{b) Xpitr?-(5s. — Another surname of our Lord is that of Xpio-r6s. Throughout His earthly life our Lord bore the simple name 'ItjcoOs. But in His time there was a general feeling of the approach of the Messiah : a Hebrew otticial title meaping one anointed for a special office, the Greek equivalent of which was Xpicrros. Whether any person was Xpi(7T6s was a question the answer to which depended on evidence. It was disputed whether or not John the Baptist was Xpicrris." Whether or not Jesus was Xpiffrds was also disputed. His discijiles came to believe that He was;' His enemies ridi- culed the idea.8 But by the time the Gospels were written His followers had come to call Him'Iijo-oCs XpiffTis,^ and to describe Him as 'iTiaoOs 6 \ey6fi.evos XpLffris.^" In this way Xpurrds became a surname, and finally passed into a distinct personal name."
Other two names applied to our Lord may be either surname or title —
(c) vlbs otplarov. — The primitive Semitic concep- tion of God was embodied in Sx, and the diflferent aspects of W were expressed by additions, one of which was \\-)h ^h.^'^ The assertion'' that 'there must have been a Western Semitic deity who was known by this name ' lacks proof, but the incident in Gn 14 indicates the worship of a god bearing that title, to which further support is given by a
I Abbott, pp. 315, 320 ; Ac 222 36 410 228. 3 n., p. 320. in p. 311. 4 76., p. 313. i ExrT \\x. 5H. 6 Lk 315- 1". ' Mt 161«. 8 Mt 2717, Jn V".
9 Mt 11- 18, Mk 11, Jn 117 173 ; In Mt 2S1« the reference is impersonal.
10 Mt 118 ; in Mk 134 the reading of K BCGLM is clearly an addition, and in Mt 238 6 Xpicrrris is a gloss.
II As in Mk 9«.
12 FAiB i. K04 ; HDB ii. 198 ; Schultz, OT Theology, ii. 128.
13 F. Homniel, Aiicient Hebreic Tradition ae illustrated by the Monuments, Eng. tr., London, 1897, p. 167.
SWEAEING
SYNAGOGUE
541
statement of Philo of Hyblus. ' Tlie title would seem to liave been assiiniliitod by r\]n; anil tlie writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews- practically idciitilies this deity with n;.i;. '"(iod the Highest" was a widespread ]>a;:;an expression.'^ In the NT (lod is named "Tifrio-ros,* John the liaptist was desi;;nat('il Trpo(priTri! vtf'laTov,' the benelicent and ludpful are called viol ii^piarov,^ Stephen in his speech before the Sanhedrin emphasized the omnipresence of nin;, His superiority to .lewish conceptions of Him, and His exaltation over the f;;ods of paj^anism by naming Him 6 Ci^kttos.' The slave girl of I'hilippi describes St. Paul and Silas as servants tov ffeov toO i'l/'/cTToii.* In the Annunciation the angel, while instructing Mary to name her child 'Itjo-ous, annovinces that He will be called vids vtj/iaTov.'' He is, however, never so called, the only ajiproach to it being the words of the Gergesene demoniac, who salutes Him a,s'\itaov vli tov deov.'"
{d) ' E/i/jLafov-fiX. — This name is mentioned in a passage in the First Gospel " where the writer (luotes a prediction from Is 7", and applies the words ' his name will be called 'EnfiavoirfiX,' as indicating that the name and what was s.aid of the child there was true and would be fullilled in Mary's son ; but so far as the Gospels go this name was never given to Jesus.
i. Roman surnames. — The conquest of Palestine by the Komans and the dispersion of the Jews throughout the Empire caused a considerable number of them to adopt Gentile names. Thus a certain Jesus adopted the surname Justus.^- If Levi " be Matthew, then it would seem that the tax collector dropped his name of Levi and assumed that of Matthew on his becoming an apostle. A companion of St. Paul named John seems to have assumed the Roman name Marcus." At Corinth St. Paul lodged with one Titus or Titius Justus, about whose name there is ^•ery much variation in the MSS." The most distinguished personage who adopted a lloinan name was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Deissmann has shown that the alteration in the name in Ac 13^ is due to the writer of the Acts, and that it liad no reference to the proconsul but simply indicated that Saul, like many Jews and Egyjitians of his time, had a double name chosen by him very probably because of resemblance in sound. '^
Literature. — This has been sufficiently indicated throughout the article. P. A. GORDON ClARK.
SWEARING. -See Oath. SWORD.— See Armoue. SYCHEM.— See Shechem. SYMEON.— See Peter.
SYMEON (SIMEON) called NIGER.— Symeon is
mentioned second in the list of prophets and teachers at Antioch (Ac 13'). His sobriquet of 'Niger' has led some to suppose that he was African by descent and, if so, may have been one of those men of Cyprus and Cyrene by whom the Gentile Church at Antioch was founded (11-"). The suggestion, however, is a doubtful one, resting on a doubtful foundation. W. A. Spooner.
1 HDB iii. 460. 2 He 1418.
s Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 215.
4 Lk V\ 5 I,k 176. 6 Lk 035.
7 Ac 7W. s Ac 1617. » Lk l^'^.
10 Mk 57, Lk 828. 11 Mt 123. 12 Col 411.
13 Mk a", Lk 627. 29.