小編按:Steve Walton的本書是針對使徒行傳前9章的詳細註釋。本文則是Craig L. Blomberg的書摘,原登載在Denver Seminary期刊。
♦Steve Walton, Acts 1-9:42. Word Biblical Commentary 37A. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2024. 697 pp. $50.99. ISBN 978-0-310-59938-8.
Craig L. Blomberg, Ph.D./Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament/Denver Seminary/January 2025
the commentary is a wonderful guide to the rich detail of the first nine chapters of Acts and, d
A selection of exegetical insights will give a feel for the positions Walton finds most promising. Theophilus (Acts 1:1) is “probably a man of some social standing who hosted and supported a Jesus community and who may have a role in making Luke’s writings known” (p. 112).
The ascension 說了這話,他們正看的時候,他就被取上升,有一朵雲彩把他接去,便看不見他了。(1:9) does not mark Jesus’ departure from the world but his exaltation to the place of power over it, so that he is active in the world’s and especially Israel’s affairs.
Pentecost (2:1-41) shows “that the church originated in a ‘big bang’ rather than a slower evolutionary development over a longer period” (p. 166). Jesus continues to act from heaven in the healing miracles early in the church’s history; the agency is attributed both to the power of Jesus’ name and the recipient’s faith.
While the fledgling church remains largely in Jerusalem, the central debate is about who constitutes restored Israel, with believers claiming that it is those who follow Jesus who do. The apostles’ pronouncement in 除他以外,別無拯救;因為在天下人間,沒有賜下別的名,我們可以靠著得救。4:12 is Luke’s way of showing that Christianity is absolute and that salvation is not available through any from of Judaism that rejects Jesus as Messiah.
“Implicitly, Peter is arguing that the Sanhedrin have lost the right to speak for God, and the believing community now has that position” (p. 308).
- 那許多信的人都是一心一意的,沒有一人說他的東西有一樣是自己的,都是大家公用。
- 使徒大有能力,見證主耶穌復活;眾人也都蒙大恩。
- 內中也沒有一個缺乏的,因為人人將田產房屋都賣了,把所賣的價銀拿來,放在使徒腳前,
- 照各人所需用的,分給各人。
- 有一個利未人,生在居比路,名叫約瑟,使徒稱他為巴拿巴(巴拿巴翻出來就是勸慰子)。
- 他有田地,也賣了,把價銀拿來,放在使徒腳前。
The principle involved in early Christian sharing (4:32-37) “was not compulsion but an openhearted holding of possessions lightly, seeing the needs of others in the community as of greater importance than individuals or families accumulating goods for themselves” (p. 339).
The story of Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-11) illustrates several points that contrast with the behavior of the majority of the community, including greed’s destructive power. But it is hard to explain the severity of their punishment except that they violated the holiness of God and the community.
Luke portrays the miraculous release of the apostles from arrest as “comical,” inasmuch as they don’t know what is common knowledge to the public 有一個人來稟報說:你們收在監裡的人,現在站在殿裡教訓百姓(5:25)—the apostles are back in the temple precincts again preaching about Jesus.
As helpful as Gamaliel’s principle was for convincing the Sanhedrin not to punish the apostles beyond a flogging (5:39-40), Luke recognizes it can’t be generalized to all situations. Sometimes ignoring what one believes is false teaching simply permits it to grow much more influential.
The daily distribution, in which the Hellenistic Jewish Christian widows were being neglected (6:1), was of food rather than money.
- 所以弟兄們,當從你們中間選出七個有好名聲、被聖靈充滿、智慧充足的人,我們就派他們管理這事。
- 但我們要專心以祈禱、傳道為事。
- 大眾都喜悅這話,就揀選了司提反,乃是大有信心、聖靈充滿的人,又揀選腓利、伯羅哥羅、尼迦挪、提門、巴米拿,並進猶太教的安提阿人尼哥拉,
- 叫他們站在使徒面前。使徒禱告了,就按手在他們頭上。
The choice of seven individuals separate from the apostles to meet this need (6:3-6) was not the first diaconate, but it may have functioned at a later date as a precedent for establishing that office.
