Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 10:14

μηδαμῶς, κύριε, not so (by no means), Lord. Cf. Ezekiel 4:14, where the prophet being shewn that the children of Israel shall eat defiled bread among the Gentiles, exclaims in words very like St Peter’s, ‘There never came abominable flesh into my mouth.’ For the care with which the devout Jew observed the ceremonial distinction between clean and unclean, see Daniel 1:8-12; 2Ma 6:18.

οὐδέποτε … πᾶν. From the usage of the Hebrew, the N.T. writers frequently use οὐ (μὴ) … πᾶς where the classical authors would use οὐδείς and μηδείς. Cf. Matthew 24:22, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ. So Romans 3:20; Ephesians 4:29, &c. In the LXX. cf. Exodus 20:10 (of the Sabbath-day), οὐ ποιήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ πᾶν ἔργον. Also, with another case than the nominative or accusative, 2 Chronicles 32:15, οὐ μὴ δύνηται ὁ θεὸς παντὸς ἔθνους καὶ βασιλείας τοῦ σῶσαι τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ.

κοινὸν καὶ�, common and unclean. The use of κοινός in the sense of ‘impure’ according to the Mosaic code is, as were all the ordinances about which this language was employed, peculiar to the Jews. But it is easy to trace the steps by which the word came to be used thus. All persons who were not Jews were viewed as the ‘common’ rabble, shut out from God’s covenant (cf. κοινοὶ ἄνθρωποι, Joseph. Ant. J. XII. 2, 14), then whatever practices of these outcasts differed from those of the chosen people were called ‘common’ things, and as these ‘common’ things were those forbidden by the Law, all such prohibited things or actions became known as ‘common.’ Cf. Mark 7:2, where ‘defiled hands’ is the rendering of χεῖρες ἄνιπτοι. κοινός is not used by the LXX. as the rendering of any passage where unclean beasts are spoken of, but appears first in this sense in that version, 1Ma 1:50; 1Ma 1:64 τοῦ μὴ φαγεῖν κοινά.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 10:14

Old Testament

New Testament