Acts 19:18-19 And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.… If property, now applied to a wicked purpose, can be used for a good end — if a house once rented for an immoral employment can be occupied for a business that is moral — if a piece of machinery which has been employed for evil can be used in a lawful avocation — if a vessel used before for piracy or in the slave trade, can be employed in legitimate commerce — if a sword can be beaten into a ploughshare, or a spear into a pruning hook, then principle would not require that these should be destroyed; but if no such lawful use of property can be made, then the principles of Christianity do not allow that it should be transferred to other hands, but that it should be destroyed at once. Christian honesty demands the sacrifice; a Christian conscience would prompt it. (A. Barnes, D. D.) They counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. — The coin referred to was the Attic drachma, usually estimated at about 81/2d. of English money, and the total amount answers, accordingly, to £1,770 17s. 6d., as the equivalent in coin. In its purchasing power, as determined by the prevalent rate of wages (a denarius or drachma for a day's work), it was probably equivalent to a much larger sum. Such books fetched what might be culled "fancy" prices, according to their supposed rareness, or the secrets to which they professed to introduce. Often, it may be, a book was sold as absolutely unique. (Dean Plumptre.) Parallel Verses KJV: And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.WEB: Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. |
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