12. Hearkened. The imperfect (kovov) denotes attention to a continued narrative.

Declaring (nyovμévwv). Better, as Rev., rehearsing. See on Luke xxiv. 35.

What miracles, etc. Lit., how many (oσa).

13. James. See Introduction to Catholic Epistles.

18. Known unto God, etc. 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.

19. Trouble (Tapevoxλeîv). Only here in New Testament. See on vexed, Luke vi. 18.

20. Write (ÉTIOTEîλai). Originally, to send to, as a message; hence, by letter. The kindred noun eToroλn, whence our epistle, means, originally, anything sent by a messenger. Letter is a secondary meaning.

Pollutions (Moynμáтwv). A word not found in classical Greek, and only here in the New Testament. The kindred verb ȧMoyeîv, to pollute, occurs in the Septuagint, Dan. i. 8; Mal. i. 7, and both times in the sense of defiling by food. Here the word is defined by things sacrificed to idols (ver. 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 Cor. x. 2528; and Exod. xxxiv. 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 philoso

phers, and surrounded by poets with all the tinsel of lasciviousness, had become in public opinion a thing really indifferent" See Döllinger, "The Gentile and the Jew,” ii.,

(Meyer). 237 sq.

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

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

24. Subverting (ȧvaσKeváčovтes). 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 (avaoкeváσas). 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 (ov dieσтeiλáμeda). 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."

25. Barnabas and Paul. Here, as in ver. 12, Barnabas is named first, contrary to the practice of Luke since Acts xiii. 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.

29. Blood. Because in the blood was the animal's life, and it was the blood that was consecrated to make atonement. See Gen. ix. 6; Lev. xvii. 10-14; Deut. xii. 23, 24. The Gentiles had no scruples about eating blood; on the contrary, it was a special delicacy. Thus Homer:

"At the fire

Already lie the paunches of two goats,
Preparing for our evening meal, and both

Are filled with fat and blood. Whoever shows
Himself the better man in this affray,

And conquers, he shall take the one of these
He chooses."

Odyssey, xviii., 44 sq.

The heathen were accustomed to drink blood mingled with wine at their sacrifices.

Farewell (eppwode). Lit., be strong, like the Latin valete. Compare the close of Claudius Lysias' letter to Festus (ch. xxiii. 30).

31. Consolation. See on Acts ix. 31.

32. Many words. Or, lit., much discourse; adding the spoken to the written consolation.

Exhorted. Or comforted. See on ver. 31. The latter agrees better with consolation there.

Confirmed. See on ch. xiv. 22.

36. Let us go again and visit (ἐπιστρέψαντες δὴ ἐπισκεψώ μeda). Lit., Having returned, let us now visit. The A. V. omits now. See on ch. xiii. 2.

In every city (κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν). Κατά has the force of city by city.

38. Him (TOUTOV). Lit., that one. It marks him very strongly, and is an emphatic position at the end of the sentence.

Departed (amоoτávтα). Rev., withdrew. It furnishes the derivation of our word apostatize.

39. The contention was so sharp (éyéveтo Tаρоğνσμòs). More correctly, there arose a sharp contention. Only here and Heb. x. 24. Our word paroxysm is a transcription of πapoğuσμòs. An angry dispute is indicated.

Barnabas. The last mention of him in the Acts.

40. Recommended. Which was not the case with Barnabas, leading to the inference that the church at Antioch took Paul's side in the dispute.

CHAPTER XVI.

3. To go forth (¿§¤λdeîv). The word is used of going forth as a missionary in Luke ix. 6; 3 John 7.

5. Were established (éσrepeoÛVTO). Rather, were strengthened. Another word is used for established. See ch. xiv. 22; xv. 32, 41; xviii. 23. There is a difference, moreover, between being strengthened and established. See 1 Pet. v. 10.

6. Asia. See on ch. ii. 9.

8. Passing by Mysia. Not avoiding, since they could not reach Troas without traversing it; but omitting it as a preaching-place.

Came down. From the highlands to the coast.

10. We sought. Note the introduction, for the first time here, of the first person, intimating the presence of the author with Paul.

Assuredly gathering (ovμßißáľovтes). See on proving, ch. ix. 22.

11. Came with a straight course (evvdpoμnoaμev). Lit., we ran a straight course. A nautical term for sailing before the wind.

12. Chief (πрτn). Some explain, the first city to which they came in Macedonia.

A colony (Kovia). Roman towns were of two classes: municipia, or free towns, and colonies. The distinction, however, was not sharply maintained, so that, in some cases, we find the same town bearing both naines. The two names involved no difference of right or of privilege. The historical difference between a colony and a free town is, that the free towns were taken into the state from without, while the colonies were offshoots from within. "The municipal cities insensibly equalled the rank and splendor of the colonies; and in the reign of Hadrian it was disputed which was the preferable condition, of those societies which had issued from, or those which had been received into, the bosom of Rome" (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall ").

The colony was used for three different purposes in the course of Roman history: as a fortified outpost in a conquered country; as a means of providing for the poor of Rome; and as a settlement for veterans who had served their time. It is with the third class, established by Augustus, that we have to do here. The Romans divided mankind into citizens and strangers. An inhabitant of Italy was a citizen; an inhabitant of any other part of the empire was a peregrinus, or stranger. The colonial policy abolished this distinction so far as privileges were concerned. The idea of a colony was, that it was another Rome transferred to the soil of another country. In his establishment of colonies, Augustus, in some instances, expelled the existing inhabitants and founded entirely new towns with his colonists; in others, he merely added his settlers to the existing population. of the town then receiving the rank and title of a colony. In