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THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES— CHAPTERS XIII.-XXVIU.
BY THOMAS M. LINDSAY, D.D

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THE

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
WITH INTRODUCTION, MAPS, AND NOTES.

BY
THOMAS M. LINDSAY, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITV AND CHURCH HISTORY. FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. GLASGOW.

VOL. II.
(CHAPTERS XIII.-XXVIII.)

EDINBURGH:
T. & T CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.

PREFACE.

This little Commentary makes no pretension to be anything else
than an aid to teachers of Bible classes and to private students of
the Bible. In my Commentary on the first twelve chapters I have
called attention to the various introductory matters which help to
the understanding of the Book — its aim; its author; when, where,
and for whom written ; the earlier missionary journeys ; the world,
social and religious, lying round the Book ; and the condition
of the Jews in Palestine and of the Dispersion — and have not
thought it necessary to go over the same ground again. Two
very important critical questions are suggested more particularly
by the second part of the Book of Acts : — (i) The solution of the
problem of the early Christian Church, how to reconcile the
commandments of Moses with the new law of liberty taught by
Jesus; (2) and the result of the discussion of this problem in the
two parties within the Christian Church. The Introduction to
this Commentary on chapters xiii.-xxviii. is mainly occupied with
these questions.

Thomas M. Lindsay.

Free Church College, Glasgow,
September 1 88 5.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction,  n
The Problem of the Apostolic Church,  ii
The Problem had to be solved by Jewish Christians, ... 14
Our Lord pointed out the Solution of the Problem, . . . 16
(a) The Law of the Sabbath,  16
(i) The Law of Ceremonial Purification, . . . . 17
(c) The Law of Divorce, . . . . . . . 17
(d) What was of Permanent Obligation  18
The Original Disciples and their Solution of the Problem, . . 18
James, the Brother of the Lord  19
Peter,  . . ig
John in the Apocalypse,  2q
Paul on the Conflict between Judaism and Christianity, . . 2\
Paul's Solution of the Problem,  ,23
Paul and the Three,  26
The Acts on the Conflict between Judaism and Christianity, . 29
The Conference at Jerusalem,  30
Further Conflicts  31
Analysis of Chapters xiii.-xxviii  . . 34
Chronological Summary, ... .... 37
Genealogical Table of the Herod Family,  38,39
The Commentary  41
Index,  159

Map to show the First and Second Missionary Journeys of St. Paul, . 40
Map to show the Third Missionary Journey, and the Voyage to Rome, 93

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
XIII.-XXVIII.
INTRODUCTION.1
The Problem of the Apostolic Church.
No attentive reader of the Acts of the Apostles can have failed to
note that one of the great difficulties which forced itself on the
early Apostolic Church, was how to reconcile the commandments of
Moses with the new law of liberty which was an essential element
in the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ, nor to see that the solution
of this problem was not accomplished without divisions among
the brethren and many painful conflicts. Modern criticism haj
expended much investigation on the matter, and has in particular
raised the question whether the book of the Acts gives a trustworthy
account of the way in which the Church acted, or whether the
conflict provoked was not much deeper and deadlier than the writer
persuades his readers to believe. Ever since Ferdinand Christian
Baur published, in 1831, his celebrated article on The Christ Party
in the Corinthian Church, the theory that there was a deep-seated
opposition between Jewish and Gentile Christianity has been used to
discredit the authenticity of many of the New Testament writings,
and among them of the Acts of the Apostles. In the Introduction
to chapters I.-XII., reference was made to this theory and its effects
1 For the general introduction to the Acts of the Apostles, the reader is referred
to my Acts of the Apostles, chapters I.-XII., published in this series.

12 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
on the aim and date of composition of the book. " The special
position of the Tubingen school has been very generally abandoned,
but its criticism of particular books, their authenticity, his
torical credibility, and date, are still not without influence. . . .
According to Zeller and other critics, two parties existed in the
Apostolic Church in irreconcilable opposition, the Jewish and the
Gentile Christians. Jewish Christians asserted that their faith was
Judaism with a new Prophet, that the Law of Moses and Mosaic cere
monial practices were binding on Christians as well as on unbelieving
Jews, that Gentile believers must first become proselytes to Judaism
before they could become Christians, that circumcision was the only
gateway to baptism. Gentile Christianity, on the other hand, refused
to admit this, was intolerant of Mosaic injunctions, and insisted on
starting with the New Testament, or if it admitted the Old Testa
ment at all, put value only on the prophetic element. These
differences within the Church were also represented, it is said, within
the College of the Apostles. At the head of intolerant Jewish
Christianity stood Peter, John, and James ; at the head of intolerant
Gentile Christianity stood Paul. As years went on, a middle party
gradually grew up, which became the Catholic Church of Christ ;
some members of this middle party, wishing to show that it had
always been in the Church, wrote the Acts of the Apostles, making
Peter on occasions speak words and utter sentiments which only one
holding Paul's opinions could have made, and showing Paul accept
ing compromises and submitting to conditions repugnant to his
declared convictions. The question arises, What historical evidence
is there for these sweeping assertions ? When examined, it is
ludicrously small. Stript of the glamour of erudition and of historical
imagination, the real basis of this Tubingen theory is as follows.
There were undoubtedly in the second century Jewish Christian
sectaries bitterly opposed to all Gentile Christianity, who claimed St.
Peter as their special Apostle ; and there were Gentile Christians
such as Marcion, outside the Christian Church, who hated everything
Jewish ; and there was undoubtedly in the Apostolic Church an
extreme Judaizing party, called ' the sect of the Pharisees who

INTRODUCTION. Tj
believed,' who were continually thwarting Paul. Baur and Zeller
take the opinions of the Jewish Christian heretics of the second
century, read them back into the Judaizers of the Apostolic times,
make the Twelve sharers in these beliefs and usages, and then by
dint of ingenious exegesis they try to find these opinions and practices
in those New Testament writings which bear the names of those
whom they call the Judaizing Apostles. That is the basis of the
theory ; and on this theory Zeller declares that the narrative of the
acquiescence of the Church in Jerusalem in the admission of Gentile
Christians must have been unhistorical, and that Peter could not have
baptized Cornelius and his household in the manner described."
The fact of the difficulty of the problem remains, however,
although we may refuse to accept the guidance of the Tubingen
school in describing it and its consequences, and requires
serious attention. Criticism has made the historical investiga
tion of the problem more difficult by the doubts it has cast
on some of the documents naturally employed in its solution.
Three of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles cannot be used
until it has been shown that the criticism which has refused to
place them in the first century of the Christian era is erroneous.
We have still St. Mark's Gospel, the Apocalypse, the principal
Epistles of St. Paul, the General Epistle of James, and the First
Epistle of Peter. These are documents which present criticism has
almost unanimously admitted to be authentic, and to contain the
earliest description of Christian life and thought. It is not of course
admitted that the other canonical writings are as late as some critics
make them ; but for our present inquiry they are left out of con
sideration. The question then before us is, What light do the
Apocalypse, the Epistles of James and of Peter, and the principal
Epistles of St. Paul — especially those to the Galatians, to the
Romans, and to the Corinthians — shed on the problem ? and when
this has been answered, the result can be compared with what is said
in the Acts of the Apostles. The inquiry is twofold : (i) What were
the precise relations between Jewish Christians and unbelieving
Jews, and how did Jewish Christianity solve the problem at issue ?

14 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
(2) How did Jewish look on Gentile Christianity, and how far did
the two coalesce to make the Christian Church catholic ?

The Problem had to be solved bv Jewish Christians.
It must be remembered that the earliest Christian Church was
a strictly Jewish Church, and that the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was
poured out upon Jews only. The eleven were Galilean Jews. The
Church of the Upper Chamber was a Jewish Church. The Church
of the First Revival had only Jews of Palestine or of the Dispersion
for its members. How did they differ from other Jews ? It may be
answered that there was this difference, that while the rest of the
Tewish nation still looked forward to a Messiah that was to come,
Christian Jews believed that the Messiah had come — that Jesus of
Nazareth was the Messiah. But this meant a great deal more than
that the unbelieving Jews thought that the Messiah was yet to
come, while believers thought that He had come. A dead Messiah
was unintelligible, a crucified Messiah was an abomination to the
Jews. Christians had to believe that something had occurred which
had overcome the death and had glorified the crucifixion. Every
Jewish Christian based his faith in the Messiahship of Jesus on
the Resurrection. It was a living, risen, ascended Messiah that he
believed on, and this thought separated him widely from the old
circle of Messianic ideas ; and therefore Baur and his followers are
hopelessly wrong at starting when they say that "had no new
development (Paul and his work) taken place," the only difference
between them "would have been that the one regarded the Messiah as
having come already, while the other looked upon Him as still to
come." This event of the Resurrection, and all that it implied, lay
between the Christian and the non-Christian Jews. There is no need
to suppose that believing Jews at once perceived all that was implied
in the Resurrection of Jesus, but their earnest faith in the facts of the
Resurrection and Ascension, and their apprehension that the Spirit of
Jesus was always with them, their Guide and Comforter, raised them
at once into anew world of thought and action into which unbelieving

introduction. 1 5
Jews could never penetrate. They felt themselves at the beginning
or starting-point of a new life in the world, and this made them mis
sionaries of an earnest, aggressive type. They spent their lives in
making converts, in increasing the boundaries of the New Kingdom.
Their belief in the Messianic idea still remained, but it was changed
by the personal influence of Jesus, and they appear as men ready to
accept whatever changes in the Messianic idea of their fathers the
unique personality of Jesus compelled them to adopt. These
changes gradually unfolded themselves to the Jewish Christians, and
were at first rather doctrinal than practical. They lived their old
Jewish lives, circumcised their children, were strict in Jewish
observances, remained fenced off from fellowship with Gentiles.
But the history of their own personal experience, more especially
of their missionary experience, compelled them to consider their
own position and those of their converts to the Mosaic Law. At
present we are leaving out of consideration the Acts of the Apostles,
and limiting ourselves to the two facts that Gentiles were brought
within the Christian Church, and that the presence of these
Gentiles compelled the Jewish Christians to reconsider the relation
of themselves and of their converts to the Mosaic Law — facts abun
dantly proved by New Testament documents whose authenticity no
criticism has questioned.
It must be remembered that when this problem was forced upon them,
the Christians had not the New Testament canon. Their Scripture
was the Old Testament, interpreted by the personality and by the
sayings of Jesus. Where are we to find that picture and these
sayings of the Master which were before the Christians of the earliest
Apostolic Church ? The captiousness of advanced criticism compels
us for the present to pass over the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and
John ; but there remains the Gospel of Mark, which the most recent
criticism almost unanimously declares to be the nearest counterpart
to the oral Gospel of the earliest Christian Church. This Gospel does
not give us so much aid as we could find in the Sermon on the Mount
in St. Matthew, nor as the pictures of our Lord presented in the
Gospel of St. John, but enough remains for our purpose.

1 6 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

Our Lord pointed out the Solution of the Problem.
In His sayings recorded in the Gospel of St. Mark, Jesus treated
the Mosaic Law as a divinely appointed way of approach to God, and
therefore taught that it should be carefully observed with literal exact
ness by all who did not accept Himself as the Messiah ; but that His
disciples had transcended the old relation in which all Jews stood to
the Law by their relation to Him. Thus our Lord looked at the
Mosaic Law in a twofold way. It was as binding on unbelieving
Jews after His Advent as before ; but after His coming, His disciples
stood in a new relation to it. Our Lord was careful to make this
distinction between unbelieving Jews and His followers. He never
spoke lightly of the Law of Moses. When He had to describe to
a promiscuous audience the new relation in which His disciples
stood to the Law, the truths were for the most part taught in par
ables which had to be expounded in private. It was only when
alone with His disciples, or when compelled to vindicate publicly
His conduct or theirs with respect to the Law, that He declared
broadly and openly that all men who came to Him were no longer
under the letter of the Law in the way that they had been before His
coming. Jesus broke the Law and made Himself unclean when He touched
the leper to heal him, but He sternly commanded the man to fulfil
all that the Law required of lepers who had been healed (Mark i. 42-44).
When He refused to ask His disciples to fast, and justified the refusal
by principles which, if applied, must have cut at the root of any Mosaic
observances (ii. 19-22), He was not opposing the Mosaic Law, for
Moses had commanded one fast only, on the great day of Atonement,
and the custom of fasting which the disciples had broken was only
a rabbinical addition ; and His principles were expressed in short
parables, not in plain statements.
(a) The first case where Jesus plainly interfered with the Law of
Moses, was when the Pharisees charged His disciples with disregarding
the commandments of Moses by doing what was unlawful on the

introduction. i 7
Sabbath day (ii. 23-28). He justified their disobedience by the
example of David, who in a case of necessity had violated the law of
the Shewbread, and by distinguishing between the essential part of
the Law and commandments which were its partial expression. He
claimed as the Son of Man to have full authority over all these com
mandments of the second class ; and because He was Lord of the
Sabbath, His disciples might disregard the Old Testament precept.
But this vindication of their conduct did not imply that those who did
not own His lordship could plead it for their licence, nor that for the
disciples the whole Mosaic Law was abolished by His Advent and by
their faith on Him.
(b) Our Lord's discussion of the laws of ceremonial purification is
still more instructive (vii. 1-23). The Pharisees had complained that
the disciples had eaten without ceremonially washing their hands.
Jesus answered that the Pharisees had made the Law of none effect
by their traditions, which had misread the whole spirit of the Mosaic
economy, and then went on to describe what real purity was. It was
purity of the heart, and external purification was of no use save as a
sign of inward sanctification. It is evident that His description of
what purifies and what does not must render a great part of the
Mosaic Law useless for the new kingdom of God which He was
establishing. But while laying down these principles, He never
asserts that the great mass of the Jewish people are freed from their
obligations to the Mosaic Law ; His principles are given in parables
which require to be explained to His disciples in private (ver. 17);
and it is only His followers who are taught that true purity is in the
heart, not in hand-washing and other ceremonial observances.
(c) The Mosaic laws of Divorce furnish another means of exhibiting
the relation of the new kingdom to the Mosaic Law (Mark x. 3-9).
Our Lord points out the imperfection of the Mosaic Law, which unfits
it to be the law of a more spiritual kingdom, an imperfection due, He
says, to the hardness of heart of the people. The imperfection of
the law of Divorce can be read back into the whole round of Mosaic
observances, and it can be seen that our Lord freed His disciples
from such portions of it as ceremonial purity and Sabbath observance,

1 8 the acts of the apostles.
because His disciples through their faith in Him had within their reach
a more excellent way.
(d) Lastly, our Lord openly told His disciples what parts of the
Mosaic Law were no longer binding on His followers, and what were
of permanent obligation, when He distinguished between the first and
greatest commandment and the whole code of observances founded on
it (Mark xii. 28-34). The one commandment on which all others
depend is that which enjoins the perpetual obligation of love to God
and to man. But only those near the kingdom can see this (ver. 34),
and only those within the kingdom can be trusted to apply this as a
positive touchstone to discover what separate Mosaic commandments
are to be retained and what may be safely rejected, or as a negative
test to bring out the fact that mercy is better than sacrifice. It is only
by fellowship with Jesus, by entrance within the new kingdom, that
the faithful are freed from the old law of sacrifice.
Our line of investigation confines us to St. Mark's Gospel, but it
would be easy if time and space permitted to show how our Lord's
discourses reported in the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St.
John only work out more fully the principles here laid down.
The Original Disciples and their Solution of
the Problem.
It is plain that our Lord's disciples during His lifetime were very
slow to understand all that He taught them, but it is equally evident
that the Resurrection and Ascension wrought a wonderful change on
their preparedness to look back and appropriate the lessons of His
life. If these sayings given in Mark were known and in a measure
understood, the disciples could not have been Jews who differed from
the rest of their neighbours merely in this, that they believed that
the Messiah whom the rest of their countrymen still expected had
already come. They must also have seen that they no longer stood
in the same relation to the Mosaic Law with the rest of their nation.
Criticism has almost universally maintained that the Epistle of James,
the First Epistle of St. Peter, and the Apocalypse of St. John repre-

introduction. ig
sent the thoughts of the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem ; and
when these writings are examined, they confirm the view that it was
historically impossible for the personal disciples of Jesus to remain
outside of the idea that Christianity was something more than a part
of Judaism, and that it had a universality to which Judaism never
pretended.
James the Brother of the Lord.
The Epistle of James reads like a commentary on the sayings of
Jesus about the imperfection of the Mosaic Law which have been
quoted from St. Mark. Purity is purity of heart (iv. 8, iii. ii, 12),
not ceremonial cleansing. The royal law, the law which forms the
fundamental code of the kingdom, is, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself" (ii. 8), the rule which Jesus had called the second of the
two great commandments. Men are enabled to enter into a higher
relationship with God through faith, and thus united, enter into a higher
sphere of life which can manifest itself in good works. Finally, James
recognises that the law of the new kingdom of God is a perfect law, a
law of liberty, which is implicitly contrasted with the imperfect and
unbending Mosaic code. There is not a single sentence in the whole
Epistle going to show that the writer holds that Christians are bound
to observe the ceremonial law of Moses ; on the contrary, the whole
argument implies that believers, in and through Christ, have been
raised into a higher sphere, and have transcended the circle of Jewish
ceremonial observance. The Epistle of James is no document of
Jewish Christianity, if by that term is meant an anti-Pauline, anti-
Catholic, Judaizing Christianity. Peter.
The First Epistle 01 Peter is written to Jews of the Dispersion.
It contains not a word about the observance of the Mosaic Law,
not a sentence which St. Paul might not have written to Gentile
Christians (i. 14, 18, ii. 9, 10, iii. 6, iv. 3). Purity is found not
in ceremonial washings, but in obedience to the truth, in refraining

20 the acts of the apostles.
from the lusts of the flesh, in living in devotion to the will of God
(i. 22, ii. i, 2, iv. 2). Believers become new creatures (i. 3, 23, ii. 2)
in Christ, and therefore transcend the old economy ; the law of
the new kingdom, the law of love to God and love to man, takes the
place of the old ceremonial code (i. 22, ii. 19, iii. 8) ; and in one
striking passage St. Peter seems to put Judaism on the same level
as heathendom (" which in times past were no people at all, but now
are the people of God," ii. 10). John.
The Apostle Peter and James the brother of the Lord do not
speak of any conflict between parties in the Christian Church, and
unless other sources had made us aware of the fact, these Epistles
reveal no trace of a Judaizing party wishing to limit the Church to
the confines of Judaism. A knowledge of the actual state of
matters, however, enables us to see why James lays so much stress
on the law of liberty, and why Peter insists so strongly that purity is
purity of heart and soul from evil lusts. When we turn to the
Apocalypse, the evidences of conflict are abundant. We find
men who, the Apostle says, boast that they are Jews while they are
not, and men who abuse the law of liberty by joining in heathen
feasts and by indulging the lusts of the flesh. It is therefore of
importance to see how the author of the Apocalypse regards this
conflict of parties within the Christian Church. No one can avoid
noticing how the whole setting of the book is Jewish in a sense that
belongs to no other part of the New Testament canon. The writer
sees on the foundation walls of the New Jerusalem, the names of the
twelve Apostles, who represent the twelve tribes of Israel. The new
kingdom is a glorified Israel ; the new city, a New Jerusalem. But
his Christology is the Christology of St. Paul, and he nowhere
requires believers to be subject to the Mosaic Law. " Nowhere does
he put forward the requirement of circumcision, or of the observance
of Jewish festivals . on the contrary, to the moderate party of
Gentile Christians at Thyatira, who did not, like the radical

INTRODUCTION. 2 !
libertines with their cultus of the flesh, think they were obliged to
sound ' the depths of Satan,' he expressly declares that he will lay
upon them no further burden, only they must hold fast to their past
good practice" (Rev. ii. 24, 25). What that was he does not expressly
state, but from other exhortations it is evident that it must have
been abstinence from heathen worship and from heathen unchastity.
He promises the crown of life, a place at the marriage supper of
the Lamb, and a share in our Lord's universal dominion, to all
Gentile Christians who hold fast to these simple precepts of
Christian morals and who maintain their confession and life in spite
of persecution ; while Jews who are the enemies of Christ, perhaps
Judaizing Christians who were for ever disturbing the Church, he
brands as false Jews of the synagogue of Satan (Rev. ii. 9, iii. 9).
In these writings of the heads of the Church in Jerusalem, we
find no narrow Judaism, but a generous recognition of the univer
sality of the gospel. The new law is a law of liberty, and finds
expression in perfect love to God and man. Jews, in spite of their
obedience to the Mosaic code as well as heathen, are aliens to God
unless reconciled in Jesus Christ. The Apostle John calls Mosaic
observances a burden, and enjoins on Gentile Christians the
observance only of the principles of Christian morality. There is
no trace whatsoever of a conflict between these Apostles and St. Paul.
Paul on the Conflict between Judaism and
Christianity.
When we turn to St. Paul's Epistles, however, it is evident that
r.umbers of Jewish Christians did not acquiesce in a Catholic
Christianity, and desired to see circumcision made the door of
entrance into the Christian Church. These men were the avowed
opponents of St. Paul, refused to acknowledge his missionary work,
would not give him the title of Apostle, and denied that he
preached a true Christ and a true salvation.
Paul tells the story of their interference in his Epistles to the
Galatians and to the Corinthians. He tells us that for fourteen years

2 2 the acts of the apostles.
he was personally unknown to all but the leaders of the Church in
Jerusalem, but that all the brethren there "glorified God" because
of the success attending his missionary labours. While at Antioch,
after the end of his first missionary journey, certain men whom he
calls " false brethren privily brought in, who came in privily to spy
out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring
us into bondage,'' raised a dispute in the Church there. The cause
of it was whether Gentiles who believed must be circumcised before
they could be admitted into the Christian Church. During the contro
versy, Paul was encouraged "by revelation" to go with Barnabas to
Jerusalem and lay the matter before the brethren there. He took
with him Titus, a baptized Gentile who had never been circumcised.
He had a private audience with the leaders of the Jerusalem
Church, and the result was — (i) that Titus was not compelled to be
circumcised, and therefore that circumcision was not laid on Gentile
believers ; (2) that Paul was formally recognised to be an Apostle of
equal standing with the Twelve ; (3) that his special sphere of work
was to be among the Gentiles, while Peter's work was to be among
the Jews ; (4) and that no legal burdens were to be laid on the
Gentile Christians save that they were to exhibit the great law of
Christian love to God and to man in their care of the poor. It is
evident from this account that there was an animated discussion in
Jerusalem, and that the result arrived at was in no small degree
owing to Paul's firmness. The decision come to was that " faith in
the Messiah Jesus was acknowledged as constituting a new common
religious life, transcending the distinction between Jew and Gentile ;
and Christianity could no longer be regarded as a smaller society
within the wider Judaism." Unhappily, this decision of the Jerusalem
Church did not end the difficulties that Paul had to encounter.
Peter paid a visit to Antioch, and while there consorted freely with
Gentile Christians, treating them as brethren in the Lord ; but when
" certain came from James " he drew back and " separated himself,
fearing them that were of the circumcision." Peter's conduct in
fluenced the Jewish members of the Church, and they also withdrew
from the society of their Gentile brethren, and even Barnabas was

introduction. 23
induced to follow their example. Paul resisted, charged Peter with
double-dealing, and exposed the inconsistency of the Jewish standpoint.
Judaizing Christians were not better Christians than others, but worse ;
because, by their perverse adherence to the Law, they frustrated the
grace of Christ. Paul does not tell us how the matter ended. It is
implied that Peter, Barnabas, and the other Jews at Antioch accepted
his clear vindication of Christian liberty ; but it is evident that from
this time onward, Paul was continually thwarted by Judaizing
Christians. They followed Paul, they raised dissensions among his
converts, they denied his Apostleship, and they asserted that he
preached a false gospel. They were active in the Churches of Galatia
and of Corinth. In the former they had persuaded the Gentile
Christians to submit themselves to the Mosaic Law ; in the latter
they asserted that Paul was not an Apostle of the same rank as
the Twelve, and was therefore not to be obeyed in the same way.
Paul's Epistles tell us how keenly he felt these persecutions,
these " perils among false brethren ; " but there is no evidence that
the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem were in sympathy with the
Judaizing party who tried in all ways to overturn the work of the
great Apostle to the brethren. The progress of historical criticism
since the rise and fall of the Tubingen school has been in the
direction of showing that the conflict between Paul and the Twelve
or the Three (Peter, James the brother of our Lord, and John) has
been greatly overrated. Thus Pfleiderer dismisses any fundamental
difference between Paul and Peter, but holds that James and Paul
were in opposition which could not be overcome. The whole
evidence for this, however, rests on the phrase, " Certain came from
James" (Gal. ii. 12) ; but as James was the recognised head of the
Church in Jerusalem, the phrase cannot be taken to mean more
than that these disturbers of the peace came from the mother Church.
Paul's Solution of the Problem.
There is no evidence even in St. Paul's Epistles to show that Paul
held one view of the relation in which Christians stood to the

24 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Mosaic Law, and that Peter, John, and James held another. Paul's
way of stating the relation is undoubtedly put in clearer and more
definite language, and insists on practical application of principles in
a way that is not to be found in the Epistles of James or of Peter.
But it must be remembered that, when writing to the Galatians, he
was dealing with Gentiles who had been taught the perfect law of
liberty, and who had been persuaded by intruders to go back from that
liberty ; and when writing to the Corinthians, he was vindicating his
apostolic rank and his right to preach the gospel committed to him
by the Lord. His Judaizing opponents among the Galatians seem
to have taught that in the Old Testament the Law was added to
the Promise as a condition of sharing the blessings foreshadowed,
and they drew the inference that faith in Christ was not sufficient for
salvation, but must be complemented by observance of the Mosaic
Law. Paul argues as one living in New Testament times, when the
Messiah in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen has
come, and therefore as one in a position to distinguish between the
permanent evangelical elements in the Old Testament and those
which were merely propaedeutic, and from this standing-ground he
insists that Law and Gospel as preached by his Judaizing opponents
are not complementary in the sense that the Gospel is not promised
unless the Law be kept, but are exclusive principles — salvation by deed
of man, and salvation by %race of God. Hence to free oneself
from the Jewish Law is a positive Christian duty, and freedom from
that Law may not be surrendered but at the risk of losing Christ
also. " For freedom did Christ set us free : stand fast, therefore,
and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage" (Gal. v. i). He
goes still further, and declares that Judaism in the sense in which
his opponents taught it, is on a level with heathenism (compare Gal.
iv. 3 with iv. 8). Circumcision is nothing in itself; but if a man receive
it in the spirit that he is thereby completing a bargain with God and
putting himself in such a position that he can have effectual faith in
Christ, he steps out of the sphere of the gospel into the sphere where
man is left to'work out his own salvation in a perfect obedience which
is impossible (Gal. v. 2-6).

INTRODUCTION.

*5

It cannot be doubted that these statements must have been
causes of offence to the Jews, and to many Jewish Christians ; but
it should be noticed that Peter makes assertions quite as strong when
addressing Jewish Christians of the Dispersion. He says, " Who
called you out of darkness into His marvellous light : which in time
past were no people, but now are the people of God." The matter was
one of life and death with Paul. He saw that the fate of the whole
future spreading of the gospel was involved in understanding the true
relation of Christians to the Mosaic Law, and when he insisted that
believers must make their choice between the Mosaic ceremonial and
faith in Christ, he felt that what was really at stake was salvation
through Christ by the grace of God. Let it be once admitted, however,
that believers are saved by faith, not by works ; by God in Christ, and
not by their own more or less accurate observance of a Mosaic code,
then Paul insisted that the principles of Christian forbearance find
place. " He himself became all things to all men, that he might
by all means save some" (i Cor. ix. 22). He distinguished between
what was lawful and what was expedient, and directly applied the
distinction in cases where Jewish prejudices were sure to be excited.
It was pollution for a Jew to eat things offered to idols, and the
practice might offend other weak consciences. Paul argues that an
idol is nothing, and that the ceremony of presenting meat to an idol
does not alter the food, but things which are lawful are not expedient
if they are occasions of stumbling to Jews or to Greeks, or to the
Church of God. He warns the Corinthian Church against eating
things offered to idols and against fornication, just as John warns the
Churches at Pergamos and Thyatira (Rev. ii. 5, 14). It is a poor use,
he says, to make of the freedom for which Christ has made us free,
to cause other weaker brethren to stumble. Paul's statement of the
relation between Judaism and Christianity did not differ in any essen
tial point from the views of Peter, John, and James ; nor so far as
recorded acts tell us, was his practical application of principles very
different from theirs.
Yet the Epistle to the Galatians testifies that Paul was viewed with
suspicion by a large number of Jewish Christians, who looked up to

26 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Peter and James as their natural leaders. Can this be readily
explained, still without reference to the book of Acts ?
Paul and the Three.
It is somewhat difficult for us to put ourselves in the place of the
Christians of the first generation when everything was a beginning.
Their past lives had been Jewish, they had lived under the Mosaic
dispensation, and the ceremonial Law had been not merely a written
code, but part of their lives. Jesus was the Messiah foretold and
witnessed in that Law and in all the Old Testament writings. The God
of their fathers had sent His Son according to Old Testament pro
mises. Their Christian life, if it transcended, at least had grown out
of their past. Their Scriptures were the books of the Old Testament
with its precepts given to their nation by God — commandments from
Jehovah. It is a difficult thing to break with the past ; perhaps more
difficult to see how past and present may combine in one unity oi
spiritual experience without visible continuity of customs, usages, and
religious practices. It was easy to say that in Jesus all God's pro
mises were yea and amen, but very difficult to translate that thought
into the everyday conduct that it implied. Then these Old Testa
ment commandments which went to make up the Mosaic Law, had
they not been commanded by Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel?
Language could not be clearer than the law of circumcision : " This
is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy
seed after thee : every man-child among you shall be circumcised ; "
or than, " My covenant shall be in your flesh an everlasting covenant!'
Their forefathers through long generations back had been circum
cised; the Forerunner had been circumcised; Jesus Himself had been
circumcised on the eighth day. Circumcision was not a human inven
tion, but a Divine institution, and one that our Lord had never in so
many words spoken against either in public or privately to His dis
ciples. We, living now after centuries of spiritual experience have
made things plainer, who have had no past life under Mosaic cere
monies, who have never had the Old Testament as our only Scripture,

INTRODUCTION. 27
we can see that circumcision had a spiritual signification, and that the
moment the spiritual purpose was fulfilled the outward sign vanished.
We can understand that circumcision came to be abolished, not by
violent abrogation, but "as noontide abolishes dawn, or as summer
abolishes springtide, or as our manhood has abolished our infancy."
But can we see how our present is abolishing our past, or how religious
or political maxims take new meanings in our own day? All that
ceremonial ritual which fenced off the Jews from other nations had
been part of their lives for generations. They were used to it ; the
distinction between clean and unclean food had become part of their
bodily framework, part of their physical lives : they loathed blood and
things strangled with a physical loathing ; they knew how much
physical wellbeing, how many wholesome prescriptions, lay in the
ceremonial enactments. And this ceremonial code had in times of
dire national disaster preserved the common life of Israel. It is
Spinoza, the greatest of modern Jewish thinkers, who has said that
but for circumcision the Jews would long ago have been absorbed in
the nations of Europe ; and the ancient rite and the ceremonial that
was built on it have kept the Jew true to himself, a separate indomit
able people during ages of Persian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman
conquest and tyranny. Religious sentiment, bodily likes and dislikes,
honest patriotism, all combined to make the Jew, Christian though he
had become, cling to the Mosaic Law. He might know that every
believer had transcended that Law, that men were now called on to live
under a new law of liberty, that the Mosaic Law belonged to the past,
and was in many parts imperfect, but he could not suddenly break
with that past. The original disciples, the heads of the Church in
Jerusalem, felt that their chief mission was to win their countrymen
for Christ. They were to begin at Jerusalem ; their Master had
announced that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He had never denounced circumcision, although he had rebuked
.Pharisaical observance of the seventh day, the hypocrisy of rabbini
cal legalism, the imperfection of ceremonial cleansing, and had even
said that the Mosaic law of Divorce was founded on the hardness of
the human heart. They had gradually grown to be Christians, had

28 the acts of the apostles.
been led slowly from one stage of experience to another, and had been
taught the freedom of the gospel only as they were able to bear it.
Is it surprising that they should have been afraid to offend Jewish
prejudices, that when they saw numbers of converts who were ignor
antly zealots for the Law, they should have been at pains to consult
their prejudices, and been afraid to follow out in practice what their
consciences told them was the path of Christian liberty? They knew
— the Epistles of Peter and of James bear witness to it — that the
Mosaic Law was transcended in the new law of liberty, that they were
free to test each part of the ceremonial code by the chief command
ment which enjoined love to God and love to man ; but was it sur
prising that they applied the principle with some hesitation, and were
slow to depart from any Jewish usage without what seemed to them
direct Divine guidance, and that each departure had no consequences
beyond itself, and did not for them, in practice at least, mean the aban
donment of the whole ceremonial code, or of any part of it save that por
tion which had in certain circumstances been found inconsistent with
fidelity to their Master ? And if all this be true, is it wonderful that
Jewish believers, who were zealots for the Law, and who did not appre
hend, as the Apostles were taught to do, that it had been transcended
by the Christian life, should claim them as their leaders, and hinder
the progress of the Church towards catholicity by their inconvenient
devotion to Peter and James.
Paul, on the other hand, had no such gradual training in the mind
of Jesus ; he had not been led step by step from incident to incident,
nor had he been weaned from Judaism in half-conscious ways. His
was a sudden conversion ; he was parted from his past life by a sharp -
wrench, and in his lonely musings had been obliged to think out clearly
the principles which were to guide his future conduct : he saw his
way while they felt theirs ; and because he had been taught in inward
spiritual experience, in musings and visions and raptures, he appeared
to the Jewish zealots a rebel against that Law which had nursed him,
and a traitor to that fatherland which had once looked on him as its
rising leader.
It was hard for the Three who were the recognised leaders of the

introduction. 29
Church at Jerusalem to look forward to the inevitable break between
Judaism and Christianity. It was natural for them always to lean to
the Jewish side when conflicts arose within the Church of the first
generation, and to be anxious to preserve to the community those of
their followers who were zealots for the Law. It was to be expected that
they should be somewhat afraid of impetuous missionaries who carried
out at once and to the full extent principles which they acknowledged
and taught, and which when clearly stated as the touchstone in any
incident of conflict they could not help assenting to and supporting.
No difference in principles can be seen between the Three and St.
Paul. The Apostles of the circumcision and the Apostle of the uncircum
cision were at one in all the fundamental ways of stating the relations
between Judaism and Christianity. But in the application of these
principles, at what time, in what circumstances, to solve what prac
tical problems — there one may expect differences to arise, and there
differences did arise.
The Acts on the Conflict between Judaism and
Christianity.
Thus far no reference has been made to the Acts of the Apostles;
but if what has been stated above is correct, the history of the gradual
solution of the problem, how to reconcile Moses and Jesus, recorded
in that book, is both natural and what might have been expected.
The Apostles clung to Jerusalem and to their work among the Jews.
They went to the Temple regularly, they kept the Jewish hours of
prayer, they had no communication with the uncircumcised, they did
not allow themselves to deviate from the customs and ceremonial
ritual of Jewish life, and they may have congratulated themselves on
all this. When the first controversy arose between Palestine believers
and believers of the Dispersion, they accepted the situation and made
provision for the difficulties that arose. It may be that they had
doubts about the freedom of speech which won for Stephen his mar
tyrdom, and dispersed many of their followers. It was with some
surprise that they heard that Samaritans were converted ; but when

30 THE ACTS OF THE AP0STLE3.
God manifested His power over the converts and bestowed on them
the Holy Ghost, they rejoiced in this widening of the circle of the
gospel, though they themselves had done nothing to break down the
wall of partition. Peter was perplexed when he was called by a mani
fest leading of Providence to preach to the Gentile Cornelius, and had
to justify his intercourse with uncircumcised persons to members of
the Church at Jerusalem, who are called, " they that were of the cir
cumcision." His defence was that the Holy Spirit gave him no option
to do anything but what he did ; but he made no further attempt
to enter in by the door God had opened to him. I have traced
the strange and yet natural hesitation of the Apostles to preach the
gospel to the Gentiles, the apparent helplessness with which they
saw the gospel passing beyond the bounds of the Jewish nation, in my
Introduction to the earlier portion of Acts.1 They decided for
catholicity, for a fair and honest application of the law of liberty
as each case presented itself to them, but they seem to have treated
each separate case as an episode to be dealt with, and then allowed to
fall out of sight, until the result of Paul's first missionary journey,
and the dispute in Antioch forced upon them by their too zealous
followers, made it necessary to face the whole question of the relation
of Christians to the Mosaic Law.
The Conference at Jerusalem.
Criticism was wont to dwell upon the inconsistencies in the accounts
of the conference at Jerusalem given in the Acts of the Apostles and
in the Epistle to the Galatians ; but even those who greatly exaggerate
the differences between Paul and the Church at Jerusalem, such as
Pfleiderer, are now disposed to admit that there is no irreconcilability
between the two narratives, and base their arguments for the opposi
tion on the dispute between Peter and Paul which took place later at
Antioch. It is evident that there were at least three meetings between
the delegates from Antioch and the brethren at Jerusalem (compare
notes on xv. 4), and that Paul states the resolution come to at the private
' Pp- 25, :6.

introduction. 31
conference, which practically was that the independent apostleship of
Paul was formally recognised, that the sphere of labour which he had
accepted was formally approved of, and that no ceremonial burdens
were' to be laid on the newly-received Gentile converts. It is said
that because Paul does not allude to the four obligations imposed on
the Gentiles by the decision of the Jewish Church, because he asserts
that nothing was required of him by those of reputation save that he
should remember the poor, and because when afterwards, in speaking
of the eating of flesh offered to idols, he does not even distantly allude
to a resolution of the Apostles bearing upon it, the doubt as to the
historical character of the formal resolution reported in the Acts of
the Apostles is probably well founded. But this reasoning overlooks
some of the facts of the case. The decree is carefully limited in its
application. It is addressed to Churches in Cilicia and Syria, where
preaching to the Gentiles had been in discourses delivered in Jewish
synagogues, and where the converts must have been in all likelihood
proselytes of the gate, men who had already come under the four
obligations laid upon them by the council. Nothing in addition to
tyhat they already did was required of them, and there is nothing said
to warrant us inferring that this decree was to be binding on converts
in Galatia and in Corinth beyond the bounds of the provinces where
the disputes had arisen. It was quite in accordance with the general
attitude of the Apostles that they should strictly limit their decision
to the special case that was presented to them. And it should be
noted that the Apostle John, writing to the Churches of Pergamos
and Thyatira — Churches outside of Syria and Cilicia — on the eating
of flesh offered to idols, makes no allusion to the decree of the council.
Paul bases his commandment on the duty of love to our neighbour, and
makes it an inference of the law of liberty applied according to the
principle of brotherly love. Further Conflict.
The result of the conference, brought about by Peter and James
—the one more impetuously, the other more cautiously throwing th?

32 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
weight of their opinions on the side of Paul — did not settle the ques
tion. The more obstinate opposition to Paul was later. But it is
idle to say, as Pfleiderer does, ] that in the decision " the continuance
of the validity of the Jewish Law in the case of Jewish Christians
was presupposed as a matter of course, and that the restrictive con
ditions of the agreement were meant in the minds of the Jewish
Christians to protect the legal position of Jewish Christianity from
all the dangers which threatened it from contact with heathen
Christians." Cornelius was probably a proselyte of the gate, for he
kept the Jewish hours of prayer, and yet he was to Peter " a man
common and unclean," whom it was unlawful for him to join himself
to or come unto. The decision asserted that faith in Jesus the
Christ was a new common religious life superior to the distinction
between Jew and Gentile ; it was come to after Peter had related his
experience in the case of Cornelius ; and it justified such intercourse
with Gentiles as Peter had declared was unlawful according to strict
Jewish law. The party in Jerusalem, who are variously called
" those of the circumcision," " the zealots for the law," " those of the
sect of the Pharisees who believed," could not help feeling that it
broke down the middle wall of partition, and although the strange
narrative of Paul and Barnabas, and the sympathetic speeches ol
Peter and James had silenced their opposition, it is not wonderful
that they strove to recover lost ground. It is quite impossible to say
how large this party in the Church of Jerusalem was. It need not
have been in a majority. Nothing is more obvious than that a small
persistent and noisy minority, more especially when it is supposed to
represent traditions of the past, has a power out of all proportion to
its significance, and can bring pressure to bear on the leaders of a
community. It was not Jewish, but Judaizing Christians that were
henceforward to trouble the Apostle Paul, and to them he never
gave place. Paul was always conciliatory when conciliation did not
involve the denial of principles, and he recognised as fully as any
Apostle the gospel privileges of the Jewish people. He began his
1 Lectures on the Influence 0/ the Apostle Paul on the Development 0/
Christianity. London, 1885. I'p. 112.

INTRODUCTION. 33
work everywhere in the Jewish synagogues : he circumcised
Timothy, who was a Jew, when circumcision did not imply that it
was necessary to salvation ; he made no attempt to ask Jews to
depart from their ceremonial usages when these did not interfere
with the great principle of Christian freedom ; he quite naturally
fell in with old Jewish usage when he wished to express thanks to
God for recovery from illness or peril, and took the Nazarite vow
when in Greece ; he took the Nazarite vow a second time at the
close of his third missionary journey, to prove that he did not teach
the Jews everywhere to disregard the commandments of Moses.
It is thus that the book of Acts describes his conduct, and the
description corresponds with what is said in his Epistles.
That school of criticism which would discredit the Acts of the
Apostles, because it makes Peter too like Paul, and Paul too like
Peter ; because it does not describe a conflict between Paul and
all Jewish Christianity represented by the "pillar'' Apostles Peter,
John, and James the brother of our Lord, has run its course, and
its critical positions have had to be abandoned one after another.
At the first start no book bore such evidence of the Anti-Pauline
position of Jewish Christianity as the Apocalypse of St. John. The
latest adherent of the school which still maintains the radical
opposition between Paul on the one hand, and Peter, James, and
John on the other, has decided that the Apocalypse must have
been written by an author deeply imbued with Pauline doctrine, and
that St. John cannot have been its author 1 '
The Acts of the Apostles gives us very brief hints about the
conflict between Paul and the extreme Jewish party, but it tells us
enough to supply an historical framework to the statements in the
Epistles. It is impossible to say how far the majority of Jewish
Christians were influenced by them, but it seems that the leaders of
the Church at Jerusalem, while they recognised the labours of Paul,
and when time of need came— as in his last visit to Jerusalem —
loyally stood by him, yet consistently endeavoured to keep hold on
the Christian zealots. They were content to declare in their
1 Pfleiderer, Lectures, pp. 158-166.
C

34

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

Epistles that the Mosaic Law had been resolved into the universal
law of liberty, but as Apostles to the circumcision they were un
willing by their actions to give offence to certain unenlightened
and extreme followers. In the last glimpse given of them they are
again acting as mediators between Paul and the Christian zealots.
Their doctrinal position was the same as Paul's, their principles
were in no way different ; but as they were surrounded by circum
stances very different from his, they were content to forego a
universal and immediate application of their principles, and to
wait until God brought matters to a direct issue in the Church in
Palestine. The siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple had
a profound effect on Jewish Christianity. The followers both of
Peter and of Paul saw in these events a confirmation of the
prophecy of Christ, and an intimation, not to be disregarded, that
Mosaic ceremonial had come to an end in the death and resurrec
tion of Jesus ; but to trace the history further would take us far
beyond our limits. Analysis of Chapters XIII.-XXVIII.
The book of the Acts of the Apostles divides naturally into
three parts : (i) Chapters i.— xii., which may be entitled : From
Jerusalem to Antioch. (2) Chapters xiii.-xxi. 14 : Paul's missionary
journeys. (3) Chapters xxi.-xxviii. ; Paul at Rome, and the events
which brought him there. The analysis of chapters xiii.-xxviii.
only is given here.
Part II.— Paul's Missionary Journeys, xiii.-xxi. 14.

Pauls First Missionary Journey, xiii. -xiv.
1. In Cyprus — A contest for a soul,
2. At Antioch in Pisidia,
3. Paul's first recorded sermon,
b. The Apostles turn to the Gentiles,
3. At Iconium — Persecution,
4. In Lycaonia — The cripple healed,
5. Return to Antioch in Syria,

Xlll.

r-13-

xiii.

14-52-

14-43-

44-52-

xiv.

I_s-

xiv.

6-21.

• . xiv.

21-28.

introduction.

35

IL A Christian Council— Can Gentiles be Christians f xv. 1-35.
x. The question raised at Antioch in Syria,
*. The deputation to Jerusalem,
3. The brethren in council, ....
4. The decision received at Antioch,

Iii. Pauls Second Missionary Journey, xv. 36-xviii. 23.
x. Through Syria and Cilicia to Lycaonia,
*~ Paul and Timothy,
3. Paul enters Europe, .
4. At Philippi, .....
a. Lydia, the seller of purple,
b. The soothsayer and her masters,
c. The prisoners and the jailor,
5. Thessalonica to Athens,
6. At Athens — The Living God preached,
7. At Corinth — The Crucified Christ preached,
8. From Corinth to Antioch by Ephesus and Jerusalem

XV.

1.

XV.

2-5-

XV.

6-29.

XV.

30-35-

XV.

36-41.

xvi.

i-5-

xvi.

6-12.

xvi.

13-40.

13-15.

16-23.

23-40.

xvii

i-i5-

xvii.

16-34.

xviii.

1-17.

xviii.

18-22.

1— xxi. 14.

XIX

1-41.

