Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the NT: Impotence
Subjects in this Topic:
IMPOTENCE.—The single instance of our Lord’s miracles specifically classified under this head is recorded in Joh_5:2-9, where the sufferer is described as ὁ ἀóèåíῶí (Authorized Version ‘the impotent man,’ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘the sick man’). The features of the ease are its long continuance (for thirty-eight years); and the association of the man with the multitude of infirm and diseased people gathered round the Pool of Bethesda (wh. see). Of the nature of the ailment we have no evidence. It has been thought to be palsy, but Bennett (Diseases of the Bible) considers this doubtful. The long duration of the disease is against its being identified with locomotor ataxia. It may have been some chronic wasting disease having its origin in an enfeebled or disorganized nervous system.
The chief feature of the healing is the fact that Jesus begins the process of restoration by dealing with the hopeless condition induced and established by thirty-eight years of suffering, and by the repeated dashing to the ground of slowly-rising hopes. ‘Wouldest thou be made whole?’ our Lord asked, appealing to the last flicker of expectation evinced by his remaining still at the healing pool, and calling it out into new vigour and consciousness.
Another significant feature is the apparent association in the mind of Jesus of this infirmity with sin, either the sin of the sufferer or the sinfulness of the race (Joh_5:14). A similar association is found in the case recorded in Mat_9:1-8, Mar_2:1-12, Luk_5:17-26 (see art. Paralysis). It cannot be definitely asserted that Jesus marked personal sin as the root-cause of disease in these cases, though the inference is not altogether unwarranted from the narratives. But it is at least evident that our Lord did habitually recognize the close connexion between personal and racial sinfulness and all manner of disease and sickness. While carefully guarding Himself from attributing all sickness and weakness to sin (Joh_9:1-3), He yet declared the essential alliance of sin with all kinds of bodily disorder. ‘Sins of the flesh,’ as commonly understood, are notoriously responsible for many of mankind’s worst diseases and infirmities; and the Apostolie catalogue of these sins includes not only adultery, uncleanness, murder, drunkenness, and revellings, but also hatred, variance, wrath, strife, envyings, and covetousness (Gal_5:19-21, Col_3:5, Eph_5:3). Our Lord’s list of sins that defile and destroy the body begins with ‘evil thoughts’ and ends with moral stupidity or foolishness (Mar_7:22, ἀöñïóýíç ).
Another case which must probably be included here is that of the woman with a spirit of infirmity (Luk_13:11-27). The features here are the Evangelist’s description of the ailment as ðíåῦìá ἕ÷ïõóá ἀóèåíåßáò , the lengthened prevalence of the trouble (for eighteen years), and the completeness of the inability to raise herself. The description is evidently from a competent hand. The woman was bowed and crouched together ( ἧ óõãêýðôïõóá ), and was in no wise able to lift herself up. The inability was åἰò ôὸ ðáíôåëÝò (cf. Heb_7:25, where the ability of the ever-living Christ to save mankind is also åἰò ôὸ ðáíôåëÝò ). The infirmity, however, did not debar the sufferer from attending the synagogue. The ailment may have been surgical—a gradual distortion and permanent bending, increased by old age, of the spinal column, such as in many cases is due to continual bending in field labour or in the bearing of heavy burdens. Bennett suggests ‘the gradual wasting and relaxation of muscles and ligaments of the back by which the trunk is held erect, so that the body falls forward without any disease of brain or cord or mental impairment.’ But it may not improperly be rather classified as due at least in part to some morbid mental condition such as hysteria. This seems to be indicated not obscurely by the description given, as a spirit of infirmity.
The reference of our Lord to Satan as binding the woman is not to be understood as pointing to possession, although it may have been a reflexion of the current idea that all bodily deformity was due to demonic agency—in which case the description is due to the Evangelist lather than to Jesus. But most probably it indicates our Lord’s view of the infirmity as being part of that widespread calamity and curse that lies upon the whole race, of which complex coil Satan is the summary and representative.
