Kisah Para Rasul 16:3

16:3 Paul wanted Timothy ¹  to accompany him, and he took ²  him and circumcised ³  him because of the Jews who were in those places, ⁴  for they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁵ 

Kisah Para Rasul 16:6

Paul’s Vision of the Macedonian Man

16:6 They went through the region of Phrygia ⁶  and Galatia, ⁷  having been prevented ⁸  by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message ⁹  in the province of Asia. ¹⁰ 

[16:3]  ¹ tn Grk “this one”; the referent (Timothy) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:3]  ² tn Grk “and taking him he circumcised him.” The participle λαβών (labwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Paul’s cultural sensitivity showed in his action here. He did not want Timothy’s lack of circumcision to become an issue (1 Cor 9:15-23).

[16:3]  ³ tn The verb περιέτεμεν (perietemen) here may be understood as causative (cf. ExSyn 411-12) if Paul did not personally perform the circumcision.

[16:3]  ⁴ tn Or “who lived in the area.”

[16:3]  ⁵ tn The anarthrous predicate nominative has been translated as qualitative (“Greek”) rather than indefinite (“a Greek”).

[16:3]  sn His father was Greek. Under Jewish law at least as early as the 2nd century, a person was considered Jewish if his or her mother was Jewish. It is not certain whether such a law was in effect in the 1st century, but even if it was, Timothy would not have been accepted as fully Jewish because he was not circumcised.

[16:6]  ⁶ sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia.

[16:6]  ⁷ sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor (North Galatia), or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch (South Galatia). The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.

[16:6]  ⁸ tn Or “forbidden.”

[16:6]  ⁹ tn Or “word.”

[16:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.