iii. Anticipation of Christian Doctrines. —Anticipations of the Christ idea, either as Mes- siah or as Wisdom, have been dealt with in the previous sections. It remains to be seen for what other Christian doctrines preparation is made in the Apocrypha.
1. The Doctrine of God.— This subject is treated very fully in DB, Extra Vol. art. 'Development of Doctrine,' pp. 276-281. All that is called for here is to indicate those phases of the doctrine that approach the Christian idea. 1 Maccabees is remarkable for its omission of any direct reference to God. But although (according to the best text) the name of God does not appear, He is thought of under the euphemism 'heaven' {e.g. 1 Mac 3"). Therefore we must take the omission of the sacred name as an indication of the reverence that feared to mention it, which was characteristic of a later Judaism. This went with the growing conception of the Divine transcendence which was not an anticipation of Christianity, but the reverse, and against which Christianity was a reaction. Still it prepared for Christianity by emphasizing the need of some intermediary power to bring man into contact with God, a mediating Christ. While no hint of anytliing of the kind is dropped in the historical part of the Apocrypha, the soil is here
{irepared for it by the very barrenness of religion in ack of it. Tlie popular tales in the Apocrypha con- tribute nothing material to the conception of God. The fierce patriotism of Judith falls back on the ancient appropriation of Jehovah for Israel ; but this can scarcely be reckoned a theological narrow- ing, since the thought is not turned to any question concerning the nature of God. In the Wisdom literature, however, we may look for some develop- ment of the doctrine. Negatively we see this in the avoidance of the anthropomorphism that fear- lessly asserted itseh" in the (JT. Not only is there no approach to a theophany in human form, but the human features often poetically ascribed to God in the older literature do not appear. This, again, goes with the growing feeling of Divine transcendence, which is alien to Christianity. But it is also an indication of a spiritual conception that may be taken as an ticipatory of the spiritual idea of (jlod in the NT. In Sirach, God is not so much too remote, but ral her too great for men to understand His nature —
God is addressed as ' Father' and Master of my life ' (23'), and ' Father and God of my life' (v.''), which imjilies the Divine fatherhood of the individual, a doctrine only just reached in the latest OT teach- ing. Moreover, the goodness of God extends to all mankind (18'^). In AVisdom, under the influence of Hellenic thought, the idealising process is pushed further. God is the 'eternal light' (Wis 7®*), so that wisdom which irradiates the world is the
heart beateth, reason is a spark.' Helre it is human reason that is referred to. In everv case where i,o>-i>.- is predicated of God the sense is ' word.' See especiaUy 129 i822.
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APOCRYPHA
effluence from this central fountain of light. On the other liand, there is a narrowing of the idea of creation under tlie influence of the Greek notion of pre-existent matter. God creates the world out of ' formless matter ' (11"), and creation is described as being 'impressed,' like wax by the seal (19*^). The motive of creation was love, and God hates nothing that He has made, loving all things that are (11-^). Nevertheless, it is said in another place that God only loves him who dwells with wisdom (7^). The seeming inconsistency may be reconciled if we understand that here we have the more special personal affection of Divine friendship.
2. The Fall and Original 5'm.— While Gn 3 con- tains the narrative of the fall of Adam, (1) it does not attribute this to the devil, not identifying the serpent with Satan, but treating it simply as the most subtle of beasts ; and (2) it does not affirm that either sin or death visits the whole race in conse- quence of this primary ofience and its doom. But both of these ideas appear in Christianity ; and the latter is contained in the writings of St. Paul, who does not give it as part of the new teaching, but assumes that it is already an accepted belief.
St. Paul simply appeals to it as a basis for his analogous teaching concerning Christ. Thus he writes, ' as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners ' (Ko 5''), and similarly with the second part of the doctrine, ' as in Adam all die' (1 Co 15--). Therefore these ideas must liave grown up apart from the OT. Now we find them in the Apocr. Wisdom literature, both Palestinian and Alexandrian, e.g. the Palestinian teaching —
' From a woman was the beginning; of sin ; And because of her we all die' (Sir 252-'>— an easy inference from Gn 3, but never made in the OT. Then there is the Alexandrian teaching, ' By the envy of the devil, death entered into the world ' (Wis 2").
Griitz rep:ards this as a Christian interpolation ; but Dr. Drum- mond shows that his three reasons for this view do not appear to have much force. (1) Gr.atz objects that the clause disturbs "of the passage, but it balances the previous