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 THE ACTS OF 
 
 THE APOSTLES 
 
 (XV— XXVIII) 
 
Cambritige : 
 
 PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SON, 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
General Editor :— J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D., 
 Dean of Peterborough. 
 
 THE ACTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE APOSTLES 
 
 W (XV— XXVIII) 
 
 IVITff INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 J. RAWSON'^UMBY, D.D., 
 
 NORRISIAN PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY. 
 
 EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
 Eonton: C. J. Clay, m.a. & Son, 
 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 
 17, Paternoster Row. 
 
 1882 
 [All Rights reserved^ 
 
 I 
 t 
 
^M 
 
 PREFACE 
 BY THE GENERAL EDITOR. 
 
 The General Editor of The Cambridge Bible for 
 Schools thinks it right to say that he does not hold 
 himself responsible either for the interpretation of 
 particular passages which the Editors of the several 
 Books have adopted, or for any opinion on points of 
 doctrine that they may have expressed. In the New 
 Testament more especially questions arise of the 
 deepest theological import, on which the ablest and 
 most conscientious interpreters have differed and 
 always will differ. His aim has been in all such 
 cases to leave each Contributor to the unfettered 
 exercise of his own judgment, only taking care that 
 mere controversy should as far as possible be avoided. 
 He has contented himself chiefly with a careful 
 revision of the notes, with pointing out omissions, with 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 suggesting occasionally a reconsideration of some 
 question, or a fuller treatment of difficult passages, 
 and the like. 
 
 Beyond this he has not attempted to interfere, 
 feeling it better that each Commentary should have 
 its own individual character, and being convinced 
 that freshness and variety of treatment are more 
 than a compensation for any lack of uniformity in 
 the Series. 
 
 Deanery, Peterborough. 
 
'•JAN188S 
 fipNTENTSr ^'^ ^:s- 
 
 PAGES 
 
 I. Introduction. 
 
 L Design of the Author ix 
 
 ii. The Title xv 
 
 iii. The Author xvi 
 
 iv. Date of the work xxiv 
 
 V. The Sources of the Narrative xxxi 
 
 vi. On some alleged difl&culties in the character of 
 
 the Narrative in the Acts xxxiii 
 
 II. Text and Notes 185—380 
 
 III. Index : 381—387 
 
 Maps :— 
 
 St Paul's Second Missionary Journey to face p. 200 
 
 ,, Third „ tofacep. 246 
 
 The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener's 
 Cambridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the ordi- 
 nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the 
 use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by 
 Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his Intro- 
 duction to the Paragraph Bibkt published by the Cambridge 
 University Press. 
 
-a -^--^^ 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 DESIGN OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 The writer of the Acts of the Apostles sets forth, in his intro- 
 ductory sentences, that the book is meant to be a continuation 
 of a "former treatise." It is addressed to a certain "Theophi- 
 lus," and since, among the other books of the New Testament, the 
 third Gospel is written to a person of the same name, it is natural 
 to take these compositions to be the work of the same author, 
 and the unvarying tradition of antiquity has ascribed both works 
 to St Luke. Leaving however, for the present, the consideration 
 of this tradition, and turning to the contents of the book, we 
 find that the author describes his earlier work as a "treatise of 
 all that Jesus dega?t both to do and teach until the day in which 
 He was taken up" (Acts i. i, 2). This description accords 
 exactly with the character and contents of St Luke's Gospel, 
 and, moreover, the opening sentences of the Acts are an ex- 
 pansion and explanation of the closing sentences of that Gospel. 
 They define more completely the "promise of the Father" there 
 mentioned, they tell us how long the risen Jesus remained with 
 His disciples, they describe the character of His communications 
 during the forty days, and they make clear to us, what otherwise 
 would have been difficult to understand, viz. how it came to 
 pass that the disciples, when their Master had been taken from 
 them, "returned to Jerusalem with great joy" (Luke xxiv. 52). 
 When we read in the Acts of the two men in white apparel 
 who testified to the desolate gazers that the departed Jesus was 
 to come again as He had been seen to go into heaven, we can 
 comprehend that they would recall His words (John xiv. 28), 
 
 ACTS t 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " I go away and come again unto you. If ye loved me ye 
 would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father," and that 
 they would be strengthened to act upon them. 
 
 Thus, from the way in which this second account of the» 
 Ascension supplements and explains the former brief notice in 
 the Gospel, it seems natural to accept the Acts as a narrative 
 written with the purpose of continuing the history of the 
 Christian Church after Christ's ascension, in the same manner 
 in which the history of Christ's own deeds had been set forth in 
 the Gospel. Now the writer declares that his object in the first 
 work had been to explain what "Jesus begaji to do and teach." 
 He had not, any more than the other Evangelists, aimed at 
 giving a complete life of Jesus, but only an explanation of those 
 principles of His teaching, and those great acts in His life, on 
 which Xho. foujidations of the new society were to be laid. If 
 then the second book be meant to carry on the history in the 
 same spirit in which it had been commenced, we. shall expect to 
 find in it no more than what the disciples began to do and teach 
 when Jesus was gone away from them. And such unity of 
 purpose, and consequently of treatment, is all the more to be 
 looked for because both books are written to the same person. 
 
 That the Acts of the Apostles is a work of this character, a 
 history of begin7iings only, will be apparent from a very brief ex- 
 amination of its contents. We are told by the writer that Christ, 
 before His ascension, marked out the course which should be 
 taken in the publication of the Gospel. "Ye shall be witnesses 
 unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, 
 and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Taking these 
 words for his theme the author directs his labour to shew in 
 what manner the teaching of the Apostles was begun in each of 
 these appointed fields of labour, and he does no more. He men- 
 tions the eleven Apostles by name at the outset, to imply thereby 
 that each one took his due share in the work of evangeliza- 
 tion, though it will not come within the historian's purpose to 
 describe that share. And with like brevity he relates how the 
 Apostolic band was completed by the election of Matthias into 
 the place of Judas. This done, he turns to his proper theme. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which is what Jesus began to do through the Spirit after His 
 ascension. He tells us how the disciples, filled with the Holy- 
 Ghost, preached in Jerusalem until it was declared by the lips 
 of their adversaries (Acts v. 28) that the city was filled with their 
 doctrine. After this C07nmence7jze7if we hear but little of the 
 work done in Jerusalem. The author's next step is to relate 
 how from the Holy City the mission of the disciples was ex- 
 tended into Judaea and Samaria. To make this intelligible he 
 found it needful to describe with some detail the events which 
 led to the death of Stephen, and before that to point out the 
 position which the first martyr held in the new society. And as 
 the defence which Stephen made before the Jewish rulers forms 
 what may be called the Apology to the Jews for the universalism 
 of Christianity, we have the argument of that speech given at 
 some length. The time had arrived when the Gospel was to be 
 published to others than Jews, and we can see from the charges 
 laid against Stephen that this further spread of their labours 
 had been dwelt upon in the addresses of the Christian teachers. 
 Blasphemous words spoken against the Temple and the Law would 
 be but a vague accusation were it not explained by the defence 
 which was made in reply to it. From this defence we can see 
 that the provocation which had roused the Jews against Stephen 
 was the doctrine that God was the God not of the Jews only, but 
 also of the Gentiles, and that His worship was no longer to be 
 restricted to any particular locality as heretofore. To prove to his 
 hearers that this was shewn in their own history and taught by 
 their own prophets, Stephen points out that it was not in the 
 Holy Land, to which they attached such sanctity, that God first 
 appeared to Abraham, but in Mesopotamia ; that God was with 
 him also in Haran, and that when He had brought "the father of 
 the faithful" into Canaan, He gave no permanent possession 
 therein either to him or to his descendants for many generations. 
 Yet though the people of Israel were for a long time strangers 
 in Egypt God was with them there. He blessed them so that 
 they multipHed exceedingly, and manifested His constant care of 
 them in their slavery until at last He sent them a dehverer in 
 Moses. This prophet God had trained first in Pharaoh's court 
 
 b2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and then in the land of Midian, and had manifested His presence 
 to him in a special manner in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, 
 and all these tokens of God's care for His people had been 
 shewn without any preference on the part of Jehovah for one 
 place above another. 
 
 The mention of Moses leads the speaker into a brief di- 
 gression, in which he compares the rebellious behaviour of the 
 Israelites towards their deliverer, with the hostile disposition of 
 the Jews towards Jesus. But he soon resumes the thread of his 
 argument, and points out that the Tabernacle, and with it the 
 visible sign of God's presence among His chosen people, was 
 moving from place to place for forty years in the wilderness, and 
 that when the people came into Canaan there was no thought of 
 a fixed abode for the Tabernacle until the days of David : that 
 then God did not at once permit the building of the Temple 
 which that king designed to raise, and when Solomon was 
 allowed to build God's house, yet, as Stephen reminds his 
 hearers, the voice of their prophets still testified that the Most 
 High did not dwell in temples made with hands, but sat in 
 heaven, while earth was as His footstool, and that He was the 
 Maker and Preserver not of one race, but of all men. This 
 language, enforcing, from a review of their own history and pro- 
 phecies, the position which Stephen had taken up in the defence 
 of the new doctrine, and rather going beyond, than defending 
 himself against, the accusation of his opponents, roused their 
 indignation, and, apparently perceiving this, the speaker con- 
 cludes his defence not with a peroration, but with a solemn 
 rebuke, in which he says that, with all their zeal for the Law 
 they have not kept the true spirit of that heaven-sent deposit of 
 which they had been made the guardians. Provoked still more 
 by such a declaration the crowd breaks out into a furious rage, 
 and by stoning Stephen and persecuting all who adhered to his 
 cause, endeavours to stop the spread of the Christian doctrines, 
 but these persecutions become the cause of a still wider propa- 
 gation of the new teaching and effect the very object to which 
 the Jews were so strongly opposed. 
 
 This is the longest speech contained in the Acts, and the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 great prominence given to it by the author seems to harmonize 
 with what we judge to be his general design. For this address 
 was the first defence of the wider extension of the preaching 
 of the disciples, and on such initiatory stages of the movement 
 it is after the author's manner to dwell. 
 
 He next proceeds with the history of the propagation of 
 Christ's doctrine in Judaea and Samaria, and as if to indicate at 
 once that the message was now to be spread to the farthest 
 corners of the earth, PhiHp's mission to the Ethiopian eunuch 
 is mentioned that we may be informed concerning the firstfruits 
 of the faith in Africa ; but the story is carried no farther, nor have 
 we any after-record concerning Philip, except the notice (xxi. 8) 
 which seems to imply that he made his home for the future 
 in Cassarea, where the population would be mainly Gentiles. 
 
 Saul's conversion and Peter's visit to Cornelius may be called 
 companion pictures meant to display the two lines of activity by 
 which the conversion of the Gentiles was to be brought about. 
 The one mission, initiated by St Peter, was to those among the 
 heathen who, like the centurion of Caesarea, had been already 
 led to some partial knowledge of God, through the study of 
 the Jewish Scriptures. On the other hand the great Apostle of 
 the Gentiles was sent forth to his allotted work among those who 
 were to be turned (Acts xiv. 15) "from their vanities to serve 
 the living God which made heaven and earth and all things 
 therein." 
 
 As soon as Peter's share in the beginniJtg of this mission is 
 concluded, and he has twice testified concerning it (xi. 4 — 17, 
 XV. 7 — 11) that his action had been prompted by a Divine 
 revelation, and that the propriety of what he had done was 
 confirmed by the witness of the Holy Spirit, our historian dis- 
 misses him, the most energetic of the original twelve, from his 
 narrative, because the other beginnings of Gospel-preaching 
 among the heathen can be better explained by following the 
 career of St Paul, the chief pioneer of the Christian faith as it 
 spread to the ends of the earth. Still through the whole of what 
 is related concerning the labours of that Apostle, we learn only 
 of the foimdi7tg of Churches and societies, and of the initial 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 steps of the Christian work in the places which he visited. We 
 are indeed told that St Paul proposed, some time after the 
 completion of their first missionary journey (xv. 36), that he and 
 Barnabas should go and visit those cities in which they had 
 already preached the word of the Lord. But that proposal 
 came to naught, and the Apostle with Silas then visited only 
 Lystra and Derbe, and that apparently for the sole purpose of 
 taking Timothy as a companion in his further labours. After 
 this visit, the account of which is summed up in three verses, the 
 whole of the second journey was made over new ground. Troas, 
 Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth were' visited, and 
 probably in all these places, and in others unnamed, the begin- 
 nings of a Christian society were established. We know that it 
 was so in three of these cities. In returning by sea to Jeru- 
 salem the Apostle touched at Ephesus, but remained there so 
 short a time that his real work in that metropolis can hardly be 
 dated from this visit. We are only told that he entered into the 
 Synagogue and reasoned with the Jews (xviii. 19^ no mention 
 being made of what was his special work, the mission to the 
 Gentiles. But on his third journey, as though he had foreseen 
 how "great a door and effectual" was opened to him in Ephesus, 
 he chose that city as the first scene of his settled labours, and 
 continued there for the greater part of three years, and became 
 in that time, we cannot doubt, the founder of the Asiatic 
 Churches of the Apocalypse. From thence he passed over to 
 Macedonia, but though this journey is noticed there is no word 
 told us concerning the Churches which had been founded there 
 by St Paul and his companions on the previous visit, nor con- 
 cerning his labours in Greece whither he afterwards went. Nay 
 even though he made a special halt on his homeward voyage at 
 Philippi, where was a congregation which above all others was 
 a deep joy to the Apostle, we have not a detail recorded of the 
 condition in which he found the brethren whom he so much 
 loved. Very httle had been said concerning the results of the 
 former stay at Troas (xvi. 8 — 11) to indicate whether any Chris- 
 tian brotherhood had been established there ; and it may be that 
 the missionaries were forbidden of the Spirit at that time to preach 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in Troas as in the rest of Asia. For this reason, it seems, the 
 historian dwells more at length (xx. 6 — 12) on the residence of 
 St Paul in that city during his third journey, in such wise as to 
 make clear to us that here too the work of Christ was now begun. 
 After that, during the whole course of the voyage, with the ex- 
 ception of the invitation of the Ephesian elders to Miletus and the 
 solemn parting address given to them there, in which we hear 
 repeated echoes of the language of St Paul's Epistles, there 
 is no mention of any stay at places where the work of Evan- 
 gelization had already commenced. And when Jerusalem is 
 reached the imprisonment speedily follows, and the writer 
 afterwards records merely those stages in the Apostle's history 
 which led up to his visit to Rome. He might have told us 
 much of the two years passed in Csesarea, during which St 
 Paul's friends were not forbidden "to minister or to come unto 
 him." He might have told us much of those two other years 
 of the Roman imprisonment, of which he knew the termination. 
 But this entered not into his plan of writing. So he has made 
 no attempt to write a history of St Paul, any more than of 
 St Peter. As soon as we have heard that the message of the 
 Gospel was published first to the Jews and then to the 
 Gentiles in the empire-city of the world in that age, the author 
 pauses from his labour. He had completed the task which he 
 undertook : he had described what Jesus, through His messen- 
 gers, begaii to do and teach, after His ascension into heaven, for 
 in reaching Rome the message of the Gospel has potentially 
 come " to the uttermost parts of the earth." 
 
 II. THE TITLE. 
 
 It will be clear from what has been already said of its contents 
 that the title, by which the book is known to us, can hardly have 
 been given to it by its author. The work is certainly not " The 
 Acts of the Apostles." It contains no detailed account of the 
 work of any of the Apostles except Peter and Paul. John is 
 mentioned on three occasions, but he appears rather as the com- 
 panion of Peter than as the doer of any special act by himself. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Of James the son of Zebedee we have no notice except of 
 his execution by Herod, while much more space is devoted 
 to Stephen and Philip, who were not Apostles, than to him; and 
 the same remark applies to the notices of Timothy and Silas. 
 We may conclude then that the title, as we now have it, was a 
 later addition. The author (Acts i. i) calls the Gospel "a 
 treatise" (Xoyos), a term the most general that could be used; 
 and if that work were styled by him " the first treatise," the Acts 
 would most naturally receive the name of " the second treatise." 
 Or it may be that the form of title given in the Cod. Sitiaitiais 
 was its first appellation. There the book is called simply 
 "Acts," and for a while that designation may have been sufficient 
 to distinguish it from other books. But it was not long before 
 treatises came into circulation concerning the doings of indi- 
 vidual Apostles and Bishops, and these were known by such 
 titles as " The Acts of Peter and Paul," " The Acts of Timothy," 
 " The Acts of Paul and Thecla," &c. It would become neces- 
 sary, as such literature increased and was circulated, to enlarge 
 the title of this original volume of "Acts," and from such exi- 
 gency we find in various MSS. different titles given to it, 
 such as "Acts of the Apostles," " Acting of Apostles," "Acts of all 
 the Apostles," " Acts of the Holy Apostles," with still longer 
 additions in MSS. of later date. 
 
 III. THE AUTHOR. 
 
 All the traditions of the early Church ascribe the authorship 
 of the Acts to the writer of the third Gospel, and Eusebius {Hist. 
 Eccl. II. II ) says, "Luke, by race a native of Antioch and by pro- 
 fession a physician, having associated mainly with Paul and 
 having companied with the rest of the Apostles less closely, has 
 left us examples of that healing of souls which he acquired from 
 them in two inspired books, the Gospel and the Acts of the 
 Apostles." Eusebius lived about 325 A.D. Before his tim.e 
 Tertullian, A.D. 200, speaks {De jejtmiis, 10) of the descent of 
 the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and of Peter going up 
 to the housetop to pray, as facts mentioned in the com- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mentary of Luke. Also {^De baptismo, lo) he says, "We find in 
 the Acts of the Apostles that they who had received the baptism 
 of John had not received the Holy Ghost, of which indeed they 
 had not even heard." Similar quotations could be drawn from 
 Clement of Alexandria, a httle anterior to Tertullian, and also 
 from Irenseus, who wrote about a.d. 190. The earliest clear 
 quotation from the Acts is contained in a letter preserved in 
 Eusebius (//". E. v. 2) sent by the Churches in the south of Gaul 
 to the Christians of Asia and Phrygia and written A.D. 177, 
 concerning the persecutions of the Church in Gaul. Alluding 
 to some who had been martyred there, the writers say, "They 
 prayed for those who arranged their torments as did Stephen, 
 that perfect martyr, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.'" In 
 still earlier writings there maybe allusions to the Acts, but they 
 are not sufficiently distinct to warrant their insertion as quota- 
 tions. But in the scarcity of writings at this early period we need 
 not be surprised if a century elapsed after the writing of the book 
 before we can discover traces of its general circulation. It was 
 probably completed, as we shall see, between A.D. 60 — 70, and if 
 in a hundred years from that time the Christians of Europe can 
 quote from it as a book well known to their brethren in Asia we 
 may feel quite sure that it had been in circulation, and generally 
 known among Christians, for a large portion of the intervening 
 century. Modern critics have doubted the existence of the Acts 
 at the date when this letter of the Churches of Vienna and 
 Lyons was written, and have argued thus : "The tradition of 
 St Stephen's martyrdom, and the memory of his noble sayings, 
 may well have remained in the Church, or have been recorded 
 in writings then current, from one of which indeed eminent 
 critics conjecture that the author of Acts derived his ma- 
 terials 1." As if it were easier to admit on conjecture the exist- 
 ence of writings for which no particle of evidence is forth- 
 coming, than to allow, in agreement with most ancient tradition, 
 that "the Acts" was composed at the date to which, on the face 
 of his work, the writer lays claim. 
 
 In his book the author makes no mention of himself by 
 1 Supernatural Religion^ ill. 25. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 name, though in the latter part of his narrative he very fre- 
 quently employs the pronoun "we/' intimating thereby that he 
 was present at the events which in that portion of his work he is 
 describing. The passages in which this pronoun is found (xvi. 
 lo — 17; XX. 5 — 38; xxi. I — 18; xxvii. ; xxviii.) deserve special 
 notice. The author of the Acts, by his allusion in the opening 
 words to his "former treatise," leads us to the belief that in this 
 second work he is about again to use material which he gathered 
 from those who had been eyewitnesses and ministers in the scenes 
 which he describes. Much of this material he has clearly cast 
 into such a shape as fitted his purpose, and much which was 
 no doubt at hand for him he did not use because of the special 
 aim which in his treatise he had in view. It is very difficult to 
 believe that an author who has in other parts systematically 
 shaped other men's communications, many of which would 
 naturally be made to him in the first person, into a strictly his- 
 torical narrative, should in four places of his work have for- 
 gotten to do this,and have left standing the "we" of those persons 
 from whom he received his information. It seems much more 
 natural to infer that the passages in question are really the con- 
 tributions of the writer himself and that, on the occasions to 
 which they refer, he was himself a companion of St Paul. For 
 whoever the writer may have been he was neither neglectful nor 
 ignorant of the rules of literary composition, as may be seen by 
 the opening words both of the Gospel and the Acts. 
 
 But it has been alleged that anyone who had been the com- 
 panion of St Paul at those times, to which reference is made by 
 the passages we are considering, would have had much more 
 and greater things to tell us than the writer of the Acts has here 
 set down. This would be quite true if the author had set out 
 with the intention of writing a Hfe of St Paul. But, as has been 
 observed before, this is exactly what he did not do. His book 
 is a description of the begbmiiigs of Christianity. And with this 
 in mind we can see that the matters on which he dwells are 
 exactly those which we should expect him to notice. In the 
 first passage (xvi. 10 — 17) he describes the events which were 
 connected with the planting of the first Christian Church in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Europe at Philippi, and though the word "we" only occurs in the 
 verses cited above, it would be ridiculous to suppose that he, 
 who wrote those words implying a personal share in what was 
 done, was not a witness of all that took place while Paul and 
 Silas remained in Philippi. A like remark applies to the second 
 passage (xx. 5 — 38). Here too the word "we" is not found after 
 verse 1 5 where we read " we came to Miletus," But surely having 
 been with St Paul up to this point, we have no reason to think 
 that the writer was absent at the time of that earnest address 
 which the Apostle gave to the Ephesian elders whom he sum- 
 moned to Miletus to meet him ; an address which is. exactly in 
 the style that we should, from his Epistles, expect St Paul to 
 have used, and which we may therefore judge the writer of the 
 Acts to have heard from the Apostle's lips, and in substance to 
 have faithfully reported. 
 
 The next passage (xxi. i — 18) brings the voyagers to Jerusalem, 
 and there the writer represents himself as one who went with St 
 Paul to meet James and the Christian elders when the Apostle 
 was about to give an account of his ministry among the Gentiles. 
 But though after that the story falls again, as a history should, 
 into the third person, have we any right to conclude from this 
 that the writer who had come so far with his friend, left him 
 after he had reached the Holy City ? Surely it is more natural 
 to suppose that he remained near at hand, and that we have 
 in his further narrative the results of his personal observation 
 and enquiry, especially as when the pronoun " we " again appears 
 in the document it is (xxvii. i) to say " it was determined that 
 we should sail into Italy." The writer who had been the com- 
 panion of St Paul to Jerusalem is at his side when he is to 
 be sent to Rome. The events intervening had been such that 
 there was no place for the historian to speak in his own person, 
 but the moment when he is allowed again to become St Paul's 
 companion in travel, the personal feature reappears, and the 
 writer continues to be eyewitness of all that was done till Rome 
 was reached, and perhaps even till the Apostle was set free, for 
 he notes carefully the length of time that the imprisonment 
 lasted. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 That the writer of the Acts does not mention St Paul's 
 Epistles is what we should expect. He was with St Paul, and 
 not with any of those congregations to which the Epistles were 
 addressed, while as we have said, the piajiting of the Church, 
 and not the further edification thereof was what he set before 
 him to be recorded in the Acts. Moreover we are not to look 
 upon St Luke as with St Paul in the same capacity as Timothy, 
 Silas, or Aristarchus. He was for the Apostle "the beloved 
 physician"; a Christian brother it is true, but abiding with 
 St Paul because of his physical needs rather than as a prominent 
 sharer in his missionary labours. 
 
 The passages in question seem to give us one piece of 
 definite information about their writer. They shew us that 
 he accompanied St Paul from Troas as far as Philippi, and 
 there they leave him. But they further shew that it was exactly 
 in the same region that the Apostle, when returning to Asia for 
 the last time, renewed the interrupted companionship, which 
 from that time till St Paul's arrival in Rome seems only to have 
 been interrupted while he was under the charge of the Roman 
 authorities. If we suppose, as the title given to him warrants us 
 in doing, that Theophilus was some official, perhaps in Roman 
 employ ; that he lived (and his name is Greek) in the region of 
 Macedonia ; then the third Gospel may very well have been 
 written for his use by St Luke while he remained in Macedonia, 
 and the Acts subsequently when St Paul had been set free. In 
 this way addressing one who would know how the writer came 
 to Macedonia with St Paul, and went away again as that 
 Apostle's companion, the places in which the author has allowed 
 "we "to stand in his narrative are exactly those in which the 
 facts of the case would dictate its retention. 
 
 Nor is this personal portion of the writer's narrative so unim- 
 portant as has been alleged by some critics. The founding of 
 the Church at Philippi may be called the recorded birthday of 
 European Christendom. And for the writer of the Acts it was 
 not unimportant to tell us that a Christian Church was es- 
 tablished at Troas, when he had said in an earlier place that on 
 a former visit they were forbidden of the Spirit to preach the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 word in Asia. Who moreover can reckon the address at 
 Miletus an unimportant document in early Church history ? 
 Does it not shew us how the prescient mind of the Apostle 
 saw the signs of the times, the germs of those heretical 
 opinions which he lived to find more fully developed, and 
 against which he afterwards had to warn Timothy and Titus, 
 against which too almost all the letters of the other Apostles 
 are more or less directed ? And how the ' Apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles ' was brought to Rome was a subject which could not but 
 find full place in a history of the begijinings of the Gospel. 
 For though the v/riter of the Acts fully acknowledges the exist- 
 ence of a Christian Church in Rome before St Paul's arrival, 
 it was a part of his purpose to shew us how that Church was 
 for the first time strengthened by the personal guidance and 
 direction of one of the Apostles. 
 
 The letters of St Paul bear their witness to St Luke's pre- 
 sence with the Apostle when he was a prisoner in Rome; for 
 in the Epistle to Philemon, written from Rome during this first 
 imprisonment, the writer sends to Philemon the salutation of 
 Luke (ver. 24) as one of his fellow-labourers, and in the Epistle 
 to the Colossians (iv. 14) he is also mentioned as "Luke the 
 beloved physician." Indeed it seems very probable that St Luke 
 afterwards continued to be the companion of St Paul, for in a 
 later Epistle (2 Tim. iv. 11) we find him saying, "Only Luke is 
 with me." 
 
 That "the beloved physician" was the writer both of the Gospel 
 and of the Acts may perhaps also be inferred from the use which 
 the author makes of technical medical terms in his description 
 of diseases, as in the account of Simon's wife's mother (Luke 
 iv. 38), in the story of the woman with the issue of blood 
 (viii. 43, 44) and in his narration of the agony of Christ 
 (xxii. 44). Also in the description of the cripple at the Temple 
 gate (Acts iii. 7), in the notice of the death of Herod Agrippa 
 (xii. 23), and when he writes of the blindness of Elymas (xiii. 1 1), 
 and of the sickness of the father of Publius in Melita (xxviii. 8). 
 A comparison of the Greek phraseology of the Gospel and 
 of the Acts leads also to the conclusion that the two books 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 are from the same hand. It should further be noticed that 
 there are more than fifty words used in the Gospel and also in 
 the Acts which are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. 
 
 This work, as well as the Gospel, being anonymous, attempts 
 have been made to refer the authorship to some other person 
 than St Luke, seeing that it is only assigned to him by tradition, 
 and his name never appears in the story as do the names of 
 other actors in the work. Some critics have suggested that 
 Timothy was the author of those sections in which the plural 
 pronoun "we" occurs, because in the letters addressed to the 
 Corinthians, Thessalonians and Philippians, St Paul mentions 
 Timothy with great affection as his fellow-preacher. It is 
 argued that whoever wrote the narrative of the Acts must have 
 been in very close relation to St Paul at the time when he 
 visited Corinth and Thessalonica and Philippi, and that the 
 name of such a man would not have been omitted, at all events, 
 from the opening greetings of all these Epistles. But we can see 
 from Acts xx. 4 — 5 that there was an intimate companion of St 
 Paul, who for some reason remained at his side when the others 
 could leave him, and who there states expressly that he was 
 with the Apostle when Timothy had gone away. And the sug- 
 gestion of those who think that Luke the physician was taken 
 with him by St Paul because of the bodily infirmities under 
 which the Apostle laboured, and that it is in this capacity, 
 rather than as a fellow-preacher, that St Luke was in such close 
 attendance during the missionary journeys, is worthy of con- 
 sideration. If this were so, Luke, though the writer of the diary, 
 yet would not come so prominently before the Churches in the 
 various cities which were visited, as those companions of St 
 Paul who were fellow-missionarieSj and this would explain why 
 he is omitted in the greetings of the letters afterwards written 
 by St Paul to the newly-founded congregations. Moreover, the 
 physician would be the one person who would naturally remain 
 in attendance, when the fellow-preachers had gone forth on their 
 several ways. 
 
 Nor is there any better ground for supposing, as some have 
 done, that Silas is the narrator who writes in the first person. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 We have only to look at Acts xv. 22, where, in the portion of the 
 narrative which, according to this hypothesis, must have been 
 written by Silas, he is spoken of as a " chief man among the 
 brethren," to see that Silas could not be the writer of such a 
 notice concerning himself. 
 
 And the argument which would make Silas (i.e. Silvamis)^ 
 and Luke (i.e. Luca7iiis\ two names belonging to one and the 
 same person, because the one is derived from silva — 2L wood, 
 and the other from Incus =2. grove, and so their sense is 
 cognate, does not merit much consideration. It is said in 
 support of this view that Silas and Luke are never mentioned 
 together. But it is plain from the story of the preaching and 
 arrest of Paul and Silas at Philippi, that the writer who there 
 speaks in the first person plural was a different person from Silas 
 (cf. Acts xvi. 16 — 19). And with regard to the cognate signification 
 of the two names it should be borne in mind that when such 
 double appellations were given to the same person they were not 
 derived from the same language. Cephas and ThoDias are 
 Aramaic, while Peter and Didymus are Greek. But Silvajius 
 and Lucamis have both a Latin origin. 
 
 With still less ground has it been suggested that Titus was 
 the author of these personal sections and that some later writer 
 incorporated them in his work. Titus was with St Paul in his 
 missionary journeys, as we know from the second Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, but to accept him as author 01 "the Acts" would.be 
 to prefer a theory of modern invention before the tradition which, 
 though not capable of exact verification, has the voice of long 
 antiquity in its lavour. We are therefore inclined to give the 
 weight which it deserves to the ancient opinion, and to accept 
 the traditional view of the origin of both the Gospel and the 
 Acts, rather than any of the modern suppositions, which are 
 very difficult to be reconciled with the statements in the Acts 
 and the Epistles, and which are the mere offspring of critical 
 imaginations. 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IV. DATE OF THE WORK. 
 
 That the writer was one who hved amid the events with 
 which he deals will be clear to any one who will consider how 
 he connects his narrative with contemporary history, and that in 
 no case can he be proved to have fallen into error. We find him 
 speaking of Gamaliel (Acts v. 34) exactly as what we know from 
 other sources about that doctor of the Law would lead us to ex- 
 pect a contemporary to speak. In the same place he deals with 
 historical events in connection with Theudas and Judas, and it 
 has been shewn in the notes that there is great probability that 
 in all he says he is correct, for he speaks of the latter of these 
 rebels with more exactness than is found in Josephus, while the 
 former has probably been unnamed by that writer because the 
 rebellion in which Theudas was concerned was comprised under 
 the general description that he gives of the numerous outbreaks 
 with which Judaea was at that time disturbed. 
 
 Again, the writer of the Acts brings Caesarea before us 
 exactly in the condition in which we know it to have been under 
 Roman government in the period before the destruction of Je- 
 rusalem. He alludes (xi. 28) to the famine in the days of 
 Claudius Caesar, in language which only one who had personal 
 knowledge of the event would have used. He gives a notice of 
 Herod Agrippa which accords with Josephus in most minute 
 details, and which shews that the writer of the description was 
 most intimately acquainted with the circumstances which at- 
 tended that monarch's death. In his mention of Cyprus he makes 
 it clear by the designation which he uses for the Roman governor 
 of that island that he was conversant with all the circumstances 
 of its government, which had but recently undergone a change, 
 as is pointed out in the notes on St Paul's visit to Cyprus. 
 Of the same character is his very precise notice of the magiste- 
 rial titles in Thessalonica and Malta. He employs in his narra- 
 tive about these places no general expression, signifying "ruler" 
 or "chief man," but gives the special names of the officials there, 
 using words far from common, and which modern investigations 
 have proved to be of that precision which bespeaks a personal 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 acquaintance with the condition of the districts to which the 
 writer refers. 
 
 It is noteworthy too that he introduces at Ephesus the burn- 
 ing of the books of magic exactly at that place where, almost 
 above any city in the whole of Asia, such acts were held in the 
 greatest repute. So too the whole dialogue which >e. records 
 when Paul was rescued by the chief captain in Jerusalem is full 
 of incidental allusions to the tumults and disorders with which 
 Judaea was afflicted at the time, allusions which would hardly 
 have been made, and certainly not so naturally and without all 
 comment, by a writer who put together the story of the Acts at 
 a time long after the Apostles were dead. The mention of the 
 large force told off" to convey Paul to Csesarea is just one of those 
 notices which a later writer would never have invented. Abody- 
 guard oifour himdred and seventy men for the conveyance of a 
 single prisoner would have seemed out of all proportion except 
 to one who when he wrote knew that the whole land was in- 
 fested with bands of outlaws, and that these desperadoes could 
 be hired for any outrage at the shortest notice. 
 
 In the same way Felix, Festus and Agrippa are brought 
 before us in exact harmony with what we learn of their history 
 and characters from other sources, and with none of that descrip- 
 tion which a late writer would have been sure to introduce, while 
 a contemporary would know it to be unnecessary. Even the 
 speech of TertuUus before Felix, both by what it says and what 
 it omits, in its words of flattery, is evidence that we are dealing 
 with the writing of one who lived through the events of which 
 he has given us the history. 
 
 But it is in the frequent notices of Jerusalem that the most 
 cogent evidence is to be found for the date of the writer. That 
 city was destroyed by the Romans A.D. 70, but in the whole of 
 the Acts there is no single word to indicate that the author of 
 this book knew anything of that event or even of the causes 
 whose operation brought it about. The city is always mentioned 
 as still in its grandeur; the Temple services and "sacrifices con- 
 tinue to be observed ; at the great feasts the crowds of strangers 
 assemble as the Law enjoined, and among its population the 
 
 ACTS c 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees act the same parts which 
 they do in the Gospel histories; locahties such as Solomon's 
 porch, and the field Akeldama, the tower of Antonia and its near 
 neighbourhood to the Temple, are spoken of as though still ex- 
 isting and as well-marked spots ; the synagogues erected in the 
 city for the foreign Jews are mentioned, and the writer speaks of 
 them as places which would be well known to his readers. 
 Annas and Caiaphas and Ananias are to him no characters re- 
 moved by long years of past history, but recent holders of office 
 in the city which was still standing in all security. These features, 
 so many and so various, of contemporary knowledge mark the 
 Acts as a book which must have been written before the over- 
 throw of Jerusalem, and as the narrative terminates about the 
 year 6;^ A, D., we conclude that its composition must have been 
 completed very soon after that date, and probably not later than 
 A.D. 66. About the latter year St Paul was martyred at Rome, 
 and had the writer of the Acts known of that event it is very 
 difficult to imagine that he should have made no allusion to it in 
 such passages as those in which the Apostle declares his ex- 
 pectation of death and his readiness to suffer in the cause of 
 Christ. 
 
 But not only does the writer of the Acts move easily in his 
 narrative as if amid contemporary history, and give notices of 
 persons and places like one to whom actual experience in what 
 he writes about makes his footing sure, but he has also left an 
 undesigned testimony to the date at which he wrote in the 
 character of his narrative. We know that before the end of the 
 first century the Christian Church was troubled by the rise of 
 much false doctrine. In the New Testament we have a few 
 allusions to false teachers, as when it is said of Hymenaeus and 
 Alexander (i Tim. i. 19, 20) that they "have made shipwreck con- 
 cerning the faith," and (2 Tim. ii. 17, 18) of Hymenaeus and 
 Philetus, that they "have erred concerning the truth." But from 
 other sources we learn much more than from Holy Writ con- 
 cerning these first heretical teachers. The earliest and most 
 prominent among them were the Gnostics, who derived their 
 name from the pretensions which they made to superior know- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ledge {g7tosis). This knowledge, as they taught, distinguished the 
 more elevated among mankind from the vulgar, for whom faith 
 and traditional opinion were said to be sufficient. These teachers 
 also perverted the Scriptures by great license in the use of 
 allegorical explanation ; they held that from God had emanated 
 generations of spiritual beings, whom they named ^ons, and 
 who, from the description given of them, are seen to be imper- 
 sonations of the Divine attributes. By the Gnostics matter was 
 declared to be evil, but superior knowledge could enable men 
 either by asceticism to become superior to it, or if they indulged 
 in excesses, to do so without harm. These heretics also denied 
 the resurrection of the body. One of their number, Cerinthus, 
 taught that Christ was one of the ^ons, and that he descended 
 upon the man Jesus at His baptism, and gave Him the power of 
 working miracles, but departed from Him before His crucifixion. 
 There were many other forms assumed by their various heretical 
 doctrines, but what has been said will be a sufficient notice of 
 their character for us to see how free from all knowledge of such 
 speculations was the writer of the Acts. He mentions the op- 
 position of the Judaizing Christians, those of the Circumcision, 
 and he records in many places the violent assaults made on the 
 first missionaries by those sections of the heathen population 
 who saw that the spread of Christianity would interfere with 
 their sources of gain, but of Gnosticism in any of its phases he 
 has never a word, though that kind of teaching was widely 
 spread before the end of the first century. It is therefore to be 
 believed that his history was composed before such heretical 
 teaching had spread, or even made itself much known, or else 
 we must suppose that the writer, though aware of the existence 
 of all these errors, has yet been able to compile a narrative of 
 the early years of the Church without giving us a hint of what 
 had been developed within her at the time when he wrote. He 
 has brought forward St Paul speaking at Miletus (xx. 29, 30), "I 
 know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in 
 among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall 
 men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after 
 them ;" and yet on such a passage he has given no sign that the 
 
 c 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 words of the Apostle had been exactly verified. To suppose that 
 the writer could thus compose his book and never shew that he 
 knew of the later course of the history of the Church, if he did 
 know of it, is quite as difficult as to conceive that he was 
 aware of the overthrow of the Holy City, and yet, though making 
 mention of Jerusalem in almost every chapter, he has never let 
 fall a word in which he intimates his knowledge that the city no 
 longer existed. The only safe conclusion to which a considera- 
 tion of these characteristics of the Acts can lead us is that the 
 author wrote as he has done because, at the time when he was 
 writing, Gnosticism had not been spread abroad, nor was Jeru- 
 salem destroyed. 
 
