Acts XV. 35

“Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.”

Observe again their humility, how they let others also take part in the preaching. “And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good (ἡξίου see note 3, p. 213) to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention (or exasperation) was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other.” (v. 36–39.) And already indeed Luke has described to us the character of the Apostles,⁷⁹¹

791 mss. and Edd. after τῶν ἀποστόλων add τῶν λοιπῶν, which we omit as evidently out of place: for “the Apostles” here are Paul and Barnabas. Possibly it should be διὰ τῶν λοιπῶν, “by the rest of the particulars related on former occasions,” but if so, this must be placed after τῶν ἀπ. τὸ ἦθος.

792 The notes of this Homily have fallen into extreme confusion, and we have but partially succeeded in restoring the true order.

793 Mod. text omits this question: C. for ἀφεὶς has ἀφεθεὶς, “he that was left, or, dismissed.” Part of the answer has dropped out, “Paul did well: for” etc. The interlocutor rejoins: “Then if Paul did well, Barnabas did ill?” Here Edd. and all our mss. οὐκοῦν, φησὶ, κακὸς ὁ Βαρνάβας; to which mod. text adds, “By no means: but it is even exceedingly absurd to imagine this. And how is it not absurd to say, that for so small a matter this man became evil?” We restore οὐκοῦν κακῶς ὁ Βαρνάβας;

794 μάλιστα μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐντεῦθεν (as by other instances of human infirmity, so by this also) δείκνυται τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, i.e. we are shown what in the preaching of the Gospel proceeded from man: that man, as man, did his part, which part is betokened by the ordinary characters of human nature. If even in Christ it behooved that He should not do all as God, but that His Human Nature should also be seen working, much more was it necessary that the Apostles, being but men, should work as men, not do all by the immediate power of the Spirit.

795 This refers to ἠξίου in the sense “he begged,” as he says below, in the beginning of the Recapitulation, καίτοι οὐκ ἔδει ἀξιοῦν αὐτὸν ἔχοντα κατηγορεῖν μετὰ ταῦτα.

796 If this sentence be in its place, something is wanting for connection: e.g. (It was a great οἰκονομία) for the more extended preaching of the word: since on Barnabas’s plan these “at Cyprus” were to have a second visitation, but those “in Asia” not even once. But it may be suspected that this part is altogether misplaced: and that the οὗτοι are the brethren “in the cities where we have preached,” and ἐκεῖνοι the people of Macedonia," etc. See end of Recap. where Chrys. says, had it not been for this parting, the word would not have been carried into Macedonia.

797 Chrys. has treated the dissension of Paul and Barnabas with discrimination, without, however, placing quite the emphasis upon ἠξίου—“he thought good not to”—“he determined not to”—and upon τον ἀποστάντα—“who had fallen away from—apostatized from,”—which those terms seem to require. The conduct of Mark in returning to Jerusalem from Pamphylia (Acts xiii. 13) was clearly regarded as reprehensible by Paul, apparently as an example of fickleness in the service of Christ. It is not strange that Barnabas, Mark’s cousin (Col. iv. 10) should have been more lenient in his judgment of his conduct. It is certain that this difference of opinion regarding Mark did not lead to any estrangement of Paul and Mark, for in his imprisonment the apostle speaks of Mark as a trusted fellow-worker (Col. iv. 10; 2 Tim. iv. 11).—G.B.S.

(a) “Teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.” (v. 35.) They⁷⁹⁸

798 The method of the derangement here is, that there being five portions, these were taken alternately, in the order 1, 3, 5, and then 2, 4.

799 So Edd. and all our mss. ἀπέστη ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὁ Βαρνάβας: which may mean, “And so the same may now be said of Barnabas, viz. that he departed (from Paul),” etc. The same word ἀπέστη is applied to Barnabas below, p. 216.

