}”--0.
173
8. ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΣ δὲ πλήρης πίστεως 1 καὶ δυνάµεως ἐποίει τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα μεγάλα ἐν τῷ Aad. ϱ. ἀνέστησαν δέ τινες τῶν ἐκ τῆς συνα-
1 πιστεως HP, Syr. Harcl., Chrys.; cf. ver. 5.
χαριτος NABD, Vulg., Sah.,
Boh., Syr. Pesh., Arm., Bas., Did.; so Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss, Hilg. After Aaw D (Syr. H. mg.), Par. (E, Flor., Gig.), so Hilg., add δια του ονοµατος κυριον 1. X.; cf. iv. 30 (and in Classical Review, July, 1897, p. 319).
faith (see Grimm-Thayer, sub v. πίστις, i. b, a), and in face of the opposition of the Sadducees and the more wealthy priestly families, an open adherence to the dis- ciples of Jesus may well have involved a break with their former profession (Hort, Fudaistic Christianity, p. 49, and Ecclesia, p. 52). May there not have been many among the priests waiting for the consolation of Israel, men righteous and devout like the Pharisee priest or priests, to whom perhaps we owe that expression of the hopes of the pious Jew in the Psalms of Solomon, which approach so nearly in style and character to the Hymns of the priest Zacharias and the devout Symeon in the early chapters of St. Luke’s Gospel ? see Ryle and James’s edition, Psalms of Solomon, Introd., lix., lx. Spitta refers the whole verse to his source B, as a break in the narrative, without any con- nection with what follows or precedes. Clemen assigns vi. 1-6 to his special source, H(istoria) H(ellenistarum) ; vi. 7 to his H(istoria) Pe(iri). Jiimgst assigns vi. 1-6. 7b,¢, to his source B, 72 to his R(edactor). The comment of Hilgenfeld on ver. 7 is suggestive (although he him- self agrees with Spitta, and regards the verse aS an interpretation), ‘‘ Clemen und Jiingst nicht-einmal dieses Verstein ungeteilt ’’.
Ver. 8. πλήρης πίστεως, but χάριτος, R.V. Vulgate, gratia = divine grace, xviii. 27, not merely favour with the people—the word might well include, as in the case of our Lord, the λόγοι χάριτος which fell from his lips (Luke *v. 22). On the word as characteristic of St. Luke and St. Paul, see Fried- tich, Das Lucasevangelium, pp. 28, 96; in the other Gospels it only occurs three times; cf. John i. 14, 16,17. See Plummer’s note on the word in St. Luke, 1. c.—8vvdpers: not merely power in the sense of courage, heroism, but power to work miracles, supernatural power, cf. viii. 13 and Luke v.17. That the word also means spiritual power is evident from νετ. 10.—émoie, ‘was doing,” im- perfect, during Stephen’s career of grace and power the attack was made; notice
imperfect combined with aorist, ἀνέσ- τησαν, see Rendall’s note. In ver. 8 Spitta sees one of the popular legendary notices of his source B. St. Stephen is introduced as the great miracle-worker, who is brought before the Sanhedrim, because in v. 17, a parallel incident in B, the Apostles were also represented as miracle-doers and brought before the same assembly; it would therefore seem that the criticism which can only see in the latter part of the Acts, in the miracles ascribed to St. Paul, a repetition in each case of the miracles assigned in the former part to St. Peter, must now be further utilised to account for any points of likeness between the career of St. Stephen and the other leaders of the Church. But nowhere is it said that Stephen was brought before the Sanhe- drim on account of his miracles, and even if so, it was quite likely that the ζῆλος of the Sanhedrim would be stirred by such manifestations as on the former occasion in chap. v.
Ver. 9. ἀνέστησαν: ina hostile sense, cf. Luke x. 25, Mark xiv. 57, and see above on v. Ι7.--τῆς συναγωγῆς: in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome and the larger towns there was no doubt a con- siderable number of synagogues, but the tradition that assigned no less than four hundred and eighty to Jerusalem alone is characterised by Schirer as a Talmudic myth (Fewish Temple, div. ii., vol. ii., p. 73, E.T., so too Edersheim, ¥ewish Social Life, pp. 83, 252, but see also Renan, Afostles, p. 113, E.T.). The number four hundred and eighty was apparently fixed upon as the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word for “ full,”’ in Isa. i. 21, acity ‘full of judgment”. The names which follow have been variously classified, but they have always proved and still prove a difficulty. Ram- say considers that the bad form of the list is due to the fact that St. Luke is here dependent on an authority whose expressions he either translated verbatim or did not understand, Expositor (1895), p- 35. One thing seems certain, viz., that Λιβερτίνων does not refer to any town Libertum in the neighbourhood of