PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church — Volume 1
James Hastings · 1,014,604 words · 1012 reading sections
Section 241
CAUDA.— Cauda (Clauda in AV ; KaCSa in B, supported by Gaudus in Pliny, HN IV. xii. 61, and Pomp. Mela, ii. 14 ; KXaOSa in K and most authori- ties, supported by KXaOSos in Ptolemy, Ul. xvii. 11) was a small island 23 miles S. of Crete. From the modern forms of the name — Gavdho in Greek, Gozzo in Italian — Ramsay argu…
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altar, but of its intimate relation to the ministry of the inner sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. 2. In Rev 8^- ^, \ij3aviOT6s, which is strictly ' frank- incense,' the gum exuding from the XLfiavos, is used instead of Xt/Javwrts (or -rpts) for ' censer,' corre- sponding to the wvpelov (irvpLov) or dvlcTKT) (' fire …
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CHALCEDONY (xaX/c7;5civ).— Chalcedony is the precious stone with which the third foundation of the wall of the New Jerusalem is garnished (Rev 21'S). The ancient meaning of the word is un- certain. In modern mineralogy the chalcedony is ' a micro-crystalline form of quartz ... a trans- lucent substance of rather waxy l…
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LiTERATrEE.— H. A. A. Kennedy, Sources of NT Greek, 1895, p. 101 ; R. C. Trench, NT SynonyjnsS, 1876, p. 107 f. ; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John'^, 1907, p. 63 ; the Com- mentaries on Ephesians, esp. J. Armitage Robinson, 1903 ; ExpT xiv. [1902-03] 272; see also artt. 'Chastening' and •Nurture' in flZ)B. H. CA…
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When the later Hebrews wished to represent the presence of Jahweh among them in the Temple at Jerusalem, they adopted the cherubim as the awful symbols alike of His nearness and of His unapproachableness. It is improbable that these works of art had a purely human appearance. Schultz {OT Theol., Eng. tr., 1892, ii. 236…
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* See J. Armitage Robinson, Ephesians, 1903, p. 83 f- t See W. M. Ramsay, Historical Commentary on the Galatians, p. 337 n. image of his Son, that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren' (v.^'*). Cf. such pass- ages as 2 Co 3^^ 'we all . . . are being changed into the same image.' At the unveiling or apoca- …
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3. 1 Peter. — Here, too, we find the conception that Christians have passed through a process of re-birth. The word used is not the simple 'to beget,' as in Jn 3^-°, but a compound 'to beget again,' which is found also in ' Western ' author- ities of Jn 3'. Thus when St. Peter speaks of God who ' begat us again,' he de…
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St. Paul passed Chios in his last recorded Mgean voyage (Ac 20"). Sailing in the morning from Mitylene in Lesbos, his ship, after a run of 50 miles, cast anchor at night near the Asian coast, opposite Chios (dvnKpvi XLov) and under the head- land of Mimas. Next day she struck across tiie open sea (7ra/)e/3dXo/ieK) for …
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(2) The Epistles of St. Paul. — These provide at least valuable confirmation of what may be other- wise ascertained as to the opinion held by the primitive community, partly through direct state- ment by the Apostle as to what was the gospel he had ' received,' and partly through inference which may be made from his ow…
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the disciples understand by the Messiah? What character, r61e, or function did they assign to Him 1 And the second thus : At what point did they understand Him to have entered on His Messiah- ship ? They identified Jesus with the Messiah of Jewish expectation ; but did that mean that He had been (and was still, and was…
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(v.) But this is not a complete account of the Christological phenomena of these chapters. There are numerous indications that from the very outset the minds of some at least of the disciples were at work on tlie material provided for them by {a) their recollection of wiiat Jesus liad been, said, and done ; (b) the fac…
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180 CHEIST, CHRISTOLOGY CHEIST, CHRISTOLOGY glory, but an original heavenly being, who came aoion to accomplish this work of his on earth ' (J. Weiss, Chi-ist, Eng, tr., 1911, p. 59 f.). The com- munity, for which this was a just and intelligible description of Jesus, was preparing and prepared for any interpretation…
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(b) The words of Stephen are addressed to One who has the power to forgive ; and the title of ' Saviour ' is no empty form. That ' salvation,' which, whatever be the precise contents of the term, always stands for the highest good, can be obtained through Him, and through no other. In 4^^ ('there is no other name,' etc…
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In these factors — the correlation of the death of Jesus with the whole redeeming purpose of God, the foreshadowing by prophecy of the vicarious value attaching to the death of the innocent servant of God, and the remembered attitude of Jesus towards His own death — we have the condi- tions for a rapid evolution of a d…
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2. PrimitiYe conception of Christ. — (1) Jesus as the Messiah. — We have now examined the material available for ansAvering the question with which we started — What significance did the primitive community attach to the Messiahship of Jesus, and what led them to recognize Him as Messiah and as a Messiah with this sign…
