CHAPTER III.

V. 1-10. Healing of the Lame Man by Peter and John.

V. 1. Tì Tò auró, together, in company, see 1, 15. τὴν ἐννάτην. This was our three o'clock, P. M., at which time the evening sacrifice was offered; see on 2, 15. The apostles and other believers at Jerusalem had not yet withdrawn from the Jewish worship (see also 21, 23 sq.), and it is probable that most of them continued to adhere to the services of the temple, until the destruction of the temple abolished them. But the spirit with which they performed these services was no longer the Jewish spirit. Instead of regarding their compliance with the ordinances of the law as an act of merit, they recognized Christ as "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." They viewed the sacrifices which continued to be offered, not as having any efficacy to procure the remission of sin, or as typical of an atonement still to be made, but as realized already in the death of Christ, and hence as mementos, as often as they beheld them or participated in them, of the 66 one sacrifice for sins" effected "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." As in the case of circumcision, so undoubtedly the Jewish Christians relinquished the other rites of Judaism only by degrees. They were brought fully to this, in part by obtaining a clearer insight into the relation of the ancient economy to the new, and in part by the occurrence of national circumstances which hastened the result. From the Jewish synagogues, on the contrary, they must have separated at once, as soon as their distinctive views became known. It was impossible to avow the Christian faith, and remain connected with those communities. Compare the Note on 9, 2. We have seen in the second chapter, that, in connection with the worship of the temple, the believers at Jerusalem maintained separate religious worship among themselves.

V. 2. Baotáčeto, was carried just then. The verb is imperfect, because the act was a relative one. - érídovv is imperfect, because it states what was customary. — τὴν λεγομένην ὡραίαν, which is called beautiful. Most interpreters think that this was the gate described by Josephus (Bel. Jud. 5. 5. 3; Antt. 15. 11. 3), which was composed chiefly of Corinthian brass, and which excelled all the other gates of the temple in the splendor of its appearance. Josephus

does not mention it under this appellation. It is supposed to have been on the east side, leading from the court of the Gentiles into the court of the Israelites. The folds of this gate were fifty cubits high and forty broad, and were covered with plates of gold and silver. Luke's epithet - paíav-could not have had a more pertinent application. Some have thought that the gate to which he refers must have been one of the outer gates, because what is related in v. 11 sq. took place in Solomon's porch, which was in the court of the Gentiles. But we may suppose, as Lightfoot suggests, that, the apostles having been with the lame man into the temple, i. e. the court of the Israelites (see v. 8), were returning, and had reached the court of the Gentiles, when the concourse of the people there spoken of took place. - TOù aireîv, telic, in order to ask. This use of the infinitive with roû to denote the object for which an act is performed (comp. 18, 10; 26, 18; Mark 4, 3, etc.), results naturally from the nature of the genitive as the whence-case. The older writers supplied éveka or xápw; but the construction is neither elliptical nor Hebraistic. W. § 45. 4. b.; S. § 165. 3. 2; K. $308. 2. b.—elσñopevoμévwv eis tò iepóv. If a noun follows an intransitive verb compounded with a preposition, it is common to repeat the preposition before the noun; see v. 3. 8; 22, 6; Matt. 7, 23, etc. W. § 56. 2.

V. 3. ös, who, stands often when ouros, this one, would be the ordinary connective. K. § 334. 3.-λaßeir could be omitted, as in v. 2. It is not strictly pleonastic, but expands the idea of pára. W. § 67. 2. y.

V. 4. Bléyov eis nuas. Their object appears to have been to gain his attention more fully to their words; so that, as they said, "In the name of Jesus Christ," etc. (v. 6), he might understand to whom he was indebted for the benefit conferred upon him.

V. 5. éπeixev, SC. Tòv vov, comp. Luke 14, 7.-T., something in the way of alms. We have no evidence that he recognized Peter and John as the disciples of Christ, and expected that they would heal his infirmity. Their address to him in the next verse precludes that supposition.