 The absence of any allusions to the writings of St Paul in the 
 Acts is a piece of the same kind of evidence for the early date 
 of its composition. Many of the Pauhne Epistles were no 
 doubt written and in the possession of those Churches to which 
 they were addressed before the composition of the Acts, but 
 they had not yet been widely circulated, and so were probably 
 unknown to St Luke. There are, however, some points in 
 the history, which he has given us, that derive support from 
 the Epistles. Thus the provision for widows, alluded to Acts 
 vi. I, was a new feature of social obligation introduced by 
 Christianity. In the narrative of St Luke we are shewn that 
 this was one of the earliest cares of the infant Church, and 
 that it even took precedence of all that we now embrace under 
 the name of public worship. Consonant with this part of the 
 early Christian organization are the regulations given by St Paul 
 to Timothy (i Tim. v. 9) concerning provision for the widows in 
 the Church over which he was to preside. Again the historian 
 gives in several places the account of Saul's conversion after he 
 had been a persecutor of the Christians ; in entire accord with 
 this the Apostle speaks of himself (i Tim. i. 13) as " a blasphemer, 
 and a persecutor, and injurious," but as having " obtained mercy 
 because he did it ignorantly in unbehef." St Paul tells of his 
 escape from Damascus (2 Cor. xi. 32) in language which agrees 
 with what we read in the Acts (ix. 23 — 25). In Hke manner he 
 makes mention (Gal. i. 18) of his visit to Jerusalem to see Peter 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and James exactly as St Luke mentions it in the history (Acts ix. 
 28). We learn from the Acts (xii. 17) that James was president 
 of the Church in Jerusalem, and with that agrees the testimony 
 of St Paul (Gal. ii. 9), while the persecutions which the Apostle 
 underwent in Lystra, Antioch and Iconium, of which the his- 
 torian speaks at some length (Acts xiii., xiv.), are mentioned by 
 St Paul when he is writing to Timothy, a native of Lystra (2 
 Tim. iii. 10, 11), as matters about which the latter had full 
 knowledge. So too the letters of St Paul confirm the history in 
 the Acts with reference to the sufferings endured by the Apostle 
 in his mission to Macedonia. Speaking of these sufferings he 
 reminds the Philippians (i. 30) that their conflict is of the same 
 kind as they had seen him endure. He alludes also (ii. 22) to 
 their knowledge of the character of Timothy whom St Luke 
 mentions as one of St Paul's companions in that journey. And 
 at an earlier period when writing to the Thessalonians (i Thess. 
 i. 6) he makes mention of the great affliction under which they 
 had received the word of the Gospel, and specially names (ii. 2) 
 the shameful treatment to which he and his companions had 
 been subjected at Philippi. Then the teaching recorded at 
 Athens in which the Apostle points out how men from natural 
 religion should be led to " seek the Lord if haply they may feel 
 after Him and find Him" has its counterpart in what is said in 
 the opening of the Epistle to the Romans. There too St Paul 
 declares that the invisible things of God, even His eternal power 
 and Godhead, are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
 that are made, so that men are without excuse. While the quo- 
 tation from Aratus in that same speech on Mars' Hill is exactly 
 in the style of St Paul as may be seen from similar quotations 
 made by him i Cor. xv. 33 and Titus i. 12, while no other N. T. 
 writer is found quoting from the works of heathen authors. 
 
 Again both history and letters shew us how St Paul laboured 
 with his own hands for the support both of himself and those who 
 were with him. St Luke mentions the working with Aquila and 
 Priscilla at Corinth (xviii. 3) and puts a reierence to the like 
 conduct at Ephesus into the Apostle's mouth (xx. 34) when he is 
 speaking to the elders at Miletus. The passages which confirm 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 this narrative in the Epistles will be found in i Cor. iv. 1 2 ; 2 Cor. 
 xi. 8 — 10 ; I Thess. ii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8 ; while from Rom. xvi. 4 
 and 2 Tim. iv. 19 we have evidence that these persons whom St 
 Luke tells us were fellow-workers with the Apostle as tent- 
 makers were really friends whom he valued highly as brethren 
 in Christ. 
 
 On another point we have similar confirmation of one docu- 
 ment by the others. We know from the Acts how St Paul en- 
 couraged the ,Gentiles to aid with their substance the poor 
 Christians in Judsea, and he mentions (Acts xxiv. 17) that it was 
 to bring some of the alms collected in answer to his appeals that 
 he had come to Jerusalem when he was attacked in the Temple. 
 Writing to the Romans (xv. 25) the Apostle says " Now I go 
 unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints" and in the next 
 verse mentions the 'contributions' of Macedonia and Achaia. 
 We have also a proof (i Cor. xvi. i) that such collections were 
 directed to be made in the churches of Galatia as well as at 
 Corinth, and the same subject is mentioned 2 Cor. viii. i — 4. 
 
 In Acts xix. 21, the historian tells us of St Paul's intention to 
 visit Rome, and to the Christians there the Apostle writes (Rom. 
 i. 13) "I would not have you ignorant that oftentimes I have 
 purposed to come unto you." We know from the Acts very 
 incidentally (xxvii. 2) that Aristarchus went with St Paul when 
 he was carried prisoner to Rome. This is confirmed by the 
 language which the Apostle uses in a letter written during 
 that imprisonment (Col. iv. 10) where he speaks of Aristarchus as 
 his fellow-prisoner, a term which might well be used figuratively 
 by him to express the devotion of the friend who gave up his 
 own liberty that he might minister to the venerable prisoner. 
 
 Such coincidences of testimony in works written indepen- 
 dently of each other are of the highest value, and could only be 
 found in writings produced by those who wrote from direct 
 personal knowledge. So that we are in this way brought to 
 the conclusion that the narrative of the Acts was composed 
 before the time when the Epistles of St Paul had been brought 
 into, circulation. For there is in the history no notice of the 
 letters, and yet the details betoken the same freshness, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 closeness to the events of which they speak, as is seen in the 
 confessedly contemporary allusions made by St Paul in his 
 Epistles. There can, therefore, be no great difference in their 
 date of composition between those Epistles of St Paul from 
 which we have quoted and St Luke's account in the Acts of the 
 Apostles. 
 
 A consideration of these various features of the Acts, — that 
 the writer makes mention of contemporary secular histoiy as 
 one who was living among the events of which he speaks ; 
 that in his work we find no indication that he knew of the fall 
 of Jerusalem ; that he displays no acquaintance with the here- 
 tical tenets which were rife before the end of the first century ; 
 that he makes no reference to any of St Paul's Epistles, though 
 writing as one fully conversant with the missionary-travels of 
 that Apostle, — forces us to the conclusion that the work was 
 written at some time between A. D. 6^ and A. D. 70, and most 
 probably about midway between these dates. 
 
 V. THE SOURCES OF THE NARRATIVE. 
 
 In the preface to the Gospel of St Luke the writer states 
 definitely that the information which he is about to record for 
 Theophilus was derived from those " which from the beginning 
 were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word." And as he him- 
 self was certainly not a disciple of Christ from the first, it was 
 necessary that in the earlier treatise he should consult others, 
 and it may have been needful to do so for the greater portion 
 of what he has there written. But in the later book the sources 
 of his information are not necessarily of exactly the same kind 
 as for the Gospel. So that the preface of the Gospel need not 
 be taken as having reference to the Acts likewise ; and it is 
 manifest from the passages in which the author in the Acts 
 speaks in the first person plural that he meant to imply that he 
 was himself an eye-witness of the events which he is there 
 describing. What has been said in the notes on iii. 8 about the 
 graphic character of the language there used, and of its simi- 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 larity in style to the Gospel of St Mark, the vivid narratives of 
 which have much in common with the acknowledged language 
 of St Peter, it seems not improbable that the account of the 
 events at and after the Ascension and of the spread of the 
 Gospel in Jerusalem (Acts i. — v.) may have been drawn directly 
 or indirectly from that Apostle's information. We may also 
 ascribe to the same source all those portions of the narrative in 
 which St Peter plays a conspicuous part, and of which the 
 language is markedly of one character. Such portions would 
 include ix. 32 — xi. 18 and also xii. i — 19, much of which could 
 have come in the first instance from no other lips than those of 
 Peter himself. From some member of the Hellenistic party, of 
 whom St Luke would meet many during his travels with St 
 Paul, (just as we know (xxi, 8) that he dwelt with Philip the 
 Evangelist many days at Caesarea,) our author probably drew 
 the whole of that portion of his narrative which relates to the 
 appointment of the deacons and the accusation, defence, and 
 death of Stephen (vi. — vii.), as well as those notices of the after 
 movements of the Hellenistic missionaries (viii. i — 40, xi. 19 — 
 30, xii. 25) which are found at intervals in the history. 
 
 The narrative of Saul's conversion (ix. i — 30) must have 
 been told by himself, and after xiii. i the remainder of the book 
 deals exclusively with the labours of that Apostle, and as the 
 writer had abundant opportunities while journeying with St 
 Paul of hearing all the history of his life before he became his 
 companion, we cannot suppose that he has recorded anything 
 of St Paul's doings except what was derived from the informa- 
 tion of that Apostle or his fellow-labourers. 
 
 There remain the two historic notices (i) of the rest experi- 
 enced by the Churches of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria 
 (ix. 31) and (2) of the death of Herod Agrippa (xii. 20 — 23) ; 
 but of these, if, as we have endeavoured to shew, he were living 
 amidst the events of which he writes, the author would be aware 
 from his personal knowledge ; and the natural manner in which 
 both these incidents are introduced indicates how well the 
 writer knew that for his Christian readers as well as for himself 
 a slight hint would recall the bypast trials of Christ's Church. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 VI. ON SOME ALLEGED DIFFICULTIES IN THE CHARACTER 
 OF THE NARRATIVE IN THE ACTS. 
 
 It has been said in recent criticism on the Acts that the book 
 represents the Gospel as intended not for Jews only but for 
 all mankind, in a manner at variance with the teaching of the 
 Gospels. Those who put forward this objection would assign 
 the teaching of the universality of the Gospel message to St 
 Paul alone and would set it down as his development of what 
 was meant at first to be only a modification of Judaism. 
 
 That in the Acts the preaching of the Gospel is represented 
 as for all nations is certainly true. St Peter says (ii. 39) " The 
 promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are 
 afar off^ even as many as the Lord our God shall call." The 
 accusation laid against Stephen (vi. 14) was that he had said 
 "Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and change the 
 customs which Moses delivered us" and his whole defence 
 shews that he had preached that not the Jews nor Jerusalem 
 were any longer to be God's special care, but all men were 
 now to be embraced in His covenant, while the whole of St 
 Paul's labours are directed to make of Jews and Gentiles one 
 worldwide Church of Christ. But the student of the Gospels 
 need surely find no stumblingblock here. For if we take that 
 which is on all hands accepted as the most Jewish of the Gos- 
 pels, that of St Matthew, we can see that the universalism of 
 the Acts is therein foreshadowed from the first, and spoken of 
 definitely before the close. To God's ancient people His offers 
 of mercy were made first, and in accordance with this is the 
 conduct of all the preaching of the Acts, but Gentiles are no 
 longer excluded when once Christ has been born. To lay the 
 foundations of the Christian Church firmly in the short space 
 of the ministerial life of its Founder it was needful that the 
 labours both of Himself and His disciples should be confined 
 within a limited range, and directed to a people prepared by 
 the Old Testament revelation and among whom some were 
 likely to be ready to hear the words of the Gospel message. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 But while the infant Jesus is in His cradle we see wise vieti 
 from the East brought to be His earliest worshippers. The 
 voice of His herald proclaims that not the natural seed of 
 Abraham shall of necessity be heirs of the promises, but that 
 God is able of the very stones (and if so, much more from 
 among the rest of mankind) to raise up children unto Abra- 
 ham. When the ministry of Christ is begun and He takes up 
 His abode in the border land of the Gentiles, we are reminded 
 that it had been made known of old that ^' the people which 
 sat in darkness were to see great light, and that light is sprung 
 up for them that sat in the region and shadow of death." 
 Then what can be more universal than the benedictions with 
 which the Sermon on the Mount begins ? The poor in spirit, 
 the mourners, the meek, the pure, the merciful, these are not 
 restricted to the Jewish race, and on these it is that Jesus 
 utters His first blessings. How often loo does He shew that 
 the customs of the Jews were to be done away, the ceremonial 
 law, the fastings and the sabbaths to be disregarded, while 
 the moral law was to be widened and deepened so that all 
 men should learn that they were neighbours one of another.? 
 How often does He select the Samaritans to illustrate His 
 teaching, and place them before us as those with whom He 
 was well pleased, while He points out (Matt. viii. lo) that in the 
 Roman centurion there was faith manifested beyond what He 
 had found in Israel ? It is true that when Jesus first sent out 
 the twelve (Matt. x. 5) He said unto them "Go not into the 
 way of the Gentiles " but this was in the same spirit in which 
 all the teaching of Christianity had its commencement among 
 the Jews. Yet the Lord who gave the injunction that this 
 should be so, knew that those to whom the message was first 
 sent would largely refuse to hear. For He adds to his com- 
 mission the warning that His ministers are going as 'sheep 
 among wolves,' and foretells that they should be persecuted 
 from one city to another (Matt. x. 16—23), and goes on to 
 say that His message is to be published far and wide, yea 
 even proclaimed, as it were, from the housetops. When He 
 speaks afterwards (Matt. xii. 18 — 21) of His own work in the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 language of Isaiah He quotes "He shall shew judgment to 
 the Gentiles... 2CcidL in His name shall the Gentiles trust" and 
 before the close of that same address He adds those words 
 which proclaim that not only the ties of race but even those 
 of family and kindred are to be disregarded in comparison 
 with the unity of all men in Him " Whosoever shall do the 
 will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother 
 and sister and mother." 
 
 Think too how he figures the kingdom of God. It is a 
 tree (Matt. xiii. 32) in whose branches the birds of the air 
 from all quarters shall come and find a home : it is a net 
 cast into the wide sea of the world and gathers (xiii. 47) of 
 every kind of fish ; while the field in which God's seed is to 
 be sown is not Judaea nor Palestine nor any limited region, 
 but in His own gracious exposition (xiii. 38) " The field is the 
 world." He makes known (Matt, xviii. 11) that His mission 
 is not to save one race only but to seek and save that which is 
 lost, and says to the professedly, but only outwardly, religious 
 among His own people (xxi. 31) "The publicans and harlots go 
 into the kingdom of God before you," and adds the solemn 
 warning afterwards (xxi. 43) "The kingdom of God shall be 
 taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
 thereof." 
 
 And as the end of His life drew near Jesus spake even more 
 plainly. Thus He says (Matt. xxiv. 14) " This Gospel of the 
 kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto 
 all natioiis^'' and His final commission (xxviii. 19) bids His dis- 
 ciples do what St Luke tells us in the Acts they did : " Go ye 
 therefore and teach all nations baptizing them... and teaching 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 
 
 When in one Gospel we find so many evidences of what the 
 character of the Christian preaching was meant to be, we need 
 not examine farther to see with how little ground it is asserted 
 that in the Acts St Luke paints Christianity in different colours 
 from anything that was known to the writers of the Gospels or 
 set forth in the life and teaching of Jesus. As the angels pro- 
 claimed at the birth of the Lord, " the tidings of great joy " were 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to be " unto all people," and the newborn King while " the glory 
 of God's people Israel" was also heralded from the first as to 
 be " a light to lighten the Gentiles." 
 
 Another objection to the narrative in the Acts is that the book 
 marks no rupture with Judaism. To bring this objection into 
 prominence much stress is laid by those who use' it on the 
 severity with which St Paul speaks of the Judaizers in some 
 parts of his letters, notably in the Epistle to the Galatians. 
 From the language there used it is argued that the Apostle had 
 broken altogether with Judaism, and that the picture of his life 
 and labours as we have received it in the Acts is untrustworthy. 
 Now first of all it is extremely unlikely that the preachers of 
 Christ's Gospel, with His example before them, would sever 
 themselves from their Jewish brethren until circumstances arose 
 which forced them to do so. Our Lord had been a devout Jew 
 while rebuking without measure what was deserving of rebuke in 
 Pharisaic Judaism. And what we have set before us in the Acts, 
 first in the doings of the twelve, and then in the story of St Paul 
 is in natural sequence to the Gospel history. Peter and John 
 going up to the temple at the hour of prayer is the link which 
 binds one history to the other, and it is a link which would not 
 lightly be broken, for who could be so powerfully appealed to by 
 the first Evangelists as those who had the ancient scriptures 
 already in their hands ? 
 
 And in St Paul's case a distinction should be made between 
 Judaism and Judaizers. He knew that Judaism must pass 
 away, yet how tenderly, lovingly he deals in his letters with the 
 devout Jew. The Judaizers, who were of set purpose an obstacle 
 and hindrance to the work of the Gospel, he cannot away with. 
 They are the men who desire merely "to make a fair shew in the 
 flesh," who preach "another Gospel," and therefore are to the 
 Apostle anathema. But he could still see constantly in the Law 
 the psedagogue which was to bring men to Christ ; and how near 
 his heart his own people were we can discern from that Moses- 
 like language of his written to the Romans at the same time that 
 he wrote in his severest strain to the misleading Judaizers among 
 the Galatians. In what a truly tender light St Paul regarded all 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 
 
 that was Jewish is seen from his words to the Romans (Rom. ix. 
 I — 5) " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing 
 witness with me in the Holy Ghost, that I have great sorrow 
 and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself 
 were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen 
 according to the flesh : who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, 
 and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and 
 the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and 
 of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God 
 blessed for ever." Now this very same feeling is shewn to us in 
 the Acts. There to the Jews he becomes a Jew that he may gain 
 them for the Gospel. He follows the advice of the brethren in 
 Jerusalem and takes on him the Nazaritevow, and in his speech 
 before the Council he shrinks not from saying " I am a Pharisee, 
 a son of Pharisees," exactly in accord with the spirit which 
 dictates again his argument to the Romans (xi. i) "Did God 
 cast off His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite." 
 And those whom God had not cast off we may rest sure St Paul 
 had not cast off, nor made with them such a breach as is sug- 
 gested by those who argue from some expressions in his Epistles 
 that the behaviour described in the Acts is not such as St Paul 
 would have shewn to the other disciples nor they to him. 
 
 Again it is said that in the Acts Peter is represented as Pauline 
 in all he says and does and Paul's conduct is pictured as in 
 complete harmony with Peter's. But to those who believe that 
 these two were both Apostles of the same Jesus, both preachers 
 of the same Evangel, both guided by the same Holy Spirit, 
 there is nothing but what is natural in this. The historian 
 brings both before us as labouring for the same work, the 
 extension of the Gospel according to Christ's command from 
 Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. He gives us only short 
 abstracts of what either preacher said, and is it not to be 
 supposed that there would be great similarity in the drift of 
 their addresses ? Their main theme must be the Resurrection 
 as a proof of the Divinity and the Messiahship of Jesus. Their 
 chief exhortation " Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus 
 Christ for the remission of your sins." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 But this figment of a Pauline and a Petrine party never 
 entered into the thoughts of either Luke or Paul or Peter. 
 There were partizans of Paul and of Peter at Corinth, it is true, 
 but we know how they were rebuked by Paul himself, who bade 
 them remember that Christ was not divided. Nor is there 
 any evidence worth the name that His Apostles were divided. 
 Paul tells us how he rebuked Peter because he stood condemned 
 by the inconsistency of his own actions. But it was the rebuke 
 of a friend and not of an opponent, for in the same chapter 
 he speaks of Peter as one who had been entrusted by the 
 Spirit with the Gospel of the circumcision, and who had given 
 to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, as labourers 
 in a common cause though in different fields. But neither in 
 the Acts nor in the Epistles have we any warrant for that opinion 
 which is so prominent in the Clementine fictions of the second 
 century. There, without being named, St Paul is alluded to by 
 Peter "as the man who is mine enemy," and under the guise 
 of Simon Magus is attacked for reproving Peter at Antioch. 
 These writings are a most worthless ground on which to base 
 any argument at all. Their author, whoever he may have been, 
 durst not mention St Paul by name, so doubtful is he of the 
 acceptance which his work will meet with ; and yet it is of these 
 works that writers who deny the fidelity of the New Testament 
 documents assert "there is scarcely a single writing which is of 
 so great importance for the history of Christianity in its first 
 stage." It is out of these .fictions that the Petrine and Pauline 
 parties have been evolved. The writings of Justin Martyr, who 
 knew the sentiments of Christians in the Holy Land at the 
 beginning of the second century, have no trace of these parties, 
 neither is there a trace to be found in Avhat is left us of the 
 writings of that Judseo-Christian Hegesippus. And if these 
 men, who were in the position to know most about it, have no 
 word of the matter, we can only conclude that the opposition so 
 much dwelt on did not exist, but that, just as in the Acts we have 
 it set before us, the preaching of Peter and Paul was in entire 
 harmony. For them Christ was not divided, nor did their 
 doctrine differ except so far as was made necessary by the con- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 aition of the audiences which they addressed. For a fuller 
 discussion of this subject than is here possible, and for demon- 
 stration that there was no antagonism between Paul and the 
 rest of the Apostles, the reader is referred to Dr Lightfoot's 
 Essay on " St Paul and the Three" in his Edition of the Epistle 
 to the Galatians. 
 
 I have to thank several friends for their kind interest in the 
 first part of the Acts and for some suggestions which, as far as 
 was possible, have been embodied in the notes. But I desire 
 specially to express my acknowledgement of the help which I 
 have derived in matters of Jewish learning and antiquities from 
 my friend Dr Schiller-Szinessy, to whose abundant stores of 
 knowledge the enquirer seems always welcome. 
 
 HJaOL 
 
vv. I, 2.] THE ACTS, XV. i8S 
 
 I — 5. At Antioch some maintain that Gentile cotiverts must 
 be circumcised. A ?nission to Jerusalon about the question. 
 Reception of those who were sent. 
 And certain 7?ien which came down from Judea taught 15 
 the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the 
 manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore 2 
 Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation 
 
 XV. 1—5. At Antioch some maintain that Gentile converts 
 
 MUST BE circumcised. A MISSION TO JERUSALEM ABOUT THE 
 
 QUESTION. Reception of those who were sent. 
 
 The history now approaches that subject of controversy which was 
 certain to arise as soon as Christianity spread beyond the Hmits of 
 Palestine. The first converts to the new faith were made among the 
 Jews, but few of them were likely to cast aside those prejudices of religion 
 in which they had long been educated. As soon as Gentiles who had 
 not first become proselytes to Judaism joiried the Christian Church, 
 Jewish exclusiveness received a violent shock, and there was no small 
 danger lest the new community should be rent asunder almost at its 
 beginning. "The covenant," by which expression the devout Jew 
 specially meant "circumcision," was constituted a cry by Judaizing 
 agitators, and the opposition, first brought into prominence at Antioch, 
 proved a continuous source of trial through the wholfe ministry of St 
 Paul, and has left its traces on most of the writings both of the N. T. 
 and of early Christian literature. 
 
 1. which came down from Jzcded] The words of the new comers 
 would derive authority from this. They would be received as the 
 latest ordinance of the heads of the church at Jerusalem. Thus the 
 mission of enquiry to Jerusalem was rendered necessary. 
 
 taught the brethren'\ These were a mixed body, composed of Jews, 
 proselytes and Gentiles (see xi. 19, 20 and the notes there). Thus it 
 was precisely the place where such a question would arise. Gentile 
 converts who had not passed into Christianity by the gate of Judaism 
 would be sure to be regarded as wanting something, by the people in 
 whose mouths "uncircumcised" had been from old times the bitterest 
 term of reproach. (Cp. i Sam. xvii. 26 and Acts xi. 3.) The tense of the 
 verb used implies that these men were persistent in their teaching, they 
 kept constantly to this theme. 
 
 after the manner (custom) of Moses\ The word is found before (Acts 
 vi. 14) "the customs which Moses delivered" and signifies those rites and 
 usages which had their foundation in the law (cp. Luke i. 9, ii. 42 ; Acts 
 xxi.2i) and so were more than a "manner" or "fashion." Cp. also John 
 vii. 22, for circumcision as the ordinance given to the people by Moses. 
 
 ye cannot be saved\ A statement likely to cause dissension and 
 questioning among those who had just learnt (xiv. 27) that "God had 
 opened the door of faith" (independent of the observance of the ceremo- 
 nial law) "imto the Gentiles." 
 
 2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas\ These Apostles would at 
 
 acts 14 
 
i86 THE ACTS, XV. [vv. 3, 4. 
 
 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 
 
 4 they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when 
 
 once repeat their testimony of what " God had done with them" among 
 the Gentiles, and thus become the opponents of the "men from Judaea." 
 
 dissension and dispuiation'\ The authorities of best account give a 
 simple instead of compound noun for the last word, and it would be 
 well rendered "questioning," (so R. V.) as the subject in dispute is 
 called a "question" at the end of the verse. The first noun rendered 
 "dissension " does not imply any angry disputation, but only a division. 
 They took different sides in the debate. 
 
 they deta-mined (appointed)] i.e. the brethren of the church of 
 Antioch. The verb, as well as the whole context, shews that the 
 mission was sent by the whole Christian community, to which the 
 question was one of most vital importance, probably affecting a large 
 part of their members. 
 
 apostles and elders'] Peter, John, and James we find were now at 
 Jerusalem, and these seem, from other notices in the N. T. (Gal. i. 18, 
 19, and ii. 9), to have been the Apostles who continued to live in the 
 holy city. These with the elders appear now as the governing body of 
 the infant church. And Jerusalem was for the Jew, until its destruc- 
 tion, the place of chief authority (cp. Is. ii. 3). The overthrow of the 
 holy city did as much as anything to help on the knowledge of the 
 universality of the Christian religion. Those who had been bred in 
 Judaism, could not (as devout Jews to this day do not) cast away the 
 thought that Jerusalem is "the place where men ought to worship." 
 
 3. brought on their way] It was not an uncommon mark of affec- 
 tion or respect that a part of the church at any place should attend its 
 chief teachers for a short way on their journeys. (Cp. i/i/ra xx. 38, 
 xxi. 16.) And for the antiquity of the custom among the Jews, see 
 Gen. xviii. 16, where Abraham brings his heavenly visitors on their way. 
 Among the companions of Paul and Barnabas on this journey must 
 have been Titus, for we read of him, and the question raised about his 
 circumcision, in St Paul's own notice of this visit (Gal. ii. 3). 
 
 through Phenice (Phoenicia) and Samaria] The road would take 
 them along the coast through Berytus, Tyre and Sidon, which at this 
 time were places of great importance, and most likely to have bodies of 
 Christians among their inhabitants. 
 
 declaring the conversion of the Gentiles] This would naturally be 
 St Paul's great theme. Among those who were going up to Jerusalem 
 with him would be members of the Judaizing party, but their presence 
 was no check on the Apostle's zeal that all men should hear of the 
 bringing in of Gentiles to the faith of Christ. The verb used implies 
 that he gave his story with all details, and we may be sure that he 
 dwelt on the way in which the Spirit of God had set a seal upon the 
 work, though the converts of whom he spake were all uncircumcised. 
 
V. 5.] THE ACTS, XV. 187 
 
 they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the 
 church, and ^the apostles and elders, and they declared all 
 things that God had done with them. But there rose up 5 
 certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, 
 That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command 
 them to keep the law of Moses. 
 
 unto all the brethren] We see therefore that it was only some of the 
 Jews who demanded from the Gentiles complete conformity to the Law. 
 At Jerusalem {v. 5) the Judaizing party is described as ' certain of 
 the sect of the Pharisees Avhich believed,' and the Gospel history repre- 
 sents the Pharisees on all occasions as determined supporters of the 
 ceremonial law. Probably their party was most numerous at Jerusalem, 
 where all the ritual observances could be most completely carried out. 
 In the more remote congregations the joy over the Gentile con- 
 versions would be unalloyed. 
 
 4. they were received of the church] *' The church" is perhaps named 
 first because there would on such a visit be an assembly of the whole 
 Christian body to hear the story of the missionary labours of Paul and 
 Barnabas before the question about which they had specially been sent 
 from Antioch came to be discussed. The account of the spreading of 
 the faith was for all, while the question of circumcision would be 
 discussed only by the heads of the church, and those who could speak 
 with authority. This preliminary meeting must have lasted for a con- 
 siderable time, even if only a mere abstract of the labours, sufferings 
 and success of Paul and Barnabas were given to those who met theni. 
 Such a recital was the best introduction that could be conceived for the 
 question which was afterwards to be discussed and legislated on. 
 
 God had done with them] The preposition {^leTa) implies that the 
 Apostles deemed themselves fellow-workers with God (cp. Mark xvi. 20), 
 but that they were only instruments whom God employed is also shewn 
 below {v. 12) where the same labours are spoken of as "what God 
 had wrought among the Gentiles by (5ta) them." 
 
 5. But there rose tip, &c.] The margin of the A.V. takes this 
 sentence as part of the narration of Paul and Barnabas, "there rose up, 
 said they, certain, &c." But it is much more natural to consider them 
 to be St Luke's account of what happened at Jerusalem. The teachers 
 at Antioch had not been described as Pharisees though they probably 
 were so. But in no other passage of the N.T. are the Pharisees 
 
 ^mentioned away from Jerusalem. As soon as the Apostolic narrative 
 was heard by the church certain of their party stood forth from the 
 church body and lodged their protest against what had been done. The 
 Pharisaic teaching concerning the necessity of circumcision was based 
 
 Jon such passages as Is. Ivi. 6, where the covenant mentioned w^as held 
 to be that of circumcision. And they supported their position by such 
 passages as Is. lii. i, where the uncircumcised are excluded from the 
 holy city. 
 
 saying. That it was needful] Better, "saying, It is needful, &c." 
 The words are a direct utterance, and suit better so rendered with 
 
 14—2 
 
THE ACTS, XV. [vv. 6, 7. 
 
 6 — 12. The Council at Jerusalem ; the debate and the speech 
 of Peter. Narration of the work of Barnabas and Paul. 
 
 6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of 
 
 7 this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter 
 
 St Luke's narrative, in which he is describing what occurred before 
 the church at Jerusalem. 
 
 The visit of St Paul to Jerusalem which St Luke here describes is 
 now generally admitted to be the same of which St Paul speaks in 
 Gal. ii. I — 9. The chronology offers no obstacle to this conclusion, 
 while the purpose of the visit, and the companionship of Barnabas and 
 the persons who were at the head of the church in Jerusalem are all 
 accordant in the two notices. In the Epistle, St Paul tells us that he 
 took Titus with him, and nothing is more likely than that while he had 
 the company of some members of the Judaizing party, he would also 
 take a companion with him from among those converts on whose behalf 
 he was making the journey. He says too that it was ' by revelation ' that 
 he went up, while the narrative of the Acts represents him as sent by 
 the church of Antioch. But here need be no contradiction. An inward 
 monition may have furnished the true reason why the Apostle consented 
 to make an appeal to the central authorities in Jerusalem. St Luke 
 would not necessarily be aware of this ; it was important in St Paul's, 
 argument to the Galatians that he should mention it. (For a fuller 
 comparison of the two notices, see Bp Lightfoot's Ep. to GalatianSy 
 >note, pp. 122 — 127.) 
 
 6 — 12. The Council at Jerusalem ; the debate and thk 
 SPEECH OF Peter. Narration of the work of Barnabas 
 AND Paul. 
 
 6. And the apostles and elders came (were gathered) together] 
 These words refer to a formal summoning to discuss the difficult 
 question which had been brought forward. That there was a space 
 "between the first welcome of the Apostles by the church and the 
 assembly of the synod suits St Paul's Avords (Gal. ii. 2) that he ex- 
 plained his position " privately to them which were of reputation." This- 
 private conference was a necessary preparation for the more public 
 discussion which alone is noticed by the history. 
 
 7. 7?iiich disptiting'\ \_R. V. questioning] For the Pharisaic ele- 
 ment would find its warmest supporters at Jerusalem. And it is to that 
 party that the disputing must be ascribed, for it is plain, from the sum- 
 ming up of St James at the close of the discussion, that the other 
 apostles were of the same mind with Paul and Barnabas, and as is said 
 in the Epistle to the Galatians (ii. 9), "they gave unto them the right 
 hands of fellowship." 
 
 Peter rose vp\ It is worth notice that Barnabas and Paul leave 
 arguments and reasons to those who had laboured most among Jewish 
 
w. 8— lo.] THE ACTS, XV. 189 
 
 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. And God, which knoweth the 8 
 hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, 
 €ven as he did unto us ; and put no difference between us 9 
 and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore 10 
 why tempt ye God, to put*a yoke upon the neck of the 
 
 converts, and merely content themselves with telling their experience of 
 what God had wrought through them. 
 
 Men a7id brethreri\ See note on i. 16. 
 
 a good while ago'\ Lit. "from early days," Alluding to the conver- 
 sion of Cornelius (chap, x.) which probably took place some ten years 
 before the meeting of this synod. This was at an early period of the 
 apostolic ministry, and the great and numerous events which had inter- 
 vened made the time seem long ago. 
 
 by my moiitlil That he may not seem to be claiming a distinction 
 for himself as the one chosen of God for this work, St Peter is careful 
 to call himself no more than the mouthpiece of God. 
 
 8. cvhich knovjcth the hearts\ The word is only here and in Acts i. 
 24, and on both occasions it is St Peter who uses it. Such witness could 
 admit of no appeal ; and God had put the uncircumcised on the same 
 level with the circumcised by giving to them the same gifts of the Spirit. 
 
 9. And put no difference'] i.e. made no distinction. The Apostle 
 looks on God's testimony to the Gentiles in two lights. What was 
 given to the new converts was the same which had been given at the 
 first outpouring of the Spirit. And God made no mark of distinction to 
 sever Jews from Gentiles. Faith had purified the hearts of Cornelius 
 and his house, and the outward observances of the law of Moses were 
 of no account when the heart was clean before Him who alone could 
 judge of the purity thereof. In these words of his St Peter clearly 
 agrees to all that St Paul had taught about the admission of the Gentiles. 
 
 ^ purifying their hearts., &c.] The verb is the same which is used in 
 the account of the vision (x. 15) "what God hath cleansed, S:c.," and St 
 Peter is clearly referring to that narrative. 
 
 10. A^oza therefo7'e\ When you have this evidence of how God has 
 already accepted the Gentiles. 
 
 y. why tempt ye God'\ Men are said "to tempt God" when they dis- 
 trust his guidance, and in consequence disobey his revealed will (cp. 
 Ps. xcv. 9). So the Jews tempted God in the wilderness (Heb. iii. 9) 
 when they saw His mighty works and yet murmured at His leaders : 
 so they are said to have tempted Christ (i Cor. x. 9) when they were 
 punished by the fieiy serpents ; and Ananias and Sapphira are said to 
 "have agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord," by acting as though 
 they thought they could deceive God in their offering. From these 
 instances the force of the question in the text will be seen. Those 
 who should act as the Pharisaic party would recommend, would be dis- 
 
I90 THE ACTS, XV. [vv. ii, 12. 
 
 disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to 
 7 1 bear? But we beheve that through the grace of the Lord 
 12 Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. 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. 
 
 trusting God's knowledge of the hearts of men, and refusing to be guided 
 by what His Spirit had made known in the conversion of Cornelius. 
 
 a yoke\ So St Paul (Gal. v. i) calls the ceremonial law " a yoke of 
 bondage." Christ uses the word "yoke" for his own precepts, knowing 
 that a yoke was needed for men's guidance, but He calls it "easy" (Matt. 
 xi. 30). 
 
 able to dear] How this was felt is shewn by the Rabbinic injunction 
 to "make a hedge about the law," i.e. so to fence in its precepts by 
 additional regulations of their own, that there should be no chance 
 of infringing the commandment. These additions, commandments of 
 men, as our Lord styles them, had made the ceremonial observances 
 into a killing load. 
 
 11. Btit] Translation fails to give the force of this conjunction. 
 It implies an exhortation for which the remainder of the verse states 
 the reason. But cease now from such a course, for we believe, &c. 
 
 through the grace of the Lord Jestis] (The most ancient authorities 
 omit Christ.) It is not to our having conformed to the Jewish law, St 
 "^ Peter urges, that we look for salvation, but to the grace of the Lord. 
 even as they] i.e. in like manner as they believe. Thus the argu- 
 ment is : If our belief and hope are the same, and no other, than theirs, 
 why should these new converts be urged to adopt observances \\^hich 
 form to us no ground for our hope of salvation ? In the N. T. history 
 St Peter's name appears no more, and when we call to mind the opposi- 
 tion which, at the close of the first, and in the second century, was 
 represented as existing between the teaching of Paul and Peter, we 
 cannot think that it was without meaning that this last appearance of 
 the Apostle of the circumcision in the Scripture story sets him before 
 us in full accord with the Apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 12. Then all the multittide] Though the apostles and elders are 
 alone mentioned (z;. 6) as coming together, it now appears that the 
 assembly was a large one. 
 
 kept silence] The authority with which he could speak through whom 
 God had first opened the door of faith to the Gentiles must have 
 silenced opposition. For he like themselves had had prejudices to 
 overcome before his mission to Cornelius. 
 
 and gave audience] Here the imperfect tense implies the steady 
 continuous attention to the whole narrative of that first missionary 
 journey of St Paul. 
 
 what miracles] The word is that usually rendered signs ; and the 
 two nouns are the same which occur in the prayer of the disciples 
 (iv. 30) * that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy 
 
vv. 13—16.] THE ACTS, XV. 191 
 
 13 — 21. JatJies sums up the discussion, and pt'onounces the 
 decision of the Church on this controversy. 
 
 And after they had held their peace, James answered, 13 
 saying, Men arid brethren, hearken unto me : Simeon hath 14 
 declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take 
 out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the 15 
 words of the prophets ; as it is written, After this I will 16 
 
 holj servant Jesus.' The prayer was now being answered abundantly. 
 It is well that the English rendering should accord in these places. 
 bytheni\ See note on v. 4 above. 
 
 13—21. James sums up the discussion, and pronounces the 
 
 DECISION OF THE ChURCH ON THIS CONTROVERSY. 
 
 13. James\ i.e. the brother of the Lord, and bishop of Jerusalem, 
 see above on xii. 17. 
 
 Menand bfethreft] See note on i. 16. 
 
 hearkn tmto me] The president's summary takes no note of the 
 "much disputing" {v. 7) but points out that a divine revelation had 
 0:)een mide to Peter, and that it was accordant with the words of Old 
 Testament prophecy. On these warrants he based his decision. 
 
 14. Simeon (Symeon)] This more Jewish form of the name of the 
 Apostle Peter is found also at the commencement of St Peter's second 
 Epstle. The Jews after they came to have much intercourse with 
 Gsntiles had frequently two forms of name, one of which was employed 
 01 religious and solemn occasions, the other in intercourse with non- 
 Jews and in the ordinary transactions of life. Thus in the Apocrypha 
 (: Mace. v. 17, &c.) the name of the Maccabean prince is written 
 
 ^ Simon, though on his coins it stands Sy?neon (see Gesenius, s.v.). 
 
 how God at the first] Better, how God did first visit, &c. It was not 
 it the first, but some time after the mission of the Holy Ghost on the 
 Apostles that Cornelius was converted. What St Peter had narrated 
 vas \\i.t first acceptance of a Gentile into the church. 
 
 visit the Gentiles] In the old sense of "look upon," and generally 
 ■vith the accompanying notion of kindness. (Cp. Luke i. 68, 78, vii. 
 16 ; Heb. ii. 6.) 
 
 a people for his name] Thus " the chosen people" were no longer to 
 be Jews only, and so those ceremonial ordinances which had hitherto 
 marked out Jews from Gentiles might be seen to be unnecessary. 
 
