Ἀνὴρ δέ τις : in striking contrast to the unreserved self-sacrifice of Barnabas, St. Luke places the selfishness and hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira. It is in itself no small proof of the truth of the narrative, that the writer should not hesitate to introduce this episode side by side with his pi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐνοσφίσατο : may merely mean from its derivation, to set apart νόσφι. But both in LXX and N.T. it is used in a bad sense of appropriating for one's own benefit, purloining, Expository Times, and notes by Ramsay, Nestle, Dec., 1896, Jan. and March, 1897. As it was often enjoined upon a son not to for... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναστάντες, see on Acts 2:14. οἱ νεώτεροι : the fact that they are called simply νεανίσκοι in Acts 5:10 seems decisive against the view that reference is made to any definite order in the Church. Nor is it certain that we can see in the fulfilment of such duties by the νεώτεροι the beginnings of the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγένετο δὲ … καὶ, _cf._ for construction Luke 5:1; Luke 5:17; Luke 8:1; Luke 8:22; Luke 9:51; Luke 14:1, etc. Hebraistic, if not strictly a Hebraism; on καί thus uniting two co-ordinate statements with ἐγένετο see Plummer's valuable note, p. 45; _St. Luke_, first edition; and on the use of καί see S... [ Continue Reading ]
τοσούτου, _monstrat pecuniam_, Blass, so Zöckler, Holtzmann, Felten, Weiss, and others: genitive of the price. The position of the word in the question is emphatic, _cf._ Luke 15:29. Blass would render _non pluris_ (Bornemann, _tantilli_), but this is implied rather than expressed by the word here ... [ Continue Reading ]
τὶ ὅτι, Acts 5:4. συνεφωνήθη : only here in the N.T. in the passive, for its use in the active, Acts 15:15. Blass maintains that this passive usage συμφωνεῖταί τισι is Latin rather than Greek (_convenit inter aliquos_), and that it may have arisen from the intercourse between Greeks and Romans, see... [ Continue Reading ]
παραχρῆμα, see on Acts 3:7. The introduction of the word shows that the writer regarded the death as supernatural, see above on Acts 5:5. πρός, by, beside her husband = παρά with dative, Blass, _Grammatik des N. G._, p. 135, note; Winer-Moulton, xlix. h. Although the whole narrative shows that in ea... [ Continue Reading ]
φόβος μέγας : evidently one purpose in the infliction of this stern penalty was at once obtained, see above on Acts 5:5. ἐφʼ ὅλην τὴν ἐκκλησίαν : St. Luke, as it seems, uses the word ἐκκλησία here for the first time. Dr. Hort thinks that he may employ it by anticipation, and that we cannot be sure t... [ Continue Reading ]
δέ : merely transitional; ἐγίνετο marking the continuance of the miracles; διὰ τῶν χειρῶν characteristic of St. Luke in Acts, _cf._ Acts 2:23; Acts 7:25; Acts 11:30; Acts 14:3; Acts 15:23; Acts 19:11. On Luke's fondness for this and similar phrases with χείρ, see Friedrich, _Das Lucasevangelium_, p.... [ Continue Reading ]
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν : variously interpreted (1) of the rest of the believers in contrast to the Apostles, but this is unnatural, as the Apostles are not elsewhere regarded as objects of fear to their fellow-believers, and ἅπαντες above certainly need not = ἀπόστολοι as Hilgenfeld interprets it. See, howev... [ Continue Reading ]
μᾶλλον δέ προσετίθεντο : the favour of the people which still protected the Church (_cf._ Acts 5:17) resulted in further increase of believers, “were the more added,” _um so mehr_; imperfect, signifying the continuous growth of the Church; on the verb see Acts 2:41. πλήθη, plural (only here in N.T.)... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥστε καὶ εἰς, “insomuch that they even,” R.V. κατὰ, T.R., so Alford, Meyer, “all down the streets,” as if the streets were entirely beset with sick folk (see Holtzmann, _in loco_). πλατείας, feminine of the adjective πλατύς, _sc._, ὁδός, a broad way, so here, the open streets, in classical Greek, an... [ Continue Reading ]
