Theology beacon dictionary of theology
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- LATITUDINARIANISM, LIBERALISM, UNITARIANISM. j. K enneth G rider SOCIOLOGY.
- SOCIAL HOLINESS, SOCIAL ETHICS, SOCIAL WELFARE.
- CHRISTOLOGY, ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN, ETERNAL GENERATION, SON OF MAN, ADOPTION, REGENERATION. For Further Reading: Nineham, The Gospel of St. Mark Bakers DT
- CHRIST, SON OF GOD, CHRISTOLOGY, MESSIAH. For Further Reading: Borsch, The Son of Man in Myth and History; Colpe, "ho huios tou anthropou,"
- Johnson, "Son of Man," IDB, 4:413-20; Ladd, The Presence of the Future; Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity; GMS, 306-12.
- SATAN, SATAN WORSHIP, DEMONS (DEMON POSSESSION), OCCULT (OCCULTISM), SPIRITUALISM (SPIRITISM). For Further Reading: Hauck, "Sorcery and Soothsaying,"
- Knowledge, 2:6-9; Kitchen, "Magic and Sorcery," NBD, 766-71; Kittel, 4:356-59. LARRY FINE SORROW. See
- For Further
SOCINIANISM. This is the name given to the Unitarian teachings of Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) and later persons who taught similarly. The Racovian Catechism (1605), based on his writings, outlines his Unitarian and generally liberal teachings. His Arian-like denial of the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit contributed to the Latitudinarian liberalism within the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. See LATITUDINARIANISM, LIBERALISM, UNITARIANISM. j. Kenneth Grider SOCIOLOGY. In its primary sense, sociology is the analysis of social structures, orders, and styles, in contrast to the personal or individual. Sociology describes the interaction of persons in community; racial characteristics; aberrant behavior such as delinquency or criminal activity; marriage and family; the statistical evaluation of group activity and population trends; and it develops "labels" or "types" which describe various groups having similar interests. Sociology assesses religious groups and behavior. Sociology of religion is one approach to the 491 study of religion. It considers denominational patterns, theological commitments, regional religious differences, and religious attitudes. Describing an area of the United States as the Bible Belt is a sociological label. The sociologist of religion describes religious values but does not as sociologist make value judgments about religious attitudes. While theology is a normative science which sets forth standards of value for life and behavior, sociology is a descriptive science which systematically describes theological viewpoints, groupings, etc. The discipline of sociology has no competency to judge the worth of a theological concept like "revelation." One of the most valuable results of sociology is the way it classifies religious diversity. As the botanist classifies plant life for purposes of study, the sociologist classifies religious patterns, orders, and opinions. H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture is a classic example of the sociology of religion. Niebuhr proposes types of interaction between the church and the world. The "Christ Against Culture" type describes those Christians who oppose the world's structures—for example, politics—seeking to avoid contact with its evil influences. Descriptions of the various types of Christianity—liberal, conservative, fundamentalist, evangelical, holiness, or Pentecostal—are as often sociological types as they are descriptions of theological differences. Charles Jones's Perfectionist Persuasion is a fine sociological study of the holiness movement in America. Andrew Greeley's Denominational Society is an example of the sociological study which assesses structural, organizational, and religious differences. Studies like these offer insight through statistics, graphs, and surveys. Jones is particularly helpful. See SOCIAL HOLINESS, SOCIAL ETHICS, SOCIAL WELFARE. For Further Reading: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Moberg, Inasmuch; Wach, Types of Religious Experience; Niebuhr, Christ and Culture.
