4. NT meaning. — In the NT, however, the term seems to refer exclusively to ' open, shameless im- purity,' It has plainly this meaning in Ro 13^^, 2 Co 1221, Qai 5W Eph 4W 2 p 2'-i«. It isone of the works of darkness, the fit climax of fornication and uncleanness ; it is a vice closely associated with banquetings and drinking bouts (kQ/j-oi. Kai ixidt) ; cf. 'wine, women, and song'); see C. Bigg, ^S"^. Peter and St. Jude (ICC, 1901), 168.
dcriXyeia or aKaOapcria ('a man may be dKadapros and hide his sin ; he does not become dcreXyrji until he shocks public decency ' [J. B. Lightfoot, Gala- tians^, 1876, p. 210]) and nXeove^ia seem to be the two characteristic heathen vices.
Bengel (on Ro l'-^**), followed by Trench, main- tains that psychologically man without God must seek satisfaction in either daiXyeia. (dKadapaia) or nXeove^ia, and dcriXyeia is associated in the NT with dai^eia and seems to be characteristically a heathen sin (cf. Wis 14^^ 3 Mac 2^8). Abbott (op. cit. p. 133 f. ) opposes this view of Bengel.
In Mk 7-2 and 1 P 4^ it is possible to defend the classical sense of 'excesses.' ' Raphelius justly observes that if daiXyeia were in this passage [Mk 7-'^] designed to denote lewdness or lasciviousness it would have been added to fioixeMi and iropvelai, vices of a like kind, in the preceding verse. But as it is joined with ddXos — deceit — he interprets it in general — an injury of a more remarkable and enormous kind ; and shows that Polybius has in several passages used the word in this sense ; cf. also Wetstein' (J. Parkhurst, Greek Lexicon to the NT\ 1804).
Against this, however, see the convincing note of H. B. Swete (St. Mark-, 1902, p. 154) : 'Here the reference is probably to the dissolute life of the Herodian court, and of the Greek cities of Galilee and the Decapolis ; if 56Xo5 characterized the Jew, his Greek neighbour Avas yet more terribly branded by daiXyeLo..' In 1 P 4^ the word is de- finitely used as a general term of the ' will of the Gentiles,' and is evidently the licentiousness which accompanied heathen feasts and lawless idolatries, while in Jude and 2 Peter it is the typical sin of the cities of the plain, Avhich the libertines, under the guise of a spurious freedom, followed, and into which they inveigled others. In their case the sin of irXiove^la was associated with it. While a rigid asceticism sprang from a horror of this sin, sensuality defended itself by the principle tliat the body did not count for spiritual life.
We may, then, conclude that the prominent
LASEA
LAW
685
idea in daeXyeLa in the NT is flagrant, shameless sensuality. While this was reckoned one of the d8id<popa among the heathen, it was branded as deadly and loathsome by Christianity. In the heathen world ' sexual vice was no longer counted vice. It was provided for by public law ; it was incorporated into the worship of the gods. It was cultivated in every luxurious and monstrous excess. It was eating out the manhood of the Greek and Latin races. From the imperial Caesar down to the horde of slaves, it seemed as though every class of society had abandoned itself to the horrid practices of lust' (G. G. Findlay, Ephesians [Expositor's Bible, 1892], 272).
Literature. — Grimm-Thayer, s.c. oo-cAveia ; R. C. Trench, NT Synonyms^, 1876, p. bit.; J. Miiller, The Christian Doctrine of Sin, 1877-85, i. 159 ff. ; the Commentaries of Ham- mond (on Ro 129, where an attempt is made to equate do-e'A.yeia and Tr\eove^ia), C. J. EUicott, J. B. Lightfoot (on Gal 519), H. B. Swete (on Mk 722), J. B. Mayor (on 2 P 22).
DoxALD Mackenzie.
LASEA (Aacraia, WH Aacr^a). — Lasea was a city near Fair Havens, on the southern coast of Crete (Ac 27**). It is not elsewhere mentioned by any ancient geographical or other writer, but as it was one of the smaller of the hundred cities of the island — 'centum nobilem Cretam urbibus ' (Hor. Ep. ix. 29) — this need cause no surprise. Tiie con- jecture of Captain Spratt in 1853 as to its site was confirmed by G. Brown, who examined the ruins in 1856. He found the beach buried under masses of masonry, and higher up discovered the ruins of two temples. ' Many shafts, and a few capitals of Grecian pillars, all of marble, lie scattered about. . . . Some peasants came down to see us from the hills above, and I asked them the name of tiie place. They said at once, " Lasea," so there could be no doubt ' (J. Smitii, The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul*, 1880, p. 268 f.).
The city was about 5 miles east from Fair Havens, and 1 mile east from Cape Leonda, which was so named from its resemblance to a lion couchant. As St. Paul's ship remained for ' much time ' (iKavov xp^''°^) in the Havens, Lasea was perhaps frequently visited by the Apostle. It is quite possible that the evangelization of Crete, in which Titus afterwards laboured, was begun at that time. James Strahan.
LAYER. — ' Laver ' is the translation of \ovTp6v in Eph o-'** llVm, where the text has 'washing.' The same Greek word occurs in Tit 3', where the RVm again gives 'laver.' This rendering is at least doubtful. In the LXX nVs, ' a laver,' is always rendered by Xovttjp, while Xovrpov is used for nym, 'washing,' in Ca 4^ 6«, Sir SI^". The phrase did Xovrpov iraXivyevealas, therefore, probably means 'through a washing, or bathing, of regeneration,' rather than ' through a laver, or font.' For patristic references confirming the translation ' washing,' see J. A. Robinson's Ephesians, 1903, p. 206. James Strahan.