Sincere; Sincerity – Sir

Sincere; Sincerity

sin-ser', sin-ser'-i-ti (tamim; aphtharsia, eilikrineia): "Sincerity" occurs once in the Old Testament as the translation of tamim, "complete," "entire," "sincere," etc. (Joshua 24:14); the same word is translated "sincerity" (Judges 9:16,Revelation 9:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "uprightly"). Four different words are rendered "sincere," "sincerely" "sincerity," in the New Testament: adolos, "without guile," "unadulterated," "desire the sincere milk of the word" (1 Peter 2:2 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "the spiritual," the American Revised Version margin "Greek, `belonging to the reason'; compare Romans 12:1," the English Revised Version margin reasonable"), "milk which is without guile," with no other purpose but to nourish and benefit the soul (Alford); hagnos, "without blame," "pure," "preach Christ .... not sincerely" (Philippians 1:17); aphtharsia, "without corruption" (Ephesians 6:24, the King James Version "that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," the American Standard Revised Version "with a love incorruptible," margin " `in incorruption.' See Romans 2:7," the English Revised Version "uncorruptness"; Titus 2:7, the King James Version "shewing uncorruptness .... sincerity," the Revised Version (British and American) "uncorruptness"); gnesios, "not spurious" (2 Corinthians 8:8); eilikrines, literally,, judged of in the sunlight, hence, "clear," "manifest" (Philippians 1:10); eilikrineia, with same meaning, is translated "sincerity" (1 Corinthians 5:8; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 2:17).

The Revised Version (British and American) has "sincere" for "pure" (2 Peter 3:1), "sincerely" for "clearly" (Job 33:3).

In The Wisdom of Solomon 7:25 we have eilikrines in the description of Wisdom as a "pure influence," the Revised Version (British and American) "clear effluence."

W. L. Walker

Sinew

sin'-u (gidh (Job 10:11, etc.)): The tendons and sinews of the body are uniformly (7 times) thus called. "Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip" (Genesis 32:32). In the poetical description of Behemoth (hippopotamus) it is said: "He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his thighs are knit together" (Job 40:17). The prophet Ezekiel saw in his vision (37:6,8) that the dry bones were gathered together, that they were covered with sinews, flesh and skin, and that they were revived by the spirit of the Lord. In figurative language the neck of the obstinate is compared to an "iron sinew" (Isaiah 48:4). the King James Version "my sinews take no rest" (we`oreqay lo' yishkabhun, Job 30:17) has been corrected by the Revised Version (British and American) into "the pains that gnaw me take no rest," but the earlier version has been retained in the margin.

H. L. E. Luering

Singers; Singing

sing'-erz, sing'-ing: Singing seems to have become a regular profession at quite early date among the Hebrews. David had his troupe of "singing men and singing women" at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 19:35), and no doubt Solomon added to their numbers. Isaiah 23:16 suggests that it was not uncommon for foreign female minstrels of questionable character to be heard making "sweet melody," singing songs along the streets and highways of Judea. Nor was the worship of the temple left to the usually incompetent and inconstant leadership of amateur choristers. The elaborate regulations drawn up for the constitution of the temple orchestra and chorus are referred to under MUSIC (which see). It has been inferred from Ezra 2:65 that women were included among the temple singers, but this is erroneous, as the musicians there mentioned were of the class employed at banquets, festivals, etc. The temple choir consisted exclusively of Levites, one essential qualification of an active member of that order being a good voice.

Of the vocal method of the Hebrews we know nothing. Wellhausen imagines that he can detect one of the singers, in the portrayal of an Assyrian band, compressing his throat in order to produce a vibrato; and it is quite possible that in other respects as well as this, ancient and modern oriental vocalization resembled each other. But that is about all that can be said.

On the other hand, we cannot repeat too often that we are quite unable to identify any intervals, scales, or tunes as having been used in ancient Israel. Even those who hold that the early church took the Gregorian "tones" from the synagogue, confess that it was "certainly not without considerable modifications." And, of course, there was not the slightest affinity between the Hebrew and the Anglican chant.

See MUSIC; PRAISE; SONG; TEMPLE.

