Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 20:16

κεκρίκει for ἕκρινε with אABCDE. Vulg. ‘proposuerat.’

16. κεκρίκει γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος, for Paul had determined. In the midst of a large Christian congregation, such as we know to have existed by this time in Ephesus, there would have arisen many causes of delay which the Apostle in this rapid journey desired to avoid. Perhaps too there might have been some hostility roused against him, and either from a wish not to awaken this, or from fear lest the allaying of it should consume time, he resolved to send for the heads of the Church to confer with him at Miletus.

ὅπως μὴ γένηται αὐτῷ χρονοτριβῆσαι ἐν τῇ Ἀσία, that he might not have to spend time in Asia. St Paul felt that he could not go to Ephesus and leave again in a day or two.

χρονοτριβέω is nowhere else in N.T. or LXX. and very rarely in any Greek authors, though χρόνον τρίβειν is common enough. See however Aristot. Rhet. III. 3.

ἔσπευδεν γάρ, for he was hastening. The verb expresses the whole character of his journey, and we can only conclude that there was some difficulty in finding a vessel at Troas, or he would not have stayed there so long as he did, and not have given a day to Ephesus, which he felt he was hardly likely to see again.

τὴν ἡμέραν τῆν Πεντηκοστῆς, the day of Pentecost. Pentecost at Jerusalem must have become a Christian as well as a Jewish festival. There would be at such a time an opportunity for the Apostle to meet the more prominent members of the Christian body, and, while bringing his contributions from the Churches which he had founded, he would gladden them with the news of what God had enabled him to do.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 20:16

Old Testament

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