PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church — Volume 2
James Hastings · 991,000 words · 974 reading sections
Section 241
Whilst Christianity gradually roused the sus- picion of the Emperors and their representatives, it evoked the contempt and the hatred of the people at large. The educated classes looked with contempt upon what Tacitus described as a ' pesti- lent superstition,' and this was the attitude of Rome even to many national cu…
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It was only in the slow course of time that the intrinsic incompatibility of the principles of Christianity and of the ideals of the Empire became obvious, (a) Christian theology came into collision with the confused polytheism of the Empire ; (i) Christianity as a personal religion conflicted with the collective or na…
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By the time of Domitian (81-96) it was becoming evident that the Christian religion was fraught with danger to the unity and solidarity of the Empire. We have already remarked on the inevit- able tendency of the gospel to produce dissension even within the .small circle of the family. Chris- tianity seemed to make for …
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180 PERSECUTIOX PERSECUTION gence and the wealth of the Empire. The attitude of the Emperors had changed. Manj' of them — e.g. Elar;abahis (A.D. 21S--2."2), Alexander Severus (A.D. 2-22--2:ij), and Philip tlie Araliian (A.D. 244- 249) — were foreif;ner.s who hud worked tlioir way to the head of the army, and tlieref…
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It is evident that the organizers of this attempt to stamp out Christianity expected a difierent issue to their campaign of persecution. They were not aware of the strength of conviction which the faith of the Christians had developed. The edict hints at the Roman belief in ancestral religions. The Imperial objection t…
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182 PERSECUTION PERSECUTION of Home persecuted solely on leliKions grounds — whether in the interest of tlie heretic, or to stamp ont heresy. The doctrine embodied in the words 'extra ecclesiani nulla salus' does not fully account for the attitude of Rome. It must he remembered that the 'Holy Roman Empire' inherited…
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After Henry VIll. established himself as head of the Church there followed a prolonged and fierce struggle between Anglicanism and Roman Catholi- cism for supremacy. During the reign of Edward VI. Protestantism was the State religion and Roman- ism was suppressed, whilst during Mary's reign Roman Catholicism enjoyed a …
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surrender of his umlerstanding to the Church, of his conscience to the priest, of his will to the prince. . . . The policy of Calvin was a vigorous ellbrt to sup|ily what tlie revolutionary movement wanted — a positive education of the individual soul. The power thus generated was too expansive to be conlined to tJenev…
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Presbyterianism in England and Scotland was equally intolerant. The leaders of Presbyterian- ism were disciples of Calvin, and they had his pro- found belief in the authority of the Word of God. They carefully formulated their creed ; they elaborated their conception of the nature of the Church ; they had very clear an…
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We see the germ of the doctrine in some of the Fathers, many of whom denounced coercion in matters of faith and pointed out that force is inimical to conviction, which is the very life of religion. Tertullian writes : ' However, it is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship accor…
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T. Lewis. PERSEVERANCE.— The apostolic doctrine of perseverance is (a) conceived in a purely practical experiential sense, and (b) comprises three parts: a religious persuasion, a moral endeavour, and the entire dependence of the latter on the former. The former consideration distinguislies it at once from subsequent…
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• Cf. Council of Trent, sess. vi. ch. xiii. can. 16, 22 (cf. P. Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, New York, 1877, ii. 103, 113 f., 116) ; CE, artt. ' Grace,' ' Perseverance ' ; J. H. Newman, 'Perseverance in Grace' (Discourses to Mixed Congregations'', London, 1891, p. 124). t In the forms of * Sublapsarianism ' and …
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1 Th 2'-', .la 1", 1 P l'^) : by the Divine poicer, appearing in Christ (Ac 3'- '«, Ro IG-^, 1 Co 2» 3», 2 Co 4'), producing in believers in llim the selfsame richness of character as is in Him (Eph l"'-"" S-", Col !"• s», 2 Co 5"-=' 9*, 2 P P) ; and by the Divine love (Ro S-*-^- '^), which is invincible. God's promis…
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(4) The fellowship of faith is a fourth conviction of perseverance. ' By this shall all men know,' said Christ, ' that ye are my disciples, that ye love one another ' (Jn 13^^). That vindication of their standing in grace is never absent from the apostolic a.ssurance. ' Love the brotherhood,' enjoins St. Peter (1 P 2")…
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• One indispensable test of Christian perfection which some modern theories, e.g. Wesley's, ignore. PERSEVERANCE rEKSEVERANCE 189 truth '(1 PI--), they 'abide in the light' (1 Jn 1«- ') and in the love {4'"). Tliese terms of themselves point to further features of the ideal law : it is not only righteous ; it is p…