 15. And to this agree] i.e. with this action on God's part the 
 statements of His prophets are in harmony. They had foretold that it 
 should be so. Only one prophet is here quoted, viz. Amos (ix. 11, 12), 
 but the audience would recall other like passages, as St Paul does 
 Rom. XV. 9 — 12, quoting from the books of Moses, David and Isaiah. 
 
 16. After this] Lit. afiter these things, (so R. V.) It will be seen on 
 reference to the words of Amos that the quotation here given is not 
 
192 THE ACTS, XV. [v. 17. 
 
 return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, 
 which is fallen down; and I will build again the 
 ^7 ruins thereof, and I will set it up : that the residue 
 of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gen- 
 tiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, 
 
 made from the Hebrew, which is correctly represented by the AV. 
 in the book of Amos. Whether St James himself spoke at the synod 
 in Greek, or St Luke has represented in Greek what the speaker himself 
 uttered in Aramaic we cannot know. But the words in the text cor- 
 respond very nearly with the LXX. which here (either because they 
 read the Hebrew consonants differently or because they merely ga\e the 
 sense without attempting an exact rendering), varies from the H«bre\v 
 text. Yet St Luke does not give exactly the words of the LXX He 
 may have quoted from memory or have modified them somewhat to 
 adapt them to the form of his sentence. The words of the LXX. run 
 thus, " In that day I will set up the tabernacle of David whidi hath 
 fallen down, and I will build up the fallen parts thereof, and tie ruins 
 thereof I will 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 upoi whom 
 my name is called saith the Lord who doeth all these things." 
 
 / zazl/ return, and -cvill bidld'\ This is not the form of eiiher the 
 Hebrew text or the LXX. , but it is a favourite Hebrew mode of expression 
 to signify "I will do a thing again." Cp. Eccl. iv. i, "I returned and 
 considered" = I considered once again. Also Eccl. iv. 7, ix. ii. This 
 favours the opinion that St James, in this specially Jewish synod, may 
 have spoken in Aramaic. 
 
 the tabernacle of David'\ The word used by Amos signifies one of 
 those booths used by the people at the Feast of Tabernacles, ^\■hm 
 they lived in frail dwellings in order to be reminded that Gcd 
 was their protector. This word may be applied to the estate of jtle 
 Jews when the Deliverer should come, to indicate that they should Ve 
 brought very low, but yet should find in him a Saviour. 
 
 17. might seek after the Lord'\ The Hebrew of Amos differs widely 
 here; and in the LXX. "the Lord" is not expressed. But the Spirt: 
 enabled St James to give the full interpretation of the prophetic words. 
 The original paints the restored tabernacle, and of course the people o"" 
 David restored along M-ith it, as possessors of the remnant of Edom anc 
 all the heathen. The nations shall be joined unto the Lord's people. 
 The LXX., as an exposition, speaks of "the residue of men seeking unto 
 the restored tabernacle." St James makes both clear by shewing that 
 "to seek after the Lord" is to be the true up-building both of the house 
 of David and of all mankind besides. 
 
 The Hebrew word for "man" is Adam which differs very slightly 
 from the word Edom. So that the variation between "remnant of 
 Edom" and "residue of men" may be due only to the various reading 
 of that noun. 
 
 iipon luhom my name is called'\ An Aramaic mode of saying "who 
 
vv. 18—20.] THE ACTS, XV. 193 
 
 who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all is 
 hisworks from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my 19 
 sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among 
 the Gentiles are turned to God : but that we write unto 20 
 them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from 
 
 are called by my name." The expression is so translated James ii. 7 
 {cp. Deut. xxviii. 10, &c.). 
 
 luho doctK\ Here the most ancient texts connect the words of this 
 verse with those of the following, and have nothing to represent the 
 English "all" in v. 17, or "unto God are all his works" in v. 18, so 
 that the sense becomes either (i) "the Lord, who maketh these things 
 known from the beginning of the world," or (2) "the Lord, who doeth 
 these things that were knowrt from the beginning of the world." The 
 first of these renderings is the more difficult to understand, and it must 
 be taken as somewhat hyperbolic. God made known by His prophets 
 the calling of the Gentiles in very early days, and this early revelation 
 may be all that is intended by the stronger phrase. But the second 
 sense seems to suit better with the context. This reception of the Gen- 
 tiles seems to the Jcm'' a new and startling thing, but God has revealed 
 it by His prophets, and He who is doing it is but carrying out what 
 He had known and designed from the beginning of the world. 
 
 19. Wherefore my sentence is\ Lit. I decide. The pronoun is 
 emphatically expressed, and indicates . that the speaker is deciding with 
 authority. 
 
 that we trouble not thein'] The verb is only found here in N. T., and 
 signifies to trouble by putting obstacles in the way of another. Thus 
 the idea of the speaker is "We will not by needless impediments deter 
 the new converts from joining us." 
 
 xvhich from among the Gentiles are turned to God'\ The same p]:rase 
 is used elsewhere in the Acts (cp. ix. 35, xiv. 15, xxvi. ■20), but of 
 the converts at Antioch (xi. 21) the whole expression is "a great 
 number believed and turned 2cnto the Lord,'''' thus shewing what consti- 
 tuted the true turning unto God. 
 
 20. But that we write unto theml The word is used primarily of a 
 charge sent by a messenger, but also, as in Heb. xiii. 22, is often used of 
 what is sent by letter (and hence comes the English word epistle) , and 
 there can be little doubt that this is the sense in the present case, for 
 though messengers were sent, they carried with them the decision of 
 the synod of Jerusalem in a formal manner committed to writing [v. 23). 
 
 that they abstain from pollutions of idols'] This is explained in v. 
 29 by "meats offeree! (i. e. sacrificed) to idols." Of the necessity for such 
 an injunction in the early church, where congregations were to be now 
 composed of both Jews and Gentiles, we can judge from St Paul's 
 argument to the Corinthians (r Cor. viii. i — 10, x. 19), and we can 
 also see how he would have the Gentile converts deal tenderly with the 
 scruples of their Jewish fellow-worshippers, however needless they 
 themselves might deem such scruples. 
 
194 THE ACTS, XV. [v. 20. 
 
 fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 
 
 The word rendered pollutions is unknown to classical Greek and of 
 very rare occurrence. So far as the construction of the original is con- 
 cerned, it might refer to the other forbidden things that follow "pollu- 
 tions of idols and of fornication, &c." But as in the other places where 
 the cognate is found (Dan. i. 8; Mai. i. 7, 12; Ecclus. xl. 29) it has 
 always reference to defilement caused by food, it is better to confine 
 the connexion in the same way here, and as in A.V. supply a preposi- 
 tion before the second noun, "and/r^/// fornication." 
 
 As the ordinance of the synod is for the settling of Jewish minds, we 
 may understand the sort of offence which they were likely to feel from 
 Daniel's refusal to eat of the food supplied by King Nebuchadnezzar. 
 Meat was often sold in the markets from beasts that had been offered in 
 sacrifice to idols, and this food and those who ate it the Jew would 
 abhor. The Gentile converts might not be careful, when they had once 
 come to think of the idol as nothing, and might join still in banquets 
 with their non-Christian friends, and St Paul (i Cor. viii. 9) supposes 
 an extreme case, that such men might even sit down to meat in an idol- 
 temple. If Jew and Gentile were to become one in Christ, much 
 respect must be paid to the feelings which had been sunk deep into the 
 minds of Israel by long years of suffering for their own idolatry. 
 
 ayid from fornication^ This injunction must not be understood as a 
 simple repetition of a moral law binding upon all men at all times, but 
 must be taken in connexion with the rest of the decree, and as forbid- 
 ding a sin into which converts from heathenism were most prone to fall 
 back, and which their previous lives had taught them to regard in a veiy 
 different light from that in which a Jew would see it. The Levitical 
 law against every form of unchastity was extremely strict (Lev. xviii. 
 and XX.), and it is probably to the observance of these ordinances that 
 we may ascribe the persistence of the Jewish type, and the purity of 
 their race at this day. Whereas among the heathen unchastity was a 
 portion of many of their temple rites, and persons who gave themselves 
 up to such impurities were even called by the names of the heathen 
 divinities. To men educated in the constant contemplation of such a 
 system, sins of unchastity would have far less guilt than in the eyes of 
 those to whom the law of Moses was read every sabbath-day. 
 
 ajid from things strangled (\.\t. from what is strangled), ajid frovt 
 blood\ The prohibition of blood was made as soon as animal food was 
 given to men (Gen, ix. 4), and it was frequently enforced in the Mosaic 
 law (Lev. iii. 17, vii. 26, xvii. 10, 14, xix. 26). To eat blood was 
 counted a sin against the Lord in the days of Saul (i Sam. xiv. 33), and 
 with strict Jews it is an abomination to this day. Things strangled 
 are not specially mentioned in the law of Moses, but that they should 
 not be eaten follows from the larger prohibition. Lev. vii. 26 does, 
 however, make mention of the blood of fowls, and it would be in the 
 use of them that the eating of blood began first to be practised. And 
 in breaking the neck of an animal the Jew held that the blood was 
 caused to flow into the limbs in such wise that it could not be brought 
 out even by salt. See T. B. Chullin, \ii^. 
 
vv. 21, 22.] THE ACTS, XV. 195 
 
 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach 21 
 him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. 
 
 22 — 29. Answer a?id deputation sent from /erusalem. The 
 letter of the Synod to the Christians of Antioch. 
 
 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole 22- 
 
 21. For Moses of old twic (lit. from generations of old) hath in every 
 city, &c.] Here we have the reason why these injunctions are to be 
 laid upon the Gentile converts. It is necessary however to take the 
 Mhole verse into consideration before we can decide on the force of the 
 reason. Laying stress chiefly on the expression "from generations of 
 old," some have thought that St James' argument meant that the Mosaic 
 ritual having been preached for so long a time and found to be a load 
 too heavy to bear, must now be given up, except in these specified 
 points. Again the verse has been taken to mean that there was no 
 need for the Christian church to legislate about the observance of the 
 Mosaic law other than in these few points, because there was public 
 teaching on the subject everywhere in the Jewish synagogues. Jewish 
 Christians were therefore supplied with guidance, and would be sa 
 supplied until by degrees Judaism had entirely given place to Chris- 
 tianity. No doubt the Apostle contemplates the retention by the 
 Jewish Christians of much of their old ritual, and that they would 
 make no breach with the services of the synagogue. But in these 
 enactments, which were apparently only for a time (since St Paul no- 
 where alludes to them in his Epistles), and to promote peace between 
 Gentiles and Jews, we must remember that the Jews were regarded 
 as the weaker brethren. And the argument of the council may be 
 supposed to run thus : We may make this concession to the Gentiles 
 without fear of doing any injury to the Jew. It is not probable that his 
 feelings and prejudices will be interfered with, or the Mosaic law in its 
 other portions set aside ; ' For Moses, &c.' 
 
 being read in the synagogues] On the Jewish manner of reading the 
 law, see additional note at the end of chap. xiii. 
 
 22 — 29. Answer and deputation sent from Jerusalem. The 
 
 LETTER OF THE SyNOD TO THE CHRISTIANS OF AnTIOCH. 
 
 22. Then pleased it} The word is one often used in the official 
 announcements of what has been decreed by authority, or of public 
 resolutions (cp. Herod. I. 3; Thuc. iv. 118, &c.). So the more formal 
 rendering, "It seemed good to," would come nearer to the force of the 
 word. 
 
 the apostles and elders^ with the whole church] So the decree was the 
 voice of the whole church, and the deputies sent were chosen by the 
 whole body, and it is in the name of 'apostles, elders and brethren* 
 that the letter runs {v. 23). 
 
196 THE ACTS, XV. [v. 23. 
 
 church, to send chosen men of their own company to 
 Antioch with Paul and Barnabas ; namely^ Judas surnamed 
 ^3 Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren : and 
 they wrote letters by them after this manner ; The apostles 
 and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren 
 
 to send chosen men of their own company] More literally (with R. V.)^ 
 to choose men out of their company and send them, which rendering 
 makes it clear that the election of those sent was the work of the 
 whole assembly. 
 
 with Paul and Barnabas] That the church of Antioch might have 
 the confirmation of the decree from the lips of others beside these two, 
 for they might be supposed to favour especially all that was considerate 
 towards Gentile converts. 
 
 Judas stcrna7ncd Barsabas] The oldest texts give 'Judas called 
 Barsabbas.'' Of this man nothing more is known than what we learn 
 from this chapter. But as Barsabbas is clearly a patronymic, it has been 
 ■conjectured that he was the brother of Joseph called Barsabbas, men- 
 tioned in Acts i. 23, where the MSS. and editions have the same 
 variation of spelling. 
 
 Silas] This is probably the same person who in St Paul's Epistles 
 "(2 Cor. i. 19; I Thess. i. i ; 2 Thess. i. r) and by St Peter (i Pet. v. 
 12) is called Silvanus. For an account of similar contracted names cp. 
 "Winer's Grafu. (ed. Moulton), pp. 127, 128. The mention of Silas is 
 frequent in the Acts in this and the next three chapters. He was one 
 •of St Paul's companions in the first missionary journey into Europe. 
 
 23. And they wrote letters by them after this mantzer] Froni the 
 form in which the document is here given, we should judge that the 
 original was in Greek. A translation from a Hebrew original would, 
 hardly have begun with a greeting and ended with " Fare ye well." It 
 seems likely that this was so too, because the population of Antioch, 
 the chief town in Syria, would use Greek much more than Hebrew, at 
 this date. The construction of the Greek in the beginning of this verse 
 is not strictly grammatical, but such irregularities are not unusual in a 
 passage which begins impersonally, as does v. 22. 
 
 by them (lit. by their hand)] This is a Hebraism. The letter was 
 not delivered to Paul and Barnabas, but to the two ambassadors from 
 Jerusalem. It is the oldest synodical circular letter in existence, and 
 the only one of Apostolic times which has come down to us. Bengel 
 suggests that it was composed by James, in the name and at the request 
 of the assembly. 
 
 The apostles and elders and brethroi] The oldest MSS. omit the 
 second and, thus making the Epistle run in the name of the apostles and 
 elder brethren, and this rendering is adopted in R. V. The conjunc- 
 tion of the two last words to signify 'the elders' is very unusual, and 
 after. what has been said in the previous verse about the decree ex- 
 pressing the voice of the whole church as well as of the apostles and 
 elders, it seems much more in accord with the rest of the narrative 
 
w. 24, 25.] THE ACTS, XV. 197 
 
 which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia* : 
 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out 241 
 from us have troubled you with words, subverting your 
 souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law : to 
 whom we gave no such commandment : it seemed good 25 
 unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen 
 
 to adhere to the Text. Rcc. which has a large amount of good MS. 
 support. 
 
 in Antioch and Syria and Cilicid\ As we have no mention of this 
 decree of the synod of Jerusalem in St Paul's Epistles, we may suppose 
 that the agitation on the subject, begun at Antioch, had spread only 
 into Syria and Cilicia, and that the authoritative decision of the mother 
 church quieted the controversy there, while it did not arise in the same 
 form in other places. 
 
 24. which went out] These words are not represented in the Greek 
 of some MSS., but they seem to give force to the history. The dis- 
 turbing teachers had come from Jerusalem, but their want of any au- 
 thority is contrasted strongly with the commission of Judas and Silas- 
 (v. 27). The first men wettt of themselves, the new messengers were 
 the choice of the church. 
 
 subverting your so2ils\ In N.T. the verb occurs only here and is not 
 found in the LXX. In classical Greek, it is applied mostly to an entire 
 removal of goods and chattels either by the owners or by a plundering 
 enemy. The devastation wrought in the minds of the Gentile converts 
 through the new teaching is compared to an utter overthrow. 
 
 saying. Ye imist be circumcised, and keep the law] The oldest autho- 
 rities omit the Greek of these words, which look somewhat like a 
 marginal explanation that has crept into the text, especially as "ta 
 keep the law " is an expansion, though of course a correct one, of the 
 statement made in v. i, about the teaching that was given. There 
 circumcision alone is mentioned as the point on which disturbance was 
 created. 
 
 to whom we gave no such commandmcJit] The insertion of the italic 
 such was made necessary by the presence of the clause "saying, &c."" 
 but if that be omitted, the sentence becomes a more complete disavowal 
 of any connexion with the Judaizing disturbers. ' To whom we gave 
 no commandment at all.' So the R. V. 
 
 25. being assembled with one accord] The words may be so rendered 
 and passage be compared with Acts ii. i, iv. 24, v. 12. But in those 
 passages there is only the substantive verb clixl, while here yiyvecrdaL has 
 its proper sense of "becoming." It seems therefore better and more 
 accordant with the sense of the passage to translate ' having become of 
 one accord ' or 'having come to one accord.' 
 
 to send chosen meti unto you] The participle here is not passive and 
 so should not be referred to Judas and Silas, but to those who sent 
 them. Render literally "that having chosen out men we should send 
 them, &c." i.e. " to choose out men and send them." So R. V. 
 
THE ACTS, XV. [vv. 26— 29. 
 
 -6 men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men 
 that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord 
 
 27 Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who 
 
 28 shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed 
 good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no 
 
 29 greater burden than these necessary 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 well. 
 
 with our beloved] The intention of the whole letter is to shew the 
 honour which the church in Jerusalem felt was due to these missionary 
 labourers. Hence the adjective "beloved " which in N.T. is specially- 
 applied to those who are closely united in faith and love. St Peter 
 applies it to St Paul (2 Pet. iii. 15). 
 
 Barnabas and Paul] The name of Barnabas is put first here perhaps 
 because he had been formerly (xi. 22) sent as a special messenger from 
 the church in Jerusalem to Antioch. 
 
 26. Men that have hazarded their lives] What the English sentence 
 leaves uncertain the Greek makes quite plain, viz. that these words refer 
 to Barnabas and Paul and to the many dangers into which their first 
 missionary journey had brought them (cp. xiii. 50, xiv. 2, 5, 19). 
 
 for the name] Here, as often, name signifies the Messianic dignity 
 and divine authority of Jesus. They have preached everywhere Jesus 
 as the Christ. 
 
 27. by mouth] The Greek has by word. Our modern phrase com- 
 bines the two, by word of piouth, and is given in R. V. 
 
 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us] A third time in 
 this clause of the narrative from 22 — 29 does this official word occur, 
 from which is derived the noun dogma. It had been promised that to 
 the Apostles there should be given the Spirit of truth, who should guide 
 them into all truth (John xvi. 13) and the historian of the Acts often 
 speaks of them as *' filled with the Spirit." They put forward therefore 
 this unerring guide as the warrant for their decree. And as they at 
 the suggestion of the Spirit were laying aside their longstanding pre- 
 judices against intercourse with Gentiles, they claim that the Gentiles 
 in their turn should deal tenderly with the scruples of Jews. 
 
 no greater burden] The Jews themselves could speak thus of the load 
 of legal observances (cp. stipra v. 11). They had chosen out but a 
 small part thereof, which the circumstances of the time made necessary 
 to be observed. 
 
 29. ye shall do well] Not " ye shall be doing what is right," but "it 
 shall be well with you " {R. V.), "you shall be in a good state." 
 
 Fare ye well] This termination and the greeting at the commence- 
 ment of the letter are in the style of Western epistolary language. 
 See above on verse 23. 
 
vv. 30—33.] THE ACTS, XV. 199 
 
 30 — 35. Reception of the letter and messengers at Antioch. 
 Departure of Judas. Silas continues in Antioch. 
 
 So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch : and 30 
 when they had gathered the multitude together, they de- 
 livered the epistle: which when they had read, they rejoiced 31 
 for the consolation. And Judas and Silas, being prophets 32 
 also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, 
 and confirmed them. And after they had tarried there a 33 
 space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the 
 
 30—33. Reception of the letter and messengers at Antioch. 
 Departure of Judas. Silas continues in Antioch. 
 
 30. came to Aittiocli] An early reading preferred by recent editors 
 is cavie down, as in Acts viii. 5, Jerusalem being regarded as the chief 
 seat of church-government, and the centre of authority. Throughout 
 the Bible the chosen place is always spoken of as one to which men 
 go up. 
 
 gathered the midtit2ide'\ An expression which shews of how great 
 concern the question had become to the whole Christian body. The 
 same word is used above {v. 1 2) of the assembly of Christians at Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 31. rejoiced for the consolation] Barnabas " the son of consolation " 
 (iv. 36) was a fit member of such an embassy. The consolation would 
 be felt both by Jews and Gentiles, by the former because they knew how 
 much was to be asked of their Gentile fellow- worshippers, by the latter 
 because they were declarjpd free from the yoke of Jewish observances. 
 The noun very often signifies exhortation, but that sense is neither so 
 apt here, nor is it borne out by the character of the letter, which sets 
 forth a ground of peace and comfort, but is not hortatory. 
 
 32. being prophets also themselves'] " Prophet" is here used in the 
 earlier and less special sense ; not as one who foretells the future, but 
 who, being filled with the Spirit, speaks with His authority in explana- 
 tion of the will of God. Judas and Silas being thus endowed were well 
 fitted to exhort and confii-m the disciples. The exhortations would 
 be most necessary for the Gentiles who were to consent to more strict 
 living than in times past, while the confirmation would uphold the 
 Jews who otherwise might feel unwilling to allow the non-observance 
 of a part of their law. The prophetic character of the speakers would 
 give to their words the force of revelation. Such confirmation or 
 strengthening of the brethren is the special charge laid on St Peter 
 (Luke xxii. 32) who was to be the first preacher of Christ to the Gen- 
 tiles, and had first received the lesson that what God had cleansed was 
 not to be called common. 
 
 33. they were let go in peace] This is the translation of a Hebrew 
 expression, and does not signify 'they were allowed to go quietly away,' 
 
200 THE ACTS, XV. [w. 34— 39. 
 
 34 apostles. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there 
 
 35 still. Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teach- 
 ing and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others 
 also. 
 
 2,(i — 41. A 7iew Mission-journey proposed. Contention be- 
 tween Paid and Barnabas. They separate, ajid Paul 
 with Silas goes through Syria and Cilicia. 
 
 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, a7id see how they do. And 
 Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose 
 
 38 surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take 
 him with thei?i, who departed from them from Pamphylia, 
 
 39 and went not with them to the work. And the contention 
 
 but "in peace" means "with a blessing or prayer for peace, as a part- 
 ing word." 
 
 zi7ito the apostles] The oldest MSB. read ^'"imto those that had sent 
 them forth.'' ^o R. V. 
 
 34. This verse is omitted in many ancient MSS., and in others the 
 Greek words vary. It may very well be a marginal note placed to 
 explain v. 40, where Paul, who did not leave Antioch, is said to have 
 chosen Silas for his companion in his next journey. Silas therefore 
 must have remained in Antioch after Judas was gone, and such an 
 explanation some reader put on the margin of his copy. 
 
 35. teachijig aiid preaching the xvord of the Lord] In such a com- 
 munity there was need not only of setting forth Jesus as the Saviour, 
 but of much instruction concerning the ways in which God had shewn 
 that the Gentiles were now to be made partakers of the new covenant. 
 So that the two verbs should not be taken one as an explanation of the 
 other. 
 
 36 — 41. A NEW Mission-journey proposed. Contention be- 
 tween Paul and Barnabas. They separate, and Paul 
 WITH Silas goes through Syria and Cilicia. 
 
 36. visit our brethren] The oldest MSS. omit the pronoun, and 
 read the brethren only. '&o R. V. 
 
 37. And Barnabas determined] The Greek of the best MSS. gives 
 a weaker verb ."wished." The reason of Barnabas' choice was pro- 
 bably because Mark was his nephew (Col. iv. lo^. R. V. renders "was 
 minded." 
 
 whose stirname was] The Greek is merely " who was called." 
 
 38. who departed fro??i them] See above xiii. 14. He turned back 
 to Jerusalem from Perga. 
 
 39. And the contention was so shaj'P,...that, &c.] More literally 
 (with R. v.), And there arose a sharp contention so that, &c. The Greek 
 
vv. 40, 4i; I-] THE ACTS, XV. XVI. 201 
 
 was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one 
 from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed 
 unto Cyprus ; and Paul chose Silas, and departed, being 40 
 recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And ^x 
 he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. 
 
 I — 12. Paul revisits Derbe and Lystra, chooses Timothy 
 for a companion in his mission, and circumcises hi?n. 
 They pass through Phrygia and Galatia, and come into 
 Mysia and to Troas. By a vision Paul is called into 
 Macedonia. He crosses the sea and remaitis some days at 
 Philippi. 
 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra : and behold, a 16 
 
 word (from which our English paroxysm comes) intimates a temporary 
 rather than a prolonged dispute, akhough it may for the time be severe. 
 The result to the church was that two missionary journeys were under- 
 taken instead of one. Though the Apostles might differ in their estimate 
 of Mark, they were at one with reference to the work of the Gospel. 
 Barnabas is mentioned no more in the Acts after this chapter. His 
 name occurs in St Paul's Epistles, i Cor. ix. 6; Gal. ii. 1,9, 13 ; and 
 Col. iv. 10, in which last passage, written no doubt after the events 
 here related, we can see that Mark had been again received as a fellow- 
 worker by St Paul. We learn too from 2 Tim. iv. 11 and Philemon 24 
 that St Paul became warmly attached to him afterwards. 
 
 sailed tmto Cyprus'\ In which island Barnabas, and it may be Mark 
 also, was born (iv. 37). They chose therefore for their labours a dis- 
 trict in which they were likely to have some influence. 
 
 40. being recommended^ The more usual word in this sense in 
 modern English is commended. {R. V.) 
 
 unto the grace of God] The best MSS. have " grace of the Lord." 
 
 41. Syria and Cilicia] These were the districts in which the teach- 
 ing of the Judaizers had been most active, and the presence of Paul, 
 with Silas as a representative of the church in Jerusalem, would allay 
 all doubts and questionings, and lead to those results which are men- 
 tioned xvi. 5, the establishing of the churches, and their daily increase 
 in numbers. This duty St Paul first discharged before he went on to 
 visit any of the churches which himself had founded. 
 
 XVI. 1—12. Paul revisits Derbe and Lystra, chooses Timo- 
 thy FOR A COMPANION IN HIS MISSION, AND CIRCUMCISES 
 
 HIM. They pass through Phrygia and Galatia, and come 
 INTO Mysia and to Troas. By a vision Paul is called into 
 Macedonia. He crosses the sea and remains some days 
 at Philippi. 
 
 1. to Derbe and Lystra] Thus beginning the revisiting spoken of 
 in XV. 36. See notes on xiv. 6. 
 
 acts 15 
 
202 THE ACTS, XVI. [vv. 2, 3. 
 
 certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a 
 certain woman, which 7vas a Jewess, and believed ; but his 
 
 2 father was a Greek : which was well reported of by the bre- 
 
 3 thren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul 
 have to go forth with him ; and took and circumcised him 
 
 %vas there] The verb does not make it certain that Lystra, to which 
 e/cet is most naturally referred, was the birthplace of Timothy, but only 
 his home at the date of Paul's visit. He must however have resided 
 there a good while to have earned the favourable report of the people 
 both of that place and Iconium. 
 
 named Timotheus] The Timothy to whom St Paul addresses two 
 Epistles and who was the companion of his labours in this journey until 
 his return into Proconsular Asia (xx. 4). He was the son of a Jewish- 
 Christian mother, and his father was a Greek, whether a proselyte of 
 the gate or not, we are not told. The mother's name was Eunice 
 (2 Tim. i. 4) and the grandmother's Lois. Timothy is spoken of as a 
 fellow-worker with St Paul (Rom. xvi. 21). From i Cor. iv. 17 we 
 find that he was St Paul's messenger to that church, and he is joined 
 with that Apostle in the greeting of 2nd Corinthians. He also went to 
 and fro between St Paul and the church in Thessalonica (i Thess. iii. 
 2, 6) and must have been at Rome with St Paul, soon after the Apo- 
 stle's arrival there, for he is mentioned in the Epistles to the Philippians 
 (i. I, ii. 19), to the Colossians (i. i) and to Philemon {v. 1). An im- 
 prisonment which he underwent is alluded to (Heb, xiii. 23), but we can- 
 not be certain when or where it was. According to tradition (Eus. H. E. 
 III. 14) he was the first bishop of Ephesus, and is said to have suffered 
 martyrdom at the hands of the populace (Niceph. II. E. ill. ii). 
 
 the son of a certain wojnan, zuhich ivas a j^ewess, and believed] More 
 strictly and according to the oldest texts, '"''the son of a yewess which 
 believed.'''' (So R. V.) Her earnest education of her son in the holy 
 Scriptures (2 Tim. iii. 15) from his early youth marks the character of 
 the woman, and makes it probo.ble that the husband of such a woman 
 was at least a proselyte of the gate. Timothy's father is so little men- 
 tioned that it seems likely he had died early. 
 
 a Greek] i.e. a Gentile by birth. The word was used widely of all 
 who were not Jews. 
 
 2. %uell reported of] The same expression is used of Cornelius (x. 
 22) and by Paul of Ananias (xxii. 12). 
 
 by the brethren] i.e. the members of the Christian churches. Five 
 or six years had elapsed since the previous visit of St Paul, so that the 
 congregations had become somewhat formed, and the characters of 
 their more earnest members well known. 
 
 at Lystra and Iconiicm] Thus we can see that there was an inter- 
 change of kindly offices between the newly-founded churches. 
 
 3. a7id circumcised him] It must be remembered that the decree of 
 the synod of Jerusalem only related to the exemption of Gentiles from 
 circumcision. It was a very different thing for a Jew to consent to 
 
vv. 4- 6.] THE ACTS, XVI. 203 
 
 because of the Jews which were in those quarters : for they 
 knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went 4 
 through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to 
 keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which 
 were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established s 
 in the faith, and increased in number dail)^ 
 
 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the 6 
 region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to 
 
 become a fellow-worshipper in the Christian churches with a Gentile 
 who remained uncircnmcised, and to tolerate, at this time, the non- 
 observance of the rite by one who was counted for a Jew. For by the « 
 Rabbinical code the child of a Jewish mother was reckoned as a Jew 
 (T. J. Jebamoth, ii. 6). It was because of this prejudice that Timothy 
 was circumcised. It could be no offence to the Gentiles, and would 
 render the labours' of Timothy more acceptable to the Jews. Because 
 he was the child of a mixed marriage the rite had been unobserved, 
 and so long as he did not come forward as a teacher, there would be no 
 need felt that it should be enforced, and there would be doubtless many 
 others of a like class. But when he was to take a share in the mis- 
 sionary labours of St Paul all this was altered. He would at once have 
 been met with the objection from the Jews, that he who had been but a 
 bad Jew was not likely to guide others right as a Christian teacher. 
 That St Paul saw no inconsistency in what was done in this matter is 
 clear, for the narrative of St Luke tells us in the next verse that to the 
 churches to which they went forth he delivered the decrees of the synod 
 at Jerusalem. 
 
 4. they delivered thevi\ i.e. they gave to the Gentile-Christians the 
 decrees to observe, for there was nothing in them which a Jew would be 
 hkely to disregard. All that would be needed for the Jews in such 
 cities would be to explain the terms on which Gentiles were to be 
 admitted to the Christian communion. 
 
 5. established in the fait hi The verb is peculiar to the Acts, and is 
 used (iii. 7, 16) of the strengthening of the limbs of the lame man at the 
 Beautiful Gate of the Temple. So its employment here indicates that 
 thus the church was now prepared to make great progress. The barrier 
 to Gentile admission was removed, and so the number of Christians 
 multiplied daily. 
 
 6. Now when they had gone throughout^ The oldest MSS. merely 
 say and they -weiLt through. 
 
 Phrygia and the region of Galatia'] Scarcely the direction, so far as 
 population was concerned, which would have been chosen by them of 
 their own accord, but the inner admonition of the Holy Ghost kept them 
 from entering Proconsular Asia. The news of the events at Jerusalem 
 on the day of Pentecost were known to some in Phrygia already (ii. 10), 
 but of Galatia the history has yet made no mention, though we know 
 from St Paul's Epistle to that church that he afterwards had the warmest 
 
 15—2 
 
204 THE ACTS, XVI. [vv. 7—16.^ 
 
 7 preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they 
 assayed to go into Bithynia : but the Spirit suffered th^m not. 
 
 ^ And they passing by Mysia canre down to Troay And a 
 
 vision appeared to Paul in the night ; There sto'bd a man 
 
 of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying. Come over into 
 
 10 Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the 
 
 vision, immediately Vvg endeavoured to go into Macedonia, 
 
 interest in and greatest anxiety concerning the Christians there, among 
 whom Judaizers wrought Hke mischief with that done in Antioch. 
 From some expressions of St Paul (Gal. iv. 19) it seems likely that it 
 was from his own preaching at this time that churches in Galatia 
 were founded. 
 
 and ivere forhidde)i\ Better, having been forbidden. As they had 
 been forbidden the one route, they went by the other. Probably 
 St Luke says little about the events in this part of the journey, for his 
 language below [v. 10) seems to shew that he only joined St Paul at 
 Troas. 
 
 in Asia] See note on ii. 9. 
 
 7. taere come to Alysia] The Greek scarcely says this. The prepo- 
 sition would be better rendered over against. The course of the jour- 
 ney seems to have been through Galatia and Phrygia, until they got so 
 far to the west as to be opposite to, and on the borders of, Mysia. From 
 this point they were inclined to go north into Bithynia, rather than 
 further to the west, but were again hindered of their intention. 
 
 t/iey assayed] i.e. 'made the attempt,' 'tried.' Cp. Coverdale's 
 Wor/cs (Parker Soc), p. 113: "As long as the physician hath any 
 hope of the recovery of his patient, he assaycth all manner of means 
 and medicines with him." 
 
 but the Spirit suffered them not] The oldest authorities read ^Uhe 
 Spirit of Jesus sztff'ered them not.'''' In like manner (Rom. viii. 9) the 
 "Spirit of God" is called also the "Spirit of Christ." Cp. also Gal. 
 iv. 6; Phil. i. 19; i Pet. i. 11. 
 
 8. And they passing by Mysia] i. e. without preaching in that district, 
 which was a part of Proconsular Asia, where they were not permitted 
 to preach. 
 
 came down to Troas] The well-known seaport on the coast of Mysia. 
 
 9. a vision appeared] So also to Ananias (ix. 10). Cp. also x. 
 3, 17, 19, xi. 5, xii. 9, xviii. 9. This was a part of the fulfilment of 
 the prophecy of Joel about which St Peter spake on the day of 
 Pentecost (ii. 17). 
 
 a 7nan of Macedonia] The words which he spake made clear his 
 nationality. 
 
 10. we endeavoured] More literally and better, we sought. (So 
 R. V.) The steps taken would be in the way of enquiry how and when 
 they could get across the sea to Europe. Here the writer begins to 
 speak in the first person as if at this point he became a sharer in 
 St Paul's labours. This he continues till v. 17. 
 
vv. II, 12.] THE ACTS, XVI. 205 
 
 assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to 
 preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from 
 Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and 
 the next day to Neapolis ; and from thence to PhiHppi, 
 which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a 
 colony : and we were in that city abiding certain days. 
 
 13 — 34. Preaching on the Sabbath at Philippi. Conversion 
 and bapisi7i of Lydia. A spirit of divination cast out by 
 Paul. Anger of those who made gain thereby. Paul aftd 
 
 to go into Macedo7iid\ The word is stronger than the ordinary verb 
 *' to go " and = go forth, an expression very suitable to the first missionary 
 journey from Asia into Europe. This is also as R. V. 
 
 assuredly gathering\ The verb has the sense of "coming to a con- 
 clusion from putting things side by side." So it is rendered " proving " 
 in ix. 22 and elsewhere. Here it means "deeming it to be proved." 
 
 11. Sa7nothracid\ This island lies in the north of the Aegean Sea, 
 opposite to that part of the Thracian coast at which the river Hebrus 
 empties itself. 
 
 Neapolis'] The port of Philippi. This place is generally identified 
 with the modern Kavalla. On the discussion about its identity, see 
 Dictionary of the Bible (s. v.) 
 
 12. and frotn thence to Philippi] As the same verb is used for the 
 whole description of the journey, it seems that the whole was made 
 by ship. 
 
 which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony] Better 
 and more in accord with the oldest MSS. '"'' which is a city of Macedonia, 
 the first of the district, a colony.^'' (So R. V.) Philippi and the country 
 round had long been famous by reason of the neighbouring gold mines. 
 At the time of St Paul's visit it was held by the Romans, and a colony 
 had been founded there by Augustus. The civil magistrates and the 
 military authorities were Roman. Hence the fear when they heard 
 that prisoners whom they had scourged were Roman citizens. For 
 a history of Philippi, see Diet, of the Bible. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that a Roman colony was not like what 
 we now call a colony. The inhabitants did not settle as they pleased, but 
 were sent out by authority from Rome, marching to their destination 
 like an army with banners, and they reproduced, where they settled, a 
 close resemblance of Roman rule and life. They were planted on the 
 frontiers of the empire for protection, and as a check upon the pro- 
 vincial magistrates. The names of those who went were still enrolled 
 in the lists of the tribes of Rome. Latin was their language, and they 
 used the Roman coinage, and had their chief magistrates sent out or ap- 
 pointed from the mother city. Thus were they very closely united with 
 Rome, and entirely free from any intrusion on the part of the governors 
 of the provinces. 
 
2o6 THE ACTS, XVI. [w. 13, 14. 
 
 Silas are seized^ brought before the authorities^ scourged and 
 imprisoned^ but the prison doors are opened by a 7ni?'ade. 
 Conversion and baptism of the jailor and his household. 
 
 13 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 
 
 14 spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a 
 certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city 
 of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us : whose heart 
 
 13 — 34. Preaching on the Sabbath at Philippi. Conversion 
 
 AND BAPTISM OF LYDIA. A SPIRIT OF DIVINATION CAST OUT BY 
 
 Paul. Anger of those who made gain thereby. Paul 
 AND Silas are seized, brought before the authorities, 
 
 SCOURGED AND IMPRISONED, BUT THE PRISON DOORS ARE OPENED 
 BY A MIRACLE. CONVERSION AND BAPTISM OF THE JAILOR AND 
 HIS HOUSEHOLD. 
 
