PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church — Volume 1
James Hastings · 1,014,604 words · 1012 reading sections
Section 61
' He thinks he was not made to die, And Thou hast made him, Thou art just ' (Tennyson, In Memoriam). Christianity confirms his instinctive feeling that death is in his case a dark shadow that should never have been cast upon his life. Acknowledg- ing that it is not the mere natural fate of a physical organism, but th…
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2. The custom. — St. Paul in these passages is alluding to a Greek and Roman rather than to a Hebrew custom. Its object, at any rate in its earliest stages, was to prevent the dying out of a family, by the adopting into it of one who did not by nature belong to it, so that he became in all respects its representative a…
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(c) Just as the adoption of Jews was inferior to that of Christians, so that of Christians is not yet fully realized. Adoption is spoken of in Ro 8-^ as something in the future. It is the redemption {aTroXvTpuicris) of our body, and we are still waiting for it; it can be completely attained only at the general resurrec…
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6. Adoption and baptism. — We may in conclu- sion consider at what period of our lives we are adopted by God as His sons. In one sense it was an act of God in eternity ; we were foreordained unto adoption (Eph 1^). But in another sense St. Paul speaks of it as a definite act at some definite moment of our lives : ' Ye …
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It was in ' a ship of Adramyttium ' — larger than a mere coasting vessel — probably making for her own port, that St. Paul and St. Luke sailed from Ciesarea by Sidon and under the lee (to the east) of Cyprus to Myra in Lycia, where they joined a corn-sliip of Alexandria bound for Italy (Ac 27^"''). The modern town of E…
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3. iirevavTios is used in He 10^^ of the advei-- saries of God, apostates from Christ, probably with reference to Is 26'S where the LXX has the same word. A similar phrase in Tit 2^ is ' he that is of tlie contrary part,' an opponent, 6 i^ ivavrias. In Col 2'* the word virevavrlos is used of an inanimate object: 'the b…
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5. There is also attached to the word the signifi- cance of ' age ' as indicating a period or dispensa- tion of a definite character — the present order of ' world-life ' viewed as a whole and as possessing certain moral characteristics. It is unfortunate that there is no word in English which exactly expresses this me…
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Literature. — G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, Eng. tr. Edinburgh, 1902, pp. 147ff., 162 ff. ; fJDB, art. 'World'; Westcott, Corn, on the Epistle to the [lebrews, in locis ; F. Ken- dall, Expositor, 3rd ser., vii. [ISSS] 2ti(>-27S ; WUke-Grimm, Clacis Xovi Testamenti, s.v. ; ERE, artt. ' .Eons ' and ' Ages of the World';…
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Sension is not a new idea. It is impossible to etermine if the widows who were enrolled Mere bound to give some service in return for tiie assistance which they received. The probability is that they were not, assuming, of course, the early date of the Epistle (see H. R. Reynolds, in Expos., 1st sen, iii. [1880] 382-3…
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The prince of the power of the air (Eph 2^) is Satan. That he had authority over the evil spirits whose abode is in the air was the general Jewish belief, except among the Sadducees, St. Paul does not, however, here say ' powers of the air,' i.e. evil spirits, but the ' air-power ' or ' air-tyranny ' (for this meaning …
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LiTERATURF,.— R. J. KnowUng-, EGT, 'Acts,' 1900; Comm. of Meyer, Zeller, Holtzraann ; 'W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul, 1895, p. 279 ; artt. in HDB and ££i. W. F. BOYD. ALEXANDRIA ('AXefd;/5/)ia).— The city of Alex- andria almost realized Alexander the Great's dream of ' a city surpassing anything previously exist- ing' (Pluta…
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In the Roman period ' numerous and respectable labours of erudition, particularly philological and physical, proceeded from the circle of the savants "of the Museum," as they entitled themselves, like the Parisians "of the Institute" ; but ... it was here very clearly apparent that the main matter was not pensions and …
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LiTERATrRB.— Art. 'Alexandria' in HDB, SDB, EBi, and in Pauly-Wissowa ; H. Kiepert, Zur Topog. des alten Alex- andria, Berlin, 1872; J. P. Mahafify, AUxandefs Empire, London, ISSS, and The Silver Age of the Greek World, do. 1006 ; T. Mommsen, Prov. of Rom. Emp.^, 2 vols., do. 1909 ; J. Drummond, Philo-Judceus, 2 vols.,…
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LiTERATURK. — See list appended to preceding article. James Steahan. ALIEN.— See Stranger. 50 ALLEGORY ALPHA AND O^LEGA ALLEGORY. — The word is derived from the Greek dXXrjyopia, used of a mode of speech which implies more than is expressed by the ordinary meaning of the language. This method of inter- preting lit…
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The Christian literature of the end of the 1st cent, carries on the same principles. The Teach- ing of the Twelve Apostles (iv. 8) says : ' Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in need, but shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that thej' are thine own : for if ye are sharers in that which is …
