Strength.
ohi dia pisteos...] The form pistei which has been used before is now changed. The writer speaks of the general inspiring power of faith: c. vi. 12. Compare v. 39 dia tes pisteos.
kategonisanto basileias] For example Gideon (Midianites), Jud. vii; Barak (Canaanites), Jud. iv.; Samson (Philistines), Jud. xiv. f.; Jephthah (Ammonites), Jud. xi.; Jonathan (Philistines), 1 Sam. xiv. 6 ff.; David (Philistines), 2 Sam. v. 17; (Moabites &c.) 2 Sam. viii. 2; (Ammonites) 2 Sam. x. 12; in each case with weaker forces than their enemies.
hergasanto dikaios.] The phrase is to be understood not only of purely individual virtues, but of the virtues of leaders: 1 Sam. xii. 4; 2 Sam. viii. 15; Ps. xiv. [xv.] 2; Zephan. ii. 3. Conquerors used their success for the furtherance of right. Righteousness was shewn to be the solid foundation of enduring power: Is. ix. 7; liv. 14; 1 K. x. 9.
For the phrase ergaz. dikaiosunen epangelion, ephraxan stomata leonton, ³?esbesan dunamin puros, ephugon stomata machaires, edunamothesan apo astheneias, egenethesan ischuroi en polemo, parembolas eklinan allotrion. ³?elabon gunaikes ex
33 stoma D?*. 34 edunamothesan '* AD?*: ened. S '*. 35 ginaikes '*: gunaikas '* AD?* me.
compare Acts x. 35; (James i. 20); Matt. vii. 23 (anomian); James ii. 9 (hamartian).
epetuchon epangelion] Victory was gained and rightly used in just government, and so it was followed by a deeper apprehension of the will of God. The phrase epituchein epangelion has been noticed before, c. vi. 15 note.
It appears to be used here in the most general sense, which includes both the attainment of that which had been already promised, and the quickened expectation of something yet to come. Each partial fulfilment of a divine word is itself a prophecy. A promise gained is also a promise interpreted in a larger meaning. Here the truth is set out in its fulness. The many 'promises' successively realised in many parts and many fashions led up to the one 'promise' (v. 39) which is still held before the eye of faith.
(33) b, 34 a. The notice of public, general, successes is followed by the notice of personal deliverances.
ephraxan st. l.] Dan. vi. 22 enephraxe ta stomata ton leonton Theod. (Daniel); 1 Macc. ii. 60. There may also be a reference to Jud. xiv. 6 (Samson); 1 Sam. xvii. 34 (David).
esbesan dun. p.] Dan. iii.; 1 Macc. ii. 59. The natural force of the elements was overpowered (comp. Wisd. xix. 6). ouk eipen esbesan pur. alla Dunamin puros, ho kai meizon (Theophlct).
ephugon st. mach.] Ex. xviii. 4 (Moses), 1 Sam. xviii. 11; xix. 10 ff.; xxi. 10; Ps. cxliv. 10 (David); 1 K. xix. 1 ff. (Elijah); 2 K. vi. (Elisha).
The phrase en stomati machairas (rhomphaias, xiphous) (HebrewRChGRI) is not uncommon in the lxx. (Gen. xxxiv. 26). The plural (stomata), which does not appear to occur elsewhere, expresses the many assaults of human violence answering in part to stomata leonton.
(34) b. Examples of deliverance from external perils are followed by examples of personal strengthening.
edunam. apo asth.] This general phrase may be interpreted of various forms of physical weakness as in the case of Samson (Jud. xvi. 28 ff.); Hezekiah (Is. xxxviii.); and of moral distress (Ps. vi. 3, 8; Ps. xxii. 21 f.). For apo astheneias compare Luke v. 15; viii. 2; and contrast 2 Cor. xiii. 4 ex astheneias.
egen. isch. en p.] waxed mighty in war, not only in the moment of battle, but in the whole conduct of the conflict. Ps. xviii. 34 ff.; cxliv. 1 f. For ischuroi compare Luke xi. 21 f.
paremb. ekl. all.] The addition of allotrion distinguishes this clause from kategonisanto basileias and fixes the thought here on the religious contrast between the children of the kingdom and strangers (Matt. xvii. 25 f.). This sense of klinein (*inclinare aciem), which is found in classical Greek from Homer downwards, does not occur elsewhere in the N. T. or lxx.
