Bible Commentaries

Happy (μακάριον)

See on blessed, Matthew 5:3.

Answer (ἀπολογεῖσθαι)

See on 1 Peter 3:15.

Expert (γνώστην)

Lit., a knower.

Questions (ζητημάτων)

See on Acts 15:2.

My manner of life, etc

The repeated articles give additional precision to the statement: "the manner of life, that which was from my youth; that which was from the beginning."

For the hope ( ἐπ' ἐλπίδι)

Lit., "on the ground of the hope."

Made of God

The article clearly defines what promise, "the one, namely, made of God."

Twelve tribes (δωδεκάφυλον)

Only here in New Testament. A collective term, embracing the tribes as a whole. Meyer renders our twelve-tribe-stock.

Instantly (ἐν ἐκτενείᾳ)

Only here in New Testament. Lit., in intensity. See on fervently, 1 Peter 1:22. Compare more earnestly, Luke 22:44; without ceasing, Acts 12:5; fervent, 1 Peter 4:8. See, also, on instantly and instant, Luke 7:4; Luke 23:23.

Serving

Compare Acts 24:14; and see on Luke 1:74.

Come (καταντῆσαι)

Lit., to arrive at, as if at a goal. Compare Acts 16:1; Acts 18:19; Acts 25:13, etc. Rev. attain.

That God should raise the dead (εἰ ὁ Θεὸς νεκροὺς ἐγείρει)

Much better, as Rev., if God raises the dead. He does not put it as a supposition, but as a fact: if God raises the dead, as you admit that he has the power to do, and as your own writings tell you that he has done.

Saints (τῶν ἁγίων)

Lit., the holy ones. Paul did not call the Christians by this name when addressing the Jews, for this would have enraged them; but before Agrippa he uses the word without fear of giving offence. On this word ἅγιος, holy, which occurs over two hundred times in the New Testament, it is to be noted how the writers of the Greek scriptures, both in the New Testament and, what is more remarkable, in the Septuagint, bring it out from the background in which it was left by classical writers, and give preference to it over words which, in pagan usage, represented conceptions of mere externality in religion. Even in the Old Testament, where externality is emphasized, ἅγιος is the standard word for holy.

Gave my voice (κατήνεγκα ψῆφον)

Lit., laid down my vote. See on counteth, Luke 14:28. Some suppose that Paul here refers to casting his vote as a member of the Sanhedrim; in which case he must have been married and the father of a family. But this there is no reason for believing (compare 1 Corinthians 7:7, 1 Corinthians 7:8); and the phrase may be taken as expressing merely moral assent and approval.

Whereupon (ἐν οἶς)

See on Acts 24:18. Better, on which errand; in which affairs of persecution.