Theology beacon dictionary of theology
For Further Reading: Torrey
Download 6.66 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- For Further Reading: Arndt, Gingrich; Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament; Marais, "Heart," ISBE, 2:1350 ff. WlLBER T. DAYTON
- For Further Reading: "Kadapos," Kittel; "Purity," NBD; "Kadapos," Synonyms of the New Testament, by Arch- bishop Trench. GEORGE E. FAILING
- GREAT COMMISSION, EVANGELISM, MISSION (MISSIONS, MISSIOLOGY). For Further Reading: Taylor
- Works, 7:353, 506; 8:337; CC, Acts 10:35.
- ETERNAL LIFE, RESURRECTION OF THE BODY For Further Reading: IDB, E-J:551-52; GMS, 668-75; ZSBE, 2:1352-54; Wiley, CT, 3:375-93.
- HISTORICAL JESUS (THE), DEMYTHOLOGIZATION, BIBLE. For Further Reading: Cullmann, Christ and Time; Salvation in History; Barr
- Christianity Today, 18 (1961); Rust, The Christian Understanding of History. WILLARD H. TAYLOR HEIR.
- CHILD (CHILDREN), ADOPTION, INHERITANCE. For Further Reading: Foerster, "Kleronomia," Kittel, 3:758 ff; Hammer
- ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, RETRIBUTION (RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE), SOWING AND REAPING, JUDGE (JUDGMENT), HADES, GEHENNA. For Further Reading: Richardson, ed.
- B .C. —A.D.
- JUDAISM. HEILSGESCHICHTE, HISTORICAL THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY. PLATONISM, THOMISM.
For Further Reading: Torrey, Divine Healing 6-13; Kelsey, Healing and Christianity; ISBE, 2:1349-50; HDNT, "Cures," 1:402-4; IDB, 2:541-48; Wilcox, God's Healing Touch. J. Fred Parker HEAR, HEARKEN. See obedience. HEART. The heart (Heb., lev; Gr., kardia) is "the seat of physical, spiritual and mental life" (Arndt, Gingrich). References to the bodily organ as the center and source of physical life are rare and need no explanation. The same may be said of figurative allusion to the center or interior of a material substance. The usual scriptural reference is to "the whole inner life with its thinking, feeling and volition" (ibid.). The heart, in Scripture, is not an isolated element of personality along with other elements. It embraces the whole inner man, including motives, feelings, affections, desires, the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect (Girdlestone, 65). As such, it came to stand for the man himself (Deut. 7:17; Isa. 14:13). The reference is not to a physical organ as the seat of intelligence or personality as the Mesopotamian concept of liver, the Egyptian idea of heart, the Eastern Mediterranean reins or kidneys, or the Western concept of head. Whatever the relation to the body or to any of its parts, the heart is personal and spiritual—the center of moral and intellectual consciousness and decision. It is the "control room" of the soul, by which one functions as a self-conscious and self-determining being. Moral quality, then, relates primarily to the heart. The pure are pure in heart (Matt. 5:8). The Holy Spirit purifies the heart (Acts 15:9). The state of the heart determines whether one is good or evil. Out of the heart are the issues of life (Prov. 4:23). Likewise, one can be wise-hearted (Exod. 31:6). Or the fool can deny God in his heart (Ps. 14:1). With the heart man believes (Rom. 10:10) and loves (Mark 12:30). And it is in the heart that Christ dwells (Eph. 3:17). See man, human nature, character, heart purity. For Further Reading: Arndt, Gingrich; Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament; Marais, "Heart," ISBE, 2:1350 ff. WlLBER T. DAYTON HEART PURITY. If power for service is the distinctive deeper life accent of the Keswick movement, if enjoying the gifts of the Spirit is the central emphasis in the Pentecostal/charismatic movement, heart purity remains the particular thrust of the Wesleyan movement. It is unfair to exclude any one of these three emphases from any movement, but it may be realistic to recognize the primary thrust of each. In passing, it is interesting to note that some of the Methodist movement retains the emphasis on sanctifica-tion/inward purity so often emphasized in Roman Catholic devotional writings. 250 HEATHEN, FATE OF Early biblical injunctions regarding purity concerned ceremonial purity (though the ceremonial easily illustrated the intended purpose of the admonition or prohibition). In meats, there were the clean and the unclean. Garments were to be woven of one fabric, so it would be pure wool or pure linen. Fire expressed purity. "Whiter than snow" described an experience of purity. Sexual acts (and even desires) were pure or impure. So the ceremonial led into the ethical, and the ethical into the moral and spiritual. No theological emphasis, if it is biblical, can ignore the commands of "clean hands, and a pure heart" (Ps. 24:4; cf. 51:10; Jas. 4:8). Relegating as secondary the cleansing of the outside, Jesus commanded, "Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter" (Matt. 23:26). Christians at Pentecost and in Cornelius' house experienced a purifying