Mouth

Is sometimes used in Scripture for speaker, Exodus 4:16 Jeremiah 15:19. God spoke with Moses "mouth to mouth," Numbers 12...8, that is, condescendingly and clearly. The law was to be "in the mouth" of the Hebrews, Exodus 13:9, often rehearsed and talked of. "The rod of his mouth," Isaiah 11:4, and the sharp sword, Revelation 1:16, denote the power of Christ's word to convict, control, and judge; compare Isaiah 49:2 Hebrews 4:12. The Hebrew word for mouth is often translated "command," Genesis 45:21 Job 39:27 Ecclesiastes 8:2; and the unclean spirits out of the mouth of the dragon, Revelation 16:14, are the ready executors of his commands.

1. (n.) The opening through which an animal receives food; the aperture between the jaws or between the lips; also, the cavity, containing the tongue and teeth, between the lips and the pharynx; the buccal cavity.

2. (n.) An opening affording entrance or exit; orifice; aperture;

3. (n.) The opening of a vessel by which it is filled or emptied, charged or discharged; as, the mouth of a jar or pitcher; the mouth of the lacteal vessels, etc.

4. (n.) The opening or entrance of any cavity, as a cave, pit, well, or den.

5. (n.) The opening of a piece of ordnance, through which it is discharged.

6. (n.) The opening through which the waters of a river or any stream are discharged.

7. (n.) The entrance into a harbor.

8. (n.) The crosspiece of a bridle bit, which enters the mouth of an animal.

9. (n.) A principal speaker; one who utters the common opinion; a mouthpiece.

10. (n.) Cry; voice.

11. (n.) Speech; language; testimony.

12. (n.) A wry face; a grimace; a mow.

13. (v. t.) To take into the mouth; to seize or grind with the mouth or teeth; to chew; to devour.

14. (v. t.) To utter with a voice affectedly big or swelling; to speak in a strained or unnaturally sonorous manner.

15. (v. t.) To form or cleanse with the mouth; to lick, as a bear her cub.

16. (v. t.) To make mouths at.

17. (v. i.) To speak with a full, round, or loud, affected voice; to vociferate; to rant.

18. (v. i.) To put mouth to mouth; to kiss.

19. (v. i.) To make grimaces, esp. in ridicule or contempt.

MOUTH

mowth (peh, chekh, garon (Psalm 149:6); Aramaic pum, tera (Daniel 3:26); stoma, 71 times, once logos, i.e. "word of mouth," "speech" (Acts 15:27); once we find the verb epistomizo, "to silence," "to stop the mouth" (Titus 1:11)):

1. Literal Sense:

In addition to frequent references to man and animals, "Their food was yet in their mouths" (Psalm 78:30); "And Yahweh opened the mouth of the ass" (Numbers 22:28); "Save me from the lion's mouth" (Psalm 22:21), etc., the term is often used in connection with inanimate things: mouth of a sack (Genesis 42:27); of the earth (Genesis 4:11 Numbers 26:10); of a well (Numbers 29:2, 3, 8, 10); of a cave (Joshua 10:18, 22, 27); of Sheol (Psalm 141:7); of the abyss (Jeremiah 48:28); of furnace (Aramaic tera`, Daniel 3:26); of idols (Psalm 115:5; Psalm 135:16, 17).

2. Figurative Sense:

(1) The "mouth" denotes language, speech, declaration (compare "lips," "tongue," which see): "By the mouth of" is "by means of," "on the declaration of" (Luke 1:70 Acts 1:16); "Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses" (Numbers 35:30; compare Deuteronomy 17:6 Matthew 18:16 Hebrews 10:28); "I will give you mouth and wisdom" (Luke 21:15); "fool's mouth" (Proverbs 18:7).

(2) "Mouth" also denotes "spokesman": "He shall be to thee a mouth" (Exodus 4:16).

Numerous are the idiomatic phrases which have, in part, been introduced into English by means of the language of the Bible. "To put into the mouth," if said of God, denotes Divine inspiration (Deuteronomy 18:18 Micah 3:5). "To have words put into the mouth" means to have instructions given (Deuteronomy 31:19 2 Samuel 14:3 Jeremiah 1:9 Exodus 4:11-16). "The fruit of the mouth" (Proverbs 18:20) is synonymical with wisdom, the mature utterance of the wise. "To put one's mouth into the dust" is equivalent with humbling one's self (Lamentations 3:29; compare "to lay one's horn in the dust," Job 16:15). Silent submission is expressed by "laying the hand upon the mouth" (Judges 18:19 Job 29:9; Job 40:4 Micah 7:16); compare "to refrain the lips"; see LIP. "To open the mouth wide" against a person is to accuse him wildly and often wrongfully (Psalm 35:21 Isaiah 57:4), otherwise "to open one's mouth wide," "to have an enlarged mouth" means to have great confidence and joy in speaking or accepting good things (1 Samuel 2:1 Ezekiel 33:22 2 Corinthians 6:11 Ephesians 6:19). "To gape upon one with the mouth" means to threaten a person (Job 16:10). Divine rebuke is expressed by the "rod of God's mouth" (Isaiah 11:4), and the Messiah declares "He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword" (Isaiah 49:2; compare Revelation 2:16; Revelation 19:15, 21). Great anguish, such as dying with thirst, is expressed by "the tongue cleaving to the roof of the mouth" (Hebrew chekh, Job 29:10 Psalm 137:6; compare 22:15).

