βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος, ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα
βάρβαρος] To the Jew the whole world was divided into Ἰουδαῖοι and
Ἕλληνες, the privileged and unprivileged portions of mankind, religious
prerogative being taken as the line of demarcation (see notes Gal. ii.
3). To the Greek and Roman it was similarly divided into Ἕλληνες and
βάρβαροι, again the privileged and unprivileged portion of the human
race, civilization and culture being now the criterion of distinction.
Thus from the one point of view the Ἕλλην is contrasted
disadvantageously with the Ἰουδαῖος, while from the other he is
contrasted advantageously with the βάρβαρος. Both distinctions are
equally antagonistic to the Spirit of the Gospel. The Apostle declares
both alike null and void in Christ. The twofold character of the
Colossian heresy enables him to strike at these two opposite forms of
error with one blow.
The word βάρβαρος properly denoted one who spoke an inarticulate,
stammering, unintelligible language; see Max Müller _Lectures on the
Science of Language_ 1st ser. p. 81 sq., 114 sq., Farrar _Families of
Speech_ p. 21: comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 11. Hence it was adopted by Greek
exclusiveness and pride to stigmatize the rest of mankind, a feeling
embodied in the proverb πᾶς μὴ Ἕλλην βάρβαρος (Servius on Verg. _Æn._
ii. 504); comp. Plato _Polit._ 262 E τὸ μὲν Ἑλληνικὸν ὡς hὲν ἀπὸ πάντων
ἀφαιροῦντες χωρίς, σύμπασι δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις γένεσιν ... βάρβαρον μιᾷ
κλήσει προσέιποντες αὐτὸ κ.τ.λ., Dionys. Hal. _Rhet._ xi. 5 διπλοῦν δὲ
τὸ ἔθνος, Ἕλλην ἢ βάρβαρος κ.τ.λ. So Philo _Vit. Moys._ ii. 5 (II. p.
138) speaks of τὸ ἥμισυ τμῆμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπων γένους, τὸ βαρβαρικόν, as
opposed to τὸ Ἑλληνικόν. It is not necessary to suppose that they
adopted it from the Egyptians, who seem to have called non-Egyptian
peoples _berber_ (see Sir G. Wilkinson in Rawlinson’s Herod. ii. 158);
for the onomatopœia will explain its origin independently, Strabo
xiv. 2. 28 (p. 662) οἶμαι δὲ τὸ βάρβαρον κατ’ ἀρχὰς ἐκπεφωνῆσθαι οὕτως
κατ’ ὀνοματοποιίαν ἐπὶ τῶν δυσεκφόρως καὶ σκληρῶς καὶ τραχέως λαλούντων,
ὡς τὸ βατταρίζειν κ.τ.λ. The Latins, adopting the Greek culture, adopted
the Greek distinction also, e.g. Cic. _de Fin._ ii. 15 ‘Non solum Græcia
et Italia, sed etiam omnis barbaria’: and accordingly Dionysius, _Ant.
Rom._ i. 69, classes the Romans with the Greeks as distinguished from
the ‘barbarians’—this twofold division of the human race being taken for
granted as absolute and final. So too in v. 8, having mentioned the
Romans, he goes on to speak of οἱ ἄλλοι Ἕλληνες. The older Roman poets
however, writing from a Greek point of view, (more than half in irony)
speak of themselves as _barbari_ and of their country as _barbaria_;
e.g. Plaut. _Mil. Glor._ ii. 2. 58 ‘poeta barbaro’ (of Nævius), _Asin._
Prol. II. ‘Maccus vortit barbare’, _Pœn._ iii. 2. 21 ‘in barbaria
boves’.