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1 Th 3», 1 P 5'=). St. John's word is ' abide in ' (IJn 2'-^ 3" 4'"ii', 2 Jn=) ; in Hebr(!ws there are various words {2i 3"- '=■ " 4" 6" 10" -'■ »=) ; St. James' word is ' unstable,' ' wavering' (1*- '• ') ; in Revela- tion it is ' hold fast '(2^ 3" ; cf. He 4''' 10=^). This holding fast involves a two-fold strenuous-…
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(2) The religious persuasion of ' being in persever- ance' is the firm assurance that we 'have tasted of the heavenly gift and the powers of the world to come' (He6''-^). The assurance of eternity in us and for all future life is not an easy assurance when we seek to present the intellectual grounds of it. It is compar…
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PERSON OF CHRIST.— See Christ, Cheist- OLOGY. PETER 1. Names.— Peter is known by four ditt'erent names in the NT. By far the most common designation is simply ' Peter ' (20 times in Mt., IS times in Mk., 15 times in Lk., 16 times in Jn., 52 times in Ac, twice in Gal. [2"-], and once in 1 Peter [1']). 'Simon,' standi…
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2. Peter in the NT writings.— The earliest litera- ture preserved from apostolic times, the letters of St. Paul, contains explicit and important informa- tion about Peter. These documents do not, to be sure, purport to give any detailed account of his career, and the data which they do preserve are usually incidental t…
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Of the remaining Christian literature produced in apostolic times, the Gospels and Acts are the most important for our present purpose. In the first part of Acts, Peter is the leader of the apostolic company, and in the Gospels he occupies a position of prominence, commensurate with the dominant part he subsequently pl…
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It is in the early chapters of Acts that Peter's portrait is drawn most distinctly. He heads the list of the Eleven, and takes the initiative in the election of a .successor to Judas (1'^- '^). He is also the chief speaker on the Day of Pentecost (2'^'''-), the immediate agent in healing the lame beggar at the Temple g…
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This new way of thinking gave Peter a new con- ception of his mission. Now he, and the other disciples, must make haste in gathering members for the new Kingdom. Actuated by the genuinely altruistic motive of mediating this new knowledge to their Jewish kinsmen, and desiring to fulfil as quickly as possible the conditi…
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* See S. J. Case, Evolution of Early Christianity, Chicago, 1914, p. 127 ff. PETER PETER 195 ' In nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty worUs' (2 Co 12'"'). Thus the power to work 'm…
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But neither St. Paul nor Acts gives the particulars of the process which issued in this result. For an answer to this problem we must rely upon inference, supplemented by later tradition. Eusebius (HE II. i. 3) states, on the authority of Clement of Alexandria, that Peter, James (the brother of John), and John, not cov…
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The foregoing discussion suggests another of the main difficulties in the present study, viz. the exact nature of the relationship between Peter and St. Paul. The so-called Tiibingen School has placed great stress upon the supposed cleft between these two apostles, the former representing Jewish and the latter Gentile …
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So far as the Judaizing movement is concerned, the situation reflected in Romans is in the main similar to that in Galatians ; but in the Corinthian correspondence the opposition to St. Paul seems to have developed new features. This is not the place to discuss at length the perplexing problem of the Corinthian parties…
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• E.fi. J. Weiss, Der erste Korintherbrief, Gottingen, 1910, p. 15 1.; K. Lake, op. cil. p. 1271.; not to mention earlier authorities. his superiority in other respects might not cau.se him to be ' exalteil over-much.' But in the ulti- mate and crucial test of the new religion's power — ability to perform signs and wo…
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The Acts fall into two groups, commonly distin- guished as ' Gnostic ' t and ' Catholic' Neither of these groups as they now stand constitutes a per- fect unit, yet each has its own distinctive traits. The Gnostic Acts is unique in removing St. Paul from Rome before Peter arrives. St. Paul is directed in a vision to le…
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• See F. J. A. Hort, Notes Introductory to the Study 0/ the Clementine Recognitions, London, 1901. t For a typical statement see Janvier, Uistoire de Saint Pierre prince des apOtres et premier pape. Tours, 1902. J. Schiiitzer, Hat Jesus das Papsttum gestiftet ?3, Augsburg, 1910, is more critical. Cf. also V. Styger, *…
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To note, finally, traditions regarding Peter's literary activity, apart from the two canonical works to be considered in another connexion, there are extant fragments of a Gospel of Peter, an Apoca- lypse of Peter, a Preaching of Peter, and an Epistle of Peter to James prefixed to the Clementine Homi- lies. Jerome (de …
