The reference to Simon himself is confirmed by the actual relation of Peter to the early church, to the Jewish portion of which he was a foundation-stone. See Acts, i. 15; ii. 14, 387; iii. 12; iv. 8; v. 15, 29; ix. 34, 405; x. 25, 26; Gal. i. 18.
CHa XVE4 : MATTHEW. 93
Church (éxxdoiav), éx, out, Kar€éw, to call or summon. This is the first occurrence of this word in the New Testament. Originally an assembly of citizens, reguarly summoned. So in New Testament, Acts xix. 39. The Septuagint uses the word for the congregation of Israel, either as summoned for a defi- nite purpose (1 Kings viii. 65), or for the community of Israel collectively, regarded as a congregation (Gen. xxviii. 3), where assembly is given for multitude in margin. In New Testament, of the congregation of Israel (Acts vii. 88); but for this there is more commonly employed cuvaywyy, of which synagogue isa transcription; ovv, together, dye, to bring (Acts xiii. 43). In Christ’s words to Peter the word éxxAnoia acquires special em- phasis from the opposition implied in it to the synagogue. The Christian community in the midst of Israel would be desig- nated as ékkAnota, without being confounded with the ovva- yoyn, the Jewish community. See wets yet; vii. Loxton’; xiv. 23, 27, etc. Nevertheless cuvayoyn is applied to a Chris- tian assembly in James ii. 2, while emicuvaywyy (gathering or assembling together) is found in 2 Thess. Het; lebe x.) 25. Both in Hebrew and in New Testament usage éxkAnolia im- plies more than a collective or national unity; rather a com- munity based on a special religious idea and established in a special way. In the New Testament the term is used also in the narrower sense of a single church, or a church confined to a particular place. So of the church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Rom. xvi. 5); the church at Corinth, the churches in Judea, the church at Jerusalem, etc.
Gates of hell (aii dSov). Rev., Hades. Hades was orig- inally the name of the god who presided over the realm of the dead—Pluto or Dis. Hence the phrase, house of Hades. It is derived from a, not, and iSetv, to see ; and signifies, there- fore, the invisible land, the realm of shadow. It is the place to which all who depart this life descend, without reference to their moral character.
By this word the Septuagint translated the Hebrew Sheol, which has a similar general meaning. The classical LZades em- braced both good and bad men, though divided into Elysium,
94 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, [Cu XVI.
the abode of the virtuous, and Zartarus, the abode of the wicked.
In these particulars it corresponds substantially with Sheol ; both the godly and the wicked being represented as gathered into the latter. See Gen. xlii. 38; Ps. ix. 17; exxxix. 8; Isa. xiv. 9; lvii. 2; Ezek. xxxii. 27; Hos. xiti. 14. Hades. and Sheol were alike conceived as a definite place, lower than the world. The passage of both good and bad into it was regarded as a descent. The Hebrew conception is that of a place of darkness; a cheerless home of a dull, joyless, shadowy life. See Ps.-vi.id 5 xciv. 11; @xv. (salxxxvi oe tee dope eo ly: iti, 17-19; xiv.10,11; Eccl. ix.5. Vagueness is its character- istic. In this the Hebrew’s faith appears bare in contrast with that of the Greek and Roman. The pagan poets gave the popular mind definite pictures of Tartarus and Elysium; of Styx and Acheron; of happy plains where dead heroes held high discourse, and of black abysses where offenders under- went strange and ingenious tortures.
There was, indeed, this difference between the Hebrew and the Pagan conceptions ; that to the Pagan, Hades was the final home of its tenants, while Sheol was a temporary condition. Hence the patriarchs are described (Heb. xi. 16) as looking for a better, heavenly country; and the martyrs as enduring in hope of “a better resurrection.” Prophecy declared that the dead should arise and sing, when Sheol itself should be de- stroyed and its inmates brought forth, some to everlasting life, and others to shame and contempt (Isa. xxvi. 19 ; Hos. xiii. 14; Dan. xii. 2). Paul represents this promise as made to the fathers by God, and as the hope of his countrymen (Acts xxvi. “). God was the God of the dead as well as of the living ; present in the dark chambers of Sheol as well as in heaven (Ps. exxxix. 8; xvi. 10). This is the underlying thought of that most touching and pathetic utterance of Job (xiv. 13-15), in which he breathes the wish that God would hide him with loving care in Hades, as a place of temporary concealment, where he will wait patiently, standing like a sentinel at his post, awaiting the divine voice calling him to a new and hap- pier life. This, too, is the thought of the familiar and much-dis- puted passage, Job xix. 28-27. His Redeemer, vindicator, aven-