Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 14]
tradition may underlie it: "bald, bowlegged, strongly built,
small in stature, with large eyes and meeting eyebrows and
longish nose; full of grace; sometimes looking like a man,
sometimes having the face of an angel."
14:3 {Long time therefore} (\hikanon men oun chronon\).
Accusative of duration of time (possibly six months) and note
\men oun\. There is an antithesis in \eschisth• de\ (verse 4)
and in verse 5 (\egeneto de\). After the persecution and
vindication there was a season of great opportunity which Paul
and Barnabas used to the full, "speaking boldly"
(\parr•siazomenoi\ as in 13:46 at Antioch in Pisidia, "in the
Lord" (\epi t•i kuri•i\), upon the basis of the Lord Jesus as in
4:17f. And the Lord Jesus "bore witness to the word of his
grace" as he always does, "granting signs and wonders to be done
by their hands" (\didonti s•meia kai terata ginesthai dia t•n
cheir•n aut•n\). Present participle (\didonti\) and present
infinitive (\ginesthai\) repetition of both signs and wonders
(note both words) just as had happened with Peter and John and
the other apostles (2:43; 4:29f.; 5:12; cf. Heb 2:4). The
time of peace could not last forever with such a work of grace as
this. A second explosion of persecution was bound to come and
some of the MSS. actually have \ek deuterou\ (a second time).
14:4 {But the multitude of the city was divided} (\eschisth• de
to pl•thos t•s pole•s\). First aorist passive indicative of
\schiz•\, old verb to split, to make a schism or factions as
Sadducees and Pharisees (23:7). This division was within the
Gentile populace. Part held (\hoi men •san\), literally "some
were with the Jews" (\sun tois Ioudaiois\), part with the
apostles (\hoi de sun tois apostolois\). Common demonstrative of
contrast (\hoi men, hoi de\, Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 694). The
Jewish leaders made some impression on the Gentiles as at Antioch
in Pisidia and later at Thessalonica (17:4f.). This is the
first time in the Acts that Paul and Barnabas are termed
"apostles" (see also verse 14). Elsewhere in the Acts the word
is restricted to the twelve. Certainly Luke does not here employ
it in that technical sense. To have followed Jesus in his
ministry and to have seen the Risen Christ was essential to the
technical use (1:22f.). Whether Barnabas had seen the Risen
Christ we do not know, but certainly Paul had (1Co 9:1f.;
15:8). Paul claimed to be an apostle on a par with the twelve
(Ga 1:1,16-18). The word originally means simply one sent (Joh
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/AC14.RWP.html (2 of 14) [28/08/2004 09:06:53 a.m.]