The features of the healing are: (1) The Divine compassion expressed in our Lord’s laying His hand upon the woman as He spoke the word of hope and deliverance; (2) His profound sense that this suffering and weakness, this crouching spirit, were completely foreign to the will of God (Heb_7:16); and (3) His stedfast refusal to allow any pedantic Sabbath rules to stand in the way of His relief of suffering humanity. The last fact is dominant in the whole narrative, and consequently the other features and the healing are only casually reported.
T. H. Wright.
IN (
ἐí
,
åἰò
,
êáôÜ
,
ἐðß
,
ðñü÷
,
äéÜ
,
ἔóù
).—The word is prevailingly used in its primary meaning of position in place, but it frequently follows the Greek
ἐí
in its more or less figurative ramifications of meaning. It is also employed more or less accurately to translate various other prepositions which convey a slightly different nuance of significance. In the present article we shall follow the rendering of the Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , where the use of the prepositions is more consistent and precise, as well as more conformed to the modern usage, than in the Authorized Version . (For illustration of the wider use of ‘in’ common in the Elizabethan period, cf. Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible , art. ‘In’).I. As translation of ἐí , the word indicates:
1. Local relations: (a) ‘in,’ ‘at,’ or ‘on,’ of simple locality (Mat_2:1 ‘in Bethlehem,’ Mat_24:40 ‘in the field,’ Joh_4:20 ‘in this mountain’); (b) that with which one is covered or clothed (Mar_12:38 ‘walk in long robes,’ Mat_7:15 ‘in sheep’s clothing,’ Mat_11:21 ‘repented in sackcloth and ashes,’ Joh_20:12 ‘two angels in white’); (c) direct cohesion (Joh_15:4 ‘except it abide in the vine’); (d) position in a writing or book (Mat_21:42 ‘in the scriptures,’ Mar_1:2 ‘in Isaiah,’ Luk_20:42 ‘in the book of Psalms’).
2. Temporal relations—the point or space of time when, or within which, anything occurs (Mat_22:18 ‘in the resurrection,’ Mat_10:15 etc. ‘in the day of judgment’—the Authorized Version has also ‘at the day of judgment,’ Luk_9:36 ‘in those days,’ Joh_2:19 ‘in three days I will raise it up’).
3. Figurative and personal relations:
(a) Indicating a person: ( á ) conceived as the sphere where a certain quality or state of mind is found (Mat_6:23 ‘the light that is in thee,’ Mar_9:50 ‘have salt in yourselves,’ and similarly Mat_21:42 ‘marvellous in our eyes,’ Mat_5:28 ‘committed adultery in his heart,’ Mar_11:23 ‘doubt in his heart’); or ( â ) in reference to whom another stands in a certain attitude (Mat_3:17 ‘in whom I am well pleased,’ Mat_11:6 ‘whosoever shall not be offended in me’).
(b) Of the state or condition, manner or circumstance, range or sphere in which a person is or acts: ( á ) state or condition (Mat_4:16 ‘the people which sat in darkness,’ Luk_1:75 ‘serve him in holiness and righteousness,’ Joh_4:23 ‘worship in spirit and truth,’ Mat_21:22 ‘ask in prayer’); ( â ) manner (Mat_13:3 ‘in parables’); ( ã ) occasion (Mat_22:15 ‘ensnare him in talk,’ Luk_23:31 ‘if they do this in the green tree,’ Luk_24:35 ‘in the breaking of bread’); ( ä ) surrounding accompaniment (Mat_6:29 ‘Solomon in all his glory,’ Mat_16:28 ‘coming in his kingdom,’ Mat_16:27 ‘in the glory of his Father’); ( å ) range or sphere (Joh_8:21 ‘die in your sins,’ Mar_1:15 ‘believe in the gospel’ will also belong to this head, unless we admit that this is an exceptional use of ðéóôåýù with ἐí . The LXX Septuagint almost invariably construes the verb with the dative, the NT writers with åἰò or ἐðß . Probably therefore the verb is used here absolutely, and ἐí ôῷ åὐáããåëßῳ marks the sphere within which faith is to be exercised. The only other instance of ðéóôåýù followed by ἐí in the NT is Joh_3:15, which the Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 translates ‘that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life’). For ἐí with ὄíïìá see below.