The word parembole (like HebrewnjQQ, which it represents in the lxx.) is used for an armed force as well as for a camp, the position which it occupies: Jud. iv. 16; viii. 10; Ezek. i. 24 (A); 1 Macc. v. 28.
(35) a. The triple triplet of victorious faith is followed by a single, abrupt anastaseos tous nekrous auton. alloi de etumpanisthesan, apetunp. D?*.
clause which presents the highest conquest of faith, 'women received from resurrection their dead.' In this case faith appears under a twofold aspect. There is a silent, waiting, passive faith of love, which works with the active faith. Women, in whom the instinct of natural affection is strongest, cooperated with the prophets through whom the restoration was effected. They received their dead. The word labein occurs in the narrative of the Shunamite: 2 K. iv. 36.
It cannot be without significance that the recorded raisings from the dead are predominantly for women: 1 K. xvii. 17 ff.; 2 K. iv. 17 ff.; Luke vii 11 ff.; John xi.; Acts ix. 36 ff.
In the phrase ex anastaseos the Resurrection, which is the transition from death to life, is that out of which the departed were received.
(b) The victorious sufferings of Faith: the great things which it has borne (35b—38).
The record of the open triumphs of Faith is followed by the record of its inward victories in unconquered and outwardly unrewarded endurance. Theophylact remarks on the contrast: hora pos hoi men apo pisteos stomata machairas ephugon hoi de en phono machairas apethanon. toituton gar he pistis kai anuei megala kai paschei megala kai ouden oietai paschein.
And others were tortured to death, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection; ³?and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment: ³?they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, evil-entreated, ³?men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth.
The order of arrangement is not obvious. The enumeration appears to consist of two great groups (35b, 36, and 37, 38) each consisting of two members, the first of suffering to death, the second of sufferings short of death. It is difficult to define the relation in which the two main groups stand to each other.
Perhaps the first group describes constancy in the face of release offered in the moment of trial, on the supposition that ou prosdexamenoi ten apol. extends in idea to heteroi, while the second group gives generally forms of suffering.
(35) b. alloi de...] But others in a new class triumphed 'in that they seemed to fail.' The restoration from death, the highest victory of active faith, is surpassed by a nobler triumph, the victory over death.
etumpanisthesan) Vulg. distenti sunt. The reference is to the martyrdom of the seven brethren related in 2 Macc. vi. 18 ff.; vii.
The word tumpanizein is used very vaguely of the infliction of heavy blows; and the Greek commentators were at a loss as to its exact meaning. Chrysostom says: apotumpanismos legetai ho apokephalismos, referring to John the Baptist and St James. So also Theophylact: toutestin apetmethesan...tines de to tumpanisthenai rhopalois tuphthenai eiron. OEcumenius adds: alloi de to tumpanizesthai to ekderesthai phasin. Hesychius gives etump. asphairisthesan, i.e. beaten with leaded scourges. It appears to describe a punishment like breaking on the wheel. The extremities of the sufferer were fastened to a frame, and his limbs then broken by heavy clubs. The original reading of D? ou prosdexamenoi ten apolutrosin, hina kreittonos anastaseos tuchosin. ³?heteroi de empaigmon kai mastigon peiran elabon, eti de desmon kai phulakes. ³?eKithasthesan, epeirasthesan, epristhesan, ev phono machaires apethanon,
37 epristhesan, epeirasthesan
36 emp.: enpegmaton D?*. 37 epeirasthesan epristhesan M: epristh. epeir. S A vg me: epirasthesan epirasthesan D?*: om. epeir. syr vg.
(apetumpanisthesan) expresses more distinctly 'beaten to death.'
Philo speaks of the spectacles of the early part of festival days as consisting in Ioudaioi mastigoimenoi, kremamenoi, trochizomenoi, katadikazomenoi, dia meses tes orchestras apagomenoi ten epi thanato (in Flacc. § 10, ii. p. 529).
The whole description which he gives of the sufferings of the Jews should be compared with this passage (l. c., cc. 10, 20).
ou prosdex. ten apol.] when they did not in fact accept the deliverance which was placed within their reach: 2 Macc. vi. 21; vii. 27. For prosdexasthai see c. x. 34 note.
hina kreitt. anast. tuch.] a resurrection better than the mere restoration to the remnant of an earthly life gained by the acceptance of the offered deliverance. Comp. vii. 19. For av. tuch. see Lk. xx. 35.
