GODLINESS is in the New Testament the equivalent of the Gr. term ECIalficia,yoo-seh'by-ah (I Tim. ii:2; iii:16; iv:7, 8; vi:3, 5, 6, t 1; 2 Tim. iii: 5; Tit. ; also Acts iii:I2, R. V., 2 Pet. i:3, 6. 7; 111:11), except in one passage (I Tim. ii:io), where Oeoaegeta is used. 'It properly denotes,' says Elli cott, 'only' "well-directed reverences" (Trench, &non., sec. 48), but in the New Testament is prac tically the same as Ococrefieta, "the spirit of piety in the life itself either external or internal." It may therefore be considered as piety result ing from the knowledge and love of God, and leading to the cheerful and constant obedience of his commands (2 Pet. iii :11).
In I Tim. iii:16 it imports the substance of re vealed religion.
'; GODS (Heb. C7'-?:?„ cl-o-heene).
(i) Angels are called gods, on account of their superior excellence, and their declaring God's mind, and executing his work as his deputies; and they were required to worship Christ, when the heathen idols were destroyed (Ps. xcvii :7; Heb. i :6). (2) In Exodus (xxit :28, A. V.) is the command, "Thou shalt not revile the gods." Some understand the term gods to be applied to rulers by way of respect. (3) The usual notion of the ancients, that the royal dignity was derived from God, may here be traced to its source ; hence the Home ric decryetnts ;Ma aevs, dee-og--en'ace bus. ee-looce. This notion, entertained by the Ori ental nations with regard to kings, made the latter style themselves gads (Ps. lxxxii :6; cotnp. John x :34). (4) On the other hand with regard to .this particular passage Exod. xxxi :28, it is claimed that thc more correct rendering (and so given in the R. V.) is "Thou shalt not revile God." "E/ohinz does not mean either the gods of other nations, or the rulers, but simply God, . . . whose majesty was despised in every breach of the commandments of Jehovah, and who was honored in the persons of the rulers (see Prov. XXiV :21 ; I Pet. ii :t7)" (K. and D., Cons., in loco). (5) Moses is called a god, be cause God's deputy in delivering the Israelites (Exod. iv :16, and vii:1). (6) Satan is called
the god of this world; he is believed, obeyed, and adored, under various forms, by most of the inhabitants of it (2 Cor. iv :4). (7) Idols are called gods, because adored, worshiped, and trusted by their votaries ( t Kings xi .33). They are strange, or other gods; the Hebrews were not originally in covenant with them (Deut. xxxii: 16; Judg. :12) ; and the most devoted among them, out of detestation, declined pronouncing their names, and hence substitute Bosheth or Besheth, e. shame, instead of Boal, in naming some persons ; thus, for Eshbaal, Meribaal, and Jerubbaal, they said Ishbosheth, Mephibosheth, and Jerubbesheth; and sometimes called the idols Elihim. no-things, or not-gods; and often Gilu lim, rolling excrements (Ezek. xxx :13), etc. GODS, FALSE. These are the beings, whether real or imaginary, adopted as objects of worship among men instead of Jehovah. Fear, lust, malignity or pride, evidently predominate in the conception and choice of such objects of adora tion. Nothing like pure and elevating devotion al sentiment could, or did attach to thcm. The principal of the ancient gods, whom the Romans called dii majorum gentium, and Cicero celestial gods, Varro select gads, Ovid nobiles deos, others consentes deos, were Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Vulcan, and Apollo. Jupiter is considered as the god of heaven; Neptune, as god of the sea ; Mars, as the god of war ; Apollo, of eloquence, poetry, and medicine ; 'Mercury, of thieves ; Bacchus, of wine ; Cupid, of love, etc. A second sort of gods, called demi-gods, semi dii, dii minorum gentlum,indigetes, or gods adopt ed, were men canonized and deified. As the greater gods had possession of heaven by their own right, these secondary deities had it by merit and dona tion, being translated into heaven because they had lived as gods upon earth.