XIII. (1) NOW THERE WERE IN THE CHURCH THAT WAS AT ANTIOCH. — The fulness of detail in this narrative suggests the inference that the writer was himself at Antioch at this period. CERTAIN PROPHETS AND TEACHERS. — The two were not necessarily identical, though the higher gift of prophecy commonly i... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THEY MINISTERED TO THE LORD. — The verb so translated (_leitourgein_) is commonly used, both in the LXX. and in the Now Testament, of the ministry of the priests and Levites in the Temple (Luke 1:23; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:21). In Hebrews 1:14, the corresponding adjective is used to distinguish t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD FASTED AND PRAYED. — The repetition of the words that had been used in Acts 13:2 seems to imply that the fast was prolonged till the laying-on of hands had been completed. The new command called for that intensity of spiritual life of which fasting was more or less the normal condi... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING SENT FORTH BY THE HOLY GHOST. — The words may be only a summing up of the result of the previous facts, but looking to Acts 16:6, it seems more probable that they refer to a fresh revelation, following on what we should call the “ordination” or “consecration” of the Apostles, and guiding them... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY WERE AT SALAMIS. — The city was, as stated above, at the east end of Cyprus. The mention of “synagogues” implies a considerable Jewish population, and to these the Apostles, following the general rule announced in Acts 13:46, naturally, in the first instance, turned. THEY HAD ALSO JOHN TO... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY HAD GONE THROUGH THE ISLE. — The better MSS. give, _through the whole island._ Paphos lay at its western extremity, and appears to have been the head-quarters of the Roman governor. A local tradition, reported by M. de Cesnola (_Cyprus,_ pp. 29, 223), points out a marble column to which St... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH WAS WITH THE DEPUTY OF THE COUNTRY, SERGIUS PAULIUS. — The translators consistently use the word “deputy” as representing the Greek for “proconsul.” It will be remembered that it was applied, under Elizabeth and James, to the governor, known in more recent times as the Viceroy, or Lord-Lieuten... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ELYMAS THE SORCERER. — See Note on Acts 13:6. The charlatan feared the loss of the influence which he had previously exercised over the mind of the proconsul. His victim was emancipating himself from his bondage and was passing from credulity to faith, and that progress Bar-jesus sought to check... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAUL, (WHO ALSO IS CALLED PAUL). — It is impossible not to connect the mention, and probably the assumption, of the new name with the conversion of the proconsul. It presented many advantages. (1) It was sufficiently like his own name in sound to fall within the general practice which turned Je... [ Continue Reading ]
FULL OF ALL SUBTILTY AND ALL MISCHIEF. — The Greek of the second noun is found here only in the New Testament. Its primary meaning expresses simply “ease in working;” but this passed through the several stages of “versatility,” “shiftiness,” and “trickery.” A kindred word is translated in Acts 18:14... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HAND OF THE LORD IS UPON THEE. — The anthromorphic phrase would convey to every Jew the thought of a chastisement which was the direct result of the will of God. (Comp. 1 Kings 18:46; Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 8:1.) THOU SHALT BE BLIND, NOT SEEING THE SUN FOR A SEASON. — The form of the punishment ma... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING ASTONISHED AT THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD. — The genitive is, probably, that of the object, _the teaching which had the Lord, i.e.,_ the Lord Jesus, _as its main theme. _... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL AND HIS COMPANY. — Literally, _those about Paul._ The new description is obviously chosen as indicating the new position which from this time the Apostle began to occupy as the leader of the mission. PERGA. — The city was at this time the capital of Pamphylia, situated on the river Cestrus, ab... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME TO ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. — The town was one of the many cities built by Seleucus Nicator, and named after his father, Antiochus. It lay on the slopes of Mount Taurus, which the travelers must have crossed, had obtained the “Jus Italicum” — a modified form of Roman citizenship — under Augustu... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THE READING OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS. — The order of the Sabbath lessons was fixed as by a kind of calendar, the Law — _i.e.,_ the Pentateuch — being divided into fifty-three or fifty-four _paraschioth,_ or sections. These, probably, came into use soon after the return from Babylon. To thes... [ Continue Reading ]