1-12.
13-20.
21-41.
XX.
1-6.
XX.
7-12.
XX.
13-38.
xxi.
1-14.
Iv. Apollos, xviii. 24-28.
v. Pauls Third Missionary Journey, xviii. 23, xix,
x. At Ephesus, ....
a. Paul completing the work of Apollos,
b. The seven sons of Sceva,
c. Great is Diana of the Ephesians,
2. 1 nrough Macedonia to Troas,
3. At Troas, ....
4. At Miletus with the Elders of Ephesus,
5. To Caasarea by Tyre,
Part m. — Paul at Rome, and the events which brought him there,
xxi. 15-xxviii. 10.
i. At Jerusalem, xxi. 15-xxiii. 30.
x. Doubtful friends — beginning of the end,
*. The riot and Paul's apprehension,
3. Paul's speech to the crowd, and what followed,
4. Paul before the Sanhedrin,
5. Conspiracy of the Zealots — Roman protection,
ii. At Casarea — Paul a Prisoner, xxiii. 31-xxvi. 32.
x. Sent to Csesarea, . . ... xxiii. 31-33.
a. Paul's accusers before Felix, ..... xxiv. 1-9.
xxi. 15-26.
xxi. 27-36.
xxi. 37- xxii. 29.
xxii. 30-xxiii. 11.
xxiii. 12-30.
36

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

3. Paul's first defence — Still a prisoner, .
4. Paul before Festus— Appeal to Cassar ,
5. Paul and King Agrippa,
a. Festus and Agrippa,
b. Paul and Agrippa,
Iii. Voyage to Rome, xxvii. i-xxviii. 10.
1. Cfesarea to Crete,
u. The storm and shipwreck,
3. At Malta,

xxiv. 10-27.
XXV. I-I2.
xxv. 13-xxvi. 32.
xxv. 13-27.
xxvi, 1-32.

XXVII. I-I2.
xxvii. 13-44.
xxviii. 1-10.

iv. At Rome, xxviii. n-31.
1. Arrival at Rome,
a. Intercourse with the Jews,
3. Paul the prisoner at Rome,

xxviii. n-16.
xxviii. 17-29.
xxviii. 30-31

INTRODUCTION.

37

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY.

A.D. 47 49 5°
Si-54 53 54
55-58 56

Christianity.

57 58

58-60 59 60 61

Palestine.

Paul's First Missionary
Journey (about 3 years).

Council at Jerusalem.
Paul's Second Mission
ary Journey (about 3
years).
I. and II. Thessalo
nians, at Corinth.

Paul at Jerusalem (Feast
of Pentecost).
Paul's Third Missionary
Journey (3 to 4 years).
I. Corinthians, at
Ephesus.

Galatians & II. Cor
inthians, in Mace
donia.
Romans, at Corinth.
Paul's Journey to Jeru
salem, sails from Troas
in April.
Paul at Jerusalem (Feast
of Pentecost).
Paul a prisoner at
Cassarea.

Paul at Malta.
Paul arrives at Rome.

Ananias, high priest.

Herod Agrippa II.,
king of Chalcis.

Felix, Procurator of
Judea.

Herod Agrippa II.
gets Batanea and
Trachonitis.

Tumult in Judea,
headed by an
Egyptian (xxi. 38).

Rome.

Ishmael, son of Phabi,
high priest.
Festus, Procurator of
Judea.

Claudius, Emperor
since 41 A.D.

Caradoc a prisoner
at Rome.
The Jews banished
fromRome,52A.D.

Gallio, Procurator of
Achaia.

Nero, Emperor, 54
A.D.

Boadicea revolts in
Britain.

38

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF

Ar.tipas, an Idumean chief, made governor of Idumea undei
Antipater, at first confidential adviser of John Hyrcanus,

Phasael,
Joant tetrarch with Herod of Judea, 41 s.c

Doris.
Antipater murdered by
his father, B.C. a.

Mariamne, grand-daughter of John
Hyrcanus, and therefore a Macca-
bean or Asmonean Jewish princess.
Aristobulus, murdered by his father,
3 B.C. He married his cousin
Bernice, daughter of Salome, his
father's sister.

Herod, king of Chalcis,
d. 48A.D. He married —
(1) Mariamne. I
Aristobulus, who
married Salome^
daughter of Hero
dias.
(2) Bernice, tis niece,
the daughter of
Herod Agrippa I.

I I
Herod Agrippa I. gathered Herodias.
together gradually most
of the lands held by
Herod ilte Great. He
succeeded his uncle,
Herod Philip II.t in the
tct.rarchy of Iturea and
Trachonitis, in 37 a.d. ;
his uncle, Herod Anti-
pas, in the tetrarchy of
Galilee and the Perea in
40 a.d. ; and gained
Judea and Samaria in
ti a.d. He married
yprus, grand-daughter
of Phasael, brother of
Herod the Great. He
was a persecutor, and
died eaten up of worms,
44 A.D.
ICalled in N. T. Herod
the king (Acts xii. 1),
and Herod (Acts xii.
6. 11, 19, 20-23).]
 I 

Mariamne, daughter of
Simon the high priest.
Herod Philip I. had
no public office. He
married Herodias, his
niece, the daughter of
his brother Aristobu
lus, who deserted him
for Herod Antipas.
[Called in N. T.
Philip (Matt. xiv. 3;
Mark vi. 17 ; Luke
hi. 19).]
Salome, who danced
before Herod Anti-
pas. She married
(1) Herod Philip II.
the tetrarch ; (2) Aris
tobulus, king of
Chalcis.[Called in N. T. the
daughter of Hero
dias (Matt. xiv. 6 ;
Mark vi. 23.).]

Agrippa II., king of Chalcis, 48-53 a.d., Bernice married Herod, king of Chalcis.

tetrarch of Trachonitis, 53-160 a.d. He
died in 100 a.d., the last of the Herods,
and as the descendant of Mariamne the
last of the Maccabees.
[Called in N. T. King Agrippa (Acts
xxv. 13, 24, xxvi. 2, 7, 19, 27); Agrippa
(Acts xxv. 23, xxvi. 1, 28, 32); the
king (Acts xxvi. 26, 30).]

At his death she came to live with her
brother. [Acts xxv. 13, 23, xxvi. 30.]

l This table contains only the principal members of the Herod family. The names

INTRODUCTION.

39

THE HEROD FAMILY.1

JannsEus, and confidential adviser of Queen Alexandra.
then made procurator of Judea by Julius Cssar, 47 b.c

Herod the Great,
Joint tetrarch of Judea, 41 b.c. ; sole king, 36 B.C. ; died February or March, 1 B-c.
[Called in the New Testament Herod the king (Matt. ii. 1, 3; Luke i. 5); Herod
(Matt. ii. 7, 12, 13, 16, 19, 22); the king (Matt. ii. 9).]
He married ten wives, among whom were —

Malthake, a Samaritan.
I

I
Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of
Galilee and the Perea. He married —
(1) the daughter of Aretas, king of
Arabia ;
(?) Herodias, the divorced wife of
his brother Herod Philip I.t
and his own niece.
Hewas deposed and banished 40 a.d.
[Called in N. T. Herod the tetrarch
(Matt. xiv. 1 ; Luke iii. t, 19, ix. 7 ;
Acts xiii. 1); Herod (Matt. xiv.
3, 6 ; Mark vi. 16-22 ; Luke iii. 19,
viii. 3, ix. 9, xxiii. 7, 8, n, 12, 15;
Acts iv. 27) ; the king (Matt
xiv. 9 ; Mark vi. 22, 25, 27) ; King
Herod. (Mark vi. 14.)]

A rchelaus, ethnarch
of Judea, Samaria,
and Idumea- De
posed and banished
8-9 a.d. [Matt.ii. 22].

Cleopatra of Jerusalem.
Herod Philip II., tetrarch
of Iturea and Trach
onitis or Gaulonitis.
He built Csesarea Phi
lippi (Matt. xvi. 13 ;
Mark viii. 27) and
Bethsaida Julias. He
married Salome, who
was at once his niece
and his grand - niece,
the daughter of his
brother Herod Philip
I. y and of Herodias his
niece.[Called in N. T. Philip,
tetrarch of Iturea,
Luke iii. 1.]

Drusilla (Act3 XXiv. 24) married (1) Azizus, king of Emesa ;
(2) Felix, procurator of Judea
(Acts xxiii. 26, xxiv. 3, 22, 24, 27).
Agrippa, d. 79 a-d.

mentioned in the New Testament are in italics ; those mentioned in Acts, in black letters.

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-1
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

Chap. XIII. i. "MOW there were in the church that was at
* ^ Antioch certain prophets and teachers ; as
Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of
Part II. — Paul's Missionary Journeys, xiii.-xxi. 14.
1. — Paul's first missionary journey, xiii. -xiv.
1. In Cyprus — A contest for a soul, xiii. 1-13.
1. Antioch was the capital of the Greek kingdom of Syria, and afterwards
the residence of the Roman governor of the province. It was made a free
city by Pompey the Great, and contained aqueduct, amphitheatre, baths,
and colonnades. It was situated on the Orontes, about 20 miles from the
mouth of the river. Its port was Seleucia. It was intimately connected
with Apostolic Christianity. "Here the first Gentile Church was formed
(Acts xi. 20, 21) ; here the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called Christians
(xi. 26) ; here St. Paul exercised (so far as is distinctly recorded) his first
systematic ministerial work (xi. 22-26, xiv. 26-28, xv. 35, xviii. 22, 23);
hence he started at the beginning of his first missionary journey (xiii. 1-3),
and hither he returned (xiv. 26). So again after the Apostolic Council (the
decrees of which were specially addressed to the Gentile converts at Antioch,
xv. 23), he began and ended his second missionary journey at this place
(xv. 36, xviii. 22). This too was the starting-point of the third missionary
journey, which was brought to an end by the imprisonment at Jerusalem and
at Csesarea." Antioch continued an important seat of Christianity. After the
fall of Jerusalem it became the Christian centre for the province of Syria, and
ranked with Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria as a patriarchate. It is
now the chief seat of the American Missions to the East, and has again
become a great missionary centre.
Prophets and teachers. Prophets, men inspired by the Holy Spirit with
a direct message from God (Acts ii. 17 ; I Cor. xii. 28, xiv. 1-5), were com
monly also teachers ; teachers, who gave instruction to believers (2 Tim. ii. 2).
An old prophecy (Joel ii. 28, 29) had foretold that there would be an out
pouring of the Holy Spirit on all the members of the religious community.
The Spirit manifested His presence in manifold ways, and through a variety
41

42 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xiii. 2.
Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod
2 the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and
of gifts. Particular persons were raised up specially gifted to be the guides of
the community, and among these prophets are continually mentioned. They
are found in the Church at Jerusalem (Acts xi. 27, xv. 32), at Antioch (Acts
xiii. 1), and must have been in most of the Apostolic congregations (1 Cor.
xii. 28; Eph. iv. n). They seem to have ranked next to the Apostles in
dignity, and are to be distinguished from the ordinary teachers because they
spoke under the direct influence of inspiration, and from the office-bearers who
were chosen by the congregations to rule over them. The position of the
prophets in the Apostolic and post- Apostolic Church may be summed up as
follows : — (1) Down to the close of the second century prophets were regarded
as an essential element in a Church possessing the Holy Ghost ; (2) they were
the regular preachers, but were not of necessity attached to a single congrega
tion ; (3) the common form of prophetic utterance was reasoned exhortation,
but it sometimes became ecstasy ; (4) prophecy might embrace anything that
was for the edification of the Church ; (5) the prophets were expected to put
in practice what they preached, and to live Christlike lives ; (6) individual
congregations had no right to control the prophets or submit them to dis
cipline ; (7) the prophets gradually degenerated, and at last disappeared from
the Christian Church. Compare A. Harnack, art. " Prophet," Encyc. Brit.
xix. p. 822.
Barnabas. See note on iv. 36.
Simeon, that was called Niger. Nothing is known about him. Niger was
a common Roman name. The phrase is an instance of the practice of Jews
to take a second name when they had much intercourse with strangers.
Lucius of Cyrene, not St. Luke ; for Lucius is a different name from Lucas
or Lucanus. We have no further information about him in Scripture ; a
tradition embodied in the Apostolic Constitutions says that he was made
Bishop of Cenchrea? by St. Paul.
Manaen, or Menahem ; the words which had been brought up with are
a translation of the one Greek word syntrophos, which is translated in the
R. V. foster-brother. The Herod mentioned must have been Herod Antipas,
who with his brother Archelaus was educated at Rome. Josephus tells
that a certain Menahem, an Essene, foretold to Herod the Great in early
youth that he was destined to royal honours, and that the king ever afterwards
treated the prophet with great respect. It has been conjectured that the
Menahem of the text was the son or grandson of the old Essene, and that
Herod had him brought up with his son Antipas as a mark of royal favour.
Freed now from the temptations of a court, he appears in the list of Christian
teachers. Saul, last mentioned, but soon to be placed first (verses 9-13). Saul is not
given the first place by the officials of the Cnurch even after the missionary
journey (xv. 25) ; officialism is slow to recognise work not done in its own
way. 2. As they. " One a Cypriote, another a Cyrenian, another a Jew, but
from his double name accustomed to mix among non-Jews, one a connection
of the Idumean house of Herod, and Saul the heaven-appointed Apostle to
the Gentiles, the list may be deemed in some sort typical of 'all the world,'
into which the gospel was now to go forth " (Lumby).

xiii. 5.] Paul's first missionary journey. 43
fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
3 for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they
had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent
them away.
4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto
5 Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when
they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the
Ministered. The common word to denote the temple service (LXX. Ex.
xxviii. 41 ; Num. iv. 37 ; Ex. xl. 13. Compare Rom. xv. 27 and Heb. *.
ii); here used to mean Christian worship (ii. 42). Old words were taking
new meanings, and worship {leitourgia or liturgy) now meant prayer and
fasting. The Holy Ghost, dwelling in the Christian Church according to Christ's
promise. Notice how this second part of the Acts begins by assuming the
existence of a separate society, men uniting in the name of Jesus, united in
the act of worship, and the Holy Ghost finding its abode in their midst,
touching the minds of every member, inspiring them with various gifts fitting
them for service.
Separate me. The Holy Ghost spoke probably by one of the prophets.
•The Christians at Antioch had formerly set apart their money (xi. 29, 30),
now they set apart men for the work of Christ. The Divine call, which every
true worker for God must have, came here to Barnabas and Saul. The call
had been foretold (xxvi. 16-18), and now it had come. "All things tend to
show that no man should teach in any place to which he is not called by God "
(Justus Jonas). Notice too how Paul relied on the word and on what it
meant, " Separated unto the gospel of God," he says (Rom. i. 1). The
inward call was now sanctioned by the outward call of the Church, inspired
by the Holy Spirit.
3. Fasted and prayed, etc. A solemn service of dedication and ordina
tion. Jesus fasted and prayed at the setting apart of the Twelve (Luke vi.
12, 13). Compare also Acts vi. 6, xiv. 23, 1 Tim. v. 22, which show that
what is here described was the ordination service employed in the Apostolic
Church, signifying that it accepted the service of these missionaries, and
derived from our Lord's action in setting apart the Twelve.
They sent them. Compare verse 4, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost.
This first missionary journey had its origin in "a combination of the human
and the Divine ; " it was the joint work of the Church and of the Holy Ghost.
Every work for Christ is a partnership with God, and as Jesus put His wonder
working power into the live barley cakes and two small fishes, and so, along
with the lad who gave his provisions for the purpose, fed 5000 men, He still
puts His miraculous strength into all the weak efforts of His servants, and
enables them to do great things for Him. Every true Christian is and must
be a fellow-worker with God.
4. Seleucia was the seaport of Antioch, 16 miles down the Orontes and 4
miles from the mouth of the river.
Cyprus, the country of Barnabas (iv. 36) ; an island with a large Jewish
population, and full of Greeks ; already visited by Christian missionaries
(xi. 19) ; some of whose inhabitants had been witnesses for Christ (xi. 20).
5. Salamis. The port in Cyprus nearest to Seleucia, in the bay now called

44 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xiii. 6.
synagogues of the Jews : and they had also John to their
6 minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto
Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew,
7 whose name was Bar-jesus : which was with the deputy of the
country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man ; who called for
Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation)
withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the
Famagousta. It contained large numbers of Jews, who abounded in the
island of Cyprus, and who in 116 A.D. rose in insurrection and massacred
240,000 of the Greek population. Salamis, like Damascus (ix. 20), had more
synagogues than one ; while Thessalonica and Corinth, probably more popu
lous towns, had only one (xvii. 1, xviii. 4).
John to their minister. John Mark, the author of the second Gospel,
went with them as their attendant to wait on the Apostles, to aid them in
preaching, and perhaps to baptize (1 Cor. i. 13-16).
6. Paphos, the capital of the island. It was noted for its worship of Venus,
" the deification of lust," as Athanasius called it, and was one of the most
wicked places in the old Roman world. Paul, Barnabas, and John, armed
(a)~with the message of pardon for sin, and (b) with prayer, which "moves
the Hand that moves the universe," began their attack on paganism in one of
its greatest strongholds, where the worship, half Greek and half Oriental,
combined the iniquities of both.
Sorcerer, magician or magus. The man's name was Bar-Jesus. Like
Simon (Acts viii. 9) he called himself a magus or wise man (Matt. ii. 1).
(Elymas is an Arabic word which means wise man, and corresponds to ulema,
the Arabic name for a theological student.) Luke calls him a false prophet.
In that age of superstition many great men kept wizards to foretell the future.
Many of these wizards and witches were depraved Jews and Jewesses
(xix. 13).
7. Deputy. Proconsul, i.e. the governor of a province which had become
so thoroughly Roman as not to need the presence of troops to overawe the
people. Roman provinces were divided by Augustus into two classes. Those
that required to be overawed by the presence of troops were placed under the
direct control of the Emperor, and were governed by propraetors, commanders
of the legions : the others were under the rule of the Senate, and were
governed by civil magistrates, proconsuls. Cyprus was an imperial province
up to 22 a. 1). , when it was given over to the Senate ; later it became imperial,
and still later again proconsular. Luke is strictly accurate.
Prudent man. A man of understanding or discernment: not a devout
man, not wise enough to do without a wizard, but of an inquiring mind,
ready to hear the truth.
Sergius Paulus. We know nothing about this proconsul save what is
mentionedin this chapter; but M. de Cesnola has discovered an inscription
at So i which bears the name of Paulus, Proconsul, who may be this Sergius
Paulus. 8. To turn away, to turn aside. " Missionary records are full of accounts
of the unvarying hostility of wizards, sorcerers, medicine-men, to the gospel."
The Christian minister will always meet an Elymas and a Sergius Paulus, a

xiii. 13.] paul's first missionary journey. 45
9 faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the
10 Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all sub-
tilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of
all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
1 1 of the Lord ? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon
thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.
And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness ;
and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed,
13 being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Now when
Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to
Perga in Pamphylia: and John, departing from them, returned
to Jerusalem.
charlatan fearful of loss of influence, and a sober-minded friendly inquirer.
Thus began the contest for the soul of the proconsul.
9. Saul (who also is called Paul). This is the first mention of the name
Paul. Up to this time he has always been called Saul ; from this time
onwards always Paul. It is probable that Saul (like almost all other Jews
who mingled much with Gentiles) had had the two names previous to this
occasion ; it is possible that the second name Paul was the Latinized Saul (as
Hillel was changed to Hellio), but it is certain that the change of name really
marks a change of work and position. Paul was beginning the special
work to which he had been called on Damascus road ; he worked his first
miracle, spoke his first recorded speech, had his first triumph over apostate
Judaism, and made his first impression in the great world of Rome, all at this
time. Pilled with the Holy Ghost ; a sudden inspiration making Paul see the
earnestness of the proconsul, and the evil temptings of Bar -Jesus, and giving
him power to rebuke miraculously.
10. 0 full of all subtilty, etc. O full of all deceit, to deceive was his
occupation, and all villainy, his character was bad, not Bar- Jesus (son of the
saviour) but son of the devil, and therefore by disposition the enemy of all
righteousness, and bent upon making crooked God's straight paths.
11. The hand of the Lord is upon thee (Ex. ix. 3 ; Judg. ii. 15 ; 1 Kings
xviii. 46). Paul saw in Elymas his old self while he was ignorant of the
Lord, and his first miracle inflicts on the sorcerer what he had suffered in order
to be brought to Christ. He had been struck blind for a season (ix. 8, 9). It
was the only miracle he had seen done, and apprentice-like he does what he
had seen the master do.
A mist and a darkness. Luke the physician notes the symptoms. The
blindness was gradual. First dimness, then darkness, then such total blind
ness that the sorcerer instinctively groped about.
12. At the doctrine of the Lord. At the teaching which had for its one
theme the Lord Jesus Christ, and so the soul of the Roman proconsul was
won for Christ. The word believed implies that the Roman was baptized.
13. Loosed from, set sail. They sailed north-west to Perga, and without
tarrying there went on through the country to Antioch.
John departing from them. See chap. xv. 38.

46 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xiii. 1 4.
14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in
Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and
15 sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets,
the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men
and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the

2. At Antioch in Pisidia, xiii. 14-52.
(a) Pauls first recorded sermon, 14-43.
14. When they departed. They passing through from Perga. Pamphylia
lies on the sea-coast of Asia Minor, and Perga is its capital ; Pisidia is inland
to the north, and Antioch is at its north end. See Map, p. 40. Pisidia is a
mountainous district, many of its people were brigands, and travellers were
often "in perils of robbers" (2 Cor. xi. 26).
Pisidia. The names of the divisions of Asia Minor which occur in the
Acts of the Apostles are somewhat perplexing. The country had been divided
into seven Roman provinces — Asia, Bithynia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia,
Pamphylia, and Cilicia, and these were the legal divisions ; but the old names
lingered, and were popularly used. Scotland is legally divided into counties,
but we still speak of Galloway, Clydesdale, the Reay country, etc. In the
Acts the popular district names are generally given, but Asia is always used
to denote the proconsular province which included the old divisions of Lydia,
Caria, and part of Phrygia. See Map, p. 40.
Antioch in Pisidia must be carefully distinguished from the capital of Syria.
It was a city of the Roman province of Phrygia, and a Roman colony. It
stood on a height above a great plain. It is mentioned several times in the
New Testament (Acts xiii. 14, 50, 51, xiv. 19, 21 ; 2 Tim. iii. 11).
15. The reading of the law. The Jews divided the Old Testament Scrip
tures into three divisions — (1) The Law or the Pentateuch, the five books of
Moses ; (2) the Prophets, including Joshua, Judges, the two books of Kings,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets ; and (3) the Hagio-
grapha, containing the rest of the canonical Old Testament Scriptures. The
Law had to be read in consequence of a Divine command (Deut.. xxxi. 10),
which declared that it was to be recited at the end of every seven years in the
feast of the year of release at the Feast of Tabernacles. It was found to be
impracticable to read the whole Law on one occasion, and therefore the Penta
teuch was divided into portions so as to be read through in a space of seven
years, from Feast of Tabernacles to Feast of Tabernacles. Various modifica
tions of this arrangement took place, until we find the Babylonian Jews, four
centuries after Christ, dividing the Pentateuch so that it could be read through
once a year, beginning with the Sabbath after the Feast of Tabernacles.
Passages selected from the Prophets were read along with the lessons from the
Law, care being taken that the one corresponded to the other. If this Baby
lonian division of lessons was in use in Antioch in Paul's day, it may be
inferred from the references to Deut. i. and to Isa. i. 2, that Paul reached
Pisidia by the end of July or the beginning of August 47 A.D.
If ye have any word, etc. It was the custom in Jewish synagogues to ask
distinguished strangers present in the audience to address the congregation.
The synagogue service consisted of ( I ) prayers read by the ruler ; (2) reciting

XIII. 19.J PAUL'S FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 47
16 people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his
hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
1 7 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted
the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt,
18 and with an high arm brought he them out of it. And about
the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilder-
1 9 ness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land
of Psalms ; (3) reading (a) from the Law, and (b) from the Prophets ; (4) the
word of exhortation.
16. Then Paul stood up. The missionaries had started "Barnabas and
Paul," but since the scene at Paphos it became " Paul and Barnabas,"
" Paul and his company." Men are tested by their work. The disciples at
Antioch put Barnabas first ; God gave him the second place, and he took it
loyally. Men of Israel, and ye that fear God. The audience was Jewish, but there
were also Gentiles who had accepted the God of Israel (42, 43).
17. The God of this people. This first recorded sermon by St. Paul recalls
Stephen's address, which Paul must have heard, and which he could not get out
of his thoughts. The main thought in it is God's covenant relationship to Israel
expressed in a long series of saving acts, and rising to full expression in giving
the Saviour. The line of argument appears to be : ( 1 ) The covenant God of
Israel has shown His purpose to save His people in delivering them from
Egypt, from wilderness perils, from the seven nations of Canaan, from national
foes and internal troubles by means of the Judges, Saul, and David, and
finally by the promise of a Saviour of David's race ; a series of acts of imper
fect salvation threaded together by the promise of the perfect Saviour (17-23).
(2) This perfect Saviour has come, and is Jesus [a] proclaimed by John the
Baptist ; (b) rejected through ignorance by the Jewish rulers ; (c) the rejection
itself being evidence of His Messiahship (23-28). (3) He was put to death
but rose again, and this death and resurrection evidence His perfect Messiah-
ship ; for from death come forgiveness and justification, and from the resur
rection come testimony for the Messiahship, evidence of Sonship, of sure
deliverance and everlasting salvation, which could not be accomplished by
saviours who served their own generation and passed away (29-39). (4) True
salvation is salvation from that sum of all enemies sin, and Jesus is the Christ
because He can gain for His people that pardon and justification which the
whole Old Testament dispensation until completed by the coming of Jesus
could not give (38-39). (5) A word of warning not to neglect the salvation
and the Saviour offered (41-42).
18. Suffered he their manners. Bare them as a nursing father. The
reference is to Deut. i. 31. The words exalted the people correspond to the
Septuagint of Isa. i. 2. Deut. i. was always read along with Isa. i. 1-27 as
first and second lessons for the forty-fourth Sabbath of the year. Some have
thought that Paul entered the synagogue in Antioch on that Sabbath (July-
August) and began his exhortation by references to the passages read in the
hearing of the audience. Compare note on ver. 15.
19. Seven nations. Deut. vii. 1. The Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaan-
ites, the Hivites, the Perizzites. the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, the seven
nations destroyed by Joshua.

48 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XIII.

20.

20 of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after
that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred
2 1 and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they
desired a king : and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis,
a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them
David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and
said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine
23 own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man's seed
hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a
24 Saviour, Jesus : when John had first preached before his
coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Divided their land by lot. Compare Num. xxvi. 55, 56 ; Josh. xiv. -xix.
20. About the space of four hundred and fifty years. Verses 19-20
ought to be, And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan
he gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty
years ; and after these things he gave them judges until Samuel. This passage
has long been a difficulty. According to the Authorized Version, the reading
implies that the rule of the judges lasted about 450 years, and this agrees with
the chronology of Josephus ; but in I Kings vi. I, the fourth year of Solomon's
reign is said to be 480 (LXX. 440) years after the exodus, which would leave o
much shorter period for the judges' rule.
Years in the wilderness . . . . . . = 40
Joshua's rule (according to Josephus) . . . = 25
Rule of the Judges  =33'
Reign of Saul  =40
Reign of David . . . . . . . = 40
Solomon  = 4
480 years.
The Revised Version adopts a better reading which makes the period of 450
extend to the beginning of the distribution of the land, and thus avoids any
comparison with I Kings vi. I. It should be remembered, however, that it is
quite impossible to enter into exact chronological statements in explaining the
Old Testament. The Old Testament writers do not use figures with invari
able exactitude ; thus, e.g. , the phrase forty years undoubtedly means some
times a very long time, not exactly 40 years.
21. Saul. The length of Saul's reign is not found directly in the Old
Testament, but agrees with what Josephus says.
22. I have found David. Most of the quotations from the Old Testament
in this address are not literal, but are made by combining the sense of separate
texts, Ps. lxxxix. 20 ; I Sam. xiii. 14. Paul quotes in such a way that the
Bible explains itself, and David is seen to be a type of Christ.
23. According to his promise. Ps. cxxxii. 11 ; Zech. iii. 8, 9. "The
mention of the promise gives the hearers an opportunity for faith."
24. Baptism of repentance. Acts ii. 38 ; Luke xxiv. 47 ; Matt, xxviii
19 ; I Pet. iii. 21.

xiii. 3 i.J paul's first missionary journey.

49

25 And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that
I am? I am not he: but, behold, there cometh one after me,
26 whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and
brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
27 sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers,
because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets
which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in
28 condemning him. And though they found no cause of death
29 in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And
when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took
30 him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But
3 1 God raised him from the dead : and he was seen many days
of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
25. Whom think ye. John i. 20, 27.
26. And whosoever among you. Compare 16. The message is for
others than Jews ; but Paul put it courteously, and avoids the hated word
Gentiles. 27. Because they knew him not. Compare Peter, Acts iii. 17, "I wot
that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers ;" and our Lord Him
self, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
The voices of the prophets. See note on verse 15. These readings from
the prophets, if they were only listened to, would tell of a suffering Saviour
as well as of a conquering Messiah ; would shc-w how Christ had to suffer and
so to enter into His glory. Jesus quoted them to the disciples on the road to
Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 27).
28. Though they had found no cause of death in him. Pilate had used
these very words (Luke xxiii. 22). The Sanhedrin had technically found
Him guilty of blasphemy, but they had been unable to prove it, and only
condemned Him by extorting evidence from Himself, and making Him
incriminate Himself. Compare my Commentary on St. Marlis Gospel,
pp. 222-229.
29. When they had fulfilled. Paul sees every detail of trial, indignity,
and death foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures ; the Greek is fuller, all
the things which were written of Him.
They took him down, etc. The descent from the cross and the burial are
here regarded as witnesses to the reality of both the death and of the rising
again from the dead.
30. God 1 aised him from the dead. The crowning proof to Paul and to
every apostolic preacher that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus
" was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." It was God's interposition after
man's deeds : man had rejected Him, slain and buried Him ; God raised Him
from the dead ; and this was the sign of His Messiahship. It was a fact
that could be witnessed to (31), and it was also the fulfilment of prophetic
promises (32-37).
31. Who are his, etc. Who are now His witnesses. The special work of
Apostles. Compare Acts i. 8, 22, ii. 32, iii. 15, v. 32, x. 41. In verses
D

$0 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xill. 32.
32 who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto
you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto
33 the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; as it is also written in
the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
34 thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the
dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this
35 wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore
he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine
36 Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
37 laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption : but he, whom God
raised again, saw no corruption.
38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins :
39 and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from
30-33, Paul brings forward the resurrection as proof that Jesus is the Son of
God. Compare Kom. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. xv. 3-8.
32. Glad tidings. The gospel of the Messiah, now not a promise to be
looked forward to, but a fulfilment to be looked back to— no longer hope
but faith.
33. Unto us their children ; better, unto our children. Compare Peter, to
us and to our children (ii. 39).
In that he hath raised up Jesus again, by this, that He raised up Jesus
again. The line of thought is : (1) Jesus was innocent, but the Jews slew and
buried Him (28, 29) : (2) yet Jesus slain and buried was seen after His
burial over and over again by His Apostles, who are witnesses to the fact ;
hence, God must have raised Him from the dead (30, 31) : (3) by this resur
rection God has completely fulfilled the promises (33, 34) : (4) And the Jesus
who has been raised from the dead will never again die (34 -38).
34. The sure mercies. The holy and sure mercies of D.ivid (Isa. Iv. 3),
made sure by a redeemer who had conquered death.
35. Wherefore he saith. Because He saith. Compare Acts ii. 29-31.
The words of the Psalm cannot refer to David, because David died, was
buried, and did not rise again : he saw corruption ; the Psalm speaks of one
who cannot see corruption.
37. Saw no corruption. The resurrection makes the salvation not only
sure (34) but permanent, for a redeemer who has triumphed over death abides
for ever.
38. Forgiveness of sins. Pardon is the keynote of apostolic preaching.
Compare xxvi. 18, ii. 38, v. 31, x. 43 ; Mark i. 4 ; Matt. ix. 2-6.
39. Are justified. Man can overlook an offence, but God's forgiveness
implies cleansing from spiritual corruption, or the utter destruction of the sins
which are pardoned ; and this sense of freedom from guilt, of destruction of
sins, Paul's own experience had taught him could only be found in Christ, the
Saviour from sin. Hence, in the most important part of his first recorded
sermon, Paul lays stress on his favourite doctrine of justification, or the declared
acquittal from the guilt of sin, a thing not obtained through the Mosaic Law,

xiii. 44.] Paul's first missionary journey. 51
40 which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware
therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the
prophets ;
41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish :
For I work a work in your days,
A work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man
declare it unto you.
42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them
43 the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken
up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul
and Barnabas : who, speaking to them, persuaded them to
continue in the grace of God.
44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city
but only through the death and rising again of Christ, and through the sinner's
trust on His saving work. The use of the Law was to make man know sin
(Rom. vii. I) ; the Gospel frees him from its power (Rom. hi. 24, 25, i,-. 25 ;
Gal. iii. 13).
Paul does not fully explain his doctrine of justification by faith alone in this
sermon. He does not specially connect pardon and Christ's death, nor does
he say clearly that the Law could never in any case bring pardon and accept
ance. He was speaking to unbelievers, and is content to give them a bare
outline. The risen Christ justifies, and Paul will afterwards explain how
justification has for its cause or source the atoning death, which was evidenced
to be more than a martyrdom by the resurrection which followed. The Christ
justifies from things for which the Law could bring no justification, and Paul
will afterwards explain, that man can be justified in nothing by the Law, and
therefore that all pardon and acceptance come through Christ. It was
enough for him now to make his hearers (i) feel the sinfulness of sin and the
difficulty of forgiveness; (2) know that without Christ the destruction of
corruption, which God's forgiveness of sin implies, would be impossible.
41. Behold, ye despisers, etc. Quoted from the Septuagint version of
Hab. i. 5.
42. And when the Jews, etc. And as they went out, they besought that
these words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. See Revised Version.
The whole congregation, Jews and proselytes, on leaving the synagogue,
wished to hear Paul's address again, and talked about it during the week to
their Gentile acquaintances, so that on the second Sabbath Gentiles as well as
Jews and proselytes thronged to the synagogue.
43. Urged them to continue. The Apostles were not content with preach
ing in public, but had personal interviews with those who had been impressed
during the sermon (Acts xi. 23).
(b) The Apostles turn to the Gentiles — Persecution, 44-52.
44. Almost the whole city. Heathens as well as Jews and proselytes ; for
the Apostles had been labouring among all classes, according to Paul's usua!
custom.

52 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xiii. 45
45 together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw
the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against
those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and
46 blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and
said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have
been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
47 Gentiles : For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,
I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
That thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of
the earth.
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified
the word of the Lord : and as many as were ordained to eternal
45. The Jews ... were filled with envy 01 jealousy. Compare with verse 52.
The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. They had received
the message gladly when they thought it limited to themselves, but when Gen
tiles, mere heathen, were thought as worthy as themselves, they refused to hear.
A Jew had no right to look on a Gentile as a brother in Christ, they thought.
Contradicting and blaspheming. And contradicted the things which wert
spoken by Paul, and blasphemed or railed. " Those who begin by contradicting
commonly end in blaspheming" (Matthew Henry). They assailed the Apostle
with reviling words. Compare xviii. 6.
46. Waxed bold. Spake out boldly. It was a crisis, and the Apostles found
courage to face it.
It was necessary, according to the counsel of God, and according to
their apostolic duty. Wherever he went, Paul first of all addressed himself
to the Jews. His apostleship to the Gentiles had not cancelled his duty to
his own countrymen. He was assured that God had not utterly cast off His
ancient people, and that He was using their temporary rejection of their
Messiah for the purpose of blessing the Gentiles. Compare Rom. xi.
Ye put it. Ye thrust it from you. God had chosen them to be the
covenant nation. Paul had given them His message; but covenant relation
ship includes missionary zeal for the souls of .others. The Jews had thrust
this from them, they had judged themselves unworthy of the high calling, and
God and His Apostle can do without them. Men are continually called to be
sharers with God in His work, and some reject the calling : God's work goes
on, only they are left outside (Matt. xxii. 1-9).
Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. There will always be hearers if preachers
know where to find them. Paul and Barnabas had lost their first audience,
but they had the courage to find another. If they had lost touch with the
Jews, they had found touch with the Gentiles. This Lo marks a mighty
revolution ; Christianity was to become world-wide not by the Jews, but in
spite of them.
47. A light to the Gentiles (Isa. xlix. 6). Paul sees that the Servant of
the Lord is the Christ, and that when the prophets spoke of the exaltation of
Israel their promises included the proclamation of the Divine purpose of love
to the heathen world as well. Compare Rom. ix. 25, x. 12.
48. Ihey were glad. " Many grieve under doubts, whether they have an

xiv. i.] Paul's first missionary journey. 53
49 life believed. And the word of the Lord was published through-
50 out all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and
honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised
persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them
51 out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet
52 against them, and came unto Iconium. And the disciples
were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
Chap. XIV. 1. And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went
both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake,
that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks
interest in Christ or no, when they should be rejoicing that they may have an
interest in Him " (Matt. Henry).
As many as were ordained to eternal life. Luke carries out Paul's
thought of God's Divine purpose of salvation, including those Gentiles who
believed rather than the Jews who, though belonging to the covenant nation,
rejected the Saviour.
49. Throughout all the region. The gospel had spread beyond the town,
and in the neighbouring villages believers were to be found.
50. Devout and honourable women. Devout women of honourable estate.
In the decay of heathen religions many Gentile ladies became proselytes, and
many more were influenced by Jewish teachers. In Antioch the fanatic Jews
moved these ladies to take what action they could against the Apostle.
Cast them out of their coasts or borders. "This was the method which
the overruling providence of God took to keep the first planters of the Church
from staying too long at a place " (Matt. Henry). Compare Acts ix. 16 ;
2 Tim. iii. II. It is a common lot to suffer ill for doing well.
51. Shook off the dust. Matt. x. 14.
52. Were filled with joy. Matt. v. 12. There was an intensity of
spiritual life among the converts at Antioch, probably because they were
called on to suffer for the Master's sake. "The suffering of the teacher
makes the disciple more courageous " (Chrysostom).
3. At Iconium — Persecution, xiv. 1-5.
XIV. 1. Iconium, the modern Konieh, was an influential town in the
central tableland of Asia Minor. It was the point of intersection of some of the
most important Roman roads, and was therefore a good place for missionary
work, and could scarcely fail to be a great centre of Christian influence in the
early ages of the Church. It was 90 miles south east from Antioch, and had a
Jewish synagogue. The Apostles remained, it is probable, several months in
Iconium, and spoke often, not only in the synagogue but elsewhere where they
could address Gentiles or heathens as well as Jews. The curious legend of
Paul and Thekla has its scene in Iconium. Thekla, betrothed to Thamyris,
became so impressed by Paul's preaching, that, when the Apostle was im
prisoned on the charge of practising magic, she bribed the jailer, gained
admission, and was fully instructed by Paul in the Christian faith. After the
Apostle got away from Iconium, Thekla refused to marry Thamyris, and was
condemned to death in consequence. She was saved by a miracle, made her
escape, joined Paul on his missionary travels, and in the end lived in Seleucia
the religious life of a nun, and died at the age of ninety. Iconium became an

54 the acts of the apostles. [xiv. 2.
2 believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles,
and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord,
which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted
4 signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multi
tude of the city was divided : and part held with the Jews,
5 and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault
important city in the Middle Ages. It was the capital of the kingdom of the
Seljuk Turks, and was taken in the first crusade. It is still a large town.
Greeks. The word is Hellenes ; but some wish to alter it into Hellenists, or
Jews of the Dispersion : they say that Greeks could not be in the synagogue.
The word probably means not Greek Jews, nor even proselytes, but pagan
Greeks. Pagans were not as rigidly excluded from the synagogue as from the
temple, and the context implies that the Apostles spoke elsewhere than in the
synagogue. 2. The unbelieving Jews, etc. The Jews that were disobedient stirred up
the souls of the Gentiles and made them evil affected. The phrase suggests
unbelief breaking out into open rebellion, and is the opposite of faith, which
is submissive to the Divine call. It is the word which says that Herod had
done harm to the Church (Acts xii. I). Compare Acts xxvi. 19, and John iii.
36, Revised Version. The Jews began this riot which ended in persecution,
and it is noteworthy that most of the persecution which the Apostles suffered
was brought upon them by the Jews.
3. Long time therefore. Their stay must have lasted some months, and
all the while Paul and Barnabas earned their own living by working at a
handicraft. 1 he phrase implies that the long time was spent because of
both the success of and the hostility to their message. Persecution gave
them inspiration.
Speaking boldly in the Lord, not merely courageously, but preaching a
full and free gospel in spite of temptation to give in to the prejudices of
Judaism. Notice that the Apostles had prayed for this freedom of speech
(iv. 29), and that then, when they prayed, and now when the prayer was
answered, miracles confirmatory followed the acts of faith.
Gave testimony. "The signs mentioned here, as elsewere, follow after
faith, and do not precede it " (Lumby). Compare Acts iv. 30.
The word of his grace is a beautiful definition of the gospel.
4. Was divided. There was a Christian and a non- Christian party, the
converts belonging probably, as at Antioch (xiii. 50) and at Corinth (1 Cor.
i. 26, 27), to the lower classes. The gospel must cause divisions (Luke xii.
5 1 ), for it does not admit compromises : we must follow Christ or oppose Him.
It was so in apostolic times (xvii. 4, 5) ; it is so now. Here, as elsewhere,
it was the Jews whose hostility began persecutions against the Christians.
When the assault came, the stoning shows that Jews were the chief actors in
the riot. Paul and Barnabas were "in perils from their own countrymen."
"When an assault was made, etc. And when there was made an onset both
of the Gentiles and of the Jews with their rulers. The words do not imply that
there was any actual attack made. The whole city was excited and an attack
might have come at any moment. The leaders of the Jewish community were
active in organizing the outbreak.
5. To use them despitefuPy. Paul uses the phrase to describe his own

xiv. i o.J Paul's first missionary journey. 55
made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews, with their
6 rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were
ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia,
7 and unto the region that lieth round about : and there they
preached the gospel.
8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his
feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had
9 walked : the same heard Paul speak ; who stedfastly behold-
10 ing him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said
conduct when an unbeliever towards Christianity (i Tim. i. 13). It means to
insult and outrage wantonly. " They (the Jews) aimed to take away both
reputation and life." 4. In Lycaonia — The cripple healed, xiv. 6-21.
6. They were ware of it. The words of the previous verses do not imply
that the Apostles were actually stoned, but that there was intention to do it,
and in accordance with Christ's command the Apostles fled (Matt. x. 23).
" There is always abundant refuge for the godly whether it be on earth or in
heaven" (Bengel).
Lystra and Derbe. Lystra is about 40 miles south-east of Iconium, at the foot
of a great conical hill called the Black Mountain. Derbe is 20 miles farther
to the east. Lycaonia (Wolf-land) was a dreary plain, bare of trees, with
scarcity of water. There is no mention of synagogues, and Paul probably
began his work there by preaching to the heathen. The verse is better ren
dered, "fled unto the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the region
round about."
7. They preached the gospel, all the better for their sufferings. "The loss
of persecution is a loss of spiritual energy " (Parker).
8. A cripple. Luke the physician notes particularly the man's case. His
feet were useless, he had been born so, he had never walked.
9. Heard Paul speak. The Greek implies that he had heard Paul several
times. Perhaps he had been carried by his friends to beg in the market
place or other public spot where Paul was accustomed to speak.
Stedfastly beholding. Fastening his eyes upon him. A phrase used often
about Paul (xiii. 9, xxiii. I). Some think that this "straining look was due
to some weakness of sight remaining ever since his blindness at the time of his
conversion " (Lumby).
Perceiving that lie had faith. The man was a believer and scarcely knew
it, and Paul, with his apostolic gifts and yearning for the salvation of men's
souls, saw his state. True preachers must recognise faith " when it is only a
light in the face, a gleam in the eye, a new movement in the body." If we
were always on the outlook for faith in others our Christian work would pro
bably be more successful. "Whilst the lame man listens to the word he feels
power in his soul : and thus he is inwardly led to infer it . in his body "
(Bengel). 10. On thy feet. Pie named the weak part to give the man confidence.
And he leaped up and walked. A sudden spring as the faith found vent,
one act showing that the cure was perfect (aorist tense), then a continuous
power to walk (imperfect tense).

