170
τοῦ λόγου προσκαρτερήσοµεν.
να»
αν» ς λό οι ας x 5. και Ίρεσεν ὁ Λόγος“ ένωπιον παντος.
τοῦ πλήθους : καὶ ἐξελέξαντο Στέφανον, ἄνδρα πλήρη ὃ πίστεως καὶ
, ‘ Πνεύματος “Ayiou, καὶ Φίλιππον, καὶ Πρόχορον καὶ Νικάνορα, καὶ
προσκαρτερησοµεν; D, Flor., Gig., Par., Vulg. read εσοµεθα . . . προσκαρ-
τερονντες.
This participial construction with the substantive verb is characteristic
of St. Luke, and occurs with the same verb as here in i. 14, ii. 42, viii. 13.
Σο λογος; D, Flor. (Gig.) add ovros; Harris refers to retrans. from Latin, παντος του πληθους; D adds των µαθητων, so Hilg.; Flor. substitutes παντων των
µαθητων, so Blass in β.
3 dnpy BC corr., T.R.; so Weiss, Wendt, W.H., R.V.; πληρης NEC*DEHP
so Lach. See further below.
for uses of the word in Philo and Josephus. ;
Ver. 4. ‘pets δὲ: in marked contrast to the service of tables, etc., but still every work in the Church, whether high or low, was a διακονία.- τῇ διακ. τοῦ λ., see αΆονθ. --- προσκαρτερήσοµεν, “ will continue steadfastly,” R.V., see above on i. 14.-- τῇ προσ., “the prayer” (Hort); the article seems to imply not only private prayer and intercession, but the public prayer of the Church.
Ver. 5. ἤρεσεν ἐνώπιον: phrase not usual in classical Greek; but ἐνώ. in this sense, SO κατενώπιον ἔἕναντι κατέναντι͵, derived from the ΤΧΧ _ (évavrtiov frequent in LXX, is also classical); ¢f., e.g., Deut. i. 23 A, 2 Sam. iil. 36, 1 Kings iii. 10, xx. (xxi.) 2, Jer. xvill. 4, Ju. vii. 16, xiii. 20, 1 Macc. vi. 60, viii. 21 (ἐναντίον, S), where the whole phrase occurs. Blass, Grammatik, p. 125, and see on iv. 1Το.--πλήθους, cf. Deissmann, Neue Bibelstudien, p. 60, and above on p. 73.--ἐξελέξαντο, see above, cf. xv. 22, 25, always in the middle in N.T. (Luke ix. 35 doubtful), so in LXX. Blass, Grammatik, p. 181,
nearly always = Ὑ]λ, On the import-
ance of the step thus taken as marking a distinct stage in the organisation of the Church, and in the distribution of work amongst the members of what was now a true body politic, see Ramsay, δὲ. Paul, p. 372; Hort., Ecclesia, p. 52, and on its further importance in the emancipa- tion of the Church, see Lightfoot’s “' Paul and the Three”. The choice of the names has often been held to indicate the liberal spirit in which the complaint of the Hellenists was met, since the Seven bear purely Greek names, and we infer that the bearers were Hellenists, ‘“‘ele- gerunt ergo Graecos non Hebrzos, ut magis satisfacerent murmuri Graecorum”’ Cornelius 4 Lapide. But the inference is not altogether certain, however pro-
bable (see Wendt, Felten), for Greek names, ¢.g., Philip, Didymus, Andrew, were also found amongst the Palestinian Jews. Bengel holds that part were Hebrew, part Hellenist, whilst Gieseler hazarded the opinion that three were Hebrews, three Hellenists, and one a proselyte. But we cannot conclude from the fact that they were probably: Hellenists, that the Seven were only charged with the care of distribution amongst the Hellenist section of the Church, as there is nothing in the narra- tive to warrant this. We cannot say that we know anything of the Seven except Stephen and Philip—Stephen the preacher and martyr of liberty, Philip the practical worker (Lightfoot, ‘Paul and the Three’’). Baronius. hazarded the fanciful conjecture that. Stephen as well as Saul was a pupil of Gamaliel. Both Stephen and Philip were: said to have been amongst the Seventy, Epiphanius, Haer., xx., 4 (but see Hooker,. v., Ixxviii., 5). If so, it is possible that they may have been sent to labour in. Samaria as our Lord had laboured there,. Luke ix. 52, xvii. 11; and possibly the after work of Philip in that region, and possibly some of the remarks in St. Stephen’s speech, may be connected with a mission which had been com- mitted to Hellenistic Jews. See further on his name and work, Dean Plumptre, in loco, and also below, notes on chap. vii. He may well be called not only the proto-martyr, but also the first great Christian Ecclesiastic (B.D.1 ‘Stephen ’’). —tThe description given of Stephen (as: of Barnabas, so closely similar, xi. 24, cf. Numb. xxvii. 18 of Joshua) shows that the essential qualifications for office were moral and spiritual; see also below on Φίλιππον.- πλήρη: in some MSS. the: word appears as indeclinable, W.H. margin, so in ver. 3, xix. 28, Mark viii. 19, 2 John 8. Blass, Grvammatik, Ῥ. 81.. St. Luke uses the adjective twice in his-