Confirm; Confirmation – Contrary

Confirm; Confirmation

kon-furm, konfer-ma'-shun: In the Old Testament represented by several Hebrew words, generally with reference to an increase of external strength, as "c. the feeble knees" (Isaiah 35:3); "c. the kingdom" (2 Kings 15:19); "c. inheritance" (Psalms 68:9). In the New Testament, this external, objective sense is expressed by bebaioo, as in Mark 16:20; Romans 15:8. The strengthening of mind, purpose, conviction, i.e. the inner or subjective sense (Acts 14:22; Acts 15:32,Acts 15:41) corresponds to episterizo. Used also of ratifying or making valid (kuroo) a covenant (Galatians 3:15). The noun is used in the second sense (Hebrews 6:16; Philippians 1:7). Confirmation, the rite, in some denominations, of admission to the full communion of the church, which the Roman church has elevated to the place of a sacrament, has only ecclesiastical, but no Scriptural, authority. It is grounded, however, in the Scriptural precedent of the laying on of hands after baptism.

See HANDS, IMPOSITION, LAYING ON OF.

H. E. Jacobs

Confiscation

kon-fis-ka'-shun.

See PUNISHMENTS.

Conflict

kon'-flikt (agon, "contest," "fight"): In Philippians 1:30, "having the same c. which ye saw in me," and Colossians 2:1 the King James Version; 1 Thessalonians 2:2 (the King James Version "contention"); athlesis (literally, "combat in the public games"), in Hebrews 10:32 (the King James Version "fight").

See also AGONY.

Conform; Conformable

kon-form', kon-form'-a-b'-l (summorphoo "to become or be like," or "of the same form"): Indicating an inner change of nature, working into the outward life (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:10,Philippians 3:21); while suschematizo, "fashioned according to" (Romans 12:21 the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version. "conformed"), refers to that which is external.

Confound

kon-found': The physical origin of spiritual terms is well illustrated by the principal Hebrew words for "confounded" (rendered also "ashamed," etc.); bosh, is "to become pale" (2 Kings 19:26; Job 6:20; Psalms 83:17; Psalms 129:5 the King James Version; Isa 19:9, etc.); chapher, "to become red" (Psalms 35:4; Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 24:23, "the moon shall be confounded," Mic 3:7); yabhash, "to be dried up" (Jeremiah 46:24 the King James Version; Jeremiah 48:1,Jeremiah 48:20 the King James Version; Jeremiah 50:2 the King James Version; Zechariah 10:5); kalam, "to blush" (Psalms 69:6 the King James Version; Isaiah 41:11, etc.). In Genesis 11:7,Genesis 11:9, of the confusion of tongues, the word is balal, "to mix," "mingle." In Jeremiah 1:17 the King James Version it is chathath, "to bring or put down."

In New Testament, kataischuno, "to put to shame" (1 Corinthians 1:27 the King James Version; 1 Peter 2:6 the King James Version); and sugchuno, "to pour together," "bewilder' " (Acts 2:6; Acts 9:22). the Revised Version (British and American) frequently gives "ashamed" and "put to shame" instead of "confounded." W. L. Walker

Confusion

kon-fu'-zhun (bosheth, "shame, paleness," kelimmah, "blushing," tohu; akatastasia, sugchusis): In the Old Testament bosheth (1 Samuel 20:30; Psalms 109:29 the King James Version) and kelimmah (Psalms 44:15; Isaiah 30:3) are the words most frequently translated "confusion"; tohu, "wastiness," "emptiness" is so translated (Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 34:11; Isaiah 41:29), also qalon, "lightness," "contempt" (Job 10:15 = ignominy, the American Standard Revised Version) and tebhel, "profanation" (Leviticus 18:23; Leviticus 20:12); ra`ash, "shaking," "trembling," rendered "confused" in Isaiah 9:5 the King James Version; compare the Revised Version (British and American). Greek akatashatasia, "instability" is translated "confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33; James 3:16); sugchusis, "a pouring out together" (Acts 19:29). In The Wisdom of Solomon 14:26, "changing of kind" (the King James Version) is rendered "confusion of sex." W. L. Walker

Confusion Of Tongues

See BABEL, TOWER OF; TONGUES, CONFUSION OF

Congregation

kon-gre-ga'-shun (qahal, `edhah).

