ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι, lit [114], “when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled” (filled up). R.V. renders “was now come,” and a question arises as to whether the words mean this, or that the day was only being filled up, and not fully come. Blass interprets the expression to mean a short time before... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄφνω : only in Acts, here, and in Acts 16:26; Acts 28:6; Klostermann's _Vindiciæ Lucanæ_, p. 55; several times in LXX, but also in classical Greek in Thuc., Dem., Eur. ἦχος ὥσπερ φερομ. πν. βιαίας, lit [115], “a sound as if a violent gust were being borne along”. St. Chrysostom rightly emphasises th... [ Continue Reading ]
διαμεριζόμ. γλῶσσαι : the audible σημεῖον is followed by a visible: γλῶσσαι the organs of speech by which the wonderful works of God were to be proclaimed, so that the expression cannot be explained from Isaiah 5:24, where the tongue of fire is represented as an organ of destruction (Wendt, note, _i... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποφθέγγεσθαι a word peculiar to Acts, _cf._ Acts 5:14 and Acts 26:25; in the LXX used not of ordinary conversation, but of the utterances of prophets; _cf._ Ezekiel 13:9; Micah 5:12; 1 Chronicles 25:1, so fitly here: (_cf._ ἀποφθέγματα, used by the Greeks of the sayings of the wise and philosophers... [ Continue Reading ]
κατοικοῦντες, probably used not merely of temporary dwellers for the Feast, but of the devout Jews of the Diaspora, who for the purpose of being near the Temple had taken up their residence in Jerusalem, perhaps for the study of the Law, perhaps to live and to die within the city walls (see St. Chry... [ Continue Reading ]
φωνῆς ταύτης : “when this sound was heard,” R.V. “Hic idem quod ἦχος comm [119] 2,” so Wetstein, who compares for φωνή in this sense Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 14:7-8 (2 Chronicles 5:13), and so most recent commentators (_cf._ John 3:8); if human voices were meant, the plural might have been expec... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξίσταντο : frequent in St. Luke, three times in his Gospel, eight in the Acts, elsewhere once in St. Paul, once in St. Matthew, four times in St. Mark. The word is often found in the LXX in various senses; _cf._ for its meaning here Genesis 43:33, Jdt 13:17; Jdt 15:1, 1Ma 15:32; 1Ma 16:22. πάντες Γ... [ Continue Reading ]
τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλ … ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθημεν used distributively as Acts 2:11 ταῖς ἡμετ. γλώσσαις shows and hence cannot be taken to mean that only one language common to all, _viz._, Aramaic, was spoken on the outpouring of the Spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
The list which follows has been described as showing the trained hand of the historian, whilst it has also been regarded as a distinctly popular utterance in Greek style (Ramsay, _Church in the Roman Empire_, p. 149; but see also Rendall, _Acts_, Introd., p. 13). But, as Dean Plumptre well remarks,... [ Continue Reading ]
Κρῆτες καὶ Ἄραβες : both names seem to have been added to the list as an after-thought. Even if we cannot accept Nösgen's idea that St. Luke is repeating _verbatim_ the account which he had received orally from an eyewitness who had forgotten the Arabians and Cretans in going through the list geogra... [ Continue Reading ]
διηπόρουν : not found in LXX (only in Psalms 76:5, and Daniel 2:3, Symmachus), and peculiar to St. Luke in the N.T., once in his Gospel, Luke 9:7 (Luke 24:4 ἀπορεῖσθαι, W.H [122] and R.V.), and three times in Acts, _cf._ Acts 5:24; Acts 10:17. διηποροῦντο in R.V. “were perplexed”; A. V. “were in dou... [ Continue Reading ]
ἕτεροι δὲ : although the word is ἕτεροι, not ἄλλοι, it is doubtful how far it indicates a distinct class from those mentioned as speaking in Acts 2:7-12. At the same time not only πάντες, Acts 2:12, but also the behaviour of the ἕτεροι, seems to separate them from the εὐλαβεῖς in Acts 2:5. χλευάζοντ... [ Continue Reading ]
σταθεὶς δὲ Πέτρος : St. Chrysostom rightly remarks on the change which had passed over St. Peter. In the place where a few weeks before he had denied with an oath that he knew “the man,” he now stands forth to proclaim him as the Christ and the Saviour. It is quite characteristic of St. Luke thus to... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥρα τρίτη τῆς ἡμέρας : the words refer to the hour of early prayer, 9 A.M., the Jews previously did not partake of food, and on festal days they abstained from food and drink until the sixth hour (twelve o'clock). But if Schürer (see on Acts 3:1, and Blass, _in loco_) is right in specifying other ho... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ταῖς ἐσχ. ἡμέρ., _i.e._, the time immediately preceding the Parousia of the Messiah (Weber, _Jüdische Theologie_, p. 372). The expression is introduced here instead of μετὰ ταῦτα, LXX, to show that St. Peter saw in the outpouring of the Spirit the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy, Acts 2:28-31 (LXX)... [ Continue Reading ]
