SEV Biblia, Chapter 24:5
Porque hemos hallado que este hombre es pestilencial, y levantador de sediciones a todos los judíos por todo el mundo, y príncipe de la sediciosa secta de los nazarenos;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 24:5
Verse 5. For we have found this man, &c.] Here the proposition of the orator commences. He accuses Paul, ant his accusation includes four particulars:- 1. He is a pest, loimov; an exceedingly bad and wicked man. 2. He excites disturbances and seditions against the Jews. 3. He is the chief of the sect of the Nazarenes, who are a very bad people, and should not be tolerated. He has endeavoured to pollute and profane the temple, and we took him in the fact.
A pestilent fellow] The word loimov, pestis-the plague or pestilence, is used by both Greek and Roman authors to signify a very bad and profligate man; we have weakened the force of the word by translating the substantive adjectively. Tertullus did not say that Paul was a pestilent fellow, but he said that he was the very pestilence itself. As in that of Martial, xi. xc2: - Non vitiosus homo es, Zoile, sed vitium.
"Thou art not a vicious man, O Zoilus, but thou art vice itself." The words loimov, and pestis, are thus frequently used.-See Wetstein, Bp. Pearce, and Kypke.
A mover of sedition] Instead of stasin, sedition, ABE, several others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and OEcumenius, read staseiv, commotions, which is probably the true reading.
Among all the Jews] Bp. Pearce contends that the words should be understood thus-one that stirreth up tumults AGAINST all the Jews; for, if they be understood otherwise, Tertullus may be considered as accusing his countrymen, as if they, at Paul's instigation, were forward to make insurrections every where. On the contrary, he wishes to represent them as a persecuted and distressed people, by means of Paul and his Nazarenes.
A ringleader] prwtostathn. This is a military phrase, and signifies the officer who stands on the right of the first rank; the captain of the front rank of the sect of the Nazarenes; thv twn nazwraiwn airesewv, of the heresy of the Nazarenes. This word is used six times by St. Luke; viz. in this verse, and in ver. 14, and in chap. v. 17; xv. 5; xxvi. 5; xxviii. 22; but in none of them does it appear necessarily to include that bad sense which we generally assign to the word heresy.-See the note on chap. v. 17, where the subject is largely considered; and see farther on ver. 14.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. For we have found this man a pestilent fellow , etc.] Pointing to Paul, the prisoner at the bar; the word here used signifies the pest or plague itself; and it was usual with orators among the Romans, when they would represent a man as a very wicked man, as dangerous to the state, and unworthy to live in it, to call him the pest of the city, or of the country, or of the empire, as may be observed in several places in Ciceros Orations. And a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world : sedition was severely punished by the Romans, being what they carefully watched and guarded against, and was what the Jews were supposed to be very prone unto; and Tertullus would suggest, that the several riots, and tumults, and seditions, fomented by the Jews, in the several parts of the Roman empire, here called the world, were occasioned by the apostle: the crime charged upon him is greatly aggravated, as that not only he was guilty of sedition, but that he was the mover of it, and that he stirred up all the Jews to it, and that in every part of the world, or empire, than which nothing was more false; the Jews often raised up a mob against him, but he never rioted them, and much less moved them against the Roman government: and to this charge he adds, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes ; not Nazarites, as Calvin seems to understand the passage; for these were men of great repute among the Jews, and for Paul to be at the head of them would never be brought against him as a charge: but Nazarenes, that is, Christians, so called by way of contempt and reproach, from Jesus of Nazareth; which name and sect being contemptible among the Romans, as well as Jews, are here mentioned to make the apostle more odious.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - See here the unhappiness of great men, and a great unhappiness it is to have their services praised beyond measure, and never to be faithfully told of their faults; hereby they are hardened an encouraged in evil, like Felix. God's prophets were charged with being troublers of the land, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that he perverted the nation; the very same charges were brought against Paul. The selfis and evil passions of men urge them forward, and the graces and power of speech, too often have been used to mislead and prejudice men agains the truth. How different will the characters of Paul and Felix appea at the day of judgement, from what they are represented in the speec of Tertullus! Let not Christians value the applause, or be troubled a the revilings of ungodly men, who represent the vilest of the huma race almost as gods, and the excellent of the earth as pestilences an movers of sedition.
Greek Textus Receptus
ευροντες 2147 5631 V-2AAP-NPM γαρ 1063 CONJ τον 3588 T-ASM ανδρα 435 N-ASM τουτον 5126 D-ASM λοιμον 3061 N-ASM και 2532 CONJ κινουντα 2795 5723 V-PAP-ASM στασιν 4714 N-ASF πασιν 3956 A-DPM τοις 3588 T-DPM ιουδαιοις 2453 A-DPM τοις 3588 T-DPM κατα 2596 PREP την 3588 T-ASF οικουμενην 3625 N-ASF πρωτοστατην 4414 N-ASM τε 5037 PRT της 3588 T-GSF των 3588 T-GPM ναζωραιων 3480 N-GPM αιρεσεως 139 N-GSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. Pestilent fellow (loimon). Lit., a plague or pest.Ringleader (prwtostathn). Originally, one who stands first on the right of a line; a file-leader. Thus Thucydides says that all armies when engaging are apt to thrust outward their right wing; and adds, "The first man in the front rank (o prwtostathv) of the right wing is originally responsible for the deflection" (v., 71). Here, of course, metaphorically, as A.V. and Rev. Only here in New Testament.
Sect (airesewv). See on heresies, 2 Pet. ii. 1.
Nazarenes. The only passage in scripture where this term is used to denote the Christians. See on Matt. ii. 23.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
24:5 {For we have found} (heurontes gar). Second aorist active participle of heuriskw, but without a principal verb in the sentence. Probably we have here only a "summary of the charges against Paul" (Page). {A pestilent fellow} (loimon). An old word for pest, plague, pestilence, Paul the pest. In N.T. only here and #Lu 21:11 (loimoi kai limoi, pestilences and famines) which see. Latin _pestis_. Think of the greatest preacher of the ages being branded a pest by a contemporary hired lawyer. {A mover of insurrections} (kinounta staseis). this was an offence against Roman law if it could be proven. "Plotted against at Damascus, plotted against at Jerusalem, expelled from Pisidian Antioch, stoned at Lystra, scourged and imprisoned at Philippi, accused of treason at Thessalonica, haled before the proconsul at Corinth, cause of a serious riot at Ephesus, and now finally of a riot at Jerusalem" (Furneaux). Specious proof could have been produced, but was not. Tertullus went on to other charges with which a Roman court had no concern (instance Gallio in Corinth). {Throughout the world} (kata ten oikoumenen). The Roman inhabited earth (gen) as in #17:6. {A ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes} (prwtostaten tes twn nazwraiwn hairesews). prwtostates is an old word in common use from prwtos and histemi, a front-rank man, a chief, a champion. Here only in the N.T. this charge is certainly true. About "sect" (hairesis) see on 5:17. nazwraioi here only in the plural in the N.T., elsewhere of Jesus (#Mt 2:23; 26:71; Lu 18:37; Joh 18:5,7; 19:19; Ac 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 22:8; 26:9). The disciple is not above his Master. There was a sneer in the term as applied to Jesus and here to his followers.