1. Terms Employed:

These two words rendered by "congregation" or "assembly" are used apparently without any difference of sense. They appear to include an assembly of the whole people or any section that might be present on a given occasion. Indeed, sometimes the idea appears to correspond closely to that conveyed by "horde," or even by "crowd." `Edhah is once used of bees (Judges 14:8). It has been sought to distinguish the two words by means of Leviticus 4:13, "if the whole `edhah of Israel err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the qahal." The qahal would then be the smaller body representing the whole `edhah, but the general usage is not favorable to this view (compare e.g. Exodus 12:19, "cutting off from the `edhah of Israel," with Numbers 19:20, "cutting off from the qahal"). The idea denoted by these words is said by Wellhausen to be "foreign to Hebrew antiquity," though it "runs through the Priestly Code from beginning to end" (Prolegomena 78). Yet it is Deuteronomy that presents us with laws excluding certain classes from the qahal, and the word is also found in Genesis 49:6; Numbers 22:4 (the Revised Version (British and American) "multitude"); Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 31:30; Joshua 8:35; 1 Samuel 17:47; 1 Kings 8:14; Micah 2:5, and other early passages, while `edhah occurs in 1 Kings 12:20 (see further, Eerdmans, Das Buch Exodus, 80 f). On the other hand taste and euphony appear to be responsible for the choice of one or other of the words in many cases. Thus the Chronicler uses qahal frequently, but `edhah only once (2 Chronicles 5:6 = 1 Kings 8:5).

2. Legal Provisions:

Moses provided for the summoning of the congregation by trumpets (Numbers 10:2–8). For the sin offering to be brought if the whole congregation erred, see Leviticus 4:13–21.

Deuteronomy 23:1–8 (in Hebrews 2:1–9:28) excludes bastards, Ammonites and Moabites from the assembly, even to the tenth generation, while Edomites and Egyptians were admitted in the third. Those who suffer from certain physical defects are also excluded.

3. Other Terms:

One other word must be noted, mo`edh. It occurs often in the phrase 'ohel mo`edh ("tent of meeting"; see TABERNACLE). But in Numbers 16:2 we find it used of certain princes who were "men of renown called to the assembly."

For atsereth, rendered by the Revised Version (British and American) "solemn assembly", see FEASTS. On miqra', see CONVOCATION.

Harold M. Wiener

Congregation, Mount Of

(har-mo`edh Isaiah 14:13): The prophet has depicted the excitement caused in Sheol by the descent of the once mighty king of Babylon into the world of shades, and now himself points the contrast between the monarch's former haughty boastings and his present weak and hopeless condition: "Thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north." Instead he is brought down "to the uttermost parts of the pit" (Isaiah 14:15). By the "mount of congregation" (meeting or assembly) is evidently meant the fancied Olympus of the gods on some lofty northern height. The king vaunted that he would make his abode with the gods in heaven; now he is cast down to the depths of Sheol.

James Orr

Coniah

ko-ni'-a (konyahu, "Jah is creating"): A form of the name Jehoiachin, found in Jeremiah 22:24,Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 37:1.

See JEHOIACHIN.

Cononiah

kon-o-ni'a.

See CONANIAH.

Conqueror

kon'-ker-er: Known only in the compound verb (hupernikomen, Romans 8:37): A usual meaning of the preposition in composition is "above all measure"; hence, "more than conquerors," the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version. The comparison is to the completeness of the victory. Others may place their enemies in subjection; those here mentioned master not only their foes, but themselves. Others destroy their foes and their resources; while those who are "more than conquerors" convert foes into means of still farther promoting the interests for which they struggle (Romans 3:3–5). Nor is the victory external and transient, but internal and permanent.

H. E. Jacobs

Conscience

kon'-shens (he suneidesis):

I. SEQUENT CONSCIENCE

1. Judicial

2. Punitive

3. Predictive

4. Social

II. ANTECEDENT CONSCIENCE

III. INTUITIONAL AND ASSOCIATIONAL THEORIES

IV. THE EDUCATION OF CONSCIENCE

V. HISTORY AND LITERATURE

1. Earlier Views

2. Reformation and After

I. Sequent Conscience.

The aspect of conscience earliest noticed in literature and most frequently referred to at all times is what is called the Sequent Conscience--that is to say, it follows action.

1. Judicial:

This is judicial. No sooner is a decision formed than there ensues a judgment favorable or adverse, a sentence of guilty or not guilty. Conscience has often been compared to a court of law, in which there are culprit, judge, witnesses and jury; but these are all in the subject's own breast, and are in fact himself.