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Literature.— R. H. Charles, art. in HDB ; B. W. Bacon, art. in DCQ ; K. Kohler, art. in JE ; W. MuUer in PRE^ (full account of extant inscriptions); C. Schoettg'en, Hor. Heb., Leipzig-, 1733. L. St. AlBAN WeLLS. ALTAR.— In the NT, as in the LXX, the usual term for ' altar ' is dvaiaaT-fipLov — a v/ord otherwise confi…
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3. The writer of Hebrews refers to the old Jewish altar and to a new Christian one. (1) Reasoning somewhat in the manner of Philo, he notes the emergence of a mysterious priest from a tribe which has given none of its sons to minister at the altar, and on this circumstance bases an ingenious argu- ment for the imperfec…
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AMEN. — The lack of a common language has always been a barrier to the mutual knowledge and intercourse of the great nations of mankind, all the more that the days when the educated men of all European nations were wont to converse in Latin have long since passed away. To a certain extent the gulf has been bridged for …
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' Amen ' would naturally have passed from the synagogues to the churches which took their rise among the synagogue-worshippers, but the Master Himself gave a new emphasis to its value for Chris- tians by the example of His own practice. In this, as in all else. He was no slavish imitator of con- temporary Rabbis. He sp…
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LiTERATFRE.— The artt. in EDB, DCG, EBi, and JE; G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, Eng. tr., Edinb. 1902, p. 226 ff. ; H. W. Hog-gr, in JQR ix. [1896] 1-23; OxJ. Heb. Lex., s.v. JDK; Grimm-Thayer, s.v. i/iijv; artt. in ExpT viii. [1897] 190, by Nestle, and xiii. [1902] 663, by Jannaris. L. St. Alban Wells. AMETHYST {anid…
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T. B. Allworthy. ANANIAS (Gr. 'kvavlas; Heb. Jjn, ' Jahweh is gracious '). — A very common name in later Jewish times, corresponding to Hananiah or Hanani of the OT. We find it occurring frequently in the post- exilic writings and particularly in the Apocrypha. In the history of the Apostolic Church, we meet with thre…
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and to the plundering of Samaritan villages by Jews. Ananias was summoned to Rome and tried for complicity in these disturbances, but, at the instigation of Agrippa the younger, was restored to office. He ruled in Jerusalem with all the arbitrariness of an Oriental despot, and his violence and rapacity are noted by Jos…
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As to the addition of Maran atha, both the meaning of the words and their relation to the context have been subjects of controversy. For a discussion of the Aramaic phrase, with related questions, see HDB iii. 241 ff. It is either an assertion, ' Our Lord cometh' (so RVm), or, more probably, an ejaculatory prayer, ' O …
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LiTERATUEE. — The Comm. on Hebrews, esp. A. B. David- son's ; Expotitor, 3rd ser. x. 45 fl. J. C L AMBEET. ANDRONICUS (AvSpoviKo^, a Greek name).— Saluted by St. Paul in Ro 16^ his name being coupled with that of Junias or Junia.* (1) The pair are described as ' my kinsmen ' (toi)s (r\r/yeveis ,aov), by which may be m…
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5« ANGELS AA'GELS one of the grave errors at Colossae (Col 2'*). So idolatry is described as a worshipping of demons (Rev 9-"). Much emphasis is laid, lest it should be thought that angels were of the same degree as our Lord, on the fact that Jesus is immeasurably higher than they ; as in He 1*^- (no angel is calle…
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The Christian Fathers and the heretical teachers greatly elaborated the angelic hierarchy ; of these perhaps the writer who had most influence was pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (de Ccel. Hier. vi.-ix., c. A.D. 500), who divided the heavenly host into three divisions, with three subdivisions in each: (1) thrones, cher…
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The angels are spectators of our lives : 1 Co 4^ ' a spectacle (eiarpov) to angels ' ; 1 Ti 5^' ' in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels ' ; 1 P 1^, the angels 'look into' — 'glance at,' or jjerhaps 'pore over' (see Bigg, Com. in /oc.)— the Church and its Gospel ; they rejoice over the sinner's repen…
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6. Angels of the Churches.— In Rev l^o 2'-8.i2-i8 31. 7, 14 ^^\^Q Seven Churches are said each to have an 'angel.' Tliese angels represent the Churches ; what is said to them is said to the Churches (3-^ ; cf, I'') ; things done by the Churches are said to be done by them. Various interpretations have been ofiered. (a)…
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A later stage of angelological error is found at tlie end of the 1st cent, in Cerinthus' teaching, which resembled that of the Colossian heretics. Cerinthus (q.v.) taught that the world was not made by God, but by an angel, or by a series of ANGELS ANGELS OE THE SEVEN CHURCHES 61 powers or angels, who were ignorant …
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Literature. — A. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah^, London, 1S97, i. 142, ii. 748 (Appendix, xiii.), etc. ; H. St. J. Thackeray, The Relation of St. Paul to Contemporary Jewish Thought, do. 1900; A. B. Davidson in HDB, art. ' Angel' (almost entirelj' for OT) ; W. Fairweather in HDB, vol. v., art. 'Develop…
