ἄνδρες ἀ. καὶ π., _cf._ Acts 7:2. So St. Stephen had addressed a similar assembly, in which had been Saul of Tarsus, who was now charged with a like offence as had been laid to the charge of the first Martyr. Those whom he addressed were his brethren according to the flesh, and his fathers, as the r... [ Continue Reading ]
προσεφώνει : only in Luke and Paul, except Matthew 11:16, _cf._ Matthew 6:13; Matthew 7:32; Matthew 13:12; Matthew 23:20; Matthew 21:40, see Friedrich, p. 29, for the frequency of other compounds of φωνεῖν in Luke. μᾶλλον παρ. ἡσυχ : the phrase is used similarly in Plut., _Coriol._, 18, Dion Hal., i... [ Continue Reading ]
γεγενν. ἐν Τ., see above p. 202. ἀνατεθ. δὲ : although by birth a foreign Jew, yet brought up in Jerusalem, and so belonging to his hearers. It was important for the Apostle to emphasise this, as his close association with Jerusalem had a significant bearing on his future life. The comma best after... [ Continue Reading ]
ταύτην τὴν ὁδὸν, see above Acts 9:2. ἄχρι θανάτου : sometimes taken to mean not that he prosecuted the Christians “unto death” (for if this was the meaning the following participles would sound feeble), but that this was his aim; Acts 22:20 and Acts 26:10, however, seem fully to justify the former m... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡς καὶ ὁ ἀρχ.: not the high priest at the time he was speaking, for that was Ananias, Acts 23:2, but rather to the high priest Caiaphas who gave him his commission to Damascus, and who may have been still alive, hence μαρτυρεῖ, present. τοὺς ἀδελ.: the word was used by the Jews of each other, Exodus... [ Continue Reading ]
περὶ μεσημ., _cf._ Acts 26:12, not mentioned in 9, note of a personal recollection. ἐξαίφνης : only here in Acts and in Acts 9:3, see note; twice in Luke's Gospel, only once elsewhere in N.T.; see further on Acts 26:12 note, on the three accounts of St. Paul's Conversion. περιαστράψαι : so also in A... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔπεσον : on the form ἔπεσα W.H [366] see Kennedy, _Sources of N.T. Greek_, p. 159, Winer-Schmiedel, p. 111. ἔδαφος : only here in N.T. (in LXX, 1 Kings 6:15, Wis 11:5, etc., and in 4Ma 6:7, πίπτων εἰς τὸ ἕδ.), but the verb ἐδαφίζειν is found in Luke 19:44, and there only in N.T. ἤκουσα φωνῆς, see on... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Acts 9:5 and Acts 9:4; Acts 9:7; Acts 9:9. ἔμφ. ἐγέν., see critical note.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἐνέβλεπον, _cf._ Xen., _Mem._, iii., 11, 10, here absolute, Grimm-Thayer, _sub v._ : chap. ix., 8, gives the fact of the blindness, here we have its cause as from St. Paul's personal reminiscence. δόξης : Heb. כָּבוֹד _cf._ 1 Corinthians 15:40; 2 Corinthians 3:7, and Luke 9:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἀναν., Acts 9:10. The description is added, ἀνὴρ εὐ. Ἰ., manifestly fitting before a Jewish audience, and a proof that the brother who came to Saul was no law-breaker, Lewin, _St. Paul_, ii., 146. On the reading εὐλαβής, _cf._ Acts 2:5. τῶν κατοικ.: seems to imply that Ananias had dwelt for some tim... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπιστὰς : “standing over one,” used frequently in Acts of the appearance of an angel, or of the intervention of a friend (or of an enemy), see Luke 2:9; Luke 4:39; Luke 10:40; Luke 12:7; Luke 24:4, only found in Luke and Paul, Friedrich, p. 42, see above Acts 12:7. μαρτ., Acts 6:3. ἀδελφέ, Acts 9:17... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατ. ἡμῶν : again a conciliatory phrase, _cf._ Acts 7:32, so St. Peter in Acts 3:13; Acts 5:30. προεχειρ.: “hath appointed,” only in Acts in N.T., Acts 3:20, and in Acts 26:16, again used by Paul in narrating his conversion and call. In LXX, _cf._ Exodus 4:13; Joshua 3:12, Malachi 3:7; 2M... [ Continue Reading ]
