PAKTHIANS
PASSOVER
131
LlTRBATi'RE. — Artt. * Piirousia,' ' Resurrection,' ' Eschfttologry,' in VCir, HDIi, a.ml otlu-r l>irti<maries and lincyclopietiias ; R. H. Charles, Eiichatvhity : Hebrew, Jewish, and CfiriAtiau-, London, VJVi ; W. O. 6. Oesterley, The Doctrine c/ the Last Things, do., 1008, Emlution i>t' the Messianic Idea, do., ll)i)S ; S. D. F. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Iniinorlalitii', Edinbnrgh, I'Jia ; E. F. Scott, The Kimjdvm and thr Messiah, do., 1911, The Fourth Gos/ifl, do., l!li)|j; Evelyn Underbill, The Mj/stic M'aif, London, 1913 ; P. Gardner, The Rtl/^iions Experience of St. Paul, do., 11)11 ; A. Sabatier, The Apostle Paul, Ensr. tr., do., 1S91 ; A. Schweitzer, I'aul and his Inter- preters, Etijr. tr., do., 1912 : J. A. Beet, The Last Thintis, new ed., do., 1!I03 ; P. Volz, Jiidische Eschatoloi/ie, Tubingen, 1903 ; M. J. Lagrrange, Le Messiani^yn^ chez les Jtri.fs, Paris, 1909 ; W. Bonsset, Der Antichrist, G6ttin;ren. 1S9.">; G. Dalman, ll'onls of Jesus, Enj,'. Ir., Edinburgh, 190:2 ; W. M. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, London, 1904, The church in the Roman Empire, do., 1S93 ; A. Harnack, History of Doijma, Eng. tr, do., 1S94-99, Mission and Expansion o.f Christianitif, Kii-;. tr., do., 190S ; Kirsopp Lake, The Earlier Epistles of .^7. P(7«^,do.,1011 ; H. J. Holtzmann, y cutest. Theotoijie.Tnhuigen, 1911; G. B. Stevens, NT Theoloiiil, Edinburub, lS9il. Com- nientaries: Sanday-Headlam, ICC, ' Romans 'f», Edinburgh, 1002; Robertson-Plummer, ICC, ' 1 Corinthians,' do., 1911; J. Armita.tie-Robinson, Epkesiaiis, London, 190.3 ; T. K. Abbott, ICC, ' Eplu'Sians and Colossians,' Edinbur^^b, 1897; G. Milligan, Thessato7nans, London, 1908 ; B. F. Westcott, f-lospel of .St. .John, do., 1908, and Epistles of St. John, do., 1883 ; F. J. A'. Hort, 1 Peter I. l-II. V, do., iSi)8 ; H. B. Swete, The Apocaliipse of SI. John-, do., 1907 ; R. H. Charles, Studies in the Apocaliipse, Edinburgh, 1913. S. H. HOOKE.
PARTHIANS.— Parthians are mentioned in Ac 2* aniung the sdjnurners in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. They were probably Jews who had become naturalized in Partliia, ' Jews of the Dis- persion,' witli possibly a few Partliian proselytes. Their ruler at this time was Arsaces XIX. (Arta- banus III.), and their kingdom extended from Mesopotamia eastwards to the borders of India. The Partliians at iirst inhabited the mountainous country south of tlie Caspian Sea, between Media and Bactriana. Strabo (xi. 9. 2), Arrian (frag. 1), and Justin (xli. 1-4) agree in describing tliem as Scytliians brought into this region by Sesostris. However this may be, tliey came under Persian rule in tlie time of Darius Hystaspis, and remained loyal to the Persian kings till Ale.xander the Great overthrew Darius Codomannus (333 B.C.) and con- quered all his territory. Thereafter the Partliians acknowledged the suzerainty of the Seleucidse till 256 B.C., when they revolted under Arsaces I., who became founder of a dynasty which lasted till c. A.D. 226.
Rome found the Parthians a difficult people to subdue, and tlie conflicts between the two nations were many and long-continued. Sometimes Home prevailed ; sometimes Parthia held its own. Tlie Partliian soldiers were skilled horsemen and archers. They could move quickly on military campaigns, and shoot arrows with great precision while riding at full speed. Hence they were able to liarass even tlie highly disciplined armies of Koine. The P.artliians were not a literary people, and fell below the Persians, and very much below the Greeks, both in civilization and in art.
A W Oooicp
PASSION, PASSIONS.— The word 'passion'' is used in the NT, both in the singular and in the plural, in senses which are now current only in biblical English.
1. ' Passion ' in the singular is used of the sutTer- ing or death of our Lord in Ac P, representing tA TTadelv, which here denotes the Crucilixion ('after his passion'), and is exactly parallel with He 2^, where TrdSrifia tov Bavarou is rendered ' the suffering of death.' On the other hand, wadJiimTa in He 2'" means Christ's sufferings in a more general sense, as in 2 Co I=, Ph 3'», 1 P 4" 5'. In his speech before Agrippa St. Paul says that Christ was •subject to sutlering' (iraSTjTiis, Ac 26^) — that is to say, in His humanity. That in His Godhead He was imp.issible but in His humanity pa.ssible was insisted on by Ignatius against Docetic error [Eph. vii. : ttpCiTov TaBriTds Kal lire dTraS^s, so Polyc. iii. ), and
by other Fathers ; cf. Apost. Const. II. xxiv. 3, vill. xii. 33 (ed. Kunk). We may compare the nickname ' Patripassians ' for the Sabellians, the logical outcome of whose doctrine was that the /"'«</)-«)• sullcred. In the Thirty-nine Articles (Jod is said to be 'without passions,' or, in the (equally authoritative) Latin, impassiliills (.\rt. i.).
2. In another sense, 'passion' in the NT is a neutral word unless quatiiied by the context ; in Gal 5-'' 'pa.ssions' (waOri/xaTa, AV 'affections') is
quailiieii uy ui siiis, aim tiiu j^iiiaao iiiuiiiis mii passions' (AV ' motions of sins '). Properly, then, 'passion' is any feeling, not necessarily strong feeling, just as iTndop.la, ' lust,' is originally a neutral word. The adjective bixoiotradi]^, 'of like passions,' is entirely neutral ; it is used in ."^c 14'° of Paul and Barnabas, and in Ja 5'' of Elijah ; in 4 Mac 12" of men ; and rather curiously iu Wis 7^ of the earth (AV 'which is of like nature' [with men], RV 'kindred,' RVm 'of like qualities') ; the meaning seems to be that the earth is mother of all (cf. Sir 40'). A. J. Maclean.