503

is a simple translation of Hebrew texts,-by far the Roman emperors - and his successors. largest class. Then he sets aside citations and The Old Testament sense must have been more plain analogous formations. The original Greek prominent in Christian teaching than our author texts, containing the phrase, are then such as seems to intimate. He also overlooks the horror Eph 22. s6, 1 P I14, Gal 4 28 , Ro 98, 2 P 214. which the worship of the Cxsars excited among Deissmann argues that as the translators of the the early Christians. He says : ’If it is certain do not always slavishly limit themselves that from the beginning of the ist cent. OEOv to a literal reproduction of the Hebrew be~a, there u16s was very common in the Graeco-Roman world, is no need to suppose the writers this fact ought not any longer to be ignored by us: to be following a Hebrew bias in the use of such it is indirectly of great importance for the history phrases. There is nothing un-Greek, he says, in of the early Christian designation of . It does the phrase. Plato uses the term EKyovos in a not, indeed, explain its origin and original meaning, similar sense. The stately speech of inscriptions but it makes a contribution to the question, how it and coins uses similar forms. ’ Although therefore might be understood in the empire.’ ’ In Corinth the vios in such passages may be due primarily to the was understood differently from what the text, it is not un-Greek.’ it was in , and in differently from ’0 vios TOV OcoS.―This New Testament designa- Ephesus. The history of our shows in its tion goes back, of course, to the Old Testament ; further course different modifications of Chris- there its root is to be found. But when we ask tianity ; in succession and side by side we see a how the Gentile Christians of Asia Minor, Rome, Jewish and an international, a Roman, a Greek, a and Alexandria understood it, we are met by the German, and a modern .’ fact that Uios OO EOU occurs in inscriptions of the J. S. BANKS.

