0' On this (same) occasion he says, `They added nothing to me.
0' For they confirmed his view: they praised and admired it."
0' he says, `to abstain from
0' etc. For these, though bodily, etc. (as below.) And that none may object, why then do we not enjoin the same thing to the Jews? He adds, `For Moses,
0' etc.: i.e. Moses discourses to them continually: for this is the meaning of, `Being read every Sabbath day.
0' See what condescension!"
0' This they say, because they have to speak," etc. But all this belongs to edocen hmin q. d. "You need not fear us, neither is it of condescension that we speak, or to spare you as being weak-quite the contrary-it seems good to the Holy Ghost "and to us."
10 epiphda N. Cat. (ephpida sic A. b.c.) mod. text apophda, "recoils" from hearing Paul.
11 The scribes did not perceive that ec arxhj is the answer to the question, Ti estin, kaqwj prwton k. t. l. therefore transposed this sentence and gave ez arxhj to the sentence (a) (Cat. omits them.) Mod. text, the question being thus left unanswered, substitutes "Symeon hath declared"-kaqwj pr. k. t. l. 'Ec apxhj afodroteron men.
12 oti pro pantwn outoi. Here also, and in th prolhyei twn eqnwn, there seems to be a reference to prwton, as if the meaning were, God "looked upon the Gentiles first to take from them," before the Jews, etc.-After the text, the questions left unanswered above (see note 2, p. 206) might be advantageously introduced. "How could that restoration (after Babylon) be called an egersij, especially as the city was eventually razed to the ground by the Romans? True: but the kingdom of David is in fact more gloriously raised up, in the reign of David's offspring throughout the world. As for the buildings and city, what loss is that? Nay, David himself is more glorious now than he was before, sung as be is in all parts of the world. If then this which the Prophet foretold is come to pass-this is put as St. James's arguments-namely that the city was raised from its ruins (and the subsequent overthrow, when the end of that restoration was attained, does not invalidate the fulfilment), then must the dia ti of this restoration also come to pass, namely, that the residue shall seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom that Name is called. The city, was raised up for the sake of Christ, to come of them, and to reign over all nations. Consequently, the Prophet shows that the aition (i. e. the dia ti, or final clause) of the building of the city is-the calling of the Gentiles, to ta eqnh klhqhnai."
13 oi upoleipomenoi tote, the Jews whom that (the Babylonian) judgment leaves.
14 mss. and Edd. to de hmetepon. We must read to de hmerwtepon, as above: in the preceding clause something is wanted for antithesis, probably kai ora, to men fortikwteron, oper k. t. l.
15 uper ou ouden gegraptai. This also requires emendation. The sense demands, "About which there is no dispute." The gegraptai may have come in from the text referred to: "to wit, Kaqwj gegraptai," etc.
16 The report seems to be defective here; and in fact N. (Say. marg.) inserts after the text, "showing both God's care towards them and mercy, and their ready mind and piety in obeying: and he says well," etc. But this addition is unknown to A. b.c. Cat., and N. frequently adds to or otherwise alters the original text, where the sense or connection is obscure.-Perhaps however these two sentences may be better transposed to follow the part (b), so that the connection would be, "And again, observe he has been speaking concerning the Gentile converts, not openly of the Jewish believers, and yet in fact what he says is no less for them."-Mod. text with partial transposition, "And he well says, To them, etc. declaring both the purpose of God from the beginning with respect to them, and their obedience and readiness for the calling. What means it? I judge? Instead of, With authority I say that this is so. `But that we write to them,
17 kaitoi ge pollakij autoij uper (not peri as Ben. renders, de his) dielexqhsan mod. text dielexqh, referred perhaps to Moses or the Law, as in the trajection this sentence follows the last of (a). The clause seems to refer to "pollutions of idols and fornication." q. d. "Why mention these in the decree? The Apostles, especially Paul, often discoursed to them on behalf of these points of Christian duty, i.e. the abstaining from all approach to idolatry, as in the matter of eidwloquta, and from fornication." The answer is: "He mentions them, for the purpose of seeming to maintain the Law, (though at the same time he does not rest them on the authority of the Law, but on that of the Apostles: still the Jewish believers would be gratified by this apparent acknowledgment of the Law), and (with the same view) to make a greater number of entolai, for which reason also he divides the one legal prohibition of blood into the two, apo twn pniktwn kai apo tou aimatoj. The latter, he says, though swmatikai, are necessary to be observed because the non-observance of this law on which the Jews laid so much stress led to great evils-especially made it impossible for Jewish and Gentile believers to eat at the same table. For in every city Moses is preached to Jews and proselytes. Therefore I say it is good that we charge them by letter to abstain from these things," Then, giving a different turn to the reason, "for Moses of old times," etc. he adds. "this is for them which from the Gentiles," etc., as for the Jewish believers, they have Moses to teach them. Thus again seeming to uphold Moses, while in fact he shows, what they might learn from Moses himself, that the Law is come to an end for the Jews also.
