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MANSION ( ìïíÞ , Joh_14:2; Joh_14:23).—1. ‘Mansion,’ like ìïíÞ , is properly an abstract noun, meaning ‘a staying,’ ‘an abiding.’ In English literature it is first found in Hampole’s Psalter, 5. 8 (c. [Note: circa, about.] 1340 a.d.), ‘þai entire in til God is house of heuen and takis þaire joy and þaire mansyon in þaire perfeccioun.’ So in the B text of Piers Plowman, Langland says of Pride (B xiv. 26): ‘Arst in the maister than in the man some mansioun he hath’ (he dwelleth in the master rather than in the man). The C text (c. [Note: circa, about.] 1393) keeps the word while it extends the limits of Pride’s abode (xvii. 59): ‘Other in the maister, other in the man, some mancion he shewith.’ But Hampole and Lydgate (1420) also use ‘mansion’ of a dwelling-place. A charter of Henry vi. (1444) uses it of a hostel, and Fabyan (1512) of the chief residence of a lord, whence it gains its modern meaning of ‘an imposing abode,’ which is seen even in Shakspeare (2 Henry IV. iii. ii. 351). Bacon, however, still uses the word in its abstract sense in the Advancement of Learning (1605), and both Shakspeare and Milton use it of ‘an abiding-place’ without the suggestion of a building (Timon of Athens, v. i. 218; Paradise Lost, i. 268, viii. 296). From the Vulgate mansiones it is used by Wyclif for ‘halting-places’ in Exo_17:1, but in translations from the Greek (as Whiston’s Josephus, 1737) this meaning represents óôáèìüò , not ìïíÞ , and so has no bearing upon the sense of Joh_14:2. The Vulgate also uses mansiones in Joh_14:2, and is responsible for Hampole’s use of the English form of the word in the sense of ‘dwelling-places.’ That sense was confirmed in the language, partly by Chaucer (Knight’s Tale, 1116), but mainly by the influence of Tindale’s Version of the NT (1526), ‘In my fathers housse are many mansions,’ and (2Co_5:1) ‘Our erthy mancioun wherein we now dwell,’ copied by Milton in Il Penseroso, 92.
2. But while the English ‘mansion’ and the identical French word maison have retained from their common original only the developed meaning of ‘dwelling-place,’ the Greek ìïíÞ is nowhere in extant literature found with this meaning, save only in Joh_14:2. Westcott (with Liddell and Scott) explains its use in this verse by the supposed occurrence of the word in Pausanias (x. 31:7) in the sense of ‘a halting-place for the night.’ But the ordinary reading in that passage seems impossible Greek, and is certainly corrupt (see J. G. Frazer’s note): ôÝôìçôáé äὲ äéὰ ôῶí ìïíῶí ἡ ὁäüò is not an intelligible expression for the traditional meaning, ‘there are halting-places at intervals upon the road.’ One MS reads ìçíῶí , from which W. M. Ramsay conjectures äéὰ ôῶí Ìçñçíῶí , ‘the road has been carried through the country of the M. (beside Minos’ tomb).’
Apart, then, from Joh_14:2, ìïíÞ remains a purely abstract noun, meaning (1) abiding, (2) continuance, (3) rest. The ease with which it passes from the first to the last of these meanings can be seen from Plato, Crat. 437 B, where ìíÞìç is defined as a ìïíÞ , and not a öïñÜ ; Ar. Phys. v. 6. 8 ( ὥóôå êéíÞóåé ìïíὴ ἐíáíôßá ); Polybius, iv. 41, 4, 5, where it is twice coupled with óôÜóéò ; and most of all in Plutarch, whose writings (a.d. 80–120) are contemporary with St. John’s Gospel.
