Virgin Birth (continued) – Voyage And Shipwreck Of Paul

Virgin Birth (continued)

(1) First, it involves in general the question, never more vital than at the present time, of the trustworthiness of the gospel tradition. This particular fact, i.e. the virgin-birth, has been a favorite, because apparently a vulnerable, point of attack. But the presuppositions of the attack and the method according to which it has been conducted involve a general and radical undermining of confidence in the testimony of the gospel witnesses. This process has finally met its nemesis in the Christus-myth propaganda. The virgin-birth statement can be successfully assailed on no grounds which do not involve the whole witnessing body of Christians in charges of blind credulity or willful falsification, very unjust indeed as respects their character and standing in general, but very difficult to repel in view of the results of denial at this point.

(2) The virgin-birth is important for the simple historical reason that it involves or is involved in a clear and consistent account of the Lord's birth and early years. Apart from the infancy narratives we are utterly without direct information as to His birth, ancestry or early years. Apart from these narratives we have no information as to the marriage of Joseph and Mary; we are shut up to vague inferences as to this entire period. No biographer ever leaves these points obscure if he can avoid it. It is very earnestly suggested that those who cast discredit upon the infancy story do not clearly recognize the seriousness of the situation brought about in the absence of any narrative which can be trusted as to this vital point. Calumny there is and has been from an early day. If there is nowhere an authoritative answer to the calumny, in what sort of a position is the Christian believer placed? He can assert nothing, because apart from what he has too lightly thrown away he knows nothing.

(3) Lastly, the more closely the statement as to the Lord's birth is studied, the more clearly it will be seen that it involves in a most vital and central way the entire doctrine of the incarnation. This doctrine is an interpretation of facts. Those facts stand together. In the midst of those facts, harmonizing with them, shedding light upon them and receiving light from them, resting upon the same consentient testimony is the statement, which is thus worded in the oldest symbol of our historical faith: "Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary" (see APOSTLES' CREED). There is no adequate reason why the intelligent believer should feel uncertain as to this statement of our holy religion.

LITERATURE.

There is a vast and growing literature which more or less directly deals with the subject of our Lord's birth. The literature may be classified as follows:

(1) Lives of Christ;

(2) critical commentaries on Matthew and Luke;

(3) critical and historical investigations of Christian origins;

(4) monographs on the Apostles' Creed;

(5) monographs and articles on the specific subject.

For a list and analysis of discussions see Sweet, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ, 354-57.

Louis Matthews Sweet

Virgin, Virginity

vur'-jin; vur-jin'-i-ti:

(1) bethulah, from a root meaning "separated," is "a woman living apart," i.e. "in her father's house," and hence "a virgin." Bethulah seems to have been the technical term for "virgin," as appears from such a combination as na`arah bhethulah, "a damsel, a virgin," in Deuteronomy 22:23,Deuteronomy 22:28, etc. An apparent exception is Joel 1:8, "Lament like a virgin bethulah .... for the husband of her youth," but the word is probably due to a wish to allude to the title "virgin daughter of Zion" (the translation "a betrothed maiden" is untrue to Hebrew sentiment). and the use of "virgin" for a city (Isaiah 37:22, etc.; compare Isaiah 23:12; Isaiah 47:1) probably means "unsubdued," though, as often, a title may persist after its meaning is gone (Jeremiah 31:4). The King James Version and the English Revised Version frequently render bethulah by "maiden" or "maid" (Judges 19:24, etc.), but the American Standard Revised Version has used "virgin" throughout, despite the awkwardness of such a phrase as "young men and virgins" (Psalms 148:12). For "tokens of virginity" ("proofs of chastity") see the commentary on Deuteronomy 22:15 ff.

(2) `almah, rendered in the Revised Version (British and American) by either "damsel" (Psalms 68:25), "maiden" (so usually, Exodus 2:8, etc.), or "virgin" with margin "maiden" (Song of Songs 1:3; Song of Songs 6:8; Isaiah 7:14). The word (see OHL) means simply "young woman" and only the context can give it the force "virgin." This force, however, seems required by the contrasts in Song of Songs 6:8, but in 1:3 "virgin" throws the accent in the wrong place. The controversies regarding Isaiah 7:14 are endless, but Septuagint took `almah as meaning "virgin" (parthenos). But in New Testament times the Jews never interpreted the verse as a prediction of a virgin-birth--a proof that the Christian faith did not grow out of this passage. See IMMANUEL; VIRGIN BIRTH.

