This error is described generally as ' saying that the resuneetion is i)ast already,' and in the absence of further particulars it is impossible to determine the full extent of the heresy. But it seems most probable that H. liad yielde'd to what we know to Lave been a very prevalent Gnostic tendency, springing from an undue contempt for the body,
namely, denying the resurrection in its literal sense, and attaciiing to the word only a spiritual meaning. Everj'thing in Scripture, according to this view, that referred to a future state of being, in so far as it involved a bodily resurrection, was explained or allegorized away, and stress was laid only on the resurrection of the soul from sin, regarding which it could be said that it was ' pa.st already.' The deadly danger of this error is shown by the apostle's description of it as ' a gangrene,' which, if not at once destroyed, would sjirc.ad and corrupt the whole eomnnmitv ; and in supjiort of this prediction, and as helping further to define the erroneous character of^ II. 's teaching, com- mentators "enerally adduce from the Fathers such passages as Iren;cus, liar. II. xxxi. 2, where certain Iieretics are described as holding ' that the resur- rection from the dead is simply an acquaintance with that truth which they proclaim,' and Ter- tullian, de Rcsurr. 19, where we read of some ' who distort into some imaginary sense even the most clearly described doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, alleging that even death itself must be under- stood in a spiritual sense. . . . Wherefore that also must be held to be the resurrection, when a man is reanimated by access to the truth, and having dispersed the death of ignorance, and being endowed with new life by God, has burst forth from the sepulchre of the old man.'
With regard to the sentence of condemnation passed upon H., considerable diil'erence of opinion has i>revailed. By the ' delivering unto Satan,' or more literally ' the Satan ' (riji laTnv^], ' the Evil One in his most distinct personality ' (Ellicott, in loc), some have understood simply excommuni- cation from the Church. But in the parallel passage 1 Co 5^ 'delivering unto Satan' seems to bedis- tinjjuished from excommunication in itself, which is denoted by ' taking away ' or ' putting away from among you ' (cf. v.' with vv.*- "). Others in consequence refer the words rather to the infliction of some bodily loss or suffering, such as we find, for example, in the case of Job. But this does not meet the full and authoritative nature of the apostle's language, ' Whom I delivered (irop^5u/vo) unto Satan. It is best, therefore (with Meyer, Ellicott, and others), to combine both interpreta- tions, and to understand by the expre.ssiun (he liighest form of excommunication, by which the condemned person was not only cut off from all Christian privileges, but subjected besides to soma bodily disease or death. It was a sentence appar- ently which on account of its awful nature was not pronounced by the Church, but only by an apostle (cf. the somewhat analogous cases of Ananias and Sa]iphira Ac 5, and Elymas Ac 13"), though in certain circumstances the apostle could empower others to pass sentence for liini (1 Co 5'- ■*). It is further of importance to observe that both here and in 1 Co 5° the remedial intention of the punish- ment is emphasized. In the latter ease the flesh is destroyed, ' that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus'; while U. and his com-
S anion were delivered to Satan, not for their final estruction, but that ' the}' miglit be taught (jraiSfu- duaiv in NT sense of teaching by disciplining or chastening) not to blaspheme.' [See further Church, vol. i. p. 432; Curse, p. 534'>; and in addition to the couimentators, cf. Suicer, Thesaur. ii. p. 940, and Bingham, Antiq. XVI. ii. 15].
G. MiLLIGAN.
HYMN IN NT (for OT see Poetry and Song).— The use of hymns among Christians was common from the first existence of the Church, both in pulilic worship and in private life (1 Co H's-^s, Eph 5", Col 3'», Ja 5", Ac 16^), such hymns being treated not only as the natural expression of reli- gious emotion, but also as a method of instractioo
HYMN
HYRCANUS
441
{diSdtTKOifTei Kal uovOerouvrfS iavroui ^aX^oIj, Col I.e.). The fullest description of them is the triple division into \j/a\piol, Vfwoi, ifSai iri>fviJ.aTiKal (Epli-Col). Of these tpaX/iit is properly ' a song with musical accompaniment,' and doubtless includes the OT I'salms : ifivos, a song in praise of God or of ' famous men ' (ef. Sir 44' Traripuii i'^j-os), such as that in Ac 4*'''''' ; ifor] irvtuiiaTiKi), any song on a Kjiiritual theme, such perliajis as Eph 5". But the distinction is not technical, and cannot be jiressed rigidly, for viJ.vot is used of the Psalms of David (Ps 71-", Jos. Ant. VII. xii. 3), and both vijlvo% and ifSi) occur frequently in the titles of those Psalms [.see Trench, AT Syn. s.v. ; Ltft. on Col 3'"].
Such Christian hymns would naturally be either direct importations from the services of the Jewish Temple and Synagogue, or the fresh utterances of Christian inspiration inlluenced in form by these Jewish models (cf. He 2'^ ; Philo, in Flacc. 14, tic Vit. Cont. §§3. 10. 11 ; Driver, /.y'/" pp. 359-367; Edersheim, The Temple, its ministry and serviees, pp. 56, 143). A reference to a purely Jewish hymn 18 found in Mt 26*', probably the latter half of the Hallel, Pss 115-118, used in tlie paschal services; but an entirely dillcrent hymn, professedly Chris- tian, yet of a strong Gnostic tinge, and un- doubtedly spurious, will be found attributed to our Lord on this occasion in the Acta Johannis, c. U {Texts and Studies, v. 1), and fragments of it are discussed by Aug. Ep. iv. 237, §§ 4^.