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Majesty (2)

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MAJESTY

1. The term.—In the NT the word ‘majesty’ is associated with Christ in three different connexions. (1) In Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 of Luke 9:43 a we read that the people ‘were all astonished at the majesty (μεγαλειότης, Authorized Version ‘mighty power’) of God.’ The immediate occasion of their astonishment was the healing of the lunatic boy, but v. 43b, and esp. the ἐποίει which critical editors substitute for ἐποίησεν of Textus Receptus , seems to show that the miracles of Christ generally are to be thought of as producing this impression that the Divine μεγαλειότης was manifesting itself through Him.

(2) In 2 Peter 1:16 the writer, who claims to have been present with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, says of that experience, ‘We were eyewitnesses of his majesty’ (Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ; Gr. μεγαλειότης). The word μεγαλειότης is found in only one other passage of the NT, viz. Acts 19:27, where it is used to describe the ‘magnificence’ (Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ) of the great goddess Diana. It is thus an interesting coincidence that the two instances of its use in connexion with Christ belong to the episode of the Transfiguration and the incident of the healing of the lunatic boy which followed immediately after. On the ‘holy mount’ the favoured three received a revelation of Christ’s inherent μεγαλειότης (the word ἐπόπται, ‘eyewitnesses,’ is a technical term denoting those who had been admitted to the highest grade of initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries). And when He came down from the mountain, the μεγαλειότης of God shone forth through His works in the eyes of all the multitude.

A comparison of the uses of μεγαλειότης in Luke 9:43, Acts 19:27, and 2 Peter 1:16 raises a doubt whether ‘majesty’ is the most adequate rendering of the word in the first and third passages, and whether ‘magnificence’ (as in Acts 19:27 Authorized and Revised Versions ) or ‘splendour’ would not more correctly reproduce the original idea. This is suggested by the ordinary use of the adj. μεγαλεῖος in class. Greek, and even by the two instances of its employment in the NT (Luke 1:49, Acts 2:11). The evidence of the LXX Septuagint also points in the same direction; for while μεγαλειότης is used in Jeremiah 33:9 to translation חִּפְאָרָת (Authorized Version ‘honour,’ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘glory’)—a word which is usually rendered by δόξα—the terms ordinarily taken to express the idea of greatness or majesty are μεγαλωσύνη and μεγαλοπρέπεια (e.g. 2 Samuel 7:23, Psalms 145:3; Psalms 145:5-6; Psalms 145:12).

With this idea of Christ’s miracles, or of His miraculous being, as an effulgence of the Divine splendour or magnificence, compare the statement of John 2:11 that by the miracle of Cana Jesus ‘manifested his glory’ (ἐφανέρωσε τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ). Cf. also the ἐπόπται τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητος of 2 Peter 1:16 with what is said in 2 Peter 1:17 of the ‘glory’ (δόξα) which Jesus received upon the mount from God the Father.

(3) In Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1 we see Jesus seated ‘on the right hand of the Majesty on high.’ The word for ‘Majesty’ in these two cases is μεγαλωσύνη, a term that does not occur again in the NT except in the doxology at the end of Jude (Judges 1:25). The idea of Christ as seated at God’s right hand, which is so frequent in the NT (Matthew 26:64 ||, Acts 2:33; Acts 7:55 f., Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1 etc.), was no doubt taken in the first case from Psalms 110:1 (cf. Hebrews 1:3 with Hebrews 1:13). It seems always to be used with reference not to His pre-existent dignity, but to the exaltation that followed His incarnation and suffering. Moreover, in the two passages in Hebrews there is no direct ascription of the Divine majesty to Jesus. The idea is that of His exercise of a supremely exalted office as the Great High Priest who is the Mediator between God and men.

2. The quality of majesty in Christ.—Apart from its infrequent use of the word, the NT affords abundant material for a consideration of the majesty of Christ, whether in His estate of humiliation or of exaltation.

(1) With regard to His life on earth, (a) it is evident that there was nothing of the majestic in His outward circumstances. From His birth in a stable to His death on a cross, it was a life of ‘no reputation,’ His form being that of a servant and not of a king (cf. Philippians 2:8). And on the one occasion when He assumed a kind of royal state, and suffered the multitudes in the streets and the children in the Temple to hail Him with Hosannas (Matthew 21:9; Matthew 21:15 f.), His majesty, after all, as the Evangelists subsequently perceived, was but the majesty of meekness, for Zion’s King came to her gates, as the prophet had said, ‘lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass’ (Matthew 21:1 ff., John 12:14 ff.; cf. Zechariah 9:9).

