i'iii|ili:ii ir _::i'w\ .iiiii denies the po-ssibility of
llLr .■.ml iiiLTiK \ Ii. wliiili ilie passage refers {om .Mk :! ', An S ;u.' ^,i Jn 1" S''"- W^ 1P« W).
Of all these passages it may be said at once that the Speaker clearly has in mind a state of things of which no reversal is by Him conceived as possible, either now or at any future time. In jjresence of natural death, the solemn declaration that he who believes ov /iri aTo$dpri eh riv aidea ( Jn 11^^) does not merely defer the date, but repudiates the possibility of anything that deserves to be called death for the belie """
again, whose soio comes to an end, is expressly contrasted with the son who fUyd ek rbv aiCbva (.tn S-") ; and the same expression is used of the Christ (12*^), with the same associated ideas of permanence and per- petuity. Peter rejects his Master's otter of service in washing his feet (13*) — a rejection which he immediately after gladly retracts— not certainly with the idea that he may accept the otter on some or any future occasion, but sincerely, and as far as his present thought is concerned, finally. And life c/t Tbv alQva. (6^'' ^) is not limited, terminable life, merely lengthened out as compared with the present, but is a life that needs no artificial and bodily sustenance to enable it uninterruptedly to endure. Tlie connotation of the phrase, whether on the lips of Christ Himself or employed by another, evidently im|)lies an outlook into a future to which the thought of the writer or speaker neither assigns nor conceives it possible to assign a limit.
The same considerations will apply to the ad- jective aldivios, and esiiecially as it is used to
qualify fw^ i tive feature For the won rendering ' ;i rendering it ception the \
lich becomes a distinc-
os|icl and First Epistle. . Ii;il .Hi.'-tion-begging
i' ■ 1 i.ii t I'.l. In such a i'U on the con- Ill. ■.! ..1 I lie 'age,' and
lr88
MMORTALITY
IMMORTALITY
the associations it bore to their minds. If they thought of it as definitely terminated or termin- able, then 'age-long' is equivalent to ' temporary.' If they regarded it and vTote of it vithout any associated idea of a limit or end, or if the context <'learly intimates that no such idea would have been admitted, then so far ' age-long ' is synony- mous with 'immortal,' ' everlasting,' or 'eternal.' And it appears undesirable to introduce a new and ambiguous term. Apart, however, from the phrase fur; aiuvios, the adjective is of rare occur- rence in the Synoptic Gospels, and is not used by St. John. It is found three times in St. Matthew in association with terms exipressive of sutt'ering or retribution to be endured in the future (t4 iri'p TO alufiov, 18^ 25^' ; KiXans aliivio^, 26'"*). St. Luke has a reference (16") to rds alaviov^ aKt)va.t, 'the eternal tabernacles,' open to those who have been far-sighted enough to secure to themselves friends while it was in their power, from whom in their oAvn day of need they may claim favours and return in kind. And a significant and unique phrase in Mk 3-' 6s 5' ai- p\a(r(pTifiriari . . . Ivoxos eariv alwviov afj.apTriij.aTos, suggests far-reaching con- clusions, with regard to whicli all that perhaps need be said in this place is that it stands here as an explanatory addition to an emphatic atUrina- tion that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness fis rm aidva. The context, there- fore, precludi's :in iiit'ipri'tation in a sense con- trary to the iini'liratiuiis of the preceding words, as though the writer l^i.^ht lie thinking of an act of sin committed once for all, and then with all that it entailed delinit«ly and finally set aside.
of fuT) aicivios is mystically described as an eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, and is associated with the resurrection at the last day (6**). This last passage would by itself prove, what the others assume, that i'uri alunos, though
liresent, is not limited by the present. Elsewhere tliere is an approach to the Synoptic standpoint uf a future life over against or following on that now
may be trusted. The TB xpiirim is fonnrl in xi '-
• aiiil llic eur-
sives, with one or two Latin matiM-.i.... ..„i
Syriac. The various ieaciin<' iu^^T. ■ • seem to be a correction of xi.uc,i-.
■a iVOlild
1 la xluce
into the text the meaning' of 'sii.fu;
.1 from
'a sin.' Cf. II. B. Suofr, 7i, /„• . :, ,
The tnif ,.v.,„.iM,,„ „ ,.. 1...
I'in his
1 n-reon
to an . ' I
But •■• . ■
' - ribes
thesin ,1-. i[ a. 1 ' !•■ . . • .
forgivc,R« 1,'. li.l |K,.,„„„ ,,,,,
1 ',' -, "-'
attached to endless !.\„. This i-
punishment. Sin reacts on tlie n,
state continues. Tlr ? of God's resentment a- . . , , h ,-
the result of the effect of any sin, oi e-uti^e in ^m, m iixin^ tne sinful state beyond recover^'.'
With regard to the phrase fw^; aiiivios, there is a striking diflerence in its associations in the few passages in which it is found in the Synoptists, and in the more frequent use of St. John ; a difference which seems to reflect the varying atti- tude of the writers towards the teaching of Christ. In the Synoptists the sphere of i-uij aiiino! is in the future. It is to be inherited (Mt 19-»), and to be received in the coming aiiii' (Mk KP. Lk W) in recompense for that which the disciples of Christ forego in this ; which the ruler (apxwi-, Lk 18'^ n Mt W, Mk 10'"), or lawyer {vofuKds, Lk 10=») conceives that he may inherit or attain (o-xw, Mt. I.e.) by virtue of good deeds in the present. In St. John, on the contrary, furj aldyios is a present possession. The believer has or may have it (Jn Z^ 5^ 6", S"- "^ e") ; and the bestowal of this gift is described as the express aim and purjiose of the coming of tlie Son into the world and of His death, the fruit of the Father's love (3'") and will (6'"'), but conferred by the Son Himself (10=* IT). In one passage .-tlso where the same plirase is used, the closeness of the fellowship Avith Himself implied in the possessi<m