To understand the term in any particular passage, one needs to be familiar with its usage throughout the Scriptures. It seldom occurs in the OT. It is more frequently found in the Synoptics. It is almost ever present by implication in John. It is commonplace in Paul and the rest of the NT. Three expressions are found in the OT which are translatable by "son[s] of God": ben elohim, ben elim, bar Elahin. The last occurs in Dan. 3:25 and refers to the supernatural presence that the three Hebrews found accompanying them in the fiery furnace. The second occurs in Ps. 29:1 and 89:7. Here the term seems to indicate supernatural beings, but not divine, who are part of the divine court. The first term occurs in Gen. 6:2, 4, and Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. The references in Job are clearly to supernatural beings who appear before God. It is sometimes translated "angel." The references in Genesis are debatable. It is this writer's conviction that it refers to some in'the lineage of Seth who were characterized by a spiritual relationship to God not common among the sons of Cain. This anticipates the second usage of this term in the NT. The line between the Creator and the creature is so sharply drawn in the OT that the thought of a procreative relationship between Yahweh and any of His creatures is completely alien. The preservation of that distinction is basic to a clear understanding of the use of the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of Jesus in the NT. In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus is identified as the "Son of God." Mark does this in the title line of his Gospel (1:1). The angel who announces to Mary that she is to have a child informs her that he is to be called "the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). The voice from heaven at the Baptism calls Him "my beloved Son" (Mark 1:11). The same voice on the Mountain of Transfiguration repeats that identification (9:7). Demons whom Jesus exorcises recognize in Him the divine Son (5:7). Satan in the Temptation demands that He prove that He really is (Matt. 4:3, 6). Peter affirms this at Caesarea Philippi (16:16). The priests put His claim to Sonship at the heart of their argument for His crucifixion (26:63). The centurion at the Crucifixion bears the same witness as that with which Mark begins his Gospel (Mark 15:39; cf. 1:1). Jesus, however, rarely used the designation of himself. He preferred the term "Son of man" or simply "Son." He did not deny His divine Son-ship. He acts in the Gospels as if this were a saving secret which He will wait for men through faith and illumination to discover, rather than simply repeat a proposition in which they have been indoctrinated. It is in moments of intimacy in the Synoptics when He acknowledges His identity (Matt. 11:25-26) or else in ambiguous parable when He tests men (21:33-46; 22:1-14). So the centurion sees (Mark 15:39) what Israel's leaders had no hearts to understand (14:60-65). John's usage is another story. The Father-Son relationship is almost omnipresent in John as Jesus' view of His relationship to God. Usually, though, He uses just "Son" without qualification or the term "Son of man." Only three times does one find the expression "Son of God" used by Christ of himself (5:25; 10:36; 11:4). There is no question, though, for His hearers as to what He meant. Nathanael (1:49), Martha (11:27), and the apostle himself identify Him (1:18; 20:31). More dramatically, the religious leadership is ready to destroy Him because He claimed equality with God (5:18; 19:7). They understood His claim to a unique and generative relationship with God. To help us understand this, John uses the expression "only begotten" (1:14, 18; 3:16, 18). John not only establishes the unique and divine Sonship which Jesus enjoys with the Father, but he introduces the kind of sonship which others may enjoy with the Father (1:12). He develops this further in his First Epistle (3:1-2). This sonship is spiritual and imparts new life but is not a generative relationship. It comes as a gift to those who discover the nature of the unique relationship of Jesus Christ to the Father and believe in the only begotten One (John 20:31). Paul now is free to use the term "Son of God" of Jesus Christ to indicate His deity and is able to use the same term "son of God" of the believer to reflect his relationship by faith through grace into the spiritual family of God. Christ's Sonship speaks of essential and eternal nature. Our son-ship is a divine gift of adoptive relationship and spiritual regeneration which does not alter our nature as creatures. This twofold usage of the term occurs consistently throughout the rest of the NT writings. See CHRISTOLOGY, ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN, ETERNAL GENERATION, SON OF MAN, ADOPTION, REGENERATION.
In the important apocalyptic vision of Daniel 7, after four beastlike kings are stripped of their rule, "one like a son of man" is given everlasting dominion (vv. 13 ff, rsv) by the Ancient of Days. In the subsequent interpretation this one is identified with "[the people of] the saints of the Most High" (w. 18, 22, 25, 27, rsv), i.e., Israel. The pre-Christian date and influence of the non-canonical developments of Daniel 7's Son of man figure have been vigorously disputed (cf. the Similitudes of Enoch; 4 Ezra 1 and 13; and the Jewish Sibylline Oracles 5). A resemblance exists with pre-Christian Oriental myths of the Primal Man and Adam speculations. The rather inelegant Greek expression ho huios tou anthrdpou, "the Son of man," is a very literal translation of the Hebrew ben ad-am and Aramaic bar nas-haInash/enosh. The expression occurs 81 or 82 times in the Gospels; of these 69 are in the Synoptics. There are no real exceptions to its exclusive use by Jesus (cf. Luke 24:7; John 12:34). The four other NT instances (Acts 7:56 [cf. Luke 12:8]; Heb. 2:6-8; Rev. 1:13; 14:14) refer to Jesus, employing OT quotations. In Jesus' time "Son of man" was sometimes used idiomatically to avoid the pronoun "I," but it apparently was not a current messianic title. Its titular use in the Gospels is therefore unique (cf. e.g., Mark 8:27 = Matt. 16:13; Mark 8:31 = Matt. 16:21). The evangelists never find it necessary to explain the enigmatic expression, and no one is ever reported to have found Jesus' self-reference difficult (but cf. John 12:34). Three groups of Synoptic Son of Man sayings have been distinguished: (1) Apocalyptic sayings which refer to His future coming (e.g., Mark 8:38; Matt. 24:27, 37, 39; Luke 12:8 ff; 11:30; 17:30); (2) Present sayings which refer to Jesus' earthly activity (e.g., Mark 2:10, 28; Matt. 8:20; ll:18ff); and (3) Suffering sayings which predict Jesus' passion and resurrection (e.g., Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33 ff; 14:21, 41). John employs "Son of man" as one of many essentially equivalent Christological titles. Paul's "Second Adam" doctrine (cf. Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:21 ff, 45-49; Phil. 2:6-11) is perhaps an attempt to reconstruct the "Son of Man" concept for a non-Jewish milieu. In later Hellenistic Christianity "Son of Man" comes to be contrasted with the title "Son of God" to indicate Jesus' humanity (cf. Epistle of Barnabas 12:10; Ignatius' Letter to the Ephesians 20:2). See CHRIST, SON OF GOD, CHRISTOLOGY, MESSIAH.
