i. 8: ii. 32: iii. 15: ν. 32.

xii. 3: xxii. 18. ch. xxvi. 6. Rom. iv. 18. Gal, iii. 16.

Heb. 1.5: v.

came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, dpwho are sch. i. 11. his witnesses unto the people. 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made e Gen. iii. 15: unto the fathers, 33 God hath a fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus [r again]; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my fPsa. ii. 7. Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, & I will give you g Isa.lv. 3. the sure t mercies of David. 35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One h Ps. xvi. 10. to see corruption. 36 For David, after he had served his 1 Ps. lxxviii. 72.

P read, who are now.

9 render, completely fulfilled.

S Some of our ancient authorities read, first: see note.
t The original here has holy things: see note.

31.] The now gives peculiar force
to the sentence. Who are at this moment
witnesses, living witnesses; i. e. 'I am
not telling you a matter of the past merely,
but one made present to the people of the
Jews by living and eye-witnessing testi-
mony.'
32. we declare unto you)
He and Barnabas were not of the number
of those who came up with Him from
Galilee unto Jerusalem, ver. 31, nor was
their mission to the Jewish people. They
are at this moment witnessing to the
people, we, preaching to you.' The we is
emphatic. Stier observes how entirely
Paul sinks himself, his history and com-
mission from Christ, in the great Object
of his preaching. 33. in that he hath
raised up Jesus] The term raised up is
ambiguous: but here the meaning, from the
dead, is absolutely required by the con-
text; both because the word is repeated
with that addition (ver. 34), and because
the Apostle's emphasis throughout the
passage is on the Resurrection (ver. 30) as
the final fulfilment of God's promises
regarding Jesus. The other meaning,
'having raised up, as in ch. vii. 37, is
however maintained by several Commen-
tators. Meyer well remarks, that this
meaning would hardly in our passage have
been thought of or defended, had it not
been that the subjoined citation from Ps.
ii. has been thought necessarily to apply
to our Lord's mission upon earth.

The reading of some of our ancient authorities here, in the first psalm, is to be accounted for by the fact that anciently our second Psalm was the first, our first being reckoned as prefatory. St. Paul

5.

ch. ii. 31.

romit.

refers the prophecy in its full completion
to the Resurrection of our Lord: similarly
in Rom. i. 4, "declared to be the Son of
God with power.... by the resurrection
from the dead." 34. now no more to
return...] Compare Rom. vi. 9, " Christ
being raised from the dead, dieth no more :
death hath no more dominion over him."
It is interesting to trace the same shades
of thought in the speeches and epistles of
Paul; and abundant opportunity of doing
so will occur as we proceed. But here the
returning to corruption does not merely
imply death, so that Jesus should have
once undergone it, and no more hereafter,
as the A. V. seems to imply: but we must
supply 'to die, and in consequence to'
before the words, understanding them as
the result of death, if it had dominion
over Him: thus the clause answers even
more remarkably to Rom. vi. 9.
holy things is the LXX rendering of the
Hebrew word, Isa. lv. 3, which in 2 Chron.
vi. 42, they have translated "the mercies.”
The word 'holy' should have been pre-
served in the A. V., as answering to "thine
Holy One" below; the mercies of David,
holy and sure: or my holy promises which
I made sure unto David. 35.] Where-
fore also, correspondent to which purpose,
of His Christ not seeing corruption.
he saith] viz. God, not David: the subject
is continued from vv. 32 and 34, and fixed
by "he said" and "I will give" just pre-
ceding, thou shalt not suffer (literally give)
and thine Holy One accurately correspond
to "I will give" and "holy things” before.
See on ch. ii. 27. 36.] The psalm,
though spoken by David, cannot have its ful-

the ch. ii. 29.

j1 Kings ii. 10. own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 38 Be it known k Jer. xxxi. 34. unto you therefore, [ men and] brethren, that through Luke xxiv. this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

Dan. ix. 24.

47. 1 John

ii. 12.

1 Isa, liii. 11.
Rom. iii. 28:

39 and 1y by him all that believe are justified from all viii. 3. Heb. things from which ye could not be justified by the law of

vii. 19.

