Article October 11, 1941 Issue

Bible Notes

[The Biblical citations given in the Christian Science Quarterly are from the Authorized King James Version. The Bible Notes in this column can be used, if deemed necessary, to elucidate some of the words or passages contained in the Bible Lessons. The Notes in this issue are related to the Lesson-Sermon designated to be read in Christian Science churches on October 19, 1941.]

"One mediator between God and men" (I Tim. 2:5)—The Greek word "mesites," rendered "mediator," means literally "middleman," from "mesos"—"middle"; "one who intervenes between two," as Dr. Thayer explains it in his Lexicon, "either to make or restore peace and friendship, or to form a compact or to ratify a covenant; an arbitrator." In the papyrus documents of the early centuries it is often used in the sense of "arbiter" in connection with legal transactions; occasionally also in that of "intermediary," and even to refer to the "surety" for a debt.

"Christ being come an high priest of good things to come" (Hebr. 9:11)—In some of the early Greek codices, including the original draft of the Bezan Manuscript, we find the term "genomenon" (that are come) in place of "mellonton" (to come). Thus, while Weymouth (Fifth Edition) has: "when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are to come," Goodspeed prefers to render: "when Christ came, as the high priest of the better system under which we live."

"Christ ... entered in once into the holy place" (Hebr. 9:11, 12f.)—The Greek word here rendered "once" is a particularly strong one, clearly implying "once for all," and not merely "once" in the sense of "at one time" or "previously." Commentators observe that there appears to be a direct contrast between the work of "Christ," who is said to have entered the holy place once for all, thereby obtaining eternal redemption, and that of the Jewish high priest, who entered the Holy of Holies "once every year" on the day of atonement (cf. Hebr. 9:7).

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