PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church — Volume 2
James Hastings · 991,000 words · 974 reading sections
Section 181
2. The Passover as a note of time. — Twice in the Acts (12^ 211") we have ' the days of unleavened bread ' referred to as a note of time. No absolute certainty is attainable with reference to NT chrono- logy ; everything, therefore, that can shed light on it is to be welcomed. In 12^ we have the fact explicitly mention…
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Such a curious feature as the opening of the door is of uncertain date, but, though most likely later than the 1st cent. A.D., is yet of considerable age. The expansions are mostly seen in the Haggiidic matter — the long narrative sections which are so conspicuous a feature of the observance. The com- positions, * How …
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St. Paul, however, who divined most accurately the true genius of Christianity as a religion with universal aims, evidently disapproved of the con- tinuance of Judaism as a system crippling the spiritual energies of the Church, the new liberty in Clirist. He explicitly deprecated the observance of Jewish feasts (Gal 4'…
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the Lord's .Supper of the Christian Church? Our limitations forbid any Irealment in detail of whtit is still a very vexed question, ll must be ad- mitted that the materials are scanty and not free from ob.scurity. The diflercnce, e.g., between the Synoptists and the Fourth Gospel as to the actual time when the Lord hel…
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This correspondence is made abundantly clear by the fact that the name for the festival of the resurrection of our Lord is i:: most countries simply the name 'Pascha' reproduced in various forms. Thus hat. festa paschal ia, which has passed into Fr. as Piiqucs (a plur. form), Ital. Pasqua, etc. (see OED, s.v. 'P.asch')…
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LrTERATURR. — See Commentaries on Eph 4^, esp. J. A. Robinson (1803) and B. F. Westcott (1»06); A. Harnack, The Mission and Expansitm of Christianity", Eng. tr., lyOS, i. 330-346. A. PLUJIMER. PASTORAL EPISTLES. Titus, Epistles to. -See Timothy and PATARA (IlaTapa, neut. pi.). — Patara waa a maritime city in the S.…
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2. /xaKpoBvfila also is a word rare in profane Greek. It appears in the apostolic wTitings as a synonym of Oirop^ov^ (Col 1", He 6'= 10'^ Ja 5'», 2 Ti 3'"). On the other hand, it has the special meaning of longsutfering {g.v.) and stands opposed to dpyri, $vix6s, and is synonymous with Trpadri]! (cf. Gal 522, Eph 42, C…
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More important are the internal indications that the book was written amid the sights and sounds of the infinite sea. It has the word doKaaaa 25 times, and it is full of the clashing of waves. No fitter scene could be found for the composition of the Apocalypse than the traditional one, and, if there were any reason to…
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1. Ti'TTos (from Ti/TTTfii', ' to strllce') denotes prim- arily a mark or impression left by a blow (cf. Jn 20-^ 'the print [ruwof] of the nails'). In classical Greek it is used of the impress of a seal or the stamp struck by a die, and so comes to mean the figure or copy of something else. But as the im- pression on t…
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It is not so much a religious or a theological as a literary instinct that makes the present writer distrust the critical method of handling this book. He does not believe that books worth jui'serving were ever made in tliis way. Nor does he believe that they were so easily altered. There is a rever- ence which a comp…
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The narrative, from the point of St. Paul's arrest onwards, abandons its conciseness and gives an extraordinary amount of space to the incidents of his appearance before different tribunals. Bacon notes this in a tone of disapproval ; but he falls too easily a victim to the temjjtation besetting critics who ascribe the…
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It is frequently repeated that the Epistles of St. Paul were just ordinary letters, Deissmann going furthest of late in this direction. But this is not the case. Ordinary letters are addressed to in- dividuals, and much of their charm consists in the intimacies which they disclose. But the majority of St. Paul's Epistl…
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[b] 1 and 2 Thessalonians. — At the time when Galatians was, on account of similarity in temper and ideas, kept beside Romans, 1 and 2 Thess. used to be treated as the first-fruits of the Apostle's epistolary activity ; and these two Epistles seemed to fit this position very well, being marked by extra- ordinary freshn…
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posed ; we see the gifts of the Spirit in full opera- tion ; we are made aware of the Haws and incon- sistencies which, had we not heen informed on such {jood authority, could hardly l>e believed to liave disfigured the period of the Church's first love ; the rival parties and their wrangles, the backsliders and the so…
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(e) Epistles of the Imprisonment. — The Epistles written up to this point belong to the years during which the Apostle was engaged in his missionary travels. There follow four to which has been given the common title of the Epistles of the Imprison- ment, because they were written during the years, subsequent to his ar…