(c) Of the means or instrument, or personal agency employed, where a simple dative might have been used instead of ἐí (Mat_3:11 ‘I baptize you with [(Revised Version margin) ‘in’] water’; cf. Luk_3:16, where the simple dative is used; Mar_9:34 ‘By [(Revised Version margin) ‘In’] the prince of the devils casteth he out devils’; in other eases ‘with’ is used as translation, as Luk_22:49 ‘shall we smite with ( ἐí ) the sword?’).
(d) Of persons inherently joined and connected, where the completest intimacy conceivable is expressed; employed with noticeable frequency in the writings of St. Paul and the Fourth Gospel, to mark the close fellowship between the Christian and Christ ( ἐí ×ñéóôῷ Ἰçóïῦ , ἐí Êõñßῳ , ἐí ×ñéóôῷ , Rom_8:1; Rom_16:11; Rom_12:5; Rom_16:7; ìÝíåéí ἐí ἐìïß , Joh_6:56; Joh_15:4-5; cf. 1Jn_2:5-6; 1Jn_2:24; 1Jn_2:27-28 ἐí áὐôῷ åἶíáé , ἐí ôῷ íἱῷ , ἐí áὐôῷ ìÝíåéí ), between the Christian or Christ and God ( ἐí èåῷ , ἐí ôῷ ðáôñß , 1Th_1:1, Col_3:3, Joh_3:21; Joh_10:38; Joh_14:20), or between the Christian and the Spirit ( ἐí ðíåýìáôé åἶíáé , Rom_8:9, 1Co_12:13; cf. Mat_22:43, Luk_2:27). The very repetition of such unusual expressions indicates that the thought was a favourite one in Pauline and Johannine theology. For the determination of the meaning, special weight should be attached to the fact that complementary expressions are used repeatedly— ×ñéóôὸò ἔí ôéíé , ðíåῦìá ἔí ôéíé , ðáôὴñ ἔí ôéíé (Rom_8:9-10, 2Co_13:5, Gal_2:20, Joh_10:38; Joh_14:20; Joh_15:4-5; Joh_17:21-23). The employment of these parallel expressions points to a relation of the most intimate communion; and the only question is how this spiritual communion is to be conceived. Deissmann, who has carefully sifted the material relating to the phrase ἐí ×ñéóôῷ , insists that the translation ‘in fellowship with Christ’ does not quite adequately convey the concrete thought of St. Paul. He favours the view that the ἐí here retains its literal and local significance; the Christian lives in the element Christ, somewhat in the same way as animals live in the air, or fishes in the water, or the roots of plants in the earth. He notices the parallel use of ἐí ×ñéóôῷ and ×ñéóôὸò ἔí ôéíé , with ἐí ðíåýìáôé and ðíåῦìá ἔí ôéíé , and argues that as the last phrase would be naturally understood in the most literal local sense, of one within whom the invisible powers of the Spirit resided, so in the phrases relative to Christ, the living pneumatic Christ of faith, the same local reference is implied. Or, again, the phrase ἐí èåῷ (1Th_1:1, Col_3:3; Act_17:28 ‘In him we live and move and have our being’) expresses the thought that God is the element in which we live, implying the local conception of a Divine ðåñé÷þñçóéò . From such analogies Deissmann is inclined to accept the most literal and local interpretation of St. Paul’s favourite phrase; and he believes that if we keep in mind the equation ×ñéóôüò = ðíåῦìá , Christ the everliving Divine Spirit, the conception of real locality will not appear improbable. This interpretation certainly presses the literal meaning of ἐí too far; it tends to dissolve St. Paul’s mystic idea of union into a semi-physical relation, and so to destroy the moral and spiritual basis of faith. The spiritual presence of Christ is indeed pictured as a local nearness of relation; yet St. Paul elsewhere clearly distinguishes between the spiritual nearness of present fellowship with Christ and the future local fellowship with ( óýí or ðñüò ) Christ in the life to come (1Th_4:17, Php_1:23, 2Co_5:8). Even while ‘absent from the