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CHRIST, CHEISTOLOGY CHEIST, CHEISTOLOGY 183 into the earthly ministry. He liad been ' raised up' by God (3-''; cf. 7^^ 13*'') as it had been pre- dicted by Moses that God would raise up ' a prophet ' (3^-). He had been sent by God as one blessing His people, and by God ' anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power' (…
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(4) Pentecost. — That event which corresponded to the Resurrection, and displays itself as the second moving cause of the attitude to Christ which we find taken up by the infant Church, was the experience of Pentecost, described as the out- pouring of the Holy Spirit. Fundamental as the Resurrection was, it did not sta…
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And with the consciousness of a new binding fellowship created by Christ, there came a new conscience. The new relations involved new re- sponsibilities, the possibility of new ofJences, new sins. The earliest case of sin which is recorded within the new community was in fact sin against the community itself and the pr…
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The Christology which is suggested rather than defined in the Epistle is lacking in several of the details which appear even in that of the primitive community, most notably perhaps in all reference to the Holy Spirit ; but it is wholly consistent with it, and the inadequacy of its expression is probably due rather to …
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The Apocalypse of John as a whole leaves the impression of a conception of Christ so exalted, so majestical in the history of mankind, that it could not be carried further without either impinging on the writer's monotheism or demanding the em- ployment of metaphysical categories which were beyond his range of thought.…
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(1) Sources for Paulinism.— For our informa- tion regarding the thought and teaching of the Apostle we are almost wholly dependent on his own letters. From the Acts we learn the details of his conversf on, the course and method of his missionary activity, but concerning his teaching only what may be gathered with cauti…
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The really striking feature of these Epistles is the equal emphasis on Christ the Lord and God the Father as severally and jointly the source of all Christian experience, and the ground of all Christian hope. In the opening verse of each Epistle, Christ and the Fatlier are combined as the sphere in which the Church at …
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This is possibly to anticipate the results of the examination of the other Epistles, but only in details. The central fact of Pauline Christology is already evident in the Epistles to the Thessa- lonians, viz. that while betraying no sign that his monotheism is in danger, or that his way of inter- preting it is either …
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The four Epistles of the second group (Gal. Kom., 1 and 2 Cor.) in the first place give greater definiteness to the ' Lordship ' of Christ as the central fact to be grasped and acknowledged by men. The necessary but sufficient condition for being reckoned a Christian was the sincere ac- knowledgment of the religious re…
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This deeper conception of the Sonship is borne out by the frequent and spontaneous use of the name 'Father' for God. The full name for God in the Church of the NT is ' the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (e.g. Ro 15^ 2 Co IP', Eph P 3", Col P, 1 P p). And as such He is described absolutely as 6 Tranjp, and kno…
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There is a further indication here of the way in which the conception of salvation as the highest good belonging to the life to come was giving place to the conception of it as a present experience. With all its antecedent conditions — e.g. justification ( = acquittal), cleansing, redemption from the do- minion of evil…
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' The Alexandrine does not attribute the least eschatological significance to the heavenly man. He shows no trace of the belief that he who came into being in the image of God, at the end of aU things shall appear as Messiah. But with Paul it is just this which is the essential thing. His doctrine of the heavenly and e…
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It appears, therefore, that in 1 Co 15^^ St. Paul has nothing to tell about the pre-existent Christ ; and the same is probably the case in regard to the other factors in St. Paul's description of Christ — the recognition of Him as eiKuv rov deov and the declaration that in Him dwells ' the whole fulness of the Godhead…
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B. The historical Jesus. — St. Paul traced the origin of his faith, and ascribed the life he now lived, to the Risen and Exalted Christ, Lord and Spirit. But it is not true to say that he was either ignorant of, or indifferent to, the manifes- tation of Jesus 'in the days of his flesh.' The references which he makes to…
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But He who, according to Ro 8*, was thus made ' in the likeness of sin's flesh,' according to the second passage (Ro l"*) manifested, in contradis- tinction to all others who appeared in human form, ' a spirit of holiness ' ; and it was in harmony with that ethical uniqueness that a unique glory was assigned to Him, in…