James Millar

Single, Eye

sin'-g'-l : Matthew 6:22 f parallel Luke 11:34: "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." "Single" and "evil" here represent haplouis, and poneros. Poneros elsewhere in the New Testament means "wicked"; haplous occurs only here in the New Testament, but is very common in ordinary Greek and always has the meaning "simple." But in view of the context, most commentators take haplous here as meaning "normal," "healthy," and poneros as "diseased," so rendering "Just as physical enlightenment depends on the condition of the eye, so does spiritual enlightenment depend on the condition of the heart." This is natural enough, but it is not satisfactory, as it gives to haplous a unique sense and to poneros a sense unique in the 73 New Testament examples of the word. Moreover, the same expression, "evil eye," is found also in Matthew 20:15; Mark 7:22, where it means "jealousy" or "covetousness." With poneros = "covetous" haplous would = "generous"; and this rendition gives excellent sense in Matthew, where the further context deals with love of money. Yet in Luke it is meaningless, where the context is of a different sort, a fact perhaps indicating that Luke has placed the saying in a bad context. Or the Greek translation of Christ's words used by Matthew and Luke may have taken the moral terms haplous and poneros to translate physical terms ("healthy" and "diseased"?) employed in the original Aramaic. The Sinaitic Syriac version of Luke 11:36 may perhaps contain a trace of an older rendering. See Julicher, Die Gleichnisreden Jesu, II, 98-108.

Burton Scott Easton

Singular

sin'-gu-lar: "Pertaining to the single person," "individual," and so sometimes "unusual," "remarkable." So The Wisdom of Solomon 14:18, the King James Version "the singular diligence of the artificer" (philotimia, "love of honor," the Revised Version (British and American) "ambition"). In Leviticus 27:2 by "when a man shall make a singular vow" the King James Version seems to have understood a "personal" or "private" vow. the Revised Version (British and American) has "accomplish a vow," with margin "make a special vow." Compare the same phrase (yaphli' (yephalle') nedher) used of the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6:2.

Sinim, Land Of

si'-nim, sin'-im ('erets cinim; ge Person): The name occurs in Isaiah's prophecy of the return of the people from distant lands: "Lo, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim" (Isaiah 49:12). The land is clearly far off, and it must be sought either in the South or in the East. Septuagint points to an eastern country. Many scholars have favored identification with China, the classical Sinae. It seems improbable that Jews had already found their way to China; but from very early times trade relations were established with the Far East by way of Arabia and the Persian Gulf; and the name may have been used by the prophet simply as suggesting extreme remoteness. Against, this view are Dillmann (Commentary on Isaiah), Duhm, Cheyne and others. Some have suggested places in the South: e.g. Sin (Pelusium, Ezekiel 30:15) and Syene (Cheyne, Introduction to Isa, 275). But these seem to be too near. In harmony with his reconstruction of Biblical history, Cheyne finally concludes that the reference here is to the return from a captivity in North Arabia (EB, under the word). While no certain decision is possible, probability points to the East, and China cannot be quite ruled out. See article "China," Encyclopedia Brittanica (11th edition), 188b.

W. Ewing

Sinites

si'-nits (cini): A Canaanite people mentioned in Genesis 10:17; 1 Chronicles 1:15. The identification is uncertain. Jerome mentions a ruined city, Sin, near Arka, at the foot of Lebanon.

Sinlessness

sin'-les-nes: The 15th Anglican article ("Of Christ Alone without Sin") may be quoted as a true summary of Scripture teaching on sinlessness: "Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, from which He was clearly (prorsus) void, both in His flesh and in His spirit ..... Sin, as Saint John saith, was not in Him. But all we the rest, though baptized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves."

1. Christ Sinless:

Here the sinlessness of the Incarnate Son is affirmed. It needs no elaborate argument to show that this is the affirmation of Scripture. It is not only, as we are reminded above, definitely taught there. Yet more is it implied in the mysterious (and morally miraculous) phenomenon of the Lord's evidently total immunity from the sense of sin, His freedom from inward discord or imperfection, from the slightest discontent with self. It is not too much to say that this representation is self-evidential of its truth to fact. Had it been the invention of worshipping disciples, we may say with confidence that they (supposed thus capable of "flee handling") would have been certain to betray some moral aberrations in their portraiture of their Master. They must have failed to put before us the profound ethical paradox of a person who, on the one hand, enjoins penitence and (with a tenderness infinitely deep) loves the penitent, and, on the other hand, is never for a moment penitent Himself, and who all the while has proved, from the first, a supreme moral and spiritual magnet, "drawing all men to him." Meanwhile the Scripture represents the sinlessness of the Incarnate Lord as no mere automatic or effortless condition. He is sensitive to temptation, to a degree which makes it agony. His sinlessness, as to actual experience (we are not here considering the matter sub specie aeternitatis), lies in the perfect fidelity to the Father of a will, exercised under human conditions, filled absolutely with the Holy Spirit, willingly received.

