The references in the Gospels are coloured throughout by this Hebrew conception. Even where Divine utterance is not in question, a value is ascribed to ' words ' Avhich does not belong to them according to our modern modes of thought. ' For every idle word that a man speaks, he shall give account in the judgment ; — for by thy Avords thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned ' (Mt \2^^-). Jesus regards the most casual word as more tlian wasted breath. It is a spiritual force, and the man who sets it free is responsible for the good or evil which it jjroduces. A similar estimate of the value of words underlies the many injunctions against profane, or foolish, or thoughtless, or imkind speech ( Mt S^^- ^"^^ Lk 121", Mt \2^). Such ' words ' have all the signifi- cance of wicked actions. Coming ' from within a
man,' they express his mind and character even more truly than deeds, and Avill bear witness of him in the Judgment.
The influence of the OT conception appears more clearly, however, in the allusions to Christ's own 'word.' It is the vehicle of His wonder-working power. It has virtue in it to heal diseases and to quiet the winds and the sea. In several passages the ' word ' is explained as one of kingly authority, which had might over the spiritual agencies at work in nature (cf. Lk 436, ^^ 8i«). But the radical idea is undoubtedly that of a ' word with power ' (Lk 4^2) analogous to the Divine word. To give eff'ect to His will, Jesus had only to utter it ; the word that went out from Him was itself ' quick and powerful,' and acted in His stead. In this sense also we must interpret the references to the message of Jesus as ' the word.' As thus described, the gospel is something more than the Christian teaching or the proclamation of the Messianic Kingdom. The idea is suggested that a new power liad entered the world through Jesus, and com- muhicated itself in His spoken message. Thus in the parable of the Sower, the word is compared to seed which contains in itself wonderful potenti- alities. All that is required of men is the right disposition of heart ; the message, once received into the 'good ground,' will henceforth work of itself, with a living and ever-increasing power.
In the Fourth Gospel, more especially, the allusions to the Mords of Jesus have everywhere a pregnant meaning. ' The words that I speak unto you are spirit and life ' ( Jn 6^^) ; ' Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you' (15^) ; ' He that heareth my word hath ever- lasting life ' (5^*) ; — in such sayings and many others the idea of whole-hearted assimilation of the teaching of Jesus is certainly present, but it is by no means the only, or the central, idea. It is indeed characteristic of the Fourth Gospel that Jesus says little by way of positive teaching. He Himself, in His own Person, is the revelation, and the words ascribed to Him have reference mainly to His sujireme worth as the Light of the world — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Because they thus give expression to His Divine claim, they in a manner represent Himself. To accept the words is to receive Jesus, in His life-giving power, into one's heart (cf. 15^ ' If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ').
It has often been suggested that the peculiar emphasis on the words of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is intended to illustrate the thesis of the Prologue that He was Himself the Word made flesh. The absence of the Logos theory from the body of the Gospel would thus be counterbalanced by the many references to the 'words.' Against this view, however, it may be urged : ( 1 ) that no consistent rule is traceable in the use of \67os and prjiia, as might have been expected if the writer were working out some definite idea ; (2) that X670S in the Prologue bears a twofold significance ('word' and 'reason') which can nowhere be dis- cerned in the later references. The more probable conclusion is that the value assigned to the words of Jesus is connected, not so much with the specific Logos doctrine, as with the general conception that Jesus was one in nature with God. His words were therefore of the same quality as the Divine creative word. They were ' spirit and life ' (6«2).
Literature.— Smend, Alttest. Theol. p. 87 f. (1893); Wendt, Die Lehre Jesu (1901) ; H. Holtzraann, Neutest. Theol. ii. 396 f. (1897) ; Titius, hie Johann. Ansrhauung der Seligkeit, 70 f. (1900) ; J. Ker, Serm. i. 1 ; J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Serm. v. 29 ; F. W. Robertson, Serm. iv. 145 ; R. W. Church, Pascal, and other Serm. 255. E. F. SCOTT.
WORK.— See Activity, Labour.
WORLD
WORLD
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WORLD {K6(r/ios). — 1. The underlying significance of tlie term K6a/j.os is that of order. Its probable derivation is from a root ko/jliS, which appears in Lat. comptus and in our 'comb.' This order, regu- larity, neatness receives the widest illustration in classical usage. Thus Kda-fxos includes the idea of decency of behaviour (JEsch. Ag. 521, cf. Soph. Aj. 293), of constitutional government (Thuc. iv. 76), of elegance of attire (Hdt. iii. 123), and so, by just transference, of the world or universe (Plat. Tmi. 27 A, cf . Arist. Ccel. i. 10), as exhibiting perfection of arrangement, and standing in eternal contrast with chaos. In this, its widest application, it became employed by all writers on natural philosophy, though the meaning oscillates, with some uncer- tainty, between the earth and the universe gener- ally (see Liddell and Scott, s.v., from which the quotations are taken). It is interesting to observe that ordo in Latin does not, as might have been expected, stand as an equivalent for Kda/Mos. Its equivalent in Latin is mundus (cf. Sanskr. mund), the root idea of which again is cleanliness, neatness, or order. Thus both the Latin and the Greek pass through, with a singular exactness of analogy, the same transferences of meaning, so-that Cicero ( Univ. 10) identifies Kdafios and mundus in that widest application of the term above referred to (see Lewis and Short's Diet. s.v. 'Mundus'). There is, how- ever, a further transference of meaning in a use of mundus by classical writers not found in the cor- responding use of Kbufios. It is employed (Hor. Sat. i. 3. 112, cf. Luc. Pharsal. v. 469), but somewhat rarely, in a social sense to signify mankind, whereas this application is not given to /cdo-yuoj except in so-called Alexandrine Greek. In a word, the con- ception of order covers every departmental applica- tion of the Greek /c6(r/aos and its Latin equivalent.