 13. where prayer was %vont to be made'\ Proseiiche here and in v. 
 16 is Xho. place of prayer, and, adopting the reading now most accepted, 
 the English would be '■''zuhere we supposed there zvas a place of prrayer." 
 (So R. V.) The Jews had such proseiichai sometimes in buildings, 
 sometimes in the open air, as was the case in this instance. The word 
 is found in this sense in Josephus, De vita sua, 54. They are described 
 by Philo (ed. Mang.) Ii. ^Sa. They were very numerous in Rome (see 
 Mayor, jftmenal, ill. 296). Because of Jewish ceremonial washings 
 they were, when in the open air, as often as might be, near a river-side 
 or on the sea-shore. Cp. Ezra viii. 15, and 21. And no doubt the 
 language of Ps. cxxxvii. i, " By the rivers of Babylon we sat down" 
 applies to a similar state of things. 
 
 we sat dorvjt] The attitude adopted by Jewish teachers. 
 
 zinto the women which resorted thlthe?''\ Better (as R. V.), "zahi'ch 
 were come together." The Greek refers to those gathered together on this 
 particular occasion only. Considering the little regard which the Jews 
 had for women as persons to be conversed with and taught, it is note- 
 worthy how large a part women play both in the Gospel History and 
 in the Acts. It was one effect of Christianity to place woman in her )l 
 true position. 
 
 14. named Lydia'] This may have been her proper name, or it 
 may only have been that by which she passed among the colonists 
 of Philippi, being from the Lydian town of Thyatira. From inscriptions 
 which have been found on the site of the ancient town, it is clear that 
 dyeing was one of the staple trades of Thyatira, and it was from thence 
 that Lydia brought over the purple which she sold in Philippi. 
 
 Thyatira'] On the river Lycus in Lydia. See Diet, of the Bible. Along 
 the valley of this river were situated Laodicrea, Hierapolis and Colossse, 
 in all which places the congregations afterwards became objects of 
 St Paul's great affection and interest. Col. iv. 13. 
 
vv. 15, 16.] THE ACTS, XVI. 207 
 
 the Lord opened, that she attended unto the thiiigs which 
 were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her 15 
 household, she besought iis^ saying, If ye have judged me to 
 be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide 
 there. And she constrained us. And it canie to pass, 16 
 as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with 
 a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters 
 
 which zvorshipped God'] i.e. had become a proselyte of the Jewish 
 faith. 
 
 whose heart the Lord opened] St Luke recognizes that without this 
 the word would have made no entrance. He probably makes special 
 mention of this here because he had previously stated that the Lord 
 had called them to preach at Philippi. Having pointed out their work, 
 He helps them to perform it. 
 
 that she attended] She gave such heed as to be convinced of their 
 truth. The same verb occurs viii. 6, and from the context both there 
 and here we see that it implies "gave credence unto." 
 
 15. and her household] Of a like baptizing of a household see 
 below [v. 33), and also cp. xi. 14. We are not justified in concluding 
 from these passages that infants were baptized. "Household" might 
 mean slaves and freedwomen. 
 
 and abide there] Like the two disciples who followed Jesus (John 
 i. 38) Lydia was anxious to have the teachers, whose lessons she found 
 so suited to the needs of her opened heart, near unto her. 
 
 she constrained us] Used only by St Luke in N. T. here and Luke 
 xxiv. 29 of the two disciples at Emmaus. The force used was that 
 of a prayer which would hear no " Nay." 
 
 16. as we went to prayer] Better, as we were going to the place 
 of prayer, see on v, 13. For though the Greek noun here is without 
 the article it is clearly to be rendered as in the previous verse. This 
 must have been on another occasion than that on which Lydia was 
 converted. For in the expression "she constrained us " it seems implied 
 that they had already taken up their abode there before the events 
 recorded in this verse. 
 
 possessed with a spirit of divination] More literally, and according 
 to the oldest MSS. which make the two nouns in apposition, having 
 a spirit, a Python. According to Plutarch {De def. Orac. 9) those 
 persons who practised ventriloquism, called also eyya<TTpifxvdoi, were 
 named Pythons. But the damsel in this history clearly laid claim 
 to some prophetic power, and was used as a means of foreknowing 
 the future. So that word Python is here better referred to the name 
 of Apollo, the heathen god of prophecy, and the A.V. '•'■spirit of 
 divination " gives the correct idea. 
 
 her i?iasters] Some persons, who having found a strange power in 
 the maiden, made use of it, as has oft been done, for their own purposes 
 of gain, and persuaded the people to resort unto her with their 
 questions. 
 
2o8 THE ACTS, XVI. [vv. 17—19. 
 
 17 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 
 
 19 same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope 
 of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and 
 
 ly soothsaying'] The word is only found here in the N.T., and 
 
 wherever it occurs in the LXX. it is alwaj^s used of the words of lying 
 
 prophets (Deut. xviii. 10; i Sam. xxviii. 8; Ezek. xiii, 6, 23; Mic. 
 
 iii. 11) ; so that here Ave are constrained to take it in the same sense 
 
 - "by pretending to foretell the future." 
 
 17. followed Paul and 71s, and cried] Whatever the nature of the 
 mental and spiritual malady under which this damsel suffered, it pro- 
 duced on her the like effect which is recorded of evil spirits in the 
 history of Jesus (Mark i. 25 ; Luke iv. 41), and forced her to confess 
 to the true character of the Christian teachers. The devils believe and 
 tremble (James ii. 19). 
 
 After this verse the Avriter ceases for a time to indicate by his lan- 
 guage that he was with St Paul, but in xx. 5, where the Apostle comes 
 once again to Philippi, the first person plural appears in the narrative. 
 It seems therefore not improbalDle that St Lvike was left behind to 
 labour for the spread of the Gospel in Macedonia and only take'h 
 away again by St Paul after the work had been well established. 
 
 most high God] Cf. the words of the demoniac, Mark v. 7. 
 
 shew ttnto us] The older reading is " tmto you," 
 
 18. this did she many days] Whether this following took place only 
 on the sabbaths, when the Apostles were going to the place of prayer, 
 in which case the Apostles must have remained in Philippi some weeks, 
 or whether it was on every occasion on which they appeared in public, 
 we are not told. 
 
 Paul, being grieved] The Greek verb is somewhat stronger, and 
 signifies " to be thoroughly worn out with annoyance." It is used (iv. 2), 
 and nowhere else but here besides in N. T., of the annoyance of the 
 priests and Sadducees at the teaching of the Apostles. 
 
 said to the spirit] As Christ had acted when on earth, so Paul now 
 will not allow the cry of the evil spirit, even though the words proclaim 
 that he and his companions are servants of the Most High God. So in 
 Christ's name he bids the evil power come forth. 
 
 19. that the hope of their gains was gone] The verb is exactly the 
 same as in the last clause of the previous verse. When the evil spirit 
 came ont, there came out also the chance of more gain. What the 
 damsel herself may have thought of her own power we cannot tell, but 
 probably, for their end of money-making, the masters had persuaded 
 iier that her ravings were prophetic. 
 
vv. 20-24.] THE ACTS, XVI. 209 
 
 drew the7n into the market-place unto the rulers, and 20 
 brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being 
 Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, 21 
 which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, 
 being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against 22 
 them : and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and com- 
 manded to beat the?7t. And when they had laid many 23 
 stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the 
 jailor to keep them safely: who, having received such a 24 
 
 they caught Paul and Silas] As being the two most prominent mem- 
 bers of the mission party. 
 
 into the 77iarkct-place\ The great place of concourse, and where, as in 
 the 'Ravcizn foriifu, would be the seat of the authorities. 
 
 tuito the riders'] The Greek word is the general one for rtders, and 
 signifies "the authorities," the special members thereof being indicated 
 by the next verse. 
 
 20. and brotight them to the magistrates] These strategoi were the 
 duumviri, the two praetors specially appointed to preside over the 
 administration of justice, in cases where there was no appeal to Rome, 
 in the inunicipia and colonies of the Romans. The title in the Greek 
 seems to indicate somewhat of a military authority, which could ad- 
 minister summary punishment. 
 
 being Jexos] On the ways in which Roman aversion was aroused and 
 exhibited towards the Jews, for their religious exclusiveness, see Mayor, 
 Juvenal, XIV. 96 — 106 notes, with the authorities there given. 
 
 do exceedingly trouble] Only found here in the N. T. The kind of 
 trouble is indicated xvii. 6, "These that have turned the world upside 
 down " is their description. 
 
 21. and teach customs] Better, set forth (So R. V.\ make proclama- 
 tion of; the word refers to the preaching of the Apostles. 
 
 22. the 7mdtitude rose tip together] i. e. together with the aggrieved 
 proprietors of the damsel. 
 
 the magistrates rent off their clothes] i.e. the clothes of Paul and Silas, 
 as is clear from the Greek verb, but not so evident from the A. V. 
 Better, ^^rent their clothes off them" (So Ji. V, only changing clothes 
 inio garme7tts.) 
 
 and commanded to beat them] The Greek signifies "to beat them with 
 rods," which was the office of the Roman lictor, who carried rods for 
 the purpose when attending on the magistrates. The use of this special 
 word is an indication that St Luke was aware of the particular kind of 
 beating, and perhaps beheld the infliction. This is one of the occasions, 
 no doubt, to which St Paul alludes (2 Cor. xi. 25), "Thrice was I 
 beaten with rods." 
 
 23. cast them into prison] So that they should have no chance of 
 teaching any longer. They appear (see v. 35) to have intended to keep 
 them one night in prison and then to turn them out of the city. 
 
2IO THE ACTS, XVI. [vv. 25—27. 
 
 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 
 
 27 were 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, drew out his sword, and 
 
 24. the inner prisoji] Necessarily a place dark and without ventila- 
 tion, and hence foul and loathsome; perhaps underground, like the 
 Tullianuni at Rome (Varr. L. L. v. § 161; Lev. xxix. 22). 
 
 their feet fast in the stocks\ The stocks (lit. wood) was a means of 
 additional security and additional torture. The feet passed through 
 holes and held secure made rest almost impossible. The instrument 
 was of early use (cp. Job xiii. 27, xxxiii. 11), and the Greeks, as well as 
 ourselves, had also the pillory, and had it made with five apertures for 
 head, hands and feet (Aristoph. Eq. 1049). 
 
 25. And at mid7iight'\ Sleep being out of the question, they passed 
 the night in devotions. The imperfect tenses of the verbs in this verse 
 imply that the prayers and singing were continued. But it is unnecessary 
 to render (as K. V.) "Paul and Silas wei-e praying. ..and the prisoners 
 were listening, &c." 
 
 unto God] Whose bondservants the damsel had called them {v. 17). 
 Now they are in bonds for His name, and He gives them His comfort 
 and refreshing in a manner strange to those who are not His ser- 
 vants. 
 
 and the prisoners heard the??i\ The inner prison appears to have held 
 more than Paul and Silas, or it may be that bars in the inner walls 
 allowed the sound to pass into other cells. The verb is not the common 
 one for "hearing," and is rarely found anywhere. It indicates attentive 
 hearkening. 
 
 26. And suddenly there was a great earthquakel Just as the place 
 wherein the Apostles prayed (iv. 31) was shaken, so here God testifies 
 that He is near at hand. 
 
 and every one's bands were loosed] The sense in which these words 
 are to be taken may be gathered from the rest of the description. The 
 chains (Secr/id) were made fast to the wall, and the shock which burst 
 asunder the bolts of the doors also released the fastenings which held 
 the chains in the masonry. 
 
 27. And the keeper of the prison'] The word is rendered jailor in 
 23, and might well be so here (as R. V.), otherwise the English reader 
 supposes the Greek to be varied from this variation of translation. 
 
 awaking out of his sleep] The word is only found here in N.T., and 
 has the sense of a startled rousing. 
 
 drew out his sword] We now say rather "drew his sword." He 
 
vv. 28—31.] THE ACTS, XVI. 211 
 
 would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners 
 had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, 28 
 Do thyself no harm : for we are all here. Then he called 29 
 for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell 
 down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and 30 
 said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? And they said, 31 
 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, 
 
 probably slept in such a place that on rising he could observe at a 
 glance whether the prison doors were secure, and had his weapon 
 close at hand so that he might seize and use it on any emergency. He 
 must also have been so near to the open doors before he manifested any 
 design of suicide that the prisoners within could see what he was doing. 
 St Paul out of the dark could observe him before the jailor could see 
 farther than the opened doors. 
 
 would have killed Jmnself^ He knew what his fate would be. See 
 xii. 19; and compare xxvii. 42, for the way in which Roman officials 
 must answer with their lives for the escape of prisoners. Suicide under 
 such circumstances would to the jailor's mind present the easiest way 
 out of his difficulties, and the teaching of even the greatest minds both 
 of Greece and Rome was that it was justifiable and under some circum- 
 stances praiseworthy. The suicide of Cato {Catoiiis nobile lettt?n) 
 furnished a constant text for such teaching. (Cp. Cic. Tusc. t. §g 
 9 — 119, Plat. Apol. 40.) 
 
 28. But Paid a-ied] The sound of one voice would arrest the 
 action, for at the sight of the open doors he had concluded that all had 
 made use of the opportunity and had escaped. 
 
 29. Then he called for a light\ The Greek has ''lights:' He 
 would summon all the help he could, and wish to make his inspection 
 as speedy as possible. 
 
 and came tre77ibling'\ Lit. and being terror-stricken. He connected 
 all that had occurred with the two prisoners Paul and Silas, and as 
 they were not fled away, a change of feeling came over him, and he at 
 once judged them to be more than other men. So his attitude 
 becomes one of supplication and worship. 
 
 30. and' brought them out] There could be no fear that they would 
 'flee now who had remained when the open doors made flight easy. 
 
 and said, Sirs] The Greek word iivpi.01. implies an acknowledg- 
 ment of great superiority. Those who had been his prisoners are now 
 his "Lords." 
 
 what must I do to be saved?] He had probably heard about the testi- 
 mony of the possessed damsel, that Paul and Silas shewed the way of 
 salvation, and now without knowing what it fully meant, he cries out 
 (in his misery, when despair had prompted suicide) asking for the teach- 
 ing which they had to give. 
 
 31. Believe oiz the Lord "jfesus Christ] The oldest authorities omit 
 Christ. The word would not have the same significance for a Gentile 
 
THE ACTS, XVI. [vv. 32— 34. 
 
 32 and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of 
 
 33 the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he 
 took them the same hour of the night, and washed their 
 stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 
 
 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set 
 meat before thein^ and rejoiced, believing in God with 
 all his house. 
 
 as for a Jew, and may well have been omitted in the address to the 
 jailor. What was asked from Gentile converts was to accept Jesus as 
 their Lord. The men whom he had just called " Lords" point him to 
 the only "Lord." '"" 
 
 and thy house] With the thought that what the head of the family 
 did would be followed by the members. (Cp. verse 15.) They were, 
 we see in the next verse, willing hearers. 
 
 32. the 7uord of the Lord] Preached to him the doctrine of Christ, 
 as it was then only possible to do it, by the narrative of His life and its 
 purpose. 
 
 33. the same hour of the night] It was midnight, see verse 25. 
 But a new day, a birthday, had already begun for him and it must be 
 kept as a feast, and he does his utmost to shew his rejoicing by care for 
 those who had caused it. 
 
 washed their stripes] An act of attendance that had not been 
 bestowed before. They were thrust into the inner prison, with all 
 their wounds bleeding and uncared for. 
 
 34. he set meat (Greek, a table) before them] He would not leave 
 them a moment in the dungeon, but testify to them, how the dawning 
 of faith had filled him with joy. 
 
 and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house] The Greek adverb 
 which is represented by the last four words in English would be better 
 combined with the first verb, "and rejoiced with all his house." (So 
 R. V.) The concluding verb gives the reason for the joy, and would 
 be more fully rendered "having believed in God" or "having believed 
 God." "To believe on the Lord Jesus" was the exhortation in verse 
 31. By this later expression we understand what was implied in the 
 first. The belief on Jesus is to believe what God has revealed con- 
 cerning Him. This had been explained in "the word of the Lord" 
 which they had heard — the word which told how Jesus fulfilled all the 
 prophecies, and by His acts on earth shewed that He was the Son of 
 God. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to help being struck in this chapter with the 
 account of the effect of the first preaching of the Gospel in Europe. 
 We see at once its universality and its power. The first notable 
 convert is Lydia, the Asiatic settler, a woman evidently of wealth, 
 position and refinement ; then the demoniac slave-girl is made an 
 instrument of proclaiming the presence and power of the Most High 
 God ; and last, the Roman jailor, of a class, insensible as a rule and - 
 
vv. 35—37.] THE ACTS, XVI. 213 
 
 35 — 40. The magistrates ivoidd send them away, hit Paul 
 refuses to be thus dismissed. He a?i?20imces that they are 
 Romans, and the 7nagistrates in fear beseech them to depart. 
 They take leave of Lydia and the brethren and leave PhilippL 
 
 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants. 35 
 saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison 36 
 told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to 
 let you go : now therefore depart, and go in peace. But 37 
 Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncon- 
 
 hardened by habit, and also disposed to despise the Jews who were the 
 bearers of the message of the (jospel. The converts of Philippi were 
 types and an earnest of how Christ's cause would make its way. 
 
 35 — 40. The magistrates would send them away, but Paul 
 
 REFUSES TO BE THUS DISMISSED. He ANNOUNCES THAT THEY 
 
 ARE Romans, and the magistrates in fear beseech them to 
 DEPART. They take leave of Lydia and the brethren and 
 leave Philippi. 
 
 35. the serjeajits] These are the lictors, who were the attendants 
 upon the praetors (duumviri), and who probably had on the previous day 
 scourged Paul and Silas. Their Greek name rabdouchoi signifies "rod- 
 bearers." 
 
 36. ihe keeper of the prison'\ Ksht^oxQ, inv. 2"/, the jailor. 
 
 told this saying'\ The Greek text best supported has no pronoun. 
 Better '■''reported the zuords.''^ (So R. V.) Ko doubt he came with 
 great joy, and it is evident that Paul and Silas had gone back to their 
 prison after the events at midnight. To make the sentence run smoothly 
 it will be needful to insert the word saying beiore the next sentence, 
 now that the pronoun is removed. 
 
 now therefore depart'] Better, "come forth," as R. V. The verb in 
 the original gives clear indication that they were still in confinement. 
 
 37. Btit Paul said unto them] i.e. to the lictors, through the jailor. 
 It is hidaly probable that the conversation of the Roman officers would 
 be in Latin, and that the proceedings of the previous day may have 
 been conducted in that language. In this way, if Paul and Silas were 
 unfamiliar with the Latin speech, we might account for the non- 
 mention or the disregard of their Roman citizenship. If either the 
 Apostle did not comprehend all that was going on or could not, amid 
 the confusion of such a tumultuous court, make himself understood, the 
 rr.essage which he now sends to the magistrates might have had no 
 chance of being heard before the scourging was inflicted. 
 
 They have beaten us openly] i.e. publicly. (So R. V.) For no 
 doubt they had been lashed to the palus or public whipping-post in 
 the sight of the people. 
 
214 THE ACTS, XVI. [v v. 38— 40. 
 
 demned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; 
 and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but 
 
 38 let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the 
 sergeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they 
 
 39 feared, when they heard that theynvere Romans, and they 
 came and besought them, and brought them out, and 
 
 40 desired them to depart out of the city. 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. 
 
 tmcoitdemned'\ For all that had been listened to was the charge of 
 the accusers, who, leaving out all mention of the real reason of their 
 charge, viz., that they had lost a source of money-making, put foi-ward 
 the plea that the missionaries were disturbers of public law and order. 
 The crowd shouted with the accusers, and the magistrates, forgetting 
 their position, joined with the mob (verse 22) in the assault on the 
 Apostles. 
 
 being Romans] The Greek is more full = ?nen that arc Roynans, (so 
 R. V.) and is in marked contrast with the charge of the accusers, 
 Avhich ran, "These men, being Jews." The laws which had been 
 violated by this act were the Lex Valeria (B.C. 508) and the Lex 
 Porcia (B.C. 300). On the outrage,* compare Cicero's language in the 
 Verrine orations (v. ^(t), ' Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum, 
 scelits verherari, prope parricidium necari.' 
 
 thrust us out privily\ The Apostle would say : let our dismissal 
 from prison be as widely published as was our previous punishment. 
 
 38. and they feared\ Because each Roman citizen had the right of 
 appeal to the Emperor, and the penalty for outraging the rights of such 
 a man was severe. 
 
 39. And so finding they had offended in this way, they come in the 
 humblest wise, beseeching that the disciples by departing from Philippi 
 will relieve them of their anxiety. 
 
 40. into the house of Lydia] Waiting there probably till they were 
 fit to travel farther. But in the midst of the suffering they still exhort 
 and comfort the Christians whom in their stay they had gathered into a 
 chux-ch. 
 
 How deep the mutual affection which existed between St Paul and 
 these Philippians, his first European converts, is manifest in every line 
 of the Epistle which he wrote to thetn from Rome in his first imprison- 
 ment. They are his greatest joy, they have given him no cause for 
 sorrow, and from first to last have ministered to his afliictions, and made 
 manifest how they prized their "Father in Christ." The jubilant language 
 of the letter is marked by the oft-repeated "Rejoice in the Lord." 
 
vv. I, 2.] THE ACTS, XVII. 215 
 
 I — 9. Paul and Silas journey through Amphipolis a'dd 
 Apollonia to Thessalonica, where some of the Jews raise 
 an uproar against them and Jason their host. 
 
 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and 17 
 Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a syna- 
 gogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went 2 
 in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them 
 
 XVII. 1—9. Paul and Silas journey through Amphipolis and 
 Apollonia to Thessalonica, where some of the Jews raise 
 
 AN uproar against THEM AND JaSON THEIR HOST. 
 
 1. they had passed through^ The verb occurs in N. T. only here 
 and in Luke viii. i. The use of the same expressions is a noticeable 
 point in support of the identity of authorship of the two books. 
 
 Amphipolis and Apollonia'] The journey is made to the south and 
 west. Amphipolis was about 33 miles distant from Philippi, along the 
 Egnatian road. It had been a famous place in the time of the Pelopon- 
 nesian war, and was in St Paul's time a great Roman military station. 
 Its name was given to it because it was as nearly as possible enclosed 
 by the winding stream of the river Strymon. Apollonia was about 30 
 miles farther on, in the district of Macedonia known as Mygdonia, and 
 was about 37 miles from Thessalonica. The Apostle and his com- 
 panions appear not to have made any stay in these towns. 
 
 Thessalonica] The modern Saloniki ; to the Christians of which 
 place St Paul afterwards addressed the two earliest of his extant epistles. 
 From very early times Thessalonica had been a famous place. Its old 
 name was Therma, and it was called Thessalonica after a sister of 
 Alexander the Great. It is now one of the most important towns in 
 European Turkey, and it played a great part in the history of the 
 Middle Ages as the bulwark of Christendom in the East. It was 
 captured by the Saracens A.D. 904, then by the Crusaders in 1184, and 
 lastly by the Turks in T430. Even now there is a large Christian 
 element among its population, and a still larger number of Jews. 
 
 a synagogue] The Text. Kec. gives the definite article ''''the syna- 
 gogue," though it is overlooked in the A.V., and we cannot always be 
 sure that we represent the force of the Greek article by the English one. 
 {R. V. retains "a synagogue"). But there was apparently no synagogue 
 at Philippi, and it may very well be that in Thessalonica dwelt the 
 greatest number of Jews and therefore the facilities for their worship 
 had there alone been advanced so far as to secure them a building for 
 their meetings, which would be known therefore as ^^ the synagogue." 
 
 2. as his 7nanner was] See xiii. 5, 14 ; xiv. i, &c. 
 
 ivent in unto them] And Avas no doubt asked (cf. xiii. 15) to offer 
 any exhortation to the people which he might feel moved to do. 
 
 three sabbath days] Of course tlie Jews would assemble on that day 
 in greater number, and for the other days of the week be less ac- 
 cessible. 
 
2i6 THE ACTS, XVII. [w. 3, 4. 
 
 3 out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ 
 must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; 
 and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 
 
 4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul 
 and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, 
 
 3. opeiting'] St Luke (and he only in the N.T.) xxiv. 32 uses this 
 verb of making plain what before was not understood. We may see 
 from that passage what had been St Paul's work in Thessalonica, "He 
 began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded unto them in 
 all the scriptures the things concerning Christ." 
 
 and allegmg'\ The more modern use of allege, =to assert, has some- 
 what obscured the older English meaning, which was merely "to set 
 forth." The Greek verb here translated by it signifies primarily "to set 
 out food, &c. on a table," and then figuratively "to set out arguments," 
 but without the idea of assertion. St Paul reasoned but only out of 
 the Scriptures. For the English word, cf. Coverdale, Works (Parker 
 Soc), p. 14, "We will first declare our mind out of Scripture and allege 
 (i.e. set before you) somewhat more for the better understanding of the 
 matter." 
 
 that Christ must needs have suffered"] Better, ^^ that it behoved tlie 
 Christ to suffer" i.e. the Messiah, whom the Jews expected, but whom 
 they looked for in New Testament days only as a mighty conqueror 
 who should deliver them from, their oppressors. Their wishes had 
 been father to their thoughts, and they overlooked all that spake of the 
 Messiah as the "Man of sorrows." This portion of the Scriptures it was 
 which St Paul opened. 
 
 and risen again from the dead] Better, "and to rise again from the 
 dead." For they like the disciples themselves in earlier days (John 
 XX. 9) "understood not the scriptures (such as Ps. xvi. 10) that he 
 must rise again from the dead." 
 
 and that this Jesus, %vhoi?i I preach tinto you, is Christ] The force 
 of the words will be improved if " said he" be inserted to introduce the 
 direct address. Read (as R. V.) '■^ this Jesus, zvhom (said he) / pro- 
 claim tinto you, is the Christ.'''' For He has both suffered and risen 
 again in accordance with the teaching of the Scriptures, and we are 
 witnesses of His resurrection and ascension into heaven. 
 
 4. And some of them believed (were persuaded)] For St Paul's 
 teaching was by arguments of which they all were able to form an 
 estimate. 
 
 and consorted with] The notion conveyed by the Greek and by the 
 English so far as its derivation is concerned is of "casting in their lot 
 with the disciples," deciding to join their community. 
 
 and of the devout Greeks] These were proselytes of the gate, heathens 
 by birth, who had embraced in part the Jewish faith. (Cp. xiii. 43, 50, 
 and below, verse 17.) 
 
 a great imdlitude] For these had not the prejudices which clung so 
 close about the born Jews. 
 
vv. 5, 6.] THE ACTS, XVII. 217 
 
 and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which s 
 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 people. And 6 
 when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain 
 brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that 
 
 5. Btit the Jnvs which believed not\ In the oldest MSS. the last 
 three words are unrepresented in the Greek. These are very likely a 
 gloss which has crept into the later texts, the reader who made it on 
 his margin wishing to note that not all the Jews were adverse to 
 the Apostle. 
 
 moved zuith envy (jealousy)'] They did not like to see numbers of 
 men and women drawn away from their party. 
 
 ceriaift lewd fellows of the baser sort] The Greek is more nearly 
 represented in modern English by "vile fellows of the rabble. " ayopaios, 
 "of the rabble," is properly the man who having no calling lounges 
 about the ayopci, the market-place, in the hope of picking up a chance 
 living, and who is ready for anything bad or good that may present 
 itself. We have no English word sufficiently dignified to use for such a 
 term in translation. "Loafer" comes nearest, but of course is too 
 collocjuial. The word "lewd" meant in old English "people," but 
 afterwards came to signify (i) "the common people" and (2) "the 
 ignorant and rude among the people," -which is the sense intended 
 by the A. V. The word nearest akin to "lewd" is the Germ, letcte— 
 people. 
 
 set all the city on an icp-roarl There is no word in the Greek for 
 "all." The Jews in Thessalonica must have been numerous and 
 influential to bring about such a tumult, but they preferred to raise (see 
 V. 7) the cry that the new teachers were enemies of the Roman power. 
 This would gain them a larger following. 
 
 the house of Jason] Manifestly the host of Paul and Silas. Beyond 
 what is said of him in the following verses (6 — 9) we know nothing. 
 The name is found, Rom. xvi. 11, in a list of those whom St Paul 
 speaks of as his "kinsmen," but this may be quite a different person. 
 He is most likely to have been a Jew, whose proper name perhaps was 
 Joseph, and Jason, which is Greek, may be only that v/hich he used in 
 his intercourse with Gentiles. 
 
 bring them out to the people] So that the excited mob might inflict 
 summary vengeance on them. 
 
 6. they drew Jason] The word is expressive of considerable vio- 
 lence. Better, "dragged." It is used of Saul (viii. 3) "haling" men 
 and women, and committing them to prison. 
 
 certain brethren] We see therefore that in these three weeks a 
 congregation or church had been formed. 
 
 the rulers of the city] The title iroXcTcipxv^ is found no^vhere in 
 literature but in this chapter. But an inscription connected with this 
 
 ACTS 16 
 
2i8 THE ACTS,, XVII. [vv. 7— la. 
 
 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 
 
 8 Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of 
 
 9 the city, when they heard these thifigs. And when they 
 had taken security of Jason, and ofiho. other, they let them 
 W " , 
 
 10 — 15. Paul and Silas sent away to Berea. Noble cha- 
 racter of the Bereans. The Jews fro?n Thessalo7iica follow 
 after Paul, and by reason of their e?imity he is conducted to 
 Athens. -V 
 
 10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas 
 
 very city of Thessalonica has been preserved on an arch which spans a 
 street of the modern city. It contains some names which occur as the 
 names of St Paul's converts, Sosipater, Gaius, Secundus, but the 
 inscription is probably not earlier than the time of Vespasian (see 
 Boeckh, Inscr. 1, p. 52, n. 1967). There the title of the magistrates is 
 given in this precise form ; a striking confirmation of the truthfulness of 
 the account before us. 
 
 the world\ Lit. "the inhabited earth." A phrase used in later 
 Greek to signify the whole Roman Empire, which then embraced a ver)' 
 large portion of the known world (cp. Luke ii. i). It speaks much for 
 the spread of Christianity and its powerful influence, that words like 
 these should come from the lips of enemies. 
 
 7. hath received'\ As guests into his house, and therefore he may 
 be counted a sympathizer with their teaching. 
 
 / these air\ Implying that Paul and Silas, whom they had not found, 
 would also be included in their accusation, if they could be caught. 
 
 another kmg, one yesiis\ So far as this chapter gives an account of 
 St Paul's preaching, he had drawn the attention of the Jews to the 
 sufferings of the Messiah, but we cannot doubt that he had also spoken 
 of His kingdom. Such language the mob would be urged to seize on, 
 and make it the justification for their uproar. For Thessalonica though 
 a free city was subject to the Emperor. 
 
 8. And they troubled the people'] i.e. spread alarm among them at 
 the prospect of insurrection, and made them eager to punish the Apo- 
 stles. 
 
 9. ■ And when they had taken security of Jason] i.e. having made 
 him responsible either by his finding securities to be bound with and 
 for him, or by making him give some deposit as a pledge for his good 
 conduct, they took measures for securing, so far as those at present in 
 custody were concerned, that they should commit no treason. 
 
 and of the other] Other is often found in old English as a plural. 
 Cp. Bp. Pilkington's Works (Parker Soc), p. 7: "Phinees... punished 
 that wickedness which other winked at." 
 
vv. II— 14.] THE ACTS, XVII. 219 
 
 by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into 
 the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than n 
 those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word 
 with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures 
 daily, whether those things \s^x^ so. Therefore many ofiz 
 them beheved; ajso of hoWiirable women which were 
 Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews of 13 
 Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was 
 preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, 
 and stirred up the people. And then immediately the 14 
 
 10 — 15. Paul and Silas sent away-^/S Berea. Noble character 
 OF the Bereans. The Jews from Thessalonica follow 
 after Paul, and by reason of their enmity he is conducted 
 TO Athens. 
 
 10. sent away Patil and Silas] The after-conduct of the Thessa- 
 lonian Jews shews that they were resolved to bring the missionaries into 
 danger, therefore their friends sent them secretly away. 
 
 Berea] Still the journey is south-west. The old name of Beroeamay 
 be recognized in the modern Verria. t 
 
 synagogue of the Jeivs] See above, v. 2. 
 
 11. more noble] Applied first to nobility of birth (which is the 
 primary sense of nobilis), the virord in its secondary sense implies, as 
 here, nobility of character. 
 
 received the word] i.e. the word of God. It was the same teaching 
 which had been given to the Jews in Thessalonica. This we see 
 because the Beroeans go to the O. T. Scriptures to examine into the 
 truth of what they hear. Here we have a noteworthy instance of the 
 right of private judgment. Even an Apostle's word is not to be taken 
 for granted. The noble Berceans were ready to listen, and then 
 dihgent to examine into the grounds of what was said. 
 
 and searched the scriptures] The word is not the same as in the 
 well-known passage John v. 39. The present verb has more the 
 sense of examining and sifting evidence. It was used in Attic law of 
 the steps taken by the lawyers to see whether an action would lie. 
 
 12. also of honourable zvomen] The same word is found xiii. 50, of 
 the women of Antioch in Pisidia, and signifies that they were of honour- 
 able estate, distinguished for their position, influence and wealth. 
 
 which were Greeks] The adjective refers specially to the women, but 
 it probably is intended to define the men too. The Jewish converts 
 had been mentioned as examiners of the Scriptures. The men and 
 women mentioned afterwards were probably all Gentiles. 
 
 13. the word of God] The Thessalonian Jews would not have 
 termed it so, to such an extent had prejudice and long training in the 
 later Jewish teaching blinded their eyes. When Moses was read there 
 was a vail over their hearts, and they saw not the glory. 
 
 and stirred tip the people] In the oldest texts there are two verbs 
 
 16 2 
 
220 THE ACTS, XVII. [v. 15. 
 
 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 unto Athens: and re- 
 ceiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for 
 to come to him with all speed, they departed. 
 
 here, '''' stirring up and troubling the multitudes.''^ The first contains 
 the figure of a storm at sea, where all is disturbed down to the very 
 depths, a figure apt enough for the confusion which these men desired 
 to create ; the second verb is the same that occurs in v. 8, and it is 
 probable from this that the way in which the trouble was produced here 
 was the same as there, by the statement that the Apostles were traitors 
 to the Roman power. (For the figurative language cp. Isaiah Ivii. 20.) 
 
 14. ijnmediately\ As fromThessalonica so from Beroea, the depar- 
 ture is made in all haste, so much has the charge of conspiring against 
 Csesar's power disturbed the whole people. 
 
 to go as it were to the sca'l This rendering of the Text. Rcc. conveys 
 the idea that for a while the travellers made as though they would go 
 in the direction of the sea, and then to baffle pursuit turned and took 
 the land road to Athens. But the reading of ews for ws, which has the 
 support of the most ancient authorities, makes the sense to be "to go as 
 far as to the sea," and this is to be preferred for several reasons. For 
 if is difficult to understand that St Paul would have gone on through 
 Thessaly and all the intervening districts which lie north of Attica, and 
 never have sought an opportunity of preaching the word anywhere till 
 Athens was reached. But if he were conveyed to the sea and took ship 
 and was thus brought to Athens, then it is easy to understand that the 
 next place mentioned in the journey is Athens. It is clear too from the 
 whole account of St Paul's travels, that he was a person who by reason 
 of his infirmities could not easily travel alone. That such a person 
 should have been brought so long a distance by land, where the sea- 
 voyage was so accessible and easy, is hardly to be imagined. It may 
 well be that at the departure from Beroea the design was to wait at the 
 coast till his proper companions could come to him, but that when the sea 
 was reached there was found a speedy opportunity of sailing into Attica, 
 which the Apostle embraced, as his conductors were willing to go all 
 the journey wixh. him. 
 
 abode there still'] Because Silas and Timothy had played a less 
 prominent part and were not in the same peril as St Paul. 
 
 15. they that conducted Paul] The use of the Greek verb (which 
 is only found here in N. T. in this sense) gives the idea that the whole 
 care and ordering of the journey was in their hands rather than the 
 Apostle's. 
 
 brought him zinto Athens'] And of course saw him safely settled where 
 he could wait for his fellow-missionaries, which he seems to have 
 designed to do, without preaching, had not his spirit been roused by the 
 sights he saw. 
 
 with all speed] As at present he was alone, and not able to set 
 about his work so promptly. 
 
i6— 18.] THE ACTS, XVII. 
 
 1 6 — 21. Paul^ provoked by the prevalence of idolatry at 
 Athens^ first addresses the fetus ajid then the Gentiles. 
 So?ne of the philosophers qiiestio7i hifn on his teaching, and 
 bring him to the Areopagus that they may hear him more at 
 full. 
 
 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was i6 
 stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to 
 idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with ^^ 
 the Jews, and with the d^^sovX perso7is, and in the market 
 daily with them that met with him. Then certain philo- 18 
 sophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered 
 
 16—21. Paul, provoked by the prevalence of idolatry at 
 Athens, first addresses the Jews and then the Gentiles. 
 Some of the philosophers question him on his teaching, 
 and bring him to the areopagus that they may hear him 
 
 MORE AT full. 
 
 16. his spirit was stirred in him'] But the stirring was of the 
 sharpest. The verb is akin to the noun which in xv. 39 is used of the 
 paroxysm of contention between Paul and Barnabas. His spirit was 
 provoked within him, till he could not forbear to speak, could not wait 
 till Timothy and Silas arrived. 
 
 when he sazv the city zvholly given to idolatryl Better (with R. V.) 
 "as lie beheld the city full of idols." This, the marginal rendering 
 of the A. v., appears, from the analogy of similar w^ords, to be the 
 closer meaning, and it agrees somewhat better with the facts. What 
 St Paul beheld was the numerous statues erected some to one god, 
 some to another. That the city was wholly given to idolatry was the 
 inference from this abundance of idols. The mutilation of the busts of 
 Hermes before the Sicilian expedition in the Peloponnesian war shews 
 how numerous were the statues erected to one divinity only. Time 
 had added many to the number before St Paul's visit. 
 
 17. Therefore disputed (reasoned) he in the synagogue'\ Going first 
 to the Jews, and naturally expecting sympathy from them in his ex- 
 citement against idolatry. 
 
 the devout persons^ As before, the proselytes of the gate. Cp. xiii. 
 50, and above v. 4. 
 
 and in the market dailyl One cannot but be reminded of the way in 
 which Socrates some centuries earlier had thus gone about in the same 
 city seizing eagerly on every one who would listen, and trying, according 
 to his light, to shew them higher things, to open their eyes that they 
 might discern between real knowledge and conceit without knowledge. 
 
 18. philosophers of the Epicxireans and of the Stoichs] In St Paul's 
 day these two systems of philosophy were most prominent throughout 
 the Roman world, and were regarded as conflicting though in many 
 points they bear a strong likeness to one another. Both were the 
 
222 THE ACTS, XVII. [v. 18. 
 
 result of a desire to find some better principle for the guidance of man's 
 moral nature than could be found in the so-called religious systems of 
 Greece and Rome. But before the Christian era much that was best 
 in both schools had sadly degenerated from its pristine character. 
 
