215
ἐπίστευσαν τῷ Φιλίππω εὐαγγελιζομένω τὰ 1 περὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ
- A Aa ~ ~ la Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐβαπτίζοντο ἄνδρες τε
καὶ γυναῖκες. Φ A ~ ,
ἦν προσκαρτερῶν τῷ Φιλίππῳω: µεγάλας γινοµένας, ἐξίστατο.
13. 6 δὲ Σίμων καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπίστευσε, καὶ βαπτισθεὶς θεωρῶν τε σημεῖα καὶ δυνάµεις 14. ᾿Ακούσαντες δὲ οἱ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις
ἀπόστολοι, ὅτι δέδεκται ἡ Σαμάρεια τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀπέστειλαν
1 τα omit W.H., R.V., Blass, Weiss.
sayers and quacks (Schirer, ¥ewzsh People, div. ii., vol. ii., p. 230 E.T.).: no doubt an exaggeration, as Deissmann says, but still a proof that amongst these Egyptian Samaritans magic and _ its kindred arts were widely known. In a note on p. 19 Deissmann gives an in- teresting parallel to Acts viii. το, ἔπι- καλοῦμαί σε τὴν μεγίστην δύναμιν τὴν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ (ἄλλοι: τὴν ἐν τῇ ἄρκτω) ὑπὸ Κυρίου Θεοῦ τεταγµένην (Pap. Par. Bibl. nat., 1275 ff.; Wessely, i., 76) (and he also compares Gospel of Peter, νετ. 19, ἢ δύναµίς pov (2)). The expression according to him will thus have passed from its use amongst the Samaritans into the Zauber-litteratur of Egypt.
Ver. 11. tkav@ χρόνῳ: dative for accusative, cf. xiii. 20, and perhaps Luke viii. 29, Rom. xvi. 25—the usage is not classical, Blass, Grammatik, p. 118, but see also Winer-Moulton, xxxi. 9 a. St. Luke alone uses ixavés with χρόνος, both in his Gospel and in Acts (Vogel, Klostermann).—payelats: only here in N.T., not found in LXX or Apocryphal books, but used in Theophrastus and Plutarch, also in Josephus. It is found in a striking passage in St. Ignatius (Ephes., xix., 3) in reference to the shin- ing forth of the star at the Incarnation, ὅθεν ἐλύετο πᾶσα payela καὶ πᾶς Seopds, and it is also mentioned, Didache, ν., 1, amongst the things comprised under “the way of death,”’ and so in ii. 1 we read οὐ payetoets οὐ happaketoers.—et- εστακέναι͵, see above on ver. 9.
Ver. 12. εὐαγγελ. περὶ: only here with περί, cf. Rom. i. 3 (Jos., Ant., xv., 7, 2). Amongst the Samaritans Philip would have found a soil already prepared for his teaching, cf. John iv. 25, and a doctrine of the Messiah, in whom the Samaritans saw not only a political but a religious renewer, and one in whom the promise of Deut. xviii. 15 would be fulfilled (Edersheim, Y¥esus the Messiah, i., 402, 403; Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, ΡΡ. 162, 163).— ἄνδρες τε καὶ yuvaikes, cf. ν. τά:
“etiam mulieres quae a superstitionibus difficilius abstrahuntur,” Wetstein, cf. John iv. 35 ff.
Ver. 13. καὶ αὐτὸς: characteristic of St. Luke, see Friedrich, Das Lucas- evangelium, Ῥ. 37. --βαπτισθεὶς -ἔβαπ- τίσθη ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐφωτίσθη (St. ΟντΙ]).---ἣν προσκαρτερῶν: On ἦν with a participle as characteristic of St. Luke see on i. 10, and Friedrich, w. s., p. 12; on προσκαρτ. see on i. 14. Here with dative of the person (cf. x. 7); the whole expression shows how assiduously Simon attached himself to ΡΗΙΠΡ.---θεωρῶν: the faith of Simon rested on the outward miracles and signs, a faith which ended in amazement, é§(oraro—but it was no per- manent abiding faith, just as the amaze- ment which he had himself inspired in others gave way before a higher and more convincing belief. The expression δυνάµεις µεγάλας may have been pur- posely chosen; hitherto men had seen in Simon, and he himself had claimed to be, ἡ δύν. ἡ µεγάλη (Υγεἰςς).- ἐξίστατο: “Simon qui alios obstupefaciebat, jam ipse obstupescit,” Wetstein. ἐξίσταμαι, intransitive, Blass, Grammatik, p. 49. Irenzeus speaks of him as one who pre- tended faith, i. 23 (so too St. Cyril, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose) : he may have believed in the Messianic dignity of Christ, and in His Death and Resurrection, constrained by the miracles which Philip wrought in attestation of his preaching, but it was a belief about the facts, and not a belief in Him whom the facts made known, a belief in the power of the new faith, but not an acceptance of its holiness, ver. 18 (see further, Rendall’s note zm loco, and on the Baptism of Simon, “ Baptism,” in Hastings’ B.D.).