LAW (IN NT)

table through the re-assertion of the Mosaic distinction of ' meats ' which had been expressly discarded by Jesus. The assumption of a privileged legal status within the Church meant the surrender ot the whole principle of salvation by faith and of Christian saintship (Gal 2"-", Ro 141"-, 1 Co 88; cf. Mk 7^*-^). In some Churches Paul had to deal with the inculcation ot Jewish ritual from another point of view. At Colossae the dietary rules and sacred seasons of Mosaism were imposed on grounds of ascetic discipline, and of reverence towards angeUc (,scil. astral) powers; he pronounces them value-less in the former respect, and in the latter treasonous towards Christ, who supplies ' the body ' of which those prescriptions were but a 'shadow' (Col 2'"-'^).

3. Col 2" forms a link between the doctrine ot St. Paul on the Law and the complementary teaching of the writer of Hebrews, — a Jew of very different temperament and antecedents from Saul of Tarsus. This author em-phasizes the ceremonial, as Paul the moral, factors of the OT; the Temple, not the synagogue, was for him the centre of Judaism. 'The first covenant,' he says, 'had ordinances of divine service,' providing for and guard-ing man's approach to God in worship (He 9' etc.); for St. Paul, it consisted chieiiy of 'commandments expressed in ordinances' (Eph 2'»), which prescribe the path of righteousness in daily life. 'The law' means for this great Christian thinker the institutions of the Israelite priesthood, sanctuary, sacrifices — all consum-mated in Christ and His 'one offering,' by which 'he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified ' (He 9'-10") . In his view, the law is superseded as the imper-fect, provisional, and ineffective, by the perfect, per-manent, and satisfying, as the shadowy outline by the full image of things Divine (7'"- 8'-* 10'-*); 'the sanctuary of this world' gives place to 'heaven itself,' revealed as the temple where the 'great high priest' — Divine- human in person, sinless in nature, perfected in experi-ence, and inmieasurably superior to the Aaronic order (4iffl. 7MS.) — 'appears before the face of God for us,' 'having entered through the virtue of his own blood' as our 'surety' and 'the mediator of our 'covenant,' who has won for mankind 'an eternal redemption' (29 722 g6 924-28). Jesus thus 'inaugurated a new and living way into the holy place' (in contrast with the old and dead way of the law); as experience proves. He has 'cleansed the conscience from dead works to serve the living God,' while the law with its repeated animal sacrifices served to remind men of their sins rather than to remove them (,7^ 9" lO'-*). Equally with St. Paul, the auctor ad Hebrceos regards 'remission of sins' as the initial blessing of the Christian state, which had been unattainable 'under law,' and 'the blood of Christ ' as the means of procuring this immense boon. In Paul's interpretation, this offering 'justifies' the unrighteous ' before God ' and restores them to the forfeited status of sonship; in the interpretation of Hebrews, it 'cleanses' worshippers and brings them 'nigh to God' within His sanctuary; on either view, the sacrifice of Calvary removes the barriers set up, by man's sin 'under the law,' between humanity and God.

4. For St. James also the OT law was transformed. He conceives the change in a less radical fashion than Paul or the writer of Hebrews; James stands sturdily on the platform of the Sermon on the Mount. Re-cast by 'the Lord of glory' and charged with 'the wisdom that Cometh from above,' the law is new and glorified in his eyes; like Paul, he knows it as 'the law of Christ.' All the disciples of Jesus were one in the place they gave to that which James calls ' the sovereign law. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' (2*-"; of. 1 Co 13); deeds of pure brotherly love prove 'faith' alive and genuine; they make it 'perfect,' and guarantee the believer's 'justification' (ch. 2). When he describes this law as 'a perfect law, the law of liberty,' James' idea is substantially that Of Paul in 1 Co 9*' and Ro 8^- ', viz. that the law of God is no yoke compelling the

LAYING ON OF HANDS

Christian man from without, but a life actuating him from within; the believer 'bends over it' in con-templation, till he grows one with it (12<; cf. 2 Co 3i»). 'The tongue' is the index of the heart, and St. James regards its control as a sure sign of perfection in law- keeping (31-12). James treats of the law, not, like Paul, as it affects the sinner's standing before God, — nor, like the author of Hebrews, as it regulates his approach In worship, — but as it governs the walk before God of the professed believer. His Epistle is, in effect, a comment on the last clause of Ro 8*, 'that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us.'

5 . The word ' law ' is entirely wanting in the Epistles of St. Peter and of St. John. 1 P I's. h 2^ 318 manifest the influence of Paul's doctrine of salvation on the writer; while 1 Jn V- ■ indicates a leaning to the mode of representation characteristic of Hebrews, and 1 Jn 2^ and 4"" virtually sustain the doctrine of St. Paul on law, sin, and sacrifice. G. G. Findlay.

LAWGIVER.— The word is found six times in the AV of the OT (Gn 49i», Nu 2V», Dt 332', Ps 60' 1088, Is 332'). The Heb. mechBqlq, which it translates, is from a root meaning to 'cut' or 'engrave,' and hence to 'enact' a law, afterwards to be engraved on the public archives. The Heb. word appears to have two meanings: (1) 'ruler'; so in Dt 332', where RVm gives 'ruler,' and in Is 3322, where the parallelism shows the meaning — 'Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver.' (2) 'Ruler's staff'; so in Gn 49"', where the word is parallel to 'sceptre,' and in Ps 60' 108', where the RV renders it ' Judah is my sceptre.'

In the NT the word 'lawgiver' (Gr. nomothetgs) is found once only (Ja 412); there it is applied to God as ' the lawgiver and judge,' who is regarded as the Supreme Source of all law. Other passages (He 7", Ro 9*) where kindred Gr. words are used, have a reference to the law of Moses, or, to be more exact, the law of Israel.

T. A. MoxoN.

LAWYER. — This term in Scripture does not belong so much to the legal as to the reUgious sphere. The 'lawyers' busied themselves with the study and exposi-tion of the Written and the Oral Law of Israel, and were practically identical with the scribes (wh. see).

LAYING ON OF HANDS.— This ceremony, of fre-quent occurrence in both OT and NT, is a piece of natural symbolism with the central idea that through physical contact the person performing it identifies himself with the other in the presence of God. In OT this is done with a view to the transference (a) of a Divine blessing (Gn 48"«-; cf. Nu 27»8- 23, Dt 34»); (6) of a burden of guilt (Lv 1< 4"- 21 1621'. etc.). In NT, while it is variously employed, the general idea is always that of blessing.

1. The simplest case is when Jesus lays hands of blessing on the little children (Mt 19'=- « ||). The fact that the mothers desired Him to do so shows that this was a custom of the time and people. The narrative in Mt. shows further that, as used by Jesus, it was no magical form, but the symbolic expression of what was essentially an act of prayer (19").

2 . In His deeds of healing Jesus constantly made use of this symbol (Mk 6' 823, Lt 4" 13"; cf. Mt 9" ||, Mk 732) — an example which was followed by the Apos-tolic Church (Ac 9'2' " 28"). In these cases, however, besides its religious symboUsra, the act may further have expressed the healer's sympathy (cf. the hand laid even on the leper, Mk 1", Lk S"), or have been designed to bring a reinforcement to faith.

3. In the early Church the imposition of hands was used, sometimes in close association with the act of baptism (Ac 9"- " 198- »; cf. He 62, which, however, may include all the various kinds of laying on of hands), but sometimes quite apart from it (Ac 8"- "*), as an accompaniment of prayer that beUevers might receive a special endowment of the Holy Ghost in charismatic

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