 The founder of the Stoics was Zeno of Citium in Cyprus. His precise 
 date is uncertain, but he flourished in the century between B.C. 350 — 
 250. The first lesson of his teaching was that the highest duty of the 
 philosopher was to practise virtue. For the doing this knowledge was 
 necessary, and the only knowledge that could be relied on was that 
 which was based upon sensation. Reality belonged only to material 
 things such as the senses could appreciate. In this manner the Stoic 
 philosophy became materialist. For though owning the existence of 
 God and of the soul in man, Zeno and his followers spake of these as, 
 in some sense, material. But they termed God the soul of the universe, 
 and taught that all things are produced from him, and will at last be 
 absorbed into him again. And then a new world-cycle will begin and 
 be in all respects like that which went before. So the Stoics were 
 Pantheists. They taught moreover that the universe was governed by 
 unchanging law, that the lot of individuals, and the occurrence of 
 particular events were all uncertain. The care of Providence was for 
 the fabric of the universe, and only indirectly extended to particulars or 
 individuals whose lot was bound up with the unchanging course of fixed 
 law. The Stoics therefore were fatalists. The way in which the 
 individual could make the nearest approach to happiness was by bring- 
 ing himself, through knowledge, into harmony with the course of the 
 universe. But so unimportant did the individual appear to these phi- 
 losophers,- that suicide was held to be lawful, and at times praiseworthy. 
 They were conscious of both physical and nioral evil in the world, and 
 from this men might escape by self-inflicted death. They taught how- 
 ever that, though the virtuous might have to suffer, no real evil happens 
 to them, nor real good to the vicious. Fortified with this thought, the 
 Stoic trained himself to be proudly independent of externals, and to 
 bear evils, should they come, with indifference, and thus he strove to 
 secure undisturbed peace of mind. Materialism, Pantheism, Fatalism 
 and pride, were the features of one of the systems into contact with 
 which St Paul was brought at Athens. 
 
 The Epicureans (named from Epicurus, born at Samos B.C. 342) 
 agreed with the Stoics that philosophy should seek to promote the 
 happiness of man, but maintained that this end could be best gained by 
 the pursuit of pleasure. By this language they did not intend profligate 
 pleasure, but a state wherein the body was free from pain and the 
 mind from disturbance. They too made the senses their means of 
 judging of what is pleasure, and so with them man became the measure 
 of all good for himself. Thus the Epicureans were materialists. But 
 differing from the Stoics they taught \he world was formed by chance, 
 and that the gods had no concern in its creation. Their gods were 
 described as perfectly happy, dwelling apart and caring neither for the 
 world nor its inhabitants. Thus the Epicureans were practical atheists. 
 With them man might approach to a state of happiness by circum- 
 scribing his wants, so that life might be free from care. To restrain 
 
V. 19] THE ACTS, XVII. 223 
 
 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 them Jesus, and the resurrection. 
 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, 19 
 
 the senses was the Epicurean road to happiness, to crush them as much 
 as possible into insensibility was the path of the Stoic. But having 
 such thoughts of the gods, neither system had in any way run counter 
 to the popular theology. By doing so the Stoic would fear lest he 
 should be thought to deny God altogether, while the Epicurean, though 
 thinl:ing all such worship folly, yet felt it too great an interruption to 
 the pleasure which he sought to become an advocate of the abolition of 
 idol worship. So St Paul found Athens crowded with the images and 
 altars of the gods. 
 
 What 70} II this babbler say] Better, What would, &c. The A.V. 
 conceals the fact that will here signifies "meaneth" or ''wisheth" to 
 say, ' ' What would he go on to say if we would listen ? " 
 
 The word rendered "babbler" is not found elsewhere in N.T. In 
 profane writers it is used of birds picking up scattered grain, and then 
 figuratively of men who pick up a living as best they may, and hence 
 are willing to flatter for the sake of what they can get, and so are men 
 without principle or ground in what they say. 
 
 a setter forth of strange gods] The word dat/JLovia here rendered 
 "gods" is the word from which the English "demon" is derived. It 
 was used in classical Greek mostly to denote some inferior order of 
 divine beings. It was one of the accusations brought against Socrates 
 and the charge on which he was condemned that he introduced new 
 daimonia (Xen. Mem. I. I, 2 ; Plato, Apol. 40 A &c.)- It has been 
 thought by some that the Athenians, by using the plural word, under- 
 stood that "Jesus" was one new divinity and "Anastasis" (the Resur- 
 rection) another. But it is not necessary to suppose this. They might 
 very well speak of a preacher of Jesus as a setter forth of new divinities. 
 For they evidently saw that he had more to say than they had yet heard. 
 
 Times seem changed at Athens since the prosecution of Socrates, for , 
 it is not anger, but scornful curiosity which prompts the language of the 
 speakers. They do not mean to assail Paul for his teaching, and amid 
 the abundance of idols, they perhaps now would have felt no difficulty 
 in allowing Jesus a place, provided he did not seek to overthrow all the 
 rest of their divinities. 
 
 The nature of St Paul's teaching "in the market-place" has not been 
 mentioned until we are told that it was of "Jesus and the resurrection." 
 We may take this as a specimen of the way in which the author of the 
 Acts has dealt with his materials. He has not seen it needful here to 
 do more than specify in half-a-dozen words what St Paul had spoken 
 about ; and so when we have a report of a speech we need not suppose 
 that he has given, or intended to give, more than a summary of what 
 the speaker said, ^nd, adhering to the subtance, has cast his abbreviated 
 record into such form as best fitted his narrative. 
 
 19. And they took himl Better, took hold of him. (As R. V.) But 
 
224 THE ACTS, XVII. [v. 20. 
 
 saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou 
 
 20 speakest, w? For thou bringest certain strange things to 
 
 our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. 
 
 there is no need to suppose that any violence was used or intended. 
 The same verb is used often of taking by the hand to aid or protect 
 (so Mark viii. 23 ; Acts xxiii. 19), and is the word by which the action 
 of Barnabas is described (Acts ix. 27) when "he took Paul and brought 
 him to the apostles." Moreover the whole context shews that the 
 action of the crowd was in no sense that of an arrest, for we read 
 {v. 33) when his speech was done "Paul departed from among them,'" 
 evidently having been under no kind of restraint. 
 
 and broicght him tmio Areopagus] More clearly expressed if we read 
 "the Areopagtts.'" This place, the name of which is translated " Mars" 
 hill" below in the text and here in the margin of the A.V., was an 
 eminence to the west of the Acropohs at Athens. It was famous in 
 classic literature as the meeting-place of the Athenian council of Areo- 
 pagus which took its name from the place where it met. To this hill 
 of Mars (Ares) the philosophers led St Paul, probably at a time when it 
 was unoccupied (though some suppose that the court was sitting), that 
 they might the better hear him away from the bustle of the market- 
 place, and that he might more conveniently address a larger audience. 
 
 May we hiow] The verb here rendered ''may" = literally "are we 
 able." But there is no doubt that its force is well given by the A.V. 
 For the literal force "to be able" often merged itself in that of "to 
 wish" or "to be willing." Cp. Luke xi. 7, where the verb is trans- 
 lated "I canjiot ( = 1 am not able to) rise and give thee," but the sense 
 is '•^ I don^tzvish to rise," for after importunity he does arise and do all 
 that is asked. The Stoics and Epicureans were not likely to doubt 
 their own ability to understand all that St Paul might say to them. 
 
 ivhat this new doctrijie, whereof thou speakest, is] Better (with R. V.), 
 '■'• %vhat this new doctrine is which is spoken by thee." The sense 
 conveyed by the verb {KaXeiv) is often in N.T. that of annou7icing or 
 J)2iblishi}ig, and the word is not unfrequently used of messages spoken 
 by God or by his prophets (cp. Luke i. 45, 55, 70, xxiv. 25 ; Acts iii. 
 21, 24 ; James v. 10). The Apostle was not speaking to the Athenians 
 about the doctrine, his words were the doctrine. \ 
 
 20. stra7ige things] The original is not an adjective, but a parti- 
 ciple, and signifies "something which strikes a person as strange." So 
 that the effect is indicated which had been produced on the minds of 
 the hearers. The words had filled them with surprise. In the middle 
 voice the word is found i Pet. iv. 4, 12 = "to think anything strange." 
 
 what these things mean] See above on v. 18. 
 
 21. This verse is a parenthesis explanatory of what has gone before. 
 The audience had been struck with the strange teaching, and that it 
 w^as strange was enough. Novelty was their life's pursuit. So without 
 having any regard for the importance of the teaching, they were ready 
 to listen because it was new. 
 
vv. 21, 22.] THE ACTS, XVII. 225 
 
 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there 2r 
 spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or 
 to hear some new thing.) 
 
 2 2 — 3 1. Speech of St Paid at Athens, 
 
 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, 22 
 Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too 
 
 strajigers ivhich were the7'c\ The words will bear a fuller rendering, 
 ^^ st7-angers sojourning there.'''' (So R. V.) The place was famous, and 
 all seekers after novelty came there from every quarter. 
 
 spent their time\ More literally "had leisure for." But the one 
 sense is the complement of the other. If all the time be spent in one 
 way, there is no leisure left for any thing else. But the word has the 
 further sense of "finding a favourable opportunity." The Athenians 
 could find time for the pursuit of novelty, but for nothing beside. The 
 imperfect tense of the verb also implies that this was their constant state 
 of mind. 
 
 either to tell, or to hear some nezu thing"] This character of the 
 Athenian populace is confirmed by many statements of classical authors. 
 In Thuc. III. 38 Cleon is represented as complaining of his countrymen 
 that they were in the habit of playing the part of "spectators in 
 displays of oratory, and listeners to the stories of what others had 
 done;" and a like charge is made more than once by Demosthenes in 
 his speeches on the vigorous policy of Philip of Macedon, which he 
 contrasts with the Athenian love of talk and news. 
 
 22 — 31. Speech of St Paul at Athens. 
 
 Taking notice of the extreme religious scrupulousness, which had led 
 the Athenians to raise an altar to an unknown God, the Apostle 
 declares to them the God whom alone they ought to worship, and 
 whom as yet they did not know. This God was the Maker and 
 Preserver of all things, and the Father of all men, and He desired to 
 bring all to a knowledge of Himself. Athenian poets had spoken 
 of this Fatherhood of God. Such a God is not fitly represented by 
 graven images, and He would have men cease from such ignorant 
 worship, for he will be the Judge as well as Father of men, and has 
 given proof of the reality of the judgment and of the world to come by 
 the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
 
 22. in the midst of Mars' hill] Better, in the midst of the Areopagus. 
 See on v. 19. There is no need for translating the name in one way 
 there, and in another here. 
 
 Ye 77ien of Athens] The language of the Apostle's address takes 
 exactly the form which it would have assumed in the mouth of one of 
 their own orators. This may be due either to St Paul's knowledge of 
 Greek literature, and to his desire, eveiywhere manifest, to find words 
 acceptable to his audience ; or it may be that St Luke giving an 
 abstract of the speech has cast the initial words into a form which 
 
226 THE ACTS, XVII. [v. 23. 
 
 ■27, superstitions. For as I passed by, and beheld your de- 
 votions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE 
 UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly wor- 
 
 Demosthenes would have employed. In the latter case it is no mark of 
 unfaithfulness in the author, who clearly in these ten verses can only 
 mean to give a skeleton of what the Apostle really uttered. St Paul 
 spake at length, we cannot doubt, when he stood in such a place and 
 before such an audience. The historian in the Acts gives the barest 
 outline of what was spoken, and cannot be thought to have meant his 
 •words to be otherwise accepted, seeing that what he has given us would 
 hardly occupy five minutes in the utterance. 
 
 ye are too siiperstiticus] The Greek adjective which the Apostle here 
 employs has two shades of meaning, " superstitious," as in the A. V., and 
 *' religious" in a better sense. At the outset St Paul would not wish to 
 give offence, and so the more complementary sense is to be preferred. 
 As t'he word is of the comparative degree, this sense may be expressed 
 •either by "somewhat superstitious" (as R. V.) or "very religious." The 
 first would imply only a small shade of the less acceptable meaning," 
 the latter would be an expression of praise of the Athenians above 
 other people. The former is to be chosen, for St Paul did not wish to 
 give praise, but after some slight blame to point out a more excellent 
 way. For a description of the Setcrioatyuwi/, which exactly answers to 
 what we call "superstitious," see Theophrastus Charact. c. xvii. 
 
 23. For as I passed by (along)] The word refers to the whole of the 
 Apostle's walk about the city. 
 
 and behrldyoitr drootions'] Better, "and noticed the objects of your 
 worship." (With R. V.) The verb is that which in the previous verse 
 is translated "I perceive," only that here it is strengthened by a pre- 
 position which gives it the force of " fully observe." The Apostle had 
 not only seen the statues but read the inscriptions. The noun can only 
 mean "a thing that is Avorshipped" not "the act of worship" as is the 
 ■sense of the A. V. 
 
 I found an altar'] The Greek has an emphatic conjunction, which 
 might be represented by ''I found also an altar," i.e. beside other things 
 which I noticed. 
 
 TO THE UNKNOWN GOD] The original has no article and 
 would be correctly rendered *' To an unknown God.'' But it is not 
 tilways correct to omit the article in English because it does not appear 
 in the original : here however it does not influence the meaning. When 
 the altar was erected, it was in consequence of some visitation of which 
 the cause was not apparent, and which could be ascribed to none of 
 the existing divinities. We may conceive the Athenians speaking of the 
 power which caused the visitation either as "an unknown God" or as 
 *'the unknown God" whose wrath they would deprecate, and, in an in- 
 scription, representing all that was intended without the article. We 
 have abundant evidence of the existence in Athens of such altars as that 
 to which St Paul alludes. But the words in which they are described 
 generally run in the plural number, and speak of " the unknown gods." 
 
V. 24-] THE ACTS, XVII. 227 
 
 ship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world 24 
 and all tJmigs therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and 
 
 Thus Pausanias (i. i. 4) describing one of the ports of Athens tells us 
 that there were there " altars to gods styled Jinknozun," and Philostratus 
 in his Life of Apollonitis says "at Athens there are erected altars for 
 unknown gods." There is a like allusion in (pseudo) Lucian's Philo- 
 pati'is, but it is doubtful whether that is not drawn from this passage of 
 the Acts. And Jerome v.-riting on Tit. i. la, says "The inscription on 
 the altar was not, as Paul stated, 'To the unknown God' but 'To the 
 unknown gods of Asia and Europe and Africa, to unknown and foreign 
 Gods.' But, because Paul required to speak of only one unknown God, 
 he used the word in the singular." But it is better to suppose that 
 St Paul saw what he says he saw, and as evidence that such an in- 
 scription was not improbable, we may quote the Latin inscription found 
 on an altar at Ostia, now in the Vatican, representing a sacrificial 
 group in connexion with the worship of Mithras, the Sun-god of the 
 later Persian mythology (Orelli, Inscr. Gel. ii. 5000), " Signum indepre- 
 hensibiHs dei" which is a very near approach in Latin to what the 
 Greek inscription to which the Apostle alludes would mean. The word 
 *' unknown" must not be pressed too far into the sense of "unknow- 
 able," because of what comes after. Paul says that "he is prepared to 
 set forth to them that power which they were worshipping in ignorance." 
 So though man by searching cannot find out God, yet he would desire 
 to teach the Athenians, what he says elsewhere, that "the everlasting 
 power and divinity of God may be clearly seen through the things that 
 are made " (Rom. i. ^o). 
 
 Whojn therefore ye ignorantly worship] The best MSS. give the 
 relative in the neuter. The better rendering therefore is What therefore 
 ye xuorship in ignorance. (As R. V.) The A. V. seems to convey the 
 sense that the worship was of an ignorant character : whereas what 
 the Apostle intends to say is not any reflection on the nature of their 
 worship, but only that they offered it in ignorance, and this he w^as 
 ready to dispel. He accepts their religious character, takes his stand 
 on their own confession that they are in ignorance about God, and so 
 offers his teaching. 
 
 him declare I unto yoii\ Of course in harmony with the previous 
 clause the pronoun is here also neuter. "This set I forth unto you." 
 (As A'. K) In the verb which he employs the Apostle takes up their 
 own word (verse 18) when they said "He seemeth to be a setter forth 
 of strange gods." It is well that the similarity of word should be re- 
 tained in the English. 
 
 24. God that made the world, &c.] Better, The God, &c., which is 
 specially needed when the neuter pronouns are read in the previous 
 verse. 
 
 This was no Epicurean god, who dwelt apart and in constant repose ; 
 nor was the world a thing of chance as those philosophers taught, but 
 God's own handiwork, and all things in it were of His creation. 
 
 seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth] And therefore supreme 
 possessor and disposer of all that is therein. 
 
228 THE ACTS, XVII. [vv. 25-27. 
 
 25 earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is 
 worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any 
 tJmig, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all 
 
 26 tilings; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for 
 to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined 
 the times before appointed, and the bounds of their 
 
 27 habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they 
 might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far 
 
 dzvellcth not in temples made ivith hands] Of which Athens had some 
 of the most renowned in the world. A special interest attaches to these 
 words as being so like those of Stephen (vii. 48). If true of the temple 
 at Jerusalem, a fortiori, it is true of all Christian churches. 
 
 25. neither is worshipped with (served by) men's hands'] The verb 
 implies the sort of service yielded by a steward to his master, or a minis- 
 ter to his King, a service in which the superior is not independent of his 
 inferior, and could not well do without him. This is seen in the next 
 clause. God is not like earthly masters and kings. He gives all, and 
 men can only offer to Him themselves in return. Cp. Pss. 1., li. for like 
 teaching. 
 
 26. and hath made of one blood] All the best MSS. omit the word 
 "blood." And this seems to bring out more fully what the Apostle 
 desires to dwell on ; the Fatherhood of God. It is not that men are all 
 of one family and so all equal in God's eyes, and ought to be in the eyes 
 of one another. But when we read " they are made of One" we are 
 carried back to the higher thought of the prophet (IMalachi ii. 10), 
 " Have we not all one Father?" This was a philosophy not likely to 
 be acceptable to the Athenians among whom the distinction between 
 Greeks and Barbarians was as radical as that which has grown up in 
 America between white man and "nigger," or between Europeans and 
 natives in India. 
 
 for to dwell on all the face of the earth] For His children the Father 
 provided a home. 
 
 and hath determined the times before appointed] The word TrpoaTeray- 
 p.i\'ov9 has more authority than irporerayixevovs and gives a better sense. 
 The times (rather seasons) are appointed unto men, but it is not so clear 
 what "before-appointed" could mean. Read '■'■And hath determi?ied 
 their appointed seasons." (So R. V.) The " seasons" referred to are 
 those which God has ordained lor seed-time and harvest, summer and 
 winter, day and night, which are fixed by his decree and make the 
 earth a fitting abode for men. 
 
 ajtd the bounds oft/ieir habitation] i.e. where they can dwell and where 
 they cannot. 
 
 27. that they should seek the Lord] The best authorities read "j<?<?Z' 
 God." This was the lesson which God meant His creation and provi- 
 dence to teach, that through His works men should see Him. 
 
 if haply they vii%ht feel after him, and find him] The world was to 
 be man's book in which he should read God's- power and love ; thus 
 
vv. 28—30.] THE ACTS, XVII. 229 
 
 from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, 23 
 and have our being; as certain also of your own poets 
 have said. For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as 29 
 we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the 
 Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven 
 by art and man's device. And the times of t?iis ignorance 30 
 God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where 
 
 stimulated, a desire to know more might grow, and by efforts, which 
 the graphic word of the Apostle compares to the exertion of one 
 groping in the dark, more knowledge would come, and at last the full 
 discovery would be made. God would be found. He is the rewarder 
 of them that diligently seek Him. 
 
 though he be not far from every one of us\ And so can reveal Him- 
 selfaccording to the measure of zeal shewn by those who seek Him. 
 
 28. for hi him tve live'] i.e. through or by Him. All our existence 
 is through His care, therefore He must be near to all of us. The pre- 
 position is rendered by in verse 31, ^^ By that man whom he hath 
 ordained." 
 
 and move] More literally, are moved. The word does not refer to 
 the motion of persons from place to place, but to those internal move- 
 ments of the mind and spirit of which the outward actions are the 
 effect. St Paul means that the feelings of men are acted on by God, 
 who speaks to the heart through all nature if men will but hearken. 
 This is the truth of which Pantheism is the caricature. 
 
 yoiir oxuji poets have said] The words are a quotation from Aratus, 
 Phcenomena, 5, and are also found in Cleanthes' Hym^i to yupiter, 5. 
 Aratus was a native of Cilicia, and St Paul may in consequence be 
 supposed to have known of his writings as of those of a fellow-country- 
 man. By quoting from their own literature to the Athenians, St Paul 
 illustrates his own declaration tl\at in his labours "he became all 
 things to all men." Such a quotation was also very well devised for 
 arresting the attention of these cultivated hearers, and winning it may 
 be some consideration for the speaker, as also being a man of culture. 
 
 29. rue ought not to think, &c.] As man is of more honour than 
 material things, how far above these must the Godhead be. The 
 Athenians, the Apostle would teach them, had formed not too high but 
 too low a conception of themselves. 
 
 30. And the times of this ignorance] There is no pronoun in 
 the original, and the conjunctions are feebly represented by " and." 
 The sense is more nearly conveyed by "Having however overlooked 
 the times of ignorance." (Cp. Rom. iii. 25.) "To wink at" is now 
 used with the meaning of "to connive at." St Paul, however, only 
 means that God has not imputed to men the errors which they com- 
 mitted in ignorance, but now the case is changed. Men cannot plead 
 ignorance, who have heard of Christ, (Cp. Luke xii. 48.) 
 
 but nozu commandeth] If the translation of the first clause be taken 
 as above, the conjunction "but" (which has no Greek representative) 
 
230 THE ACTS, XVII. [w. 31, 32. 
 
 3^ t6 repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which 
 he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom 
 he hath ordained; whereof h.t hath given assurance unto all 
 ineJtj in that he hath raised him from the dead. 
 
 32 — 34. Effect of St Fauf s speech. So7ne mocked^ but others 
 believed. 
 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, 
 some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again 
 
 is not needed. The best Greek text would be literally translated 
 *'IIe now commandeth men that they all everywhere should repent" 
 (as nearly 7?. V.). "Repentance" means that they shall amend the lives 
 which hitherto they have lived wrongly through ignorance. 
 
 31. because he hath appointed^ (S:c.] The day of judgment had long 
 ago been appointed in God's foreknowledge, but through Christ man's 
 resurrection and immortality have been made more clear. He knows 
 nous who knows of Christ, that the Son of Man has been raised up, 
 as the first-fruits of a general resurrection. The rising of Christ proved 
 Him to be divine and stamped His doctrine as true. But a part of that 
 doctrine is (Matth. xxv. 32) " Before him shall be gathered all nations: 
 and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth 
 the sheep from the goats." By the resurrection of Jesus, God has given 
 to men assurance that what Jesus taught was true, therefore because of 
 the judgment which Christ foretold, men should repent eveiy where, for 
 the whole world shall be judged. 
 
 It is worth while to notice how St Paul's argument advances through 
 its various stages. He speaks first of God as the Creator of the world 
 and of men, and of the ordinances which He has made for man's 
 abode on earth. Then he argues that all this should inspire men with 
 the thought that as they are more worthy than material things, so God 
 is far exalted above men. This ought to have led them to seek after 
 Him, and even in the darker days those who sought could find Him. 
 But now the days of God's revelation through nature are at an end. 
 He has spoken through that Son of Man whom the resurrection proved 
 to be the Son of God. Through Him will God judge the world, for 
 which judgment men should prepare themselves by repentance. 
 
 It may be that at this point the Apostle's speech was stopped. 
 Neither party among the hearers would have any sympathy with the 
 doctrine of a resurrection and a final judgment. Had the address been 
 completed, St Paul would have probably spoken in more definite 
 language of the life and work of Jesus. 
 
 32—34. Effect of St Paul's speech. Some mocked, but 
 others believed. 
 
 32. some mocked] Just as (Acts ii. 13) did some men on the day of 
 Pentecost. To the Epicurean this life was all, and the Stoic's teaching, 
 
w. 33, 34; I.] THE ACTS, XVII. XVIII. 231 
 
 of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. How- ^J 
 belt certain men clave unto him, and believed : among the 
 which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named 
 Damaris, and others with them. 
 
 I — II. Patil goes from Athens to Cori7ith^ labours there 
 with his ow?i hands for his maintenance. He is encouraged 
 in his preaching by a vision of the Lord. 
 
 After these thiiigs Paul departed from Athens, and came IS 
 
 that all should finally be absorbed into the Godhead, forbade the belief 
 that the dead should rise again. So of these men the Epicureans would 
 most likely be the mockers, the Stoics might be expected to give more 
 heed ; and theirs perhaps would be the decision to hear the Apostle again. 
 The Greek of the best accepted MSS. makes the last clause run, " We 
 will hear thee yet again concerjiing this." 
 
 34, Dionysius the Arcopagite'l i.e. one of the members of the upper 
 council of Athens. He must have been a man of position and influence, 
 for no one could be a member of this council unless he had filled some 
 high office of state, and was above 60 years of age. Tradition (Euseb. 
 H. E. III. 4 ; IV. 23) says that this Dionysius was the first bishop of 
 Athens, and that he was martyred. The works which long circulated 
 among Christians as his compositions, and which even at the time of 
 the Reformation occupied much of the thoughts and labours of such 
 men as Dean Colet, are no doubt forgeries of a much later date than the 
 days of this Dionysius. 
 
 XVIII. 1—11. Paul goes from Athens to Corinth, labours 
 
 THERE WITH HIS OWN HANDS FOR HIS MAINTENANCE. He IS 
 ENCOURAGED IN HIS PREACHING BY A VISION OF THE LORD. 
 
 1. After these things Paul departedA^ The best authorities omit the 
 name of the Apostle, merely reading "he departed.'''' So R. V. 
 
 came to Corinth^ As Athens was the seat of culture, so Corinth w^as 
 the seat of commerce in the south of Greece. The city, at this time the 
 political capital of Greece and the residence of the Roman pro-consul, 
 stood on the isthmus which united the Peloponnesus to the mainland, and 
 through it all land traffic between the peninsula and the rest of Greece 
 must pass, while its two harbours, one on each side of the neck of land 
 on which Corinth stood, made it the resort of seafaring traders both 
 from east and west. Of Lechseum, the western port, on the Corinthian 
 gulf, we have no mention in the New Testament, but Cenchreae, the 
 harbour on the Saronic gulf, by which communication with the East 
 was kept up, is mentioned in verse 18. The city was also made famous 
 for its connexion with the Isthmian games, from which St Paul in his 
 Epistles draws frequent illustrations when writing to the Corinthian 
 Church. (See i Cor. ix. 24 — 27, &c.) For further particulars of the 
 history of Corinth see Did. of Bible, s. v. 
 
232 THE ACTS, XVIII. [vv. 2, 3. 
 
 z to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, 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 
 
 2. a certain Jew named Aquila] The name y^^wt/a is a Latin word, 
 and it is not lilcely that this was the man's Jewish name, but as the 
 custom was among the Jews, he had probably assumed a Roman name 
 during his dwelling in Italy and in his intercourse with the Gentiles. 
 See above on xiii. 9. The name is identified, by the Jews, with that of 
 Onkelos, who wrote a Targum on the Pentateuch, and some make that 
 Onkelos to be the same with Aquila who translated the Old Testament 
 into Greek, of which translation part is preserved to us in Origen's 
 Hexapla. 
 
 born in Ponins] Lit. a man of Pontus by race. The provinces of 
 Asia Minor abounded with Jewish families of the Dispersion, as we may 
 see from the whole history in the Acts. In Acts ii. 9 — 10 many of 
 these districts are mentioned as contributing to the number of worship- 
 pers who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. Pontus 
 came under Roman sway when its king Mithridates was conquered by 
 Pompey, and this connexion may have led Aquila to leave his native 
 country for Italy. Aquila and his wife are mentioned Rom. xvi. 3 
 as though they were again in Rome, so that probably they had formed 
 ties there which were only temporarily severed by the Claudian edict 
 mentioned in this verse. (It is however questioned whether the salu- 
 tations in Rom. xvi. form part of the Epistle as it was sent to the 
 , Romans. ) They were with St Paul when he wrote the first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians (i Cor. xvi. 19), and were so far settled in Ephesus, 
 where that Epistle was written, as to have a house which they could 
 place at the service of the Christians there, as a place to worship in. 
 And if (as is most probable) Timothy was in Ephesus when the 
 second Epistle (2 Tim. iv. 19) was addressed to him, they were in 
 that city again at this later date (for Priscilla is only the diminutive 
 form of Prisca as the name of the wife is there written). More than 
 this is not known of their changes of abode. 
 
 Claudius had commanded all Jcivs to depart from Rome\ The Jew? 
 were often objects of persecution in Rome, but this particular occasion 
 is probably that mentioned by Suetonius, Claud. 25, where we read 
 that by reason of Jewish tumults at the instigation of one Christus (or 
 Chrestus) they were driven out of the city. Whether this was the name 
 of some Jew then resident in Rome, or whether it is a reference to some 
 disturbance that had arisen from the Jewish expectation of "the 
 Christ" or Messiah, and the name Christus is mistakenly used by 
 Suetonius as though it were that of some agitator actually present, we 
 cannot tell. Or it may have been some movement of the Jews against 
 the Christians because they taught that the "Christ" was already come. 
 In that case the name "Christus" would come into great prominence, 
 and might give rise to the statement of Suetonius that a person of that 
 name had been the instigator of the disturbances. 
 
vv. 4, 5-] THE ACTS, XVIII. 233 
 
 the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for 
 by their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned 4 
 iw the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded tJie Jews and 
 the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come 5 
 
 3. And because he was of the same craft'] Among the Jews every 
 Rabbi deemed it proper to practise some handicraft, and they have a 
 proverb about R. Isaac, who was a smith, "Better is the sentence 
 of the smith (R. Isaac) than that of the smith's son (R. Jochanan)," 
 thus marking their opinion that the pursuit of a craft was no injury 
 to the teacher's wisdom (T. B. Satthedrin, ()6^). Thus our Lord is 
 spoken of (Mark vi. 3) as "the carpenter." 
 
 /le abode with them, and wrought'] Some ancient authorities read 
 and they wrought. This change in the number seems awkward. The 
 mention already made of the craft of Aquila and his wife conveys the 
 information that they wrought: what the sentence seems to need is the 
 addition which the singular gives that "he wrought." In a passage 
 from T. B. Sukkah, 5 1 b, part of which has already been quoted 
 on vi. 9, we read in a description of the Jewish synagogue at Alexandria, 
 "The people did not sit mixed together, but goldsmiths by them- 
 selves, and silversmiths by themselves, and ironworkers 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, 
 and from thence was his support, and that of the members of his house." 
 This may explain how readily Paul found at Corinth some persons who 
 were of his own craft. 
 
 by their occtipatioji they were tentmakers] What they made was most 
 probably tent-cloth. This was of goats' hair, and the plaiting of it into 
 strips and joining these together was a common employment in Cilicia, 
 to such an extent that the district gave name to the material and the 
 articles made of it, a soldier's and sailor's rough hair rug being named 
 Cilicium. As the trade was intended in such cases as St Paul's merely 
 to be used as a resource under circumstances of need which were not 
 likely to come about, we can understand that while complying with 
 Jewish feeling in the matter, a trade would be chosen for the boy which 
 would not consume a large part of his time in learning. Mishnah 
 Qiddtishifi iv. 14 says "let a person teach his son a trade both clean 
 and easy." The most common handicraft of Tarsus offered just such 
 a trade in the making of this rough goats' hair cloth. 
 
 4. and persuaded the Je-ivs and Ihe Greeks] There are no articles in 
 the original and they are, omitted in the Rruised Version. No doubt, 
 as in other Gentile cities, the religion of the Jews in Corinth gained the 
 attention of many among the Gentiles, who as proselytes or inclining 
 thereto would form part of the Sabbath audience in the synagogue. 
 According to his rule St Paul addressed himself to the Jews first. 
 
 5. And (But) whejt Silas and Tijnothctcs were come (came down) 
 frotn Macedonia] The particle at the beginning of the verse is better 
 regarded as adversative. We have in this^verse an account of a change 
 
 ACTS 17 
 
234 THE ACTS, XVIII. [w. 6, 7. 
 
 from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit, and testified to 
 
 6 the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed 
 themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and 
 said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am 
 
 7 clean : from 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 
 
 in the character of the Apostle's preaching after the arrival of Silas and 
 Timothy, who had been left at Berosa (xvii. 14). It may well be that 
 he had encouragement by their presence in his work, and also that 
 it was not so necessary for him to consume his whole time on his craft 
 because the Philippians had sent a contribution for his support (Phil. iv. 
 15; 2 Cor. xi. 9). 
 
 Paul was pressed in spirit\ The best texts read, was constrained by 
 the word (so R. V.), and the Vulg. "instabat verbo " is evidence in its 
 favour. The sense seems to be, he was earnestly occupied in preaching 
 the Word, and felt himself more urged on, and also more able, to preach, 
 because of his freedom from the necessity of constant labour. It was 
 apparently only on the Sabbath that he had reasoned with the people 
 before. The usus loquendi favours the passive meaning. Meyer (3rd 
 ed.) renders "he was apprehended, seized by the word " in the sense of 
 internal pressure of spirit. 
 
 • testifying to the Jezus that yeszis zvas the Chrisi\ This sentence 
 which is of the participial form in the original intimates the manner in 
 which the greater earnestness of the Apostle was exhibited. He gave 
 in all its fulness his solemn testimony, no doubt confirmed from Scrip- 
 ture and by the narrative of his own miraculous conversion, that this 
 Jesus, whom he had formerly persecuted, was the Christ, the Messiah 
 whom the Jews had long expected. 
 
 6. opposed themselves'] The word implies very strong opposition, 
 as of a force drawn up in battle array. It was an organized opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 and blasphemed'] The same word is used in 1 Pet. ii. 1, "The way of 
 truth shall be evil spoken of." And the same conduct, though the 
 word is different, is described in the next chapter (xix. 9), "speaking 
 evil of the Way before the multitude." 
 
 he shook out his raiment] Figurative of entire renunciation of them. 
 Nothing that pertained to them should cling to him ; and in like 
 manner he would cast them off from his thoughts (cp. xiii. 51). For 
 the action cp. Neh. v. 13. 
 
 Your blood be Jipon your own heads] He says "blood" in the sense 
 of "destmction," using figuratively the language which in Josh. ii. 19 is 
 used literally. 
 
 / zuill go unto the Gentiles] i. e. the Gentiles in Corinth. For in 
 future preaching elsewhere (see xix. 8) he addressed the Jews and went 
 to the synagogue, as had been his custom from the first. 
 
 7. a certain man's house, named Justus] He used this house for the 
 
vv. 8, 9.] THE ACTS, XVIII. 235 
 
 joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the ehicf^ 
 ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with a]l 
 his house ; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, 
 and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in 9 
 the night l3y a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold 
 
 purposes of teaching and worship. We may suppose that for his own 
 lodging, he still remained with Aquila and Priscilla. Some MSS. give 
 the name Titus Justus to this man, and the double name is adopted in 
 the Revised Version, but there is good authority for the received text. 
 
 one that worshipped God] He was a Proselyte. The word is used 
 of religious proselytes (xiii. 43) and of devout Greeks (xvii. 4). His 
 house was therefore an appropriate -place in which both Jews and 
 Gentiles might meet, and to which Gentiles would be more ready to 
 come than to that of a Jew by birth. 
 
 whose house joined hard to the synagogue] It is likely that St Paul, 
 though he came no more to the synagogue at Corinth, chose not to 
 betake himself far away, because he would be ready to receive any of 
 his brethren who might change their feelings and come to him. But we 
 can see how, while his near neighbourhood gave opportunity for this, 
 the meetings of those who came to the synagogue with those who were 
 going to the house of Justus, would be likely to cause bitterness, 
 especially when the number of St Paul's adherents began to increase, 
 and a ruler of the synagogue was counted among them. 
 
 8. Atid Crispus^ the chief ruler of the synagogue] It is better to omit 
 "chief" otherwise this part of the word is twice translated. (So J^. K) 
 This Crispus is alluded to, i Cor. i. 14, as one of the few whom St Paul 
 himself baptized. His previous distinguished position among the Jews, 
 and the conversion of his whole family, would make him noticeable 
 among the Christian converts. There may have been more than one 
 synagogue in Corinth. In verse 17 we read of Sosthenes, the ruler of 
 the synagogue. But it is quite possible that this man may have been 
 appointed immediately after the conversion of Crispus, and may have 
 been desirous to sheW his zeal against the Christian teachers by laying 
 an immediate information against Paul before the proconsul. 
 
 and many of the Corinthians... were baptized] St Paul mentions that 
 he himself only baptized (in addition to Crispus) Gaius and the house- 
 hold of Stephanas. But Silas and Timothy were now by his side and 
 would care for the admission of the new converts to baptism. 
 
 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision] The ren- 
 dering of the first word makes it seem as though the original were an 
 adverb of time. Render, "And the Lord said, &c." We may judge 
 from the language used to him that for some reason the heart of the 
 Apostle was beginning to wax faint, and that he was in danger of 
 bodily maltreatment. The communication was made in the same way 
 as the call to come over into Macedonia (xvi. 9, 10). Only here th^ 
 Lord appeared to his servant. 
 
 speak, and hold not thy peace] An exhortation to even more con- 
 tinuous preaching than before. Let nothing stop thy testimony. 
 
 17 — 2 
 
236 THE ACTS, XVIII. [w. 10—12- 
 
 10 not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on 
 thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. 
 
 11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the 
 word of God among them. 
 
 12 — -17. Paul is accused before Gallio, who declines to consider 
 the charge against him. In consequence the populace fall af 
 once on Sosthenes, a chief ??ia?i among the Jeivs^ but Gallia 
 lets their assault pass 2m?ioticed. 
 
 x2 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews 
 
 10. for I am with ihcc\ The pronoun is expressed emphatically 
 in the Greek, and no man shall set on thee to hurt [harm] thee. There 
 ^vill be assailants. Christ does not promise him freedom from attack. 
 ]iut the enemy shall not be able to do him violence. And this appear- 
 ance of Christ would give the Apostle the confidence of the prophet of 
 old (2 Kings vi. 16), "They that be with us are more than they that be 
 with them." 
 
 for I have vmch people in this city'] How important and extensive 
 was the Christian community at Corinth we may gather from the 
 Epistles which St Paul wrote afterwards to the Church there. And as. 
 the city was one of the great centres of commercial activity at this 
 period, we can see how important it was (humanly speaking) for the 
 CImrch to make good its footing there from the first. The Lord 
 mercifully by this vision gave his servant assurance that his words 
 should be largely blessed, and rising up thus comforted, he was ready 
 for any task. 
 
 11. Ajid he continued [dwelt] there'] In these words the historian 
 seems to be expressing the content which pervaded the Apostle's mind 
 after the vision. Neither the A. V. nor the Revised rendering gives to 
 the full the meaning of the Greek. The verb is generally rendered " to 
 sit down," and here seems to be applied purposely to the restful state of 
 the Apostle's mind after the comforting revelation. The same verb is 
 used by St Luke (xxiv. 49), '■'■Tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed 
 with power from on high," where the admonition is of like character 
 w ith the advice given here to St Paul. In no other place in the New- 
 Testament is the word similarly used. 
 
 a year ajid six months] And beside his teaching to the Corinthians he 
 wrote at this time the two Epistles to the Thessalonians which are the 
 first in order of date anwng the Apostolic letters, and probably the 
 earliest part of the whole New Testament. 
 
