Leon Morris the Apostolic Preaching of the Cross

THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING OF THE CROSS

The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross by

-

LEON MORRIS B.Sc. M.Th. Ph.D. Principal, Ridley College, Melbourne

WM. B. EERDMAN PUBLISHING CO.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Third Edition © 'I'yndale Press

First Edition Second Edition Third Edition

CONTENTS

September 1955 October 1960 September 1965

EX LIBRIS ELTROPICAL

I

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

7

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

9

ABBREVIATIONS

IO

REDEMPTION

II

Etymological Considerations (II) The Use of (bt"o),.tl"t"P61O"~~ (16) The jewish Background (18) Redemption in Rabbinic Writings (27) The ),.tl"t"pov Word-group in the New Testament (29) The Use of &.yoP&.~61 (53) The Use of ~~IXYOP&.~61 (55) The Use of m@~7l'O~oul.to" (59) Conclusion (61) Additional Note on um:p in Galatians 3 :13 (62) II

COVENANT

Introduction (65) The Idea ofCovenant in the Old Testament (67) The Idea of Covenant in judaism (83) 8~1X6~x'lJ in the Septuagint (86) 8~1X6~x'lJ in Non-biblical Greek (87) 8~1X6~x'lJ in the New Testament (go) Conclusion (107) Additional Note: Covenant and Mediation (109) ill

THE BLOOD

II2

'Blood' in the Old Testament (II2) 'Blood' in the New Testament (121) Additional Note on the Meaning ofthe Word'Blood'(126) IV V

THE LAMB OF GOD

129

PROPITIATION (I)

144

Introduction (144) The tMO"X0t.tIX~ Word-group in Non-biblical Greek The Wrath of God in the Old Testament (147) The tMO"xot.tlX~ Word-group in the Septuagint (ISS) Conclusion (174)

(145)

VI

PROPITIATION (2)

179

The Wrath of God in the New Testament (179) The tMO"Xot.tlX~ Wordgroup in the New Testament (184) Conclusion (208) VII

Printed in Great Britain by Bookprint Limited Kingswood, Surrey .

RECONCILIATION

Introduction (214) The XIX"t"lXll&.O"O"61 Word-group in the Septuagint Reconciliation in judaism (216) The Reconciliation Terminology in theNew Testament (219) The New Testament Concept ofReconciliation (244) Reconciliation and Substitution (249) (215)

214

6

CONTENTS

vm

JUSTIFICATION (1)

251

Introduction (251) Law andjudgment in the Old Testament (253) The ab(IXLO~ Word-group in the Septuagint (259) The Place of Faith (263) justification and Faith in judaism (26G) IX

JUSTIFICATION (2)

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 269

New Testament Teaching (269) The Significance of justification (290) justification and Substitution (296) X

CONCLUSION

299

INDEX OF GREEK WORDS

305

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

307

GENERAL INDEX

315

first began to read seriously on the atonement he discovered that some of the great theological words such as 'redemption', 'propitiation', and 'justilication' are often used in a way which seems to indicate that they mean different things to different people. If we may take redemption, the subject of our opening chapter, as an example, some writers, as we there point out, practically equate it with deliverance; others see in it a reference to a substitutionary transaction; while others use it as a comprehensive term for the whole Christian salvation. For some it has a backward reference, pointing to, the satisfaction for sin made on the cross, while for others itis essentiallyforward-looking and gives expression to the liberation from sin's bondage which enables the believer to live the Christ-like life. There is similar uncertainty and ambiguity attaching to the use of some other terms. Now it ought to be possible to discover what the characteristic Christian expressions mean.' One line of inquiry starts from the fact that the New Testament writers were steeped in the language and ideas of the Old Testament. An examination of the relevant Old Testament passages will reveal to us one of the influences which moulded the thinking of our writers, and which must, therefore, help us as we seek to understand their language. Again, since the New Testament was written in the ordinary speechofordinary men (and not the classical language ofthe scholar or literary man), the flood oflight which has been thrown on this type of speech by modern discoveries of .papyri, ostraka and inscriptions must illuminate many New Testament expressions. This, then, is a further field for investigation. A third source is ancient Jewish literature. While the Christians vigorously repudiated many Rabbinic conclusions they yet discussed many of the same problems, and made use of the same terminology. Therefore it will usually repay us to examine the way the Rabbis used any term we are investigating. This book, then, is not a full-scale study of the atonement, but a WHEN THE PRESENT WRITER

8

THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING OF THE CROSS

necessary preliminary. It is an attempt to understand certain key words, words which are crucial to the New Testament picture of the atonement, by seeing them against the background of the Greek Old Testament, the papyri, and the Rabbinic writings. Armed with our discoveries, we then proceed to examine them in their New Testament setting, always bearing in mind the possibility that the early Christians may modify or enrich any terms they may borrow.

