romans. — 'Almost every thought and argument in the Epistle to the Gala- tians may be matched from the other Epistle ' (sc. Rom. [Lightfoot, Gal.^, p. 45]). A detailed com- parison of the parallel passages shows that this agreement exists not only in gen…
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(ii. ) The alternative explanation rests on the conviction that the single article in the phrase rr^v ^pvylav Kal TaXaTiK7]v x'^P^^v proves conclusively that one single district is in view, ttj^ ^pvyiav Kal VaXaTiKT]v xw/jav means that region which is both Pluygian and Galatian, ' the Phrygo-Galaticregion.' The only di…
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(;3) For the S. Galatian theory it is urged that : (i.) The circumstances of the conversion of the Galatians (4'-'^^) correspond closely to the account of the evangelizing of S. Galatia given by Ac 13''*-14-'-. The arguments of St. Paul's sermon at Antioch in Pisidia reappear in Galatians (Ram- say, Gal., pp. 399-401)…
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(ii.) Various points in the course of the second missionary journey have been suggested : (a) Mace- donia (Hausrath), or (6) Athens (L. Albreclit, Paulus, Munich, 1903, pp. 114 f. ; C. Clemen, Paidus, Giessen, 1904, i. 396 f.), or (c) Corinth (Zahn, Bacon, Kendall). The arguments used in favour of ib) and (c) are that …
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GALEA GALILEE 437 raent of 3'^, which is based on the use of the sincul.ir (Tirepfxa, although the noun is collective and in this sense has no plural ; the allegorical use of the story of Hagar and Ishmael (4-'^-). This style of reasoning no longer appeals to us with any force, but it must be remembered that these …
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Litbrature. — The chief authorities are Tacitus, Historice bk. i. ; Plutarch, Galba (ed. E. G. Hardy, London, 1890) ; Suetonius, Galba; Dio Cassius, Ixiii.-lxiv., etc., and inscrip- tions. The facts are given most succinctly in P. de Rohden and H. Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani scec. i. ii. Hi., liars iii., Berl…
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4. The physical characteristics. — These are principally two : (a) abundance of water, and (h) fertilitj' of soil. As to («), the words of the ancient promise, ' for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths springing forth in valleys and hills' (Dt 8'), are li…
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There does not seem to be any sufficient ground for the dislike and contempt in which the Galilaeans were held by their religiously stricter brethren of Judaea. Possibly they were less exact in their ob- servance of tradition. But they were devoted to the Law, and their country was well supplied with synagogues, school…
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* On the exact date of Gallio's proconsulship see art. Dates, III. 3- 440 GAMALIEL GAMALIEL case as referring only to interpretations of Jewisli law, not to anj'^ civil wrong or any moral outrage of which Roman law took cognizance. Two efi'ects of this decision are noted, (a) It was a snub which gave the Greek bys…
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The tradition that Gamaliel was a secret Chris- tian and was baptized by St. Peter and St. Paul is purely legendary (cf. A. Neander, Hist, of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church, ed. Bohn, i. [1880] 46 ff.). He died c.A.D. 57-58. The historical events referred to in the speech ascribed to Gamaliel in Ac …
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the good strife '). It is not apparent that in 2 Ti 4^ tlie figure of speech in the first two clauses is uniform and drawn from the athletic ground (con- trast 2^"*). An improved reading of 1 Ti 41", in- corporated in the RV, gives dywvi^6/xeda, 'strive,' instead of 6veLOi'(;6ixeda, ' suffer reproach ' ( AV). The same …
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2. History and archaeology. — The Jews were not exempt from the current treatment of those who had incurred the wrath of the State. At Cfesarea Titus caused more than 2,500 Jews to be slain in a day, fighting with the beasts and with one another (Jos. BJ VII. iii. 1 ; cf. VII. ii. 1). Under this same monarch a commence…
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In Ac H'*''^ we are told that, on the healing of a lame man by the Apostles Paul and Barna- bas at Lystra in Asia Minor, the people imagined the wonder-workers to be incarnations of the gods Jupiter and Mercury, and declared, ' The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men ' (v.^'). In accordance with this idea, …
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Gaza is mentioned once in the NT (Ac 8^) : 'Arise,' said the angel of the Lord to Philip, 'and go toward the south (marg., at noon) unto the way that goetli down from Jerusalem to Gaza : the same is desert ' {avnj iariv ip-rjuos). It is a much-disputed point whether ' the same' refers to the way or to Gaza. (1) If the …
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'men's minds to the exclusion of solid and life- giving nutriment' (Hort, p. 137), hinders the fulfil- ment of the trust of life. It is contrary to sound doctrine. It does not belong to the healthy {vyiai- vovirrj) mind. In Tit 3* the warning is repeated : 'shun foolish questions and genealogies.' The scornful method …