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of Daniel (6 S.pxo}v ^aa-iXelas UepffQv, Dn 10""; cf. MixctTjX 6 dyyeXos, v.'-'). A similar belief with re- spect to the guardianship of individuals is referred to incidentally as held by Jesus (Mt 18'"), and we need not be surprised to find it applied to Churches in their corporate capacity by a writer whose teaching …
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But even legitimate anger may readily pass into a sin. Passions beyond the control of the rational self can hardly be justified, whatever the cause. Self-control is a cardinal Christian virtue. Hence the apostolic caution of Eph 4-'*, ' Be ye angry and sin not,' i.e. if angry, as one may rightly be, do not allow the pa…
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P'rom the period of the Exile, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and especially the sutierings of the righteous, were regarded as substitutes for material sacrifices (see art. ' Atonement ' in JE). Is 53 is the ' earliest expression of a conception [viz. the atoning value of the sufferings of pious men] which attained wide …
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The death of Jesus may be regarded partly as a vicarious sacrifice of the order recognized in the Synoptics — sufiering and self-denial for the sake of the Kingdom of God, for conscience, and men's uplifting. The justification of this law of sacrifice (' Ever by losses the right must gain, Every good have its birth of …
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ANNAS (Gr. 'A was, Heb. f:n, 'merciful' [in Josephus, Ananos]). — Annas the son of Sethi, ap- pointed high priest by yuirinius in A.D. 6 or 7, retained office till he was deposed by Valerius Gratus in A.D. 15 (Jos. Ant. xvill. ii. 1, 2). Josephus tells us that he was regarded as the most fortunate of men, for he had fi…
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3. The use of anointing in religious ceremony was very varied. It was applied both to persons — as, e.q., to the kings and high priests — and to in- animate things. This is not the place to investi- gate the original signification of the act of anoint- ing in religious ceremonies (see liobertson Smith, Rd. Se7)i.-\ 189…
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ANTICHEIST A2TTICHEIST 67 of this kind, and to defend himself vigorously against attack. In 1 P 3'° we have the well-known injunction to be ' ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you,' whether before a judge or in informal conversation — which should probab…
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(3) But the development of the Messianic hope in Judaism was a more determinative influence than either of those already mentioned. The Jewish Antichrist was very far from being a mere pre- cipitate of Babylonian mythology and Iranian eschatology. It was, above all, a counterpart of the Messianic idea, as that was deri…
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(3) In the Apocalypse. — As follows naturally both from its subject and from its literary form, the Apocalypse is more permeated than any other book in the NT with the idta of the Antichrist. For its subject is the speedy return of Christ to subdue His enemies and set up His Kingdom (Rev F 2'^ 3", etc. ), and its form…
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Literature. — H. Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos, Gottingen, 1895 ; W. Bousset, The Antichrist Leoend, Eng. tr., London, 1896 ; W. O. E. Oesterley, The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, do. 1908 ; C. Clemen, Primitive Christianity and its Non-Jewish Sources, Eng. tr., Bkiinburgh, 1912; artt. 'Anti- christ' in PRE 3, ERE, …
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70 AXTIOCH ANTIOCH part in the Apostolic Age. Her distinction was tliat, while unquestionably the daughter of the Jewish Christian community at Jerusalem, full of filial gratitude and devotion, she became the first Gentile Church, and the mother of all the others. The diaspora that followed the death of Stephen brou…
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After the battle of Magnesia (190 B.C.), which cost Antiochus the Great the whole of his dominions north of the Taurus, the Romans made Antioch a free city. In 39 B.C. Mark Antony gave it to king Amynt'as, after whose death in 25 B.C. it became a city of the vast Roman province of Galatia. At some time before 6 B.C., A…
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P.218L James Steahan. ANTIPAS.— See Hkrod. ANTIPAS (shorter form of Antipater [Jos. Ant. XIV. i. 3 : ' this Antipatros was at first called Antipas'] as Hermas is of Hermodorus, Lucas of Lucanus, and Silvas of Silvanus). — Antipas, other- wise unknown, is mentioned in Rev 2'^. Later Greek tradition made him bishop of …
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2. The NT Apocalypse of John as the type of apocalyptic writings. — Though in the sense of the Christian creed the whole Bible is by pre-eminence the literature of apocalypse or revelation, there is only one book in each Testament to which the name has been given. In the NT we have the Apocalypse of John and in the OT …
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(C) Hellenic apocalypses. — The Sibylline Oracles (q.v.), 'Jewish works under a heathen mask ' (Schiirer), are the best instance under this head. They are the work ot Hellenistic Jews, and are written in Greek hexameters for Gentiles, under names which have authority for such readers. The fact that they have been subje…
