δὲ; _cf._ Acts 1:15, and see above in Acts 5:41. There seems no occasion to regard δὲ as marking a contrast between Acts 5:41 and the opening of this chapter, or as contrasting the outward victory of the Church with its inward dissensions (as Meyer, Holtzmann, Zechler, see Nösgen's criticism _in loc... [ Continue Reading ]
προσκαλεσάμενοι δὲ οἱ δώδεκα : whatever may have been the irritation caused by the pride or neglect of the Hebrews, the Apostles recognised that there was ground for complaint, and thus showed not only their practical capacities, but also their freedom from any partiality. οἱ δώδ.: only here in Acts... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπισκέψασθε οὖν : the verb, though frequently used by St. Luke in both his writings, is not elsewhere used in the sense of this verse, “look ye out,” _cf._ σκέπτεσθαι in Genesis 41:33. μαρτυρουμένους, _cf._ Hebrews 11:2; Hebrews 11:39; Hebrews cf.4, 5, and 1 Timothy 5:10; Acts 10:22; Acts 22:12, als... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡμεῖς δὲ : in marked contrast to the service of tables, etc., but still every work in the Church, whether high or low, was a διακονία. τῇ διακ. τοῦ λ., see above. προσκαρτερήσομεν, “will continue steadfastly,” R.V., see above on Acts 1:14. τῇ προσ., “the prayer” (Hort); the article seems to imply no... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤρεσεν ἐνώπιον : phrase not usual in classical Greek; but ἐνώ. in this sense, so κατενώπιον ἔναντι κατέναντι, derived from the LXX (ἐναντίον frequent in LXX, is also classical); _cf., e.g._, Deuteronomy 1:23 A, 2 Samuel 3:36; 1 Kings 3:10; 1 Kings 3:20 (1 Kings 3:21), Jeremiah 18:4; Judges 7:16; Jud... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔστησαν, _cf._ Acts 1:23; for ἐνώπιον, see above. καὶ προσευξάμενοι ἐπέθηκαν αὐτοῖς τὰς χεῖρας : change of subject. This is the first mention of the laying on of hands in the Apostolic Church. No doubt the practice was customary in the Jewish Church, Numbers 27:18; Deuteronomy 34:9; see also Edershe... [ Continue Reading ]
τῶν ἱερέων : the reading Ἰουδαίων is advocated by Klostermann, _Probleme in Aposteltexte_, pp. 13, 14, but not only is the weight of critical evidence overwhelmingly against it, but we can scarcely doubt that St. Luke would have laid more stress upon the first penetration of the Christian faith into... [ Continue Reading ]
πλήρης πίστεως, but χάριτος, R.V. Vulgate, _gratia_ = divine grace, Acts 18:27, not merely favour with the people the word might well include, as in the case of our Lord, the λόγοι χάριτος which fell from his lips (Luke 5:22). On the word as characteristic of St. Luke and St. Paul, see Friedrich, _D... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνέστησαν : in a hostile sense, _cf._ Luke 10:25; Mark 14:57, and see above on Acts 5:17. τῆς συναγωγῆς : in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome and the larger towns there was no doubt a considerable number of synagogues, but the tradition that assigned no less than four hundred and eighty to Jerusalem alon... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ οὐκ ἴσχυον ἀντιστῆναι : the whole phrase is an exact fulfilment of Luke 21:15, _cf._ 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:6. πνεῦμα, as Wendt points out, was the Holy Spirit with which Stephen was filled, _cf._ 3, 5. Vulgate renders “Spiritui Sancto _qui_ loquebatur,” as if it read ὅ; see critica... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑπέβαλον : only found here in N.T., not in LXX in this sense; _sub-ornaverunt_; Vulgate, _submiserunt_ (Suet., _Ner._, 28), _cf._ Appian, _B. C._, i., 74, ὑπεβλήθησαν κατήγοροι, and Jos., _B. J_., v., 10, 41, μηνυτύς τις ὑπόβλητος. ῥήματα βλασφημίας = βλάσφημα, Hebraism, _cf._ Revelation 13:1; Revel... [ Continue Reading ]
συνεκίνησαν : not found in LXX or other Greek versions of O.T., or in the Apocrypha, _cf._ Polyb., xv., 17, 1, so too in Plutarch. As this word and συνήρπασαν are found only in St. Luke it is perhaps worth noting that they are both frequent in medical writers, see below. τὸν λαὸν : a crafty design t... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗτος : here and in Acts 6:14 used contemptuously, _iste_, so Vulgate; _cf._ Acts 7:40; Acts 18:18; Acts 19:26, ὁ Παῦλος οὗτος. οὐ παύεται λαλῶν : the words in themselves are sufficient to indicate the exaggerated and biassed character of the testimony brought against Stephen “invidiam facere conant... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ Ναζ. οὗτος : not part of the words of Stephen, but of the witnesses see however Blass, _in loco._ καὶ καταλύσει : the closest similarity to the words in Mark 14:58 (_cf._ Matthew 26:61), and in both passages the same verb καταλύειν is used. It is also found in all three Synoptists in our Lord's pr... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀτενίσαντες, see above on Acts 1:10. ὡσεὶ πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου, _cf._ LXX, Esther 5:2, where Esther says to the king in reverence εἶδόν σε κύριε, ὡς ἄγγελον Θεοῦ; in 2 Samuel 14:17; 2 Samuel 14:20, the reference is not to outward appearance, but to inward discernment (see Wetstein, who refers also to Ge... [ Continue Reading ]