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Bible Dictionaries
Arbitration
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or ARBITRATION.—The settlement of disputes by the acceptance of the judgment of a third party supposed to be impartial. The arrangement may be purely private, or in accordance with special statute; the application is multifarious. Some method of settlement by umpires is as old as civil government. In Job 9:33 the ‘daysman’ is perfectly described. The Greek term (μεσίτης) translated ‘mediator’ (or middleman) has the same meaning; though as applied, in the NT, to Moses and to Christ (Galatians 3:19-20, 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24). as standing between man and God (cf. Deuteronomy 5:5), it belongs to an essentially different order of ideas, inasmuch as God is not man. The complexity of modern life has multiplied the occasions; but the most important recent advance has been the application to international differences. Thereby questions such as have often led to wars become capable of amicable settlement. The first notable instance was the Geneva arbitration under the Washington Treaty (1871) in the Alabama Question. The principle, then disputed, has now found universal acceptance. Treaties of arbitration already exist or are being negotiated between most nations that have mutual relations. And in the future, except where ambitions and strong passions are involved, this means of agreement will be largely resorted to.
The idea is based on the acknowledgment of the identity of moral law in the two spheres of individual and national life. Duty for persons or communities or nations is one. There is no valid distinction of private and public right; the code of ethics that is binding for the private individual is equally obligatory on kings and the representatives of peoples. This doctrine is opposed to the long history of statecraft, to the maxims of diplomatists, and to the passions of despotism. But few now openly deny its truth; and the acknowledgments already made in treaties of arbitration may be reckoned one of the greatest triumphs of Christian civilization.
The principle may be said to be based on the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31), which teaches reciprocal obligation, or on the kindred command to love our neighbours as ourselves (Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31). These fundamental laws are given as the sum of practical duty. They condemn the egoistic attitude. They teach us to regard the position of others with full sympathy, to seek an impartial standpoint, and to make the individual will harmonize with the general mind. The principle of arbitration is also an illustration of the grace of peaceableness. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5:9). This truth finds full expression in the Epistles, where peace, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and the concomitant of righteousness, is contrasted with the strife and envy of sin, and is noted as a mark of the kingdom of God, who is the God of peace. Once more, the principle may be based on prudence; for a willing settlement may prevent a legal defeat, or even a worse disaster (Matthew 5:25-26, Luke 12:58-59, cf. Proverbs 25:8-9).
Christ declined on one occasion to be an arbiter (Luke 12:13 f.). He was addressing the multitude, when one of them said, ‘Master, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.’ Jesus replied, ‘Man, who made me a judge (κριτήν, so BDL and the crit. edd. [Note: editions or editors.] ; TR [Note: R Textus Receptus.] has δικαστἡν) or a divider (μεριστήν, only here in NT) over you?’ The words which follow (Luke 12:15 ff.) show that Jesus knew that this man was moved by covetousness; but apart from His censure of a wrong motive, He here affirms that it was no business of His to arbitrate between men. He would not interfere in civil disputes which fell properly to be decided by the regular law (cf. Deuteronomy 21:17). But His saying goes far beyond the sphere of jurisprudence. Christ lays down universal laws of justice and love, but does not apply them. Moral casuistry was no part of His mission, and decisions of the kind this man wanted could only have weakened the sense of personal responsibility, and hindered the growth of those spiritual dispositions it was His chief aim to create.
R. Scott.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Arbitration'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/a/arbitration.html. 1906-1918.