18 The prohibitions imposed by the council upon the Gentiles were chiefly concessions to Jewish prejudice and opinion. Abstinence from meat which had been offered in idols' temples and from things strangled and from blood was forbidden in the Mosaic law (Ex. xxxiv. 15; Lev. xvii. 10-14). Failure to abstain from these would expose the Gentile converts needlessly to the suspicions of the Jewish Christians. The prohibition of fornication must rest upon another ground. is a warning against the custom among Gentiles, which had become so prevalent as to provoke little rebuke or comment. The ground assigned for requiring these abstinences is that Moses is read every Sabbath in the synagogues of the Jews and therefore these very points are kept prominently before the people and therefore unless these indulgences were abandoned, the synagogue preaching would constantly stimulate in the Jews and Judeo-Christians a dislike of the Gentile believers. There is less ground for the view of Chrys. that v. 21. means that the Jewish Christians have no need of instruction on these points because they hear the law read every Sabbath, an explanation, however, which is adopted by such modern scholars as Wordsworth and Neander.-G. B. S.
19 A. B. aphg. ta eqnh ec autou. Dia ti oun mh par autou manq.; C. aphg. ta ec autou panta, oion ta eqnh. Dia ti k. t. l. Cat. aphg ta ec autou manq. Hence we read, aphgage ta eqnh. Dia ti oun mh ta ec autou manqanousin, oion (ta eqnhj) * * *;
20 katastrefein, mss. Perhaps, metastreyai from Gal. i. 7.
21 eceluse to pan, "untied the whole knot," or perhaps "took out of the Law all its strength," as below luei.
22 Perhaps the sentence, touto malista autouj anepausen, retained above as the end of (b), may belong here, in the sense, "This was conclusive; this made the Judaizers desist, if anything could."
23 kaqaper epi oikodomhj ta up' ekeinwn gegenhmena metatiqentej. Mod. text from E. tiqentej, "putting, as in respect of a building, the things done by those (Judaizers)." We have transposed ta up' ek geg. to its proper place. He interprets anask. with reference to Gal. i. 6. metatiqesqe.
24 sunhrpasan Ben. ipsos extorsisse: but the word is used in the Greek of Chrysostom's time, in the sense "conceal," for which Schneider s. v. refers to Valesius on Harpocrat. p. 145. Gronov. in which sense we have rendered it above. Or perhaps, "had wrested it" to make it speak in their favor. To zhtoumenon sunarpazein is a logical phrase, used of one who commits a petitio principii. St. Chrys. however can hardly be correctly reported here: for the letter itself would show, if it were believed to be genuine. that Paul and Barnabas neither sunhrpasan nor alla ant' allwn eipan. He may rather be supposed to have said in substance as follows: "Had Paul and Barnabas returned alone as the bearers of an oral communication, it might be suspected that they gave their own account of the matter: had they come alone, bearing the Epistle, its genuineness might have been called in question: but by sending the Epistle by the hands of men of their own and of high consideration, they left no room for doubt as to the fact of their decision. On the other hand, to have sent these men alone, would have looked like putting a slight upon Barnabas and Paul: but by sending the messengers with them, they showed oti aciopistoi eisin, and by the eulogy expressed in the Epistle itself they stopped the mouths of the gainsayers."
25 The innovator completely mistakes the meaning of this clause: not having the text to guide him, he supposes it to refer to Silas and Judas, and alters thus: "It shows how worthy of credit they are: not making themselves equal, 'it says: they are not so mad. In fact, this is why it adds that expression, Which have hazarded their lives, etc. And why does it say, "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," and yet it had sufficed." etc.-Below, he has "`To lay upon you no greater burden.