Like the classical authors, Plutarch still uses ìïíÞ , in the literal sense of ‘a stay’ or ‘a continuance’: ïὔôå ìïíὴí ἐí ôῶ âßῳ ôïῖò ἀãáèïῖò ïὔôå ἐîáãùãὴí ôïῖò êáêïῖò (1042 D), ἀëëὰ êáὶ ôïýôïéò ìïíὴí ïἴïíôáé êáèÞêïõóáí åἶíáé êἀêåßíïéò ἐîáãùãÞí , 1063 D. But in 1024 F, though ìïíÞ answers to ôὸ ìÝíïõ , Plutarch opposes it, like Aristotle, to êßíçóéò : ἔóôé ãὰñ ἡ ìὲí íüçóéò ôïῦ íïïῦôïò êßíçóéò ðåñὶ ôὸ ìÝíïí , ἡ äὲ äüîá ìïíὴ ôïῦ áἰóèáíïìÝíïõ ðåñὶ ôὸ êéíïýìåíïí . So in 927 A the material elements as conceived by Empedocles are reduced to order by the introduction of the principle of love ( öéëüôçôïò ἐããåíïìÝíçò ), ἳíá … ôὰ ìὲí êéíÞóåùò ôὰ äὲ ìïíῆò ἀíÜãêáéò ἐíäåèÝíðá … ἁñõïíßáí êáὶ êïéíùíßáí ἀðåñãÜóçôáé ôïῦ ðáíôüò , where ìïíÞ has the complete meaning of rest as opposed to motion. And in 747 C he uses the plural of ‘rests’ in dancing; ἐíôáῦèá äὲ áἑ ìïíáὶ ðÝñáôá ôῶí êéíÞóåùí åἰóßí .
In Joh_14:2, however, the immediate mention of ‘a place’ seems to demand a concrete meaning for ìïíáß , though it has no parallel elsewhere. If so, the senses of ‘abode’ in vv. 2 and 23, concrete and abstract respectively, will be derived from the idea of rest that has become attached to the word, as well as from the original idea of remaining. The difference is seen at once when the ìïíὴí ðïéåῖóèáé of Joh_14:23 is compared with the same phrase in Thuc. i. 131: Pausanias the victor of Plataea, intriguing with the Persians in Asia Minor, was ‘prolonging his stay to no good purpose’ ( ïὐê ἐð ̓ ἀãáèῷ ôὴí ìïíὴí ðïéïýìåíïò ), ìïíÞí , as the Scholiast remarks, being practically equivalent to ἀñãßáí , ‘idleness.’ In Joh_14:23 the phrase combines, like ìïíáß in Joh_14:2, the meanings of ‘abiding’ and ‘rest’ with that of the ‘home’ in which the rest is found. All the same suggestions are found in 1Ma_7:38, the only passage in the LXX Septuagint where ìïíÞ occurs: ìíÞóèçôé ôῶí äõóöçìéῶí áὐôῶí , êáὶ ìὴ äῳò áὐôïῖò ìïíÞí (‘and suffer them not to live any longer,’ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ).
3. The ìïíÞ of the Christian in the spiritual world (Joh_14:2) and the ìïíÞ of God in the Christian (Joh_14:23) are evidently intended to be correlative: ‘Abide in me, and I in you’ (Joh_15:4). Their consummation realizes the ideal of Joh_17:21; Joh_17:23; meanwhile they are the NT fulfilment of the two OT ideals of rest: ‘Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him’ (Psa_37:7), and ‘Arise, O Lord, into thy resting-place; thou, and the ark of thy strength’ (Psa_132:8). Joh_14:2, that is, refers not only to the perpetual ‘rest’ or ‘home’ in the life hereafter, but, like v. 23, to the ‘abiding’ fellowship with the Divine in this life (Mat_28:20, Rev_21:8). See artt. Abiding, and Father’s House.
Literature.—For the English word see Oxford English Dict., where its history is fully illustrated; Aldis Wright’s Bible Word-Book, 387, 388; Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iii. 238. The Greek word is very insufficiently treated both in Stephanus and in Liddell and Scott; for Plutarch’s uses see Wyttenbach’s Index, where, however, some references are misprinted. Reference may further be made to Expos. Times, viii. [1897] 496, x. [1899] 303; Expositor, ii. ii. [1881] 281, iii. [1882] 397, iv. vi. [1892] 209; A. Maclaren, The Holy of Holies (1890), p. 12; R. W. Dale, Christ and the Future Life (1895), pp. 33–84; J. Parker, City Temple Pulpit, i. (1899), p. 259.
Frank Richards.