H. L. E. Luering

ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

es-ka-tol'-o-ji:

Contents

I. DOCTRINAL AND RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE

II. GENERAL STRUCTURE

III. COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT

IV. GENERAL AND INDIVIDUAL ESCHATOLOGY

V. THE PAROUSIA

1. Definition

2. Signs Preceding the Parousia

3. Events Preceding the Parousia

(1) The Conversion of Israel

(2) The Coming of the Antichrist

4. The Manner of the Parousia

VI. THE RESURRECTION

1. Its Universality

2. The Millennium

3. The Resurrection of Believers

4. The Resurrection-Body

VII. THE CHANGE OF THOSE LIVING AT THE PAROUSIA

VIII. THE JUDGMENT

IX. THE CONSUMMATE STATE

X. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE

XI. LITERATURE

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I. Doctrinal and Religious Significance.

The subject of eschatology plays a prominent part in New Testament teaching and religion. Christianity in its very origin bears an eschatological character. It means the appearance of the Messiah and the inauguration of His work; and from the Old Testament point of view these form part of eschatology. It is true in Jewish theology the days of the Messiah were not always included in the eschatological age proper, but often regarded as introductory to it (compare Weber, Judische Theol. 2, 371). And in the New Testament also this point of view is to some extent represented, inasmuch as, owing to the appearance of the Messiah and the only partial fulfillment of the prophecies for the present, that which the Old Testament depicted as one synchronous movement is now seen to divide into two stages, namely, the present Messianic age and the consummate state of the future. Even so, however, the New Testament draws the Messianic period into much closer connection with the strictly eschatological process than Judaism. The distinction in Judaism rested on a consciousness of difference in quality between the two stages, the content of the Messianic age being far less spiritually and transcendentally conceived than that of the final state. The New Testament, by spiritualizing the entire Messianic circle of ideas, becomes keenly alive to its affinity to the content of the highest eternal hope, and consequently tends to identify the two, to find the age to come anticipated in the present. In some cases this assumes explicit shape in the belief that great eschatological transactions have already begun to take place, and that believers have already attained to at least partial enjoyment of eschatological privileges. Thus the present kingdom in our Lord's teaching is one in essence with the final kingdom; according to the discourses in John eternal life is in principle realized here; with Paul there has been a prelude to the last judgment and resurrection in the death and resurrection of Christ, and the life in the Spirit is the first-fruits of the heavenly state to come. The strong sense of this may even express itself in the paradoxical form that the eschatological state has arrived and the one great incision in history has already been made (Hebrews 2:3, 1; Hebrews 9:11; Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 12:22-24). Still, even where this extreme consciousness is reached, it nowhere supersedes the other more common representation, according to which the present state continues to lie this side of the eschatological crisis, and, while directly leading up to the latter, yet remains to all intents a part of the old age and world-order. Believers live in the "last days," upon them "the ends of the ages are come," but "the last day," "the consummation of the age," still lies in the future (Matthew 13:39, 40, 49; Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:20 John 6:39, 44, 54; John 12:48; 1 Corinthians 10:11 2 Timothy 3:1 Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 9:26 James 5:3 1 Peter 1:5, 20 2 Peter 3:3 1 John 2:18 Jude 1:18).

The eschatological interest of early believers was no mere fringe to their religious experience, but the very heart of its inspiration. It expressed and embodied the profound supernaturalism and soteriological character of the New Testament faith. The coming world was not to be the product of natural development but of a Divine interposition arresting the process of history. And the deepest motive of the longing for this world was a conviction of the abnormal character of the present world, a strong sense of sin and evil. This explains why the New Testament doctrine of salvation has grown up to a large extent in the closest interaction with its eschatological teaching. The present experience was interpreted. in the light of the future. It is necessary to keep this in mind for a proper appreciation of the generally prevailing hope that the return of the Lord might come in the near future. Apocalyptic calculation had less to do with this than the practical experience that the earnest of the supernatural realities of the life to come was present in the church, and that therefore it seemed unnatural for the full fruition of these to be long delayed. The subsequent receding of this acute eschatological state has something to do with the gradual disappearance of the miraculous phenomena of the apostolic age.

II. General Structure.

New Testament eschatology attaches itself to the Old Testament and to Jewish belief as developed on the basis of ancient revelation. It creates on the whole no new system or new terminology, but incorporates much that was current, yet so as to reveal by selection and distribution of emphasis the essential newness of its spirit. In Judaism there existed at that time two distinct types of eschatological outlook. There was the ancient national hope which revolved around the destiny of Israel. Alongside of it existed a transcendental form of eschatology with cosmical perspective, which had in view the destiny of the universe and of the human race. The former of these represents the original form of Old Testament eschatology, and therefore occupies a legitimate place in the beginnings of the New Testament development, notably in the revelations accompanying the birth of Christ and in the earlier (synoptical) preaching of John the Baptist. There entered, however, into it, as held by the Jews, a considerable element of individual and collective eudaemonism, and it had become identified with a literalistic interpretation of prophecy, which did not sufficiently take into account the typical import and poetical character of the latter. The other scheme, while to some extent the product of subsequent theological development, lies prefigured in certain later prophecies, especially in Dnl, and, far from being an importation from Babylonian, or ultimately Persian, sources, as some at present maintain, represents in reality the true development of the inner principles of Old Testament prophetic revelation. To it the structure of New Testament eschatology closely conforms itself.

In doing this, however, it discards the impure motives and elements by which even this relatively higher type of Jewish eschatology was contaminated. In certain of the apocalyptic writings a compromise is attempted between these two schemes after this manner, that the carrying out of the one is merely to follow that of the other, the national hope first receiving its fulfillment in a provisional Messianic kingdom of limited duration (400 or 1,000 years), to be superseded at the end by the eternal state. The New Testament does not follow the Jewish theology along this path. Even though it regards the present work of Christ as preliminary to the consummate order of things, it does not separate the two in essence or quality, it does not exclude the Messiah from a supreme place in the coming world, and does not expect a temporal Messianic kingdom in the future as distinguished from Christ's present spiritual reign, and as preceding the state of eternity. In fact the figure of the Messiah becomes central in the entire eschatological process, far more so than is the case in Judaism. All the stages in this process, the resurrection, the judgment, the life eternal, even the intermediate state, receive the impress of the absolute significance which Christian faith ascribes to Jesus as the Christ. Through this Christocentric character New Testament eschatology acquires also far greater unity and simplicity than can be predicated of the Jewish schemes. Everything is practically reduced to the great ideas of the resurrection and the judgment as consequent upon the Parousia of Christ. Much apocalyptic embroidery to which no spiritual significance attached is eliminated. While the overheated fantasy tends to multiply and elaborate, the religious interest tends toward concentration and simplification.

