Acts 15:10

νῦν οὖν : in Acts four times, nowhere else in N.T.; cf. Acts 10:35, nunc igitur: LXX, Genesis 27:8, etc.; 1Ma 10:71. τί πειράζετε τὸν Θ., cf. Acts 5:9, they put God to the proof, as to whether He had not admitted unworthy persons into the Church. ἐπιθ. ζυγὸν : on the infinitive see Burton, N. T. Moods and Tenses, p. 151; Blass, Gram., p. 221: metaphor common among the Rabbis, and also in classical literature, cf. Jeremiah 5:5; Lamentations 3:27, Sir 51:26 (Zephaniah 3:9), and Matthew 11:29 (Luke 11:46), Galatians 5:1. Possibly in Jeremiah 5:5 reference is made to the yoke of the law, but Psalms of Solomon, Acts 7:8, cf. Acts 17:32, present undoubted instances of the metaphorical use of the term “the yoke” for the service of Jehovah. In Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, iii., 8 (Taylor, second edition, p. 46), we have a definite and twice repeated reference to the yoke of Thorah, cf. Apocalypse of Baruch, xli., 3 (Charles' edition, p. 66 and note), and also Psalms of Solomon, Ryle and James, p. 72, note. It would seem therefore that St. Peter uses an almost technical word in his warning to the first Christians. τῶν μαθητῶν, i.e., of those who had learnt of Christ and knew the meaning of His yoke, Matthew 11:29. ἰσχ. βαστάσαι : cf. Acts 13:39. St. Peter no less than St. Paul endorses the charge made by St. Stephen, Acts 7:53. οὔτε ἡμεῖς : a remarkable confession on St. Peter's lips: the conversations with Paul and Barnabas, Galatians 2:7, may well have confirmed the attitude which he had taken after the baptism of Cornelius (Zôckler).