δὲ καὶ : very common in St. Luke, Luke 2:4; Luke 3:9; Luke 5:10; Luke 9:61; Luke 14:12, etc., and also nine times in Acts. St. John uses it frequently, but seldom in Matt. and Mark; used for the sake of giving emphasis. πέριξ only here, strengthened for περί, not in LXX, but see Hatch and Redpath, f... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναστὰς, see on Acts 1:15, _cf._ Acts 6:9 : it may denote a hostile intention (but need not force this), Mark 3:26; Luke 10:35; Matthew 12:41, in LXX, Job 16:8; see Overbeck, Blass, Weiss; ὁ ἀρχ., _i.e._, Annas not Caiaphas, Acts 4:6. πάντες οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ : the context seems to imply that more are inc... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπέβαλον τὰς χεῖρας : a phrase used twice in St. Luke's Gospel, and three times in the Acts, _cf._ Genesis 22:12. _Cf._ Hebrew שָׁלַח יָד אֶל. ἐν τηρήσει δημοσίᾳ, “in public ward,” R.V. δημ. used here as an adjective, only found in N.T. in Acts, in the three other passages used as an adverb, Acts 16... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄγγελος δὲ Κ.: the narrative must be accepted or rejected as it stands. As Wendt, following Zeller in earlier days, candidly admits, every attempt to explain the narrative by referring the release of the prisoners to some natural event, such as an earthquake or lightning, or to some friendly dispose... [ Continue Reading ]
Πορεύεσθε : characteristic of St. Luke both in Gospel and Acts. The word appears here in Acts for the first time, and it is found in St. Luke's Gospel about fifty times, and in this book nearly forty (Friedrich, Lekebusch). σταθέντες, Acts 2:14, on this pictorial use of the word, see Page's note, an... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑπὸ τὸν ὄρθρον, “about day-break,” R.V., _i.e._, without delay they obeyed the angel's command (Weiss). The words may also indicate the customary usage of Palestine where the heat was great in the daytime. The people rose early and came to our Lord to hear Him, Luke 21:38 (John 8:2). ὑπὸ = _sub, cir... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑπηρέται : apparently some of the Temple guard, Acts 5:26; see above on ὁ στρατηγός Acts 4:1, and Edersheim, _Temple and its Services_, pp. 119, 120. In the N.T. the word is not used of the military. ἀναστρέψαντες : used only here in this sense (Acts 15:16 is not strictly a parallel), _cf._ LXX, Gen... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν πάσῃ ἀσφαλείᾳ, “in all safety,” R.V. (not _cum omni diligentia_, Vulgate); “in omni firmitate,” Flor.; in LXX generally μετά with genitive; _cf._ 2Ma 3:22; 2Ma 15:1, μετὰ πάσης ἀσφ. The Vulgate is misleading; the words mean not that the prison had been carefully shut, but that it was found in a s... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅ τε ἱερεὺς καὶ ὁ στρατηγὸς τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ οἱ ἀρχ.: if we retain ὁ ἱερεύς it must mean the high priest, Acts 5:27, _cf._ 1Ma 15:1; Jos., _Ant._, vi., 12, 1. But Weiss and Wendt both follow W.H [178] and R.V., and omit ἱερεὺς καὶ ὁ (so Blass [179]). ὁ στρατ. and οἱ ἀρχ. are thus closely united by the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδοὺ … εἰσὶν : on the characteristic use of the verb εἰναι after ἰδοὺ or ἴδε in St. Luke's writings as compared with other N.T. writers and the LXX, see Viteau, _Le Grec du N. T._, pp. 200, 205 (1896); _cf._ Acts 2:7; Acts 16:1, and Luke 2:25; Luke 7:25; Luke 11:41, etc. παραγεν., see on Acts 5:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤγαγεν : but imperfect with W.H [180] and Weiss, so Blass “quia modus quo res gesta est describitur; perfecta res indicatur, Acts 5:27, ἀγαγόντες ”. οὐμετὰ βίας, “ _but_ without violence,” R.V. Weiss compares with the whole phrase ἦγεν … βίας (Exodus 14:25); βία three or four times in Acts only, Act... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔστησαν, _cf._ Acts 4:7, during the investigation the judges would sit, Acts 6:15; Acts 23:3, the accused, the witnesses, and those speaking, stood, Mark 14:57; Mark 14:60; Acts 4:7; Acts 5:27; Acts 5:34; Acts 6:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
