shelter, and attention in case of illness (G. Bonet- Maury in EliE vi. 804'-; cf. San.lay-IIeadhiin. ]Ct\ 'Roniaiis'', Kdinburgh, 1902, ii. 3li3; W . K H. Lccky, History of Eiiropcun .Vuntls', Lon. on, 1S8S "ii. 80). It is not iiece.H.sary U) it<> more than allude to the countless forms of helpful ashistauce and benevolence which Christ's compassion for the stranger has prompted in recent times (cf. T von llaering. Ethics of the Chrt.tlt<in Life, London, 1909, p. 402; U. L. Martensen, ChrislMn Ethics [Hociul], Eng. Ir., Edinburgh, ISS2, ii. /I,
72)
2. The sheep and strangers.— Neither AV nor RV gives the proper em|ilirtsis to Si oil M '" •'» "j*^- These words enrich the comparison between the two voices. We should read 'But a stranger will they br/ no means follow,' or ' will they etrtmnli/ no<' follow.' Christ speaks with conlident expect- ation of how His sheep will act. 'Ihey will assuredly not follow a stranger: 'on the contrary
(dWd) they will llee from him.' ' Meeing implies a feeling of danger and alarm. The voice of the
• Ct A H McNeile, The GonpH according to St. Matiheic, London, 1915, p. 370i> : 'After tlie IlesnrreoUon, and helM Ij-V Sie inauence of Greclc tliouKht, Cl.rist.ans were d.vineH led to
ihe conception of the '>>.v»';'^l."''\"«f,.°!,r-™'L""°r'h. «,oV
with
ffov ,
fratrem
conception of the mystical oneness of an immanent Christ h humanity. «I5e! yap, *.,.t(.., to.. ai«A*rf.' r.V',,':' ,? 7„^„i°t'' > (Olem. Strom.,, xix. 94, ll. xv. 71). "Vidisti, inquit, ;rem, vidisti dorainum tuum " (Terl. De Orat. xxvi.).
a iceiiiii; *-" u<vnc;v» «..^ «..
stranger whom they know not scares the slieei (cf W M Thomson, The Land and the Boole, London, 1864, p. 203; F. Godet, Com. on St. John's Gospel, Edinburgh, 1870-7/, n. .582). lie words may be applied to the Church of the Apostolic Age in a variety of ways, riiev who 'knew that the Son of God was come (1 Jn 5 ) were not led astray by false Messiahs. V hey were I'ifted with a quickness of apprehension and a sharpness of penetration that enabled them to see the tendency and temiier of false teaching, ihey accounted as strangers those teachers who came 'to act as spies on the liberty which they had in Christ' (Gal 2^), as well as others, still more dangerous, who sought to lead them into tlie thicket of Gnostic speculation in which they would have lost sight altogether of the nature and work of their Redeemer (Col 2»). The same faculty of discrimination, created and guided by the bpirit of Christ, enabled them to take the hist steps in sifting the writings of the Apostolic Age and settiu" apart those which spoke to them with the voiceand authority of the Chief Shepherd.
S.Christians not |cVoi but iropoiKot. — It is worthy of attention that Christuuis are not called i^roiiii the NT. The Gentile believers addressed in Ephesians had once been JeVoi tCv Sia8vK^>' ttjs ^7ra77e\ias (2''''), but are now aw7ro\'iTai ruv ayluf Kal oiJoi TOO 9eoO (v."), fellow-citizens with full rights (cf Ph 3-"), and in household tellowship with the family of God. When Christians are described as f^Koi in early Christian literature, the word is used in a typical or metaphorical sense -as "'the E/nstle to Diognetus, v. 5 : irdi-S' ifno^rovan' usUni-
St. Peter's impressive adaptation of llos 2 to the Gentile Christians of Asia iliiior, oi ^ori <>>, Xaos ,vy 5i Xa6s tfeoO (1 P 2'»), is immediately followed bv his aplieal to them as irapoiKOi nal iroperrWTjMO'. They are thus reminded that they are sojouniers on earth, dependent on the protection of God, whose property the earth is, and to whom it belon.'s to determine the length of their sojourn and wdiat mercies they shall receive. Such seems to be the force of the words ' with thee in 1 .s 39 - (cf A E Kirkpatrick, ;iooA-o/"iVi/Hw, ( ambridge, 190'> 'p 207). In the Church the Christian liiids 'a home for the lonely ' (J. H. Newman i'arocW Sermons, new ed., London, 1868, iv. 190) ; but so Ion" as we are still at home (Mrifiouvrei) in the bod"v we are in a sort of exile from our home (^Jrt^oO^c.) in the Lord' (2 Co 5": cf A..t'>'""";«^' ICC '2 Corinthians,' Edinburgh, 19lo. pp. 1-4, 151)' 'Exilium vita est' was the inscription carved above the doorway in Victor Hugos room at Hauteville, Guernsey.
532
STRANGLED
STRIFE
LiTKRATURE. — To the works cited tlirnu;;lmut the nrt. mnv he added : S. R. Driver, The Bmk nf Hindus, Caiiihridt'e. 1911, p. 2;J1, ICC, ' DeuteronoTuy "-', Ediiilmrjjh, ISSHi, p. Ill6 ; C. L. W. Grimm, L'-xiam in LiOros ST, Leipzig, 18CS, s.v. fe'fos, wapoiKo?, TrapeTrt5j)^os ; J. A. Selbie, artt. ' Foreigner,' * Oer/ and ' Strange, Stranger ' in HDB.
James Donald. STRANGLED (Ac 15™- «> 21°-»).— The interpreta- tion of tliis word has been a difficulty almost from the beginning. We.stern texts substitute for it : 'not to do unto others what j^ou would not they should do unto you.' They thereby turn all the pro- hibitions into moral ones. ' Blood ' means murder, ' fornication ' adultery, and for ' things stran};led ' is substituted harmfulness. This of cour.se misses the whole point of the Council, which had to decide not on moral (except indirectly) but on ceremonial distinctions. The Council wishes Gentile Chris- tians of Syria and Cilicia to keep from heathendom, i.e. idolatry and its accompaniment, fornication ; blood ; things strangled. Now blood-oH'erings and strangled oil'erings are mentioned in the OT as found among idolatrous Jews (Ezk 3.3-°, Is 65^ 66'- "). St. James fears these oti'erings among idolatrous Christians. To eat blood in any form is contrary to the teaching of the OT. But strangled things are specially mentioned because they have a peculiar efficacy in heathen eyes. They do not shed the blood, and it does not therefore call for vengeance from the ground. Thus they have a magical influence, and have been so used in N. America and Japan and are still used in India. The word may therefore stand here as a well- known allusion to magical rites in Syria, and the prohibition may become equivalent to ' Keep your- selves from magic'