BECKONING WITH HIS HAND. — The gesture was rather that of one who _waves_ his hand to command silence and attention than what we commonly describe as beckoning. (Comp. Acts 12:17.) The graphic touch of description would seem to indicate, as does the full report of the speech, that they came in the f... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOD OF THIS PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. — It will be observed that St. Paul, as far as the plan of his discourse is concerned, follows in the footsteps of St. Stephen, and begins by a recapitulation of the main facts of the history of Israel. It was a theme which Israelites were never tired of listening t... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFERED HE THEIR MANNERS. — The Greek word so rendered differs by a single letter only from one which signifies “to nurse, to carry, as a father carries his child.” Many of the better MSS. versions and early writers give the latter reading, and it obviously falls in far better with the conciliatory... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DIVIDED THEIR LAND TO THEM BY LOT. — Accepting this reading, the reference is to the command given in Numbers 26:55, and recorded as carried into effect in Joshua 14-19. The better MSS., however, give a kindred word, which signifies “he gave as an inheritance.”... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THAT HE GAVE UNTO THEM JUDGES... — The statement in the text, assigning 450 years to the period of the judges, and apparently reckoning that period from the distribution of the conquered territory, is at variance with that in 1 Kings 6:1, which gives 480 years as the period intervening between... [ Continue Reading ]
SAUL THE SON OF CIS, A MAN OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN. — It is natural to think of the Apostle as dwelling on the memory of the hero-king of the tribe to which he himself belonged. (Comp. Philippians 3:5.) The very fact that he had so recently renounced the name, would bring the associations connected... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE FOUND DAVID THE SON OF JESSE. — The words that follow are a composite quotation, after the manner of the Rabbis, made up of Psalms 89:20, and 1 Samuel 13:14. The obvious purpose of this opening was, as in the case of St. Stephen’s speech, to gain attention by showing that the speaker recognis... [ Continue Reading ]
RAISED UNTO ISRAEL A SAVIOUR, JESUS. — It is, of course, probable that the names of Jesus and of John were not utterly unknown, even in those remote regions of Pisidia. No Jew could have gone up to keep a feast at Jerusalem for some years past without having heard something of the one or of the othe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. — See Notes on Matthew 3:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS JOHN FULFILLED HIS COURSE. — Better _was fulfilling,_ the tense implying continuous action. WHOM THINK YE THAT I AM? — The precise question is not found in the Gospel records of St. John’s ministry, but the substance of the answer is implied in Matthew 3:11; John 1:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHILDREN OF THE STOCK OF ABRAHAM, AND WHOSOEVER AMONG YOU FEARETH GOD. — The two classes are, as before (see Note on Acts 13:16), again pointedly contrasted with each other. TO YOU IS THE WORD OF THIS SALVATION SENT. — The demonstrative pronoun implies that the salvation which St. Paul proclaimed r... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY THAT DWELL AT JERUSALEM. — The implied reason of the mission to the Gentiles and more distant Jews is that the offer of salvation had been rejected by those who would naturally have been its first recipients, and who, had they received it, would have been, in their turn, witnesses to those... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOUGH THEY FOUND NO CAUSE OF DEATH IN HIM. — Technically, the Sanhedrin had condemned our Lord on the charge of blasphemy (Matthew 26:66), but they had been unable to prove the charge by any adequate evidence (Matthew 26:60), and finally condemned him by extorting words from His own lips. When... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY HAD FULFILLED ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN OF HIM. — The words are suggestive of much that lies below the surface. St. Paul, also, had studied in the same school of prophetic interpretation as the writers of the Gospels, and saw as they did, in all the details of the Crucifixion, the fulfilment of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WAS SEEN MANY DAYS. — The language is that of one who had conversed with the witnesses, and had convinced himself of the truth of their testimony. We find what the Apostle had in his thoughts in a more expanded form in 1 Corinthians 15:3. WHO ARE HIS WITNESSES. — More accurately, _who are no... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD HATH FULFILLED THE SAME UNTO US THEIR CHILDREN. — The better MSS. give, with hardly an exception, _unto our children,_ and the Received text must be regarded as having been made to obtain what seemed a more natural meaning. St. Paul’s language, however, is but an echo of St. Peter’s “to us and t... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW NO MORE TO RETURN TO CORRUPTION. — We note from the turn of the phrase that St. Paul already has the words of Psalms 16:10 in his mind, though he has not as yet referred to it. I WILL GIVE YOU THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID. — The words do not seem in themselves to have the nature of a Messianic pred... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER THINE HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION. — See Notes on the prophecy so cited in Acts 2:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER HE HAD SERVED HIS OWN GENERATION. — Literally, _ministered to his own generation._ There is, perhaps, a suggested contrast between the limits within which the work of service to mankind done by any mere man, however great and powerful, is necessarily confined, and the wide, far-reaching, endle... [ Continue Reading ]
