Acts

6:1-7

2. The early church in Jerusalem, 1:12-6:7

xv] The spirit of the gospel

The persecution of the apostles, and particularly of Stephen, leads to an expansion of the Christian church, 6:1-9:31. This outward thrust of the gospel from Jerusalem was mainly the work of the Hellenistic believers. Before relating the martyrdom of Stephen, Luke tells us something of this group and their status in the Jerusalem church, v1-7.

The Jewish world was divided between Aramaic speaking Jews from Palestine (Hebrews) and Greek speaking Jews from outside Palestine (Hellenists). The Hellenists were either emigrants from Palestine or descendents from the dispersion. It is worth noting that large populations of Jews existed outside of Palestine, eg. a third of the population of Alexandria in Egypt were Jews. Thus, "racial" tension (often focused on religious purity) existed in the Jewish community and found its way into the New Testament church. This racial tension is evident in Luke's account, a tension which was one of the factors leading up to the martyrdom of Stephen and the evacuation of the Hellenist believers from Jerusalem. It was they who were responsible for the initial spread of the gospel beyond Jerusalem.

Conzelmann doubts the historicity of Luke's account of the tension between the Hebrews and the Hellenists in the church, and certainly Luke's purpose in recording the tension is not altogether clear. It seems likely that Luke is doing nothing more than explaining the emergence of Hellenist leaders in the church who play an important role in the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem / Jew to "the ends of the earth" (Rome) / Gentile, eg. Stephen, Philip. He may also be underlining the inclusive nature of the kingdom now realized in Christ - Jew and Gentile. We may have here the first steps on that journey - Palestinian Jew and Hellenist Jew; "the first step in the equality of Jew and Gentile in the Church", Bruce, 1951. Note also the inclusion of the proselyte Nicholas. Luke selects his material to suit his overall purpose and this because Acts is not a detailed history of the early church, cf. Barrett. So, this ethical failing in the early church is not central to Luke's purpose and thus, having noted it, he moves on. Nor is Luke recording the establishment of the order of deacon. The seven are Hellenist believers appointed to care for the poor, particularly within their own community, given that they felt that "their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food", v1.

Although the above scenario seems likely it should be noted that although all seven deacons have Greek names, it was not uncommon for Palestinian Jews to have a Greek name.

en "in [those days]" - in. Temporal use of the preposition.

plhqunontwn (plhqunw) gen. pres. part. "when the number [of disciples] was increasing" - filling = multiplying, increasing. Genitive absolute participle, adverbial, temporal, as NIV.

twn Ellhnistwn (hV ou) "the Grecian Jews among them" - [a complaint] of the Hellenists. The genitive is ablative, of separation / source. As noted above, this is likely to be a cultural designation, ie. non Palestinian Jews, primarily Greek speaking. Cadbury argued that Luke is using the word to mean Gentile, but this seems unlikely. "There rose a complaint on the part of the Greek-speaking .... Jews", Berkeley.

goggusmoV (oV) "complained" - [there became] a complaint, grumbling, murmuring.

proV "against" - to, toward. Here expressing opposition, "against".

touV EbraiouV (oV) "Hebraic Jews" - Hebrews. As above, a cultural designation, ie. Palestinian Jews, primarily Aramaic/Hebrew speaking.

oJti "because" - that. Possibly introducing a causal clause, as NIV, or a dependent statement, indirect speech, expressing the content of the complaint; "they alleged that their widows were being passed over", Barclay.

aiJ chrai (a) "[their] widows" - Haenchen refers to the theory of Rengstorf that widows of the dispersion came to Jerusalem to live-out their final years.

pareqewrounto (paraqewrew) imperf. pas. "they were being overlooked" - they were being neglected / they have been neglected. The imperfect is used to establish aspect, here durative, an ongoing neglect.

en "in" - in [the daily]. Expressing the sphere of activity; "the widows were being neglected when it came to the daily distribution of support."

th/ diakonia/ (a) "distribution of food" - support, service. Referring to material support given to someone in need, financial or otherwise.

de "so" - and [the twelve]. Transitional. "The twelve summoned the body of disciples", Barclay.

proskalesamenoi (proskaleomai) aor. mid. part. "gathered [all the disciples] together" - having summoned, called together. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "said"; summoned ..... and said".

twn maqhtwn (hV ou) "[all] the disciples" - [the multitude] of disciples. The genitive is adjectival, attributive, limiting "multitude".

areston adj. "right" - pleasing / proper, right. "Desirable", or "fitting", REB, is a bit soft, so "it is not right", Phillips, as NIV.