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hiindj" man such ns the ])risoner was at the time in need ol ; but he consid(Meil it his duly to send liiui back to his owner ; and the Epistle to I'hilemon is the letter of introduction and excu.se sent with him. In spite of its brevity, it is a perfect gem of tact and courtesy ; and it is fitted to awaken many reflex…
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discussion, by Zahn, tlie Nestor of NT criticism, takes the o])posite view (Introdurtion to the ST, 'A vols., 1909, ii. 1-133), wliicli is tlie prevalent one in England and America, tliouKli some recent scholars, like Mollatt {L.\T, p. 39.'>tr.), Hacon {op. cit., p. 375), and Garvie {Stuilies of Paul and his Gospel, p.…
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In youth St. Paul learned the trade of tent- making, this being, it would appear, the character- istic industry of Cilicia, where a coarse haircloth was manufactured on a large scale, to be used for tents and other purposes. This circumstance might be supposed to indicate that he belonged to the lower class of the popu…
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It may be presumed that, in the course of the persecution, he became well acquainted with the state of mind of those whom he was siibjecting to every kind of examination. Did it ever occur to VOL. 11. — 10 him to think what would be the result if he ever came to have as clear proof as thuy believed they had that He f…
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Meantime the great truth, already learnt by St. Paul, was being revealed to others. Its official revelation to the Church was made through St. Peter, in the aiJair of Cornelius ; and it is easy to perceive how appropriate it was that St. Peter, and not St. Paul, should have been the organ of revelation in this case. Ot…
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PAUL PAUL 147 a later time ; but tliose who have had exiierienee in such matters will see it in a diilerent light. St. Paul wa.s not only a preacher and a thinker, but an orcanizer. It is true of him, as it is of Jesus Himself, that his etlorts would soon have been swallowed u|i by the sands of the desert had there …
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(f) Second musionary joiirncij. — The immediate impulse to the second missionary journey is repre- sented as having come from St. Paul, who said to his companion, Barnabas, 'Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city wherein we pro- claimed the word of the Lord, and see how they fare' (Ac 15^'*). But he los…
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While, however, the visit to Athens enchained the interest of St. Luke, and enchains ours still, it was far from giving unqualified satisfaction to St. Paul himself. His apostolate was never so nearly a failure as in this city of wisdom and renown ; and, when he quitted it and went on to the next stage, Corinth, he was…
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(A) Imprisonmtnt. ■ — At the feast there were multitudes of his fellow-countrymen who had come into collision with him in the cities of the Dispersion, where they dwelt, but had been pre- vented by the Roman authority under which they lived from ]iroceeding to extremes. When these became aware of his presence in the Ho…
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interested in it at that time as to desire to return, if ever he should liave tlie ojjportunity. We lind him, also, back at Ephesus, tlio\ij;h he had said to the Eiihesian elders that they should see his face no more, this being his conviction at the time. It is often said that St. Luke would not have ad- mitted this s…
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(«) Earlier Paulinism. — Among the influences from the pre-Christian stage of St. Paul's life which bore upon the shaping of his theology by far the most important was his experience as a Jew, and to this it would, in the present writer's opinion, be hardly possible to ascribe too much. He was profoundly conscious of b…
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However revolutionary the conversion of anyone may be, it has always antecedents ; and the basal element in St. Paul's religious experience was the awakened conscience lie inherited from his Jewish ancestry- He grew up with the conviction so in- grained in his mind as to be a portion of his very being that the only rea…
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The grace of God came to him in the vision of Christ ; and God and Christ are always associated in his writings as the joint source of salvation, as when in 1 Th 1' he says : 'Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ : Grace to you and peace.' The…
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A similar attempt has been made to give to the sacraments a preponderant place in his thinking and to connect these with similar rites practised in pagan days by those who subsequently came over to Christianity. But such a notion has still less to justify it. St. Paul said (1 Co 1") : ' Christ sent me not to baptize, b…
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There is good reason for believing tliat St. Paul became sensible in later life that even his own doctrine of the righteousness of God was capable of being construed in a sense totally different from that intended by him, and with pernicious results. In the Epistle to the Galatians he had attacked the Law with ferocity…
