Acts 4:32

Conditions Among the Early Believers

4:32 The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, ¹  and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. ² 

Acts 6:5

6:5 The ³  proposal pleased the entire group, so ⁴  they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with ⁵  Philip, ⁶  Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism ⁷  from Antioch. ⁸ 

Acts 15:12

15:12 The whole group kept quiet ⁹  and listened to Barnabas and Paul while they explained all the miraculous signs ¹⁰  and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

Acts 17:4

17:4 Some of them were persuaded ¹¹  and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group ¹²  of God-fearing Greeks ¹³  and quite a few ¹⁴  prominent women.

Acts 19:9

19:9 But when ¹⁵  some were stubborn ¹⁶  and refused to believe, reviling ¹⁷  the Way ¹⁸  before the congregation, he left ¹⁹  them and took the disciples with him, ²⁰  addressing ²¹  them every day ²²  in the lecture hall ²³  of Tyrannus.

[4:32]  ¹ tn Grk “soul.”

[4:32]  ² tn Grk “but all things were to them in common.”

[6:5]  ³ tn Grk “And the.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[6:5]  ⁴ tn The translation “so” has been used to indicate the logical sequence in English.

[6:5]  ⁵ tn “With” is smoother English style for an addition like this. Because of differences between Greek and English style, καί (kai), which occurs between each name in the list, has not been translated except preceding the last element.

[6:5]  ⁶ sn Philip. Note how many of the names in this list are Greek. This suggests that Hellenists were chosen to solve the problem they had been so sensitive about fixing (cf. 6:1).

[6:5]  ⁷ tn Or “a proselyte.”

[6:5]  ⁸ map For location see JP1 F2; JP2 F2; JP3 F2; JP4 F2.

[15:12]  ⁵ tn BDAG 922 s.v. σιγάω 1.a lists this passage under the meaning “say nothing, keep still, keep silent.”

[15:12]  ⁶ tn Here in connection with τέρατα (terata) the miraculous nature of these signs is indicated.

[17:4]  ⁷ tn Or “convinced.”

[17:4]  ⁸ tn Or “a large crowd.”

[17:4]  ⁹ tn Or “of devout Greeks,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Luke frequently mentions such people (Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:17; 18:7).

[17:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[19:9]  ⁹ tn BDAG 1105-6 s.v. ὡς 8.b lists this use as a temporal conjunction.

[19:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “some became hardened.” See BDAG 930 s.v. σκληρύνω b and Acts 7:51-53.

[19:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “speaking evil of.” BDAG 500 s.v. κακολογέω has “speak evil of, revile, insult…τὶ someth. τὴν ὁδόν the Way (i.e. Christian way of life) Ac 19:9.”

[19:9]  ¹² sn The Way refers to the Christian movement (Christianity). Luke frequently refers to it as “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 18:25-26; 19:23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).

[19:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “leaving them, he took.” The participle ἀποστάς (apostas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[19:9]  ¹⁴ tn The words “with him” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[19:9]  ¹⁵ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 19:9. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[19:9]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[19:9]  ¹⁷ tn The “lecture hall” was a place where teachers and pupils met. The term is a NT hapax legomenon (BDAG 982 s.v. σχολή). L&N 7.14 notes, “it is better to use a translation such as ‘lecture hall’ rather than ‘school,’ since one does not wish to give the impression of the typical classroom situation characteristic of present-day schools.”