LOIS

Divine nature or a philosophy of the Incarnation. It is plain, on the contrary, that in all that he says it is the religious and ethical interests that are paramount. He uses the Logos conception for two great purposes, — to set forth Jesus (1) as the Revealer of God, and (2) as the Saviour of men. The first of these ideas, as has been said, is one that we find already in the Pauline Epistles and in Hebrews; but by his emphasis on the relations of Fatherhood and Sonship St. John imparts a peculiarly moral meaning to the essential nature of the God who is revealed in Christ. But it is above all tor a soteriological purpose that he seems to employ the Logos idea. The Logos, who is identified with Jesus Christ, comes forth from the bosom of the Father, bringing life and light to men. He comes with a gospel that supersedes the Law of Moses, for it is a gospel of grace as well as of truth. Himself the Son of God, He offers to all who will believe on His name the right to become the children of God. And so, while the Logos is undoubtedly the agent of God's creative will, He is still more distinctively the mediator of God's redeeming purpose. It is therefore as a religious power, not as a metaphysical magnitude, that St. John brings Him before us. The Evangelist shows, it is true, as Kirn points out, that the absoluteness of Christ's historical mission and His exclusive mediation of the Divine saving grace are guaranteed by the fact that the roots of His personal life reach back into the eternal life of God. His Logos doctrine thus wards off every Chris-tology that would see in Jesus no more than a prophetic personality of the highest originality. But, while the Logos idea 'illuminates the history with the light of eternity, it can reveal eternity to us only in the light of history, not in its own supernatural light' iPRE' xi. 605). J. C. Lambert.

LOIS. — The grandmother of Timothy (2 Ti V), and probably the mother of Eunice, Timothy's mother. The name is Greek. The family lived at Lystra (Ac 16'), where St. Paul first made their acquaintance. Lois was a devout Jewess by conviction, who instructed her family diligently in the Holy Scriptures.

MoRLEY Stevenson.

LONGSUFFERING.— In the OT the RV uses this word only in Jer 15", where it Is the translation of a phrase usually rendered 'slow to anger' (cf. Ex 34=, Nu 14'», Ps 86's, in which passages AV has 'long-suffering').

In the NT ' longsuffering ' is the usual tr. of makro-thumia and the corresponding verb. (The only exceptions are 'patience,' He e'^, Ja S'"; cf. vb. in Mt 18»- »», Ja 5"-; and adv. in Ac 26'). The RV improves on AV by using 'longsuffering' in Lk 18', 1 Th 5". The Gr. word means ' a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion — generally to passion.' (Trench, Synonyms of NT, § liii.) ; it implies the opposite of short temper; cf. Old Eng. 'longanimity.' In the NT the longsuffering of God is regarded as a proof of His 'goodness' (Ro 2'; here and elsewhere 'longsuffer-ing,' II 'forbearance' [arochg]) and of his faithfulness (2 P 3'- "); it is manifested in the gracious restraint which characterizes His attitude towards those who deserve His wrath (Ro 9^, 1 P 3^). The Divine longsuffering is perfectly exempUfied in Christ's dealings with sinners (1 Ti 1"). Longsuffering is, therefore, a conspicuous grace in the ideal Christian character (2 Co 6«, Eph 4^, Col 3", 1 Th 5", 2 Ti 3'" 4^); it is viewed as an evi-dence of Divine strengthening (Col 1"), as a mani-festation of love (1 Co 13'), and as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5=2). J. G- Taskeb.

LOOKING-GLASS.— See Glass.

LOOM. — See Spinning and Weaving.

LOOPS. — See Tabernacle, § 5 (o).

LORD. — The Heb. OT has three leading names for God: (1) 'the name of four letters' Itetragrammaton)

LORD OP HOSTS

JHWH (famiUar to us in the incorrect form 'Jehovah '; the real vocaUzation is almost certainly 'Jahweh' [see God, p. 299'']); <,2)Adonai; (3) Elohim. By a misinterpre-tation of Lv 24'5 the Jews shrank from uttering the first of these, and added to its tour consonants, in their reading of the OT, the vowels of either Adonai or Elohim. When the vowels of the former were added, the AV and RV generally translate the word by 'Lord'; when those of the latter, by 'God'; using small capitals in each case. If, however, Adonai is originally in the text, they repre-sent it by 'Lord,' using an initial capital only. Thus in the OT ' Lord ' represents Jahweh when it was read as Adonai; and 'Lord' represents Adonai when it stands in the original text. This distinctive printing is not observed in the NT. There are several other Hebrew words in the OT expressing the general idea of lordship, which are rendered by 'lord' (Gn 45*, Jos 13', Ezr 82= etc.).

In the NT 'Lord' is used once as tr. of Babboni (Mk 10"), and five times of despoils (Lk 2f', Ac 4", 2 P 2', Jude ', Rev 6"i); in all the latter cases the RV has 'master' in text or margin. Elsewhere it represents kyrios, applying the title (1) to God (Mt l"", Ac 5" etc.); (2) to Christ (Lk 6", Jn 20^8 etc.). Indeed, as appUed to Christ, it is the highest confession of His Person (1 Co 12', Ro 10', Rev 19"). The form 'lord' in NT indicates mere possession of authority (Mt 18", Lk 16' etc.). Chasles T. P. Griebson.

LORD OF HOSTS (Jahweh tsbea'dth) appears in the OT as a title of God 282 times, of which ail but 36 are found in the Prophetical writings. There is consider-able uncertainty as to what the term 'hosts' signifies, and it seems best to suppose that its meaning underwent modifications in the course of time. We can, perhaps, distinguish three stages.

1. It is possible that at one time the title suggested the idea of Jahweh as the leader of the Israelite forces. In favour of this view is the fact that the word tsebU'Bth outside this phrase always refers to bodies of men, and usually to IsraeUte forces. There is no doubt that in the early stages of the history of the nation the popular view of the functions of Jahweh was concentrated to a large extent on this point that He was the guider and commander of the armies in warfare; and the same idea lingered late, and lies at the bottom of the objection to the institution of the monarchy which is put in Samuel's mouth (cf. 1 S 8" with 1 S 12"). In the same way, David, as he taunts Goliatb. says to iiim, ' I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel' (1 S 17«). And once more there is evidently a special connexion between the title 'Lord of hosts' and the Ark which is regarded as the habitation of Jahweh in His capacity as War-God (cf. 1 S 4'- '■' 5. 6). But this explanation of the origin of the title, as DeUtzsch pointed out, is greatly invalidated by the fact that we do not find it in the period in which we should expect it to be most common, that is, in the wars of the Wandering in the Wilderness.

2. So we are brought to another view, which may merely mark a later stage: the ' hosts ' are the spiritual forces which stand at God's disposal. So in Jos 5"- ", when Joshua asks the unknown warrior whether he is on their side or on that of their enemies, the implied answer of the Divine stranger is that he belongs to neither side, but is come as captain of the Lord's host to succour His people. For the idea of the angelic host engaged in the service of God, cf. 2 S 24", 1 K 22", 2 K 6"; and in the NT Mt 26", Lk 2", He 1».

3. The third stage is reached in the prophets, esp. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and Malachi, where the title assumes a far wider meaning and embraces all the forces of the universe. The term ' host of heaven ' is commonly used of the heavenly bodies to which the later kings paid idolatrous worship (cf. also Gn 2', Ps 33»). As the idea of the omnipotence of God grew

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