lent of ja ΤΕ, xxiv. 16, xxvi. 7 (2), righteous, upright, cf. also Prov. xii. +12, once as an equivalent of "7), liberal,
generous, see on viii. 2 above ; frequent in Ecclus. and Macc., see also Trench, N.T. Synonyms, i., p. 196. Taken by itself the word might denote goodness suchas might characterise a Gentile, cf. xvii. 23, and its classical use (like the Latin ῥίείας) ; but construed with o. τὸν Θεόν it cer- tainly seems to indicate that Cornelius was “a God-fearing proselyte” (not to
1---3.
251
πολλὰς τῷ Aad, Kal δεόµενος τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ παντός: 3. εἶδεν ἐν ὁράματι φανερῶς,' ὡσεὶ ὥραν ἐννάτην τῆς ἡμέρας, ἄγγελον τοῦ Θεοῦ
‘ev οραµατι φαν. om. by Iren.; Blass brackets, and see Pref. to B text, p. xviii.
woe. add περι, 50
SABCE, many min., Syr. (P. and H.), Boh., Irint.. Dam., so
Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss, Wendt, Hilg.; Blass omits in β; evidence for the ad- dition seems conclusive, and περι may have dropped out as superfluous after ωσει. evvatnv ; SABCEP have ενατην, and Tisch., W.H., Blass, Hilg., see Winer-
Schmiedel, p. 55.
be identified it would seem with ‘‘ prose- lytes of the gate,” although the con- fusion is common (Schirer, Fewish People, div. ii., vol. Π., p. 316 E.T.)). In Acts this class of proselyte is always so described (or σεβόμενοι τὸν Θ.) ‘they that fear God,” 7.e., the God of the Jews, cf. κ. 22, 35, xiii. 16, 26, etc. All the incidents of the story seem to point to the fact that Cornelius had come into relations with the synagogue, and had learned the name and the fear of the God of Israel, cf. x. 2, 22, 25, without accept- ing circumcision, see especially Ramsay, Expositor, p. 200 (1896), where he corrects his former remarks in St. Paul, p. 43; Hamburger, Real-Encyclopddie des Fu- dentums, ‘‘ Fremder,” 1., 3, p. 382; Hort, Ecclesia, p. 58; O. Holtzmann, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, pp. 184,185; Weizsacker, Apostolic Age, i., 103 E.T.; McGiffert, Apostolic Age, p. 101, note, and for a further explanation of the distinction be- tween the σεβόµενοι and the “ proselytes of the gate” cf. Muirhead Times of Christ (T. & T. Clark), pp. τος, το6.---σὺν παντὶ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ: the centurions of the N.T. are always favourably represented, cf. Matt. viii. 5, Luke vii. 9, xxiii. 47, Acts xxvii. 3. οἶκος here includes not only the family but the whole household, cf. vii. το, xi. 14, xvi. 31, xviii. 8, etc. ; Luke i. 27, X. 5, xix. g, thus the soldier “‘ who waited on him continually ” is also called εὐσεβής. olkos (cf. was 6 olk. ὅλος 6 οἶκ.), favourite word with St. Luke in the sense of “family”? (Lekebusch, Friedrich) as compared with the other Evangelists, but often found in St. Paul (cf. Hebrews), so also LXX, Gen. vii. 1, xlvii. 12. St. Peter uses the word so in xi, 14, and in 1 Peter ii. 18 we have οἰκέτης. St. Chrysostom well says: “Let us take heed as many of us as neglect those of our own house” (Hom., xxii.). Cf. too Calvin, in ἴοεο.---ποιῶν ἐλεημ. τῷ λαῷ, see note on ix. 36; the word occurs frequently in Ecclus. and Tobit, and its occurrence here and elsewhere in Acts illustrates the Jewish use of the term; but although it is true to say that it
does not occur in Acts in any Christian precept, St. Paul applies the word to the collection made from the Christian Churches for his nation at Jerusalem, xxiv. 17, a collection to which he at- tached so much importance as the true outcome of Christian love and brother- hood, see /.c. How highly almsgiving was estimated amongst the Jews we may see from the passages referred to in Hastings’ B.D. and B.D.?; Uhlhorn’s Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, Ρ. 52 ff. E.T.; but it should be re- membered that both in Ecclus. and Tobit there are passages in which both almsgiving and fasting are also closely connected with prayer, Ecclus. vii. ro, Tob. xii. δ.----τῷ λ., 1.6., Israel, as always in Luke, see above on iv. 25. Both this and his continuous prayer to God, ver. 30, characterise him as half a Jew (Weiss).—8ta παντός: Luke xxiv. 53, and three times in Acts (once in a quota- tion, ii. 25), but only used once in Mat- thew and Mark, and not at all by St. John; on St. Luke’s predilection for was and its compounds see Friedrich, pp. 5, 6. The description of the centurion. no doubt reminds us of the description of another centurion in Luke vii. 5 (so Weiss), but we are not obliged to con- clude that the centurion here is merely pictured after the prototype there ; but the likeness may possibly point to the same source for both narratives, as in some respects the language in the two cases is verbally alike, see Feine.—dedpevos: ‘* breces et liberalitas commendantur hic; accedit jejunium, νετ. 30’’; so Bengel, and he adds, “ Benefici faciunt, quod Deus vult: precantes iidem quod volunt, Deus facit’’.