Hab. i. 5.

Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you,

m Isa. xxix. 14. which is spoken of in the prophets; 41 Behold, ye despisers,
and wonder, and perish: a for I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man
declare it unto you.
42 And b when the Jews were gone out

uomit: see on ch. i. 16.

y render, in.

a render, because.

* better here, announced.

Z render, every one that believeth is.

bread and render, as they were going out, they besought.

could not do: leaving it for inference, or for further teaching, that this was absolutely ALL: that the law could do nothing. The same thought is expanded Rom. vii. 3. This interpretation will be the more clearly established, when we remember that to justify from sin was not in any sense, and could not be, the office of the law, by which came the knowledge of siu. The expression "to justify from" is only once used again by St. Paul (Rom. vi. 7, marginal rendering: the A. V. has "freed from sin," but wrongly), and that where he is arguing against the continuing in sin. every one that believeth is not to be joined with in him, which (see above) is contrasted with in the law of Moses. It is quite in St. Paul's manner to use every one that believeth thus absolutely: see Rom. i. 16; iii. 22; x. 4 (Gal. iii. 22). 40.] The object of preaching the Gospel to the Jews first was for a testimony to them : its reception was almost uniformly unfavourable: and against such anticipated rejection he now warns them. ye despisers] So the LXX render the Hebrew word, signifying 'among the heathen,' so in A. V., for which they seem to have read some other word resembling of the the juds it. - The prophecy was spoken judgment to be inflicted by means of the Chaldæans: but neither this nor any other prophecy is confined in its application to the occasion of which it was once spoken, but gathers up under it all analogous procedures of God's providence: such repeated fulfilments increasing in weight, and approaching nearer and nearer to that last

filment in David. his own generation] David ministered only to the generation in which he lived: but through this Man, remission of sins is preached to you and to all who believe on Him. after he had served his own generation by the will (i. e. according to the appointment) of God] His whole course was marked out and fixed by God-he fulfilled it, and fell asleep. (See, on the whole, 2 Sam. vii. 12; 1 Kings ii. 10.) was laid unto his fathers] An expression arising from the practice of burying families together: the expression occurs very frequently in the Old Test. 38.] Paul speaks here of justification only in its lowest sense, as negative, and synonymous with remission of sins; he does not unfold here that higher sense of justifying, the accounting righteous, which those who have from God are just by faith. It is the first office of the Spirit by which he spoke, to convict concerning sin, before He convicts concerning righteousness: therefore he dwells on the remission of sins, merely just giving a glimpse of the great doctrine of justification, of which he had such wonderful things to write and to say. 39.] And from all things (sin), from which ye could not in (under) the law of Moses be justified in Him (as in the expression, in Christ, in the Lord, frequently), every believer is (habitual present tense) justified ....but not implying that in the law of Moses there might be justification from some sins;-under the law there is no justification (Gal. iii. 11):--but it means Christ shall do for you all that the law

n ch. xi. 23:
χίν. 22.
o Tit. ii. 11.

of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words. might be preached to them the next sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them," persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 And the next sabbath day came almost Heb. xii. 15. the whole city together to hear the word of God. when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken Phixviii. 6. by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

45 But

1 Pet. v. 12.

1 l'et, 4. Jude 10.

q Matt. x. 6.
ch. iii. 26.
ver. 26. Rom.
1. 16.

Exod. xxxii.

46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldesta. be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. 48 And when it. 32. the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the

t

xxxii. 21.
Isa. lv. 5.
Matt. xxi. 43.

Rom. x 19. xlii. 6:

sch. xviii. 6; xxviii. 28.

xlix. 6. Luke

word of the Lord: "and as many as were dordained to u ch. ii. 47.

c render, spoken.

and great fulfilment of all the promises of
grace and all the threats of wrath, by which
every prophetic word shall be exhausted.
42.] The insertions in the text fol-
lowed by the A. V. have been made partly
perhaps to remove the ambiguity in the
"they" and "them," and to shew who
they were that besought, &c. But they
confuse the sense. As they (the con-
gregation) were going out, they (the same)
besought. 43.] See a similar expres-
sion ch. xi. 23. There too, we have the
grace of God similarly used of the work of
the Gospel begun in the hearts of the
44. came together
'In the synagogue; it was the sight of
the Gentile crowds in their house of prayer
which stirred up the jealousy of the Jews.

converts.

