Acts 20:19

δουλεύων : the word occurs six times in St. Paul's Epistles of serving God, the Lord, Christ, 1 Thessalonians 1:9; Romans 12:11 (R., margin, τῷ καιρῷ), Acts 14:18; Acts 16:18; Ephesians 6:7; Colossians 3:24 (once in Matthew and Luke, of serving God, Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13), and cf. St. Paul's expression δοῦλος of himself, Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1. μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφ.: this use of πᾶς may be called eminently Pauline, cf. Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:8; Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 6:18, 2 Corinthians 8:7; 2 Corinthians 12:12 1 Timothy 3:4; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 2:15; Titus 3:2 (see Hackett's note). ταπειν., a word which may justly be called Pauline, as out of seven places in the N.T. it is used five times by St. Paul in his Epistles, and once in his address in the passage before us; Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 2:3; Colossians 2:18; Colossians 2:23; Colossians 3:12 (elsewhere, only in 1 Peter 5:5). It will be noted that it finds a place in three Epistles of the First Captivity, although used once disparagingly, Colossians 3:18. In pagan ethics ταπεινός was for the most part a depreciatory characteristic, although some few notable exceptions may be quoted, Trench, Synonyms, i., 171 ff. In the LXX and Apocrypha it has a high moral significance and is opposed to ὕβρις in all its forms. The noun is not found either in LXX or Apocrypha, and the adjective ταπεινόφρων (1 Peter 3:8) and the verb ταπεινοφρονεῖν (not in N.T.), although each found in LXX once, the former in Proverbs 29:23 and the latter in Psalms 130:2 (cf. instances in Aquila and Symmachus, Hatch and Redpath), cannot be traced in classical Greek before the Christian era, and then not in a laudatory sense. The noun occurs in Jos., B. J., iv., 9, 2, but in the sense of pusillanimity, and also in Epictet., Diss., iii., 24, 56, but in a bad sense (Grimm-Thayer). But for St. Paul as for St. Peter the life of Christ had conferred a divine honour upon all forms of lowliness and service, and every Christian was bidden to an imitation of One Who had said: πραΰς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, Lightfoot on Philippians 2:3; “Ethics” (T. B. Strong), Hastings' B.D., i., 786; Cremer, Wörterbuch, sub v. ταπεινος. δακρύων, cf. Acts 20:31; 2 Corinthians 2:4; Philippians 3:18. “Lachrymæ sanctæ … cum his tamen consistit gaudium ”: Bengel. St. Paul was no Stoic, for whom ἀπάθεια was a virtue, the accompaniment of wisdom and the passport to perfection; see Romans 12:15 : “in every age the Christian temper has shivered at the touch of Stoic apathy”. Here the word refers not to the Apostle's outward trials which were rather a source of joy, but to his sorrow of heart for his brethren and for the world, ἔπασχε γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀπολλυμένων, Chrysostom. πειρασμῶν, cf. St. Paul's own words, 1 Thessalonians 3:3; Philippians 1:27 2 Corinthians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 6:4-10; 2 Corinthians 11:26, κινδύνοις ἐκ γενους (Galatians 4:14). In our Lord's own life and ministry there had been “temptations,” Luke 4:13; Luke 22:28; and a beatitude rested upon the man who endured temptation, James 1:12; James 1:2. The noun is found no less than six times in St. Luke's Gospel, but only here in Acts. It occurs four times in St. Paul's Epistles, and may be fairly classed as Lucan-Pauline (Bethge). On its use in N.T. and LXX see Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek, p. 71 ff., and compare Mayor, Epistle of St. James, James 1:2. ἐπιβ. τῶν Ἰ.: evidently classed amongst the πειρασμῶν, Hatch, u. s., although we must not suppose that St. Luke tells us of all the Apostle's dangers, trials and temptations here any more than elsewhere. Nothing of the kind is mentioned in connection definitely with the Ephesian Jews, “sed res minime dubia, Acts 21:27,” Blass. The noun has not been found in any classical author, but it occurs in Dioscorides, Præf., i., see Grimm, sub v., and several times in LXX, six times in Ecclus. and in 1Ma 2:52.