3. The national unrrst of the pc7-iod.— The Jewish people, fretting under political depression, bad flung themselves with impassioned eagerness on the hope that the long-desired Messiah and His kingdom must be drawing nigh. It was even thought by many that He was hidden somewhere in oliscurity, only waiting for a more penitent dis- position in tlie national mind; and so inflamed was the cc.ninji.n imagination with these ideas, that popul.ir e\ei lenient was easily aroused, and any bold spirit, rising in revolt against the existing
34
ADVERSARY
ADVOCATE
state of things, could find a gronp of followers ready to believe in him as the one vho should deliver Israel. In the broader world outside, too, the expectation of a powerful king, issuing from Judsea, who was to conquer the world, appears to have been widely spread ; and the references to this given by Tacitus (Hist. v. 13) and by Suetonius ( Vesp. 4) may be taken at least as an echo of views disseminated throughout the Roman Empire by the Jews of the Dispersion. When Jesus was born into the world, however, an event had transpired vastly grander than Jewish expectation at the time conceived. The day at last had dawned to which the original promise to fallen humanity pointed forward, and for which the best minds of the nation had for ages yearned ; the divinely- pledged Deliverer from sin and its curse had ar ii\ed, to set up the kingdom of righteousness, lo\e, and peace Liter \Ti re —For a lenpthened treatment of the Afoc'; ini
tinn (f (t M Km id m (Eng tr ) and for a more condensed sune\ Schurer HJPw u and Sthultz, Or rAro( (Ene tr lb9s)\ol n For the Apoca]\ ptic n ritmss seeCh-vrles editions of tilt /• S f Fn l} et On thi lel in cinJitiii f the
C. M IlARD-i
ADVERSARY.— In the Gospels the -snouI 'ad^el- saiy' stands t^MCe (Lk 13" 21") for avriKelnevo^, and thnce (Mt 5==, Lk 12=« IS-*) for ai/riStkos. The first two passages require no comment, as tliey describe the opponents of the gospel in the simples't terms, as adversaries. Thus we read that when Jesus triumphantly vindicated His actions, His adversaries were ashamed and could not uiisw. i Him. Similarly Jesus assured His discijili^ th.it none of their adversaries in the approaching tiim' of persecution should be able to gainsay or resist the words of wisdom which the Holy Sjiuit would put into their mouths.
In Mt 5^ (!l Lk 12^), and again in the ]iaralile of the Unjust Judge (Lk 18'), the quL-timi miu-.-1s itself, 'Who is the adversary rffrii..l lu I hr passage from the Sermon on the -^I'lunt .c-in- a- one of a series of maxims of Christian |iuil.iicr. and the key to its interpretation is sugj;e>ti il liy that which immediately precedes it (Mt 5^' ), a\ IniV Christ says that reconciliation with an ollLinkd brother must go before the offering of a gift at God's altar.
Alienation from the brother offended must oper- ate as a hindrance to true worship. Therefore he who would be accepted of God must do justly by his brother and have all cause of difference "with him removed, for if he regards iniquity in his heart, has upon his conscience the guilt of wrong- doing or ill-will, or a grudge, the Lord will not hear him (Ps 66'*). Thus a certain order must be observed in connexion with this matter of wor- ship. Still more, Jesus appears to suggest, does this principle of order hold in respect of the con- troversy between God and sinners. Reconciliation with God must be for every man the first business to be attended to. That antagonism must be re- moved, and he must satisfy the claim which the law of God lias against him in the first place, else if he fails to avail himself of the present oppor- tunity of ending the controversy, the law must take its course. The adversary referred to is thus the broken law, or God Himself as the Author of the law, whom the unreconciled sinner treats as an adversary (ef. Lk 14^"-).
In the parable of the Unjust Judge the widow's
Teaching of Christ ; Schmid, Biblical 77, XT Theology (2w\ I der neutest. The,,' u. 61; Wernle, 27.. i
petition against her opponent at law, and her im- portunity in pressing it upon the attention of the judge, are used to illustrate the prayers of God's elect. The reference seems to be to the opposition which, in her efforts to promote the cause and kingdom of God, the Church is obliged to en- counter, some adverse influence to which she lias long been exposed, and against which she fears she is left to struggle alone. Here there is no special reason for identifying this adversary with Satan (cf. Alford, in loc. ; Trench, Parables, 488, etc.) or with the Jewish persecutors of the Early Church (Weizsacker, who regards the jiassage as a late addition ; cf. Weiss in Sleyer's Commentary, in loc. ). We must not forget that tlie word occurs in a parable which was spoken with a special didactic purpose, that being, as St. Luke is careful to explain, the encouragement not of the Church only, but especially of individual believers, to per- severe in their efforts by faith and prayer to with- stand the power of evil in the world, in whatever form it may assail them or thwart their endeav- ours. Christ's object was to assure them that their importunity must prevail with God, who shall soon respond to their prayers and grant them the victory over all that would frustrate their efforts for the advancement of His cause. See also art. Satan.