The comparison between the resurrection to eternal life and the resurrection to an earthly life, though it is not made directly, lies implicitly in kreittonos, as interpreted by the Maccabean history: 2 Macc. vii. 9, 14. The patristic commentators generally dwell on this: kreittonos, ou toiautes hoias ta paidia ton gunaikon, he kreittonos para ten ton loipon anthropon (exanastasis Phil. iii. 11)...kai hallos hoti eis ten aionion (Theophlct).
(36). heteroi de] The apostle goes on to notice a second class among those (halloi) who shewed their faith not in conquering but in bearing. Some endured death, some endured afflictions less in immediate extent, yet no less terrible as trials of endurance.
For halloi, heteroi see 1 Cor. xii. 8 ff.; Gal. i. 6 f. with Lightfoot's note.
peiran elabon] v. 29. They experienced sufferings which were sharp and direct (emp. kai mast....2 Macc. vii. 7, 1), strokes on soul and body; and sufferings also which were dull and long (desm. kai phul.): 1 K. xxii. 27; Jerem. xxxvii.; xxix. 26; 1 Macc. xiii. 12; 2 Macc. vii. 7, 10. The heti de marks a climax (Acts ii. 26 [Luke xiv. 26, heti te]). The sharp, short trial is easier to bear.
The phrase peir. elaben occurs in lxx. Deut. xxviii. 56 (Aqu. epeirasen).
(37), (38). A fresh summary is given of sufferings to death (if epeirasthesan be corrupt) (v. 37); and of sufferings short of death (v. 38).
elithasthesan] Stoning was a characteristic Jewish punishment: 2 Chron. xxiv. 20 f. (Zechariah son of Jehoiada); (Lk. xi. 51); Matt. xxi. 35; xxiii. 37.
Ut Naboth; Jeremias in Ægypto a reliquiis transmigratorum (comp. Tertull. Scorp. i. 8); Ezechiel in Babylone; aliique quamplures in Novo Testamento (Primus.).
epeirasthesan] This word seems to be foreign to the context. The reference to Job (Primas., OEcum.) is not satisfactory. Of the many conjectures which have boon suggested the most plausible are, epresthesan or enepresthesan (Philo ad Flacc. § 20; ii p. 542 M., zontes ohi mev enepresthesan hoi de dia meses katesuresan agor?s heos hola ta somata auton edpanethe). perielthon en melotais, en aigiois dermasin, husteroumenoi, thlibomenoi, kakouchoumenoi, ³?hon ouk hen axios ho kosmos epi eremiais planomenoi kai spelaiois kai tais opais tes ges. ³?Kai houtoi pantes marturethentes
38 hen
38 epi er. 'A: en er. S D?*. 39 pant. mart. houtoi D?.
epristhesan] So Isaiah suffered according to tradition: Just. M. Dial. 120; Orig. Ep. ad Afric. § 9, and Wetstein's note.
For the punishment itself see 2 Sam. xii. 31; 1 Chron. xx. 3; Amos i. 3 (lxx.).
en phon. m. apeth.] Comp. 1 K. xix. 10 tous prophetas sou apekteinan en rhomphaia. Jerem. xxvi. (xxxiii.) 23 (Urijah).
The exact phrase en phono machairas occurs in the lxx. as a rendering of Hebrew3TP Ex. xvii. 13 &c.
The enumeration of sufferings of death is followed by references to sufferings in life.
perielthon en mel....] They went about from place to place with no sure abode. Compare Clem. R. i. 17. (Clem. Alex. Strom. iv. 17 § 107 ho apostolos klemes.) Melote is used in the lxx. for HebrewGPIK, the characteristic prophet's dress: 1 K. xix. 13, 19; 2 K. ii. 8, 13, 14. This was of sheep (or goat) skin (compare HebrewT$? n^tf Zech. xiii. 4; Gen. xxv. 25); and was afterwards adopted as a monastic dress. See Suicer s. v.
hust. thlio. kakouch.] in want of the ordinary means of life (Ecclus. xi. 11; Luke xv. 14; Phil. iv. 12; 2 Cor. xi. 9), afflicted by pressure (Vulg. angustiati) from without (2 Thess. i. 6 f.), in evil plight generally (xiii. 3; v. 25).
(38). hon ouk hen ax. ho. k.] They were men worth more than the whole world, and they lacked all. This appears to be the meaning, and not that 'the world in all its beauty was not fit to be their home.' Comp. Prov. viii. 11 kreisson gar sophia lithon polutelon, pan de timion ouk axion autes esti.
