Acts 22:3 - Exposition

A Jew for verily a man which am a Jew, A.V. and T.R.; of Cilicia for a city in Cilicia, A.V.; but for yet, A.V.; instructed for and taught, A.V.; strict for perfect, A.V.; our for the, A.V.; being for and was, A.V.; for for towards, A.V. ; even as for as, A.V. Born in Tarsus , etc. (see Acts 21:39 ). St. Paul was evidently proud of his native city, "the famous capital of a Roman province," watered by the "swift stream of the Cydnus," and looked down upon by the snowy summits of Mount Taurus; "a center of busy commercial enterprise and political power;" "a free city, libera et immunis " (Farrar, 'Life of St. Paul,' vol. 1. Acts 2:1-47 .). St. Paul's express assertion that he was "born at Tarsus" directly refutes the tradition handed down by St. Jerome that he was horn at Giscala, and carried thence to Tarsus by his parents when Giscala was taken by the Romans (Farrar, ibid.). Brought up ; ἀνατεθραμμένος , a classical word, only found in the New Testament in the Acts ( Acts 7:20 , Acts 7:21 , and here). It is found also in Wis. 7:4. It implies early education. At the feet of . The scholar sits or stands humbly beneath the raised seat of the teacher (comp. Luke 10:39 ). The stop is rightly placed after γαμαλιὴλ . Some, however, put the stop after ταύτῃ , and connect παρὰ τοὺς πόδας γαμαλιὴλ with πεπαιδευμένος . Gamaliel (see Acts 4:1-37 , Acts 5:3 , note). Instructed according to the strict manner of the Law of our fathers ; comp. Galatians 1:14 , "I profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers," where for τοῦ πατρῳου νόμου we read τῶν πατρικῶν μου παραδόσεων ,. Under the πατρῴος νόμος Paul probably included the traditions, as well as the written Law, which the Pharisees so rigidly observed (comp. Acts 26:5 ,where the ἀκριβεστάτην αἵρεσιντῆς ἡμετέρας θρησκείας corresponds with the ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ πατρώου νόμου ) The strict manner; κατὰ ἀκριβείαν , found only here in the New Testament; but a word of repeated use in this sense in Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, and also, with the adjective ἀκρίβης and the adverb ἀκριβῶς , much used by medical writers. ἀκριβέστερος and ἀκριβέστατος are used by St. Luke only ( Acts 18:26 ; Acts 23:1-35 . 15, 20; Acts 24:22 ; Acts 26:5 ), and ἀκριβῶς six times to three in the rest of the New Testament. Zealous for God ( ζηλωτὴς τοῦ θεοῦ ); see Acts 21:20 , note.