Hugh Duncan. WICKED. — Wickedness (wovripla) is sin contem- plated, not in the light of judicial guilt, or even of moral badness, but of the active mischief which it A\'orks.
Four Greek words in NT are translated ' wicked ' in EV.
(1) a.6itrfj.o; (only in 2 P 2^ 31''). This describes the man who will not walk according to the lines laid down (rWi<rHa.i) for him by others ; the man who gratifies his own desires and whims, in defiance of public opinion, or even of Divine regulation.
(2) ccvo/u-o; (Ac 223, and nine other times ; avo/^ia., sixteen times). This word originally has to do by derivation with the sheep that will not stay in its own pasture (youis), or the man who breaks through limits {vo/j-oi) assigned, and hence signifies a lawless man. The thought is similar to that in (1).
(3) y.a.x.k. Meaning originally ' unpleasant ' (cf. Lk 165, Ac 285, Rev 162), and then ' failing to answer expectation or fulfil the apparent reason for existence,' the word comes to mean ' morally bad ' as opposed to a.ya.%k, morally good (Mt 21*1 24*8, Col 35 etc.).
(4) now,pi;. This is the usual NT word; and it occurs very frequently, being usually rendered ' wicked' or ' evil.' It is connected by derivation with toil (tovo;). J. J. Schmidt sug- gests that, like the word ' villainy,' it has drifted from meaning 'labouring' and hence 'lower class' to ' degraded ' and thence ' \icious.' But it seems more probable that the root thought in ■r<ivr,p6t is ' causing trouble,' ' mischievous,' and thence 'actively wicked' in contrast to xpw'o^t ' actively good.' A vivid picture of the thought involved is found in 51t 132-i-so. 36-43, where the tares are the fruit of the ' wicked one,' o -rotvipo;. The bad man (xaxo;) may be content to sin alone, the wicked man (Toty.pc?) seeks to draw away others also.
1. The causes of wickedness. — (a) The wicked one (Mt 13'«- ■'«, Eph 6'«, 1 Jn 2'»- " 3^\ perh. Mt 6'^ etc. ). The first great source of evil is apparently the devil. He is the great mischief-maker who disarranges God's orderly Avorld {Koafios, Mt 4* 13^^, etc.), and is ever found in antagonism to Christ's dominion (Mt IS^'-^*", 1 Jn 518-20 RV). (b) Wicked spirits. Scripture leveals to us not only a general, but also an army of Avicked spirits Avho are ever ready to do his Avork (see Mt 12^5^ Ac ig^^- 1^, etc.). (c) Fallen human nature. Suggestions from Avithout are reinforced by Avillingness from within. De- praved human nature (cf. Mt 7") is traitor to Christ (Mt 15^^ Mk 722, Lk 113", Ro p9) xhis is the per- manent condition of the world apart from Christ (1 Jn 519, Gal 1^).
2. Manifestations of wickedness. — The tree of Avickedness has many kinds of fruit, by Avhich we detect its character (Mt V- ^^) : e.g. violence (Mt 5^9, Ac 17^ 2 Th 32), hypocrisy (Mt 22'"), an unforgiving spirit (Mt 1832), idleness (Mt 252^), unbelief (He 3^2), self-sufficiency (Ja 4'^), spite (3 Jn^") ; everything, in fact, that is unlike Christ, flourishes in the devil's Eden — the lost Avorld.
3. The consequences of wickedness. — The 'children of the Avicked one,' if unredeemed from his service, Avill share his doom (Mt 13«- ^o 252«- 3», Ro P^- ^2 ; cf. Eph 22- 3).
i. The remedy for wickedness. — God's attitude toAvards the Avicked man is not one of implacable anger, but of Avinning kindness (Lk 63^). Recon- ciled througli the cross of Christ (Col V-"- 2'), the Avicked man m.ay find complete pardon for the past. Nay more, he may be so rencAved in nature as to have no taste for his former Avay of life (Ro 12*, Ac 3-6, 1 Co 58, 1 Th 522). And further, he may not only be completely ransomed from the slavery in which he Avas formerly held (Mt 6'3, Jn 17i\ 2 Th 33, 1 Jn 5^8 RV), but may become actually victori- ous, through the imparted poAver of Christ, over
822
WIDOW
WILDERNESS
the evil one, who is now bitterly antagonistic to his former subject (1 Jn 2^^- ^\ Eph %^^-^%
Literature.— Trench, Synonyms; Grimm-Thayer and Cremer, Lexx. s.vv. xxxis, Tov/ipos. H. C. LEES.
WIDOW (x'jpa)- — Four widoAvs are referred to in the Gospels.
1. Anna of the tribe of Asher (Lk 236-38), a devout woman described as a prophetess, who had been a widow eighty-four years, and who con- stantly frequented the Temple, passing her time in fastings and prayers, and who, coming up at; the moment of the presentation of the infant Saviour, moved by the spirit of prophecy, spake of Him to those present who were expecting the redemption of Jerusalem. The Lewis MS of the Syriac Gos- pels says that Anna lived only seven days with her husband, an alteration not improbably made by some scribe with the object of reducing Anna's age to a less unusual limit. See also art. ANNA.
2. The widow of Sarepta or Zarephath, referred to by our Lord in the synagogue at Nazareth (Lk 425-26) as an instance of a Gentile who had entertained Elijah, and had received a blessing by his means. It has been suggested by A. Meyer (Jesu Miittersprache, iv. 8) that the word 'widoAv' here may have been 'Gentile' in some Aramaic original, "jAj-k^j] {armaitha), the feminine of ' Gentile ' or ' Syrian ' having been confused with "JASLDJ"! {armalta), 'a widow.' If this were so, then our Lord's reference to Naaman the Syrian would be balanced by a reference to 'a woman who was a Syrian' or ' Gentile.'