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(2) But as such they must also live fittingly in relation to their heathen environment. They are :o shun all wickedness, and thereby give the lie to the popular charge that they are evil-doers. They are, however, to avoid giving any oli'euce to the authorities. If they are servants in a heathen household, they are to d…
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3. Historical situation. — What, more exactly, were the conditions under which the readers were living? They are addressed Jis ' .sojourners of the Dispersion ' {irapeTn5r)i.iois Siaairopas). This expres- sion has sometimes been taken to mean that they were converts from the Jewish Diaspora.* But more probably the lang…
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* B. Weiss in various writings, and more recently in Der erste Petrusbrief und die neuere Kritik, has advocated a date early in the fifties, and he is followed by Kiihl, op cit. pp. 49-60. But this opinion has not found any tjeneral acceptance. A similar neglect has attended the hypothesis of a post-Trajanic d.ate, as …
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brought the Christians to his attention. The}' were held largel}' responsihle for the general de- cline, because they had interfered with traililional religion and with that part of civic life which de- pcncled upon religion for prosperity. Even in the villag'es and country districts the temples had been for.saken anil…
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Those who adopt a Neronian date — a view which has been widely accepted t — have even greater difficulties in obtaining substantial evidence for a persecution of the desired type in northern Asia Minor in the sixties. There is, ho^vever, very e.x- plicit evidence for a severe persecution in Rome during Nero's reign. Ta…
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* Ramsay, op. cit. p. 2799., thinks Peter was still alive in the year 80, so that the letter may have been written under Vespasian. But there is little, if any, positive evidence for a persecution of Christians at this time, and there are very strong reasons for believing that Peter's death occurred in the sixties. t …
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stated most elaborately by F. TI. Chase (np. cit. p. 78511'.). He would account for the ' I'.-iulinism ' of the letter by supposing that Peter had been sum- moned to Rome by Paul 'with the supreme object of showing to the Christians at Rome and to the brotherhood in the world the unity of the Body and of the Spirit.' T…
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7. Literary structure and integrity. — Is this document a 'homily,' an 'epistle,' or a 'letter' in the proper sense of the term ? That is, was it originally simply a hortatory discourse intended for general edification, or was it such a discourse thrown into epistolary form mainly for literary effect ; or was it a spec…
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* For modem discussion of this much-debated topic see F. Spitta, Christi Predigt an die Geister, Gottingen, 1890, who cites earlier literature ; C. Bruston, La Descente aux enters. Paris, 1890 ; W. Kelly, Preaching to the Spirits in Prison, London, 1900 ; C. Clemen, N iedergefahren zu den Totcn, Giessen, 1900, Religifm…
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B. SECOtiD Peter. — As compared with 1 Peter, the problems of 2 Peter are less perplexing and will be treated much more briefly. 1. Content. — Tlie Epistle may be outlined as follows : (ffl) Salutation (1"). — The author, styling himself ' Symeon Peter, slave and apostle of Jesus Christ,' addresses fellow-Christians …
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Is it possible to locate with any degree of proba- bility a period and a territory answering to this historical situation ? 3. Date and provenance. — 2 Peter is not the only NT book to concern itself with heretical teachers. It is true, the Judaizers who troubled St. Paul have essentially nothing in common with the di…
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209 Since Egypt has been regarded as the home of the Apocalypse, that too has been made tlie place of 2 Peter's origin (so A. Ilarnaek, op. cit. p. 4G9 ; Jiilicher, op. cit. p. 206 [Palestine or Egypt] ; F. H. Chase, ' Peter, Second Epistle,' HDB iii. 816 f.). But the possibility of a Palestinian or an Asiatic (Asia M…
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Among general works one might also mention treatises on the Apostolic Age : J. V. Bartlet, The Apostolic Aye, Edin- burgh, 1900 ; G. V. Lechler, Das apostol. und nachapcstol. Zeitalter, Karlsruhe, 1886 (Eng. tr., 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1886) ; A. C. McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age'', New York, 18…
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2. General position of Pharisees in the 1st cent. A.D. — In this article we confine ourselves to the period from the times of Christ to the close of the 1st century. For the previous history of Pharis- aism and the development and character of its tenets and practices, tlie reader must consult SDB and DCG. At the openi…
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211 murder of an 'am hanrcts: under certain circum- stances permissible, and declares that tlio hatred of the 'am haarcts is greater than that of the Gentiles against Israel. (i) Their attitude to the Gentiles. — As we have noted above, at one time a missionary propafianda was carried on among (iontiles. Manifestly t…
