PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church — Volume 1
James Hastings · 1,014,604 words · 1012 reading sections
Section 301
CLAUDIUS LYSIAS CLE^IENT 215 as roads, aqueducts, harbours, were accomplished. The Emperor, like most of his class, was a hard worker, 'or countenanced the hard work of his freedmen. The position of importance occupied by these men is in fact a leading characteristic of the reign, and was most obnoxious to the old a…
949 wordsSECTION 302Section 302
]\len are always tending to revert to forms, and there was yet another movement in later NT times, which felt after this old distinction. It adopted that of matter and spirit, in which spirit is clean, matter unclean. It had ordinances like ' Touch not, taste not, handle not' (Col 2-'), it tried to refine in all manner…
970 wordsSECTION 303Section 303
2. Date and authorship. — ( 1 ) Date. — The terminvs a quo for the dating of the Ejjistle is fixed by its reference to the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul (v. 4, 6), and its use of the Epistle to the Helirews (xxxvi. xliii. ). Even if we accept the earliest possible dates for the death of the apostles and for the E…
1,016 wordsSECTION 304Section 304
^TTl TOVTOV OVV TOV K\'r]fl€VTOS . . . eTTeffTeLXeV 7] eV ' PulfJ-Tj eKKXrjaia iKavwraTTju ypacpiiv toU Kopivdiois (adv. Hcer. III. iii. 3). Yet it must be admitted that there is nothing in the language of any of these three writers to exclude the possibility of believing that tliey regarded Clement as the author of t…
967 wordsSECTION 305Section 305
We must approach Him in holiness of soul, for we are His 'elect,' His 'special portion '(xxix.); as such we must put away all lust, strife, contention, and pride. 'Boldness and arrogance and daring are for them that are accursed of God ; but forbear- ance and humility and gentleness are with them that are blessed of Go…
942 wordsSECTION 306Section 306
Let us intercede for one another. Let us be ready to give and to receive admonition. In God's hands, chastisement is an instrument of mercy (Ivi.). You especially, who first stirred up the strife, be first to repent—' submit j'ourselves unto the presbyters, and receive chastisement unto repentance.' The Scriptures cont…
924 wordsSECTION 307Section 307
(2) Christology. — A clear allusion to the pre- existence of Christ is contained in the statement that He speaks through the Holy Spirit in the OT Scriptures (xxii. 1). A similar reference is prob- ably to be found in the words ' Jesus Christ was sent forth from God ' (xlii. 1). He is never actually called God,* but Hi…
991 wordsSECTION 308Section 308
But the most striking feature in his statements concerning the ministry is that he uses eiriaKoiros and wpea^vrepos as interchangeable terms, denoting ditierent aspects of the same office. Twice he speaks of ' bishops and deacons ' as a summary description of the Christian ministry, where it is inconceivable that the '…
951 wordsSECTION 309Section 309
Positively, the Epistle provides clear evidence that by the end of the 1st cent, many of the apos- tolic writings were known and studied in the Church of Rome. For it contains an express reference to St. Paul's Eirst Epistle to the Corinthians (xlvii. 1 ff.), indubitable traces of the influence of Romans (xxxiii.-xxxvi…
992 wordsSECTION 310Section 310
(c) Coptic. — More recently still a Coptic version of Clement has been discovered in a papyrus book ascribed to the end of the 4th century. The text was published by Carl Schmidt in 1908 {TU xxxii. 1). The most interesting feature of this version is its omission of the name of Clement from the title, which runs ' Epist…
902 wordsSECTION 311Section 311
* This spelling, instead of the modern 'cloak,' is retained by the RV. t This art. includes such terms as * dress,' ' garment,' ' robe,' ' vesture ' (the last not in RV). * nakedness,' occur mostly in connexion with per- secutions, which were also marked by the wearing of sheepskins and goatskins (He IP'') — this, ho…
975 wordsSECTION 312Section 312
9. Washing of clothes.— (oi5/c) i/Md\wav (Rev 3*), SirXwav (7" ; cf. 22"), iXeiJKavav (7"), although used allegorically, are indicative of processes connected with the fulling and washing of clothes. The kindred process of dyeing underlies the imagery of 19'^ (if ^e^afifxivov be read). See also 'purple and scarlet ' ab…