Ei pas ho kosmos, Theophylact asks, ouk estin axios henos hagiou, ti meros zeteis;
From this thought the last clause follows naturally. The best thing men can give is the sympathy of fellowship: the last thing which they withdraw is simple intercourse. But the prophets had no place among their fellow-men; and 'even the deserts offered them no safe resting-place' (Theophlct).
epi eremiais planom....] Compare 1 K. xviii. 4, 13 (en spelaio); xix. 9 (eis to spelaion); 1 Macc. ii. 31; 2 Macc. v. 27; vi. 11; x. 6.
The clause tais opais tes ges—the holes of the land—seems to be a quotation from some familiar description. The word ope occurs again James iii. 11 with a reference to another feature of the limestone rocks of Palestine.
(6) 39, 40. General conclusion.
The whole record of past divine history shews us that the trial of faith depended on the will of God, who looked forward to the end. Here then lies our patience.
³?And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise,?°God having foreseen some better thing in our case, that they, apart from us, should not be made perfect.
(39). ohutoi pantes] These all from the beginning of human discipline to the fulfilment of man's destiny in Christ.
marturethentes dia tes p....] Latt. dia tes pisteos ouk ekomisanto ten epangelian,?°tou theou peri hemon kreitton ti problepsamenou, hina me choris hemon teleiothosin.
ten epang. 'D?: tas epang. A. 40 kr. ti p. hem. D?*.
testimonio fidei probati.... These old heroes, though they received the witness of divine approval given in what they were enabled to do and to suffer through their faith, died before the end was reached to which they looked from first to last.
dia tes pisteos] through their faith. The faith by which they welcomed the divine promises became the power through which the fellowship of God with them was made evident. For dia compare v. 33 dia pisteos.
With ouk ekomis. ten epang. compare v. 13 me komis. tas epang. c. x. 36; 1 Pet. i. 9; v. 4; and for the relation of he epang. and hai epang. see v. 33
(40). The reason of this failure of the fathers to 'receive the promise,' which men might think strange, lay in the far-reaching Providence—Foresight—of God. It was His purpose that the final consummation should be for all together, as indeed it is of all, in Christ; so that no one part of the Body can, if we realise the meaning of the figure, gain its fulfilment independently. The consummation of all the Saints therefore followed upon the completion of Christ's work, the accomplishment by Him of the destiny of man, though fallen. So far then God foresaw in the order of His great counsel in our case (peri hemon) something better than the fathers experienced: for we have actually seen in part that towards which they strained: Matt. xiii. 17; 1 Pet. i. 12. The fathers with a true faith looked for a fulfilment of the promises which was not granted to them. To us the fulfilment has been granted, without the trial of deferred hope, if only we regard the essence of things. Christ has already opened the way to the Divine Presence on which we can enter, and He offers to us now a kingdom which cannot be shaken (xii. 28). At the same time there is the thought that God has looked further, even beyond our age of trial, to the end.
kreittonti] Hoc melius est, premissæ salutis revelatio clarior, confirmatio testatior, expectatio propier, per Christum exhibitum, et tandem ipsa salus et gloria (Bengel). Chrysostom has some striking words on this prospect of the consummation: ennoesate kai humeis ti esti kai hoson esti ton Abraam kathesthai kai ton apostolon Paulon perimenontas pote su teleiothes hina dunethosi tote labein ton misthon...ei soma en hoi pantes esmen, meizon ginetai to somati touto he hedone hotan koine stephanotai kai me kata meros. kai gar hoi dikaioi kai en touto eisi thaumastoi hoti chairousin hos epi oikeiois agathois tois ton adelphon.
The perfection (teleiosis) of the individual Christian must in its fullest sense involve the perfection of the Christian society. The 'perfection' which Christ has gained for humanity in His Person (ii. 10; v. 9; vii. 28; x. 1, 14) must be appropriated by every member of Christ. In part this end has been reached by the old saints in some degree, in virtue of Christ's exaltation (c. xii. 23), but in part it waits for the final triumph of the Saviour, when all that we sum up in confessing the truth of 'the resurrection of the body' is fulfilled.
