13—17.
aot
15. et δὲ ζήτημά 1 ἐστι περὶ λόγου καὶ ὀνομάτων καὶ νόµου τοῦ καθ
ὑμᾶς, ὄψεσθε αὐτοί: κριτὴς yap? ἐγὼ τούτων οὐ βούλομαι εἶναι.
16. καὶ ὃ ἀπήλασεν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος.
17. ἐπιλαβόμενοι δὲ
πάντες “ of Ἕλληνες Σωσθένην τὸν ἀρχισυνάγωγον ἔτυπτον ἔμπροσθεν ~ , ‘ > ‘ , ~ , ” τοῦ βήματος" καὶ οὐδὲν τούτων τῷ Γαλλίωνι ἔμελεν.
1The plur. ζητηματα read by ΝΑΒΡΣΕ, verss., Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss
Wendt, Blass.
2 yap after κριτης om. SABD 13, Vulg., Boh., Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss, Wendt
Blass.
5 For απηλασεν, D}, Flor., Hilg. απελυσεν, but not Blass. 4 SAB Vulg., Boh., Arm. om. οι EXAnves, so R.V., W.H., Wendt, Weiss; Blass
retains (Flor. om. παντες), so Belser and Hilg. Flor. ‘‘simulat se non videre” (d); Belser holds Some later MSS. read Ίουδαιοι.
προσεποιειτο αντον µη βλεπειν. that this is original, p. 87.
Ver. 15. If we read the plural ζητή- para we may regard it as expressing contempt: ‘‘a parcel of questions,” Al- ford; but if they are questions of word (teaching) not deed (opposite ἔργον, fac- tum) and of names not things, verba, opposite mpdypara (Blass); 7.¢., the arguments as to whether Jesus could rightly or not claim the title of Messiah, see also Page’s note.—vépuov τοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς: of your law—not Roman law; with the phrase cf. xvii. 28 (xvi. 39 B), xxiv. 22. It is used only once elsewhere in N.T., by St. Paul, Eph. i. 15 (cf. Acts XXxvVi. 3).--ὄψεσθε αὐτοί, cf. Matt. xxvii. 4, 24: pronoun emphatic, xiii. 18, 19; so in LXX, Num. xiii. το, Judg. vii. 17, xxi. 21, etc. Blass quotes two passages from Epictetus, ii., 5, 30, and iv., 6, 4τ.---κριτὴς γὰρ ἐγὼ: omit γάρ; pronoun more emphatic ; they could determine their matters according to their own law; so Lysias, xxiii., 29, Festus, xxv., 19.—ov βούλομαι: “I am not minded,” R.V.; the decision while it testifies to the strength of Gallio’s character, since un- like Pilate he would not allow himself to be influenced against his better judgment, expresses at the same time his sovereign contempt for the Jews and their religion ; to him as to his brother Seneca the Jews were only sceleratissima gens (Aug., De Civ. Déi, vi., το). The decision shows no favourable inclination to Christianity itself, but this does not take away from its importance as proving that so far as the Roman authorities were concerned the freedom of speech thus granted would enable the religion of the Christ to make its way through the civilised, 1.6., the Roman world; cf. Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 260, who sees in his residence at Corinth an epoch in Paul’s life not only as regards
Blass in β reads και ο Γαλλιων
his doctrine and his presentation of it but also as regards his aim that Christi- anity should be spread throughout the empire, an aim made more clear by the imperial policy of which Gallio was the exponent.
Ver. 16. ἀπήλασεν: probably by his lictors who would be commanded to clear the court. This interpretation of the word is in accordance with the next verse, which describes the crowd of Greeks as prepared to follow up the decision of Gallio by similar treatment of a leading Jew on their own account. See critical note.
Ver. 17. ἐπιλαβ. δὲ: of hostile action, xvii. 10, xvi. 19.—ot” EAdnves, see critical note. If πάντες alone is read it seems clear from the context that only the Jews could be meant, and Weiss supposes that when they had failed so ignominiously they vented their rage on their own leader, Sosthenes, who as head of the synagogue would naturally have been prominent in presenting the complaint to Gallio. Some of the later MSS. insert οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι after πάντες to make the meaning clearer. Probably confusion arose in the MSS. from identifying Sos- thenes either rightly or wrongly with the Sosthenes in 1 Cor. i. 1, and therefore οἱ Ἕλληνες was omitted on the supposi- tion that the Jews were allowed to con- sole themselves by beating a Christian. But not only is it difficult to conceive that Gallio would have allowed them to do this, but there is no occasion to sup- pose that the Sosthenes here is the same as in x Cor. i. 1 (for the name was com- mon), and even if so, he may have become a Christian at a later date. It is much more conceivable that the Corinthians in their hatred of the Jews proceeded to