1,052 wordsSECTION 313Section 313
St. Paul's ship of Alexandria sailed from Myra ' slowly ' and ' with difficulty,' probably on account of adverse winds rather than of calms, taking COALS COLLECTIOX 223 ' many days' to come ' over against Cnidus.' The distance between the two ports was 130 miles, which with a fair wind could have been run in one da…
1,012 wordsSECTION 314Section 314
The next instance of a systematic collection of money for the purpose of relieving distress in Judcea and Jerusalem is found in the history of the Church of Antioch (Ac U-'^^-)- A threatened famine roused the sympathy of the Antiochene Christians, whose activity in the matter reveals their knowledge that the conditions…
915 wordsSECTION 315Section 315
It is not too much to say that the Apostle did not regard his work in these four great provinces as completed until the fruit of his prolonged labours had been reaped (cf. acppayiad/j-evos, Ro 15-^). So ^ongastliis zealously undertaken (^o-Troi'/Sao-a, Gal 2"*) task remained unfinished he felt himself hindered from ext…
1,199 wordsSECTION 316Section 316
What measure of success attended the Apostle's prolonged and anxious efforts it is difficult to esti- mate. If we are to judge by his silence and the solemn warning in his Epistle to the Galatians (6^), the scheme would appear to have been only a partial success or even to have fallen through. Again, if we are allowed …
933 wordsSECTION 317Section 317
226 COLOSS.E COLOSSI from the city of Rome itself to some outlying part of Italy or (later) to some other land. These men remained Roman citizens after transference, and were collectively, in fact, a portion of Rome itself planted amidst a community not itself possessed of Roman citizenship. The object of the earlie…
1,029 wordsSECTION 318Section 318
The Church of Colossse was not directly founded by St. Paul. There is no indication that he ever preached in- any of the cities of the Lycus valley. In his second journey he was debarred from speak- ing in Asia (Ac 16'^), the province to which Colossse politicallj' belonged, and in his third tour ' he went through the …
992 wordsSECTION 319Section 319
who played an honoured part in the life of the early Church. Colosste lay in Phrygian territory, and its popu- lation was doubtless largely Phrygian, witli a ven- eer of Greek civilization. Philemon's wife, Apphia (Philem-), bore a Phrygian name. The Jewish trader had doubtless reached Colossse, but there is no sign o…
1,253 wordsSECTION 320Section 320
Ch. 2 is devoted to warnings against the false teaching which had been reported by Epaphras. It opens with a renewal of the prayer of 19. St. Paul again reiterates that in Christ alone, and not in any human plausibility, can the hidden treasures of knowledge and wisdom be found (21-6). He warns his readers against esot…
1,014 wordsSECTION 321Section 321
5. The Colossian heresy. — The teaching attacked by St. Paul is described in 2^- ^^-^, ver.ses which in addition to their brevity present many problems COLOSSIAis^S, EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAiq"S, EPISTLE TO THE 229 both of translation and of text. Theories as to its character liave been varied and numerous. The princ…
986 wordsSECTION 322Section 322
More plausible is the attempt to find in Col. an attack on the 1st cent. Gnosticism of Cerinthus (so, e.g., R. Scott). Here we find both the emphasis on Judaism, though the Jewish angels have taken the position later occupied by the Gnostic teons, and the reduced Christology in which the Christ is supposed to have desc…
1,016 wordsSECTION 323Section 323
(1) The universe is animated by elemental spirits (2®). This conception appears also in Gal 4*- ", and is in line with that of Ps 104*, a passage which has been taken over in He 1^, though with a change of thought characteristic of later Judaism. Both the Book of Jubilees and Enoch speak of the spirits of such things a…
949 wordsSECTION 324Section 324
This suggestion might also help to account for the change in style from the earlier Epistles. The movement of thought is less abrupt, and the sentences are often longer and more involved. Particles, even those of which St. Paul is most fond, such as dpa, did, di&ri, are replaced to a great extent by participial constru…
