Theology beacon dictionary of theology
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- Notes on the Parables of Our Lord; HDNT. J ohn B. N ielson HONOR.
- For Further Reading: ERE, 6:830 ff; DCX 161-62; Shaw, Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, 135-36; Thrall and Hibbard, Handbook of Literature
- For Further Reading: McDonald, Jesus— Human, Divine: Baillie, God Was in Christ; Hendry, "Christology," DCX 51-64; Johnson, "Christ,"
- Systematic Theology, 327-29;
- Bakers DT, 274;
For Further Reading: Barclay, The Promise of the Spirit; Berkhof, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; Carter, The Person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit. Arnold E. Airhart HOLY WEEK. This is the week in the Christian year which begins with Palm Sunday, the day of celebration of the triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem for the last time (Mark 11:1-10; parallel passages) and ends with Easter Sunday, the celebration of His resurrection (Matt. 28:1-10; parallel passages). According to the Gospel records several memorable events happened during this week, including the cleansing of the Temple, the Last Supper, the Gethsemane prayer time, the arrest and trial, and finally the Crucifixion. Across the centuries the church developed ceremonies by which to remember these significant events. Maundy Thursday is the traditional day of observance of the Last Supper, but it also includes the rite of foot washing (John 13:1-20). The term "maundy" is probably taken from the Latin man-datum, referring to the new commandment of the Lord as recorded in verse 34. In the Catholic tradition this day became a special day of penitence. The name "Good Friday" for the day of remembrance of the crucifixion of the Lord in all likelihood arose out of the realization of the manifold salvific blessings which the Lord's death released to believers. Resurrection Sunday was originally called Pas-cha on account of its association with the Jewish Passover. Very early in the Christian community Christ was proclaimed "the true Paschal Lamb" and "the first fruits of the resurrection" (cf. 1 Cor. 5:7; 15:23). Centuries later, the name "Easter" came to be used to identify this special day. According to Bede, "Easter" was taken from "Eastre," a Teutonic goddess, whose festival was observed in the spring of the year, at the time of the vernal equinox. To Christians, the spiritual meanings of Easter are dominant; however, some of the new-life concepts associated with the thought of springtime have been introduced into the Easter celebrations. As in the case of Christmas, the Easter feast appears to have superseded an old pagan festival. HOMOLOGOUMENA—HOPE 265 Easter has been recognized as the oldest and most important feast of the Christian Church because of the authentication of the Lord's life and death which the miracle of the Resurrection provided. In many segments of the Church Easter is preceded by the 40 days of Lenten preparation. See paschal controversy, lent, death of christ, christian year. For Further Reading: "Easter," HBD; Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology; "Easter," "Maundy Thursday," "Good Friday," "Holy Saturday," ODCC.
"An honest . . . heart" (Luke 8:15) is like the "good" earth, eminently suitable for received seed to grow to full maturity. Honest ("noble," niv) hearts hear the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit (see John 1:47). In Rom. 12:17 kalos is "honest" (kjv); "honorable" (asv); "right" (Niv, nasb); "noble" (rsv). In 2 Cor. 8:21 we have "honest things" (Kjv); "things honorable" (asv, rsv, nasb); and "what is right" (Niv). And 2 Cor. 13:7 exhorts, "Do that which is honest" (Kjv); "honorable" (asv); and "right" (niv, rsv nasb). In Heb. 13:18 the NIV reads, "A clear conscience." In 1 Pet. 2:12 kalos is rendered "seemly" (asv); "excellent behavior" (nasb); "good conduct" (rsv); and "good lives" (Niv). Synonyms for kalos are:
3. Marturoumenos, translated "honest report" (Acts 6:3), is derived from one word meaning simply "witness" (martyr); hence, testimony, evidence, proof, attestation; as an "honest," reliable reporter or witness. The NIV omits the word "honest," reading simply, "choose." "Honesty" denotes the quality of excellence of moral living, of honorable reputation, of genuine and godly character. See character, truth, integrity therapy For Further Reading: ISBE; Trench, "The Sower," Notes on the Parables of Our Lord; HDNT.