Lord,’ St. Paul is ἐí ×ñéóôῷ , i.e. in spiritual but not local union. The implied ἐí èåῷ in Act_17:28 ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ is scarcely adducible as an analogy, since it refers rather to the natural basis of existence than to the spiritual ground, The Johannine phrases already cited ( ìÝíåéí ἐí ἐìïß ; ἐãὼ ἐí ôῷ ðáôñß ìïõ , êáὶ ὑìåῖò ἐí ἐìïß , êἀãὼ ἐí ὑìῖí ) contain substantially the same thought as the Pauline ἐí ×ñéóôῷ ; and in these, in spite of the local figure employed, the idea is clearly not that of local inherence, but of spiritual inherence or communion. The mystic realism of the Pauline and Johannine phrases is rather to be found in the fact that they approach the thought of a real identification with the Logos or the pneumatic Christ. The life Divine incorporates itself in the Christian; the Spirit of Christ or of God takes the place of the human spirit, and is individualized in the life of believers. This idea of essential spiritual (mystica, hypostatica) union alone does justice to those passages where the union of believers with Christ, and even with one another, finds sublimest expression (Joh_17:21-23, 1Co_6:17; 1Co_12:13). But while this thought of vital union is the central and original conception of the phrase used by St. Paul, the context often indicates some variety in the shades of meaning. Thus Rom_14:14 ‘I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus,’ i.e. in virtue of that fellowship; Php_2:29 ‘Receive him in the Lord,’ i.e. in the spirit of such fellowship; it is often used as a favourite expression for ‘Christian’—Rom_16:9-11; while in other cases the relationship referred to is that between Christ and the Father; 1Th_5:18 ‘this is the will of God in Christ Jesus’; 2Co_5:19 ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world.’
II. The word is also used to translate other prepositions in the following senses:
äéÜ , ‘within’ a space of time (Mat_26:61 ‘build it in three days’).
êáôÜ , ‘throughout,’ ‘according to’ (Luk_15:14 ‘a famine in that land,’ Mat_1:20 ‘in a dream’).
ðñüò , ‘towards,’ direction (Luk_12:3 ‘spoken in the ear’).
ἔóù , adverb, within (Mat_26:58 ‘entered in’).
ἐðß , ‘on,’ ‘upon,’ ‘over.’ The Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 has followed the more restricted use of ‘in’ in many cases, and substituted ‘on,’ ‘upon,’ ‘at,’ ‘over,’ ‘by,’ ‘unto,’ ‘to’ (Mat_6:10 ‘thy will be done in earth’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘on earth’], 18:16 ‘in [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘at’] the mouth of two or three witnesses,’ 2:22 ‘reigning in [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘over’] Judaea,’ 21:19 ‘in [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘by’] the way,’ 13:14 ‘in [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘unto’] them is fulfilled the prophecy,’ Mar_5:33 ‘knowing what was done in [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘to’] her’); but in some cases ‘in’ is retained, where English idiom requires it, and where the sense is not liable to be mistaken (with the genitive, Mar_8:4 ‘in the wilderness’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘in a desert place’], 11:4 ‘in a place where two ways met’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘in the open street’], and, with the dative, Mat_14:8 ‘in a charger,’ Mar_10:24 ‘trust in riches,’ Luk_18:9 ‘trusted in themselves that they were righteous,’ i.e. rested their confidence of being righteous upon themselves). For ἐðß with ὄíïìá see below.