The Temptation of Christ. BY PROFESSOR THE REV. J. H. BERNARD, D.D., TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. THERE are few passages in the life of our Lord explanation is possible of the precise forms in which present more difhculty than the incidents which the threefold temptation presented itself to recorded in the as immediately following the sinless nature of . No man witnessed His baptism. For thirty years he had lived, so that struggle save He who endured it for our far as we may learn, a quiet, simple life in the sakes. Little is told us of the circumstances, humble household at , a life of prepara- although, as the narratives of the Gospels must tion for ministry, the greatness of His con- be derived at length from Christ’s own words to descension in dwelling among men being known His disciples, we may rest assured that all that is only to Himself. But at last the preaching of necessary for us to know is recorded. But the St. John the Forerunner having made the way meaning of what we are told is not easy to unravel ; plain for the fuller revelation that was in store, and the relation of the three trials to each other is He was baptized in the waters of the Jordan, and explained in widely different ways by those who the Voice from heaven announced to those who have studied the Gospels most closely. The care- had ears to hear that this was in truth the Holy ful and learned exposition of Archbishop Trench One of God, the Son of His good pleasure. And in his Studies in the Gospels, and the notes then it was that the Christ was led up into the of Mr. Sadler in his edition of the New Testa- wilderness of temptation. We cannot, indeed, ment, seem on the whole to provide the most suppose that on no other occasion did He feel satisfactory English commentary on this awful the assaults of the Spirit of evil; but at this and mysterious transaction; but even they have critical moment in His life on earth, the Prince left gleanings for those who (although lo~ago of Darkness seems to have put forth all his powers. Ùzterllallo) come after them. And in particular It would be presumptuous to suppose that a full the explanations of the second temptation (follow- , 504 ing St. Matthew’s order) given by them do not The passionate desires of youth, the absorbing the seem quite to give the sense which lies on the worldliness of mature men of the world, pride surface ; though, in the case of the third tempta- and self-satisfaction which too often attend success- tion, Mr. Sadler’s reverent comments are full of ful old age ; we know them all. And we cannot suggestiveness. be surprised that the third evangelist, writing for The outlines of St. Matthew’s narrative are Greek readers, should have followed the order, familiar. After the prolonged fast of forty days, OtX-q8ovt’a, 7rÀwvE~{a, OtXo8o$ta, although he is the tempter came (whether in outward presence careful not even to hint that he is describing the or as a suggestion to the spirit we know not, and Lord’s temptations in the order in which they we do not need to know). If thou be the Son of actually occurred. God, command that these stones be made bread.’ But in St. Matthew’s account, as we have seen, That is: You are the Son of God ; why do you the climax of the struggle was reached when the not satisfy the natural cravings of the flesh by evil suggestion came from the Evil One : ‘ All these putting forth your divine power over nature ? things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall. down and And when this had failed, then came the second, worship me.’ It is necessary to inquire, What is more subtle, trial: ‘If thou be the Son of God, the meaning of this ? What is the significance of cast Thyself down.’ You are the Son of God; why this temptation ? From whence did it derive its submit yourself to the ordinary restrictions which force ? It is commonly said that the human love natural law imposes upon men ? By angelic hands of power, present in every son of Adam, was the you will be borne up and supported after a principle upon which the tempter here rested his fashion which no child of man dare hope for. malicious attack. And it is beyond controversy In such miraculous support and guidance, dejec- that earthly ambition is a strong motive. The tion of spirit will pass away, and that spiritual joy desire of fame-‘ that last infirmity of noble mind’ and peace which accompany the vivid sense of -is a desire which has brought about the fall of the Divine Presence will be regained. And then, many a heroic soul. And it has been supposed the trial of the flesh and the trial of the spirit were that this was at the root of the third temptation of followed by the blasphemous suggestion : ‘All our blessed Lord. There is grave danger, as we these things,’ the kingdoms of the world and their have reminded ourselves already, in paraphrasing glory, ‘will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and solemn words like those in the story before us. worship me.’ We rather weaken them than add to their force by In St. Luke’s narrative, as all students of the translating them into our modern ways of speech. Gospels know, the trial placed last by St. Matthew And in any case we cannot expect to understand is given the second place. But (if we are right to the matter to the end. But surely such an ex- press such details at all) we can hardly doubt that planation as this is not satisfactory. It does not St. Matthew gives the order of events as they suggest that there was anything extraordinary or actually happened ; for he adds notes of time : Tfien even intense in the trial of our Lord, if the last the taketh Him into the Holy City;’ ’Again and greatest temptation which He had to resist was the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high the temptation to seek earthly dominion, to gratify mountain,’ which show that he is giving a con- earthly ambition. It appeals to a motive powerful tinuous narrative. Such indications are absent with the children of men, but hardly to be supposed from St. Luke’s record, although the reason of the as peculiarly present with the Eternal ~Vord, by differences can only be matter of conjecture. whom all thi1lgs were made. Certainly the order in which St. John in his First We shall gain, it is believed, a clearer under- Epistle speaks of the three master temptations of standing of what this mysterious trial was, if we humanity-‘ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the look back to those which preceded it. Both the eyes, and the pride of life’ 1-is an order which other tempting voices, ‘ Command that these stones naturally suggests itself as a fit one in which to be made bread,’ Cast Thyself down from hence range the three great temptations of the Son of were prefaced by the words, If Thou be the Son Man. It is an order which brings before us the of God.’ No doubt is here expressed or implied besetting sins of the various stages of human life. as to that Divine Sonship ; the consciousness of it 1 I Jn 216. must, we can but reverently believe, have been 505 ever present with the Christ. But the temptation Man. He had taken upon Him that nature was to draw upon that store of supernatural power which is the flower and the crown of created which was ever within His reach. ’Thinkest life. Through this Incarnation it should receive thou,’ He said, on the last sad evening, ’that I new strength ; fresh gifts were thus placed within cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall man’s reach, for it is in Christ that men become presently give Me more than twelve legions of partakers of the Divine nature. So is the Church 1 be ? &dquo; It would have been so easy to have in fact the body of Christ. Why should it not asserted His absolute freedom from the conditions !&dquo; established then and there ? He who was to come of human life, as we know that He did assert and had come. All things were ready. The king- display it after His Resurrection. Easy to gratify ’ doms of the world awaited their rightful Lord. I the desires of the flesh or the pride of life; easy Surely there was no need of more. The gospel for us all, but incomparably easy for Him who was of an Incarnate Word might now be preached. All Lord of the whole earth. Nor would such / the glory of the earth, which was to be filled with yield- I ing have been to all outward appearance a the knowledge of , spread itself before renunciation of His claims. The desire for food ; Him ; and the whole creation, which had been is innocent in itself; trust in the Divine Pro- groaning and travailing together in discipline and vidence is the soul’s best strength and stay. painful waiting, had found its consummation in But to have followed either suggestion would Him. Is not this the gospel itself ? have been to turn aside from His appointed But for one fact it could be the gospel. That course. He had come to live a true human fact is the fact of sin. And does it not seem as life, to taste of life as we know it; and to have if the suggestion of evil which came to the Sinless thus-either for His own bodily needs or His One was that He should recognize the rights of spiritual consolation-divorced Himself from the sin in the universe of which He was the Creator? life of men by a display of Divine power would ’ All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall have been, it may well be, a departure from the down and worship me.’ Sin had a place in the course foreordained in the counsels of the world; the race had fallen from its high estate; Supreme. A true must be perfect and the Divine Mercy had now provided a fresh man; body and soul alike need redemption. source of strength from which it might draw And a Redeemer who did not share in the life-giving draughts. Was not this enough ? Was fulness of human nature, who would free Himself it indeed necessary that the Incarnation should be from the infirmities of human body, or would fulfilled in the Atonement, that the condescension comfort His fainting soul by supernatural mani- of the Divine Charity should stoop to the cross ? festations of His Godhead, would not be a eve are here on holy ground, and we dare not go Redeemer for man. And so He endured the beyond what is written. But at least we are not pain of abstinence, and the sorrowful depression inventing anything for ourselves which is not in the of a soul which dreads the withdrawal of the text of the Gospels. For we read that the tempter Divine help, rather than minister to the one or only departed for a season&dquo; and we know that relieve the other by a direct exertion of the more than once this very temptation assailed the Godhead that dwelt in Him. He was thus tried, Redeemer. In the garden of Gethsemane on the 3 for He was the Son of God; He resisted, for He eve of His Passion, with strong crying and tears,’ was the Son of Man. II/ He prayed, ‘ O My Father, if it be possible, let The first two trials were, then, more subtle thanI this cup pass from IBIle.144 The shadow of the appears at first sight. The victory lay in the cross was ever with Him; and in the earlier as in refusal to separate Himself in His sorrows from the later days of ministry, the greatest, supremest, mankind; it lay in that self-emptying’ of which trial of Jesus lay in the submission to the cross, St. Paul speaks. And when we turn to the third and all that it involved. ’All these things will and final conflict, we seem to find that it too was I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship a far more terrible conflict than any which can 2 It is interesting that at Lk 413, in the Græco-Latin come upon men, though it be full of the deepest MS. of St. Gall (δ), after the words usque ad tempus we for us all. He was in truth the teaching Son of have the explanatory gloss, i. passionis. 1 Mt 2653. 3 7.He 5 4 Mt 2639. 506