55 the acts of the apostles. [xiv. ii.
with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped
1 1 and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done,
they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia,
12 The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And
they called Barnabas, Jupiter ; and Paul, Mercurius, because
13 he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which
was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the
14 gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which
when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent
15 their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and
saying, Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also are men of
like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should
turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made
1 1. In the speech of Lycaonia. It is plain that neither Paul nor Bar
nabas understood this language, for it was not until the oxen and garlands
were brought that they saw what the people meant. It is impossible to tell
what the language was ; some think a corrupt dialect of Greek, others a
^peech akin to the Assyrian.
The gods, etc. The gods made like men are come down to us. Heathen
stories of descents of the gods to the earth were common enough, but it
was only among barbarous people like the Lycaonians that men were still
prepared to believe in them. The old legend of the descent of Zeus and
Hermes, and how they were hospitably entertained by Baucis and Philemon,
belonged to this region. The people were familiar with the story ot the
former legendary descent, and the more readily believed that the gods had
again descended. There may have been another Philemon in the crowd ;
there was one at Colosse, not very far off.
1 2. Jupiter . . . Mercurius. Zeus . . . Hermes. Zeus, the king of the
gods, of stately and commanding presence. Hermes, the chief attendant of
Zeus and the god of eloquence.
13. The priest of Jupiter which was, etc. The priest of Jupiter whose
temple was before the city, that is, at the entrance lo the city. A protecting
shrine. Garlands. The vitta made of wool, with leaves and flowers interwoven,
used to deck the victim, the altar, the priests and the attendants, at a heathen
sacrifice. To the gates of the house in which the Apostles lodged (xii. 14). The
procession came to the porch or outer door, for the house in which the gods
were had become a temple in the eyes of the people.
Done sacrifice. This meant (1) to cut the throats of the oxen, (2) to receive
the blood in a bowl, (3) then to pour it on an altar.
14. Ran in among the people. Sprang forth among the multitude. They
did not know the language, and had not understood what the people were
saying. When the truth flashed on them, they sprang up horror-stricken, rent
their clothes, and threw themselves among the crowd to prevent the blasphemy.
15. Men of like passions with you. Compare Peter to Cornelius (x. 26).
The same word occurs in Jas. v. 17, and means sharing in the same human
life with all its weaknesses. Paul and Barnabas resist the preacher's great

xiv. 18.] paul's first missionary journey. 57
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
16 who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own
17 ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in
that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful
18 seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with
these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had
not done sacrifice unto them.
temptation to separate himself by theory, sacerdotal or other, from the
people to whom he preaches.
These vanities. Perhaps pointing to the garlands and all the preparations
for sacrifice ; but the terms vanities and vain things are constantly used to
contrast the empty, worthless heathen worship with the reverence due to
the living God, the Maker and Saviour ; and as the word is masculine and not
neuter, vanities probably means Zeus and Hermes. Compare I Sam. xii. 21 ;
Eph. iv. 17 ; 1 Pet. i. 17, 18.
1 6. Who in times past, etc. Who in the generations gone by suffered all
the heathen. " We have here the first germ of what may be fairly described
as St. Paul's philosophy of history . . . the ignorance and sins of the Gentile
world had been allowed to run their course, as the Law had been allowed
to do its partial and imperfect work among the Jews, as parts, if one may
so speak, of a great Divine drama, leading both to feel the need of redemption,
and preparing both for its reception. All were included in unbelief that
God might have mercy upon all " (Plumptre). Compare Acts xvii. 30 ;
Rom. i., ii., xi.
17. Without witness. Given in the Divine merciful providence seen in
nature. Paul specially mentions rain to a rude country people who suffered
continually from drought ; when speaking to men more accustomed to
reflection, he brings human consciousness and conscience to witness to the
same facts (xvii. 28; Rom. ii. 14, 15).
Gave us rain, etc. The Greek phrase reads like the snatch of a song,
and it has been inferred that Paul quoted to these heathen Lycaonians a
fragment from some well-known harvest song ; but this is mere guess-work.
18. With these sayings. The appeal made to the people of Lystra was
as follows: Sirs, why do ye do these things? Then follows the persuasion
against their acts. The Apostles were men in every way like themselves,
and in no way raised above them — men of like passions, infirmities, as liable
to pains, disease, and death. The one difference between them and the
people of Lystra was that they were Apostles, men sent with a message to
tell them of the living God, a God so different from their gods, that when
they know Him they will, like the Apostles, see that their gods are vanities,
simularia. This God is the living One, for all life comes from Him.
He has made heaven, earth, and sea. He is the Creator and Life-giver (15).
Why then did He conceal Himself so long from them ? He had chosen one
nation only before the coming of Christ, and had given the Jews a special
revelation of Himself. Other nations He had left to work out their own
inward and outward life in ways shaped by themselves, without special
Divine regulation and influence, and also without the intervention of Divine
wrath (16). But He did not entirely hide or withdraw Himself from them.
His providence witnessed for Him. He it was who, Himself unseen, sent
them good gifts. When the rain, best gift in the dreary, barren wolf-land,

58 the acts of the apostles. [xiv. 19.
19 And there c.ime thither certain Jews from Antioch and
Iconium, who persuaded the people ; and, having stoned
Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up,
and came into the city : and the next day he departed with
2 1 Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel
to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to
22 Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls
of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith,
came, it was God that sent it : He with the rain made the earth bring forth
food, which made their hearts glad (17). Paul made himself all things to all
men. When he preached to the Jews he quoted the Old Testament Scrip
tures, and facts which other Jews knew ; when he preached to the Athenians,
he drew his arguments from the beautifully carved images, the magnificent
temples, from history, from literature, from soul and from conscience ; here,
speaking to a primitive people, he describes God as the food -giver, even the
rudest intellect could appreciate that.
They had not done sacrifice, from doing sacrifice to them.
19. Jews from Antioch, etc. Jewish malice was so strong that men of
two cities ninety miles apart combined to persecute, and some of them
came 130 miles to harm the Apostles.
They stoned Paul. "To-day, Hosanna ; to-morrow, Crucify Him :
to-day, sacrificed to ; to-morrow, sacrificed" ( Matt. Henry). "Once was I
stoned," says Paul (2 Cor. xi. 25). He could not forget this terrible day
at Lystra (2 Tim. iii. 11).
Supposing he had been dead, as persecutors have often since supposed
that they had slain the truth.
20 Disciples. The followers were as brave as the Master. We can fancy
Eunice, Lois, and the young Timothy in the little company. Compare I Tim.
i. 2 with Acts xvi. 1.
He rose up, not necessarily a miracle.
Departed with Barnabas. Barnabas had escaped : he was not so demon
strative as Paul, and the wrath of the fickle mob had concentrated itself on
the chief speaker.
21. Had taught many, had made many disciples, among them Gains of
Derbe (xx. 4). There was no persecution at Derbe, but a church was
formed. 5. Return to Antioch in Syria, xiv. 21-28.
Return again to Lystra, to the places of persecution, for there were
disciples whose faith needed strengthening.
22. Confirming, strengthening. The same word as in the command to
Peter, " When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren ' (Luke xxii. 32).
through much tribulation. "Paul was suffering when he said those
words. His head had not recovered the stunning blows of the stoning at
Lystra . . . the speaker was conscious that a new thread, a golden one, was
being run through the web of his eloquence as he exhorted the Christians
at Derbe and Lystra and Antioch and Iconium to continue in the faith and
to accept tribulation, net as a discredit, but as an endorsement " (Parker).

xiv. 27.J paul's first missionary journey.

59

and that we must through much tribulation enter into the
23 kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders
in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended
24 them to the Lord, on whom they believed. And after they
25 had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. And
when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down
26 into Attalia; and thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they
had been recommended to the grace of God for the work
27 which they fulfilled. And when they were come, and had
gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had
23. Ordained them elders. Compare notes on Acts vi. 3-6. The disciples
were gathered together into a Church or community having a common life,
ruled by laws and governed by discipline. The rulers in these little com
monwealths were elders, bishops, " those that are over you" {vrpai<rrujj.ivot),
pastors, "those that have the rule over you " (riyeifiuoi) ; for all these names
denote the same class of men. Thus at the head of each Christian com
munity there was a college of elders who were responsible for the teaching
and the discipline of the community. These elders were solemnly set apart
for their office by prayer, fasting, laying on of hands ; and then followed the
commendation to the Lord — the special services of prayer and exhortation
which accompanied every peculiarly solemn act in the Apostolic Church.
These elderships once established were self-acting, and did not require the
presence of an Apostle to rule or direct them. They could add to their
number. The presbytery of Lystra set apart Timothy to the service of the
Church (1 Tim. iv. 14).
25. Perga. The Apostles retraced their steps till they came to Perga.
There they halted. It was the place where John Mark had left them, and
on their first visit we are not told that they preached there. They gave the
gospel message on their return, but with what results is not said. Perga
was an important city of Pamphylia, situated on the river Cestius, which is
navigable up to the town. The Apostles in their voyage from Paphos had
sailed up the river and landed at Perga ; on their return journey, instead of
taking ship there, they crossed by land to Attalia (now Satalia), a seaport of
Pamphylia, whence they sailed for Syria, coasting along Cilicia to the mouth
of the Orontes, and thence by Seleucia to Antioch.
26. The work which they had fulfilled. They, fellow-workers with God,
had done the work to which the Holy Spirit had called them, to which the
Church had set them apart and commended them in special services of prayer
and fasting.
27. They rehearsed all. They had been absent nearly three years, and
probably few tidings had reached the Church at Antioch, and the disciples
gathered eagerly to the earliest great missionary meeting of the Christian
Church to hear news of the gospel's progress in heathen lands.
That God had done with them. They had been fellow-workers with God,
and God had done all with them and for them. He had sent them hunger
and danger, persecution and stoning, much tribulation ; but He had given
them Churches in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra, in Derbe, in Salamis,
and in Paphos.
The doer of faith, Probably a phrase used by Paul in his speech, for the

60 the acts of the apostles. [xiv. 28.
done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith
28 unto the Gentiles. And there they abode long time with the
disciples.
Chap. XV. 1. And certain men which came down from Judaea
taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after
metaphor occurs very often in his Epistles (1 Cor. xvi. 9 ; 2 Cor. ii. 12 ; Col.
iv. 3 ; 1 Thess. i. 9, entering in). The door had been opened to the Gentiles,
and henceforth none could shut it.
Paul did not write letters to the Churches founded during this first missionary
journey, and therefore there are not many side lights to be thrown on this
portion of the Acts of the Apostles from the Epistles. One or two, however,
may be gathered.
Luke tells us that Paul was twice threatened with stoning, and once
actually stoned (Acts xiv. 5, 19); Paul says (2 Cor. xi. 25), "Once was I
stoned." Luke recounts the persecutions at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra
(Acts xiii. 50, xiv. 5, 19) ; Paul reminds Timothy, a native of Lystra, of the
persecutions he had undergone in these three cities (2 Tim. iii. 11). The
references to Timothy's early training, to his mother and grandmother, in the
two Epistles sent him by Paul, are all memories of this first missionary journey
made twenty years before the Epistles were written.
28. There they abode long time. And they tarried no little time with the
disciples; how long it is impossible to say, probably about a year. Antioch
was Paul's favourite centre ; it gave him opportunities of work unsurpassed
by any city except by Rome itself.
II. — THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COUNCIL — CAN GENTILES BE
christians? xv. 1-35.
I. The question raised at Antioch in Syria, xv. I.
I. Te cannot be saved. The Apostles had told the brethren that God had
opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles, and that many believers had been
saved by the grace of Christ ; men now wanted to close the door that God
had opened. Certain brethren from Judea, in a spirit of Jewish exclusiveness,
insisted that the missionary work of the Apostles among the Gentiles had
been useless, because none could be admitted to the kingdom of God un
less, by circumcision and observance of the Law of Moses, they first became
Jewish proselytes. There was danger that the Christian community would
be rent asunder at the beginning.
These busybodies were not sent by the mother Church at Jerusalem, and
were afterwards repudiated by the Apostles and brethren there (xv. 24), but
they evidently assumed the position of delegates, and spoke as if with the
authority of the Apostles. Paul, speaking either of them, or more probably
referring to a later occasion, calls them false brethren privily brought in, who
came in privily to spy cut our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they
might bring us into bondage. They were men of the straitest sect of the
Pharisees, and were, notwithstanding, Christians ; they had brought their
Pharisaism with them into Christianity. Their coming to Anti ch was the
beginning of a conflict in the Christian Church which embittered Paul's future
life, and was continually thwarting his missionary efforts. Compare Intro
duction, passim.

XV. 4-] THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COUNCIL. 6 1
2 the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore
Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation
with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and
certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the
3 apostles and elders about this question. And being brought
on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and
Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they
4 caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were
come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of
the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God
had done with them.
2. The deputation to Jerusalem, xv. 2-15.
2. Dissension and disputation. Not merely calm debate, but the begin
nings of insurrection or schism.
Certain other. Among the others was Titus (Gal. ii. 3), who was a
strenuous supporter of Paul (Tit. i. 10, 14, 15).
Should go up. The idea of the deputation to Jerusalem to end the wrang-
Iings at Antioch was a sudden inspiration in the mind of Paul (Gal. ii. 1).
An appeal to Jerusalem was as familiar to the Jews of the Dispersion as the
appeal to Caesar was throughout the Roman Empire : the Sanhedrin in the
Holy City was the supreme court of appeal in all matters of Jewish religious
law or custom. Paul transfers the appeal from the Sanhedrin to the Apostles
and Presbytery of Jerusalem, yielding almost all apparently to the Judaizers.
Being brought on their way. (1) Convoy by the brethren at Antioch.
(2) Journey by land through Phoenicia and Samaria. (3) Repeated descrip
tions of the conversion of the Gentiles. (4) Deep joy of the disciples in all
the provincial Churches they visited on the road to Jerusalem, at the news.
"Christ's family will never be the poorer for the multitude of its children :
in Christ and in heaven there is portion enough and inheritance enough for
them all" (Matt. Henry).
4. When they were come to Jerusalem. Combining the accounts in
Galatians and in Acts, the order of events seems to have been : (1) A public
reception of the Apostles, at which Paul and Barnabas gave an account of
their missionary journey. (2) At the close an emphatic protest on the part
of Pharisaical Christians against the labours of Paul and Barnabas, because
they had received into the Church Gentiles without first making them Jewish
proselytes. (3) In consequence a private conference between Paul and the
Apostles, in which (a) Paul's claims to apostolic authority were acknow
ledged, and (b) the Three appear to have fully accepted Paul's principles of
the freedom and catholicity of the Christian Church, and to have emphatically
repudiated the ideas of the Judaizing Christians (Gal. ii. 2-to). (4) The public
conference at which a solemn decision was come to.
It has been taken for granted that this visit of Paul to Jerusalem is the
same which he describes in the second chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians.
This view has been maintained by the great maiority of writers, and it is most
consistent with the facts of the case. In both narratives there is the same
situation : men from Jerusalem trouble the peace of Gentile Christians of
Antioch ; an appeal to Jerusalem is resolved upon ; and the Apostles of the

62 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XV. 5
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which
believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and
6 to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles
Gentiles go from Antioch to Jerusalem and return again to Antioch. In both
accounts Paul and Barnabas are on the one side, Peter and James on the other
— representing Antioch and Jerusalem. The men who made the disturbance
are evidently the same in both narratives : Christians of the sect of the Phari
sees, brethren who wish to curb gospel liberty. The dispute and appeal are
about the circumcision of the Gentiles in both accounts ; and both narratives
bear witness that the decision was only come to after hard fighting on both
sides, while the practical result is the same, — the authority of Paul was acknow
ledged, and circumcision was not forced on the Gentiles. The discrepancies
between the narratives can be easily accounted for, when we remember that
every event has different aspects. Paul did his work in the private confer
ences, and he describes them ; Luke thought of the effects on the Church at
large, and described the general conference. Paul evidently met with some
hesitation on the part of some of the leading Apostles at the private confer
ences, and his feelings of dissatisfaction were not altogether allayed by the
unanimous decision. Luke gives the official account, which ignores the previous
differences, and describes only the deliverance of the whole Church. Luke
lays great stress on the official deliverance, for he wrote for all the Churches ;
Paul does not quote it at all, because he is writing to the Galatians, who,
so far from wishing to be relieved of Judaizing observances, are anxious to
adopt them. Compare Bishop Lightfoot's Commentary on the Epistle to the
Galatians, note "On the Later Visit of St. Paul to Jerusalem," appended to
discussion on Gal. ii. 10. and his Appendix iii., " St. Paul and the Three."
5. The sect of the Pharisees which believed. Jewish Christians (1) who
insisted that all Gentiles must become circumcised (Jewish proselytes) before
they could be accepted as Christians ; (2) who regarded the conversion of
Cornelius as an exceptional case ; and (3) who, silenced for the time at
Jerusalem, became the enemies of Paul ; (a) doubting his claim to apostleship
(1 Cor. iv. 1-4, ix. 1-6; 2 Cor. iii. 1, vi. 3-12, xi. 5, 22, 23; Gal. i. n,
12, 18-20, ii. 6-9); (b) sneering at his work (1 Cor. ii. 1-5 ; 2 Cor. x. io',
xi. 6 ; Gal. iv. 13-17) ; (c) doing their best to mar his teaching by preaching
"another gospel" (Gal. i. 6-9, iii. 1-3, v. 1-7, vi. 12-15). These Chris
tians of the sect of the Pharisees evidently found fault with St. Paul's state
ments at the private conferences. They objected then and there to St. Paul's
apostleship. He had asserted it to the fullest extent. He had no need to
get a commission from the Twelve ; they could give him nothing that he had
not already got (Gal. ii. 6) ; the same grace which made Peter an Apostle
had made him, Paul, an Apostle. His proofs of Apostleship were the same.
Peter could show Churches in Jerusalem, Samaria, Cfesarea, etc. He could
show Churches in Antioch, Paphos, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra (Gal. ii. 8).
3. The brethren in council, xv. 16-29.
6. Came together. In this first General Assembly there were (a) the
Apostles, extraordinary office-bearers, the evangelists of the first generation
of Christians, occupying the same position as European missionaries in an
infant Church among the heathen, but speaking and voting as simple elders ;
(b) the elders, or elected and ordained office-bearers ; (c) the brethren or
multitude (verse 12).

XV. 10. j THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COUNCIL. 63
7 and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And
when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and
said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good
while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by
my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness,
9 giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us ; and
put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts
10 by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor
7. Much disputing. Much questioning, many speeches made on both sides,
cf which we have no record.
Peter. His speech is history with its lesson : — (1) God accepted Cornelius,
his household and friends, without circumcision. (2) God can see into the
heart, and must know best, and He had given Gentiles the Holy Ghost as
fully and freely as it had been given to Jews on the day of Pentecost. (3)
These Gentiles undoubtedly were unclean and needed to be purified ; but God
purified them by their faith on Jesus. (4) This is the only real purification
possible for the Jews themselves, for Jews could not keep the whole law and
thus purify themselves, it was an intolerable yoke. (5) To insist on the
Gentiles keeping the ceremonial law is to tempt God, to distrust His guidance,
and to disobey His revealed commands, in the same way as the Jews tempted
God in the wilderness (Heb. iii. 9). (6) The Jews need the same salvation,
and are saved in the very same way, as Cornelius and these Gentiles had been
saved. Peter asserts the worthlessness of circumcision as strongly as Paul
could have done. It is not circumcision, but the grace of Jesus, the Christ,
that saves. Peter assumes no primacy ; the Church has a difficult task before
it ; he has had some experience and gives it ; he will not shirk the responsibility
of decision ; moral personal influence telling, as it always must tell.
Good while ago. He had been as bad as Paul, and that ten years ago ;
no matter though he was not as enthusiastic as Paul would have liked him to
be in private conference, when public discussion comes he will stand by Paul's
side and bear Paul's burden ; he had received Cornelius and his household,
and could not help doing so ; God had made it impossible to him to act
otherwise, and had simply used his mouth to speak His message, unfamiliar
enough to Peter at the time.
8. Which knoweth the heart, a favourite phrase of Peter's. Compare
i. 24. 9. And put no difference. Peter seems to be somewhat surprised that
there should be no difference ; but God had made none, and he had to accept
that fact : Gentile hearts were purified by faith, cleansed by trust on Christ,
and the Holy Ghost dwelt in them, as certainly as in any Jew purified by the
outward observances of the Law of Moses. Compare Acts xi. 15-18.
10. Why tempt ye. To act as the Pharisaic Christians proposed to do was
to distrust God's knowledge of the heart manifested in bestowing the Holy
Ghost on Gentile Christians. It was to make further experiments by way of
seeing whether after all God had been right in giving the Holy Ghost to
uncircumcised Gentiles. It was to refuse to trust His revelation.
Yoke. Peter recalls our Lord's words about these Pharisaical observances

64 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XV. II.
11 we were able to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as
they.
12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to
Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God
had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, say-
14 ing, Men and brethren, hearken unto me : Simeon hath de
clared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out
15 of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words
of the prophets ; as it is written,
16 After this I will return,
(Matt, xxiii. 4). Paul's words could not be stronger (Gal. v. I; Rom. vii.
7>8)- 12. Gave audience. Peter's speech had silenced opposition, and Paul
and Barnabas recounted how God had answered the prayers of the Jerusalem
Church (iv. 30) in a manner they had never thought of, and had witnessed to
their work among the Gentiles by signs and wonders.
13. James, the brother of our Lord, and author of the Epistle of James.
James was not one of the Twelve, and his position in the Church at Jerusalem
is somewhat remarkable. He has been called the Bishop of Jerusalem, but
there is no evidence that he exercised what are called episcopal functions. It
is most likely that he occupied the position in which we find him in deference
to the Oriental usage that the eldest male relative of the founder of a com
munity succeeds to his place at his death. This hypothesis is further confirmed
when we remember that James was succeeded by Simeon, son of Clopas, also
a near kinsman, who ruled the community at Telia, whither the Christians of
Jerusalem had fled after the destruction of the city. If so, the pre-eminence
of James was not sanctioned but rather forbidden by our Lord, being founded
on family relations, which have no place in the new kingdom (Matt. xii.
50). His speech is based on the facts related by Peter and by the missionary
Apostles. (1) He agrees with Peter, and then proceeds to state the lesson
taught by these events. (2) God has a chosen or elect people among the
Gentiles, and meant from the very first that the Gentiles should be included
in His Church. (3) There is nothing new in this, for God has told us in the
prophets that the Gentiles would seek Him (Amos ix. 11, 12). (4) God has
done what He promised, and in a way which He all along knew, although
we made a mistake about it. We expected that the Gentiles would be
gathered in by becoming Jews. God meant that they should be fellow-heirs,
and has at last shown us His meaning. (5) Therefore we Jews must not
needlessly harass our Gentile brethren, to whom are the promises as well as
to us.
14. Simeon hath, etc. Symeon (the older Jewish form of Simon) hath
rehearsed how first God did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people, etc.
Cornelius and his household ; they had been called out from among the
heathen to be God's chosen, as truly as Israel was ; and the chosen people
were no longei to be Jews only, but all whom the Lord should so call.
16. After this. After these things. The quotation is from the Septuagint
version of Amos ix. 11, 12, somewhat altered. The Septuagint is : " In that

XV. 23.J THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COUNCIL. 65
And will build again the tabernacle of David, which is
fallen down;
And I will build again the ruins thereof,
And I will set it up :
17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord,
And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called,
18 Saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto
God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which
20 from among the Gentiles are turned to God : but that we
write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols,
and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from
21 blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that
preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole
church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch
with Paul and Barnabas ; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas,
23 and Silas, chief men among the brethren : and they wrote
day I will set up the tabernacle of David which hath fallen down, and I will
build up the fallen parts thereof, and the ruins thereof will I set up, and I will
build it up as the days of eternity, that the residue of men may seek (unto it),
and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doth
all these things."
The tabernacle of David. During the Feast of Tabernacles the people
dwelt in frail booths made of tree-branches to remind them that God was
their protector : these ruined booths were repaired for each festival season
when the covenant was renewed.
17. The residue of men, etc. The Septuagint version is so different from
the Hebrew that it is more an exposition than a translation, and St. James gives
a still further exposition. The Hebrew speaks about a restored tabernacle,
and the people restored with it, in possession of Edom and all nations ; the
Septuagint speaks of all nations seeking the restored tabernacle. In the text,
the nations seek the Lord ; and in this way the tabernacle is restored.
Saith the Lord, who, etc. Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known
from the beginning of the world ; or better, as on the margin of the R. V. -.
Saith the Lord, who doeth these things which were known from the beginning
of the world. The reception of Gentiles into the Christian Church is God's
deed ; it is startling to us, but it was known to God's prophets, and was part
of His revealed plan of redemption.
19. My sentence is. James concludes with a motion which became the
deliverance of the Assembly.
20. We write unto them. The words denote formal decision sent by
special messenger to the Gentile Christians, for the Jews heard the injunc
tions of the Mosaic Law every Sabbath day in the synagogues.
22. The whole Church. The decision was unanimous.
23. They wrote letters. This is the earliest synodical letter in the
Christian Church, and was "not only the charter of Gentile freedom, but the
E

66 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XIV. 24.
letters by them after this manner; The apostles, and elders,
and brethren, send greeting unto the brethren which are of the
24 Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia : forasmuch as we
have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled
you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be cir
cumcised, and keep the law ; to whom we gave no such com-
25 mandment : it seemed good unto us, being assembled with
one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved
assertion of the supremacy of the gospel" (Lightfoot). It contains (1) kindly
greetings to Gentile brethren; (2) a strong repudiation of the Pharisaical Jews
who had gone from Jerusalem to Antioch and interfered with Gentile liberties
there, and the statement that a deputation who really represent the views of
the Jerusalem Church are sent ; (3) a full recognition of the authority of
Barnabas and Paul by the Apostles of the circumcision ; (4) a declaration
that circumcision is not necessary to salvation ; and (5) four prohibitions
which enjoin abstinence from certain practices in which heathens indulged.
These prohibitions were concessions demanded from the Gentile Christians for
the purpose of preserving peace, unity, and social intercourse between Jews
and Gentiles, and also of protecting Christian converts from the results of
heathen associations and habits. If the Gentile Christians ate blood and
things strangled, things abhorrent to the Jewish taste, all social intercourse
would be impossible, so they are forbidden. Meats offered to idols was the
flesh of animals sacrificed, eaten at sacrificial feasts, or sent to market for sale,
and that there was practical danger in eating such meat we can see from Paul's
advice to the Corinthians (1 Cor. viii.). The fourth prohibition is of the gross
sin of fornication, at first sight very unlike the other three. Some suggest
that the word porneia means not fornication, but the infringement of any of
the marriage laws of Lev. xvii. If so, then these four prohibitions were the
concessions demanded from proselytes of the gate, and the decree of the
Council is a compromise. It should be noted, however, that there must have
been some connection between heathen pollutions and sacrificial feasts, as the
two things are often put together in the New Testament (Rev. ii. 14, 20).
Those who are acquainted with the licentiousness of pagan worship — our
Indian missionaries and their converts, for example — are probably better
able to understand why the two things are put together than we can be.
Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. The letter was not sent to all Churches, and
St. Paul does not mention the decrees when writing to Churches in Europe,
Corinth, Rome, etc.
24. Certain which went out from us. This is the repudiation of the men
who came down from Jerusalem and created the difficulties to begin with.
To whom we gave, etc. To whom we gave no commandment at all, and yet
they had claimed to speak for James ; and did so in later times also (Gal. ii. 12).
25. Having come to one accord, not by a mere majority, but unanimously.
To send chosen men ; to choose out men and send them, viz. Silas or
Silvanus, and Judas or Barsabas.
Our beloved Barnabas and Paul (compare 2 Pet. iii. 15). There was to
be no repudiation of the Apostles to the Gentiles ; they were to be honoured
with all honour; but the old official ranking was preserved. It was Barnabas
and Paul, not Paul and Barnabas. The dangers of their missionary work are
fully recognised, men who have hazarded their lives (xiii. 50, xiv. 2, 5 19) •

xv. 30.3 the First christian council. 67
26 Barnabas and Paul ; men that have hazarded their lives for
27 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore
Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by
28 mouth. For it seemed good to the Floly Ghost, and to us,
to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary
29 things. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and
from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication :
from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye
30 well. So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch ;
and when they had gathered the multitude together, they
the words testify the complete confidence of the Church at Jerusalem in the
fidelity of Paul and Barnabas.
27. By mouth, by word of mouth.
28. For it seemed good. Edoxcn, the word from which dogma comes.
_ To the Holy Ghost. " The mention of the Holy Spirit is the most primi
tive Christian thing imaginable " (Ewald). The whole Church lived under
the shadow of Pentecost ; the possession of the Holy Spirit was what made
men Christians ; they lived and thought and spoke under the guidance of the
Spirit, just as we should do now, if we had their simple faith. Paul had gone
up by revelation ; they spoke of the Holy Ghost.
These necessary things, these things which are in some degree necessary,
i.e. necessary for the times in which they lived, and the circumstances and
conditions of social intercourse between Jew and Gentile ; not necessary for
salvation, and therefore binding at all times and everywhere.
29. That ye abstain from. Compare the statements in verses 20 and 29 : —
Ver. 20. That they abstain from the Ver. 29. That ye abstain from things
pollutions of idols, and from fornication, sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and
and from what is strangled, and from from things strangled, and from forni-
blood. cation.
The prohibitions are put more precisely in the formal deliverance than in the
speech, and the three declarations about food are placed together. The
phrase pollutions of idols is explained to mean food which has been offered in
sacrifice on idol altars.
Ye shall do well, not ye shall do what is right, but it shall be well with
you, because peace and unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians shall
follow ; this is meant to be consolation (ver. 31).
30. They. Paul, Barnabas, Titus, and the others from Antioch, with the
true deputation from Jerusalem, Silas and Judas.
Were dismissed, sent away formally, an authorized embassy from the
mother Church at Jerusalem to the disciple community at Antioch.
Had gathered the multitude together. This phrase is one of many which
shows the thoroughly democratic and anti-sacerdotal character of the apostolic
Christianity. They did not report to the rulers of the Church, nor to the
presbytery, but held what we should call a congregational meeting.
The Epistle. This was the beginning of New Testament Scripture, the
first of the Epistles ; it was addressed to Christians in Antioch, in Syria, and
Cilicia, as later Epistles were addressed to the Galatians, to the Romans, etc.
It was the Magna Charta of Gentile Christianity.

68 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. lxv- 31'
31 delivered the epistle: which when they had read, they
32 rejoiced for the consolation. And Judas and Silas, being
prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many
33 words, and confirmed them. And after they had tarried there a
space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the
34 apostles. Notwithstanding, it pleased Silas to abide there still.
35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and
preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
31. For the consolation, for the comfort; compare the comfort with dissen.
sion of verse 2. They had now got an authoritative decision on a point which
had troubled the Church so much that its future was threatened ; and they had
also seen Gentile Christianity formally welcomed within the Church. Both
were sources of consolation or comfort. But are we to infer that all this
rejoicing arose from the fact that circumcision was declared to be unnecessary,
that the Jerusalem Church had resolved to dispense with the obedience of
Gentile Christians to an Old Testament commandment ? True Christians
cannot rejoice at getting rid in their own case of one of God's commands, in
being told that they need not do as much for God as their neighbours. The
consolation must have arisen from the confirmation of Paul's teaching of the
spiritual meaning of the Mosaic Law, and of the consequent widening of the
Christian relation to God, and of the enlargement of Christian duty. Circum-
cision, cutting the flesh, consecrated or marked the body of every Jew as holy
to the Lord ; but Paul taught in the spirit of his Master, that the stamp of
ownership on the body was of little worth if this outward act was not ratified
by an inward and spiritual surrender of body, soul, and spirit to the Lord ;
and in consequence that when the spiritual surrender had been made there
was no need for the bodily marking which was its sign. The Christian rejoiced
not in the abrogation but in the fulfilling or making full the Law of Moses, by
bringing out all those spiritual obligations which underlay and were often
buried out of sight by the formal and external precepts. Of course we require,
while time lasts, external signs of inward spiritual truths ; but the lesson
taught at Jerusalem and at Antioch remains for the Church, that when an
external sign, instead of leading to Christ, interposes itself between Christ and
the disciple, it does harm ; and the Church must see that nothing does come
between Christ and the believer during any period of her history.
32. Being prophets themselves. See note on xiii. 1. Judas and Silas were
evidently men filled with the Holy Ghost and in possession of those gifts of
instruction and strengthening which belonged to the New Testament prophetic
order. Exhorted, comforted, or consoled ; their discourses were of the same cha
racter as the Epistle from the Church at Jerusalem, and had the same effect.
33. Were let go in peace, were dismissed with a blessing or prayer for their
peace. The phrase does not mean that they were let go quietly, but that there
was a formal meeting at which the messengers were specially commended to
the care of God.
Unto the Apostles, unto those that had sent them forth.
34. Notwithstanding, etc. This verse is not in the best MSS., and should be
omitted from the text. It was probably a marginal note to explain ver. 40.
35. With many others also. There were many prophets and teachers in
Antioch (xiii. 1).

xv. 41.] Paul's second missionary journey. 69
36 And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go
again and visit our brethren in every city where we have
37 preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And
Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname
38 was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with
them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not
39 with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp
between them, that they departed asunder one from the other :
40 and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; and
Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the
41 brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria
and Cilicia, confirming the churches.
in. — Paul's second missionary journey, xv. 36-xviii. 23.
I. Through Syria and Cilicia lo Lycaonia with Silas, xv. 36-41.
36. Let us go again. Paul's Epistles tell us how he yearned over the
Churches he had planted and the disciples he had made (I Thess. iii. 10; Rom.
i. 9 ; Eph. i. 16 ; Phil. i. 3), and how his heart was filled with the care of all
the Churches (2 Cor. xi. 28).
37. Barnabas determined, Barnabas was minded. John Mark was his
:ousin (Col. iv. 10), and he probably wished to give the young man another
chance to show what was really in him. Our sympathies are with Barnabas
here. Note, however, that when the division of labour took place, Barnabas
took Mark over the ground where he had not failed, in the previous journey ;
while Paul took Silas to those cities where John Mark had not been.
38. Thought it not good. Our Lord had said that he who had put his
hand to the plough and had turned back was not fit for the kingdom of God ;
and Paul evidently thought that John Mark had done what Jesus so strongly
reprobated. Paul was wrong, however ; John Mark certainly failed him
once, and perhaps brought discredit on the disciple company by so doing ;
but Barnabas did right to try him again, and Paul in the end came to see that
his fellow-Apostle had been in the right, and afterwards received the services
of the man whom he here distrusted. Mark was at Babylon with Peter (1 Pet.
v. 13), and then at Rome with Paul (Col. iv. 10), and about to leave it for
Asia Minor. The last glimpse of him is given by Paul, when the Apostle asks
Timothy to come to Rome and bring Mark with him, who, he says, is "useful
to me for ministering" (2 Tim. iv. 11).
39. The contention was so sharp. There arose a sharp contention, so that
they parted asunder. The words imply a short, severe dispute, not a pro
longed one. Apostolic failings show us that it is only Christ's example that
is without a blot. The people of Antioch seem to have sided with Paul.
Barnabas was allowed to go to Cyprus ; but Paul's journey was specially
commended to the Lord in prayer.
41 . Through Syria and Cilicia. Districts in which the Judaizers had been
strong, and where the presence of Silas, one of the delegates from Jerusalem,
would help to bring peace and conviction (xvi. 5). It was to the Christians
in these districts, moreover, that the decree and the letter from the Church at

70 the acts of the apostles. [xvi. I.
Chap. XVI. i. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra : and, behold,
a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a
certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed ; but his
2 father was a Greek: which was well reported of by the
3 brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul
have to go forth with him ; and took and circumcised him,
because of the Jews which were in those quarters : for they
4 knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went
Jerusalem had been specially addressed. Paul and Silas went from Antiocl
to Derbe, passing from the sunny plains of Cilicia to the bleak tableland ot
Lycaonia by one of the passes through the Taurus range, probably through a
celebrated pass called the Cilician Gates.
2. Paul and Timothy, xvi. I— 5.
XVI. I. Timotheus, one of Paul's earliest converts (1 Tim. i. 2), son of a
Jewess and a Greek (2 Tim. i. 5), who had been trained by his mother and
grandmother in the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Tim. iii. 15). He had been
called to the Christian service by the converts at Lystra (1 Tim. i. 18), had
been ordained by the presbytery or "elders" there ( I Tim. iv. 14), and was now
invited by Paul to share in his missionary work. Paul's work took him among
Jews as well as Gentiles, and Jews would have looked upon Timothy as an
apostate had he not been circumcised, and Paul, to avoid offence, circumcised
the young man. Pie afterwards worked with Paul (Rom. xvi. 21), was his
messenger to the Corinthian Church (1 Cor. iv. 17) and to the Church at
Thessalonica (I Thess. iii. 2-6). He was at Rome with Paul (Phil. i. I, ii.
19 ; Col. i. 1 ; Philem. 1). He suffered for the truth (Heb. xiii. 23).
2. Well reported of. The phrase is the same as is used to describe
Cornelius (x. 22) and Ananias (xxii. 12). Timothy had been silently and
unconsciously preparing himself for his work in the world by his work at
Lystra and Iconium. Five years had probably elapsed since Paul had
preached in these cities, the Christian Churches which he had formed had
grown, the elderships had ruled, and the whole communities had been
consolidated and were able to express collective opinions.
3. Have to go forth with him. Silas had taken the place of BarnaVas,
but Paul liked youth, and needed a young man to take the place of John
Mark. It was an Apostle's duty to train a second generation for Christ, and
he felt compelled to have the young with him.
Circumcised him. A child born of a Jewish mother and a Gentile father
was reckoned Jewish, and therefore a subject for circumcision. The Jews
were, however, divided on the question ; the more bigoted held that no legal
marriage could take place between a Jew and a Gentile, and refused to cir
cumcise. Paul therefore said two things by this deed of his. He first of all
declared against the cruelty of fanatical Judaism when he circumcised the
offspring of a Jewish woman and a Gentile man ; and, in the second place, he
gave practical illustration of his understanding that the decrees of Jerusalem
were intended for Gentiles only, and did not raise the question of the relation
nf Jews to the Mosaic Law.
4. Delivered them the decrees. The deliverances of the Assembly at
Terusalem, acknowledging the apostolic authority of Paul and Barnabas, deny-

xvi. 7.] Paul's second missionary journey. 71
through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep,
that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at
5 Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the
6 faith, and increased in number daily. Now when they had
gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were
7 forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after
they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia :
ing that circumcision was necessary for salvation, and stating the concessions
demanded from the Gentile converts.
5. Established in the faith, etc. "The two results which must accompany
every true mission — edification first, evangelization second."
3. Paul enters Europe, xvi. 6-12.
6. Phrygia. For places mentioned in these verses, see Map, p. 40.
Were forbidden of the Holy Ghost. Proconsular Asia, with its great cities
and large numbers of Jews, was no doubt a most attractive field of work to
Paul, but in some way, whether by inward promptings, or visions, or the
utterances of comrades or converts who had the prophetic gift (xxi. 4), there
was almost a daily conflict between human plans and Divine guidance. A
study of the system of Roman roads in Asia Minor shows us that all the
principal highways converged on Ephesus in apostolic times (after the transfer
of the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople the routes changed), and
the ordinary routes were a constant temptation to go down into proconsulai
Asia. Phrygia was not a Roman province in apostolic times, and it is somewhat
difficult to define exactly its extent. The word denotes vaguely the western
part of the central region, mostly tableland, of the peninsula, and is always
used in an indefinite sense in the Acts (compare Acts ii. 10 and xviii. 23).
The cities of Iconium and Colosse belonged to Phrygia. The region contains
numbers of Jews (Acts ii. 10, xiii. 14, xiv. I, 19), who had been first settled
there by Antiochus the Great. The gospel may have been introduced into
the region by Jews who had been at Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts ii. 10).
Galatia was a Roman province, and included Lycaonia, Isauria, the south
eastern region of Phrygia, and part of Pisidia, but the name is ambiguous ;
and probably in the Acts of the Apostles it is used not to mean the Roman
province, but a limited area which was in possession of a colony of Gauls,
who, after the invasion of Greece in the third century before Christ, forced
their way through Thrace, crossed the Hellespont, and finally settled in the
central portion of Asia Minor. They remained for nearly two centuries a
ruling race, not mixing much with the conquered inhabitants. They were
subdued by the Romans, who set about their usual task of fusing together the
different peoples of the region. In apostolic times the people were a mixed
race of Gauls, Phrygians, and Greeks, with a distinct preponderance of the
Gaulish or Celtic blood, but worshipping Phrygian deities, and practising the
Phrygian religious rites. It was probably in this journey that the Galatian
Churches were founded by Paul (Gal. iv. 19).
Asia is always used definitely for proconsular Asia, which included the old
districts of Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. Its capital was Ephesus, and it con
tained the seven Churches of the Apocalypse.
7. Mysia was the northern part of proconsular Asia. The Spirit hindered

72 the acts of the apostles. [xvi. 8
8 but the Spirit suffered them not. And they, passing by Mysia,
9 came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the
night : There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him,
io saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after
he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go
into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
n us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing
from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia,
the Apostles from preaching there, and they thought of going north-eastwards
to Bithynia, but they were again hindered, and compelled to go right through
Mysia to the coast to the seaport of Troas.
Bithynia was one of the Roman divisions of Asia Minor, lying on the
western half of the north side. Its coast-line included part of the shore of
the Sea of Marmora and almost half of the southern shore of the Black Sea.
St. Peter mentions Christians in this province (i Pet. i. i).
The Spirit suffered them not, the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not ; for the
Holy Ghost stands in the same relation to the Son as to the Father, and pro
ceeds from the Father and from the Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
Jesus, and His coming fulfils Christ's promise when He said, Lo, I am with you
always even unto the end of 'the world. Notice how the Spirit led Paul away
from the scene of his former labours towards Europe. He had been brought
to the borderland of Mysia and Asia. He had been warned not to preach in
Asia, he had taken this as a sign to continue in the peninsula and to return to
Galatia by Bithynia ; he was checked again ; he had now only one way to
travel, westwards to the seacoast ; so he and his companions went along the
southern border of Mysia, and passing by the region came to Troas.
9. A vision. Paul and his company must have come to Troas in the hope
of getting Divine guidance. They received it in this vision, which at last
explained the uncertainties of the journey. (Compare ii. 17, ix. 10, a. 3,
17, 19, xi. 5, xii. 9, xviii. 9)-
10. We. Luke introduces himself into the narrative by this we; he was a
physician (Col. iv. 14), and a Gentile (Col. iv. 11 and 14). It is possible that
the means whereby the Apostle was forbidden or hindered from preaching in
Asia was a severe sickness (Gal. iv. 13). If so, we can see why Paul and Luke
came together, and can conjecture how Paul won him to be a witness for
Christ. Luke accompanied Paul into Macedonia, and was with him at
Samothracia, Neapolis, and Philippi. When Paul left Philippi for Amphi-
polis, Apollonia, and Thessalonica, Luke appears to have been left behind
(Acts xvii. 1, " Now, when they had passed . . - "). When the Apostle
returned to Philippi on his third missionary journey, Luke was still there, and
apparently left the city with him (Acts xx. 5, 6).
We endeavoured, we sought. No mission work was done at Troas, the
Apostles endeavoured at once to get a ship to take them to Macedonia, and
being successful, set out at once for Europe.
11. Therefore loosing. Setting sail therefore. Luke describes the journey
with his usual clearness. They had the wind in their favour, and they were
able to take a straight course.
Samothrace, an island off the coast of Thrace, colonized by men of Samos.
Neapolis, a seaport town, belonging to the province of Thessaly at that
time. The Apostles did not wait there, but hurried on to Macedonia.

xvi. 15.] . paul's second missionary journey. 73
12 and the next day to Neapolis ; and from thence to Philippi,
which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony :
13 and we were in that city abiding certain days. And on the
sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer
was wont to be made ; and we sat down, and spake unto the
women which resorted thither.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of
the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us : whose
heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things
15 which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and
12. Philippi, rebuilt by and named after the father of Alexander the Great.
It was not the capital of any of the four divisions of Roman Macedonia, but
was a large and important town.
Chief city, etc. , which is a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a
Roman colony. Neapolis, where they landed, was in Thrace.
A colony, in the Roman sense, was a military settlement of Roman soldiers
and citizens to overawe and subdue a recently conquered district. It was a
miniature Rome (21) transplanted to a distant region to uphold the dominion
Df the empire. It was under Roman municipal law, but governed by military
officers, prtetors and lictors (magistrates and Serjeants, 22, 35, 36).
4. At Philippi, xvi. 13-40.
(a) Lydia, the seller of purple, 13—15.
13. Where prayer was wont to be made. Where we supposed there was a
¦place of prayer. The Jews had commonly places of prayer {proseuchai or
oratories) in towns where they were not allowed to have synagogues or were
few in number. These were enclosures open to the sky, and usually near a
river or on the seashore for the ceremonial washings, "by the rivers of
Babylon," on the banks of the Tiber, etc.
To the women. Claudius had banished the Jews from Rome, and there
fore from colonies (xviii. 2), and so there were only Jewish women and women
proselytes, who would welcome a wandering Rabbi.
14. Of the city of Thyatira, in the Roman province of proconsular Asia, in
the valley of the Lycus, and noted for its dyeing works. Recent inscriptions
have proved the existence of a guild or corporation of dyers. The purple
Lydia sold ~ was either the dye or cloth dyed a purple colour. Thyatira
contained one of the seven Churches addressed in the Apocalypse.
Which worshipped God. She was a Jewish proselyte.
Whose heart the Lord opened. An unconverted soul is shut up, its doors
barred against the entrance of the truth. God alone can open it. The phrase
implies that Lydia was experiencing and did not resist those strivings of the
Spirit which called her to receive the words of the Apostle ; she attended or
rather gave heed to the things which were spoken by Paul.
15. And when she was baptized and her household. The household may
have included children, it must have included female slaves or freed women,
and most likely many of them were proselytes. This baptism of the house
hold has been often brought forward as a proof for infant baptism ; but the
baptism of infants rests on broad scriptural ground, and does not need the very
precarious support of texts like this.