(b) Was there no majesty, then, in His personal appearance? The Gospels are completely silent on this point, and in the lack of any trustworthy tradition the Fathers seem to have fallen back chiefly on the prophetic pictures of the Messiah, with the result that a wide diversity of view came to exist, according as one passage or another was taken as the norm. The earlier tendency, inspired without doubt by prevailing ascetic ideals, was to fasten upon the words of Deutero-Isaiah with reference to the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:2-3), and to represent Jesus as utterly devoid of all beauty and dignity of face or form. ‘Base of aspect’ (αἰσχρὸς τὴν ὄψιν) is the verdict of Clement of Alexandria (Paed. iii. 1), who was preceded in his estimate by Justin Martyr, and followed by Tertullian. There came a reaction by and by, represented in the East by Origen and in the West by Jerome, when men bethought themselves of such a prophetic Psalm as the 45th, with its vision of One ‘fairer than the children of men’ (Isaiah 53:2) and girded with glory and majesty (Isaiah 53 :). Jerome in particular maintained this high view of the majesty of Christ’s outward aspect. There was ‘something starry’ (sidereum quiddam), he affirmed, in the Saviour’s face and eyes (Ep. ad Principiam); ‘the brightness and majesty of His Divinity … shed their rays over His human countenance’ (in Matthew 1:8). This was the view that ultimately prevailed in the Church, and finds expression in the so-called ‘Letter of Lentulus’ (see vol. i. p. 315). It gave rise to a type of presentment that has dominated Christian art ever since; but it is right to remember that this conventional conception of a Christ who was tall in stature, beautiful in countenance, dignified and even majestic in figure and bearing, rests upon no real basis of authentic tradition, as it is supported by no single word of the NT; and that Augustine has stated the simple truth when he says, ‘Qua fuerit ille facie penitus ignoramus’ (de Trin. viii. 5).

(c) But there is a moral majesty, a majesty of purity and truth and goodness, that is independent of all outward seeming; and the Gospels give abundant illustration of Christ’s endowment with this majesty of soul. Milton tells us how, face to face with the cherub:

‘abash’d the devil stood,

And felt how awful goodness is’ (Par. Lost, iv. 846).

And no one can read the Gospel narratives without perceiving how good men and bad alike were smitten at times with a sense of subduing awe as they stood in the presence of Jesus Christ. This was the experience of the Baptist when he exclaimed, ‘I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?’ (Matthew 3:14). It was the feeling of Simon Peter when he cried, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord’ (Luke 5:8). This majesty of Christ’s character forces itself upon us at every point, rising higher and higher until it reaches a culmination in the awful scenes of the judgment-hall and the cross. Was it not this majesty of a pure soul that arrested and troubled Pilate himself in the midst of his keen concern for his own selfish interests and his lofty Roman contempt for a mere Jew? And was it not this same majesty of holiness that smote upon the heart of the very centurion who carried out the sentence of crucifixion, so that he exclaimed, ‘Certainly this was a righteous man’ (Luke 23:47)? Sometimes we see Christ’s moral majesty flashing out so overwhelmingly that it works with a kind of physical effect, as when the profane traffickers in the Temple cringe and flee before Him; or when, in the Garden, as He steps out of the shadows, saying, ‘I am he,’ His enemies go backward, and fall to the ground (John 18:5 f.).

(d) But besides the unconscious majesty of goodness, we see in Jesus Christ throughout His public ministry a conscious majesty of the most positive kind. This man, so meek and lowly in heart, does not hesitate to make the most astounding claims. He claims a personal authority that sweeps aside in a moment all the traditional learning of the nation’s religious teachers (Matthew 7:28-29). Never, surely, in the world’s history has there been another series of utterances so clothed in the majesty of spiritual power as the Sermon on the Mount. And this poor Carpenter of Nazareth further assumes without the least hesitation the name and dignity of the promised Messiah of Israel; He affirms, in a sense altogether unique, that He is the Son of God, unto whom all things have been delivered of the Father (Matthew 11:27, Luke 10:22; cf. John 14-17); He invites every burdened and weary soul to come unto Him for rest (Matthew 11:28). And what could be more majestic than the language in which Christ assumes the office of the universal Judge of men, and describes the events and issues of that solemn day when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the nations shall be gathered before Him? (Matthew 25:31 ff.).

(2) It is unnecessary to dwell in any detail upon the majesty of the exalted Christ. From St. Peter’s first sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33 ff.) down to the last utterance of the Apostolic Church, the Christ of the NT is the Christ enthroned in glory, dignity, and power. His followers do not think of Him ‘according to the flesh’ (2 Corinthians 5:16)—as the Prophet of Galilee or the Man of Sorrows. The Christ of whom they do habitually think is risen, ascended, glorified, and set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (cf. Romans 8:34, 1 Corinthians 15:14 ff., Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:9 ff., 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ff., Hebrews 1:2 ff. and passim). Apart from the evidence of their own writings, no better proof of this can be found than the fact that for more than a century after the death of Jesus the Church appears never to have concerned itself in any way as to His earthly appearance, or to have had any desire for pictorial representations of His human face and form. And is it not highly significant that, on the one solitary occasion on which a NT writer has set himself to describe the Lord’s personal appearance, the attempt is based upon no recollections or traditions regarding Jesus of Nazareth, but upon a splendid conception of the majesty of the exalted Christ—His eyes as a flame of fire, His voice as the sound of many waters, in His right hand seven stars, and His countenance as the sun shineth in his strength (Revelation 1:13 ff.)?

Literature.—The Lexx. and Comm.; Farrar, Christ in Art, bk. ii.; P. Dearmer’s art. ‘Christ in Art’ in vol. i.; Dora Greenwell, Patience of Hope, pt. i.; Seeley, Ecce Homo, ch. iv.; Denney, Stud. in Theol. 169.

J. C. Lambert.