KJV: And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
YLT: and having appointed to them by vote elders in every assembly, having prayed with fastings, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Darby: And having chosen them elders in each assembly, having prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
ASV: And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
| Χειροτονήσαντες | Having chosen |
|
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: χειροτονέω Sense: to vote by stretching out the hand. |
|
| δὲ | now |
|
Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
|
| αὐτοῖς | for them |
|
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
|
| κατ’ | in every |
|
Parse: Preposition Root: κατά Sense: down from, through out. |
|
| ἐκκλησίαν | church |
|
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ἐκκλησία Sense: a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly. |
|
| πρεσβυτέρους | elders |
|
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Plural Root: πρεσβύτερος Sense: elder, of age,. |
|
| προσευξάμενοι | having prayed |
|
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Middle, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: προσεύχομαι Sense: to offer prayers, to pray. |
|
| νηστειῶν | fasting |
|
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Plural Root: νηστεία Sense: a fasting, fast. |
|
| παρέθεντο | they committed |
|
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Middle, 3rd Person Plural Root: παρατίθημι Sense: to place beside or near or set before. |
|
| τῷ | to the |
|
Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
|
| Κυρίῳ | Lord |
|
Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular Root: κύριος Sense: he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord. |
|
| ὃν | whom |
|
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: ὅς Sense: who, which, what, that. |
|
| πεπιστεύκεισαν | they had believed |
|
Parse: Verb, Pluperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: πιστεύω Sense: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in. |
|
Greek Commentary for Acts 14:23
They needed also some form of organization, though already churches. Note distributive use of κατα kata with εκκλησιαν ekklēsian (Acts 2:46; Acts 5:42; Titus 1:5). Χειροτονεω Cheirotoneō (from χειροτονος cheirotonos extending the hand, χειρ cheir hand, and τεινω teinō to stretch) is an old verb that originally meant to vote by show of the hands, finally to appoint with the approval of an assembly that chooses as in 2 Corinthians 8:19, and then to appoint without regard to choice as in Josephus (Ant. XIII. 2, 2) of the appointment of Jonathan as high priest by Alexander. So in Acts 10:41 the compound προχειρατονεω procheiratoneō is used of witnesses appointed by God. But the seven (deacons) were first selected by the Jerusalem church and then appointed Elder Hovey rightly holds against Hackett that teaching was a normal function of these elders, pastors or bishops as they were variously called (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:9; 1 Corinthians 12:28, 1 Corinthians 12:30; Ephesians 4:11). [source]
It was a serious matter, this formal setting apart of these “elders” in the churches. So it was done in a public meeting with prayer and fasting as when Paul and Barnabas were sent forth from Antioch in Syria (Acts 13:3) on this mission tour. They commended them to the Lord (παρετεντο αυτους τωι κυριωι parethento autous tōi kuriōi). Second aorist middle indicative of παρατιτημι paratithēmi Old and solemn word, to entrust, to deposit as in a bank (1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:2). Cf. παρατηκη parathēkē in 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 1:14. It was all that they could now do, to commit them to the Lord Jesus. Jesus used this word on the cross (Luke 22:32). On whom they had believed Past perfect indicative (without augment) of πιστευω pisteuō They had “trusted” in Jesus (2 Timothy 1:12) and Paul now “entrusts” them to him with confidence. It was a solemn and serious occasion in each instance as it always is to set apart men for the ministry. These men may not have been ideal men for this service, but they were the only ones available and they were chosen from the actual membership in each instance, men who knew local conditions and problems. [source]
Second aorist middle indicative of παρατιτημι paratithēmi Old and solemn word, to entrust, to deposit as in a bank (1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:2). Cf. παρατηκη parathēkē in 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 1:14. It was all that they could now do, to commit them to the Lord Jesus. Jesus used this word on the cross (Luke 22:32). [source]
Past perfect indicative (without augment) of πιστευω pisteuō They had “trusted” in Jesus (2 Timothy 1:12) and Paul now “entrusts” them to him with confidence. It was a solemn and serious occasion in each instance as it always is to set apart men for the ministry. These men may not have been ideal men for this service, but they were the only ones available and they were chosen from the actual membership in each instance, men who knew local conditions and problems. [source]
