Read an Excerpt

Acts
A Handbook on the Greek Text

Acts 1:1-14

1 I wrote my first book, Theophilus, about all the things that Jesus began both to do and to teach 2 until the very day he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, whom he had chosen. 3 After he had suffered, he showed that he was alive by many proofs and by appearing to them for forty days and telling them things about the kingdom of God.

4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised, "which you heard from me. 5 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now." 6 Then those who were gathered asked him, "Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?" 7 But he said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

9 When he had said these things, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him up from their sight. 10 And as they were staring into the sky, while he was going, two men dressed in brilliant clothes stood among them! 11 They said, "Galileans, why are you standing (there) staring at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into the sky, will come (back) in the very same manner that you saw him go into the sky."

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called 'The Olive Grove,' which is near Jerusalem-(just) a sabbath day's journey away. 13 When they entered (the city), they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying-Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (the son) of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas (the son) of James. 14 All of them devoted themselves together to prayer along with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his siblings.

1:1 Ton men prwton logon epoihsamhn peri pantwn, w Qeofile, wn hrcato o Ihsouj poiein te kai didaskein,

men. The author of Acts frequently uses men (especially to begin sections) without a de (see Barrett, 65).

prwton. In classical Greek, this term was typically used to refer to the first in a series. In the Koine period, however, it was often used interchangeably with proteroj to identify something as "earlier, former" (see also 7:12; 12:10). The use of prwton here, then, does not imply that Acts is the second volume of a multivolume series (pace Barrett, 65). For a similar introduction to a multivolume work see Philo, Quod Omnis 1: O men proteroj logoj hn hmin, w Qeodote, peri tou dou I on einai panta faulon.

logon. Here, "book, account." Louw and Nida (33.51) suggest that logoj may denote a more formal treatment of the subject matter than gramma.

epoihsamhn. Aor mid ind 1st sg poiew.

pantwn. Luke is clearly being hyperbolic here (see 1:18).

Qeofile. Vocative.

wn. Genitive by attraction to pantwn. Sometimes a relative pronoun takes the case of its antecedent rather than the case it would bear as a constituent of the relative clause (in the present instance we would expect the relative pronoun to be accusative as the object of the two infinitives). This phenomenon, known as attraction, occurs eighteen times in the Book of Acts (see also 1:21, 22; 2:22; 3:25; 6:10; 7:16, 17, 45; 9:36; 10:39; 13:38; 17:31; 20:38; 22:10, 15; 24:13; 26:2) and a total of more than fifty times throughout the NT. Attraction appears to be a stylistic device with no pragmatic function.

hrcato. Aor mid ind 3rd sg arxw. Unlike many other scholars, Witherington (10) argues that the verb hrcato in this construction does not necessarily imply that the present work is a continuation of a previous work. In his view, hrcato o Ihsouj poiein te kai didaskein means nothing more than "Jesus did and said."

poiein. Pres act inf poiew (complementary).

didaskein. Pres act inf didaskw (complementary).

1:2 axri hj hmeraj entei l amenoj toij apostoloij dia pneumatoj agiou ouj ece l ecato ane l hmfqh:

axri hj hmeraj. In this construction, known as an internally headed relative clause, the head noun or antecedent (here, hmeraj) is actually inside the relative clause that modifies it, though it gets its case from the main clause (in this instance, the case comes from the preposition axri). A more "typical" Koine construction would have been axri hmeraj hj (cf. 1:22). The placement of the noun probably intensifies the expression: "until the very day."

enteilamenoj. Aor mid dep ptc masc nom sg entel lomai (temporal).

apostoloij. In Acts, the term aposto loj is reserved for the Twelve, except in 14:4, 14, where it is applied to Paul and Barnabas.

dia pneumatoj agiou. This prepositional phrase must modify entei l amenoj rather than ece l ecato. In order to modify the latter it would have to follow the relative pronoun ouj, which marks a clause boundary. While this proposition is unusual, it is consistent with Luke's theme of God's servants being empowered by the Holy Spirit.

ecelecato. Aor mid ind 3rd sg ek legw. The middle voice is "indirect" or "benefactive," i.e., the action of the verb is performed for the subject's benefit.

ane l hmfqh. Aor pass ind 3rd sg ana l ambanw.

