The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 87

simillll" to that found on thret or four in- Thesealonica from Athens. If there were scriptions before the time of Constantine, extant a letter of Paul to the Dorronns, it where Christians are <'ailed Xp"1711'r111vo(, nnd would probably mention hie sending back to the formntion of the French "'ord Chretien Silas to them, just ae the Epietlo to tho -in old French Chreslien; and that the true Thossaloniane mentions his ecnJing Timothy nrc,ount of th<>se riots is that they were to them. Now they both come to Corinth nttacb of the unbelieving Jews upon from ,llacedonia,, which includes Dercea and Christian J ewe, similnr to those at J ern- Thessalonica. If they co.me by sea, they ealem (eh. viii.), at Antioch in Pisidia would probably sail together from Ilium to (<'h. xiii. 50), at Ioonium and Lystra (eh. Cenchrem (see eh. xvii. 14, note). Was xiv.), and at Thesse.lonica and Berroa (eh. constrained by the Word. As an English xvii.). The Romane did not discriminate phrase, this is almost destitute of meaning. between Jews and Christian Jews, 1L11d If the R.T. is right, and it has very strong thought thnt those who ca.lkd Christ their manuscript authority, the words 11vvelx,.,-o King were fighting under his lendership .,-q; >..o;,'I' mean th,it he was seized, token pos- (comp. eh. x-.ii. 7; Luke xxiii. 2; see session of, and as it were bound by the Renan, • St. Panl,' p. 101). Tertullinn and necessity of preaching the Word, conetrnined Lactantiue (quoted by Lewin, p. 274) both o.s it were to prench more earnestly than speak of the vulgnr pronunciation, Chres- ever. In St. Luke 11vvlxe,,-6a.1 is a medi.3al tianm and Chrestm. Howson also adopts term: in Luke iv. 28, R.T., "Holden wi'1.-i the above explanation. But Meyer thinks a great fever; " Luke viii. 37, "Holden wit,\ that Chrestus was, as Suetonius says, a a great fear; " eh. xxviii. 8, " Sick of fever Jewish leader of insurrection at Rome. and dysentery;" and so frequently in The question bears on the passage before medical writers (' Medical Language of St. us chiefly as the solution does or does not Lnke,' Hobart). But it is worth considering prove the existence of Christians at Rome whether 11vv,lx,.,.o is not in the middle voice, at this time, and affects the probability of with the sense belonging to 11w•x1ir, i.e. Aquila and Priscilla heing already Christiitns "continuous," "unbroken," and so that the when they came to Corinth, before they phrase means that, after the an·ival of Silas made St. Paul's acquaintance. and Timothy, St. Paul gave himself up to Ver. 3. - Trade for craft, A. V.; they continuous preaching. St. Luke has not wrought for (he) v:rought, A.V. and T.R.; unfrequently a use of words peculio.r to him- trade for occupation, A.V. (.,.,x"?I)- Ot the self. The Vnlgate rendering, instabat verbo, same trade ; oµ.6nxvov. This word occnrs seems so to understand it. It was probably here only in the New Testament, bnt is of soon after the arrival of Silas and Timothy frequent use in Hippocrates, Dioscorides, that St. Paul wrote his First Epistle to the and Galen (Hobart, as before). Tent- Thesealonians (1 T llese. i. 1 ; iii. 1, 2, 6). makers; tT1<71vcnrot0l, which is paraphrased The Second Epistle followed some time be- by tT1<7111opp&.</Jo,, tent-stitchers or tailors, by fore St. Paul left Corinth. If the T.R., .,-,;: Chrysostom and Theodoret. Hug o.ud 1rv,6µa..,.,, is right, it must be construed, others erroneously interpret it "makers ~f "constrained by the Spirit," in o.ccordance tent-cloth," from the fact that a cert:nn with Greek usage. Testifying, etc. Noto kind of cloth made of goats' hair, C.'\lled how different St. Paul's preaching in the "'>..'"'°"• was mannfactured in Paul's native synagogue we.s from his preaching in the country of Cilicia. But the fact of such Areopagus. manufacture would equally lead persons Ver. 6.-Shook out for Bhoo1', A.V. For who were living in Cilicia to exercise the this action of shaking his raiment, comp. trade of making tente of the cloth so manu- eh. xiii. 51. It was in accordance with our factured. SL Paul e.lludes to his manual Lord's direction in Matt. x. 14, where the labour in ell. xx. 33-35 ; 1 Cor. iv. 12; same word (e,c-r,11&.1111«v) is used. It is "much 1 'l'hess. ii 9 ; 2 Thess. iii 8, 9. employed in medical language" (Hobart, Ver. 4.-Jews and Greeks for the Jews and 'Medical Language of St. Luke,' p. 240). The the G-re,er.s, A. V. Observe again the in- idea seems to be having nothing henceforth fluence of the synagogue upon the Greek in common with them. Your blood, etc. (see population. Reaaoned (see eh. xvii. 2, Ezek. xxxiii. 4-9). St. Paul's keen sense 17, note). of the pcl'verscness of the J ewe breaks out Ver. 5.-But for and, A.V.; Timothy for in hie First Epistle to the Thessaloniaus (ii. Timotheu, A.V.; came down for were wme 14-16), written about this time. See note dmm, A. V.; conBtrained by the Word for to ver. 5. prUBed in spirit, A.V. and T.R.; telitifying Ver. 7.-Went for entered, A.V.; the house for and testified, A. V. ; the CltriBt for Ol;riBt, of a certain man for a certain man'• house, A.V. When Bila& and Timoth7, etc. It ia A.V.; Titm Jmtu, for J,ustm, A.V. and T.R probable that Sila, had returned by St. Thence. Clearly from the synagogue, where Pe.ul'1 d.irectioII.& to Ber<ea, and Timothf to he hiul been preaching to the Jews, no, crt, xvut. 1-28.] Tili ACTS OF TllE APOSTLES, 89