Didache, an early Christian manual, expatiates on the way of life and the way of death. The phrase seems to suggest the active, practical aspects of religion — God s dealings with man, man's conduct towards God and his fellows. The commandments, worship, prayer, holiness, repentance, all have an ethical side and are even ethical in essence. J. Butler's remark that religion is a practical thing is quite in the spirit of the whole of Scripture, as seen in the Prophets, the Sermon on the Mount, the Parables, and the Epistles. ' Every one . . . which heareth these words of mine, and doeth them . . . and doeth them not ' (Mt 7**- -") ; ' Inasmuch as ye did it . . . did it not' (Mt25"-*5). The proof of love is keeping the commandments. The teaching of Paul anil Peter, John and James is no less practical than that of the Master.
Literature. — Commentaries on Ac i art. ' Way.'
A. E. Garvie, BDB,
J. S. Banks.
WEALTH.— There seem to be in the NT two main conceptions about wealth and the wealthy : the first that wealth and the desire for wealth are dangerous to the moral and spiritual life, the second that the wealthy as a class are wicked. It is possible that these two conceptions are related to each other, but it is also possible that the con- ception of the rich as normally an ungodly class represents some special tradition of the later Judaism.
There are not many references to the subject in the Gospels, but the few there are are very em- phatic. In the exposition of the Parable of the Sower our Lord speaks of the ' deceitfulness of riches ' as one of those things which ' choke the word' and render it unfruitful (Mk 4", Mt 13-2; cf. Lk 8'*), and this conception finds a dramatic illustration in the story of the rich young ruler, whose refusal to give up liis wealth and follow Christ leads our Lord to say, ' How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! ', and ' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into ihe kingdom of God' (Mk lO^^- ", Mt 19-'»-^, Lk IS-''- -°). To these sayings of our Lord is prob- ably related the phrase, ' Ye cannot serve God and mammon' (Mt &\ Lk 16'=). It is alongside of these passages in the Gospels that we should place the treatment of wealth and of the desire for wealth in 1 Timothy. The desire for wealth is dangerous to men, and ' the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil ' (1 Ti 6^- '") ; the wealthy are warned not to. be high-minded, or to put their trust in riches, but to use their wealth in good works (1 Ti e"-'"). In these passages of the Synoptic Gospels and of the Pastoral Epistles we have, then, no con- demnation of the wealthy, or of wealth as intrinsi- cally evil, but warnings against the great dangers that attend its possession.
In the Epistle of St. James we have a somewhat dili'erent conception. Here the wealthy are treated as though they were normally wicked and enemies of the Cliristian community. God has chosen the poor, but the rich dishonour and set them at naught, and drag them before the judgment-seat, and ' blaspheme the honourable name by the which ye are called' (Ja a""'). And, again, the rich are warned of the judgment which is about to over- take them ; they have oppressed and defrauded the labourers, and have killed the righteous man (Ja S'-").
It is not very clear to which of these conceptions our Lord's words as reported in St. Luke's Gospel belong, ' Woe unto you that are rich ! for ye have received your consolation ! Woe unto you, ye that are full now ! for ye shall hunger ' (Lk 6-*' ^).
A. J. Carlyle.
WEEK.— See Time.
WHEAT
WlCliED
6i y
WHEAT (ffJTos, (TfAaSaXis). — Ap.-irt from the Gospels the only lK)oks in the X'l" which contain a reference to wheat are the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Apocalypse. The reference in Acts ("J?-"') re<iuires no comment. The ojieration there alluded to com- pleted that begun in v.'". In 1 Co 15^' it occius in a simile introduced hy St. Paul in his dissertation on the Kesurrection. The general meaning of the passage is : Thou soNvest not the body that shall appear — i.e. the bladed stem with ears of corn- but a naked grain. In Kev U", the Voice fixes the maximum price for the main fooil-stutl's. Tlie denarius was the daily wage (cf. Mt 20'-) and a xoi"'^ of wheal the average daily allowance of the workman. li.irley, being much cheaper, formed the main stajile of food of the poor, and in NT times the proportionate vahie of these two dill'eient kinds of grain was probably as three to one as estimated here. The Greek measure xo''''^ ^^'as probably something under two pints. The pro- clamation is addressed to the nameless rider who represents Dearth, and is a prohibition of famine prices.
In the great dirge over the fall of Babylon in Rev 18, reference is made to tine Hour and wheat as two of the commodities for which the merchants of the earth are no longer able to lind a market. The line flour was no doubt imjiorted for the wealthy. The word used, cefilSaXis, is a fij-af \ey. in the NT. The wheat supply of Rome came largely from Egypt and was conveyed by ship from Alexandria. The land of its origin is a matter of speculation, but Mesopotamia, the enormous wheat-harvests of which were in ancient times proverbial, probably has as good a claim as any other country.