Acts 20:22

καὶ νῦν ἰδού : the exact phrase occurs again in Acts 20:25, and only once elsewhere in words ascribed to Paul, Acts 13:11 (ἰδού νῦν, twice in Paul only, 2 Corinthians 6:2). δεδεμένος τῷ πνεύματι : “bound in the spirit,” compulsus animo, Blass; so δέω in classical Greek, Xen., Cyr., viii., 1, 12; Plato, Rep., viii., p. 567 e, cf. Acts 19:21; Acts 18:25; 1 Corinthians 5:3. The fact that the Holy Spirit is specifically so called in Acts 20:23 seems to decide for the above rendering in this verse; but see Weiss on Acts 20:23; Ramsay also renders “constrained by the Spirit”. Possibly πνεῦμα is named as that part of the man in closest union with the Spirit of God, cf. Romans 8:16, so that the sense is not affected. If we compare with Acts 19:21 the expression presents an advance in the Apostle's thought his purpose becomes plainer, and the obligation more definite, as the Spirit witnesses with his spirit. The expression may mean that the Apostle regarded himself as already bound in the spirit, i.e., although not outwardly bound, he yet knows and feels himself as one bound. For St. Paul's frequent use of πνεῦμα cf. Romans 1:9; Romans 8:16; Romans 12:11, 1 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Corinthians 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 14:14, etc. Oecumenius and Theophylact take πνεύματι with πορεύομαι, i.e., bound, as good as bound, I go by the leading of the Spirit to Jerusalem; but this seems forced. Paley, Horæ Paulinæ, ii., 5, remarks on the undesigned coincidence with Romans 15:30. συναντήσοντά μοι : the verb is found only in Luke in N.T. (except Hebrews 7:10 as a quotation, Genesis 14:17), and only here in this sense, cf. Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 9:11, also Plut., Sulla, 2; Polyb., xx., 7, 14; middle, τὰ συναντώμενα. On the rarity of the future participle in Greek, and its use in this passage “an exception which proves the rule,” see Simcox, Language of the N. T., p. 126.