Primasius interprets the gift of the 'white robe' in Apoc. vi. 11 (ad loc.) of that endowment of love whereby the waiting souls gladly accept the postponement of their own consummation: acceperunt singuli stolas albas, id est, ut per caritatis perfectionem, quae per Spiritum Sanctum infunditur in corda credentium, hac consolatione contenti ipsi mallent pro ceterorum numero fratrum supplendo differri...And Herveius notes in remarkable words the unity of the resurrection-life: Propter hoc etiam mysterium illud in ultimum diem dilati judicii custoditur, quia unum corpus est quod justificari expectatur, unum corpus est quod resurgere in judicium dicitur.
hina me ch. he.] that they apart from us should not be perfected....The words seem to depend directly on ouk ekom. ten epang., though the parenthesis which comes between makes the connexion more intelligible.
For choris see John xv. 5 note.
*Additional Note on the reading of* xi. 4.
Additional Note on the reading of xi. 4.
The division of authorities and the strange reading of the most ancient Greek MSS. suggest the existence of a primitive corruption in the clause marturountos epi tois dopois autou tou theou (to theo). In such a case the loss of B is keenly felt. The best attested reading (mart. epi t. d. autou to theo) gives a sense which, though it is at first sight foreign to the argument, becomes intelligible if we suppose that a parallel is suggested between the witness of God to Abel and the witness of Abel to God: he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, while he on his part, on occasion of his gifts, by the faith which inspired them, bore witness to God. But such a parallel seems to be artificial, and it is more natural to suppose that the character of the divine witness to the righteousness of Abel should be more distinctly defined. Thus the sense given by the later Greek MSS. is satisfactory; but that reading leaves to theo unexplained. Clement of Alexandria (Strom. ii. 4, p. 434) quotes the clause, in a continuous citation, in the form mart. epi tois dorois auto tou theou. If this was the original text a mechanical change would account for both the current readings. It may be added that Clement also omits to theo after prosenenke.
*Additional Note on* xi. 10. *On the social imagery in the Epistle*.
Additional Note on xi. 10. On the social imagery in the Epistle.
No words are more liable to be misunderstood than those which describe forms of social organisation. They survive the state of things to which they were originally applied, and are transferred to a new order, more or less analogous to the past yet widely distinguished from it. For this reason the language which is used in the N. T. to describe the Christian Society is exposed to many difficulties of interpretation. Believers are represented in the apostolic writings as united in a 'congregation' (ekklesia), a 'state,' or 'city' (polis), a 'kingdom,' and it is important to endeavour to realise the thoughts associated with these terms in the first age, if we wish to realise the primitive conception of Christianity as a social power. In this connexion the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews is of the greatest moment. It offers a view of the organisation of the Gospel in most respects singularly comprehensive; and it is not unlikely that the imminent overthrow of the Jewish state gave occasion for dwelling upon this aspect of the Gospel. There is however one striking omission. The Epistle is almost silent as to ecclesiastical organisation. No one of the words which have come to represent the main ideas of Church government is used in it with its limited technical sense. The title 'Apostle' is used only of Christ Himself (iii. 1 ton apostolon kai archieria tes homologias hemon Iesoun). The verb episkopein, in the one place where it occurs, suggests no thought of official oversight (xii. 15). 'The elders' are simply the heroes of the Old Dispensation (xi. 2). The word diakonos is not found in the book; nor is the term ekklesia used in the sense of 'a particular church' or of 'the universal church' (ii. 12 en meso ekklesias lxx.; xii. 23 ekklesia prototokon). The single term which indicates the existence of ordered discipline in the body is the most general, 'those that have rule,' 'that lead' (hoi hegoumenoi, xiii. 7, 17, 24).
With this exception the view given in the Epistle of the social embodiment of the Gospel is most varied. Eight passages present it under five distinct aspects:
(1). ii. 5 he oikoumene he mellousa. The Divine Order in its fullest extent and realisation.
(2). iii. 2 f.; x. 21 ho oikos tou theou. The relation of the Order to God, as its Head and Indweller.
(3). xi. 10, 16; xiii. 14 he tous themelious echousa polis, he mellousa (polis). Comp. viii. 11. The social constitution of the Order.
(4). xii. 22 ff. The vision of the fulness of the Order.
(5). xii. 28 basileia asaleutos. Comp. Col. i. 13. A present kingdom.
Each of these aspects of the Christian Society must be considered separately.
(1). The Christian Society as the Society of the 'age to come' (ii. 5).
