Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Some of them (tinev ec autwn). That is of the Jews who were evidently largely afraid of the rabbis. Still "some" were persuaded (epeisqhsan, effective first aorist passive indicative) and "consorted with" (proseklhrwqhsan). This latter verb is also first aorist passive indicative of prosklhrow, a common verb in late Greek (Plutarch, Lucian), but only here in the N.T., from prov and klhrov, to assign by lot. So then this small group of Jews were given Paul and Silas by God's grace.
And of the devout Greeks a great multitude (twn te sebomenwn ellhnwn plhqov polu). These "God-fearers" among the Gentiles were less under the control of the jealous rabbis and so responded more readily to Paul's appeal. In I Thessalonians 1:9 Paul expressly says that they had "turned to God from idols," proof that this church was mainly Gentile (cf. also I Thessalonians 2:14).
And of the chief women not a few (gunaikwn te twn prwtwn ouk oligai). Literally, "And of women the first not a few." That is, a large number of women of the very first rank in the city, probably devout women also like the men just before and like those in Acts 13:50 in Antioch in Pisidia who along with "the first men of the city" were stirred up against Paul. Here these women were openly friendly to Paul's message, whether proselytes or Gentiles or Jewish wives of Gentiles as Hort holds. It is noteworthy that here, as in Philippi, leading women take a bold stand for Christ. In Macedonia women had more freedom than elsewhere. It is not to be inferred that all those converted belonged to the higher classes, for the industrial element was clearly large (I Thessalonians 4:11). In II Corinthians 8:2 Paul speaks of the deep poverty of the Macedonian churches, but with Philippi mainly in mind. Ramsay thinks that Paul won many of the heathen not affiliated at all with the synagogue. Certain it is that we must allow a considerable interval of time between verses Acts 17:4-5 to understand what Paul says in his Thessalonian Epistles.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 17:4:
John 12:20
Acts 10:2
Acts 13:50
Acts 14:4
Acts 17:4
Acts 19:38
Ephesians 1:11
1 Peter 5:3
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