Acts

23:23-35

5. The gospel reaches Rome, 21:1-28:31

vii] Paul's transfer to Caesarea

In the face of a threat to assassinate Paul, the Roman commander, Claudius Lysias, transfers Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea, the seat of Roman authority in Judea, so that Paul's case may be heard by the Roman governor, Felix. The commander sends a covering letter explaining the case, and secures Paul's safety with a large contingent of soldiers.

Even flawed humanity can serve God's intentions for the gospel.

i] Context: See 21:1-16.

ii] Background:

iii] Structure: Paul's transfer to Caesarea:

iv] Interpretation:

Paul's transfer to Caesarea, v23-35: i] Preparations for Paul's transfer to Caesarea, v23-24. The military contingent used to transfer Paul seems somewhat excessive, although, given Jewish fanaticism at the time, and the fact that forty zealots have already laid their life on the line to get at Paul, a detachment of 470 men may not be so excessive. The noun dexiolaboV, "spearmen", is actually unknown. Suggestions include "slingmen", "bowmen", "spearmen", but possibly "leadmen" (lit. taking in the right hand), ie., attendants who lead changeover horses and pack animals. If this is the case, then the military contingent is 270 men - a more likely number.

proskalesamenoV (proskalew) aor. mid. part. "he called" - [and] having called. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to say".

twn ekatontarcwn (hV ou) gen. "centurions" - [a certain two] of the centurions [he said]. The genitive is adjectival, partitive; "he called two of the centurions", ESV.

o{pwV + subj. "to [go]" - [prepare two hundred soldiers, and seventy horsemen and two hundred leadmen] that [they may go]. This construction introduces a final clause expressing purpose; "in order that they may go".

e{wV + gen. "to [Caesarea]" - up to [caesarea]. The preposition expresses extension up to, here of distance.

apo + gen. "at [nine tonight]" - from [third hour]. Temporal use of the preposition, ie., the contingent is to be prepared to leave at the third hour / 9pm.

thV nuktoV (x toV) gen. "tonight" - of the night. The genitive is adjectival, partitive.

The verb diaswzw, "to lead through safely", implies that the protection of Paul is foremost in the mind of the commander, rather than his comfort. The Western text sets out to explain why the commander acted this way, namely, to protect Paul from Jewish assassins and in so doing, protect himself from the accusation that he had taken a bribe to allow Paul to fall into their hands. The military contingent, on foot and horseback, is to take Paul to Felix the governor in Caesarea. Felix was appointed to the position in the year 52 and replaced by Festus in AD 60.

parasthsai (paristhmi) aor. inf. "provide [horses]" - [and animals = mounts] to stand by. There is considerable confusion in the text of v23-25, with the Western text trying to nut out why such a large contingent of soldiers is needed to transfer Paul to Caesarea. The infinitive "to stand by, present" sits within this confusion. The NIV treats it as a rare imperatival infinitive, so also REB, Cassirer, .... If it is not an imperative, then it must be introducing an object clause, object of and assumed verb of speech / introducing a dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what the commander said, ie., it indicates a move from direct to indirect speech. Given how awkward this is, many translations either ignore the move and continue with direct speech, or introduce a new indirect instruction, eg., Barclay, "He also instructed them to provide ....".

iJna + subj. "so that [they may be]" - that. Introducing a final clause expressing purpose, "in order that"; "so they may give Paul a ride", Berkeley.

epibibasanteV (epibibazw) aor. part. "-" - having set on [paul, they may rescue = lead him through safely toward felix the governor]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the subjunctive verb "to lead through safely"; "and he told them to provide horses that they might mount Paul and lead him safely to Felix the Governor".

i] The covering letter, v25-30. "Then he wrote this covering letter".

grayaV (grafw) aor. part. "he wrote" - having written [a letter]. The participle is not attendant on, nor modifying, any verb, which fact has likely prompted the numerous variants of the finite verb egraye, "He wrote ...." It seems best to assume an introductory verb of speech for v24 and treat this participle as attendant to it, eg., ESV, etc. "He also told them to provide horses (in order) that they might mount Paul ........, and wrote a letter which has this type = in the following terms". Given the dative variant autoiV, "to them", the sense may be "and wrote a letter for them in the following terms to give to the governor".

ecousan (ecw) pres. part. "[as follows]" - having [this type]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "letter"; "He further wrote a letter to Felix of which this is a copy", Phillips (partitive??).

