Ver. 28. ἐν ὀλίγῳ pe πείθεις Χ. γένεσ- θαι, see critical note, '' with but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian,” Κ.Υ. reading ποιῆσαι, and πείθεις being used de conatu (so Zock- ler in his 2nd edition) ; cf. προσήλυτον ποιεῖν, Matt. xxili.15. Schmiedel, Encycl.
‘Bibl., i., 754, inclines to explain the
phrase X. ποιῆσαι as a Latinism: Chris- tianum agere, to play the part of a Chris- tian. Weiss sees in the words a gentle irony, as if Agrippa would answer St. Paul’s appeal to his belief in the pro- phets by intimating that it was not so simple a matter to become a Chris- tian, even if one, as a Jew, believed in the prophets. Or we may regard Agrippa as rejecting, not so much in banter as in cold disdain, the en- thusiasm of the orator, and adopting the tone of a certain Jewish orthodoxy (Zockler), not, {.ε., the indifference of
27—29.
513
A , ~ A 29. 6 δὲ Παῦλος 1 εἶπεν, Εὐξαίμην ἂν τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐν ὀλίγω καὶ ἐν a ‘ πολλῷ οὐ µόνον σέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντάς µου σήµερο»,
γενέσθαι τοιούτους ὁποῖος κἀγώ εἰμι, παρεκτὸς τῶν δεσμῶν τούτων.
1 After ο δε Π. ΝΑΒ, Vulg., Syr. Harcl. om. ειπεν, so Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss,
Wendt, Hilg.
* evgarunv SCAB, so Lach., W.H., Weiss, Wendt, Blass, Hilg.; but N*HLP 61, so Tisch. ευξαµην. For πολλῳ (HLP, Chrys.) SAB 13, qo, 61, Vulg., Syrr. P. H., Boh., so Tisch., W.H., R.V., Blass, Weiss, Wendt, Hilg. have μεγαλῳ.
the Roman, but that of the Sadducees to the prophets. The A.V. “almost” must be abandoned, even if we retain γενέσθαι, for ἐν ὀλίγφ cannot be so rendered, either here or elsewhere in the N.T.; παρ᾽ ὀλίγον, or ὀλίγου or ὀλίγον δεῖ would be required as the classical expres- sion for ‘‘almost’”’. The best parallel is Ephes. iii. 3, ἐν ὀλίγφ: “in a few words’’: so A. and R.V. (cf. 1 Pet. v. 12). But if in the next verse we read µεγάλῳ instead of πολλῷ, so R.V. (see critical note), it seems best to under- stand πόνῳ with ὀλίγῳ, as this noun could fitly stand with both µεγάλῳ and ὀλίγῳ = with little trouble, with little cost. The R.V. rendering of the two verses reads as if πολλῷ was retained in ver. 29, whereas µεγάλῳ is the reading adopted in R.V. text. So far as N.T. usage is concerned, ἐν ὀλίγῳ might be rendered ‘in a short time”’ (cf. James iv. 14, I Pet. i. 6, Rev. xvii. το, so in classical Greek), but this rendering also is excluded by ἐν ὀλίγῳ καὶ ἐν µεγάλῳ in the next verse. Wendt maintains that ἐν ὀλίγῳ may still be rendered “almost”; the phrase is instrumental, as if expressing the thought contained in ὀλίγου δεῖ, and meaning that a little was wanted to attain the aim = almost; so St. Chrysos- tom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem; Luther, Beza,Grotius = propemodum. Theanswer of Agrippa, therefore, need not be taken ironically, as by most moderns, but in earnest (cf. ver. 32, where his favourable opinion supports this view), although Wendt acknowledges that his confession was only half-hearted, as is seen by his desire to conclude the interview (Wendt, 1888, note, p. 530, and 1899, p. 400, to the same effect, so too Schirer, fewish People, div. i., vol. ii., p. 198, note). If we read πείθῃ, see critical note, we render ‘“‘with but little thou art persuading thy- self that thou canst make me a Christian,” taking up πείθοµαι of ver. 26. This read- ing is adopted by Blass and Belser, but the former takes ἐν ὀλίγῳ as meaning brevi tempore in this verse (so in Plato,
22 B), but in ver. 29 he takes it as=
Apol., ¥ VOL, II.
facile, whilst ἐν weyadw (which he reads) = difficile. Belser, however, takes the phrase ἐν ὀλίγῳ in the same sense in both verses, “with little trouble or pains”. St. Chrysostom thought that the phrase ἐν ὀλίγῳ was used by Agrippa in one sense and by St. Paul in another (so too Lewin, cf. Grimm-Thayer and Plumptre) ; Blass apparently obliges us to adopt the same view, but there is nothing in the context to support it (Wendt, Bel- ser).—Xpior.: there is nothing strange in this use of the word by Agrippa; he may have become acquainted with it in his knowledge of the Christian move- ment (see above), and the term could easily have spread from Antioch over the district which he ruled. It is difficult to say in what sense he used the term; and no doubt the shade of meaning which we attach to his employment of it will de- pend upon the meaning which we give to the rest of his answer—a meaning earnest or contemptuous. Thus on the former supposition it is possible that he may have used the word instead of the despised ‘‘ Nazarene,” to indicate his half-friendly attitude towards Christianity, and his relative recognition of it by connecting it with the name which was cherished by every Jew, although the context shows that he had no intention whatever of allowing Paul’s persuasive powers further scope; see Wendt (1899), who points out as against Lipsius that there is no- thing unhistorical in the introduction of the name here, as if the writer presup- posed that it would be familiar to every Jew. On the other hand, although a Jew, Agrippa, before such an audience, might well have used a term with which the Romans also would probably have been familiar, and if he spoke contemptuously (so Blass, Rendall) he would naturally employ a title which had been given in scorn, and which apparently at this period even the Christians themselves had not accepted ; see below, and note on xi. 26.