The far-reaching phrase he o?koumene "mellousa, which is inadequately rendered by 'the world to come,' suggests the thought of the Order towards which the earlier discipline of the world had been directed. It has been all along foreseen. It is the true fulfilment of the destiny of humanity: the initial stage of the consummation which answers to creation. It is essentially comprehensive. It includes men as men, and places them in their due connexion with Nature. This inherent universality of the Order, as contemplated under this aspect, explains the silence of the Epistle on the call of the Gentiles. Old divisions, which had their place in the times of preparation, could not continue when man was seen to have reached the divine end in Christ. Henceforth 'the people' and 'the nations' were united in a larger fellowship. The spiritual Order was revealed in Him, of which Greek civilisation and Roman government were partial types.
(2). The Christian Society at the House of God (iii. 2 ff.; x. 21).
Under the image of 'the House of God' the Christian Society is regarded in a different light. It is the organised system in which God dwells, and of which He is the Master. The sense of the dwelling-place, which is dominant, passes into that of the family, and then the dwelling-place consists of human hearts. The image is derived directly from Num. xii. 7. The earliest and simplest expression of the thought of 'the House of God' is in Gen. xxviii. 17. The phrase is rarely applied to the Tabernacle: Ex. xxiii. 19; xxxiv. 26; Josh. vi. 24; Judg. xviii. 31. It is used of the Temple in 2 Sam. vii. 5; 1 K. viii. 17 and later writings.
The passage from the thought of a material to that of a spiritual 'House' is natural: Jer. vii. 4; John ii. 16, 19 (comp. Matt. xxiii. 38). In its widest meaning the 'House' includes Nature no less than Humanity; but it is through man that all other things reach their end. Hence while Christ is 'a great Priest over the House of God' (x. 21), Christians are in a peculiar sense 'His House' (iii. 6). As St Paul writes to the Ephesians: Each several building—each chamber in the whole fabric of the universe-*fitly framed together, groweth into a holy sanctuary in the Lord; in Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. ii. 21 f.). Compare 1 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Pet. ii. 5; iv. 17.
(3). The Christian Society as the abiding City (xi. 10, 16; xiii. 14).
It is however under the idea of the 'city,' the 'state' (polis), that the Christian Society enters most fully upon the inheritance of earlier life. Three distinct elements contribute to the fulness of the conception of the Christian polis, (a) the Jewish, (b) the Greek, and (c) the Stoic.
(a) The Jewish idea of the polis is centred in the thought of a divine sovereignty, of privileges answering to complete devotion to a Heavenly King. From the first the blessings which were assured to a chosen family were held to be capable of extension to those who accepted the obligations of the Covenant. The natural principle of birth was recognised, but it was subordinated to the principle of a common faith. Stated gatherings of the whole race were enjoined, but they were designed to keep fresh the vigour of institutions which were fixed once for all.
'The city of the Great King' (Ps. xlviii. 2; comp. Matt. v. 35) was ideally the home of every member of the commonwealth of Israel, and by the necessity of the case it tended to create a sense of spiritual fellowship offering the hope of an indefinite enlargement (Ps. lxxxvii.). If slavery found a modified acceptance, it was treated as a transitory condition, and not allowed to destroy the spiritual rights of the slave.
The prophets looked forward to a time when Zion should be the seat of a holy kingdom, of which the Davidic kingdom was a symbol; when the restoration of 'the people' should be the prelude to the gathering of 'the nations' to the mountain of the Lord; when the Redeemer of Israel should be 'the God of the whole earth': when Jerusalem should become a universal centre of worship (Joel iii.; Amos ix. 11 ff.; Is. liv.; lxvi. 20 [lxx.]; Ezek. xl ff.; Zech. xii. xiv.). In this larger view of the divine polis nothing was lost of the original conception of a community of worshippers, ideally citizen-priests; but it was recognised that the privileges which belonged to Israel corresponded with the destiny of humanity and must therefore be at last presented in a form which was able to bring them within the reach of all men (comp. Tob. xiii. 9 ff.).