...

45. contradicting and blaspheming) These words form a graphic repetition, passing from the particular thing which they did, viz. contradict the words spoken by Paul, to the spirit in which they did it, viz. a contradictious and blaspheming one. 46. should first have been spoken

Christ.

to you] See ch. iii. 26; Rom. i. 16.
47.] They refer the word thee in the pro-
phecy not to themselves as teachers, but to
48. as many as were dis-
posed to eternal life] The meaning of this
word disposed must be determined by the
context. The Jews had judged themselves

d render, disposed: see note.

unworthy of eternal life: the Gentiles, as
many as were disposed to eternal life, be-
lieved. By whom so disposed, is not here
declared: nor need the word be in this
place further particularized. We know,
that it is GOD who worketh in us the will
to believe, and that the preparation of the
heart is of Him: out to find in this text
pre-ordination to life asserted, is to force
both the word and the context to a mean-
ing which they do not contain. The word
in the original is the same as in 1 Cor.
xvi. 15, where it is said that the house of
Stephanas "have addicted themselves to
the ministry of the saints," and in Rom.
xvii. 1, where it is said that "the powers
that be are ordained of God:" in both of
which places the agents are expressed,
whereas here the word is used absolutely,
without an agent expressed. Calvin, &c.,
find here predestination in the strongest
sense: "This ordaining can be referred
only to the eternal decree of God.
It is
a ridiculous cavil to refer it to the mind
of those who believed, as if they received
the Gospel who were properly disposed in
their minds." So the Vulgate translates
the word "pre-ordained;" and Augustine,
"destined." There are several other ren-
derings, which see in my Greek Test. Dr.
Wordsworth well observes, that it would be
interesting to enquire what influence such

eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the x2 Tim. ili. 11. chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 51 y But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled

y Matt. x. 14.
Mark vi. 11.

Luke ix. 5.

ch. xviii. 6.

z Matt, v. 12.

John xvi. 22. with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

ch. ii. 46.

XIV. 1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. 3 Long time therefore abode they speaking a Mark xvi. 20. boldly in the Lord, a which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the multitude of the city was divided:

Heb. ii. 4.

e render, the Jews which believed not stirred up and embittered the minds of the Gentiles.

renderings as this of "pre-ordained" in the Vulgate version had on the minds of men like St. Augustine and his followers in the Western Church, in treating the great questions of free will, election, reprobation, and final perseverance; and on some writers in the reformed churches who, though rejecting the authority of that version, were yet swayed by it away from the sense of the original, here and in ch. ii. 47. The tendency of the Eastern Fathers, who read the original Greek, was, he remarks, in a different direction from that of the Western School. 50. devout...women] Women had a strong religious influence both for and against Christianity: see for the former ch. xvi. 14; xvii. 4; Phil. iv. 3; 1 Cor. vii. 16: for the latter, we have Josephus's statement, that the majority of the wives of the Damascenes were prose lytes: which may be compared with ch. ix. 22-25. These were proselytes of the gate, or at least inclined to Judaism. expelled them] Though the chief men of the city, at the instigation, probably, of their wives, were concerned, this seems to have been no legal expulsion: for we find them revisiting Antioch on their return, ch. xiv. 21;-but only a compulsory retirement for peace, and their own safety's sake. 51.] As commanded by our Lord, Matt. x. 14, where see note. Iconium] A populous city, east of Antioch in Pisidia,

lying in a fertile plain at the foot of, and almost surrounded by, Mount Taurus. At this time, it was the capital of Lycaonia, and had around it a distinct territory, ruled by a tetrarch, and probably on that account is not reckoned to any of the abovementioned districts. It became famous in the middle ages as the capital of the Seljukian Sultans, and had a great part in the growth of the Ottoman empire. It is now Konía, a town of 30,000 inhabitants. 52.] See, for similar "joyful per orations," as Dr. Wordsworth well designates them, Luke xxiv. 52; ch. v. 41; xії. 24.

