An Exegetical Examination of the Term Χριστιανός in Acts 11:26 An Exegetical Examination of the Term Χριστιανός in Acts 11:26 This exegetical study of An Exegetical Examination of the Term Χριστιανός in Acts 11:26 is based on a b-greek discussion from Sun May 23 15:49:50 1999. The initial inquiry posed a question regarding the definition…
“`html An Exegetical Analysis of Acts 2:37: The Temporal Implications of ἀκούσαντες body { font-family: ‘Times New Roman’, serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 20px; max-width: 900px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } h2, h3 { color: #2C3E50; } h2 { border-bottom: 2px solid #2C3E50; padding-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 40px; } h3 { border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; padding-bottom: 3px;…
An Exegetical Analysis of Acts 16:25: The Relationship Between Prayer and Hymn-Singing This exegetical study of Acts 16:25 is based on a b-greek discussion from May 18, 2002. The initial inquiry posed the question of whether the phrase Παῦλος καὶ Σιλᾶς προσευχόμενοι ὕμνουν τὸν Θεόν implies that Paul and Silas sang *unto* God or *about*…
An Exegetical Study of Acts 5:16: The Conjunction καί and its Translational Nuances This exegetical study of Acts 5.16 NASB using ‘or’ for και is based on a b-greek discussion from Mon Jul 24 09:31:04 EDT 2006. The initial query observed that the New American Standard Bible (NASB) renders the Greek conjunction καί in Acts…
An Exegetical Analysis of Acts 2:46: The Nature of Early Christian Communal Practices This exegetical study of An Exegetical Analysis of Acts 2:46: The Nature of Early Christian Communal Practices is based on a b-greek discussion from May 14, 2003. The initial inquiry questioned whether the phrase καθ’ ἡμέραν in Acts 2:46 refers to a…
“`html Linguistic Context of First-Century Palestine: An Exegetical Inquiry Linguistic Context of First-Century Palestine: An Exegetical Inquiry This exegetical study of “The Passion” and Koine Greek is based on a b-greek discussion from Wednesday, September 17, 2003. The discussion commenced with an inquiry into the linguistic choices of a forthcoming film, “The Passion,” which was…
The following academic exegesis transforms an email discussion from a b-greek list into a structured scholarly analysis of Acts 1:10. An Exegetical Analysis of Acts 1:10: The Grammatical Function of πορευομένου αὐτοῦ This exegetical study of Acts 1:10 is based on a b-greek discussion from Tue May 11 06:30:28 EDT 1999. The initial inquiry posed…
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An Exegetical Study of ἀπάγω in Acts 12:19 This exegetical study of An Exegetical Study of ἀπάγω in Acts 12:19 is based on a b-greek discussion from July 4, 1998. The discussion critically examines the prevalent interpretation of the phrase ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαχθῆναι in Acts 12:19, which commonly presumes Herod’s command for the execution of the…
“`html An Exegetical Analysis of τεκμήριον in Acts 1:3 body { font-family: ‘Palatino Linotype’, ‘Book Antiqua’, Palatino, serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 20px; } h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-family: Georgia, serif; } h2 { color: #2C3E50; border-bottom: 2px solid #34495E; padding-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 30px; } h3 { color: #34495E; margin-top: 25px; } p…
Pat Ferguson wrote:
ΑΠΟΦΕΡΕΣΘΑΙ (αποφερεσθαι) appears in some mss (P38 P74 01 02 03 08 33 323 945 1175 1241 1739; cp. N-A²⁸), and EPIΦΕΡΕΣΘΑΙ (επιφερεσθαι) appears in other source documents (05 18 020 044 424 614 1505).Also, αποφερεσθαι appears in the translations of Alford, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles at Acts 19:12. But επιφερεσθαι is seen in TR, and in the works of Griesbach and Scholz. Both words are pres. inf. pass. according to Moulton, Analytical Greek Lexicon-Revised (Bagster & Sons, London 1977; Zondervan, Grand Rapids 1978).
Personally, I read Acts 19:12 to say something like: so that even handkerchiefs or aprons from his skin were brought [and applied]* to those who were sick.
_________________________
* Cp. Moulton, et al.
Hi Pat,
I assume by “translations of Alford, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles” you are referring to their edited critical texts of the NT.
Looks like the New Living Translation is in agreement with my reading ot the text in Bezae. I am sure they didn’t use Bezae as their vorlage. The idea being a transfer of some object which made physical contact with the miracle worker to physical contact with the person needing the miracle.
Acts 19:12 NLT When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled. Source: BibleGateway
It seems to me this is the plain meaning of the text, not a fanciful extrapolation.
Statistics: Posted by Stirling Bartholomew — January 11th, 2014, 9:54 pm
I am questioning whether the verb παραβαλεῖν εἰς τόπον actually means come (sail) to the land as suggested by LSJ and apparently all English translations (The English word “touch” in this context means “stop or dock briefly at”).