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Not onlj', however, is Christ thus transcendent in the universe : He is also immanent in believers and in the Church. This is the teaching of all the Epistles from first to last, but it is most prominent in the later ones ; and this emphasis and reiteration fall in with tlie thought which has been shown to be character…
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While, however, it is this side of his greatness which first attracts the eye, closer intimacy reveals him as not less distinctively a man of heart. He could love, and he had the power of compelling love. So numerous were his companions and fellow-labourers, that the study of these is a subject whieli has more than onc…
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156 PAUL PAUL There may be more in these sufrpestious than conservative scholars are yet disposed to allow. The scene of St. Paul's activity was the synapogue ; and in the synagogues, wherever he went, he en- countered two elements — a Jewish and a Gentile. To us the former is easily intelligible : we are aware hoth…
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The weakness of the school which is attempting at present to interpret Christianity as if it had consisted originally of scraps picked up here, there, and everywhere, is that it conceives Christianity as an amalgam of ideas and fancies, fortuitously collected and ingeniously pieced together, instead of perceiving it to…
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with the older apostles he appears to have made an arrangement by which it was agreed that he should go to theuncircumcision, while they went to the circumcision (Gal 2'"") ; and this ackuowlcdg- nicnt by the Church doubtless deepened his sense of obligation, though it was only the recognition of an anterior conviction…
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We know too well that it is possible for a re- ligious teacher to give utterance to the noblest of sentiments and yet not rise in practice above the levels of selfishness ; but it is difficult to read the innumerable passages in which St. Paul entreats and encourages his converts to follow after holiness without believ…
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A few more notes may be added under each of the divisions of the whole subject adopted above. (1) Sources. — Here commentaries on the Acts and on the Epistles, severally or collectively, might be mentioned, but these will be found elsewhere in this Dictionary. A few works, however, on special points may be mentioned :…
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PAULUS.— See Sergius Paulus. PEACE.— The etymology of the Greek word (Ip-flvT) is variously given as from elpav ( = Lat. serere), ' to fasten together,' or from ei'pai' (cf. Lat. senno), ' to speak.' Besides the noun the following forms of the root occur in the writings of the Apostolic Age: etprjveveiv, 'to keeri tl…
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160 PEACE PENTECOST orjranic co-operation (Ro 14", 1 Co 7" 14'', Gal 5", Epli 4' [' the jinitj- of the Spirit in the bond of peace'], He 12'S Ja 3'», 1 P 3", 2 P 3'*). In regard to Eph 2'*"''' there is a difference of opinion among excgetes as to whether the reference of the Eeace embodied in Christ is to Jewish an…
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p. 82. Geerhardus Vos. PEARL {ixafryaplTTjs, Lat. margarita or ■um). — In ancient as in modern times women adorned themselves with pearls (1 Ti 2') ; the ' woman arrayed in scarlet and purple ' was decked with them (Rev W 18'") ; and they are included in the merchandise of the apocalyptic Babylon — Imperial Rome (18'…
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Be that as it may, in the Dispersion of Israel both the sheaf and the measure liave long since ceased to have any significance ; but the counting of the omer goes on still from Passover to Pente- cost to the very eve of the feast ('This is the forty-ninth day, making seven weeks of the Omer),' and secures the regular o…
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3. The reference in Ac 2. — Time notes are few and far between in Acts, so that all the more precious is this clear note of the day when so momentous and auspicious an event took i)lace. At any rate, there is complete agreement with the repeated testimony of Josephus as to the crowds of people who were at Jerusalem for…
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5. Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit.— Altogether too narrow and parochial a vie^' has often been taken as to the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. A literalism which proceeds on the assumption that we have exh.austive infor- mation as to these events, and that all things actually occurred as they are …
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7. Pentecost as a Christian festival. — There is no sign whatever in the NT tluit the Church observed this season as a festival, or, as in the case of Passover, superimpo.sed Christian associa- tions on an ancient Hebrew feast. Epiphanius (4th cent.) interprets Ac 20'" as showing that St. Paul observed the feast, and e…
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XaAs aiToO also designates Israel in Lk 1°' 7^', llo 11' 15'°, St. Paul having in mind in Ro 11' a phrase that appears in 1 S 12=», Ps 93'* 94< LXX. Israel's title, A XaAs toD Oeov, is extended in He 4' 11^ to the NT Church : 'it was a point with the Author to identify Christian Hebrews with "the pc()|j|e of God"' (A. …