παραγγελίᾳ παρηγγείλαμεν : for the Hebraism _cf._ Acts 4:17, “we straitly,” etc., R.V. (and A.V.), expressing intensity “commanding, we commanded you,” Wycliffe. The T.R. makes the clause a question, commencing with οὐ, but the evidence is too strong against it, evidently it was occasioned by the ἐπ... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Peter as the spokesman, _primus inter pares_; the Apostles as a body are associated with him in his answer: “but Peter and the Apostles,” R.V. A.V. renders “Peter and the other Apostles,” and we may understand an ellipse of ἄλλοι or λοιποί before οἱ ἀπόστολοι, Blass, _Grammatik des N. G._, p. 28... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, _cf._ Acts 3:13. St. Peter, as before, will not dissociate himself from the common wealth of Israel, or his hearers from the message and works of the Christ. ἤγειρεν : does this word refer to the Resurrection, or to the sending of Jesus into this world, and His raising up by... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀρχηγὸν καὶ σωτῆρα : the former word as it is used here without any qualification, _cf._ Acts 3:15, may imply, like σωτῆρα, a reference to the earlier days of Israel's history, when God raised up for them from time to time judges of whom the title ἀρχηγός, Judges 11:6; Judges 11:11, might be used no... [ Continue Reading ]
“And we are witnesses of these things,” R.V. (W.H [183]), but in margin, “witnesses in Him,” ἐν αὐτῷ (_cf._ Luke 24:47); “nos in eo testes sumus,” Iren., see also above critical notes. For an explanation of the reading in T.R. and the two genitives, see Simcox, _Language of the N. T._, p. 84, note,... [ Continue Reading ]
διεπρίοντο : lit [184], were sawn asunder (in heart), _dissecabantur_, Vulgate (_cf._ use of _findo_ in Persius and Plautus), _cf._ Acts 7:54 (Luke 2:35), Euseb., _H. E._, v., i., 6 (see Grimm, _sub v_.). The word is used in its literal sense in Aristoph., _Equites_, 768, Plato, _Conv._, p. 193 _a_,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναστὰς, see Acts 5:17. συνεδρίῳ : the word is used here and in Acts 5:27 above, without γερουσία, and this seems to indicate that in Acts 5:21 the Sanhedrim is meant, and no additional council. Γαμαλιήλ : it has sometimes been urged that Saul, the persecutor, could not have been the pupil of such a... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλεῖται, see on Acts 2:22. προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς : phrase only found in St. Luke, _cf._ Luke 12:1; Luke 17:3; Luke 21:34, and Acts 20:28. προσέχειν without the pronoun is found six times in Matthew alone of the Evangelists, but in LXX frequently used in the phrase πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ. The phrase m... [ Continue Reading ]
πρὸ γὰρ τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν : Gamaliel appeals to the experience of the past the phrase is placed first with emphasis, _cf._ Acts 21:38; on St. Luke's fondness for phrases with ἡμέρα see above, and Friedrich, pp. 9, 89. But whilst Gamaliel appeals to the past, his appeal is not to a remote but to a ne... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἰούδας ὁ Γαλ.: here too an inaccuracy might have been charged against St. Luke, but it is to be noted that while Josephus speaks of Judas as a Gaulonite in one passage, Jos., _Ant._, xviii., 1, 1, he frequently, as both Belser and Wendt point out, speaks of him as a Galilean, _cf._ _Ant._, xviii., 1... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ τὰ νῦν, _cf._ also in Acts 4:29; Acts 17:30; Acts 20:32; Acts 27:22. τὰ neuter accusative absolute as respects the present, now, _cf._ 2Ma 15:8; thus in all parts of Acts, _Vindiciœ Lucanœ_, Klostermann, p. 53, so Zeller, Lekebusch, Friedrich. The expression is quite classical. ἐάσατε : ἐάω char... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐάν … εἰ δὲ : it has sometimes been thought that the change of mood from subjunctive to indicative, “but if it is of God,” as if indicating that the second supposition were the more probable (_cf._ Galatians 1:8-9), indicates sympathy on the part of Gamaliel. It is of course possible that he may hav... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπείσθησαν δὲ αὐτῷ : whatever scruples Gamaliel may have had in pressing matters against the Apostles, or even if the teaching of Christ, as some have conjectured, with much of which he might have sympathised as a follower of Hillel, had influenced his mind, or if, like Joseph of Arimathea, he too h... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ μὲν οὖν : no answering δέ as after Acts 1:6; Acts 2:41, but explained because immediately upon ἐπορεύοντο (which answers to ἀπέλυσαν) follows χαίροντες, marking the attitude of the Apostles, and showing how little they proposed to obey the injunction from fear of further punishment. But see also... [ Continue Reading ]