Typical letter format: from whom; to whom; greeting. Although originally in Latin, Luke uses the Greek equivalents: from whom, a nominative absolute; to whom, a dative of recipient; greeting, cairein, infinitive absolute.

kratistw/ dat. sup. adj. "to his excellency" - [claudius lyusias, to the] most excellent [governor, felix, greetings]. Attributive adjective, limiting / modifying the noun "the governor", dative in agreement; he is the governor who is the most excellent / honourable. "Felix" stands in apposition to "the governor".

Most translations follow the Greek sentence order which fronts the object of the main verb, but technically it reads; "having approached (attendant circumstance participle) with the soldiers, I rescued (main verb) this man, having been seized (attributive participle) by the Jews and being about (attributive participle) to be killed by them".

The following clause "having learned that he is a Roman" is problematic. The participle maqwn could be treated as adverbial, temporal or causal, modifying the main verb "to rescue", so, "I rescued him after / because I learned that he was a Roman citizen". Given the story-line, the commander acts to quell a riot, arresting Paul in the process. He only found out that Paul was a Roman citizen latter, and then, only because a junior officer acted to question the commander's intention to interrogate Paul, now identified as a Roman citizen. The commander may be forgiven for compacting his report, but then it may be designed "to enhance the commander's chivalrous intervention", Fitzmyer, ie., "Lysias passes over his faux pas in such a way as to make his behaviour seem the more praiseworthy", Bruce Gk. At a stretch, we could classify the participle as attendant circumstance, although an attendant circumstance participle usually precedes the main verb. Luke can sometimes use participles to express an attendant action following a finite verb, "I did this (verb); I did that (participle)", cf., mageuwn, 8:9. So here the sense may be, "Later I learned that he was a Roman citizen", ie., it may serve to introduce "an additional piece of relevant information", Culy. A periphrastic construction, with the verb to-be assumed, is probably the best technical classification for the use of a participle this way. Johnson notes that the participial phrase relates better to the main verb kathgagon, "to bring down", in the following sentence (v28), although as Kellum points out, the coordinating te would need to be with maqwn, "having learned", not boulomenoV, "desiring", v28; "When I learned (adverbial participle) that he was a Roman citizen, (v28) I brought him down (main verb) to their Sanhedrin because I wanted (adverbial participle) to know the charge for which they were accusing him".

sullhmfqenta (sullambanw) aor. pas. part. "was seized" - [this man] having been seized. The participle, as with mellonta, "being about [to be killed]", is adjectival, attributive, "this man who was being seized by the Jews and who was about to be killed by them".

uJpo + gen. "by" - by [the jews]. Instrumental, expressing agency.

anaireisqai (anairew) pres. mid. inf. "to kill him" - [and being about] to be killed [by them]. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the participle "being about".

epistaV (efisthmi) aor. part. "[but] I came" - having approached [with the soldiers i delivered him]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to deliver, rescue"; "I approached and rescued him".

maqwn (manqanw) aor. part. "for I had learned" - having learned. The NIV takes the participle as adverbial, causal, but see above.

oJti "that" - that [he is roman]. Introducing an object clause / dependent statement of perception expressing what the commander had learned.

boulomenoV (boulomai) pres. part. "I wanted" - [and] wanting. The participle is adverbial, best treated as causal; "Because I wanted to know ...."

epignwnai (epiginwskw) aor. inf. "to know" - to know [the blame, cause, responsibility = the reason]. Usually classified as complementary, completing the sense of the verb "to want, will".

dia + acc. "why" - because of = for [which they were bringing an accusation against = bringing a charge against]. The preposition gives a causal sense to the relative pronoun h}n, "which" = "for which", such that together they introduce a relative clause serving to modify the noun "reason"; "I wanted to know the reason for which = why they wanted to bring a charge against him".

autw/ dat. pro. "him" - him, [i brought him down to the sanhedrin of them]. Dative of direct object after the en prefix verb "to bring a charge against"; "In the hope of discovering the reason for their accusation, I took him down to their Sanhedrin", Berkeley.