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1. The Gentiles and the purpose of God. — When we speak of God's revealing Himself, we mean His opening man's eyes to such a sight of His nature and will as meets a universal want of man's spirit. We believe that, since man's history began, there has never been an age or a country in which ' the Father of spirits ' has…
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446 GEIs^ TILES GENTILES fall in with tliis view, when we think of the books of Job, Jonah, and Kuth — of the larger hope of the later Psalmists (Ps 67, 87, 100, 117, 145), and the remarkable assertion of Malachi (V^) that the name of God is honoured by the sincere worship ofiered to Him among the Gentiles from East…
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(3) To His limiting the mission of the Twelve to Galilee and Judpea on His first sending them forth (Mt 10^- ^), we may apply the words of Is 28'® : ' He that believeth shall not make haste.' It was con- sistent with the highest wisdom not to propel them into a wider field than the one in which, with the training they …
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i. Preparation of the Gentile world for Christ. — That Christ came into a world which God had slowly been preparing in the course of ages for His appearing was perceived by St. Paul and St. John, each from his own special point of view. St. Paul is thinking of Christ as the Redeemer from sin and its curse when he says …
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5. The Gentile mission. — The call of Jesus, ' Lift up your eyes, and look on the tields, that they are white already unto harvest' (Jn 4^'; cf. Mt Q-*''-^'^), was not addressed to the disciples with reference to the coming to Him of the men of Sychar only. It had a Avider bearing. At the great harvest festival of Pent…
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GENTLENESS GIFTS 449 that their work of showing the things of Christ to all the nations upon earth was His work, and making their preaching of them effectual unto salvation in every part of the Empire. After this, St. Luke's principal object is to describe the triumphant progress of the gospel from Antioch to Rome. …
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The group of words translated ' gift' {dOipov, duped, 86/xa., 86(ns, dwprjfjLa) forms an interesting study, upon which see note on Ja V in J. B. Mayor's Commentary (^London, 1910). ddiprj/jLa (Ja 1", Ko 5"*) is used of a gift of God, and so is duiped wher- ever we find it in the NT ; dQpov is used of ofier- ings to God…
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The locus classicus for charisms is 1 Co \2*-'^^ and v.2«, which has to be studied along with Eph 4". The latter, which specifies the ministries of apostles, prophets (see Prophecy, Prophet), evangelists, pastors, and teachers, indicates the types of Chris- tian service which tended to become permanent in the life of t…
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To sum up, an examination of the passages in apostolic literature which treat of spiritual gifts inevitably brings us to the conclusion that the life of the early Church was characterized by glowing enthusiasm, simple faith, and intensity of spiritual joy and wonder, all resulting from the consciousness of the power of…
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W. Cruickshank. GLASS.— See House, Mirror, Sea of Glass. GLORY.— It is not proposed to embrace in this article all the words which our English versions reniler by 'glory'; it is confined to the most im- portant of these — d6^a. As applied to men and things, S6^a has two principal meanings : (1) honour, praise, good …
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(Ro 6^). The precise sense of this expression has not yet been elucidated (in Fss.-Sol. xi. 9 there is what seems to be a parallel to it: dpaaTrjo-at Kvpios rbv 'lo-paTjX iv dvd/xari t^s Sofijs avrov), but it would seem that the 'glory of the Father' is practically equivalent to the Kpdros, the sovereign act of Him who…
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Literature. — There is, so far as known to the present writer, no satisfactory monograph on the subject, either in English or in German. W. Caspari, Die Bedeutungen der Wortsippe ^aD im Hcbrdiscken, Leipzig, 1908, is not without value for the student of the NT. H. A. A. Kennedy, St. PauFs Conception of the Last Things,…
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(3) Demiurge. — As the Gnostic surveyed the world of matter, he found patent traces of law and order ruling it. How did matter, in itself evil and lawless, come to be so orderly ? The Gnostic took the view of Nature which J. S. Mill took, and argued that either the Creator was not all-good or He was not all-powerful. T…
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(7) Esehatology. — While Gnostics alone were certain of return to the Kingdom of Light, some at least were disposed to think charitably of the destiny of the psychics, who might attain a measure of felicity. Gnostics denied a resurrection of the body, as we should expect. The whole world of matter was to be at last des…
