Acts 20:11

κλάσας ἄρτον : if we read τὸν ἄρ., see critical note, “the bread,” so R.V., i.e., of the Eucharist; so Syriac. The words evidently refer back to Acts 20:7, see Blass, Gram., p. 148. γευσ.: often taken to refer not to the Eucharist, but to the partaking of the Agape or common meal which followed. If so, it certainly appears as if St. Paul had soon taken steps to prevent the scandals which occurred in Corinth from the Holy Communion being celebrated during or after a common meal, 1 Corinthians 9:23, since here the Eucharist precedes, Luckock, Footprints of the Apostles as traced by St. Luke, ii., 199. Wendt, who still identifies the breaking of the bread with the Agape (so Holtzmann, Weiss), protests against the view of Kuinoel and others that reference is here made to a breakfast which St. Paul took for his coming journey. Dean Plumptre refers to the use of γεύομαι in Hebrews 6:4 as suggesting that here too reference is made to the participation of the Eucharist; but, on the other hand, in Acts 10:10 (see Blass, in loco) the word is used of eating an ordinary meal, and Wendt refers it to the enjoyment of the Agape (cf. also Knabenbauer, in loco). Weiss urges that the meaning of simply “tasting” is to be adopted here, and that τε shows that Paul only “tasted” the meal, i.e., the Agape, and hurried on with his interrupted discourse, whilst Lewin would take γευσ. absolutely here, and refer it to a separate ordinary meal; although he maintains that the previous formula κλάσ. τὸν ἄρτον must refer to the Eucharist. In LXX the verb is frequent, but there is no case in which it means definitely more than to taste, although in some cases it might imply eating a meal, e.g., Genesis 25:30; for its former sense see, e.g., Jonah 3:7. In modern Greek γευματίζω = to dine, so γεῦμα = dinner. ἐφʼ ἱκανόν τε ὁμιλ.: on St. Luke's use of ἱκανός with temporal significance see above on p. 215, cf. with this expression 2Ma 8:25. ὁμιλ.: only in Luke in N.T., cf. Luke 24:14-15; Acts 24:26; here, “talked with them,” R.V., as of a familiar meeting, elsewhere “communed,” R.V.; so in classical Greek, and in Josephus, and also in modern Greek (Kennedy); in LXX, Daniel 1:19 : ὡμίλησεν αὐτοῖς ὁ β., “the king communed with them”. In the passage before us the alternative rendering “when he had stayed in their company” is given by Grimm-Thayer, sub v. ἄχρις αὐγῆς, cf. Polyaen., iv., 18, κατὰ τὴν πρώτην αὐγὴν τῆς ἡμέρας (Wetstein); only here in N.T., found in Isaiah 59:9 2Ma 12:9, but not in same sense as here. οὕτως, cf. Acts 20:7, after a participle, as often in classical Greek, Simcox, Language of the N. T., p. 175, see also Acts 27:17, and Viteau, Le Grec du N. T., p. 190 (1893).