Acts 14:8

ἐν Λύστροις : here neuter plural, and not as in Acts 14:6; Acts 14:21; feminine. Clemen, p. 115, and Jüngst, p. 131, see a proof in this that 8 18, or 21 a, was interpolated by a redactor. But Hilgenfeld points out that the same interchange of feminine singular and neuter plural recurs in Acts 16:1-2; cf. also 2 Timothy 3:11. The miracle which follows has often been compared with those narrated in Acts 3:1 ff., and it has been alleged that this second miracle is a mere imitation of the first, to keep up the parallel between Peter and Paul. But whilst there are, no doubt, features in common in the two narratives no great matter for surprise in similar healings, where a similarity of expressions would fitly recur, especially in the literary usage of a medical writer (see Zöckler, p. 240) the differences are also marked: e.g., in the Petrine miracle the man is a beggar, and asks only for alms; in the Pauline nothing is said of all this, even if the first fact is implied in the Petrine miracle nothing is said of the man's faith, although it is implied (see notes, in loco); here it is distinctly stated in the earlier miracle Peter is represented as taking the man and raising him up; here nothing of the kind is mentioned (see further on the two miracles, and the different motive in their performance, Nösgen, Apostelgeschichte, p. 267). On St. Paul's own claim to work miracles see 2 Corinthians 12:12; Romans 15:19; Galatians 3:5. If the latter passage occurs in an Epistle addressed amongst other Churches to Christians in Lystra, in accordance with the South Galatian theory, the assertion of miraculous powers is the more notable; see also McGiffert, Apostolic Age, p. 189. ἀδύν. τοῖς π.: adjective only here in N.T. in this sense, cf. LXX,. Tob 2:10; Tob 5:9, ἀδύν. τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς. It is used frequently in a similar sense by medical writers, Hobart, p. 46. ἐκάθητο; not “dwelt” Hebraistic; but simply “used to sit,” cf. Luke 18:35; John 9:8; probably in the forum, cf. Acts 14:11 (Blass). ἐκ κοιλ. μητρὸς α.; “no mendicant pretender, but one whose history from infancy was well known”. See Ramsay on the “triple beat,” St. Paul, p. 115.