III. Course of Development.

In New Testament eschatological teaching a general development in a well-defined direction is traceable. The starting-point is the historico-dramatic conception of the two successive ages. These two ages are distinguished as houtos ho aion, ho nun aion, ho enesios aion, "this age," "the present age" (Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:22 Luke 16:8 Romans 12:2 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6, 8; 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4 Galatians 1:4 Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12 1 Timothy 6:17 2 Timothy 4:10 Titus 2:12), and ho aion ekeinos, ho aion mellon, ho aion erchomenos, "that age," "the future age" (Matthew 12:32 Luke 18:30; Luke 20:35 Ephesians 2:7 Hebrews 6:5). In Jewish literature before the New Testament, no instances of the developed antithesis between these two ages seem to be found, but from the way in which it occurs in the teaching of Jesus and Paul it appears to have been current at that time. (The oldest undisputed occurrence is a saying of Johanan ben Zaqqay, about 80 A.D.) The contrast between these two ages is (especially with Paul) that between the evil and transitory, and the perfect and abiding. Thus, to each age belongs its own characteristic order of things, and so the distinction passes over into that of two "worlds" in the sense of two systems (in Hebrew and Aramaic the same word `olam, `olam, does service for both, in Greek aion usually renders the meaning "age," occasionally "world" (Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 11:3), kosmos meaning "world"; the latter, however, is never used of the future world). Compare Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, I, 132-46. Broadly speaking, the development of New Testament eschatology consists in this, that the two ages are increasingly recognized as answering to two spheres of being which coexist from of old, so that the coming of the new age assumes the character of a revelation and extension of the supernal order of things, rather than that of its first entrance into existence. Inasmuch as the coming world stood for the perfect and eternal, and in the realm of heaven such a perfect, eternal order of things already existed, the reflection inevitably arose that these two were in some sense identical. But the new significance which the antithesis assumes does not supersede the older historicodramatic form. The higher world so interposes in the course of the lower as to bring the conflict to a crisis.

The passing over of the one contrast into the other, therefore, does not mark, as has frequently been asserted, a recession of the eschatological wave, as if the interest had been shifted from the future to the present life. Especially in the Fourth Gospel this "de-eschatologizing" process has been found, but without real warrant. The apparent basis for such a conclusion is that the realities of the future life are so vividly and intensely felt to be existent in heaven and from there operative in the believer's life, that the distinction between what is now and what will be hereafter enjoyed becomes less sharp. Instead of the supersedure of the eschatological, this means the very opposite, namely, its most real anticipation. It should further be observed that the development in question is intimately connected and keeps equal pace with the disclosure of the preexistence of Christ, because this fact and the descent of Christ from heaven furnished the clearest witness to the reality of the heavenly order of things. Hence, it is especially observable, not in the earlier epistles of Paul, where the structure of eschatological thought is still in the main historico-dramatic, but in the epistles of the first captivity (Ephesians 1:3, 10-22; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:9, 10; 4:9, 10; 6:12 Philippians 2:5-11; Philippians 3:20 Colossians 1:15, 17; Colossians 3:2; further, in Hebrews 1:2, 3; Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 3:4; Hebrews 6:5, 11; 7:13, 16; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 11:10, 16; 12:22, 23). The Fourth Gospel marks the culmination of this line of teaching, and it is unnecessary to point out how here the contrast between heaven and earth in its christological consequences determines the entire structure of thought. But here it also appears how the last outcome of the New Testament progress of doctrine had been anticipated in the highest teaching of our Lord. This can be accounted for by the inherent fitness that the supreme disclosures which touch the personal life of the Saviour should come not through any third person, but from His own lips.

IV. General and Individual Eschatology.

In the Old Testament the destiny of the nation of Israel to such an extent overshadows that of the individual, that only the first rudiments of an individual eschatology are found. The individualism of the later prophets, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, bore fruit in the thought of the intermediate period. In the apocalyptic writings considerable concern is shown for the ultimate destiny of the individual. But not until the New Testament thoroughly spiritualized the conceptions of the last things could these two aspects be perfectly harmonized. Through the centering of the eschatological hope in the Messiah, and the suspending of the individual's share in it on his personal relation to the Messiah, an individual significance is necessarily imparted to the great final crisis. This also tends to give greater prominence to the intermediate state. Here, also, apocalyptic thought had pointed the way. None the less the Old Testament point of view continues to assert itself in that even in the New Testament the main interest still attaches to the collective, historical development of events. Many questions in regard to the intermediate period are passed by in silence. The Old Testament prophetic foreshortening of the perspective, immediately connecting each present crisis with the ultimate goal, is reproduced in New Testament eschatology on an individual scale in so far as the believer's life here is linked, not so much with his state after death, but rather with the consummate state after the final judgment. The present life in the body and the future life in the body are the two outstanding illumined heights between which the disembodied state remains largely in the shadow. But the same foreshortening of the perspective is also carried over from the Old Testament into the New Testament delineation of general eschatology. The New Testament method of depicting the future is not chronological. Things lying widely apart to our chronologically informed experience are by it drawn closely together. This law is adhered to doubtless not from mere limitation of subjective human knowledge, but by reason of adjustment to the general method of prophetic revelation in Old Testament and New Testament alike.