Only here and 2 Corinthians 8:19. Rev., more correctly, appointed. The meaning ordain is later. See on Acts 10:41. [source]
For the general superintendence of the church. The word is synonymous with ἐπίσκοποι , over seers or bishops (see on visitation, 1 Peter 2:12). Those who are called elders, in speaking of Jewish communities, are called bishops, in speaking of Gentile communities. Hence the latter term prevails in Paul's epistles. [source]
See on set before, Luke 9:16; and commit, 1 Peter 4:19. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Acts 14:23
Christ responds to Peter's emphatic thou with another, equally emphatic. Peter says, “Thou art the Christ.” Christ replies, “Thou art Peter.” Πέτρος (Peter ) is used as a proper name, but without losing its meaning as a common noun. The name was bestowed on Simon at his first interview with Jesus (John 1:42) under the form of its Aramaic equivalent, CephasIn this passage attention is called, not to the giving of the name, but to its meaning. In classical Greek the word means a piece of rock, as in Homer, of Ajax throwing a stone at Hector (“Iliadvii., 270), or of Patroclus grasping and hiding in his hand a jagged stone (“Iliadxvi., 784).On this rock ( ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέρᾳ )The word is feminine, and means a rock, as distinguished from a stone or a fragment of rock ( πέτρος , above). Used of a ledge of rocks or a rocky peak. In Homer (“Odyssey,” ix., 243), the rock ( πέτρην ) which Polyphemus places at the door of his cavern, is a mass which two-and-twenty wagons could not remove; and the rock which he hurled at the retreating ships of Ulysses, created by its fall a wave in the sea which drove the ships back toward the land (“Odyssey,” ix., 484). The word refers neither to Christ as a rock, distinguished from Simon, a stone, nor to Peter's confession, but to Peter himself, in a sense defined by his previous confession, and as enlightened by the “Father in Heaven.” The reference of πέτρα to Christ is forced and unnatural. The obvious reference of the word is to Peter. The emphatic this naturally refers to the nearest antecedent; and besides, the metaphor is thus weakened, since Christ appears here, not as the foundation, but as the architect: “On this rock will I build.” Again, Christ is the great foundation, the “chief corner-stone,” but the New Testament writers recognize no impropriety in applying to the members of Christ's church certain terms which are applied to him. For instance, Peter himself (1 Peter 2:4), calls Christ a living stone, and, in 1 Peter 2:5, addresses the church as living stones. In Revelation 21:14, the names of the twelve apostles appear in the twelve foundation-stones of the heavenly city; and in Ephesians 2:20, it is said, “Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (i.e., laid by the apostles and prophets), Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.” Equally untenable is the explanation which refers πέτρα to Simon's confession. Both the play upon the words and the natural reading of the passage are against it, and besides, it does not conform to the fact, since the church is built, not on confessions, but on confessors - living men. “The word πέτρα ,” says Edersheim, “was used in the same sense in Rabbinic language. According to the Rabbins, when God was about to build his world, he could not rear it on the generation of Enos, nor on that of the flood, who brought destruction upon the world; but when he beheld that Abraham would arise in the future, he said' 'Behold, I have found a rock to build on it, and to found the world,' whence, also, Abraham is called a rock, as it is said' 'Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn.' The parallel between Abraham and Peter might be carried even further. If, from a misunderstanding of the Lord's promise to Peter, later Christian legend represented the apostle as sitting at the gate of heaven, Jewish legend represents Abraham as sitting at the gate of Gehenna, so as to prevent all who had the seal of circumcision from falling into its abyss” (“Life and Times of Jesus”). The reference to Simon himself is confirmed by the actual relation of Peter to the early church, to the Jewish portion of which he was a foundation-stone. See Acts, Acts 1:15; Acts 2:14, Acts 2:37; Acts 3:12; Acts 4:8; Acts 5:15, Acts 5:29; Acts 9:34, Acts 9:40; Acts 10:25, Acts 10:26; Galatians 1:15.Church ( ἐκκλησίαν ) ἐκ out, καλέω , to call or summon. This is the first occurrence of this word in the New Testament. Originally an assembly of citizens, regularly summoned. So in New Testament, Acts 19:39. The Septuagint uses the word for the congregation of Israel, either as summoned for a definite purpose (Acts 7:38); but for this there is more commonly employed συναγωγή , of which synagogue is a transcription; σύν , together, ἄγω , to bring (Acts 13:43). In Christ's words to Peter the word ἐκκλησία