were the two me.’ But the answer comes from the lips of the comforted by a ministry of angels Sinless One, ‘Get thee behind Me, .’ The great occasions on which He resisted the impulse words show in their sternness the bitterness of the to shun the cross, and thus leave the work of came and trial which drew them forth. They are used but Redemption but half done. ’Angels St. once again, and then they are occasioned by the ministered unto Him’ in the wilderness, says self-same suggestion of evil, when the Apostle St. Matthew.3 3 ’An appeared to Him’ at Peter would have had his Master refuse the cross. 1 Gethsemane, says St. Luke.4 For in both cases To have refused the cross would have been to the voice of the Kingly Victim has been heard, have left evil unconquered ; it would have been a ‘ Get thee behind Me, Satan ; Thou shalt worship thou serve.’ recognition of its right to a place in God’s world ; the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt and thus it would have left humanity unredeemed. Evil must ever be an intruder in the kingdom of It is only through the merits of the Passion that a righteousness ; it has no joint sovereignty with overcome Him who alone is Christian can say, I can do all things in Him that good ; it must be by strengtheneth me.’ 2 And it is deeply significant able to overcome it. But the path to victory is that the two occasions on which the Lord was ’ the royal road of the cross.’ I Mt 1623. 2 Ph 413. I 11 I Lk 223.

The Breat Text Commentary. THE GREAT TEXTS OF ST. JOHN’S GOSPEL.

JOHN xx. 29. every individual. Such was not to be the course of God’s operation on the earth, and hence Jesus calls those blessed saith unto him, Because thou hast seen Me, ‘ Jesus who shall believe by the solitary means of that faith to thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not which Thomas insisted on adding the other.-GoDET. seen, and have believed’ (R.V.). yet THIS last great declaration of blessedness is a beatitude which is the special property of the countless number of believers who have never seen Christ in the flesh. Just as it is possible for every Christian to become equal in blessed- EXPOSITION. ness to Christ’s mother and brethren by obedience (Mt 1249.5°), so it is possible for them to transcend the blessed- saith unto him.’ - Our Lord does not bid ’Jesus ness of the apostles by faith. All the apostles, lil;e Thomas, Thomas rise, nor say, as the did to in the angel John had seen before they believed ; even John’s faith did not nor did He the Apocalypse, Worship God’ ; reject homage show itself till he had had evidence (v.8). Thomas had which is here so but He describes this grandly paid ; very the opportunity of believing without seeing, but rejected state of mind which induced the to say, ’ My Lord, it. The same opportunity is granted to all believers nov~.- and God !’ as that which my high, holy acquisition through- PLUMMER. out His treated as main con- ministry He had the prime _ dition of all spiritual blessings. ‘Thou hast believed,’ said He, ’ because thou hast seen TIe ; thou hast become a be- Seeing and Believing the Resurrection. liever in all that I am, because thou hast received this The external fact of the Christian crowning proof of the reality of My victory over death.’- great religion REYNOLDS. is the from the Dead. Jesus ‘ Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have died to satisfy Divine justice. lvhen He died believed.’-The change from perfects to aorists should be He did satisfy Divine justice-the Law of God noted : ‘ Blessed are they who sa7v not and (yet) believed.’ had no more dominion over Him. But He There were already disciples who believed without having rose from the Dead. So here on earth was One seen the Risen Lord ; and from a point of view in the future, Jesus sees many more such. -PLU l~l Ni L~’R. over whom God’s Law had no power. And as THE contrast which Jesus indicates is that between a He died not for His own sins but for ours, here faith which, to the miraculous insists on accept fact, s~aing on earth was One under whom we could find it, and a faith which consents to accept it on the founda- shelter from the Law of God. We flee to Him, tion of testimony. In the first way, faith would be possible and there is now no condemnation to them for the world only on condition of miracles being renewed that unceasingly, and appearances of Jesus being repeated to are in Christ Jesus.’ If He had not died, there