In this volume I have incorporated the substance, and sometimes the actual wording, of a number of articles written previously for various journals. These are as follows: 'The Use of V.&:GXEaa(X~ etc. in Biblical Greek' (TheExpository Times, LXII, No.8) ; 'The Wrath of God' (TheExpository Times, LXIII, NO.5); 'The Biblical Use of the term "Blood" , (TheJournal of Theological Studies, New Series, III, Pt. 2); 'Justiftcation by Faith: The Old Testament and Rabbinic Anticipation' (The Evangelical Quarterly, XXIV, No. I); 'The Idea of Redemption in the Old Testament' (The Reformed Theological Review, XI, NO.3); 'The Biblical Idea ofAtonement' (The Australian Biblical Review, II, Nos. 3,4). To the editors.ofthesejournals I would express my indebtedness for their ready permission to republish. Many friends have assistedme at various points, and it is difficult to acknowledge all my indebtedness. But especially would I mention the Rev. Dr. Newton Flew, who discussed many ofthese chapters with me, the late Rev. H. W. Oldham, who advised me constantly during the earlier part of my labours, and also my colleague, Mr.F. I. Andersen, who has very kindly compiled the Index. Finally, I would like to place on record my gratitude to the publishers for all the help they have given during the various stages of production.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

THE DEMAND FOR A NEW EDITION has given

me the opportunity of revising the book throughout. Many of the alterations are merely verbal, but there have been one or two substantial changes. The arrangement of the material has been altered here and there, notably in the opening chapter, where there has been a rather radical rearrangement. I have also taken advantage of the opportunity to include a certain amount of new material, notably the new chapter IV, 'The Lamb ofGod', and the section on LAOCGTfjpLoV in chapter VI on 'Propitiation'. This latter has previously appeared in New Testament Studies, II, No. I, and I am grateful to the editors for permission to republish it here. It remains only for me to express my gratitude to those who by their reviews and comments have helped in this revision. I have given careful consideration to such comments ashave been brought to my notice, and the result is the multitude ofsmall alterations I have mentioned. But I am still convinced that the main outline of the argument was essentially correct and I am glad of the opportunity ofputting it forth in this new form.

Leon Morris

ABBREVIA TIONS

CHAPTER I

REDEMPTION AG AV

BDB

W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, A Greek-Euglish Lexicon ofthe New Testament (Cambridge, 1957) The Authorized Version F. Brown, S. R. Driver and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and Euglish Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1907) Black's New Testament Commentaries The Cambridge Greek Testament

BNTC CGT The Expository Times ET Enc.Bib. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black (eds.), Encyclopedia Biblica (London, 1914) HDAC J. Hastings (ed.), A Dictionary of theApostolic Church (Edinburgh, 1915) J. Hastings (ed.), A Dictionary oftheBible (Edinburgh, 1904) HDB HDCG J.Hastings (ed.),A DictionaryofChrist and theGospels (Edinburgh, 1906) , E. Hatch and H. A. Redpath, A Concordance totheSeptuagint (Graz, 1954) HR The International Critical Commentary ICC A Greek-English Lexicon, compiled by H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, new LS LXX

edn. revised by H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie (Oxford, 1940) The Septuagint

JTS MM

TheJournal ofTheological Studies

NTS PTR

New Testament Studies The Princeton Theological Review

J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan; The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, (London, 1929) MNTC The Moffatt New Testament Commentary The Massoretic Text MT

RV

The Revised Version

SB

H.1. Strack und P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament au! Talmud und Midrasch (Miinchen, 1922-28) The Scottish Journal of Theology A. Richardson (ed.), A Theological Word Book of the Bible (London,

SJT TWBB

1950)

