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William Smith
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(man-conqueror). An officer left as viceroy, 2 Macc. 4:31 , in Antioch by Antiochus Epiphanes during his absence. 2 Macc. 4:31-38 . (B.C. 171.) Another officer of Antiochus Epiphanes who was left by him on Garizem. 2 Macc. 5:23 . A Christian at Rome, saluted by St. Paul, ( Romans 16:7 ) together with Junia.
This term is employed by the apostle John alone, and is defined by him in a manner which leaves no doubt as to its intrinsic meaning. With regard to its application there is less certainty. In the first passage— ( 1 John 2:18 )—in which it occurs, the apostle makes direct reference to the false Christs whose coming, it had been fore-told, should mark the last days. In v. 22 we find, “he is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son;” and still more positively, “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of antichrist.” Comp. ( 2 John 1 :7) From these emphatic and repeated definitions it has been supposed that the object of the apostle in his first epistle was to combat the errors of Cerinthus, the Docetae and the Gnostics on the subject of the Incarnation. (They denied the union of the divine and human in Christ.) The coming of Antichrist was (believed to be foretold in the “vile person” of Daniel’s prophecy, ( Daniel 11:21 ) which received its first accomplishment in Antiochus Epiphanes but of which the complete fulfillment was reserved for the last times. He is identified with “the man of sin, the son of perdition.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ) This interpretation brings Antichrist into close connection with the gigantic power of evil, symbolized by the “beast,” ( Revelation 13:1 ) ... who received his power from the dragon (i.e. the devil, the serpent of Genesis), continued for forty and two months, and was invested with the kingdom of the ten kings who destroyed the harlot Babylon, ( Revelation 17:12 , 17 ) the city of seven hills. The destruction of Babylon is to be followed by the rule of Antichrist for a short period, ( Revelation 17:10 ) to be in his turn overthrown in “the battle of that great day of God Almighty,” ( Revelation 16:14 ) with the false prophet and all his followers. Rev. 19 . The personality of Antichrist is to be inferred as well from the personality of his historical precursor as from that of him to whom he stands opposed. Such an interpretation is to be preferred to that which regards Antichrist as the embodiment and personification of all powers and agencies inimical to Christ, or of the Antichristian might of the world.
(from Antiochus)- IN Syria . The capital of the Greek kings of Syria, and afterwards the residence of the Roman governors of the province which bore the same name. Situation .—This metropolis was situated where the chain of Lebanon, running northward, and the chain of Taurus, running eastward. are brought to an abrupt meeting. Here the Orontes breaks through the mountains; and Antioch was placed at a bend of the river, 16 1/2 miles from the Mediterranean, partly on an island, partly on the levee which forms the left bank, and partly on the steep and craggy ascent of Mount Silpius, which, rose abruptly on the south. It is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. In the immediate neighborhood was Daphne the celebrated sanctuary of Apollo 2 Macc. 4:33 ; whence the city was sometimes called Antioch by Daphne, to distinguish it from other cities of the same name. Destruction .—The city was founded in the year 300 B.C., by Seleucus Nicator. It grew under the successive Seleucid kings till it became a city of great extent and of remarkable beauty. One feature, which seems to have been characteristic of the great Syrian cities,—a vast street with colonnades, intersecting the whole from end to end,—was added by Antiochus Epiphanes. By Pompey it was made a free city, and such it continued till the time of Antoninus Pius. The early emperors raised there some large and important structures, such as aqueducts, amphitheatres and baths. (Antioch, in Paul’s time, was the third city of the Roman empire, and contained over 200,000 inhabitants. Now it is a small, mean place of about 6000.—ED.) Bible History .—No city, after Jerusalem, is so intimately connected with the history of the apostolic church. Jews were settled there from the first in large numbers, were governed by their own ethnarch, and allowed to have the same political privileges with the Greeks. The chief interest of Antioch, however, is connected with the progress of Christianity among the heathen, Here the first Gentile church was founded, ( Acts 11:20 , 21 ) here the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called Christians ( Acts 11:26 ) It was from Antioch that St. Paul started on his three missionary journeys. IN Pisidia , ( Acts 13:14 ; 14:19 , 21 ; 2 Timothy 3:11 ) on the borders of Phrygia, corresponds to Yalobatch, which is distant from Aksher six hours over the mountains. This city, like the Syrian Antioch, was founded by Seleucus Nicator. Under the Romans it became a colonia, and was also called Caesarea.
