A map of the Mediterranean in the time of the apostle Paul \u00a0(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In what has become, without any really conscious intent, my weekly Saturday commentary on a chapter of Acts \u2014 I may, in a short while and for nefarious purposes of my own, take a detour to look carefully at part of a chapter in 1 Corinthians and then at part of a chapter in Romans \u2014 I come today to Acts 6. \u00a0This is a very brief chapter, and my comments here will largely deviate from my focus heretofore, which has been on the remarkable and early witness of the apostles to the resurrection of Christ. \u00a0I find it difficult if not impossible to explain that very early witness absent a firm conviction, on their part, of Christ\u2019s triumph over death. \u00a0Acts 6 raises a quite different and much more mundane point, social division. \u00a0As always in these little commentaries, I quote from the English Standard Version (ESV), unless otherwise indicated:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
6\u00a0Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists\u00a0arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- In this context, the \u201cHellenists\u201d (\u1f19\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd) are presumably Greek-speaking Jews, which means that they originated outside of Palestine. \u00a0The \u201cHebrews\u201d (\u1f19\u03b2\u03c1\u03b1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2) are also Jews, of course. \u00a0But they are Palestinian<\/em> Jews, whose first language is Hebrew or, more properly at this period, Aramaic.<\/li>\n
- The \u201cHellenists\u201d feel that, because of language and cultural differences, their widows \u2014 that is, their needy \u2014 are being neglected by the predominantly \u201cHebrew\u201d membership (and entirely \u201cHebrew\u201d apostolic leadership) of the Church.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, \u201cIt is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore, brothers,\u00a0pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4\u00a0<\/sup>But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- \u00a0It is impossible not to detect a certain exasperation on the part of the Twelve that they are being distracted from the preaching of the Gospel \u2014 that is, of the Resurrection \u2014 by such temporal matters as the distribution of foodstuffs. \u00a0(The phrase to serve tables<\/em> accurately and literally represents the Greek \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd \u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03c0\u03ad\u03b6\u03b1\u03b9\u03c2.)<\/li>\n
- The word \u1f00\u03b4\u03b5\u03bb\u03c6\u03bf\u03af in 6:3, which the ESV translates as brothers,\u00a0<\/em>could also be read as brothers and sisters<\/em>, since, in ancient Greek, masculine terms were typically regarded as including<\/em> the feminine, although feminine nouns and pronouns referred specifically to feminine persons. \u00a0(Sorry, ladies. \u00a0It\u2019s not my<\/em> sexism!) \u00a0If it\u2019s read this way, then women were also involved in the matter. \u00a0Not inappropriately if, as Acts 6:1 says, the dispute principally involved the treatment of\u00a0widows<\/em> (\u03b1\u1f31 \u03c7\u1fc6\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
5\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6\u00a0<\/sup>These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- It is significant to note that every single one of these names \u2014 Stephen<\/em>, Philip<\/em>, Prochorus<\/em>, Nicanor<\/em>, Timon<\/em>, Parmenas<\/em>, and Nicolaus<\/em> \u2014 is plainly Greek. \u00a0In other words, in order to avoid discrimination against Greek-speaking Jewish converts, the Church membership proposes a committee entirely composed of Greek-speaking Jewish converts, and the apostles ratify the proposal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
7\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- \u201cPriests\u201d (\u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2) \u2014 Jews of Levitical\/Aaronic descent (presumably residents of the city, if they are associated with the liturgy of the temple [\u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd) \u2014 are also joining the Church, not merely Greek-speaking Jews.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rapid growth of the Church in Jerusalem (difficult to explain if, after his very public and very shameful execution, Jesus\u2019 body were widely known to be still present in his tomb there) soon begins to attract powerful displeasure. \u00a0The events narrated in the rest of this chapter and in Acts 7 are typically thought to have occurred somewhere between AD 34 and AD 36, which puts it within three or four years of the death of Jesus, however that is dated:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
8\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9\u00a0<\/sup>Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- These verses reflect the same \u201cethnic\u201d (or cultural or linguistic) \u00a0divisions among the Jews at Jerusalem that we have already just seen within the Christian community more specifically. \u00a0There is at least one separate synagogue for (presumably Greek-speaking) Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. \u00a0Perhaps more. \u00a0(Commentators are divided on how to read this passage.)<\/li>\n
- Cyrene was a city on the Mediterranean coast of Libya. \u00a0It is just slightly to the left of center in the bottom half of the map above.<\/li>\n
- Alexandria is a city on the northern Egyptian coast, to the right or east of Cyrene on the map.<\/li>\n
- Cilicia was a region on the southern coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). \u00a0It is in the upper right-hand quadrant of the map above.<\/li>\n
- Asia, to the ancient Greeks and Romans, wasn\u2019t Japan or China or Thailand or Korea. \u00a0It was essentially the western coastal region of Anatolia (or modern Turkey). \u00a0Again, it is in the upper right-hand quadrant of the above map.<\/li>\n
- The King James Bible, literally reflecting the underlying Greek (\u039b\u03b9\u03b2\u03b5\u03c1\u03c4\u03af\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd), calls the ESV\u2019s \u201csynagogue of the Freedmen\u201d \u201cthe synagogue of the Libertines.\u201d \u00a0Don\u2019t be misled by that. \u00a0These people weren\u2019t necessarily immoral or licentious or dissolute. \u00a0They or their ancestors had\u00a0been \u201cliberated.\u201d \u00a0That is, they were, or were descended from, former slaves. \u00a0Thus, they were \u201cfreemen\u201d or \u201cfreedmen,\u201d perhaps descendants of the Jews who had been enslaved by the Roman general\u00a0Pompey after his conquest of Judea in BC 63.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
10\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11\u00a0<\/sup>Then they secretly instigated men who said, \u201cWe have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.\u201d 12\u00a0<\/sup>And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13\u00a0<\/sup>and they set up false witnesses who said, \u201cThis man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14\u00a0<\/sup>for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- The witness testimonies aren\u2019t accurate, but they\u2019re distortions of actual Christian teaching \u2014 consciously or unconsciously \u201cspun\u201d to make them more shocking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
15\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n- It\u2019s not exactly clear what it means that \u201chis face was like the face of an angel\u201d (\u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03c1\u03cc\u03c3\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f61\u03c3\u03b5\u1f76 \u03c0\u03c1\u03cc\u03c3\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd \u1f00\u03b3\u03b3\u03ad\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5), and no further explanation is forthcoming. \u00a0There are numerous reports of Joseph Smith\u2019s face seeming transparent, or appearing to glow, during the reception of revelations. \u00a0Perhaps it is something of that sort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 In what has become, without any really conscious intent, my weekly Saturday commentary on a chapter of Acts \u2014 I may, in a short while and for nefarious purposes of my own, take a detour to look carefully at part of a chapter in 1 Corinthians and then at part of a chapter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10940,12436,12635,1824,12647,12629,12632,12599,12626,12602,12608,2619,12605,12623,12614,12617,12644,12638,12620,8819,12641,12611],"class_list":["post-85676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-acts","tag-acts-6","tag-alexandrian","tag-asia","tag-cilicia","tag-cyrene","tag-cyrenian","tag-deacons","tag-freedmen","tag-greeks","tag-hebraizers","tag-hebrews","tag-hellenists","tag-libertine","tag-nicanor","tag-nicolaus","tag-parmenas","tag-philip","tag-prochorus","tag-stephen","tag-timon","tag-widows"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Paul's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/06\/Bible-Map-13-Journeys-of-Paul.jpg\")
<\/a>