800 συγκατέβησαν ἀλλήλοις οὕτω μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι τὸ χωρισθῆναι. The meaning is as below, that they parted κατὰ σύνεσιν. Mod. text “συγκατ. ἀλλ. ἰδεῖν. The point required is to see that,” etc. Then, Οὕτω μ. ἀ. γέγονε τὸ χωρ. “Thus their being parted became a greater good,” etc.—Καὶ πρόφασιν ἐκ τούτου τὸ πρᾶγμα ἔλαβε, i.e. “They saw that it was best to part viz.: that so the word would be more extensively preached, and this difference gave a pretext for so doing.” He means that the contention was οἰκονομία (see the Recap.), the object being, partly this which is here mentioned, partly a lesson to Mark.

801 Edd. and mss. οὐ προσήκατο, against the sense of the passage, whence Œcum. omits the negative, not much improving it. The Catena has preserved the true reading, οὐ προήκατο. See instances of confusion the other way in Mr. Field’s Index to Hom. in Matt. s. v. προσίημι.

802 ὥστε δεῖξαι τὸν τιμήσαντα αὐτὸν καλῶς βεβουλευμένον. The sense requires τὸν τιμ. αὐτὸν καὶ τὸν μὴ τιμήσαντα καλῶς βεβ. or the like: “that both Barnabas and Paul had taken the course which was for his (Mark’s) own good.”

(e) “But Paul,” it says, “departed, having chosen Silas, and being commended to the grace of God.” What is this? They prayed it says: they besought God. See on all occasions how the prayer of the brethren can do great things. And now he journeyed by land, wishing even by his journeying to benefit those who saw (τοὺς ὁρὥντας) him. For when indeed they were in haste they sailed, but now not so. (c) “And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the Churches. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra.” (v. 41.) Mark the wisdom of Paul: he does not go to other cities before he has visited them which had received the Word. For it is folly to run at random. This let us also do: let us teach the first in the first place, that these may not become an hindrance to them that are to come after.

“And, behold a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters; for they knew all that his father was a Greek.” (ch. xvi. 1–3.) It is indeed amazing, the wisdom of Paul! He that has had so many battles about circumcision, he that moved all things to this end, and did not give over until he had carried his point, now that the decree is made sure, circumcises the disciple. He not only does not forbid others, but himself does this thing. (b) “Him,” it says, “he would have to go forth with him.” And the wonder is this, that he even took him unto him.⁸⁰³

803 ὅτι καὶ ἐπήγετο αὐτόν. The meaning seems to be, (but the confusion into which the text has fallen, leaves it very uncertain), “The wonder is that he took Timothy, being as he was the son of a heathen father, and uncircumcised.”

804 ὅτι ἐκεῖνο ἐκώλυσεν. Mod. text καὶ μὴ τὸ Πν. τὸ A. ἐκέλευσεν; But see the Recap. where the question is explained, viz., How is it that when they were to be kept from preaching, the Holy Ghost spoke to them, but here a vision, and that in a dream, is all?

805 In the mss. this sentence is placed before “And now he crosses over,” etc. v. 10.—“In this manner:” i.e. in a night-vision or dream; the allusion is to xxiii. 11, “the Lord stood by him,” confused with xxvii, 23, “the Angel of the Lord.”

(Recapitulation.) “And after some days, Paul said,” etc. (ch. xv. 36.) He put to Barnabas a necessity for their going abroad, saying “Let us visit the cities in which we preached the word.” “But Paul begged,” etc. (v. 38.) And yet no need for him to beg, who had to make an accusation presently. This⁸⁰⁶

806 i.e. just displeasure on the one side; lenity, compassion, intercession, etc. on the other. Thus God is wroth with Miriam, Moses pleads for her, and so in the other cases.