2. Punitive:

It is punitive. In the individual's own breast are not only the figures of justice already mentioned, but the executioner as well; for, on the back of a sentence of condemnation or acquittal, there immediately follows the pain of a wounded or the satisfaction of an approving conscience; and of all human miseries or blisses this is the most poignant. Especially has the remorse of an evil conscience impressed the human imagination, in such instances as Cain and Judas, Saul and Herod; and the poets, those knowers of human nature, have found their most moving themes in the delineation of this aspect of human experience. The ancient poets represented the terrors of conscience under the guise of the Erinyes or Furies, who, with swift, silent, unswerving footstep, tracked the criminal and pulled him down, while Shakespeare, in such dramas as Macbeth and Richard the Third, has burned the same lessons into the imagination of all readers of his works. The satisfaction of a good conscience may stamp itself on the habitual serenity of one face, and the accusations of an evil conscience may impart a hunted and sinister expression to another (compare The Wisdom of Solomon 17:11).

3. Predictive:

It is predictive. There is no instinct in the soul of man more august than the anticipation of something after death--of a tribunal at which the whole of life will be revised and retribution awarded with perfect justice according to the deeds done in the body. It is this which imparts to death its solemnity; we instinctively know that we are going to our account. And such great natural instincts cannot be false.

4. Social:

It is social. Not only does a man's own conscience pass sentence on his conduct, but the consciences of others pass sentence on it too; and to this may be due a great intensification of the consequent sensations. Thus, a crime may lie hidden in the memory, and the pain of its guilt may be assuaged by the action of time, when suddenly and unexpectedly it is found out and exposed to the knowledge of all; and, only when the force of the public conscience breaks forth on the culprit, driving him from society, does he feel his guilt in all its magnitude. The "Day of Judgment" (which see), as it is represented in Scripture, is an application of this principle on a vast scale; for there the character and conduct of everyone will be submitted to the conscience of all. On the other hand, a friend may be to a man a second conscience, by which his own conscience is kept alive and alert; and this approval from without may, in some cases, be, even more than the judgment within, an encouragement to everything that is good or a protection against temptation.

II. Antecedent Conscience.

From the Sequent is distinguished the Antecedent Conscience, which designates a function of this faculty preceding moral decision or action. When the will stands at the parting of the ways, seeing clearly before it the right course and the wrong, conscience commands to strike into the one and forbids to choose the other. This is its imperative; and--to employ the language of Kant--it is a categorical imperative. What conscience commands may be apparently against our interests, and it may be completely contrary to our inclinations; it may be opposed to the advice of friends or to the solicitations of companions; it may contradict the decrees of principalities and powers or the voices of the multitude; yet conscience in no way withdraws or modifies its claim. We may fail to obey, giving way to passion or being overborne by the allurements of temptation; but we know that we ought to obey; it is our duty; and this is a sublime and sacred word. The great crises of life arise when conscience is issuing one command and self-interest or passion or authority another, and the question has to be decided which of the two is to be obeyed. The interpreters of human life have known how to make use of such moments, and many of the most memorable scenes in literature are of this nature; but the actual history of mankind has also been dignified with numerous instances in which confessors and martyrs, standing on the same ground, have faced death rather than contravene the dictates of the authority within; and there never passes an hour in which the eye of the All-seeing does not behold someone on earth putting aside the bribes or self- interest or the menaces of authority and paying tribute to conscience by doing the right and taking the consequences.

III. Intuitional and Associational Theories.

Up to this point there is little difficulty or difference of opinion; but now we come to a point at which very differing views emerge. It was remarked above, that when anyone stands at the parting of the ways, seeing clearly the right course and the wrong, conscience imperatively commands him which to choose and which to avoid; but how does anyone know which of the two alternatives is the right and which the wrong? Does conscience still suffice here, or is he dependent on another faculty? Here the Intuitional and the Associational, or--speaking broadly--the Scotch and the English, the German and the French schools of ethics diverge, those on the one side holding that conscience has still essential guidance to give, while those on the other maintain that the guidance must now be undertaken by other faculties. The Sensational or Experimental school holds that we are dependent on the authority of society or on our own estimate of the consequences of actions, while the opposite school teaches that in the conscience there is a clear revelation of certain moral laws, approving certain principles of action and disapproving others. The strong point of the former view is the diversity which has existed among human beings in different ages and in different latitudes as to what is right and what is wrong. What was virtuous in Athens might be sinful in Jerusalem; what is admired as heroism in Japan may be despised as fool-hardiness in Britain. To this it may be replied, first, that the diversity has been greatly exaggerated; the unanimity of the human conscience under all skies being greater than is allowed by philosophers of this school. "Let any plain, honest man," says Butler, "before he engages in any course of action, ask himself, Is this I am going about right, or is it wrong? Is it good, or is it evil? and I do not in the least doubt but that this question will be answered agreeably to truth and virtue by almost any fair man in almost any circumstances." Then, there are many moral judgments supposed to be immediate verdicts of conscience which are really logical inferences from the utterances of this faculty and are liable to all the fallacies by which reasoning in any department of human affairs is beset. It is only for the major premise, not for the conclusion, that conscience is responsible. The strong point of the Intuitional school, on the other hand, is the power and right of the individual to break away from the habits of society, and, in defiance of the commands of authority or the voices of the multitude, to follow a course of his own. When he does so, is it a logical conclusion as to the consequences of action he is obeying, or a higher intuition? When, for example, Christianity announced the sinfulness of fornication in opposition to the laxity of Greece and Rome, was it an argument about consequences with which she operated successfully, or an instinct of purity which she divined at the back of the actions and opinions of heathendom? The lettering of the moral law may have to be picked out and cleansed from the accumulations of time, but the inscription is there all the same.

