Literature. — G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, Eng. tr. Edinburgh, 1902, pp. 147ff., 162 ff. ; fJDB, art. 'World'; Westcott, Corn, on the Epistle to the [lebrews, in locis ; F. Ken- dall, Expositor, 3rd ser., vii. [ISSS] 2ti(>-27S ; WUke-Grimm, Clacis Xovi Testamenti, s.v. ; ERE, artt. ' .Eons ' and ' Ages of the World'; F. J. A. Hort, Judaistic Christianity, Cambridge and London, 1894, pp. 133, 146 ; H. B. Swete, Gospel according to St. .Mark, London, 1902, pp. 65, 217 ; J. T. Marshall, ExpT, X. [1S9S-99] 323 ; Lightfoot, Com. on Colossians and Philemon^, London, 1879, p. 73 ff.; C. Geikie, Li/e and Words of Christ, do. 1877, p. 625 ; J. Agar Beet, Last Things, do. 1913, pp. 70 f., 132 f. ; Sanday-Headlam, nomanso (ICC, 1902).
John Reid. AFFLICTION.- See Suffering.
AOABUS {'Aya^os, a Avord of uncertain deriva- tion).— The bearer of this name is mentioned on two separate occasions in the Acts (il-"-™ 21"*-^M and also by Eusebius {HE ii. 3). He is described as a prophet who resided in Jerusalem, and we find him in A.D. 44 at Antioch, where he predicted that a great famine (q-.v.) would take place 'over all the world,' i.e. over all the Roman Empire. The immediate efi'ect of this prediction was to call forth the liberality of the Christians of Antioch and lead them to send help to the poor Inethren of Judrea (Ac IP^). The writer of the Acts tells us that this famine took place in the reign of Claudius. Roman historians speak of wide-spread and repeated famines in this reign (Sueton. Claudius, xviii. ; Dion Cass. Ix. ; Tac. Ann. xii. 43), and Josephus testifies to the severity of the famine in Palestine and refers to measures adopted for its relief (Ant. in. xv. 3, XX. ii. 5, v. 2). Though Syria and the East may have sufi'ered most on this occasion, the whole Enii)ire could not fail to be more or less afi'ected, and it is hyper- critical to accuse the author of the Acts of ' unhistorical generalization ' for speaking of a famine ' over all the world,' as is done by Schiirer {GJV* i. [1901] 543, 567 ; cf. Ramsay, 'St. Paul, 1895, p. 48 f., and Was Christ born at Bethlehem?, 1898, p. 251 f.).
Again in A.D. 59 we hear of Agabus at Csesarea, where he met St. Paul on his return from his third missionary journey. Taking the Apostle's girdle, he bound his OAvn hands and feet, and in the symbolic manner of the ancient Hebrew prophets predicted that so the Jews would bind the owner of the girdle and hand him over to the Gentiles (Ac 211"'"). The prophecy failed to move St. Paul from his resolve. There is no means of ascertaining whether Agabus was a prophet in the
higher NT sense — a preacher or forth-teller of the Word ; or whether he was merely a successful soothsayer. It is difficult to see what good end could be served by the second of his recorded predictions. Tradition makes him one of the ' seventy ' and a martyr at Antioch.
W. F. Boyd. AGE. — The general significance of ' age ' is a period of time, or a measure of life. Specially, it expresses the idea of advancement in life, or of oldness. Several Greek words are employed in NT for 'age.' (\) aiwv (see .^ON). (2) yevea, 'a generation,' loosely measured as extending from 30 to 33 years. In Eph S^-^i RV riglitly puts ' generations ' for ' ages.' (3) rfKeios, ' full-grown ' or ' perfect. ' In He 5" for A V ' to them that are of full age ' the RV substitutes ' fullgrown ' in the text, and 'perfect' in the margin (cf. I Co 2**, where the RV has * perfect ' in the text, and ' full- grown ' in the margin). (4) r]XtKla is the most exact Greek term for ' age,' and especially for full age as applied to human life. It includes also the ideas of maturity or fitness, and of stature, as when a person has attained to full development of growth. In Eph 4'* 'the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' (EV) is somewhat diffi- cult to interpret. The phrase is co-ordinate with the words 'a perfect (or fullgrown, r^Xeios) man,' which precede it in the text. Both phrases describe the ultimate height of spiritual develop- ment which the Church as the body of Christ is to reach. The latter phrase explains what the former implies. The general line of interpretation is that the whole Church as the body of Christ is to grow into ' a fullgrown or perfect man,' and the standard or height of the perfect man is the stature of Christ in His fullness (see Comm. of Meyer, Eadie, Ellicott, 171 loc. ; Field, Notes on the Tr. of the NT, 1899, p. 6 ; Expositor, 7th ser., ii. [1906] 441 fi" ). In Gal P^ where the compound awriXiKidsTas is used, the word has its primary meaning of ' age ' { = ' equals in age').
The question of age was of importance as regards fitness for holding office in the Church (see NoviCE). In later times the canonical age varied, but in general it was fixed at thirty (see Cathol. Encyc. art. ' Age '). It was also considered in relation to the dispensing of the charity of the Church, at least in the case of widows. In 1 Ti 5^ it is said : ' Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old.' The question naturally arises. Were only widows of advanced years eligible for assist- ance ? It is possible that younger widows might be in greater need of help. Because of this it is supposed by some (Schleiermacher, etc.) that the reference is to an order of deaconesses — a supposi- tion that becomes an argument for a late and un- Pauline date for the Epistle. Others think that the reference is to an order of widows who had duties which somewhat resembled those of the presbyters (Huther, Ellicott, Alford). De Wette believes that probably there were women who vowed themselves to perpetual widowhood, and performed certain functions in the Churcli ; but evidences of such an order belong to a later date in the Church's history. On the whole, and especially if the Epistle belongs to an early date, it is best to regard the instruction as a direction about widows who were entirely dependent on the charity of the Church. Younger widows would receive help according to their need, but were not enrolled like the older widows as regular recipients of the Church's charity. The age limit for an old age