807 Mod. text omits this clause relating to St. Paul, as in the old text it is incomplete, the remainder of the sentence (“would not have been wroth,” etc.) having been transposed to the end of what relates to Barnabas, after “relating to the decree.”—Below, ἀλλὰ λαμβάνουσιν ἑαυτοὺς, may perhaps be ἑαυτοῖς, sc. τοὺς δεομένους below, i.e. choose their spheres of action where each was most needed. But the context rather seems to require this sense: “There is no animosity between them, but they take their parts in this dispute for the good of those who, as Mark, need the instruction which was to be derived from the gentleness of Barnabas, and the severity of Paul’s character. Paul indeed is stern, but his object is to do good: as 2 Thess. iii. 13, where (comp. the context) rebuking, and enjoining severity to be shown to the disorderly, he says, “And be not weary in well-doing.” We have changed the order of the two sentences, “And he rebukes,” etc. and, “As he does elsewhere,” etc.—Τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ συνηθεί& 139· ποιοῦμεν. i.e. this putting on a show of anger, to do good to one whom we would correct: or perhaps, of altercation, as when, for instance, father and mother take opposite parts, the one for punishing, the other for sparing an erring child—συναγανακτῆσαι τῳ Παυλῷ. Ben.indignati esse in Paulum. But whether it means this, or “to have had indignation together with Paul,” there is nothing to show: nor is it clear what is the reference of the following sentences; unless it be, But he would not allow these persons who were indignant along with, or at, him, to retain this feeling: he takes them apart, makes them see the thing in its right light, and so departs in peace, “being commended by the brethren to the grace of God,” with the prayers of concord and charity. Great is the power of such prayer. (See the former comment on this verse, p. 214.)—Κἂυ ὑπὲρ μεγάλου ἀξιοῖς, κἂν ἀνάξιος ᾖς. Perhaps it should be ᾖ, “Whether it be on behalf of a great man (as Paul), or whether the person be unworthy,” etc.

“He went,” it says, “through” the cities “And, behold, there was a disciple, by name Timothy, who had a good report of the brethren which were in Lystra and Iconium.” (v. 41; xvi. 1.) Great was the grace of Timothy. When Barnabas departed (ἀπέστη), he finds another, equivalent to him. Of him he saith, “Remembering thy tears and thy unfeigned faith, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice.” (2 Tim. i. 5.) His father continued to be a Gentile,⁸⁰⁸

808 So in Gen. Serm. ix. text iv. 695. D. Chrys. infers from this passage with 2 Tim. i. 5, that the father ἔμεινεν ἐν τῇ ἀσεβεία καὶ οὐ μετεβάλλετο. Hom. i. in 2 Tim. p. 660. E. “Because of his father who was a Gentile, and because of the Jews he took and circumcised him. Do you mark how the Law began to be dissolved, in the taking place of these mixed marriages?” (so here ὅρα ἤδη τὸν νόμον λυόμενον.) In the mss. all this is extremely confused by transpositions (the method; 1, 4: 2, 5: 3, 6) and misplacing of the portions of sacred text (where these are given). Thus here, “And therefore because of the Jews which were in those parts he circumcised him. Οὐκ ἦν ἐμπερίτομος.”—Mod. text “thy mother Eunice. And he took and circumcised him. And wherefore, he himself goes on to say: Because of the Jews, etc. For this reason then he is circumcised. Or also because of his father: for he continued to be a Greek. So then he was not circumcised. Observe the Law already broken. But some think he was born,” etc. He is commenting on the fact, that Timothy was uncircumcised: viz., because his father was a heathen. Here then was a devout man, who from a child had known the Holy Scriptures, and yet continued uncircumcised. So that in these mixed marriages we see the Law already broken, independently of the Gospel. It may be indeed that he was born after the conversion of his mother to the faith, and therefore she was not anxious to circumcise him. But this (he adds) is not likely.

809 For Timothy from a child had been brought up religiously as a Jew, yet now it was an offence that he should continue uncircumcised.

810 Therefore he might have been exempt by the Apostles’ decree. St. Paul, however, having carried his point in securing the immunity of the Gentile converts, did not care to insist upon this in behalf of Timothy.

811 Our author correctly apprehends the ground on which Paul circumcised Timothy—an act which has often been thought to be inconsistent with his steadfast resistance to the imposition of the Jewish law. It is noticeable that he did not allow Titus to be circumcised (Gal. ii. 3) when the Jewish-Christian faction desired it. The two cases are materially different in the following particulars: (1) Titus was a Gentile; Timothy was born of a Jewish mother. (2) The circumcision of Titus was demanded by the Judaizers; that of Timothy was performed for prudential reasons as a concession to unbelieving Jews in order that Paul might the better win them to Christ. (3) The question of circumcising Titus was a doctrinal question which was not the case in the instance before us. Meyer well says: “Paul acted according to the principle of wise and conciliatory accommodation, not out of concession to the Judaistic dogma of the necessity of circumcision for obtaining the Messianic salvation.”—G.B.S.