IV. The Education of Conscience.

It may be, however, that a more exact analysis of the antecedent conscience is requisite. Between the categorical imperative, which commands to choose the right path and avoid the wrong, and the indicative, which declares that this is the right way and that the wrong, there ought perhaps to be assumed a certainty that one of the alternative ways is right and must be pursued at all hazards, while the other is wrong and must be abandoned at whatever cost. This perception, that moral distinctions exist, separate from each other as heaven and hell, is the peculiarity of conscience; but it does not exclude the necessity for taking time to ascertain, in every instance, which of the alternatives has the one character and which the other, or for employing a great variety of knowledge to make this sure. Those who would limit conscience to the faculty which utters the major premises of moral reasoning are wont to hold that it can never err and does not admit of being educated; but such a use of the term is too remote from common usage, and there must be room left for the conscience to enlighten itself by making acquaintance with such objective standards as the character of God, the example of Christ, and the teaching of Scripture, as well as with the maxims of the wise and the experience of the good.

Another question of great interest about the conscience is, whether it involves an intuition of God. When it is suffering the pain of remorse, who is it that inflicts the punishment? Is it only the conscience itself? Or is man, in such experiences aware of the existence of a Being outside of and above himself? When the will is about to act, it receives the command to choose the right and refuse the wrong; but who issues this command? Is it only itself, or does the imperative come with a sanction and solemnity betokening a higher origin? Conscience is an intuition of moral law--the reading, so to speak, of a luminous writing, which hangs out there, on the bosom of Nature--but who penned that writing? It used to be thought that the word Conscience implied, in its very structure, a reference to God, meaning literally, "knowledge along with another," the other being God. Though this derivation be uncertain, many think that it exactly expresses the truth. There are few people with an ethical experience of any depth who have not sometimes been overwhelmingly conscious of the approval or disapproval of an unseen Being; and, if there be any trustworthy argument for the existence of a Deity, prior to supernatural revelation, this is where it is to be found.

V. History and Literature.

Only a few indications of history can be given here.

1. Earlier Views:

The conscience, at least the sequent conscience, was identified in the ancient world, and the rise of a doctrine on the subject belongs to the period when the human mind, being shut out from public activity through political changes, was thrown back upon itself and began to watch closely its own symptoms. The word has a specially prominent place in the philosophical writings of Cicero. Strange to say, it does not occur in the Old Testament; but, though not the name, the thing appears there frequently enough. On the very first page of revelation, the voice of God is heard calling among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8); and, in the very next incident, the blood of Abel cries out to heaven from the ground (Genesis 4:10). In the New Testament the word occurs with tolerable frequency, especially in the speeches (Acts 24:16, etc.) and writings of Paul (Romans 2:15; Romans 9:1; Romans 13:5; 1 Corinthians 6:7–12, etc.); and this might have been expected to secure for it a prominent place in the doctrine of the church. But this did not immediately take effect, although Chrysostom already speaks of Conscience and Nature as two books in which the human mind can read of God, previous to supernatural revelation. In the Middle Ages the conscience received from two sources so much stimulation that both thing and name were certain to come into greater prominence in the speculations of the schools. The one of these influences was the rise of Monasticism, which, driving human beings into solitude, made the movements of their own minds the objects of everlasting study to themselves; and the other was the practice of auricular confession, which became, especially to many of the inmates of the houses of religion, the most interesting business of life; because, in order to meet the confessor, they scanned every thought and weighed every scruple, becoming adepts at introspection and self-discipline. Thus it came to pass that ethics took the form of Cases of Conscience, the priest having to train himself, or to be trained by professors and through books, to be able to answer every query submitted to him in the confessional. The ripest fruit of this method appears in the Summa of Aquinas, who discusses elaborately the doctrine of conscience, dividing it into two parts--synderesis (from sunteresis) and conscientia--the one of which supplies the major premises and cannot err, while the other draws the inferences therefrom and is liable to make mistakes. The Mystics identified the synderesis as the point in the spirit of man at which it can be brought into contact and connection with the Spirit of God.