V. 6. év Tô óvóμatɩ, K. T. X., i. e. we speaking in his name, by virtue of his authority; comp. 16, 18. The language of Christ, on the contrary, when he performed a miracle, was, ooì Aéyw, or to that effect; see Luke 5, 24. τοῦ Ναζωραίου is added for the sake of distinction, as in 2, 22.-Teрináre is imperative present, and not

aorist, like eyeɩpai, because it denotes a continued act; comp. 8, 26; 13, 8, etc. W. § 44. 5. b. ; S. § 141. 5.

V. 7. avrou. A genitive which belongs to two or more nouns usually precedes them. W. § 30. 3. 4.—Báσeis, feet; opvpá, βάσεις, ankles. This particularity has been reckoned among the traces of a professional habit, for which Luke is distinguished.

V. 8. ¿§addóμevos, leaping up (De Wet.), lit. forth from the place where he sat, not from his bed (Mey.), since κaðýμevos, v. 10, shows that he was not reclining. eis Tò iepóv, i. e. into the part of the temple where the Jews worshipped. See the remarks on v. 2. V. 10. ἐπεγίνωσκον . . . . ὅτι οὗτος, they recognized him that this one, etc. The subject of the subordinate clause is attracted here into the principal clause, and then repeated in ouros. So in 4, 13; 9, 20; 13, 32; 16, 3, etc. The subject of the second clause becomes in this way more prominent. W. § 63. 4; B. § 151. I. 6, 7. The ordinary construction would omit αὐτόν after ἐπεγίνωσκον, and make the sentence after ὅτι the object of the verb. — πρὸς τὴν ἐλε nuoovvny, for the alms which he solicited.

V. 11-26. The Testimony of Peter after the Miracle.

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V. 11. KратOUVтos avrov, as he held them fast, or kept near to them. This latter signification, says De Wette, has not been fully proved, but arises naturally out of the other. Meyer adheres more correctly to the first meaning: the man in the ardor of his gratitude clung to his benefactors, and would not be separated from them. avrou is considered the correct reading, instead of roû labévros xwλoû in the common text (Grsb., Mey., Lachm.). The addition is transferred to the English version. στοᾷ . Σολομῶνος. See John 10, 23. This hall or porch was on the eastern side of the temple, in the court of the heathen. The general opinion is that it was called the porch of Solomon, because it occupied the site of a porch which had been connected with the first temple. Lücke* thinks that it may have been a structure built by Solomon himself, which had escaped the destruction of the first temple. Tholuck expresses the same belief. It accords with this view that Josephus (Antt. 20. 9. 7) calls the porch ἔργον Σαλομώντος. In popular speech, says Lightfoot, the Jews sometimes meant the entire court of the Gentiles when they spoke of Solomon's porch. - ἔκθαμβοι agrees with Aaós as a collective term; comp. 5, 16.

Commentar über das Evangelium des Johannes, Vol. II. p. 361.

22.

which was ,עֶבֶד

V. 12. ȧexpivaro, K. T. X., proceeded to speak (Hebraistic, 5, 8) to the people, or perhaps answered (De Wet.) with reference to the expressions of their wonder, see v. 11. — éri roúry is not neuter, but masculine: at this man (Mey., De Wet.), which prepares the way for airov, and is similar to v. 16.- is here emphatic, upon us instead of Christ or God, to whom the miracle ought to have turned their thoughts.-drevigere takes its object in the dative; comp. also 10,4; 14,9; or in the accusative with els; comp. v. 4; 1, 10; 6, 15. — · πεποιηκόσι . . . . αὐτόν contains an ecbatic infinitive effected that he should walk. W. 45. 4; S. § 165. 3. § V. 13. ¿ógare, glorified, honored, not by the miracle at this time, but by all the mighty works which attested his mission; see 2, waida means, not son viós, but servant = one of the prophetic appellations of the Messiah, especially in the second part of Isaiah. See Matt. 12, 18, as compared with Is. 42, 1 51. The term occurs again in this sense, v. 26; 4, 27. 30. pév as in 1, 1. The antithetic idea may have been that in v. 17. - Taрedikaтe, ye delivered up, viz. to Pilate. - ἠρνήσασθε, denied, refused to acknowledge as Messiah. αὐτόν. It will be seen that the writer drops here the relative structure of the sentence. «pívaνros.... åñodvew, when, or although he decided, viz. that it was just to release him; see Luke 23, 16; John 19, 4. ἐκείνου refers here to the nearer noun, and performs the proper office of τούτου. W. 23. 1. It is not uncommon for Greek writers to interchange these pronouns.