Luke is intent on establishing that the dispute between the Jewish authorities and Paul, a leading representative of Gentile Christianity, is nothing more than a dispute about matters of Jewish Law, and not Roman law, cf., 18:15. Establishing this point would be important for a brief of evidence in Paul's defence before Caesar, but also for the Christian church throughout the Empire.

egkaloumenon (egkalew) aor. mid. part. "that the accusation" - [i found whom] being called in = blamed, accused. The participle serves as the accusative complement of the direct object o}n, "whom", standing in a double accusative construction and asserting a fact about the object.

tou nomou (oV) gen."[about their] law" - [concerning questions, disputes] of law [of them]. The genitive is adjectival, limiting disputes, descriptive, idiomatic / reference; "disputes which are about their law".

econta (ecw) pres. part. "there was [no charge]" - [but/and] having. The participle serves as the second accusative complement of the direct object o}n, "whom".

axion adj. "that deserves" - [no charge, complaint, accusation] worthy. Attributive adjective limiting "charge", "a worthy charge"; "having no charge which is worthy", as NIV.

qanatou (oV) gen. "that deserved death" - [worthy] of death [or of bonds]. As with "of bonds", the genitive is adjectival; Kellum suggests that it is descriptive, but it could well be viewed as epexegetic in that it is specifying the not worthy charge, ie., what the not worthy charge is not worthy of, namely death or imprisonment. Culy suggests that it serves as the genitive complement of the adjective "worthy", ie., it is a not worthy of death charge.

This complex sentence has spawned numerous variants. Barrett calls it "stilted" and suggests that Luke would have been better off using an accusative absolute, instead of the genitive absolute, followed by an accusative and infinitive.

mhnuqeishV (mhnuw) aor. pas. "when I was informed" - [but/and] having been made known [to me]. The participle, and its genitive subject the genitive infinitival phrase "a plot shall be against the man", forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, as NIV. The dative pronoun moi, "to me", serves as a dative of indirect object.

esesqai (eimi) fut. inf. "[a plot] to be carried out" - [a plot] to be [into = against the man, immediately i sent him toward you]. This rare use of the future infinitive introduces a nominal phrase, subject of the genitive absolute participle "having been made known" / dependent statement of perception expressing what was made known to the commander. The subject of the infinitive, "a plot", is genitive, instead of accusative, because the infinitival phrase serves as the subject of a genitive absolute construction, "a plot to (shall) be against the man having been revealed to me"; "When it was revealed to me that there would be a plot against this man".

paraggeilaV (paraggellw) aor. part. "I [also] ordered [his accusers]" - having given orders to [and = also the = his accusers]. Adverbial, modifying the verb "to send", probably temporal, "after also giving orders to his accusers". The coordinative kai is adverbial, adjunctive, and the dative kathgoroiV, "accusers", is a dative of direct object after the para prefix verb "to command".

legein (legw) pres. inf. "to present their case" - to speak [these things toward = against him upon = before you]. The infinitive introduces an object clause / dependent statement of indirect speech, expressing what the religious authorities were ordered to state before the governor, namely, their case against Paul. A closing "Farewell" is found in some manuscripts.

ii] Paul's transfer to Caesarea, v31-33. The transfer by night is an obvious ploy to prevent a further riot and forestall any attempt to murder Paul. As already noted, the town of Antipatris is on the road from Jerusalem to Caesarea, stationed around halfway between the two, although its exact site is unknown today. From Jerusalem to Antipatris is about 60Km, a good 15 hour march. So, leaving Jerusalem sometime during the night, they would get to Antipatris early evening. This would be a rather demanding march. Given that the text doesn't actually say the whole party reached Antipatris, but rather that on the next day the foot soldiers retuned to Jerusalem, and the cavalry went on, Kellum is probably right when he suggests that the foot soldiers would probably only go partway to Antipatris, returning to Jerusalem when the danger of an attack had passed.

men oun "So" - and therefore. Coordinating construction developed further with de in v32; See 17:12.

to diatetagmenon (datassw) perf. mid. part. "carrying out their orders" - according to [the thing having been arranged, assigned]. The participle serves as a substantive, with the preposition kata, expressing a standard. The prepositional phrase introduced by kata serves as an adverbial modifier of the attendant participle "having taken"; "The soldiers took Paul, as they had been instructed, and brought him by night to Antipatris", Barclay.

autoiV dat. pro. "their" - to them. Dative of indirect object.

analabonteV (analambanw) aor. part. "took" - having taken up [paul, they brought him]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to bring"; "They took Paul and brought him".

dia + gen. "during [the night]" - through [night into antipatris. The preposition is used to express movement "through" time; "moving by night", Phillips.

