• Ph 29- 10.
t Farnell, The Evotutwn of Religion, p. 190.
i lb. { Marett.'rAe threshold of Religion', p. 62.
there was a ' household of Narcissus ' known to St.
Pnnl in tiint. citv T R A I I virnuTU v
Paul in that city.
T. B. Allwouthy.
NATION.— In Mk 7"-«, Gal 1»"- the RV rightly changes ' nation ' to ' race ' (7^1'fi) ; cf. Ac 4™ 18^ -\ 'a Cyprian by race,' 'an Alexandrian,' 'a Pontican.' In the NT eSvot generally designates a non-Jewish nation ; hut it is also used of the Jewish nation wlien sjioken of officially (Lk 7^*23=, Jn 11<»'- 18™, Ac 10-'- '24" '»■ " 26' 28'"), and even of the Cliristian society (Mt 21-'», Ro lo'"). In 1 P 2* Christians are called both ' an elect yivo^ ' and ' a holy IBvo^.'
Jesus spoke to the Jewish nation as a collective personality, a community bearing a common re- sponsibility. As 'they that were his own' they 'received him not'(Jn 1"), and the national crime of His crucifixion was the precursor of their down- fall, although it did not result in their being ' cast oil' (Ro 111), jiig passionate love for His own nation was evidenced by the fatigues, the priva- ti<ms, the 'contradictions' that He endured, by the tears of woe tliat gushed from His eyes (Lk 19" ; cf. Ro 9'). He seldom referred to other nations till near the close of His eartlilycour.se; yet He spoke of the Ninevites as having acted in their corporate capacity when they repented (Mt 1'2^' ; cf. Jon .3'). He recognized the right of the common law of the Empire of which He was a subject (Mt 22-1). 'All the nations,' He said, should finall}' appear before Him as their Judge, and He would reward the works of love done by tho.se whom He set on His right hand as having been done to Him- self (Mt 25'"-). When He appeared to His disciples on the mountain in Galilee, He said, ' All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth : Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations' ; and it is significant that He did not say ' of all men ' but ' of all the nations ' — thus pointing out that the object to be aimed at was nati(mal religion, the national confession of His authority (cf. Martensen, Ethics, 'General,' p. 443 f.). Further, if in Ac '2'"" the words '\ovSixlai>, Kpijrfs Kal 'Apa^es be omitted as being probably ancient glosses on the text, we are left, as Harnack says {Act.9, p. 65 f.), with a list of twelve nations, whom St. Luke may have specified as ' heralding the great theme of his book' — how Jesus was brought to all the nations of the known world, the new Israel (cf. Ac 19').
Tlie great missionary successes of the Apostolic Age prepared the way for the reception of the Christian faith on a grand national scale. St. Paul, before his death, ' had planted more churches than Plato had gained disciples' (Bossuet, Pand- qyrique de Saint Paul, 1659) — firi to ripixa ttjs SiHxeoii i\8wv, as Clement says (ad Cor. i. 5). Besides the Dispersion (q.v.), there were other two co-operating factors that assisted the progress of the gospel — the political unity of the Empire, and the influence of the Stoic creed. In the ancient heathen world, national life had been particular and exclusive : the nations were isolated from and ignorant of each other. But when they all looked to Rome as mistress and mother, they were on their way to the belief in the spiritual unity of mankind pro- claimed by Christianity (cf. Flint, History of the Philosophy of History, pp. 26, 61). The influence of the Stoic doctrine of ' world-citizenship ' is well attested by the fragment from Cicero (de Rep. iii. 22) quoted by J. Adam, Vitality of Platonism : ' Hymn of Cleanthes,' p. 146 :
' And there will not be one law at Rome and another at Athens, one law to-day and another law to-morrow ; but the same law everlasting .and unchangeable will bind all nations at all times ; and there will be one common Master and Ruler of all, even God, the franier, the arbitrator, and the proposer of this law.'
This noble utterance justifies the remark of S. Dill
NATURAL
^•ATURE
77
[Rom/jn Society from Nero to Marcus Aurclhis, London, 1904, p. 3'2S) : 'The Stoic school has the glory of anticipating the diviner dream, yet far from realised, of a human hrotherhood under tlie light from the Cross.' This 'diviner dream' will be realized when all nations, now nnite<l hy bonds far surpassing those of bloixl - relationsliip, or common s])eecli, customs, or history — the bonds of a common love and obedience to Christ — shall form together one august Kingdom of God (Rev 11"').
Literature. — J. Adam, Tfw Vitality of Plaioni^m and ofhrr Essniis, Edinburi;)!, ISll, pp. 113 n., 142, 146-147; R. Flint, History of (he Plulosophij of llislorp, tio., lSl):i, pp. 26, 4S, Bl, 63, 449; T. von Haering, The Ethics of the Christian Life, London, Ui09, p. 4U31. ; A. Harnack, Acts of the Apostles (tlT Studies, iii.), Eng. tr., do., 1909, pp. 49, 64, 65 1. ; H. Marten- sen, Christian Ethics, 'General,' Edinburgh, 1873, pp. '.214, 44'2f., 'Social,' do., 1882, p. SSt. ; G. Uhlhorn, Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, Eng. tr., do., 1S83, pp. 40-42.