The almost universal meaning of the word in the New Testament is impossible (see Matthew 19:26; Hebrews 6:4, etc.). The sense of weak or impotent occurs only here and Romans 15:1.

The force of the imperfect should be given here. He was hearing while Paul preached.

Only here and Hebrews 12:13. Compare made straight, Luke 13:13, and see note there.

Leaped (ἥλατο)

Better, as Rev., leaped up. Note the aorist tense, indicating a single act, while the imperfect, walked, denotes continuous action.

The apostles had been conversing with them in Greek. The fact that the people now spoke in their native tongue explains why Paul and Barnabas did not interfere until they saw the preparations for sacrifice. They did not understand what was being said by the people about their divine character. It was natural that the surprise of the Lystrans should express itself in their own language rather than in a foreign tongue.

In the likeness of men (ὁμοιωθέντες ἀνθρώποις)

Lit., having become like to men. A remnant of the earlier pagan belief that the gods visited the earth in human form. Homer, for example, is full of such incidents. Thus, when Ulysses lands upon his native shore, Pallas meets him

"in the shape

Of a young shepherd delicately formed,

As are the sons of kings. A mantle lay

Upon her shoulder in rich folds; her feet

Shone in their sandals; in her hands she bore

A javelin."

Odyssey, xiii., 221-225.

Again, one rebukes a suitor for maltreating Ulysses:

"Madman! what if he

Came down from heaven and were a god! The gods

continued...

The Greek names of these deities were Zeus and Hermes. As the herald of the gods, Mercury is the god of skill in the use of speech and of eloquence in general, for the heralds are the public speakers in the assemblies and on other occasions. Hence he is sent on messages where persuasion or argument are required, as to Calypso to secure the release of Ulysses from Ogygia ("Odyssey," i., 84:); and to Priam to warn him of danger and to escort him to the Grecian fleet ("Iliad," xxiv., 390). Horace addresses him as the "eloquent" grandson of Atlas, who artfully formed by oratory the savage manners of a primitive race ("Odes," i., 10). Hence the tongues of sacrificial animals were offered to him. As the god of ready and artful speech, his office naturally extended to business negotiations. He was the god of prudence and skill in all the relations of social intercourse, and the patron of business and gain. A merchant-guild at Rome was established under his protection. And as, from its nature, commerce is prone to degenerate into fraud, so he appears as the god of thievery, exhibiting cunning, fraud, and perjury. "He represents, so to speak, the utilitarian side of the human mind....In the limitation of his faculties and powers, in the low standard of his moral habits, in the abundant activity of his appetites, in his indifference, his ease, his good-nature, in the full-blown exhibition of what Christian theology would call conformity to the world, he is, as strictly as the nature of the case admits, a product of the invention of man. He is the god of intercourse on earth" (Gladstone, "Homer and the Homeric Age").

The chief speaker (ὁ ἡγούμενος τοῦ λόγου)

Lit., the leader in discourse. Barnabas was called Jupiter, possibly because his personal appearance was more imposing than Paul's (see 2 Corinthians 10:1, 2 Corinthians 10:10), and also because Jupiter and Mercury were commonly represented as companions in their visits to earth.

Properly, the Jupiter, the tutelary deity of Lystra. It is unnecessary to supply temple, as Rev. The god himself was regarded as present in his temple.

The gates (πυλῶνας)

What gates are intended is uncertain. Some say, the city gates; others, the temple gates; and others, the doors of the house in which Paul and Barnabas were residing. See on Acts 12:13.

A feeble translation, even if this reading is retained. The verb means to leap or spring. The best texts read ἐξεπήδησαν, sprang forth, probably from the gate of their house, or from the city gate, if the sacrifice was prepared in front of it.

Crying out (κράζοντες)

Inarticulate shouts to attract attention.

Only here and James 5:17, on which see note. Better, of like nature.

Turn (ἐπιστρέφειν)

Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:9, where the same verb is used.

More correctly, generations, as Rev.

Jupiter was lord of the air. He dispensed the thunder and lightning, the rain and the hail, the rivers and tempests. "All signs and portents whatever, that appear in the air, belong primarily to him, as does the genial sign of the rainbow" (Gladstone, "Homer and the Homeric Age"). The mention of rain is appropriate, as there was a scarcity of water in Lycaonia.

Food

Mercury, as the god of merchandise, was also the dispenser of food.

"No one can read the speech without once more perceiving its subtle and inimitable coincidence with his (Paul's) thoughts and expressions. The rhythmic conclusion is not unaccordant with the style of his most elevated moods; and besides the appropriate appeal to God's natural gifts in a town not in itself unhappily situated, but surrounded by a waterless and treeless plain, we may naturally suppose that the 'filling our hearts with food and gladness' was suggested by the garlands and festive pomp which accompanied the bulls on which the people would afterward have made their common banquet" (Farrar, "Life and Work of Paul"). For the coincidences between this discourse and other utterances of Paul, compare Acts 14:15, and 1 Thessalonians 1:9; Acts 14:16, and Romans 3:25; Acts 17:30; Acts 14:17, and Romans 1:19, Romans 1:20.