1:3 oij kai paresthsen eauton zwnta meta to paqein auton en pol loij tekmhrioij, di hmerwn tesserakonta optanomenoj autoij kai legwn ta peri thj basileiaj tou qeou=:

oij. The antecedent of the relative pronoun is toij apostoloij. Dative indirect object of paresthsen.

paresthsen. Aor act ind 3rd sg paristhmi.

eauton. The accusative direct object of paresthsen, which is transitive in this verse.

zwnta. Pres act ptc masc acc sg zaw. The participle functions as the complement in an object-complement double accusative construction. In this construction, the second accusative (either a noun, adjective, or participle) complements the direct object in that it predicates something about it (Wallace 1985, 93). We have not maintained Wallace's distinction between object-complement and person-thing double accusatives since in some cases the latter is appropriately labeled "object-complement" while in others the two accusatives represent a different syntactic phenomenon altogether (see 8:25 on pol laj kwmaj and 13:32 on umaj).

meta to paqein. Aor act inf pasxw. The construction meta to plus infinitive is used to indicate antecedent time, that is, the event of the infinitive precedes the event of the main verb (Wallace 1996, 595). Eight of the fifteen occurrences of this construction in the NT are found in Luke/Acts (see 7:4; 10:41; 15:13; 19:21; 20:1; Luke 12:5; 22:20; Robertson 1934, 1074). paqein may be an example of synecdoche (see 1:22 on tou baptismatoj Iwannou), with "suffering" being used to refer to the entire experience leading up to and including Jesus' death (cf. Barrett, 69).

auton. The accusative pronoun is an example of what has generally been called either the "accusative subject of the infinitive" or the "accusative of general reference." Neither label is fully satisfactory. The former has in its favor the fact that the accusative noun is the conceptual "subject" of the infinitive verb. The latter has in its favor the fact that, strictly speaking, only finite verbs can take a "subject." Some linguists have argued that in infinitive constructions that are not part of a prepositional phrase, as here (meta to paqein auton), "raising" has occurred. The noun that we expect to be the "subject" of the infinitive has been "raised" from the infinitive (or lower) clause to the main clause, where it functions syntactically as the direct object of the verb. It is, therefore, placed in the accusative case. While such an analysis may account for most infinitival constructions, it cannot explain the accusative case marking where the infinitive clause is part of a prepositional phrase, as in the present verse. It cannot be said that the "subject of the infinitive" takes its case from the preposition since it always bears accusative case even when used with a preposition that takes a noun in a different case (see, e.g., 2:1 where the "subject of the infinitive" follows the preposition en and is still in the accusative rather than the dative case). In what follows, we use the label "accusative subject of the infinitive" because it is, for the most part, a helpful description of the phenomenon.

en pol loij tekmhrioij. Instrumental/means modifying paresthsen.

tekmhrioij. The term tekmhrion referred to conclusive evidence that was irrefutable (cf. Quintilian, Inst. Or. 5.9.3; cited in Witherington 1998, 108; LN 28.45).

di hmerwn tesserakonta. The prepositional phrase need not indicate continuous action. Jesus appeared from time to time over the course of a forty-day period (cf. Moule, 56; BDF 223.1).

optanomenoj. Pres dep ptc masc nom sg optanomai (means, not manner; contra Rogers and Rogers, 229).

legwn. Pres act ptc masc nom sg legw (means).

ta. Although the neuter article could be construed as substantival, it is better to view it as a "nominalizer"-a word (or affix) that changes the following word, phrase, or clause into a substantive. The case of the nominalizer is determined by its syntactic role in the sentence. As the direct object of the participle legwn, the substantival expression ta peri thj basileiaj tou qeou is placed in the accusative case.

thj basileiaj tou qeou. Barrett (70) notes that "Kingdom of God is used several times in Acts as a general term covering the whole of the Christian proclamation (1.3; 8.12; 19.8; 20.25 [here without God]; 28.23, 31)."

1:4 kai sunalizomenoj parhggeilen autoij apo Ierosolumwn mh xwrizesqai, alla perimenein thn epaggelian tou patroj hn hkousate mou,

sunalizomenoj. Pres dep ptc masc nom sg sunalizomai (temporal). It is unclear whether this participle should be taken in its regular sense, "to be gathered together with someone" (cf. Josephus, Jewish War 3.429), as an orthographic variant of sunaulizomenoj ("to spend the night with someone" or "to stay with someone"), or as related to the noun alaj (thus, "to eat salt with someone" or "to eat together," cf. Barrett, 71-72; see also Bruce, 101). On the whole, there is little rationale for not taking the verb in its usual sense. The singular form is appropriate since it modifies a singular main verb, and it is difficult to argue that this rare verb should be used in the perfect rather than the present tense (contra Bruce, 101).

parhggeilen. Aor act ind 3rd sg paraggellw.

xwrizesqai. Pres pass inf xwrizw (indirect discourse).

