Ben'jamix B. Warfield.
LIVING. — 1. Bi'os = 'livelihood,' 'means of liv- ing.' It is often used in this .sense in class. Gr., ' .7. Tov ^iov KTacrdai, iroiel<r6ai, etc. ; Plato, Gorg. 4!S6 D, (men) oh Iffn /cat ^los Kai du^a ku'l &Wa ttoXXix aya$d ; Phocylides, Frriff. 10, ed. Bergk, dii^-qadai SioTrjv, dpeTTjv 5' orav 3 /3ios yjSri (like Hor. EjJ. I. i. .33, ' qua?renda pecunia priinum est, virtus post nummos '). It is rendered ' living ' in four passages in the Gospels. (1) Mk 12« (, Lk 21-') IjSaXev b\ov TOV ^iov avrri^, Vulg. totnm viciion si(nm = ' r\\ that slie had to live upon until more should be earned ' (■Swete). Jesus knew that this was the case, and that she might have retained one of the XeTrrd when slie cast in both (Nestle, Expos. Times, xiii. o6'2, Avho adds that 2 Co 8^- looks like the moral drawn from tiiis passage ; cf. Holtzmann, Hand-C'om- mcntar, 256). Compare the praise of the virtuous woman, Pr SP"* (LXX (Twaya. 5e aun? tov ^Lov). (2) Lk 8^ laTpoh irpoaavaXuo'affa oKov tov ^iov, Vulg. oiitncm substdntiam suam : the wp6s implying that besides what she had sunered, she had" ex- pended all her means of subsistence (cf. Plummer, 234 :_ Holtzmann, 157 ; Hastings' DB iii. 322*). Ca 8' LXX, edv 5(j avrip irdvTa tov ^iov avTou ev Ty aydwr], i^ovSevwaeL €^ov5evuiaovaiv avrov, forms a sug- gestive parallel. (3) Lk 15^- 8iei\ev aiVots tov ^iov, Vulg. divisit illis substantiam : 6 jSios being equi- valent to 7] oiVia (' his e.state '). Such a division of l)roperty in the father's lifetime was perhaps not uncommon. What precise rights the father re- tained after the division is not clear. The words Trdira rd efj.d ad eariv (v.^') are not spoken in a legal sense, but are an expression of fatherlj- affection cf. Plummer, 372; Simcox, Expositor, 1889, ii. 124, 127). TO iwLjidWov /xepos Vkfis a technical form- ula, as api)ears from the jiapyri (Deissmann, Bible Studies, 230). Tiie share of the younger son would be a third (Dt 21'", cf. Jiilicher, Glcichnisredcn , 338). (A) \Ai\o^^ b KaTa.(paydjv (TovTov ^iov. Plummer thinks there may be bitterness in the aov, when avrov might have been more fairly used. But the cov TOV ^Lov maj' have been due to correct feeling ; the elder son not regarding the share which he iiimself had received as being absolutely his own as long as his father lived (cf. Jiilicher, Gleichnis- rcden, 337). /3toj is used in the .same sense: 1 Jn 3'' 6s 5' hv ?xv ''■o" /3to;' tov kouixov, where it is rendered 'this world's good' (AV), 'goods' (RV), and includes ' all the endowments which make u])^ our earthly riches, wealth, station, intellect ' (Westcott, in he). For the distinction between t<jr) and /3I0S, in NT and in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers {^wri the principle of life, vita qua rivimtis ; /Si'os the process, the circumstances, the accidents of life, in its social relations, fita qmim virimns; cf. Lk 8'^), see the valuable note of Lightfoot, Ifjnnt. nd Rom. vii. 3 (Apostolir Fothers, second part, ii. 1. 225-226) ; and cf. Haupt on 1 Jn 2'^, and Trench, Si/non. xxvii.
2. ZG:y.-—[\) as applied to God: by St. Peter, Mt le^" 6 I'ios TOV OeoC tov fcD^ros ; by the high priest, Mt 26*^ efop^ifw ere Kara tov 6. r. f. ; by Christ Himself, Jn 6'' 6 ^Cjv iraT-qp.
The title 'the living God' occurs in OT in the foUownng passages : D':n D'ri'S^f Dt 523 (26), 1 § 1726-36, jer iQio 23:* ; c'.iSn '- -2 K 1&4- 16 (II Is 37*- IT) ; 'n '?x Jos 310, Hos 21 (liO), Ps 423 (2) 843 (2) ; j,.,n khSn Dn 621 (20> 27 (26). jt is found besides (in LXX) r>t 43, To 131, Fsf (il3, r)n 419 .v» All, Bel 5, 3 Jfac O^-t. A
study of the OT passages shows that God is called ' the living God,' not only as contrasted with the dead idols of the heathen, but also as the God of active Providence, as Israel's Protector and Helper, as He who is Life, and the never-failing Source of spiritual life to men. It is perliaps the title of God that comes nearest in significance to Jahweh, and it seems to have been used at times of great emotion as a substitute for it, particular!}- when the name Jahweli had disappeared from popular use (cf. Dalman, Words of Jesun, 195). Sanday (BL, 1S93, p. 153, cf. 124) justly calls attention to the richness and depth of this prophetic title as compared with modern terminology : ' the Absolute, the Infinite, the Unconditioned, the First Cause, the Moral Gover- nor,' and so on (cf. Flint, Sermons and Addresses, 170).*
' The living God ' occurs often in NT, and the Avriter of Hebrews iLses it with special force and empha.sis (see A. B. Davidson, note on He 3'-). On the lips of St. Peter (Mt 16^'') it amounts to a con- fession that the living God is now revealed in Christ, who thus becomes the Source of eternal life to His followers (Jn 6®* ; cf. Hastings' DB iv. 574''). The high lariesfs use of the title adds a certain dignitj- to his adjuration ; and Jesus answered on being thus solemnly appealed to. 'The living Father' (Jn 6'^') is a remarkable ex- pression, combining as it does all that was signi- fied by ' the living God ' in the OT with Christ's revelation of God as the Father who sent His Son (or, of God as the Source of life on the side of love). The meaning of this verse may be briefly stated as follows : our Lord's words, ' I live by (5td, RV 'because of) the Father' are to be re- ferred to the personal life of hitman weakness and suffering now in progress. In living this life Jesus is dependent upon the support and sustenance which He is receiving at every moment from the Father who sent Him. A like dependence exists in our case upon Jesus Himself. Being Himself strengthened. He becomes the source of strength to us. It is the very fact of His coming and living this life of human weakness and sutt'ering on earth that puts it within our power to take Him for our si^iritual support and sustenance. When we take home the truth of His self -humbling love for oiu' sake, and assimilate it to ourselves as the bread we eat, we receive into our souls the true life that cannot die (cf. Beyschlac^, AT Theol. i. 272 ; and for a similar profound saying as to the relation between the Father and the Son and believers, see Jn lO'"*- ^*).