The calling of Judas Iscariot, who is designated a devil, Joh_6:70; a thief, Mat_12:6; the son of perdition, Mat_17:12, forms a great theological problem. Either of the two ordinary explanations—that Christ had not known him from the beginning; or else, that He had chosen him to become the voluntary instrument of judgment, and the involuntary instrument of salvation—appears to us opposed to the spirit of Christ. We would rather venture to suggest, that, carried away by temporary enthusiasm, Judas had offered himself to the Lord; that the disciples, blinded by his glowing zeal, had earnestly recommended him to the Master; and that, in the fulness and boldness of His love, Christ had consented to receive a man so richly gifted by nature, chiefly because His refusal might have proved a stumbling-block to the disciples. [?]
[The biblical symbolism of numbers to which Dr. Lange here alludes, is worthy of more serious attention than it has received in English theology. There is room here for fanciful theories; but the main points hardly admit of serious doubt. The careful student of the Scripture must be struck with the frequency of the use of certain numbers, especially 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12, in significant connection with sacred ideas and things, from Genesis to Revelation. It is impossible to resolve all this into mere accident, or an unmeaning play. God is “the wonderful Numberer, the Numberer of secrets” (comp.
ôַּìְîéðִé
, Dan_8:13, and the marginal note in the Auth. Vers.), and “doeth all things in number and measure and weight” (Wis_11:20). Number is expressive of order, symmetry, proportion, and relativity. 1 is the symbol of unity or oneness, 2 of antithesis and polarity, 3 of synthesis, of the uncreated Divinity, the holy Trinity (compare the Mosaic benediction, Num_6:24-26, the Trisagion, Isa_6:3, the baptismal formula, the apostolic benediction), 4 of humanity or the created world as the revelation of God (think of the four corners of the earth, the four seasons, the four points of the compass, the four elements, the four Gospels). From this may be explained the symbolical significance of 7 or 3 + 4, and of 12 or 3 × 4. Seven, being the union of 3 and 4, is the signature of the relation of God to the world, or the covenant (the Hebrew word for seven,
ùֶׁáַö
, signifies also an oath, Gen_21:31; Gen_26:33, and the verb
ùִׁáַö
, to swear, “since seven,” as Gesenius explains, “was a sacred number, and oaths were confirmed either by seven victims offered in sacrifice, Gen_21:28, or by seven witnesses and pledges”). Seven figures very conspicuously in Scripture from the first institution of the sabbath in paradise to the seven churches, seven angels, seven Spirits, etc., of the Apocalypse. Creuzer observes (Symbolik, vol. 2:161): “The universal sanctity of the number seven was fully acknowledged even by the ancients in all its bearings.” Twelve, being the product of 3 and 4, symbolizes, from the twelve patriarchs and twelve tribes down to the twelve foundations and twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, the indwelling of God in the human family, or the interpenetration of the world by the Divinity. Ten is the number of harmony and completeness, as in the ten commandments.
This whole subject has been very thoroughly discussed, with special reference to the Tabernacle where the Numbers 3, 4, 10, 5, 7, , 12 control the whole structure, by Dr. Chr. W. F. Bæhr in his able and learned work: Die Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus, Heidelberg, 1837, vol. i., p. 128–233, and also by H. Kurtz in the Theol. Studien und Kritiken for 1844, p. 315–370. Of English divines Fairbairn (Typology of Scriptures, 2d ed., 1854, vol. ii., 87 sq.) adopts Bähr’s view, as far as the number ten is concerned; Trench (Epistles to the Seven Churches, p. 83–91 of the Am. ed. of 1861); Wordsworth (Com. on Mat_10:2) with regard to 7, 3, and 4; M. White: The Symbolical Numbers of Scripture, Edinb. 1868. The work of Dr. M. Mahan: Palmoni; or the Numerals of Scripture a Proof of Inspiration, New York, 1863 (based in great part upon Browne’s Ordo Sœculorum, but ignoring Bähr), does not discuss, as one might infer from the title, the symbolic import of Scripture numbers, but more the relation of numbers to events and the coincidences of periods.—P. S.]
3. It is a remarkable fact, that Christ constructed His apostolate on the basis of natural relationship and of mental affinity. Seven of the Apostles were brothers: viz., Peter and Andrew; James and John, the sons of Zebedee (probably cousins of the Lord; see Wieseler, in the Studien u. Kritiken for 1840, p. 648, and Winer, art. Salome); the sons of Alpheus—James the Younger, Judas Lebbeus, and Simon Zelotes (the cousins [?] and adoptive brothers of the Lord, commonly called His brethren). Then we read of the friendship subsisting between Philip and Bartholomew; Andrew, John, and Peter. Finally, the three last-mentioned Apostles, and perhaps some of the others also, had been disciples of John.
4. The sending forth of the disciples by two and two, indicates that none of them by himself was a sufficient representative of the fulness of Christ, and that each supplemented the other, both in the way of limitation and enlargement. This state of matters ceased after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when the disciples became Apostles in the full sense of the term.
5. We shall speak in another place of the breach formed among the Apostles by the apostacy of Judas, of the election of Matthias in his place, and of the calling of the Apostle Paul.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
How the Lord converts His chosen disciples into Apostles.—How He makes His redeemed fellow-workers in His work of redemption.—How the love and compassion of Christ branches out, and spreads over His people and over the world.—What we have learned in the school of the Lord must be exhibited in our life, activity, and teaching.—The call to the work of Evangelists: 1. What it implies; 2. how it presupposes one great calling; 3. how it includes many calls.—The calling of the disciples a bestowal of authority upon them by the Lord.—What power do you, who profess to hold the apostolic office, display: to cast out unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people?—The apostolic office must appear in spiritual power, which, under God, will awaken souls to newness of life.—The twelve Apostles as representing the great features of the kingdom of God: 1. The great features of the destiny of Israel; 2. of the fulness in Christ; 3. of the Church; 4. of the kingdom of heaven in its perfectness.—The apostolic name a type of the new name which Christians are to obtain.—How personal character comes out and becomes transformed in the kingdom of God, to the glory of the Father and of Christ.—How all friendship and relationship should be subservient to the kingdom of God.—The calling of fishermen and publicans to the apostolic office an evidence of the glory of Christianity.—Judas, or the dangers of ecclesiastical office.—Even Judas must, for the time being, be acknowledged as an Apostle of the Lord.
Starke:—Osiander: Let us not attempt to do everything ourselves, without assistance.—Majus: Those who are sent into the Lord’s vineyard must be properly furnished for the work.—Bibl. Wurt.: We must not be offended at the humble origin and the poor appearance of preachers.
Lisco:—Judas; or, even the Church of God is not absolutely pure.—The Apostles had personally seen the Lord, were called directly by Him, accredited their witness by miracles, were not bound to one congregation, and preached the word of God without error.
Heubner:—This mission was at the same time a trial of their teaching.
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