of the heart by faith (Acts 15:8-9). It is not expressly stated that they prayed for heart purity, but God often bestows the gifts we need most rather than those we seek most. Jesus pronounced a peculiar blessing upon the pure in heart: "They shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). They both recognize and enjoy God more as their hearts are cleansed (see also Titus 2:13-14). It is strongly implied that this inward cleansing, though begun in a crisis Isaiah-type experience ("I am a man of unclean lips . . . thy sin [is] purged" [Isa. 6:5-7]), is a continuing process. Christians are exposed to defilement by "fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Pet. 2:11). They are encouraged to believe that by walking in the light, i.e., in obedient fellowship with God, they may enjoy continuous cleansing from all sin (1 John 1:7). Any attempt to define heart purity in its full NT meaning must include freedom from double-mindedness (Jas. 4:8), and certainly also a cleansing of the heart as a source of "evil thoughts" and such other actual sins (Mark 7:21-22). By implication a pure heart is cleansed not only of a sense of guilt, but of filthiness and self-sovereignty, and is therefore undivided in its allegiance to God (Ps. 86:11). The concept of heart purity can hardly be separated from the idea of a radically altered and corrected moral nature. Purity is not a negative but a positive virtue; it is not mere absence of impurity. Impurity really defiles; purity really sanctifies. While no denomination or movement has a monopoly on this emphasis of heart holiness (it was biblical before it became theological), recent serious books and articles from those outside the Wesleyan holiness movement are calling strongly and clearly to renewed emphasis on a holy heart and a holy life. See entire sanctification, perfect love, eradication.
Several issues are raised. First, is any person saved apart from Christ's redemptive work on Calvary? Second, does any person's salvation depend entirely on hearing and believing the record of Jesus' life and words? And thirdly, how do some theologians speak to this matter? In answer to the first question it must be affirmed that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of men. Not one person can enter heaven except by "the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 12:11). No one is saved either by cultural religion or by self-generated goodness. Only the Second Adam can undo the damage and ruin brought upon all men by the first Adam's sin. The interpretation of Acts 4:12 is often questioned. To affirm that there is "none other name under heaven" is to affirm that there is no Savior except Jesus Christ. However, to imply that only men who hear that name and know His story (as told in the four Gospels) can be saved, is to affirm something else. John Wesley, in his sermon "On Faith," pitied the heathen for "the narrowness of their faith. And their not believing the whole truth is not owing to want of sincerity, but merely to want of light" (Works, 7:197). And in his comments on Acts 10:34-35 in Explanatory Notes upon the NT, Wesley believed that Cornelius was accepted "through Christ, though he knows him not. He is in the favor of God, whether enjoying his written word and ordinances or not." The noted Baptist theologian A. H. Strong, whose Systematic Theology is still in print, believed that "no human soul is eternally condemned solely for this sin of nature, but that, on the other hand, all who have not consciously and willfully transgressed are made partakers of Christ's salvation" (Theology, 664). Strong also expressed the hope "that even among the heathen there may be some, like Socrates, who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit working through the truth of nature and conscience, have found the way of life and salvation" (843).
HEAVEN—HEILSGESCHICHTE 251
Richard S. Taylor, in his chapter "A Theology of Missions" in the volume Ministering to the Millions, writes, "No man can possibly be finally lost entirely as a result of what someone else does or does not do. Every man will be judged according to what he does in the body, not what someone else does (II Cor. 5:10; Ezek. 18:19-21). This means that the lostness of the heathen is not due simply and exclusively to their ignorance of the gospel, but due to their willful failure to walk in the light they have. They will be judged by that light, not ours (Rom. 2:4-16). .. Since we believe that the mercy of God, through the atoning work of Christ, provides for the salvation of infants, and also regenerate believers who have not yet received light on entire sanctification, it is not unreasonable to grant the same mercy to the repentant heathen." Wesley, Strong, and Taylor suggest scriptures which encourage us to believe that God's initiatives in salvation are not restricted to what Christians do in missionary labors. See GREAT COMMISSION, EVANGELISM, MISSION (MISSIONS, MISSIOLOGY).
