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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 25:11 - 25:11
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11. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀδικῶ, if then I am a wrong-doer. He has asserted that he was innocent so far as the Jews are concerned. If there be anything against him, it is for the civil jurisdiction of Rome, not for the religious tribunal at Jerusalem, to decide upon.
εἰ δὲ οὐδέν ἐστιν ὦν, but if there be none of these things whereof, i.e. if they be all nothing, all without truth; cf. on οὐδέν ἐστιν, chap. Act 21:24 above.
οὐδείς με δύναται αὐτοῖς χαρίσασθαι, no man can deliver me unto them, i.e. there is no authority or power by which I may be given into their hands.
χαρίσασθαι properly signifies ‘to grant us a favour,’ and the use of it by St Paul seems to shew that he saw through all that Festus was doing, and how he was seeking (Act 25:9) to ingratiate himself with the Jews. For other instances of this verb, cf. 2Ma 3:31; 2Ma 3:33, and in the signification of ‘to make a present,’ 2Ma 4:32.
Καίσαρα ἐπικαλοῦμαι, I appeal unto Cæsar, the final tribunal for a Roman citizen being the hearing of the Emperor himself.
On St Paul’s appeal Chrysostom says: ἀλλ' εἴποι ἄν τις ἐνταῦθα καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ἀκούσας ὅτι καὶ ἐν Ῥώμῃ σε δεῖ μαρτυρῆσαι τὰ περὶ ἐμοῦ, ὡς ἀπιστῶν ταῦτα ἐποίει; μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα πιστεύων. μᾶλλον οὖν πειράζοντος ἦν τὸ θαῤῥεῖν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἀποφάσει, καὶ εἰς μυρίους ἑαυτὸν ἐμβάλλειν κινδύνους, καὶ λέγειν, ἴδωμεν εἰ δύναται ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὕτως ἐξελέσθαι με. ἀλλ' οὐ ποιεῖ τοῦτο Παῦλος ἀλλὰ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πάντα εἰσφέρει τὸ πᾶν ἐπιτρέπων τῷ θεῷ.