Sorcery is a complex topic, and a comprehensive overview will lead to a survey of magic and witchcraft as well. Sorcery may be associated with divination, which is soothsaying in its broadest sense, i.e., the revelation of secrets from the past, present, and future. Sorcery used in this way is associated with the supernatural, though no attempt may be made to influence events by supernatural means. In biblical times the sorcerer may have used demonic powers to deceive an inquirer or impress him with his own mystical powers. Sorcery is especially attractive to primitive peoples where there is an ignorance of natural law. However, the view that world affairs are governed by the unseen and irrational is also found among civilized people. Sorcery is noted in the OT in such references as Exod. 22:18; Lev. 20:6; and Deut. 18:10-14. A survey of these verses strongly impresses the reader that sorcery is associated with idolatry and is always condemned even to the point of the death penalty. Not only is this condemnation found in the Torah, but the prophets also note that the wrath of God comes upon Israel because of openness to magic (Isa. 47:9). The significant fact for the believer and the curious is that there is no doubt about the spiritual reality behind occult powers. These powers can only be resisted and defeated through the power and blood of Christ. See SATAN, SATAN WORSHIP, DEMONS (DEMON POSSESSION), OCCULT (OCCULTISM), SPIRITUALISM (SPIRITISM). For Further Reading: Hauck, "Sorcery and Soothsaying," The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious 494 SORROW—SOUL Knowledge, 2:6-9; Kitchen, "Magic and Sorcery," NBD, 766-71; Kittel, 4:356-59. LARRY FINE SORROW. See suffer, suffering. SOTERIOLOGY. Soteriology (soteria = salvation + logos = word) is that branch of Christian theology which treats the doctrines of salvation, including (1) atonement for sin—the provision of salvation through Christ; and (2) salvation from sin—the application of salvation by the Spirit Christ's death on the Cross atones for man's sin as a conditional substitute for the penalty due the sinner. Thus the Atonement is vicarious, substitutionary, and sufficient for all. It is foreshadowed in OT sacrifice and prophetic prediction and is motivated by God's love. Atonement is termed propitiation (1 John 2:2; Rom. 3:25), redemption (v. 24; 1 Cor. 6:20; Gal. 3:13), ransom (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6); and reconciliation (Rom. 5:10-11; Col. 1:20-22). Atonement has been provided for all (2 Cor. 5:14-15; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2). Its unconditional benefits include the continued existence of our race, man's restoration to salvability, God's prevenient grace leading man to repentance, the salvation of infants, and continued intercession by Christ. The conditional benefits of the Atonement are all God's saving ministries to the soul. The Holy Spirit administers the plan and provision of redemption. Through the Spirit and the Word God's gracious call is available to mankind (Rev. 22:17). God's prevenient grace provides mercy (Rom. 2:4), the Spirit convicts of sin (John 16:8), draws (6:44), and works with man's free will in every step the soul takes toward God. Repentance for sin is essential to salvation (Luke 13:2-5; Acts 3:19; 17:30), along with saving faith (Rom. 1:16; 10:10; Eph. 2:8). Repentance is proved by godly sorrow for sin (2 Cor. 7:9-10) and forsaking sin (Matt. 3:8). This turning from sin to God is called conversion (18:3; Jas. 5:19-20). Justification is the gracious, judicial act of God declaring the repentant sinner forgiven, released from the penalty of his sins, and accepted as righteous. It is received by grace (not by man's works) through faith (Rom. 3:24-25; 5:1; Eph. 2:8) and through Christ's shed blood (Heb. 9:12). Regeneration is the mighty change produced by the Holy Spirit by which man is born of God (John 1:12-13), is born of the Spirit (3:5-6), passes from death to life (5:24), is made alive (Col. 2:13), is made a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), becomes a child of God (John 1:12), and receives a new nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The evidences of regeneration are the witness of the Spirit with the believer's spirit (i.e., a twofold witness) (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 5:6, 10), victory over sin (3:9; 5:4, 18), God's overflowing love (Rom. 5:5), love for God's Word (1 John 5:2-3), love for the unsaved (2 Cor. 5:14); love for other Christians (1 John 4:19— 5:1), spiritual joy (Rom. 5:2,11; 14:17), and peace with God (5:1; 14:17). Adoption is God's declaratory act receiving us into His family and giving us the privilege of sonship, filial confidence, and eternal inheritance with Christ (Rom. 8:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:4). Initial sanctification occurs at regeneration. Entire sanctification (the infilling of the Spirit) occurs at that moment subsequent to regeneration when the believer totally surrenders in consecration (Rom. 12:1-2) and faith (Acts 26:18). Its instantaneous nature is indicated by the aorist tense used in the verses