2. Saints Not Sinless:

On the other hand, "we the rest," contemplated as true believers, are warned by the general teaching of Scripture never to affirm sinlessness as our condition. There are passages (e.g. 1 John 3:9; John 5:1 f) which affirm of the regenerate man that he "sinneth not." But it seems obvious to remark that such words, taken without context and balance, would prove too much; they would make the smallest sense of sin a tremendous evidence against the person's regeneration at all. It would seem that such words practically mean that sin and the regenerate character are diametrical opposites, so that sinning is out of character, not in the man as such, but in the Christian as such. And the practical result is an unconquerable aversion and opposition in the regenerate will toward all known sin, and a readiness as sensitive as possible for confession of failure. Meanwhile such passages as 1 John are, to the unbiased reader, an urgent warning of the peril of affirming our perfect purity of will and character. But then, on the other hand, Scripture abounds in both precepts and promises bearing on the fact that in Christ and by the power of His Spirit, received by faith into a watchful soul, our weakness can be so lifted and transformed that a moral purification and emancipation is possible for the weakest Christian which, compared with the best efforts of unregenerate nature, is a "more than conquest" over evil (see e.g. 2 Corinthians 12:9,2 Corinthians 12:10; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 6:16; Jude 1:24).

See further FLESH; SPIRIT.

Handley Dunelm

Sinner

sin'-er (chaTTa; hamartolos, "devoted to sin," "erring one"): In the New Testament, in addition to its ordinary significance of one that sins (Luke 5:8; Luke 13:2; Romans 5:8,Romans 5:19; 1 Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 7:26), the term is applied to those who lived in disregard of ceremonial prescription (Matthew 9:10,Matthew 9:11; Mark 2:15 Luke 5:30; Galatians 2:15); to those stained with certain definite vices or crimes, as the publicans (Luke 15:2; Luke 18:13; Luke 19:7); to the heathen (Matthew 26:45; Galatians 2:15; compare Tobit 13:6; 1 Macc 1:34; 2 Macc 2:48,62); to the preeminently sinful (Mark 8:38; John 9:24,John 9:31; Galatians 2:17; 1 Timothy 1:9; Jude 1:15). It was the Jewish term for a woman of ill-fame (Luke 7:37; compare Matthew 21:32, where it is stated that such had come even to John's baptism also). For the general Biblical conception of the term, see SIN.

M. O. Evans

Sion

si'-un (si'on; Seon):

(1) A name given to Mt. Hermon in Deuteronomy 4:48. The name may mean "protuberance" or "peak," and may have denoted the lofty snow-covered horn of the mountain as seen from the South. It may, however, be a scribal error for Sirion, the name by which the mountain was known to the Zidonians. Syriac takes it in this sense, which, however, may be a correction of the Hebrew. It is possible that this name, like Senir, may have applied to some distinct part of the Hermon Range.

(2) Mt. Sion.

See ZION.

Siphmoth

sif'-moth, sif'-moth (siphmoth (Ginsburg), shiphamoth (Baer); Saphei): One of the cities to which David sent presents from Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:28). It occurs between Aroer and Eshtemoa, so it must have been somewhere in Southern Judah. The site has not been recovered. Zabdi the Shiphmite (1 Chronicles 27:27) may quite probably have been a native of this place.

Sippai

sip'-i, si-pa'-i.

See SAPH.

Sir

sur: In the Old Testament this word in Genesis 43:20 the King James Version ('adhon) is changed in the Revised Version (British and American) into "my lord." In the New Testament the word sometimes represents aner, as in Acts 7:26; Acts 14:15; Acts 19:25, etc.; more frequently kurios, "lord," as in Matthew 13:27; Matthew 21:30; Matthew 27:36; John 4:11,John 4:15,John 4:19,John 4:49 (the Revised Version margin "lord"); John 20:15. In Revelation 7:14, the Revised Version (British and American) renders "my lord."