(3) parthenos, the usual Greek word for "virgin" (Judith 16:5, etc.; Matthew 1:23, etc.). In Revelation 14:4 the word is masculine. In 1 Corinthians 7:25 ff the Revised Version (British and American) has explained "virgin" by writing "virgin daughter" in 7:36-38. This is almost certainly right, but "virgin companion" (see Lietzmann and J. Weiss in the place cited.) is not quite impossible.

(4) neanis, "young woman" (Sirach 20:4).

(5) Latin virgo (2 Esdras 16:33).

The Old Testament lays extreme emphasis on chastity before marriage (Deuteronomy 22:21), but childlessness was so great a misfortune that death before marriage was to be bewailed (Judges 11:37,Revelation 12:8). Paul's preference for the unmarried state (1 Corinthians 7:29 if) is based on the greater freedom for service (compare Matthew 19:12), and the Greek estimate of virginity as possessing a religious quality per se is foreign to true Jewish thought (such a passage as Philo Mund. opif., section symbol 53, is due to direct Greek influence). Some have thought to find a trace of the Greek doctrine in Revelation 14:4. But 144,000 lst-century. Christian ascetics are out of the question, and the figure must be interpreted like that of James 4:4 (reversed).

Burton Scott Easton

Virtue

vur'-tu: This word has two quite distinct meanings in the King James Version: (1) It was formerly often used in the now obsolete sense of "manly power," "valor," "efficacy" (Latin, virtus, "manly strength" or "excellence," from vir, "man"):

"Trust in thy single virtue; for thy soldiers

All levied in thy name, have in thy name

Took their discharge."

--Shakespeare, King Lear, V, iii, 103 ff.

It was also used in the sense of a mighty work, a miracle. Thus Wycliffe translates Matthew 11:20: "Thanne Jhesus bigan to saye repreef to cities in whiche ful many vertues of him weren don." So in the King James Version, Mark 5:30; Luke 6:19; Luke 8:46, in the sense of "power," "miraculous energy or influence" (dunamis, "inherent power, residing in the nature of a thing"; contrast exousia, "power arising from external opportunity or liberty of action"). In these passages it is translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "power" (as elsewhere in the King James Version; compare Acts 3:12, etc.). (2) In its ordinary modern meaning of "moral goodness" it occurs in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) The Wisdom of Solomon 4:1; 5:13; 8:7; Philippians 4:8; 2 Peter 1:3,2 Peter 1:5. In these passages it stands for arete, the usual classical term for "moral excellence" (originally "fitness" of any sort), used in Septuagint to translate words meaning "glory," "praiseworthiness," as in Habakkuk 3:3; Isaiah 42:12; Isaiah 63:7 (of God); Zechariah 6:13 (of the Messiah). The Septuagint sense may color the meaning of the word as applied to God in 2 Peter 1:3 the Revised Version (British and American); as also in its plural use (of God) in 1 Peter 2:9 (the King James Version "praises," the Revised Version (British and American) "excellencies").

The adjective "virtuous" occurs in the King James Version, the English Revised Version Ruth 3:11; Proverbs 12:4; Proverbs 31:10 (the American Standard Revised Version "worthy"), and the adverb "virtuously" in Proverbs 31:29 (the American Standard Revised Version "worthily"), in each case for chayil, "strength," "force" (whether of body or of mind), then in a moral sense of "worth," "virtue."

D. Miall Edwards

Vision

vizh'-un (chazon, chizzayon, mar'ah; horama, optasia): Psychologists find that man is prevailingly and persistently "eye-minded." That is, in his waking life he is likely to think, imagine and remember in terms of vision. Naturally then, his dreaming is predominantly visual; so strongly visual, we are told, that it is not rare to find dreams defined as "trains of fantastic images." Whether man was made this way in order that God might communicate with him through dreams and visions is hardly worth debating; if the records of human life, in the Bible and out of it, are to be trusted at all, there is nothing better certified than that God has communicated with man in this way (Psalms 89:19; Proverbs 29:18; compare Amos 8:11,Amos 8:12; Hosea 12:10). If one is disposed to regard the method as suited only to primitive peoples and superstitious natures, it still remains true that the experience is one associated with lives and characters of the most saintly and exalted kind (1 Samuel 3:1; Jeremiah 1:11; Ezekiel 1:1; Daniel 2:19; Acts 9:10; Acts 10:3; Acts 16:9).

