Acts 15:3

οἱ μὲν οὖν : Phœnicia and Samaria on the one hand welcome them with joy, but on the other hand the Church in Jerusalem is divided, Acts 15:5, see Rendall, Appendix on μὲν οὖν, p. 161. Blass however thinks that the words are used “without opposition” as often. διήρχοντο τὴν Φ. καὶ Σ., see note on Acts 13:6. In both cases the presence of brethren is presupposed, cf. Acts 8:25; Acts 11:19, imperfect, “peragrabant donec pervenerunt,” Acts 15:4 (Blass). προπεμφ.: escorted on their way, not as Titus 3:13, of being provided with necessaries for the journey (Wis 19:2); cf. Acts 20:38; Acts 21:5, and so in classical Greek, only in Luke and Paul in N.T. (except once, 3 John 1:6), cf. Romans 15:24; but in 1 Corinthians 16:6; 1 Corinthians 16:11; 2 Corinthians 1:16, R.V. renders as in Titus, l. c., and John, l. c.; cf. 1Es 4:47, Jdt 10:15, 1Ma 12:4, see Grimm-Thayer, sub v.; Polycarp, Phil., i., 1, of the conduct of St. Ignatius through Macedonia, amongst the early Christians, as amongst the Jews (Genesis 18:16), a mark of affection and respect. The meaning of the word, as Wendt points out, depends on the context. ἐκδιηγ.: only here and in quotation, Acts 13:41 in N.T., “telling the tale of the conversion of the Gentiles”; so διηγεῖσθαι and ἐξηγεῖσθαι more frequently in Luke than in other N.T. writers. Hobart describes all three as medical terms but all three also occur frequently in LXX. ἐκδ.: cf. Habakkuk 1:5; several times in Ecclus., also in Josephus and Arist. (Grimm-Thayer, sub v.). χ. μεγάλην : on Luke's fondness for the predicate μέγας, Friedrich, p. 41, with χαρά as here, cf. Luke 2:10; Luke 24:52; Acts 8:8 (Matthew 2:10; Matthew 28:8), cf. LXX, Jonah 4:6; Isaiah 39:2, A. S. ἐποίουν, imperfect, continuous joy, as they went from place to place, perhaps visiting Cornelius or Philip the Evangelist, Acts 8:40, in their progress. ἐπιστροφὴν : only here in N.T. (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:9), Sir 18:21 (20), Sir 49:2.