 12 — 17. Paul is accused before Gallic, who declines to 
 
 CONSIDER THE CHARGE AGAINST HIM. 1n CONSEQUENCE THE 
 . rOPULACE FALL AT ONCE ON SOSTHENES, A CHIEF MAN AMONG 
 
 THE Jews, but Gallio lets their assault pass unnoticed. 
 
 12. And when Gallio was the deputy of Achain] Better, But w//^?; 
 
vv. 13, 14.] THE ACTS, XVIII. 237 
 
 made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought 
 him to the judgment seat, saying. This fellow persuadeth 13 
 men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul 14 
 was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the 
 
 Gallio was proconsul ofAchaia (so R. V.). The narrative is about to enter 
 on something which was adverse to the spirit of quiet rest mentioned in 
 the previous verse, therefore "but " is the fitting conjunction. To give 
 the governor of the province his proper title is of much importance, and 
 here forms a mark of the fidelity of the narrative. Achaia was a 
 Roman province. Such provinces belonged either to the Senate or to 
 the Emperor. When they were senatorial the governor was styled Pro- 
 consul. Now Achaia had been a senatorial province under Augustus, 
 but under Tiberius was an imperial province for a time, but after A. D. 
 44 under Claudius (Suet. Claud, xxv. ), which is the reign in which 
 these events in St Paul's life occurred, it was once more made senatorial 
 and so had a Proconsul at this period for its governor. This Gallio was 
 the brother of the famous philosopher Seneca, who was tutor and for a 
 time minister of the Emperor Nero. Originally Gallio was called 
 Marcus Annoeus Novatus, and took the name of Gallio from the orator 
 Lucius Junius Gallio, by whom he was adopted. The character of 
 Gallio as described iDy his Roman contemporaries is that of a most 
 bright, popular, and affectionate man. He is spoken of as " Sweet 
 Gallio," and Seneca declares that "those who love him to the utmost, 
 don't love him enough." 
 
 the Je2vs made insurrection [Better (with R. V.), rose up] tvit/i 
 one accord against Paul'\ They probably thought to avail themselves 
 of the inexperience of a newly arrived proconsul, and by appearing in a 
 body to obtain the expulsion of the Apostle from their city. 
 
 and brought him to the judgment seat] To Gallio they would seem a 
 company of Jews accusing one of their own race of some erroneous 
 teaching. If he had only lately come from Rome, he would be likely 
 to have heard there of the troubles about "Christus" (see above on 
 verse 2), and he would consider that he had come into the midst of a 
 quarrel about the same matter. 
 
 13. contrary to the law] i. e. the Jewish law. Their religion was one 
 of those allowed throughout the Roman Empire, and their hope is to 
 induce the proconsul to protect the Jewish law by Roman law. But the 
 majesty of Roman power was far too august to be invoked for settling 
 a quarrel between the members of a merely ' * tolera.ted " religion. 
 He would not meddle in their matters. 
 
 14. And (But) when Paul was noxv about to open his mouth] There 
 is nothing in the Gk. which requires the word "now." The Roman has 
 too much contempt for the whole matter and all who are concerned in 
 it to listen to any defence. For the law of the Jews, its breach or its 
 observance, he has no care, and will not be used by either party. 
 
 Gallio said unto the yetvs] He does not need to hear both sides of a 
 question about which he will give no opinion. 
 
238 ' THE ACTS, XVIII. [w. 15—17. 
 
 Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye 
 
 15 Jews, reason would that I should bear with you : but if it 
 be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye 
 
 16 to it ; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave 
 
 17 them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took 
 
 If indeed it were a matter of wj-ong or of wicked letvdness (villany)] 
 The old word " lewdness " has grown to have a different meaning from 
 that which it had when the A. V. was made. The two things of which 
 the magistrate would take account are (i) any evil doing (cp. xxiv. 20), 
 an act of injustice, or (2) any unscrupulous conduct involving moral 
 wrong. He would be. that is, a minister of law and equity, for that was 
 his duty. 
 
 reason wotdd that I should bear with yoti\ He shews by his language 
 how far he feels the Roman citizen above the tolerated Jews. But if 
 their case called for its exercise they should have the benefit of tolera- 
 tion and he would inquire into matters that were the business of his 
 office. 
 
 15. BiU if they are questions about words and natnes'l The oldest 
 authorities give the plural "questions," and there would no doubt have 
 been many points brought forward from St Paul's teaching to which 
 the Jews would object. And whether Jesus was the Christ or not 
 would seem to the Roman a matter entirely of definition, and on 
 which the law had no bearing. If he had heard the name of " Christus " 
 at Rome, it would make Gallio the more ready to imitate his 
 royal master, and get rid of the disputants as fast and as far as 
 possible. 
 
 ajid of your law] Better, and of your own law. The words are 
 literally "the law among (or according to) you." The accusers had 
 without doubt been striving to make out that in teaching a different 
 manner of worship (ver. 13) Paul was bringing forward a religion not 
 enjoying toleration by the Roman government. But Gallio sees through 
 their intention, and counting them all for Jews, he will not be drawn 
 into their questions. 
 
 look ye to it] Better, look to zV yourselves (as /v. V.). The pronoun 
 is very emphatic in the Greek. 
 
 for I will be Jio judge of such matters] The oldest authorities omit 
 *'for," and the Revised Version makes it plain that "will" is not here 
 an auxiliary verb, as it often is in English. "/ am not minded to be 
 z. judge ^t/" these matters.^'' Gallio knows his own business and will only 
 mind that. It is not a case where his jurisdiction can interfere, and so 
 he leaves the whole untouched. There is no question here about his own 
 regard and disregard of enquiries about religion. He sits to administer 
 Roman law, and this dispute among the Jews at Corinth lies outside his 
 cognizance altogether. 
 
 16. And he drave the?n from the judgment scat] The description 
 given by St Luke makes it probable that the seat of Gallio was in 
 some open public place, where all might come and bring their plaints. 
 
V. 17-] THE ACTS, XVIII. 239 
 
 Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him 
 before the judgment seat. And GalHo cared for none of 
 those things. 
 
 18 — 23. Paul leaves Corinth to go into Syria, haltifig a short 
 tiitie at Ceiichrea and somewhat longer at Ephesns. He 
 lands at Cesarea, goes up to Jerttsalem and from thence to 
 Antioch, and after a time departs on his third missionary 
 journey. 
 
 The proconsul would be attended by his lictors and other officials, and 
 those he now commands to clear the place of these troublesome 
 cavillers about words and names. The new magistrate found perhaps 
 enough to do in matters which carne within his jurisdiction in the busy 
 mercantile life of Corinth. 
 
 17. Then all the Greeks took SostheJies, the chief ruler of the syna- 
 gogiie\ The conjunction is too strongly rendered in the A.V. The 
 oldest MSS. omit "the Greeks" which is very like a marginal gloss 
 that has been introduced into the text by some scribe. Here as before 
 (ver. 8) omit "chief." Render (with R. V.), And they all laid hold on 
 Sosthenes the ruler of the syjiagogue. The verb is used (xxi. 30) of the 
 violent action of the mob at Jerusalem, and just afterwards (xxi. 33) of 
 the chief captain's conduct when he rescued Paul. Neither would be 
 very gentle measures. And we may understand something of the same 
 kind here. The surrounding crowd, of whom no doubt most would be 
 Greeks, catching the tone of the magistrate, prepared to follow up his 
 decision by a lesson of their own, of a rather rough kind. Sosthenes 
 had probably been the spokesman of the Jews, and Paul would not 
 improbably have some sympathizers among the Gentiles. And "Jew- 
 baiting " was not unknown in those days. So with impunity the crowd 
 could wreak their own vengeance on these interrupters of the proper 
 business of the court, and beat Sosthenes before he was out of the 
 magistrate's presence. The name Sosthenes Avas a very common one, 
 and we need not identify this man with the Sosthenes mentioned in 
 I Cor. i. I. 
 
 And Gallia cared for none of those things'] Neither for the questions 
 raised nor for those who raised them. How little Jewish life was 
 regarded by the Romans is shewn in many places in their literature (see 
 Farrar's St Paul, vol. i. Exc. xiv.). Tiberius banished four thousand of 
 them to Sardinia, saying that if the unhealthy climate killed them off 
 "it would be a cheap loss" (Tac. Ann. ii. 85). Coming from Rome 
 where such feeling was universal, the lives and limbs of a few Jews 
 would appear of small importance, and like the Emperor just named 
 he may have thought it mattered little what became of them. 
 
 18 — 23. Paul leaves Corinth to go into Syria, halting 
 
 A SHORT time AT CeNCHREA AND SOMEWHAT LONGER AT 
 
 Ephesus. He lands at Cesarea, goes up to Jerusalem 
 
240 THE ACTS, XVI 1 1. [vv. i8, 19. 
 
 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 
 
 '9 head in Cenchrea : for he had a vow. And he came to 
 
 AND FROM THENCE TO AnTIOCH, ANET AFTER A TIME DEPARTS 
 ON HIS THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 
 
 18. And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while\ Lit. many 
 days. This appears to be after the appearance before Gallic. We are 
 told (ver. 11) that he settled quietly for a year and six months. Then 
 came an opportunity of attacking him on Gallio's arrival. Of this the 
 Jews tried to avail themselves, and when their attempt was at an end, 
 the Apostle had another time of peace among his converts. So that the 
 whole stay in Corinth extended over more than a year and a half. 
 
 sailed thence into (better, for) Syrici\ We have no motive given why 
 the Apostle at this time sailed back. Some have suggested that he was 
 carrying a contribution to the brethren in Jerusalem. It is clear that 
 when the return was resolved on, he M'ished to reach Jerusalem as soon 
 as possible, for he declined to tarry in Ephesus even though his preach- 
 ing was more readily received there than by the Jews in many other 
 places. It may have been the wish to fulfil his vow, which could only 
 be brought to its conclusion by a visit to the temple in Jerusalem. 
 
 having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a tjozu] We can observe 
 all through the narrative of the Acts that St Paul, although the Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, did not cease to regard the festivals and ceremonies of 
 the Jews in things which did not militate against the Christian hberty. 
 For some reason, either during sickness or in the midst of his conflict 
 at Corinth, he had taken a vow upon himself of the nature of the Naza- 
 rite vows (Numb. vi. r — 21). This could only be brought to its fitting 
 close by a journey to Jerusalem to offer up the hair, which it was a part 
 of the vow, to leave uncut. At Jerusalem when the ceremony was 
 completed the head was shaven (see Acts xxi. 24), but it seems to have 
 been allowed to persons at a distance to cut the hair short and to bring 
 that with them to the temple and offer it up when the rest was shaven. 
 This appears to be what St Paul did at this time, at Cenchrece, before 
 starting on the voyage to Syria. The Greek word for "having shorn" 
 stands in the original next to Aquila, and some have contended from 
 this that it was he who had the vow, and cut his hair. They have 
 pointed out also that the order of the names "Priscilla and Aquila" 
 seems to have been adopted purposely to make this connexion of words 
 possible. But the name of the wife stands before that of her husband 
 in Rom. xvi. 3 ; see also 2 Tim. iv. 19; and may have been so placed 
 because by her zeal she made herself a very conspicuous member of the 
 Church wherever she lived. But it seems very unlikely that all this 
 detail of a vow and its observance would be so prominently mentioned 
 in connexion with Aquila, who played but a small part in St Luke's 
 history; while it is a most significant feature in the conduct of St Paul 
 that he so oft conform.ed to Jewish observances. 
 
V. 20, 21.] THE ACTS, XVIII. 241 
 
 Ephesus, and left them there : but he himself entered into 
 the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they 20 
 desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented 
 not ; but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means 21 
 
 19. And he [they] came to EpJicstis\ The oldest authorities have 
 the phiral number here. Ephesus was the famous city, capital of Ionia, 
 and afterwards the scene of a large period of St John's labours. It 
 stood not far from the sea on some hilly ground by a small river which 
 flows into the sea in the district lying between the greater rivers, the 
 Hermus and the Meander. In St Paul's day it was by far the busiest 
 and most populous city in Proconsular Asia. For a more complete 
 account of its inhabitants and the special worship of Artemis (Diana) for 
 which it was celebrated, a fitting place will be found in the notes on 
 chap. xix. 
 
 and left them there'\ Aquila and Priscilla probably had business 
 connexions with the large city of Ephesus, which caused them to end 
 their journey here. These people though working at their trade appear 
 to have been above the position which would be implied by Dr Farrar's 
 expression {St Paul 1. 573) "his lodging in the squalid sho-^ of Aquila 
 and Priscilla." They travelled about and lived now at Rome, now at 
 Ephesus, and now in Corinth (i Cor. xvi. 19; Rom. xvi. 3; 2 Tim. iv, 
 19), and on their condition when in Ephesus, see above on verse 2. 
 
 entered into the synagogue^ He could not give up his own people, 
 though he was constantly exposed to hard usage by them ; so he seeks 
 them out again here as soon as he arrives. In Ephesus however his 
 message seems to have been received with less hostility, for those who 
 heard him begged him to stay a longer time. The cosmopolitan 
 character of the Ephesian population may have had something to do 
 with this. 
 
 20. And when they desired (asked) hint to tarry a longer time 7vith 
 ihem'\ The oldest texts omit the last two words. The verb is one most 
 frequently rendered "to ask." We need not suppose that more im- 
 pression had been produced on this occasion than made the Jews willing 
 to give him a patient hearing. 
 
 21. but bade them famveH\ This is the same verb as in verse 18, 
 and should be rendered in the same way. ^^ But took his leave of them^ 
 The oldest authorities and the best modern editors, followed by the 
 Revised Version, omit a large portion of the verse, reading thus : *^ but 
 taking his leave of them, and saying, I will return again unto you, if 
 God will, he set sail from Ephesus.^' The words thus omitted are 
 deemed to have been an insertion suggested by xx. i5. It is not only on 
 the authority of a small number of uncials that the words are rejected ; 
 their omission is supported by several cursives, as well as by the 
 Vulgate and some other versions. 
 
 There has been much discussion on the question whether it was the 
 feast of the, Passover or the Pentecost which the Apostle desired to keep 
 in Jerusalem. If we accept the omission, as the authorities seem fully 
 to warrant, the question is not raised. 
 
242 THE ACTS, XVIII. [w. 22, 23. 
 
 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 
 
 23 saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. And after 
 he had spent some time thei'e, he departed, and went over 
 all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthen- 
 ing all the disciples. 
 
 24 — 28. Visit of Apollos to Ephesus^ and his teaching there. 
 He is more fully instructed by Aquila and Priscilla^ and 
 
 I will return agai7i nnto yoti\ Having the opportunity, he soon 
 redeemed his promise, see xix. i. 
 
 22. Cesa7'ed\ (See viii. 40.) This was the home of Philip the 
 Evangelist, and we may suppose that St Paul would make the success 
 of his distant mission known to his fellow -labourer. He made the 
 house of Philip his home in Caesarea on a later occasion (xxi. 8). 
 
 gone up] i. e. from the coast town to the city of Jerusalem. 
 
 and saluted the church] This is a very brief notice of a visit to the centre 
 of all church life and action at this time. And we cannot but be sur- 
 prised that there is no mention (as in xiv. 27) of a gathering of the 
 church, and of the report of what tire great missionary had been enabled 
 to effect. Dr Farrar {St Patil, II. 5) suggests that St Paul met with 
 a cold and ungracious reception, and that the position which he assumed 
 towards the Law in his preaching to Gentile converts, raised him up 
 adversaries among the Christians in Jerusalem, who were naturally 
 zealous for the Law. It is certainly strange that even the name of the 
 city is not mentioned, nor are we told a word about the fulfilment of the 
 vow. For some reason or other, the Apostle hastened, as soon as his 
 salutations were ended, to the more congenial society of the Christians at 
 Antioch who had rejoiced over his success on a former visit. 
 
 23. And after he had spent sovie tiinc there] Having felt for them- 
 selves the troubles of the Judaizers, the people at Antioch would 
 sympathize with the Apostle, if he were experiencing like opposition 
 now to his own work. 
 
 he departed] Starting from Antioch as on both his former missions. 
 
 ajtd went over all the country (region) of Galatia and Phrygia in 
 order] Taking no doubt the same direction as before, and so visiting 
 Lystra and Derbe, before he came to the more northern portions of Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 strengthejiing all the disciples] The verb is elsewhere always ren- 
 dered "confirming" both in the A.V. and in the Revised Version (cp. 
 xiv. 1^', XV. 32, 41). Here in the Rev. Ver. it is changed to "stablish- 
 ing" which does perhaps contain the idea of "making firm" a little 
 more fully than " strengthen " does. " Confirming" was to be avoided 
 here because of the use of that word now as signifying the Church's 
 rite of " Confirmation." 
 
vv. 24, 25.] THE ACTS, XVIII. 243 
 
 afterwards passing over into Achaia, pi'eaches Christ there 
 with g7'eat power. 
 
 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, 24. 
 an eloquent man, a7id mighty in the Scriptures, came to 
 Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; 2s 
 
 24 — 28. Visit of Apollos to Ephesus, and his teaching 
 
 THERE. He is more FULLY INSTRUCTED BY AQUILA AND 
 PrISCILLA, AND AFTERWARDS PASSING OVER INTO ACHAIA, 
 
 PREACHES Christ there with great power. 
 
 24. And [Now] a certain Jew named Apollos] As this interposed 
 narrative about Apollos is an unconnected digression, preparatory to 
 what will be mentioned in the following chapter, it is better to render 
 the conjunction by a less distinctly conjunctive word. So "Now" is 
 better than "And." 
 
 The name Apollos is an abbreviation of Apollonius, which is read in 
 one MS. (D). His influence as a Christian teacher made itself most 
 felt in Corinth. (Cp. i Cor. i. 12, iii. 5, iv, 6.) 
 
 born at Alexandria (lit. an Alexandrian by birth)] On Alexandria 
 as a place abounding with Jews cp. vi. 9. It was in Alexandria and by 
 Jews that the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament was made. 
 
 an eloquent man] The word in the original expresses not only 
 ability as an orator, but also the possession of stores of learning. 
 Hence the J?ev. Ver. gives "learned." Either rendering only gives half 
 the idea. He was learned and could use his learning with effect. 
 
 ca)}ie to Ephesns, and lie was mighty in the Scriptures] This is the 
 arrangement and construction of the original. The study of the Old 
 Testament flourished greatly in Alexandria, and Apollos had great 
 power in the exposition and application of these Scriptures. The 
 literary activity and philosophic pursuits of the Greek population of 
 Alexandria were not without their eff'ect on the more conservative Jews, 
 and we find from many sources that the Jewish writings were studied 
 with all the literary exactness which marked the Greek scholarship of 
 the time, and the Jews, conscious of the antiquity of their own records 
 and yet impressed with the philosophic character of their cultured 
 fellow-citizens, bent themselves greatly to find analogies between the 
 Mosaic writings and the teachings of the schools. In study like this 
 Apollos had no doubt been fully trained. 
 
 25. This 77ia7t was ijistrticted in the way of the Lord] Nothing is 
 gained by pressing the tense of the original into the "had been 
 instructed" of the Revised Version. If he had been instructed he con- 
 sequently ivas instructed. The word for instructed is that from which 
 comes the English "catechize." Hence it implies a course of teaching 
 distinct from his own study of the Scriptures. We know from Jose- 
 phus [Antiq. xviii. 5. 2) that the teaching and baptism of John pro- 
 duced great effect among the Jews. We need not therefore wonder at 
 finding among Jews at Jerusalem and Ephesus men who had accepted 
 
244 THE ACTS, XVI 1 1. [v. 26. 
 
 and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught dili- 
 gently the tilings of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of 
 .26 John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue : 
 
 the Baptist's teaching about Jesus. But in considering such cases we 
 must remember where such instruction as they had received would 
 stop short. They would know that John baptized in preparation for 
 the coming of the kingdom, they would have heard that he pointed to 
 Jesus as the Lamb of God, being certified thereof when He came to be 
 baptized. But when John was dead and the life of Jesus was brought 
 to a close on Calvary, except the few of John's disciples who had 
 joined the followers of our Lord, none would know of the way in 
 which the foundations of the heavenly kingdom were laid, none would 
 understand the institution of the Sacraments, nor the sending down of 
 the Holy Ghost, nor the teaching of repentance, and of the gift of 
 salvation to the faithful through grace. Of these things John had 
 known nothing, and we must not forget in our attempt to estimate his 
 work and its effects, that there came to himself a day when he sent to 
 •Christ to ask "Art thou He that should come?" (Matth. xi. 3.) 
 
 and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught carefully the things 
 concerning Jesus] These variations from the A.V. are warranted by 
 the best texts of the original. As "the spirit" intended is Apollos' 
 own it is better to omit the article. The adverb rendered "carefully" 
 indicates the accuracy with which he proclaimed all that he had been 
 taught. "The things of the Lord" seems to have been the suggestion 
 of some one who did not understand the plain statement of the text. 
 In the previous expression "the way of the Lord" we have only the 
 Old Test, words (Is. xl. 3) quoted by the Evangelists concerning 
 John's preaching. (Matth. iii. 3; Mark i. 3.) There may have been 
 some timidity felt about the further statement that Apollos taught the 
 things "concerning Jesus," and so the reading of the early part of the 
 verse was brought in here also. But after what has been said above we 
 can see how this Alexandrian Jew might publish with the utmost accu- 
 racy all that John had proclaimed about the coming of the Kingdom ol 
 Heaven, and enforce it from his own studies of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, he might declare how John had pointed to Jesus, and 
 might even relate much of the works and words of Christ, as an evi- 
 dence that God was sending greater prophets than they had known for 
 long, and that therefore Christ's life was a testimony that redemption 
 was near. All this he might know and preach most carefully, and yet 
 lack all that further knowledge which Aquila and Priscilla imparted. 
 
 knowing only the baptism of John'\ In this sentence we have the 
 solution of any difficulty which there m.ay seem to be in the verse. 
 He knew nothing of that other baptism, which is the entrance into 
 ■Christ's kingdom, and therefore he could merely be looking forward 
 for the fulfilment of the prophecies, and the power of his teaching 
 would consist in the zealous way which he published that the voice of 
 •God in His older Revelation proclaimed Messiah's advent very near. 
 
 26. And he began to speak boldly in the syjiagogtie] For the Jews 
 
V. 27.] THE ACTS, XVIII. 245 
 
 whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him 
 unto ihe7n, and expounded unto him the way of God more 
 perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, 2;^ 
 
 « 
 were not all ready to listen to announcements of the approach of 
 the Messiah. The speaker must be prepared with arguments as well 
 as courage who dwelt on this theme, about which the Jews had been 
 deluded by many impostors. 
 
 But ivhen Priscilla and Aqtiila heard Mm] This is the commence- 
 ment of a new sentence in the original, and the oldest texts put the 
 name of the wife before that of her husband as in ver. 18. By joining 
 her in this marked way with Aquila in the communications with 
 Apollos, the historian indicates that she was a woman of great power 
 and zeal among the Christians. It has been suggested that she was 
 perhaps a born Jewess and her husband not so, which might account 
 lor the prominence given in several places to her name. It may be 
 noted here, as so often, that Aquila and his wife, like the other Judoeo- 
 Christians, still attended the worship of the synagogue. 
 
 they took him unto thcni] He would be much more in sympathy, 
 with them than with the Jewish congregation. He was prepared 
 to accept the Messiah, but did not yet understand that Jesus was He. 
 
 and expojcnded unto him the ivay of God more carefully] The 
 adverb here is the same as in the previous verse, and the use of it 
 -seems to shew that the studies of Aquila and his wife in the Scriptures, 
 had been of the same earnest kind as those of Apollos. By the "way 
 of God " we must understand God's further working out of the Old 
 Testament prediction in the closing events of the life of Jesus, and 
 in the gift of the Holy Ghost. That Joel's prophecy, quoted by St 
 Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 16), had been thus fulfilled, 
 was new learning for the eloquent Alexandrian. As also the newly 
 appointed means of grace in baptism and the breaking of bread, with 
 the promise of salvation to faith in Christ. These also may be included 
 as part of the "way of God," being means whereby men are brought 
 nearer to Him. 
 
 27 And when he zuas minded to pass over into Achaia] The 
 original expresses more than an inclination on his part; he wished 
 to go. We find from xix. i that the centre of his labours there was 
 Corinth. Being acquainted with the philosophy and learning of Greece 
 he was well fitted to be a preacher to the Greeks as well as to the 
 Jews, and he may have felt that Corinth was the place where he 
 could do most good. We are not told of any Apostolic commission to 
 Apollos, but we know from i Cor. i. 12, &c. that he came to be regarded 
 by some Corinthians as the equal of St Paul, and that there arose 
 some strong party feeling in that Church, which is rebuked in St 
 Paul's letter to them. We cannot suppose that this was brought a.bout 
 by Apollos, for St Paul speaks of him as watering what he himself 
 had planted, and it may be that the knowledge of the existence of 
 such a spirit accounts for the unwillingness of Apollos to come back 
 to Corinth (i Cor. xvi. 12) which we read of somewhat later. 
 
246 THE ACTS, XVIII. XIX. [vv. 28 ; i. 
 
 the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him : 
 who, when he was come, helped them much which had be- 
 28 lieved through grace : for he mightily convinced the Jews, 
 and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was 
 Christ. 
 
 I — 7. Paul returning to Ephesiis fiiids there some disciples 
 of John the Baptist. 
 
 19 And it came to pass that, while Apollos was at Corinth, 
 
 the brethren im-otc, exhorting the disciples to receive hivi\ Here the 
 A. V. makes the disciples in Achaia the object of the exhortation. 
 The construction in the original is not quite clear, but the order of 
 the words seems in favour of the Revised rendering, "the brethren 
 encouraged him and wrote to the disciples, &c." though the pronoun 
 "him " is not expressed in the Greek. Here we find the first instance 
 of letters of commendation sent from one Church to another. " The 
 brethren" at Ephesus must have been a small number, but Aquila 
 and Priscilla would be well known to the Christians in Corinth. 
 
 who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed 
 through gracel So far as the Greek is concerned the last two words 
 may be connected either with "helped" or "believed." But as the 
 his.ory is occupied with the work of Apollos, it seems more natural 
 to explain the "grace" spoken of, as the gift which was already in 
 Apollos, and which the more full instruction that he had just received 
 had tended to increase. He, had formerly been but partially en- 
 lightened. Now that he knows the truth in Christ, his former ability 
 becomes more helpful still. His work seems rightly estimated by 
 St Paul, "he watered" what the Apostle had "planted" (i Cor. iii. 6). 
 
 28. for he mightily convinced the yezus'\ The verb expresses more 
 than is given thus. He brought the objections of the Jews to the test 
 of Scripture and confuted them. The disciples, who had already 
 believed, appear to have been suffering from Jewish gainsayers. It 
 was by his power in the Scriptures that Apollos was helpful against 
 these adversaries of the faith. The Revised Version has changed 
 "mightily" into "powerfully" to little profit. Shakespeare says 
 *'you have mightily persuaded " {As you Like it, I. 1. 218). 
 
 and that piiblickly\ By his discourses in the synagogue. This was 
 an important feature in the help that Apollos gave. He was a learned 
 Jew, able to set forth to whole Jewish congregations how their Scrip- 
 tures were receiving their fulfilment. Thus they who already believed 
 would be strengthened. 
 
 shewing by the scriptures that Jesus ivas the Chrisf] See above, 
 on ver. 5. The Jews had complained before Gallio that St Paul's 
 teaching was a religion "contrary to the law." Those who heard 
 Apollos learnt that in Jesus they were accepting the * ' futtiller of the 
 law." 
 
w. 2, 3.] THE ACTS, XIX. 247 
 
 Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to 
 Ephesus : and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, 2 
 Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? And 
 they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether 
 there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto 3 
 
 XIX. 1 — 7. Paul returning to Ephesus finds there some 
 DISCIPLES OF John the Baptist. 
 
 1. And it came to pass that, while Apollos was at CorintJi] The 
 digression concerning Apollos being ended, the history now returns to 
 St Paul. Apollos found, no doubt, that Corinth was the most effective 
 centre for his work in Achaia, and apparently made that his head- 
 quarters. 
 
 Paid having passed through the tipper country] The English word 
 "coasts" (A. V.) is now confined in meaning to the sea-shore, formerly 
 it signified any "border-land." The parts actually visited by St Paul 
 were far away from the sea. Indeed the adjective rendered "upper" 
 signifies "that part to which men go up, away from the sea." It is 
 applied here to the more Eastern parts of Asia Minor. The Apostle's 
 journey was most likely through the districts of Lycaonia, Galatia and 
 Phrygia which he had visited before. 
 
 came to Ephesus\ In fulfilment of the conditional promise made by 
 him when he left (xviii. 21). 
 
 and finding certain disciples'] The participle, indicated by the A. V., 
 is not supported by the oldest texts. Read with R. V. "and found." 
 These men are called disciples, because they were, like Apollos, to a 
 certain extent instructed concerning Jesus, and what they already knew 
 drew them to listen to St Paul who could teach them more. 
 
 2. and he said unto them] The different reading in the last verse 
 renders a conjunction needful here, and this the oldest MSS. have. 
 
 Did ye receive the Holy Ghost yfY^^yv ye believed?] The two verbs 
 in the original are in the same tense, and there is nothing to justify the 
 "since" of the A. V. The description of the state of these disciples is 
 not easy to understand. St Paul addresses them as believers. But this 
 perhaps is only because they presented themselves among the real 
 Christian disciples, and his recent arrival made it impossible for him 
 to know the histoiy of all who appeared among the members of the 
 congregation. He presuines they are believers from the company in 
 which he finds them. 
 
 And they said unto him, Nay, "we did not so mucli as hear whether 
 the Holy Ghost was [given] This rendering of the Revised Version 
 makes the sense more clear than did the A. V., but even yet requires 
 explanation. Of the existence of the Holy Ghost no disciples of John 
 could (as might be conceived from the A. V.) be ignorant, for in his 
 preaching he laad proclaimed that the baptism of Him who was to come 
 after him should be with the Holy Ghost and with fire. But in the 
 Greek where, as in this verse, the expression "Spirit" or "Holy 
 Spirit" is found without an article (although in English we are forced 
 
248 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 4, 5 
 
 what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's 
 
 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 
 
 to put "the" before it) it signifies not the personal Comforter, but an 
 operation or gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus in John vii. 39, the A. V. 
 rightly renders " the Holy Ghost was not yQt giveti,''^ although there is 
 no verb for "given," because the noun is without an article in the 
 Cireek, and so signifies "a spiritual outpouring." These disciples at 
 Ephesus, then, imply by their answer not that the name " Holy Ghost " 
 was strange, but that they were unacquainted (as was the Baptist him- 
 self) with any special bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit. 
 
 3. And he said] The oldest authorities omit " unto them," and it 
 is more natural to do so in the account of these brief questions and 
 answers. 
 
 Into w/iaf thc7t were ye baptized?] The New Testament phrase is 
 "baptized in" or "into," to express the close union with God into 
 which men are brought by baptism. 
 
 And they said. Into Johyi's baptism] They may have been disciples 
 of Apollos and have been baptized by him before his more full in- 
 struction by Aquila and Priscilla. 
 
 4. Then said Paul, yohn verily baptized with the baptism of repent- 
 ance] More simply, And Patil said. The best MSS. omit the word 
 for "verily." Such was John's description of his own baptism 
 (Matt. iii. 11), but after the day of Pentecost the language of the 
 Christian preacher (Acts ii. 38) is, "Repent and be baptized in the 
 name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost." These Ephesian disciples knew nothing of 
 baptism for the remission of sins, or of the other sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper, nor of the gift of the Spirit to the church, nor of the doctrines 
 of faith in Christ and salvation by grace through faith. 
 
 saying tuito the people, that they should believe] 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 Pie that should come." 
 
 on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jes7is] The 
 oldest MSS. omit " Christ." In his preaching John had constantly 
 used the phrase " He that cometh after me." This was the stage of 
 instruction at which these disciples had arrived. They knew that John 
 spake of one who was to come. St Paul's teaching made clear to them 
 that this was Jesus. The closing words of the sentence are a conden- 
 sation of all the explanations by which the Apostle convinced them, 
 that Jesus, whom he preached, was the prophet whom John announced. 
 St Luke does not anywhere give speeches or arguments in extenso, but 
 only so much as is needed to explain the results which he describes. 
 
w. 6, 7.] THE ACTS, XIX. 249 
 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid 6 
 his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and 
 they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men 7 
 were about twelve. 
 
 5. And when they heard this] The A. V. omits the conjunction 
 which stands in the Texhts Rcceptiis. What they heard was not the 
 mere statement that Jesus was the Messiah; but all the arguments 
 with which St Paul demonstrated that this was so, and proved that in 
 Him the Scriptures were fulfilled. The conviction need not have been 
 sudden, though its description is brief. 
 
 they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus\ They followed 
 the order appointed for admission to the privileges of the Christian 
 covenant. No argument can be drawn from this verse for a repetition 
 of baptism. These disciples had never received such a baptism as 
 Christ ordained. John's baptism was but a washing symbolical of the 
 repentance which he preached ; baptism into the name of Christ is the 
 pledge of a covenant of sah^ation. 
 
 6. And when Paul, &c.] The gift of the Holy Ghost to these 
 disciples appears to have been a special provision of the Spirit for 
 the great work which was to change Ephesus, from the city wholly 
 devoted to the goddess Diana, into the centre of Christian life through- 
 out the west of Asia Minor for several centuries. 
 
 and they spake with tongues] A Pentecostal outpouring, for as in 
 Jerusalem the gift wrought its effect among the Jews then gathered 
 there from every quarter, so was the Spirit given in tiiis great centre 
 of Gentile activity that a like result might follow, and that the amaze- 
 ment and marvel at such a power might win attention to the message 
 and gain converts to Christ. 
 
 and prophesied] Probably in this case to be understood of the ex- 
 position of Old Testament prophecy, and the power of preaching be- 
 stowed on them by the gift of the Holy Ghost. The foretelling of 
 future events would be no such help to the cause of Christ as would the 
 power of prophecy in the other sense. 
 
 7. And all the men were about txuelve] The Revised Version "And 
 they were in all about twelve men," is a more strict rendering of the 
 Greek, but it does not give a different sense, and " men" in that position 
 receives an undue accent. 
 
 The verse has been the cause of much remark. Why the inspired 
 historian should speak with an " about," has been asked by some. With 
 that we are not concerned, only to observe that the Spirit has not 
 prompted him to speak otherwise. Some have seen in the number and 
 the circumstances a resemblance to the Apostles and their supernatural 
 endowment ; others have looked back as far as the Patriarchs and have 
 made of these men the beginning of another Israel. May it not be that 
 the "about" was written to admonish us of the unprofitableness of such 
 speculations? Cp. Josh. vii. 5. 
 
 ACTS 1 8 
 
250 THE ACTS, XIX. [w. 8, 9. 
 
 8 — 20. Paul preaches to the Jews first and afterwards to the 
 Gentiles. The Word of God prevails mightily. 
 
 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for 
 the space of three months, disputing and persuading the 
 things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers 
 were hardened, and beUeved not, but spake evil of that 
 way before the multitude, he departed from them, and 
 
 8 — 20. Paul preaches to the Jews first and afterwards to 
 THE Gentiles. The Word of God prevails mightily. 
 
 8. And he entered into the synagogue'\ As the incident of John's 
 disciples is mentioned before anything else, it seems likely that St Paul 
 found them among the iQ.\Y Christian brethren in Ephesus, and began 
 his teaching of them before he commenced his visits to the synagogue. 
 
 and spake boldly for the space of three months'] Going there, that is, on 
 all occasions of religious service, and so giving to his brethren of Israel 
 a full opportunity of hearing all his reasoning, and inquiring whether 
 what he taught was in accordance with the Scriptures. The abiding a 
 longer time with them, which they had asked for (xviii. 20) on his 
 previous visit, does not seem to have gained him more adherents among 
 the Jews. Perhaps he had noticed when the request was made that it 
 was not with great fervour. Otherwise, it is not like the Apostle to pass 
 by an opened door. 
 
 disputing \^&\X&x, reasoning] and persuading the things concerning 
 the kingdom of God'] The Rev. Ver. has improved the translation in 
 "reasoning," but the italic ^^asto" before "the things" is needless. The 
 first participle is the same word as in xvii. 2, and though "from the 
 Scriptures " is not added here as there, we may surely understand it, and 
 that the persuasion spoken of afterwards was no greater display of 
 gentleness than the Apostle used at other times. 
 
 9. But zuhen divers were hardened, and believed not] Perhaps there 
 may be a little gain to those unfamiliar with older English in putting 
 (as Rev. Ver.) "some" for "divers," there seems to be none in giving 
 " and disobedient " instead of " and believed not." The original looks 
 back to the verb " persuade " in the previous verse. The Apostle tried 
 to persuade, these men refused to be persuaded. That seems better ex- 
 pressed by the A. V, 
 
 but spake [better, speaking] evil of that [the] way befoi'e the iindti- 
 ttuie] The evil speaking is the final manifestation of the hardening. 
 The Apostle continued his exhortations to stony-hearted hearers for 
 three months, but when their obstinacy changed into malignity he left 
 them. "The way" was soon given as a distinctive name to "the 
 Christian religion." See note on ix. 2 and cf. below ver. 23. 
 
 It was not mere opposition to the arguments of the Apostle which 
 these Jews employed, they took occasion to excite the crowds of the 
 city against him. And it would seem from verse 33, w^here the Jews 
 attempt to put forward a spokesman in the tumult, that they wished the 
 
V. lo.] THE ACTS, XIX. 251 
 
 separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of 
 one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two 10 
 years ; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the 
 
 heathen populace to understand that Paul was not approved of by his 
 own nationality. 
 
 he departed from themi i.e. ceased to take part in the public services 
 at the synagogue. 
 
 and separated the disciples] The Christian part of the congregation, 
 with any of the Jews who were more interested than the rest in his 
 teaching. 
 
 disputing [Better, reasoning] daily] The verb is the same as in the 
 previous verse. Among these more sympathizing hearers, he would 
 only have to set forward the arguments for the faith which he preached 
 unto them. His teaching now could go on constantly, and was not 
 confined to the synagogue limes of service. 
 
 in the school of one I'yranmis] The best authorities omit "one." The 
 teacher, whether a heathen or a Jew, was a man well known. Other- 
 wise we can conceive no reason for the mention of a proper name. As 
 the name is Greek, some have thought that the place meant was the 
 lecture-room of a philosophic teacher ; others, thinking that St Paul 
 would hardly have chosen such a place for his preaching, have pre- 
 ferred to consider it a Jewish school or Beth-Havimidrash^ in which his 
 Jewish hearers would be more willing to assemble. Since the listeners 
 are described, in the next verse, as being partly Jews, and partly Greeks, 
 it is impossible to arrive at a conclusion. No doubt the Jews in Ephesus 
 were numerous enough to render such "schools" necessary for their 
 education, and in their intercourse with Gentiles they not unfrequently 
 adopted a Gentile name in addition to their Jewish one. So Tyrannus 
 may have been a Jew. 
 
