1. Taught. Rather the imperfect, were teaching. They had not merely broached the error, but were inculcating it.
Manner (é9ev). Better, custom, as Rev.
2. Question (&)rnuaros). Found only in the Acts, and al- ways of a question in dispute.
3. Being brought on their way (apomeupdévtes). Lit., having been sent forth; under escort as a mark of honor.
Declaring. See on ch. xiii. 41. In the various towns along their route.
4, Were received (amedéyInoav). The word implies a cor- dial welcome, which they were not altogether sure of receiving.
5. Arose. In the assembly.
Sect. See on heresies, 2 Pet. ii. 1.
7. The word of the gospel (Tov Adyov rod evaryyediov). This phrase occurs nowhere else; and evayyédov, gospel, is
found only once more in Acts (ch. xx. 24).
8. Which knoweth the heart (capdvoyveiarns). Only here and ch. i. 24.
10. Were able (écyvcapuev). See on Luke xiv. 30; xvi. 3.
Cu. XV.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 525
12. Hearkened. The imperfect (j«ovov) denotes attention to a continued narrative.
Declaring (€Enyouuévwv). Better, as Rev., rehearsing. See on Luke xxiv. 35.
What miracles, ete. Lit., how many (60a). 13. James. See Introduction to Catholic Epistles,
18. Known unto God, ete. The best texts join these words with the preceding verse, from which they omit add ; rendering, The Lord, who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world.
19. Trouble (srapevoyneiv). Only here in New Testament. See on vexed, Luke vi. 18.
20. Write (émvcretaa). Originally, to send to,as a message ; hence, by letter. The kindred noun émictod}, whence our epistle, means, originally, anything sent by a messenger. Letter is a secondary meaning.
Pollutions (a\voynudtwv). A word not found in classical Greek, and only here in the New Testament. The kindred verb adioyetv, to pollute, occurs in the Septuagint, Dan. i. 8; Mal. i. 7, and both times in the sense of defiling by food. Here the word is defined by things sacrificed to idols (ver. 29); the flesh of idol sacrifices, of which whatever was not eaten by the wor- shippers at the feasts in the temples, or given to the priests, was sold in the markets and eaten at home. See 1 Cor. x. 25- 28; and Exod. xxxiv. 15.
Fornication. In its literal sense. “The association of for- nication with three things in themselves indifferent is to be explained from the then moral corruption of heathenisim, by which fornication, regarded from of old with indulgence, and even with favor, nay, practised without shame even by philoso-
526 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XV.
phers, and surrounded by poets with all the tinsel of lascivious- ness, had become in public opinion a thing really indifferent ” (Meyer). See Déllinger, “The Gentile and the Jew,” ii., 237 sq. :
Strangled. The flesh of animals killed in snares, and whose blood was not poured forth, was forbidden to the Israelites.
23. Greeting (yalpew). The usual Greek form of saluta- tion. It occurs nowhere else in the salutation of a New Testa- ment epistle save in the Epistle of James (i. 1). See note there. It appears in the letter of Claudius Lysias (ch. xxiii. 26).
24. Subverting (avacxevafovtes). Only here in New Tes- tament, and not found either in the Septuagint or in the Apocrypha. Originally, it means to pack up baggage, and so to carry away ; hence, to dismantle or disfurnish. So Thu- ceydides (iv., 116) relates that Brasidas captured Lecythus, and then pulled it down and dismantled it (avackevdcas). From this comes the more general meaning to day waste, or ravage. The idea here is that of turning the minds of the Gentile con- verts upside down; throwing them into confusion like a dis- mantled house.
We gave no commandment (od dSvecretAdueda). The word originally means to put asunder ; hence, to distinguish, and so of a commandment or injunction, to distinguish and emphasize it. Therefore implying express orders, and so always in the New Testament, where it is almost uniformly rendered charge. The idea here is, then, “ we gave no express injunction on the points which these Judaizers have raised.”