Honor is a gift of God, a grace bestowed on man. A person whose life has been transformed by faith in Christ and who now partakes of the divine life, receives God's love and respect in the same way that a child receives his father's love and respect. This special relationship is the basis of an honorable life-style for the believer. Also in the whole of his life the Christian honors Christ in the body (Phil. 1:20) and gives God the glory or honor due Him (Acts 12:23). See glory, respect, integrity. For Further Reading: "Honor," 7DB, E-J. Willard H. Taylor HOPE. In the context of biblical theology, hope is the expectation that all God's promises to us and for us will (soon) be realized. It is trusting—and waiting—on God. t Of course, hope may be based on ephemeral things instead of God. The Scriptures judge such secular hopes, despite their personal intensity, as ultimately futile. The hope of the godless (i.e., "fool") will come to nothing (Prov. 11:7). It has no basis, no substance, no reality. It is faith which gives "substance" to hope (Heb. 11:1); and hope must have such a basis or foundation. And where does faith find its stability and strength? In God's faithfulness. So Abraham grew strong in faith, "being fully as
266 HUMAN NATURE—HUMANISM sured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform" (Rom. 4:20-21, nasb). So, too, Sarah experienced a quickening of ability, "since she considered Him faithful who had promised" (Heb. 11:11, nasb). The OT describes God as the "hope of Israel" (Jer. 14:8; 17:13). He is the Author and Source of hope, its sustaining power and object. The horizon of hope in the OT stretches far into the future. It embraces the coming of Messiah and God's eternal kingdom, the realization of a new covenant with provision for forgiveness and inward holiness, and the conversion of the Gentiles. All that has become a reality in Jesus Christ, our glorious hope (cf. Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1). The Christian's hope is now centered on Him. His resurrection is a "surety" to us of eternal life, His ascension an "anchor" to the storm-tossed soul (Heb. 6:18-19). Once, being without God, we had no hope—like the rest of mankind (Eph. 2:12). But now, in Christ Jesus, we have been "born again to a living hope" (1 Pet. 1:3, nasb). Thus, we await the consummation of God's promises with trust, eagerness, and patience. See faith, perseverance, despair. For Further Reading: IDB, 2:640-43; NIDNTT, 238-46; Moule, The Meaning of Hope. Wayne G. McCown HUMAN NATURE. Man as a racial being partakes of a basic ontic essence that is manifested in his actions and decisions. Surely enough, man is a homo faber, he makes tools, he uses language, and creates cultures. But also back of each of his decisions lies a nature that manifests itself in action. Existentialism's basic position that "existence is prior to essence" rules out any ontological self for the individual and any racial continuity for human nature, thus making man the builder of his own basic nature and an activity rather than an agent. But man (like his God and Creator) has his existence as a consequence of his essence. God is ens a se and man is ens per se. Moreover, an entity whose existence does not follow from its essence can never be eternal. "God himself eternally and necessarily establishes His own existence in conformity with His essence" (Max Scheler, On the Eternal in Man, 226). Likewise man behaves according to his basic essence. For the being and thusness of man are self-evidently independent of the here and now existence of any individual or his acts. Man cannot escape his humanity. The race is under the law of solidarity and is bound up in a common life. The instant God created the first pair He created the human nature in and with them. "Men, as persons are separate and distinct from each other, and must ever be; but each is possessed of a common human nature and together they form a living organism which as such, constitutes the human race" (Wiley, CT, 2:25). We must never lose sight of two basic facts—man's personal responsibility and his racial solidarity. See man, divine image, nature, self, person (personality), soul. For Further Reading: Wiley, CT, 2:7-50; Scheler, On the Eternal in Man; Pittenger, The Christian Understand- ing of Human Nature. ross E. price HUMANISM. "Broadly this term suggests any attitude which tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests as opposed to the supernatural, divine element—or as opposed to the grosser animal element" (Thrall and Hibbard, Handbook of Literature, 226). The term implies devotion to the concerns of mankind. It stresses the adequacy and perfectibility of man, and the importance of the present life in contrast to life after death. The term comes from Latin humanitas (the human race). Humanism as a doctrine was born in the Renaissance in Italy in the 14th century and spread in the next two centuries to northern Europe and England. The man who is generally regarded as the first great humanist was Petrarch (in Italy). The most noted humanist was Erasmus, who was born in Holland in 1469, but who lived also in England, France, and Germany and became a "citizen of the world." In its beginnings humanism was a reaction against the extreme "otherworldliness" (asceticism) of the Middle Ages which downgraded man and made the physical and material worlds mortal foes of the spiritual and heavenly worlds. In "the battle between the body and the soul," it was not possible for both to triumph. But humanism was also a reaction against scholastic theology with its tendency toward deductive and intensely dogmatic reasoning. Over against the asceticism and scholastic dogmatism of the medieval church, the Renaissance humanists set up the newly rediscovered classics of ancient Greece and Rome, in which man was magnified, often to a point where the distinction between gods and men was all but obliterated. Through such men as Erasmus, humanism had many of the same goals as did Luther and the other leaders of the Reformation—purging the church of its grosser evils, etc. Erasmus, who gave to the church and the world his edited text of the Greek NT, could well be called the father HUMANITY OF CHRIST—HUMILIATION OF CHRIST 267
