“And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.”
Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women — Luke distinguishes three groups: convinced Jews, theosebeis (God-fearers, Gentiles attached to synagogal monotheism), and prominent women of Greek society. This mixed composition foreshadows both the church's catholicity and the social tensions that follow.
Church Fathers on Acts 17:4
And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. Acts 17:4 The writer mentions only the sum and substance of the discoursing: he is not given to redundancy, and does not on every occasion report the sermons. But the Jews which believed not (the best texts omit which believed not), moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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