Ver. 1. διὰ δεκατ. ἐτῶν. Greek usage in calculating intervals of time between two events reckons two years for the two broken years at the beginning and end of the period. Some critics, notably Lightfoot, calculate this period from the meeting with Peter mentioned in i. 18: but this attaches far too much importance to that interview. It is only mentioned and its date loosely indicated in order to show that three full years passed before they had any intercourse. The dominant note of time throughout in the mind of the author is surely the conversion: and the object of specifying a period of time here, as in i, 18, is to show how many years of Christian life had passed before the event.—Tirov. The names of the Christians who accompanied Paul and Barnabas are not given in Acts xv. 2. It appears that Titus, a Greek Christian,
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Il.
ἀνέβην εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα μετὰ Βαρνάβα, συμπαραλαβὼν καὶ Τίτον : 2. ἀνέβην δὲ κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν, καὶ ἀνεθέμην αὐτοῖς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ κηρύσσω ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, κατ᾽ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοκοῦσι, μή πως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον 3. (ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ Τίτος ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ, Ἕλλην ὧν,
one of Paul’s own children in Christ, was among them, and that Paul was responsible for his selection. His choice of a Greek for his companion evinces the determined spirit with which he started on his mission,
Ver. 2. κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν. This statement of Paul’s motive is in no way inconsistent with the independent statement in the Acts that he was deputed by the Church. The revelation may have come to Paul himself, and in that case he prompted the decision of the Church, of which he and Barnabas were at that time the ruling spirits; or it may have been made through the Spirit to the Church, in which case Paul would count it right at once to obey his voice. --ἀὀνεθέμην . . . Two different methods of action are here specified, public addresses describing the nature and result of the Apostle’s preaching among the Greeks, and private interviews with individual brethren or groups of brethren. The term κατ ἰδίαν does not imply secrecy in these communications. The context shows that the point at issue was the circumcision of Gentile converts. --͵τοῖς δοκοῦσιν. As this phrase recurs four times in eight verses, it is necessary to determine its true meaning with some precision. δοκεῖν nowhere else conveys the idea of superiority implied in our versions, of reputation (of repute R.V.). The two passages adduced in its support do not stand the test of criticism: in Eur., Heracl., 897 there is an obvious ellipsis of εὐτυχεῖν, in Hec., 295 of δόξαν ἔχειν. In the latter indeed δοκούντων appears to be a cynical comment of the deposed queen on the unreality of outward
glory. eee In fact δοκεῖν, like seem in English, was either a neutral term which expressed according to the context any impression, good or bad, produced by the appearance of an object, or it laid stress on the unreality of the mere outward semblance. The Greeks dwelt often on the contrast between δοκεῖν and εἶναι embodied in the famous line of Aischylus οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν δίκαιος ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι θέλει. In ver. 6 this contrast reappears in the antithesis between δοκοῦντες εἶναι and ποτε ἦσαν. In ver. 9, on the contrary,
ot δοκοῦντες, coupled as it is there with στύλοι εἶναι, denotes the high estimate formed of the Three. The elliptical phrase ἀνεθέμην τοῖς δοκοῦσιν in ver. 2 should in. like manner be interpreted by the context. I take it to mean ἀνε- θέμην ols ἐδόκει δεῖν ἀναθέσθαι. Paul, as he states, brought the matter in private interviews before those whom it seemed right to approach in that way, 56., influential opponents, whose hostility he was anxious to deprecate.—pyj πως . . « It was of vital moment to the welfare of the Greek Churches at that time to avoid a breach with Jerusalem. Besides embracing a minority of Jewish Christians, they were leavened through and through with Jewish influences, so that a quarrel might have led to a disastrous schism in all the existing Churches. More than this, they relied still mainly on the Old Testament for the basis of their theology and morals. The abundant promise of harvest among the Greeks rested still on the nucleus of devout Gentiles who had been prepared by the teaching of the synagogue for the lessons of Christ's Apostles. τρέχω . ἔδραμον. The present subjunctive is coupled here with the aorist indicative, as it is in 1 Thess. iii. 5, to express the fear of present failure, coupled with a dread that past labours had been rendered futile.