are first sent forth ; St Mark does so once (vi. 30), and that when they just returned from that mission ; John, the apostle, never does so ; for in ch. xiii. 1 6 he uses the word in its gene ral, not its particular meaning ; St Luke does so in his Gos pel particularly, but only on occasions, and those the same as Matthew and Mark, or subsequently, for other weighty reasons : see Luke vi. 13, ix. 10, xi. 49, xvii. 5, xxii. 14, xxiv. 10. For they were, during the whole of the period which the Gospels embrace, disciples, i.e. scholars, and are therefore so called. But, after the advent of the Paraclete, in the Acts and Epistles they are never called disciples, but apostles. In the Acts, those only are called disciples, who had either learnt with the apostles, or were then learning from the apostles, and were apostolic men, and the seed of all Christian posterity ; see Acts vi. 1, xxi. 16. After which last passage the word disciple does not occur again in the New Testament : but they are called brethren, Christians, be lievers (fideles), saints, etc. — 'Iduxsv, x.r.'k., He gave, etc.) The apostles made gradual progress. Great is the authority of con ferring authority} — avro/i;, to them) The disciples, when in the Lord's presence, were employed in miracles only to a certain extent, as in ch. xiv. 19 and xvii. 27 ; but they did not them selves perform miracles (see ch. xvii. 18), unless when sent forth by Christ (see Luke x. 17), or after the departure of Christ ; see John xiv. 12. — viisupdruv, of spirits) i.e. against spirits. — dxo&dpTuv, unclean) A frequent epithet : sometimes they are called fti/su^dra vovqpd, evil spirits. — Stpavtvuv, to heal) sc. in His name : see ch. ix. 35.
2. Ta ovopard, the names) Scripture, in enumerations of this kind, preserves an accurate order. See Gen. xlviii. 20 ; Num. xii. 1 ; and, " Noah, Daniel, and Job," in Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. Therefore the plan which is observed in the list of the apostles, princes of the kingdom of Christ, is of far graver import than any precedence of the kings of the wrorld (as, for example, Peter is named first, not without an indication of rank) :2 nor is there
1 i.e. His great authority is evinced in the fact of His being able to give them authority to do all these miracles. — ED.
8 In the original, "non sine indicio ordinis." In the notes to his German Version he says, on the words " Der erste," " the first," In der That war SIMON den andern uberlegen : wiewol das der Stuhl zu ROM nichts angehet."