Acts 10:2

ἑκατοντάρχης : form general in N.T., and so in later Greek, although χιλίαρχος is always retained in N.T., and ἑκατόνταρχος is also found, Matthew 8:5; Matthew 8:8 (W.H [237]), Luke 7:2; Acts 22:25 (W.H [238]); so πατριάρχης, πολιτάρχης, ἐθνάρχης, see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 82, and note on forms employed in Josephus and LXX; W.H [239], Appendix, p. 163; Blass, Gram., pp. 28, 68; and Grimm-Thayer, sub v., for various authorities. ἐκ σπείρης τῆς Ἰ : the word σπεῖρα here = cohors, although used in the N.T. in a more general way as of the band which arrested Jesus, and so also of Jewish troops in Jdt 14:11, 2Ma 8:23; 2Ma 12:20; 2Ma 12:22. Each legion was subdivided into ten cohorts, but besides the legionary cohorts there were auxiliary cohorts, and Josephus mentions that five of these cohorts were stationed at Cæsarea at the time of the death of Herod Agrippa, composed to a great extent at all events of the inhabitants of Cæsarea and Sebaste, Ant., xix., 9, 2; xx., 8, 7. There were in the provinces Italic cohorts composed of volunteer Roman citizens born in Italy, and in answer to the strictures of Schürer, who contends that there was no Italic cohort in Cæsarea at this time, Blass, in loco, asks why one of the five cohorts mentioned by Josephus may not have been composed of Roman citizens who had made their home at Cæsarea or Sebaste, a cohort known by the name mentioned. But Ramsay has given great interest to the subject by his account of a recently discovered inscription at Carnuntum the epitaph of a young Roman soldier, a subordinate officer in the second Italic cohort, who died at Carnuntum while engaged on detached service from the Syrian army. He sees reason to infer that there was an Italic cohort stationed in Syria in A.D. 69, and although the new discovery does not prove anything with certainty for the period in Acts 10, say 40 44 A.D., yet it becomes in every way probable that at that date, when Cornelius is described as in Acts 10:1, an Italic cohort recruited from the east was stationed in the province Syria. But even if it could be shown that no Italic cohort was stationed at Cæsarea from A.D. 6 41, or again from 41 44 in the reign of Herod, it by no means follows that a centurion belonging to the cohort may not have been on duty there. He may have been so, even if his cohort was on duty elsewhere, and it would be a bold thing to deny such a possibility when the whole subject of detached service is so obscure; Ramsay, Expositor, September, 1896, also Expositor, December, 1896 (Schürer's reply), and January, 1897 (Ramsay); Schürer, Jewish People, div. i., vol. ii., p. 53 ff. E.T.; Ramsay, Was Christ born at Bethlehem? pp. 260 269; O. Holtzmann, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, p. 108; and Wendt, in loco, (1899). εὐσεβὴς καὶ φ. τὸν Θεὸν : the adjective is only used here and in Acts 10:7 (Acts 22:12), and once again in 2 Peter 2:9 in the N.T. In the LXX it is found four times in Isaiah, thrice as an equivalent of צַדִּיק, Acts 24:16; Acts 26:7 (2), righteous, upright, cf. also Proverbs 12:12, once as an equivalent of נָדִיב, liberal, generous, see on Acts 8:2 above; frequent in Ecclus. and Macc., see also Trench, N.T. Synonyms, i., p. 196. Taken by itself the word might denote goodness such as might characterise a Gentile, cf. Acts 17:23, and its classical use (like the Latin pietas); but construed with φ. τὸν Θεόν it certainly seems to indicate that Cornelius was “a God-fearing proselyte” (not to be identified it would seem with “proselytes of the gate,” although the confusion is common (Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. ii., p. 316 E.T.)). In Acts this class of proselyte is always so described (or σεβόμενοι τὸν Θ.) “they that fear God,” i.e., the God of the Jews, cf. Acts 10:22; Acts 10:35; Acts 13:16; Acts 13:26, etc. All the incidents of the story seem to point to the fact that Cornelius had come into relations with the synagogue, and had learned the name and the fear of the God of Israel, cf. Acts 10:2; Acts 10:22; Acts 10:25, without accepting circumcision, see especially Ramsay, Expositor, p. 200 (1896), where he corrects his former remarks in St. Paul, p. 43; Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums, “Fremder,” i., 3, p. 382; Hort, Ecclesia, p. 58; O. Holtzmann, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, pp. 184, 185; Weizsäcker, Apostolic Age, i., 103 E.T.; McGiffert, Apostolic Age, p. 101, note, and for a further explanation of the distinction between the σεβόμενοι and the “proselytes of the gate” cf. Muirhead Times of Christ (T. & T. Clark), pp. 105, 106. σὺν παντὶ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ : the centurions of the N.T. are always favourably represented, cf. Matthew 8:5; Luke 7:9; Luke 23:47; Acts 27:3. οἶκος here includes not only the family but the whole household, cf. Acts 7:10; Acts 11:14; Acts 16:31; Acts 18:8, etc.; Luke 1:27; Luke 10:5; Luke 19:9, thus the soldier “who waited on him continually” is also called εὐσεβής. οἶκος (cf. πᾶς ὁ οἶκ. ὅλος ὁ οἶκ.), favourite word with St. Luke in the sense of “family” (Lekebusch, Friedrich) as compared with the other Evangelists, but often found in St. Paul (cf. Hebrews), so also LXX, Genesis 7:1; Genesis 47:12. St. Peter uses the word so in Acts 11:14, and in 1 Peter 2:18 we have οἰκέτης. St. Chrysostom well says: “Let us take heed as many of us as neglect those of our own house” (Hom., xxii.). Cf. too Calvin, in loco. ποιῶν ἐλεημ. τῷ λαῷ, see note on Acts 9:36; the word occurs frequently in Ecclus. and Tobit, and its occurrence here and elsewhere in Acts illustrates the Jewish use of the term; but although it is true to say that it does not occur in Acts in any Christian precept, St. Paul applies the word to the collection made from the Christian Churches for his nation at Jerusalem, Acts 24:17, a collection to which he attached so much importance as the true outcome of Christian love and brotherhood, see l.c. How highly almsgiving was estimated amongst the Jews we may see from the passages referred to in Hastings' B.D. and B.D. 2; Uhlhorn's Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, p. 52 ff. E.T.; but it should be remembered that both in Ecclus. and Tobit there are passages in which both almsgiving and fasting are also closely connected with prayer, Sir 7:10, Tob 12:8. τῷ λ., i.e., Israel, as always in Luke, see above on Acts 4:25. Both this and his continuous prayer to God, Acts 10:30, characterise him as half a Jew (Weiss). διὰ παντός : Luke 24:53, and three times in Acts (once in a quotation, Acts 2:25), but only used once in Matthew and Mark, and not at all by St. John; on St. Luke's predilection for πᾶς and its compounds see Friedrich, pp. 5, 6. The description of the centurion no doubt reminds us of the description of another centurion in Luke 7:5 (so Weiss), but we are not obliged to conclude that the centurion here is merely pictured after the prototype there; but the likeness may possibly point to the same source for both narratives, as in some respects the language in the two cases is verbally alike, see Feine. δεόμενος : “ preces et liberalitas commendantur hic; accedit jejunium, Acts 10:30 ”; so Bengel, and he adds, “Benefici faciunt, quod Deus vult: precantes iidem quod volunt, Deus facit”.

[237] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[238] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[239] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.