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Christianity became strong where Hellenism had been weak. The Church o£ Philadelphia, founded probably at the time of St. Paul's residence in Ephesus (Ac 19'"), had firmly established itself Ijy the time of Domitian, and is praised by St. John almost as warmly as that of Smyrna (Rev 3'"'^). Before her is set ' a door o…
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faith,' generosity to fellow-believers, and loyalty to himself, gave the Apostle 'confidence' in inter- ceding witli his friend on behalf of that friend's runawa3' hut now converted slave, Onesimus, nnd in beseeching Philemon not only to forgive the slave's misdemeanours, but to receive him as now a brother in Christ. …
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5. Testimony to the Epistle. — Against depred- ators, in the 4th cent., of the Epistle as trifling and unedifying, Jerome, the mo.st learned, and Chrysostom, the most eloquent, of the Fathers, vindicate, as we have seen, its apostolic worthiness and religious helpfulness. In the Reformation epoch, Luther (in his German…
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Henry Cowan. PHILETUS See Hymen/EUS. PHILIP THE EVANGELIST. — 'Philip the Evangelist,' or ' Philip one of the Seven,' or ' Philip the Deacon ' — these are the three names by whieli Philip is called, each of tliem intended to distinguish him from Pliilip the Apostle, with whom in both ancient and modern times he has o…
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PHILIPPI PHILIPPI 215 Literature.— W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 1806 ; R. B. Rackham, Ads of the Apostles, 1901 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Colossians and Phileman^, 1879 ; A. Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles, Eng. tr., 1909. W. A. SPOONEK. PHILIPPI (*/Xnriroi).— Pliilippi was a city in the E. of Maiedonia, re-fou…
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Another Philippian woman, Avho was attracted by the Apostle and his message, was well known in the city as a soothsayer (IG'"). She was in the hands of a syndicate of masters who exploited her strange powers, advertising her as the possessor of a Python. According to Plutarch (de Defec. Orac. 9), Python was a name assu…
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peatedly showed his confidence in them by accept- mg at their hands favours which he rcfii.sed from every other church. To Thcssalonica, and again to Corinth, their me.ssengers followed him with the tokens of their love (Ph 4'", 2 Co 11") ; and when he was a jirisoner in Rome, Epajiliroditus of l'hilipi>i made a journe…
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Besides Timothy, St. Paul associates with him- self in the closing salutation the brethren, oi (riv iixol aSe\((>ol (4--). Who these were we are not told, but they can have had no part in the composing of the letter, as they are evidently those referred to in 2^' and accused of selfishness. Their own in- terests came b…
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• See G. A. Deissmann, hicht vom Oaten^, Tiibinpea, 1909, p. 57, Eng. tr., Light/rom the Ancient East, London, 1911, p. 84. 218 PHILIPPIANS, EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS, EPISTLE TO THE here is evident from the fact that what we have is 'bishops,' not 'bishop.' That the author of tlie letter is not advocating any spec…
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3. Purpose of the letter. — As Edith Bellenden's letter revealed its purpose in a postscript (see Scott, Old Mortality), so this letter also. The Philippians had sent monetary help by Epaphroditus, and St. Paul hereby acknowledges receipt of it (6.^rix'^l [TrdvTa], a terminus technicus, as is now abundantly proved) (De…
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It is clear that the Philippians were inclined to take a pessimistic view of the effect of St. Paul's imprisonment and situation in general on the cause of the gospel. The statement in I'-''- is a correction of this, and we may well explain the repeated in- junctions to joy as proof that they were apt to be dispirited …
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Tliere is also cumulative evidence that both Ignatius and Clement of Rome were acquainted with our letter (see Lightfoot, PhiUppians, p. 75 f.). It is quoted by Eusebius (HE v. ii. 2) in the Epistle from Lyons and Vienne. According to Cleiu. Alex, and Hippolytus it was recognized by the heretical Valentians and Sethite…
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The objections on the score of doctrinal diver- gences from the Hauptbriefe are forcibly set forth by Holsten (as also by Baur) and van Manen. It is said that the Epistle is vague and nebulous, that it lacks any leading idea, that it is characterized by monotonous repetition, by lack of profound connexion of ideas, and…
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Is there any external ground for holding to the theory of a double letter ? We have already dis- cussed the evidence in Polycarp (see above), of which so much is made, and have come to the conclusion that nothing definite can be found there to substantiate a double letter. Nor is the com- parison with 2 Co 10-13 wholly…
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The TO aura ypa<t>eiv is not explained by fusion, for it is even more probable that a redactor would see the break sooner than St. Paul himself would. We must either hold that the reference is to earlier communications which have been lost, or, to ex- plain it of our present letter, admit that we cannot be sure what ex…
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.