(an opponent), the name of a number of kings of Syria who lived during the interval between the Old and New Testaments, and had frequent connection with the Jews during that period. They are referred to in the Apocrypha especially in the books of the Maccabees.
(one sent forth), in the New Testament originally the official name of those twelve of the disciples whom Jesus chose to send forth first to preach the gospel and to be with him during the course of his ministry on earth. The word also appears to have been used in a non-official sense to designate a much wider circle of Christian messengers and teachers See ( 2 Corinthians 8:23 ; Philemon 2 :25) It is only of those who were officially designated apostles that we treat in the article. Their names are given in ( Matthew 10:2-4 ) and Christ’s charge to them in the rest of the chapter. Their office.— (1) The original qualification of an apostle, as stated by St. Peter on the occasion of electing a successor to the traitor Judas, was that he should have been personally acquainted with the whole ministerial course of our Lord from his baptism by John till the day when he was taken up into heaven. (2) They were chosen by Christ himself (3) They had the power of working miracles. (4) They were inspired. ( John 16:13 ) (5) Their world seems to have been pre-eminently that of founding the churches and upholding them by supernatural power specially bestowed for that purpose. (6) The office ceased, a matter of course, with its first holders-all continuation of it, from the very condition of its existence (cf. ( 1 Corinthians 9:1 )), being impossible. Early history and training .—The apostles were from the lower ranks of life, simple and uneducated; some of them were related to Jesus according to the flesh; some had previously been disciples of John the Baptist. Our Lord chose them early in his public career They seem to have been all on an equality, both during and after the ministry of Christ on earth. Early in our Lord’s ministry he sent them out two and two to preach repentance and to perform miracles in his name Matt 10 ; Luke 9 . They accompanied him in his journey, saw his wonderful works, heard his discourses addressed to the people, and made inquiries of him on religious matters. They recognized him as the Christ of God, ( Matthew 16:16 ; Luke 9:20 ) and described to him supernatural power ( Luke 9:54 ) but in the recognition of the spiritual teaching and mission of Christ they made very low progress, held back as they were by weakness of apprehension and by national prejudices. Even at the removal of our Lord from the earth they were yet weak in their knowledge, ( Luke 24:21 ; John 16:12 ) though he had for so long been carefully preparing and instructing them. On the feast of Pentecost, ten days after our Lord’s ascension, the Holy Spirit came down on the assembled church, Acts 2 ; and from that time the apostles became altogether different men, giving witness with power of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, as he had declared they should. ( Luke 24:48 ; Acts 1:8 , 22 ; 2:32 ; 3:15 ; 5:32 ; 13:31 ) Later labors and history.—First of all the mother-church at Jerusalem grew up under their hands, Acts 3 -7, and their superior dignity and power were universally acknowledged by the rulers and the people. ( Acts 5:12 ) ff. Their first mission out of Jerusalem was to Samaria ( Acts 8:5-25 ) where the Lord himself had, during his ministry, sown the seed of the gospel. Here ends the first period of the apostles’ agency, during which its centre is Jerusalem and the prominent figure is that of St. Peter. The centre of the second period of the apostolic agency is Antioch, where a church soon was built up, consisting of Jews and Gentiles; and the central figure of this and of the subsequent period is St. Paul. The third apostolic period is marked by the almost entire disappearance of the twelve from the sacred narrative and the exclusive agency of St. Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles. Of the missionary work of the rest of the twelve we know absolutely nothing from the sacred narrative.
(graver). A contemporary of Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 170, and Jason. 2 Macc. 5:8 . The Aretas alluded to by St. Paul ( 2 Corinthians 11:32 ) was father-in-law of Herod Antipas.
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