V. The Parousia.

1. Definition:

The word denotes "coming," "arrival." It is never applied to the incarnation of Christ, and could be applied to His second coming only, partly because it had already become a fixed Messianic term, partly because there was a point of view from which the future appearance of Jesus appeared the sole adequate expression of His Messianic dignity and glory. The explicit distinction between "first advent" and "second advent" is not found in the New Testament. It occurs in Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Testament of Abraham 92:16. In the New Testament it is approached in Hebrews 9:28 and in the use of epiphaneia for both the past appearance of Christ and His future manifestation (2 Thessalonians 2:8 1 Timothy 6:14 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:1 Titus 2:11, 13). The Christian use of the word parousia is more or less colored by the consciousness of the present bodily absence of Jesus from His own, and consequently suggests the thought of His future abiding presence, without, however, formally coming to mean the state of the Saviour's presence with believers (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Parousia occurs in Matthew 24:3, 17, 39 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:23 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8; James 5:7, 8 2 Peter 1:16; 2 Peter 3:4, 12; 1 1 John 2:28. A synonymous term is apokalupsis, "revelation," probably also of pre-Christian origin, presupposing the pre-existence of the Messiah in hidden form previous to His manifestation, either in heaven or on earth (compare Apocrypha Baruch 3:29; 1:20; Ezra 4; APC 2Esdras 7:28; Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Testament of Levi 18; John 7:27 1 Peter 1:20). It could be adopted by Christians because Christ had been withdrawn into heaven and would be publicly demonstrated the Christ on His return, hence used with special reference to enemies and unbelievers (Luke 17:30 Acts 3:21 1 Corinthians 16 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8 1 Peter 1:13, 10; 1 Peter 5:4). Another synonymous term is "the day of the (Our) Lord," "the day," "that day," "the day of Jesus Christ." This is the rendering of the well-known Old Testament phrase. Though there is no reason in any particular passage why "the Lord" should not be Christ, the possibility exists that in some cases it may refer to God (compare "day of God" in 2 Peter 3:12). On the other hand, what the Old Testament with the use of this phrase predicates of God is sometimes in the New Testament purposely transferred to Christ. "Day," while employed of the parousia generally, is, as in the Old Testament, mostly associated with the judgment, so as to become a synonym for judgment (compare Acts 19:38 1 Corinthians 4:3). The phrase is found in Matthew 7:22; Matthew 24:36 Mark 13:32 Luke 10:12; Luke 17:24; Luke 21:34 Acts 2:20 Romans 13:12 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14 Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4 (compare 5:5, 8); 2 Thessalonians 2:2 2 Timothy 1:12, 18; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 10:25 2 Peter 3:10.

2. Signs Preceding the Parousia:

The parousia is preceded by certain signs heralding its approach. Judaism, on the basis of the Old Testament, had worked out the doctrine of "the woes of the Messiah," chebhele ha-mashiach, the calamities and afflictions attendant upon the close of the present and the beginning of the coming age being interpreted as birth pains of the latter. This is transferred in the New Testament to the parousia of Christ. The phrase occurs only in Matthew 24:8 Mark 13:8, the idea, in Romans 8:22, and allusions to it occur probably in 1 Corinthians 7:26 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5 Besides these general "woes," and also in accord with Jewish doctrine, the appearance of the Antichrist is made to precede the final crisis. Without Jewish precedent, the New Testament links with the parousia as preparatory to it, the pouring out of the Spirit, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the conversion of Israel and the preaching of the gospel to all the nations. The problem of the sequence and interrelation of these several precursors of the end is a most difficult and complicated one and, as would seem, at the present not ripe for solution. The "woes" which in our Lord's eschatological discourse (Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21) are mentioned in more or less close accord with Jewish teaching are:

(1) wars, earthquakes and famines, "the beginning of travail";

(2) the great tribulation;

(3) commotions among the heavenly bodies; compare Revelation 6:2-17.

For Jewish parallels to these, compare Charles, Eschatology, 326, 327. Because of this element which the discourse has in common with Jewish apocalypses, it has been assumed by Colani, Weiffenbach, Weizsacker, Wendt, et al., that here two sources have been welded together, an actual prophecy of Jesus, and a Jewish or Jewish-Christian apocalypse from the time of the Jewish War 68-70 (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 5, 3). In the text of Mark this so-called "small apocalypse" is believed to consist of 13:7, 8, 14-20, 24-27, 30, 31. But this hypothesis mainly springs from the disinclination to ascribe to Jesus realistic eschatological expectations, and the entirely unwarranted assumption that He must have spoken of the end in purely ethical and religious terms only. That the typically Jewish "woes" bear no direct relation to the disciples and their faith is not a sufficient reason for declaring the prediction of them unworthy of Jesus. A contradiction is pointed out between the two representations, that the parousia will come suddenly, unexpectedly, and that it will come heralded by these signs. Especially in Mark 13:30, 32 the contradiction is said to be pointed. To this it may be replied that even after the removal of the assumed apocalypse the same twofold representation remains present in what is recognized as genuine discourse of Jesus, namely, in Mark 13:28, 29 as compared with 13:32, 33-37 and other similar admonitions to watchfulness. A real contradiction between 13:30 and 13:32 does not exist. Our Lord could consistently affirm both: "This generation shall not pass away, until all these things be accomplished," and "of that day or that hour knoweth no one." To be sure, the solution should not be sought by understanding "this generation" of the Jewish race or of the human race. It must mean, according to ordinary usage, then living generation. Nor does it help matters to distinguish between the prediction of the parousia within certain wide limits and the denial of knowledge as to the precise day and hour. In point of fact the two statements do not refer to the same matter at all. "That day or that hour" in 13:32 does not have "these things" of 13:30 for its antecedent. Both by the demonstrative pronoun "that" and by "but" it is marked as an absolute self-explanatory conception. It simply signifies as elsewhere the day of the Lord, the day of judgment. Of "these things," the exact meaning of which phrase must be determined from the foregoing, Jesus declares that they will come to pass within that generation; but concerning the parousia, "that (great) day," He declares that no one but God knows the time of its occurrence. The correctness of this view is confirmed by the preceding parable, Mark 13:28, 29, where in precisely the same way "these things" and the parousia are distinguished. The question remains how much "these things" (verse 29; Luke 21:31), "all these things" (Matthew 24:33, 14, Mark 13:30), "all things" (Luke 21:32) is intended to cover of what is described in the preceding discourse. The answer will depend on what is there represented as belonging to the precursors of the end, and what as strictly constituting part of the end itself; and on the other question whether Jesus predicts one end with its premonitory signs, or refers to two crises each of which will be heralded by its own series of signs. Here two views deserve consideration. According to the one (advocated by Zahn in his Commentary on Matthew, 652-66) the signs cover only Matthew 24:4-14.

