3. Whilst St. Paul was a keen controversialist, he never wrote a letter that did not contain the word ' peace.' He pleaded with his fellow-workers {e.g. Euodia and Syntyche, Ph i'; cf. Ro 12'" 15', 2 Co 13") to be of one mind ; and he urged the Christians of Rome to be at peace, if possible, with all men (Ro 12'*). His dispute with Barnabas is described as a irapo^ivixbs, a sharp contention
STRIPES
SUFFJailAG
533
(Ac 15™). Human frailty inin<,'lcil in butli tliose apostles with wliat was vt-ry nolile and liuniiuialiic. Tlieir iiuanel was onu of wliiih only ^ood men wuie cai)able. It was essentially a ujnllict of iileals, a strife between justice on the one hand and j;ener- osity on tlie other. 4 IlaCXos ^tijrei t6 SUatoy, i Bapvapa! t6 ^iXdvOpuwoj' (Chrysostoni, Horn, in Acta Apoxt. xxxiv.).
4. The infection of the sub-Apostolic Church by the subtleties of the full-blown Gnostic system leu to a widesiueail, barren warfare of words {Koyoiiaxia, 1 Ti 6*), far removed from the realities of the Christian conflict with sin. This condition of things is reflected in the Pastoral Letters, which charge all believers ' that they strive not about ■words, to no iirolit' (2 Ti 2"). Empty discussions merely engendered strifes (^udxas, v.^), and the bond-servant of Christ must not strive (oi) dci /iix- ca-^ai, v.'--*).
5. There is, however, an altogether different kind of strife, which at once commends itself to the Christian heart and conscience. St. Paul in- dicates its nature by two words of the arena— d7w- cij'o^ai and dffVai, with their com|JOunds. To strive for the incorruptible crown ( 1 Co 9-'') ; to labour and strive as a servant of God, cheered bj' a sense of His own mighty working in us (Col I-') ; to invite others to strive with us in tlieir prayers (Ko 15'") ; and, again, to strive for Christ's sake in the spirit of a soldier or an athlete, and to do it lawfully (2 Ti 2") ; to strive, in spiritual fellowship with others, for the faith of the gospel (Ph 1'-') — all this seems to the Apostle to be of the very essence of the Christian life. In that life, as the writer to the Hebrews indicates (12''), men may at last have to resist unto blood, striving against (antagonizing) sin. James Str.4HAN.
STRIPES.— See Beating, Scourging.
SUBSTANCE (Gr. vwdirTMis, Lat. substantia).— It is only in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the term 'substance' is used with anj-tbing approach- ing a philosophical connotation. The meaning of the word in this Epistle is of unusual interest owing to the crucial place which it came to occupy in the Trinitarian controversies of later times. The history of its use as a theological term is given by T. B. Strong in JThSt iii. [1901-02] 22 tt".
In AV the word ' substance ' is used to translate both (ijrapfis and inr6aTa<n$. The former is better rendered ' possession ' (RV), as in the passage, ' Ye have in heaven a better possession (map^ip) and an abiding' (He 10**; cf. Ac 2'''). Interest centres then in the word i^riffrao-is, which occurs only five times in the NT. In two passages it means 'con- fidence ' (2 Co 9* 1 1"). But in the remaining three, all of which are in Hebrews, a philosophical con- ception is probably involved. (1) He S" : ' We are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence (tj)$ vTroaTa<T(ui$) firm unto the end.' Both AV and KV render I'TroffTatris as 'confidence.' Most modern commentators con- cur in this subjective reference. The Vulgate renders it objectively (substanlim ejus), and many Patristic commentators take this view — e.g. it is 'the faith,' tt;;' Trlari.v (Chrysostom, Tlieudoret) or Jidcm Christi (Primasius). This rendering is im- probable. There is yet a third possible explanation in view of what is said under (2) and (3). If in He II' inrbdTaai^ is 'the giving substance' (KV^m) to unseen realities, the beginning of our i'ir6u7-ocris may well be the beginning of that progressive spiritual state of realizing, or ' giving substance to,' in actual Christian experience, those eternal verities which .ludaism only dimly adumbrated. As Christ (He P) is the xttpoKTiip ('perfect ex- pression ') of the Divine mdiTTain^ (or ' essence '),
Christians, n.s ' jiartakei's of Christ,' may in some measure embody (byposlasize, substantiate) the Divine reality eternally existing in Christ. The word of exhortation in this verse is then to 'hold fast the beginning' of that process of actualizing in Christian experience eternal sniritual realitie.t. That such experience should lead to 'confidence' is inevitable. (2) In Ho 11' faith is described as ' the substance (vwdaTaais) of things hoped for.' In KV mduTnai^ is rendered 'a-ssurance' or 'con- fidence' (as in 2 Co 9* U", He 3'*). But in the nuirgin UV suggests 'the giving substance to' (favoured by Westcott, Davidson, Peake, Wick- ham). Both meanings may well have been in the mind of the writer ; for, if faith enables the believer to 'give substance' to spiritual experience and embody the objective realities of his religious hopes, it naturally affords him a ground of assured confidence in them. The use of the antithesis 'substance' and 'shadow' (see art. SHADOW) found in this Epistle (S° 10') shows that the writer is familiar with the Platonic and Philonic concep- tion that the things seen are but shadows cast in time and space by eternal archetypal realities. The latter are the trulj' 'substantial,' and he as.serts that faith is that state of mind, or experi- ence, which actualizes the things as yet unseen and which proves that they alone have ' substance ' or reality. (3) In He 1' there is contained the metaphysical embryo of later theological specula- tion. Christ is spoken of in relation to Gou as the 'very image of his substance' (xapaKrrip t^5 inro- (TTdireus). In AV virdaraais is translated 'person,' but the rendering is inappropriate and misleading. The jihilosophioal conce[ilion of personality did not emcr''e until long after the Ajiostolic -Vge, and then largely through the contentions of the Greek and Latin rathers over the question as to whether there was one hypostasis in the Godhead or whctlier there were three hypostnscis (or ' persons '). The writer of Hebrews does not say that Christ is the express image of the Per.son of God. The substance ({nTdaTacni) of the Godhead, of which Christ is the 'express image' (xapaxTiip), is the Divine 'essence' or 'nature.' 'Substance' (Lat. substantia) etymologically is 'that which stands under' (as a foundatiim or pedestal). Then it came to mean that in a thing which makes it what it is (its 'essence'), the substratum beneath all its qualities. In its more modern philosophical mean- ing 'substance' is the reality which exists behind all phenomena. The theological and metaphysical associations of the word, as a technical term, cause most recent commentators to prefer the tran.slation 'essence' or 'nature' in this passage as best inter- ])reting the view of the writer as to Christ and His relation to the Godhead. He is the perfect expres- sion in human life and hislorv of the essential nature of God. In harmony with the teaching of the Fourth Gospel Christ is the Divine Logos, and He alone can assert, ' He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ' ( Jn 14").