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In Perso-Babylonian syncretism, we take it. Gnosticism has its primary root, and from that alone many of its features may be plausibly derived. To this is to be added some influence of Judaism. There was a syncretistic Judaism of varied char- acter. We know definitely of three forms: (I) Es.-?enic (see art. Essenes) ; …
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(2) There are some passages which seem not only to be designed to state the Christian position, but to be directed against errors characteristic of Gnosti- cism : (a) against Docetism ; most striking is He 214-18 . (J) against the demiurgic idea (Jn 1^ He 1^, Col l'6f-). (3) A definite polemic against errorists who ar…
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LiTERATtiiiB. — J. A. W. Neander, Die genetische EnlwiekeU ling der vornchinsten gnostiachcn Systeme, Berlin, 1818; F. C. Baur, Die christliche Ononis, Tiibingren, 1S35 ; R. A. Lipsius, Gnostic isimis, Leipzig, 18G0 ; H. L. Mansel, Gnostic Heresies 0/ the 1st ayid 2nd Centuries, London, 1875 ; A. Hilgenfeld, Die Ketzer…
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Literature.— H. 'B.TristTa.m, Natural Eislory of the Bible^^, 1911, p. SSff. ; Smith's DB, s.v. ; SiVP vii. 6; E. C. Wick- ham, The Epistle to the Uebrews, 1910, p. 68 ; B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebreu-s'^, 1892, p. 258 S. ; R. Lyddeker, in Murray's DB.s.u. ; UDBii. 195 f. ; SZ)£,p.298f. •,EBi\\.ni-2S.; J. C.…
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We find the same teaching, though in a some- what less explicit form, in tiie Pauline Epistles. Christ is ' the power of God and the wisdom of God. . . made unto us wisdom from God' (1 Co I-'*- 2"^). In Him ' are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden ' (Col 2^). In the new ' dispensa- tion of the fulness of …
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a thou>and years, and a thousand vears as one day ' (2 P 3« ; cf. Ps 90^ ; see also Ro 1-"). (c) God is omniscient. — He knoAvs the hearts of all men [KapSLoyvQara iravnav, Ac !-■* ; cf. 15* ; the prayer in 1-^ is perhaps addressed to our Lord) ; He knows all things (1 Jn 3-'^). St. Paul eloquently exclaims : ' O the …
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He is the God of hope (Ro 15'^). A despairing pessimism is rebellion against the good God who makes us to hope, and who promises to overthrow Satan. He is the God of peace (Ro 15^3 IQ^, 1 Th 5^3, 2 Th 3>8, He 132«). {g) God is Creator and Saviour. — That God the Father is the Maker of the world is again and again ins…
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(c) The Father of believers. — Side by side with the doctrine of universal fatherhood is the special relationship of God to believers, not only as Saviour (1 Ti 41") but as Father. Here the apostolic writers ascribe to Christians the prerogatives of the chosen people in the old covenant. This special fatherhood is brou…
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The one possible exception is Ac 2028; 'to feed the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.' This is the reading of KB and other weighty authorities (followed by AV and RV text), but ACDE read ' the Lord ' instead of ' God.' The balance of authority is in favour of the reading ' God,' and it is decidedly m…
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These expressions are the counterpart of our Lord's words in the Fourth Gospel : ' I am in the Father and the Father in me' (Jn U"*). We might try the effect of substituting for ' Son ' and 'Spirit' the names of 'Peter,' 'Paul,' or even of ' Michael,' ' Gabriel,' to see how intolerable all these expressions would be on…
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But what is the significance of the title ' Son of God ' ? It was not exactly a new title when used in the NT, though Dn 3-' cannot be quoted for it ('a son of the gods,' RV ; AV Avrongly, ' the Son of God'). It is probable that Ps 2^ was the founda- tion of the Jewish conception of Messiah as Son.* And thei'efore the …
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of the text. According to the AV and RVm, St. Paul speaks of tlie Israelites -who sinned against Jahweh in Nu 2P*- as ' tempting Christ ' ; but the reading rbv Xpiardv is not quite so well attested as rbu KvpLov. Another identification of Jesus Avith Jahweh is to be seen in the taking over of the expression 'the day of…
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In Ph 2^'8 St. Paul says that our Lord ' being (vTrdpxwj') in the form of God, counted it not a prize [a thing to be grasped at] to be on an equality with God, but emptied (iKivwae) himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man.' This passage, which has given rise to the word ' Kenotic,' is e…
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With these passages from the Epistles we may compare a few examples taken out of the Fourth Gospel. The Word was ' in the beginning ' and 'became flesh' (Jn P-"). Jesus speaks of Him- self, or the Evangelist speaks of Him, as ' he that Cometh from above, he that cometh from heaven ' (3^1), 'whom thou hast sent' (17^), …