74 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XVI. 16.
her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide
there. And she constrained us.
1 6 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel
possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought
17 her masters much gain by soothsaying: the same followed
Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of
the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ, to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord. Not implying doubt,
but earnest entreaty : they had judged her faithful, for they had baptized her.
The Lord through Paul had already acknowledged her faith.
Come into my house. "Christianity is heart-enlargement;" as if she
said : Let there be a Church in my house ; let me have constant fellowship
with those who have taught me to know Christ Jesus. Compare John i. 38.
Constrained us, not that they refused her, but that her entreaties were
urgent, she was so full of gratitude.
16. As we went to prayer. As we were going to the place of prayer, to the
froseuche where they continued to preach to those who came to listen.
(b) The soothsayer and her masters, 16-23.
16. A certain damsel. The Apostle was in Europe, not far from the most
celebrated seats of Greek worship. At Delphi a priestess of Apollo, the
Pythoness she was called, was supposed to be inspired to foretell the future.
This girl was a wandering pythoness. The Greek words say that she had a
python, which is translated a spirit of divination. She was a slave, troubled
by some kind of hysteria, and instead of being cared for and cured, her masters
found that they could make money by interpreting her incoherent sayings.
What led her in her maddened misery to cry after the Apostles it is impossible
to say, but often stray yearnings, leading to such crying out as is recorded, do
pass through such minds as hers.
1 7. Followed Paul and us, aud cried ; or better, kept crying. The poor
girl's possessed nature made her act as the demoniacs had done to our Lord
(Mark i. 25 ; Luke iv. 41). The Apostles had a fascination over her, and she
could not resist the impulse to cry out day after day as they passed.
Most high God, a name of God frequently found in the Old Testament, and
often used in instances where Jew and Gentile meet in worship or in invocation,
as in Gen. xiv. 18, where Melchizedek is called the priest of the most high God,
and in Balaam's prophecy (Num. xxiv. 16). It was a name for God commonly
used in exorcism, and therefore familiar to those possessed or suffering from
supposed possession : hence it was frequently uttered by demoniacs. Com
pare Mark v. 7 ; Luke viii. 28.
18. Being grieved, being sore troubled, being thoroughly worn out by annoy
ance. He had patiently endured the scene repeated day after day, but at last
felt compelled to speak out. He was troubled to see the poor girl suffering,
and felt constrained to deliver her ; troubled to see the cruelty of her masters,
who made the demoniac possession or the hysterical malady of an unfortunate

xvi. 22. J Paul's second missionary journey. 75
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was
gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the
20 market-place unto the rulers, and brought them to the magis
trates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble
21 our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to
2 2 receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude
rose up together against them ; and the magistrates rent off
woman a source of gain to themselves ; troubled beyond all at the thought of
Satan rendering any service to the cause of Christ, and compelled to prevent the
people from thinking that an evil spirit could be an ally of the gospel. He acted
as his Master had done, and refused all such help. Compare Mark i. 25, 34,
iii. II, 12; Matt. viii. 28-34. "The devil can have no part or lot in the
Christian service ; but the Church of Christ is slow to see and understand this."
" She will lay the foundations of her tabernacles and temples upon money
which is devil-won and devil-rusted " (Parker).
To the spirit. Either the Evil One who was troubling her in soul or body,
or that she was possessed with a demon like the demoniacs of the Gospels.
19. Gains. The Jews had persecuted because the Apostles offended
their prejudices ; this is the first case of purely heathen persecution, and it
arises from love of money — the masters' gain had gone with the spirit of
divination. Men still make money out of misery, and are offended when their
gains cease, and continually we find men protesting against the removal of
abuses ruinous to their fellows, because such removal would diminish their
incomes. Into the market-place, or agora, which in all Greek cities was the centre oi
social life and the great place of public resort. As Philippi was a Roman colony,
the agora would be the forum where the magistrate sat to dispense justice.
The rulers, strategoi, military officers, the praetors, who ruled in a colony.
20. Being Jews. Compare verse 21. Being Romans. Philippi was a
Roman colony, and therefore Rome in miniature. Claudius had not long
before banished all Jews from Rome, and this decree probably included their
expulsion from colonies ; no people were more despised and hated by the
Romans than the Jews, and to be a Jew was almost enough for matter of
accusation ; but these Jews had, their accusers said, offended against Roman
law, for, in spite of edicts to the contrary, they were introducing strange
religious customs and usages in opposition to the native and legally recognised
religion. 21. And teach customs, and set forth, or and make proclamation of. Rome
was singularly tolerant in all matters of religion : the government always
respected the religions of the people they conquered ; but it sternly prohibited
Romans abjuring their own religion for another, arid it persecuted all new
faiths which did not represent forms of worship which had been legally
recognised. 22. Kent off, etc. Rent their garments off them (off Paul and Silas), and
commanded to beat them with rods. A Roman punishment executed by the
lictors, who always carried an axe tied up in a bundle of rods, for the Greek
word used denotes that the beating was the special Roman form of punish
ment — beaten with the lictors' rods. This must have been one of the three
beatings which St. Paul mentions (2 Cor. xi. 25). Thrice was I beaten with
rods.

76 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XVI. 23.
^3 their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they
had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison,
24 charging the jailer to keep them safely : who, having received
such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made
their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises
26 unto God : and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly
there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken : and immediately all the doors were
27 opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper
of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the
prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have
killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no
23. When they had laid, etc. The punishment was inflicted after a
tumult, and no time was given the Apostles to state that they were Romans ;
or perhaps they refused to plead their privileges at a time when the popular
fury might have spent itself on such of their converts as had no protection.
" We are not to use all our safeguards on every occasion : we must listen to
the Divine command " (Bengel). Paul asserted his privilege afterwards for the
completion of his victory over the persecution.
(e) The prisoners and the jailer, 23-40.
24. The inner prison, a dark, foul den, probably underground. The
Btocks was a wooden frame with five holes for feet, arms, and neck. In this
case the feet only were enclosed. They could not kneel, but they spent the
night praying and singing hymns, and the other prisoners listened eagerly.
" The leg feels not the stocks when the mind is in heaven. Though the body
is held fast, all things lie open in the spirit." (Tertullian).
25. And at midnight, etc. Worn by stripes, loss of blood, hunger, and
the stocks, they could still pray and sing praises : they were suffering for
Christ's sake, and they could glory in tribulations. The "possessed" girl
had called them bondmen of God.
The prisoners heard them, were listening to them. The word implies a
certain eagerness of attention. They sang the gospel, and men who woulc'
not have listened to a sermon, strained their ears to catch the words of the
hymns. God heard them too, and answered almost at once.
26. Great earthquake. The place and the time were noted for violent
earthquakes. This one was felt down to the foundations, the walls were so
shaken that the doors were broken open, and the staples of the chains fell out
of the walls.
27. The jailer being roused out of sleep, neither groans nor hymn-singing
had kept him from sleeping ; his soul could only be awakened by terror.
Killed himself. Jailers were selected from the lowest, sometimes from
the criminal class, and death was the punishment for the neglect of duty.
Compare xii. 19, xxvii. 42. " Despair is stronger than all sins."
28. Do thyself no harm. Paul, looking out from the darkness, could see
the jailer stationed, as he must have been, where he could observe at a glance

xvi. 34.] paul's second missionary journey. 77
29 harm; for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and
30 Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do
31 to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
32 Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they
spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in
33 his house. And he took them the same hour of the night,
and washed their stripes ; and was baptized, he and all his,
34 straightway. And when he had brought them into his house,
whether or not the doors were secure. The Apostle did not fear death ; but
he trembled at the thought of a man committing suicide. "Christianity
reveals the future life and takes away the fear of death, but it has most
effectually restrained man from self-destruction."
For we are all here. The earthquake had loosened the staples of chains
and door bolts, but the chains were still fastened to the prisoners and
prevented quick escape ; perhaps, also, the prisoners were stunned with the
earthquake, perhaps they were encouraged by the example of the Apostles.
29. Sprang in, leapt down, into the underground cell of the inner prison,
his mind dazed with sudden terror, with respite from death by his own hand,
with rush of new, strange feelings, eager to make speedy atonement for recent
misdeeds. 30. Sirs, lords, no longer criminals, but favourites of the dread Higher
Powers. What must I do to be saved? He knew the charge against them, the
speech of the demoniac girl, who in this way was a preacher for Christ. He
had been on the threshold of eternity. Who is now the prisoner — Paul or the
jailer? He brought them out of the inner prison, and the Apostles brought
him out of darkness into light. He had called them lords, they tell him that
there is one Lord whose salvation they make known.
31. Believe on the Lord Jesus. Faith on the Christ, personal trust on a
personal Redeemer — that is what saves a Lydia who already worshipped God,
and a ruffian who would have killed himself. "Believe that the Lord Jesus
who sent us to Philippi died {ox your sins, rose again for your justification, lives
and is making intercession for you " — is the gospel which saved both souls.
Thou and thy house, for the promise is unto you and to your children.
32. They spake unto him the word of the Lord. They had sung the
gospel to the prisoners, and they preached it to the jailer's family ; first a
prison, then a jailer's house became a church of Christ.
33. And he took them, the words imply took them away from one place to
another place. See how faith begets works. Yesterday troubled him, and he
must rub that out. " Christianity always drives men back on their yesterdays.
The Christian can never do enough to show the reality and inspiration of his
repentance" (Parker).
Washed their stripes . . . was baptized. A double washing ; he cleansed
their wounds, they showed him how his sins were washed in the blood of
Christ. As in the case of Lydia, the household is baptized.
34. Set meat before them, etc. " Here is a man converted, and he
instantly seeks to do all that lies in his power to make up for the past.
Wonderful industry touched with infinite pathos this ! " (Parker). Christianity

78 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xvi. 35.
he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with
all his house.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the Serjeants,
36 saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told
this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go :
37 now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto
them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being
Romans, and have cast us into prison ; and now do they
thrust us out privily ? nay verily ; but let them come them-
38 selves and fetch us out. And the Serjeants told these words
unto the magistrates : and they feared, when they heard that
39 they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and
brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
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.
Chap. XVII. 1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis
and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a
must be allowed to illustrate itself, to prove the reality of conversion, to cover
over the past yesterday by a to-day of new obedience. It was u. love-feast in
the jailer's house.
And rejoiced, etc. And rejoiced greatly with all his house, having believed
in God. Contrast the jailer's joy with the dread of the magistrates (38).
35. The magistrates sent the Serjeants, the prcetors sent the lictors who
had beaten the Apostles with rods. There had been no inquiry, no regular
trial, and the praetors were evidently somewhat uneasy ; they wished to get
rid of the whole matter, but wrong-doing is not so easily got rid of.
36. And the keeper of the prison, etc. And the jailer reported the words
to Paul, saying, The prators have sent to let you go : now therefore come
forth (they were still in prison), and go in peace.
37. Being Romans. Paul repeats with some sarcasm what the Philippian
mob said when they asked his punishment (21). " To bind a Roman citizen
is a misdeed, to scourge him is a crime, to put him to death is almost a
parricide " (Cicero). The praetors had committed a crime punishable under
Roman law by death and confiscation of property.
39. To depart out of the city. They were willing to go, but not secretly ;
Paul could not desert the converts nor bring scandal on the name of Christ by
a secret departure, and they departed leisurely. They went to the house of
Lydia, saw the disciples assembled there to greet them, and exhorted the
converts to maintain unwavering their Christian profession. Luke was probably
left behind to serve the infant Church at Philippi, for the " we" of verse 10
becomes " they " in verse 40.
5. Thessalonica to Athens, xvii. 1-15.
1. When they had paBsed through. Compare Map, p. 40, for Paul's
journey and for the position of the cities mentioned. Paul travelled along
the great Roman road from Philippi to Amphipolis, 33 miles ; from Amphi-

xvii. 3.] Paul's second missionary journey. 79
2 synagogue of the Jews : and Paul, as his manner was, went in
unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of
3 the Scriptures ; opening and alleging that Christ must needs
have suffered, and risen again from the dead ; and that this
polis to Apollonia, 30 miles ; from Apollonia to Thessalonica, 37 miles ;
from Thessalonica to Berca, about 50 miles ; thence to the coast to take ship
for Athens.
Amphipolis, a great Roman military station in the time of Paul, a
place of great natural strength almost surrounded by the windings of the
river Strymon.
Apollonia, not to be confounded with a more celebrated city of the
same name in Illyria. The Apostles travelled through these cities without
preaching. Thessalonica was an important commercial city at the head of the Thcrmaic
Gulf and on the great Roman road. Its earlier name was Therma, but it had
been re-named in honour of a sister of Alexander the Great. It contained a
large number of Jews. It is still an important town, Saloniki, the second city
of Turkey in Europe, and still contains a large Christian and Jewish popula
tion. During the Middle Ages it was regarded as one of the great bulwarks of
Christendom in the East. It was finally captured by the Turks in 1430 A.D.
A synagogue, not simply a proseuche or praying place, showing that there
were many Jews in the city.
2. As his manner was. Paul's invariable custom was to preach first to
the Jews and Jewish proselytes. He did this by going to the synagogue,
remaining there during the service, and accepting the invitation usually given
to address the congregation. Compare his conduct at Salamis (xiii. 5), at
Antioch in Pisidia (xiii. 14, 15), at Iconium (xiv. 1), etc. He must have
made a great impression, for he was allowed to preach on three successive
Sabbaths. The matter of his sermons may be found in the Epistles to the
Thessalonians, where he continually refers to what he had said (1 Thess. i. 5,
ii. I, 2, 5, 10, 11, iii. 3, 4, iv. 1, 6, v. 2 ; 2 Thess. ii. 15). His manner is
also described in the Epistles. He spoke "not in word only, but also in
power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance" (1 Thess. i. 5),
and with great gentleness, " even as a nurse cherisheth her children "
(I Thess. ii. ,).
Three sabbath days. St. Paul tells us in his Epistles to the Thessalonians
that he worked for his daily bread at Thessalonica, resolved to be dependent
on the charity of no one, and able to rebuke all idlers (1 Thess. ii. 9;
2 Thess. iii. 8; I Thess. iv. 11 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6-15), toiling night and day.
He would have less time, therefore, to speak on the other days of the week ;
but he must have preached elsewhere than in the synagogue, for he addressed
the heathen, and had converts whom he had turned to God from their idols
(I Thess. i. 9).
3. Opening and alleging. Making plain what was misunderstood, and
setting forth from Psalms and Prophets (1) that the Christ, Messiah, was to die,
was to rise again, and then to reign, having won the power to pardon by His
death ; (2) that Jesus had died, had risen again, and therefore was the Christ.
To allege, means here not to assert, but to set forth, to exhibit in argument. _
That Christ, etc. That it behoved the Christ lo suffer and lo rise again
from the dead ; and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, ii
the Christ.

80 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XVII. 4.
4' said Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 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.
5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took
unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered
a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted
the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the
6 people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason
and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These
that have turned the world upside down are come hither also ;
7 whom Jason hath received : and these all do contrary to the
decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
8 And they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city, when
4. Consorted with. Threw in their lot with. Formed a Christian com
munity in which were some Jews, a great multitude of proselytes, many of the
ladies of the city, who, like those of other cities, were under Jewish influence,
and many heathens.
5. But the Jews stirred up the idle fellows, runaway slaves, poor freedmen,
the dangerous classes who in those slaveholding days abounded in large cities,
and were always ripe for mischief and rioting. They assaulted the house
where Paul lodged, dragged (haled, Acts viii. 3) Jason and others before the
magistrates. Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, certain vile fellows of the rabble ,
agoraios means a man who has no regular occupation, but haunts the agora ol
market-place in hope of picking up chance employment.
To the people. Thessalonica had been made a free city by Augustus, and
was entirely independent. The people, as in all ancient Greek cities, were
the supreme authority. Hence the Apostles were to be dragged before the
popular assembly.
Jason, probably a believing Jew whose name was Joseph ; Jason was the
common Greek equivalent for Joseph.
6. The rulers of the city. The word Luke uses, which is translated rulers,
is politarchoi, which is not found in classical Greek. Inscriptions on the ruins
of Thessalonica have recently shown us that politarch was the local name for
the seven magistrates chosen by the people to rule over the city. The use
of the word is one of the many instances of Luke's minute accuracy.
Have turned the world upside down. The world here means the Roman
Empire. The phrase is an exaggeration, but it is nevertheless evidence of the
spread of Christianity and of the dread of its opponents. It is a tribute to the
power of the Apostles, and a just estimate of what was in the gospel of Christ.
7. Another king. They accuse the Apostles of inciting to treason. The
Epistle to the Thessalonians tells us that Paul's preaching was about the
kingdom of God (1 Thess. ii. 12; 2 Thess. i. 5), and this disturbed both the
rulers or politarchs, as they were called in Thessalonica, and the people, who
feared that such speeches coming to the ears of the emperor might make him
take away their privileges as 3. free city.
8. They troubled the people. The trouble arose (1) from fear at the out-

xvii. 15.J paul's second missionary journey. 81
9 they heard these things. And when they had taken security
of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto Berea : who coming thither went into the syna-
1 1 gogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those
1 2 things were so. Therefore many of them believed ; also of
honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not
a few.
13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the
word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came
14 thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately
the brethren sent away Paul, to go as it were to the sea :
15 but Silas and Timotheus abode there still. And they that
conducted Paul brought him into Athens : and receiving a
commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him
with all speed, they departed.
break of the mob ; (2) from fear that Rome would hear of the insurrectionary
teaching said to have been introduced by the Apostles.
9. Taken security of Jason, not bail for Paul and Silas, but security that
the Christians would not provoke a further outbreak.
10. Sent away Paul and Silas. Paul was loath to leave and anxious to
return ; he twice tried to revisit Thessalonica before or during his stay in
Corinth (1 Thess. ii. 18).
Berea, now Verria, was an important commercial city containing a large
Jewish population. It was the town of Sopater, one of Paul's travelling
companions in his third missionary journey (Acts xx. 4; Rom. xvi. 21).
11. More noble, the word means well-born; but evidently refers here to
nobility of character.
Searched the Scriptures daily. They claimed the right of exercising
private judgment and of testing the Apostle's arguments by the Scriptures he
appealed to. The result was, many Jews converted in Berea. Truth bears
investigation. 12. Also of honourable women, etc. Compare note on verse 4.
13. And stirred up the people. Stirring up and troubling the multitudes.
Probably the same charges of sedition were made with the same results, — a
popular uproar, the mob moving like a disturbed sea, and anxiety lest Rome
should punish the city for permitting sedition to be preached.
14. Sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea. Sent forth Paid
to go as far as to the sea. They conducted him probably to Dium, the
nearest seaport town, where they found a ship for him and accompa.iied him
to Athens.
15. Silas and Timothy that they should come to him. We learn from
I Thess. iii. 1-3 that Timothy went to Athens, but that he returned immedi
ately to Thessalonica to comfort the brethren there.
F

82 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XVII. 1 6.
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was
stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
1 7 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and
with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them
1 8 that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epi
cureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said,
What will this babbler say ? other some, He seemeth to be
a setter forth of strange gods : because he preached unto
19 them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and
brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this
20 new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is 1 For thou bringest
6. At Athens — The living God preached, xvii. 16-34.
16. Was stirred. Was provoked. A paroxysm (the word comes from the
Greek verb used in the text) seized him, so that he could not wait.
Wholly given to idolatry. Full of idols. It was said that there were
more idols than men in Athens, and Paul knew what foul sensuous feelings
were provoked by this multitude of images.
17. Disputed. Reasoned (1) in the synagogue, where he tried to convince
[a) the Jews and (b) the Jewish proselytes, of Jesus and the resurrection, and
of their missionary duties in presence of the abounding heathenism ; (2) in the
market-place or agora, a beautiful open space with colonnades and fountains,
full of gossipping idlers (verse 21), and strangers come from all parts of the
world to study at Athens.
18. Epicureans and Stoics. Men who thought that there was no God, or
that the world was God. Materialists and pantheist fatalists, who thought
that man's chief end was to seek what was pleasant and made life smooth, or
to maintain an undisturbed calmness of mind in all circumstances ; who had
no knowledge of the Fatherhood of God and brotherhood among men ; the
Sadducees and Pharisees of Greek paganism.
Babbler. Seed-picker. " The idle gossips of the agora, picking up news
and eager to retail it, . . . were likened by the quick wit of Athenian
humorists to a bird as it hopped and chirped " (Plumptre).
Jesus and the resurrection. Two new gods, they thought. Paul at Athens
had to confront religious indifference, which is much harder to overcome
than bigotry or brutality.
They took him. The words do not imply any violence. It is the same
word which is used to describe how Barnabas introduced Paul to the Twelve
at Jerusalem — " He took Paul and brought him to the Apostles."
19. Areopagus, the Areopagus, either the Hill of Mars or the Court or
Supreme Council of Athens which sat there. Paul was probably brought
before the Council, which in these days of Roman dominion concerned itself
chiefly with educational matters. One of the members of the Council became
a disciple (verse 34). Mars' Hill (22) should be the Areopagus.
What is this new doctrine, etc. What this new doctrine is which is spoken
by thee. The question was slightly sarcastic ; they asked to know more fully
the ideas of the Apostle.
20. For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. For thou bringest
certain things to our ears which startle us with their strangeness. Compare

xvii. 2 2. J Paul's second missionary journey. 83
certain strange things to our ears : we would know therefore
2 j what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers
which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either
to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
2 2 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men
of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
verse 1 8. A setter forth of strange gods. The most apparent thing in the
words of the Athenians is the absence of all moral earnestness, and the
scornful curiosity which dominates everything. They were not earnest enough
to persecute.
21. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, etc. And
strangers sojourning there had leisure for nothing else but, etc. Athens in the
time of St. Paul was not the city it had been during the golden period of
Greek civilisation. Corinth was the Roman capital of Achaia, and was
the great commercial city of Greece. But Athens was still the centre of Greek
science, art, and philosophy — the great seat of learning for the Roman world ;
yet even its art and its schools of learning were living on past reputation.
No great thinkers lived, no fresh philosophical thinking remained : the teachers
traded in learning, and philosophy had become mere logic-chopping. Men
lived in words, careless of real things. The change had not come rapidly.
Four centuries earlier, Demosthenes had told his townsmen that they preferred
hearing and retailing news to fighting for their liberties. They had become
worse in Paul's time, and the whole occupation of Athenians and students who
came to finish their education there was to gratify a superficial intellectual
curiosity. 22. And said. This sermon at Athens was addressed to philosophers who
thought that they had risen above the religion of the ignorant multitude, and
who had not reached a knowledge of the true God, but had only attained to
an indifference about all religion. Paul caught the accent of the place,
and began as Demosthenes used to do, Men of Athens. The Athenians are
in all things more fearful of the gods than others (so the philosophers thought),
but they manifest a vague yearning to know some higher divinity, for Paul
had seen among the objects of their worship an altar to an unknown God (23).
He has come to tell them of this divinity, not oi strange gods (18). This is no
abstract divinity, but (a) the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, of all
things seen and unseen (24, 25). No temple can contain Him, for He is omni
present ; He needs neither food-offering nor drink-offering, for He has created
and sustains everything, (b) He is the Preserver of all, and His wise fore
sight has guided the history of the universe and of the nations of mankind.
He has made all nations of one blood wherever they dwell, has overruled
their rise and fall, having determined their appointed seasons, and fixed the
boundaries of their territories. He has implanted in man longings after the
Divine, and these higher impulses bring us near Him, as His creation and
providence make Him near us (27). The principle of life comes from Him ;
it is His creative power and presence that moves us to love, to reverence, to
all passionate expression. Our inmost and highest being throbs responsive
to Him ; we are His offspring (28). There is in man something which impels
him towards God, but we can turn from this high destiny and these Divine
impulses, and seek for Godhead in the lower rather than in the higher parte
of our nature, and fashion idols which not merely hide God from us but deify

84 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XVII. 23.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an
altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto
24 you. God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in
25 temples made with hands ; neither is worshipped with men's
hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all
26 life, and breath, and all things ; and hath made of one blood
our ignoble passions (29). We are not to make the Godhead in our image,
' ' after man's device ; " we are made in God's image ; our moral nature makes
us kin with Him ; conscience teaches us moral responsibility, and (c) reveals
God our Judge. God has overlooked in His mercy our failure to know this,
but now He has sent His Son in human form and testified that the man
Jesus is the Saviour who is God, by raising Him from the dead, to awaken
men to the fact of sin and of judgment for sin awaiting us unless we repent
(3°. 31)-
Superstitious, fearful of the gods. The word means something between
superstitious and devout. The deisidaimon was a well-known type 0/
character, and is described by Theophrastus as a man who believes in omens,
consults wizards, "will give up a journey if he sees a weasel cross the road,
and goes with his wife and children to be initiated into the Orphic mysteries."
23. As I passed by, etc. For as I passed along and observed the object*
of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription — TO AN
UNKNOWN GOD. What ye therefore worship in ignorance, this set 1
forth unto you. Investigation has shown that others besides Paul noticed
altars in Athens with this strange inscription. Pausanias tells us that in
Athens there were "altars to gods styled unknown and to heroes. " Philo-
stratus says that in Athens altars were raised for unknown gods. There must
have been more than one altar in Athens with the inscription which Paul
quotes. We are told that on occasion of a plague at Athens, sheep and
goats were let loose in the Areopagus, and were sacrificed on the spot where
they lay down, To the god concerned, and that in this way altars were raised
to unknown gods. Paul tells them that he is ready to make known this
unknown god.
Him declare I unto you ; better, This set I forth unto you, for the verb
is the same as in verse 18, "A setter forth of strange gods." It was a crime
to introduce the worship of strange gods, the crime Socrates suffered for.
Paul says that he was not going to set forth strange gods, but to make known
a god who was familiar, and yet by their confession unknown.
24. Dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Did Paul remember
Stephen's phrase, Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with
hands (vii. 48)?
25. Is worshipped with, neither is served by, as if he were a master who
was dependent on his steward's service.
Life and breath. Life and continuance of life. Compare verse 28 "In
Him we live and move."
26. And hath made of one blood. Omit blood. And hath made of one.
All men have one common origin, and have one fatherhood (Mai. ii. 10)
and one earth their home, over whose face they have been diffused ' with

xvii 30. j Paul's second missionary journey. 85
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
27 bounds of their habitation ; that they should seek the Lord,
if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he
28 be not far from every one of us : for in him we live, and
move, and have our being ; as certain also of your own poets
29 have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then
as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that
the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by
30 art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God
place of habitation allotted, and times of rise and fall predetermined. All
the phrases and thoughts contained are strung together by the idea of all-
pervading unity of originating cause and controlling power.
And hath determined the times before appointed, having determined their
appointed seasons.
27. That they should seek. This is the Divine purpose in the creation,
disposition, and superintendence of men. Men are to seek after the God
revealed in His works of creation and providence ; the argument for the
existence of God from design in the universe and in history.
If haply they might feel after him. Groping in the dark with the doubt
whether after all what was sought after could be found.
Though he be not far, etc. The delicate movement of thought in this
speech is very interesting. The nations groping in the dark, yet the God
they are trying to touch near, able to meet the hands feeling after Him at
any moment, perhaps about to do it now. Then Paul turns away again to
lead his audience by another path of reasoning to the same touching-point.
28. As certain also of your own poets —
Either (i) Aratus of Tarsus, a fellow-citizen of St. Paul,
" With him, with Zeus are filled
All paths we tread, and all the marts of men ;
Filled too the sea, and every creek and bay ¦
And all in all things need we help of Zeus,
For we too are.his offspring."
Or (2) Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus: — " Thee
'Tis meet that mortals call with one accord,
For we thine offspring are, and we alone
Of all that live and move upon this earth
Receive the gift of imitative speech." (Plumptre.)
29. Forasmuch then. The inference is pressed home at once. He has
breathed something Divine into us. Since therefore we are God's offspring
and have life and breath, it is absurd to believe the Godhead to be in dumb
stone or silver, for it is unquestionable that our life is given to us by the
highest life. Judge the Father by the child. The attack on pagan worship
is as delicate as it is penetrating. Man is of too lofty lineage to accept
the degraded and degrading deities of the popular mythology for his deities ,
and the delicacy of the reproach is increased by the use of the plural, wt
ought not.
30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at. He has at last

86 the acts of the apostles [xvii. 31
winked at ; but now commandeth all men every where to
31 repent : because he hath appointed a day, in the which he
will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he
ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in
32 that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they
heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked : and others
33 said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed
34 from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him,
and believed : among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite,
and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Chap. XVIII. 1. After these things Paul departed from Athens,
2 and came to Corinth ; and found a certain Jew, named Aquila,
brought his hearers to the point where they may touch the God they have
been groping after. Translate : Having, however, overlooked the times 0]
ignorance, God now, etc. God does not impute to men errors which they
had committed in ignorance ; but now that He has made Himself known,
ignorance can no longer be pleaded. With knowledge comes responsibility,
and with responsibility liability to judgment. (Compare Rom. iii. 25; Luke
xii. 48.) "In the word overlooked are treasures of mercy for those who
lived in the times of ignorance " (Alford).
To repent. Responsibilities increase with knowledge and with opportunities
to know. Paul has brought the Athenians face to face with God. They
have now the tremendous responsibility of ignoring revelation. Face to face
with God, sin starts into sight, sin ignored by Epicurean and Stoic alike,
and yet dimly felt in every pagan rite of expiation. But with sin, pardon
through repentance and faith.
31. He hath appointed a day. Paul has appealed to the Athenians by
proofs drawn from the universe around them and from the soul within ; he
has appealed to conscience, with its sudden awakening to sin and to need of
pardon, and the fact of the resurrection has a new power in it. To the Jew it
witnessed primarily that the suffering Jesus was the victorious Messiah ; but
to the Athenian, with conscience at last awakened, it declared a coming Judge
and a coming judgment.
Whereof he hath given assurance. The resurrection of Jesus is God's
pledge that His revelation is true and worthy to be believed. It is the point
to which faith can attach itself.
32. Mocked, by interrupting word or gesture. They rejected God's pledge
or sign. Their pride of intellect stumbled at that which is the chief motive
to faith. Some were openly contemptuous, others politely indifferent, a few
believed. 33. Paul went out from among them. Philosophic indifference was more
chilling than open sin or determined fanaticism. He went to Corinth, that
seat of money-getting and licentiousness, determined to preach no more
philosophical sermons, but simply " Christ and Him crucified " (i Cor. ii. 2),
and found, as our Lord had said, that publicans and harlots had entrance to
the kingdom denied to those who esteemed themselves to be wise.
7. A I Corinth — The crucified Christ preached, xviii. 1-17.
XVIII. *. Aquila . . . Priscilla, or Prisca (2 Tim. iv. 19), Roman lews

xviii. 5.] paul's second missionary journey. 87
born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla ;
(because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart
3 from Rome : ) and came unto them. And because he was of
the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought : for by
4 their occupation they were tent-makers. And he reasoned in
the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and
5 the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from
Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the
banished by the edict of Claudius, 49 A.D., probably converted by Roman
Jews who had been in Jerusalem at Pentecost (ii. 10), were with Paul at
Ephesus when he wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 19), were at Rome
on Paul's second visit to Corinth (Rom. xvi. 3), seemed to have returned to
Ephesus (2 Tim. iv. 19).
Because that Claudius had commanded. The Jews were banished from
Rome several times, but this persecution is probably that mentioned by
Suetonius (Claud. 25), who says : " Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome on
account of their continual tumults instigated by Chrestus." It is generally
admitted that Chrestus is a Roman mistake for Christus, and that this expul
sion of the Jews, which was as sudden as it was thorough, was connected with
the presence of Christianity in Rome. The Roman Jews must have heard
about Christ and Christians. Twenty-three years had passed since Pentecost,
when strangers from Rome, Jews and proselytes, had been at Jerusalem
(ii. 10) ; the Roman freedmen had a synagogue in Jerusalem, and were active
in disputing with Stephen ; Roman Christians, Andronicus and Junias (or
Junianus), whom Paul mentions in his Epistle, were in Christ before him.
We can easily believe that the reception of Christianity and its advance among
the Jews at Rome excited tumults like those at Thessalonica, Ephesus, etc. , and
that the Romans, hearing the name of Christ mentioned continually, banished
both Christian and non-Christian Jews, and thought that the tumults were
instigated by an unknown Chrestus or Christus.
3. And because he was of the same craft . . . were tent-makers. And
because he was of the same trade, he abode with them and they lurought : for by
their trade they were tent-makers. Every Jewish boy was taught a trade, and
all Jews belonged to trades. In the great Jewish synagogue of Alexandria,
"the people did not sit mixed together, but goldsmiths by themselves and
silversmiths by themselves, and iron-workers by themselves, and miners by
themselves, and weavers by themselves ; and when a poor man came there he
recognised the members of his craft and went there." The same custom may
have prevailed at Corinth, and Paul may in this way have fraternized with
Aquila and Priscilla.
They were tent-makers, i.e. they manufactured the coarse goats'-hair
cloth of which tents were made. This weaving was the common employment
and staple trade of Cilicia (hence cloth of goats' hair was called Cilicium ;
compare cilice, French for hair-cloth).
4. Every Sabbath, for he worked hard for a living during the week.
Persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, and -won over Jews and Greeks.
Greeks, not proselytes, but Greeks who had some interest in the Jewish religion
and came to the synagogue.
5. Pressed in the spirit. Was constrained by the word. The word is used
by Jesus of Himself, How am I straitened till it be accomplished (Luke xii. 50),

88 the acts of the apostles. [xviii. 6.
6 Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed them
selves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto
them, Your blood be upon your own heads ; I am clean : from
7 henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed
thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus,
one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the
8 synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord with all his house : and many of the
Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be
io not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am
with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee : for
and seems to imply a new feeling of intensity awakened in Paul by the presence
of his two fellow-labourers.
6. Blasphemed, i Cor. xii. 3. Shook his raiment, shook out his raiment.
Unto the Gentiles, i.e. in Corinth, for Paul followed his usual practice
afterwards at Ephesus, and went first to the synagogue.
7. And entered a certain man's house. Paul with his usual decision
of character at once left off attending the synagogue, and held his meetings
in a Gentile house next door to the synagogue. He was profoundly moved,
and immediately gave practical proof of his solemn renunciation of the Jews.
Justus, one that worshipped God, a Gentile, but a proselyte (xiii. 43), who
opened his house for Christian service.
8. Chief ruler. Crispus was one of the session or council of ruling elders
who presided over the synagogue in Corinth; Sosthenes (17) was another.
Paul's decided conduct made others equally decided. Crispus became a
believer, and was baptized by Paul himself (1 Cor. i. 14), with all his family.
Many of the Corinthians, both Jews and Gentiles. Among the converts
were Gaius or Caius, who gave his house as a meeting-place for the brethren,
and was Paul's host when the Apostle visited Corinth a second time
(Rom. xvi. 23) ; Stephanas and his household (1 Cor. xvi. 15), — all baptized
by Paul himself (1 Cor. i. 14, 15); Fortunatus, Achaicus, Chloe, Quartus,
Erastus the city chamberlain (Rom. xvi. 23), and Epsenetus (Rom. xvi. 5).
Compare the many and the much people at Corinth with the certain men
at Athens.
9. In a vision. Paul was beginning to feel the reaction. He had been
deeply moved, had preached with more than usual power and directness, had
taken the bold step of holding public meetings for Jews and Gentiles in the
house of a Gentile next door to the synagogue ; and now the excitement was
beginning to tell upon him, and he saw sure evidence of coming trouble.
God comforted him, as He had done in similar circumstances, by a vision.
Compare xvi. 10, xxii. 17. " He passed from the strife of tongues into the
presence of the Eternal Friend" (Plumptre).
Be not afraid, for even Paul had his moods of depression, and felt keenly -
trials and want of success. Compare 1 Kings xix. 4-14; Jer. i. 6-8, xv.
15-21. 10. I am with thee. Compare Matt, xxviii. 20.
I have much people in this city. Paul had doubts evidently about his

xviii. 16.] Paul's second missionary journey. 89
11 I have much people in this city. And he continued there
a year and six months, teaching the word of God among
them.
12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made
insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him
13 to the judgment-seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men
14 to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was
now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If
it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews,
15 reason would that I should bear with you: but if it be a
question of words and names, and of your law, look ye io it ;
16 for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them
converts : Corinth was a notoriously sensual city, and the poison of lust gets
into the blood and cannot be easily got rid of. Paul had to see painful
scandals and lapsing, he tells us so in his Epistles ; and yet God's work was
being done in Corinth, and souls were being won for Christ. Men come
home and tell us that in their candid opinion pagan converts to Christianity
are not much better than their neighbours who are not converted, and argue
that missions are a mistake. God saw the foulness of Corinthian life, and the
sins of Corinthian Christians, and yet could tell Paul that His work was being
done in Corinth. " One of the most gracious surprises in store for the Church
is that there will be more people in God's pure home — heaven — than it may
have entered into the most generous human heart to conceive or venture to
anticipate " (Parker).
12. And when Gallio was deputy of Achaia. But when Gallio was pro
consul of Achaia. Corinth was the great Greek city of the Roman period.
It was the commercial and political capital of Southern Greece or Achaia, and
was the residence of the Roman proconsul. Situated on a narrow isthmus, it
had two ports, one, Lecha?um, on the Corinthian Gulf on the western side ;
and the other, Cenchrea, on the Saronic Gulf, the harbour for the traffic with
the East. The Isthmian games held in the city drew great crowds of people
from all parts of Greece. Paul draws many of his illustrations of Christian
life from those games in his Epistles to the Corinthians (I Cor. ix. 24-27, etc.).
Achaia had been a senatorial province under Augustus, under Tiberius it was
imperial, under Claudius it became again senatorial. The governor of a
senatorial province was called a proconsul, and the use of the word is a testi
mony to Luke's accuracy. The proconsul Gallio was the brother of the famous
Seneca. He was noted for his bright affectionate nature.
Made insurrection, rose up against. They took the opportunity of the
arrival of a new and inexperienced governor.
13. Contrary to the law. The charge was that Paul was teaching a
religion not recognised as a legal form of worship within the Roman Empire,
and had therefore made himself liable to punishment.
14. Wrong or wicked lewdness (villainy). A matter of crime or fraud
to be dealt with under criminal or civil law. The humane deputy refused
to examine into the complaint. Notice the Roman contempt for religious
disputes, and the Roman sense of what is just.
16. Drave them, etc. The magistrate (proconsul) sat to hear cases in the

90 the acts of the apostles. [xviii. 17.
1 7 from the judgment-seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the
judgment-seat: and Gallio cared for none of those things.
18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and
then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into
Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila ; having shorn his
19 head in Cenchrea : for he had a vow. And he came to
Ephesus, and left them there : but he himself entered into
20 the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they
desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented
21 not; but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means
keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem : but I will return
again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
22 And when he had landed at Cesarea, and gone up, and
agora or market-place, with his lictors (notes on xvi. 12, 22, 35) carrying
their axes and bundles of rods standing beside him. Gallio ordered the lictors
to clear away the Jews, and the Greek mob anticipated them (ver. 17) some
what roughly.
8. From Corinth to Antioch, by Ephesus and Jerusalem , xviii. 18-22.
18. Into Syria. For Syria. He went by Cenchrea, Ephesus, and Ccesarea.
For he had a vow. Paul, while he would not bind others to the observ
ance of the Mosaic Law, obeyed it himself. The vow taken (probably in
thankfulness for delivery from danger) is described in Num. vi. 1-21. It was
lawful for a man to crop his hair during the continuance of the vow, but in
that case the hair was preserved and taken to Jerusalem. Cenchrea was the
eastern harbour of Corinth.
19. And he came. And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there.
Aquila and Priscilla travelled probably on business. We find them now at
Rome, now at Corinth, now at Ephesus. They were most likely people
of some wealth, for at Ephesus it was in their house that the disciples
worshipped, and poor people would not have had a house large enough
(1 Cor. xvi. 19).
20. When they asked him, etc. And when they asked him io abide a
longer time. The Ephesian jews seemed at first more favourable to the
gospel than any, save those at Berea. The request was an earnest of th«
fruit afterwards gathered in that great city.
21. But bade them farewell, etc. But taking his leave of them, and
saying, I will return again unto you, if God will, he set sail from Ephesus.
The phrase translated bade them farewell is the same as in ver. 18. The
words, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh at Jerusalem,
ought to be omitted, as they form no part of the original text. Paul was
going to Jerusalem to a feast, the journey was part of his vow to be there at a
feast. The feast he meant to keep was most probably that of Pentecost, for
there was no other till the Feast of Tabernacles, when travelling, whether by
sea, or by land, was difficult and dangerous.
22. And gone up, and saluted the church. This is all the record of the
visit to Jerusalem. How Paul yearned over his fellow-countrymen, the whole

xviii. 25.] apollos. 91
23 saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. And after
he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over
all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening
all the disciples.
24 And a certain Jew, named Apollos, born at Alexandria,
an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to
25 Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord;
and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently
book of the Acts testifies ; how he longed to preach in Jerusalem, every sym
pathetic reader must see ; how he had hoped to tell his tale of work for the
Master, every Christian worker must understand, — but it was not to be.
Courteous exchange of civilities, instead of brotherly talk and worship.
Officialism, even apostolic, dislikes unconventional success, work done not
according to its rules.
He went down to Antioch, and got there the sympathy which soothed
him and braced him for renewal of work.
This ends Paul's second missionary journey. Pie had written at Corinth
the First and the Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, and had been in
Philippi and Corinth, cities to the Churches in which he afterwards wrote
letters. These letters show side-lights on this second journey, and ought to
be read in connection with this portion of the Acts of the Apostles.
23. He departed. This verse begins Paul's third journey, in which he
went over first of all the route he had taken at the beginning of his second
journey. Luke brings in the account of Apollos to explain Paul's finding the
twelve disciples of John the Baptist in Corinth.
IV. — APOLLOS, xviii. 24-28.
24. Apollos was an Alexandrian Jew. We are told that (1) he knew the
Old Testament thoroughly ; (2) that he knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the
Messiah ; (3) that he was of fervent or zealous spirit ; (4) that he was eloquent
and could persuade others ; (5) that he preached perseveringly the things con
cerning Jesus ; (6) that he knew about Jesus only through the work of John
the Baptist ; (7) that Priscilla and Aquila taught him the whole gospel of
Christ ; (8) that he went from Ephesus to Achaia and preached Christ at
Corinth. Mighty in the Scriptures. Alexandria possessed famous Jewish schools
in which the Old Testament was studied and expounded ; Apollos had been
trained there.
25. And being fervent, etc. And being fervent in spirit, he spake and
taught carefully the things concerning Jesus. These things were — that John
baptized in preparation for the coming of the kingdom ; that he had pointed
out the Messiah, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world ;
that he had baptized the Messiah ; and that this Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth.
He saw in Jesus the founder of a glorified Judaism. He knew only the
baptism of John, and consequently did not know of the baptism by water in
the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the baptism by the Holy Spirit
and the descent at Pentecost, of the atoning death and the forgiveness of sins
through the blood of Christ.

92 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XVIII. 26.
the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
u6 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue; whom
when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto
them, and expounded unto him the way of God more per-
27 fectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the
brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him : who,
when he was come, helped them much which had believed
28 through grace : for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that
publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Chap. XIX. 1. And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at
Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came
2 to Ephesus : and finding certain disciples, he said unto them,
Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? And
they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether
3 there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto
what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's
26. Whom when, etc. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, . . .and
txpounded unto him the way of God more carefully. God's way of fulfilling
His Old Testament promises by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of
Jesus, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
27. And when he was disposed, etc. And when he wished to pass over into
Achaia. He had been trained in Alexandria, a second Athens, and' Greece
was the natural sphere of his work ; he laboured chiefly at Corinth, and came
to be regarded there as an apostle of equal authority with Paul. Strong party
feeling arose in the Church there, which he did his best to suppress (I Cor.
L 12 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 12).
The brethren wrote, etc. The brethren encouraged him and wrote to tht
disciples. They sent a letter of commendation (2 Cor. iii. 1-3) introducing
him to the Corinthian Christians.
Who when he was come, etc. And when he was come he helped much
through grace them which had believed. God's grace was with him, the Divine
letter of commendation.
28. Mightily convinced, etc. For he mightily confuted the Jews, showing
publicly by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
v. — Paul's third missionary journey, xviii. 23, xix. i-xxi. 14.
I. At Ephesus, xix. 1-41.
(a) Paul completing the work of Apollos, 1-12.
XIX. 1. Upper coasts, upper country, the central tableland of Lycaonia,
Phrygia, and Galatia.
To Ephesus. Compare xviii. 21.
*. He said, etc. This verse is obscured by mistranslation. It should read,
And he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed? And
they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost
was given. They had never heard of the gift at Pentecost ; they must have
heard of the Holy Ghost (Matt. iii. 11 ; John i. 33).

xix. 3.] paul's third missionary journey.

93

94 the acts of the apostles. [xix. 4.
4 baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the
baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they
should believe on him which should come after him, that is,
5 on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized
6 in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his
hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them.; and they
7 spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were
8 about twelve. And he went into the synagogue, and spake
boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuad-
9 ing the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when
divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that
4. Baptism of repentance, Matt. iii. 2. These disciples knew (1) that John
had spoken of One who was to come; (2) had called men to repentance ; and
(3) had sealed the calling with baptism (Matt. iii. 11). They did not know
(1) the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, and afterwards (2) the formation of the
Church and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, (3) the baptism for the
remission of sins in the name of Jesus (Acts ii. 38).
Saying unto the people. " The demand for faith makes the difference
between the preaching of Christ and the preaching of John. The latter said,
' Prepare by repentance for the coming King ; ' Christ says (and John also
spake of this), ' Believe on Me, for I am He that should come ' " (Lumby).
Paul pointed out to them that the gospel of Christ was the completion of
the gospel of John, and that baptism in the name of Jesus was required
to complete John's baptism of repentance. This is the latest mention of
John the Baptist in the New Testament. He at last wholly gives place
to Christ.
5. When they heard this, etc. And when they heard this they were bap
tized into the name of Jesus. What they heard was that Jesus was the com
pletion of John, that John pointed to a Messiah who was Jesus. Theologians
have debated whether the baptism which followed conviction justifies the
rebaptism of Christians ; hut the text says nothing for or against the practice.
These men had never had that faith on Jesus which a sacrament of the New
Testament requires, and had never received Christian baptism.
6. The Holy Ghost. A Pentecostal outpouring foretelling the great work
for Christ about to be done in Ephesus (compare ii. I-13, iv. 31, viii.
17, etc.).
7. The men were about twelve. Luke did not know, had not been told,
or did not remember the precise number. Compare with Paul's forgetfulness,
I Cor. i. 16. Our theories of inspiration must include facts like these ; the
Bible is God's Word, and yet can say "about twelve."
8. Into the synagogue as his manner was. He spoke in the synagogue
for three months, so long as he saw that he was doing good.
9. But when divers, etc. But when divers (some) were becoming hardened,
and refused to be persuaded, speaking evil of the Way. They showed their
hardness of heart by reviling Christ, His teaching, His disciples, and Chris
tianity (the Way ; compare ix. 2).
Separated the disciples. Formed a Christian Church separate from the
synagogue, and meeting in the lecture-room of Tyrannus. Paul had done the
same thing at Corinth (xviii. 7).

xix. 15.] Paul's third missionary journey. 95
way before the multitude, he departed from them, and sepa
rated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one
10 Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years ;
so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the
11 Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And God wrought
1 2 special miracles by the hands of Paul : so that from his body
were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the
diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of
them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon
them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the
Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul
14 preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew,
15 and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit
10. Asia is proconsular Asia. See Map, p. 93. Paul must have made wide
circuits from Ephesus, and probably the seven Churches of the Apocalypse
were founded during this period. The gospel made so much progress that it
lessened the number of pilgrims to the shrine of Diana.
11. Special miracles. Note, it is God that worked the miracles through
Paul. The Greek tense indicates that this working of miracles went on
continuously for some length of time.
12. So that from his body, etc. Insomuch that unto the sick were carried
away from his body handkerchiefs or aprons (girdles), and the diseases departed
from them. Compare Matt. ix. 20, 21 ; Acts v. 15. It is not said that Paul
gave away parts of his dress, the sudaria used to wipe the sweat from the
workman's face and the semicircula or short workman's apron, in order to work
miracles by them. The text rather implies that the people manifested their
faith in the same manner as did the woman with the issue of blood, who came
in the press behind and touched the hem of Christ's garment ; and God
answered their faith as our Lord answered the woman's faith, by allowing
her to steal a cure. For God accepts faith, if it be real, even when made
imperfect by ignorance or superstition.
(b) The seven sons of Scaeva, 13-20.
13. But certain, etc. But certain also of the strolling Jews, exorcists, took
upon them to name over them, etc. In that sceptical and therefore super
stitious age professional exorcists abounded. Many of these professional
exorcists were disreputable Jews like Simon in Samaria and Elymas in Cyprus
(viii. 9, xiii. 6). Roman satirists like Juvenal note and condemn their prac
tices. It was a common practice for these vagabond Jews to charm with the
name of Jehovah, and after seeing Paul's miracles they used the name of Jesus
instead. 14. Chief of the priests, a chief priest — i.e. at the head of one of the
twenty-four courses of the house of Levi.
Which did so. They looked on Paul as one of their profession, but of a
higher order, and supposed that he had a more potent charm in the name of
Jesus than they had, and they resolved to adopt it.
15. The evil spirit answered. The demon who had taken possession of
• the man. They tried tlieir new method on a fierce demoniac and failed

96 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XIX. 1 6.
answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who
1 6 are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on
them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so
17 that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And
this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at
Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the
18 Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came,
19 and confessed, and showed their deeds. Many of them also
which used curious arts brought their books together, and
burned them before all men : and they counted the price of
20 them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily
grew the word of God and prevailed.
2 1 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit,
when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to
Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see
utterly. In the answer two different Greek words have been translated by
the one word "know." The sense can only be brought out by paraphrasing
the exclamation : The Jesus whom you invoke is One whose authority I
acknowledge ; and the Paul whom you name I recognise to be the servant or
messenger of God ; but what sort of men are ye, who have been empowered to
act as you do by neither ?
1 7. Was known to all the Jews, etc. Was known lo all, both Jews and
Greeks. Pear fell. The supernatural occurrences had a double effect : — (1) All men
felt that it was a dangerous thing to use lightly the name of Jesus, and they
were overawed. (2) Believers praised and thanked the Saviour.
18. Showed their deeds, declaring their evil practices of witchcraft, sorcery,
exorcism, which were inconsistent with Jewish law and Christian conscience.
19. Many also. And not a few of them who practised magical arts.
Ephesus was noted for its magicians or wizards, and the "Ephesian spells,"
small slips of parchment enclosed in silk bags, and covered with mysterious
characters, were well known all over the East. The more potent and rare
spells or charms were written out in books which passed from one exorcist to
another, and were sold for large sums.
Fifty thousand pieces, etc. A piece of silver was a drachma, and was the
prevalent rate of payment for a day's work of a peasant or common artisan.
The books burned were worth about ^6250.
20. So mightily grew, etc. The gospel was diffused abroad and was
powerful to produce great effects. The fear and the power and the praise all
helped it ; and above all the spirit of sacrifice helped it. When men come
forward and sacrifice some bit of self in order to be Christ's, the Word of God
will grow and prevail.
21. After these things were ended. The spirit of sacrifice had created the
Ephesian Church. It could now stand alone, Paul thought, and the care of
other Churches pressed him to go elsewhere — to Macedonia, Achaia, and Jeru
salem, then Rome. He tells us of the plan he had in 1 Cor. xvi. 1-3, 8, 9.
He wished to visit his Gentile Churches, collect contributions for the central
organization at Jerusalem, with probably the though! that in this way

xix. 25.] Paul's third missionary journey.