 10. And this continued by the space of two years] The T^ev. Ver. 
 changes " by " into " for." As Englishmen still take a house at so much 
 ^^ by the week, or the year," the older phrase might well be retained, as 
 the Revisers do in xx. 31. Speaking to the Ephesian elders at Miletus 
 the Apostle says he ceased not to admonish the church there for " three 
 years." The two statements need not be conflicting. To the two years 
 mentioned here when the three months of verse 8 are added, and the 
 time which may have preceded his teaching in the synagogue (see on 
 ver. 8), the duration of the Apostle's stay in Ephesus would be described 
 in Jewish reckoning as '"three years," which in their mode of speech 
 need only consist of one whole year, and parts of that which preceded, 
 and that which followed it. Cp. The reckoning of three days between 
 the crucifixion and the resurrection. 
 
 so that all they which diuelt in Asia heard, &c.] The oldest authorities 
 omit "Jesus " from this clause. By Asia is meant "proconsular Asia" 
 (see note on ii. 10). The seed of the seven churches of the Apocalypse 
 was sown in these two years. It is evident from the tumult describee! in 
 this chapter that the Christian teaching was making as much way 
 among the Gentiles as among the Jews. The language of St Luke here 
 
 18-2 
 
252 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. ii, 12. 
 
 IT word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And God 
 
 12 wrought 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. 
 
 implies that the audience of St Paul was made up not of the settled 
 inhabitants of Ephesus only, but of those who visited the city for busi- 
 ness or pleasure, and carried news of the preacher and his message to 
 all corners of the district. Philemon from Colossse may have been one 
 of St Paul's converts during this time. 
 
 11. And God vjroiight special miracles [Gr. powers] by the hands of 
 Paitr\ The language of the historian is noteworthy. God works, 
 Paul is the instrument. (Cp. The mighty hand of Moses, Deut. xxxiv. 
 12.) The imperfect tense of the verb in the Greek implies that these 
 manifestations of God's power were continued during the Apostle's stay. 
 This was no mere spasmodic excitement over some powerful discourse, 
 "By the hands" is probably only the Jewish mode of expressing " by." 
 See note on v. 12. 
 
 12. so that fro77i his body were brought tinto the sicJzl In the oldest 
 MSS. the verb signifies "to be carried away from." The Rev. Version 
 brings out the meaning fully, and in a verse like this it is well to 
 keep, as much as may be, the Greek order of the words. Read " Inso- 
 much that unto the sick were carried away from his body." St Luke is 
 careful to intimate that the Apostle did not of himself adopt or recom- 
 mend these methods, but the faith of the converts was such that it 
 manifested itself in this way, and God was pleased to bestow blessings 
 because of their faith. In the city of Ephesus where, as we find from 
 this chapter, exorcism and "curious arts" of witchcraft and incantation 
 were familiarly exercised, God appears to have made the cures that 
 were wrought to be specially evidences of the power of faith. Paul 
 does not go to the sick, and even the sons of Sceva (ver. 13) recognise 
 that it is not to Paul, but to Jesus whom he preacheth, that the 
 "powers" are to be ascribed. Thius was God's minister made to differ 
 from the pretenders to miraculous power with which the Ephesian 
 people were familiar. A specimen of these may be seen in the life of 
 Apollonius of Tyana, iv. 3 {Kayser, p. 66). 
 
 handkerchiefs or aprons^ Some take the latter word to signify the 
 cincture, by which the loose robes of the Orientals were gathered toge- 
 ther round the waist. This would be expressed by "belts" or " girdles." 
 Others think they were the aprons used by the Apostle while working 
 at his trade. The derivation of the word favours the latter sense. 
 They seem to have been employed to cover the front half of the dress 
 during work. 
 
 and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of 
 thenil The oldest texts omit the last two words. These converts 
 acted on the popular belief, that virtue proceeded from the bodies of 
 our Lord and His Apostles. St Luke notices this belief in his Gospel 
 
vv. 13, 14.1 THE ACTS, XIX. 253 
 
 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon 13 
 them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of 
 the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul 
 preacheth. And there were seven sons oi o?ie Sceva, a Jew, i^ 
 
 (viii. 44) and St Mark says of Jesus (v. 30) "perceiving in himself that 
 the power proceeding from him had gone forth." The words of Scrip- 
 ture can hardly be made to countenance, though they recognise, the 
 popular belief. Yet, even though these men employed means which 
 were unnecessary and superstitious to display their faith, because of 
 the reality of this faith God did not suffer it to lose its reward. 
 
 13. Then certain of the vagalwnd Jews, exorcists] The best MSS. 
 have "And certain also, &c." In addition to the real, though ignorant, 
 faith of the converts alluded to in verse 12, some impostors, who had 
 no faith, tried to win more credit for their juggleiy by employing the 
 names of Paul and Jesus. These were certain Jews who went about 
 from place to place, professing by charms and spells to cure diseases. 
 The A.V. "vagabond" conveys in modern language a moral censure, 
 which' probably these men well deserved, but which is not in the 
 Greek. The Rev. Ver. has adopted strolling", which gives the sense 
 of the original. We read in Josephus {Ant. viii, 1. 5) that "God 
 gave Solomon skill against demons for the help and cure of men. 
 And he arranged certain incantations whereby diseases are assuaged, 
 and left behind him forms of exo7rism, wherewith they so put to flight 
 the overpowered evil spirits that they never return. And this method 
 of curing is very prevalent among us up to the present time." The 
 Jews at Ephesus were professors of this pretended art of healing. 
 
 took upon them to call [Better, to name] over thetn which had evil 
 spiiiis the name of the Lord Jesns] From an early date the traditional 
 literature of the Jews ascribed great effects to the utterance of the 
 incommunicable divine name. By means of this (they say) it was that 
 Moses slew the Egyptian, and Elisha brought destruction on the 
 mocking children " by the name of Jehovah." We can understand 
 therefore, if the fame of St Paul were become known, and the name 
 of Jesus connected with his preaching and with the powers vouch- 
 safed, how these men would make a pretence to the possession of the 
 same secrets by which, as they would declare, the cures were 
 wrought. 
 
 saying. We adjure yon by Jesiis whom Paid preachetK\ The "oldest 
 texts give the singular, I adjure, and this no doubt is correct, for the 
 words would be uttered only by the one person, who was performing 
 the act of exorcism. It is easy to see how the plural form of the 
 first part of the verse suggested the change. 
 
 14. And there were seven so?ts of one Sceva, a yew, and chief of 
 the priests'] The Greek says simply a chief priest, and so Rro. Ver. 
 We cannot tell why the title is given to him, but it is most likely that 
 the name was applied to the heads of the twenty-four courses of the 
 Levitical priesthood, who are called in the Old Testament "heads 
 of fathers' houses." 
 
254 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 15—17. 
 
 15 and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit 
 answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but 
 
 16 who are ye? And the man in whom the 'evil spirit was 
 leapt on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against 
 them, so that they fled out of that house naked and 
 
 t7 wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks 
 
 which did so\ i.e. which agreed to adopt this form of words in their 
 exorcisms. There is no need to suppose that the whole seven were 
 present in the case about to be named, but only that they were all 
 exorcists, and in their wish to seem the best of their class they deter- 
 mined to use words which should connect them with the Christian 
 preacher through whom many miracles were known to have been 
 wrought. 
 
 15. And the evil spirit answered and ta.id'\ The most ancient texts 
 add unto them. They had taken upon thenrj to use the name of Jesus, 
 but the result was far contrary to their wishes and intentions. "Evil 
 spirit" is used for the man in whom the spirit was. Cp. Mark iii. 
 II. 
 
 yesns I knozv, a7id Paul I knozv\ The verbs are not the same, 
 though it is hardly possible in a translation to mark the difference. In 
 the tirst there seems to be intended a recognition and admission of 
 power, in the other a recognition of an appointed ministry thereof. 
 The spirit speaking through the man would intimate : I recognise that 
 Jesus has power over evil spirits, and I know that Paul is a true ser- 
 vant of Jesus, through whom Jesus manifests His power. 
 
 but who are ye ?\ Who are not followers of Jesus, and so are mere 
 pretenders in the use of His name. 
 
 16. And the man in %uhom the evil spirit was leapt on thejji] With 
 that power, more than natural, so often displayed by madmen. 
 
 and overcame them\ Here we have a singular variation from the 
 texts of the oldest MSS. These read, botli of them, a reading which 
 seems to preserve for us the information that only two of the seven sons 
 were present on this occasion. This reading is not likely to have been 
 substituted for the more simple one, but it is easy to see how the 
 simpler pronoun would come in after the mention of the seven, and 
 when there was in the story only this hint that five of them were not 
 there. It is no objection to the acceptance of this old reading, that 
 other words in the verse referring to these brethren are plural, and not 
 dual. Plural verbs and adjectives are not unfrequently used of dual 
 subjects. The verb is more closely translated in the Eev. Ver. mas- 
 tered. 
 
 and prevailed, &c.] He tare their clothes to shreds, and left marks 
 of the fierce tearing on their bodies. 
 
 17. A7td this was known to all] It is better to render, with 
 Rev. Ver., the verb literally, "became known.'^ It was no doubt 
 a gi-adual spreading of the story. We may be sure that the "sons 
 of Sceva" said little about it. 
 
vv. i8, 19.] THE ACTS, XIX. 255 
 
 also dwelling at Ephesus ; and fear fell on them all, and the 
 name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that ii 
 believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. 
 Many also of them which used curious arts brought their 19 
 books together, and burned thein before all men : and they 
 
 the ye7vs and Greeks also dxvelling at Ephesus'] Better, both yezvs 
 and Greeks, that dtuelt at Ephesus. The A. V. does not shew "Jews 
 and Greeks" to be an explanation of the preceding "all," which it is 
 in the original. Exorcists were plentiful enough at Ephesus, and the 
 event would be looked on as a warning. 
 
 and fear... magnified^ The "fear" was the first feeling and the 
 most widely prevailing, for that would touch all who heard the history ; 
 the magnifying of the Lord Jesus was the later effect produced among 
 those to whom Jesus was becoming known and worshipped. 
 
 18. And many that believed] i.e. who had made a profession of 
 their faith. It was clearly as yet but an imperfect faith. The Rev. 
 
 Ver. " had believed''' is the more correct tense. 
 
 came, and confessed} Came before the Apostle and the Christian 
 brethren, and in their fear owned that their profession had not been 
 followed completely by their practice. 
 
 and shezved their deeds'] The verb implies "making a public an- 
 nouncement," therefore "declaring" (as R. K) is perhaps nearer to the 
 sense. The "deeds" were those courses of action, connected with 
 witchcraft, sorcery, and exorcism, that were inconsistent with the 
 Christian life. Thus "deeds of the body" is used for evil deeds only 
 (Rom. viii. 13). Cp. Luke xxiii. 51. 
 
 19. Many also of them zuhich used curious arts'] The Greek has 
 not the same word for "many" here, as in the previous verse. To 
 mark this the Rev. Ver. has here "not a few." The " curious arts " 
 were magic, jugglery and all such practices as make pretence to 
 supernatural agency. The word is used of magic arts both ;n classical 
 and patristic Greek, and the kindred verb is used of Socrates (Plato, 
 Apol. 8) because of his statement concerning his inward spiritual 
 monitor or dcemon. 
 
 brotight their books together] We have seen above that the Jews had 
 receipts for incantations and exorcisms professedly dating back to 
 the days of Solomon, and among the heathen population of Ephesus 
 such writings were vastly abundant. Indeed " Ephesian letters" 
 was a common expression, signifying charms composed of magic words 
 and worn as amulets, and supposed to be efficacious against all harm. 
 We are told of a wrestler who could not be thrown while he wore 
 such a charm, but who was easily overcome when it was taken away. 
 Some of these amulets were said to be composed of the letters which 
 were upon the crown and girdle and feet of the statue of Artemis in 
 the temple at Ephesus. See Farrar's St Paul, 11. 26, and the autho- 
 rities there quoted. 
 
 and burned them before [rather, in tlie siglit of] all men. That is, 
 
256 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 20, 21. 
 
 counted the price of them, and found // fifty thousand /zV<r<?y 
 
 20 of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. 
 
 21, 2». Sf PauPs Pla7is for his Journey from Ephesus. 
 
 21 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 
 
 •where all might see who were there. We must remember that what 
 they burnt were rolls of written material, not books after the modern 
 fashion, which are extremely difficult to burn. Such a burning pile 
 must have attracted much notice, and was a proof that the descent 
 of the Holy Ghost (ver. 6) had wrought in Ephesus in the same way 
 as aforetime in Jerusalem. 
 
 and they counted the price of thein'\ And in the sacrifice we must 
 think not only of the cost of the books, but of the hopes of gain 
 which were thrown also into the fire by those to whom "curious arts" 
 had been a revenue. 
 
 and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver} As the scene of this 
 abjuration was among a Greek population, it is almost certain that 
 the Attic drachma is the coin in which the reckoning is made. As 
 24 of these were a little more in value than our English pound, we 
 may consider that more than two thousand pounds worth of rolls 
 and slips of magic treatises was consumed. 
 
 20. So mightily grew the word of God, &c.] The oldest Greek texts 
 have "the word of the Lord'''' (adopted by R. V.). The full sense of 
 the words rendered "mightily" is "with overpowering force and 
 strength, which nothing could resist." 
 
 21, 22. St Paul's Plans for his Journey from Ephesus. 
 21. After these things were eiided} The foundations of the Ephe- 
 
 sian Church seemed fully laid, when sacrifices of such a kind had 
 been made by the converts, and so St Paul feels that he may leave 
 the seed sown in good hope that it will grow. 
 
 Paul purposed in the spirit} i. e. had settled it in his own mind. 
 
 when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia] Intending, no 
 doubt, as was his wont, to visit the churches which had been founded 
 on his previous mission (chapp. xvi. — xviii.) from Philippi to Corinth. 
 
 to go to y ertisalein\ With contributions, as we know, collected 
 throughout the other churches for the needs of the central organization 
 of the Christian movement. See i Cor. xvi. i — 3. There this intended 
 journey through Macedonia and to Corinth is alluded to, and the 
 reason assigned for the Apostle's lingering in Ephesus (ver. 8, 9) "I 
 will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great door and eff'ectual 
 is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. " The opening of 
 ti.^e door was manifest in the burning piles of magic books, of the many 
 aclversaries we read in this chapter in a description which might justify 
 the Apostle in using the language of the Psalmist, "Great bulls of 
 
vv. 22—24.] THE ACTS, XIX. 257 
 
 also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them 22 
 that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus ; but he 
 himself stayed in Asia for a season. 
 
 23 — 41. Heathe7t Outbreak agamst St Paul and his Teaching. 
 
 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. 23 
 For a certain 7nafi named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made 24 
 
 Bashan close me in on every side." Perhaps such a tho-aght was in 
 his mind when he wrote of " fighting with beasts at Ephesus " (i Cor. 
 XV, 32). 
 
 saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome'] Of the long 
 cherished desire which he had to visit the Imperial City, the Apostle 
 3peaks Rom. i. 13, in which passage he intimates that the purpose had 
 been often entertained, but hitherto disappointed. 
 
 22. So he sent into Macedonia] No doubt, that the contributions 
 of the churches might be in readiness, and that there should be no 
 gatherings when Paul himself came, as he says to the Corinthians 
 (i Cor. xvi. 2). 
 
 ttvo of them that ministered tuito hiiii] The verb is that from which 
 the noun "deacon" is derived, and at first the chief duties of these 
 ministers were in regard of the alms of the churches. 
 
 Timotheus and Erastus] The former had laboured in Macedonia 
 and in Greece when St Paul was there before ; the latter is mentioned 
 (2 Tim. iv. 20) as having stayed at Corinth, at the later period when the 
 second Epistle to Timothy was written. He can hardly be the same 
 person as Erastus the chamberlain of the city of Corintla spoken of in 
 Rom. xvi. 23. 
 
 but he himself stayed in Asia for a season] We may perhaps infer 
 from this that St Paul did not remain constantly at Epiiesus, at all 
 events when the congregation there became firmly established, but 
 making that city his head-quarters, went out into other districts of the 
 province of proconsular Asia. 
 
 23—41. Heathen Outbreak against St Paul and his Teaching. 
 
 23. And the same time] Literally, And about that time. There is 
 some gain in accuracy of rendering of these connecting phrases. The 
 literal rendering allows of the lapse of some period between the action 
 of the converts in burning their magic books, and the uproar of the 
 silversmiths. No doubt one movement was in part, but need not have 
 been entirely, a consequence of the other, and the A. V. connects them 
 more closely than is done by the original. 
 
 about that tuay] Render, about the Way, see above on verse 9. 
 
 24. For a certain man shrines for Diana] Better, shrines of 
 
 Diana. These appear to have been little models in silver either of the 
 temple or of the shrine in which the image was preserved. We may be 
 quite sure that the ingenuity of Greek artists devised forms enough and 
 sizes enough to suit all needs. Smaller specimens might be carried 
 
258 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 25, 26. 
 
 silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the crafts- 
 
 25 men ; whom he called together with the workmen of like oc- 
 cupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have 
 
 26 our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at 
 Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath per- 
 
 about and worn as ornaments and amulets at the same time ; the larger 
 could be kept in the houses of their possessors, and would be a sign of 
 wealth as well as of devotion. 
 
 The Greek name rendered Diana is Artemis, but this Ephesian 
 Artemis was totally distinct from Artemis the Greek goddess, the sister 
 of Apollo. It is believed that the Ephesian worship was originally 
 Asiatic, and that when the Greeks sent colonies to Asia Minor they 
 found it already established there, and from some resemblance which 
 they discovered in the worship they gave the Asian divinity the name of 
 Artemis. The Ephesian' Artemis was the personification of the fruitful 
 and nurturing powers of nature, and so the image in the temple repre- 
 sented her with many breasts. Her whole figure is said to have been 
 like a mummy, standing upright and tapering downwards to a point. 
 Her crown and girdle and the pedestal on which the figure stood had 
 engraved signs or letters, and the body was covered with figures of 
 mystical animals. All these things would furnish abundant variety for 
 the craft of the silversmiths. 
 
 brotioht 710 small gain tcnto the craftsmeiil The Rev. Vcr. renders 
 *'«<? little business.^'' The word no doubt means primarily "employ- 
 ment" by which a living is made. But we have it used twice in 
 chap. xvi. 16, 19 of the "gain" made by the Philippian masters from 
 the ravings of the girl who was possessed. And here too " gain " seems 
 the better sense. It was because their gains were going that the uproar 
 was made, and probably Demetrius himself, the most fierce of all the 
 rioters, did none of the work, but through employing many workmen 
 had a large share of the gains. He calls the gain a business or craft 
 (the same word) in verse 25, that being, as has been said, the first sense 
 of the word, but there is no need to cast aside the other sense of the 
 word here. 
 
 25. whom he called [Better, gathered] together with the workmen of 
 like occupation'] His own special craft was the carving and engraving of 
 these shrines, as we learn from the word rendered silversmith. But 
 before the work reached that higher stage, the materials had to pass 
 through many hands in preparation, and from the smelter of the metal 
 up to him who added the final touches of adornment and polishing, all 
 were concerned in the threatened loss of trade. 
 
 and said our ^vealth] He appeals to them at once because they 
 
 are enriched and make gain by their craft. 
 
 26. Moreover ye see and hear] Better, And jj/^, &c. They were eye- 
 witnesses of what had taken place in Ephesus, and the falling-off in the 
 demand would be made known from all the country round, for the 
 preaching and preachers spread far and wide. 
 
V. 2/.] THE ACTS, XIX. 259 
 
 suaded and turned away much people, saying that they be 
 no gods, which are made with hands : so that not only this 27 
 our craft is in danger to be set at nought ; but also that the 
 temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and 
 
 that not alone at Ephesiis, but ahnost throughout all Asia'] Beside 
 Ephesus itself we have only notices through St Paul's writings of 
 churches founded at Colossus, Laodicaea and Hierapolis. But in the 
 Apocalypse we find beside these, Pergamus, Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis 
 and Philadelphia, places whose position shews us that through about 
 two-thirds of the coastline of Asia important centres of Christian life 
 were formed before that book was written, and we cannot doubt that 
 from St Paul and his fellow- workers the Gospel was preached in all that 
 district. Hence the alarm of Demetrius. 
 
 this Paul] If we think of the bodily presence of St Paul which he 
 himself always describes as insignificant, and which would be familiar to 
 the hearers of Demetrius, we can fancy the scorn which would be thrown 
 into the words as they fell from angry lips. 
 
 hath persuaded aiid turjted away^ &c.] From their devotion to 
 Artemis, and so from the purchase of shrines. 
 
 27. so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at notight] 
 This is an instance where the Rev. Ver., though more literal, gains 
 nothing in force, and loses in diction. "And not only is there danger 
 that this our trade come into disrepute." The requirements of the con- 
 nexion would be sufficiently met by, "and not only is this, &c." 
 
 The word for "craft" means literally our "interest," our "share" 
 (i.e. in the profits of trade). 
 
 but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana] This was one 
 of the wonders of the ancient world, and the glory and pride of all the 
 Ephesians, and the recent explorations of Mr Wood (see Wood's 
 Ephesus) have made us aware of the grandeur of the edifice and the 
 consequent reason for this pride. Even the fragments of the archi- 
 tecture in the British Museum make it plain that the whole temple must 
 have been a work of unsurpassed magnificence. No expense had been 
 spared on its building, and the munificence of worshippers maintained it 
 in full splendour. It v/as also used as a divinely-secured treasure-house, 
 and those who made use of it in this way no doubt paid liberally for the 
 protection. Tradition said, as it said of many another heathen idol, that 
 the image in the shrine fell down from heaven. The description of this 
 image (see ver. -24) is taken from coins which were current at the date 
 when the Acts of the Apostles was written. 
 
 should be despised] More literally (as Rev. Ver.) " 3<f made of no 
 account." As would be the case if men began to think that they were 
 no gods which were made with hands. In his eagerness to save the 
 trade, Demetrius forgets to put forward what the townclerk mentions 
 afterwards (verse 35), that the image was held to have come down from 
 heaven. He is only interested in the support of v/hat supplied his 
 wealth. 
 
26o THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 28, 29. 
 
 her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and 
 
 28 the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, 
 they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana 
 
 29 of the Ephesians. And the whole city was filled with con- 
 fusion : and having caught Gaias and Aristarchus, men of 
 Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with 
 
 and her i7iagnificence should be destroyed'\ According to the best 
 supported reading : and that she should even be deposed from her 
 viagnijicoice. The Greek word rendered " magnificence " is not un- 
 frequently used to express the "majesty" of God, 
 
 %{jhom all Asia and the zvorld xuorshippeth'] For wealth from the 
 East, as well as from Greece, was bestowed on this gorgeous shrine. 
 
 28. And when they heard these sayings'] The A.V. indicates that 
 there is no Greek for the two last words. It is enough, with the Rev. 
 Ver., to say "this." 
 
 they were full of wi'ath] The verb in the original expresses that the 
 anger grew as they listened. So better, filled with, as Rev. Ver. 
 Demetrius had appealed to them in such wise as to excite them more by 
 each fresh argument. Their self-interest first, and their pride and 
 superstition afterwards. 
 
 and... Diana of the Ephesians] Here as before (ver. ■24) the Greek 
 name is Artemis. 
 
 29. And the whole city was filled with cojifiision] The oldest texts 
 omit "whole" and add an article before "confusion." It is the special 
 tumult which is meant. The city was not so much interested in the 
 gains of the silversmiths, but equally with them in the glory and 
 magnificence which Ephesus had, as the seat of the worship of Artemis. 
 So that the noise, that began in the meeting which Demetrius had 
 gathered, was taken up by the whole Ephesian population, and they 
 needed a wider space for the crowds now pouring together from every 
 side. The word for "confusion" intimates that the throng gathered in 
 great excitement. 
 
 and having caught Gains and Aristarchtis, men of Macedonia, PauFs 
 companiojis in travel] These men must have been seized by the crowd 
 because they were not able to find Paul. We may see therefore that 
 between the meeting of the craftsmen and the greater assembly in the 
 theatre, there had been search made by the mob that they might lay 
 hands on the Apostle. It is interesting to note that the companionship 
 of these Macedonian converts gives evidence of the permanent effect of 
 the labours of St Paul in that country on his previous journey. The 
 brevity of the record in the Acts makes it important to obsei-ve such in- 
 dications wherever they are given undesignedly. This Gaius is not 
 identical with any other of the same name met with in Acts xx. 4, and 
 Rom. xvi. 23, I Cor. i. 15. Of Aristarchus we hear again in xx. 4 and 
 xxvii. 2, for he accompanied St Paul in his voyage to Rome and is men- 
 tioned, in the Epistles written at that time (Col. iv. 10; Philemon 24). 
 As natives of Colossse, and most probably Philemon himself, came to 
 
vv. 30, 31.1 THE ACTS, XIX. 261 
 
 one accord into the theatre. And when Paul would have 30 
 entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. 
 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent 31 
 
 Ephesus and heard the preaching of St Paul there, Aristarchus may 
 have been personally known to those to whom the Apostle sends his 
 greeting in the above-named letters. 
 
 they rushed with 07ie accord into the theatre\ To preserve the order of 
 the Greek, the Rev. Ver. places this clause before the preceding. The 
 A.V. is more in agreement with the genius of the English language. 
 The theatre v/as the scene of all the great games and exhibitions of the 
 city. Its ruins still remain and give evidence that when this crowd 
 assembled there it was a building that could hold 25,000 or 30,000 
 people (see Wood's Ephestts, p. 68 ; Fellowes, Asia Minor, p. 274). 
 As Gaius and Aristai-chus were not Jews, but the former perhaps of 
 Roman extraction, if we may judge by his name, and the latter a Greek, 
 with rights which even the Ephesian mob would not venture to outrage, 
 we do not read of anything more done to them, than their being dragged 
 along with the crowd towards the place of meeting. It might be 
 thought that they could tell how St Paul was to be found, and when 
 they could not, they were let go. 
 
 30. And wheti Paul ivozild have entered in unto the people'\ This 
 scarcely gives the idea of St Paul's wish, which the Greek contains. 
 Read, with Rev. Ver., was minded to enter in. Through a strength 
 not his own, the Apostle, feeble in frame though he seems to have been, 
 waxed bold in danger and where an opportunity appeared to be offered 
 of testifying unto Christ. 
 
 the disciples suffered him not'\ The Christian brethren, to some of 
 whom the storm that was rising would be known much sooner than to 
 the Apostle, had evidently conveyed him from his usual abode, and were 
 taking care of him until the excitement was allayed. They would tell 
 him, of course, all that they heard of what was doing, and it was 
 on hearing this, that he wanted to go and appear before the crowd in the 
 theatre. 
 
 31. And certain of the chief of Asia, which wei'e his f'iends'] The 
 Greek is one word, literally " Asiarchs." These were officers in the 
 various cities of proconsular Asia, who were appointed to preside over 
 the games and religious festivals. The Rev. Ver. is ^^ And certain also 
 of the chief officers of Asia, being his friends.'''' In Ephesus, these officers 
 would be men of some importance, for in addition to the other games 
 over which they would preside, the whole month of May was sacred to 
 Artemis, being called Artemision, and was given up to festivals in 
 honour of the city's idol. We read of an Asiarch at Smyrna in the 
 narrative of the martyrdom of Polycarp (Euseb. H. E. iv, 15), 
 
 It would seem, from the fact that some of these prominent officials 
 were friends to St Paul, that though presiding over the games and 
 festivals for the satisfaction of the populace, they had no great care for 
 Artemis or her worship. 
 
262 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 32—34. 
 
 unto him, desiring hi?n that he would not adventure himself 
 
 32 into the theatre. Some therefore cried one tJdng, and some 
 another : for the assembly was confused ; and the more part 
 
 33 knew not wherefore they were come together. And they 
 drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him 
 forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and 
 
 34 would have made his defence unto the people. But when 
 they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the 
 
 sent tmfo him, desiring him that he would not adventtire himself into the 
 theatre^ The original says more than " desiring." The Greek word is of 
 frequent occurrence in the Gospels and is generally rendered "beseech," 
 which the Rev. Ver. has given here : sent unto him and besougllt him. 
 The fuller rendering marks better the personal interest these officers had 
 in the Apostle's safety, and we gather from the narrative that they knew 
 where he was, though the mob had not found him. 
 
 32. Some therefore, Sec] As the craftsmen had not secured St Paul 
 there was no central object to which attention could at once be called, 
 and one general cry raised. 
 
 for the assembly was confused'\ The confusion in the city (ver. 29) had 
 become intensified by the rush to the theatre. 
 
 and the more part, &c.] All that would be heard by many would be 
 the shouts of the mob, from which nothing could be gathered about St 
 Paul as the offender. Amid cries of "Artemis for ever" or "Hurrah 
 for Demetrius," little would be learnt of how the tumult had begun. 
 
 33. And they drew (Rev. Ver. brought) Alexa?tder out of the 7nulti- 
 tude'\ There is a various reading in the verb here ; and the sense may 
 be "And some of the multitude instructed Alexander." The verb in 
 the Text. Recept. is the same which, is used of the daughter of Herodias 
 being instructed by her mother what she should ask. What appears to 
 have been intended was that Alexander should explain on behalf of the 
 Jews, that he and his fellow-Jews had no more sympathy with St Paul 
 than the heathen multitude. It is just possible that this Alexander may 
 be the same with him who is mentioned 2 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 the Jews putting him foiivard\ This appears to make it clear that 
 he was no Christian. For the Jews could have had no interest in bring- 
 ing forward anybody who would speak in defence of St Paul. But they 
 were clearly concerned in hindering, if they could, this uproar, raised 
 against one who to the heathen would be counted as a Jew, Irom de- 
 veloping into a general attack on their race. We see that this might 
 be no unlikely result, for the crowd, recognising the Jewish face of the 
 intending speaker, would not hear a word that he had to say. 
 
 And Alexander... his defence zmto the people'] Better, a defence. There 
 was no charge against which he had to defend himself, and he need 
 never have been heard of, had not the Jews put him forward to be the 
 mouthpiece of their disclaimer. 
 
 34. Btii when they knezv that he was a Jeiv'] Better (with Rev. 
 
V. 35-] THE ACTS, XIX. 263 
 
 space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephe- 
 sians. And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he 35 
 said. Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not 
 how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the 
 great goddess Dia^a, and of the image which fell down from 
 
 Ver.), perceived. The stamp of his nationality was on his face, and no 
 doubt on his dress also. 
 
 ail with one voice about the space of two hours cried oitt'\ They now 
 had one object against which to direct their uproar and thus became all 
 of one cry. It is clear from this that Jews were not popular, and that 
 as a Jew was the object at which Demetrius and the workmen were ex- 
 cited, the whole body of Jews might well be anxious lest an attack 
 should be made on all the race. 
 
 Great is Diana {Arteinis) of the Ephesians'\ The cry, first raised by 
 the workmen, now became general, and was persisted in with all the 
 energy of a fanatical mob. 
 
 35. And zuhen the townclerk] It is not easy to find an English word 
 which comes at all near the significance of this title. " Recorder" has 
 been proposed, because he had charge of the city archives, and Luther 
 calls him "chancellor." He was a most important personage, and his 
 title is found at times on the coinage, and he gave name in some places 
 to the year, like the Archon at Athens. Through him all public com- 
 municaiions were made to the city, and in his name replies were given. 
 It is this part of his duty which has led to the rendering "town- 
 clerk." 
 
 had appeased the people] Better (with the Rev. Ver.) had quieted the 
 crowd. The appeasing was done afterwards by his speech. All that 
 he could effect at first, was by the influence of his presence, to induce 
 the assembled mob to mitigate their clamour and give him a hearing, 
 
 he said] Gk. he saith. The speech is full of ability, and shews 
 that the man was fitted for his eminent position. It seems to shew 
 also that the higher classes (as has been noticed in the case of the 
 Asiarchs) were not so devoted to the service of the goddess as were the 
 common people. 
 
 Ye men of Ephesus... is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana] 
 The oldest MSS. omit "goddess" and only read "the great Artemis." 
 The word rendered "worshipper" is literally "temple-sweeper." The 
 name no doubt was first used to imply that any office in the service of 
 so magnificent a goddess was a grand distinction; and not in Ephesus 
 only did the worshippers of a special divinity apply this title to them- 
 selves. The Rev. Ver. gives "temple-keeper." 
 
 and of the image whicli fell down from Jupiter] The same was said 
 of the Palladium of the Trojans (Verg. Aen. ii. 183). The first clause 
 of the sp^-ech is directed to point out how uncalled for their uproar is. 
 There is no need for them to shout about the greatness of the Ephesian 
 goddess. Everybody in the world is aware how devoted the city is 
 to her worship and how glorious is her temple. 
 
264 THE ACTS, XIX. [vv. 36—39. 
 
 36 Jupiter? Seeing then that these thi?igs cannot bespoken 
 against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. 
 
 37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither 
 robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. 
 
 38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with 
 him, have a matter against any vian^ the law is open, and 
 
 39 there are deputies : let them implead one another. But if 
 
 36. Seeing... can7iot be spoken against] Better, gainsaid with Rev. 
 Ver. Paul had spoken, and others would speak, against the worship, 
 nobody could gainsay the facts, they were incontrovertible. 
 
 ye ought to be quiet] The verb is the same as is used in verse 35, of 
 his own quieting the people, which is another reason why the rendering 
 there should be changed. 
 
 and to do nothing rashly] The last word is better taken as an adjec- 
 tive, "rash." The word describes the headstrong, outrageous uproar for 
 which there was no reason, and from which no good could come, and 
 also their conduct in seizing two persons who were not the offenders 
 and against whom, as it appears, they could take no proceedings. 
 
 37. For... robbers of churches] Better, robbers of temples with 
 Rev. Ver. As the temple at Ephesus had a great treasure-chamber, 
 the offence might not be unknown among them. All that was placed 
 under the guardianship of the goddess would be for the time the pro- 
 perty of the temple, to steal which would be sacrilege. 
 
 nor yet blasphemers of your goddess] The "yet" has nothing to 
 represent it in the original, and the oldest MSB. read " our goddess." 
 In a popular address it is natural that such a speaker would identify 
 himself with his fellow-citizens. We may gather from this verse that 
 the language of St Paul and his companions had been measured when 
 they had spoken about the special worship of Ephesus. They had 
 inculcated the great principle that those were no gods which were 
 made with hands and had allowed that to do its work. We find the 
 s^me restraint put on himself by St Paul at Athens, though he was 
 greatly moved to see the city wholly given to idolatry. Different 
 conduct in either of these cities would most likely have deprived him 
 of all chance of a hearing. 
 
 38. Wherefore if... have a matter against any man] i.e. have any 
 charge which they wish to bring. For the concerns in which they are 
 interested will be such as the legal tribunals can attend to. 
 
 the laiv is open] This gives the general sense. The words are in 
 the plural number and mean either '' zomi-days are appointed," i.e. 
 there are proper times fixed when such causes can be heard ; or per- 
 haps better, because of the verb which seems to imply that the oppor- 
 tunity of legal action is even now open, '^ co\xri-77ieetings are now 
 going on." This the Rn'. Ver. appears to have adopted by rendering 
 "the courts are open." 
 
 and there are deputies] The word is the same which in xiii. 7, 8, i3 
 should be rendered " proconsul," and that word is rightly given here 
 
V. 40.] THE ACTS, XIX. 265 
 
 ye inquire any thing concerning other matters^ it shall be 
 determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to 40 
 be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no 
 
 by the Rev. Ver., for Asia was a proconsular province (see on this 
 matter Conybeare and Howson, ii. 78). The difficulty in the present 
 verse has arisen from the use of the plural number, for there was only 
 one proconsul over a province at the same time, and there could only 
 be one in Ephesus when the townclerk was speaking. But if we con- 
 sider that he is speaking merely of the provision made by the institu- 
 tions of the empire for obtaining justice in a case of wrong, we can see 
 that his words need not occasion much trouble. *' Proconsuls are (he 
 says) an imperial institution. In every province like ours there exists 
 such a supreme magistrate, and so there is no fear about obtaining 
 redress for real injuries." Another explanation (due to Basnage, and 
 alluded to in the notes of Conybeare and Howson, u. s.) is that after 
 the poisoning of Silanus the proconsul, (as related Tac An. xiii. 1) 
 Celer and ^lius, who governed the province of Asia as p7'ocurators\ 
 might be intended by this plural title. Others have thought that there 
 might be present in Ephesus some other proconsul from a neighbour- 
 ing province, as Cilicia, Cyprus, Bithynia or elsewhere ; but what was 
 first said seems the easier explanation. 
 
 let them implead on'e another\ Itnplead is somewhat antiquated now, 
 and the Rro. Ver. substitutes accuse. Of course the accusations would 
 be only from the one side, which the other would be called on to 
 answer. 
 
 39. But if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters\ Rev. Ver. 
 But if ye seek attything about other matters. The " seeking" which the 
 townclerk means is by a legal process. If the matter were of such a 
 character as to come before the proconsul, there he was, ready to hear 
 the cause. It was, as we might say, " assize time." But if the ques- 
 tion was of another kind, one for the jurisdiction of the ordinary city 
 courts, then they could apply at the proper time and place. 
 
 it shall be determined in a lawful assembly^ This conveys a wrong 
 idea to the English reader. Of course the court where the proconsul 
 sat was a "lawful assembly," though the contrary might be inferred 
 from A.V. The word rendered "lawful" signifies "appointed by 
 law." The days and time of the meeting of the city courts were 
 defined by law. Thus the Rev, Ver. " it shall be settled in the regular 
 assembly^' is a better rendering, and distinguishes the ordinary, legal, 
 appointed days of hearing in the regular courts, from the assize of the 
 proconsul. 
 
 40. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day^s 
 uproar. The A. V. seems here to be incorrect. The word for 
 "uproar" ought not to be joined with "this day." The constniction 
 is contrary to N.T. usage, and the adoption of it has caused some vio- 
 lence to be done to the other words. The verb rendered "called in 
 question" is the verb used in verse 38 in the sense of " accuse J' while 
 the word for "uproar" means "riot," "sedition." '^o \ht Rev. Ver. 
 
 ACTS J g 
 
' 266 THE ACTS, XIX. XX. [w. 41 ; i. 
 
 cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. 
 41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. 
 
 I — 6. I^aid journeys through Macedonia and Greece, and 
 returns as far as Troas. 
 
 20 And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto hi7n 
 the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go 
 
 gives, as an alternative version, "For indeed we are in danger to be 
 accused of riot concerning this day." Of course the toM-n-clerk did not 
 want himself to call it riot, but he intimates to them that other people 
 may do so. He only styles it a " concotwsey 
 
 there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse'\ 
 Here the readings of the oldest MSS. raise a considerable difficulty. 
 Their repetition of ov after Trepi ov gives another form to the sentence 
 altogether. But it is not possit)le to decide with certainty whether the 
 two letters in question should or should not be part of the text. West- 
 cott and Hort place them in their text, but do not think that thus the 
 reading is porrect. The rendering of the Received Text is that of the 
 A.V. The text with the additional ov is translated in the Rev. Ver. 
 "there being no cause for it : and as toucMng it we shall not be 
 able to give accoimt of this concoti7'se." 
 
