Pt1-06-SOME IMPORTANT WORDS

SOME IMPORTANT WORDS

HUMILITY WHEN the apostle wrote in 1 Peter 5:5, "Gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another" (see R.V.), he used a verb which sometimes was applied to the act of a slave in putting on a little white garment over his tunic before engaging in his duties. Probably Peter was thinking of the incident in the upper room when the Lord girded Himself with a towel and rendered a lowly service to him and to the other disciples. The word translated "humility" in this passage occurs only seven times in the New Testament. It is translated "humility" also in Colossians 2:1; Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:23, where a pseudo-humility is exposed by Paul. In Acts 20:19 Paul, in his address to the Ephesian elders, used the word when he said that he had served with all "humility of mind", and he employed the term in Ephesians 4:2, where it is translated "lowliness", in Php 2:3, where the phrase "lowliness of mind" occurs, and in Colossians 3:1-2, where the rendering is "humbleness of mind". The Greek word is tapeinophrosune, formed from tapeinos, lowly, and phren, the mind. Rare outside the New Testament, the term does not appear in extant pre-Christian authors. Kindred words are used, and in the Old Testament is to be found the nearest approach to the Christian grace. In secular authors these words are generally employed in a bad sense. For "humility" would have no place in the vocabulary of the average pagan. He would think of "lowness" rather than "lowliness", and would associate with the word a "mean-spirited or grovelling attitude of mind". A recent writer says, "In Greek pre-Christian writers tapeinos is, with a few exceptions in Plato and Platonic writers, used in a bad or inferior sense--as denoting something evil or unworthy. The prominence it gained in Christian thought indicates the new conception of man in relation to God, to himself, and to his fellows, which is due to Christianity". The few exceptions mentioned refer to the use of tapeinos in the sense which falls short of the Christian word "humility". Dr. Vincent, in his Word Studies in the New Testament, cites Plato, "To that law (of God) he would be happy who holds fast, and follows it in all humility and order; but he who is lifted up with pride, or money, or honour, or beauty, who has a soul hot with folly, and youth, and insolence, and thinks that he has no need of a guide or ruler, but is able himself to be a guide of others, he, I say, is left deserted of God". And Aristotle says, "He who is worthy of small things, and deems himself so, is wise". "At best, however," says Dr. Vincent, "the Classical conception is only modesty, absence of assumption. It is an element of wisdom and in no way opposed to self-righteousness." "The highest and most inclusive type of heathen virtue," says a writer in the Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, "is essentially an exalted form of self-esteem, implying contempt of others." In his great work on Synonyms of the New Testament, Dr. Trench wrote concerning the word translated "humility": "The work for which Christ’s gospel came into the world was no other than to put down the mighty from their seat, and to exalt the humble and the meek. It was then only in accordance with this its mission that it should dethrone the heathen virtue megalopsuchia [’magnanimity’, but often used in sense of ’arrogance’], and set up the despised grace tapeinophrosune in its room, stripping that of the honour it had unjustly assumed, delivering this from the dishonour which as unjustly had clung to it hitherto; and in this direction advancing so far that a Christian writer [Basil] has called this last not merely a grace, but the casket in which all other graces are contained."

"KOSMOS" This important Greek word, which is used in the New Testament more than one hundred and eighty times, is translated in the Authorised Version by "world" in every instance but one--1 Peter 3:3, where it is rendered "adorning". As will be shown, these two renderings are not so far apart as they may appear to be. "World" is also a translation of aion (age), aionios (age-abiding), ge (earth), and oikoumene (inhabited world), but in this article only kosmos will be discussed. The Classical Lexicon by Liddell and Scott (revised edition) gives as the primary meaning of kosmos "order", and shows that that sense is retained by Greek writers in such words and phrases as "good order", "good behaviour", "form", "fashion", "government", especially of the Spartan constitution. A second meaning was "ornament", "decoration"; metaphorically "honour", "credit". Thirdly, it was used of a "ruler", especially as a title of the chief magistrate in Crete. Fourthly, it was used philosophically of the "world-order", or "universe", first in Pythagoras; then of any region of the universe. It was used by Democritus of man as a "microcosm", and in later Greek was employed to describe the known or inhabited world. In the New Testament several of the Classical meanings are found. (1) In 1 Peter 3:3, where kosmos is translated "adorning", the reference is to the true and false adornment of women. This use is paralleled in the papyri, where a reference to a bride’s trousseau is made. Behind the word "adorning" is the idea of orderly arrangement, and thus the connection with other meanings becomes obvious. (2) In the sense of "universe" as an ordered system, kosmos is found in Acts 17:24; 1 Corinthians 3:22; Php 2:15; Hebrews 4:3, etc. (3) "The earth" is the sense of some passages, especially as the abode of mankind (cf. Matthew 4:8; Mark 16:15, etc.). (4) The "human inhabitants" of the world are in mind in most passages where kosmos is employed. This usage finds an interesting parallel in an inscription dated 9 B.C., "where the birthday of the divine Augustus is referred to as the beginning of good news to the world". In the New Testament, kosmos is frequently used to denote the world as alienated from God or worldly affairs which come between man and God. In the Old Testament the idea is expressed in Isaiah 13:11 --"I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity." In the writings of John, this sense is very prominent. John speaks of the world as lying in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19); as failing to acknowledge the Logos; as hating the righteous. Yet God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. The Son came not to condemn the world, but to save. He is the light of the world. Final victory is with Christ, for the prince of this world is judged. "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Finally, John uses the term kosmos in different senses in a single sentence. With his characteristic love of antithesis he writes: "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not" (John 1:10). In the first two clauses, kosmos is used in the comprehensive sense--"the world in which the Logos was, and of which He was the Creator". In the last clause, the reference is to those who did not acknowledge Him. "Thus we have the ordered world of creation, good and pure from the hand of its Maker, and within, yet over against it, the world of men, who by wrong use of their will have declined to recognise their Maker."

