Literature. — Cremer, Bihl.-Theol. Lex. s.vv. ; Hastings' DB iii. 586 ; Saiiday-Headlam, Romans, p. 390 ; Hort, First Peter, p. 121 ; Carr, Hor. Bibl. 58 ; F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 3rd ser. xvi. ; Bushnell, Serm. on Lin. Subjects, xix. ; Dale, Week- day Serin, p. 216; Martensen, Chr. Ethics, i. 418 ff. ; ExpT -v. [1894] 147 ; Life of John Cairns, 438 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Cambridge Sermons (1890), 248 ; W. G. Rutherford, I'lie Key of Knoivledge
(1901), 134. James Denney.
OFFERINGS.—
In the technical sense, implying a formal ceremonial act, three Gr. words are represented by ' offer,' ' offering,' in the RV : (1) r:po(r^-pa, to bring to or near, the general term for the act of worshipper or priest, Mt 523-24 s-i ( = Mk 1**, Lk SW), Jn 162 ; (2) i.t(i.dy,f/.x, a votive offering set up in a temple (Lk 215) ; (3) h.i<^/^i, to give (Lk 22i, cf. Lk 214).
The attitude of Jesus to the ceremonial law is, in part, indicated in these references. Speaking to Jews He uses language appropriate to tlieir con- dition, and illustrates the truth He would teach fi'om their everyday life. He assumes that thej' Avill bring their gifts to the altar, and so far ' He respects the practice,' but He adds the all-import- ant truth that the reconciliation of man to man must come before the altar-ottering. Forgiveness of injuries (Mt 5^^'-)) filial piety (15"-), and mercy (9'^ 12") condition all acceptable service of God. In this Jesus takes His stand with the Hebrew l^rophets, and fulfils their moral law. The com- mand to the leper, now cleansed, ' show thyself to the priest, and otter the gift that Moses commanded,' Mt 8* ( = Mk P^ Lk 51*), ought not to be pressed be- yond this. The leper was ostracized, and the priest alone could remove the ban, and grant a certificate of health (Lv 14). Freewill ofterings, over and above the requirements of the Law, were provided for in the Temple treasury (Mk 12-", Lk 21^). Of the 13 trumpet-shaped boxes of the treasury 4 were for voluntary gifts. (See Edersheim, The Temple, p. 26 ; and for the general subject, .see Giving ; cf., further, artt. LAW and SACRIFICE).
W. H. Dyson.
OFFICER.— The term 'officer' is used in the Gospels (and Acts) as a tr. of virripeT-qs in the ordin- ary secular applications of that term (Mt 5^^, Jn 732. 45 183. 12. 18. 22 196^ Ac 522- 2S). In other two cases (Mk 1454- 65 II Mt 26-5», Jn 18^6) the AV tr. ' servants' ; the RV in the former adhering to 'officers' and in the latter putting it in the margin. In most of these cases the officers are servants of the Jewish
OFFICES OF CHRIST
OFFICES OF CHRIST
263
Council ; in Mt 5^ and Jn 18^ tliey may be regarded more generally as servants of the State. In Lk 12*^ ' officer ' is the tr. of a still hmubler term, Tpitrrup, a prison official, de5cril>ed in RVm as * exactor ' from his duty of collecting fines. In Jn 4* RVm ' king's officer " appears as an alternative to ' noble- man ' for a term meaning ' courtier.'
It is evident that in the 16th or 17th century 'officer' had a lower meaning than n»w.* These inrr]f>fTai belong to the rank and file. They are suljordinate officials, with duties piirely instru- mental, virtually on a level with our policemen. As emphasized in Jn. . they are the creatures of the Jews, accompanying the chief priests for the doing of their will ; or they may take orders from a cap- tain of the Temple (Ac 5-*), or they carry into execution the sentence of a judge (Mt 5^). St. Luke in his narrative of the Arrest and Trial and in 12*^ avoids the term, but he uses it in Ac o— • ^ as above (where, possibly, he is following a source), and four times of religious senice — in Lk 4* of a minister of the synagogue, in 1- and Ac 26'* (Paul) of Christian preachers, and in Ac 13^ of John Mark, who was, in some sense, assistant to Barnabas and Patd. So also St. Paul uses it in 1 Co 4^ In all these cases the AV i-enders ' minister ' ; in two (Lk 4^^ Ac IS^i the BX, -vWth- out much lucidity, substitutes 'attendant.'
vTrr)pfTy)s, originally ' rower,' was used in Greece of an assistant or inferior agent in any sort of work. In particular, it was used in a military sense of attendants on hea^■y-armed soldiers, and also of adjutants to officers of rank. A similar indefinite- ness, but always involving subordination, belongs to the NT usage. The tenu 'offic-er,' owing to the secular and especially the military associations of the name, was manii'estly imsuitable for the de- .scription of a Christian minister of any rank. Such terms of ancient administration as dirooroXos (com- missioner) and iiriffKOTros (inspector) were rec-eived into modem languages, not by translation into an equivalent, but by a process of adoption and adapta- tion. But the vwTjpeTTis. whose title, like these, was extended fiom the secular to the sacred sphere, was too inferior in dignity and too indefinite in char- acter for such distinction. We have indeed in ordinaiy rtsage a somewhat similar rank expressed l)y the teiTu ' office-ljearer.' and there is a special episcopal use of ' official ' ; while a still humbler dignity, parallel with the secular use in Scripture, is denoted by the designation ' church officer." Of such terms, and of the term ' officer ' as represent- ing the servants of the Sanhedrin, the interest pertains merely to the study of language. No theological or ecclesiastical idea is involved ; and for practical utility or correctness the only duty of new Revisers towards this term is to eliminate it entirely from the sacred page. R, SOOTT.