one.

τὸν

V. 14. 8, but, contrasts their conduct with that of Pilate. aylor is a Messianic title, as in Luke 4, 34. Tov dikatov, the Just The epithets mark the contrast between his character and that of Barabbas. avopa povéa, i. e. not merely a man, but a man who was a murderer; see Matt. 27, 16 sq.; Mark 15, 7 sq. V. 15. Tòv de aȧpxnyòv tŷs gwŷs, but the author of life, i. e. as De Wette remarks, of life in the fullest sense in which the Scriptures ascribe that property to the Saviour, viz. spiritual or Christian life (comp. John 1, 4; Heb. 2, 10), and also natural or physical life, John 5, 26; 11, 25. Olshausen and Meyer suppose the main idea to be that of spiritual life; but the evident relation of (wns to dreкreivare shows that the other idea is not certainly to be excluded: he who gives life to all had his own life taken from him. — où ...éopév, of whom (13, 31) or of which we are witnesses; see on

V. 16. ènì Tỳ tíotel, k. t. λ., upon, on account of, the faith (entertained by us) in his name. èní represents their faith as the ground or condition on which the restoration had taken place; not for (Olsh.), i. e. in order to produce faith in the lame man and others. óvóμatos is the genitive of the object, and the expression is like wires Ocou, Mark 11,22 ; wints ’Intou, Rom. 3, 22. W. § 30. 1. — öv.... oïdate, whom you see entirely restored now to bodily vigor, and know as a person who was formerly infirm, helpless. — Tò õvoμa, K. T. λ., his name has made strong, i. e. he invoked by an appeal to him as that which his name represents (see on 2, 21). The reason for expressing the idea in this manner is evident from v. 6. — ý ñíσtis ý di' avrov, the faith that is wrought in us through him (De Wet., Mey., Win.). The apostles here, it will be observed, ascribe the origin, as well as the efficacy, of their faith to Christ. Compare 1 Pet. 1, 21. This second clause of the verse repeats essentially the idea of the first, in order to affirm more emphatically that it was not their own power, but the power of Christ, which had performed the miracle. · ἀπέναντι πάντων ὑμῶν, in the presence of you all; and hence they must acknowledge that no other means had been used to effect the miracle.

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V. 17. Having set before them their aggravated guilt, the apos tle would now suggest to them the hope of mercy. — öτɩ . . . . éπрágare, that ye acted in ignorance, i. e. of the full criminality of their conduct. They had sinned, but their sin was not of so deep a dye that it could not have been still more heinous. The language of Peter concedes to them such a palliation of the deed as consisted, at the time of their committing it, in the absence of a distinct conviction that he whom they crucified was the Lord of life and glory (see 13, 27); but it does not exonerate them from the guilt of having resisted the evidence that this was his character, which had been furnished by his miracles, his life, doctrine, and resurrection. The Saviour himself, in his dying prayer, urged the same extenuation in behalf of his murderers: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Compare also the language of Paul in 1 Tim. 1, 13: "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." — ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν, as also your rulers, who were not present, and hence are distinguished from those addressed.

V. 18. dé, but, i. e. while they did this they accomplished a divine purpose. -- πάντων τῶν προφητῶν, instead of being taken