What is related afterward, namely, "the abomination of desolation," great tribulation, false prophets and Christs, commotions in the heavens, the sign of the Son of Man, all this belongs to "the end" itself, in the absolute sense, and is therefore comprehended in the parousia and excepted from the prediction that it will happen in that generation, while included in the declaration that only God knows the time of its coming. The destruction of the temple and the holy city, though not explicitly mentioned in Matthew 24:4-14, would be included in what is there said of wars and tribulation. The prediction thus interpreted would have been literally fulfilled. The objections to this view are:

(1) It is unnatural thus to subsume what is related in 24:15-29 under "the end." From a formal point of view it does not differ from the phenomena of 24:4-14 which are "signs."

(2) It creates the difficulty, that the existence of the temple and the temple-worship in Jerusalem are presupposed in the last days immediately before the parousia.

The "abomination of desolation" taken from Daniel 8:13; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11; compare Sirach 49:2-according to some, the destruction of the city and temple, better a desecration of the temple-site by the setting up of something idolatrous, as a result of which it becomes desolate-and the flight from Judea, are put among events which, together with the parousia, constitute the end of the world. This would seem to involve chiliasm of a very pronounced sort. The difficulty recurs in the strictly eschatological interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1, where "the man of sin" (see SIN, MAN OF) is represented as sitting in "the temple of God" and in Revelation 11:1, 2, where "the temple of God" and "the altar," and "the court which is without the temple" and "the holy city" figure in an episode inserted between the sounding of the trumpet of the sixth angel and that of the seventh. On the other hand it ought to be remembered that eschatological prophecy makes use of ancient traditional imagery and stereotyped formulas, which, precisely because they are fixed and applied to all situations, cannot always bear a literal sense, but must be subject to a certain degree of symbolical and spiritualizing interpretation. In the present case the profanation of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes may have furnished the imagery in which, by Jesus, Paul and John, anti-Christian developments are described of a nature which has nothing to do with Israel, Jerusalem or the temple, literally understood.

(3) It is not easy to conceive of the preaching of the gospel to all the nations as falling within the lifetime of that generation.

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EVE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

(Eua; Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, Heua):

"Eve" occurs twice in the New Testament and both references are in the Pauline writings. In 1 Timothy 2:12-14 woman's place in teaching is the subject of discussion, and the writer declares that she is a learner and not a teacher, that she is to be in quietness and not to have dominion over a man. Paul elsewhere expressed this same idea (see 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35). Having stated his position in regard to woman's place, he used the Genesis account of the relation of the first woman to man to substantiate his teaching. Paul used this account to illustrate woman's inferiority to man, and he undoubtedly accepted it at its face value without any question as to its historicity. He argued that woman is inferior in position, for "Adam was first formed, then Eve." She is inferior in character, for "Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression."

See CHILD-BEARING.

In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul is urging loyalty to Christ, and he uses the temptation of Eve to illustrate the ease with which one is corrupted. Paul seems to have had no thought but that the account of the serpent's beguiling Eve should be taken literally.

A. W. Fortune

HEAVENS, NEW (AND EARTH, NEW)

" 1. Eschatological Idea

2. Earliest Conceptions: Cosmic verses National Type

3. Different from Mythological Theory

4. Antiquity of Cosmical Conception

5. The Cosmical Dependent on the Ethico-Religious

6. The End Correspondent to the Beginning

7. The Cosmical Heavens: Hebrews 12:26-29

8. Palingenesis: Matthew 19:28

9. A Purified Universe

1. Eschatological Idea:

The formal conception of new heavens and a new earth occurs in Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1 (where "heaven," singular). The idea in substance is also found in Isaiah 51:16 Matthew 19:28 2 Corinthians 5:17; Hebrews 12:26-28. In each case the reference is eschatological, indeed the adjective "new" seems to have acquired in this and other connections a semi-technical eschatological sense. It must be remembered that the Old Testament has no single word for "universe," and that the phrase "heaven and earth" serves to supply the deficiency. The promise of a new heavens and a new earth is therefore equivalent to a promise of world renewal.

