LlTERATCRE.— Cremer, Bib.-Theol. Lex. s.m. uitxiiti, liUy-iit, etc. ; the Comm. of Alford, Meyer, Lange, etc.; Bengel's Gnomon; Herzog, PRE, artt. ' Gott,' v. 262ff., 'Liebe,' viii. 388Sf., ' Versohnune," xvii. 92, 124, etc.; Jonathan Edwards, ed. London, 1834, vol. i. pp. 123-12.';, cf. *. cclx.xi!. f., pp. 237, 240; SartoriuB, Doctrine of the Divine Love, p. 215 ; Martensen, Christ. Dogmatics, p. 303 ; Schleiermacher, ' Der christHche Glaube,' ii. 199 {Theol. Werke, Bd. 4).
Hugh H. Currie. CONCEPTION.— See Virgin Birth.
CONDEMNATION. — The disappearance of the term 'damnation' in the RV of the Gospels is suggestive of more sober and reasonable thoughts about the Divine judgment against sin. Condem- nation at the last may indeed fall like a thunder- bolt upon the rejected (Mt 21'"). The fig-tree in the parable has a time of probation and then may be suddenly cut down (Lk IS^""). At the Dai/ of Judgment the universal benevolence of God ex- perienced here (Mt S''^, Lk 6'^) will give place to His righteous wrath against the persistently re- bellious. Condemnation is the irrevocable sen- tence then passed upon the abusers of this life (Mt 2541-46) Especially will this sentence of rejection and punishment descend then upon tlie hypocrite (Mk 12"). The state of the condemned will be a veritable Gehenna (Mt 23*^). Weepincf and gtiash- ing of teeth picture the dreadful condition of con- demned souls (Mt 22'3 24" 25*'). Not only, wc must suppose, punishment by pain for rebellion,
358 CONFESSION (OF CHRIST)
CONFESSION (OF CHRIST)
but regret at past iiidiH'ereiite, remorse at pjist folly, shame at past malice, will be the ten-ible feelings lacerating souls that have found not for- giveness but condemnation. The condemned will regret their indiflerence to Christ's demands, which they have ignored (Jn 3^"). They will be tortured by the keen perception of their extreme folly in rejecting the knowledge they might have used (Lk 1131.32) They will feel the shame of having their secret thoughts of evil exposed to a light broader than that of day (Mt 23^). This will be the con- demnation to perpetual darkness for those who have loved darkness more than the light (Mt 8'- 2213 258»).
But in this present life there is always at work a certain inevitable and automatic Divine con- demnation. 'The earth beareth fruit of herself {avToiaaTT), Mk 4^), and yet the fact is due to the directing will of God. So, even in this life, the Divine condemnation of evil is being worked out, without that irrevocable sentence which consti- tutes the final condemnation. The guest may already feel the lack of a wedding-garment (Mt 22"), and so, warned by the present workings of condemnation, escape the last dread sentence. Nothing but what God approves can endure the stresses and storms that are imminent (Lk 6^*"'"). Without the sap of God's favour the \ine must already begin to wither (.Jn 15*).
But this present immanent condemnation is rather a most merciful conviction of sin and wrongfulness (Jn IG"""). In this present age con- demnation is not final for any ; nay, God's purpose is the eternal security of men in true peace and true happiness (Jn 3" 12^'). So far from condem- nation l)eing any man's sure fate, there is no need for any member of the human family to have to undergo such judgment as might result in condem- nation (Jn 5^). The strong assertion in the pre- sent ending to the second Gospel, ' He that dis- believeth shall be condemned' (Mk 16'"), is surely the expression of the ti-ue conviction that Christ is the only Way to avoid condemnation (cf. Jn 3^). Condemnation is God's prerogative, and not the privilege or duty of tlio individual Christian as such : ' Condemn not, and ye shall not be con- demnetl ' (Lk 6"). W. B. Feaxkl.AND.
CONFESSION (of Christ).— The words 'confess' and ' confession ' are emnloj-ed in common usage to express not only an acknowledgment of sin, but an acknowledgment or profession of faith. The AV affords many illustrations of this use, and the examples are still more numerous in the RV, whicli in several passages has quite consistently substituted 'confess' and 'confession' for 'pro- fess'and ' profession ' of the A V in the rendering of o/jioXoyeu, ofioXoyla (2 Co 9", 1 Ti 6'% He 3' 4" 10=^). A coiTesponding twofold use of terms meets us in the original, the verbs iinoXoy^u and e^o/io- \o7«ai being used to denote lx)th confession of sin and confession of faith (e.ff. for 6/io\oyiu, Mt W- and 1 Jn 1' ; for ^ioij.o\oyeoi, Mt 3" and Ja 5'*). The noun 6iu.o\oyia, however, in NT Greek is employed only with refen-ucu to i\n; confession of faith.
In the 'IT I ' ,,ili who is the personal
object of I .if faith which Ave find
on the lip md prophets {e.g. Ps 7'
48", Is I'J- h, , , „) ; but in the NT it is
Jesus Christ whom men .ue constantly challenged to confess, and it is around His person that the confession of faith invariably gathers. This lies in the very nature of the case, since personal faith in Jesus Christ constitutes the essence of Chris- tianity, and confession is the necessary utterance of faith (Ro 10'°, cf. Mt 123^'').
i. AViIAT IS MKAXT I'.V THE CONFESSIOX OF
Christ.— In the earlier period of the ministry of