referring to this experience of grace. The Spirit cleanses (Acts 15:9; 2 Cor. 7:1; Titus 2:14) and fills with God's holy love (Rom. 5:5; 1 Pet. 1:22). Progressive sanctification is growth in spiritual maturity, aided by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18; Eph. 4:13). See atonement, salvation, sanctification. For Further Reading: Wiley, CT, 1:24; 2:217-517; Ralston, Elements of Divinity, 193-472; Harvey, A Handbook of Theological Terms, 224. WESLEY L. DUEWEL SOUL. The soul is the personal self. Generally the term is used in distinction, even in contrast, to the physical body; at other times it represents the entire person, including the body. The term "soul" is found 494 times in the Kjv. All but two cases are translations of the Hebrew nephesh in the OT and its Greek equivalent, psu-che, in the NT. Purkiser points out that nephesh is used 756 times in the OT but is translated "soul" in only 428 instances. Other meanings are "life," "self," "person," "desire," "appetite," "emotion," and "passion" (GMS, 71). Both nephesh and psu-che are bewilderingly flexible, and move from simple animal life to the immortal spirit of man. Two problems especially plague any discussion of "soul." One is the relation of soul to spirit, while the other is the propriety of speaking of the soul as immortal. In respect to the first problem it can be said that most scholars, from Augustine down to Laidlaw, Delitzsch, and James Orr, have tended to see soul as the life of a personal spirit inhabiting a physical body. It is thus the connecting link between matter and pure spirit. In the vivid phrase of Augustine soul is "the watchtower whence the spirit looks forth." Biblically this distinction between soul and spirit
SOUL SLEEP 495
is sometimes stressed (e.g., Heb. 4:12), but at other times spirit and soul are used interchangeably (e.g., Luke 1:46-47). On the whole, however, in the NT especially, spirit is that aspect of the soul which can be said to be Godward in its nature, while soul is that aspect of the spirit which is outward and manward. This distinction is implied by Paul's contrast between the "natural man" and the "spiritual" person in 1 Cor. 2:13-15. The natural person— obviously the unregenerate—is the psuchikos or "soulish" person. He is alive in soul but not in spirit. His horizontal life is intact, but the vertical dimension of his nature is dead (or dormant). The person's spirit must be quickened by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The question of the soul's immortality has been befogged by the intrusion into Christian tradition of the Platonic doctrine of the soul. This identifies the soul as the preexistent and indestructible personal being which temporarily is subjected to the prison house of an evil body, a body to be escaped as soon as possible. Biblically the body is not evil, and God's design for human beings is that they shall in the resurrection resume their normal spirit-body unity. But in the meanwhile the spirit returns to God, to await the resurrection (Eccles. 12:7; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59; 1 Cor. 5:5; Heb. 12:23; cf. Phil. 1:22-24; 2 Pet. 1:13-14). Therefore, to speak of the immortality of the soul is a popular way of speaking which is not technically accurate, excepting as soul and spirit may be used interchangeably.
The position of Oscar Cullmann that the prospect of life in the future belongs to the order of redemption, not to the order of creation, can be misleading. If there is no created immortality in human nature, in any sense, then how can death be said to be the consequence of sin? It would rather belong to the order of nature. Furthermore, on what basis could Christian theology postulate future existence for the wicked? Resurrection, according to both Daniel and Jesus, is shared equally by the righteous and the evil: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt" (Dan. 12:2, nasb; cf. John 5:28-29; Matt. 25:46; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:11-15). What kind of "redemption" would it be to be brought back to life out of nonexistence, only to be sent to hell? "The sting of death is sin" (1 Cor. 15:56)—not the peril of nothingness, but the peril of knowing that sin creates postdeath consequences. Those who believe that death ends all do not necessarily fear it; to them it is often seen as welcome escape. Those who suffer the "fear of death ... all their lives" (Heb. 2:15, nasb) are apprehensive, not of nonexistence, but of sensing that death ends probation and brings judgment. It is from this fear, and from this judgment, that redemption is needed. True, a resurrection unto eternal life belongs to the order of redemption, but not postdeath existence itself. It is the certainty of postdeath existence, made sure by creation and made terrible by sin, that constitutes the awful need for redemption, and makes redemption so glorious. See man, divine image, human nature, spirit, body, dualism, dichotomy, trichotomy, immortality, resurrection of the body person (personality). 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:
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