acquires special emphasis from the opposition implied in it to the synagogue. The Christian community in the midst of Israel would be designated as ἐκκλησία , without being confounded with the συναγωγή , the Jewish community. See Acts 5:11; Acts 8:1; Acts 12:1; Acts 14:23, Acts 14:27, etc. Nevertheless συναγωγή is applied to a Christian assembly in James 2:2, while ἐπισυναγωγή (gathering or assembling together ) is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:1; Hebrews 10:25. Both in Hebrew and in New Testament usage ἐκκλησία implies more than a collective or national unity; rather a community based on a special religious idea and established in a special way. In the New Testament the term is used also in the narrower sense of a single church, or a church confined to a particular place. So of the church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Romans 16:5); the church at Corinth, the churches in Judea, the church at Jerusalem, etc.Gates of hell ( πύλαι ᾅδου )Rev., Hades. Hades was originally the name of the god who presided over the realm of the dead - Pluto or Dis. Hence the phrase, house of Hades. It is derived from ἀ , not, and; ἰδεῖν , to see; and signifies, therefore, the invisible land, the realm of shadow. It is the place to which all who depart this life descend, without reference to their moral character. By this word the Septuagint translated the Hebrew Sheol, which has a similar general meaning. The classical Hades embraced both good and bad men, though divided into Elysium, the abode of the virtuous, and Tartarus, the abode of the wicked. In these particulars it corresponds substantially with Sheol; both the godly and the wicked being represented as gathered into the latter. See Genesis 42:38; Psalm 9:17; Psalm 139:8; Isaiah 14:9; Isaiah 57:2; Ezekiel 32:27; Hosea 13:14. Hades and Sheol were alike conceived as a definite place, lower than the world. The passage of both good and bad into it was regarded as a descent. The Hebrew conception is that of a place of darkness; a cheerless home of a dull, joyless, shadowy life. See Psalm 6:5; Psalm 94:17; Psalm 115:17; Psalm 88:5, Psalm 88:6, Psalm 88:10; Job 10:21; Job 3:17-19; Job 14:10, Job 14:11; Ecclesiastes 9:5. Vagueness is its characteristic. In this the Hebrew's faith appears bare in contrast with that of the Greek and Roman. The pagan poets gave the popular mind definite pictures of Tartarus and Elysium; of Styx and Acheron; of happy plains where dead heroes held high discourse, and of black abysses where offenders underwent strange and ingenious tortures. There was, indeed, this difference between the Hebrew and the Pagan conceptions; that to the Pagan, Hades was the final home of its tenants, while Sheol was a temporary condition. Hence the patriarchs are described (Hebrews 11:16) as looking for a better, heavenly country; and the martyrs as enduring in hope of “a better resurrection.” Prophecy declared that the dead should arise and sing, when Sheol itself should be destroyed and its inmates brought forth, some to everlasting life, and others to shame and contempt (Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 13:14; Daniel 12:2). Paul represents this promise as made to the fathers by God, and as the hope of his countrymen (Acts 26:7). God was the God of the dead as well as of the living; present in the dark chambers of Sheol as well as in heaven (Psalm 139:8; Psalm 16:10). This is the underlying thought of that most touching and pathetic utterance of Job (Job 14:13-15), in which he breathes the wish that God would hide him with loving care in Hades, as a place of temporary concealment, where he will wait patiently, standing like a sentinel at his post, awaiting the divine voice calling him to a new and happier life. This, too, is the thought of the familiar and much-disputed passage, Job 19:23-27. His Redeemer, vindicator, avenger, shall arise after he shall have passed through the shadowy realm of Sheol. “A judgment in Hades, in which the judge will show himself his friend, in which all the tangled skein of his life will be unravelled by wise and kindly hands, and the insoluble problem of his strange and self-contradicting experience will at last be solved - this is what Job still looks for on that happy day when he shall see God for himself, and find his Goel (vindicator) in that Almighty Deliverer” (Cox, “Commentary on the Book of Job”). In the New Testament, Hades is the realm of the dead. It cannot be successfully maintained that it is, in particular, the place for sinners (so Cremer, “Biblico-Theological Lexicon”). The words about Capernaum (Matthew 11:23), which it is surprising to find Cremer citing in support of this position, are merely a rhetorical expression of a fall from the height of earthly glory to the deepest degradation, and have no more bearing upon the moral character of Hades than the words of Zophar (Job 11:7, Job 11:8) about the perfection of the Almighty. “It is high as heaven - deeper than Sheol. ” Hades is indeed coupled with Death (Revelation 1:18; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 