2. An ancestor, otherwise unknown, of Joseph, the husband of Mary (Lk 3^"). In this case, with some inconsistency, RV turns the name into 'Symeon' (as in Ac 13^ 15"), which is the more, normal vocalization of the Greek, though not of the Hebrew. R. W. Moss.
SIMON. — The form Simon is not a transcription
of I'lVP?', but is either a contraction for Simeon or an independent Greek name. The latter view is much the more probable. In the NT the name is frequent. The Gospels mention — 1. Simon the brother of our Lord (Mt 13^^ Mk G^). 2. Simon the Zealot (see Canan^ean), one of the twelve Apostles (Mk 3^* ||). 3. Simon of Gyrene, who was impressed to bear our Lord's cross (Mt 27'^ II). 4. Simon 'the leper,' in whose house the anointing of our Lord by Mary of Bethany took place (Mt 26^ Mk 143). 5, Simon the Pharisee, in whose house the penitent woman anointed our Lord's head and feet (Lk 7^'"'-)- See Anointing. 6. Simon the father of Judas Iscariot ( Jn G'^^ 13"- -^). 7. Simon Peter. See Peter. W. Patrick.
SIMPLE, SIMPLICITY (dTrXoOs, aw\6T7,s ; the latter does not occur in the Gospels ; the former only in Mt 6^2 and Lk IP*).
The words irXoS?, ' simple,' and ' single ' spring from the one root (Giles, 3lan. of Comp. Philol. p. 15C). It appears in Greek in 'iv (= irfj.lv), i^a, and as a, in a.^a.1 and avXcu; ; in Lat. in semel, simul, simplex, and similis ; in Eng. in same, simple, and single. The basal meaning, therefore, is oneness, sameness (cf. ' one and the same ') ; the fundamental contrast is between one and more than one ; and only in similis and its derivatives does it branch out into the idea of likeness. In medicines it yields the antithesis : simple or pure v. mixed or adulterated ; in other realms, that of single or double — as of a road, the sole of a shoe, etc. The former, transferred to the moral sphere, gives the idea of purity, genuineness ; the latter, that of singleriess, open- ness, frankness, straightforwardness, simplicity, candour, art- lessness. The antithesis in the former is impurity, adulteration ; in the latter, double-mindedness, duiylicity, hypocrisy, etc. The two conceptions really flow together in guilelessness, sincerity.
These meanings are found throughout the classical and NT periods. A third appears in Isoc. and Arist., where the word sometimes descends to silliness or folly, as in English. But this is never so in LXX or NT (see Liddell and Scott, Cremer, and Hastings' DB, s.v.). Of the meanings given above, 'singleness' almost exhausts the thought of simplicity in the Gospels. But 'guilelessness' is so close to it that it must also be briefly treated. Other Eng. senses of the word, as well as the idea of purity above, do not properly come under this head in the Gospels.
1. The leading jiassage is Mt 6^^. In that chap- ter Jesus expounds the first great commandment touching our duty to God, as in 7^'^" He enforce*
SIMPLE, SIMPLICITY
SIiAIPLE, SIMPLICITY
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the second, wliicli concerns our duty to man (cf. Mk 12-"-^'). The form of the teaching was deter- mined by Pharisaism, which serves as a dark foil for the truth. Outwardly religious, the Pliarisees were essentially worldly. Professing ostentatiously to be servants of God and shepherds of the people, they were oppressors of the people and servants of their own selfish ambitions. Thus they lived a double life, loving the jjraise of men more than the praise of God. Over against their worldliness, with its doubleness and hypocrisy, Jesus sets before us the obligation to obey and please God in everything as our supreme duty (vv.^"^*), while in vv.^''"^- He meets our unbelieving fear that such a course would bring loss and bankruptcy, by assuring us that we may well trust our Heavenly Father's care. It is all summed up in v.^'- in the command to seek first God's Kingdom and righteousness, and in the promise that He will give all needful earthly good, so that we need not worry. Tliat this singleness of aim is the main thought, is clear from the illus- tration He employs in v.^-. Tlie 'single' eye is tliat which looks at one object alone, and sees that clearly ; as contrasted with it, the ' evil ' eye is that which (not ' sees double,' but) endeavours to look at two objects at the same time (and the context sug- gests two in opposite directions), and therefore sees neitlier clearly. The natiu'al antithesis to airXovs would have been dnrXovs, instead of which irovy^pos is used, botii to turn attention sharply from the physical to the nioi'al which it was meant to illus- trate, and, by avoiding the thought of ' seeing double,' which 5t7rXoCs in itself would naturally suggest, to make it easier to think of the unusual attempt to see things in opposite directions, and so pass to the common moral experience of cherishing, as objects of ambition, things that are diametrically opposed. Accordingly, TovTfpbs must be interpreted as ' evil ' in this particular sense. For the double aim to serve God and mammon is evil, both in its very nature, as being really a rejection of the sole sovereignty of God, and in its results, as leading inevitably to the double life with its darkness and doom. Such a life is only apparently possible. Really it is impossible ; a choice must be made. We cannot serve God and mammon. Pharisees could not believe, becaiise they sought glory from one another ratiier than the glory that comes from God (Jn 5i^ ; cf. Jn 12^-^-). Life becomes simple when we accept God's will as our law and His Kingdom as the object of our endeavour. And that life leads to the blessings here mentioned. It floods the whole being with liglit. It means, as surely as God cares for birds and flowers (v. -2), that He will care for our temporal needs better than any man can care for himself, though he be rich, cultured, and power- ful as King Solomon (vv.-5-32)_ Moreover, it en- sures imperisliable treasures in heaven (v.^^). 2. Tiie passage in Lk. (lp4-36) is to the effect. That Avicked generation forms the ground (v.^s). Some of them had charged with being in league with Beelzebub (v.'^ calls tiiem ' Pharisees,' 12^^ ; Mk. ' scribes,' 3=*'). In refuting that charge, He declares that it is by the finger of God He casts out demons, and that tliere- fore in Him the Kingdom of God has come near to them (v.2"). The man who is not with Him is against Him (v.'^), and therefore against God. None s>ich can be blessed, but only those who hear God's word and keep it (v.™). Tiien to the tiirong- ing multitudes He points out tlie sin of that genera- tion (v."'). He is a sign to them, as Jonah was to Nineveli. But inasmuch as He is superior to Jonah and all wlio iiave gone before Him (vv.*'- '^), and His light has not been hidden, but conspicuous (v.^'^). He has, with unparalleled clearness, presented to men God's claim upon themselves. Then, with a swift turn to personal warning and appeal (shown