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The evidence is unevenly distributed. In the four ' chief ' Epistles we have a number of allu- sions ; in each of two of the 'captivity' Epistles, Philippians and Colossians, we find an explicit statement. The allusions in the earlier Epistles are, if anything, more important than the state- ments in the later ones ; f…
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For these and other reasons the other interpre- tation is to be preferred, according to which St. Paul is using the terms /J.op<pri, (xxvfia, etc., in a popular sense rather than as philosophic terms, and fiopcpri means ' form,' which is separable from essence, tliough more truly characteristic than (Txw^ ; in the case…
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Not so the later commentators, who for the most part find here a doxology addressed to God, ' God Avho is over all be blessed for evermore.' Evidence of a grammatical or linguistic character is evenly balanced in favour of tiie tAvo renderings ; but in favour of the latter there is the strong general reason that on the…
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The Epistle is distinguished from all other docu- ments of the NT in that it appears to assign to Christ a redeeming activitj" in the interval between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. ' Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit, in which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison ' (3'^-…
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As a whole it displays this perplexing combina- tion— the presence of linguistic echoes of Pauline phraseology, and the absence of everything that is specifically Pauline in thought. AVe look in vain for any reference to justification or reconciliation, to the mystical participation in Christ's death and resurrection o…
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But there is a deeper distinction in the use of the Sonship-conception as between St. Paul and HebreAvs. There is nothing in the latter corre- sponding to the note of tenderness and intimate aflection which St. Paul seems to have recognized in the relationship [e.g. Ro &-^, Col l'^). The ' Sonship ' in Hebrews shows no…
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'holy, harmless, undefiled' (7"^), and 'faithful to liim that appointed him' (3'-). He Himself was ' made for a season lower than the angels ' (2"), and is specifically described as a sharer in ' the blood and flesh of men ' (2''*), seeing that ' it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren' (2"). In particular, th…
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' The idea of Sonship, which in Paul ig carefully subordinated to a strict monotheism, is accepted in its full extent. In the generation succeeding Paul the name " Son of God " had gradu- ally assumed the more definite meaning which the Greek language and forms of thought attached to it. The Fourth Evangelist employs i…
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But not to the obliteration of His humanity, or to the obscuring of His dependence upon God. The glory was visible to those who believed on Him ; but they were fully persuaded of the reality of His human nature too (1 Jn l^^^). To others He appeared as a man (4-'' 5^^ 1*^ 9" 10^^), with a human father and mother (6*^).…
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The missionary work of the Church was about to begin from Antioch as its starting-point. There a considerable church had been formed by the united labours of Barnabas and Saul. Driven from Jerusalem by persecution, disciples had gone to Cyprus and preached to the Jews there. Thence some came over to Antioch and preach…
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It has been argued that the term Xpio-rtai'os im- plies a Western and Latin origin. But the term- ination -avo's was in wide use among Greeks every- where {HDB i. 384). The use of this name was the first step in the differentiation of Christians from Jews in the public eye. Previously the two classes had been confound…
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• Incidentally we may regard this feature as one of the reasons why Claristianity in the Roman world vanquished all competitors — Isis or Attis or Mithra or the redeemer-god of Oriental mystery-religions. The Redeemer-God of Christianity was a historical personality. CHEISTIAN LIFE CHRISTIAN LIFE 201 with true than…
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Palestinian Christianity, in spite of its reverence for Jewish law, did not escape persecution. The Christian Jews fled to Pella before A.D. 70, and re- fused to join the Bar Cochba rebellion, and finally became a sect beyond the Jordan, known as Ebionites or Nazarenes. The saint of Palestinian Christianity is undoubte…
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* See, for models of prayer in the Apostolic Age, Didache, 10, and 1 Clem. 59-61. with love and temperance or self-control ; while joy, peace, and thankfulness (cf. Ph 4^, eiixo-pt-cria) are the resultant gi-aces of Christian conduct. The domestic and social virtues are fi'equently urged on the Christian convert — lo…
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Possibly Ephesians belongs to the same period. While emphasizing knowledge (p-''' 3'*), it gives the premier position to love, which surpasses knowledge and is its object (3'^). In 1 Peter the favourite word is ayadoTroita. In Ephesians the old sins of paganism recur — uncleanness, lascivious- ness, lusts ; in I Peter …