(b) The polis of Judaism was in its conception the most comprehensive in the old world. So far from the Jews deserving the reproach of illiberal narrowness, as long as they remained true to their Scriptures, they offered a unique example of a nation most definite in its organisation, which admitted freely the incorporation of new members and looked forward to a world-wide religious communion in one faith. The Greek conception of the polis was sharply contrasted with the Jewish. The Jewish was essentially universal because it was the embodiment of the One Divine will: the Greek was limited, because it was the affirmation of personal rights. It was designed to realise as fully as possible the powers of man in the best and not in all. It rested on a community of blood, religion, law. It assumed the inherent superiority of the Greek race, and was founded upon slavery (Arist. Pol. iii. 5). It tended to develop in the privileged few the immediate sense of privilege, of responsibility, of individual freedom, in the highest degree; but it excluded the possibility of wide extension. Each citizen exercised bis power directly. The power therefore could not be extended to more than might be supposed to be able to meet for counsel. Thus while it has been maintained that the polis was anterior to the citizen, it was also maintained that the polis could be no greater than sufficed for the fullest development of the citizen. In the face of facts Plato admitted that the end of civic life was not reached in existing states, but he added in remarkable words: en ourano isos paradeigma anakeitai to boulomeno horan, kai hoponti heauton katoikizein (Resp. ix. s.f. p. 592).
(c) The Greek conception of the polis emphasised as strongly as possible the rights and the duties of the citizen, the privileged man; but his position of advantage was purchased at a high price. It required for its attainment the subjection of all others. Those who looked at the capacities of men as men could not rest In such a state of things. The great Stoic leaders, who came at many points into contact with Jewish teaching, proclaimed a universal polis, a city co-extensive with the world. 'What is man' Epictetus asks. 'A member of a state' (meros poleos, comp. Sen. Ep. xcv. 52) he replies, 'of that primarily which consists of Gods and men (comp. Cic. de fin. iii. 19, 64; Sen. de otio iv. 1), and next of that which bears the name and is most near to us, a state which is a small copy of the universal state' (Dissert. ii. 5, 26; comp. iii. 22, 4; 85; 24, 10). 'Man,' Marcus Aurelius says, 'is a citizen of that sublimest state of which all other states are (as it were) houses' (Medit. iii. 11). 'The end of a rational being is to follow the principle and law of the state and constitution which is anterior to all beside' (id. ii. 16; comp. iv. 4; 23; vi. 44).
This conception was adopted by Philo. 'The supreme state (he megalopolis),' he writes, 'is this world, and it obeys one constitution and one law' (de Jos. § 6; ii. 46 M.). 'The soul of the wise accounts in very truth heaven as its fatherland, and earth as a strange country' (de agric. § 14; i. 310 M.). Such souls after a time 'go back again thither whence they first started, holding that the heavenly region, in which they live their true life (en ho poleteuontai), is their fatherland, and the earthly, in which they sojourn, a strange place' (de conf. ling. § 17; i. 416 M.)
These three distinct conceptions of the polis, which were widely influential in the Apostolic age, are combined in the conception of the Christian commonwealth. It is the seat of a Divine Presence which carries with it the promise of the fulfilment of a divine counsel in the fellowship of man with God. It is a community in which each citizen is endowed with the completest privileges and charged with the fullest responsibility for the general welfare. It is a world-wide organisation embracing in a communion of the largest hope 'all thinking things, all objects of all thought' In the Apocalypse the Jewish conception finds its most striking application. In the Epistles of St Paul the Greek conception is dominant. But in each case the idea of universality raises the particular conception to its loftiest form. The real significance of the imagery of the Apocalypse is liable to be mistaken. This is largely derived from Ezekiel. 'The holy city, new Jerusalem' (xxi. 2), is in fact not a city, made up of human dwellings, but one building, a Temple, a House of God (comp. Ezek. xl. 2), which has hitherto been in heaven (cc. iv. v; xi. 19; xiv. 15, 17; viii. 3; xvi. 7; comp. Hebr. viii. 5). It is a perfect cube (xxi. 16), 'four-square to all the elements,' of absolute symmetry and strength. Angel-watches guard its gates (xxi. 12). A single 'street,' as in the earthly Temple, gives an approach to that manifestation of God which takes the place of the Sanctuary (xxi. 21 ff.). The people live in a Paradise around it, and have free access to the divine throne (xxii. 1 ff.; 14, 19); and at the same time, under another aspect, some at least among them are themselves part of the spiritual Sanctuary (iii. 12). 'The name of God, and the name of the city of God, and the new name of Christ' is the signature of believers (id.). The revelation of this new Society, no less than the revelation of God Himself; in other words, gives to the Christian his abiding character. As a citizen of this new city, a priest doing service (xxii. 3) to a present Lord, a servant and yet a king (xxii. 5), he reaches the goal of his creation. Meanwhile a wider work is accomplished. The leaves of 'the tree' by 'the river of the water of life' are 'for the healing of the nations' (xxii. 2). So it is that 'the nations shall walk amidst the light' of the city—which is 'the glory of God'—and 'the kings of the earth do bring their glory into it' (xxi. 24).