kataleiyantaV (kataleipw) aor. part. "to neglect" - having neglected, forsaken, left. The participle forms a dependent statement of perception expressing what would not be right/proper; "it is far from desirable that we should forsake the preaching of God's message", Cassirer.

ton logon tou qeou "the ministry of the word of God" - the word of God. The genitive "of God" is usually taken as ablative, expressing source; "the message/revelation that derives from God." Obviously "ministry of" is assumed, possibly "preaching of", Barclay, etc, "teaching of", Berkeley, etc., "It wouldn't be right for us to abandon our responsibilities for preaching and teaching the Word of God", Peterson.

diakonein (diakonew) pres. inf. "in order to wait on" - to serve, wait on. The infinitive here is adverbial, final, expressing purpose, as NIV. "Help with the care of the poor", Peterson.

adelfoi (oV) "brothers" - The term, of course, is inclusive, although today it usually refers to a group of men, so "my friends", CEV.

episkeyasqe (episkeptomai) aor. imp. "choose" - visit / care for / select, choose after careful investigation. The third meaning applies in this verse. The choice of seven men has Biblical precedence and is also the number of people appointed to local councils, but there is no real significance in the choice of seven. "You, our brothers, must look around and pick out from our number", Phillips.

ex (ek) + gen. "from among [you]" - out of, from [you].

marturoumenouV (marturew) pres. pas. part. "who are known" - being well reported of, testified of. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "seven", as NIV. It is somewhat unclear whether the testimony given these men concerns their being "full of the Spirit and wisdom", as NIV, or whether they are men "of honest report", AV, "of honorable reputation", Bruce, "respected / attested .... who are full of the Spirit and wisdom", ie. are there two, or three qualifications (or just one, see below)?

pneumatoV kai sofiaV "[full] of the Spirit and wisdom" - [full] of spirit and wisdom. "Spirit", as in Holy Spirit, or "spirit", as in spiritual? The genitive is adjectival, descriptive, of content. Luke often uses the term "full of the Spirit" to define a spiritual gifting for ministry, often particularly the ministry of communicating (preaching / teaching) the gospel - "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly", 4:31. Here with "wisdom", a gift essential for a preaching / teaching ministry. None-the-less it is worth considering that "full of the Spirit" may relate to "wisdom" itself, ie. they must be full of the Spirit / spiritually full when it comes to wisdom. Possibly even a hendiadys where two words joined by kai expressing a single thought; "spiritually wise / possessing a spiritually enriched good sense." There is then only one quality being sought after - the spiritual gift of wisdom. They must be spiritually gifted, able administrators, qualified to adeptly handle tensions in human relationships; "their lives are dedicated to God's Spirit so that they are spiritually sensitive, able to make good judgments", Bock. Most commentators widen the sense of "full of the Spirit" and treat "wisdom" as a second qualification: "showing all the marks of the work of the Holy Spirit" along with the natural (so Barrett, but see below) attribute of wisdom, ie. "the men appointed had to excel in spiritual and natural gifts", Barrett.

sofiaV (a) "wisdom" - It is unclear whether we should understand "wisdom" here as a natural attribute such as "sensible", so Barrett, or as a spiritual gift, "a particular manifestation of the Spirit's presence in their lives", so Peterson, 2009. As with all the ministry gifts, they are likely shaped by human qualities actively enriched by the Holy Spirit.

katasthsomen (katisthmi) "we will turn [this responsibility over] to them" - [whom] we will put in charge [over this need]. "We will put them in charge of this duty (to help with the care of the poor)", Barclay.

de "and" - but, and. Here coordinative, "and".

hJmeiV "we" - Emphatic, "we ourselves", TEV.

proskarterhsomen (proskarterew) fut. "will give our attention" - we will persevere = devote ourselves to. In the sense of giving priority to; "we can spend our time", CEV.

th proseuch/ (h) "to prayer" - Dative of direct object.

tou logou (oV) "[the ministry] of the word" - The genitive is often classified as an objective genitive, where the genitive "word" serves as the object (receives the action) of the verbal noun "ministry", although it may simply be treated as adjectival, descriptive, attributive, limiting "ministry"; "a word ministry." "Ministry" again in the sense of a teaching and preaching ministry.

oJ logoV "this proposal" - the word. "What they said", Cassirer.

hresen (areskw) aor. "pleased" - caused to be pleased with = pleased. "Found favor", Cassirer, in that it obviously complied with their understanding of the divine will, and so "they agreed" with it.

tou plhqouV (oV) gen. "[the whole] group" - [all] of the multitude, crowd. The genitive is adjectival, descriptive, of content. Not simply "all", which may imply the whole of Jerusalem, but rather this particular mob; "the general body of the congregation", Barclay.