In this classification the Jews necessarily ranked as ‘barbarians’. At
times Philo seems tacitly to accept this designation (_Vit. Moys._
l.c.); but elsewhere he resents it, _Leg. ad Cai._ 31 (II. p. 578) ὑπὸ
φρονήματος, ὡς μὲν ἕνιοι τῶν διαβαλλόντων ἔιποιεν ἂν, βαρβαρικοῦ, ὡς δ’
ἔχει τὸ ἀληθές, ἐλευθερίου καὶ εὐγενοῦς. On the other hand the Christian
Apologists with a true instinct glory in the ‘barbarous’ origin of their
religion: Justin _Apol._ i. 5 (p. 56 A) ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν βαρβάροις ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ
τοῦ Λόγου μορφωθέντος καὶ ἀνθρώπου γενομένου, ib. § 46 (p. 83 D) ἐν
βαρβάροις δὲ Ἀβράαμ κ.τ.λ., Tatian. _ad Græc._ 29 γραφαῖς τισὶν ἐντυχεῖν
βαρβαρικαῖς, ib. 31 τὸν δὲ (Μωυσῆν) πάσης βαρβάρου σοφίας ἀρχηγόν, ib.
35 τῆς καθ’ ἡμᾶς βαρβάρου φιλοσοφίας. By glorying in the name they gave
a practical comment on the Apostle’s declaration, that the distinction
of Greek and barbarian was abolished in Christ. In a similar spirit
Clem. Alex. _Strom._ i. 16 (p. 361) endeavours to prove that οὐ μόνον
φιλοσοφίας ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης σχεδὸν τέχνης εὑρετὰι βάρβαροι.
‘Not till that word _barbarian_’, writes Prof. Max Müller (l.c. p. 118),
‘was struck out of the dictionary of mankind and replaced by _brother_,
not till the right of all nations of the world to be classed as members
of one genus or kind was recognised, can we look even for the first
beginnings of our science. This change was effected by Christianity....
_Humanity_ is a word which you look for in vain in Plato or Aristotle;
the idea of mankind as one family, as the children of one God, is an
idea of Christian growth: and the science of mankind, and of the
languages of mankind, is a science which, without Christianity, would
never have sprung into life. When people had been taught to look upon
all men as brethren, then and then only, did the variety of human speech
present itself as a problem that called for a solution in the eyes of
thoughtful observers: and I therefore date the real beginning of the
science of language from the first day of Pentecost.... The common
origin of mankind, the differences of race and language, the
susceptibility of all nations of the highest mental culture, these
become, in the new world in which we live, problems of scientific,
because of more than scientific interest’. St Paul was the great
exponent of the fundamental principle in the Christian Church which was
symbolized on the day of Pentecost, when he declared, as here, that in
Christ there is neither Ἕλλην nor βάρβαρος, or as in Rom. i. 14 that he
himself was a debtor equally Ἕλλησίν τε καὶ βαρβάροις.
The only other passage in the New Testament (besides those quoted) in
which βάρβαρος occurs is Acts xxviii. 2, 4, where it is used of the
people of Melita. If this Melita be Malta, they would be of Phœnician
descent.
Σκύθης] the lowest type of barbarian. There is the same collocation of
words in Dionys. Halic. _Rhet._ xi. 5, 6 πατήρ, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, νέος,
Æsch. _c. Ctes._ 172 Σκύθης, βάρβαρος, ἑλληνίζων τῇ φωνῇ (of
Demosthenes). The savageness of the Scythians was proverbial. The
earlier Greek writers indeed, to whom _omne ignotum_ was _pro
magnifico_, had frequently spoken of them otherwise (see Strabo vii. 3.
7 sq., p. 300 sq.). Æschylus for instance called them ἔυνομοι Σκύθαι,
_Fragm._ 189 (comp. _Eum._ 703). Like the other Hyperboreans, they were
a simple, righteous people, living beyond the vices and the miseries of
civilisation. But the common estimate was far different, and probably
far more true: e.g. 3 Macc. vii. 5 νόμου Σκυθῶν ἀγριωτέραν ... ὠμότητα
(comp. 2 Macc. iv. 47), Joseph. _c. Ap._ ii. 37 Σκύθαι ... βραχὺ τῶν
θηρίων διαφέροντες, Philo _Leg. ad Cai._ 2 (II p. 547) Σαρματῶν γένη καὶ
Σκυθῶν, ἅπερ οὐχ ἧττον ἐξηγρίωται τῶν Γερμανικῶν, Tertull. _adv. Marc._
i. 1 ‘Scytha tetrior’. In _Vit. Moys._ ii. 4 (I. p. 137) Philo seems to
place the Egyptians and the Scythians at the two extremes in the scale
of barbarian nations. The passages given in Wetstein from classical
writers are hardly less strong in the same direction. Anacharsis the
Scythian is said to have retorted ἑμοὶ δὲ πάντες Ἕλληνες σκυθίζουσιν,
Clem. _Strom._ i. 16 (p. 364).