The vision may come in one's waking moments (Daniel 10:7; Acts 9:7); by day (Cornelius, Acts 10:3; Peter, Acts 10:9 ff; compare Numbers 24:4,Numbers 24:16) or night (Jacob, Genesis 46:2); but commonly under conditions of dreaming (Numbers 12:6; Job 4:13; Daniel 4:9). The objects of vision, diverse and in some instances strange as they are, have usually their points of contact with experiences of the daily life. Thus Isaiah's vision of the seraphim (Isaiah 6:2) was doubtless suggested by familiar figures used in the decoration of the temple at Jerusalem; Paul's "man of Macedonia" (Acts 16:9) had its origin in some poor helot whom Paul had seen on the streets of Troas and who embodied for him the pitiful misery of the regions across the sea; and "Jacob's ladder" (Genesis 28:12) was but a fanciful development of the terraced land which he saw sun-glorified before him as he went to sleep. Among the recurring objects of vision are natural objects--rivers, mountains, trees, animals--with which man has daily and hourly association.

The character of the revelation through vision has a double aspect in the Biblical narrative. In one aspect it proposes a revelation for immediate direction, as in the ease of Abram (Genesis 15:2 and frequently); Lot (Genesis 19:15); Balaam (Numbers 22:22), and Peter (Acts 12:7). In another aspect it deals with the development of the Kingdom of God as conditioned by the moral ideals of the people; such are the prophetic visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Micah, and the apoealypses of Daniel and John. The revelation for immediate direction has many correspondences in the life of the devout in all ages; the prophetic vision, dealing in a penetrating way with the sources of national growth and decay, has its nearest approach in the deliverances of publicists and statesmen who are persuaded that the laws of God, as expressed in self-control, truth, justice, and brotherly love, are supreme, and that the nations which disregard them are marked for ultimate and speedy extinction.

From the nature of the vision as an instrument of divine communication, the seeing of visions is naturally associated with revivals of religion (Ezekiel 12:21–25; Joel 2:28; compare Acts 2:17), and the absence of visions with spiritual decline (Isaiah 29:11,Isaiah 29:12; Lamentations 2:9; Ezekiel 7:26; Micah 3:6).

One may see visions without being visionary in the bad sense of that word. The outstanding characters to whom visions were vouchsafed in the history of Israel--Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, Isaiah, Jesus and Paul--were all men of action as well as sentiment, and it is manifest from any fair reading of their lives that their work was helped and not hindered by this aspect of their fellowship with God. For always the vision emphasizes the play of a spiritual world; the response of a man's spirit to the appeal of that world; and the ordering of both worlds by an "intelligent and compelling Power able to communicate Himself to man and apparently supremely interested in the welfare of man.

Charles M. Stuart

Visitation

viz-i-ta'-shun, vis-(pequddah; episkope): In Biblical writings, the divine investigation or inspection of men's character and deeds with a view to apportioning to them their due lot, whether of reward or of chastisement; divine dispensation of mercy or of punishment.

(1) In a general sense: "Visited after the visitation of all men" (Numbers 16:29), i.e. in natural death, the usual lot of men, as opposed to a calamitous death; "She shall have fruit in the visitation of souls" (The Wisdom of Solomon 3:13 the King James Version), i.e. in the time of divine judgment. So Sirach 18:20 and perhaps 1 Peter 2:12.

(2) In a good sense, of God's care, providence and mercy: "Thy visitation (the Revised Version margin "care") hath preserved my spirit" (Job 10:12). So Luke 19:44, and, according to some, 1 Peter 2:12 (see above).

(3) Most frequently in an evil sense, of calamity or distress viewed as divine punishment: "What will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?" (Isaiah 10:3). So Jeremiah 8:12; Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 11:23; Jeremiah 23:12; Jeremiah 46:21; Jeremiah 48:44; Jeremiah 50:27; Jeremiah 51:18; Hosea 9:7; Micah 7:4; The Wisdom of Solomon 14:11.

D. Miall Edwards

Vocation

vo-ka'-shun.

See CALLING.

Voice

vois.

See BATH KOL.

