Literature.— Schurer, RJP ii. 1. 154 ff., IGOf. ; G. A. Smith, HGUL pp. 420-435; FairKiirn, City of God, pp. 349-370; Westcott. Hebrews, pp. 386-389. A. MiLLER.
CLAIM. — The term expresses a twofold relation- ship, either to a claim as advanced and enforced or as accepted and complied with. The assump- tion or imposition of a claim upon another is an act of authority, a relationship of established right and superior power; while the recognition and discharge of the same claim represent the corresponding social duty.
The narrative of the Gospels describes how Christ moved amid the social and religious relationships of the world into which He came. It tells how He knew all things in the heart of man (Jn 2^"^), and occasionally drew the attention of His disciples to the real importance of certain personalities and actions (Mt 16* 11", Lk 21'"^), where a wrong im- pression might have been produced ; but, as a rule. He does not take the initiative in criticising and condemning in detail the standards, methods, and institutions then prevailing in society. His king- dom is declared to be entirely distinct from that of the world, and it is only when challenged on a question of right conduct that He lays do\vn the principle that whatever Ca?sar has an undisputed claim upon ought to be regarded as his, and what- ever belongs to God should be rendered to Him only. On the ground of previous and higher claims. He expels those who had obtained the privilege of traffic within the temple area, inas- much as the place had been dedicated to its Owner as a house of prayer (Mt 21"). The victims of masterful temptation and difficult surroundings (Mt 11", Lk 7'' 18" 22«i, Jn 8") are regarded with pity and hopefulness. His direct and indignant expo.sure is reserved for the attempt to give religious sanction to evaded duty (Mk 7"), or where the name of religion is made unlovely by the proud and harsh claims of those who profess it (Mt 6^
034-7. 23).
Otherwise Christ moves amid the relationships of common life and the claims of organized society, using them as the field of paral)le and the vehicle of His teaching concerning the kiugduiu that was
CLAIM
CLAIMS OF CHRIST
at hand. Thus He refers to purchasers of property, money-lenders and interest, employers of labour and the rights of the labourer. Similarly, we have allusions to war, judicial punishment, parental authority, marriage and divorce, fasting and sumptuous living. With regard to all such rela- tionships and connected claims Christ uses the vocabulary and valuation current in the world. The prodigal son declares that he has forfeited the right to which he had been born (Lk 15'") ; Zacchneus (19') and the woman bowed down with intirinity (13") have, as children of Abraham, a family claim that should shut out more distant considera- tions. This fact gives emphasis to the exceptional instances of Naaman and the widow of Sarepta (Lk 426-29)_ The Syro-Phoenician woman quite under- stands that local opinion as to race privilege does not allow her to share on equal terms with Israel (Mt IS^'- =8). The lineage of natural descent im- plies that of ethical resemblance (Mt 2Z^\ Jn S^"). Parental att'ection is the basis of the assurance that our Heavenly Father will act still more wisely and lovingly towards His children (Mt 7" II Lk 11'^). It is after the fullest recognition of the beauty and power of family claims that Clirist calls His disciples to an even more intense and constrain- ing relationship (Mt lO^', Lk 14=«).
The claims of neighbourhood and hospitality are frequently alluded to. Lazarus, even in Abraham's bosom, must be willing to serve one who had been an earthly neighbour (Lk 16-''). A neighbour can be put to any inconvenience on behalf of a stranger guest in their midst (IP'^). The action of the woman who anointed Christ and bathed His feet with tears is shown to be right, inasmuch as the claim of a passing guest was greater than that of those who were always present (Mk 14', Lk T''-^, Jn 12'- 8).
By the same use of current language and thought, religion is a codification of things bound and free, prohibited and permitted (Mt le'" 18'"). Its duties, as imposed by the scribes and Pharisees, are like the load on the submissive baggage animal (23''). John forbids those who taught in Christ's name >vithout having the qualifying claim of discipleship (Mk 9^). With tlie fori'nal appeal of a litigant, ' Legion ' demands a proof of Christ's right to interfere (5'). Satan is another taskmaster with claims to be satisfied, and disease is the mark of his property and power (Lk 13"^). Rabbinical rules so far supersede the commandments of God that Christ can be condemned as an enemy to religion (Mt 23"-3», Mk S'" 7=- MO^ 11", Lk 13"). Afterwards, to one who understood it all, it was evident that attention to their own claims had blinded the religious leaders of Israel to the pres- ence of the Lord of Glory (1 Co 2^*), just as the worship of nature, degraded and degrading, had darkened and alienated from God the heart of the Gentile world (Ro 1=')-
It is thus evident from the Gospel narratives that the Hebrew-Roman world, into which Christ came as the Son of Man, had reached a high stage of de- velopment with regard to social authority and obedi- ence. The areas of privilege and exemption were carefully marked oft' from those of servility and compulsion. Legislated right and wrong, like guarding clierubim, faced each other at all the gates of public life. The rich and noble confronted the poor and unclassed, the strong and conquering had their counterpart in the subject and enslaved, the wise and enlightened stood out in relief from the ignorant and barbarous, the male had defined authority and predominance over the female, and free-born citizens exercised a jealous censorship over the admission of strangers and foreigners. The universal pressure of such claims and obliga- tions gave sedimentary stratification to all that