In such a vision, given as the consummation of the work of the Incarnate Lord, the most far-reaching words of the prophets find their accomplishment. The new polis is seen to be a Temple. The centre, the light, the law, of its constitution is the revelation of God through the Lamb (xxi. 23, ho luchnos); and those who first enter upon its privileges are allowed to see the extension of their own privileges to 'the nations,' and to fulfil a work for these later fellow-citizens.
St Paul recognised this spiritual city, 'the Jerusalem which is above,' which is 'free and our mother' (Gal. iv. 26); but he dwelt more upon the individual privileges which belong to its citizens (comp. 2 Cor. v. 1 f.) than upon their social fellowship. As one who knew and used the rights of Roman citizenship, he felt keenly how those who enjoyed a divine citizenship were raised above all who were not spiritually enfranchised. The Christian 'citizenship' or 'commonwealth' (Phil. iii. 20, politeuma) was for him a great and present reality, the full power of which would be shewn in due time (Phil. iii. 21). Those who before were 'alienated from the commonwealth (poleteias) of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise' were 'made near in the blood of Christ' (Eph. ii. 12 f.). The boundary wall (Hebrew) which had hindered their approach to the Sanctuary was broken down (Eph. ii. 14). They were therefore 'no longer strangers (xenoi without any civic rights) or sojourners (paroikoi licensed dwellers, enjoying a defined status), but fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the household of God' (Eph. ii. 19). Their life was necessarily an endeavour to realise under the conditions of earth the privileges of the new State of which the Gospel of Christ was the charter (Phil. i. 27 axios tou euangeliou tou Christou politeuesthe), even as the true Jew had enjoyed the rights and duties of the commonwealth of Israel (Acts xxiii. 1)1.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews the idea of the Christian polis is connected with the whole course of Revelation. The Call of Abraham pointed to this abiding issue of the counsel of God. The patriarch recognised that he was but a 'sojourner' in the land of promise: for 'he waited for the city that hath the foundations' (c. xi. 10), the one definite organisation of the people of God, already existing in the divine idea. For if men, for the fulfilment of preparatory discipline, 'waited,' God had already provided that towards which they reached forth: 'He had prepared them a city' (c. xi. 16). On His side all has been eternally ready, but even now Christians, conscious of the transitoriness of the things amidst which they move, 'seek after the city which is to come' (c. xiii. 14 ten mellousan [polin] epizetopumen). This city has not still to be founded: it is, and the believer as he is able uses the high prerogatives which belong to its members2.
The thought of the Christian polis, politeia, which must be regarded on the one side as opposed to all earthly states and institutions, and on the other as absorbing and transforming them, finds frequent expression in early writers: Clem, ad Cor. i. 2, 54; Polyc. 5; Herm. Sim. i. 1; Ep. ad Diogn. 5; Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 174.
(4). The vision of the fulness of the Christian Society (xii. 22 f.).
The full realisation of the Christian polis lies still in the future, but meanwhile the believer is allowed to contemplate its glories in contrast with the terrors of the legislation from Sinai. See notes on the passage.
(5). The Christian Society as a present kingdom (xii. 28).
One further image is used of the Christian Society, which is not derived from Greek or Roman thought, but from the monarchies of the East. Believers receive from the hands of God 'a kingdom which cannot be shaken' (xii. 28). The figure appears to include a twofold idea. They are under a sovereignty of infinite wisdom, and they are also themselves kings. (comp. Rev. i. 6; v. 10 basileian). The Society which is established has an office towards the nations. The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of kings, who in turn ruling in His name, bring all people under His sway.
The thought lies in the first proclamation of the Gospel (Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17). It was the topic of the teaching of the Risen Lord (Acts i. 3); and it forms the substance of the latest apostolic teaching recorded in the Acts (Acts xxviii. 31). Its present symbol is the Cross (John xii. 32), which points to the way of true dominion, when the single ruler gives himself for his people and does not use his people for selfish ends. 'He who bears the reproach of his country shall be called the lord of the land, and he who bears the calamities of his country shall be called the king of the world3.' The unconscious prophecy of the Chinese teacher has found its fulfilment; and the truth is committed to Christians that it may be embodied.