812 A. B. C. Cat. εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ῥ& 176·ζαν τῆς Μακεδονίας ἐγένετο (Cat. ἐγένοντο). Οὐκ ἀεὶ (Cat., οὐκ ἂν εἰ) κατὰ παροξυσμὸν ἐνήργησε τὸ Πν. τὸ ῞Α. The former sentence may possibly mean, that Philippi became the root of the Churches in Macedonia. But it is more probable that the text is mutilated here, and that Chrys. speaks of the parting of Paul and Barnabas, as having become the very root or cause of the extension of the Gospel (into Macedonia and Greece). In the next sentence, the reading of Cat. may perhaps deserve the preference. “Not, if (they had parted) in a state of exasperation, would the Holy Ghost have (thus) wrought.”—Mod. text “And besides, even the voyage showed this: for there was no long time ere they arrive at the very root of Macedonia (ὅθεν εἰς…παραγίνονται). So that the sharp contention is providentially ordered to be for the best. For (otherwise) the Holy Ghost would not have wrought, Macedonia would not have received the Word. But this so rapid progress,” etc.

Knowing this, let us not merely pick out (ἐκλέγωμεν) these things, but let us learn and be taught by them: for they were not written without a purpose. It is a great evil to be ignorant of the Scriptures: from the things we ought to get good from, we get evil. Thus also medicines of healing virtue, often, from the ignorance of those who use them, ruin and destroy: and arms which are meant to protect, are themselves the cause of death unless one know how to put them on. But the reason is, that we seek everything rather than what is good for ourselves. And in the case of a house, we seek what is good for it, and we would not endure to see it decaying with age, or tottering, or hurt by storms: but for our soul we make no account: nay, even should we see its foundations rotting, or the fabric and the roof, we make no account of it. Again, if we possess brute creatures, we seek what is good for them: we call in both horse-feeders and horse-doctors, and all besides:⁸¹³

813 καὶ πάντα καλοῦμεν. Mod. text substitutes the proverbial expression, καὶ πάντα κάλων κινοῦμεν, “we put every rope in motion,” which is hardly suitable here, and not at all necessary. “We call to our aid horse-feeders, and doctors, and every one else who can help us.”

814 Our mss. have ἀλόγων: Savile (from N.?) λαγῶν, which we adopt.

815 καὶ σύρεται χάμαι καθάπερ παιδίον, καὶ ἀσχημονεῖ μυρία: this cannot be meant for the horse, but for the rider. Perhaps καὶ οὐδεὶς, κἂν σύρεται κ τ. λ.

816 καὶ τὸ but Sav. Marg. καὶ τῷ μὴ κρείττονα χρημάτων εἶναι: some slight emendation is necessary, but it is not clear whether it should be, καὶ μὴ τῷ.…“and not to his being above wealth:” i.e. good in spite of his riches: or καὶ τὸ μὴ…with some verb supplied, i.e. “and make it a reproach to him that (though a good man) he is not above riches,” seeing he does not abandon his wealth.—Mod. text καὶ τῷ μὴ ἐνδεᾶ χρημάτων εἶναι·

817 μᾶλλον μετὰ τῆς πορείας καὶ κόσμῳ κεκοσμημένος νυμφικῷ· ὁ δὲ ἐπικαθ. κ. τ. λ. The passage is corrupt: perhaps, as in the Translation, it should be μᾶλλον ἢ νυμφικῷ, but this as a description of the horse is evidently out of place. For πορ., we read χορείας as in mod. text (which has καὶ μετὰ τῆς χορείας κόσμω κεκ. ᾖ νυμφικῷ.) Then transposing this, we read ὁ δὲ ἐπικαθ., μετὰ τῆς χορ., καὶ.—Below, B. C. ἂν σκολιάζῃ: A. and mod. text ἀσκωλιάζῃ—alluding to the game of leaping on greased bladders or skins, unctos salire per utres; which does not suit τῶν χωλῶν.

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