The subject of the sentence is presumably the stratiwtai, "the foot soldiers, infantry, legionaries", although obviously with particular reference to the centurions in charge who direct ("allow") the cavalry unit to continue to Caesarea alone. A typical military unit is made up of officers (centurions, who themselves would be mounted) and lower ranks, with the equites / cavalry serving as an ancillary unit. So, it is the main force that returns to their barracks in Jerusalem, with the cavalry being sent on with Paul to Caesarea (or to Antpatris and then to Caesarea) where they hand over Paul and the accompanying letter from Claudius Lysias.

th/ dat. art. "[the next day]" - [but/and] on the [tomorrow]. The article serves as a nominalizer turning the adverb "tomorrow" into a substantive, the dative being temporal, "On the next day".

easonteV (eaw) aor. part. "let" - [they returned to the barracks] having allowed, permitted [the horsemen]. The participle is adverbial, best treated as temporal; "On the next day, they returned to the barracks after they allowed the cavalry to go on with him (Paul)".

apercesqai (apercoma) pres. inf. "go" - to go on = leave. Complementary, completing the sense of the participle "having allowed", "allowed the horsemen to leave with Paul". In this context, the verb "to allow" tends toward the sense "dismissed", so in a sense, we have an instruction, with the infinitive introducing an object clause / dependent statement of indirect speech expressing the dismissal / direction given to the cavalry, namely, that they go with Paul to Caesarea / Antipatris; "after they directed the cavalry to proceed with Paul to Caesarea / Antpatris".

sun + dat. "with" - with [him]. Expressing association / accompaniment.

eiselqonteV (ercomai) aor. part. "when [the cavalry] arrived" - [who = they (the cavalry)] having entered [into caesarea and having delivered the letter]. Along with the participle "having delivered", attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to present", "they entered ..... and presented"; "they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor and also presented Paul to him." Often treated as adverbial, temporal, as NIV, eg., ESV, Barclay, Berkeley, CEV, REB, ....

tw/ hJgemoni (wn onoV) dat. "to the governor" - to the governor. Dative of indirect object; so also autow/, "to him".

kai "and" - and [presented paul to him]. Here adverbial, adjunctive; "and also presented Paul to him."

iv] The governor is acquainted with Paul's case, v34-35. The question asked by Felix, the governor, concerns jurisdiction. Given that Paul's native province is Cilicia, the charge should be heard there, but it seems that the governor is not formerly bound by this requirement. The fact that Paul's accusers are from Jerusalem probably contributes to his willingness to hear the case. Yet, there is the suggestion that the question is "What kind of (poiaV) province?", ie., Imperial or Senatorial. That Paul is from Cilicia means that the governor has jurisdiction. There is also the argument that Cilicia was originally part of Syria and only became independent during the time of Nero, in which case, the governor would have jurisdiction.

anagnouV (anaginwskw) aor. part. "the governor read the letter" - [but/and] having read [and having asked from what kind of / what province he is, and having learned]. We probably have two attendant circumstance participles, "having read" and "having asked", coordinated by kai, expressing action accompanying the verb efh, "to say", v35, coordinated to the adverbial participle "having learned" (temporal) by kai, modifying the verb "to say". "He read the letter, and asked what province he was from, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, 'I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive'".

oJti "that" - that [he from cilicia]. Introducing an object clause / dependent statement of perception expressing what the governor learned.

Paul is held prisoner in "Herod's palace". A praitwrion is not quite a palace, but more like a fortified military headquarters with apartments for officials. Although there are no archaeological remains, it presumably refers to a fortified residence built by Herod the Great and now occupied by the Roman administration.

sou gen. pro. "your [case]" - [he said, i will hear = provide a legal hearing] of you. The genitive may naturally follow the dia prefix verb "to give a judicial hearing on a legal matter", ie., genitive of direct object. On the other hand, the genitive may be adjectival, possessive, "I will hear your case", Zerwick, Kellum.

oJtan + subj. "when" - whenever [and = also the accusers of you may come = arrive]. This construction forms a temporal clause indefinite time.

keleusaV (keleuw) aor. part. "then he ordered" - having commanded. The classification of this participle is somewhat fraught. At a stretch, it could be argued that it is attendant on (an attendant participle usually precedes its related verb), or modifies the verb efh, "he said", but it presents more like an independent participle serving to provide extra information. It is best treated as a finite verb introducing a separate, but related clause to the main clause, and therefore classified as a periphrastic construction with the verb to-be assumed; "He instructed that Paul be put under guard in Herod's praetorium".

fulassesqai (fulassw) pres. mid. inf. "that [Paul] be kept under guard" - [him] to be guarded. The infinitive introduces an object clause / dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what the governor commanded. The accusative pronoun auton, "he", serves as the accusative subject of the infinitive.

tou Hrw/dou (hV ou) gen. "Herod's [palace]" - [in the praetorium] of herod. The genitive is adjectival, usually treated as possessive, as NIV, but possibly idiomatic, "the praetorium which was built by Herod".

Acts Introduction

Exegetical Commentaries

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