1,049 wordsSECTION 325Section 325
5. Scarlet (kokkivos) was obtained from the female of the kermes insect (Arab, kirmiz, whence the synonymous 'crimson'), which, when impreg- nated, attaches itself to the holm-oak, and was long supposed to be a red berry or seed — a mistake found in Pliny {UN xvi. 8). The insect (Coccus ilicis) is of the same family as…
899 wordsSECTION 326Section 326
1 Th 215), a^jj^ t\\sit they who shared His sutterings would share His glory (2 Co 4i», Ph 3i») ; in the recognition that in their case it was nobility of spirit which provoked the world's persecution (1 P 4i2f-, 2 Ti 312, Ac 5^« ; cf. Jn IS'-^'-) ; that afflictions were the signs of God's sonship (He 12^-^) ; and that…
933 wordsSECTION 327Section 327
1. Commandments of the Mosaic Law. — We have in the first place those commandments of the Mosaic Law, or of the OT, which are regarded as of Divine authority not only by the Jewish-Chris- tian apostles, but also by St. Paul ; cf. Ja 28-", Ro 78-^^ 13», Gal 5'^ Eph 6^. Of the laws of Moses, the Decalogue, as we might ex…
1,045 wordsSECTION 328Section 328
2 Clem. iii. 4, iv. 5 tt., xvii. 3. 6 ; Ign. Eph. ix. 2; cf. ]\lagn. xiii. 1 (Soy/xara tov Kvpiov kuI tQv airoaTb- \u3v) ; Did. xi. 3 {56yiJ.a tov evayye'Mov). 3. Commandments of the apostles. — From the commandments of Jesus appealed to by the apostles it is an easy transition to those of the apostles themselves (cf,…
912 wordsSECTION 329Section 329
{b) irapio-TTjiJii is translated ' commend ' in 1 Co 8^ ('Meat conimendetli us not to God') in the sense of presenting to God ; ' non exhibebit nos Deo '(Meyer); 'will not bring us into God's pre- sence' (Weymouth). (c) ' Commend ' is used to translate <rvv(<rTTjfjii (1) in Ro 3^ in the sense of demonstration, settin…
944 wordsSECTION 330Section 330
W. Robertson Smith started the theory that the origin of all sacrifice lies in the idea of a sacra- mental communion between the members of a tribe and the tribal deity, which is realized by the common eating of the flesh of the sacrifice and the drinking of its blood. The theory as a complete explanation is inadequate…
939 wordsSECTION 331Section 331
COMMUNITY OF GOODS.— There are two pass- ages in the Acts of the Apostles which seem to suggest that there was established in the Church in Jerusalem a system of community of goods. 'And all that believed were together and had all things common ; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, accord…
911 wordsSECTION 332Section 332
fellow-man. There can be no doubt that a great Father like St. Gregory the Great rightly interprets the spirit of the NT when he says that when we give what they need to those who are in want, we give them that which is their own ; we are not giving away what is ours, we are rather discharg- ing an obligation of justic…
1,022 wordsSECTION 333Section 333
The Epistles bear the same witness : ' No one can say that Jesus is the Lord, save in the Holy Ghost ' (1 Co 123). « If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved' (Ro 10'). St. Paul here im- plies that the Lord Jesus is o…
922 wordsSECTION 334Section 334
' A form of sound words ' was indeed needed by Timothy as a teacher, and he is exhorted to teach as he had been taught (2 Ti l^^), ' in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.' 'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel ' (2*). We can safely say that that gosjjel included…
920 wordsSECTION 335Section 335
(1) Confession to God. — The repentance demanded from all candidates for Christian baptism (Ac 2^^) must have included confession of sins as a necessary element, in private if not in public. The teaching of 1 Jn 1^ expressly makes it a condition of forgive- ness. St. Paul's teaching on repentance leaves no doubt that h…
996 wordsSECTION 336Section 336
The words, however, that most concern us here are ireiroLdivai, 'to be confident,' and ■weiroWriffis, 'confidence,' the latter being in the NT an ex- clusively Pauline word and found only once in the LXX (2 K 18'»). They both belong to the language of deep personal feeling, and it is not surprising that they appear mor…
1,051 wordsSECTION 337Section 337