As the eternal abode of God, heaven is transcendent and changeless. God dwells there and Christ is "exalted" above the heavens (Ps. 57:5; Heb. 7:26). The Christian, though a created son, is also to inherit a kingdom which cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:28), where he is to live in an imperishable body (1 Cor. 15:42), "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5:1, rsv). As the eternal abode of God (Matt. 5:18), heaven is no more describable by spatial language than eternity is by the language of time. For example, the "heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain" God (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chron. 6:18, rsv); "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21); "The dwelling of God is with man" (Rev. 21:3, rsv) and "with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit" (Isa. 57:15, Rsv). Christ fills all things (Eph. 4:10) and God is near at hand (Rom. 10:6-8). Even as God is omnipresent, so heaven in this sense is everywhere God is. The Scriptures also describe heaven as the source of everything in this world that is authentic, good, changeless, and subject to God's will. The authenticity of John's baptism is tested by its origin: "Whence was it? From heaven or from men?" (Matt. 21:25, rsv). Jesus and His work are from "heaven" and "above" (John 3:13, 31, 35). Accordingly "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (Jas. 1:17; see Matt. 19:17) and the kingdom of heaven on earth is identified as God's will being done "in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). As the Christian's hope and eternal home, heaven is both a place and the perfect experience of God's presence. The place Jesus prepares for us is an abode (mone, John 14:2, 23), and His presence is an abiding (meno, vv. 10, 17, 25; 15:4-10). As the place prepared for those who love God, heaven's quality exceeds the language of wealth, of gold and jasper (Rev. 21:18); it is "what no eye has seen, nor ear heard" (1 Cor. 2:9, RSV; cf. Isa. 64:4). It is a place of holiness (Isa. 35:8; Rev. 22:3), of love (1 Cor. 13:13; Eph. 3:19), of rest (Heb. 4:9), of joy (12:2; Luke 15:7), of knowledge (1 Cor. 13:12), and of perfect service and sonship (Rev. 22:3; Rom. 8:17). Nothing that is unclean or that destroys can dwell there (Rev. 21:8, 27). There, every tear shall be wiped away and there shall be no death, no mourning, nor pain, for everything will become new (vv. 4-5). See ETERNAL LIFE, RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
theran theologian, who insisted that interpreters of the Bible must take the events of biblical history seriously in dealing with matters of revelation and salvation. In his principal writing, Der Schriftbeweis, he asserted that the Bible was not to be treated basically as a textbook in theology, morals, or philosophy of religion, but as the story of God's redeeming acts in particular historical events. The entire Bible is an account of God's saving action in behalf of sinful mankind. Together, then, the Old and New Testaments constitute this salvation history. Out of this seminal idea of von Hofmann developed what has become known as Die Heilsgeschichtlich Schule, the holy history or salvation history school. The central theses of this theological movement, as now conceived generally, are:
The major criticism of Heiisgeschichte relate to its concepts of revelation in history and time. Serious questions have also been raised as to the relationship between the saving events and the record of these events in the Bible. See HISTORICAL JESUS (THE), DEMYTHOLOGIZATION, BIBLE. For Further Reading: Cullmann, Christ and Time; Salvation in History; Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language; Kummel, The New Testament: The History of the Investigation of Its Problems; Ladd, "The Saving Acts of God," Christianity Today, 18 (1961); Rust, The Christian Understanding of History. WILLARD H. TAYLOR HEIR. Israel's patriarchal society involved a great variety of legal language directing and controlling the process of inheritance. Rich theological connotations grew out of reflection upon Israel's relationship with the God of the covenant. The NT carries these ideas still further in describing the decisive work of God in Christ. Both the OT and the NT use the normal meaning of the terms in discussion of legal transfer of property from one generation to another. Jesus, for example, is asked to arbitrate in a dispute over an inheritance (Luke 12:13). The first stage in theologizing begins with the affirmation that Canaan is Israel's inheritance (Deut. 4:21; Josh. 1:6; etc.). The second stage is the recognition that Israel as a people is God's inheritance (Exod. 19:5; Deut. 7:6). The failures of Israel as a nation led to the spiritualizing of the symbolism of inheritance. The prophets and the wisdom writers use such terminology regularly. The NT speaks of inheriting eternal life (Matt. 19:29) and the Kingdom (25:34). In the parable of the wicked tenants, Jesus is understood to be the Heir and the kingdom of God is the vineyard (21:38-43). Paul considers those in Christ as heirs of Abraham (Gal. 3:29) and fellow-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). In Ephesians Paul understands the Holy Spirit to be the guarantee of the inheritance in the future Kingdom (1:13-14). Hebrews speaks of the death of Christ as the enactment of the will or covenant of God (9:16-17). It is clear that inheritance has moved from specifically legal and earthly language to powerful spiritual and heavenly language. The major focus of the theologizing revolves about the concept of God as it is definitively expressed in the Christ event. See CHILD (CHILDREN), ADOPTION, INHERITANCE. For Further Reading: Foerster, "Kleronomia," Kittel, 3:758 ff; Hammer, "A Comparison of Kleronomia in Paul and Ephesians," Journal of Biblical Literature, 79:267-72. MORRIS A. WEIGELT HELL. This term refers to eternal punishment. To the Hebrew mind the idea of extinction was unacceptable. The dead continue to exist in an un- HELLENISM 253