It seems to me that it means sail along the land, but in a special technical sense when used of an open sea voyage with the preposition εἰς. That is to say that παραβαλεῖν εἰς τόπον (when used of sailing) is “to sail over open water till one sights land and then sail along parallel to the land without landing”.
[The word is used in the NT twice and only once in this sense.]
The verse it is used in is
Acts 20:15 (Byz2005) wrote:
τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ παρεβάλομεν εἰς Σάμον· καὶ μείναντες ἐν Τρωγυλλίῳ
And on the next day we sailed across to Samos then along the coast and waited (for some time) on the Trogylium Promontory
LSJ gives the meaning in this sense as:
LSJ παραβάλλειν B.II wrote:
go by sea, cross over, “παρέβαλε νηυσὶ ἰθὺ Σκιάθου” Hdt.7.179, cf. Philipp. ap. D.12.16, Arist.Mir.836a29; of ships, “ναῦς Πελοποννησίων ἐς Ἰωνίαν π.” Th.3.32.
Now, the usual sense of παραβάλλειν is “to lie parallel to”, “run parallel to”, and in reference to boats it can mean “to bring a boat alongside”.
It seems to me that the meaning “to go by sea”, “to cross over” is a very general translation for a rather specific manoeuvre, specifically that one would sail across the open ocean in the direction (as best as it was possible to judge it) to find landfall and then to sail parallel to the coast in the intended direction to get to the destination.
In this case, leaving Chios, they sailed south across the open ocean till they caught sight of the coast of Samos, then they would turn to port (left) and sail along the coast till they could see Mount Mycale and then navigate from that down through the Straits of Samos till they reached a suitable spot on the Trogyllium Promontory (on the mainland of Asia Minor) to do whatever it is they did there. 
Aparently, from that understanding, the verb implies that they never put into Samos. The εἰς refers to the landfall that they expected to see (not “to land at”) at the end of the open sea and the παραβάλειν refers to the running parallel after sighting land.
I want to put it up for discussion because the standard reference work doesn’t explain it, and none of the English translations seem to have captured the sense of that, and usually when that is the case…
Statistics: Posted by Stephen Hughes — April 6th, 2014, 3:59 pm
Stephen, perfect explanation. I got it.
In the case of Acts 26:16b-17, I should have known that
the relative pronoun, as an anaphoric pronoun like “this”, “that”, “it”, “they”, etc,
can refer to anything that has been introduced to the context so far,
as long as the reader can identify the referent.
I should have remembered the class I once took about “discourse analysis” ^^
Moon Jung
Statistics: Posted by moon — June 10th, 2014, 5:20 am
Louis L Sorenson wrote:
Stephen wroteσυμφέρω in the next verse suggests movement..
Yes, that is what I thought. Movement is surely involved because they all brought their magical books to the same pile to burn.
But I also think ‘ἦλθον ὀμολογούμενοι’ is odd. It’s missing something (εἰς, πρός, κτλ. The default usage is like Mk 1.45 ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτόν.). Perhaps the problem (where I’m led astray) is the English use where ‘began’ has to be a modal auxiliary verb.Carl wrote:
And to underscore that, wouldn’t an imperfect for ἄρχομαι here be odd? “They kept on beginning”?But cf. Thucydides 1.25.4
(ᾗ
καὶ μᾶλλον ἐξηρτύοντο τὸ ναυτικὸν καὶ ἦσαν οὐκ ἀδύνατοι·
τριήρεις γὰρ εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν ὑπῆρχον αὐτοῖς ὅτε ἤρχοντο
πολεμεῖν),— would not we read that as ‘when they began to fight’? or is it ‘when they came to the fight’?
But then again, Luke likes to be ambiguous where he can. There are no textual variants here – so I guess I would go with the traditional rendering. For those who are trying to recreate a spoken Koine, this may be an example to avoid or rule to follow. i.e. use the aorist of ἄρχομαι with the infinitive, not the imperfect.
(1) Thucydides’ account of the buildup to the Peloponnesian War is vivid in its description of the ongoing process, and the imperfects contribute to that: “And they kept outfitting the fleet all the more (and they were not wanting in military might: in fact, they had a hundred and twenty triremes at the time when they were just starting hostilities.”
(2) Luke’s description of this process is vivid too, although I don’t personally think it’s ambiguous. I’m reminded of vivid literary descriptions of Savonarola’s great conflagration of books in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria. Awesome and frightening, as is the course of events in Ukraine right now.
Statistics: Posted by cwconrad — March 2nd, 2014, 10:37 am
cwconrad wrote:
I had read somewhere — and can’t recall where now — that there are four kinds of impurities from which the rabbis insisted that Gentiles should abstain if they were to associate with Jews.