In his speech to the high court, Stephen turns on its head the accusations that he is the one speaking blasphemy. The Old Testament highlight reel he discusses focuses primarily on how Abraham didn’t need the land all the time to serve God, Moses (the Lawgiver) pointed ahead to the Messiah, and the portable Tabernacle rather than the Temple formed God’s first place of residence on earth.
Stephen’s teaching was not against God; the Sanhedrin’s was, not least by treating the temple as an idol. That “all were scattered” (8:1) has to be a generalization and not an absolute statement, since Saul could still drag people out of their homes shortly thereafter (v. 3).
As the gospel moves to Samaria (8:4-25), the unusual timing of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in Samaria is due to the need to have the apostles involved in a visible experience of the legitimacy of these new converts from a different background.
That Simon Magus is not struck down like Ananias and Sapphira were and that he asks Peter to pray for him, suggest that he was a true Christian who was subsequently repentant for wanting to buy the power of the Spirit. The reunification of Jews and Samaritans in Christ was needed before the gospel could move to the Gentiles.
Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26-40) takes place in a liminal place (Gaza) with one who appeared liminal by conventional standards of masculinity. That the ruler (the Candace) of the Ethiopians at that time was female increases the probability that eunochos here means not just a high-ranking courtier but a literal eunuch as well.
Luke’s account of the conversion of Saul (which is that and not just a call or commission, especially when we understand it as a change of allegiance to communities) has many well-known discrepancies when compared with Galatians 1 and Paul’s own defense speeches later in Acts.
But none of these is insuperable once we understand the very different purposes behind the writings of each of the accounts and the nature of ancient historiography that did not follow modern standards of precisions or styles of narration.
Walton does not present an outline of the entire Acts, but it appears he is following the basic threefold progression of Acts 1:8. If one asks why he didn’t finish chap. 9, it is because he sees 9:43 (Simon Peter staying with one Simon a tanner)clear preparation for his ministry to the Gentile God-fearer Cornelius (10:1-11:18).
- 那時,猶太、加利利、撒瑪利亞各處的教會都得平安,被建立;凡事敬畏主,蒙聖靈的安慰,人數就增多了。
- 彼得周流四方的時候,也到了居住呂大的聖徒那裡;
- 遇見一個人,名叫以尼雅,得了癱瘓,在褥子上躺臥八年。
- 彼得對他說:以尼雅,耶穌基督醫好你了;起來!收拾你的褥子。他就立刻起來了。
- 凡住呂大和沙崙的人都看見了他,就歸服主。
- 在約帕有一個女徒,名叫大比大,翻希利尼話就是多加(就是羚羊的意思);他廣行善事,多施賙濟。
- 當時,他患病而死,有人把他洗了,停在樓上。
- 呂大原與約帕相近;門徒聽見彼得在那裡,就打發兩個人去見他,央求他說:快到我們那裡去,不要耽延。
- 彼得就起身和他們同去;到了,便有人領他上樓。眾寡婦都站在彼得旁邊哭,拿多加與他們同在時所做的裡衣外衣給他看。
- 彼得叫他們都出去,就跪下禱告,轉身對著死人說:大比大,起來!他就睜開眼睛,見了彼得,便坐起來。
- 彼得伸手扶他起來,叫眾聖徒和寡婦進去,把多加活活的交給他們。
- 這事傳遍了約帕,就有許多人信了主。
- 此後,彼得在約帕一個硝皮匠西門的家裡住了多日。
Given the shift at 9:32, however, from Saul to Peter as the main character and the geographical proximity of Lydda and Joppa that unite vv. 32-43, he might just have easily ended volume 1 at 9:31.
With the sheer number of difficult exegetical decisions that Acts requires, reviewers will invariably find a few issues with which to quibble.
It is true that Luke offers no criticism of the casting of lots in 1:26, but we never hear of the disciples using this model again, and the coming of the Spirit in chap. 2 would seem to offer a more secure method of determining God’s will.
The xenolalia at Pentecost may not be explicitly said to be a miracle of hearing, but how could it be anything else when the number of speakers did not match the number of languages in which their message was heard?
One does not have to suggest affusion as a probable method for the mass baptisms early on once one realizes that Bethesda and Siloam were probably giant mikvaot, and that Jerusalem handled well over 3000 ritual immersions whenever pilgrims swarmed the city at festival time as they purified themselves to enter the temple precincts.