Acts 6:1
GRECIANS] i.e. Hellenists, or Greek-speaking Jews. HEBREWS] i.e. Hebrew-speaking Jews. Hebrew was spoken mainly in Jerusalem and Judæa. MINISTRATION] i.e. distribution of food (Acts 6:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
GRECIANS] i.e. Hellenists, or Greek-speaking Jews. HEBREWS] i.e. Hebrew-speaking Jews. Hebrew was spoken mainly in Jerusalem and Judæa. MINISTRATION] i.e. distribution of food (Acts 6:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
STEPHEN AND THE SEVEN 1-7. The Hebrew-speaking Jews, who were in a majority in the Church of Jerusalem, were inclined to despise and neglect the minority who spoke Greek. In particular, the Greek-speaking widows received less food than their Hebrew-speaking sisters. This led to complaints, and the i... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS NOT REASON] rather, 'It does not please us.' SERVE TABLES] i.e. attend to the distribution of food. Others think that the tables of bankers are meant, and that the Apostles complain that they cannot keep the accounts, or manage the finances of so large a community.... [ Continue Reading ]
FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST] Revelation 1 Church work requires to be performed in the power of the Spirit, and not least the management of charity and finance. WISDOM] i.e. the practical discernment and tact so necessary in the distribution of charity.... [ Continue Reading ]
The names are all Greek, which suggests that some at least of them were Greek-speaking Jews. That all were Hellenists is not probable. Greek names were quite common even among the Hebrews (cp. Nicodemus, Philip, and Andrew). One, Nicolas, was a proselyte, i.e. doubtless a full circumcised proselyte.... [ Continue Reading ]
OF FAITH] RV 'of grace.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PREACHING, MIRACLES, AND ARREST OF STEPHEN. The reason why the preaching of Stephen gave so much greater offence than that of the Twelve probably was that he saw that the coming of Christ virtually abrogated the Ceremonial Law, and that its abandonment was only a question of time. He thus antici... [ Continue Reading ]
There are said to have been no less than 480 synagogues in Jerusalem, and the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, at any rate, would have been sufficiently numerous to have synagogues of their own. LIBERTINES] lit. 'freed-men.' These were descendants of those Jews who, having been carried by the Romans, par... [ Continue Reading ]
SUBORNED MEN] The success of these tactics against Jesus encouraged them to repeat them.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS HOLY PLACE] i.e. the Temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
DESTROY THIS PLACE, etc.] What St. Stephen had probably said was that the Law would pass away as having been fulfilled in Christ, and that if the Jews persistently refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, their city and Temple would be destroyed, as Jesus had prophesied (Matthew 24, etc.). Altho... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FACE OF AN ANGEL] This description is probably due to St. Paul, who was doubtless present: cp. Acts 7:58.... [ Continue Reading ]