2. Reformation and After:

At the Reformation the conscience was much in the mouths of men, both because the terrors of conscience formed a preparation for comprehending justification by faith and because, in appearing before principalities and powers in vindication of their action, the Reformers took their stand on conscience, as Luther did so memorably at the Diet of Worms; and the assertion of the rights of conscience has ever since been a conspicuous testimony of Protestantism; whereas Romanists, especially as represented by the Jesuits, have treated the conscience as a feeble and ignorant thing, requiring to be led by authority--that is, by themselves. The forms of medievalism long clung even to Protestant literature on this subject. It may not be surprising to find a High Churchman like Jeremy Taylor, in his Ductor Dubitantium, discussing ethics as a system of cases of conscience, but it is curious to find a Puritan like Baxter (in his Christian Directory), and a Scottish Presbyterian like David Dickson (in his Therapeutica Sacra) doing the same. Deism in England and the Enlightenment in Germany magnified the conscience, to which they ascribed such a power of revealing God as made any further revelation unnecessary; but the practical effect was a secularization and vulgarization of the general mind; and it was against these rather than the system which had produced them that Butler in England and Kant in Germany had to raise the standard of a spiritual view of life. The former said of the conscience that, if it had power as it had right, it would absolutely govern the world; and Kant's sublime saying is well known, at the close of his great work on Ethics: "Two things fill the soul with ever new and growing wonder and reverence, the oftener and the longer reflection continues to occupy itself with them--the starry heavens above and the moral law within." The rise of an Associational and Developmental Philosophy in England, represented by such powerful thinkers as the Mills, father and son, Professor Bain and Herbert Spencer, tended to dissipate the halo surrounding the conscience, by representing it as merely an emotional equivalent for the authority of law and the claims of custom, so stamped on the mind by the experience of generations that, its earthly source forgotten, it came to be attributed to supernatural powers. But this school was antagonized with success by such thinkers as Martineau and T. H. Green. R. Rothe regarded conscience as a term too popular and of too variable signification to be of much use in philosophical speculation; but most of the great succession of writers on Christian ethics who followed him have treated it seriously; Dorner especially recognizing its importance, and Newman Smyth bestowing on it a thoroughly modern treatment. Among German works on the subject that of Gass, which contains an appendix on the history of the term synderesis, is deserving of special attention; that by Kahler is unfinished, as is also the work in English by Robertson; The Christian Conscience by Davison is slight and popular. Weighty discussions will be found in two books on Moral Philosophy--the Handbook of Calderwood, and the Ethics of Mezes. But there is abundance of room for a great monograph on the subject, which would treat conscience in a comprehensive manner as the subjective standard of conduct, formed by progressive familiarity with the objective standards as well as by practice in accordance with its own authority and with the will of God.

James Stalker

Consecrate; Consecration

kon'-se-krat, kon-se-kra'-shun.

1. In the Old Testament:

In the Old Testament for several Hebrew words of different meanings:

(1) charam: "I will consecrate (the Revised Version (British and American) "devote") their gain unto the Lord," i.e. the spoil of the nations shall be dedicated to the service of Yahweh (Micah 4:13).

See BAN; CURSE.

(2) nazar, nezer (Numbers 6:7,Numbers 6:9,Numbers 6:12; the Revised Version (British and American) "separate").

See NAZIRITE.

(3) qadhesh: "to be set apart," or "to be holy": of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:3; Exodus 30:30; the Revised Version (British and American) "sanctify"). The silver and gold and brass and iron of the banned city of Jericho are "consecrated" things (the Revised Version (British and American) "holy") unto the Lord (Joshua 6:19); of the priests (2 Chronicles 26:18); of sacrifices (2 Chronicles 29:33; 2 Chronicles 31:6; Ezra 3:5).

See HOLINESS.

