*Note if<« .- . ill r- '■■• .11.1 -• . rT«a«, ^«.pi?xri! in
574
FALSE CHRISTS
FALSE CHRISTS
corded in the Gospels of iMt. and Lk., is so fully in harmony with His unique personality and charac- ter, that, though we cannot fully understand, -we may at least be satisfied that all form parts of one Divine plan, and thus the moral miracle and the physical mutually support one another. See art. VIRGIN Birth.
iv. The Teaching of Christ and of the Gospels on the Fall. — Our Lord makes no refer- ence to the story of the Fall in all His recorded teaching. His only allusion to our first parents at all Ming the general statement in connexion with marriage (ilt Iff*, Mk W). But the doctrine of the Fall underlies the whole teaching of Christ on sin and redemption, and is particularly con- firmed and illustrated in the following points :
(1) The universal sinftdness of vuxn. This is taken for granted. ' If ye then, being evil, know,' etc. (Mt 7", Lk 11"). This truth is involved in the whole character of our Lord's mission and teaching. See also Jn V^ 9. (2) The inwardness of sin. ' Out of the heart come forth evil thoughts,' etc. '. . . These are the things which defile the man ' (Mt loi'-^andll). Cf. also Mt 5=i-28, Mk 10=, Lk 6«. (3) Tlie deep radical character of human evil. ' Ye must be T)om anew ' (Jn 3' and v.^). (4) The hereditary disability of human nature. 'That which is bom of the flesh is flesh,' etc. (Jn 3"^ ; cf. 1'^). (5) Jesus everywhere indicates clearly His view as to the original dignity and value of man. ' AVhat shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the wliole world, and forfeit his life?' (Mt IS^). Cf. Lk 1-5^", Mt 12", etc. ; and the general teaching of Jesus as to the Fatherhood of God. (6) The Fall may be said to be pictured for us more specifically in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk lo""-), and the corresponding parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Piece of Money in the .siime chapter. (7) Generally the whole mission of Christ to ransom men (Mk 10«), to save (Mt 1=', Lk W etc.), and to restore to Divine Sonship (Jn 1'=), is founded upon the doctrine of the Fall and the state of ruin resulting' from it, coniliincd with splendid possi- bilitit■^ 'if i-r~t.ir:i;inii ilii"ii;_li u'race.
On.^dain and CiiitaL. J^. i.ai.v ^i. i m -ist*-
matic Theoloiry, such as Dorner. Ik" I _ I /. (c ;
Fairbairti, Chn^ in Modem Theolo'j 11, un,
Roinamion 5'--2i). and other jiood < l;la",
.Vr TIi^'jIo;iii, %o1. ii.
On Viiviii Hirth and Sinlessness of ChtiJM . .^ !■. '
Leclurex: Core, Bnwjirmi lectures: ail ccilidl I.. i >.
Gritlith-Jom-s. .i.-v,„r fArr^tjA CAmt; and for I r i:
ay, iVa^ Chrigt born af /. all good treatises, siuh i, \\',:<.it ., V, as those of Weiss and ltevschla■^ J. E. MOUAT.
FALSE CHRISTS — The term i^ei.Sixpwoi or pseudo-Christs occius only in Mk 13- (cf. 13«) = Mt 242' ((.f 245). Despite its omission in Mk. by D, etc., it probably belongs to the original t-gxt of the eschatologicaf discourse.
of Lukes iiarr.-itive. Ham:
On Christ s tuiichin',' :
and works on NT Theolo"
forms one of the sections i
But this discourse the Synoptic narrative
which are snecially permeated by reflexions of the Apostolic Church ; and even after a small Jewish or Jewish-Christian apocalypse has been disen- tangled from the discourse, the remaining logir(, of which this forms one, require to l)e carefully scrutinized. They do not belong to the primitive tradition of Christ's sayings. Over them lie traces of the exiieriences of the early Christians during' the latter half of the seventh deca<le in Palestine, when the political convulsion of the country w:is accompanied by religious agitation and inonil crises of a strange nature. The 1st cent, of our era
was full of unrest for the Jews of Palestine. As the pages of Josephus testify, one rival Messiah followed another, each and all succeeding more or less in kindling the pas-sions of the people against the Roman authorities. These popular leaders of revolt worked on the religious feeling of the nation. Messianic fanaticism became un- controllable, and enthusiasts seduced the ardent Ijy semi -political hopes (cf. Sehiirer, HJP I. ii. § 20, and Volz, Jiid. Esckatologie, 209-210).
If the words 'in my name' (Mk 13^=Mt 24') mean 'in the name of Jesus,' it is difficult to understand them. For it is hard to think of any Christians claiming to be Jesus. Christian false prophets there might be, and were, but we have no evidence dnving the 1st cent, of pretenders to the name of Jesus. False Christs m this sense of the term are scarcely credible, though later ages have furnished specimens of the type, as, e.g., among some of the followers of George Fo.x the Quaker, who was himself accused of claiming to be Christ. Either, then, we must suppose that the phrase ' in my name ' has been inserted by the Evangelists in order to stamp as Christian what was originally a JeAvish prediction, or the phra,se must be taken as equivalent to ' in the name of Mes.siah,' as is implied in ' I am he.' False Christs would thus be equivalent to false ilessiahs (so Mk 13-\ Mt 24^), and the logion would be a warning against the claims and pretensions of the numerous impostors who swarmed in Palestine down to the days of Bar Cochba (131-135 A.D.), their- last repre- sentative. It is in the light of this retrospect tliat Justin Martyr (about 155 A.D.) quotes this saying in his Dialogue (82. 308 C) thus : ' Our Lord said many false prophets and false Christs would come in His name and ileceive many ; which is the case.' The false iinj]ihets, of course, are the heralds of the false .Mes>-ialis ; tliey guarantee the movement in qmstiiiii liy iilclii-; of miracles. But occasionally a fiil-r M( ~-i,ili iiKiv have been, as Theudas was, a fal~.' jiicpli. t I- Well. The Didache, curiously enouL;h, nmit^ all mention of false Messiahs, though it notices the danger of false prophets (xvi. 3 ; cf., however, what is said in xvi. 4 alx)Ut the appearing of the world-deceiver as Son of God).