μάρτυς αὐτῷ : “a witness for him,” R.V., _cf._ Acts 1:8. πάντας ἀνθ.: we may see another evidence of the Apostle's tact in that he does not yet employ the word ἔθνη. ὧν ἑώρακας καὶ ἤκουσας, Blass well compares for the former verb the Apostle's own words, 1 Corinthians 9:1; perfect tense, marks what... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ νῦν : so by St. Paul in Acts 20:22; Acts 20:25; Acts 26:6; Acts 16:37; Acts 13:11; also found in Acts 3:17; Acts 10:5, but no instances in Luke's Gospel of καὶ νῦν beginning a sentence, Hawkins, _Horæ Synopticæ_, p. 145. τί μέλλεις : only here in this sense in N.T., _cf._ 4Ma 6:23; 4Ma 9:1, and... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγέν. δέ μοι ὑποσ.: refers to the first visit of St. Paul to Jerusalem after his Conversion, Lightfoot, _Galatians_, pp. 84, 93, 125. Ramsay, _St. Paul_, p. 60, refers it to the second visit, (1) because the reason for Paul's departure from Jerusalem is given differently here and in Acts 9:29. But m... [ Continue Reading ]
σπεῦσον καὶ ἔξ.: implying danger, _cf._ Acts 9:29. σου μαρτ.: grounded upon the occurrence before Damascus, and so a striking testimony.... [ Continue Reading ]
Κύριε, Acts 9:5. αὐτοὶ ἐπίσ.: Paul seems as it were to plead with his Lord that men cannot but receive testimony from one who had previously been an enemy of Jesus of Nazareth; the words too are directed to his hearers, so that they may impress them with the strength of the testimony thus given by o... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦ μ. σου : he identifies himself with Stephen, his testimony like that of the martyr is borne to Christ; on the word see p. 67; the term is here in a transition stage from “witness” to “martyr,” _cf._ also Revelation 17:6 : Hackett quotes the Christians of Lyons, towards the close of the second ce... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς ἔθνη : the mere mention of the Gentiles roused their fury, and they saw in it a justification of the charge in Acts 21:28; the scene closely resembled the tumultuous outburst which led to the murder of St. Stephen.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπῆραν τὴν φ., see on Acts 2:14. αἶρε, _cf._ Acts 21:36, emphasised here, by ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς; present tense, a continuous cry. καθῆκον : only used by St. Paul elsewhere in N.T., _cf._ Romans 1:28. The imperfect, καθῆκεν, see critical note, implies that long ago he ought to have been put to death “for it... [ Continue Reading ]
κραυγαζόντων δὲ (τε, Weiss, Wendt, W.H [369]), only here in Acts (_cf._ Luke 4:41, but doubtful: W.H [370] read κράζοντα), six times in St. John, and four times in his narrative of the Passion of the cries of the Jewish multitude, _cf._ especially Acts 19:15, so too in Esther 3:13; Esther 3:13, in c... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ χιλ., see Acts 21:31. παρεμ., Acts 21:34. εἰπὼν : whether the chiliarch understood Paul's words or not, he evidently saw from the outcries of the mob that the Apostle was regarded as a dangerous person, and he probably thought to obtain some definite information from the prisoner himself by tortur... [ Continue Reading ]
προέτειναν : “and when they had tied him up with the thongs,” R.V., _i.e._, with the ligatures which kept the body extended and fixed while under flogging; Vulgate, “cum astrinxissent eum loris”; but προέ. is rather “stretched him forward with the thongs,” _i.e._, bound him to a pillar or post in a... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅρα, see critical note. τί μέλλεις ποιεῖν, _cf._ 2Ma 7:2 R, τί μέλλεις ἐρωτᾶν; ὁ γὰρ ἄν. οὗτος, on St. Luke's fondness for οὗτος in similar phrases, Friedrich, pp. 10, 89.... [ Continue Reading ]
πολλοῦ κεφ., _cf._ LXX, Lev. 5:24 (Leviticus 6:4), Numbers 5:7; Jos., _Ant._, xii., 2, 3 (used by Plato of capital (_caput_) as opposed to interest). Mr. Page compares the making of baronets by James 1. as a means of filling the exchequer. τὴν πολιτείαν ταύτην : “this citizenship,” R.V., _jus civita... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ … δὲ, _cf._ Acts 3:24; Luke 2:35; Matthew 10:18; Matthew 16:18; John 6:51; John 15:27; Romans 11:23; 2 Timothy 3:12, and other instances, Grimm-Thayer, _sub v._, δέ, 9. ἐφοβήθη, _cf._ Acts 16:38, and the magistrates of Philipp [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ τί κατηγ. παρὰ τῶν Ἰ.: epexegetical of τὸ ἀσφαλὲς, _cf._ Acts 4:21 for the article, and Luke 1:62; Luke 9:46; Luke 19:48; Luke 22:2; Luke 22:4; Luke 22:23-24; Luke 22:37, also 1 Thessalonians 4:1;... [ Continue Reading ]