The Jews had a special reason for their unfavourable estimate of the
Scythians. In the reign of Josiah hordes of these northern barbarians
had deluged Palestine and a great part of Western Asia (Herod. i.
103–106). The incident indeed is passed over in silence in the
historical books; but the terror inspired by these invaders has found
expression in the prophets (Ezek. xxxviii, xxxix, Jer. i. 13 sq., vi. 1
sq.), and they left behind them a memorial in the Greek name of
Beth-shean, Σκυθῶν πόλις (Judith iii. 10, 2 Macc. xii. 29: comp. Judges
i. 27 LXX) or Σκυθόπολις, which seems to have been derived from a
settlement on this occasion (Plin. _N.H._ v. 16; see Ewald. _Gesch._
III. p. 689 sq., Grove s.v. _Scythopolis_ in Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._).
Hence Justin, _Dial._ § 28 (p. 246 A), describing the largeness of the
new dispensation, says κἂν Σκύθης ᾖ τις ἢ Πέρσης, ἔχει δὲ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ
γνῶσιν καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ φυλάσσει τὰ αἴωνια δίκαια ... φίλος
ἐστὶ τῷ Θεῷ, where he singles out two different but equally low types of
barbarians, the Scythians being notorious for their ferocity, the
Persians for their licentiousness (Clem. Alex. _Pæd._ i. 7, p. 131,
_Strom._ iii. 2, p. 515, and the Apologists generally). So too the
Pseudo-Lucian, _Philopatris_ 17, satirising Christianity, ΚΡ. τόδε εἶπε,
εἰ καὶ τὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐγχαράτουσι. ΤΡ. πάντα, εἰ τύχοι γε
χρηστὸς καὶ ἐν ἔθνεσι. From a misconception of this passage in the
Colossians, heresiologers distinguished four main forms of heresy in the
pre-Christian world, βαρβαρισμός, σκυθισμός, ἑλληνισμός, ἰουδαϊσμός; so
Epiphan. _Epist. ad. Acac._ 2 σαφῶς γὰρ περὶ τούτων τῶν τεσσάρων
αἱρέσεων ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐπιτεμὼν ἔφη, Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐ βάρβαρος, οὐ
Σκύθης, οὐχ Ἕλλην, οὐκ Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις: comp. _Hær._ i. 4, 7
sq., I. p. 5, 8 sq., _Anaceph._ II. pp. 127, 129 sq.
τὰ πάντὰ κ.τ.λ.] ‘_Christ is all things and in all things._’ Christ has
dispossessed and obliterated all distinctions of religious prerogative
and intellectual preeminence and social caste; Christ has substituted
Himself for all these; Christ occupies the whole sphere of human life
and permeates all its developments; comp. Ephes. i. 23 τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν
πᾶσιν πληρουμένου. For τὰ πάντα, which is stronger than οἱ πάντες, see
Gal. iii. 22 συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν with the note. In
this passage ἐν πᾶσιν is probably neuter, as in 2 Cor. xi. 6, Phil. iv.
12, 1 Tim. iii. II, 2 Tim. ii. 7, iv. 5, Ephes. iv. 6, vi. 16.
In the parallel passage Gal. iii. 28 the corresponding clause is πάντες
ὑμεῖς ἑῖς ἐστὲ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. The inversion here accords with a chief
motive of the epistle, which is to assert the absolute and universal
supremacy of Christ; comp. i. 17 sq., ii. 10 sq., 19. The two parts of
the antithesis are combined in our Lord’s saying, Joh. xiv. 20 ὑμεῖς ἐν
ἐμοί, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.
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