_PAUL, HAVING CIRCUMCISED TIMOTHY, AND BEING CALLED BY THE SPIRIT FROM ONE COUNTRY TO ANOTHER, CONVERTETH LYDIA, AND CASTETH OUT A SPIRIT OF DIVINATION. FOR WHICH CAUSE HE AND SILAS ARE WHIPPED AND IMPRISONED. THE PRISON DOORS ARE OPENED. THE JAILOR IS CONVERTED, AND THEY ARE DELIVERED._ _Anno Dom... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN DISCIPLE—NAMED TIMOTHEUS— See the passages in the margin, and the preface to the first epistle to Timothy.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CIRCUMCISED HIM— In order to do justice to St. Paul's conduct in this affair, we must recollect, that he always openly avowed that the Gentiles were free from the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonies, and that the Jews were not to expect salvation by them; and he also taught that they were not in consc... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DECREES,— Namely, those which were determined as a rule for their direction, by the apostles and elders in full council at Jerusalem. See the preceding chapter, Acts 16:22, &c. The word Δογματα, rendered _decrees,_ says L'Enfant, always signifies something temporary and ceremonial, and not laws... [ Continue Reading ]
TO PREACH THE WORD IN ASIA,— That is, in Asia Proper, or Proconsular Asia, as all the places mentioned in the former verses lay in Asia Minor. It is also apparent that flourishing churches were afterwards planted there; particularly at Colosse, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia; so that i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT— Many manuscripts and versions of undoubted authority read here, _The Spirit of Jesus._... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE STOOD A MAN OF MACEDONIA,— Some think St. Paul knew his country by his dress, or language; but there was no need of his attending to such particularities, as the vision itself mentions the country: it has also been thought, by some, to have been a particular person with whom St. Paul was acqua... [ Continue Reading ]
IMMEDIATELY WE ENDEAVOURED— This is the first place in which St. Luke intimates his attending on the apostle; and it is remarkable, that here he does it in a very oblique manner; nor does he indeed throughout the whole history once mention his own name, or relate one thing which he said or did for t... [ Continue Reading ]
SAMOTHRACIA, &C.— An island in the AEgean sea, near the Hellespont: _Neapolis_ was a city of Macedonia. Sailing from thence up the river _Strymon,_ they came to Philippi, which was a city or town of the _first division_ of Macedonia, and a Roman colony. It had more anciently gone by the name of Cren... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ON THE SABBATH WE WENT OUT, &C.— It should seem that there were but few Jews settled in this city, and those chiefly women, who could not afford to have a synagogue; but where they could not have a synagogue, they used to have an _oratory,_ or a _proseucha;_ that is, "an open court of prayer," c... [ Continue Reading ]
THYATIRA,— Was a city bordering both on Asia and Lydia; and this woman seems to have derived her name from the latter on that account. She was a proselyte of the gate; that is, one who worshipped the true God, though she did not conform to the Jewish law in all its rites and ceremonies. She heard St... [ Continue Reading ]
AS WE WENT TO PRAYER,— Or, _To the oratory._ The manner in which St. Luke relates this history,plainly implies that he considered it as a real possession, and that St. Paul himself considered it in that view: nor can we account either for the woman's behaviour, for St. Paul's, or for that of her mas... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT PAUL, BEING GRIEVED,— He might imagine that if the Gentiles believed the testimony of the woman, it might invalidate his doctrine and miracles; and by leading them to suppose that there was a confederacy between them and the evil spirit, it might make the one to be esteemed the effect of magic,... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE RULERS,— The word στρατηγοι, made use of in the 20th verse, denotes with the Greeks _Roman_ praetors; and if it was applied to the _Duumviri,_ who were the governors of colonies, it was by way of compliment. At the first appearance of the Christian religion, some of the Gentiles considered... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TEACH CUSTOMS WHICH ARE NOT LAWFUL, &C.— Tertullian and Eusebius assert, that the Romans had an ancient law, which forbad the worship of new deities without the permission of the senate; and it is plain from Livy, that, as often as it was violated, it was publicly vindicated by the authority of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MAGISTRATES RENT OFF THEIR CLOTHES,— This was the Roman method of proceeding in such cases, and it was also practised among the Jews. The latter part of this verse might be rendered more clearly thus: _And the officers tearing off their garments,_ that is, of Paul and Silas, _commanded them to b... [ Continue Reading ]
MADE THEIR FEET FAST IN THE STOCKS,— It is generally supposed that these were the _cippi,_ or large pieces of wood used among the Romans, which not only loaded the legs of prisoner's, but sometimes distended them in a very painful manner. So that the situation of Paul and Silas must have been very a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AT MIDNIGHT PAUL AND SILAS, &C.— These blessed apostles were as little daunted at suffering, as elevated when they were caressed and about to be adored for their miraculous cures. This was true fortitude; a composure and firmness of mind arising, through divine grace, from a sense of having done... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DREW OUT HIS SWORD, &C.— By the Roman law, if a prisoner escaped, the gaoler was to suffer what the prisoner was to have suffered. When therefore this man apprehended that all the prisoners were fled, and remembered what strict orders he had received the day before concerning Paul and Silas, he w... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT PAUL CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE,— St. Paul, like a true Christian, a benevolent and brave man through the grace of God, was tender and solicitous about the life of one, who, but a few hours before, had treated him with such rigour. As they were all at present in the dark, it is not easy to say how... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE CALLED FOR A LIGHT,— As φωτα, _lights,_ is plural, it seems to imply, that, on this alarm, several of his attendants came with torches, and were present at the inquiry which immediately followed; nor did he in the least scruple to throw himself down before his domestics at the feet of these... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID, BELIEVE, &C.— "Humbly trust in, and fully commit thyself to the protection of that great and only Saviour whom we preach, _and thou and thine house_ will be brought into the sure way to eternal salvation." The meaning cannot be, that the eternal salvation of his family could be secure... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE TOOK THEM THE SAME HOUR, &C.— It appears from this circumstance of the gaoler's washing their stripes, that the apostles had not a power of working miraculous cures whenever they pleased, either on their own bodies, or those of their dearest friends. Had they possessed such a power, it would... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MAGISTRATES SENT— The magistrates who had ordered Paul and Silas to be scourged and imprisoned without a legal trial, or any crime proved against them, seem to have had a more disturbed night than their innocent prisoners. Very probably they had since reflected in a more cool manner upon their m... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE BEATEN UP, &C.— The magistrates, in their treatment of Paul and Silas, had violated no less than three laws: First, in punishing them without a trial, which was not only an infringement of the Roman law, but of the law of nations. They had likewise violated the Valerian law, which forbad t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SERJEANTS, &C.— St. Paul seems, in his own conduct here, to have had a regard to the honour and interests of Christianity in this place, as well as to their own civil rights as men and Romans; for such a token of public respect from the magistrates, as the _serjeants_ or _lictors_ were commi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BESOUGHT THEM— The word Παρεκαλεσαν, here rendered _besought,_ is in the very next verse, as well as in many other places, rendered _comforted;_ and so it should have been rendered here, as it gives us the idea of a more respectful treatment. Some manuscripts have an addition here, importing tha... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY COMFORTED THEM AND DEPARTED.— Such an extraordinary interposition of God for his suffering servants, and such an addition made to their church, had a natural tendency both to cheer their hearts, and to invigorate their pious resolutions. Accordingly, it appears from St. Paul's Epistle to this c... [ Continue Reading ]