åἰò , ‘into,’ ‘with reference to,’ ‘with a view to’: (a) = ‘into,’ locally or figuratively, often after verbs of rest, where previous motion and direction are implied (Mat_2:23 ‘came and dwelt in a city,’ Joh_9:7 ‘go wash in the pool,’ Mat_10:27 ‘what ye hear in the ear,’ Mat_13:33 ‘hid in three measures of meal,’ Mar_1:9 ‘baptized in the Jordan,’ Mar_5:34 ‘go in peace,’ Joh_1:18 ‘which is in the bosom of the Father’— åἰò ôὸí êüëðïí —i.e. placed in the Father’s bosom and there abiding); (b) = ‘with respect to,’ ‘with a view to’ (Luk_22:19 ‘in remembrance of me,’ Luk_16:8 ‘wiser in their generation’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘for their generation’]). After ðéóôåýù , ‘believe,’ åἰò is largely used (Mat_18:6, Joh_1:12; Joh_2:23; Joh_3:18 etc.) = ‘in’ or ‘on’ in Authorized Version , in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 invariably ‘on’; it implies the direction in which the believing soul turns, the fellowship into which it enters. Specially noteworthy is the use of åἰò ἐðß , and ἐí with ὄíïìá . While the Synoptists commonly employ ἐðß or åἰò or the simple dative, I and rarely use ἐí except in the phrase, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (Mat_21:9; Mat_23:39, Mar_11:9, Luk_13:35; Luk_19:38), St. Paul and the Fourth Gospel prevailingly employ ἐí , and use åἰò only after ðéóôåýù , or âáðôßæù . The prepositions have their own nuance of meaning; the Synoptic ἑðὶ ôῳ ὀíüìáôß ìïõ (Mat_18:5; Mat_24:5, Mar_9:37; Mar_9:39 etc.) indicates dependence of some one on another, the authority on which one leans; åἰò ôὸ ὄíïìá , in reference to, or in view of, what the name imports (Mat_10:41 ‘receive a prophet in the name of a prophet’=in view of his prophetic character or function, Mat_18:20 ‘two or three gathered together in my name’=not, by My authority, but, in view of My name, with the viewer honouring Me; and ἐí ôῷ ὀíüìáôé , by authority, clothed with the commission, of some one (Mat_21:9 ‘cometh in the name of the Lord’), or even by the use of the name, as contrasted with the authority (Mar_9:38 ‘we saw one casting out devils in thy name,’ i.e. using the name of Jesus as a Jewish exorcist might). The very obvious preference which St. Paul and the Fourth Gospel show for ἐí and the corresponding åἰò may well he connected with the idea of intimate mystic communion which influences all their religious thought. In the great majority of cases ἐí ὀíüìáôé indicates not so much the authority, as the union and fellowship on which the authority is founded (Joh_17:12 ‘I kept them in thy name,’ Joh_20:31 ‘that believing ye may have life in his name,’ 1Co_6:11 ‘justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,’ where ἐí has the same pregnant meaning as in the phrase ἐí ×ñéóôῷ Ἰçóïῦ ); and åἰò ôὸ ὄíïìá after ðéóôåýù and âáðôßæù likewise indicates the communion into which the baptized believer enters (Joh_2:23 ‘many believed åἰò ôὸ ὅíïìá áὐôïῦ ,’ Rom_6:3, Gal_3:27 ‘baptized into Christ’; so probably Mat_28:19 ‘baptizing them into the name of the Father,’ etc.).
In one or two cases ‘in’ is used to translate ἐê and ìåôÜ , but the Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 renders these more precisely ‘from’ and ‘with.’ It is also used as part-translation where a single Greek word is rendered by a phrase (Joh_8:4; Joh_2:20, Luk_10:34; Luk_16:19 etc.).
Literature.—Besides commentaries on the Gospels, see Moulton, Grammar of NT Greek; Grimm-Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the NT; H. Cremer, Bibl.-Theol. Lex. of the NT, s.vv. ὄíïìá , âáôôéæù , ðéóôåýù ; Abbot, Shakespearian Grammar; A. Deissmann, Die NT Formel ‘in Christo Jesu.’
J. Dick Fleming.