For example Craig Keener: the legendary The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Also Hard Sayings of the Bible explains similarly, but doesn’t mention rabbinical opinions. The idea is that those things mentioned are not about morality but necessary compromises so that in mixed congregations both Jews and Gentiles could co-exist and celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.
If you can wait for couple of months, this is the way to go: Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 3. If it’s not there (with every imaginable detail), it’s nowhere. (Despite the name it’s not a full exegetical commentary but about the social and historical background. Yes, 3 vols over 1000 pages each!)
Statistics: Posted by Eeli Kaikkonen — July 14th, 2014, 3:16 am
Ἐτάραξαν δὲ τὸν ὄχλον καὶ τοὺς πολιτάρχας ἀκούοντας ταῦτα
Robert Emil Berge wrote:
The participle doesn’t need to indicate another causality, and if it did it would be strange, and at least there should have been a hint at what that was.
Barry Hofstetter wrote:
Why would the participle indicate a different causality?
The addition of the ταῦτα suggests that meaning may be bigger than the grammatical structures or to say that another way there is a certain ungrammaticalness about the sentence.
If ταῦτα refers to the Ἐτάραξαν δὲ τὸν ὄχλον (a summary (or topicalising restatement) of all that went on before in the previous few verses), then the verb – in an implied form is in καὶ τοὺς πολιτάρχας ἀκούοντας ταῦτα would need to be in the second half too.
Barry Hofstetter wrote:
what they were hearing was the actual cause for their being upset (if we were convert this to some kind of passive construction)
For the second half of the sentence, conversion to a passive makes sense.
The unbelieving Jews aggitated the crowd – they are the first causality and the result is the crowd’s aggitation, then upon hearing about these things, the rulers were upset too – the first cause and result is the second causality. That has been harmonised into a string of accusatives following Ἐτάραξαν, rather than re-stating the verb again in another form (perhaps ἐταράχθησαν). The sense of the text moves on to the city-rulers with the λαβόντες τὸ ἱκανὸν παρὰ τοῦ Ἰάσονος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν, ἀπέλυσαν αὐτούς. It seems that that picks up on the implied passive construction.
This seems to be a convoluted form of verb ommission involving syntactic rearrangement, without loss of the change of the flow of the sense.
Statistics: Posted by Stephen Hughes — September 9th, 2016, 9:01 pm
At least for certain types of verbs, the future ptc is the ‘normal’ way, in literary classical Gk,of expressing purpose. From when I was taught Gk many years ago I remember this as a sort of default setting, as in
ὡρμησαντο ἐπι το τειχισμα ἐπιθησομενοι – they rushed towards the fortification so as to attack it
Statistics: Posted by Dan King — February 13th, 2014, 1:48 am
David Lim wrote:Alan Patterson wrote:Barry wrote:Well, then, what do you think it means? Yes, it’s God’s heart, but it describes David as being a man after God’s heart, following God. How can it mean otherwise than being devoted to God?It is not DAVID’s devotion to, but it is GOD’s appreciation of…. At least, that’s how it appears on the surface, imo.
I don’t see “appreciation” written in that phrase, but I see the same that Barry says. The phrase just means “a man who does things according to God’s heart”. That is pretty much the same as “a man devoted to God”.
Right. It’s telling us what David is like, not what God is like.
Statistics: Posted by Barry Hofstetter — May 2nd, 2014, 7:47 pm
Stephen Carlson wrote:
As a matter of logic, “If you do X and Y, you will get Z” means that X and Y are sufficient for Z, not that they are necessary for Z. Occasionally, people imply “only if” with their conditionals (which makes it necessary rather than sufficient), but that is a matter of context and, I’m afraid in this case, theology. As a matter of language, it is not precise enough to settle without looking beyond the construction.
Imperative -> if -> only if, that is a lot of scafolding already.
Can anyone recall an example of this in Greek, which is very clearly not requiring both things (only if). Perhaps something like, “Smoke 5 packs of cigarettes per day, eat as much saturated fat as you can, never do exercise, and you will die before you’re 60”. Or an example that does seem to require them like, “Put the key in the lock, and turn the key, and the door will open”.
Statistics: Posted by Stephen Hughes — January 31st, 2014, 2:54 am
Thank you, for answers. I’ve met in christianity teaching: once saved, always saved (in sense: believe in Jesus and you will be saved instantly). I thougt that this text may be bear out so teaching. But the words of Jonathan are important: “It’s not telling us when this salvation occurs, it’s telling us that it can occur by the grace of Jesus Christ, without circumcision, for both Jews and Greeks.”
Thanks
Jarek Romanowski
Statistics: Posted by romanjaro — March 24th, 2017, 2:43 pm
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