240 COl^SCIEKCE CONSCIENCE scientia, ffvveldrja-i^, shows that it is entirely fanciful to suppose on etymological grounds that the prefixes con and a-w point to the subject's joint knowledge along with God Himself. The joint knowledge de- noted is knowledge with oneself, a self-knowledge or self-consciousness in whi…
928 wordsSECTION 338Section 338
(2) The authority of conscience. — However men differ in their theories as to the nature and origin of the moral faculty, there is general agreement as to the authority of the moral law which it en- joins. Few will be found to challenge Butler's famous assertion of the supremacy of conscience : ' Had it strength as it …
1,230 wordsSECTION 339Section 339
VOL. I. — 16 questions, their moral feelings were misdirected, and so their consciences were stained and wounded by acts iu which a man of more enlightened con- science saw no harm. Similarly, when a conscience is said to be ' good ' or ' pure ' or ' void of offence,' the reference is to the sense of peace and moral h…
1,114 wordsSECTION 340Section 340
(c) But something more is required before the education of conscience is complete. Knowledge is much, and the will to obedience is more, but what if the power of love be wanting? In that case the conscience will not be void of ofl'ence to- ward God and men. According to the NT writers the conscience must be set free by…
1,024 wordsSECTION 341Section 341
COXSOLATIOX CONSPIRACY, PLOT 243 of the ' veil ' or ' curtain ' wliich Avas removed as the sacrificial blood was carried into the Holy of Holies. eyKaivi^u ' includes the motive of leading into life ' I'von Soden, Hcbrderbrief^, p. 64). Probably the literal idea of ei'o-oSos { = ' entrance to a house') is also symbo…
903 wordsSECTION 342Section 342
glO. 15 ■-55-56. 5U-60j (b) In Gal 2^ St. Paul speaks of an important conspiracj', but the grammatical constructions in the immediate context are very uncertain, and these difficulties are increased by the variant read- ing in 2^, where some e.xcellent scholars, including Zahn, J. Weiss, and K. Lake, omit the words of…
968 wordsSECTION 343Section 343
1. The Stoic idea. — Contentment, reaching even to the point of self-denial, was a distinctive feature in the Stoic system of ethics, which prevailed so widely among the educated classes of the Roman Empire in the first Christian centuries. There were many points both of resemblance and of difference between its teachi…
1,271 wordsSECTION 344Section 344
3. Difference between OT and NT doctrine. — The reason of the whole difierence between the Christian bearing in the problems of life and that of the Stoic and natural moralist lies in the Chris- tian conception of God, more especially in God's providential reign over and care for the world and the individual. Faith in …
931 wordsSECTION 345Section 345
Literature. — Sermons on Ph 4" will be found in L Barrow, Works, iii. [1831] 1-106 ; R. Sanderson, Works, i. [1854] 112- 172 ; R. Sibbes, Works, v. [1863] 177-193 ; CommeTitaries on Philippians, esp. C. J. Ellicott (31865), M. R. Vincent (ICC, 1897), H. A. A. Kennedy (EGT, 1903) ; see also J. Guthrie, Divine Dvicontent…
915 wordsSECTION 346Section 346
We find dva<rTpi<f)e(T6ai used in this ethical sense not only in the NT Avritings, but in the Apostolic Fathers (Ign. Magn. ix. 1 ; Hermas, Mand. xi. 12 ; 1 Clem. xxi. 8 ; Ep. of Barn. xix. 6, and also in the Didache iii. 9 repeating Ep. of Barn. xix. 6, ixera diKaldip . . . dvaaTpa(prjari). Deissmann, Bible Studies, E…
1,093 wordsSECTION 347Section 347
References in the Apostolic Fathers to the con- version of unbelievers are surprisingly few. These writers are rather concerned to hold a high ethical standard before their readers. Clement of Rome speaks of those who have been called through His will in Christ Jesus as being justified through faith (xxxii. ), and cons…
925 wordsSECTION 348Section 348
248 CO:N'VERaiON CORINTH but a turning or giving oneself to a person whose support is expected with confidence and whose will is accepted as a command to be obeyed. And since these commands cannot be obeyed without ceasing to do what is inconsistent with them, belief really includes what we have called both the nega…
993 wordsSECTION 349Section 349
