A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

James Hastings • SECTION 161

Section 161

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(c) The Apocalypse.—This mystical book has many references to life, particularly in figurative phrases, such as ‘the tree of life,’ 2’ 22? (in which return is made to the imagery of the early tradi- tions of Genesis, ef. Ezk 47"); ‘the crown of life,’ 2; ‘the book of life,’ 3° 13°; ‘waters of life,’ 717 21° 227, ψυχή is used of the life separated from the body, hence rendered ‘souls’ in our version in 6° and 204, Very Hebraic are its uses in 89 and 16°, being an obvious imitation of the language of Gn 1 (πῇ w53). A striking use is that in 18%, where ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων are reckoned among the merchandise of the traders, sprobabl meaning slaves (cf. Ezk 273; also Nu 31%: 10. 46 [Heb)).

(3) The Epistles of St. Paul.—In addition to uses of ψυχή similar to those already given, the follow- ing are noteworthy : peas. the will of God ἐκ ψυχῆς (‘from the heart,’ EV),’ Eph 6°; obviously it means ‘ putting all the power of one’s life into it’; ef. Col 3%. The threefold partition of human nature is given in 1 Th 5“ ‘may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire.’

St. Paul’s use ot ζωή in the absolute sense is very much akin to St. John’s. The phrase ‘eternal life’ is common, cf. Ro 27 5% 6”, Gal 68, 1 Ti 1° ete. Illustrations of the use of ζωή as fully expressing the highest possible life are found in Ro 5" ‘the

. . reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ’; Ro 64 ‘we also might walk in newness of life’; Ro 7” ‘the commandment which was unto life’; Ro 8” ‘the Spirit is life because of righteous- ness’; 2 Co 2 ‘a savour from life unto life’; 2 Co 4 ‘that the life also of Jesus may be mani- fested in our body’; 2 Co 5* ‘swallowed up of life.’ In the same way he τα απ ΒΥ uses the verb ζῆν, 4.0. 2 Co 6° ‘as dying, and, behold, we live’; Ph 1*! ‘to me to live is Christ’; 1 Th 38 ‘for now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord.’ The Heb. form ‘7 5x, in its LXX equivalent, θεὸς ζῶν, is frequent, not only in direct quotations, but in St. Paul’s own writing, e.g. Ro 955 (from LXX), 2 Co 3° 68, 1 Th 1°, 1 Ti 8:5 41,

In the case of the word θάνατος, while frequently used in its common signification, as, ¢.g., Ro 8, 1 Co 154, Ph 28 etc., it bears in the Pauline writings very deep and wide-reaching meanings. Some- times it is personified (as in the OT), e.g. Ro δι" ‘Death reigned from Adam until Moses’; 1Co 15% ‘the last enemy that shall be abolished is death.’

LIFE AND DEATH 11i

describe the putting away of sin, as in Ro 6**, where we read of being ‘baptized into Christ's death,’ of ‘him that hath died’ being ‘justified from sin,’ and so on; or, on the contrary, Ro 7 speaks of the commandment being ‘found unto death,’ for ‘sin, finding occasion through it, slew’ Paul. The sinful flesh is called ‘this body of death’ (Ro 7%). ‘The mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life’ (Ro 85). ‘Death’ in its ugurative sense is further illustrated in 2 Co 19:10 ‘we ourselves have had the answer of death within ourselves . . . God who delivered us out of so great a death.’ The messengers of the Cross are ‘in them that are peuning asavour from death unto death’ (215), The law is ‘the ministration of death’ (2 Co 37, cf. 7°). Death as a dissolution is spoken of as a present power in 2 Co 4"? ‘we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake . . . so then death worketh in us, but life in you.’

In 2 Ti 1” we read of Christ ‘who abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.’

(4) The Rest of the NT.—In He 716 we read of ‘the power of an endless life (ζωῆς ἀκαταλύτου-τε indissoluble).’ In Ja 1 we have the figure of the ‘crown of life.’ In 1 P 37 we read of ‘the grace of life,’ and in 2 Ρ 18 of ‘all things that pertain unto life,’ obviously in the absolute sense. In Jude” there is the striking phrase ‘looking unto the merey of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.’ In 1 ψυχή is of frequent occurrence in Hebraic senses, and might sometimes be rendered ‘life,’ as in 4! ‘commit their souls in welldoing unto a faithful Creator’; cf. He 10° 12° 1317,

The most important passages on ‘death’ are in He 29-1415 which tells of « Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour ; that by the grace of God he should taste death for every man .. . that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage’; and He 9-18. See also Ja 1° ‘Sin, when it is full- grown, bringeth forth death’; and 1 P 315 of Christ “being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit.’

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