(4) mille' yadh, literally, "to fill the hand"; and substantive plural millu'im, a peculiar idiom used frequently and generally for the installation of a priest into his office; and substantive for the installation offerings which were probably put into the priest's hands to symbolize his admission into office; hence, the phrase, "and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons" (Exodus 29:9; Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:33,Exodus 29:15; Exodus 32:29; Leviticus 8:33; Leviticus 16:32; Leviticus 21:10; Numbers 3:3; Judges 17:5,Revelation 16:12; 2 Chronicles 29:31); of Jeroboam's non-Levitical priesthood (1 Kings 13:33; 2 Chronicles 13:9); of the altar (Ezekiel 43:26) and of those who contributed to build the temple (1 Chronicles 29:5). Subst. of an act of installation (Leviticus 7:37; Leviticus 8:33), and of installation offerings (Exodus 29:22,Exodus 29:26,Exodus 29:27,Exodus 29:31; Leviticus 8:22,Leviticus 8:28,Leviticus 8:29,Leviticus 8:31).

2. In the New Testament:

In the New Testament teleioo, "to make perfect" (Hebrews 7:28; the Revised Version (British and American) "perfected"); egkainizo, "to make new" (Hebrews 10:20; the Revised Version (British and American) "dedicated").

T. Rees

Consent

kon-sent': The verb implies compliance with the guidance and direction of another, and, therefore, a secondary and subordinate relation of approval, sympathy and concurrence on the part of the one who consents. He does not take the initiative, but yields to what the principal proposes. The phrase ek sumphonou, "by consent," means "by mutual agreement" (1 Corinthians 7:5), both parties concerned being placed on an equality. "With one consent" (Zechariah 3:9, Hebrew "with one shoulder"; Luke 14:18) suggests, although it does not necessarily imply, the result of deliberation and consultation; it may have no other force than that of unanimity.

H. E. Jacobs

Consider

kon-sid'-er: In the New Testament the force of the word is brought out most vividly in Matthew 6:26 (katamanthano), where it means to "examine closely," as though the observer had to bend down for this purpose, and in Luke 12:27; Hebrews 10:24 (katanoeo, to "observe well"), while in Hebrews 13:7 the anatheoreo, "look up toward" or "look again at" is consistent with the reverential regard commended in the context. Used in the Old Testament for a variety of Hebrew terms, signifying inspecting (Proverbs 31:16), examining (Leviticus 13:13), giving serious thoughts to (Psalms 77:5 ; Isaiah 1:3), it often means little more than "see" or "behold" (Psalms 8:3; Psalms 9:13).

H. E. Jacobs

Consist

kon-sist' (sunistemi): To stand together, exist, subsist (Colossians 1:17, "in him all things consist," i.e. the continuance of the universe is dependent upon His support and administration). In Luke 12:15, it translates the verb eimi, "to be," to express the thought that wealth is only an accident, not an essential to the highest ideal of life.

Consolation

kon-so-la'-shun (paraklesis): "Consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25), refers to the fulfillment of the promises in Isaiah 40:1 ff. See COMFORT. "Son of consolation" (Acts 4:36 the King James Version and the American Revised Version, margin).

See BARNABAS.

Consort

kon-sort' (proskleroo, "to allot," Acts 17:4). The verb may be either in the middle or passive voice. the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version, and Luther's German translation regard it as middle, and render it: "cast their lots with," "associated," "united with." In advocacy of the passive, see Alford's Greek Testament, proposing: "were added," as if by lot, the allotment eing determined by God who gave them the Holy Spirit directing their choice. The English has the Latin for "lot" as its base.

Conspiracy

kon-spir'-a-si.

See CONFEDERACY.

Constant; Constantly

kon'-stant, kon'-stant-li: In 1 Chronicles 28:1–21 (chazaq) meaning "firm," "strong." In Proverbs 21:28 the adverb ("constantly") of the King James Version is replaced in the American Standard Revised Version by "shall speak so as to endure," the English Revised Version "unchallenged." the Revised Version (British and American) gives "confidently" for the King James Version "constantly" in Acts 12:15; Titus 3:8.

Constellations

kon-ste-la'-shuns (kecilim, literally, "Orions").

See ASTRONOMY, sec. II, 11.

Constrain

kon-stran': Generally in the sense of pressing urgently (2 Kings 4:8; Luke 24:29; Acts 16:15), to impel or carry away (2 Corinthians 5:14); sometimes to be compelled of necessity (Job 32:18; Acts 28:19; compare Galatians 6:12).