plhrhV adj. "full" - The indeclinable reading is to be preferred, cf. Bruce, 1951. "Full of faith means of very strong faith", Barrett.

pistewV (iV ewV) gen. "of faith" - The genitive is adjectival, descriptive, of content. "Faith" in the sense of "essential Christian belief and commitment", Fitzmyer, although Haenchen thinks Stephen's faith is the type that moves mountains, ie. miracle-working faith.

pneumatoV aJgiou "of the Holy Spirit" - [full of .....] holy spirit. A title is usually implied, both words coming with or without articles, so "the Holy Spirit". As noted above, "full of" seems to mean in Luke "spiritually gifted", particularly gifted in preaching / teaching the word of God, ie. Luke is using the phrase in an Old Testament sense; "endowed with Spirit-giving force and eloquence", Fitzmyer. None-the-less, as with "full of the Spirit and wisdom", where "wisdom" can be understood as the spiritual endowment identified as necessary for serving the poor, here Luke may be identifying "faith" "as a particular manifestation of the Spirit's presence in his (Stephen's) life", Peterson, 2009. To avoid confusion it is worth noting that phrases like "baptized with the Holy Spirit", or "received the Holy Spirit", seem to have a regenerative sense rather than that of spiritual endowment.

Nikolaon (oV) "Nicolas" - Only Stephen and Philip get another mention in Acts, but Luke, with an obvious interest in Antioch, gives us some information on Nicolas. That he is a proselyte is worth noting, see notes above.

ou{V pro. "[they presented] these men" - whom [they placed].

enwpion + gen. "to [the apostles]" - before [the apostles].

proseuxamenoi (proseucomai) aor. mid. part. "who prayed" - having prayed. The participle is adverbial, possibly temporal, "who, after prayer, laid their hands upon them", Moffatt, but also possibly attendant circumstance, "prayed and laid their hands upon them."

epeqhkan (epitiqhmi) aor. "laid [their hands]" - they placed upon, laid upon [the hands]. The laying on of hands is used as a visible expression of a prayer for blessing; it expresses personal identification, but it is very unlikely that it serves to convey a spiritual endowment - "it did not, of course, impart the gift of the Spirit; the seven were already full of the Spirit", Bruce.

autoiV dat. "on them" - Local dative, of place.

kai ..... te "So" - and. Culy notes that this construction introduces a series and so it is possible that the verse serves as the opening of the account of Stephen's death. Peterson, 2009, argues the inclusion is backward looking to v1. At least it can be dealt with as a separate paragraph, as NIV.

huxanen (auxanw) imperf. "spread" - grew. Durative; "was spreading widely", Barclay.

eplhquneto (plhqunw) imperf. pas. "increased rapidly" - was being multiplied. The passive may be classed as theological - God does the increasing. Durative, again expressing continued action; "continued to be [greatly] increased", Barclay.

twn iJerewn (uV ewn) "of priests" - The genitive is adjectival, partitive / wholative. Given that there were some 8,000 priests in Palestine at the time it is not unreasonable for some to become believers. Luke seems to be noting the effectiveness of the gospel in Jerusalem - many people are being converted, even priests.

uJphkouon (uJpakouw) imperf. "became obedient" - were hearing / responding / obeying. The imperfect my be treated as: iterative, expressing repeated action, "kept joining", Knowling; or voluntative, expressing an attempted action; or possibly inceptive, "began to", Barrett. The word "obedient" may be misleading as the sense could be "commitment to / acceptance of"; "accepted the faith", TEV, "put their faith in the Lord", CEV - but see below.

th/ pistei (iV ewV) "to the faith" - Dative of direct object. Luke may intend "the faith" in an objective sense, "that which Christians believe, .... as such it = the Christian religion", Fitzmyer, "Christian belief / doctrine / the creed / NT ethics ...." (= "the content of Christian belief and life", Barrett, so Peterson, 2009), or more specifically "the gospel", and so "faith in the gospel / Christ", "acceptance of the Christian message (and thus the object of the message, Christ)", Longenecker; they "opened their hearts to the gospel", Haenchen, cf. Acts 13:8, 14:22, 16:5. There is always the possibility that Luke, due to his close association with the apostle Paul, is reflecting Pauline doctrine, so Dunn, Conzelmann. Is this an example of Paul's "obedience of faith", the state of obedience / covenant compliance realized through faith in the faithfulness of Christ, as opposed to the obedience that is generated by faith, cf. Rom.1:5? So, Luke may be stating that many priests became obedient / covenant compliant "with / by means of" (instrumental dative) "faith = the faithfulness of Christ relied on by the instrument of faith/belief", so Bock, Bruce.

Acts Introduction

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