The Corinthian letters picture a loose organiza- tion, without formal oflicers, in which discipline is administered, now by the Corintliians, now by St. Paul himself. There is no definite rule of procedure. The general princijile is laid do^vn in 1 Co 5'''=, and special apjilication is made ace. to the circum- st.ances of each case. In the Pastorals we have already a definite mode of procedure, with its public reproof, and its accusation before witnesses (1 Ti 5'*- '■"'). Not moral oli'onces only, but a schis- matic .s]iirit may be tlie occasion for exclusion from church fellowship (Tit 3'" ' A man that is hereti- cal [factious] after a first and second admonition, refuse.' Cf. 1 Ti 6', and esp. 2 Jn v.'", where false doctrine is made the ground for absolute breach of intercourse). That excommunication might be inflicted by a faction, as well as by the Church at large, is clear from the case of Diotrephes (3 Jn '• '"). These later instances show that excom- munication was not merely disciplinary, having as its end the penitence and subsequent restoration of the offender, but also protective, being designed to guard the infant Church from corruiition. In no case, however, is it regarded as consigning the person cut off to eternal tiunishment, as later theories have sometimes liehf. That was the work of God alone, with which man had nothing to do. In general, this brief survey of the NT passages shows that we have to do only with the first beginnings, from which the later ecclesiastical procedure, with its elaborate process, was de- veloped. In this matter, as in so many others of interest, the development vs-as a gradual one, a part of that slow process by which the flexibility of early Christian institutions was gradually trans formed into the fixed rules of a powerful ecclea! astical organization.
LiTKRATUEii.— The art. In Smith, DB>, by F. Meyrlok, un chanj^ed ; and Herzoir, PitE^ * IJann b«l den Hehniem,' by RiicUchi, where the older literature is jfiven. For the practice amoii^ the Jews, see Nowacli, Ueb. Architol.- and Keiirlnger, Ileb. Archaol. On tile caae of tlio Corintlnan ofT«nder, cf. Welbziicker, /Ja*i ApvslolUche Zeitalter^. A full diKUWion of NT puuia^es in their connexion in Btill a desideratum.
W. Adams BnowN. EXECUTIONER.— Mk 0-'' AV, of the oflicer sent by llcrod to bcliead John the Baptist, RV 'a soldier of his guard.' The Gr. word aireKov\aTwp is a transliteration of Lat. sj>eculator, and the tperu- Intorcs were originally scouts or spies (spcrulor, to watch), and then the police or bixlyguard of the Roman emperors and military governors. (The word is fully discussed in Benson, Cyprian, 505 f.)
802
EXERCISE
EXODUS TO CANAAN
Beheading was a Roman, not a Jewish punishment. See Crimes and Punishments. J. Hastings.
EXERCISE. — Asauerft : 1. The primary meanin" is to occupy oneself with, engage in, Ps 131' ' Neither do I exercise myself in great matters ' (•B3^,Ti*'7i, lit. 'neither do I walk,' as KVm) ; Sir 50=« ' Bleasea is he that shall be exercised in these things' {ayaaTpcKp-fifferai) ; 2 Es 15* ' those things in which they wickedly exercised themselves' (quie inique exercent, RV 'which they wickedly practise'). Cf. Pref. to AV 1611, 'in Latine we haue been exercised almost from our verie cradle.' 2. To put into practice, bring into use, as Knox ( Works, ed. Lamg, iv. 135), ' Even sucli, deare brethren, is the blessed Evangelie of our Lord Jesus ; for the more that it be entreted, the more comfort- able and puissant is it to such as do heare, reade, or exercise the same ' ; or as Dunbar {The Thri^sill and the Rois, 16) uses excrce, the obsolete form of the verb, direct from exercere —
* Exeroe justice with mercy and conscience.'
So Rev 13" ' he exerciseth aJl the power of the first beast ' (toici) ; Jer 9" 'I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness ' (n^v 'doing'); To 12' ' Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life' (TowCvres) ; Ezk 22^ 'The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery' (Si; 'Sni) ; Wis 16* 'It was requisite that upon them exercising tyranny should come penury ' (iKdvoa Tvpawovai, RV ' in their tyrannous dealing ') ; and the passages in the Synop- tics, Mt 20»», Mk lO-'^, Lk 22^, where KaraKiipuut^ (Lk Kvpuvw) and Kan^ovaLa^w (Lk i^ovoid^ij) are translated in AV 'exercise dominion' and 'exer- cise authority' in Mt, 'e. lordsliip' and 'e. authority ' in INIk and Lk ; RV gives ' lord it ' for KaroLK., and ' e. authority ' for (torej. in Mt and Mk, ' have lordship ' and ' have authority ' in Lk. 3. To practise for training or discipline, Ac 24" ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a con- science void of offence toward God and toward man ' (iaKw) ; 1 Ti 4' ' exercise thyself unto godli- ness ' {yviivi^u ; so He 5" 12", 2 P 2") ; 1 Mac 6*> ' elephants exercised in battle ' (c/Sires iriXf/ioc, RV 'trained for war'); 2 Mac 15"^ 'exercised from a cliild in all points of virtue' ({KixitieKer- Tj/crfra). 4. All those meanings belon" to the Lat. exercere, and the influence of the Vulg. is con- spicuous throughout. There are even two examples of 'exercise' in the sense of 'afllict,' 'torment,' which also belongs to exercere; Ec 1" 'this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith,' and 3'°. The Heb. is rr:;;, 'to be bowed down.' Cf. Fuller, Holy Warre (ed. 1640, p. 155), ' they had to do with Meladine King of Egypt, who lay besides them, . . . exercising the CnriBtians with continual skirmishes.' Milton has the same sense in Par. Lost, ii. 89 —