perimenein. Pres act inf perimenw (indirect discourse).

tou patroj. The article may function as a possessive pronoun here ("my"; Wallace 1996, 215). The genitive noun denotes either the source of thn epaggelian, or the agent (subjective genitive) of the implicit event expressed by thn epaggelian ("God promised").

hn hkousate mou. As is typical in Hellenistic texts, the preceding indirect discourse gives way to direct discourse (which continues through v. 5; cf. 23:22; 25:4-5; BDF 470.2).

hkousate. Aor act ind 2nd pl akouw. The second accent comes from the enclitic mou. A clitic is a word that appears as a discreet word in the syntax but is pronounced as if it were part of another word. Enclitics "give" their accent to the preceding word.

mou. Genitive of source.

1:5 oti Iwannhj men ebaptisen udati, umeij de en pneumati baptisqhsesqe agi% ou meta pollaj tautaj hmeraj.

oti. Introduces the reason why the disciples should wait.

ebaptisen. Aor act ind 3rd sg baptizw.

udati. Dative of instrument or location. A decision between the two options cannot be made through reference to the syntax. If en pneumati agi% were parallel (it is not since it has a preposition), it would lend support to the instrumental view.

en pneumati. Probably instrumental. The fronting (see 3:13 on umeij) of part of the prepositional phrase (agi% is left behind) highlights the contrast between John's baptism and Jesus' baptism.

baptisqhsesqe. Fut pass ind 2nd pl baptizw.

ou meta pollaj tautaj hmeraj. Litotes-a figure of speech in which a statement is made by negating the opposite idea. For example, "she is not a bad tennis player" means "she is a good tennis player" (see also 4:20; 5:26; 12:18; 14:28; 15:2; 17:4, 12; 19:11, 23, 24; 20:12; 21:39; 25:6; 26:19, 26; 27:14, 20; 28:2; and perhaps 14:17). Here, "not after many days" means, "not many days from now" or "very soon."

1:6 Oi men oun sunelqontej hrwtwn auton legontej, Kurie, ei en t% xron% tout% apokaqistaneij thn basileian t% Israhl;

Oi. The article modifies the participle sunelqontej as a nominalizer (see 1:3 on ta; see also 2:41; 8:4, 25; 11:19; 15:3, 30; 23:16).

men oun. According to Levinsohn (1987, 139), when oun occurs in the narrative of Acts, it makes "explicit the close consequential relationship that exists between the elements it links. The second event is the direct result of the first, and closely conforms with its demands and implications." Here, the disciples' question naturally follows Jesus' statement in vv. 4-5 (142). Furthermore, men oun is always prospective, that is, it always anticipates an additional event or proposition (usually introduced by de) to follow the event or proposition that it introduces (see Levinsohn 1987, 141-50). "In 1:4-6, the disciples' initial response to Jesus' charge not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father (v 4), does not conform to his goal in giving the directive. The use of men in v 6 both indicates this and anticipates their compliance. It is clear from 1:12-2:1 that the disciples did comply. However, there is no specific sentence, introduced by de, which spells it out" (145).

sunelqontej. Aor act ptc masc nom pl sunerxomai (substantival). There is nothing in the context to suggest that the article should be taken substantivally and the participle temporally ("they, then, when they had assembled"; contra Barrett, 75). The obligatory position of men oun necessitates that the article be separated from the participle it modifies.

hrwtwn. Impf act ind 3rd pl erwtaw. Barrett (75) states that the imperfect is used because the action of questioning is incomplete until the answer is given. The fact that this verb is used in the aorist tense in analogous passages, however, makes such a claim questionable.

legontej. Pres act ptc masc nom pl legw (attendant circumstance, redundant). The redundant participle reflects a common Semitic idiom. Although most "attendant circumstances" are introduced with an aorist participle that precedes an aorist main verb, where the main verb is imperfect, a participle introducing an "attendant circumstance" will be present tense, as here.

Kurie. Vocative.

ei. Introduces a direct question.

apokaqistaneij. Pres act ind 2nd sg apokaqistanw.

t% Israhl. Dative of advantage.

1:7 eipen de proj autouj, Oux umwn estin gnwnai xronouj h kairouj ouj o pathr eqeto en tv idi# ecousi#,

eipen. Aor act ind 3rd sg legw.

umwn. The genitive functions as the predicate of the main verb and should probably be viewed as "possessive." It may be better, however, to view estin with a genitive predicate pronoun as an idiom meaning something like "to be one's prerogative."

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Acts by Martin M. Culy Mikeal C. Parsons Copyright © 2003 by Baylor University Press. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---