Acts 9:42

9:42 This became known throughout all ¹  Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. ² 

Acts 9:35

9:35 All ³  those who lived in Lydda ⁴  and Sharon ⁵  saw him, and they ⁶  turned ⁷  to the Lord.

Acts 11:21

11:21 The ⁸  hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ⁹  turned ¹⁰  to the Lord.

Acts 16:31

16:31 They replied, ¹¹  “Believe ¹²  in the Lord Jesus ¹³  and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 20:21

20:21 testifying ¹⁴  to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. ¹⁵ 

Acts 2:25

2:25 For David says about him,

‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, ¹⁶ 

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.

Acts 2:36

2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt ¹⁷  that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified ¹⁸  both Lord ¹⁹  and Christ.” ²⁰ 

Acts 8:24

8:24 But Simon replied, ²¹  “You pray to the Lord for me so that nothing of what you have said may happen to ²²  me.”

Acts 11:20

11:20 But there were some men from Cyprus ²³  and Cyrene ²⁴  among them who came ²⁵  to Antioch ²⁶  and began to speak to the Greeks ²⁷  too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus.

Acts 9:27

9:27 But Barnabas took ²⁸  Saul, ²⁹  brought ³⁰  him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that ³¹  the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly ³²  in the name of Jesus.

Acts 11:17

11:17 Therefore if God ³³  gave them the same gift ³⁴  as he also gave us after believing ³⁵  in the Lord Jesus Christ, ³⁶  who was I to hinder ³⁷  God?”

Acts 15:17

15:17 so that the rest of humanity ³⁸  may seek the Lord,

namely, ³⁹  all the Gentiles ⁴⁰  I have called to be my own,’ ⁴¹  says the Lord, ⁴²  who makes these things

[9:42]  ¹ tn Or “known all over.” BDAG 511 s.v. κατά A.1.c. has “became known throughout all Joppa” for γνωστὸν γενέσθαι καθ᾿ ὅλης ᾿Ιόππης (gnwston genesqai kaq’ {olh" Iopph").

[9:42]  ² sn This became known…many believed in the Lord. This is a “sign” miracle that pictures how the Lord can give life.

[9:35]  ³ tn Grk “And all.” 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.

[9:35]  ⁴ sn Lydda was a city northwest of Jerusalem on the way to Joppa.

[9:35]  ⁵ sn Sharon refers to the plain of Sharon, a region along the coast of Palestine.

[9:35]  ⁶ tn Repetition of the pronoun “they” as subject of ἐπέστρεψαν (epestreyan) is not strictly necessary in English, but emphasizes slightly the resultative nature of the final clause: They turned to the Lord as a result of seeing Aeneas after he was healed.

[9:35]  ⁷ sn They turned. To “turn” is a good summary term for the response to the gospel.

[11:21]  ⁵ 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.

[11:21]  ⁶ tn The participle πιστεύσας (pisteusa") is articular and thus cannot be adverbial. It is adjectival, modifying ἀριθμός (ariqmo"), but has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who believed”).

[11:21]  ⁷ sn Again, the expression turned is a summary term for responding to the gospel.

[16:31]  ⁷ tn Grk “said.”

[16:31]  ⁸ sn Here the summary term of response is a call to believe. In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.

[16:31]  ⁹ tc The majority of mss add Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) here (C D E Ψ 1739 Ï sy sa), but the best and earliest witnesses read simply τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton kurion Ihsoun, “the Lord Jesus”; Ì^74vid א A B 33 81 pc bo). The addition of “Christ” to “Lord Jesus” is an obviously motivated reading. Thus on both external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.

[20:21]  ⁹ tn BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 1 has “testify of, bear witness to (orig. under oath)…of repentance to Judeans and Hellenes Ac 20:21.”

[20:21]  ¹⁰ tc Several mss, including some of the more important ones (Ì⁷⁴ א Α C [D] E 33 36 323 945 1175 1241 1505 1739 pm and a number of versions), read Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) at the end of this verse. This word is lacking in B H L P Ψ 614 pm. Although the inclusion is supported by many earlier and better mss, internal evidence is on the side of the omission: In Acts, both “Lord Jesus” and “Lord Jesus Christ” occur, though between 16:31 and the end of the book “Lord Jesus Christ” appears only in 28:31, perhaps as a kind of climactic assertion. Thus, the shorter reading is to be preferred.

[2:25]  ¹¹ tn Or “always before me.”

[2:36]  ¹³ tn Or “know for certain.” This term is in an emphatic position in the clause.

[2:36]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” The clause has been simplified in the translation by replacing the pronoun “him” with the explanatory clause “this Jesus whom you crucified” which comes at the end of the sentence.

