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Bible Dictionaries
Pillar
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or The pillar (στύλος) is the symbol of stability and firmness, that which upholds and sustains. Its figurative use is confined to the NT, in the following passages.
1. Galatians 2:9.-Ἰάκωβος καὶ Κηφᾶς καὶ Ἰωάνης, οἱ δοκοῦντες στύλοι εἶναι, ‘James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars.’ στύλοι, which was used quite commonly as a descriptive title for the great Rabbis, here refers to those already mentioned (Galatians 2:2) ‘who were of repute’-the recognized leaders, and (v. 6) ‘those who were reputed to be somewhat’-considerable persons, ‘those who are the great authorities with you Galatians now’ (Ellicott, in loc.).
2. 1 Timothy 3:15.-ἥτις (sc. οἶκος) ἐστὶν ἐκκλησία θεοῦ ζῶντος, στύλος καὶ ἐδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ‘which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground (stay) of the truth.’ ἑδραίωμα is ἅπαξ λεγ. in both classical and NT Greek. ‘House of God’ in the OT denoted, in the first place, the Temple, and then, by metonymy, the covenant people-familia Dei. Here it stands for the congregation of believers among whom God dwells. Hort (The Christian Ecclesia, p. 172 ff.) renders, ‘a household of God, which is an Ecclesia of a living God, a pillar and stay of the truth,’ and contends that the absence of the article is not immaterial, and says, in opposition to the rendering in the RV_: ‘There is no clear evidence that the rare word ἑδραίωμα ever means “ground” = “foundation.” It is rather, in accordance with the almost universal Latin rendering firmamentum, a “stay” or “bulwark.” St. Paul’s idea then is that each living society of Christian men is a pillar and stay of “the truth” as an object of belief and a guide of life for mankind, each such Christian society bearing its part in sustaining and supporting the one truth common to all’ (cf. ExpT_ viii. [1896-97] 471). The reference would then be to the local Church of Ephesus. But a large body of interpreters favour the rendering of the AV_ and the RV_-the whole society of believers, the Church universal, is regarded as the ground and stay of the truth (cf. J. Strachan, Westminster NT, ‘The Captivity and the Pastoral Epistles,’ London, 1910, p. 218). The Church is first pictured as a house, inhabited by a living God, and then, by a quick change of metaphor, is described as στύλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα, holding up the truth, the saving truth of the gospel. Attempts have been made to avoid the mixture of metaphor by referring ‘pillar’ and ‘stay’ to Timothy himself. But, though there is no insuperable objection to this, it is not needful. ‘There is no intolerable mixture of metaphors in speaking of Christians first as a house and then as a pillar, any more than in speaking of any one as both a pillar and a basis. In 1 Timothy 6:9 we have the covetous falling into a snare and hurtful lusts such as drown men’ (A. Plummer, Expositor’s Bible, ‘The Pastoral Epistles,’ London, 1888, p. 131 n._).
3. Revelation 3:12.-ὁ νικῶν ποιήσω αὐτὸν στύλον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ θεοῦ μου, καὶ ἔξω οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃ ἔτι, ‘He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple (sanctuary) of my God, and he shall go out thence no more.’ The letter to the Church of Philadelphia ‘gives the pledge of safety from the hour of trial, of steadiness like the pillar of a temple, of everlasting guarantee against disaster and eviction, of exaltation above the enemies who now contemn and insult.… It was always in dread of the last hour of trial, and was always kept from it. It stood like a pillar, the symbol of stability and strength’ (Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 411 f.). The history of Philadelphia does not belie the splendid promise made to its church. It stood like a pillar against the troubles of the times, and a bulwark of civilization. The town is still largely Christian (cf. EBi_ iii. 3692). ‘Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy, or courage.… Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins: a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same’ (E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vii.2 [1902] p. 27). It has been said that among the few ruins of Philadelphia there are four strong marble pillars standing in one spot, and on the sides of these pillars inscriptions are found. W. M. Ramsay (op. cit.) traces in the promise to this church suggestive references, which, he thinks, a Philadelphian could not fail to discover, e.g. to the disasters and earthquakes common to the district: ‘he that overcometh shall never again require to go out and take refuge in the open country. The city which had suffered so much and so long from instability was to be rewarded with the Divine firmness and steadfastness.’
Augustine (quoted by R. C. Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia3, London, 1867, p. 188) says: ‘Quis non desideret illam civitatem, unde amicus non exit, quo inimicus non intrat?’
The majority of commentators, followed by the RV_, take the name as written upon the victor and not on the pillar (the metaphor being dropped), but De Wette adopts the latter rendering, so that στῦλοι become also στῆλαι. As to the inscription itself, Ramsay (op. cit.) contends that there are not three names, but one ‘which has all three characters, and is at once the name of God, the name of the Church, and the new name of Christ.’
Literature.-F. J. A. Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, London, 1897; W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, do., 1904; P. Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, do., 1881, p. 60 f.; C. J. Ellicott, NT Commentary, 1884, in loc.
W. M. Grant.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Pillar'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/pillar.html. 1906-1918.
