Acts 4:33

ἀπεδίδουν τὸ μαρτύριον, “gave the Apostles their witness,” R.V. See Acts 4:12. τὸ μαρτ., prop., “res quæ testimonio est,” but sometimes in N.T. pro μαρτυρία (Blass). ἀπεδ., however, implies paying or rendering what is due; it suggests that there is a claim in response to which something is given (Westcott on Hebrews 13:11); cf. Matthew 12:36; Luke 12:59; Luke 16:2; Luke 20:25; Romans 13:7; 1 Corinthians 7:3, etc. This was its first and strict significance in classical Greek, cf. also its use in LXX, frequently. The Apostles therefore bear their witness as a duty to which they were pledged, cf. Acts 1:8; Acts 1:22; Acts 4:20; καὶ ὡς περὶ ὀφλήματος λέγει αὐτό, Oecum. δυνάμει μεγάλῃ : the words may include miraculous powers, as well as stedfast witness. But the τε must not, as Weiss maintains, be so taken as to indicate that χάρις μεγάλη was the result, as in Acts 2:47. For if we regard χάρις as referring to the favour of the people (as in the former narrative in ii.), the γάρ in Acts 4:34 seems to point to the love and liberality of the Christians as its cause. But many commentators prefer to take χάρις as in Acts 6:8 (and as in Luke 2:40, Hilgenfeld), of the grace of God, since here as there it is used absolutely, and Acts 4:34 would thus be a proof of the efficacy of this grace, cf. 2 Corinthians 9:14 χάρις, as Bengel maintains, may include grace, favour with God and man, as in our Lord Himself, Gratia Dei et favor populi.