97

22 Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that minis
tered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself
23 stayed in Asia for a season. And the same time there arose
24 no small stir about that way. For a certain man named
Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana,
25 brought no small gain unto the craftsmen ; whom he called
together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs,
the mother Church might be brought into more sympathetic union with her
Gentile daughters. The opportunities at Ephesus were, however, too great
to be neglected, and he stayed there for some time ( 1 Cor. xvi. 8-9).
I must also see Borne. Paul had long desired to preach the gospel at
Rome (Rom. i. 13, xv. 23) : we shall see the desire growing in intensity.
(c) " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," 21-41.
22. Sent into Macedonia. For there was much cause for anxiety about
the Churches there and in Corinth. Social impurity was destroying their
Christian life (1 Cor. v. 9). Compare 2 Tim. iv. 20.
23. And the same time, etc. And about that time there arose no small stir
about the Way. The crisis did not come all at once. It took time to come
to a head. The pilgrimages had been failing for some time, and the trade in
silver shrines had been diminishing. No doubt the burning of the books of
magical charms had been more influential than anything else, but still it took
some time ere Demetrius and his fellows came to connect their losses in trade
with "the Way," as Christianity was called. Fanaticism can flare up into
persecution at once ; but it takes some time to make a man a persecutor, who
takes to that occupation because religion hurts trade. He has to make his
calculations. 24. Shrines. Models in silver, either of the great temple of Diana at
Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the world, or of the statue of the
goddess. These models were sold to the countless number of pilgrims who
thronged the temple from all parts of Asia Minor, and were taken home to be
used as charms or objects of worship.
Gain, no little business, employment by which money is made. It is the
same word which is used to denote the profit made out of the demoniac girl
by her masters (xvi. 16, 19), and the craft or trade out of which money is
made (ver. 25).
Craftsmen . . . workmen. Artists (designers or modellers) . . . artisans.
Silversmith in this verse means the master-workman. Three grades of workers
are mentioned.
25. Whom he called together, etc. Whom he assembled with the artisans
of like occupation. This was a meeting of the trades employed in the manu
facture of the silver shrines of Diana of Ephesus. In apostolic times, trades-
unions or guilds were found among almost every kind of workmen and in
every part of the Roman Empire. Inscriptions have been recovered showing
that there were trades-unions among the craftsmen of Geneva, among litter-
bearers in Wallachia, and among shoemakers in market towns in Spain.
These associations were not encouraged by the authorities, but they flourished.
The text shows how easily the workmen of a trade could be summoned to
discuss anything relating to the trade, and how formidable a disturbance they
could organize. G

98 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XIX- 2&-
26 ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye
see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost thoughout
all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much
people, saying that they be no gods which are made with
27 hands : so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set
at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess
Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be
28 destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And
when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and
29 cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And the
whole city was filled with confusion : and having caught
26. That not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia. Ephesus
had been one of the early Greek colonies, later the capital of Ionia, and in
St. Paul's day it was by far the largest and busiest of all the cities of procon
sular Asia. All the roads in Asia Minor centred in Ephesus, and from its
position it was almost as much a meeting-place of Eastern and Western thought
as was Alexandria. Its religion was Oriental. Its goddess, called Artemis or
Diana, had a Greek name, but was the representative of an old Phrygian
nature-worship. The goddess was an inartistic, many-breasted figure, the
body carved with strange figures of animals, flowers, and fruits. The temple
built by Alexander the Great was the most magnificent religious edifice in the
world. It was kept by a corporation of priests and priestesses, who were sup
ported by the rents of vast estates. For centuries Ephesus was a great centre
of pilgrimage, and pilgrims came from all parts of Asia Minor to visit the
famous shrine. The first great blow which this worship received was given
by St. Paul's two years' stay in Ephesus, and the story told in this chapter is
the history of the beginning of a decline from which the worship of Diana of
Ephesus never recovered. The speech of Demetrius perhaps exaggerates the
effect of Paul's work, but it should be remembered that the gospel took firm
hold of proconsular Asia from a very early period. Paul's Epistles tell us
of Churches in Ephesus, Laodicea, and Colosse, and the Apocalypse adds
Churches in Pergamos, Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia. Half
a century later, Pliny asserted that in this region the temples were deserted,
the worship was neglected, and the sacrificial victims were unsold.
This Paul, contemptuously of the small swarthy Jew who was at the bottom
of all the disturbance to trade.
They be no gods which are made with hands. Here Demetrius asserts
by implication that he and his trade could actually make gods. Compare
xvii. 29.
27. So that not only, etc. And not only is there danger that this our trade
come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana be made
of 110 account, and that she, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth, should
be deposed from her magnificence. Trade is injured and religion is in danger,
is what Demetrius says. Self-interest and superstition combined to make a
riot, and the city was full of tumult.
29. The whole city was filled with confusion. The silver shrine workers
raised other trades, and it was seen at once how much money would be lost
to the city if the pilgrimages ceased. Besides, there is reason to believe that
this outcry was made just after the usual pilgrimage month (May) was ended

XIX. 36.] PAUL'S THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY.

99

Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions
30 in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. And
when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the dis-
31 ciples suffered him not. And certain of the chiefs of Asia,
which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he
32 would not adventure himself into the theatre. Some there
fore cried one thing, and some another : for the assembly was
confused ; and the more part knew not wherefore they were
33 come together. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude,
the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with
the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice,
about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the
35 Ephesians. And when the town-clerk had appeased the
people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that
knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a wor
shipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which
36 fell down from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things cannot
when the lodging-house keepers, the shopkeepers, etc., were all lamenting
that fewer pilgrims than usual had come to Ephesus.
Aristarchus was from Thessalonica (xx. 4); he was one of St. Paul's com
panions in his voyage to Rome (xxvii. 2), and is mentioned in the Epistles to
the Colossians (iv. 10) and to Philemon (ver. 24). Nothing further is known
of Gaius.
Into the theatre, a favourite place for public meeting. It had a wide open
area, and could hold 25,000 people.
31. Chief of Asia. Translate — And certain also of the chief officers of Asia
(Asiarchs), being his friends. The Asiarchs, wealthy citizens of the various
cities of proconsular Asia who were annually elected to preside over the games
and religious festivals. That some of these men were friends of Paul shows
what a hold his preaching had taken on the people of Ephesus.
32. Was confused. Was in confusion; a great mob of people, full of panic
and noise, and not knowing what it was all about.
33. They drew Alexander, etc. Verses 33, 34 imply that the Jews were
anxious to appease the multitude by showing that they had no connection
with the Christians, that they put forward Alexander to say so, that the sight
of his Jewish face excited the mob and brought on the Jews what they
wished to avoid. It has been suggested that Alexander here mentioned
was Alexander the coppersmith (2 Tim. iv. 14), that he had a trade con
nection with Demetrius the master modeller in silver, that the Jews were in
league with Demetrius to excite the people against the Christians, by charging
the.n with being robbers of temples.
35. Town-clerk. Ephesus was a " free " city, governed by a popular
assembly and by magistrates. The chief magistrate was called grammateus,
which is translated town-clerk, but ought to be provost or mayor.
Had appeased the people, had quieted hy his presence.
36. Cannot be spoken against. Cannot be gainsaid. The reasoning of

IOO THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [-XIX. 37.
be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing
37 rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, which are
neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your
38 goddess. Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which
are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open,
39 and there are deputies : let them implead one another. But
if ye inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be
40 determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be
called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause
41 whereby we may give an account of this concourse. And
when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
Chap. XX 1. And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto
him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go
the chief magistrate was : Everybody knows that the city of Ephesus worships
Diana, and that her image fell down from heaven ; these are facts which
cannot be altered by speech, nor made the surer by rioting ; Gaius and Aris
tarchus are not criminals, robbers of temples, and blasphemers of our goddess : if
Demetrius wishes to make a charge against any man, the law courts are open
and the Roman proconsuls are ready to judge in every province ; if the people
wish investigation on any matter, let it be settled in the regular assembly of
citizens which the chief magistrate can convene ; rioting such as this, for
which no reasonable excuse can be given, may make Rome take from us our
privileges as a free city.
2. Through Macedonia to Troas, xx. 1-6.
I. Paul called unto him, etc. Paul having sent for the disciples, and
exhorted them, took leave of them. The word translated "embraced" is the
same as that rendered "had taken our leave" in xxi. 6. It was a farewell
meeting and address.
Into Macedonia, etc. The order of events seems to have been : (1) Timo
theus and Erastus were sent to look after church discipline at Corinth
(xix. 22). Stephanas and others came from Corinth and returned with the
First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 17). (2) Paul meant to visit
Corinth (1 Cor. iv. 18, 19) ; instead he went to Macedonia by Troas (2 Cor.
ii. 12, 13). (3) He waited at Troas for news from Corinth, and his anxiety
told on his health (2 Cor. ii. 12, i. 8, iv. 10, 11, xii. 7). (4) In spite of
illness he pressed on to Macedonia (2 Cor. ii. 13), where he met Titus, who
brought him bad news of the state of the Corinthian Church (2 Cor. x. 10,
etc.). (5) He wrote the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and sent it by
Titus, and resolved to wait some time longer before going to Corinth, for he
wished to take a contribution from the Corinthians to Jerusalem (2 Cor. ix. 5).
(6) In Macedonia he probably visited Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi, with
perhaps a journey to Illyricum (Rom. xv. 19). (7) He went to Greece
(Corinth and Cenchrea). (8) He proposed sailing for Syria with the con
tributions of the various Churches, and with delegates who carried the money,
Sopater from Berea, Aristarchus (see note on xix. 29) and Secundus from
Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timotheus from Lystra, Tychicus and
Tiophimus from Ephesus (xxi. 29). (9) The Jews of Corinth conspired to

XX. 4-]

Paul's third missionary journey. eoi

2 into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts,
and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,
3 and there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait
for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to
4 return through Macedonia. And there accompanied him into
Asia, Sopater of Berea ; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus
and Secundus ; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus ; and of
murder Paul on his embarkation, so his friends went by ship, and he eluded
the conspirators by going by land to Philippi. (io) At Philippi he enjoyed
the Passover feast (which at a distance from Jerusalem did not include the
sacrifice of the Paschal lamb), (il) Then took ship for Troas, having Luke,
who all this time had been at Philippi, for his companion (we sailed).
2. And had given much exhortation. " We may form some idea of the
topics which would be embraced by such exhortation, if we read the two
Epistles to the Thessalonians which had been written to that Church since
Paul's former visit to Macedonia" (Lumby). If so, the exhortation would
include encouragement to stand firm in persecution ; warning that while the
jay of the Lord might be near at hand, yet God had not revealed when it
ivas to come, and that Christians, while they ought always to be ready,
should not neglect their everyday occupations ; that religion was not prolonged
excitement, but steady commonplace work for the Master ; and a vindication
of the Apostle's work against Jewish and Judaizing opponents.
3. And there abode three months, etc. And when he had spent three
months there, and a plot was laid against him by the Jems as he was about, etc.
The preceding sentence should end with "came into Greece." Paul spent
three months there, probably most of the time at Corinth. The stay was brief
because he was anxious to return to Jerusalem (ver. 16), and the Jewish plot
did not occasion his departure, but happened at the same time. The effect of
the conspiracy was to change his route, not to hasten or hinder his departure.
During these three months Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans while he
was the guest of Gaius (Rom. xvi. 23), who had been an early convert at
Corinth, and one whom Paul had himself baptized (1 Cor. i. 14), and sent it
by the hands of Phcebe, an office-bearer in the Church at Cenchrea, whom he
recommends to the Roman Christians (Rom. xvi. 1). The Epistle to the
Romans agrees with the Acts in stating that Paul was on the point of starting
for Jerusalem (xv. 25), was taking with him contributions to the Church there
(xv. 25, 26), and intended after he had visited Jerusalem to come to Rome.
When the Jews, etc. The language of the Authorized Version is too
specific : all that is said is that the Jews conspired against him ; but it may be
inferred that the conspiracy was to lie in wait to kill, as it made Paul change
his route (the word is the same as in Acts ix. 24).
As he was about to sail into Syria, etc. As he was about to set sail
(embark)_/"w Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia. The words
denote a sudden change of route at the last moment.
4. Into Asia, as far as Asia; but it is better to omit the phrase altogether,
as it is not found in the best manuscripts.
Sopater of Bercea (add as in the R. V.), the son of Pyrrhus, cannot be
identified with Sosipater of Rom. xvi. 21 ; but the names are identical.
Aristarchus. Compare note on xix. 29.
Secundus is not mentioned elsewhere.

102 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XX. 5.
5 Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. These going before tarried
6 for us at Troas. And we sailed away from Philippi after the
days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in
five days ; where we abode seven days.
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples
came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,
ready to depart on the morrow ; and continued his speech
8 until midnight And there were many lights in the upper
Gaius or Caius of Derbe, a Lycaonian, and therefore not Paul's host at
Corinth (xix. 29).
Timothy. Compare chapter xvi.
Tychicus, often mentioned by Paul, a beloved brother and faithful minister
or servant (Eph. vi. 21), who was with the Apostle at Rome, who was sent
to the Churches at Ephesus and at Colosse (Col. iv. 7), and who was with
Paul when he wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Tim. iv. 12), and when
he wrote to Titus (iii. 12).
Trophimus was an Ephesian (xxi. 29), and was with Paul in his later
journeys (2 Tim. iv. 20).
5. These going before, etc., i.e., all the seven persons mentioned. Trans
late — But these had gone before, and were waiting for us at Troas. They pro
bably went by the same route through Macedonia, but Paul lingered on the
road, possibly going to Philippi to meet Luke (who was again to be Paul's
companion), and to spend the Passover season there. Timothy, Luke, and
Paul were once more together at Troas, where the heavenly vision had made
them decide upon mission work in Europe.
3. At Troas — A Christian Sabbath, xx. 7~I2>
7. First day of the week. The seventh clay ended at six o'clock in the
evening; the Christian congregation met in an upper room on the third floor (9)
in the late evening, for many of them were slaves and had no day of rest.
A large number of dim lamps lighted the room, and made it close and warm.
The windows with wooden or lattice doors were open, and in one of them sat
a young man Eutychus. It was the usual weekly service on the Lord's day
(1 Cor. xvi. 2 ; Rev. i. 10), the day on which Jesus had risen from the dead,
and on which the Holy Spirit had descended. After reading, singing, and
prayers, Paul rose to speak. He gave a long continuous address, but pro
bably interrupted by questions and answers, going on until midnight. Then
Eutychus fell ; the people rushed down into the court-yard, Paul with them ;
the lad was taken up dead. Paul threw himself on the body (1 Kings xvii. 21),
and said that there was life in him ; then they returned to the room, and
in the very early morning the Lord's Supper was dispensed (had broken bread) ;
then the brethren partook of a love-feast {and eaten) ; and after long conversa
tion Paul left to go on board his ship. The passage is very interesting, because
it shows a Christian Sabbath service in apostolic times ; only the day began
at the close of the Jewish Sabbath, i.e. at 6 o'clock in the evening, and the
service was during the night, probably because that was the only time when
slaves could attend.
When the disciples, etc. When we were gathered together to break bread
Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart, etc.
8. And there were many lights. The scene is described with the vividneis

xx. 12.] Paul's third missionary journey. 103
9 chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat
in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being
fallen into a deep sleep : and as Paul was long preaching, he
sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and
10 was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him,
and, embracing him, said, Trouble not yourselves ; for his life
11 is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had
broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till
12 break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young
man alive, and were not a little comforted.
of an eye-witness. It recalls the upper chamber in Jerusalem, a low, long
room with only the flat roof above it. " It will be no excuse for our absenting
ourselves from religious assemblies, that the place of them is not so decent or
commodious as we would have it to be " (Matt. Henry).
9. And there sat in the window. It will be recollected that there were no
windows of glass ; and that the window here mentioned was a wooden lattice
or door, which on this occasion was set open on account of the heat. Such
windows commonly reached almost to the level of the floor, and projected out
from the wall over the interior court or over the street.
Being fallen into a deep sleep, etc. Borne down with deep sleep ; and
as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep. Again the vivid
ness of an eye-witness. Eutychus struggled against his sleep, he may have
been a slave (his name was a common slave name) at work all day ; but when
Paul went on and on, he was at last fairly overcome and fell down.
Was taken up dead. The words do not necessarily imply that Eutychus
was actually killed, but it is most probable that he was slain and that Paul
restored him to life. Note again the vividness of the description, and the
activity of Paul.
10. And Paul went down. Access to upper rooms was commonly by an
outside stair. We can imagine the sudden alarm, the rush down the stair, the
lad lying lifeless, the Apostle bending over him, taking him in his arms with
fervent prayer, the rush of recovered life, the lad left in the cool night air
with attendants, the quiet, subdued return to the upper chamber, and the
service resumed.
11. And had broken the bread. In the communion service of the early
Church the bread was not made in thin circular cakes or wafers as in the
Roman Catholic Church, nor was it cut into small squares as in some of the
Reformed Churches : a loaf was brought in — a long roll of bread — and each
piece was broken off and given to the communicant. The Apostle lays stress
on the actual breaking ("the bread " or rather " the loaf which we break,"
I Cor. x. 16) ; in our Scottish Presbyterian communion service, each member
breaks the bread before handing it to his neighbour, and we thus preserve
the original usage of breaking the bread, and at the same time set forth
the spiritual priesthood of all believers ; for every communicant breaks the
bread. And eaten. This may refer to the tasting and eating the bread in the
communion service, or it may mean, and more probably does, that an agape
or love-feast followed the communion service.
And talked a long while; better, and had talked with them a long while ;

104 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XX. 1 3.
13 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there
intending to take in Paul : for so had he appointed, mind-
14 ing himself to go afoot. And when he met with us at Assos,
13 we took him in, and came to Mitylene. And we sailed
thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the
next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium ; and
16 the next day we came to Miletus. For Paul had determined
to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in
Asia : for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at
Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
for this was not a continuation of the earlier discourse or exhortation, but
a familiar conversation upon solemn subjects such us usually accompanied
the love-feast. 4. At Miletus — Address to the elders of Ephesus, xx. 13-38.
13. And we went before to ship, etc. But we going before to the ship, set
sail for Assos, there intending to take in Paul : for so he had appointed, intend
ing himself to go by land. Assos was in Mysia on the north shore of the Gulf
of Hadramyttium. It is about 20 miles from Troas by road, and about
30 by sea. The companions of Paul took ship at Troas and went round Cape
Lectum to Assos, while Paul took the shorter road by land through groves of
oak, according to his plan of the journey. Some phrases in verses 15-17 seem
to imply that the ship was entirely at Paul's disposal, but it is more likely
to suppose that he had chosen one whose course gave him the opportunities
he required.
14. Mitylene, the beautiful capital of Lesbos, at the east end of the island.
The modern name of the town is Castro, and the whole island is now called
Metilius. 15. And we sailed, etc. And sailing from thence we came the following
day over against Chios. Chios, another beautiful island about five miles distant
from the mainland, with a roadstead, in which the Apostle and his companions
spent the night in their vessel. It is now called Scio.
And the next day, etc. And the next day we touched at Samos. Samos
is another island south of Chios. Its nearest point is about six miles from
the mainland, opposite Ephesus. The ship went between Samos and the
mainland, and Paul could see Ephesus as he sailed past it.
Tarried at Trogyllium. These words are omitted in the best MSS., and
the verse reads, And the next day we touched at Samos ; and the day after
we came to Miletus. Trogyllium is on the mainland opposite the south-east
corner of Samos ; it was the natural resting-place for a coasting vessel that
had only touched and not stopped at Samos.
Miletus had been a famous seaport in earlier days, but was in Paul's
time overshadowed by Ephesus. It was 28 miles south of Ephesus by
land, and lay near the mouth of the Meander. It was one day's sail from
Trogyllium. 16. Because he would not spend, etc. For Paul had determined to sail
past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he zcas
hastening, if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem, etc

xx. i8.] paul's third missionary journey. 105
1 7 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders
18 of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto
them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after
what manner I have been with you at all seasons. Serving
17. The elders of the church. Compare notes on vi. 3-6, xiv. 23. Had
the ship been entirely at Paul's disposal he would most likely have asked the
elders at Ephesus to meet him at Trogyllium, which is very near Ephesus.
Had he gone to Ephesus, he would probably have been compelled to stay
long in that favourite place of missionary work (I Cor. xvi. 6) ; he could not
do so, but he yearned to have some communication with the brethren.
18. He said unto them. It is almost impossible to analyze this speech,
it is so full of personality, of tremulous, sweet persuasion, (i) What was be
hind him and them — Paul's work in Ephesus and their conversion. Paul
appealed to his past life among them in all its ever-changing variety of cir
cumstance (18); he had spent it the humble slave of the Lord, his heart
sympathetic to tears, his life threatened by violence (19) ; he had spoken
what the Church at Ephesus and what each particular man needed to hear,
arid had not shrunk from saying it, however unpalatable, and however dan
gerous the consequences to himself; he had done so in public preaching, in
house-to-house visitation and in personal dealing (20) ; he had called into being
guilty memories craving forgiveness and needing deliverance, and he had laid
the hands of the helpless sinners in the hand of the Saviour (21). (2) What
was before Paul. He did not know, he was possessed by the Spirit and
compelled to go to Jerusalem. Wherever he had gone bonds and afflictions
had met him, and he felt sure that wherever he was to go the same lot awaited
him ; probably death at Jerusalem would be his fate ; it mattered not, while
life lasted he would be a witness for Jesus, if death came it would end a life
of earnest service in the Master's cause (22-24) ! ne spoke as he had spoken,
a dying man to dying men ; whatever was before him he could not be alto
gether separate from them ; he had preached the whole gospel to them, made
it and therefore himself part of their lives, and he was blameless if they did
not adhere to the truth (25 -27). (3) What was before them ? A double duty
of watchfulness ; they had to watch themselves, and to watch their fellow-
Christians whom the Holy Spirit had given in charge to them when He made
them office-bearers : it was theirs to nourish the Church for which Jesus, not
a man, but God, had died, and this death of Christ demanded from them a
service faithful to the death. The service would not be an easy one ; false
teachers would arise, even among the circle of office-bearers ; therefore let
them remember how he had laboured among them — stern words coming from
a bruised, sympathetic heart (30-31). (4) The benediction and how to profit
by it. He commends them to God, who has sent forth His gracious word of
salvation, which is able to make mature Christians out of raw converts, and
to secure that they will never fall away from the household of faith (32) ; if
they would earn the blessing they must work willingly for Christ, as Paul had
worked among them and shown them how to work, not taking nor desiring
to take money or goods from those he benefited, supporting himself and others
too by his own hand labour (33-35).
Ye know, etc. Ye yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in
Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, A strong personal
appeal, which is not made emphatic enough in the Authorized Version. He

106 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xx. 19
19 the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and
temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews :
20 and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but
have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house
21 to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
22 Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto
Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there :
23 save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that
24 bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I
appeals to their personal knowledge of what he had been from the time he
had set foot in Asia to the day he had left Ephesus, the capital of the province
which was in constant communication with all its parts.
19. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Acting as the servant or
slave of God (Rom. i. I ; Gal. i. 10 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Tit. i. 1). Tapeinophrosyne,
translated here humility, and in Phil. ii. 3 lowliness of mind, is the opposite
of " setting one's mind on high things " (Rom. xii. 16). Compare Phil. ii. 3;
Col. iii. 12 ; and I Pet. v. 5.
And with many tears, and with tears, showing intense solicitude for their
salvation. And temptations, which befell me, etc. And with trials, which befell me,
by the plots of the Jews. Many critics find in this statement evidence that
the riot headed by Demetrius and his craftsmen was really owing to a plot
of the Jews, and find collusion between Demetrius and Alexander the Jew.
Compare notes on xix. 23-33.
20. How I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, hut have
showed you. How that I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that
was profitable for salvation. Compare I Cor. x. 33.
21. Testifying, etc. Testifying to Jews and to Greeks. " The sum of those
things that are profitable, the sum of Divine wisdom is repentance and faith "
(Bengel). Some find a cross reference of pairs of words here, and make
repentance refer to the Greeks and faith to the Jews : the one are asked to
repent of their sins, and an appeal is made to their conscience ; the others are
asked to accept the Messiah, and an appeal is made to them through the
Old Testament Scriptures, but there is no need to suppose such reference.
Repentance is required of Jews as well as of Greeks (Acts ii. 38); and the
Greeks needed a Saviour as well as the Jews.
22. Bound in the spirit. The phrase means that he felt an inward
compulsion, an irresistible drawing towards Jerusalem, which controlled
his choice and compelled his journey : a necessity was laid upon him (1 Cor.
ix. 16) ; it does not imply any foreknowledge of the fate that awaited him
in Jerusalem.
23. The Holy Ghost witnesseth, etc. The Holy Ghost testifieth unto me
in every city. Luke has recorded some of these testifyings (xiii. 2, xxi. 4,
xxi. 1 1) ; but there must have been many a warning unrecorded. Compare
ix. 16.
24. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear
onto myself. The words neither count /are omitted in the be=t MSS.; but

XX. 2$.] PAUL'S THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 107
might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I
have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the
25 grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among
whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see
26 my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day,
27 that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not
2 8 shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of
either these words or others are plainly required. Better to translate it thus :
But I take account of nothing, nor do I hold my life dear unto me. The race
will last as long as life lasts, and he must not faint in the middle whatever
sufferings are in store. It is the voice of a man approaching the end of his
career. Compare it with a declaration made long afterwards, " I have fought
a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith " (2 Tim. iv.
6-8; compare Phil. ii. 17).
The ministry which I have received. Compare 2 Cor. iv. 1, v. 18 ;
1 Tim. i. 12.
To testify the gospel of the grace of God is the service or ministry to
he rendered by Paul ; to make known, as he could from inward spiritual
experience, that salvation which is God's free gift.
25. And now. The Apostle resumes the train of thought in verse 22.
Shall see my face no more. It is impossible to say whether Paul ever did
go back to Ephesus. If he was released from his Roman prison, he probably
did revisit Ephesus ; and the historical probabilities are in favour of his release.
Hut Paul is speaking under the influence of a subduing sadness, which made
him think his end was near.
26. Wherefore I take you to record. Your conscience will bear me
witness ; he challenges them to prove him unfaithful.
27. The whole counsel of God. " He who suppresses what he ought to
declare, is not pure from the blood of his hearers" (Bengel). Paul had found
great comfort in the Ephesian Church, more power to declare the "mystery
of the gospel " (Eph. iii. 4).
28. Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, in which . . .
made you bishops. The office-bearers in the Apostolic Church are variously
called elders, pastors, bishops, leaders, presidents — all these names denoting
the one office. The Holy Ghost had influenced their appointment (xiii. 2,
xiv. 23) ; and given them the gifts qualifying them for their office (1 Cor.
xii. 8).
To feed the church of God. The word translated feed means to shepherd,
and implies more the idea of government and guidance than of instruction.
The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Great discussion has arisen over this sentence : ( 1 ) whether the phrase should
be church of God, or church of the Lord ? —the weight of evidence is in
favour of " Church of God;" (2) this being so, notice {a) that in this verse
Jesus Christ is called God definitely and plainly, and (b) in such a sense that
the blood of the God-man is called the blood of God. The thought contains
the idea of redemption which Paul insists on in his Epistle to the Ephesians
(i. 14 ; compare 1 Cor. vi. 20 and I Pet. ii. 9).

Io8 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XX. 29.
29 God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter
30 in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
31 disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that,
by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one
32 night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to
build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them
33 which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver, or
34 gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands
have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were
35 with me. I have showed you all things, how that so labour
ing ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words
of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give
than to receive.
36 And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and
37 prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on
38 Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the
29. Shall grievous wolves enter in. The reference is to teachers of
dangerous doctrines, whether Judaizers or heathen theosophists such as the
Gnostics. 30. Also of your own selves, etc. And from among yourselves shall men
arise . . . to draw away the disciples from the faith. Compare 2 Tim. ii.
17, Rev. ii. 2, for the fulfilment of this warning prediction.
31. Therefore watch, etc. Wherefore watch ye, remembering. Paul sets
himself as an example to the flock.
32. The word of his grace, which is able to build you up. " The figure
was a natural one anywhere (1 Cor. iii. 10), but it would gain additional
vividness from the stately architecture of Ephesus " (Plumptre). The thought
recurs again and again in Eph. ii. 20, 21, iv. 12-16, 29. Paul had done
his work and leaves it in the hands of the Master Builder, whose gracious
promises {word of His grace) are with His Church.
And give you an inheritance, give you the inheritance; for the original
Old Testament thought of salvation was to obtain a lot or portion of ground
in Canaan, and to have secure possession of it, and these ideas have
now been expanded into a share of spiritual blessings and security for their
continuance. 33. Apparel. Portion of the wealth of Eastern nations consisted of costly
garments and ornaments. Hence the allusion to the moth and the rust
(Matt. vi. 19 ; Jas. v. 2).
34. These hands, holding them out, that all might see the marks of toil.
Compare 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12, xi. 9, xviii. 3; Philem. 17.
35. I have showed you all things. In all things I gave you an example.
The words of the Lord Jesus, etc. The only saying of Jesus not found in
the Gospels and recorded in the New Testament.
38. Should see his face no more. Paul did not contemplate revisiting

xxi. 5.] Paul's third missionary journey. 109
words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him unto the ship.
Chap. XXI. 1. And it came to pass, that after we were gotten
from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course
unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from
2 thence unto Patara : and finding a ship sailing over unto
3 Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth. Now when we had
discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into
Syria, and landed at Tyre : for there the ship was to unlade
4 her burden. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven
days : who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not
5 go up to Jerusalem. And when we had accomplished those
days, we departed and went our way ; and they all brought
us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of
the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.
Ephesus (Rom. xv. 23, 24) ; but it was plain from the Pastoral Epistles that
he revisited proconsular Asia (2 Tim. i. 15) ; Troas (2 Tim. iv. 13) ; Miletus
(2 Tim. iv. 20) ; and probably Ephesus (2 Tim. i. 18).
5. To Casarca by Tyre, xxi. 1-14.
I. After that we had, etc. When we had torn ourselves away from them.
Cos was one of the smaller islands of the Archipelago, about 40 miles from
Miletus ; it is now called Stanchio. The wind was favourable, and they came
in a straight course. Leaving this island they rounded Cape Crio, and turning
eastward arrived at
Khodes, a celebrated island at the entrance of the jEgean Sea. It was the
last Christian place to resist the advance of the Saracens.
Patara, on the mainland, the seaport of Lycia, with a celebrated oracle of
Apollo. For the places named, see Map, p. 93. The ship sailed from port
to port, probably remaining in the harbour all night. The travellers changed
ships at Patara, where they got into one bound for Phoenicia.
3. Now when we had discovered. And when we had come in sight of
Cyprus. The word is a nautical term : when we had sighted.
Syria. The name was given to the whole of the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean from Cilicia to Egypt.
4. Having found. The word implies that they had to be sought for
diligently. A little Christian community in the great seaport city of Tyre.
Among these disciples were men whom the Spirit warned of the dangers
awaiting Paul at Jerusalem ; but the Spirit drove him in spite of warnings to
the dangerous city.
Who said to Paul, and these said to Paul. There was no conflict of
spiritual guidance. Paul was compelled to go up to Jerusalem, not knowing
what should befall him ; the same compulsion urged him when he was told
what was to happen to him there, and was warned not to set foot in Jerusalem.
5. Brought us on our way, the Christian community, men, women, and
children, clinging to the Apostle to the last, and fervently praying that he
might be brought safely through the coming dangers.

no the acts of the aposti.es. [xxi. 6.
6 And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took
7 ship ; and they returned home again. And when we had
finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and
8 saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day. And
the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and
came unto Cesarea ; and we entered into the house of Philip
the evangelist, which was one of the seven ; and abode with
9 him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which
io did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there
came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
1 1 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and
bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy
Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that
owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of
12 the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and
7. Ptolemais, now Acre, the Accho of Judg. i. 31. There was a Christian
community there also, whom Paul, eager always to meet with the brethren,
visited. 8. And the next day, etc. And on the morrow we departed, whether by
land or sea is not said. The whole narrative of this voyage is that of an eye
witness. The ship left Troas on the first day of the week ; four days were
spent in the voyage to Miletus, and probably three there, three days in sailing
thence to Patara, two or three days in sailing to Tyre, seven there,, and three
thence to Cassarea. Thus Paul got to Cxsarea about ten days before the
Feast of Pentecost. The journey had been made very rapidly, for the wind
was favourable from Troas, and as the moon was full the voyage from Patara
to Tyre was made, not by coasting, but by running across the open sea. (It
was full moon at the Passover time, and the ship left Patara one month after
Passover. )
Philip the evangelist. Compare vi. 5, viii. 5-13, 26-40.
9. And the same man, etc. Now this man had four daughters, virgins,
which did preach. "These daughters, instead of resting at home, took upon
them the hard duty of publishing the message of the gospel" (Lumby). In
the Apostolic Church women were admitted into the service of ministry of the
Church. Phcebe was a deacon of the Church at Cenchrea (Rom. xvi. 1), and
Philip's daughters were regular preachers (compare note on prophets, p. 41).
Paul prohibited women preaching at Corinth (1 Cor. xiv. 34), and at Ephesus
(I Tim. ii. 12) ; but this prohibition was local, doubtless for reasons well
understood in these two cities, and cannot be looked on as a rule for all times
and places.
10. Agabus. A disciple of the same name, who had prophetic gifts, was
at Antioch and foretold the famine.
11. Bound his own hands and feet. The prophets of the Old Testament
frequently used symbolic actions. Compare Isa. xx. 3, 4; Jer. xiii. 1-11,
xxvii. 2. The prediction was precise.
12. Both we and they. Paul's travelling companions for the first time felt
their courage fail, and besought him with tears to relinquish his purpose.

XXI. 19.] AT JERUSALEM.

Ill

they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break
mine heart ? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also
14 to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And
when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will
15 of the Lord be done. And after those days we took up our
16 carriages, and went up to Jerusalem. There went with us
also certain of the disciples of Cesarea, and brought with them
one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should
1 7 lodge. And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren
1 8 received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with
19 us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when
he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God
13. Then Paul answered, etc. What do ye, weeping and breaking my
heart? They could not alter his determination ; he was under a higher guid
ance than theirs, and was ready if God willed it to die at Jerusalem (compare
Mark x. 32) ; but they could add to his burden by their lamentations.
Part III. — Paul at Rome, and the Events which brought
HIM THERE, xxi. 15-XXviii. IO.
I. — AT JERUSALEM, xxi. 15-XXui. 30.
I. Doubtful friends — The beginning of the end, xxi. 15-26.
15. Took up our carriages, packed up. Carriage meant what a man
carried, not as now what carried him.
16. Mnason, Greek form of Manasseh, a Cypriote Jew like Barnabas, who
had a house in Jerusalem, and who could lodge Paul and his company during
the crowded season of Pentecost. He had been among the first disciples.
For old read early disciple.
17. The brethren. Mnason's friends in his house. Three sets of Christians
at Jerusalem are mentioned: (1) The brethren whom Paul met privately
at the house of Mnason (17) ; (2) the elders or office-bearers of the Jerusalem
Church, present at the official reception (18) ; (3) the multitude or whole
number of Jewish Christians, both belonging to Jerusalem and present there
at the Feast of Pentecost (22).
19. He declared, etc. He rehearsed one by one the things which God had
done, etc. This was the official reception ; it was felt to be specially import
ant, for all the elders were present ; and to it Paul would bring his travelling
companions, the fruit of these missionary journeys. He gave a minute account
of his missions, telling of idols forsaken, lives amended, and of the Holy Ghost
given over and over again to the Gentiles, as before to the household of Cornelius ;
he would introduce Trophimus with the others to present the generous gifts of
the Gentile Churches, and to make it plain that the Apostle had not forgotten
to teach Christian charity and reverence for the Jerusalem Church. The result
was that Paul, as before (xv. 6-29), in spite of ill reports and perhaps pre
judiced minds, won his audience over, and all the elders glorified God. But
what would the multitude think ?

112 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXL 20.
20 had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when
they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him,
Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are
2 1 which believe ; and they are all zealous of the law ; and
they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews
which are among the Gentile;; to forsake Moses, saying that
they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk
22 after the customs. What is it therefore? the multitude must
needs come together : for they will hear that thou art come.
23 Do therefore this that we say to thee : We have four men
20. How many, etc. How many thousands there are among the Jews of
them which have believed.
Zealous of the law. Zealots for the law. This does not mean that all
these believing Jews insisted on Gentile believers being circumcised or keeping
the law ; they were not necessarily Judaizers. Compare verse 21.
21. They are informed of thee. They have been informed concerning thee.
The phrase indicates that enemies of Paul had been assiduously poisoning the
minds of Jews in Jerusalem against him. The charge against Paul was, that
he had told the Jews who lived among the Gentiles not to circumcise their
children, and not to keep the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. (1) Even
if the charge had been true, it was a malicious half truth, for Paul had preached
Christ, and that was more than advising the Jews to sink down to the con
dition of Gentiles, which is what his enemies said. (2) The charge was false.
He had never taught Jews that when they became Christians they were not
to circumcise their children. He himself had circumcised Timothy (xvi. 3) ;
he had taken the Nazarite vow while in Achaia (xviii. 18) ; he had come up
for the Feast of Pentecost ; " he taught that every man, circumcised or uncir
cumcised, should accept his position with its attendant obligations (1 Cor. vii.
18-20) " (Plumptre). (3) But there is no doubt that Paul, the true follower of
Stephen, had really taught that circumcision, the seal of a covenant which was
superseded in Jesus Christ (Rom. iv. 11), had become of none effect in the
relations between man and God (Eph. ii. 14 ; 1 Cor. vii. 19 ; Gal. v. 6, vi.
15) ; and these fanatical Jews saw what the end of such teaching was sure to
be. "Fanaticism is sometimes clear-sighted in its bitterness." Compare
Introduction, pp. 25, 31-34.
22. What is it therefore? The multitude must needs come together:
for they will hear that thou art come. Omit the words, "The multitude
must needs come together for," and read : What is it therefore? 7 hey will
certainly hear that thou art come. There was no thought of calling a meeting
of all Jewish Christians.
23. Do therefore, etc. He could have no opportunity of meeting the whole
multitude of the Jews who believed, and the presbytery advises him to do
something which the whole community would certainly hear about, and which
would show them and all men that Paul did reverence the Mosaic Law and
kept its precepts.
We have four men, etc. The presbytery suggest that Paul should show
the Jews his reverence for and obedience to the Mosaic Law by taking at this
Pentecost, as he had done at his previous Pentecost visit, the Nazarite vow
and showing himself as a Nazarite. The ceremonies involved took a longer

XXI. 26.] AT JERUSALEM.

iJ3

24 which have a vow on them ; them take, and purify thyself
with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave
their heads : and all may know that those things, whereof
they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that
25 thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As
touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and
concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that
they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from
26 blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. Then Paul
time than Paul had at his disposal, but the Law permitted a man to share the
vow if he could find companions who had gone through the prescribed cere
monies, and who permitted him to join their company. This permission was
commonly granted if the new-comer paid all the fees required from the whole
company (fee to the Levite for cutting the hair, and fees for sacrifices), and
finished the vow along with the others. Four Jewish Christians were per
forming the vow, and would admit Paul to their company, provided he paid
their expenses, or was "at charges for them." Paul consented, paid the
charges, and when the last seven days of the vow began, he went with them
to live in the temple, giving the usual notice to the priest that he had joined
in regular fashion, was a sharer with the four men, and that his vow would
end with theirs — declaring the fulfilment of the days of purification. Nazarites
retired to the temple during the last period of seven days, because they could
be sure there against any accidental legal defilement.
24. Purify thyself with them. Take the Nazarite vow for the rest of the
period along with the four men.
Be at charges with them. Be at charges for them, pay all their expenses
during the thirty days of the fulfilment of the vow.
That they may shave their heads, which was done at the completion of
the vow and after all the temple dues and other expenses had been paid.
That all may know, etc. And all shall know that there is no truth in the
things whereof they have been informed concerning thee, but that thou walkest
orderly, keeping the Law. All men could see and therefore know that Paul did
not despise Jewish customs for Jews, although he and the other Apostles would
not impose them on the Gentiles.
25. As touching the Gentiles, etc. But as touching the Gentiles which
believe, we wrote giving judgment that they should keep themselves from things
sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornica
tion. The sentence should begin with But, as if in answer to some protest
from Paul about the liberty of the Gentile converts. The words that they
observe no such thing are to be omitted. The verb translated we wrote is not a
usual word, but is the word used in xv. 20, and the whole structure of the
verse implies that everything settled at the conference is to remain exactly as
it was. There is, it should be remarked, an apparent tacit extension of a
decree imposed on Gentile Christians within definite Churches to all Gentile
believers ; but the structure of the sentence involves such exact reference to
that decree, that we may conclude that Paul got the assurance that Gentile
liberty was not to be touched in any way.
26. Then Paul took the men, perhaps with some misgivings, but also with
the thought that he must not preach Christ in envy and strife (Phil. i. 15-18),
H

114 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXI. 27.
took the men, and the next day purifying himself with
them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment
of the days of purification, until that an offering should be
offered for every one of them.
27 And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews
which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred
28 up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, Men
of Israel, help : This is the man that teacheth all men every
where against the people, and the law, and this place : and
further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted
29 this holy place. (For they had seen before with him in the
that the law of love compelled him to respect the conscientious convictions ol
others (I Cor. ix. 19-23), and that his conduct, who was a Jew, could not
compromise Gentile freedom.
To signify the accomplishment, i.e. Paul told the officiating priests that
he was under Nazarite vow, that he was to keep it in fellowship with the four
men, and that the period of his vow would end with theirs, when the offering
was offered for every one of them.
2. The riot and Pauls apprehension, xxi. 27-36.
27. Jews which were of Asia. The Jews from Asia, who had come up to
the Feast of Pentecost, who had heard Paul preaching at Ephesus (28), or in
some other city of proconsular Asia, who had persecuted him in their own
district, and who had stirred up the people in Jerusalem against him, before
his arrival, with their false reports (21).
In the temple. Probably in the court of the women, i.e. in the court
beyond which women were not allowed to go, along the inner wall of which
there were small chambers in which the Nazarites used to live while fulfilling
the last seven days of their vow. This court was separated by a wall from the
court of the Gentiles, and in the wall were huge folding doors, which the Levites
shut when Paul had been dragged out (30). On the outer side of the wall were
inscriptions forbidding Gentiles to enter by the doors. One recently discovered
and deciphered runs : No man of alien race is to enter within the balustrade
and fence that goes round the temple, and if any one is taken in the act, let
him knoio that he has himself to blame for the penalty of death that follows.
28. This is the man. They seized him with the marks of his Nazarite vow
upon him (xxiv. 18), shouting the accusation against him which they had
already spread among the people (21), that he wished to make Jews mere
uncircumcised Gentiles, that he derided the Law of Moses, and further that
he had blasphemed against the temple (the accusation against our Lord,
Mark xiv. 58, and against Stephen, in which Paul himself had once joined,
Acts vi. 13). They added, either maliciously, or because their heated imagi
nation made them believe it, that he had actually profaned the temple by
bringing an Ephesian Greek into the holy place.
And further brought, etc. And moreover he brought Greeks . . . and
hath defiled this holy place, or made common this holy place.
29. For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus. For they
had before seen with him, etc. " We should be anxious, but not over anxious

XXI. 33.] THE RIOT IN THE TEMPLE. 1 15
city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul
30 had brought into the temple.) And all the city was moved,
and the people ran together : and they took Paul, and drew
him out of the temple : and forthwith the doors were shut
31 And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the
chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar :
32 who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down
unto them : and when they saw the chief captain and the
33 soldiers, they left beating of Paul. Then the chief captain
came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound
with two chains ; and demanded who he was, and what he
to keep up our intercourse with the saints, however little it may please the
wicked. Paul did not introduce Trophimus into the temple ; yet he did not
avoid him through fear of the Jews. Bigots often err in their suppositions "
(Bengel). 30. And the people ran together, etc. And there was a rush of the people,
and they laid hold on Paul, and dragged him out of the temple, lest he should
lay hold on the altar for safety, and also that the temple might not be polluted
by bloodshed.
And forthwith the doors were closed. The doors of the second court
were at once closed after the excited mob had dragged Paul through them ; for
it was the duty of the Levitical guards to prevent all disturbance within the
temple. 31, The chief captain. Herod the Great built a strong fortress, the castle
of Antonia (named after Mark Antony), on a rock on the north-west corner of
the temple area. It overlooked the temple, and was connected by two flights
of stairs with the outermost courts of the temple on the northern and western
sides. The Romans, like Herod, always kept this castle strongly garrisoned
with troops to overawe Jerusalem. At festival seasons, when Jerusalem was
thronged with excitable crowds, the garrison consisted of a cohort or band
of 1000 men, commanded by a prefect or chiliarch, called here chief captain,
who had orders to quell every attempt at rioting. The British Government
use the same precautions at the religious festival seasons in the celebrated
sacred cities of India, and to this day Turkish troops keep the peace at the
holy seasons when pilgrims throng Jerusalem. When the guard from the
tower overlooking the temple courts saw the rush of people, a man dragged
out of the court of the women and being beaten to death by an infuriated
mob, he reported to the prefect, who, mustering the soldiers, marched down
the stairs, the disciplined troops making way among the crowd. The officer
seized Paul, chained each of his arms to a soldier, and then, with the prisoner
secure in the midst, the little army tramped back upstairs into the castle, the
mob infuriated, shouting and flinging themselves on the soldiers, vainly trying to
get at their victim. Note how accurately the position of the castle, high above
the temple courts, is described by various phrases, xxi. 31 (came=went up),
32, 35, 40, xxii. 30, xxiii. 10, 15, 20.
33. Took him. The words imply a formal arrest, laid hold on him.
With two chains (compare xii. 6), as a desperate man and a criminal on
whom the mob was taking vengeance. Perhaps one who had deceived their
patriotic expectations (xxiii. 29).

