Stranger, Alien, Foreigner
Stranger, Alien, Foreigner
The word stranger (from extraneus) has been so long in possession as the rendering of several distinct words in the Hebrew and Greek texts that it is difficult to introduce changes in translation that appear desirable in order to distinguish those words from each other, and doubtful in some instances whether an exact rendering would be tolerable to the ear of English readers. [Note: St. Augustine, in a well-known story, tells us that, when a bishop, reading the chapter about Jonahs gourd, ventured to substitute St. Jeromes hedera for the established cucurbita, such a tumult was raised, that if the bishop had persevered he would have been left without a congregation (G. Salmon, Introduction to NT4, London, 1889, p. 126).] Take an instance from the OT, and one from the NT. In Gen 23:4 and Psa 39:12, I am a stranger and a sojourner could not well be changed for I am a sojourner and a settler (or dweller). In Joh 10:5, A stranger () will they not follow for they know not the voice of strangers ( ), we should not welcome the substitution of alien for stranger in order to distinguish from . Aliens, however, might-fitly have been put in Revised Version margin in Mat 17:25, From their sons, or from strangers ( )? Cf. Luk 17:18, Were there none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger? where the rendering of in Revised Version margin by alien heightens the contrast to which our Lord draws attention.
In the numerous NT passages in which changes of a more considerable kind were called for by fidelity to the true meaning of the text, those changes have been judiciously and consistently made by the Revised Version . In Luk 24:18 the question cannot mean Art thou only a stranger? and is rightly changed for Dost thou alone sojourn? (marg. [Note: margin.] Dost thou sojourn alone in Jerusalem?), Cleopas implying that none but a solitary sojourner, who had not come in contact with other sojourners at the Passover season, could be ignorant of the death of Jesus. In Act 2:10 are mentioned in the list of nations present at Pentecost. Here the inadequate rendering strangers of Rome becomes sojourners from Rome, those meant being Romans who had migrated to Jerusalem and had settled in that city (Overbeck, quoted by A. Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles [NT Studies, iii.], Eng. translation , London, 1909, p. 67). In the speech of St. Stephen (Act 7:29, ), we should read became a sojourner, and in that of St. Paul (Act 13:17, ) when they sojourned. Read also in Act 17:21 ( ), Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there: the large number of foreign residents was always a distinguishing feature of Athens (J. B. Lightfoot in Smiths Dict. of the Bible 2, vol. i. pt. i. p. 36a).
The Christian communities addressed in 1Pe 1:1 are called . Authorized Version loosely translates to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, and wrongly transfers to the verse following. Read with Revised Version to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion, or simply to the elect sojourners of the Dispersion. It is now generally agreed that St. Peter had in his mind predominantly, though probably not exclusively. Gentile readers, and that , like the preceding , is used to describe their religious condition, both words being taken from the vocabulary created by Jewish history and afterwards transferred to the Christian Church (F. H. Chase in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iii. 783a; T. Zahn, Introduction to NT, Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1909, ii. 141, 153, n. [Note: . note.] 5), In 1Pe 2:11 a strong moral appeal is made to Christians as : here, having the first claim to sojourners, it was necessary that should be translated by a different word, and pilgrims, which, in its Latin form peregrini, is used by the Vulgate in this verse, at once suggested itself. It is to be noticed that the rendering sojourners for strangers in 1Pe 2:11 connects the appeal made with the exhortation given in 1:17, . [Note: Note on , .-In distinction from , it [] emphasises more definitely the merely temporary character of the residence (Zahn, ii. 139).]
Alien occurs twice in the NT (Authorized Version ). In Heb 11:34 the fine rendering armies of the aliens () could not be improved upon. In Eph 2:12 Revised Version rightly substitutes the verb for the noun, as required by the Greek text, , alienated from the common wealth of Israel (cf. 4:18, Col 1:21).
Foreigner (from foraneus) was not a word in common use when the Authorized Version was made, and in the NT is found only in Eph 2:19 ( ). We regret the disappearance of the in-spiriting words no more strangers and foreigners, but must admit the consistency of Revised Version in translating no more strangers and sojourners.
In what follows, this study of words is supplemented by some reflexions of a devotional and practical nature.