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Lord, e.g. in Ac 3" 22", 2 Ti 48, He P, Ja 5«, 1 P 3^8^ Kev 19", as in Jn 5^°. It is this attribute which assures a just judgment ; but it includes more than ' justice ' in the ordinary human sense ; it embraces all tiiat ' uprightness ' stands for. (With the whole of this sub-section, cf. § 3 above.) (/) Christ's God…
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{b) The Personality of the Holy Ghost. — This needs careful consideration. Is He but an In- fluence of the Father ? The NT writings negative this idea ; for, though they join together the Spirit with the Fatlier and the Son, as above, 5 (c), yet they represent the Spirit as being in a real sense distinct from both. In …
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Both the Godhead and the subordination of our Lord are expressed by the phrases ' God of (iK) God,' ' Very God of very God ' of the Nicene Creed. The Father is the fount or source of Godhead, and there is none other. The subordination of the Spirit is implied in much that has been quoted above. The very title ' the Sp…
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Literature. — Out of a vast number of works it is not easy to give a small selection which will be useful to the reader ; and therefore only English works are here mentioned, and only those which bear on the apostolic period. Reference may be made to J. Pearson, An Exposition of the Creed (tirst published in IG.VJ; a m…
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In conclusion, it may be observed, and it has a bearing on the question of the authorship of the Pastorals, that the idea of 'godliness' serves to bind these letters together with the certainlj' late and unauthentic 2 Peter and 2 Clement. In 2 Pet., moreover, emi^fia serves to denote, just as in the Pastorals, the reli…
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Gold is often found in solid masses, but generally in combination with silver and other ores, from which it requires to be purified. Peter (1 P 1") refers to ' gold proved by tire ' (xpwLov Sia. trvpos SoKifML^ofiivov ; cf. Rev 3'^). ' Strabo states that in his time a process was employed for refining- and purifj'ing …
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reckons rigliteons (Ro 3-®), so it is because God is good in Himself that He is ever showing His good- ness to all men, especially in Christ and His Cross (Ro 5^ Eph 4^2) and calling all men to be the imi- tators of His goodness (1 Co 13). Although the following article is dealing with the Christian moral ideal as 'go…
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(4) Into the contents of the Christian hope, the details of the apostolic eschatology {q.v.), it is beyond the scope of this article to enter ; but one feature, because of its distinction from, or even opposition to, the Greek view, may here be men- tioned. The Greek thinker, if he did hope for a future life, looked fo…
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Literature.— W. Beyschlag, NT Theology, Eng. tr., 1895, bk. i. ch. viii.,bk. ii. ch. v., bk. iv. chs. vi. ix., bk. v. ch.v. ; G. B. Stevens, The Thevlogy of the NT, 1899, pt. i. chs. iii. xii., pt. ii. chs. vi. vii., pt. iv. chs. v. viii. xii., pt. vi. ch. v., pt. vii. ch. iv. ; T. von Haering, The Christian Faith, Eng…
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GOODNESS (HUMAN) GOSPEL 471 found, although here the sequence shows that the rigliteousness before God is estimated higher than the mere benevolence towards men. In 1 P 2^^ the ' good ' and ' gentle ' masters are so described from the point of view of their treatment of ser- vants rather than of inherent quality. In…
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GOSPEL. — 1. The meaning of the term.— 'Gospel,' a compound of the O.E. gdd, 'good,' and spel, 'tidings,' has been employed from the beginnings of English translation of the NT to render the Greek evayy^Xtov. In the classics this term denotes (a) the reward for good tidings, and is so used in the LXX (2 S 4'"), <^ ?5e…
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To this synopsis of his gospel St. Paul adds (1 Co 15"), ' Whether then it be I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.' In all essentials St. Paul stood on the same ground as the Twelve — St. Peter, St. James, and St. Paul were absolutely unanimous. Had it been otherwise, one can hardly see how he could have won re…
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He bad discovered also that there was no life to be hoped for from the Law. Such had never been its intention. The ' parenthesis ' of the Law had for its purpose to create the full knowledge of sin (5ta ydfiov iiriyvuffii a/xaprlas), to produce in the con- science the conviction of it. Moreover — such is the weakness …
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474 GOSPELS GOSPELS cro^vned "). But while all real opposition between the apostles (whatever may be tlie temporal rela- tion between liomans and James) may be dis- allowed, it need not be denied that the formal ditierences which appear in the Epistles may well have risen from the extremities to which the con- trove…
938 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical reference work (1915–1916); 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.