See COMPEL.

Consult

kon-sult' (sha'al, malakh, ya`ats (Aramaic) ye`aT; sumbouleuomai):

(1) "To ask," "inquire," "seek advice." Ezekiel speaks of the king of Babylonian consulting the teraphim (Ezekiel 21:21) and the Israelites were admonished to have noting to do with "a consulter with a familiar spirit" (Deuteronomy 18:11).

See ASTROLOGY; COMMUNION WITH DEMONS; DIVINATION.

(2) "To take counsel," "devise," "plan." The various officials of Babylon "consulted together to establish a royal statute" (Daniel 6:7; compare Matthew 26:4).

(3) "To deliberate with one's self," "make up one's mind." Nehemiah consulted with himself as to what might be done for Jerusalem (Nehemiah 5:7). Jesus spoke of a king "consulting" (the King James Version) whether he be able to wage a war (Luke 14:31; the Revised Version (British and American) "take counsel").

A. W. Fortune

Consume

kon-sum' (akhal, kalah, tamam; analisko): In Old Testament 'akhal ("to eat," "devour") occurs very frequently, and is translated "consumed" (Genesis 31:40; Exodus 15:7; Psalms 78:63, etc.); kalah ("to finish") is also frequently translated "consume," "consumed" (Genesis 41:30; Exodus 32:10; Psalms 59:13, etc.); tamam, "to be perfect," "finished" (Numbers 17:13; Deuteronomy 2:15; Psalms 73:19, etc.). There are many other words translated "consume" and "consumed," e.g. cuph, "to end" (Jeremiah 8:13; Zechariah 1:2,Zechariah 1:3); balah, "to fade," "wear away" (Job 13:28; Psalms 49:14); gazal, implying violence (Job 24:19); caphah, "to end" (Genesis 19:15,Genesis 19:17; Isaiah 7:20, etc.); ashesh, "to be old" (Psalms 6:7; Psalms 31:9,Psalms 31:10 the King James Version); maqaq, "to become completed" (Ezekiel 4:17; Zechariah 14:12 bis); `asah kalah is rendered "utterly consume" (Nehemiah 9:31); analisko, "to use up," occurs in Luke 9:54; Galatians 5:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (the King James Version); dapanao, "to spend," is translated "consume" in James 4:3 (the Revised Version (British and American) "spend"); katanalisko, "to consume utterly," occurs only in Hebrews 12:29; "for our God is a consuming fire."

In the Revised Version (British and American) "devour," "devoured" are several times substituted for "consume," "consumed," e.g. Job 20:26; Jeremiah 49:27; Numbers 16:35; "boil well" (Ezekiel 24:10); for "be consumed with dying" (Numbers 17:13), "perish all of us"; "consume" is substituted for "corrupt" in Matthew 6:19; "my spirit is consumed," for "my breath is corrupt" (Job 17:1); instead of "the flame consumeth the chaff" (Isaiah 5:24) we have "as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame"; and for "whom the Lord shall consume" (2 Thessalonians 2:8), the Revised Version (British and American) reads (after a different text) "whom the Lord Jesus shall slay," "consume" in the American Revised Version, margin.

W. L. Walker

Consummation

kon-su-ma'-shun (killayon from kalah): The word, meaning destruction, completion, or failing (Isaiah 10:23; Isaiah 28:22; Daniel 9:27) is translated interchangeably in the King James Version for another Hebrew word referring to a physical disease, and best translated "consumption"; compare Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:22. Not used in the Revised Version (British and American). The Hebrew variously but more accurately translated "full end"; compare Daniel 9:27; Isaiah 10:23; and "destruction"; compare Isaiah 10:22; Isaiah 28:22. There seems therefore to be an inconsistency on the part of both the Authorized and Revised translations.

Walter G. Clippinger

Consumption

kon-sump'-shun (shachepheth, "wasting away"): One of the punishments which was to follow neglect or breach of the law. It may mean pulmonary consumption, which occurs frequently in Palestine; but from its association with fever in the texts, Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:22, it is more likely to be the much more common condition of wasting and emaciation from prolonged or often recurring attacks of malarial fever.

Contain

kon-tan'.

See CONTINENCY.