26 pollh gar kai twn didaskalwn aidwj hn. It is not clear whether this means, Great was the reverence shown by the teachers also towards them-as in St. Peter's wsper kakeinoi-and therefore they did not treat them as "weak;" or, great was their reverence towards their teachers, so that bad they laid upon them a greater burden, they would have borne it.
27 mss. and Edd. have this clause, anw katw baroj kalousi after Pneumatoj gar hn nomoqesia, and give the kai palin to sunagagontej. After the clause "For that was a superfluous burden" seems to be the proper place for these sentences from below, see note 3, infra. "It shows that the rest are not necessary but superfluous, seeing these things are necessary. "From which if ye keep yourselves ye shall do well." It shows that nothing is lacking to them, but this is sufficient."
28 Here insert from below: "For it might have been done also without letters-they did this."
29 What follows consists of notes which the redactor did not bring to their proper places. "No more faction-admired it," see note 1 p. 207. "It shows-the Spirit," may belong either to the comment on krinw egw, or to that on "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us."-"It shows that the rest-sufficient," see note 1. These parts being removed, the remainder forms the continuation of the sentence, "it behooved to be done by these," note 2. The concluding words kai met'eirhnhj are the reporter's abridgment of the text "kai [emesthrican, moihsantej de xronon apeluqhsan] met' eirhnhj.
30 The author here assumes the identity of the two visits of Paul to Jerusalem contained in Acts xv. and Gal i. and Gal ii. This has always been the prevailing view. For a full discussion of this and other views, see Gloat, Com. on the Acts ii. 80-84.-G. B. S.
31 The famine is mentioned among the offences within, perhaps because it may have led some to question the Providence of God: see above, p. 159.
32 mss. and Edd. transpose the parts marked a and b. The old text, however, by retaining ti oun at the end of a, as well as at the beginning of c, enables us to restore the order, so that then the clause mhden olwj eidwj en taij Grafaij, no longer disturbs the sense.
33 Edd. pantwj ti erei. A. b.c. pantwj oti erei. "In any wise he will affirm the oti, therefore let us ask the aitiaj di aj."
34 ei iatroj melloij manqanein. Mod. text adds, "Say, Do you accept out of hand and as it chances, whatever you are told?" The connection is: "Apply your mind to what you hear, whether from us or from them, and see whether of us is consistent. Just as you would if you wished to learn medicine: there also you would find conflicting opinions and you would exercise your judgment upon them, not accept all without examination. Do so here; and in the instance which has been taken, you will see that we, affirming the Son to be God, carry out our affirmation consistently; whereas they (the Arians) say indeed that He is God but in fact deny Him the essential properties of Deity."-Edd. and all our mss. Uion legomen hmeij epalhqeuomen k. t. l. We must read either Qeon or Uion Qeon.
35 Connection: I have mentioned one simple criterion: here is another palpable and visible mark. Heretics take their names from men, the founders of their sects, tou airesiarxou dhlountoj A. B. kalountoj C., to onoma Sav. marg. dhlountej, which we adopt. But indeed the reasons you allege are mere pretence, etc.
36 The sentence is left unfinished: "it would be no wonder," "this would be at least consistent," or the like: then ei de eicw b.c. hcw (sic) A., hcw D. Mod. text oude ecw. all corrupt. The sense seems to require, "If you have thought fit," or "gone so far as."
37 Sav. marg. adds "another, Paul of Samosata."
38 Dia ti polloi gegonasin Ellhnej, kai oudeij k. t. l. Mod. text omits dia ti. The first clause seems to be corrupt, or misplaced: for to say that "there have been many heathen, and none of them has asked these questions" (about Christian doctrines), would contradict all that precedes: and if it means There were many Greeks, and diverse schools of philosophy among them, and yet none was deterred from the study of philosophy by those differences, this would not be true. But if this be transposed to the following sentence, which relates to the #Ellhnej at Antioch, then Chrys. says: "Among philosophers also there were these differences, and yet) etc. How is it that (at Antioch) many Greeks became (Christians) and yet none of them asked these questions? Why did they not say," etc.
39 Edd. have a longer peroration from F, partly followed by D. "And live according to His will while we are yet in this life present, that with virtue having accomplished the remaining time of our life, we may be able, etc., and together with them which have pleased Him be found worthy of honor, by the grace and loving-kindness of His only-begotten Son, and the All-holy and Life-giving Spirit, the One true Godhead, now and ever, world without end." Amen.