TWNT G. Kittel (ed.), Theologisches Wiirterbuch ZHm NeuenTestament(Stuttgart, WH

1949) B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek (London, 1881)

loosely in much modern theological writing. It is often used almost exactly like 'deliverance'. Or Christianity may be classed as 'a religion of redemption', i.e. one which promises man salvation from his predicament as a sinner, in contrast to 'religions of law', which look to man to bring about this desirable state ofaffairsby his own efforts. It would be going too far to say that there are as many meanings as there are users of the word. But there is certainly a bewildering variety ofmeanings for it in circulation. This wide use ofthe term 'redemption' is a modem development. We find it neither in antiquity in general nor in the Bible in particular. Indeed, when we consider how widely the term is used in modem theology we may well be surprised at the comparative rarity of its occurrence in the New Testament. Andjust as it is used less often in antiquity than with us, so also it is used with a narrower and more precise connotation. As we shall see, it does not mean deliverance in general, but a particular kind of deliverance. Another difference is that we use such words as 'redeemer', 'redemption', etc, as religious terms. Whenever we hear them our thoughts tum to religion. But when the man of the first century heard them he immediately .thought. in non-religious terms. Indeed, that was the reason words came to be used by the early Christians. Men in general knew quite well what redemption was. Therefore Christians found it a convenient term to use. It is our task to try to recapture this meaning and not simply to assume that redemption meant to the ancients exactly what it means to us. REDEMPTION IS A TERM which is employed very

I. ETYMOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS Customary abbreviations are used for the books of the Bible, for the tractates of the Mishnah and the Talmud (the prefix b indicates that a Talmudic tractate is from the Babylonian Talmud), and for the books of authors such asJosephus and Philo. Quotations from Scripture are normally in the Revised Version; Josephus and Philo are cited from the Loeb edition, and the Mishnah from H. Danby's translation.

!he basic word in the word-group is AU't"pOV, 'ransom'. This word IS derived from AUW, a verb with the general meaning of'to loose', It was used of allkinds ofloosing, for example, for the loosening of one's clothing, the loosening ofarmour, oftied animals, and so on.

IJ

THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING OF THE CROSS

REDEMPTION

And sometimes it was used of men to indicate that they had been loosed from captivity or the like. Particularly did this apply to the loosing ofprisoners of war when a ransom p~ice had.been paid: In time a new word-group was developed to glve preclse expresslOn to this form ofloosing. To the stem AU- there was added the suffix -'t"pov to give the noun AU't"pOV. The suffix -'t"pov denoted orig~ally the means whereby an action is performed. A typical use lS for implements, e.g. &po't"pov, 'a plough'. Secondly it came to denote the place where the action could take place, as 6eoc't"pov, 'a place for seeing', 'a theatre'. In the third stage the -rpov suffixwas used, often in the plural, for the payment which brought about the action, such as 't"IX 8Lacix't"poc, 'the teacher's fee', or 't"IX 6pempoc, 'the payment for rearing', 'the nurse's wages'.' AU't"pOV, a comparatively late word, is a word ofthis third class.Its meaning accordingly is 'payment for loosing', 'ransom price'. From AU't"pova complete new word-group developed. Thus we have the verb AUTF\6cu, 'to release on receipt of ransom' (in the middle voice, 'to secure release by payment of ransom', 'to redeem'). Then there is the noun AUTpCUO"LC;, 'the process of release by payment', and various compounds ofeach ofthese forms, especially those with eX7t6 andbr:. . .It is important to realize that it is this idea ofpayment as the basis ofrelease which is the reason for the existence ofthe whole wordgroup. Other words were available to denote simple release. Men could (and often did) go on using AUCU, or PUOILOCL, etc. When. they chose to use AU't"pOV (or its cognates) it was becausethey wanted. a term which expressed in itself, and not simply by inference from the context, the idea of release by payment. Etymological considerations are, of course, not final, Usage must be our final criterion. But it is worth noting at the beginning that the 'very existence of this word-group is due to the desire to give precise expression to the conception ofreleaseby payment.2 There is thus a

prima facie case for holding that the redemption terminology is

12

Cf. A.

