Acts 14:23

χειροτονήσαντες δὲ αὐτοῖς πρεσβ., see above, Acts 10:41, where the compound verb is used, “chosen of God,” ὑπὸ Θ. The simple verb is only used here and in 2 Corinthians 8:19 : lit [273], to elect by popular vote, by show of hands, but it is by no means a word of certain meaning, and came to be used, as Ramsay admits, in the sense of appointing or designating. Here evidently the word is not used in the literal sense given above, as Paul and Barnabas appoint, and that the idea of popular election did not necessarily belong to the word, at least in later Greek, is evident from Josephus, Ant., vi., 13, 9, τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ κεχειροτονημένον βασιλέα : cf. Acts 13:2; Acts 13:2, of the appointment of Jonathan as high priest by Alexander. On the later use of the word, of which there is no early trace, as referring to the stretching out of the bishop's hands in the laying on of hands, cf. “Ordination” (Hatch, Dict. of Chr. Ant., ii., p. 1501 ff.). Blass takes the word here as = καθιστάναι, and compares Titus 1:5, although he thinks that nothing is said here about the mode of election, and that the Church may have had some share in it. So too Ramsay compares the same passage, Titus 1:5, and concludes that St. Paul doubtless followed there the same method which he followed here, a method in which the votes and voices of each congregation were considered, cf. 2 Corinthians 8:19. But the office to which Luke was appointed in 2 Cor., l. c., was not an office which involved ordination, and we could not argue from it alone to the method of the appointment of elders in the passage before us. At the same time it may be fully admitted that the Church was not without some share in the election of the elders, and it must not be forgotten that, in the case of the Seven, the Church had elected, and the Apostles had ordained, Acts 6:3. In Clem. Rom., Cor [274], xliv, whilst the Apostles took care to secure that after their death distinguished men should appoint presbyters and deacons, yet the latter were elected with the consent of the whole Church, and they were exposed, as it were, to the judgment of the Church (see on this voice of the Church, Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood, p. 89, and Gore, Church and the Ministry, p. 100 ff.). If we compare the language of Acts 6:3; Titus 1:5, Clem. Rom., Cor [275], xlii. 4, xliv. 2, 3, and the use of the verb καθίστημι in each, it would seem that the κατάστασις was throughout reserved to the Apostles or their representatives, whilst the Church, if not always selecting, may at least be regarded as consenting, συνευδοκησάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας πάσης, Clem. Rom., u. s., xliv. 3; see “Bishop” (Haddan), Dict. of Chr. Ant., i., p. 213. But, further, in the passage before us it is not impossible that the choice as well as the ordination of the presbyters may be referred to Paul and Barnabas, cf. the pronoun αὐτοῖς : “having appointed for them,” and in newly founded communities it was not unnatural that the Apostles should exercise such choice and authority. On the use of the verb in the Didaché, xv., 1, and its compatibility with ordination in accordance with Apostolic practice and injunction, see Gore, Church and the Ministry, p. 281; and further. Church Quarterly Review, 42, p. 265 ff., on the strictures passed by Loening, Die Gemeindeverfassung, 61, 62. κατʼ ἐκκλησίαν, “in every Church,” distributive, Acts 2:46; Acts 5:42, cf. Titus 1:5, Clem. Rom., Cor [276], lxii., 4. On the spread of Christianity in Asia Minor see additional note at end of chapter. προσευξ. μετὰ νησ.: Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 122, speaks of the solemn prayer and fasting which accompanied the appointment of the elders, and of this meeting and rite of fasting, as the form permanently observed, cf. Acts 13:1-3. The two participles χειροτ. and προσευξ. evidently refer to the appointment, and not to the subsequent commendation. See also Harnack, Proleg. to Didaché, p. 148; and on the other hand, Overbeck, Wendt, Weiss, Zöckler. παρέθεντο, Acts 20:32, cf. Luke 12:48; Luke 23:46; 1 Peter 4:19, cf. 1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:2 (in no parallel sense in the other Evangelists). In the first three passages above used as here of solemn committal to God; also of giving into another's charge or keeping, cf. παραθήκη, 1Ti 6:20, 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:14. In classical Greek of money or property entrusted to one's care. In Tob 10:12 (cf. Acts 1:14; Acts 4:1; Acts 4:20) both verb and noun are found together, παρατίθεμαί σοι τὴν θυγατέρα μον ἐν παραθήκῃ (see Hatch and Redpath). αὐτοὺς may refer to the believers in general, cf. Hort, Ecclesia, p. 66. τῷ Κ., i.e., Christ, as the πιστεύω indicates: the phrase πιστ. εἰς, or ἐπί τινα, is peculiarly Christian, cf. Lightfoot on Galatians 2:16.

[273] literal, literally.

[274] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[275] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[276] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.