20:13, Revelation 20:14), but the association is natural, and indeed inevitable, apart from all moral distinctions. Death would naturally be followed by Hades in any case. In Revelation 20:13, Revelation 20:14, the general judgment is predicted, and not only Death and Hades, but the sea give tip their dead, and only those who are not written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). The rich man was in Hades (Luke 16:23), and in torments, but Lazarus was also in Hades, “in Abraham's bosom.” The details of this story “evidently represent the views current at the time among the Jews. According to them, the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life were the abode of the blessed. We read that the righteous in Eden see the wicked in Gehenna and rejoice; and similarly, that the wicked in Gehenna see the righteous sitting beatified in Eden, and their souls are troubled (Edersheim, “Life and Times of Jesus”). Christ also was in Hades (Acts 2:27, Acts 2:31). Moreover, the word γέεννα , hell (see on Matthew 5:22), is specially used to denote the place of future punishment. Hades, then, in the New Testament, is a broad and general conception, with an idea of locality bound up with it. It is the condition following death, which is blessed or the contrary, according to the moral character of the dead, and is therefore divided into different realms, represented by Paradise or Abraham's bosom, and Gehenna. The expression Gates of Hades is an orientalism for the court, throne, power, and dignity of the infernal kingdom. Hades is contemplated as a mighty city, with formidable, frowning portals. Some expositors introduce also the idea of the councils of the Satanic powers, with reference to the Eastern custom of holding such deliberations in the gates of cities. Compare the expression Sublime Porte, applied to the Ottoman court. The idea of a building is maintained in both members of the comparison. The kingdom or city of Hades confronts and assaults the church which Christ will build upon the rock. See Job 38:17; Psalm 9:13; Psalm 107:18; Isaiah 38:10. [source]
Only here in New Testament. The simple verb χειροτονέω , to appoint, occurs Acts 14:23; 2 Corinthians 8:19; and originally means to stretch out the hand for the purpose of giving a vote. Hence to elect by show of hands, and generally to appoint. Plato uses the word of the election of leaders of choruses (“Laws,” 765). In later ecclesiastical usage it signified ordain, as bishops or deacons. [source]
Perfect passive participle dative plural from προχειροτονεω procheirotoneō to choose or designate by hand (χειροτονεω χειρ cheirotoneōτεινω cheir hand, and προ teinō to stretch, as in Acts 14:23; 2 Corinthians 8:19), beforehand (ημιν οιτινες συνεπαγομεν και συνεπιομεν αυτωι pro), a double compound as old as Plato, but here alone in the N.T. Peter is evidently stating the thing as it happened and not trying to make a convincing story by saying that both friends and foes saw him after his resurrection. It is the “historian‘s candour” (Paley) in Luke here that adds to the credibility of the narrative. The sceptical Jews would not have believed and Jesus was kept from open contact with the world of sin after his Passion. [source]
Genitive absolute also. Christian Jews were keeping up the Jewish fast (Luke 18:12). Note fasting also in the choice of elders for the Mission Churches (Acts 14:23). Fasting was not obligatory on the Christians, but they were facing a great emergency in giving the gospel to the Gentile world. Separate me (απορισατε δη μοι aphorisate dē moi). First aorist active imperative of αποριζω aphorizō old verb to mark off boundaries or horizon, used by Paul of his call (Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:15). The Greek has δη dē a shortened form of ηδη ēdē and like Latin jam and German doch, now therefore. It ought to be preserved in the translation. Cf. Luke 2:15; Acts 15:36; 1 Corinthians 6:20. Μοι Moi is the ethical dative. As in Acts 13:1 Barnabas is named before Saul. Both had been called to ministry long ago, but now this call is to the special campaign among the Gentiles. Both had been active and useful in such work. Whereunto Here εις eis has to be repeated from εις το εργον eis to ergon just before, “for which” as Jesus sent the twelve and the seventy in pairs, so here. Paul nearly always had one or more companions. [source]
An obscure rendering, not much bettered by Rev. Grace is ambiguous. The reference is, of course, to the contribution as a work of love; χάρις being used in the sense of benefaction or bounty. Paul says that the brother was appointed as his fellow-traveller in the matter of this bounty; in the prosecution of this kindly act. For appointed, see on Acts 14:23; see on Acts 10:41. [source]
Mostly of voluntary fasting, as Matthew 17:21; Acts 14:23; but voluntary fasting would be out of place in an enumeration of hardships. [source]