MEN AND BRETHREN. — Better, _brethren,_ simply. IS PREACHED... — The force of the Greek tense emphasises the fact that the forgiveness was, at that very moment, in the act of _being proclaimed_ or preached. FORGIVENESS OF SINS. — This forms the key-note of St. Paul’s preaching (here and in Acts 26:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BY HIM. — Literally, _in Him,_ as the sphere in which forgiveness was found, rather than as the instrument through whom it came. ALL THAT BELIEVE ARE JUSTIFIED. — Literally, with a more individualising touch, _every one that believeth is justified._ The latter verb is not found elsewhere in the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH IS SPOKEN OF IN THE PROPHETS. — This formula of citation seems to have been common, as in Acts 7:42, in the case of quotations from the Minor Prophets, which were regarded, as it were, as a single volume with this title.... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, YE DESPISERS. — The quotation is from the LXX. version, the Hebrew giving “Behold, ye among the heathen.” So, in the next clause, “wonder, and perish” takes the place of “wonder marvellously.” The fact that St. Paul quotes from the prophet (Habakkuk 1:5) whose teaching (Habakkuk 2:4) that “t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE JEWS WERE GONE OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE. — The better MSS. give simply, _as they were going out,_ the Received text being apparently an explanatory interpretation. The reading, “the Gentiles besought,” is an addition of the same character, the better MSS. giving simply, _they besought,_ or... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE CONGREGATION WAS BROKEN UP. — Better, as keeping to the usual rendering, _the synagogue._ The two preachers withdrew to their inn or lodging, and were followed by many of both classes of their hearers — not, as the Received text of Acts 13:42 implies, by one only. It is probable, looking to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEXT SABBATH DAY CAME ALMOST THE WHOLE CITY TOGETHER. — It is clear that the Jewish synagogue could not have held such a crowd, and we are led accordingly to the conclusion either that they thronged round portals and windows while the Apostles spoke within, or that the crowd gathered in some ope... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE FILLED WITH ENVY. — They heard the Apostles speaking to the multitudes, not in the condescending, supercilious tone of those who could just tolerate a wealthy proselyte of the gate, that could purchase their favour, but as finding in every one of them a brother standing on the same level a... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS NECESSARY. — The preachers recognised the necessity of following what they looked on as the divine plan in the education of mankind, and so they preached “to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Romans 2:9). The former were offered, as the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham, the hi... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SET THEE TO BE A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES. — The context of the quotation has to be remembered as showing that St. Paul identified the “Servant of the Lord” in Isaiah 49:6 with the person of the Christ. (See Note on Acts 4:27.) The citation. is interesting as the first example of the train of th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE GLAD, AND GLORIFIED THE WORD OF THE LORD. — Both verbs are in the tense of continued action. The joy was not an evanescent burst of emotion. The “word of the Lord” here is the teaching which had the Lord Jesus as its subject. AS MANY AS WERE ORDAINED TO ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVED. — Better, _as... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGHOUT ALL THE REGION. — This clearly involves a considerable period of active working. It was not in Antioch only, but in the “region” round about, the border district of the three provinces of Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Galatia, that the new faith was planted. Each town and village in that region... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEWS STIRRED UP THE DEVOUT AND HONOURABLE WOMEN. — The fact stated brings before us another feature of the relations between Jews and Gentiles at this period. They “compassed sea and land to make one proselyte” (Matthew 23:15). They found it easier to make proselytes of women. Such conversions h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHOOK OFF THE DUST OF THEIR FEET AGAINST THEM. — The act was one of literal obedience to our Lord’s commands (see Note on Matthew 10:14), and may fairly be regarded as evidence that that command had come to the knowledge of Paul and Barnabas as well as of the Twelve. It was in itself, however,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE DISCIPLES WERE FILLED WITH JOY AND WITH THE HOLY GHOST. — The tense is again that which expresses the continuance of the state. The “joy” expresses what is almost the normal sequence of conversion in the history of the Acts. (See Notes on Acts 8:8; Acts 8:39.) The addition of “the Holy Ghost... [ Continue Reading ]