CHARACTER The English word "character" does not appear in the Authorised Version of the Bible. In fact, the sense in which we most commonly use the word--"the combination of qualities distinguishing a person"--was just coming into currency in the period when the Authorised Version appeared. The Greek term, of which the English word is practically a transliteration, occurs once only in the New Testament (Hebrews 1:3), where the Son is said to be the "express image" of God. It is not difficult to trace the development of meaning. Derived from a verb meaning "to scratch", or "to engrave ", the Greek noun was used of an engraver, a graving tool, and of a die or stamp. It then came to be used of the mark engraved, especially of figures or letters, and metaphorically of the "distinctive mark or token impressed (as it were) on a person or thing, by which it is known from others". The metaphorical meaning is the use in Hebrews 1:3, and it approximates to the modern application. Shakespeare gets close to the modern use when in "Measure for Measure" he makes the Duke say to his deputy, Angelo:

There is a kind of character in thy life,
That to th’ observer doth thy history
Fully unfold."

Undoubtedly the New Testament has much to say upon the idea of character, in pointing out those qualities which determine a good or evil life.

It is necessary to distinguish character and reputation. One writer has said, "Character is what one is; reputation is what one is thought to be". Another has put it, "Character is like an inward and spiritual grace, of which reputation is, or should be, the outward and visible sign".

Christian character has its basis in the righteousness of God. Herein is the difference between the merely "moral" man and the Christian. By adherence to certain principles of conduct, such as those of the Stoics, a man may discipline himself so that he will not give way to excess; he may even achieve positive goodness and become a blessing to his fellows, though at the risk of self-righteousness. But the Christian is a "new creature", and can say with Paul, "By the grace of God I am what I am". Laying hold of the righteousness of God by faith, he receives a new life-principle. Delivered from the guilt and bondage of sin by the redemption in Christ, he dwells in the sustaining environment of the divine life. In response to the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit, his desire is no longer for "the lusts of the flesh", but for the service of Christ. There is no room for self-righteousness, but the highest motives for striving after perfection.

Christian character is the blend of those qualities which make up the Christ-like life. The Greek ideal of education--a sound mind in a sound body--was good as far as it went, and produced some fine examples of human achievement. But it fell short of the Christian ideal, which is expressed in the prayer of Paul, "May your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame" (1 Thessalonians 5:23, R.V.)--H. W. Beecher said, "Many men build as cathedrals were built, the part nearest the ground finished, but that which soars toward heaven, the turrets and spires, forever incomplete". The fully developed Christian character is like a mature, luxuriant tree, bringing forth "fruits of the Spirit"--"love, joy, peace, good-temper, kindliness, generosity, fidelity, gentleness, self-control". Good works will not be wrought in the spirit of the Pharisee who thanked God he was not as other men, but as the due expression of faith working by love.

Christian character can be developed. We are to grow in grace. The trials and afflictions which beset the Christian may be a means of development. In this connection there is a passage of special interest and import. In Romans 5:3-4 we read, "We glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope". The word translated "experience" is used in two senses in the New Testament. It means "testing", and is sometimes used of the process, as in 2 Corinthians 8:2, and sometimes of the result, as in this passage. just as the "temper" given to steel is the result of a process of "testing", so character is the result of Christian endurance. Dr. Weymouth translates the word in this passage "ripeness of character" and Dr. Moffatt and Dr. Goodspeed give the rendering "character". A similar thought is in James 1:2-4, where the "perfect work" of patience is "that ye may be perfect and entire".