the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Coat (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or COAT.—This word in the Gospels usually represents the Gr. χιτών, i.e. the tunic or long close-fitting under garment worn in Palestine, as opposed to the ἱμάτιον or full and flowing outer garment (see Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, art. ‘Dress’).
Our Lord’s instructions to the Twelve included one which forbade their wearing or having in their possession more than one such garment (Matthew 10:10, Mark 6:9, Luke 9:3; cf. Luke 3:11). And in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:40; cf. Luke 6:29) we are bidden to cultivate such a spirit of meekness as would be illustrated by a readiness to part even with one’s cloak (ἱμάτιον) to him who took away one’s coat.* [Note: In Luke the order is transposed, the cloak coming before the coat, this being the order in which these two garments would be torn off.]
The soldiers at the Crucifixion (John 19:23-24) took possession of the Saviour’s garments, according, we suppose, to the usual practice. The outer robes they divided into four parts, one for each of the quaternion, but for the coat (τὸν χιτῶνα), in close fulfilment of Psalms 22:18, they cast lots, not wishing to tear it up, because it was ‘without seam, woven from the top throughout.’ Josephus (Ant. iii. vii. 4), quoted by Bp. Westcott, tells us that the long robe (χιτὼν ποδήρης) of the high priest was of this character: ‘This vesture was not composed of two pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and the sides, but it was one long vestment, so woven as to have an aperture for the neck’ (Whiston’s translation). Bp. Westcott further quotes Chrysostom, who perhaps wrote from personal knowledge, as thinking ‘that the detail is added to show “the poorness of the Lord’s garments, and that in dress as in all other things He followed a simple fashion.” ’ Others incline to the view that there is a parallel suggested between the Eternal High Priest’s garment and that of the Aaronic high priest. In any case the seamless robe of Christ has often been taken as a type of the One (ideally) Undivided Church, e.g. by Cyprian in a famous passage (de Unit. Eccl. § 7), where he contrasts the ‘incorrupta atque individua tunica’ of Christ with the prophet Ahijah’s robe, which he tore in duodecim scissuras in token of the disruption of the kingdom (1 Kings 11:30 ff.), and concludes: ‘sacramento vestis et signo declaravit ecclesiae unitatem.’ For the part which the Holy Coat has played in legend at Trèves and elsewhere, those who are curious in such matters may consult Gildenmeister and v. Sybel, Der Heilige Rock zu Trier und die 20 anderen heiligen ungenahten Rocke3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , 1845.
We may note finally: (1) that the word ‘coat’ (so Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885; Authorized Version ‘fisher’s coat’) in John 21:7 stands for the large loose garment (ἐπενδύτης) which St. Peter threw as a covering over his almost naked body when he left his fishing and came into the Master’s presence; (2) that it was the under-garments (χιτῶνες) that the high priest rent when he ‘heard the blasphemy’ at our Lord’s trial (Mark 14:63; see Swete’s notes, in loc.). See also Cloke, Dress.
C. L. Feltoe.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Coat (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/c/coat-2.html. 1906-1918.