LrrERATURB. — See references in art. 'Conversion' in ERE. The conversions in the Acts are discussed in the various Lives of St. Paul (see Paul) ; see also Commentaries on the Epistles for discussions on the passages referred to in the article. W. James, Varieties of Religious Experience, London, 1902 ; E. D. Starbuck, …
1,042 wordsSECTION 350Section 350
Into this centre of commerce, shrine of art, and vortex of iniquity St. Paul came probably in the autumn of A.D. 50. He came alone, depressed by the apparent failure of his preaching to the intel- lectuals of Athens, entering his new sphere of labour, as he confesses, with a sense of ' weakness and fear and much trembl…
924 wordsSECTION 351Section 351
St. Paul's Corintiuan experiences seem to have directed his attention to the central importance of the Church in Rome and to the attitude of the Im- perial government to Christian missions. (1) His host and hostess, having lately coine from Italy, were able to give him vivid first-hand intelligence regarding the world-…
982 wordsSECTION 352Section 352
2. St. Paul's relations with Corinth before writing 1 Corinthians. — St. Paul's first visit to Corinth is described in Ac 18^"'®, Avhere we have an account of the foundation of the Corinthian Church. After leaving Corinth, he continued to be in com- munication with the Church there, and we can reconstruct some part of …
909 wordsSECTION 353Section 353
W.17-21 It is best for people, both in marriage questions and in other matters,'* to remain externally in the condition in which they were when they be- came Christians. w.25-35 'Virgins may marry without sin, though they do better to remain unmarried. w. 36-33 Spiritual marriage is a good custom, t w. 39-10 Second …
1,039 wordsSECTION 354Section 354
(b) St. Paul's second visit if \inrr). — On the receipt of bad news from Corinth, whether from Timothy or from some other source, St. Paul sailed thither in person, but his visit was unsuccessful, and he soon went back again to Asia Minor. The evidence for this visit is to be found in three passages of 2 Cor., viz. 13^…
931 wordsSECTION 355Section 355
COKLNTHIANS, EPISTLES TO THE CORDTTHIAi^S, EPISTLES TO THE 253 may not have to be severe when he comes. Again in 1^3 we have a parallel -with 13*. (3) The visit of Titus to Corinth mentioned in 7' was with, or at the same time as, the ' severe letter.' gi7-i8 shows that St. Paul was sending Titus again to make arrang…
919 wordsSECTION 356Section 356
w.15-22 His failure to carry out his previous intention of visiting them was not due to fickleness. 123-22 It was due to his desire to spare them. 23-1 Reason for writing the ' severe letter.' w.5-11 Exhortation to forgive the offender. vv.i'-i-l3 His anxiety previous to his meeting with Titoa. vv. 14-17 His thankfulne…
1,099 wordsSECTION 357Section 357
• Derzweite Korintherbrief des Apo^tels Paulus, Halle, 1904. t Paulm und seine Briefe, Strassburg, 1905. t Die Entstehung des zweiten K<yrintherbrie/es, Berlin, 1896. § Paraphrasis in Pauli ad Cor. Epistolas, Halle, 1770, 1776. we conclude that it is unnecessary to separate chs. 8 and 9, and that it is probable that t…
924 wordsSECTION 358Section 358
The meaning of this is uncertain, but it is probable (cf. art. bv J. H. A. Hart on 'Apollos' in JThSt vii. [1905] 1611.) that it means that he was fully acquainted with Messianic prophecy, but did not know to whom it referred, ' the things concerning Jesus ' being texts from the OT which from the Christian point of vie…
1,115 wordsSECTION 359Section 359
* This would appear from 2 Co III2, where St. Paul asserts that his object in refusing to accept maintenance was that in the very matter of which the.v boasted they mig'ht be found even as he. This seems to make it clear that they did not accept maintenance, and the phrase ei rts KarevOiei (1120) must be interpreted in…
1,073 wordsSECTION 360Section 360
As to the human life of Christ he has no doubt. ' He was crucified through weakness ' (2 Co 13^). His Cross and Passion are the centre of the gospel message. There is probably no Epistle in which it is made so clear that St. Paul regards the Cross as the centre of the Christian Creed, ' We preach Christ crucified ' (1 …
907 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.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.