of textual criticism of the NT. But at the other extreme from Erasmus were humanists who were anti-Christian and antireligious. This antireligious bias was present in Renaissance humanism only among the extremists, the majority of humanists expressing respect and devotion to the Bible and to Christ. But what was originally the attitude of a small minority has since become a dominant tenet of the movement, and this was predictable: the seed of antireligion was present at the beginning. The glorification of man and the proclamation of his sufficiency would lead eventually to the eclipsing of God. A fully sufficient man would see little need of God. It is at this point that humanism is most unchristian, for though the Bible exalts man to a plane "a little lower than the angels" (Ps. 8:5), it most clearly pictures him as desperately in need of a Savior. See christian humanism, creation, man. For Further Reading: ERE, 6:830 ff; DCX 161-62; Shaw, Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, 135-36; Thrall and Hibbard, Handbook of Literature, 226-27. Charles L. Childers HUMANITY OF CHRIST. The humanity of Christ has two foci: His humanity in relation to God and His humanity in relation to human beings. These foci are conjoined in His physical existence in human flesh. From Jesus' conception until now, Christendom has struggled with the mystery of Jesus' humanity and deity: How could Jesus have been both fully human and fully God? The danger of any answer is to stress one aspect of Jesus' nature over the other. Yet Jesus' humanity must always be viewed against the background of His deity, for it was out of His deity that Jesus took on humanity (John 1:1-4, 14; Rom. 8:3; Phil. 2:6-8; Col. 2:9). His humanity, like ours, has its origin of meaning, purpose, and value in God. That Jesus was truly human, with a body like ours, is abundantly clear from Scripture (John 1:30; Acts 2:22; 17:31; Rom. 5:15; 9:5; 1 Cor. 15:21; Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:14-18; et al.), as well as from the biblical witness to such human experiences as birth (Matt. 1:25), growth (Luke 2:40, 52), hunger (Matt. 21:18; Luke 4:2), thirst (John 4:7; 19:28), weariness (Mark 4:38; John 4:6), temptation (Matt. 4:1; Heb. 2:18; 4:15), grief (Luke 19:41; John 11:35), limited knowledge (Mark 13:32), anxiety (14:33-36), suffering (15:16-34), death (v. 37), etc. Yet Jesus' humanity is also consistently qualified by the biblical writers: His conception is unique (Matt. 1:18, 20, 25; Luke 1:34-35); His earthly ministry has a heavenly context (Mark 1:11; 9:7); He came "in a likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3); He "took the form of a servant, becoming in a likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man" (Phil. 2:7-8); and He was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, author's free translations). These biblical emphases, along with the qualifications of Jesus' humanity, provide the key to understanding. Phil. 2:7 states, "Jesus took the form of a servant," which entailed "becoming in a likeness of men." This suggests that to be "man" is to be a servant—to be a being which is completely determined by the will of another. This is made clear in Phil. 2:8 where Jesus, having placed himself in this role in relationship to God ("being found in appearance as a man"), "became obedient unto death." Thus Jesus' humanity is the complete actualization of God's intended role for man—a being completely yielded and obedient to the will of God. The crucial point is that in His humanity Jesus had complete free will. He did not succumb to the temptation "to be equal with God" (Phil. 2:6; cf. Gen. 3:5—at its core, temptation is the lure to substitute our will for God's, i.e., to be God), even though He was tempted with this at all points as we are. (Jesus' temptation was deeper, since for Him it was a live option to be God, whereas for us it is only servants "playing" master.) Thus Jesus was fully human, but not fallen (necessitating the biblical qualifications of His humanity). As fully human, Jesus is: (1) the Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5) through whom God addresses fallen humanity (John 1:18; 14:9; Heb. 1:2; et al.) and fallen humanity approaches God (John 14:6); (2) the Redeemer (Rom. 5:15-19) in whom are met God's judgment and humanity's condition (8:3); God's grace and humanity's sin (5:21); God' love and humanity's rebellion (v. 8); (3) the New Humanity (cf. Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:24) in whom believers find a new order of being (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:10) and into whose likeness they are being transformed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18; Eph. 4:13, 15, 24). See docetism, christ, christology, hypostatic union, mediation (mediator). For Further Reading: McDonald, Jesus—Human, Divine: Baillie, God Was in Christ; Hendry, "Christology," DCX 51-64; Johnson, "Christ," IDB, 1:563-71; "Divinity of Christ," ibid., 858-59; "Humanity of Christ," ibid., 2:658-59; Blackman, "Incarnation," ibid., 691-97. M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. HUMILIATION OF CHRIST. The humiliation of Christ was twofold. First was His self-emptying 268 HUMILITY—HYPOCRISY by which He divested himself of His glory and of the full use of the attributes of Deity that He might become man (Phil. 2:5-11). Much of the second area of Christ's humiliation relates to the negative reception which He and His message were given by many of His contemporaries. This area of humiliation includes: (1) those sufferings which were physical, and (2) His mental and spiritual anguish. Jesus endured many types of physical indignity at the hands of His enemies during His trial and crucifixion (Matthew 26—27; Mark 14—15; Luke 22—23; John 18—19). To grasp His mental and spiritual suffering, one must know the mind of Deity. One must experience the sensitivity of Him who is perfectly holy. That which would merely cause discomfort to the sin-jaded souls of ordinary men would cause excruciating pain to the God-man. For the higher the order of being, the greater the capacity for suffering, and the keener the hurt of humiliation. He who is the Truth knew the hurt of having His motives impugned. He knew the pain of men's deliberate refusal to believe the truth which He so clearly manifested. He whose great compassion made Him rejoice to make lepers well and restore wholeness to the maimed, the halt, and the blind, had His own visage "marred more than any man" (Isa. 52:14). He who gave His life that men might not have to die heard the clamor of the mob for His own blood. But His deepest humiliation was imposed upon Him by the Father himself. He who knew no sin was made to become sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). His pure soul was contaminated with the sins of the whole world. And He who forever had enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father suddenly was forsaken by God in His earthly darkest hour. So He in whom was life (John 1:4), He who was the Fountain of all being, submitted himself to death. The Eternal Son died, was buried, and descended into the place of departed spirits. He drank the dregs of humiliation to the full. See kenosis, exaltation of christ, christ. For Further Reading: Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 327-29; Strong, Systematic Theology, 701-6; Thiessen, Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology; Wiley and Culbertson, Introduction to Christian Theology, 207-9. W. Ralph Thompson HUMILITY. In the KJV the word "humility" occurs only three times in the OT (Prov. 15:33; 18:12; 22:4) and four times in the NT (Acts 20:19; Col. 2:18, 23; 1 Pet. 5:5). And the two Colossian references are to false humility. But a good case could be made for the assertion that the virtue most emphasized by Jesus was humility. He said, "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29). This was His implied condition for finding rest of soul. In the history of Christendom humility has been almost universally recognized as a hallmark quality of true Christlikeness. The importance of humility to the Early Church appears dramatically when we study the Greek word usually translated "humility," tap-einophrosyne, literally, "lowliness of mind." This is the way it is translated in Phil. 2:3: "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." On this passage J. B. Lightfoot writes: "Though a common word in the New Testament, tap-einophrosyne seems not to occur earlier." He adds: "In heathen writers tapeinos has almost always a bad meaning, 'grovelling,' 'abject.'" He concludes: "It was one great result of the life of Christ (on which St. Paul dwells here) to raise 'humility' to its proper level" (St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, 109). See meekness. christlikeness, mind of christ For Further Reading: Marchant, "Humility," Baker's DT, 274; Grounds, "Humility," ZPEB, 3:222-24. Ralph Earle HYPOCRISY. One of the most despised words and one of the worst epithets is "hypocrite." Originally, it was applied to the stage actor who put on a false face, adopted an artificial voice, and pretended to be another person. It has come to mean pretending to be better than one is, or to profess to feel or think other than one really feels or thinks. Despite some OT examples of cultural behavior which seem less than honest to us, the Bible is thorough in its condemnation of dishonest pretense. Jesus was especially sharp in His judgment against hypocrites. Vine points out that hu-pokrites as found in the Synoptic Gospels is used only by the Lord himself, 15 times in Matthew, and elsewhere, Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42; 11:44; 12:56; 13:15. The Scripture is clear in its indication that the "pretense face" of hypocrisy is not only dishonest. It also tends to breed, under its cover, all kinds of unhealthy, sinful, and destructive moral vices. Furthermore, all of the efforts of the hypocrite are in vain, for the Lord sees and knows the innermost heart and will one day expose it in judgment.
HYPOSTASIS—HYPOSTATIC UNION 269
A world-famous actor said of himself, "I am nothing, unless I am playing the part of another person." A critic, speaking of him, asserted, "You can never find him. You probe for him, and all you find is the characters he has played." With the guidance of the Holy Scriptures and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Christian believer must first find out who he really is and then must walk the path between the vain world of show and pretense and the troubled neu-roticism of constant self-doubt. Might it not be quite as dishonest to appear to be less good than to be better than one is? See HONESTY, SELF-IMAGE, SINCERITY For Further Reading: HUNT, 1:765.
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