2. Earliest Conceptions: Cosmic verses National Type:

It is a debated question how old in the history of revelation this promise is. Isaiah is the prophet with whom the idea first occurs in explicit form, and that in passages which many critics would assign to the post-exilic period (the so-called Trito-Isaiah). In general, until recently, the trend of criticism has been to represent the universalistic-cosmic type of eschatology as developed out of the particularistic-national type by a gradual process of widening of the horizon of prophecy, a view which would put the emergence of the former at a comparatively late date. More recently, however, Gressmann (Der Ursprung der israelitisch-judischen Eschatologie, 1905) and others have endeavored to show that often even prophecies belonging to the latter type embody material and employ means of expression which presuppose acquaintance with the idea of a world-catastrophe at the end. On this view the world-eschatology would have, from ancient times, existed alongside of the more narrowly confined outlook, and would be even older than the latter. These writers further assume that the cosmic eschatology was not indigenous among the Hebrews, but of oriental (Babylonian) origin, a theory which they apply not only to the more developed system of the later apocalyptic writings, but also to its preformations in the Old Testament. The cosmic eschatology is not believed to have been the distinctive property of the great ethical prophets, but rather a commonly current mythological belief to which the prophets refer without formally endorsing it.

3. Different from Mythological Theory:

Its central thought is said to have been the belief that the end of the world-process must correspond to the beginning, that consequently the original condition of things, when heaven and earth were new, must repeat itself at some future point, and the state of paradise with its concomitants return, a belief supposed to have rested on certain astronomical observations.

4. Antiquity of Cosmical Conception

While this theory in the form presented is unproven and unacceptable, it deserves credit for having focused attention on certain phenomena in the Old Testament which clearly show that Messianic prophecy, and particularly the world-embracing scope which it assumes in some predictions, is far older than modern criticism had been willing to concede. The Old Testament from the beginning has an eschatology and puts the eschatological promise on the broadest racial basis (Genesis 3). It does not first ascend from Israel to the new humanity, but at the very outset takes its point of departure in the race and from this descends to the election of Israel, always keeping the Universalistic goal in clear view. Also in the earliest accounts, already elements of a cosmical universalism find their place side by side with those of a racial kind, as when Nature is represented as sharing in the consequences of the fall of man.

5. The Cosmical Dependent on the Ethico-Religious:

As regards the antiquity of the universalistic and cosmical eschatology, therefore, the conclusions of these writers may be registered as a gain, while on the two other points of the pagan origin and the unethical character of the expectation involved, dissent from them should be expressed. According to the Old Testament, the whole idea of world-renewal is of strictly super-natural origin, and in it the cosmical follows the ethical hope. The cosmical eschatology is simply the correlate of the fundamental Biblical principle that the issues of the world-process depend on the ethico-religious developments in the history of man (compare 2 Peter 3:13).

6. The End Correspondent to the Beginning:

But the end correspondent to the beginning is likewise a true Scriptural principle, which theory in question has helped to reemphasize, although there is this difference that Scripture does not look forward to a repetition of the same process, but to a restoration of the primeval harmony on a higher plane such as precludes all further disturbance. In the passages above cited, there are clear reminiscences of the account of creation (Isaiah 51:16, "that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth"; Isaiah 65:17, "I create new heavens and a new earth"; 2 Peter 3:13 compared with 2 Peter 3:4-6 Revelation 21:1 compared with the imagery of paradise throughout the chapter). Besides this, where the thought of the renewal of earth is met with in older prophecy, this is depicted in colors of the state of paradise (Isaiah 11:6-9 Hosea 2:18-21). The "regeneration" (palingenesia) of Matthew 19:28 also points back to the first genesis of the world. The `inhabited earth to come' (oikoumene mellousa) of Hebrews 2:5 occurs at the opening of a context throughout which the account of Genesis 1-3 evidently stood before the writer's mind.

7. The Cosmical Heavens: Hebrews 12:26-29:

In the combination "new heavens and a new earth," the term "heavens" must therefore be taken in the sense imposed upon it by the story of creation, where "heavens" designates not the celestial habitation of God, but the cosmical heavens, the region of the supernal waters, sun moon and stars. The Bible nowhere suggests that there is anything abnormal or requiring renewal in God's dwelling-place (Hebrews 9:23 is of a different import). In Revelation 21, where "the new heaven and the new earth" appear, it is at the same time stated that the new Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven (compare 21:1, 2, 10). In Hebrews 12:26-28 also the implication is that only the lower heavens are subject to renewal. The "shaking" that accompanies the new covenant and corresponds to the shaking of the law-giving at Sinai, is a shaking of "not the earth only, but also the heaven." This shaking, in its reference to heaven as well as to earth, signifies a removal of the things shaken. But from the things thus shaken and removed (including heaven), the writer distinguishes "those things which are not shaken," which are destined to remain, and these are identified with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, however, according to the general trend of the teaching of the epistle, has its center in the heavenly world. The words "that have been made," in 12:27, do not assign their created character as the reason why heaven and earth can be shaken, an exegesis which would involve us in the difficulty that among that which remains there is something uncreated besides God; the true construction and correct paraphrase are: "as of things that were made with the thought in the mind of God that those things which cannot be shaken may remain," i.e. already at creation God contemplated an unchangeable universe as the ultimate, higher state of things.

8. Palingenesis: Matthew 19:28:

In Matthew 19:28 the term palingenesia marks the world-renewing as the renewal of an abnormal state of things. The Scripture teaching, therefore, is that around the center of God's heaven, which is not subject to deterioration or renewal, a new cosmical heaven and a new earth will be established to be the dwelling-place of the eschatological humanity. The light in which the promise thus appears reminds us that the renewed kosmos, earth as well as cosmical heavens, is destined to play a permanent (not merely provisional, on the principle of chiliasm) part in the future life of the people of God. This is in entire harmony with the prevailing Biblical representation, not only in the Old Testament but likewise in the New Testament (compare Matthew 5:5 Hebrews 2:5), although in the Fourth Gospel and in the Pauline Epistles the emphasis is to such an extent thrown on the heaven-centered character of the future life that the role to be played in it by the renewed earth recedes into the background. Revelation, on the other hand, recognizes this element in its imagery of "the new Jerus" coming down from God out of heaven upon earth.

