fi.
1
αὐτοὶ οἴδατε, 23. τοῦτον TH ὠρισμένῃ βουλῇ καὶ προγνώσει τοῦ
l και αντοι; but και om. in SABC*DE, Vulg. versions (Syr. Pesh.), Ιπίπί.,, so
Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss, Wendt.
R.V. The word, only used by St. Luke and St. Paul in the N.T. (cf. xxv. 7, 1 Cor. iv. 9, 2 Thess. ii. 4) = demonstrated, and ‘‘approved” in its old meaning would be a good equivalent; so in classical Greek, in Plato and Aristotle, shown by argument, proved, cf. xxv. 7. The sense of the word is given by the gloss in D SeSoxtpacpévov. It occurs in Esther ii. 9, AB, and iii. 13 (LXX), and several times in the Books of the Maccabees (see Hatch and Red- path, sub υ.).--ἄνδρα: Erasmus com- mends the wisdom of Peter, ‘qui apud rudem multitudinem Christum magnifice laudat, sed virum tantum nominat, ut ex factis paullatim agnoscant Divini- tatem ”.—amé: probably here not simply for ὑπό (as Blass, and Felten, and others). The phrase means ‘‘a man demonstrated to have come unto you from God by mighty works,” etc. If the words may not be pressed to mean our Lord’s divine origin, they at least de- clare His divine mission (John iii. 2), divinitus (Wendt in loco).—8vvapeo καὶ τέρασι καὶ σηµείοις: cf. 2 Cor. xii. 12, Heb. ii. 4, and 2 Thess. ii. 9: cf. Rom. xv. το.---σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα: no less than eight times in Acts.—8Svuvdpeis is often rendered in a way which rather obscures its true form and meaning. Lit. = “powers,” and so here in R.V. margin, where in the text we have “mighty works,” so in Heb. ii. 4. St. Luke is fond of using δύναµις of the power in- herent in Christ, and so the plural might well be used of the outward manifesta- tions of this power in Christ, or through Him in His disciples. The word there- fore seems in itself to point to the new forces at work in the world (Trench, N. T. Synonyms, ii., p. 177 ff.).—-répata: the word is never used in the N. T. alone as applied to our Lord’s works or those of His disciples, and this observation made by Origen is very importaut, since the one word which might seem to suggest the prodigies and portents of the heathen world is never used unless in combination with some other word, which at once raises the N.T. miracles to a higher level. And so whilst the ethical purpose of these miracles is least apparent in the word τέρατα, it is brought
distinctly into view by the word with which τέρατα is so often joined—onpeta, a term which points in its very meaning to something beyond itself. Blass there- fore is not justified in speaking of σημεῖα and τέρατα as synonymous terms. The true distinction between them lies in remembering that in the N.T. all three words mentioned in this passage have the same denotation but a different con- notation—they are all used for miracles, but miracles regarded from different points of view (see Sanday and Head- lam, Romans, p. 406).—ols ἐποίησεν... 6 Θεὸς. The words, as Alford points out against De Wette, do not express a low view of our Lord’s miracles. The favourite word used by St. John for the miracles of Christ, ἔργα, exactly corresponds to the phrase of St. Peter, since these ἔργα were the works of the Father Whom the Son revealed in them (cf. St. John v. το, xiv. 10).—Ka0as καὶ αὐτοὶ οἴδατε: Weiss rightly draws attention to the emphatic pronoun. The fact of the miracles was not denied, although their source was so terribly misrepresented; cf. ‘ Jesus Christ in the Talmud,” Laible, Ε.Τ. (Streane), pp. 45-50 (1893).
Ver. 23. τοῦτον, emphatic, ἔκδοτον delivered up, by Judas, not by God; only here in the N.T., but see instances from Josephus, also from classical Greek, in Wetstein. In Dan., Theod., Bel and the Dragon νετ. 22.--ὠρισμένῃ Bovdq: both favourite words of St. Luke: ὥρισ. used by him five times in the Acts, x. 42, xi. 29, xvii. 26, 31; once by St. Paul, Rom. i. 4; once in Hebrews, iv. 7, and only in St. Luke amongst the Evange- lists, xxii. 22, where our Lord Himself speaks of the events of His betrayal by the same word, κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον (cf. xxiv. 26).—BovAq: Wendt compares the Homeric Διὸς 8° ἐτελείετο βουλή. The phrase βουλή τοῦ Θ. is used only by St. Luke; once in his Gospel, vii. 30, and three times in Acts, xiii. 36, xx. 27 (whilst βουλή is used twice in the Gospel, eight times in the Acts, and only three times elsewhere in the N.T., 1 Cor. iv. 5, Ephes. i. rr, Heb. vi. 17), but cf. Wisdom vi. 4, ix. 13, and often ἡ βουλή Κυρίου in LXX.—mpoyveoer: the word is only found again in 1 Peter i. 2, and its