[2:36]  ¹⁵ sn Lord. This looks back to the quotation of Ps 110:1 and the mention of “calling on the Lord” in 2:21. Peter’s point is that the Lord on whom one calls for salvation is Jesus, because he is the one mediating God’s blessing of the Spirit as a sign of the presence of salvation and the last days.

[2:36]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[8:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Simon answered and said.”

[8:24]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “may come upon.”

[11:20]  ¹⁷ sn Cyprus was a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.

[11:20]  ¹⁸ sn Cyrene was a city on the northern African coast west of Egypt.

[11:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “among them, coming to Antioch began to speak.” The participle ἐλθόντες (elqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:20]  ²⁰ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:20]  ²¹ sn The statement that some men from Cyprus and Cyrene…began to speak to the Greeks shows that Peter’s experience of reaching out to the Gentiles was not unique.

[9:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “taking Saul, brought him.” The participle ἐπιλαβόμενος (epilabomeno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[9:27]  ²⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:27]  ²¹ tn Grk “and brought,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:27]  ²² tn Grk “and that,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:27]  ²³ tn On this verb which is used 7 times in Acts, see BDAG 782 s.v. παρρησιάζομαι 1. See also v. 28.

[11:17]  ²¹ tc Codex Bezae (D) and {a few other Western witnesses} here lack ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”), perhaps because these scribes considered the Holy Spirit to be the gift of Christ rather than the gift of God; thus leaving the subject implicit would naturally draw the reader back to v. 16 to see the Lord Jesus as the bestower of the Spirit.

[11:17]  ²² sn That is, the same gift of the Holy Spirit.

[11:17]  ²³ tn Or “gave us when we believed”; or “gave us after we believed”; or “gave us who believed”; or “gave them when they believed the same gift as he also gave us.” The aorist dative plural participle πιστεύσασιν (pisteusasin) can be understood in several different ways: (1) It could modify ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “us”) or αὐτοῖς (autois, “them”). Proximity (it immediately follows ἡμῖν) would suggest that it belongs with ἡμῖν, so the last option (“gave them when they believed the same gift he also gave us”) is less likely. (2) The participle could be either adverbial or adjectival, modifying ἡμῖν. This decision is primarily a contextual one. The point Peter made is not whether or not the Gentiles believed, since both groups (“us” and “they”) had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point was whether or not the Gentiles received the Spirit when they believed, just as Jewish Christians had received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost when they believed. Translated as an adjectival participle, πιστεύσασιν only affirms the fact of belief, however, and raises somewhat of a theological problem if one realizes, “Would God have given the Gentiles the Spirit if they had not believed?” (In other words, belief in itself is a theological prerequisite for receiving the Spirit. As such, in the case of the Gentiles, it is assumed.) Thus in context it makes more sense to understand the participle πιστεύσασιν as adverbial, related to the time of belief in connection with the giving of the Spirit. (3) The participle πιστεύσασιν as a temporal participle can refer to action antecedent to the action of the main verb ἔδωκεν (edwken) or contemporaneous with it. Logically, at least, the gift of the Spirit followed belief in the case of the original Christians, who had believed before the day of Pentecost. In the case of Cornelius and his household, belief and the reception of the Spirit were virtually simultaneous. One can argue that Peter is “summarizing” the experience of Jewish Christians, and therefore the actions of belief and reception of the Spirit, while historically separate, have been “telescoped” into one (“gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed”), but to be technically accurate the participle πιστεύσασιν should be translated “gave them the same gift as he also gave us after we believed.” A number of these problems can be avoided, however, by using a translation in English that maintains some of the ambiguity of the Greek original. Thus “if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing” is used, where the phrase “after believing” can refer either to “them” or to “us,” or both.

[11:17]  ²⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[11:17]  ²⁵ tn Or “prevent,” “forbid” (BDAG 580 s.v. κωλύω 1.a). Peter’s point is that he will not stand in the way of God.

[15:17]  ²³ tn Or “so that all other people.” The use of this term follows Amos 9:11 LXX.

[15:17]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) introduces an explanatory clause that explains the preceding phrase “the rest of humanity.” The clause introduced by καί (kai) could also be punctuated in English as a parenthesis.

[15:17]  ²⁵ tn Or “all the nations” (in Greek the word for “nation” and “Gentile” is the same).

[15:17]  ²⁶ tn Grk “all the Gentiles on whom my name has been called.” Based on well-attested OT usage, the passive of ἐπικαλέω (epikalew) here indicates God’s ownership (“all the Gentiles who belong to me”) or calling (“all the Gentiles whom I have called to be my own”). See L&N 11.28.

[15:17]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Amos 9:11-12 LXX. James demonstrated a high degree of cultural sensitivity when he cited a version of the text (the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament) that Gentiles would use.