9. A Purified Universe:

That the new heavens and the new earth are represented as the result of a "creation" does not necessarily involve a production ex nihilo. The terms employed in 2 Peter 3:6-13 seem rather to imply that the renewal will out of the old produce a purified universe, whence also the catastrophe is compared to that of the Deluge. As then the old world perished by water and the present world arose out of the flood, so in the end-crisis "the heavens shall be dissolved by fire and the elements melt with fervent heat," to give rise to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells. The term palingenesia (Matthew 19:28) points to renewal, not to creation de novo. The Talmud also teaches that the world will pass through a process of purification, although at the same time it seems to break up the continuity between this and the coming world by the fantastic assumption that the new heavens and the new earth of Isaiah 65:17 were created at the close of the Hexemeron of Genesis 1. This was inferred from the occurrence of the article in Isaiah 66:22, "the new heavens and the new earth."

Geerhardus Vos

JERUSALEM, NEW

(Hierousalem kaine): This name occurs in Revelation 21:2 (21:10, "holy city"). The conception is based on prophecies which predict a glorious future to Jerusalem after the judgment (Isaiah 52:1). In Revelation, however, it is not descriptive of any actual locality on earth, but allegorically depicts the final state of the church ("the bride," "the wife of the Lamb," Revelation 21:2, 9), when the new heaven and the new earth shall have come into being. The picture is drawn from a twofold point of view: the new Jerusalem is a restoration of Paradise (Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1, 2, 14); it is also the ideal of theocracy realized (Revelation 21:3, 12, 14, 22). The latter viewpoint explains the peculiar representation that the city descends "out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:2, 10), which characterizes it as, on the one hand, a product of God's supernatural workmanship, and as, on the other hand, the culmination of the historic process of redemption. In other New Testament passages, where theocratic point of view is less prominent, the antitypical Jerusalem appears as having its seat in heaven instead of, as here, coming down from heaven to earth (compare Galatians 4:26 Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 12:22).

See also REVELATION OF JOHN.

Geerhardus Vos

4750. stoma -- the mouth
... the mouth. Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter Transliteration: stoma Phonetic Spelling:
(stom'-a) Short Definition: the mouth, speech Definition: the mouth, speech ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4750.htm - 6k

875. aphrizo -- to foam at the mouth
... to foam at the mouth. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: aphrizo Phonetic Spelling:
(af-rid'-zo) Short Definition: I foam at the mouth Definition: I foam (at ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/875.htm - 6k

1993. epistomizo -- to stop the mouth
... to stop the mouth. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: epistomizo Phonetic Spelling:
(ep-ee-stom-id'-zo) Short Definition: I muzzle, silence Definition: I ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1993.htm - 6k

2727. katecheo -- to teach by word of mouth
... to teach by word of mouth. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: katecheo Phonetic
Spelling: (kat-ay-kheh'-o) Short Definition: I instruct orally Definition: I ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2727.htm - 8k

1255. dialaleo -- to discuss
... Spelling: (dee-al-al-eh'-o) Short Definition: I converse together, talk of Definition:
I converse together, talk of; of conversation passing from mouth to mouth ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1255.htm - 6k

3453. mueo -- to initiate into the mysteries, hence to instruct
... 3453 (akin to 3466 , "mystery") -- properly, shutting the eyes and mouth to ;
(figuratively) the wonderful "mystery revelation" of learning to in every scene ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3453.htm - 7k

5491. cheilos -- a lip, an edge
... a lip, an edge. Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter Transliteration: cheilos Phonetic Spelling:
(khi'-los) Short Definition: a lip, mouth, shore Definition: a lip ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/5491.htm - 6k

3570. nuni -- now
... Col 3:8: "But (3570 ) you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice,
slander, and abusive speech from your mouth" (). 3570 ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3570.htm - 7k

3466. musterion -- a mystery or secret doctrine
... From a derivative of muo (to shut the mouth); a secret or "mystery" (through the
idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites) -- mystery. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3466.htm - 7k

1351. dilogos -- given to repetition, double-tongued
... This person is (vacillating), "speaking out of both sides of their mouth.". [1351
("double-tongued") does "not occur in the or in classical writers. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1351.htm - 7k

2441. chek -- palate, roof of the mouth, gums
... 2440, 2441. chek. 2442 . palate, roof of the mouth, gums. Transliteration:
chek Phonetic Spelling: (khake) Short Definition: mouth. ...
/hebrew/2441.htm - 6k

6433. pum -- mouth
... 6432, 6433. pum. 6434 . mouth. Transliteration: pum Phonetic Spelling:
(poom) Short Definition: mouth. Word Origin (Aramaic) probably ...
/hebrew/6433.htm - 6k

6310. peh -- mouth
... 6309, 6310. peh. 6311 . mouth. Transliteration: peh Phonetic Spelling: (peh)
Short Definition: mouth. Word Origin a prim. root Definition ...
/hebrew/6310.htm - 7k

4057a. midbar -- mouth
... midbar. 4057b . mouth. Transliteration: midbar Short Definition: mouth. Word Origin
from dabar Definition mouth NASB Word Usage mouth (1). 4057, 4057a. ...
/hebrew/4057a.htm - 5k

6473. paar -- to open wide (the mouth)
... 6472, 6473. paar. 6474 . to open wide (the mouth). Transliteration: paar Phonetic
Spelling: (paw-ar') Short Definition: opened. Word Origin a prim. ...
/hebrew/6473.htm - 6k

4057. midbar -- mouth
... 4056, 4057. midbar. 4057a . mouth. Transliteration: midbar Phonetic Spelling:
(mid-bawr') Short Definition: desert. desert, south, speech, wilderness ...
/hebrew/4057.htm - 5k