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PERDITION. — The word dirtiXem is rendered botli 'destruction' and 'perdition' in the NT'(AV and RV). It is not always easy to say with positiveness whicli translation is preferable. Jesus came ' to seek and to save that which was lost ' (rb diro\uX6s, Lk 19'"), those who were still alive, not destroyed. Judas is calle…
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(6) and {c). 'The idea of ' completeness,' under- stood as implying the complete equipment of the individual believer and the harmonious co-opera- tion of the members of the community, is domi- nant in the passages enumerated above. For the 166 PERFECT, PERFECTION PERGA Thessalonians' ' faith to God-ward ' (1 Th 1»…
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■The high tone of the apostolic teaching is sustained by Clement of Rome, who says {Ep. ad Cor. 49 f.): 'In love were all the elect of God made perfect. . . . How great and marvellous a thing is love, and there is no declaring its perfec- tion. . . . They that by God's grace were perfected in love dwell in the abode of…
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It was proliably towards the end of the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96) that Pergamus was described as tlie place ' where Satan's throne is,' ' where Satan dwelleth ' (Rev 2'^). The words express a prophetic horror of some malignant enemy of Christ and His Church. Who is thus regarded OS sittinc in visible might and ma…
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under the protection, ^^^^^^^ o^^'l'^t^^^'Zch a^e the hostility, of the powers that be, which are °^Bt?ot?^it%etoftheKevelation_apassionate hater (2«) as well as lover-this doctrine is detest- able and against its time-serving exponents he dedar'ope'nwarCv.-). H-alls them^icola^tans i e Balaamites hiKO-Xaos being the …
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PEKSECUTION PERSECUTION 1C9 reserved for liimself. There he deals not wilh the State, or with his fellow-citizens, but with God. As we follow the stru;;j,'le for religious freedom, whether the struggle be with the secular authority or with a Church which has taken the place of the State, and exercises its functions,…
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170 PERSECUTION PERSECUTIOK poetic justice tliat the prophet wiia able to turn the tables on his lulversiines. It is not alwaj's easy to decide whether Elijah or Ahab is tlie persecutor, lor both believed in violence as the onlj' means to the end which thej' had in view. Hut we lind in the story of the life and work…
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3. Persecution of the Jews by the Seleucid kings. — It is universally admitted that the Exile introduced a new epoch in the history of the Jew. But it is easy to e.xaggerate the nature of the cleav- age. There are no absolute beginnings in the history of nations. The student has no difficulty in discovering ample evide…
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tie tliat would bind together the different parts of his heterogeneous Empire. It was a magnificent scheme, well conceived and vigorouslj' carried out, and the Emperor met with little or no opposition until he reached Judah. He did not persecute on religious grounds. Tlie Emperor bad no deep- rooted objection to the re…
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and useless. Towards the end of His life Je.sus Christ makes no etiort to conceal His contempt for Pharisaism. He condemns the Pharisee on religious, not on political, grounds. It was as obvious to the Pharisee as to Jesus that their respective teaching was mutually antagonistic. There was no hope for Pharisaic religio…
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5. Persecution of the Christians by the Jews. — We have already referred to the fact tliat Jesus Christ prepared His disciples for persecution. He seemed to have a clear premonition as to the issue of His own life. He was equally certain that fidelity to His teaching would evoke the deep .and implacable hostility of Ju…
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Measiali ' that evoked their antagonism. As the movement seemed to spread at an alarming rate, the Sadducees feared a poimlar rising. They were satislied with things as they were, and they were exceedingly anxious not to give any oU'ence to Home. They opposed the apostolic preaching, as they liad opposed the claim of .…
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PEKSECUTION PEKSECUTIUN 175 He had a profound reverence for the Torah. It was complete and linal. The orlhoiUjx Jew believed that the wovhl would be saved by beinj; Judaized, as the Christian preacher believed it would be saved bj' being evaiij;elized. J udaisni was not one religion among many — it was tlic religion…
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Rome permitted the worship of national gods and the continuance of national cult.s. But there was no religious liberty in this apparent tolerance. The gods worshipped and the cults practised in ditl'erent parts of the Empire had to receive the Imperial sanc- tion. Cicero t remarks that the worship of gods which had not…
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stitions which prevailed in dillerent parts of tho Empire, the genuine Roman was steeped in superstition. Paul might justly have said of tho Empire what he said of Athens — ' I perceive that ve are somewhat religious ' (Ac 17--). The whole lioman world was ' unusually addicted to the wor- shi]) of divinities.'* It was …
1,130 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.