derworld of shadow and silence. The word used in the OT was sheol, which had as its equivalent in the NT the word hades. Sheol was divided into two areas: paradise, the meeting place of the righteous dead, and ge-henna, reserved for the wicked. While the Greek word hades is often translated by the English word "hell," it is gehenna which is employed in association with the punishment element. According to Matt. 10:28, while the souls of the wicked go to hades after death, both soul and body are cast into gehenna after the resurrection and final Judgment. The historical background to the Hebrew usage of the word gehenna is in relation to the "valley of Hinnom," near Jerusalem. Here child sacrifice had been offered to Moloch, a cult god, by Ahaz (2 Chron. 28:3) and by Manasseh (33:6). It was reputed to have become the city's refuse dump, where fire continually burned and so was seen as a type for the idea of punishment, relating to fire (as developed later). In late Jewish literature, e.g., Enoch 27:2, Gehenna became the popular name for the place of future punishment. While the doctrine of hell has its sources in Hebrew and Greek thought, it was the early Christian centuries which gave the doctrine shape. Of the many ideas expounded, the main view maintained is that which denotes separation from God. Wiley says that "those who reject Christ and the salvation offered through Him shall die in their sins and be separated from God forever." In the development of the doctrine in the Church, the term hades came to be closely associated with the thought of punishment. The NT illustration of the rich man and Lazarus is often used to illustrate the teaching on future rewards and punishment. Lazarus is depicted as being in "Abraham's bosom," sometimes likened to Eden, while the rich man was also dead, but he is found in torment. Whatever the nature of future punishment, it seems difficult to avoid the severity of Jesus' words against unrepented sin. No amount of sentiment can take from the implication of these words. Mark 9:43 speaks of "unquenchable fire," while Matt. 18:8 uses the phrase "eternal fire" (both rsv). To treat these as purely symbolic is not a liberty we dare assume. The NT does not answer many of the questions which arise to our minds, but there is no doubt left as to the seriousness of sin and its consequences. Hell at least is a negation of the real values of life as related to personal moral integrity. See ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, RETRIBUTION (RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE), SOWING AND REAPING, JUDGE (JUDGMENT), HADES, GEHENNA. For Further Reading: Richardson, ed., A Theological Word Book of the Bible; Wiley, CT, 3:356-75; Rowell, Hell and the Victorians. HUGH RAE HELLENISM. Hellenism is the term for the culture arising in Hellas or Greece. It refers to the original culture, called Hellenic, and its development after Alexander the Great into a form including other cultural accretions and known as Hellenistic. Hellenism is one of the most powerful factors in Western civilization. Contained in it are the grand epics of Homer; the beginnings of philosophy along with its profound development in Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; the production of drama, architectural splendor, and other artistic achievements; as well as the military, political, and cultural accomplishments of Alexander; and indeed the extraordinary Greek language. The so-called intertestamental period provides the historical development of the Hebrew encounter with Greek military forces as well as Greek modes of thought and practice. And it was during this period that the Greek language became so widespread that even the OT was translated into Greek in Alexandria (the Septuagint, or LXX). The extra books (i.e., the Apocrypha, not found in the Hebrew Scriptures) which were in this translation were widely used in the NT Church and were accepted as canonical in the 16th century by the Roman Catholic church. The Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha is called the crowning work of Hellenistic-Hebrew synthesis, and Philo Judaeus (c. 20 B.C.—A.D. 50) of Alexandria is an important example of Hellenistic-Hebrew synthesis. Christian theology derives much of its methodology from Greek principles of thought: Christian mysticism has a neo-Platonic base; Thomism is profoundly Aristotelian; Logos has Greek roots; and Christian views of God derive from Plato and Aristotle. Logic, systematic thinking, and rationality have been carefully examined and developed by the Greek mind as interpretations of human nature and the world. The Western world cannot comprehend its own unfolding without some very careful elucidation of the role of Hellenism in that process. See JUDAISM. HEILSGESCHICHTE, HISTORICAL THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY. PLATONISM, THOMISM.
254 HERESY—HERMENEUTICS Directory: sites -> default -> files -> publications publications -> Table of Content forward introduction publications -> Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies Georgia Institute of Technology publications -> Housing Counseling Research in Chicago publications -> Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Audiences publications -> New Brunswick Info Sheet on First Nations Child Welfare publications -> Paap’s Electronic Newsletter 14 November 2008 Volume 11 Number 22 towards ‘smart’ subsidies in agriculture: lessons from recent experience in malawi publications -> Information support of pedagogical process for the children experiencing difficulties with acquisition of preschool educational programs publications -> Asus’ ZenFone ar has Google’s augmentted and virtual reality baked in — but not combined publications -> School Readiness and Early Grade Success Consultation Memo Atlanta, ga Download 6.66 Mb. Share with your friends:
|