1627. garon -- neck, throat
... Word Origin perhaps from garah Definition neck, throat NASB Word Usage heads (1),
loudly (1), mouth (1), neck (1), throat (4). aloud, mouth, neck, throat. ...
/hebrew/1627.htm - 6k

8651. tera -- gate, door
... gate mouth. (Aramaic) corresponding to sha'ar; a door; by implication, a palace --
gate mouth. see HEBREW sha'ar. 8650, 8651. tera. 8652 . Strong's Numbers
/hebrew/8651.htm - 6k

5716. adi -- ornaments
... excellent, mouth, ornament. From adah in the sense of trappings; finery; generally
an outfit; specifically, a headstall -- X excellent, mouth, ornament. ...
/hebrew/5716.htm - 6k

6440. panim -- face, faces
... 1), insolent* (1), intended (1), kindly (2), land (1), leading (1), led (1), length*
(1), lifetime (1), long (2), meet (6), mind (4), mouth (1), old (1), open ...
/hebrew/6440.htm - 8k

The Mouth of the Beast.
... The Mouth of the Beast. "And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things
and revilings; and power was given to him to make war forty-two months. ...
/.../bliss/a brief commentary on the apocalypse/the mouth of the beast.htm

"Honey in the Mouth!"
... "Honey in the Mouth!". A Sermon (No.2213). Intended for Reading on Lord's-Day, July
19th, 1891,. Delivered on Friday Morning, April 24th, 1891, by. CH SPURGEON, ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 37 1891/honey in the mouth.htm

May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter
... MAY The Twelfth MOUTH AND MATTER. "Now therefore go, and I will be with
thy mouth." "Exodus 4:10-17. And what a promise that is ...
/.../jowett/my daily meditation for the circling year/may the twelfth mouth and.htm

The Coin in the Fish's Mouth
... THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH. 'And when he was ... is wrought. The first fish that
rises carries in its mouth the exact sum needed. Here, therefore ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture b/the coin in the fishs.htm

A Word from the Beloved's Own Mouth. "And Ye are Clean. " --John ...
... A WORD FROM THE BELOVED'S OWN MOUTH. "And ye are clean.""John xiii. 10.
A WORD FROM THE BELOVED'S OWN MOUTH. AS Gideon's fleece ...
//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/till he come/a word from the beloveds.htm

O Lord! I Sing with Mouth and Heart.
... O LORD! I SING WITH MOUTH AND HEART. O Lord! I sing with mouth and heart, Joy of
my soul! to Thee To earth Thy knowledge I impart, As it is known to me. ...
/.../gerhardt/paul gerhardts spiritual songs/o lord i sing with.htm

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables
... THE FIRST CENTURY 3 I will open my mouth in Parables. I will open my mouth
in Parables, I will utter things that have been kept secret ...
//christianbookshelf.org/traherne/centuries of meditations/3 i will open my.htm

Praise to Thee from Every Mouth on this Day of Thy Birth!
... Hymn XVII. Praise to Thee from every mouth on this Day of Thy Birth! (Resp.,
Praise to Thee from every mouth on this Day of Thy Birth!) ...
/.../ephraim/hymns and homilies of ephraim the syrian/hymn xvii praise to thee.htm

October 7. "He Opened not his Mouth" (Isa. Liii. 7).
... OCTOBER 7. "He opened not His mouth" (Isa. liii. 7). "He opened not His
mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). How much grace it requires to bear ...
/.../simpson/days of heaven upon earth /october 7 he opened not.htm

Out of his Mouth Went a Sharp Two
... OUT OF HIS MOUTH WENT A SHARP TWO. There can be no question as to the meaning
of this expression. The (...) rhomphaia) a sharp or ...
/.../bullinger/commentary on revelation/out of his mouth went.htm

Mouth (534 Occurrences)
... 3. (n.) The opening of a vessel by which it is filled or emptied, charged or discharged;
as, the mouth of a jar or pitcher; the mouth of the lacteal vessels ...
/m/mouth.htm - 91k

Mouth-bone (3 Occurrences)
Mouth-bone. Mouth-bit, Mouth-bone. Mouths . Multi-Version Concordance
Mouth-bone (3 Occurrences). Judges 15:15 And taking ...
/m/mouth-bone.htm - 7k

Mouth-bit (1 Occurrence)
Mouth-bit. Mouth, Mouth-bit. Mouth-bone . Multi-Version Concordance
Mouth-bit (1 Occurrence). Proverbs 26:3 A whip for the horse ...
/m/mouth-bit.htm - 6k

Suck (22 Occurrences)
... 1. (vt) To draw, as a liquid, by the action of the mouth and tongue, which tends
to produce a vacuum, and causes the liquid to rush in by atmospheric pressure ...
/s/suck.htm - 14k

Bit (46 Occurrences)
... 1. (n.) The part of a bridle, usually of iron, which is inserted in the mouth of
a horse, and having appendages to which the reins are fastened. ...
/b/bit.htm - 24k

Bite (13 Occurrences)
... 3. (vt) To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal
or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. ...
/b/bite.htm - 12k

Spit (15 Occurrences)
... 7. (imp. & pp) of Spit. 8. (n.) To eject from the mouth; to throw out, as saliva
or other matter, from the mouth. ... 11. (vi) To throw out saliva from the mouth. ...
/s/spit.htm - 13k

Swallowed (43 Occurrences)
... Revelation 12:16 The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and
swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. ...
/s/swallowed.htm - 20k

Vomit (12 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) To eject the contents of the stomach by
the mouth; to puke; to spew. 2. (vt) To throw up; to eject ...
/v/vomit.htm - 10k

Confirmed (34 Occurrences)
... Matthew 18:16 But if he doesn't listen, take one or two more with you, that at the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. (See NAS RSV). ...
/c/confirmed.htm - 16k

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