We have received from V. C. a book entitled "Great David's Greater Son," written partly to prove that the Lord could not and did not work as a carpenter. The point of the book is to uphold the majesty and Divine dignity of the God-man, Christ Jesus; and the need of this we fully recognize, and warmly appreciate every sentence written with this object. At the same time we must say that the author produces absolutely no argument to prove that Christ did not work as a carpenter. In attempting to show that such a thought is unworthy of Christ we think that he has failed to recognize the grand fact that God can be glorified in every sphere of life, and that these thirty years cannot be regarded in any sense as wasted when we leave the narrow standpoint of man's interest and turn to the question of God's glory. Was not He glorified in having One on the earth for the first time in its sin-stained history who for thirty years led a life of perfect obedience to His Father's will in the obscurity of a Galilean village? Can we not recognize in this the meat-offering of fine flour mingled with oil that represented the perfect life of Christ? We maintain that our Lord as fully and perfectly glorified God in His retirement as He did subsequently in His public life when ministering to our needs. We regret we have not further space for comment on this subject, but trust that all our readers can appreciate the beauty of the holy retired life at Nazareth into which no eye but God's is allowed to penetrate, as well as the ceaseless service that followed it.
As we find from letters received that many of our Subscribers do not at all understand the meaning of the long array of figures and the notices on the first page of the cover, we have inserted an explanatory note, and trust that it will be the means of adding many intelligent Bible students to the Class. We feel sure from many testimonies received that there is no surer way of strengthening one's Christian growth, and arming one's self against the assaults of infidelity than by a regular and diligent study of the Scriptures, and the fact of being able to unite with others not only in study but in producing a result of permanent value is a great and worthy incentive, as we not only benefit ourselves, but afford much food and instruction to others.
New Testament Words Explained: Principally Such As Represent More Than One Word In The Greek.
Seem.
Dokeo andphainomai are both translated thus although there is a clear distinction between the two. Dokeo means the estimate or thought a man may have about a matter (Acts 15:28; 1 Cor. 4:9; 7:40), which may be wrong (John 16:2: Acts 27:33) or right. Phainomai means the outward appearance a thing or a matter presents, irrespective of any estimate that may be formed of it. Bearing this distinction in mind, it will be seen that the rendering of the R. V. in James 1:26 is much more accurate than that of the Authorized Version, the latter reading " seemeth," whereas, the word being dokeo, the idea is not the appearance, but the conception formed of the matter, " thinketh himself to be religious." In a similar manner the R. V. gives for the first time the true force of phainomai in Phil. 2:25. Hitherto the word here has been translated "shine," but now it is correctly rendered " are seen" or appear.
Servant.
This one English word is represented by six Greek words, each with a distinct meaning. Therapone means one who does a service, whether a permanent servant or no, whether a slave or a free-man; hence it is an honorable term. It is only used once in the New Testament, in Heb. 3:5, " and Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant." Diakonos is a servant in relation to his work, just as doulos is a servant in relation to his master. The former (meaning to pursue) signifies activity and zeal in work (whether the one is not implied), and we find the word in Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23; 2 Cor. 3:6. In Matt. 22:3,4,8, to the servants are douloi or slaves, being men, but in ver. 13 where angels are referred to, the word used is diakonos.
A fourth word kupeeretees originally meant a rower, but came to mean the performer of any hard work, particularly under the commands of another. Thus the servant whose ear the Lord healed (Luke 22:51) is doutos, the one who struck him on the face (John 18:22) is lin/Seel-elms. Oiketees, a fifth word, means always a " domestic servant" in contrast with a daubs or slave; it occurs only in Luke 16:13; Acts 10:7; Rom. 14:4; 1 Peter 2:18. The sixth word pais means simply child, but points to the custom of the East where in large families many of the children were really in the position of household servants. When used for servant, Matt. 8: 6; 12:18; Luke 1:53,69, it is a term of consideration and endearment.
Sin.
Three Greek words are thus translated. One, hamartia is the general word for all sin; it means literally "a failing to grasp or reach," so in ordinary Greek it often meant to miss a mark. In Scripture however this mark is the glory of God of which we have all come short by sin.
Hamarteema (Mark 3:28;4. 12; Rom. 3:25; 1 Cor. 6:18) means solely the act of committing sin, never sin itself in the abstract.
Paraptomr, the third word which is often used to mean sins (Eph. 2:1, etc.) may only mean faults or errors, Rom. 5:15,17, 18; Gal. 6:1, and hence in many cases is not so strong a word as the others.
Single, Simple, Sincere.
These companion words represent four words in Greek, single being aplous, simple akeraios and akakos and sincere adolos. The study of the different shades of meaning in these words is full of interest. Aplous only occurs twice in the New Testament (Matt. 6:22; Luke 11:34) and means literally "spread out" i.e., without folds or wrinkles. Akeraios occurs thrice (Matt. 10:16; Rom. 16:1;9, and Phil. 2:15) and means " simple" in contrast to " compound," i.e., without admixture. Akakos occurs twice (Heb. 7:26; Rom. 16:18). In the former of these passages it means the absence of all evil, inferring the presence of all good, whereas in the latter it means that absence of all evil which prevents its being suspected in others and thus leads to a simplicity of character that is in danger of becoming credulous and easily deceived. The fourth word adolos occurs only once (1 Peter 2:2) and means without guile. As a contrast to the sincere milk of the word here spoken of is the handling the word of God deceitfully spoken of in 2 Cor. 4:2. The four words then mean without guile, without evil, without mixture and without folds.