CHAP. XIV. 1. Greeks] Probably these were of the number of the devout per sons, or worshippers of God, mentioned ch. xiii. 43, 50; xvi. 14; xvii. 4, 17; xviii. 7, i. e. those of the uncircumcised who were more or less attached to the Jewish religion. 2. which believed not, viz. when Paul preached. Ver. 3 gives the sequel of ver. 1,-ver. 4, of ver. 2. 3. speaking boldly in the Lord i. e. 'speaking with boldness, which boldness was grounded on confidence in the Lord. By the Lord here is meant GoD: see ch. iv. 29, 30, and ch. xx. 32, where we have joined together "God, and the word of His grace." and granted] or, by granting, &c. 4.] This was the way in which God bore His testimony.

and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. b ch. xiii. 8. 5 And when there was fan assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use c 2 Tim. iii. 11. them despitefully, and to stone them, they were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, d Matt. x. 23. and unto the region that lieth round about: 7 and there they preached the gospel.

28, 29.

8 e And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in ech. iii. 2. his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: 9 the same & heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had Mattsvii. 10: faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, & Stand & Isa. xxxv. 6. upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. 11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The godsch. viii. 10: are come down to us in the likeness of men. 12 And they called Barnabas, h Jupiter; and Paul, i Mercurius, because

f render, a stir, or movement: see note.
8 render, was listening to Paul speaking.
hliterally, Zeus (the Greek name of Jupiter).
i literally, Hermes (the Greek name of Mercury).

Such a split into two factions was a com-
mon occurrence, on far less important oe-
casions, in these cities of Oriental Greeks.

5.] Dr. Howson remarks, that there was no "assault" made on them, as the A.V. has it; for if there had been, they could not but have been ware of it: but a stir, or movement, was going on which would have led to an assault, had they not been ware of it. 6. Lystra] This, as well as Derbe (of both which very little further is known), was probably a small town at the foot of the singular mountain-mass known as the Kara-dagh, or black mountain, Lystra being S., and Derbe S.E. from Iconium. The sites are very uncertain. There are the ruins of about forty Christian churches on the north side of the Karadagh, at a place called by the Turks Binbir-Kilisseh (the 1001 churches), which the most recent travellers believe may be Lystra. In one of these places (probably at Lystra, see note, ch. xvi. 1) Paul found and took up Timothy on his second journey; and from the expression "my beloved child" in 1 Cor. iv. 17, compared with the use of "father" in the same chapter, as defined ver. 15, we are justified in concluding that he had been converted by the Apostle; and, if so, during this visit.There appear to have been few Jews in the

district: we hear of no synagogue. Lycaonia] Strabo describes Lycaonia as a hilly plain among the mountain-spurs of Taurus, very ill watered, cold and bare, but exceedingly adapted for sheep-pasture and the growth of wool. 9.] The imperfect tense here in the original is important. He was listening to Paul's preaching, and, while listening, his countenance, read by the Apostle's gift of spiritual discernment, gave token of faith to be healed. stedfastly beholding him] See note on ch. xiii. 9. 10. with a loud voice] The original implies that he suddenly raised his voice above the tone in which he was before speaking. 11. in the speech (dialect) of Lycaonia] The nature of this dialect is uncertain. The notice is inserted to shew that the Apostles had no knowledge of the inference drawn by the crowd, till they saw the bulls being brought to their doors, ver. 13. So Chrysostom: "This was not yet known to the Apostles: for the men spake in their own tongue, and thus conveyed no meaning to them." See, on the real nature of the gift of tongues, and the bearing of notices of this kind on its consideration, the note on ch. ii. 4. These appearances of the gods are frequent subjects of heathen poetry and mythology. It was in the neighbouring