Contend; Contention

kon-tend', kon-ten'-shun: The meeting of effort by effort, striving against opposition; sometimes physically, as in battle (Deuteronomy 2:9), or with horses (Jeremiah 12:5), sometimes orally (Nehemiah 13:11), sometimes spiritually (Isaiah 57:16). In the New Testament diakrinein, for the hostile separation of one from another, dispute (Jude 1:9), or epagonizomai (Jude 1:3), descriptive of the strain to which a contestant is put. The noun is almost universally used with an unfavorable meaning, and as worthy of condemnation, for an altercation arising from a quarrelsome disposition. "By pride cometh only contention" (Proverbs 13:10). The contentions at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:11) called forth the rebukes of Paul. Where used in the King James Version in a good sense (1 Thessalonians 2:2) the Revised Version (British and American) has "conflict." In Acts 15:39, the noun has a peculiar force, where English Versions of the Bible translates paroxusmos (whence English "paroxysm") by "sharp contention." The Greek word refers rather to the inner excitement and irritation than to its outward expression.

H. E. Jacobs

Content; Contentment

kon-tent', kon-tent'-ment (ya`al; arkeo): To be free from care because of satisfaction with what is already one's own. The Hebrew means simply "to be pleased." The Greek brings out the full force of the word in 1 Timothy 6:8; Hebrews 13:5. Contentment (1 Timothy 6:6) is more inward than satisfaction; the former is a habit or permanent state of mind, the latter has to do with some particular occurrence or object.

Continency

kon'-ti-nen-si (egkrateuomai "to have self-control" or "continency" the Revised Version (British and American), "to contain" the King James Version): Paul, although he would that all men were like himself unmarried, yet advises that they should marry if they cannot control their sexual passions, and hold them in complete subjection to Christian motives (1 Corinthians 7:9). The same Greek verb is used in 1 Corinthians 9:25, and translated "is temperate" (the King James Version and the English Revised Version) of the athlete who during the period of training abstains from all indulgence in food, 'drink, and sexual passion. For the general principle as expressed in substantive egkrateia (Acts 24:25; Galatians 5:23; 2 Peter 1:6) and adjective egkrates (Titus 1:8) see TEMPERANCE, TEMPERATE.

T. Rees

Continual; Continually

kon-tin'-u-al, kon-tin'-u-a-li: Without cessation, although there may be intervals between its presence; that which regularly recurs throughout a period, as has Luke 24:53: "(They) were continually in the temple"; "lest .... by her continual coming" (Luke 18:5). In Old Testament for Hebrew tadhir, "pursue," as one drop of rain follows another in swift succession, but more frequently by tamidh for offerings repeated at intervals, as Exodus 29:42; occasionally the Hebrew the phrase literally meaning "all the day" (kol ha-yom), as Genesis 6:5. In the New Testament most frequently for dia pantos, "through all" ("always" Matthew 18:10; Hebrews 13:15), "sometimes," adialeiptos, "incessantly" (Romans 9:2 the King James Version) and dienekes, "continuously" (Hebrews 7:3).

H. E. Jacobs

Continuance

kon-tin'-u-ans: Not in the Revised Version (British and American); in Psalms 139:16 the King James Version, as an interpretation of Hebrew yamim, "days," treating of God's prevision, where the Revised Version (British and American) has: "They were all written, even the days that were ordained for me," i.e. all my days were in view, before one of them actually existed. In Isaiah 64:5 the King James Version, for `olam, "of long time," the Revised Version (British and American); in Romans 2:7, for hupomone, "patience," the Revised Version (British and American), or still better, "steadlfastness," the Revised Version, margin.

Contradiction

kon-tra-dik'-shun: the King James Version for antilogia (Hebrews 7:7; Hebrews 12:3). In the former passage, the Revised Version (British and American) has "without any dispute," i.e. what has been said requires no argument; in the latter "gainsaying" which is scarcely an improvement, the reference being to the oral attacks upon the words and character of Jesus.

Contrary

kon'-tra-ri (qeri; enantios): In the Old Testament it has the sense of antagonistic, as one person opposed or hostile to the other, especially in Leviticus 26:21,Leviticus 26:23,Leviticus 26:14,Leviticus 26:27,Leviticus 26:28,Leviticus 26:40,Leviticus 26:41, where Yahweh declares His attitude toward the people in such phrases as: "If ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you in wrath."

In the New Testament it has a more varied significance and is applied to both material and human relations as simply opposite, set over against an object or thing. Used of the wind as in Matthew 14:24; Mark 6:48; Acts 27:4, where it is spoken of as contrary. Refers also to conflicting doctrines, customs or beliefs, as 1 Timothy 1:10, "and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine." Several other Greek words are translated with almost an identical meaning. Occasionally a prefix gives a slightly different shade of meaning.

Walter G. Clippinger