As there was to be no limit of sex or age, so too there was no limit of condition. The word μου is not in the Hebrew, only in the LXX, but as it is found in the latter and in Acts it is argued that the words δούλους and δούλας do not mean those of servile rank, but are applied in a general sense to... [ Continue Reading ]
The word σημεῖα is wanting in the Hebrew and the LXX, but the co-ordination of the two words τέρας and σημεῖον is frequent in the N.T. (John 4:48; Acts 4:30; Romans 15:19; 2 Corinthians 12:12), and even more so in the LXX (Exodus 7:3; Exodus 7:9; Deuteronomy 4:34; Nehemiah 9:10;... [ Continue Reading ]
For similar prophetic imagery taken from the startling phenomena of an eclipse in Palestine, _cf._ Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Amos 8:9. πρὶν ἢ ἐλθεῖν. The LXX omit ἤ, and Weiss contends that this is the reason of its omission here in so many MSS. Weiss retains it as in Acts 7:2; Acts 25:16; _cf._ a... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα, the usual LXX rendering of a common Hebrew phrase. The expression is derived from the way in which prayers addressed to God begin with the invocation of the divine name, Psalms 3:2; Psalms 6:2, etc., and a similar phrase is found in classical writers, ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τοὺς θεούς,... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἰσραηλῖται : the tone of St. Peter throughout is that of a man who would win and not repulse his hearers, _cf._ Acts 5:29, and so he commences the second part of his speech, in proof that Jesus was both Lord and Christ, with a title full of honour, reminding his hearers of their covenant relation wi... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦτον, emphatic, ἔκδοτον delivered up, by Judas, not by God; only here in the N.T., but see instances from Josephus, also from classical Greek, in Wetstein. In Dan., Theod., Bel and the Dragon Acts 2:22. ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ : both favourite words of St. Luke: ὡρις. used by him five times in the Acts 10:... [ Continue Reading ]
Δαυεὶδ γὰρ λέγει : the words which follow are quoted by St. Peter from Psalms 16; and it has been said that the Apostle's argument would be the same if the Psalm were the work of some other author than David. But if the following Psalm and the Psalm in question may with considerable reason be attrib... [ Continue Reading ]
In LXX and N.T. rightly εἰς ᾅδην. W.H [127]; _cf._ also Briggs, _Messianic Prophecies_, p. 24; although in T.R. as usually in Attic, εἰς ᾅδου, _sc._, δόμον. Blass regards as simply usurping in the common dialect the place of ἐν, but we can scarcely explain the force of the preposition here in this w... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγνώρισάς μοι ὁδοὺς ζωῆς : St. Peter quotes from the LXX, which has the plural ὁδούς so in Proverbs 5:6, where Hebrew has the same word as here in the singular, the LXX translates ὁδοὺς ζωῆς. μετὰ τοῦ προσώπου σου, “with thy countenance” = “in thy presence,” margin; = Hebrew, “in thy presence”. The... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί : an affectionate form of address as compared with Acts 2:14; Acts 2:22 (_cf._ Acts 7:2; Acts 22:1), but still much more formal than Acts 3:17, where we have ἀδελφοί alone in St. Peter's pity for those who crucifying the Saviour knew not what they did. ἐξὸν, _sc._, ἐστι (with infiniti... [ Continue Reading ]
προφήτης : as David could not have spoken this Psalm of himself, he spoke it of some other, who was none other than the Messiah here the word is used in the double sense of one declaring God's will, and also of one foretelling how that will would be fulfilled. ὑπάρχων : another favourite word of St.... [ Continue Reading ]
