Acts 16:40

And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

And they went out of the prison. Having attained their object-to vindicate their civil rights, by the infraction of which in this case the Gospel in their persons had been illegally affronted-they had no mind to carry the matter further. Their citizenship was valuable to them only as a shield against unnecessary injuries to their Master's cause. What a beautiful mixture of dignity and meekness is this!

And entered into the house of Lydia - as if to show by this leisurely proceeding that they had not been made to leave, but were at full liberty to consult their own convenience.

And when they had seen the brethren - not only her family and the jailor's, but probably others now gained to the Gospel,

They comforted them, [ parekalesan (G3870)] - rather, perhaps, 'exhorted' them, which would include comfort,

And departed - but not all; for two of the party appear to have remained behind at Philippi (see the note at And departed - but not all; for two of the party appear to have remained behind at Philippi (see the note at Acts 17:14): Timotheus, 'of whom (to use the words of Howson) the Philippians learned the proof, "that he honestly cared for their state, and was truly like-minded with Paul, serving with him in the Gospel as a son with his father" (Philippians 2:19); and Luke, "whose praise is in the Gospel," though he never praises himself or relates his own labours, and though we only trace his movements in connection with Paul, by the change of a pronoun or the unconscious variation of his style.' Here, accordingly, and onwards, the narrative is again in the third person, nor is the pronoun changed to the second until we come to Acts 20:5. 'The modesty with which Luke leaves out all mention of his own labours need hardly be pointed out. We shall trace him again when he rejoins Paul in the same neighbourhood. His vocation as a physician may have brought him into connection with these contiguous coasts of Asia and Europe; and he may (as Mr. Smith suggests, 'Shipwreck,' etc.) have been in the habit of exercising his professional skill as a surgeon at sea.'

Remarks:

(1) Christianity is essentially revolutionary, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. It casts out devils, exposes every religious cheat, and tolerates no compromise of truth and error, good and evil. No wonder, then, that it is felt by all the powers of evil, both in hell and on earth, as an enemy to be put down by whatever means-whether by pretended friendship (as in the testimony borne by this soothsaying spirit to Paul and Silas) or by false charges of hostility to the peace of society, as a plea for putting it down by force-charges which have just enough of truth in them to give them plausibility-as when Paul and Silas were charged by the enraged masters of that wretched slave girl with turning everything upside down. But the quarrel of Christianity is only with what is ungodly and evil, and it is revolutionary only as it is in deadly hostility to all that is so. It expels only the poison from humanity, and infuses into it only what is healthful and ennobling. Even this it does by an internal and noiseless operation. And thus is it the only true and divine Panacea for the ills under which our nature languishes.

(2) How different is the carriage of Paul and Silas in the dungeon of Philippi from that stoical endurance of agony unmoved, which is all that heroism without religion can rise to! How deeply they felt the violation of their rights, and the insult, shame, and pain of a public exposure of their naked backs to the scourge, we know well; for their complaint of it made the magistrates to tremble, and the touching allusion to it long after to the Thessalonian Church, showed how the apostle still felt it (1 Thessalonians 2:2). Nor would the torture of the stocks, and the smarting of their bleeding backs on the earthen floor of that dismal hole go less acutely through their sensitive frames. And doubtless this was what the authorities of Philippi intended. But just in these circumstances-to the flesh of extreme wretchedness-and at the season of deepest darkness (the midnight hour), while they were pouring out their souls in prayer to God, the light of heaven irradiates their darkness, they pass irresistibly from the minor into the major tone, breaking forth into songs of praise so loud that the other prisoners 'kept listening to them,' in rapt astonishment (we may be sure) at sounds so unusual issuing from a dungeon. This is not impassive stoicism; it is the transport of the soul triumphing over both shame and pain; it is the sense of God's presence deadening the sense of everything else-`the expulsive power of a new affection,' in the noblest sense of the phrase.

(3) As the question of the trembling jailor - "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" - is substantially the cry of every awakened sinner, though the degree of light and the depth of anxiety which it expresses will vary in every case; so the reply to it - "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" - is to all alike the one true and all-satisfying answer. 'They place the Person of Christ,' says Lechler, 'in whom alone is salvation, directly and without circumlocution, before the inquiring soul. They demand faith in Him-nothing more, but also nothing less. Fide sola-By faith only-is the motto of the apostle Paul, as it was of the Reformers after his example. They do not require of the jailor-ready and willing to do anything-various performances and works, but simply faith, that is, cordial acceptance and appropriation of the personal Saviour, along with absolute confidence. But the faith to which the jailor attained constrained him also to all possible services and works of love and gratitude,' etc. (4) How beautifully are the deadened affections quickened into life, so soon as the Gospel of a present salvation through faith in a crucified Saviour takes possession of the heart. As Lydia, so soon as the Lord opened her heart to the grace of the Gospel and she had been received into the fellowship of believers by baptism, would have Paul and Silas to take up their abode in her house; so the jailor, as soon as his heart was won to the Saviour, took the liberated apostles "the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and (after being baptized) brought them into his house, set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."

(5) The carriage of Paul and Silas toward the magistrates of Philippi affords a noble example for all ages. They submitted meekly to the shameful violation of their rights as Roman citizens, by those whose duty it was to see them respected. But when an astounding interposition of Heaven in their behalf, inspired their persecutors with dread of them, and caused them to give an order for their liberation and departure; then came the time for those injured servants of Christ to assert their rights. With calmness and dignity, declining to be thus ordered out stealthily, they require the magistrates who had wronged them to come in person, and opening the prison doors, themselves to conduct them forth. Galling as this must have been, they have nothing for it but to comply. So coming in person, they beg the forgiveness of the injured missionaries, and conducting them forth request their departure. And this being all that those servants of Christ desired, they at once comply. Nothing secular, social, or political, which may be turned to the account of the Gospel, is by these men of sober faith disregarded; but in any other view nothing of that nature is set any store by.