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obscurity of imagery, which sometimes takes the form of a grotesqueness, and of an incongruity in details, which are excusable only upon the supposi- tion that the awkward imagery was capable of the twofold task of convej'ing the meaning to those for whom it was intended, and of veiling it from others. This obscurity …
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Judged in this way, the Apocalypse of John shines in a light which no student of early Chris- tian literature can call other than brilliant. Whatever ditticulties were felt by the early Fathers in giving it a place in the Canon, there is no book of the NT wliose claim, once admitted, has been less a matter of subsequen…
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(fi) An example of composite structure, better knouTi to modern students of the Apocalypse (through Gunkel's ScAo?)/. M. Chaos), but more difficult to exhibit with precision, is the vision in ch. 12 of the Messiah-mother and the Dragon seeking to devour her child. The teaching of 'John' is, again, evident enough. Satan…
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All these varying views of ' John's ' meaning cannot be true in every particular. Yet we are, perhaps, nearer the truth in saying that portions of all of them must have passed through his mind than in deciding dogmatically in favour of one of • The letters of both the Greek and the Hebrew alphabets have each a numeric…
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13'^ seems to indicate an edict actually in force or about to be issued, under which ordinary con- tracts of exchange should not be legal apart from vows of allegiance to the Emperor as a Divine person. This meant that Christians were excluded from the business of the world, and so from the world itself, and to 'John' …
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•Porter {op. oil. 183) asks whether the Apocalypse is 'a direct or a secondary product of that new inspiration ' [Chris- tian prophecy], and' he rejilies, rather disconcertingly: 'Our imprts-iion is that it is secondary.' No one has a better right to speak with authoi ily than Porter. But if the inspiration of the Apoc…
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At first sight the change seems more formal than real. The Apocalyjjse comes from Jesus Christ (P), but, beyond the features of His death and resurrection, tiiere is nothing in the descrip- tion of the sublime Personage who overwhelms 'John' with His manifestations (l^'') suggestive of any feature distinctive of the hu…
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• 1 Co 729«. seems to the present writer an illustration rather than an exception. or literature.* He has the definite belief that the last instrument of Antichrist is the Roman Imperial system, and that with the removal of the 'Great Whore' (19^)— the 'Babylon' which is Rome — especially the cult of the Emperor, the …
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APOCALYPSE APOCALYPSE 79 The following examples may be given of the teaching of the Apocalypse on detiuite articles of the Christian creed. (1) The Messiah is the historical Person of the seed of David, who was crucified at Jemsalem (5* 11^). — (2) Grace and peace come from Him equally with Him who ' is and was and …
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1. The Gospels. — Besides words and phrases, the Synoptic Gospels contain long passages of alleged discourses of Jesus — notably, e.g., Mk 13,| — which are entirely in the apocalyptic style. In view of the fact that Jesus, when before Caiaphas, de- clared Himself the Messiah in words that were virtually a quotation of …
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Could Jesus be the Revealer of God and of Son- ship with God and yet be under illusion as to the end of the world? Yes, because human life in- volves this ignorance, and the Son of God was made flesh. And yes, again, because the illusion was to Him the transparent veil of the certainty that the Righteous Father lived a…
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Lewis A. Muirhead. APOLLONIA ('ATo\\wvla). — A town of Myg- donia in Macedonia, S. of Lake Bolbe (Athen. viii. 334), and N. of the Chalcidian mountains. It lay on the Via Egnatia, and St. Paul ' passed through ' Amphipolis and Apol Ionia on his way from Philippi to Thessalonica (Ac 17^). The intermediate towns were pr…
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The last NT reference to Apollos (Tit S^») con- nects him with ' Zen as the lawyer,' probably a convert from the Jewish scribes. This confirms the idea that Apollos maintained a Hebraistic type of preaching, though his Alexandrian training differentiated him from the ' Judaizers' who pur- sued St. Paul so relentlessly.…
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J. C. Lambert. APOSTLE.— The term 'Apostle' (Gr. dTrocrroXos) is more definite than ' messenger ' (Gr. &yye\os) in that the apostle has a special mission, and is the commissioner of the person who sends him. This distinction holds good both in classical and in biblical Greek. There is no good reason for doubt- ing tha…
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Nay, this still held good when one whom they had at first regarded with fear and suspicion (Ac 9'^") was added to their company. Greatly as Saul of Tarsus differed from the Twelve in some things, he was entirely at one with them respecting funda- mental facts. He, like them, had seen and heard the risen Christ (1 Co 9^…
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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.