Void

void: The uses of "void" in English Versions of the Bible are all modern, except for the phrase "void place" in the King James Version 1 Kings 22:10 parallel 2 Chronicles 18:9 (the Revised Version (British and American) "open"); 2 Macc 14:44 (so the King James Version and the Revised Version margin). On the Old Testament passages see OPEN PLACE. In 2 Maccabees the Greek word is keneon, which may mean either "an open place," in general, or, specifically, "the hollow between the ribs and the hip," whence the Revised Version (British and American) "his side." Moffatt in Charles' Apocrypha translates "the open street."

Volume

vol'-um: This word (from Latin volvere, "roll"), twice used in the King James Version (Psalms 40:7 (Hebrew meghillah); Hebrews 10:7), is better in English as "roll" in the Revised Version (British and American).

See ROLL.

Voluntary

vol'-un-ta-ri: For the sake of variety the King James Version in Leviticus 7:16; Ezekiel 46:12 (bis) has rendered nedhabhah, by "voluntary offering" instead of the usual "freewill offering" (so the Revised Version (British and American)). The words "of his own voluntary will" in Leviticus 1:3 the King James Version are a pure gloss, properly omitted in the Revised Version (British and American), as they represent nothing in the Hebrew text. 1 Macc 2:42 has "voluntarily" as part of the translation of hekousiazo, the Revised Version (British and American) "willingly."

Vophsi

vof'-si (wophci, meaning unknown): Father of Nahbi the Naphtalite spy (Numbers 13:14); but the text is doubtful. The Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus has Iabei; Codex Alexandrinus, Codex F, and Lucian Iabi.

Vow

vou (nedher; euche; 'iccar, found only in Numbers 30:6,Numbers 30:8,Numbers 30:10 and translated horismos, by the Septuagint: A vow could be positive (nedher) and included all promises to perform certain things for, or bring certain offerings to, God, in return for certain benefits which were hoped for at His hand (Genesis 28:20–22, Jacob; Leviticus 27:2,Leviticus 27:8; Numbers 30:1–16; Judges 11:30, Jephthah; 1Sa 1:11, Hannah; 2Sa 15:8, Absalom; Jon 1:16, vows of heathen); or negative ('iccar), and included promises by which a person bound himself or herself to abstain from certain things (Numbers 30:3). Nowhere in the Old Testament do we find the making of vows regarded as a religious duty (Deuteronomy 23:22), but the fulfilling of a vow was considered as a sacred and binding duty (Deuteronomy 23:21–23; Judges 11:35; Ecclesiastes 5:4; compare Psalms 22:25; Psalms 66:13; Psalms 76:11; Psalms 116:18). A vow was as binding as an oath (see OATH) and therefore to be kept to the letter; and it was not to be lightly made (Proverbs 20:25). A father could veto a daughter's vow, and a husband a wife's. If a husband did not veto a wife's vow, and then caused her to break it, the sin was his and not hers (Nu 30, passim). It seems that vows were considered binding only when actually uttered (Deuteronomy 23:23). Persons, including one's self, animals, land and other possessions, could be vowed, but all these could be redeemed with money (see JEPHTHAH), which money was to be estimated by the priest, except in the case of a clean animal. In the case of land, houses and unclean animals a fifth part of the estimated value was to be added to make up the redemption money. In the case of land the sum was greater or smaller as the coming year of Jubilee was far off or near (Le 27, passim). Nothing which was by nature holy could be made the object of a vow, e.g. firstlings, tithes, etc. (Leviticus 27:26,Leviticus 27:28,Leviticus 27:30); and, on the other hand, an abomination, e.g. the hire of a prostitute, could not be made the object of a vow (Deuteronomy 23:18). In Malachi 1:14 the offering of what was of less value than what had been vowed is vigorously condemned.

In the New Testament Jesus refers to vows only to condemn the abuse of them (Matthew 15:4–6; Mark 7:10–13; compare Talmud, Nedharim, and see CORBAN). In Acts 18:18 (compare Acts 21:23,Acts 21:24) Paul desires to show his Jewish brethren that he is willing to keep the forms of Jewish piety so long as they do not clash with his Christian conscience (compare 1 Corinthians 9:21). For the vow of the Nazirite, see NAZIRITE.

Paul Levertoff

Voyage And Shipwreck Of Paul

voi'-aj, ship'-rek.

See PAUL, THE APOSTLE; PHOENIX; and "Literature" to SHIPS AND BOATS.