ἡμῶν οὔτε ἡμεῖς ἰσχύσαμεν βαστάσαι; I1. ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς χάριτος
Κυρίου ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ πιστεύοµεν σωθῆναι, καθ ὃν τρόπον κἀκεῖνοι,
12.1 ᾿ΕἘσίγησε δὲ wav τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ ἤκουον Βαρνάβα καὶ Παύλου
ἐξηγουμένων ὅσα ἐποίησεν ὁ Ocds σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι
D, Syr. Harcl. mg. prefix συγκατατιθεµενων δε των πρεσβντερων τοις υπο του Πετρου ενρηµενοις, SO Blass and Hilg., an addition which shows why the multitude kept silence, and connects Peter’s speech with Paul and Barnabas. Weiss, p. 84, sees here the characteristic love of D for the gen. abs., cf. ii. 1, iv. 18, etc., and notes that the same stress is here laid as in ver. 5 upon the πρεσβντεροι rather than upon
the Apostles.
Ver. 10. νὂν οὖν: in Acts four times, nowhere else in N.T.; cf. x. 35, nunc igitur: LXX, Gen. xxvii. 8, etc.; 1 Macc. x. 71.—1l πειράζετε τὸν 6., cf. ν. ο, they put God to the proof, as to whether He had not admitted unworthy persons into the Church.—ém6. fuydv: on the infinitive see Burton, N. T. Moods and Tenses, p. 151; Blass, Gram., p. 221: metaphor common among the Rabbis, and also in classical literature, cf. Jer. v. 5, Lam. iii. 27, Ecclus. li. 26 (Zeph. iii. 9), and Matt. xi. 29 (Luke xi. 46), Gal. v. 1. Possibly in Jer. v. 5 reference is made to the yoke of the law, but Psalms of Solomon, vii., 8, of. xvii., 32, present undoubted in- stances of the metaphorical use of the term “the yoke” for the service of Jehovah. In Sayings of the fewish Fathers, Πιν 8 (Taylor, second edition, p. 46), we have a definite and twice repeated reference to the yoke of Thorah, cf. Apocalypse of Baruch, xli., 3 (Charles’ edition, p. 66 and note), and also Psalms of Solomon, Ryle and James, p. 72, note. It would seem there- fore that St. Peter uses an almost technical word in his warning to the first Christians.—rév μαθητῶν, i.¢., of those who had learnt of Christ and knew the meaning of His yoke, Matt. xi. 29.— ἰσχ. βαστάσαι: cf. xiii. 39. St. Peter no less than St. Paul endorses the charge made by St. Stephen, vii. 53.--οὔτε ἡμεῖς: a remarkable confession on St. Peter’s lips: the conversations with Paul and Barnabas, Gal. ii. 7, may well have confirmed the attitude which he had taken after the baptism of Cornelius ‘Zockler).
Ver. 11. διὰ τῆς x.: twice in his First Epistle St. Peter speaks of the grace of God, of the God of all grace; so also of the grace prophesied before- hand, of the grace brought to them, cf. also iii. 7 and 2 Pet. iii. 18. The exact phrase here is not found elsewhere in St. Peter, although common in St. Paul, but see Plumptre (Cambridge Bible) on 1
Pet. v. 12. In R.V. σωθῆναι is joined more clearly with διά than in A.V.— κἀκεῖνοι, 1.6., the Gentile Christians, not οἱ πατέρες (as St. Aug. and Calvin). For points of likeness between these, the last words of St. Peter in Acts, and his previous utterances, with characteristic idioms and expressions, see Alford on Acts xv. 7 ff., cf. Schmid, Βιδί. Theol. des N. T., p. 427.
Ver. 12. ἐσίγησε: may mean “be- came silent,” “itaque antea non tacue- rant’’ (Blass), cf. Burton, N.T. Moods and
._ Tenses, 21, A. and R.V., “kept silence”.
--πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος: implying a general as- sembly of the Church; on the word see ii. 6, iv. 32, etc.—yKovov: imperfect, marking a continuous hearing ; the silence and the audience both testified to the effect produced by St. Peter’s words.— Bap. καὶ Π., on the order here and in ver. 25 ¢f. Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 84.— ἐξηγουμένων: setting forth in detail ; see above on ver. 3, and x. δ.--ὅσα ἐποί., cf. xiv. 27 and ver. 4. In each case the appeal is made to what God had done, and to the further answer to the prayer of iv. 30 by the miracles wrought among the Gentiles: it was an answer which a Jewish audience would understand, John iii. 2. The historical truthfulness of Paul and Barnabas thus recounting the facts, and leaving the actual proof of the right- fulness of their method of working to Peter and. James, is to Zeller inconceiv- able—an objection sufficiently answered by the consideration that Luke wished to represent not so much the attitude of Paul and Barnabas, but that of the original Apostles to the Gentile-ques- tion ; and in Jerusalem it was only natural that Peter and James should be the spokesmen.