2. Subjectively = the feeling of shame ; usually alaxvvr! and cognate words. f It is interesting to note that the typically Greek and almost un- translataltle aidws has practically dropped out of Biblical Greek. In the LXX it occurs twice in
Tychicua, Carpus, Euodius, Philemon, Zenas, Aquila, Priscas, .Junias, Marcus (2), Aristarchus, Pudens, Trophinius, Lucas the Eunuch, Lazarus. The list is manifestly untrustworthy. With some probability, indeed, are included all the seven 'deacons' (so called), along with some others (as Barnabas, Barsabbas, Marcus, Cleopas, Silas, Agjabus, and Ananias), who were primitive disciples resident in or near Palestine. But man}' others, in- cluding such Gentile Christians as Titus, Tychicus, Trophinius, and brethren like Timothy and Apollos, who became converts long after our Lord's Ascension, are obviously the outcome of indiscriminating conjecture.
* See the well-known passage in Cic. in Verr. v. 66 : ' Quid dicam in crucem tolH? Verbo satis digno tam nefaria res appellari nullo modo potest.'
t For distinction between o!,i/rxi''ii and x!iu;, see Trench, jVT' St/7i. §§ 19, 20. The latter is the better word ; ' x'.hu; would always restrain a good man from an unworthy act, while aiV^^i") would sometimes restrain a bad one.'
Mac. ; in NT only in 1 Ti 2** /xera ai'SoOs k. (TU)(t>po(Tvvns ('with shamefastness and sobriety,' RV ; ' shame- facedness,' AV*), and in Tli of He 12^8 (AV ' reverence '), where edd. read beovs. It may be that, like such words as dper-q and (fx-XLa, it was avoided as having a technical and unsuitable sense. In Homer and Hesiod it ranks high, being coupled with vifxecns, and personified ; it is the .sense of what is due to oneself and otiiers. Aristotle,! however, regards it not as a virtue, but an emotion (Trd^os), which he does not consider very valu.able to ethics. It is the fear of d5o^ia, the loss of reputa- tion, and, while jjroper to the v^os, it is out of place in the irpeapvrepos or iirteiK-qs (the good man). They ought never to do, or wish to do, things that might evoke the feeling of shame.
Shame is not, then, a motive which we shall expect to find prominent in Christian ethics. Its essential idea being <^o/3os dSo^ias, it looks only to the vary- ing standard of public opinion, to what jjeople would say, or might be conceived of as saying if they knew. And its source is not the moral sense of right and wrong, but at best the feeling of propi'iety and decency. At its highest it is a neutral word. If it may sometimes deter from a wrong action, regarded as disgraceful, it is even more likely to deter from a right action, as un- popular.
It is in this sense that it is most prominent in the Gospels. It may keep a man from honest work (Lk 16^). Christ warns those who are ashamed of Him and of His words, that He too will be ashamed of them (Mk 8»«, Lk 9^6 ; cf. Jn 12'*^). It is this false shame that is emphatically repudiated by the Apostles (Ro P«, 2 Ti P- ^\ 1 P 416).
Shame may also follow an action ; and here too the idea is not the conviction of sin, but the con- fusion which comes from discovery, though this may be an element in a future awakening of con- science. It is the fate of one who unduly exalts himself (Lk 14''*). Christ's enemies are put to shame (13^^), i.e. they are enraged at being ex- posed before the people. Though the word is not mentioned, it is presumably the feeling of the man who hid his talent or pound, when brought face to face with his master (Mt 25-^ Lk 19"-0) ; and it is certainly implied in Jn 8**, whether the words ' convicted by their conscience ' are genuine or not. The Pharisees are ashamed of being found exploit- ing a sin for their own ends.
It is possible that in the passage last quoted (the episode of the woman taken in adultery) we have an instance of shame in another aspect, the sym- pathetic shame evoked by sin in others. Christ was face to face with the type of sin which par- ticularly rouses that feeling, and Avith a callous attempt on the part of His enemies to use that sin for their own advantage. He blushed for those who did not blush for themselves.
' He was seized with an intolerable sense of shame. He could not meet the eye of the crowd, or of the accusers, and perhaps at that moment least of all of the woman. ... In his burning embarrassment and confusion he stooped down so as to hide his face, and began writing with h^s finger on the ground' (Seeley, Ecee Homo, ch. i.\.).
We may note that the word is far rarer in the NT, and particularly in the Go.spels, than in the OT. The typically Hebraic use of v\2 = to be dis- appointed of n hope, is not found in the Gospels ; it occurs in Ro 5'^ 9^ 10", 1 P 2". In each case a quotation is implied or expressed, though, curiously enough, from a passage (Is 28^6) where EJia does not occur in the Hebrew. The shame or reproach of childlessness, which is so prominent in the OT, is referred to in Lk P®.