Il6 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXL 34.
34 had done. And some cried one thing, some another, among
the multitude : and when he could not know the certainty for
the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
35 And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was
36 borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the
multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.
37 And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the
chief captain, May I speak unto thee ? Who said, Canst thou
38 speak Greek ? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before
these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilder-
39 ness four thousand men that were murderers ? But Paul said,
I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a
citizen of no mean city : and, I beseech thee, suffer me to
34. And some cried, etc. And some shouted one thing and some another,
among the crowd. Most of them knew neither the man's name, nor what he
had done. Compare the scene at Ephesus (xix. 32), and note that the verb
used is the same as in Luke xxiii. 21 and in Acts xii. 22.
36. Away with him. The same shout which had been heard thirty years
before, when the mob of Jerusalem yelled round Pilate's judgment-hall (Luke
xxiii. 18 ; John xix. 15).
3. Pauls speech to the crowd and what followed, xxi. 37-xxii. 29.
37. Who said, Canst, etc. Who said, Dost thou know Greek? The prefect
had seized Paul as the best means of quelling the riot ; he fancied his prisoner
a Jewish desperado, and was surprised to find him a cultured man.
38. That Egyptian. Art thou not then that Egyptian ? The Egyptian is
mentioned by Josephus, who says with his usual exaggeration that he had
30,000 followers. The insurgents had been recently met and routed by Felix
the procurator of Judea.
Madest an uproar, etc. Who a short while ago stirred up to sedition and
led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Sicarii (dagger men).
T hey went about with daggers hidden in their sleeves, and were members of a
secret patriotic league who vowed to free their country by assassination of
traitors and tyrants. The prefect hoped to get promotion by capturing such a
leader of desperadoes.
39. Suffer me to speak. Give me leave to speak. Paul yearned to speak
to his people, and in Jerusalem. That infuriated mob were possessed by the
same ignorant zeal for God which had once filled him when he led the attack
on Stephen. Could he not make them what he had become by telling them
how Jesus had revealed Himself to him? Now he had a chance. The
prefect gave permission, the chains were taken off him, and, standing on the top
of the stairs surrounded by Roman soldiers, and the great court at his feet
full of infuriated Jews, he told his own spiritual experience, praying that the
Spirit would aid him, as Peter had been helped on a former Pentecost to win
3000 Jews for Christ. He had tried before and failed (Acts ix. 29) and
lie was to fail again. It is pathetic to see what depression came over' him
at each failure, and how he had to be strengthened for other work bv
comforting vision from the Lord (Acts xxii. 17, xxiii. 11). *

xxn. 3.J Paul's speech to the jews. 117
40 speak unto the people. And when he had given hiin licence,
Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto
the people. And when there was made a great silence, he
spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
Chap. XXII. 1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence
2 which J make now unto you. (And when they heard that he
spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more
3 silence : and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a Jew,
born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at
the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God,
40. And when he had given him licence. And when he had given him
leave. The prefect must have been impressed at finding instead of an assassin
a man of culture, and granted the unusual request. Perhaps he hoped to find
some explanation of the tumult and for the attempt at murder.
In the Hebrew tongue, in the Aramaic dialect of Palestine, the language of
the common people ; the language that our Lord reverted to when He was
greatly moved (Mark v. 41, xiv. 36, xv. 34).
XXII. 1. Men, brethren, and fathers. Brethren (his kinsmen addressed
in their common mother tongue) and fathers (the members of the Sanhedrin).
He begins as Stephen had begun, and in the Aramaic, while the Jews
evidently expected him to speak Greek.
3. I am verily, etc. This defence is no intellectual defence of Christianity.
It is a simple statement of personal experience, in which the speaker dwells
on all the many things which gave him community of life and feeling with
those he was addressing. He was one of them, their brother, his life, and
thoughts, and deeds the very counterpart of theirs, even their murderous
frenzy had once seized on him ; but something, u miraculous power, had
crossed his path and changed his life. " Brethren and fathers, after this what
could I do, what could I have been, what could you in my place have done
or been, but what I have done and am?" That was his plea. " Having
gone down into the city, and into the wilderness, and over the sea ; having
been beaten, and stoned, and imprisoned, and having had heaped upon him
all obloquy, the Apostle ends where he had begun, by telling not the story of
another man, but the simple experience of his own soul" (Parker), (a) He
was a Jew of the Dispersion, like hundreds among his audience ; he belonged
to Jerusalem, like hundreds more, for from childhood he had lived and studied
there, old fellow-students perhaps were in the crowd. His master was Rabbi
Gamaliel, dead only five years before, of whom scribes in the audience had
said that when he died " the glory of the Law had ceased ;" he had been
instructed by him according io the strict manner of the Law of our fathers,
being a zealot for God, as they were this day (verse 3; compare Phil. iii. 5, 6).
(b) He had done as they were doing, and had gone further than they had yet
gone. He had persecuted Christians to the death, bound them and imprisoned
them. The high priest, the Sanhedrin and senate {all the estate of the elders),
could testify, for it was in their official records, that he had had their com
mission to their brethren (unbelieving Jews, yet kinsmen) to persecute in
Damascus, and bring thence to Jerusalem for punishment by imprisonment, by
scourging, brutal violence, death by stoning, all Christians he could find (ix.2,

Il8 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXII. 4.
4 as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the
death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and
5 women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and
all the estate of the elders : from whom also I received letters
unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them
which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was
come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone
xxvi. 10, 11). He was one of themselves in birth, upbringing, zeal, frenzy,
when suddenly (verses 4, 5) — (c) on Damascus road, the Shekinah, or cloud of
God's presence, appeared with the noonday light as its darker background,
and he saw and heard in the midst of it, in Jehovah's place, Jesus of Nazareth
whom he was persecuting (verses 6-1 1). {d) He had been instructed in the
faith of Christ, not by a Gentile, but by Ananias, a man who kept the Law so
thoroughly that the Jews of Damascus could not but think well of him, and
this devout Jew had been the messenger ol the God of their fathers to tell him
that he must preach Christ (verses 12-16). (e) He had come to Jerusalem,
and after unsuccessful service he had gone like a devout Jew to the temple,
had come to this very place to pray for guidance, and had got it in one of
those courts ; and there it was, in the temple from Jehovah, that he had received
the command to go to the Gentiles (verses 17-21). What else could he, a
devout Jew, have done but what he had done ?
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia.
J am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia. Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, was
famous for its schools of learning, which rivalled those of Athens and Alex
andria ; it was greatly favoured by the Roman government, which freed the
inhabitants from taxation, and permitted them to govern themselves.
Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous Rabbi Hillel, and so esteemed as
a scribe, that it was said — When Gamaliel died, the glory of the Law ceased.
Compare note on v. 34.
And taught, etc. And instructed according to the strict manner of the Law
of our fathers, and being a zealot. Compare Phil. iii. 5, 6 : " Circumcised the
eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews ; as touching the Law a Pharisee ; as touching zeal, persecuting the
Church." Paul gives evidence in his Epistles of his minute .acquaintance with
the Jews' laws, customs, and usages.
4. Unto the death. Stephen's death is the only one mentioned ; but from
this verse and from xxvi. 10, "When they were put .to death, I gave my
voice against them," we see that many believers were slain in the persecution
in which Saul took part.
5. The high priest, etc. The high priest who had commissioned Paul was
not in office at this time, but the documents of his predecessor were in his
possession, and the facts were known to all the authorities of the Jewish
people. The brethren, i.e. the Jews in Damascus.
To bring them, etc. To bring them also which were there to Jerusalem in
bonds. 6. A great light, the Shekinah, the brichtness of God's presence, which
made the noonday light pale before it.

xxii. 15.] Paul's speech to the jews. 119
7 from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto
the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why
8 persecutest thou me ? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord ?
And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
9 persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the
light, and were afraid ; but they heard not the voice of him
10 that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord ? And
the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus ; and
there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed
1 1 for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of
that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me,
12 I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man
according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
13 which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto
me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I
14 looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will and see
that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
1 5 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast
10. Which are appointed thee to do. Compare ix. 15, xxvi. 16-18.
11. Could not see for the glory of that light. It was above the bright
ness of the eastern noonday sun, and it blinded Paul ; indeed, the glare of
that light never quite left the Apostle, for his eyes never recovered their old
strength. Ananias, a devout man according to the law, etc. "The historian
(ix. 10) calls Ananias a disciple ; but the Apostle, ' a devout man according to
the Law, having a good report of all the Jews who dwelt there.' Such a
description was admirably suited to his immediate object, to conciliate his
audience in every lawful way. How consistent it was with the other account
appears in xxi. 20, in the words of James : Thou seest, brethren, how many
thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous for the Law "
(Birks). 13. And stood, standing by me. Think of Paul sitting blind, and Ananias
standing there before him.
14. The God of our fathers. Another conciliatory phrase.
Hath chosen, hath appointed, hath set apart for special service.
Know his wiU, not God's will to save men, but His will about what Paul
was to do and suffer in His service. Paul very often uses the phrase will of
God. Compare especially Eph. i. 1-11.
That Just One. The Righteous One. Compare Acts iii. 14, vii. 52, with
1 John ii. I.
15. For thou shalt be a witness, as the other Apostles had been called to
be witnesses ; the word is martyr, used in its earlier sense of witnessing for.
Compare v. 20, and Rev. xvii. 6. The word was afterwards used to mean
one who had suffered death for Christ's sake.
Unto all men. Paul refrains from using the word "Gentiles" as long an
possible.

120 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, [XXII. If).
16 seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the
1 7 Lord. And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to
Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a
18 trance; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get
thee quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will not receive thy
1 9 testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that
I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed
20 on thee : and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed,
I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and
2 1 kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto
me, Depart : for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then
lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a. fellow from
16. Why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized. The Holy Ghost had
descended on him, sight had been restored, and God had so openly declared
his conversion, that baptism could follow at once. The descent of the Holy
Spirit was in his case, as in that of Cornelius, the warrant for baptism.
And wash away thy sins. Compare ii. 38; 1 Cor. vi. 11. Submit to
baptism in order to be forgiven ; for baptism is the sign of repentance and
faith, which are the conditions of salvation.
Calling on the name of the Lord, calling on His name, i.e. on the name
of the Righteous One.
17. When I was come again to Jerusalem. When I had relunud, etc.
Compare Acts ix. 26, etc., and Gal. i. 17, 18.
In the temple, for he had kept to Jewish usages.
18. Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem. He was in the city only fifteen
days ; during that period his presence and preaching had roused against him
the Jews of the Dispersion who were in the city, and the disciples had urged
him to go away ; this vision was Divine warrant for their fears.
19. Lord, they know. Lord, they themselves know. Paul pled with God
to be allowed to remain in Jerusalem to preach to the Jews. He urged that
he was a well-known man, formerly a great persecutor, and that most men
knew what a persecutor he had been ; that the testimony of such a man would
have great weight in the place where he was best known ; but God overruled
this, and had work for Paul elsewhere. The Apostle tells the vision because
he was most anxious to make it plain that his own inclination and prayer had
been to preach the gospel to his own people ; and that it had only been at
the urgent command of God that he had gone to the Gentiles.
22. Unto this word. The spell of Paul's persuasive pleading had kept
them silent and interested, but the whole scene had a fatal resemblance to
that which ended Stephen's speech. When Paul made his " noble endeavour
to make public reparation for a public sin, by a public confession in the same
place where the sin was committed," in his reference to Stephen, the crowd
may have been cut to the heart, and may have begun to gnash with their
teeth. At the mention of the hated word Gentiles, the old frenzy broke out
aggravated by the thought that Paul was out of their reach. Their cries and'

XXII. 29.] PAUL THE PRISONER. IZI
23 the earth ; for it is not fit that he should live. And as they
cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the
24 air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into
the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourg
ing; that he might know wherefore they cried so against
25 him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto
the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge
26 a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the
centurion heard tha*, he went and told the chief captain,
saying, Take heed what thou doest : for this man is a Roman.
27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me,
28 art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain
answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And
29 Paul said, But I was free - born. Then straightway they
departed from him which should have examined him : and
gestures are common to all Eastern crowds in the uncontrolled violence of
fanatical madness.
For he is not fit to live. They reproach the prefect for having rescued
Paul from their hands.
23. Cast off their clothes, etc. They threw off their outer robes or coverings
to allow room for gesticulation, threw dust at Paul (compare 2 Sam. xvi. 13),
and shouted incessantly. When peasants in Persia have a grievance, and
wish the governor to redress it, they assemble in hundreds near the gate of his
house, and there set up horrid cries, toss their garments, throw dust in the
air, and call out their demands.
24. Should be examined, tortured till he confessed ; so in verse 29. The
prefect did not understand Hebrew, and did not know what Paul had said.
He only saw that his speech had infuriated the mob again, and that in their
opinion he was a criminal worthy of death, and he thought that something
must be under it all. Matters of Jewish law he would have considered mere
trifles. 25. Bound him. And when they had tied him up with the thongs, fastened
him to a pillar with leathern thongs, as slaves were tied up by the wrist to be
scourged. 26. Take heed what thou dosst : What art thou about to do ? for this
man is a Roman. Compare note on xvi. 37, 38. It was easy to find out
whether a prisoner was deceiving, when he declared himself to be a Roman
citizen, and the punishment for such deception was death, and so both the
prefect and the centurion admitted Paul's plea at once.
28. But I was free born. But I am a Roman born. Probably Paul's
father or grandfather had been enfranchised for special services. His birth at
Tarsus did not make him a Roman citizen. During the Empire imperial
parasites and freedmen were sometimes allowed to sell the title to citizenship,
as James IV. sold patents for baronetcies, or as at a later period, posts under
Government and commissions in the army were bought and sold.
29. Which should have examined him. Which were about to cxamisu
hiin.

122 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXII. 30.
the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was
a Roman, and because he had bound him.
30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty
wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from
his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their
council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him
before them.
Chap. XXIII. 1. And Paul, earnestly beholding the council,
said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience
2 before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias
commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the
3 mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee,
thou whited wall : for sittest thou to judge me after the law,
and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?
4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?
5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high
Because he had bound him. The binding means, not securing with
chains, but tying up to the whipping-post. It was not contrary to law to
bind a Roman citizen in order to secure him for trial, and Paul remained in
chains, fastened to a soldier, while living in Rome waiting his trial before
Caesar (Acts xxviii. 20) ; but it was illegal to inflict the indignity of tying
to the whipping-post as slaves were used to be tied.
4. Paul before the Sanhedrin, xxii. 30-xxiii. 10.
30. On the morrow, etc. But on the morrow, desiring lo know the
certainty. The tribune had discovered that Paul was accused of some religious
offence, and so he summoned the Sandhedrin that he might find out what
it was, and whether it was a crime for which a Roman citizen could be
punished legally.
XXIII. 1. Earnestly beholding. Looking stedfastly — the look so often
mentioned, the look of * man who was never able to see distinctly after the
vision on the road to Damascus. He had not been in the hall since he had
sat as a member of the court twenty-two years ago.
Before God in all good conscience. One man had not lived in all good
conscience. The high priest Ananias had been so notoriously cruel and
unjust that he had been summoned to Rome for trial, and now he commanded
an attendant to smite Paul on the mouth. Paul mentions the two chief
elements in all holy living, to live as always in God's presence and for His
service, and to act conscientiously. Paul had so lived ever since his conversion
up to the time of his arrest.
3. Thou whited wall. Thou wall of mud smeared with lime to look like
stone. Compare Matt, xxiii. 27. The Tews painted their sepulchres white,
that they might be conspicuous, and that passers-by might avoid contact and
defilement. For sittest thou, etc. And sittest thou to judge me after the law? The
and brings out the inconsistency between theory and fact, " And does such a
one as thou sit lo judge according to law ? "
5. I wist not, etc. How could Paul say that he did not know that the

XXIII. 8.] PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 1 23
priest : for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler
6 of thy people. But when Paul perceived that the one part
were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the
council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee : of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am
7 called in question. And when he had so said, there arose
a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees : and
8 the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there
is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit ; but the Pharisees
speaker was the high priest? Some say (1) that Paul's weak eyes did not
allow him to distinguish the man who had spoken ; (2) that the words, I wist
not, mean " I did not sufficiently reflect." These explanations suppose that
Paul is apologizing for physical defect or for hasty indignant utterance. Those
who hold the second hypothesis point out that if Paul in his hasty indignation
acted in a manner different from his Master when in like circumstances (John
xviii. 22, 23), his answer was Christ-like. Others say (3) that Paul is
speaking in grave irony, and that the phrase means, ' ' The high priest breaking
the law ! God's high priest a tyrant and law-breaker ! I see a man in white
robes and have heard a voice ; but surely it cannot, it ought not to be the
voice of the high priest." The third explanation appears to be the best.
6. I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, etc. A son of Pharisees. He
claimed to belong to the party of the Pharisees by descent and by sympathy.
Paul never had and never could have had any sympathy with the cold-blooded
priestly aristocracy called the Sadducees ; but he had been a Pharisee, and
he knew well that it was the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead,
which he had held as a Pharisee, that had made him believe in a risen
Saviour. Men who did not believe in the resurrection could never have faith
on Jesus the Christ ; but the Pharisees might be separated from the Sadducees
and so brought to believe. " In order to secure the voice of the majority among
his judges, Paul availed himself of a method for promoting the triumph of the
truth which has oftener been employed against it — the divide et impera, in a
good sense ; in order to produce a division in the assembly, he addressed
himself to the interest for the truth which a great many of his judges acknow
ledged, and in which they really approached nearer to him than the smaller
number of those who denied it " (Neander). The declaration had its effect in
uniting the Pharisees present in his favour.
7. Dissension. The party cries were at once heard, and the Apostle was
prevented from going on with his argument for the resurrection of the dead
from the rising again of Jesus.
Between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The distinction between the
Pharisee and Sadducee had grown out of national differences dating from the
time of the captivity, partly social and partly religious. The Sadducees were
the Jewish sacerdotal aristocracy. In time of foreign domination their aim
was selfishly to maintain their places of power, and their right to divide
among themselves the temple dues, the great source of wealth in Palestine.
In time of independence, the primary idea of this aristocracy of priests, nobles,
and men of wealth — for the three words were in this case synonymous — was
conservatism. They aimed at preserving the temple service and the written
regulations of the Mosaic Law. They did so in the spirit of a professional

124 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. XXIII. 9.
9 confess both. And there arose a great cry : and the scribes
that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We
find no evil in this man : but if a spirit or an angel hath
10 spoken to him, let us not fight against God. And when there
arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul
should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the
soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among
them, and to bring him into the castle.
n And the night following, the Lord stood by him, and said,
aristocracy, and not with the enthusiasm of religious leaders. In times of
national adversity, they had witnessed, unmoved, national degradation, and
retained their posts and emoluments ; in times of comparative prosperity, they
seemed to teach a cold Epicureanism, which limited man's existence to this
present life, and denied a resurrection and future retribution. As a natural
consequence, they were not the leaders of the people of Israel. The Jews
returned from the captivity, a nation of Puritans, who had learned to stake
their national existence on the strict observance of that Mosaic Law which
separated them from the heathen. The Pharisees, Separatists or Puritans,
became the leaders of the people in the dark days of Persian and Greek rule ;
and when Roman domination came, they were the unwavering champions of
the ceremonial separation, which was an invisible but invincible defence of the
separate national existence of the Jewish people. It is easy to see how the
gospel with its heart religion found in Sadducees and Pharisees alike its
deadly enemies ; but it is also plain that a large-hearted Pharisee, like Saul
of Tarsus, might come to believe that this gospel after all gave him the
fulfilment of his religious aspirations. The Sadducean priest-nobles saw in
the preaching of Jesus a plebeian revolt to be crushed ; the Pharisees saw in
it an overthrow of that ceremonial system which the noblest of them believed
to be the present safeguard and the future hope of the chosen people. But
the Pharisees believed in the doctrine of the Resurrection, and through that
faith Paul himself and many others had been brought to acknowledge
the Crucified and Risen Jesus of Nazareth — the Messiah foretold and
expected. 9. The scribes that were of the Pharisees' part, etc. Some of the scribes
of the Pharisees' part stood up and strove.
But if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against
God. Omit let us not fight against God, which is not found in the best
MSS. The sentence should read, And what if a spirit or an angel hath
spoken lo him ? A significant look or gesture expressed what is left unsaid ;
but the temper of these Pharisees was so like that of Gamaliel (v. 39) that
it was natural for a copyist to insert the words. Paul's discourse from the
head of the stair was bearing fruit ; he had spoken of two visions (xxii. 8, 17),
the scribes remember and quote.
10. The chief captain fearing. He was responsible for the life of a
Roman citizen, who was being struggled for in the tumultuous assembly,
one party wishing to protect him, the other to maltreat him.
5. God speaks, xxiii. n.
11. The Lord stood by him. Paul had earnestly desired to speak to his
own people and in Jerusalem. Ht had had two opportunities, and twice had

XXIIL 15.] THE PLOT TO MURDER PAUL. 1 25
Be of good cheer, Paul : for as thou hast testified of me in
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
12 And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded
together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that
they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
13 And they were more than forty which had made this
14 conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and
elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great
curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.
15 Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief
captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as
though ye would inquire something more perfectly concern-
to be rescued by Roman soldiers. After the fatigues, excitements, and weary
disappointments of the two days, the same Lord who had appeared to him by
the way (ix. 5), in the temple (xxii. 17, 18), and at Corinth (xviii. 9), now
appeared to comfort him with the promise that he would be able to fulfil one
long-cherished desire, and preach the gospel at Rome (Rom. i. 11-13, xv. 23 ;
Acts xix. 21).
So must thou bear witness also at Home. The promise was of further
service, new trials and dangers ; and yet it comforted Paul, who had been
called from the beginning to suffer (Acts ix. 16). He had longed to preach
in Rome, and had made plans to go there (xix. 21 ; Rom. i. 11-13).
6. Conspiracy of the zealots, xxiii. 12-30.
12. When it was day. The men had been plotting murder at the very
time that the Lord Jesus was supporting Paul by His promises. God maketh
the wrath of man to praise Him ; and these forty men plotting murder were
in the end to send Paul to Rome to preach the gospel there.
Bound themselves under a curse. Placed themselves under the Kherem.
The persons on whom it fell were regarded as devoted to God's anger (Josh.
vii. 1). The men were doubtless some of the desperate Sicarii.
14. And they came to the chief priests and {the) elders, i.e. to the chief
priests and those of the elders who belonged to the party of the Sadducees.
The priestly aristocracy were apparently willing to ally themselves with
desperate assassins who would rid them of their enemy and take all the danger
and opprobrium on their own shoulders. It should be remembered that
even Philo, when speaking of what ought to be done to a Jew who forsakes
his religion, says : " It is highly proper that all who have a zeal for virtue
should have a right to punish with their own hands, without delay, those who
are guilty of this crime ; not carrying them before a court of judicature, or the
council, or, in short, before any magistrate ; but that they should indulge the
abhorrence of evil, the love of God, which they entertain, by inflicting
immediate punishment on such impious apostates, regarding themselves for the
time as all things, senators, judges, praetors, Serjeants, accusers, witnesses,
the laws, the people ; so that, and hindered by nothing, they may without
fear, and with all promptitude, espouse the cause of piety." This makes it
credible that a band of assassins should propose to make the members of
the Sanhedrin their accomplices, with no fear that they would reject their aid.

126 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXIII. 16.
ing him : and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill
1 6 him. And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in
wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.
1 7 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said,
Bring this young man unto the chief captain ; for he hath
18 a certain thing to tell him. So he took him, and brought
him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called
me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto
19 thee, who hath something to say unto thee. Then the chief
captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside
privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me ?
20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou
wouldest bring down Paul to-morrow into the council, as
though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly.
2 1 But do not thou yield unto them ; for there lie in wait for
him of them more than forty men, which have bound them
selves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till
they have killed him : and now are they ready, looking for
22 a promise from thee. So the chief captain then let the young
16. Paul's sister's son. This is the only reference to Paul's family and
relatives in the Acts. In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle speaks of
kinsmen living in Rome (Rom. xvi. 7, 11). His friends here and afterwards
at Ceesarea (xxiv. 23) appear to have been able to visit him, which shows that
the authorities did not think him to be a criminal.
18. Paul the prisoner. The word used implies that the Apostle was still
in chains, bound to a soldier for safe keeping. Paul used the term frequently
(Eph. iii. 1, iv. 1 ; Philem. 9).
19. Went with him, etc. And going aside asked him privately.
21. With an oath, under a curse, as in verse 12.
Now are they ready, looking for a (the) promise from thee. They waited
the expected promise, and made ready an ambuscade by which they hoped lo
get rid of Paul without the Sanhedrin having any apparent hand in the
murder. 22. And he called unto him. Claudius Lysias, the prefect, took his
measures with military promptitude. He ordered two centurions with 200
legionaries, 200 light-armed troops, skirmishers, and 70 cavalry to escort
Paul to Caesarea. It was a large escort, but there was fear of ambuscades.
They started at 9 p.m., and after a 12 hours' march reached Antipatris,
42 miles away from the tumults of Jerusalem. The cavalry went on with
Paul to Caesarea, 26 miles farther, and the foot soldiers returned to the castle
of Antonia. The meaning of the word translated "spearmen" can only be
guessed at. It occurs only here and in two obscure writers in later Greek
literature. It means literally "graspers by the right hand," and has been
rendered (1) military lictors who had charge of prisoners; (2) spearmen or
lancers ; (3) a species of light-armed troops, because they are once mentioned
in connection with peltasts and archers.

XXIII. 30.] PAUL THE PRISONER. 127
man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou
23 hast showed these things to me. And he called unto him
two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers
to go to Cesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and
24 spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night ; and
provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring
25 him safe unto Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter
after this manner :
26 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix
27 sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews, and
should have been killed of them : then came I with an army,
and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.
28 And when I would have known the cause wherefore they
accused him, I brought him forth into their council :
29 whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law,
but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or
30 of bonds. And when it was told me how that the Jews laid
wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave com
mandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they
had against him. Farewell.
26. Claudius Lysias. Evidently a Greek, who, when he had bought
a Roman citizenship, had taken the name Claudius.
Felix, brother to Pallas, the favourite of the Emperor Claudius. The
brothers had been slaves, then freedmen, in the household of Antonia, the
mother of Claudius. The influence of Pallas obtained the procuratorship of
Judea for Felix, and shielded him from the consequences of his acts ; for he
governed, Tacitus says, " with the power of a tyrant in the temper of a
slave." He came to Judea in 51 A.D., and remained till 60 A.D. Suetonius
says that he married three queens — (1) Drusilla of Mauritania; (2) Drusilla,
sister of Agrippa II. (compare Table of Herod family, p. 39) ; (3) a third
princess whose name is not mentioned.
27. Having understood that he was a Roman, having learned, etc.
Claudius Lysias is careful to conceal that he did not know that Paul was a
Roman until he had tied him up for scourging ; he makes it appear as if he
originally interfered on behalf of a Roman citizen. Meyer considers this
deviation from truth to be a convincing proof of the genuineness of the letter.
29. Accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing worthy of
death or of bonds. Notice the Roman contempt for the religious dispute
of a subject race, and the Roman anxiety for justice according to law ; the
prefect asserts that Paul was innocent of offences great or small.
30. And when it was told me, etc. And when it was shown to me that
there would be a plot against the man, I sent him straightway to thee. Every
officer reporting a prisoner had to state in formal letter the accusation : Lysiaa
had no crime to charge against Paul, but the determined attempts on the past
of the Jews to murder the Apostle seemed to call for inquiry,

128 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXIII. 31.
31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul,
32 and brought him by night to Antipatris. On the morrow
they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the
33 castle : who, when they came to Cesarea, and delivered the
epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him.
34 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what
province he was. And when he understood that he was
35 of Cilicia ; 1 will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are
also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's
judgment-hall.
Chap. XXIV. i. And after five days Ananias the high priest
descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named
2 Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. And
when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him,
saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that
very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,
3 we accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with
II.  AT OESAREA — PAUL A PRISONER, Xxiii. 31-XXVl. 32.
I. Sent to Ca-sarea, xxiii. 31—35.
31. Antipatris, formerly Capharsaba (modern name Kefr Saba), but rebuilt
by Herod the Great, and called by him Antipatris in memory of his father
Antipater. It lay in a well-watered, well-wooded portion of the valley of
Sharon, and was connected with Jerusalem by a well-paved Roman road.
34. And when the governor had read the letter. And when he had read it.
He asked of what province he was, to ascertain whether he had jurisdiction,
for the case was one he would in all probability have gladly avoided. Cilicia
had been attached during an earlier procuratorship to Syria, and perhaps was
so in the time of Felix : at all events the procurator at once decided to hear
the case.
35. Herod's judgment-hall. Herod's palace. The word is pratorium.
It was either the building in which Felix himself lived, or was quite near
to it (xxiv. 23). Paul was under honourable restraint, "a Roman and
uncondemned." *.. Pauls accusers before Felix, xxiv. 1-9.
XXIV. I. After five days. After Paul's leaving Jerusalem.
Ananias . . . with the elders, with certain elders, of the Sadducean party.
TertuUus was probably a Roman advocate, who, like many in those days,
went to the provinces to train himself by practising in provincial courts for
work at Rome.
Who informed the governor, i.e. stated formally the charge which the
Sadducees had to bring against Paul.
2. And when he was called forth. Omit forth. We say " when the case
was called."
To accuse him. The speech contains (1) an introduction flattering Felix
and (2) a general accusation of imrr.irality (a pestilent fellow), combined with
three distinct grave charges {a) rebellion or sedition not confined to Palestine

XXIV. 10.] PAUL BEFORE FELIX.

129

4 all thankfulness. Notwithstanding, that I be not further
tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of
5 thy clemency a few words. For we have found this man a
pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews
throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the
6 Nazarenes: who also hath gone about to profane the temple ;
whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.
7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great
8 violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his
accusers to come unto thee : by examining of whom thyself
mayest take knowledge of all these things whereof we accuse
9 him. And the Jews also assented, saying that these things
were so.
10 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto
him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast
been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more
(the tumults at Thessalonica, xvii. 6, and at Ephesus, xix. 28, would probably
be cited). {b) Heresy, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes (xviii. 13).
(c) Sacrilege, profaning the temple (xxi. 28, 29).
Seeing that by thee we enjoy, etc. Seeing that by thee we enjoy much
peace, and by thy wise foresight (a word used to denote the care of an
emperor, and therefore gross flattery), evils are corrected for this nation, we
acknowledge it in all ways and in all places. . . . Felix had quelled several
insurrections, but always with bloodthirsty severity.
5. Nazarenes. This is the first use of the word to denote by way of re
proach the followers of Jesus Christ. It had been used of Jesus (Matt. ii. 23).
The name is still used by Jews and Mohammedans.
6. According to our law. Tertullus represents the riot as a legal seizure
and judgment of Paul according to Jewish law. The Revised Version omits
the last clause of the 6th and the whole of the 7th verse, and reads, " who
moreover assayed to profane the temple : on whom also we laid hold : from whom
thou wilt be able, by examining him thyself, etc.
8. By examining of whom, etc. From whom thou will be able, by examin
ing him, thyself to take knowledge . . . Whom may be Paul, but more
probably is Claudius Lysias. Compare verse 22.
3. Paul's first defence ; still a prisoner, xxiv. 10-27.
10. Forasmuch as I know, etc. Paul's defence is as follows : — 1st.
Sedition, (a) Felix had been procurator for seven years, was well acquainted
with all the seditions, an-'J from personal knowledge could say that Paul had
not been engaged in any of the insurrections (10) ; {b) he had only been
twelve days in Palestine, or at least in Jerusalem, five of which he had spent
in Roman custody, and had not had time, even if he had been so disposed,
to engage in plots against the government (11) ; (c) he had come to worship,
and had not engaged in discussion, nor gathered a crowd in synagogue nor
in city (12, 13). 2nd. Heresy. He did belong to a Way which they called a
sect (heresy). He was a Christian, one of the Way, but he v/orshipped
I

130 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xXIV. II.
1 1 cheerfully answer for myself : because that thou mayest
understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up
1 2 to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the
13 people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city : neither can
14 they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this
I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which
15 are written in the Law and in the Prophets : and have hope
toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience
Jehovah, believed in all things which are according to the Law, and which are
written in the Prophets, like his accusers, and especially in the doctrine of the
resurrection from the dead, which was a Jewish doctrine, though the Sadducees
might disown it ; he had acted conscientiously, and claimed the same tolera
tion for his way of worship as was accorded to the other sects among the
Jews ; he had come to bring alms to his nation the Jews, not to wound their
religious susceptibilities (14-17). 3rd. Sacrilege. He denies the charge ; he
was in the temple, purified, in the very act of performing a portion of Mosaic
worship, performing the ceremonies of the Nazarite vow (18). 4th. He asks
that those who had seen the offence, if any, the Jews of Asia, should be con
fronted with him (xxv. 16), or at least that his present accusers should state
and prove facts within their own knowledge, and not repeat accusations
founded on mere hearsay evidence. Their knowledge of him went no further
than that they had heard him declare his belief in the doctrine of the resur
rection from the dead.
1 1 . Twelve days — ( 1 ) arrival in Jerusalem ; (2) interview with the elders ;
(3) beginning of the seven days of purification ; (4, 5, 6, 7) the seven days
almost ended and the arrest ; (8) before the Sanhedrin ; (9) conspiracy ; sent
toCaasarea; (10) brought to Felix ; (n, 12) in the prsetorium, (13) trial on
the fifth day from leaving Jerusalem.
13. Neither can they prove, etc. Paul denied seriatim the charges brought
against him, and challenged serious formal proof.
14. After the way which they call heresy. After the Way which they
call a sect. The word translated heresy is the word translated sect in
verse 5'
Worship I, etc. Serve I the God of our fathers . The word implies more
than worship, it includes the active dedication of the whole life.
Believing all things which are in the Law and in the Prophets. The
phrase Law and Prophets means the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures,
and Paul, in making the assertion, declared that he had not forsaken the
religion of his fathers.
15. And have hope toward God, etc. Having hope toward God, which
these also themselves look for, that there should be, etc. Paul re-stated his
belief in the resurrection, affirming it to be a cardinal doctrine of the Jewish
faith from which he had never swerved. He was a more orthodox Jew lhan
Sadducees who deny the resurrection.
16. And herein do I exercise myself. His belief in the resurrection Was

XXIV. 2 2.] PAUL BEFORE FELIX. 131
17 void of offence toward God, and toward men. Now after
many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.
18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the
19 temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult : who ought
to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought
20 against me. Or else let these same here say, if they have
found any evil-doing in me, while I stood before the council,
2 1 except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among
them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in
question by you this day.
22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect
knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said,
the field in which he trained himself to live a becoming life in God's presence,
with the expectation of judgment before him. The fact of the resurrection
was to him a stern solemnity, and modified his whole life and conduct.
17. Now after many years. At least three years had elapsed since his
last visit to Jerusalem, and it had been a very brief sojourn (xviii. 22).
To bring alms to my nation. This is the only mention in the Acts of the
sums of money which Paul had been collecting from the Gentile Churches ;
but the Epistles are full of allusions (Rom. xv. 25, 26; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4;
2 Cor. viii. 1-4). The allusion is abrupt, and is made evidently to show that
a man who had been collecting sums of money to dispense among the poorer
brethren was not what the Sadducees represented him to be.
And offerings. The sacrifices specially required by the Nazarite vow
which Paul had undertaken, for they are connected in the text with the purifi
cation mentioned in the next verse.
18. Whereupon certain Jews, etc. Translate as follows : — Amidst which
(while engaged in distributing charity and in presenting offerings) they found me
purified in the temple, with no crowd, nor yet with tumult ; but there were
certain Jews from Asia, who ought to have been here. Paul pauses abruptly
after mentioning these Asiatic Jews to ask why they are not present, who
were the real beginners of the disturbance, and who now shrank from the
consequences. 19. And object, and to make accusation.
20. Or else let these same here say, etc. Or else let these men themselves
say what wrongdoing they have found. Paul's statement is that the only
occasion on which his words were ever the cause of tumult in Jerusalem, was
when he declared his belief in the resurrection. It is interesting to note how
Paul comes back again and again to this : even in his legal defences he wishes
to drive this wedge in between Pharisees and Sadducees, if by any means he
can show the Pharisee how near they are, by their belief in this doctrine, to
faith in Jesus.
Evil-doing, wrong-doing. The Sadducean accusers no doubt thought it
wrong that he had declared his belief in the resurrection, but would they dare
to accuse him in public because he held that belief? Paul desired nothing
better, for then he would have had the multitude of his nation on his side.
22. And when Felix, etc. Read, But Felix having more exact knowledge
concerning the Way (he had been long enough in Judea to know who tha

132 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xXIV. 23.
When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will
23 know the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded a
centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that
he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or
24 come unto him. And after certain days, when Felix came
with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul,
25 and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he
reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,
Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time ; when
26 I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. He hoped
also that money should have been given him ot Paul, that he
might loose him : wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and
27 communed with him. But after two years Porcius Festus
Christians were and what they believed ; compare his knowledge with the
ignorance of Festus, xxv. 19), deferred them (adjourned the case), saying, When
Lysias . . . I will determine your matter. And he gave order to the centurion
that he should be kept in charge and should have iiuiulgence, and not to forbid
any of his friends to minister unto him.
24. And after. Read, But after cei tain days Felix came with Drusilla,
his wife . . . and sent for Paul. Drusilla was the daughter of Herod
Agrippa I., and sister of Herod Agrippa II. (xxv. 13); compare Table ol
the Herod Family, p. 39. Felix had induced her, through a magician called
Simon, to desert her husband Azizus, king of Emesa, and, taking advantage
of the Roman divorce laws, had married her. Drusilla had a son by Felix, and
both mother and son perished by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
Sent for Paul. Felix was superstitious, and probably felt uneasy on hear
ing Paul's words about the resurrection of the just and the unjust : and it is
evident that Drusilla, with the curiosity of the Herods, wished to see and heat
Paul, the Roman citizen and Jewish patriot, who had become a Christian.
25. As he reasoned. Paul spoke about — (1) Righteousness, upright con
duct, and Felix had murdered a high priest, been tyrannical, taken bribes,
and been an unjust ruler ; "relying on the influence of his brother at court,
the infamous Pallas, this man acted as if he had a licence to commit every
crime with impunity" (Tacitus); (2) Temperance (self-control, including
specially continence and chastity), and Felix's unbridled passions were borne
witness to by the presence of Drusilla ; the implacable Herodias had caused
John the Baptist to be beheaded for acting as Paul was now doing; (3) The
judgment to come "upon every soul of man that worketh evil," and Felix
knew himself to be profligate, avaricious, and mean. His conscience was
awakened only to be stifled ; he trembled or rather was terrified; but it was
the terror of superstitious cowardice, not of spiritual conviction.
26. He hoped also. His meanness mastered him, and his other interviews
with Paul, full of half threats and half promises, were to extort money for
doing an unjust act. He hoped that Paul would pay liberally for his release :
he saw that he had numerous friends ; and that he had been able to bring
sums of money from abroad to Jerusalem (verse 17).
27. Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. And
desiring to gain favour with the Jews. Felix left Paul in bonds. The pro-

XXV. 4.] FESTUS PROCURATOR.

133

came into Felix' room : and Felix, willing to show the Jews a
pleasure, left Paul bound.
Chap. XXV. 1. Now when Festus was come into the province,
after three days he ascended from Cesarea to Jerusalem.
2 Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him
3 against Paul, and besought him, and desired favour against
him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in
4 the way to kill him. But Festus answered, that Paul should
curator withdrew his former indulgence, and Paul was no longer "at liberty"
(verse 23). Nero had recalled Felix in consequence of repeated complaints
made by the Jews against his tyranny, avarice, and cruelty. '1 he complainers
had a right to follow him to Rome and impeach his conduct before the
Emperor, and Felix was no doubt anxious to gain their goodwill. His policy
was unsuccessful : accusers followed him to Rome, he lost his province, but the
influence of his brother Pallas saved him from further punishment. Felix'
action was not uncommon. When Albinus, another tyrannical governor of
Judea, heard that Gessius Floras had been appointed to succeed him, he
liberated most of the state prisoners to conciliate the Jews.
Paul had been kept in prison — in libera custodia — for two years, able to see
his friends and to transact business, but confined to the pratorium. We know
nothing of his history during this period, but we may suppose that Luke was
with him, and that the Evangelist and the Apostle had repeated conversations-
together, and that out of these talks Luke constructed that portion of the Acts
of the Apostles which tells about Paul and his missionary labours. Others
believe, but with slender grounds, that Paul wrote his Epistles to the
Fphesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, and Philemon while » prisonei
at Ccesarea : they were most likely written at Rome.
4. Paul before Festus. The appeal to C&sar, xxv. I- 1 2.
XXV. 1. Festus was made procurator by the Emperor Nero in 60 A. D. , and
died two years afterwards. He was a man of better character than most of the
Roman procurators, and " had a straightforward honesty about him, which
forms a strong contrast to the mean rascality of his predecessor." Josephus
makes it evident that he was one of the best procurators ever sent out to
Judea, and had not his death intervened he might have clone something to
avert the revolt into which the Jewish people were goaded by a succession of
tyrannical rulers.
After three days he ascended, went up. He rested one day in Caesarea,
and on the third day went up to Jerusalem.
2. Then the high prie3t. And the chief priests and principal men among
the Jews (the Sadducees were the aristocratic party) laid formal charges against
Paul before the governor, begging that this case might, out of favour to them,
get speedy and special consideration. They had still their old plan to murder
Paul while on his way to trial (xxiii. 14-21).
3. And they besought him, and desired favour against him, asking a
favour against him. They laid the formal charges against Paul before Festus,
and asked as a boon to themselves, the chief men of the nation, that Paul
should be brought to Jerusalem for trial, condemnation, and punishment.
4. That Paul should be, that Paul was kept in charge at Ccesarea, Festuj

134 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXV. 5.
be kept at Cesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly
5 thither. Let them therefore, said he, which among you are
able, go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any
6 wickedness in him. And when he had tarried among them
more than ten days, he went down unto Cesarea ; and the next
day, sitting on the judgment-seat, commanded Paul to be
7 brought. And when he was come, the Jews which came
down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and
grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove;
8 while he answered for himself, Neither against the 1"-" of the
Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Cesa~iv~»^_^
9 I offended any thing at all. But Festus, willing to do the'
Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to
Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?
10 Then said Paul, I stand at Cesar's judgment-seat, where I
ought to be judged : to the Jews have I done no wrong, as
refused to alter judicial arrangements on private requests, and declared that
the case would be taken in regular fashion as Felix had left it.
5. Let them, etc. Let them therefore, saith he, which are of poiver anion £
you go down with me, and if there is anything amiss in the man let them accuse
him. Festus invited those Jews, who were invested with such official power
as warranted them in saying that they could make public complaint against an
accused person in the name of the Jewish people, to come to Csesarea and
state in public and in the usual formal way the charges against Paul which
they had made privately to him in Jerusalem.
6. More than ten days, not more than eight or ten days. The period includes
the whole time Festus spent in Jerusalem.
7. The Jews, etc. 'I'he Jews which had come doivn (in response to the
invitation of Festus) from Jerusalem, stood round about him (a multitude of the
most influential men in Palestine, against one man), bringing against him
many and grievous charges which they could not prove. The charges are not
mentioned, but what they were is evident from Paul's answer.
8. While he answered for himself, etc. While Paul said in his defence,
Neither against the law of the Jews . . . have I sinned at all. 'The charges
were the three made before P'elix — Heresy, Sacrilege, Sedition (compare xxiv.
5-21)- 9. But Festus, etc. But Festus, desiring to gain favour with the Jews. His
proposal was an informal statement that there was no case against Paul. Paul
had not committed any crime that Roman law could take cognisance of.
Festus proposed that Paul should go before the Sanhedrin to answer on the
charges of heresy and sacrilege, and that he, Festus, would see that the prisoner
got a fair trial.
10. I stand, etc. I have been and am standing before Ccesar's judgment-
seat, where I (as a Roman citizen) ought to be judged. The procurator, by his
proposal, had shown a bias in favour of his accusers, even in his own court,
which did not promise a fair trial in another court where he was not fettered
by the forms of Roman procedure.

