i. The fruits of suffering. — Jesus because of the sutt'ering of death was crowned with glory and honour (He 2'). Glories followed His sutt'erings (1 P 1"). Through them He was made perfect (He 2'" ; cf. 5'). In the case of His followers sutt'ering has a similar result. Those who sutter for righteous- ness' sake are blessed (1 P3"). Those who are called to God's eternal glory in Christ and sutter a little while shall be perfected, established, and strength- ened by God (5'°). One who sutt'ers as a Christian has reason to glorify God (4'^). To do well and to suffer for it is acceptable with Him (2^"). ' Where- fore let them also that suffer acconling to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator ' (4'»).
There is a great mass of modern literature on the problem of pain or sutt'ering, but how little of it is concerned with sorrow at the slow progress of righteousness or of the Kingdom of God ! It was otherwise in the Apostolic Age. There is very little in the NT about purely personal sutt'ering (Ac 28^ 1 Co 12-"). In one case at least sufi'ering is distinguished from sickness (Ja 5'"-).
Literature. — R. Winterbotham, The. Kingdom of Eeaven Heiv and Hereafter, London, 1898, pp. 234-240 ; J. Weiss, Die Scltriften des NT, Gottingen, 1907, s.v. 'Leiden' in index; Haiulkomvientar zum NT, Freiburg', 1892, .i.v. 'Leiden' in indexes ; Grimm-Thayer, s.vv. ; DCG, s.v. ; H. W. Beecher, Sermuiis. ind ser.. London, 1870, pp. 271-297 ; A. B. Bruce, The Pmidential Order of the World, do., 1897, pp. 12.5 ff., 25911. ; F. W. Robertson, Expository Lectures o7i the Corinthia7is,do., 1859, pp. 317 ft., 446 ff.. Sermons, 5th ser., do., 1904, serms. i. and ii. WiLLIAM WATSON.
SUN. — Mention of the sun in the Apostolic Age is almost entirely confined to the book of Revela- tion. In the Heavenly Jerusalem the sun shall not light upon the blessed nor any heat (Rev 7'"). There will no longer be any need of the sun (21'-'). Dread judgments are symbolized by the obscuring of the sun, e.g. ' Tlie sun became black as sackcloth ' (6'=) ; see' also Rev 8'- 9= 16* and Ac 2'-", Joel's prophecy quoted by St. Peter. It is twice used in similes, i.e. in the description of the Vision of the Cliri.st, ' His countenance was as tlie sun shineth in his strength' (P*), and in the description of an angel, ' His face was as the sun' (10').
SUPERSTITIOUS
SUri'EK
i)'6o
In Kev 12' the woman in the vision is 'arrayed with tlie sun.' The idea may lie taken from Ps 104-, ' Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment.' The author may also have had in mind the description of the liiide in Ca 6'", ' clear as the sun.' If, as some think, the woman repre- sents the Jewish Church, then .she appears in all the glory of the patriarchs (see Ko 9°). But Semitic writers were apt to decorate representative persons with the heavenly hodies.
Lastly, in Rev 19" the angel who is entrusted with the overthrow of the licast and the false prophet is represented as ' standing in the sun ' — prohahly that he may be able from his position in mid-heaven to summon the great birds of i>rej' to feed on the flesh of the king's enemies lying on the battle-field. MoRLEY Stevenson.
SUPERSTITIOUS (Ac IV''^ d(i<rtdai!Jiov€<rT4povs, IIV ' somewhat superstitious,' niarg. ' somewhat religious'). — The Greek word, derived from SelSeiv, ' to fear' and Saiixwv, 'demon,' was originally used in a good sense (Xenophon, Cyrop. III. iii. 58 ; Aristotle, Pol. V. xi. 25; Polybius, VI. Ivi. 7) but underwent a change of meaning. It is used in a bad sense, for instance, by hiter writers, as Josephus {Avt. XV. viii. 2 ; Plutarch, de Superstit. 10). The authorities are divided as to the sense in which St. Paul used it, the majority at the present day being in favour of the rendering ' religious ' ; so Knowling, Ramsay, Verrall, Farrar, T. K. Abbott, Page, Rackham, Trench, Blass, Renan, Weiss, Holtzmann, Weizsiicker, and many others.
In favour of this view it is stated that St. Paul was hardly likely to have offended the audience at the opening of his apology. The prevailing prac- tice of commencing a speech in an ingratiating tone is followed by him at Csesarea. ' It was not St. Paul's habit to affront and by affronting to alienate his hearers, least of all at the outset of a discourse intended to win them to the truth ' (R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the NT^, London, 1876, p. 172). Further, the usual Greek word for ' piety ' was eiae^ela, and he uses the cognate verb ev<rePeiTe in the next verse. Once more, Sii<Ti.Sai.ixovla is used of the Jewish religion in Ac 25'", and must there have been intended in a good sense.
On the other hand, the philosophers, to whom St. Paul was addressing himself, at least in part, must have understood the word as meaning ' super- stitious,' and they would have heartily concurred in such an epithet. A doubtful passage in the Characters of Theophrastus (xvi. ) gives a picture of the SeHTiSa/Mw as one who had frequent recourse to soothsayers and was a strong believer in omens ; while the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius (Mcditat. i. 3) expresses his thankfulness that he takes after his mother in the matter of devotion (deoaefiri^), and that his father escaped the fate of a ieiaiSalixuv (ih. i. 16). Nestle has pointed out (fe/)rxi. [1899-1900] 378) that the ominous word ' demon ' could never have conveyed anything but a bad sense to a Jew, which is borne out by Josephus' use of the word. The force of the comparative may be ' too,' ' very,' 'rather,' or 'somewhat.' We can certainly agree that St. Paul would never have commenced a speech with a studied insult, but he was a man who said what he thought, and the word was most applicable to the popular religion of the day. It is unlikely that he meant to convey the idea of reproof, but he certainly meant 'superstitious.' The philosophers would understand as much and would agree with him, while the popul.ace would be merely interested and wait for an explanation, since for them the word did not contain the note of contempt that it held for the philosophers. Here are some of the renderings : Ramsay, ' more