See on Acts 14:5.

A journey of only a few hours.

More correctly, made disciples of, as Rev. See on Matthew 13:52.

Many

See on Luke 7:6.

See on stablish, 1 Peter 5:10.

Only here and 2 Corinthians 8:19. Rev., more correctly, appointed. The meaning ordain is later. See on Acts 10:41.

Elders (πρεσβυτέρους)

For the general superintendence of the church. The word is synonymous with ἐπίσκοποι, overseers or bishops (see on visitation, 1 Peter 2:12). Those who are called elders, in speaking of Jewish communities, are called bishops, in speaking of Gentile communities. Hence the latter term prevails in Paul's epistles.

Commended (παρέθεντο)

See on set before, Luke 9:16; and commit, 1 Peter 4:19.

In connection with them; assisting them.

And how (καὶ ὅτι)

Better, that. The and has an incressive and particularizing force: "and in particular, above all."

Rather the imperfect, were teaching. They had not merely broached the error, but were inculcating it.

Manner (ἔθει)

Better, custom, as Rev.

Found only in the Acts, and always of a question in dispute.

Lit., having been sent forth; under escort as a mark of honor.

Declaring

See on Acts 13:41. In the various towns along their route.

The word implies a cordial welcome, which they were not altogether sure of receiving.

In the assembly.

Sect

See on heresies, 2 Peter 2:1.

This phrase occurs nowhere else; and εὐαγγε.λιον, gospel, is found only once more in Acts (Acts 20:24).

Only here and Acts 1:24.

See on Luke 14:30; and Luke 16:3.

The imperfect (ἤκουον) denotes attention to a continued narrative.

Declaring (ἐξηγουμένων)

Better, as Rev., rehearsing. See on Luke 24:35.

What miracles, etc

Lit., how many (ὅσα).

See Introduction to Catholic Epistles.

The best texts join these words with the preceding verse, from which they omit all; rendering, The Lord, who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world.

Only here in New Testament. See on vexed, Luke 6:18.

Originally, to send to, as a message; hence, by letter. The kindred noun ἐπιστολή, whence our epistle, means, originally, anything sent by a messenger. Letter is a secondary meaning.

Pollutions (ἀλισγημάτων)

A word not found in classical Greek, and only here in the New Testament. The kindred verb ἀλισγεῖν, to pollute, occurs in the Septuagint, Daniel 1:8; Malachi 1:7, and both times in the sense of defiling by food. Here the word is defined by things sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:29); the flesh of idol sacrifices, of which whatever was not eaten by the worshippers at the feasts in the temples, or given to the priests, was sold in the markets and eaten at home. See 1 Corinthians 10:25-28; and Exodus 34:15.

Fornication

In its literal sense. "The association of fornication with three things in themselves indifferent is to be explained from the then moral corruption of heathenism, by which fornication, regarded from of old with indulgence, and even with favor, nay, practised without shame even by philosophers, and surrounded by poets with all the tinsel of lasciviousness, had become in public opinion a thing really indifferent" (Meyer). See Dllinger, "The Gentile and the Jew," ii., 237 sq.

Strangled

The flesh of animals killed in snares, and whose blood was not poured forth, was forbidden to the Israelites.

The usual Greek form of salutation. It occurs nowhere else in the salutation of a New Testament epistle save in the Epistle of James (James 1:1). See note there. It appears in the letter of Claudius Lysias (Acts 23:26).

Only here in New Testament, and not found either in the Septuagint or in the Apocrypha. Originally, it means to pack up baggage, and so to carry away; hence, to dismantle or disfurnish. So Thucydides (iv., 116) relates that Brasidas captured Lecythus, and then pulled it down and dismantled it (ἀνασκευάσας). From this comes the more general meaning to lay waste, or ravage. The idea here is that of turning the minds of the Gentile converts upside down; throwing them into confusion like a dismantled house.

We gave no commandment (οὐ διεστειλάμεθα)

The word originally means to put asunder; hence, to distinguish, and so of a commandment or injunction, to distinguish and emphasize it. Therefore implying express orders, and so always in the New Testament, where it is almost uniformly rendered charge. The idea here is, then, "we gave no express injunction on the points which these Judaizers have raised."

Here, as in Acts 15:12, Barnabas is named first, contrary to the practice of Luke since Acts 13:9. Barnabas was the elder and better known, and in the church at Jerusalem his name would naturally precede Paul's. The use of the Greek salutation, and this order of the names, are two undesigned coincidences going to attest the genuineness of this first document preserved to us from the Acts of the primitive church.