XXV. 1 6.] PAUL AND AGRIPPA.

135

u thou very well knowest. For if I be an offender, or have
committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die :
but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me,
no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Cesar.
12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council,
answered, Hast thou appealed unto Cesar ? unto Cesar shalt
13 thou go. And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice
14 came unto Cesarea to salute Festus. And when they had
been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the
king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix;
15 about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and
the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment
16 against him. To whom I answered, It is not the manner of
the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which
is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to
answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.
II. For if, etc. If then I am a wrong-doer, and have . . . but if none of
those things is true whereof these accuse me, no man may give me up to them as
a favour. I appeal unto Casar. This right of appeal exercised by Paul was
one of the most important privileges of a Roman citizen, for it protected him
from capricious or false judgments of local judges. The prisoner did not
require to go through any lengthy legal form. He had only to utter the
word Appello, and proceedings were suspended. The local judge could neither
condemn nor acquit him ; the case was transferred to the imperial court.
12. Conferred with the council. With the legal assessors who were
appointed in all provincial courts to advise the procurators on matters of
Roman law. 5. Paul and King Agrippa, xxv. 13-xxvi. 32.
(a) Festus and Agrippa, xxv. 13-27.
13. King Agrippa and Bernice. This was Herod Agrippa II. , the son of
the man who had slain James, and who had died the horrible death in the
palace in which the procurator lived. He ruled over a very small portion of
his father's territories, the remainder had been made into the Roman province
of Judea. See Section Map, p. 93. Bernice, like Drusilla, was Agrippa's
sister. Compare Table of Herod Family, p. 39.
15. To have judgment. Asking sentence against him. The Jews had
evidently asked Felix to condemn Paul at once without fair trial ; Felix had
not assented, and yet he had not acted impartially, and he felt it ; Paul had
said that no judge could deliver him over to his accusers, and Felix repeats the
phrase in verse 16. The Jews had evidently made two proposals to Festus,
(1) which he tells here, that he should condemn and punish Paul without
trial ; (2) that he should bring Paul to Jerusalem for trial there, purposing to
themselves to have the Apostle assassinated on the road.
16. It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man. The
procurator is somewhat ostentatious in the presence of the Jewish kinglet,
and allows an undercurrent of contempt to run through his speech. The

13$ THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXV. 1 7.
17 Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on
the morrow I sat on the judgment-seat, and commanded the
18 man to be brought forth. Against whom, when the accusers
stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I
19 supposed : but had certain questions against him of their own
superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul
20 affirmed to be alive. And because I doubted of such manner
of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem,
21 and there be judged of these matters. But when Paul had
appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I
commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Cesar.
appeal to Caesar, made at a time when he had proposed to transfer a trial of a
Roman citizen from the Roman court to a. Jewish tribunal, must have made
him somewhat uneasy. The haughtiness, contempt, and uneasiness are all
apparent in the short statement. He states the law clearly and fairly, having
been before reminded by Paul of what it was : the accused is to be brought
face to face with his accusers, and allowed his answer or apologia to their
accusation or indictment.
1 7. They were come hither, they were come together here.
18. Of such things as I supposed, of such evil things as I supposed.
19. But had certain questions against him of their own superstition ot
religion. Agrippa had always shown himself zealous for the Jewish cere
monial worship, and Festus does not use a word so contemptuous as super
stition. The word is the same used by St. Paul of the Athenians (xvii. 22).
And of one Jesus. This remark shows that we have only a short abstract
of Paul's speech before the Sanhedrin or of his defence before Felix, for we
are not told that he mentioned the name of Jesus ; and yet this name and the
fact of Jesus' resurrection had made strongest lodgment in the mind of the
Roman procurator.
20. And because I doubted, etc. And I being perplexed how to inquire
concerning these things, asked, . . . But when Paul had appealed to be kept for
the decision of the Emperor. Festus had already determined the outline of his
report for the Emperor. It was difficult for him to justify his conduct in not
releasing Paul at once, and in putting the government to the expense of an
appeal to Caesar, more especially as he had, to favour the Jews, proposed a
new trial in Jerusalem. His defence to the Emperor is to be that the matter
concerned the Jewish religion, that that religion being licensed as one of the
forms under which it was lawful to worship Divinitas within the Roman
Empire and under the protection of Roman law, questions relating to it must
have place in a Roman court ; that he himself was unable to judge on a new
point which had arisen, whether this New Way (Christianity) was legal as a
form of Judaism, or was unlawful and punishable. Paul's argument before
Felix went to show that his faith was the true faith of his fathers rightly com
pleted by faith in Jesus. In later days Roman procurators would have had no
difficulty, for Christianity was declared to be unlawful, and Constantine's
recognition of our faith only amounted, at first at least, to a declaration that
it was a form under which men might legally worship Divinita:, the very
point which Festus felt himself unable to settle.

XXVI. 2.] PAUL AND AGRIPPA. 137
22 Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man
23 myself. To-morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him. And on
the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great
pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing, with the
chief captains and principal men of the city, at Festus' com-
24 mandment Paul was brought forth. And Festus said, King
Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see
this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have
dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that
25 he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he
had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself
hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him.
26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord.
Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially
before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had,
27 I might have somewhat to write. For it seemeth to me
unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the
crimes laid against him.
Chap. XXVI. i. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art per
mitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the
hand, and answered for himself:
2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall
22. I would also. I was also myself wishing (Luke xxiii. 2-1 1). The
words imply that Agrippa had heard of Paul, and that he had been anxious
for a long time lo hear and see him.
23. Chief captains, the commanders of cohorts.
24. Festus said, etc. This speech of Festus is a clear official statement of
the case, but it betrays that the procurator felt that his attempt to conciliate
the Jews at the expense of an accused man had brought him into difficulties.
His duty was to release Paul when the case had broken down. He had not
done so, Paul had appealed, and Festus had now to state to the imperial
court why he had not released Paul. He could not do this. He had to write
a clear statement of the case to Caesar, and he felt that it was unreasonable,
and might get him into difficulties at Rome, to send a prisoner and not to
be able to say what his crime was.
(b) Paul and Agrippa, xxvi. 1-32.
XXVI. 2. I think myself happy. This speech, like the address to the Jews,
is a record of personal experience. After an introduction, in which the Apostle
with frank courtesy expresses his pleasure in making a statement to one who
knew the Jewish religion, its sects of Pharisees and Sadducees, its expectations
of a Messiah, its ceremonial laws, the speech is divided into two by the
8th verse, and in each division Paul contrasts his own past with his present.
(1) a. His early life was well known ; he had been a strict Pharisee (4, 5 ;
compare xxii. 3 ; Gal. i. 14 ; Phil. iii. 5, 6) ; b. Now he stands where he is, an
accused person, because he believes that the Messiah and His kingdom, which

133 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVI. 3.
answer for myself this day before thee touching all the
3 things whereof I am accused of the Jews; especially
because f know thee to be expert in all customs and ques
tions which are among the Jews : wherefore I beseech thee
4 to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth,
which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem,
5 know all the Jews ; which knew me from the beginning,
(if they would testify,) that after the most straitest sect of
6 our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am
judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our
all his fellow-Jews are praying may come, has come. Here Agrippa may, by
look, gesture, or word, have suggested, A crucified Messiah ! and Paul have
answered, No, but a risen Redeemer ! Is it incredible that God should raise
the dead ? Hear how 1 was converted to be and believe what I now am and
hold. Then follows — (2) a. I was a determined enemy to the Christians, and
showed my enmity by persecution, imprisoning, voting death in the San
hedrin, superintending punishments in synagogues, forcing Christians to abjure
their faith, persecuting them in cities beyond Jerusalem, going to Damascus
bent on further persecution (9-12) ; but, b. This happened : he tells the story
of Jesus' appearance on the road to Damascus, of His commands and promises
(13-18) ; and what could he do but obey? c. He became a preacher of Jesus
and of His gospel of repentance in Damascus, in Jerusalem, in Judea, in
Gentile lands (19, 20). d. For this reason, because he said that the Messiah
had come, the Jews sought his life, and yet what he preached was what Moses
and the prophets had taught ; — that the Christ should suffer, should rise again,
and having risen should be the Saviour of Jew and Gentile.
In this third account of Paul's conversion notice the new incidents intro
duced : (1) It was at midday (13); (2) the light was above the brightness of
the sun (13) ; (3) it enveloped not only Paul but those who journeyed with
him (13) ; (4) the whole company fell to the earth (14) ; (5) Jesus spoke in
the Hebrew tongue ; (6) He said, It is hard for thee to kick against the goad
(14) ; and (7) a much fuller account of what Jesus said to him, and in par
ticular how He commissioned him to preach to the Gentiles (16, 18). Read
the several accounts in the Revised Version.
3. Especially because I know thee to be expert. Especially because thou
art expert. A collection of quotations from rabbinical writings has been made
by Sepp, proving that it was a tradition among the Jews that Agrippa II.
excelled in his knowledge of the Law.
4. My manner of life then from my youth up. The Apostle insists on
the fact that the Jews had known him long. He repeats the fact three times,
and each time with a new setting : " He states first, how long the Jews had
known him ; secondly, where they had known him so long ; and thirdly, what
they had known of him so long and in that place " (Hackett).
5. If they would testify ; but he has little hope now that they will bear
evidence on his behalf.
6. And now I stand and am judged. And now I stand here to be judged
for the hope, etc. His statement is that, as he was known of old as a disciple
of the strictest orthodoxy, so it was his belief in the fulfilment of an old
national hope that had brought him to the place where he now stood. Ihe

XXVI. II.] PAUL AND AGRIPPA. I39
7 fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving
God day and night, hope to come: for which hope's sake,
8 king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be
thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise
9 the dead ? I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem : and many of the saints
did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the
chief priests ; and when they were put to death, I gave my
11 voice against them. And I punished them oft in every
national ardently-expected hope was guided by a promise made by God to
the fathers that a Messianic kingdom would be established, and Paul in
preaching Jesus Christ was but telling that the old hope had come true.
7. Our twelve tribes. The ten tribes were never lost : the Jews repre
sented the twelve and not the two tribes ; Jewish rabbis could trace their
descent to the tribe of Joseph ; Anna the prophetess was of the tribe of
Asher (Luke ii. 36) ; while James addressed his Epistle to the twelve tribes in
dispersion. For which hope's sake. Paul had made the resurrection of Jesus the basis
of his gospel of the Messianic kingdom, and this had enraged the Jews. They
would not believe in that special resurrection, but had declared that Jesus was
dead when Paul affirmed him to be alive (xxv. 19).
8. Why should it be thought an incredible thing ? Why is it judged
incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead? An apostrophe introduced
into the speech, and addressed as much to the Jews as to king Agrippa, and
which prepares the way for Paul's confession of his own spiritual experience
in his conversion from unbelief to faith. If God doth raise the dead, why
should you not believe that He has raised Jesus ? and if he has raised Jesus,
has not the Crucified One become the Christ?
9. I verily thought with myself. Even I myself who now stand charged
with the faith I- now hold as if it were a crime — even I was of the same
opinion with you once, and when under this delusion it was my own personal
opinion ; — I had the self-delusion that I ought to exert myself to get the con
fession and invocation of the name of Jesus suppressed. "So great is the
power even of the erring conscience " (Bengel). " Paul did not reason himself
into Christianity by a chain of arguments, but was brought into the highest
degree of assurance in it, immediately from the highest degree of prejudice
' against it ; by which it appeared, that he was made a Christian and a preacher
by a supernatural power ; so that his conversion in such a miraculous way,
was not only to himself, but to others also, a convincing proof of the truth of
Christianity" (Matt. Henry).
10. Which thing I also, with pathetic emphasis full of mournful memories.
Were put to death. Paul gives here three new facts about the persecution
of the Christians which followed the death of Stephen. (1) Christians were
put to death ; (2) they were punished, according to Jewish custom, in the
presence of the judges who sat in the synagogues (Mark xiii. 9) ; (3) the
persecution had extended to other cities besides Jerusalem.
11. In every synagogue. Going from one to another, to all the synagogues
in Jerusalem and ferreting out Christians. The local Sanhedrin sat in the

I4O THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVI. 12.
synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme ; and, being
exceeding mad against them, I persecuted them even unto
1 2 strange cities. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus with
13 authority and commission from the chief priests, at mid-day,
O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the
brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them
14 which journeyed with ma. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in
the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?
1 5 It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said,
Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou
16 persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have
synagogues and were judges under Jewish law ; punishment was administered
in the presence of the judges, and therefore in the synagogues. Compare
Matt. x. 17, xxiii. 34 ; Mark xiii. 9.
And compelled them to blaspheme. / strove to make them blaspheme, or
I went on trying to compel them to blaspheme. The words indicate repeated
attempts, but do not say that the attempts were successful.
And being exceedingly mad against them. "The words express with
a wonderful vividness, Paul's retrospective analysis of his former state. It
was not only that he acted in ignorance (I Tim. i. 13); he might also plead
the temporary insanity of madness."
Even unto strange cities, into cities outside of Judea, perhaps in Galilee
and Samaria, and of these Luke and Paul single out Damascus, because of
the events which followed the attempt to kindle the fires of persecution there.
12. With the authority and commission. Paul was, as Bengel remarks,
the commissioner of the Jewish magistrates, with the district of Damascus
assigned to him.
1 3. Above the brightness of the sun. The light of an Eastern noonday
formed a darker background for this brilliancy of the light in which God
dwelt. 14. And when we were all fallen to the earth, in terror rather than in
reverence. I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying. / heard a voice saying
unto me.
To kick against the pricks. This is the passage in which the phrase
originally occurs. See note on ix. 5. The words are a common Roman, Greek,
and doubtless Jewish, proverb. The ordinary plough had but one handle,
and the ploughman held the plough with one hand and had in the other a
goad, six or eight feet long, which he carried horizontally, and against which
a refractory ox would kick. This is how Jesus looks down from heaven on
strong men who fancy that they are doing their own will, having their own
way, and carrying everything before them. They are like oxen unbroken to
the yoke which all must bear, and are simply punishing themselves.
15. Who art thou, Lord ? " The readiness with which ' Lord,' an expres
sion of allegiance, comes to the Apostle's lips, lends probability to the notion
that God's promptings had been working in his heart before, and that the
mad rage against the Way was an attempt to stifle them " (Lumby).
16. But arise, and stand on thy feet, for. There was no occasion for

XXVI. 20.] PAUL AND AGRIPPA. 141
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister
and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and
17 of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; deliver
ing thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom
18 now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the
20 heavenly vision : but showed first unto them of Damascus,
and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea,
alarm (verse 14) ; he was to be summoned to new and nobler work. " Christ
cast Paul down that he might humble him ; now He raises him and commands
him to be of good courage " (Calvin).
A witness, etc. A witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and
of the things wherein I will appear unto thee. These words of Jesus were
constantly in Paul's thoughts. He was an Apostle because Jesus had ap
peared to him, taught him, and commissioned him (1 Cor. ix. I, xv. 8). Paul
had other visions besides the one on Damascus road (Acts xviii. 9, xxiii. 1 1 ;
2 Cor. xii. 2). Verses 16-18 perhaps condense what Jesus said to Paul
(1) as he lay on the ground ; (2) by the mouth of Ananias ; (3) in the visioD
in the temple.
17. The Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. Paul was made Apostle
to the Gentiles by Jesus when He first revealed Himself to him.
18. To open their eyes and to turn them. To open their eyes that they may
turn. Notice that the Apostle's work was to convince and to enlighten ; it was
the work of those enlightened to repent and turn from sin ; and the result of
repentance was to be pardon and salvation through faith in Christ. Compare
note on inheritance or lot, p. 107.
19. Whereupon, i.e. after having been instructed in such a manner.
I was not disobedient. The negative is used to imply the haste with
which Paul obeyed. The service required to preach to Jews and Greeks was
promptly rendered.
20. But showed first, etc. But declared first, etc. The sentence implies
a long-continued activity, which is better brought out in the Greek, where the
verb comes after the list of places in which Paul had acted as God's messenger
or Apostle, and had delivered God's message.
Unto them of Damascus, etc. Paul rapidly summarizes his whole ministry
irom his conversion to the time when he was speaking, mentioning the places
more interesting to the king. (1) Damascus (ix. 20; Gal. i. 17); (2) Jeru
salem (ix. 29), and all the land of Judea (ix. 30), where we are told that
Paul was sent to Tarsus, and had to pass through Judea ; (3) to the Gentiles.
That they should repent, etc. The three parts of every gospel message :
(1) conviction of sin, with repentance and an honest resolve to turn from sin ;
(2) faith or turning to God and trusting unreservedly to Him ; (3) living the
life of new obedience wherein good works are the sign of living faith. It
may be that Paul put the message of the gospel in a form like that delivered
by John the Baptist, in order to attract and arrest a member of the family of
the Herods.

142 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xXVI. 2 1.
and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to
21 God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes
the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill
22 me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto
this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none
other things than those which the prophets and Moses did
23 say should come ; that Christ should suffer, and that he
should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should
show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud
voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make
21. The Jews caught me, seized me, violently and illegally.
22. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue. Having therefore
obtained the help that is from God, I stand. Divine or supernatural assistance,
for such aid was needed to rescue a man in such desperate straits. There is
the implied conviction and warning that the men in whose presence he stood
could do no more to him than God permitted them to do.
Witnessing both to small and great, to men of every rank and condition
of society, for God's grace is impartial, and his Apostle must offer it without
respect of persons.
Which the prophets and Moses, i.e. the whole of the Old Testament
Scriptures. 23. That Christ should suffer, etc. Whether the Christ is subject to suffer
ing, and whether He first, by the resurrection of the dead, should proclaim light
ioth to the people and to the Gentiles. Paul, speaking in presence of Agrippa,
and addressing himself specially to him, approaches the question of the
Messiahship of Jesus from the Jewish side and not from the Christian. The
great body of the Jews had fixed their thoughts on the glories of the Messiah's
reign to such an extent, that they could not think of the possibility of a suffering
Saviour. Hence a Christian addressing Jews had first of all to prove that
the Christ could suffer, that a suffering Messiah was a possible thing, for a
Christ crucified was a constant stumbling-block to the Jews. Paul therefore,
speaking to Jews, had to show two things — (1) that the Messiah was divinely
destined to suffer, was subject to suffering; and (2) that the Messiah having
suffered, and being the first-fruits of the resurrection from the dead, will pro
claim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. These two questions
had to be proved from Scripture, from Moses and the prophets, ere Paul could
proceed to the final proof, that Jesus of Nazareth has suffered, has risen, and
has enlightened Jew and Gentile, and therefore fulfils the Old Testament
description of the Messiah.
24. And as he thus spake. Paul was proceeding to make good his proof
from the Old Testament Scripture in what promised to be a lengthy argument,
when he was contemptuously interrupted by Festus, who had got wearied oi
the whole affair.
Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
Paul, thou art mad: thy much learning doth turn thee to madness The
Athenians had ridiculed the idea of the resurrection (xvii. -52) the'eraver
Roman thought that a man of culture and eloquence who ventured his life to
preach such a doctrine must be a. hair-brained enthusiast, and, with all the

xxvii. i.] Paul's voyage to roue. 143
25 thee mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus;
26 but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the
king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely:
for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from
27 him; for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa,
believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.
28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to
29 be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not
only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both
almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the
3 1 governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them : and
when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves,
saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death, or of bonds.
32 Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been
set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Cesar.
Chap. XXVII. 1. And when it was determined that we should
abruptness of a judge to a prisoner, he told him that he was mad. Much
learning, for although there is no evidence of learning in what has been
recorded of the speech, Paul had doubtless begun, by rapid and varied quota
tions from the Old Testament Scriptures, to prove his point.
25. But speak (forth) the words of truth and soberness. Words of truth
as opposed to the hallucinations or fancies of a diseased mind ; soberness, of
a sound mind (sophrosyne), the opposite of madness (mania). " If great and
good men who meet with rude and insolent treatment in the defence of the
gospel would learn to behave with such moderation, it would be a great
accession of strength to the Christian cause" (Doddridge).
26. Are hidden from him. Paul appeals to facts which Agrippa knew,
to the Old Testament Sc.iptures, to the life of Jesus, to His crucifixion, to His
resurrection. He is going to repeat his argument from the prophets for the
king's benefit, but is answered with disdain.
28. Almost thou persuadest. With but little persuasion thou wonldest fain
make me a Christian. As if he said, Do you think you can make me become
a Christian by your speech-making? He is like Festus, but has irony instead
of bluntness. The Roman was contemptuously ignorant ; the king con
temptuously indifferent. Neither were among the Gentiles whom Paul was
to turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God.
31. Were gone aside. The procurator, the king, and probably the
assessors (xxv. 12), conferred together, and were all of opinion that, judged by
Roman, and perhaps even judged by Jewish law, Paul ought to be acquitted.
But the appeal to Casar barred all further procedure, release as well as
condemnation. III.  THE VOYAGE TO ROME, XXVU. I-XXviii. IO.
1. Ca-sareato Crete, xxvii. 1-12.
I. Of Augustus' band. This phrase has occasioned much difficulty — A

144 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVII. 2.
sail into Italy, they delivered Paul, and certain other prisoners,
2 unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. And
entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning
to sail by the coasts of Asia ; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian
3 of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day we touched
at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave
4 him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself. And
when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus,
5 because the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed
over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a
6 city of Lycia. And there the centurion found a ship of
7 Alexandria sailing into Italy ; and he put us therein. And
centurion of the Sebaste. The probable explanation is, of a cohort cf Casarea.
Sebaste is the Greek for Ca^sarea.
2. Of Adramyttium, etc. And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium (a
town on the coast of Mysia, opposite Lesbos) which was about to sail to
places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea. This whole chapter ought to be
read in the Revised Version. Aristarchus, xix. 29, xx. 4 ; Col. iv. 10 ;
Philem. 24.
3. Courteously entreated. Paul had made a favourable impression on the
officer, as on others who had to do with him (xviii. 14, xix. 31, 37). Com
pare xv. 3. The Apostle was still a prisoner going to Rome to appear before
the Emperor ; he had Luke and Aristarchus with him, and the promise of
Christ to rely on (xxiii. 11).
4. Under Cyprus. Keeping between the mainland and Cyprus, that the
island might break the force of Ihe wind. See Map, p. 93. The course was
(1) from Ctesarea to Sidon ; (2) from Sidon, tacking in a contrary wind by the
east side of Cyprus ; (3) through the sea off the coasts of Cilicia and Pam
phylia to (4) Myra. (5) There they embarked in a large Alexandria grain
ship bound for Italy, which had apparently been driven far out of her course ;
(6) sailed tacking against the wind, making little progress till opposite Cnidus.
(7) They then gave up the attempt to beat against the wind, and turned south
to get to the south side of Crete to put that island between them and the
wind ; (8) getting safely into the Fair Havens, where Paul wished them to
winter, but which was not a sheltered harbour.
6. A ship of Alexandria, bound directly for Italy with a cargo of wheat on
board (ver. 38), a large vessel carrying 276 persons. It must have been one
of the fleet of grain ships in use to carry Egyptian wheat to Italy. They were
vessels of large size, and made regular voyages.
He put us therein, the word is a nautical term. Luke continually uses
technical terms and with great skill. Mr. Hackett remarks that he uses
not less than thirteen different verbs which agree in this, that they mark in
some way the progress of the ship, but which differ inasmuch as they
indicate its distance from the land, rate of motion, direction of wind, or some
such circumstance, and that all are nautical expressions save three.
7. When we had sailed slowly (with difficulty) many days. The prevail
ing wind was north-west, which was contrary to their course ; but it has been
shown that even an ancient ship could work slowly along from Myra to Cnidus

XXVII. II.] PAUL WARNS THE SAILORS. I45
when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come
over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed
8 under Crete, over against Salmone ; and, hardly passing it,
came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens; nigh
whereunto was the city of Lasea.
9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was
now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul
10 admonished them, and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that
this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of
1 1 the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the
centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship,
in the smooth water which lay under the lee of the shore and in the westerly
current which set in there. The word translated slowly describes this laborious
navigation. Cnidus was the name of a peninsula, and of a town on the end of it, which
(the peninsula) projected from the Carian coast, having Cos on the north and
Rhodes on the south. The town was a well-known seaport, and was devoted
to the worship of Venus or Aphrodite.
Under Crete over against Salmone. Crete is the modern Candia, and
Salmone (modern Capo Salomon) is a promontory at the eastern end of the
island. After rounding Salmone, the wind was still against them, but they
had again the advantage of a westerly current and the calm water along the
coast, sheltered by the hills of the island from the wind.
8. And hardly passing it, and with difficulty coasting along it. It means
Crete not Salmone, and the same adverb expresses the same struggle with the
same difficulties that beset the voyage from Myra to Cnidus.
The Fair Havens . . . Lasea. These places are not mentioned in classical
writings, but the names have been preserved by popular tradition, and the
identity of the places confirmed by archaeological research.
9. Now when much time was spent, i.e. from the beginning of the voyage
from Csesarea. It should be remembered that in New Testament times
voyages were only attempted at special seasons of the year. They had
expected to reach Italy before the beginning of the stormy season, and they
were still far from their destination with the stormy season begun.
The fast was already past. The Jewish day of Atonement, in that year on
the 24th of September, and the time of year was proverbially stormy in the
Mediterranean. Paul admonished. He knew the Mediterranean well, and had had experi
ence of perils in the sea, three shipwrecks and a night and a day in the deep.
He is speaking here not from Divine revelation, but simply from human
experience. Compare 22-24, 31.
10. Sirs, I perceive. The verb expresses that Paul had been thinking over
the whole matter, gone into the probabilities, and had drawn a conclusion in
an ordinary common-sense way.
With hurt and much damage, better translate with violence and much loss ;
violence or outrage of wind and waves, and as a result, the loss of property and
perhaps life.
1 1. Master, sailing-master or pilot. The more part. A consultation was
held whether they would remain in the harbour, which lay open to many
K.

146 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVII. 12.
12 more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And
because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the
more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means
they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter ; which is
an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south-west and north-
13 west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that
winds though sheltered from the north-west, or try to get to the safe harbour
of Phoenix at the western end of the island.
12. If by any means. The majority who advised the attempt to reach
Phcenix were by no means sure that it would be successful.
Phenice, better Phcenix (modern Lutro), a harbour in the south of Crete
west from the Fair Havens.
Lieth toward the south-west and north-west, lieth toward the north-east
and south-east, or down the south-west wind and down the north-west wiiui.
2. The storm and shipwreck, xxvii. 13-44.
13. And when the south wind, etc. Their course was : — (1) While in the
Fair Havens the stormy north-west wind ceased, a gentle breeze came from
the south, they set sail, meaning to steer close by the shore of Crete to the safe
harbour of Phcenix (13) ; but (2) a violent north-east wind came down on the
ship from over the hills of Crete, and they could not face it (the Greek is,
look the wind in the face), and had to go before it (14, 15) ; (3) they ran under
the shelter of Clauda, and there (16) (4) they managed to get their boat,
which had been towed after them, on board (to secure their boat) ; then they
got strong cables passed several times round the hull to strengthen the ship,
and got all the rigging that was not wanted down on deck (not strake sail but
lowered the gear) (16, 17) ; (5) the ship laboured in the gale, and they threw
overboard part of the cargo (18) ; (6) on the third day, all hands, prisoners,
soldiers, and sailors, threw overboard the heavier ship-gear (19) ; (7) the
storm still raged, no sun nor stars could be seen for the clouds, they could
not tell where they were, and no regular meals could be had (20) ; then Paul
(8) comforted them by telling them his vision (21-26) ; (9) on the fourteenth
night of the storm, the sailors, probably from the sound of breakers, thought
they were getting near the land, sounded, and found the water getting
shallower, and then cast out four anchors from the stern to prevent the ship
rushing on shore (27-29) ; (10) the sailors ran to the boat to escape, while
they left the others to their fate ; Paul interfered ; the soldiers cut the ropes,
and the boat was swept away in the darkness (31, 32); (11) Paul again
encouraged them, and got a regular meal served out to all (33-37) ; (12) then
they lightened the great ship by casting the wheat-cargo into the sea (38) ;
(13) daylight came, and they saw a bay with a beach, consulted whether they
could safely run the ship on the shore, and resolved to try (39) ; (14) they got
the mainsail up, got the rudder ready, cast off the anchors, and beached the
ship (40) ; (15) the fore part stuck fast, but the hinder part was broken by
the waves, and the 276 men were all huddled together on the fore part, the
soldiers still guarding the prisoners (41); (15) as it seemed impossible to
guard them further, the soldiers, who were required on penalty of death not
to let their prisoners escape, proposed to kill them, but the centurion would
not allow it (42, 43) ; (16) then by swimming on planks, or on rafts of broken
ship-timbers, they all got safe to land (43, 44).

XXVII. 19.] THE STORM. I47
they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed
14 close by Crete. But not long after there arose against it a
15 tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship
was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her
16 drive. And running under a certain island which is called
17 Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: which
when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the
ship ; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands,
18 strake sail, and so were driven. And we being exceedingly
tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship ;
19 and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling
14. There arose, etc. There beat down from it (Crete) a tempestuous wind
which is called Euraquilo. The word translated tempestuous is typhonic,
whence our word typhoon. Pliny says that the sudden blasts of the Mediter
ranean produce a vortex which is called a typhoon.
15. And could not bear up into the wind. And could iwt face the wind,
or could not look the wind in the eye.
We let her drive. We gave way to it, and were driven. All attempts to
guide the ship were abandoned, and it was carried helplessly whither the wind
drove it.
16. A certain island which is called Clauda or Cauda, now Gozzo ; it
lies about 23 miles to the south-west of Crete.
We had much work to come by the boat. We were able with difficulty to
secure the boat. In the ships of the ancients the boat was usually towed
behind, and it was a well-known difficulty to get it on board in a storm ; and
from the use of the word we, it appears that the passengers as well as the
sailors helped.
17. Which when they had taken up, etc. And when they had hoisted it
up, they used helps undergirding the ship. The helps were strong flat cables
called hypozomata, which were passed round the hull of the ship in four or five
turns to support it in a great storm, or otherwise when in danger. All ancient
ships carried these cables. In modern times the practice is rare, but it was
common enough to require a special word to denote the process, " to frap. "
Lest they should fall into the quicksand. Lest they should be cast on the
Syrtis. The Greater and Lesser Syrtis on the north coast of Africa, the one
west of Cyrene, the other nearer Carthage ; they were the dread of Mediter
ranean sailors in Roman times. The verse does not imply that the ship was
then near the Syrtis. It is the Greater Syrtis that is here meant.
Strake sail. Lowered the gear or heavy upper spars and rigging.
18. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest. And as we
laboured exceedingly with the storm.
They lightened the ship. They began to throw the freight overboard. The
phrase is nautical, to denote lightening a labouring ship by throwing over
board part of the cargo. "See what the wealth of this world is ; how much
soever it is courted as a blessing, the time may come when it will be a burden,
not only too heavy to be carried safe of itself, but heavy enough to sink him
that has it. Riches are often kept by the owners thereof to their hurt, and
parted with to their good " (Matt. Henry).
19. We cast out with our own hands. They cast out with their oivn hands.

I48 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVII. 20.
20 of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days
appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we
should be saved was then taken away.
21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of
them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and
not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and
22 loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer : for there
shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.
23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I
24 am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul ; thou must be
brought before Cesar : and, lo, God hath given thee all them
It was a work that only sailors could do. The danger resulted from the im
perfect naval construction of the times, which made foundering from loosened
timbers a peril to which.all seafarers were exposed in a storm. Ships which had
weathered storms sometimes went down suddenly afterwards, in consequence
of damages received during the gale. This must have happened to Paul in
one of his voyages, when he was " a day and a night in the deep " (2 Cor. xi. 25).
20. And when neither sun nor stars, etc. And when neither stilt nor
stars shone upon us for many days. These ancient ships had no compasses,
and the sun and stars were their only guides when they were out of sight of
land. 21. After long abstinence. When they had been long without food. Had
no regular meals.
Paul stood forth. Paul interfered four times, twice unsuccessfully and
twice successfully ; twice speaking from his own ordinary experience and
native sense, twice to tell his vision which promised them all safety in the end.
Compare verses 10, 21-26, 31, 33-35. He, a prisoner, had advised wintering
at the Fair Havens, and although his advice was rejected ic was discussed
(io); in the midst of the storm he alone was calm, able to encourage his
companions by his message from God, and to insist that they will not give
way to despair, but keep up their strength for what is before them (21-26) ;
he alone seems to have had the presence of mind to prevent the escape of the
sailors (31) ; and on the terrible night when they heard breakers near them,
when all were worn out with fatigue and want of food, when all were in
despair, he heartened them, got food served, and prepared them all for a final
effort when day should come (33-36).
23. Whom I serve. Paul was a servant of God, in His hands, and so he
was cheerful when others were disturbed ; trustful, for he believed God's
promise (25) ; sympathizing, for the Lord Jesus had died for these soldiers
and sailors as well as for him, and courageous to confess God (an angel of the
God whose I am (23) . . . gave thanks to God in presence of them all (35)).
24. God hath given thee. God hath granted thee. Paul had been praying
for himself and for his companions, and he had got his twofold request. He
was to stand before Caesar, and therefore was to be brought safely through
present danger, and in answer to his prayers his companions were to be saved
for his sake. " It is easier for many bad men to be saved with a few godly
ones, than for one good man to perish with many bad. The world resembles
this ship " (Bengel). Seek souls and they shall be given thee beyond thine
expectation.

XXVII. 31.] DRAWING NEAR LAND. I49
25 that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer : for I
26 believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit
27 we must be cast upon a certain island. But when the
fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in
Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew
28 near to some country ; and sounded, and found // twenty
fathoms : and when they had gone a little farther, they
29 sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing
lest they should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors
30 out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the shipmen
were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the
boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have
31 cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion
25. Be of good cheer : for I believe God. Faith made Paul both captain
and pilot of the ship ; and as courage is infectious, Paul's words and example
infused new courage into their despairing hearts.
26. When the fourteenth night was come, from their leaving the Fair
Havens. 27. Adria was a name given to the wide sweep of the Mediterranean lying
between Greece, Italy, and Africa. The name is now confined to the Gull
Df Venice.
The shipmen deemed, etc. The sailors surmised that they were drawing
near to some country, probably from the noise of breakers.
28. And they sounded. It is said that the rate of decrease is found off the
shore of St. Paul's Bay in Malta.
29. Then fearing lest they should have fallen upon rocks. And
fearing lest haply we should be cast ashore on rocky ground.
They cast four anchors out of the stern. To anchor safely on a lee
shore requires an anchorage ground of extraordinary tenacity. It is interesting
to know that the anchorage in St. Paul's Bay, Malta, is described in The
Sailing Directions as follows : — "The harbour of St. Paul is open to easterly
and north-east winds. It is, notwithstanding, safe for small ships, the ground
generally being very good ; and while the cables hold, there is no danger, as
the anchors will never start." The English war-ships were anchored from the
stern at the battle of Copenhagen, and it is said that Lord Nelson declared
after the battle that he had been led to adopt that unusual plan because he
had been reading the 27th chapter of the Acts, which had suggested the
idea to him.
30. And as the shipmen, etc. Translate : And as the sailors were seeking
to flee out of the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea under colour as
though they 'would lay out anchors from the foreship or prow. They would
have been allowed to desert the helpless passengers had not Paul seen their
design. 31. Ye cannot be saved. God had promised Paul that all should be saved,
but man had to do his share to make the promise come true. " Duty is ours,
events are God's ; and we do not trust God but tempt Him, when we say we
put ourselves under His protection and do not use the means, such as arc
within our power, for oui own preservation " (Matt. Henry).

I50 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [xXVII. 32.
and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot
32 be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat,
33 and let her fall off. And while the day was coming on,
Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the
fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting,
34 having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some
meat; for this is for your health : for there shall not an hair
33 fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus
spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of
36 them all ; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then
were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and
38 sixteen souls. And when they had eaten enough, they
39 lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. And
when it was day, they knew not the land ; but they discovered
33. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them. When day
light came there was hard work before them all, and Paul knew that strength must
be supported and husbanded for the severe strain that had to be undergone ;
a meal eaten together would also hearten them, and they had had no regulai
food for many days.
That ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
That ye wait and continue fasting, having, etc. " Weak and trembling
Christians, that give way to doubts and fears about their spiritual state, con
tinue fasting from the Lord's Supper, and fasting from Divine consolations,
and then complain they cannot go on in their spiritual work and warfare . . .
if they would feed and feast, as they ought, upon the provision Christ has
made for them, they would be strengthened, and it would be for their souls'
health and salvation " (Matt. Henry).
34. Take some meat : for this is for your health. Take some food : for this
is for your safety. Paul promises them that they shall all be saved alive, but
they must work for their lives, and to work they must be hearty and strong.
What a leader of men Paul appears I A captive going to judgment, he
naturally becomes the heart and soul of the company when they have
abandoned themselves to listless despair.
35. He took bread, and gave thanks. These words used on another
occasion would imply that Paul dispensed the Lord's Supper ; here they seem
to mean that Luke and others felt the common meal, in all the circumstances
of terror and hope, made a thanksgiving service by Paul's prayer. He ate in
presence of them all, to put heart into the despairing crew who had just been
prevented deserting the ship.
38. When they had eaten enough. W/ien they were filled with food. They
at once began to work, sailors, soldiers, and prisoners, to lighten the ship by
throwing the cargo overboard.
39. They discovered a certain creek with a shore. They perceived a
certain bay with a beach, such a sandy beach as would suit them to run the ship
ashore ; for the coast, it is evident from the narrative, was for the most part
unsafe for such an attempt.
Into the which they were minded, etc. Translate : Aiul they took counsel

XXVII. 44.] ALL SAFE ON LAND. 151
a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded,
40 if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And when they had
taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea,
and loosed the rudder-bands, and hoised up the main-sail to
41 the wind, and made toward shore. And falling into a place
where two seas met, they ran the ship aground : and the fore
part stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part
42 was broken with the violence of the waves. And the soldiers'
counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim
43 out and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul,
kept them from their purpose ; and commanded that they
which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and
44 get to land : and the rest, some on boards, and some on
broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they
escaped all safe to land.
whether they could drive the ship upon it (or they could bring the ship safe to
shore). And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time
loosing the bands of the rudders ; and. hoisting up the fore-sail to the wind, they
made for the beach. But lighting on a place . . .
40. Loosed the rudder-bands. Ancient ships had two rudders, great
broad-bladed oars, which were fastened to the sides of the stern by ropes in
such way that they could be easily worked. The rudders had been got on
deck and secured while the anchors were out ; now they were made ready
again for use.
The main-sail. The„Greek word was used to denote the largest sail, which
corresponded to the modern fore-sail.
41. Where two seas met. The land from the ship appeared continuous,
but part of it was an island separated from the land by a narrow channel with
a strong current. This current meeting the opposing water, had made a shoal
on which the fore part of the ship stuck, while the hind part was in deep water
and exposed to the force of the current. In these circumstances the ship
parted, the whole crew and passengers having had warning, and crowding the
fore part, which was fast on the shoal or mudbank. They were thus still at a
considerable distance from the land.
42. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners. If any of the
prisoners escaped, the soldiers in charge paid for their negligence with their
lives ; each prisoner was chained to the soldier who was responsible for him.
Compare xii. 19, xvi. 27.
43. But the centurion, etc. 'But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stayed
them from their purpose. He had been kindly disposed towards Paul from
the first (verse 3), and the events of the voyage had bound him still more closely
to the Apostle. " As God had saved all in the ship for Paul's sake, so here the
centurion saves all the prisoners for his sake ; such a diffusive good is a good
man." And commanded, etc. And commanded that they which could swim should
cast themselves overboard and get first to the land. A wise provision, for then
they would be ready to help those who, unable to swim, floated themselves
ashore on planks and on other tilings from the ship.

I52 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [-YXVI1I. I.
Chap. XXVIII. 1. And when they were escaped, then they knew
2 that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people
showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received
us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the
3 cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and
laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and
4 fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the
venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves,
No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath
5 escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And
6 he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. How
beit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down
3. In Malta, xxviii. 1-10.
XXVIII. I. Melita. Malta is now universally accepted as the scene of Paul's
shipwreck. " On the north coast of Malta there is a promontory called Koura
Point, which a ship drifting, as the one in which Paul was did, would just
pass. The shore is too low to be seen at night, but the spot is well known
for its breakers. Immediately after passing it, the depth is actually 20 fathoms,
and a little farther 15 fathoms. ... A pebbly beach lies just where Paul's
companions saw it (xxvii. 39) ; and the narrow channel between the little
island of Salmonetta and the mainland has exactly the appearance of ' a place
where two seas meet' (41). The identification is complete at every point.
The bay between Koura Point and Salmonetta is still called St. Pauls Bay"
(Stock). 2. Barbarous people. They probably spoke a dialect of old Phoenician or
Punic, and were therefore barbarians to Romans and Greeks.
3. Bundle of sticks. An armful of brushwood. Paul is never idle ; always
first when there is work to do.
There came a viper, etc. A viper came out by reason of the heat. It had
been torpid.
4. This man is a murderer. They could see that he was a prisoner, under
the charge of soldiers, and they rushed to the conclusion that though he had
escaped the waves, God had reserved him for a more terrible fate.
Saw the venomous beast, saw the beast ; there is no word corresponding
to venomous in the original. The text does not say that the viper bit Paul,
and it is apparent that the Apostle shook off the animal in an unconcerned
manner. To have escaped biting in such a case was almost as much a miracle
as to have been bitten and not suffered from the bite.
Yet vengeance suffereth not to live. Yet justice hath not suffered to live.
They looked on the death as certain, and speak of it in the past tense.
And he shook off. Howbeit he shook off. The words do not tell us whether
Paul was bitten or not ; he escaped all danger.
6. Howbeit they looked when he should have swoUen or fallen down
dead suddenly. But they expected that he would have swollen (inflamed), etc.
Sudden collapse and death are characteristic of the bites of some serpents.
"Trembling she stood, and on the sudden dropped,"
is the description given by Shakespeare of the effects of the asp-bite on
Cleopatra.

