Ver. 3. padtora: () ‘* especially be- cause thou art expert,” R.V. (so Blass, Felten, Weiss), or (2) ‘‘ because thou art specially expert,’ margin, R.V. (so Wendt, Rendall, Bethge, Zéckler). See
α----δ.
501
4. τὴν μὲν οὖν βίωσίν pou! τὴν ἐκ νεότητος, τὴν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς γενοµένην ἐν τῷ ἔθνει µου ἐν ἹἹεροσολύμοις, ἴσασι πάντες οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι,
5. προγινώσκοντές µε ἄνωθεν, (ἐὰν θέλωσι μαρτυρεῖν,) ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἀκριβεστάτην αἴρεσιν τῆς ἡμετέρας ” θρησκείας ἔζησα Φαρισαῖος:
1 την before εκ νεοτ., retained by Tisch., Blass and Hilg., is omitted by Weiss, W.H., Wendt, with BC*H. την am’ αρχης om. by Blass in B, with Gig. After εν NABEzEr 4ο, Syr. P., Tisch., W.H., R.V., Wendt, Weiss, Hilg. add τε, Blass
omits in B text.
2@pnoKeras, 5ο W.H., Weiss, Blass, Ῥ. 44-
ΝΟΕ read θρησκιας, Winer-Schmiedel,
critical notes, and for construction Winer-Moulton, Ixiii., 2, a, and xxxii. 7, Wendt (1899), p. 389.--γνώστην ὄντα: an anacoluthon, as if an accusative had been previously used, πρός σε. . . ἀπολ., cf. xxii. 1. Zéckler takes it as an accusative absolute, following A. Buttmann (see Winer-Moulton., u. 5.), but no clear example (cf. Ephes. i. 18, and Hackett’s note, in οεο).---γνώστην, cf. Susannah, ver. 42 (Theod., not LXX), with genitive as Πετε.---ἐθῶν τε καὶ ζητ.: ‘“ consuetudinum in practicis, questionum in theoreticis,” Bengel, on ver. 32 see above, xxv. 10.---μακροθύμως, only here in N.T., but µακροθυµία trequent in St. Paul’s Epistles (cf. Ecclus. v. 11).
Ver. 4. μὲν οὖν: with no formal an- tithesis, but as marking the opposition between his present and former mode of life, a contrast dropped for the moment, and resumed again in ver. 9; see Rendall, Appendix on pév οὖν, but also Page, in loco, and notes below on ver. 9.—Biwovv : vivendi et agendi ratio, Grimm; cf. the same word used in the description of a life very similar to that of Paul before he became a Christian, Ecclus., Prol., 12, διὰ τῆς ἐννόμον βιώσεως (Symm., Ps. XXXxVili. (xxxix.) ϐ).---νεότητος, I Tim. iv. 12, only elsewhere in N.T. in Luke xviii. 21, and in parallel passage, Mark x. 20, in LXX Gen. xliii. 33, Job xxxi. 18, etc. From its use with reference to Timothy it is evident that the word did not imply the earliest years of life, and although Paul may probably have removed to Jerusalem at an early age, the context does not require a reference to the years he had lived before his removal.—rhy an’ ἀρχῆς yev-: explanatory of preceding,— the commencement of his training, which was not only amongst his own nation, but also specially τε, at Jerusalem, cf. xxii, 3. The Apostle presses the point to show that he was most unlikely to act in violation of Jewish feeling—he is still a Jew.—toaor: only here in N.T., per-
Hilg., with ABHLP; Tisch. with
haps a conscious classicism, Simcox, Language of the N.T., p. 33; on the classical forms in this speech see Blass, Proleg., p. 14, and Gram., p. 49, and especially p. 5, Philology of the Gospels, p- 9. These literary forms are what we should have expected the Apostle to em- ploy before an audience so distinguished. —lovdato.: Blass gives a further reason for the omission of article, ‘‘ abest ut 2, 3, 7, 21, sec. usum Atticorum, cf. xvii. 21”.
Ver. 5. προγιν. pe: knowing me be- forehand, {.ε., ἄνωθεν, from the beginning of my public education in Jerusalem. προγ.: twice elsewhere by Paul, Rom. Vili. 29, xi. 2, also in 1 Pet. i. 20, 2 Pet. ili, 17. For aw ἀρχῆς and ἄνωθεν cf. Luke i. 2, 3, and for the former also 2 Thess. ii. 13.---ἀκριβ.: ‘the straitest sect,”’ R.V., on the double accusative in A.V. see Humphry, Commentary on R.V. For this classical form, the only instance of a superlative in -τατος in N.T., see especially Blass, u.s., cf. ver. 4; on the term in its close connection with Phari- saism cf. Jos., Β.Τ., te δι 25 ἀπ xvii., 2, 4, and references above on xxii. 3. Their “ straitness ” included not only observance and interpretation of the Mosaic law, but also of the whole παράδοσις τῶν πρεσβντέρων.--αἴρεσιν, see on v. 17, the word in the sense of ‘‘a sect” was rightly applied to the exclusiveness of Pharisaism as in the N.T., cf. xv. 5, and in Jos., cf. Vita, 38. —Opnoxelas: “cultus religionis, potissi- mum externus,” Grimm, so here and in the other places where it occurs in N.T., Col. ii. 18, James i. 26, 27; twice in Wisdom, xiv. 18, 27, of the worship of idols; in Ecclus. xxii. 5 the reading is doubtful; in 4 Macc. v. 6, 13, of the religion of the Jews. The instances of its use both in Philo and Josephus show that it was plainly distinguished from εὐσεβεία and ὁσιότης. Thus it is con- trasted with the latter by Philo, Quod det. potiors insid., ο. 7: θρησκείαν ἀντὶ