προϊδών, _cf._ Galatians 3:8. The word ascribes prophetic consciousness to David in the composition of the Psalm, but, as we learn from St. Peter himself, that prophetic consciousness did not involve a distinct knowledge of the events foretold (1 Peter 1:10-12); that which the Holy Ghost presignifie... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗ : may be masculine = Christ, _cf._ Acts 13:31, but is taken as neuter by Blass (so too Overbeck, Holtzmann, Weiss, Wendt, Felten). Bengel remarks “nempe Dei qui id fecit,” and compares Acts 5:32; Acts 10:41, and 1 Corinthians 15:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὖν : the Ascension is a necessary sequel to the Resurrection, _cf._ Weiss, Leben _Jesu_, iii., 409 ff. and _in loco_. Or the word may mark the result of the assured and manifold testimony to the Resurrection, to which the Apostle had just appealed: “Confirmata resurrectione Christi, ascensio non po... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Peter does not demand belief upon his own assertion, but he again appeals to the Scriptures, and to words which could not have received a fulfilment in the case of David. In this appeal he reproduces the very words in which, some seven weeks before, our Lord Himself had convicted the scribes of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀσφαλῶς : used here emphatically; the Apostle would emphasise the conclusion which he is about to draw from his three texts; _cf._ Acts 21:34; Acts 22:30, and Wis 18:6 (so in classical Greek). πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσρ., without the article, for οἶκος Ἰ. is regarded as a proper name, _cf._ LXX, 1 Samuel 7:2; 1... [ Continue Reading ]
κατενύγησαν τὴν καρδίαν : no word could better make known that the sting of the last word had begun to work (see Theophylact, _in loco_) = _compungo_, so in Vulg. The word is not used in classical Greek in the same sense as here, but the simple verb νύσσειν is so used. In LXX the best parallels are... [ Continue Reading ]
βαπτισθήτω : “Non satis est Christocredere, sed oportet et Christianum profiteri, Romans 10:10, quod Christus per baptismum fieri voluit,” Grotius. John's baptism had been a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, but the work of St. Peter and of his fellow-Apostles was no mere continuation... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑμῖν γὰρ : the promise was made to the very men who had invoked upon themselves and upon their children, St. Matthew 27:25, the blood of the Crucified. See _Psalms of Solomon_, Acts 8:39 (Ryle and James' edition, p. 88). πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς μακράν : no occasion with Wendt and others to limit the words to... [ Continue Reading ]
ἑτέροις τε λόγοις πλείοσιν τε (not δὲ), as so frequent in Acts; “inducit quæ similia cognataque sunt, δέ diversa,” Blass, _in loco_, and _Grammatik des N. G._, p. 258. διεμαρτύρατο : the translation “testified,” both in A. and R.V., hardly gives the full form of the word. Its frequent use in the LXX... [ Continue Reading ]
Οἱ μὲν οὖν : a truly Lucan formula, see Acts 1:6. There is no anacoluthon, but for the answering δέ see Acts 5:42. The words therefore refer to those mentioned in Acts 5:37; in contrast to the three thousand fear came upon every person, ψυχή, so Mr. Page, on μὲν οὖν, _in loco_. Mr. Rendall finds the... [ Continue Reading ]
The growth of the Church not merely in numbers but in the increase of faith and charity. In R.V. by the omission of καὶ before τῇ κλάσει two pairs of particulars are apparently enumerated the first referring to the close adherence of believers to the Apostles in teaching and fellowship, the second e... [ Continue Reading ]
πάση ψυχῇ, _i.e._, every person, and so Acts 3:23, Hebraistic, _cf._ כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ, Leviticus 7:17; Leviticus 17:12, etc., and _cf._ 1Ma 2:38. In Acts 2:41 the plural is used rather like the Latin _capita_ in enumerations, _cf._ Acts 7:14; Acts 27:37, and LXX, Genesis 46:15; Exodus 1:5;... [ Continue Reading ]
πάντες δε κ. τ. λ., _cf._ Acts 3:24, all, _i.e._, not only those who had recently joined, Acts 2:41. ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, see note on Acts 1:15; here of place. Theophylact takes it of the unanimity in the Church, but this does not seem to be in accordance with the general use of the phrase in the N.T. = ὁμο... [ Continue Reading ]
τὰ κτήματα … τὰς ὑπάρξεις : according to their derivation, the former word would mean that which is acquired, and the latter that which belongs to a man for the time being. But in ordinary usage κτήματα was always used of real property, fields, lands, _cf._ Acts 5:1, whilst ὑπάρξεις was used of pers... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁμοθυμαδόν, see note on Acts 1:14. προσκαρτεροῦντες, _cf._ Acts 1:14. ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ : we are not told how far this participation in the Temple extended, and mention is only made in one place, in Acts 21:26, of any kind of connection between the Apostles or any other Christians and any kind of sacrifici... [ Continue Reading ]
αἰνοῦντες τὸν Θεὸν : a favourite expression with St. Luke, _cf._ Gospel Acts 2:13; Acts 2:20; Acts 19:37; Acts 3:8-9, elsewhere only in Romans 15:11 (a quotation), and Revelation 19:5, with dative of person, W.H [135] The praise refers not merely to their thanksgivings at meals, but is characteristi... [ Continue Reading ]