Anacoluthon. The first aorist passive participle χειροτονητεις cheirotonētheis is from χειροτονεω cheirotoneō old verb to stretch out the hands (χειρ τεινω cheir teinō) and so to vote in public. The idea is that this brother was chosen by the churches, not by Paul. Only here in N.T. save Acts 14:23 where it means to appoint without notion of raising the hands. In Acts 10:41 we have προχειροτονεω procheirotoneō [source]
The verb N.T.oolxx. originally to lay on blows; hence to castigate with words. Πρεσβύτερος elderoP., but frequent in Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. Modern critical opinion has largely abandoned the view that the original Christian polity was an imitation of that of the Synagogue. The secular and religious authorities of the Jewish communities, at least in purely Jewish localities, were the same; a fact which is against the probability that the polity was directly transferred to the Christian church. The prerogatives of the Jewish elders have nothing corresponding with them in extent in the Christian community. Functions which emerge later in the Jewish-Christian communities of Palestine do not exist in the first Palestinian-Christian society. At the most, as Weizsäcker observes, it could only be a question of borrowing a current name. Modern criticism compels us, I think, to abandon the view of the identity of Bishop and Presbyter which has obtained such wide acceptance, especially among English scholars, through the discussions of Lightfoot and Hatch. The testimony of Clement of Rome (Ep. ad Corinth.) goes to show that the Bishops ( ἡγούμενοι or προηγούμενοι ) are distinguished from the Presbyters, and that if the Bishops are apparently designated as Presbyters, it is, because they have been chosen from the body of Presbyters, and have retained the name even when they have ceased to hold office. for this reason deceased Bishops are called Presbyters. In Clement, Presbyters signify a class or estate - members of long standing and approved character, and not office-bearers regularly appointed. Among these the Bishops are to be sought. Bishops are reckoned as Presbyters, not because the Presbyter as such is a Bishop, but because the Bishop as such is a Presbyter. In the Pastorals, Bishops and Deacons are associated without mention of Presbyters (1 Timothy 3:1-13). Presbyters are referred to in 1 Timothy 5:17-19, but in an entirely different connection. The qualifications of Bishops and Deacons are detailed in the former passage, and the list of qualifications concludes with the statement that this is the ordering of the church as the house of God (1 Timothy 5:14, 1 Timothy 5:15). The offices are exhausted in the description of Bishops and Deacons. Nothing is said of Presbyters until ch. 5, where Timothy's relations to individual church-members are prescribed; and in Titus 2:2ff. these members are classified as old men ( πρεσβύτας ) old women, young men, and servants. In 1 Timothy 5:17are mentioned elders who rule well ( οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι ). Assuming that Presbyters and Bishops were identical, a distinction would thus be implied between two classes of Bishops - those who rule well and those who do not: where as the distinction is obviously between old and honored church-members, collectively considered, forming the presbyterial body, and certain of their number who show their qualifications for appointment as overseers. Presbyters as such are not invested with office. There is no formal act constituting a Presbyter. The Bishops are reckoned among the Elders, but the elders as such are not officers. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Thus are to be explained the allusions to appointed Elders, Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23. Elders are to be appointed as overseers or Bishops, for the overseers must have the qualifications of approved Presbyters. The ordination of Presbyters is the setting apart of Elders to the position of Superintendents. The Presbyterate denotes an honorable and influential estate in the church on the ground of age, duration of church membership, and approved character. Only Bishops are appointed. There is no appointment to the Presbyterate. At the close of Clement's letter to the Corinthians, the qualifications of a Presbyter are indicated in the description of the three commissioners from the Roman church who are the bearers of the letter, and to whom no official title is given. They are old, members of the Roman church from youth, blameless in life, believing, and sober. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
See on Acts 14:23. The twenty-four elders are usually taken to represent the one Church of Christ, as at once the Church of the old and of the new Covenant, figured by the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles.“Then saw I people, as behind their leaders,Coming behind them, garmented in white, And such a whiteness never was on earth-DIVIDER- … .. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Under so fair a heaven as I describe-DIVIDER- The four and twenty-elders, two by two,-DIVIDER- Came on incoronate with flower-de-luce.”Dante, “Purgatorio,” xxix., 64-84. [source]