Debrunner, Griechische Wortbildungslehre (Heidelberg, 1917), pp. I 76f. ;]. H. Moulton and W. F. Howard, A Grammar ofNew Testament Greek, II (Edinburgh, 1919), pp. 368f. 2 There were also, of course, other words for the price of release, as ID«r1UX, &.v't"WOI:YfLOI:, nfL~,1tOLV~, &1tOLVIX, ~ The meaning ofthe word is plain. 7. Diodorus speaks of a manumission which was agreed upon by a slave and his masters. However, before it could be consummated, Scaevola intervened, and 'anticipating the ransoming •.. crucified him'. 4 There is not the slightest reason for thinking that this cX.1tOAU't'PWO'L~ is anything other than the normal release on payment. 8. An inscription from Cos refers to a process of sacral manumission. 5 A doubt has been thrown on the meaning of &:ltOAO't'pW~ here because the transaction is described also as an cX.m:AEU6epwO'Lt;. Those who perform the cX.m:Ae:uf)epwO'L~ are instructed 'not to make formal record of the cX.1tOAO't"eWO'~c;; until the priests have reported that the necessary sacrifice has been made'. Too much, however, should not be read into this. The transaction might be looked at in more ways than one. It was an act of deliverance. The slave went free. Therefore it could rightly be called cX.7te:AEU6E:pwO'~~. But he was not simply set at liberty by a generous gesture of his owner. A price was paid. Therefore the transaction was also an cX.7tOAO't"PWO'L~. It could be described loosely and generally, or exactly and specifically. But in view of the fact that there is no dispute about the payment of the price it is impossible to see a,7tOA1hpwenc;; here as bearing anything other than its normal meaning. 9. The Scholiast on Lucian, in ridiculing the gods, refers to a story in which Zeus took the form ofa ram to escape approaching

16

~as somehow found its way into someone else's possession. There IS also a derived noun Alhpco en.;. This is a rare word and the

lexicons seem to cite but three occurrences in non-biblical Greek. It fits in with the usual sense ofthe word-group. II. THE USE

OF cX.1tOAU't"PWO'L~

In view of the frequent use of cX.1tOAlhpwO'L~in the New Testament it is necessary to take notice of its use in non-biblical literature despite the f~c.t that it is a rare word. From its formation we might perhaps ;mticipate. some emphasis ?n t~e f:eedom secured by ransom (a ransommg·away from - ). It IS difficult, however to ~etect such an emphasis in the usage. The word appears to be used m mu~h the same sense as the uncompounded AU't"pWO'~C;;•. The ~ollo~mg appear to be all the passagesoutside the New Testament m which the compound iscited. I. Plutarch, 'Their flutes and stringed instruments and drinking bouts al?ng every ~oast; their seizures ofpersons in high command, and their ransommgs of captured cities, were a disgrace to the Ro~an supremacy.'> The term clearly denotes the release, upon receIpt ofa ransom price, ofcities which had been captured. 2, 3. The Epistle ofArlsteas, 'Thinking that the time had come to press the demand ...fot the emancipation ofthe Jews who had b~en transported from Judea ?y the Icing's father'; and again, 'the king ordered a letter to be wrIt.ten ~o Eleazar on the matter, giving also an account of the em~CIpatIon of the Jewish captives:2 In both passa~es t!te refe~ence IS to the releas; of prisoners of War, and. the poce IS ~pecifically mentioned, all who possess such captives are required to set them at liberty at once, receiving twenty d.r~chm~eper head as ransom money.'3 . 4, S. P~o twice ~ the term. He tellsofa Laconian boy carried mto CaptiVIty who ,Judged that death was a happier lot than his present valueless life, and despairing of ransom, gladly put an end J

QuodOmnisProber LiberSit 114. De Congressu Quaerendae Eruditionis Gratia 109. 3 Ant. 12.27. 4 Fragments 37.5.3(cited from T. K. Abbott, ICC on Bph.r: 7). 5 W. R. Paton and E. L. Hicks, The Inscriptions ofCos (Oxford, 1891), p. S2

1

2

Pompey, 24. 5 (Loeb trans.), T~ Epistle ofAristeas 12.33 (cited from R. ·H. Charles" The ApocrypIuJ lind Ps~ud~lgrapha oftheOld Testament, II, Pseudepigrapha, Oxford, 191 3). Ib,d.,22. 1

2

17

(no. 29).

18

THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING OF THE CROSS

REDEMPTION

disaster (1'ou E:mxVlxa1'&.v1'o~ oM6pou), and he goes on to speak of 'a fatted beast (~6al