Literature.— Hastings' DB, artt. 'Priest (in NT),' 'Heb- rews' ; W. Milligan, Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord ; Davidson, Hebrews, Special Note on ' Priesthood of Christ' ; Dimock, Our One Priest on High, and The Christian Doctrine of Sacerdotium ; Perowne, Oiir High Priest in Heaven ; Rotherhani, St^idies in Hehreivs ; Soames, The Priest- hood of the New Covenant ; Hubert Brooke, The Great High Priest ; H. W. Williams, The Priesthood of Christ (Fernley Lect. 1876) ; J. S. Candlish, The Chr. Salvation (1899), p. 6 ; G. Milli- gan, Theol. of Ep. to Heb. (1899) p. Ill ; R. C. Moberly, Minis- terial Priesthood (1897) ; A. S. Peake, ' Hebrews ' in Cent. Bible ; Bejschlag, NT Theol. ii. 315.
W. H. Griffith Thomas.
PRINCE. — There are four Gr. words occurring in the Gospels or applied to Christ in the NT which either in AV or RV are rendered 'prince.'
1. i]yeitubv, Mt 2*^. Both AV and RV here give ' princes ' — the only occasion of rjyiiu^v being so rendered in NT. Otherwise it is almost invariably translated 'governor,' and, in particular, is used to denote the Roman governor or procurator. So of Pilate (Mt 27 passim, Lk 20^0), as of Felix and Festus (Ac 2324- 26- 33. 34 2630). The description of Bethlehem as ' in no wise least among the princes of Judah ' is perplexing in view of Mic 5^ l^J from which the quotation is taken. The Heb. expres- sion is '9^N3 'among the thousands of (LXX iv xCKiaaiv). Differently pointed, however, the word becomes "p^m 'among the heads of thousands of,' i.e. the chieftains ; and this apparently is the sense assigned to it in the quotation. It is Avorth noting that in the Gr. there is a close correspondence between the 'princes' (i)y€ix6ves) of v.^'^ and the 'governor' (i^yovtxevo^) of v.'"'. The whole verse, however, is a very free rendering of the Heb. (see the Comm. ; and cf. Hastings' DB iv. 185*).
PEIXT
PRIXT
419
2. ovvdcTTjs, Lk P-. Here AV has ' the mighty,' but RV 'princes.' Elsewhere in NT the word is used only in Ac 8^ of the Ethiopian eunuch (EV 'of LTeat authority') and in 1 Ti 6^^ of God (EV 'Potentate').
3. dpxwj'. In Mt 20^ AV gives ' the princes of the Gentiles,' where RV has 'rulers.' Similarly in Rev P, as applied to Jesus, we have ' prince [RV ' ruler '] of the kings of the earth ' — an expression that was probably suggested by the LXX rendering of Ps 89^^ [88-^]. :\Iore important is the use of apxi^v in two of the Gospels as applied to Satan in the plirases dpx'*"' '''^^ 5aLiJLovlu3v (]Mt 9^ 12^, EV ' prince of the devils '), and apx<^v rov Kocfj-ov tovtov (Jn 12^1 14^* 16", EV ' prince of this world '). The Matthftan phrase calls for no remark, especially a-s in 12^^ ' the prince of the devils ' is said to be Beel- zebub (wh. see). ' Tlie prince of this world,' on the other hand, is a title that belongs to the special Johannine conception of the world as an order of things that is alienated from God and hostile to Him, and of Satan as a power dominating this sinful world and operating in it and through it (cf. Eph 2- ' the prince of the iK)wer of the air, the spirit that now Avorketh in the children of dis- obedience '). But, according to the Joliannine view (1 Jn 4''), 'Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world (6 ev rip Kofffuc).' The secret of the Saviours superiority lay ultimately in His absolute sinlessness. The prince of this world came and had nothing in Him ( Jn 14* ; cf. the Temptation narratives (Mt 4^*-, Lk 4'*-)j and especially the offer of ' all the kingdoms of the Avorld'). The world was Satan's, but Christ over- came the world (16^). So far from finding in Jesus anything that he could claim as his own, the prince of this world was himself judged bv Jesus (.16"), and by Him cast out (123i; cf. Lk 10'^).
i. dpxvyo^ is twice applied to Christ in Acts in the expressions ' Prince [EVm ' Author '] of life ' (3") and ' a Prince and a Saviour' (5^^). Elsewhere the Gr. word is used in XT onl}- in He 2^'-' 12-, both times of Christ. In 2^'' AV renders -captain,' RV ' author," RVm ' captain "; in 12- AV and RV have 'author,' AVm 'beginner,' RVm 'captain.' For the precise force of the word in the two passages in Heb. reference may be made to art. Captaix. The ' Prince ' ( Vulg. princeps) of Ac 5^^ is thoroughly justified in this connexion by both classical and LXX usage, and is particularly appropriate if, as Chase suggests (Credibility of Acts, p. 130), we may see in the expression ' a Prince and a Saviour ' an echo of ' the current phraseology — liturgical and literary — of the Me.ssianic hope.' In 3^', on the other hand, 'Author of life' (Vulg. cnictor citce) is more suitable than ' Prince of life.' The use of dpxvyos with a causative force (often making it practically synonymous with atVios, Avith which it is sometimes joined) is common in Gr. -writers from Plato doAvnwards, more esi>ecially when it is followed by the genitive of the thing. More- over, there is no suggestion here of that idea of ' leadership ' which is in keeping with both of the passages in Hebrews, and seems best to bring out their full meaning.