XXVIII. II.] PAUL AND PUBLIUS. 153
dead suddenly : but after they had looked a great while, and
saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and
said that he was a god.
7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of
the island, whose name was Publius ; who received us, and
8 lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass, that
the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux :
to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on
9 him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also,
which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed :
10 who also honoured us with many honours; and when we
departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.
1 1 And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria,
But after they had looked a great while, etc. But when they were (or
had been) long in expectation, and beheld nothing amiss come to him. They
gazed long, with the expectation in the gaze that death was to take place every
moment. That he was a god. Compare the thoughts of the people of Lycaonia,
Acts xiv. 11-15.
7. In the same quarters, etc. Now in the neighbourhood of that place were
lands belonging to the governor of the island, named Publius. The town
nearest to St. Paul's Bay is Alta Vecchia. Publius is called Protos, which is
translated in the Authorized Version by chief man, and in the Revised Version
by governor. The term must have been a local one ; it is not found in ancient
literature ; but it has been found on inscriptions in Malta. These inscriptions
have led scholars to the opinion that Protos was the Maltese term for prefect,
and that Luke with his usual accuracy has preserved it. Other inscriptions
discovered later, make it doubtful whether the Protos was the chief magistrate,
or one who after having been magistrate had been thought worthy of an
honorary title and rank corresponding to the Roman Palronus.
8. Sick of a fever, etc. Sick of fevers and dysentery, or of agueish fever
and dysentery. The plural fevers was used technically to express those fevers
which came in fits of fever one after another.
Prayed and laid his hands on him. Compare Jas. v. 14, 15, and Mark
xvi. 18.
9. Others also, the rest also ; all who were in sickness during their three
month;' stay.
Came and were healed. Kept coming. The Maltese had hospitably
received the shipwrecked strangers, and God rewarded them with healing
(Heb. xiii. 2, 3).
10. Honoured us with many honours . . . such things as were necessary.
Christ had commanded his Apostles to take no money for such services
as Paul had rendered ; and the gratitude of the people was restrained to
providing the necessary outfit for the shipwrecked company.
IV. — AT ROME, xxviii. 1 1-3 1.
I. Arrival at Rome, xxviii. 11-16.
II. A ship of Alexandria. Another of the Alexandrian grain ships; this

134 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVIII. 12.
which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and
12 Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.
13 And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium:
and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the
14 next day to Puteoli : where we found brethren, and were
desired to tarry with them seven days : and so we went
15 toward Rome. And from thence, when the brethren heard
of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and the
Three Taverns; whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and
took courage.
16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the
prisoners to the captain of the guard : but Paul was suffered
to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
one had Castor and Pollux, the Twin Brothers, sailor divinities, for its figure
head. 12. Syracuse. The most flourishing town in Sicily. The wind became
unfavourable. See Map, p. 93.
13. Fetched a compass, tacked to and fro, the wind being unfavourable.
This seems to be the best translation of a somewhat difficult word.
Rhegium was an Italian seaport (Rheggio) opposite the north-east point
of Sicily.
Puteoli (Pozzuoli), 8 miles south-west from Naples, was the principal harbour
south of Rome in St. Paul's days. It was the port at which the Egyptian grain
ships usually unloaded.
14. Where we found the brethren. The Christian Church had been
spreading all over the empire in places where its planting is unrecorded in
the book of Acts ; these brethren forwarded the news to Rome, and the
Roman Christians came out to meet the Apostle, who, now that he was near
Rome and had gone through so many dangers, felt a little sinking of the
heart. The meeting refreshed him (Acts xviii. 5 ; 2 Cor. ii. 13, vii. 6 ; Rom.
i. 11, 12, xv. 32). Appii Forum was 43 miles, and the Three Taverns was
33 miles from Rome.
16. The centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard.
These words ought to be omitted, as they are not in the oldest MSS. The
verse therefore will read : And when we entered into Rome, Paul was suffered
to abide by himself with the soldier that guarded him.
The captain of the guard. The captain of the Prozlorian guard. Whether
the clause be authentic or not, it states what must have been done. It was
one of the duties of the Prefect of the Praetorium, or chief of the imperial
body-guard, to receive and take charge of all prisoners from the provinces.
The office was filled at this time by Burrus, the friend and colleague of
Seneca, and a man of high and noble character. The command of the
Praetorian guards had been divided originally between two prefects, but in
the reign of Claudius the sole command was given to Burrus Afranius, who
retained it till 62 a.d. at least. If Burrus, and not a subordinate officer, be
meant by the captain of the guard, then the use of the word in the singular is
another instance of Luke's wonderful accuracy in details.
Paul was suffered to dwell by himself. Roman law permitted this in-

XXVIII. 20.] INTERCOURSE WITH THE JEWS. 1 55
17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the
chief of the Jews together : and when they were come to
gether, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have
committed nothing against the people or customs of our
fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into
18 the hands of the Romans : who, when they had examined
me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of
19 death in me. But when the Jews spake against it, I was
constrained to appeal unto Cesar ; not that I had aught to
20 accuse my nation of. For this cause therefore have I called
for you, to see you, and to speak with you : because that for
diligence to prisoners not suspected of very serious offences. Paul first retired
to a friend's house (verse 23), and then rented an apartment for himself
(verse 30).
With the soldier who guarded him, to whom he was fastened by a chain.
Different soldiers relieved each other of this duty ; and Taul tells us that he
gradually became known to the greater number of the imperial body-guard
(Phil. i. 12, 13). 2. Intercourse with the Jews, xxviii. 17-29.
17. Called the chief of the Jews. Paul wished to explain his own position
to his countrymen in order to preach Christ to them. He said (1) that
although a prisoner, under appeal to the emperor, he had done nothing un
patriotic or irreligious tested by Jewish standards ; (2) that the Romans after
examination had declared that he was innocent, and would have let him go,
but for the Jews of Jerusalem ; (3) that he had appealed to Caesar, not to
accuse the conduct of his countrymen, but only to save his own life ; (4) that
he was a prisoner because he accepted Jesus as the Messiah of his nation, and
regarded His rising again from the dead as evidence both of the doctrine of
the resurrection and of the Messiahship of Christ.
18. Would have let me go. Compare xxv. 9, xxvi. 32. The speech of
Paul is of course given in very brief outline, and we have only a summary of
the recital of what happened to him in the courts of justice.
19. When the Jews spake against it. The Apostle describes with great
mildness and courtesy the opposition of his fellow-countrymen. He uses
throughout the address conciliatory words and phrases, brethren, the people,
our fathers, the hope of Israel, not that 1 have ought to accuse my nation of.
Not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. Paul had no wish to be
an instrument in the hands of Roman tyranny ; he was a patriotic Jew ; he
knew the hardships his people had suffered in Rome, whence they had been
banished several times, and to which they had only recently been allowed
to return. His appeal was not to involve any complaint against the Jewish
nation. 20. Hope of Israel. "The hope for which he suffered was twofold : (1)
the expectation of the Messiah as bringing in a kingdom of heaven, which
was cherished by every Israelite ; (2) the hope of a resurrection from the dead,
which he proclaimed as attested by the resurrection, which proved (Rom. i.
3, 4) that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God" (Plumptre).
Bound with this chain. Prisoners on appeal from the provinces were
kept in the Prxtorium. Paul w as allowed to live in cuslodia libera, not in

156 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [XXVIII. 21.
2 1 the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. And they
said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea
concerning thee, nor any of the brethren that came showed
22 or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee
what thou thinkest : for as concerning this sect, we know that
everywhere it is spoken against.
23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many
to him into his lodging ; to whom he expounded and testified
the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both
out of the law of Moses, and out of ihe prophets, from morn-
24 ing till evening. And some believed the things which were
25 spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not
prison but in a hired apartment of his own, probably within the Praatorium.
He was always chained to a soldier, and this was galling both to mind and
body (Eph. iii. I, iv. 1 ; Phil. i. 13, 16; Col. iv. 18; Philem. I, 9, 10).
21. Neither any of the brethren, nor did any of the brethren (Jews not
Christians) come hither and report or speak any harm of thee. This is quite
easily understood when we remember that Paul had been sent off almost
immediately after his appeal and at the latest part of the travelling season.
The Jews at Jerusalem had not had time to inform their brethren in Rome
about Paul.
22. This sect. The word sect is the same as heresy. It means simply
¦party ; and when the Jews of Rome apply the word to the Christians, it means
that they looked upon them as a division of Judaism, like the Sadducees,
Pharisees, or Essenes. The Roman Jews must have known something about
Christianity ; Roman Jews were at the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit,
and had carried back the gospel to Rome ; there was a Christian Church at
Rome, and Jewish Christians among the disciples. Why then were the Roman
Jews so reserved and conciliatory? The commonly-received answer is, that
they lived in Rome in a state of great insecurity. They had but recently been
allowed to return from banishment. Some think (compare p. 99) that the decree
of banishment had been occasioned by tumults caused by the unbelieving Jews
attacking their Christian fellow-countrymen. They saw Paul respected by
imperial officers ; they felt themselves obliged to be very careful to avoid all
show of disturbance.
23. Had appointed him a day. They fixed the day, Paul making the
suggestion, doubtless.
To his lodging, not to his own hired house (verse 30), but to a house where
he stayed as guest.
To whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God. To whom he
expounded the matter, testifying the kingdom of God. Paul had told them that
for the sake of the Messianic hope of Israel he was bound with the chain that
held him ; he now expounded that this hope was from the Old Testament,
and showed how at each stage it was fulfilled in the kingdom of Jesus the
Christ. He spoke what Festus and Agrippa had refused to hear (xxvi. 22-28);
and his audience, or at least part of it, was sympathetic, for they remained long
time with him.
24. Some believed. Some were persuaded by Paul persuading them.
25. Well spake the Holy Ghost, etc., Isa. vi. 9. The passage had been

XXVIII. 31.] PAUL A PRISONER AT ROME. 1 57
among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken
one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet
26 unto our fathers, saying,
Go unto this people, and say,
Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ;
And seeing ye shall see, and not perceive :
27 For the heart of this people is waxed grots,
And their ears are dull of hearing,
And their eyes have they closed ;
Lest they should see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And should be converted,
And I should heal them.
28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God
is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and
30 had great reasoning among themselves. And Paul dwelt
two whole years in his own hired house, and received all
31 that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and
teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ,
with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
quoted by Christ against the Jews. Matt. xiii. 14; Mark iv. 12; Luke
viii. 10.
28. They will hear it, they will also hear. They will hear as well as you.
Paul does not end with a threat. He has fulfilled the command to begin at
Jerusalem ; he has preached to the Jews first in Rome, the centre of the world,
and now the Gentiles must also hear the message.
20. And when, etc. This verse ought to be omitted, as it is not to be found
in the best MSS. 3. Paul the prisoner at Rome, xxviii. 30, 31.
30. Two whole years. Luke gives no account of these years ; he had
brought Paul to Rome, the gospel had reached the centre of the known
world, and that is what concerned the writer. From the Epistles we can
gather that he wrote to the Philippians, to the Ephesians, to the Colossians,
and to Philemon : that beside Luke and Aristarchus (Acts xxvii. 2), he had
the companionship of Timothy (Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1 ; Philem. 1), of Tychicus
(Eph. vi. 21), of Epaphroditus (Phil. iv. 18), and of Mark (Col. iv. 10).
In his own hired house. Paul received aid in money from the Church at
Philippi (Phil. iv. 14, 18).
31. With all confidence, no man forbidding him. The phrase implies
that Paul, though a prisoner, was allowed complete freedom of speech, and
that Paul used his liberty to speak out boldly to all who came to him to hear
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He tells us himself that other Christians who saw
a bound prisoner speak so freely were encouraged by his example, and that
the gospel spread (Phil. i. 12-14).

INDEX.1

Achaia, 89.
Acts, Book of, its accuracy disputed, n ;
shows that the main problem of the
Apostolic Church was to reconcile
Moses and Jesus, n ; on the relation
of the Three to the Judaizers, 29 ;
Baur on the, 12 ; Zeller on the, 13 ;
Analysis of, 34.
Adramyttium, 145.
Adria, 150.
Agabus, no.
Agap&, 102, 103.
Agrippa = Herod Agrippa II., 38, 39,
136 ; hears Paul, 138 ; skilled in
Jewish Law, 139.
Alexander the coppersmith, 99.
Alexander the Great, 98.
Alexandria, the Jews in, 87 ; ships of,
• '45. 154.
Alford quoted, 85.
Allege, 79.
Alms, giving of, insisted on at the Con
ference at Jerusalem, 22 ; brought by
Paul to Jerusalem, 96, 100, roi, 132.
Amos, the prophet, quoted, 64.
Amphipolis, 79.
Ananias of Damascus, 120 ; the high
priest, 123, 129.
Andronicus, 87.
Antioch, in Pisidia, 46 ; Paul at, 47, 58.
Antioch, in Syria, 41 ; missionary meet
ing at, 59 ; Paul's favourite abode, 60,
91 ; Jewish and Gentile Christianity
at, 60.
Antipatris, 127, 129.
Antonia, Castle of, ir5.
Apocalypse, on Jewish and Gentile
Christianity, 20.
Apollonia, 79.
Apollos, 91 ; what he knew about Christ,
91 ; instructed by Priscilla and Aquila,
92.

Apostles, Judaizing (?), 13 ; of the cir
cumcision and Paul, 26-29 ' m l'lc
Conference at Jerusalem, 31, 62-97 I
the "pillar," 33 ; to be witnesses, 49,
142 ; fellow-workers with God, 59 ;
Paui one of the, 62.
Apparel, an element in oriental wealth,
108.
Appeal to Rome, 136, 144 ; to Jeru
salem, 61.
Appii Forum, 155.
Aprons, brought from Paul's body, 95.
Aquila, a Roman Christian Jew, 86, 90,
92.
Aratus, poet quoted by Paul, 83.
Areopagus, 82.
Aristarchus, 99, 100, r45, 158.
Artemis = Diana, 98.
Asia, meaning of the word, 46, 71, 95 ;
divisions of, 46 ; Paul in, 71, 101, 109 ;
Chief of , 99.
Asiarchs, 99.
Assos, 104.
Athenians, their character, 83.
Athens, 82, 83 ; Paul at, 82.
Attalia, 59.
Augustus' Band, 144.
Babbler, 82.
Baptism, of repentance, 48, 94 ; of
infants, 73 ; of Sergius Paulus, 45 ;
of Lydia, 73 ; of the Jailer, 77.
Barbarians, 153.
Barnabas, with Paul at Jerusalem, 22,
61 ; carried away by the Judaizers,
22 ; in Cyprus, 43, 69 ; at Lystra, 58 ;
at Antioch, 42, 61 ; taken for Jupiter,
56 ; strife with Paul about Mark, 69.
Baucis and Philemon, story of, 56.
Baur, F. C. , on the conflict between
Jewish and Gentile Christianity, n,
13-

1 Words aDd phr.ises in italics are explained in the notes.
100

i6o

INDEX.

Bengel quoted, 55, 76, 106, 116, 140,
149.
Berea, 82, 100.
Bernice, 38, 136.
Birks quoted, 120.
Bishops. See Elders, 107.
Bithynia, 72.
Blood, eating, excited physical loathing
among the Jews, 27, 66.
Books of Charms, 96.
Bound in the Spirit, 106.
Breaking of bread, 102, 103, 150.
Brethren = fellow-Christians, 60, 61, 63,
64, 6$, 68, 69, 70, 78, 80, 8i, 90, uo,
155; = fellow-Jews, 47, 50, 117, 122,
156 ; false brethren, 23, 60.
Burrus, 155,

Captain of ihe Guard, 155.
Ceesar, Appeal to, 136, 144. See
Claudius.
Ceesarea, Paul at, 109, no.
Carriages, in.
Castor and Pollux, 155.
Cenchrea, 90, 91, 100 ; Phcebe an office
bearer in the Church at, 101, no.
Cesnola quoted, 44.
Chains, prisoners bound with, 123, 156.
Charges, to be at, 113.
Chief of Asia, 99.
Chief man = Protos, 154.
Chios, 104.
Chrestus — Christus, 87,
Christ. See Jesus.
Christian worship, at night, 102.
Christianity, the relation between Jewish
and Gentile, n-34. See Gentile, Jew
ish, Church.
Chrysostom quoted, 53.
Church = the Christian community, 58,
65, 69 ; at Antioch, 41, 59 ; at Jeru
salem, 61, 91 ; at Ephesus, 105 ; was
Jewish at the beginning, 14 ; the pro
blem of the Apostolic, 11 seq. ; the
admission of Gentiles into the, 13, 22,
29. 3°< 31- 32» 45- S2> 60, 6i, 63, 65,
113, 120.
Cilicium, 87.
Circumcision, solemnly ordained in the
Old Testament, 26, 68 ; not con
demned by Jesus, 27, 28 ; Jesus
circumcised, 26 ; worthlessness of
circumcision asserted by Peter, 63 ;
by Paul, 24, 112 ; Timothy circum
cised, 70.
Clauda = Cauda, 148.

Claudius Ccesar, banished Jews from
Rome, 73, 75, 87, 155.
Claudius Lysias, 127, 128.
Cleanthes, 85.
Clopas, 64.
Clothes, 108. See Apparel, Raiment.
Cnidus, 145.
Coasts, 53, 92.
Collections for the disciples of Judea,
96, 100, iot, 132.
Colony, 73.
Colosse, 98.
Colossians, The Epistle to the, written
from Rome, 158 ; quoted in confirma
tion of the Acts, 69, 72, 99, 102, 105,
145, 157, 158.
Conference at Jerusalem, 30, 61 ; its
decree, 31, 66, 67 ; the decree limited
in its application, 31, 66; the decree
not alluded to by Paul, 31, 62 ; nor
by John, 31 ; recognises the apostle
ship of Paul, 32, 66; its Epistle to
the Churches, 67 ; rejoicings at the
decision, 68.
Contributions. See Alms, Collections.
Coos = Cos, 109.
Corinth, 100, 101 ; Paul at, 86, 89.
Corinthians, Epistles to the, written
from Macedonia, 100 ; quoted in con
firmation of the Acts, 50, 58, 69, 70,
75, 87-89, 92, 96, 100-3, 106, 108,
no, 112, i2i, 132, 149, 155; on thfi
admission of Gentiles, 60, 62, 66.
Cornelius and his household, a test casd
in Gentile Christianity, 63.
Cos or Coos, 109.
Council at Jerusalem. See Conference.
Council = legal assessors, 136.
Crete, 146.
Cripple cured at Lystra, 55.
Crispus, 88.
Curse, binding under a, 126.
Custodia libera, 134, 136.
Cyprus, the birthplace of Barnabas, 43 ;
governed by a proconsul, 44 ; Barna
bas in, 43, 69 ; Paul in, 43, 109, 145.
Decree of the Conference at Jerusalem,
67 ; its provisions, 31, 66, 67 ; its
limitations, 67 ; delivered by delegates
to the Churches, 68.
Demetrius of Ephesus, 97, 98 ; in
alliance with the Jews against Pau*,
99, 100, 106.
Deputy = Proconsul, 44,
Derbe, 55, 58.
Diana of the Ephesians, 98.

INDEX.

161

Disciples = believers on Jesus Christ,
53, 58, 60, 70, 91, 92, 95, 100, 101,
103, no, 112.
Dispersion, The Jewish, ri8.
Divination, Spirit of, 74.
Divorce, Jesus on the Mosaic Law of,
17-
Doctrine of the Lord, 45.
Doddridge quoted, 144.
Door of faith, 59.
Drusilla, wife of Felix, 39, 128, 133,
136.
Dust, throwing, in the air, 122.
Eastern houses, windows in, 102.
" Egyptian, that," 117.
Elders, office-bearers in the Apostolic
Church, 59, 61, 65, in ; ordination
of elders, 59 ; the elders of Ephesus,
103.
Elymas the sorcerer, 44, 45.
Ephesian spells, 96.
Ephesians, Epistle to the, written from
Rome, 158 ; quoted in confirmation
of the Acts, 69, 107, 112, 127, 157,
'S8.
fiphesus, city of, 71, 98 ; Paul at, 90,
92 ; whether revisited by Paul, 107,
108 ; Church founded in, 94 ; elders
of the Church at, 104, 105 ; rapid
spread of gospel in, 98 ; native reli
gion, 98 ; tumult at, 97.
Epicureans, 82.
Epistle of the Conference at Jerusalem,
67.
Epistles of St. Paul confirm the Acts,
60. See Colossians, Corinthians,
Ephesians, Galatians, Philemon,
Philippians, Romans, Thessalonians,
Timothy, Titus.
Erastus, 100.
Eunice, 58.
F.itroclydon = Buraquilo, 147.
Eutychus, 102.
Ewald quoted, 67.
Examined = tortured, 122.
Fair Havens, 146.
Faith, saves, 77, 94.
False Brethren, 23, 60.
Fanaticism, clear-sighted, 112.
Fasting on the Great Day of Atone
ment, 146 ; Jesus on Jewish fasting,
16 ; at ordination, 43.
Fast, the, 146.
Felix, governor of Judea, 128 ; quelled

rebellions, 117, 130 ; recalled by Nero,
134.
Festus, governor of Judea, 134, 135 ;
his difficulty in deciding whether
Christianity is a lawful mode of wor
shipping Divinitas, 139.
Fetch a compass, 155.
First day of the week, 102.
Forgiveness of sins. See Pardon.
Forty years, 48.
Frap, to, a ship, 147.
Gaius, 99, 100 ; of Derbe, 58, 100, 102.
Galatia, 71.
Galatians, Epistle to the, written in
Macedonia, 37 ; quoted in confirma
tion of the Acts, 71, 72, 106, 121, 138,
142 ; on Judaizing Christians, 61, 62 ;
on the Conference at Jerusalem, 24,
61 ; the gospel emancipates, 51.
Gallio, 89.
Gamaliel, 119.
Garlands, 56.
Gentile Christianity in opposition to
Jewish, 12 ; predicted by the pro
phets, 52, 65 ; foreordained of God,
63 ; the obligations laid upon, 66,
"3-
Gentiles, the gospel to the, 49, 51. 52,
63, 64 ; in Jewish synagogues, 47, 54 ;
Paul commissioned to preach the, 142.
See Church.
God, The Most High, 74.
Gospel causes divisions, 54, 60.
Greece, Paul's visit to, 100.
Greeks, 54.
HACKETT quoted, 139, 145.
Hadramyttium, 104, 145.
Harnack quoted, 42.
Helps, 147.
Henry, Matthew, quoted, 53, 58, 140,
148, 150, 151.
Heresy = sect, 131, 157.
Herod Antipas, 42.
Herod. See Agrippa.
Herod s Judgment Hall, 129.
Holy Ghost given, 53, 63 ; dwelling in
the Church, 43, 67 ; bestows gifts, 43,
guided the Apostles, 72.
Household, 73.
Humility of mind, 104.
Iconium, 53.
Idols, pollutions of, 66, 67.
Hlyricum, Paul at, too.

162

INDEX.

Jnlieritance, the Old Testament root
thought in salvation, 108, 142.
Inspiration, theories of, must include
certain facts, 94.
James, Bishop of Jerusalem, 64 ; his
relation to Jewish Christianity, 12,
29 ; on the imperfection of the Mosaic
Law, 19, 64 ; speech at the Confer
ence, 64 ; certain which came Jrom,
23, 6^.
Jason = Joseph, 80.
Jerusalem, Paul at, 61, 90. See Con
ference.
Jesus and the Mosaic Law, 16, 17, 18,
26, 27 ; called God, 107 ; words of,
not in the Gospels, 108 ; and Old
Testament prophecy, 49, 79 ; the
Resurrection, an evidence of the
Messiahship of, 47, 49, 50, 79, 156.
Jewish Christianity, more than Judaism
with a new prophet, 12, 14 ; its rela
tion to Gentile Christianity, 12, 14,
60 ; more than faith that the Messiah
had come, 14 ; its belief in the Resur
rection, 14 ; relation to the Mosaic
Law, 15, 27 ; relation to unbelieving
Jews, 13.
Jeivs, their relation to the Mosaic Law,
27 ; all taught a craft, 87 ; refuse a
gospel which is also for Gentiles, 52 ;
need the same gospel as Gentiles, 6^ ;
raise riots against Paul, 54, 58, 112,
115 ; plot to murder Paul (at Corinth),
100, 101 ; (at Jerusalem), 126, 134 ;
their accusation of Paul, 112 ; ban
ished from Rome, 73, 73 ; despised
by the Romans, 75 ; what was done
to, who deserted their religion, 126.
John and Jewish Christianity, 12, 20,
29 ; on Judaizers, 2r ; does not allude
to the decree of the Conference at
Jerusalem, 3r.
John, Baptism of, 92, 94.
John Mark. See Mark.
[ osephus quoted, 1 16.
Judaizers, 13, 32, 62, 69.
Judas Barsabbas, 63.
' unias, 87.
) upiter, Barnabas called, 56.
Just One, T/ie, 120.
Justification, 50.
Kherem, 127.
Lasea, 146.
Law, reading of the, in public, 46, 47 ;

and Prophets, 130 ; Mosaic, observed
by Jewish Christians, 15 ; broken by
Jesus, 16, 17, 18; called a yoke by
Peter, 63.
Lesbos, 103.
Lessons in the synagogue service, 46,
47-
letters, synodical, 65.
Lewd, 80.
Liberty, Christian, 68.
Lictors, 78, 90 ; Paul beaten by, 75.
Lightfoot quoted, 62, 65.
Lois, 58.
Love feast, 102, 103. See Agapa.
Lucius of Cyrene, 42.
Luke, 72 ; his account of the Conference
at Jerusalem, 32, 62 ; joined Paul ai
Troas, 72 ; left behind at Philippi,
78 ; with Paul on his journey, 102 ;
use of technical terms, 145.
Lumby quoted, 42, 54, 55, 94, 141.
Lycaonia, 55 ; speech of, 36.
Lydia, 73.
Lystra, 35 ; Paul at, 55, 58.
Macedonia, Paul in, 71, 100.
Mainsail, 152.
Malta = Melita, 150, 133.
Manaen = Menahem, 42.
Marcion, 12.
Mark, John, left Paul and Barnabas,
45 ; distrusted by Paul, 69.
Martyr = witness, 120.
Master of tlie ship, 146.
Melita = Malta, 150, 153.
Mercurius, Paul called, 56.
Mercies, sure, of David, 50.
Messiah, a dead, unintelligible, 14.
Miletus, Paul at, 104, 109.
Minister, to = to engage in Christian
worship, 43.
Miracles, wrought by Paul, 54, 94, 154 ;
on Elymas, 45 ; on the cripple, 55 ;
on the demoniac girl, 75 ; on the
father of Publius, 154.
Missionary meeting at Antioch, 59.
Mitylene, 104.
Mnason = Manasseh, in.
Moses and Jesus, 11 ; Law of, observed
by Jewish Christians, 12, 15 ; broken
by Jesus, 16, 17, 18.
Much learning, 143,
Myra, 145.
Mysia, 71, 104.
Nautical terms, Luke's use of, 145.
Nazarenes, first use of the name,' 130.

INDEX.

163

Nazarite vow, 90, 112 ; often finished in
the Temple, 115.
Neander quoted, 126.
Neapolis, 72.
Office - bearers in the Apostolic
Church, 107. See Elders.
Ordination, 43 ; of elders, 60.
Overseers, 107. See Elders.
Pallas, brother of Felix, 128, 133.
Paphos, 44.
Pardon, the keynote of apostolic preach
ing, 50. See Repentance.
Parker quoted, 55, 59, 75, 77, 89, 118.
Pastors, 107. See Elders.
Passions, men of like, 56.
Passover, no.
Paul, origin of name, 45 ; his conver
sion, 28, 118, 139 ; his apostleship,
142 ; mission to the Gentiles, 119,
142 ; on the conflict between Judaism
and Christianity, 21, 22 ; his apostle
ship denied by Judaizers, 21, 23, 25,
28, 62 ; account of what took place
at the Conference at Jerusalem, 22,
62 ; does not quote the decree, 31,
62 ; on the relation between the
Mosaic Law and Christianity, 23 ; his
views not radically different from
those of the Three, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25,
26, 29 ; effect of his conversion on his
estimate of Judaism, 28 ; in Cyprus,
43 ; at Paphos, 44 ; at Perga, 45, 59 ;
at Antioch in Syria, 42, 59, 91 ; at
Antioch in Pisidia, 47, 58 ; at Lystra,
55. 56, 70 ; at Iconium, 53 ; in Lyca
onia, 55 ; at Derbe, 58, 70 ; at Jeru
salem, 61, 91, in ; in Cilicia with
Silas, 69 ; at Athens, 82 ; at Ephesus,
90, 92, 97, 107 ; in Macedonia, 99,
100 ; at Troas, 100, 101 ; in Greece,
100 ; at Corinth, 86, 100, 101 ; at
Philippi, 73, 100 ; at Thessalonica,
79 ; at Jerusalem, 90, in ; at Miletus,
104 ; at Tyre, 109 ; at Ptolemais, no;
at Csesarea, no, 129 ; in Malta, 154;
at Rome, 155 ; miracles wrought by,
59' 94' I54 I on Elymas, 45 ; on the
cripple, 55 ; on the demoniac girl, 75 ;
on the father of Publius, 154 ; speeches
and sermons of, to Elymas, 45 ; at
Antioch in Pisidia, 47 ; at Lystra,
56 ; at Athens, 83 ; to the elders of
Ephesus, 105 ; to the Jews, 118 ;
before the Sanhedrin, 124 ; before
Felix, 130 ; before Festus, 135 ; be

fore Agrippa, 138 ; on board ship,
146, 149, 150 ; at Rome, 156, 157 ;
persecutions endured by, at Lystra,
58 ; at Philippi, 75 ; at Corinth, 89 ;
at Jerusalem, 115, 122 ; malice of
Jews against, 52, 55, 58, 80, 81, 89,
99, 112, 115, 121, 126, 129, 134;
accused of treason against Rome, 80,
81, 89, 129; his personal dealing with
inquirers, 51, 55 ; his doctrine of justi
fication, 50, 51 ; preached repentance,
48, 106, 142 ; guided by inspiration,
45- 61, 77 ; comforted by visions, 72,
121, 126, 141 ; complied with observ
ances of Mosaic Law, 70, 90, 112 ;
before the Sanhedrin, 123 ; appeal to
Caesar, 136 ; preached the gospel to
the Jews first, 44, 47, 53, 79, 88, 94 ;
supported himself by his handicraft,
79, 87, 108 ; trusted young men, 70 ;
refused to trust Mark, 69 ; legend of,
and Thekla, 53 ; carries contributions
to Jerusalem, 100, 132 ; dispenses the
Lord's Supper, 103. See Epistles.
Paul's sister's son, 127.
Pausanius quoted, 84.
Peace, to let go in, 68.
Pella, the Church at, 64. "
Pentecost, in, 112 ; Paul keeps the
feast of, 90.
Perga, 46, 59.
Persecution of Christians, instigated by
the Jews, 52, 55, 58, 80, 81 ; insti
gated by Gentiles, 75, 99 ; details of,
after Stephen's death, 141. See Paul.
Persecution and spiritual power, 54, 55,
59.
Personal dealing with inquirers, 51, 55.
Peter, and Jewish Christianity, 12, 29 ;
on the Mosaic Law, 19, 63 ; on
Judaism and heathenism, 20 ; recog
nises Paul's work, 22, 63 ; withdraws
from his catholic position, 22 ; on
the conversion of the Gentiles, 29, 30,
63 ; on the worthlessness of circum
cision, 63.
Pfleiderer quoted, 23, 32, 33.
Pharisees, 123 ; Paul, a, 123 ; in the
Church, 13, 60, 62.
Philemon and Baucis, 56.
Philemon at Colosse, 56 ; Epistle to,
written from Rome, 158 ; quoted in
confirmation of the Acts, 99, 108, 127,
145. 157. 158.
Philip the evangelist, no ; his daughters
preached, no.
Philippi, Paul at, 73, 100, 101 ; a

164

INDEX.

Roman colony, 73 ; earthquake at,
76 ; conversion of the jailer of, 77.
Philippians, Epistle to the, written at
Rome, 158 ; quoted in confirmation
of the Acts, 69, 70, 106, 113, 118, 138,
156' 157-
Philo quoted, 125.
Phoebe, deacon at Cenchrea, 101, no.
Phcenice = Phcenix, 147.
Phrygia, 71,
Pilgrimages to Ephesus, 98.
Places of prayer, 73.
Plumptre quoted, 57, 82, 112, 156.
Pliny quoted, 98, 148.
Politarchs, magistrates at Thessalonica,
80.
Pollutions of idols, 67.
Porcius Festus. See Festus.
Porneia, 66.
Presbyterian communion service, 103.
Presidents. See Elders, 107.
Pricks, 141.
Priscilla = Prisca, 86, 90, 92.
Prison, the inner, 76.
Proconsuls, 44, 89.
Prophecy, witness of Old Testament, to
the death and rising again of Jesus,
49. 79-
Prophets, in the New Testament Church,
41, 42, 68, no.
Proseuclie = place of prayer, 73.
Protos, title in Malta, 154.
Prudent man, 44.
Ptolemais, no.
Publius, 154.
Purity, Jesus and ceremonial, 17.
Puteoli, 155.
Python-spirit, 74.
Raiment, shaking the, 88.
Reading of the law, 46, 47.
Redemption, preached by Paul, 48, 107.
Religion, lawful and unlawful, 137.
Repentance, preached by Paul, 48, 106,
142.
Resurrection, preached by Paul, 47, 49,
131, 132, 143, 156 ; evidence to Paul
of the Messiahship of Jesus, 47, 49,
50, 79, 156; effect of belief in the, 14,
18 ; belief in the, distinguished be
lieving from unbelieving Jews, 14.
Rhegium, 155.
Rhodes, 109.
Roman colony, 73 ; responsibility of,
officials, 76, 152 ; chief captain, 116 ;
citizenship, 78, 122 ; toleration of
foreign religions, 75, 89 ; troops in

Jerusalem, 116 ; mode of conducting
a trial, 137.
Romans, Epistle to the, where written,
100 ; teaches that the Law shows sin,
51, 86 ; that Jews are not cast off, 52 ;
that Gentiles are included in covenant,
52, 57 ', quoted in confirmation of the
Acts, 81, 87, 88, 97, 100, 101, 106,
112, 126, 132, 155.
Rome, Paul's visit to, 97, 126, 155 ;
Christians at, 87 ; Jews banished
from, 73, 75, 87.
Rudder-bands, 152.
Sabbath, law of, broken by Jesus, 16 ;
a Christian, 102.
Sacrifice offered to Paul and Barnabas,
56-
Sadducees, 123.
Salamis in Cyprus, 43.
Salmone, 146.
Salmonetta, 153.
Samos, 104.
Samothracia, 72.
Sanhedrin, a court of appeal, 61 ; Paul
before the, 123.
Saul, 42, 44. See Paul
Sceva, sons of, 95.
Scourging, 122.
Secundus, 100, 101.
Sect = heresy, 157.
Security, to take, 80.
Seleucia, 43.
Sergius Paulus, 44.
Shrines, qj.
Sicarii, 117.
Sidon, 145.
Silas, a delegate from the Conference at
Jerusalem, 67 ; a prophet, 68.
Simeon, son of Clopas, 64.
Simeon Niger, 42.
Simeon, for Peter, 64.
Sopater, 100, 101.
Sorcerers, Jewish, 44.
Spearmen, 127,
Spinosa quoted, 27.
Spirit. See Holy Ghost.
Stephanos, 100.
Stock quoted, 153.
Stocks, 76.
Stoics, 82.
Suetonius quoted, 87, 128.
Superstition = religion, 84.
Supper, the Lord's, 101. See Breaking
of Bread.
Sure mercies of David, 50,
Synagogue, service in the, 46 ; Chris-

INxiex.

i65

tian sermons in, 44, 47, 53, 79, 94 ;
Jews sat in, according to trades, 87 ;
punishments in the, 140 ; Gentiles in
the, 47, 54.
Synodical letters, 65,
Syracuse, 155.
Syria, 101, 109.
Syrtes, 148.
Tabernacle of David, 65.
Tacitus quoted, 128, 133.
Tarsus, 119.
Tertullian quoted, 129.
Testifying. See Witness-bearing.
Thekla, legend of Paul and, 53.
Theophrastus quoted, 84.
Thessalonians, Epistles to the, quoted
in confirmation of the Acts, 60, 69,
70, 80, 81, 82.
Thessalonica, Paul at, 79, 100 ; Church
at, 80.
Three, the = Peter, John, James the
brother of the Lord, 23, 26, 28.
Thyatira, 20, 73.
Timothy, 58, 60, 70, 100, 102 ; circum
cised by Paul, 33, 70, 112 ; ordained,
59, 70 ; Epistles to, quoted in confir
mation of the Acts, 58, 59, 60, 69, 70,
87, 97, 102, 109, no.
Titus, 22, 100 ; Epistle to, 61, 101.
Town-clerk, 99.
Trades unions, under the Roman Em
pire, 97.

Tribes, The Ten, never lost, 140.
Troas, Paul at, 72, 100, 102, 109 ; a
Christian Sabbath at, 102, 104.
Trogyllium, 104.
Trophimus, 100, 102, in, 115.
Tubingen theory, the, of the Acts, 12,
13-
Turks, the Seljuk, 54.
Tychicus, 100, 102.
Tyrannus, 94.
Tyre, Christian Church at, 109.
Undergirding the ship, 147.
Vagabond Jews, 95.
Vanities, 56.
Visions by Paul, 72, 120, 121, 141.
Vitta, 50.
Way = the Christian religion, 97, 130,
132, 141.
Witness-bearing, the special apostolic
work, 49, 106, 107, 120.
Wolves, false teachers called, 108.
Women, preachers in the Apostolic
Church, no ; office-bearers in the
Church, 101, no ; Gentile, under
Jewish influence, 53, 95.
Words of Jesus, not in the Gospels, 108.
Zealots for the Law, 112.
Zeller on Jewish and Gentile Chiis-
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the more tender and personal aspects of his theme, Mr. Stalker has portrayed
the outer and the inner life of Paul wilh a mingled power and beauty which
is as rare as it is needed in evangelical writiDg.' — Christian.
' Mr. Stalker has the gift of vivid writing; he sketches and colours with
•words ; he does more, he vivifies persons and scenes by his inspiring sentences.
We have not often seen a handbook more completely to our mind.' — C. H.
Spurqeon. 'A gem of sacred biography.' — Christian Leader.
In crown Svo, price 2s. 6d.,
LESSONS ON THE LIFE OF JESUS.
By Rev. WILLIAM SCRYMGEOUR, M.A.
1 Extremely good, and will be found very useful by Suuday-school teachers,
and others who may not have time to read larger books.' — Church Bells.
'Among the many books on the life of our Lord which have issued from
the press of late years, this handbook will take a definite place. . . . Students
and teachers will find it a reliable volume.' — Watchman.
In crown Svo, price 2S. 6d.,
A COMMENTARY ON THE SHORTER
CATECHISM.
Br ALEXANDER WHYTE, D.D.,
free st. George's, Edinburgh.
'Eeally good. In every Scotch family this ought to be found. Our
English folk are not so well acquainted with" The Shorter Catechism"; but
those who are will be glad to have a handbook upon it, so clear, so true, and
so lively. . . . Theology of this stamp will do us all good. Scatter it; its
leaves are for the healing of the nations. Half-a-crown laid out in this book
will purchase no regrets.' — Mr. Spurgeon.

fcnb kalis far Ijtble Classes

AND PRIVATE STUDENTS

In crown Svo, Part I, price 2s.; Part II, price is. %d.,
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST. LUKE.
OEitI) Inttaaucttan, liates, ana JHaps.
By Professor T. M. LINDSAY, D.D.
1 An admirable text-book, both for private aid and teaching purposes.' —
Spectator. ' These two Handbooks make up an invaluable aid to Bible-class teaching
upon the Gospel according to St. Luke.' — Sword and Trowel.
' For point, clearness, freshness, and evangelical unction, they are not to
be surpassed.' — Young Men's Christian Magazine. 
In Two Vols., crown Svo, 2s. each,
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST. JOHN.
fflHttlj Inttoouctton ano Notes.
Br Rev. GEORGE REITH, M.A., Glasgow.
' The general excellence of the series is more than maintained. Indeed, for
persons who require much in little, we can recommend nothing better than this
unpretentious little work, in which the "Golden Gospel" is opened up with
admirable conciseness and clearness. The text of the Gospel is given in full,
and the comments are alike exegetically useful and spiritually helpful.' — The
Christian.  In Two Parts, crown Svo, price is. 6d. each,
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
OTitlj latroouctian, Nates, ana fHap.
By Professor T. M. LINDSAY, D.D.
' The largest and most pretentious books are not invariably the best.
Frequeutly the value is in inverse ratio to the size, and this may certainly be
affirmed of Dr. Lindsay's manual. It is of small bulk, but of great worth,
giving us, in short compass, the best that has been thought and said in regard
to the memorable section of Scripture with which it deals.' — Baptist Magazine.
In crown Svo, price 2s.,
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
By DAVID BROWN, D.D.,
PRINCIPAL, AND PROFESSOR OF APOLOGETICS, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE,
ABERDEEN.
' We do not know a better book to recommend to Bible-class teachers or
scholars, in their study of this Epistle, than the one here provided for them.'
— Glasgow Herald.

Hairbkahs far gtbk Classes
AND PRIVATE STUDENTS.
In crown Svo, price is. 3;/.,
THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
By GEORGE C. M. DOUGLAS, D.D.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE FHEE CHUKC1I COLLEGE, GLASGOW.
' This volume is as near peifection as we can hope to fiud such a work.' —
Church Bells. In crown Svo, price is. 6d.,
THE BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.
By JAMES G. MURPHY, LL.D, T.C.D.,
PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, BELFAST.
'Par beyond anything indicated by the small price of this work is iis
exceeding value for thoroughness of verbal exposition, oxegetical criticism,
and homiletic susrgestiveness.' — Baptist Magazine.
In crown Svo, price is. 6d.,
THE SIX INTERMEDIATE MINOR PROPHETS.
OBADIAH-ZEPHANIAH.'
By Rev. Principal DOUGLAS, D.D., Glasgow.
' Introductions and notes are alike clear, compact, and suggestive ' — Baptist
Magazine. ' Reverent, scholarly, comprehensive, and practical.' — Christian.
In crown Svo, price 2s.,
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS-
HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI.
By Professor MARCUS DODS, D.D.
'When the Books of the Old Testament are treated in this way, there is
some hope that the standard of popular teaching will be sensibly raised. . . .
We can only congratulate the rising generation in having guides like these.' —
Literary World. In crown Svo, price 2s. 6d.,
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST. MARK.
SUHit!) Introoucti'on, Ix-otes, anb fHaps.
By T. M. LINDSAY, M.A., D.D.,
PF.OF. OF DIVINITY AND CHURCH HISTORY, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW.
'A careful commentary, and will be found most useful.' — Spectator.
' To say that this book is fully equal to all and any of those which have
preceded it in the same series, is to give it high praise, but were we to say
more even than that, we should not exaggerate. . . . There is a completeness
about the work which gives it a peculiar value to the appreciative reader.' —
Christian.

fjiwakalis far Ifthk Classes
AND PRIVATE STUDENTS.

In crown Svo, price 2s.,
THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLES
AND THE CONCLUSIONS OF SCIENCE.
By Rev. W. D. THOMSON, M.A.
1 This little volume has more real merit and is more really helpful than
many large treatises. . . . An admirable little treatise, and one of the clearest and
most sensible on the profound subjects on which it treats.' — Christian Advocate.
In crown Svo, price is. 6d.}
SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY.
By NORMAN L. WALKER, D.D.
' This handbook will form an admirable basis for a course of instruction in
Scottish ecclesiastical history.' — British and Foreign Evangelical Review.
4 A very beautiful account of the history of Church matters in Scotland.
. . . The utmost fairness and breadth characterises its treatment of questions
and persons in opposition.' — Presbyterian Churchman.
In crown Svo, price is. 6d.f
THE CHURCH.
By the late Professor WILLIAM BINNIE, D.D., Aberdeen.
'We commend this admirable handbook of Professor Binnie's to the
notice of our friends, not only because they will fiud in it a clear statement
aud masterly vindication of Fresbyterianism, but equally because they will
learn much that may be of the highest and most practical advantage to
tliemselves.' — Baptist Magazine.
fn crown Svo, Second Edition, price 2S.t
HISTORY OF THE
IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
By President THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D., Belfast.
1 This is a most excellent handbook, and entirely worthy to take its place
beside the other publications of the same series, all of which are written by
distinguished men. . . . We see nothing but what is good and trustworthy
in Mr. Hamilton's valuable book.' — Belfast Northern Whig.
In crown Svo, Second Edition, with additional matter, price 2 s. 6d.,
SHORT HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS,
ifrom &fjral)am ana llaul, to GDareg, iLtomcfstone, anlj Ilutt
By GEORGE SMITH, LL.D, F.R.G.S., C.I.E.
1 As a handbook of missionary history, the work is invaluable; while its
style and fulness of instruction combine to give it the very foremost place
among such works.' — Sunday School Chronicle.

T. and T. Claries Publications.

PROFESSOR A. B. BRUCE'S WORKS.
In demy 8vo, Fifth Edition, price 10s. Cd.,
THE TRAINING OF THE TWELVE;
OR,
EXPOSITION OF PASSAGES IN THE GOSPELS EXHIBITING
THE TWELVE DISCIPLES OF JESUS UNDER
DISCIPLINE FOR THE APOSTLESHIP.
' A great book, full of suggestion and savour.' — 0. H. Spurgeox.
• A volume which can never lose its charm either for the preacher or for
the ordinary Christian reader.' — London Quarterly Review.
' Here we have a really great book on an important, large, and attractive
subject  a book full of loving, wholesome, profound thoughts about the
fundamentals of Christian faith and practice.' — British and Foreign Evangelical

In demy 8vo, Third Edition, price 10s. 6d.,
THE HUMILIATION OF CHRIST,
IN ITS PHYSICAL, ETHICAL, AND OFFICIAL ASPECTS.
' The most prominent writer, beyond all doubt, on the field of criticism in
regard to the Incarnation, has been Prof. Bruce in his well-known work on
"The Humiliation of Christ."' — Principal Cairns in Tlie Presbyterian and
Reformed Review.
• We have not for a long time met with a work so fresh and suggestive as
this of Professor Bruce. . . . We do not know where to look at our English
Universities for a treatise so calm, logical, and scholarly.' — English Independent.
' The title of the book gives but a faint conception of the value and wealth
of its contents. . . . Dr. Bruce's work is really one of exceptional value ; and
no one can read it without perceptible gain in theological knowledge.' —
English Churchman. 
In post 8vo, New Edition, Revised, price 7s. 6d.,
THE KINGDOM OF GOD;
OR, CHRIST'S TEACHING ACCORDING TO THE
SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS.
By A. B. BRUCE, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT EXEGESIS IN THE
FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, OLASGOW,
' To Dr. Bruce belongs the honour of giving to English-speaking Christians
the first really scientific treatment of this transcendent theme . . . his book ib
the best monograph on the subject in existence. ... He is evidently in love
with his subject, and every page exhibits the intense enthusiasm of a strong
nature for the Divine Teacher.'— Rev. James Stalker, D.D., in The British
Weekly.

T. and T. Clark's Publications.

In demy 8vo, price 7s. 6d.,
CANON AND TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
By Dr. FRANTS BUHL,
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AT LEIPZIG.
Translated by Rev. JOHN MACPHERSON, M.A.
%* Professor Buhl is successor to the late Prof. Franz Delitzsch, at Leipzig.
' Students will find this an extremely useful book. There is not a subject
connected with the text of the Old Testament, its history and condition, on
which it does not afford all needful information. It is written with great
clearness and commendable brevity, and is by far the best manual that exists
on the subject of which it treats.' — Prof. A. B. Davidson, D.D., in The
Expositor. ' It would be difficult to find a more comprehensive, succinct, and lucid
digest of the results of recent study of the Old Testament canon and text
than is given in this volume. Instead of bewildering us with a crowd of
discordant opinions, the author sifts the evidence and indicates the right
conclusion. His tone is eminently free and impartial. He is no slave to
tradition, and no lover of novelty for its own sake. The discussion in the
text is kept clear by the relegation of further references aud quotations to
supplementary paragraphs. These paragraphs are a perfect mine of exact,
detailed information.' — Prof. J. S. Banks in The Critical Review.
' A book of high merit.' — Canon Cheyne, D.D.
' A book that no student can afford to neglect.' — -Review of the Churches.

Just published, in demy 8vo, price 10s. Gd.,
COMMENTARY ON ST. PAUVS EPISTLE
TO THE EPHESIANS.
By Rev. JOHN MACPHERSON, M.A., Findhorn.
' It is an advance, and a great one, on anything we yet possess. . . . The
author goes to the root, and neglects nothing that usually comes under the
eye of a careful student. . . . Besides all this, the book is a living book. One
is conscious of the heart of a man in it, as well as the brains.' — Methodist
Times. ' Of real utility and value. We are not acquainted with another work on
this great Epistle so intellectually searching and exhaustive. It will be a
boon to all teachers, and a book that no student can afford to neglect.' —
Review of the Churches.
' This is a very handsome volume which Mr. Macpherson has given us,
and without any doubt it will take the first place among the commentaries
.devoted to this Epistle. The Introduction is fuller far than we have ever
had. It is quite in touch with the latest literary and arch£eological results 
results which, in this particular Epistle, have recently come in with unusual
richness. That alone is sufficient to give this volume the pre-eminence.' 
The Expository Times.

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