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CHURCH.— The histoiy of the Church in the Apostolic Age may be treated under the follow- ing heads : (1) Sources, (2) Importance, (3) Name, (4) Origin, (5) Growth, (6) Conflict between Jewish 204 CHUECH CHUECH and Gentile elements, (7) Character, (8) Relation to the State and other systems. 1. Sources. — Our sourc…
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3. Name. — The name ' Church ' is in itself strong evidence of the connexion between tlie Old Cove- nant and the New. In the OT, two ditterent words are used to denote gatherings of the chosen people or their representatives— 'erfAoA (RV 'congrega- tion') and qahal (RV 'assembly'). In the LXX, avvaywyi) is the usual tr…
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5. Growth. — The growth of the Apostolic Church was very rapid. The first missionary efforts of the original believers were confined to Jerusalem and its immediate neighbourhood, and the converts were Palestinian or Hellenistic Jews who were living or sojourning in or near the capital. At first the Hellenists were in …
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When the proconsul Saturninus said to the Scillitan Martyrs, 'We also are religious people, and our religion is simple,' one of the Christians replied, 'If you will g:rant me a quiet hearinj^, I will tell vou the mystery of simplicity ' {Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs [TS i. 2, 1891, p. 112] ; cf. 1 Co 27). The number …
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CHUECH CHUKCH 207 of Jerusalem left the Gentile Churches, and espe- cially the Church of Rome, without a rival, for the Jewish Church of Jerusalem sank into obscurity, and never recovered ; nor did any other community of Jewish Christians take its place. When a Christian community arose once more in the re- stored J…
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Lucian (Death of Peregrinus Proteus) says : ' It was imposed upon them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers from the moment that they are converted. . . . An adroit, un- scrupulous fellow, who has seen the world, has only to get among these simple souls, and his fortune is soon made.' By pretending to …
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P. Gardner has pointed out three common characteristics, all of which bring them into line with Christianity : rites of purifica- tion, rites of communion with some deit}-, and means of secur- ing- happiness in the other world. He holds that the Christian mystery of which St. Paul speaks is 'the existence of a spiritua…
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Among rival religious systems, none was more dangerous to the success of Christianity than Mithra-worship. Except in the form of ' Mj'steries,' the old Greek religion had not much power ; its gods and goddesses were openly ridiculed. But Slithraism was full of life ; it could excite not only powerful emotions but moral…
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We are accustomed to think of the first Chris- tians as having no government, other than that of ' Peter with the Eleven ' (Ac 2^''). Harnack ( Con^^. 210 CHURCH GOVEKXMEXT CHURCH GOVERNMENT and Law of the Church, p. 20 f.) has pointed out that they had a number of authorities, to be loyal to all of which was somet…
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There seems to be a transition stage between the pui-ely charismatic and the official ministry in Ac 13'-^ about A.D. 47. There is a fast and a solemn service conducted by prophets and teachers at Antioch. During the service, the Spirit (through one of the prophets) says : ' Since you desire to know (5i7), separate for…
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istic period were partly the Egyptians, whose royal house gave its name to different townships, and partly the Seleucids, after whom the most consider- able town of West Cilicia was named Seleucia on the Calycadnus. In the NT 'Cilicia' invariably means Cilicia Pedeia. Though this country formed a part of the peninsula…
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It was obvious that the question must be settled. The Judaizing party were quite definite in their teaching. ' Certain men which came down from Judfea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can- not be saved' (Ac 15^). This was a position M-hich it was impossible for St. Pa…
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* The paronomasia of KaraToixy and Treptroji^ used by St. Paul here is one of several instances in which he employs that figure of speecll : e.g. ixtjSev epyafo/ae'cou? oAAd jrepiepyafo/oieVous (2 Til 311). CITIZENSHIP CLAUDIA 213 munity contained also those who ■were not full citizens, but had certain privileges, …
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Literature. — On Greek crnzBNSinp : P. Gardner and F. B. Jevons, A Manual oj Greek Antiquities, London, 1S95, bk. vi. ; G. Gilbert, Uandbuch der griechischen Staatsalterthiimer, i.2 [Leipzig, 1S93], ii. [18S5] (Eng. tr. of vol. i:^ = The Cmstitu- tional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens, London, 1895); K. F. Hermann, Le…
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Some of the more important events of his reign may be enumerated in the order of their occur- rence. In A.B. 41 certain reforms were made in the reg:ulation of the corn supply, etc., which had suffered in Gaius' reign. Many of these reforms were doubtless due to the Emperor's freednien, Narcissus, the ah epistttlis, …
974 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.