Acts 4:21

προσαπειλησάμενοι : “when they had further threatened them” R.V., or the word may mean “ added threats to their warning” Acts 4:18 (“prius enim tantum præceperunt,” Erasmus). So Wendt as against Meyer; cf. in LXX, Sir 13:3,., and Dem., p. 544, 26. ἀπέλυσαν : “dimiserunt [Acts 3:13] non absolverunt,” Blass; see St. Chrysostom's striking contrast between the boldness of the Apostles and the fear of their judges (Hom., xi.). τὸ πῶς : finding nothing, namely (τὸ), how they might, etc.; this use of the article is quite classical, drawing attention to the proposition introduced by it and making of it a compound substantive expressing one idea, most commonly with an interrogation; it is used by St. Luke and St. Paul, and both in St. Luke's Gospel and in the Acts, cf. Luke 1:62; Luke 9:46; Luke 19:48; Luke 22:2; Luke 22:4; Luke 22:23-24; Acts 22:30, Romans 8:26, 1 Thessalonians 4:1, cf. Mark 9:23. So here the Sanhedrists are represented as asking themselves τὸ πῶς κολ. (Friedrich and Lekebusch both draw attention to this characteristic of St. Luke's writings). See Viteau, Le Grec du N. T., pp. 67, 68 (1893). κολ. only here and in 2 Peter 2:9 in N.T.; cf. 3Ma 7:3, where it is also used in middle, expressing to cause to be punished, cf. 1Ma 7:7, AS. διὰ τὸν λαόν belongs not to ἀπέλυσαν, but rather to μὴ εὑρίσκ. κ. τ. λ. ἐδόξαζον : see on Acts 2:46; cf. Luke 2:20; 2 Corinthians 9:13, for the construction; the verb never has in Biblical Gr [160] mere classical meaning of to think, suppose, entertain an opinion (but cf. Polyb., vi., 53, 10; δεδοξασμένοι ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ); in the LXX very frequently of glory ascribed to God, see Plummer's note on Luke 2:20.

[160] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.