t66
SECOiND ADAM
SELEUCIA
which has been made for them, but that he figura- tively sets liis seal (cf. Jn 3'^) to the ofTering of material things whicliis the 'fruit' of their spiritual gifts to the Gentile world. He uses language of great dignity and solemnity, for he knows that money, which is sometimes mere lilthy lucre (Tit 1"), comes to have almost a sacramental value when it is the outward and visible sign or seal of an inward and spiritual love, (c) The apocalyptic roll of destiny, containing the Divine coun.sel re- garding the order of events which is to usher in the end, is sealed with seven seals. No angel is able to open them, but they are opened one after the other by Christ (Kev 5. 6). Roman wills re- q\iired to be attested with seven seals, and T. Zahn [Introduction to the NT, 3 vols., 1909, iii. 394, following E. Buschke, Das Bitch mit sicben Sicgeln, 1860 ; cf. E. Hicks, Traces of Greek Philosophy and Roman Law in the NT, 1896, pp. 157, 158) holds that the roll (§ip\lov) is here a testamentum. As he confesses, omne simile claudicat ; but this one would halt too badly, since God the Testator cannot die, and the pifiXlop is a book of doom rather than a will bequeathing a heritage. And the Koman parallel is unnecessary, for the use of seals was as familiar to the Jews as to the Romans, and seven was the Jewish sacred number. (/) According to the writer of the Revelation, the servants of God are sealed on their foreheads with the seal of the living God ; 12,000 of every tribe of Israel are sealed. Those who have not the seal are exposed to great danger (Rev 7^'''' ^"* 9^). (g) Satan is to be cast into the abyss, which will be shut and sealed upon him (20^). (h) The roll of the apocalypse is not to be sealed (22'°), be- cause its contents — unlike those of Daniel (12^-') — are not intended for a distant age, but are for use at the present juncture and in the immediate future.
Literature. — Art. *Gem' in EBr^^ ; art. 'Seal, Sealing:,' in HDB ; C. W. King:, Aiitiqite Gems and Rings, 2 vols., 1872.
James Strahan. SECOND ADAM.— See Adam ; Christ, Christ-
OLOGY.
SECOND ADVENT.— See Paeousia.
SECT.— See Heresy.
SECUNDUS [ZeKoufSos TR], S^kowSos [WH, Blass]). — Secundus was a Macedonian Christian belonging to the church of Thessalonica, by which he and Aristarchus were deputed to convey to Jeru- salem the contributions of the Thessalonians on behalf of the poor bretliren of the mother church. He accompanied St. Paul on his last journey to Jerusalem (Ac 20*). The Apostle on this occasion intended to sail from Corinth, but the discovery of a plot at the last moment caused him to sail for Macedonia, where he may have met the deputies of the churches of Thessalonica and Bercea. It is more probable, however, that they had been previously instructed to join the Apostle at Troas, where we find them along with deputies from Asia (Ac 20^). It is uncertain whether Secundus re- mained in Syria after St. Paul's arrest or returned to Thessalonica. He is never again mentioned in the NT, but the name occurs in the well-known inscription of Thessalonica [CIG ii. 1967), which gives a list of politarchs.
LrrKRATDRE. — W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller^, 1897, p. 287 ; R. J. Knowling in EUT ii. [1900] 423 ; also artt. in BDB and EBi. W. F. BOYD.
SECDRITY It is only in Ac IV that the word
concerns us at present : ' And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.' The idiom is Xa/Sii-rei ri i/cai/iv and is
a translation of the Latin satis accipere. Cf. t& Uai'bi' voiijaai in Mk 15'°, which occurs 'as early as Polybius'(J. H. Moulton,yl Grammar of NT Greek, vol. i., 'Prolegomena,' 1908, p. '20 f.). Itis natural to meet a Latin legal term in this Koman court ; the politarchs of Thessalonica may even have used tlie Latin instead of the Kotvij. The security demanded might be in the form either of money or of sponsors for good behaviour. It is not clear what is meant by saying that the politarchs 'let them go.' It is uncertain also whether the security was for the ' good behaviour ' of Jason and the rest, for the production of St. Paul and Silas before the politarchs, or for the ' good behaviour' of St. Paul and Silas (cf. R. J. Knowling, FGT, ' Acts,' 1900, in loco). ¥. IJlass {Acta Apostolorum, 1895, in loco) considers the phrase a commercial, not a legal, term. In any case, ' the ■ brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Beroja' (Ac 17'"). The haste and the cover of darkness indicate the urgency of the predicament, which concerned, apparently, the welfare not merely of St. Paul and Silas, but also of Jason and the rest, because of ' the security ' given to the politarchs. It is not open to make a charge of cowardice here against either Jason or St. Paul. It was a prac- tical question of how to meet an emergency due to jealousy and prejudice. A. T. Robertson.
SEED. — The early Christians used 'seed' in its natural sense, of that which contains the germ- cell (1) of plants WTvipixa, Mt 13=-'- "• »2- s"-, Mk 4=', 1 Co 15'", 2 Co gi" ; (77r(5/jos, Mk 4?"-, Lk 8»- "), and (2) of man (airipfia. He 11" ; atropa., 1 P I'"). Metaphorically, ' seed ' (airipim) was used (1) of the nucleus of the Jewish race left from the Captivity (Ro 9-') ; (2) of offspring in general, either [a) taken literally (Mt 222''-, Mk li'"-^"-, Lk P^ '20-^, Jn 7*2 8»»', Ac 3== 7"- 13-^ Ro V 4'^ 9' IP, 2 Co 1122, 2 Ti 2', He 2"* U'^, Rev 12"), or (6) figura- tively, as when believers were called Abraham's seed because they emulated his faith (Ro 4'"- "* 9', Gal 3'«- '»■"»); and, finally, (3) of the generating power of God acting through His Word (cf. 1 P Y-") and His Spirit (1 Jn 3^). St. Paul argued in Rabbinical fashion from the distinction between ' seed ' and ' seeds ' (Gal 3""''-). Since the singular stood in Gn 13""- and 17"-, he concluded that the promise made to Abraham pointed to Christ as an individual and not collectively to Jews. For this and similar examples of artificial exegesis in the NT, see Interpretation. S. J. Case.