1. Christ and the stranger.-Kindness to the stranger-guest has always been one of the most attractive features of Eastern life and manners. From the earliest times of Semitic life the lawlessness of the desert has been tempered by the principle that the guest is inviolable (W. R. Religion of the Semites (W. Robertson Smith) 2, London, 1894, p. 76). The description in Gen 18:2-8 of Abrahams entertainment of his three mysterious visitors presents a perfect picture of the manner in which a modern Bedawee sheykh receives travellers arriving at his encampment (E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians5, London, 1871, i. 364). The humanitarian laws enjoined on Israel included the following; A stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt (Exo 22:21; cf. Exo 23:9, Lev 19:33-34, Deu 10:18-19). The stranger, who is to be made welcome, and whose rights are to be respected, often comes into view, e.g. in Rth 2:10, Psa 94:8; Psa 146:9, Mal 3:5. In Greece, , the Protector of the assembly of the people, was also , the Protector of strangers. The beautiful story of Philemon and Baucis, the aged Phrygian couple who received Zeus and Hermes into their but when others had refused to take them in (cf. J. B. Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon, London, 1875, p. 370, who uses the legend to illustrate the scene at Lystra, Act 14:11), must have had its origin in some mind which had conceived it possible that the gods might put men to the proof by visiting them in human form. The truth thus dimly shadowed forth was realized in Jesus Christ. He, when found in fashion as a man, accepted the title of Prophet as one which, so far as it went, was a true description of His work (H. B. Swete, The Ascended Christ, London, 1910, p. 53), and, in His preaching ministry, was dependent for food and lodging on those who received him (Luk 10:38; Luk 19:5-6; cf. 2Ki 4:9-10). In one of His last discourses He taught that the stranger was, along with others whom He named, one of His brethren or next of kin, who had the right to the same ministering love which had been shown toward Himself, and solemnly said that mens final acceptance before Him as their Judge depended upon their recognizing and doing justice to that right. His authoritative and affecting words (Mat 25:35) impressed it for ever on the heart of the Church that in receiving the stranger she fed and sheltered her Lord. [Note: A. H. McNeile, The Gospel according to St. Matthew, London, 1915, p. 370b: After the Resurrection, and helped by the Influence of Greek thought, Christians were divinely led to the conception of the mystical oneness of an immanent Christ with humanity. , , , (Clem. Strom. I. xix. 94, II. xv. 71). Vidisti, inquit, fratrem, vidisti dominum tuum (Tert. De Orat. xxvi.).] They made care for the stranger a standing rule of Christian life (cf. J. R. Seeley, Ecce Homo11, London, 1873, p. 194). Their effects are seen in Rom 12:13, 1Ti 3:2; 1Ti 5:10, Tit 1:8, 3Jn 1:5, Clem, Rom. i. 1, 2, Didache, xi. 2. It is somewhat remarkable that in Heb 13:2 our Lords words are not referred to. The marked feature of apostolic Christianity presented to view in these passages pointed forward to the systematic provision which was made for the entertainment of strangers in the of post-apostolic times. A saint, i.e. a Christian, provided with a letter of recommendation from his church, could travel from one end of the Roman Empire to the other without having any anxiety about a home. Wherever there was a Christian Church he was sure of receiving food and shelter, and attention in case of illness (G. Bonet-Maury in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics vi. 804b; cf. Sanday-Headlam, International Critical Commentary , Romans5, Edinburgh, 1902, p. 363; W. E. H. Lecky, History of European Morals8, London, 1888, ii. 80). It is not necessary to do more than allude to the countless forms of helpful assistance and benevolence which Christs compassion for the stranger has prompted in recent times (cf. T. von Haering, Ethics of the Christian Life, London, 1909, p. 402; H. L. Martensen, Christian Ethics [Social], Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1882, ii. 71, 72).
2. The sheep and strangers.-Neither Authorized Version nor Revised Version gives the proper emphasis to in Joh 10:5. These words enrich the comparison between the two voices. We should read But a stranger will they by no means follow, or will they certainly not follow. Christ speaks with confident expectation of how His sheep will act. They will assuredly not follow a stranger: on the contrary () they will flee from him. Fleeing implies a feeling of danger and alarm. The voice of the stranger whom they know not scares the sheep (cf. W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, London, 1864, p. 203; F. Godet, Com. on St. Johns Gospel, Edinburgh, 1876-77, ii. 382). The words may be applied to the Church of the Apostolic Age in a variety of ways. They who knew that the Son of God was come (1Jn 5:20) were not led astray by false Messiahs. They were gifted with a quickness of apprehension and a sharpness of penetration that enabled them to see the tendency and temper of false teaching. They accounted as strangers those teachers who came to act as spies on the liberty which they had in Christ (Gal 2:4), as well as others, still more dangerous, who sought to lead them into the thicket of Gnostic speculation in which they would have lost sight altogether of the nature and work of their Redeemer (Col 2:8). The same faculty of discrimination, created and guided by the Spirit of Christ, enabled them to take the first steps in sifting the writings of the Apostolic Age, and setting apart those which spoke to them with the voice and authority of the Chief Shepherd.
3. Christians not but .-It is worthy of attention that Christians are not called in the NT. The Gentile believers addressed in Ephesians had once been (Eph 2:12), but are now (Eph 2:19), fellow-citizens with full rights (cf. Php 3:20), and in household fellowship with the family of God. When Christians are described as in early Christian literature, the word is used in a typical or metaphorical sense-as in the Epistle to Diognetus, Php 3:5 : , . St. Peters impressive adaptation of Hos 2:23 to the Gentile Christians of Asia Minor, (1Pe 2:10), is immediately followed by his appeal to them as . They are thus reminded that they are sojourners on earth, dependent on the protection of God, whose property the earth is, and to whom it belongs to determine the length of their sojourn and what mercies they shall receive. Such seems to be the force of the words with thee in Psa 39:12 (cf. A. F. Kirkpatrick, Book of Psalms, Cambridge, 1902, p. 207). In the Church the Christian finds a home for the lonely (J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, new ed., London, 1868, iv. 196): but so long as we are still at home () in the body, we are in a sort of exile from our home () in the Lord (2Co 5:6; cf. A. Plummer, International Critical Commentary , 2 Corinthians, Edinburgh, 1915, pp. 124, 151). Exilium vita est was the inscription carved above the doorway in Victor Hugos room at Hauteville, Guernsey.
Literature.-To the works cited throughout the article may be added: S. R. Driver, The Book of Exodus, Cambridge, 1911, p. 231, International Critical Commentary , Deuteronomy2, Edinburgh, 1896, p. 165; C. L. W. Grimm, Lexicon in Libros NT, Leipzig, 1868, s.v. , , ; J. A. Selbie, articles Foreigner, Ger, and Strange, Stranger in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) .
James Donald.