 But the alternative rendering of the Rev. Ver. given above for the 
 first clause of the verse may be taken, with the rendering of the Text. 
 Recept. in the second clause. The Rev. Ver. adheres to "this day's 
 riot," but this involves a transposition of the preposition in the Greek, 
 of which no other example is found in the NT. 
 
 41. And assembly'] This he could do in his official capacity. 
 
 Probably the last argument which he used would have most weight 
 with his audience. If such riotous conduct were reported at Rome it 
 might lead to a curtailment of the privileges of their city. 
 
 XX. 1—6. Paul journeys through Macedonia and Greece, 
 
 AND returns as FAR AS TROAS. 
 
 1. And after the uproar was ceased] Some little time may have 
 elapsed and public feeling have become calm enough for a meeting of 
 the Christian congregation. 
 
 Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them] The oldest 
 authorities read '''■ Paid having sent for the disciples'' and then add 
 " and exhorted them " (adopted by R. V.). The word rendered " em- 
 braced" signifies as it is rendered in xxi. 6, "to take leave of," "to 
 make parting greetings." He did not probably feel that it would be 
 wise to leave till he saw the Church in quiet once more. 
 
 and departed for to go into Macedonia:] In fulfilment -of the purpose 
 mentioned in xix. 21. We see from 2 Cor. ii. 13 that he went first to 
 Troas expecting to meet Titus there. He did not find him till he 
 reached Macedonia, from which country he wrote the second letter to 
 Corinth. 
 
w. 2, 3.] THE ACTS, XX. 267 
 
 into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those 2 
 parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into 
 Greece, and there abode three months : and when the Jews 3 
 
 2. And when he had gone over those parts] Visiting specially, of 
 course, the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica and Beroea, among 
 which St Luke may have been left from the former visit, and have 
 laboured to carry on the work which St Paul had begun. Some have 
 judged this to be very probable, and that in this Macedonian residence 
 St Luke's Gospel may have been written. It was also, as it seems, 
 at this time that St Paul made the journey into Illyricum alluded 
 to in Rom. xv. 19, 
 
 and had given them 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 St Paul's former visit to Macedonia. The most marked 
 language in the first Epistle is against sorrowing immoderately for the 
 dead. By the words of St Paul on this subject the Christian congre- 
 gation had been much troubled concerning the nearness of the coming 
 of the Son of Man, and the second letter is written to bring them to a 
 calm and thoughtful mind. The Apostle's much exhortation would be 
 an echo of what he had said in his letters, "Watch and be sober," 
 " Abstain from every form of evil," " Be at peace among yourselves."- 
 
 he came into Greece] There is nothing said of the places which 
 St Paul visited in this journey, but as he was always anxious to 
 strengthen any work which he had before begun we may feel sure that 
 Athens and Corinth, on this account, as well as for their importance as 
 centres of intellectual and commercial life, were the places in which he 
 spent the greater part of his three months' stay. In the latter Church 
 especially there were many things to be set in order. He had already 
 wfitten to the Corinthians his two Epistles. In the first, sent from 
 Ephesus, he had found it necessary to rebuke them for the party-spirit 
 in the Church, some calling themselves by the name of Peter, some of 
 Apollos and some of Paul himself, instead of finding true unity in 
 Christ; he had also censured the disorders in the Eucharistic feast, 
 had given his judgment on a notorious offender, and on many topics 
 raised by the difficulties of a Christian Church rising up amid heathen 
 surroundings. These matters, and the guidance into a right channel of 
 the exercise of those special gifts of preaching and speaking with 
 tongues with which God endowed the Church in Corinth, would give 
 the Apostle little rest during his brief stay even if he bestowed his 
 whole time on Corinth alone. 
 
 3. and there abode three months] More literally, with Rev. Ver., 
 "■and when he had spent three months there,''^ connecting it, as the 
 Greek does, with what follows. 
 
 and when the Jews laid wait for him] The English of the A.V. 
 defines too precisely the form of the danger. Read ''^ And when a plot 
 was laid against him by the Jews" The Jews, who had tried to 
 engage Gallio in their matters on St Paul's last visit to Corinth, now 
 
 19 — 2 
 
268 THE ACTS, XX. [v. 4. 
 
 laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he 
 4 purposed to return through Macedonia. And there ac- 
 companied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the 
 Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus ; and Gaius of 
 
 take a secret instead of a public means of wreaking their vengeance on 
 him. And we may judge that St Paul anticipated some trouble from 
 the Judaizing party at Corinth by the tone of the latter portion (after 
 chap, ix.) of his second Epistle written to them while he was on his 
 way, but detained in Macedonia. There were persons in Corinth who 
 spoke slightingly of the Apostle. His bodily presence was weak and 
 his speech contemptible. And in opposition to the remarks of these 
 opponents, the Epistle concludes with an assertion of St Paul's equality 
 to the chiefest Apostles, a recital more full than in any other place of 
 his sufferings for the Gospel, and an account of revelations divinely 
 made unto him. It is clear therefore that among those who would be 
 counted as Christians St Paul was not everywhere accepted. The 
 Jews under such circumstances would have some abettors in their 
 animosity even among the Judoeo-Christians, and seem to have planned 
 some means whereby St Paul might be attacked on his sea-voyage to 
 Syria. No doubt the intention was to kill him. The word in the 
 original is that used (ix. 24) when the Jews watched the gates of 
 Damascus night and day to kill him. 
 
 as he zvas about to sail into Syria} The rendering of the J^ev. Ver. 
 gives the sense more vividly "as lie was atoout to set sail for Syria." 
 He had apparently gone so far as to arrange for his passage and go on 
 board, and was nearly departed, before he got the warning news. 
 Perhaps some heart, among the people to whom the plot was known 
 on shore, was moved to give a hint of the great peril at the last 
 moment. This is the more probable if we suppose some previous 
 communications between the Jews and the Judaizers among the 
 Christians. 
 
 he purposed to return through Macedonia} Better, lie determined, 
 with Rev. Ver. As the scheme for killing him had been meant to be 
 carried out at sea, the choice of an overland journey and a prompt 
 departure made the forming of a new plan impossible to the con- 
 spirators. 
 
 4. And there accompanied him into Asia} The literal rendering of 
 the last words is "as far as Asia," but they are altogether omitted by 
 the oldest MSS. We find Trophimus went to Jerusalem (xxi. 29) and 
 that Aristarchus was with St Paul in the voyage to Rome (xxvii. 2). 
 
 Sopater of Berea} The oldest MSS. add the son of Pyrrhus. A 
 various reading here has Sosipater, a name which is found in Rom. xvi. 
 21, but there is no reason for connecting the two persons. We know 
 nothing of Sopater beyond the mention of him in this verse. 
 
 and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secjindus} Aristarchus has 
 been before mentioned (xix. 29), and in the Epistles written during the 
 Roman imprisonment, to Philemon (24) he*- is one of those who sends 
 
vv. 5, 6.] THE ACTS, XX. 269 
 
 Derbe, and Timotheus; and of x\sia, Tychicus and Tro- 
 phimus. These going before tarried for us at Troas. s 
 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of un- 6 
 leavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days ; 
 where we abode seven days. 
 
 greeting, and also to the Colossians (iv. 10) in which place the Apostle 
 calls him his fellow-prisoner, shewing that he shared in a great degree 
 the whole hardships of St Paul's life at Rome. Secundus is only men- 
 tioned here. 
 
 and Gams of Derbe, and Tit}iotIieus] As Timotheus was probably of 
 Lystra, these men may have been friends from an early period and the 
 former may have been a convert at the same time as the latter. We 
 only know of him from this verse, and he has no connexion with any 
 other Gaius named in the New Testament. 
 
 and of Asia, Tychiais and Trophimus'] Of the former of these we 
 have mention several times. In Eph. vi. 21, he is called a beloved 
 brother and faithful minister, and St Paul states that he is about to send 
 him to Ephesus. To the Colossians (iv. 7) he writes, " All my state shall 
 Tychicus declare unto you." From both which notices we see that 
 Tychicus was with St Paul in his first Roman imprisonment. He was 
 also at hand when the Apostle wrote to Titus (Tit. iii. 12), and also had 
 been with St Paul in the later imprisonment, when the second Epistle 
 to Timothy was written (iv. 12) and had again been sent to Ephesus. 
 Perhaps Tychicus like Trophimus was by birth an Ephesian. Trophi- 
 mus also continued much with St Paul, for we read (2 Tim. iv. 20) 
 that the Apostle at that time had left him detained by sickness at 
 Miletus. 
 
 5. These going before tar7'ied for us at Troas'] Better (with JRev. 
 Ver.), But these liad gone before and were waiting for ns, &c. 
 What the writer wants to point out is that these men before-mentioned 
 did not stop like St Paul at Philippi, nor indeed tarry ac all in Mace- 
 donia. As in this verse the change of pronoun indicates that the writer 
 of the narrative again becomes a fellow-traveller with St Paul, we may 
 presume, as has before been said, that he had been left here by the 
 Apostle, who now separated himself for a brief time from his companions 
 that he might pick up St Luke. 
 
 6. And we... unleavened bread] St Paul seems to have stayed in 
 Philippi because of the Jewish feast. As there could be no sacrifice of 
 the Passover out of Jerusalem, the Apostle would feel no difficulty about 
 remaining at any other form of the feast, and v/e know how loath he was 
 to sever himself from his people in all things which he might lawfully 
 share with them. 
 
 atid came unto them... seven days] Troas could not be without much 
 interest both to St Paul and Luke and Timothy, for at least these 
 three had been here together, on that former visit when they were called 
 over to Macedonia by a vision. Aristarchus and Secundus represented 
 in part the fruits which God had granted to their work. 
 
270 THE ACTS, XX. [vv. 7—9. 
 
 7 — 12. Paul preaches at Troas. Eutychus is restored to life. 
 
 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 
 
 9 chamber, where they were gathered together. And there 
 sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, 
 
 7 — 12. Paul preaches at Troas. Eutychus is restored 
 
 TO LIFE. 
 
 7. And upon the first day of the weeliX Which had now, in memory 
 of the Resurrection, begun to be observed as a holy day by Christians. In 
 an Epistle written before this visit to Troas (r Cor. xvi. 2) the day is 
 appointed by St Paul as the special time when the Christian alms should 
 be laid aside. 
 
 wheii the disciples came together to break bread'\ The oldest authorities 
 give (and the Rev. Ver. represents) ^^zvhen we were gathered together,'" 
 &c. We can see how the alteration has been introduced by some one 
 who felt the awkwardness of the following ^^thetn." Wherever a congre- 
 gation was organized the natural service of the Christian worshippers 
 was the communion of the body and blood of Christ. 
 
 Paid preached tmto theni] Except here and in verse 9 the verb is no- 
 where else rendered " preach." Better, " discoursed with them." The 
 meeting was one Avhere reasoning and conversation were used to solve 
 doubts and clear away difficulties which might be in the minds of the 
 Christians at Troas. For we can perceive that there was a Church esta- 
 blished here. Indeed wherever St Paul came he was enabled to leave 
 that mark of his visit behind him. It is true the meeting was only still 
 in an upper chamber, but the " many lights " shews that it was not a mere 
 gathering of one or two with the Apostle and his friends, but a settled 
 Christian congregation. 
 
 ready [intending] to depart on the morrozvl They had met first for an 
 evening service, but the consolation of Christian intercourse and the 
 additional zeal infused into the church by the Apostle's visit caused 
 the irregular conversational meeting to be protracted beyond the in- 
 tended time. 
 
 and continued his speech until midnight'] The " prolonged" of the 
 Rev. Ver. is no improvement. It rather gives the impression that the 
 Apostle had worn out all his hearers. 
 
 8. A7id there were, &c.] Our thoughts go back to the upper room 
 in Jerusalem where (Acts i. 13) the first preachers of Christianity waited 
 for the promised gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 9. And there sat in a [better, the] wi7tdozv\ The window in that 
 climate was only an opening in the wall, and not as in our country pro- 
 vided with a framework, the bars of which would have prevented the 
 accident which is here described. 
 
 a certain young 7nan named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep] 
 The last verb signifies borne down, overpowered, and the Rev. Ver, gives 
 
lo, II.] THE ACTS, XX. 271 
 
 'o 
 
 being fallen into a deep sleep : and as Paul was lorn 
 preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from 
 the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went 10 
 down, and fell on him, and embracing him said. Trouble 
 not yourselves ; for his life is in him. When he therefore ir 
 was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and 
 
 "borne down with deep sleep." He was not a careless hearer, but 
 sleep at the late hour overcame his youthful frame and he could resist it 
 no longer. 
 
 ami as Paul was long preaching\ Better, " an'd as Paul discoursed yet 
 longzr" with Rev. Ver. The comparative degree refers to the expecta- 
 tion or the wearied powers of the young man. The discourse went on 
 longer than he thought it would, or than he could keep awake. 
 
 he sunk down with sleep] The verb is the same as before. Read 
 " being borne dozvn by his sleep,'''' as the word is a participle. 
 
 and fell down from the third loft, and was taketi up dead] To join on 
 with the participial sentence preceding, render he fell dozvn from the 
 third story and, &c. The latticework with which such windows were 
 closed in the East would be set wide open to admit the cool air into the 
 crowded room. The lad fell out, and down to the floor of the courtyard. 
 There has been much debate whether the restoration of Eutychus was 
 meant to be described as miraculous; whether, that is, "dead" may 
 not be taken for " in a swoon like death." But St Luke's expression 
 (ver. 12) "They brought him alive" seems to leave no room for ques- 
 tion. That life was gone by reason of the fall and was restored by the 
 prayer of the Apostle is the natural reading of the story, which has all 
 the vividness that marks the narrative of an eyewitness. 
 
 10. And Paul., fell on him] The access to Eastern houses was by a 
 staircase on the outside, so that the way down would be at hand. The 
 action of the Apostle recalls that of Elijah (i Kings xvii. 11) and of 
 Elisha (2 Kings iv. 34). No doubt the Apostle, like the Old Testament 
 prophets, accompanied his action with a cry unto the Lord. 
 
 and embracing him said] As he clasped the child in his arms, he 
 would feel the returning motion, and know that his prayer was heard. 
 The boy seems to have been left to the care of some members (perhaps 
 women) of the congregation, who tended him till the service was over. 
 
 Trouble not yotirselves] The Pev. Ver. gives " Make ye no ado," evi- 
 dently conforming to the rendering of this same Greek word in Mark 
 V. 39, but while in English we find " this ado" and " much ado" and " no 
 more ado," the expression " no ado" seems not to occur. The two open 
 syllables are not agreeable, and that probably caused the combination 
 to be avoided. What the Apostle means is, " Don't make any tumult or 
 distress yourselves." 
 
 11. When he therefore was come tip again] Better (with Rev. Ver.), 
 " And when he was gone zip.'' The Apostle's calmness, as well as his 
 words, was not without effect on the congregation. He returns to the 
 upper room, and the unfinished act of worship is completed. 
 
272 THE ACTS, XX. [vv. 12—14. 
 
 talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. 
 12 And they brought the young man alive, and were not a 
 little comforted. 
 
 1:3 — 16. Paul goes on foot to Assos, then by sea to Miletus. 
 
 t3 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there 
 
 intending to take in Paul : for so had he appointed, mfnd- 
 
 14 ing himself to go afoot. And when he met with us at 
 
 and had broken bread'\ The best texts give "the bready^^ i.e. the 
 bread of the Eucharistic service. 
 
 ajid eateii] i.e. partaken of the more substantial meal of the " A^^apse," 
 which in the early church followed after the Communion, 
 
 and talked a long ivhiW] The verb implies the talking of persons one 
 with another, the talk of friendly intercourse, as distinguished from the 
 previous discourse on more solemn subjects of the spread of Christ's 
 kingdom and the part each of them might take in helping it on. So the 
 Rev. Ver. well, ^ a7id had talked with them a long while.^' 
 
 12. And they brotight the young man alive'] Here is a different noun, 
 and the Rev. Ver. rightly gives " the lad." It would seem as though 
 those who had had the care of him brought him, before the congregation 
 broke up, perhaps even before the Apostle's departure, back again into 
 the upper room. 
 
 13 — 16. Paul goes on foot to Assos, then by sea to Miletus. 
 
 13. And we went before to ship] The conjunction should be adversa- 
 tive. The writer is describing now what the rest, without St Paul, did. 
 Read "But we," i.e. St Luke and some of the other companions of the 
 Apostle, "going hefore to the ship," i.e. before St Paul's departure 
 from the congregation and those events by which it was attended. 
 
 and sailed nnto Assos] Better " set sail for Assos." The verb is only 
 indicative of the putting-out to sea. Assos was in Mysia, on the north 
 shore of the gulf of Adramyttium. Opposite and about seven miles 
 out at sea lay the island of Lesbos. There was a Roman road from 
 Troas passing through Assos. So while the ship went round the cape 
 Lectum, the Apostle was able to come by land and be taken on board by 
 his companions. 
 
 there intending. . .to go afoot] The last verb when opposed to a journey 
 by sea, need not necessarily signify a pedestrian journey, but may mean 
 only "by land." This (as Rev. Ver.) seems the better rendering here, 
 for although the distance between Troas and Assos is only 20 miles, yet 
 after the labours and excitement of the past night, a walk of that length 
 would scarcely have been contemplated by the Apostle, when his com- 
 panions in the ship already had the start of him. Many reasons have 
 been suggested why St Paul separated for a few hours from his friends : 
 that he wished for soHtude : that he would not be at sea one moment 
 before he could help it : that there was some Christian duty which he 
 
vv. 15, 16.] THE ACTS, XX. 273 
 
 Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene. And we 15 
 sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios ; 
 and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at 
 TrogylHum ; and the next day we came to Miletus. For 
 Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would 
 
 could perform on the way : or for his health's sake. The historian, who 
 probably knew, has not told us, and conjectures in such a case are 
 valueless. 
 
 14. And... Mitylene] The voyage was a coasting voyage, the nights 
 being each spent in some harbour. Mitylene was the capital of Lesbos, 
 to which place they went from Assos, because probably it had a better 
 anchorage. There could have been little time for anything on St Paul's 
 land journey like meeting Christian friends, since the vessel left Troas 
 in the morning, and by an indirect course came to Mitylene before 
 nightfall. 
 
 15. And we sailed thence, and ca?ne the next day over against Chios] 
 As the word for " next" here is not the same as that so rendered in the 
 following clause, the Rev. Ver. gives (with more closeness to the Greek) 
 And sailing from thence we ca??ie the following' day, &c. The island of 
 Chios is about five miles distant from the mainland. It was in the 
 shelter of the roadstead that the Apostle and his companions passed the 
 night in their vessel. 
 
 and the next day %ve arrived [touched] at Samos] The verb is a tech- 
 nical seafaring word, which the Rev. Ver. has thus represented. The 
 island of Samos lies off that part of the coast of Asia Minor where the 
 ancient Ionia joined on to Caria. It has been famous both in ancient 
 Greek and modern European history (see Diet, of Greek and Roman 
 Geogr. S.V.). On the mainland opposite, at the termination of the ridge 
 of Mycale, lay Trog)dlium, for wliich the Apostle's vessel made without 
 stopping in Samos. 
 
 and tarried at Trogylli^im] The oldest MSS. omit these words. 
 How they came into the text, if they be an addition, is not easy to 
 explain. As the previous verb only implies the "touching" at Samos, 
 some early marginal annotator knowing the countr}' may have thus 
 suggested the night's halting-place, which the historian did not mention. 
 
 and the next day we catjie to Milettis] Here is yet another Greek 
 phrase for "next day." The A.V,, which often gives a varied English 
 for the same Greek, has here for varying Greek given the same Eng- 
 lish three times over. The Rev. Ver. has "the day after," and thus 
 marks the variation in the original. Miletus had been a most famous 
 sea-port in the earlier Greek history, but in the days of St Paul its 
 fame was eclipsed by Ephesus. It lay on the coast of Caria, some 20 
 or 30 miles distant by land southward from the city of Ephesus, and 
 one day's sail from TrogylHum. The site of the town is now some 
 distance from the sea, and was not close to it in the Apostle's time, as 
 we shall see below (verse 38). 
 
 16. For Paul, &c.] In the midst of a large Christian congregation, 
 such as we know to have existed in Ephesus, there would have arisen 
 
274 THE ACTS, XX. [vv. 17, 18. 
 
 not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were 
 possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. 
 
 17 — 38. Paul sejids for the Elde?'s from Ephesus, gives them 
 his pa7'tmg Charge a?id leaves Miletus. 
 
 17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the 
 i3 elders of the church. And when they were come to him, 
 he said unto them, 
 
 many causes of delay which the Apostle in this rapid journey desired 
 to avoid. Perhaps too there might have been some hostility roused 
 against him, and either from a wish not to awaken this or from fear lest 
 the allaying of it should consume time he resolved to send for the 
 heads of the church to confer with him at Miletus. 
 
 because he would not spend the ti7ne in Asia] Better (with J?e7>. Ver.), 
 tliat lie might not have to spend time in Asia. He felt that he could 
 not go to Ephesus and leave again in a day. 
 
 for he hasted] Better, was hastening. The verb expresses the 
 whole character of his journey, and we can only conclude that there 
 was some difficulty in finding a vessel at Troas, or he would not have 
 stayed there so long a§ he did and not have given a day to Ephesus, 
 which he felt he was hardly likely to see again. 
 
 if... Pentecost] Pentecost at Jerusalem must have been a high Chris- 
 tian as well as a Jewish festival. There would be a.t such a time an 
 opportunity for the Apostle to meet the more prominent members of 
 the Christian body, and, while bringing his contributions from the 
 churches which he had founded, to gladden them with the news of 
 what God had enabled him to do. 
 
 17 — 38. Paul sends for the Elders from Ephesus, gives 
 them his parting charge and leaves miletus. 
 
 17. And... Ephesus] At Miletus the Apostle and his party must 
 have tarried more than one day. It would take quite that time to 
 send his messenger and summon those whom he wished to see. If 
 they came to him on the next day, that would be consumed in their 
 conference and leavetaking, and the voyage could hardly be begun 
 again till the third day at the earliest. 
 
 and... elders of the church] To express the force of the preposition 
 in- the compound verb the Rev. Ver. gives '■'• called to him." For 
 "elders" the Gk. word is presbuteroi, and might be rendered "pre^-- 
 byters." These men are called (ver. 28) episcopoi, i.e. "bishops" or 
 "overseers." It is well established that the titles "presbyter" and 
 " bishop" were in the early days of the church synonymous. 
 
 18. And... he said unto thern] This is the only speech recorded in 
 the Acts of the Apostles which we can be sure that the writer heard 
 St Paul make. This is probably the reason why we have it somewhat 
 in detail, and why it is so marked, as we shall see it is, with expressions 
 that are to be found in the Apostle's letters. While giving other 
 
V. 19.] THE ACTS, XX. 275 
 
 Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after 
 what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving 19 
 the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, 
 and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the 
 
 speeches in abstract St Luke employs liis own diction or that of some 
 who were his authorities. 
 
 Ye knowl The pronoun is emphatically expressed, and for this 
 reason the Rev. Ver. says, " F^ yourselves kjiow." Had St Luke 
 been giving the speech in substance, his Greek training would have 
 made him commence, as he so often does, "Men and brethren." 
 That he has not done so in the speech which he gathered from St 
 Paul's own lips is an evidence of a faithful reporter. 
 
 fi'om the first day that I came into Asia] The Rev. Ver. brings out 
 the force of the Greek verb ^^ I set foot in.'^ The Apostle is appealing 
 not only to what he had done in Ephesus itself, but to what they had 
 heard of his labours elsewhere in Asia. Ephesus was no doubt the 
 greatest centre of Christian life in Proconsular Asia, and all that was 
 done elsewhere would be reported there, and the lesser churches would 
 seek for intercommunion with a churcli in which they could learn so 
 much of what St Paul had taught. 
 
 after what majtner I have been with you at all seasons] The A.V. 
 neither represents duly the last noun, which is singular, nor the tense 
 of the verb. Read (with Rev. Ver.) I xvas with you all the ti7?ie. The 
 Apostle is appealing to his behaviour from first to last during his 
 residence in Asia. It is not that he had been with them at all 
 seasons which he desires to note, but hozu he had borne himself while 
 he was among them. 
 
 19. serving... htwiility of mind] The Rev. Ver. here has "low- 
 liness of mind," as the word is rendered Phil. ii. 3, but the version is 
 not consistent, for the same rendering is not kept (Col. iii. 12) where it 
 might just as well have been. Probably the translators of 161 1 did not 
 like the collocation all lozuliness. St Paul is careful to point out that 
 the service in which he spent himself was done unto the Lord as His 
 Apostle. 
 
 and with many tears] The oldest authorities omit "many." The 
 adjective is a comment from the statement in verse 31. In 2 Cor. ii. 4 
 St Paul says " I wrote unto you with many tears." 
 
 and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews] 
 The old sense of "temptation" is lost. Read (with Rev. Ver.) ''and 
 with trials... ^jj/ the plots of the Jews. We could only see in the 
 account of the tumult at Ephesus that there were some indications 
 that the Jewish population were anxious to make it plain that 
 they had no sympathy with the Apostle who was so obnoxious to the 
 Gentiles. Here we have an express declaration made before those 
 who knew all the circumstances that plots had been laid against Paul's 
 life by the Jews. It did not fall in with St Luke's purpose to tell us 
 of them, but he manifestly knew about them, for he feels no difficulty 
 
276 THE ACTS, XX. [vv. 20—22. 
 
 20 Jews : and how I kept back nothing that was profitable 
 unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you 
 
 21 pubHckly, and from house to house, testifying both to the 
 Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and 
 
 22 faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go 
 
 in recording the Apostle's own mention of them" here, nor has he 
 a thought that his narrative will be held for other than true, though 
 men may point out here an allusion to events of which he had made no 
 mention before. We cannot too often bear in mind that the book is 
 not meant for a history of either one or other Apostle, but a record of 
 how the course of the Gospel was guided according to Christ's injunc- 
 tion, "beginning at Jerusalem" and ending Avhen an Apostle had pro- 
 claimed Christ in the Imperial capital. 
 
 20. and how I kept back nothing that zaas profitable nnto you, but 
 have shewed yoii\ The Rev. Ver. makes of these clauses, in which 
 there is nothing for "and" or "but," only one, rendering "How that 
 I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that zvas profitable." 
 The form of the sentence corresponds with verse 27 below. The word 
 "how" takes up the "after what manner" of verse 18. The first 
 verb implies the wrapping up of something to keep it out of sight, or 
 out of the way, and is used of "furling" sails. Hence the metaphor- 
 ical sense of "wrapping up" or "cloaking" what ought to be spoken 
 out. The Apostle declares that he had never from any fear or under 
 any circumstances done this. What he means by " that which was 
 profitable," we may learn from his own expression (i Cor. x. 33) "the 
 profit of many, that they may be saved. ^'' This would call for rebuke as 
 well as encouragement, and would not always be a congenial work, 
 however necessary. 
 
 and have taught you publickly, and from house to housel To connect 
 with what has gone before, read ^^ and teaching you, &c." Here we 
 are afforded another glimpse into the zealous character of St Paul's 
 work. It was not only in the school of Tyrannus that he waited for 
 and taught those who came to hear, but he also went about among the 
 people, seeking to impress any who would listen. 
 
 21. testifying, 8cc....to the Greeks] The J?ev. Ver. omits "the" 
 before both nouns, the Greek having no article. ^^ Both to Jews and 
 to Greeks." By "testifying" is meant "proclaiming the need of." 
 And this message the Apostle would support by his own witness. 
 
 repentance... Christ] By some MSS. the last word is omitted. 
 Some have seen in these two clauses a reference to the character of the 
 preaching, "repentance" indicating what was most needful for the 
 Gentiles, and "faith toward our Lord" the demand made upon the 
 Jews. This however seems fanciful, especially when we remember the 
 Pentecostal sermon of St Peter (Acts ii. 38) which was certainly ad- 
 dressed to Jews rather than Gentiles, " Repent, and be baptized every 
 one of you." 
 
 22. And ncnv... Jerusalem] The Apostle refers to his own spirit, 
 
vv. 23, 24.] THE ACTS, XX. 277 
 
 bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things 
 that shall befall me there : save that the Holy Ghost wit- 
 nesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide 
 me. But none of these things move me, neither count I 
 my life dear unto myself, so that / might finish my course 
 with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the 
 
 the constraint which in his own mind was laid upon him. Some 
 therefore to make this plain would render "in 77iy spirit." The verb 
 impHes that he felt there was no freeing himself from the impulse to 
 go, but it has no such sense as that he already regards himself as a 
 prisoner, that he will be seized and deprived of his liberty when he 
 arrives at Jerusalem. 
 
 not knowing... there\ This shews that the Holy Ghost had not 
 given to the Apostle more than a general sense that in all places he 
 would be called on to suffer for Christ. 
 
 23. save that the Holy Ghost ivitncsseth in every city'] The oldest 
 MSS. add "unto me." jRev. Ver. "testifieth unto me." The Holy 
 Ghost had called him to the work (xiii. 2) and moved the disciples 
 (xxi. 4) and Agabus (xxi. 11) to warn him of the sufferings which were 
 at hand. We may suppose too that such warnings came more fre- 
 quently than St Luke has recorded them. 
 
 saying... abide me\ The two nouns are combined in Phil. i. 16, " sup- 
 posing to add affliction to my bonds," where the sense is, as most likely 
 here, mental grief in addition to bodily constraint. Such " afflictions" 
 were harder to bear than the " bonds." 
 
 24. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear 
 unto myself\ The oldest MSS. omit the words for " neither count I," 
 and following these the Rev. Ver. has translated, '■'' but I hold not my 
 life of any account., as dear unto myself.''^ The feebleness and tautology 
 of this sentence are enough to condemn it, and the "as" is a mere substi- 
 tute for the "neither" of the A. V., which it quite implies. In a very 
 clear paper on the verse Dr Field has shewn that there is probably 
 some omission before " dear unto myself" of the same character, though 
 not exactly the same, as what is supplied in the A. V., and that the 
 reading of ^^, B, and C, which the Rev. Ver. has tried to give in English, 
 arose after the words, of which he suggests the loss, had fallen away 
 from sISme very early exemplar. The literal English of Dr Field's sug- 
 gestion would be " Neither make I account of anything, nor think my 
 life dear unto myself. " 
 
 so that I might finish my course with joy] Better, " may accomplish." 
 The figure of the Christian life as a race is common enough in St Paul's 
 language (cp. xiii. 25). The Apostle signifies by his words that the race 
 will last as long as life lasts, and that he must not faint in the middle, 
 whatever suffering may be in store. The "joy" would arise from the 
 sense of duty done, or, at all events, striven to be done. 
 
 ajid the ministry, which I have received, &c.] Better to omit the 
 " have " with i?(?z/. Ver. The Apostle refers to the commission which 
 
278 THE A'CTS, XX. [vv. 25—27. 
 
 ^5 Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And 
 now behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone 
 preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 
 
 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure 
 
 27 from the blood of all 7;ien. For I have not shunned to 
 
 he received at his conversion. The work and the sufferings are both 
 foretold to Ananias from the first (Acts ix. 15,16), and St Paul speaks of 
 this ministry or service by the same word (i Tim. i. 12), " I thank him 
 that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me 
 faithful, appointing me to his service.^ 
 
 to testify ...God \ To bear witness to men of the good news that God 
 is willing to be gracious. In the context of the passage just quoted 
 (i Tim. i. 14) St Paul shews how fit a person he was to l^ear such testi- 
 mony. He had been a blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious, but had 
 obtained mercy... and ^^^^ grace of our \^ox^}Q.%Vi%Oim&\. abotinded exceed- 
 ingly. 
 
 25. And... ye all] We cannot be sure that the Apostle never again 
 came to Ephesus. For we learn from Philemon 22 that, toward the 
 close of his imprisonment at Rome, he had hopes and the intention of 
 visiting Philemon, who was at Colossse, and we can hardly think that if 
 he went to Colossce he would fail on the way to stay at Ephesus. 
 Some have therefore been inclined to lay a great stress on the word 
 "all" in this clause, as though the Apostle only meant that they were 
 sure some of them to be dead before he paid their city another visit. It 
 seems better to take the words as the conviction of the Apostle's mind 
 at the moment. He was impressed with the belief that he would never 
 come back. We have seen, however, just above that the Spirit did not 
 give him definite knowledge of what would befall him in every place. 
 And the sense that he was to be seized and imprisoned might make him 
 sufficiently alive to the chances of his martyrdom for Christ to warrant 
 the words which he here uses. 
 
 among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God ] The oldest 
 MSS. omit " of God." The verb is more fully rendered by the Rev. 
 Ver. "I went about." Though speaking to the Ephesians only the 
 memory of the Apostle recalls those missionary visits throughout Pro- 
 consular Asia which we may feel sure that he made during his " three 
 years' residence at Ephesus." For the use of "kingdom" alone = 
 kingdom of God, cp. Matth. iv. 23 ; ix. 35, &c. 
 
 26. Wherefore I take you to record this day] The Rev. Ver., to 
 explain the older English, gives " I testify unto you." The sense seems 
 a little more than this. The Apostle not only gives his own testimony, 
 but challenges them to confirm or refute it. 
 
 that... all men] St Paul looks upon himself as one like the watchmen 
 of the house of Israel (Ezek. xxxiii. 8) to each of whom God says, if 
 he warn not the wicked from his way, "his blood will I require at thine 
 hand." 
 
V. 28.] THE ACTS, XX. 279 
 
 declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed there- as 
 fore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the 
 Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of 
 
 27. For I have not shunned to declare tinto you all the counsel of Godl 
 The I^ev. Ver. as in ver. 20, " For I shrank not from declaring xinto you 
 the whole, &c." The " counsel of God" means the whole plan of salva- 
 tion; what God offers and what he asks of men. This includes the 
 " repentance and faith" as well as the "grace and mercy." 
 
 28. Take heed therefore unto yo2irselves'\ The best MSS. omit ' ' there- 
 fore." The Apostle now resigns into their hands a charge which before 
 had been his own, and the form of his language would remind them 
 that the discharge of their duty after his example would be the means 
 of saving both themselves and those over whom they were placed. 
 
 and to all the flock'] He commits to them, as Christ had at first to 
 St Peter, the charge to feed both lambs and sheep, in the name, and 
 with the word, of the "good Shepherd" himself. 
 
 over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers] These men 
 who are called " elders," i.e. " presbyters" before (ver. 17) he now calls 
 "overseers," i.e. "bishops," (see note there). The Rev. Ver. gives 
 "In the which, &c...:... bishops." We have no information how these 
 "elders" had been chosen or appointed, but we can see from this verse 
 that there had been some solemn setting apart of the men for their office. 
 The Church, as in xiii. •2, had recognised some indication that they were 
 to be placed over the church. By reminding them from whence their 
 appointment came, St Paul would enforce on them the solemnity of 
 their position. Though they be " in the flock" they are not as others, 
 more has been given unto them, and so more will be required. 
 
 to feed the church of God] Perhaps no text in the New Testament 
 has been more discussed than these words. "Many ancient authorities 
 (says Rev. Ver. in a note,) read the Lo?'d^^ instead of "God." The Re- 
 visers have kept "God" in the text, and that reading is accepted as of 
 most authority by Westcott and Hort. The variation, which has much 
 support from MSS., has been discussed and the evidence for it most 
 fully stated by Dr Ezra Abbott, of Harvard University. The text as 
 it stands asserts most strongly the Divinity of our Blessed Lord, but 
 the form of the sentence implies, from what follows, the use of such a 
 phrase as "the blood of God" which is not like the New Testament 
 mode of expression, though it is found in the Epp. of Ignatius, who 
 perhaps derived it from this passage. Because in other places where " the 
 Church of God" is used "God" cannot be taken, as it must here, to mean 
 Christ, some have given a strong force to the word 07un, which follows, and 
 have explained "His own blood," i.e. "the blood of His own Son." 
 And as the Greek text, which has been accepted, as of most authority, 
 by Westcott and Hort, reads ai/xaro^ tov Idiov, it has been suggested that 
 after this peculiar collocation of words, vhv has fallen away in very 
 early times. This would make all easy, rendering "with the blood of 
 his own Son." But there is no evidence that the word " Son" was ever 
 there, and though the death of Christ is in Scripture spoken of as 
 
28o THE ACTS, XX. [vv. 29, 30. 
 
 29 God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I 
 know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves 
 
 30 enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your 
 own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw 
 
 something "given up" by the Father "for us all" (Rom. viii. 32), yet 
 the price paid and the purchase made are as definitely (i Cor. vii. 22, 23) 
 referred to Christ. The direct assertion of Christ's Godhead has been 
 the occasion of the questioning of this text, and may in early times 
 have led to the various readings. That doctrine does not stand or fall 
 by this verse, but as the authority of MSS. is in favour of the reading 
 "God" we gladly accept it, and feel that to the first readers the harsh- 
 ness of the expression "blood of God" was not much regarded, as the 
 words are not so written, but only suggested by the close of the verse. 
 
 which he hath purchased... blood} Better, as the price was paid once 
 for all, ^^zvhich he purchased.''^ The verb implies the "making of what 
 is bought peculiarly one's own." It is not the usual word for "buying." 
 
 29. For I know this] The oldest MSS. (and the Rev. Ver.) have 
 only ^^ I knozvy 
 
 that after niy departing] This noun is only used here, and most 
 frequently in classical Greek signifies "arrival," though not always. 
 But as the person who departs from one place arrives at another, it is 
 only a difference of the point of view. Here there can be no doubt of 
 its meaning. It does not refer to the Apostle's death, but his leaving 
 Asia, with the thought that he should return no more. 
 
 shall grievous wolves... jlock] The Apostle seems first to refer to false 
 teachers who should come in from without. He must have been familiar 
 with the dangers to which the Ephesian church was exposed, and we 
 know from his Epistles how much harm was already inflicted on the 
 Christian Church by the Judaizers and Gnostics. Even when writing 
 to so undisturbed a church as that in Philippi, we find the Apostle 
 giving warning against both kinds of error. And if we turn to those 
 early parts of the Apocalypse in which the condition of the churches 
 of Asia is described, we can read of a crop of errors the sowers of which 
 St Paul may have had in his mind as he spake at Miletus. "Nicolai- 
 tans," " those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue 
 of Satan," "those that hold the teaching of Balaam," "the woman 
 Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess," all these could not have 
 risen in a moment, but must have given indications of their existence 
 long before they became so prominent as they were when St John 
 wrote. He must have read the New Testament with little appreciation 
 who speaks of the words here ascribed to St Paul as a "prophecy 
 after the event " made by the writer of the Acts in the second century. 
 
 30. Also of yoiir own selves, &c.] Better (with Rev. Ver.) "And 
 from among yotcr ozun selves." This gives an idea of the greater near- 
 ness of the apostasy which the Apostle predicts. Not some who may 
 come, of those to whom he speaks, but even out of the present existing 
 Christian body. We know from St Paul's own experience that he 
 
vv. 31, 32.] THE ACTS, XX. 281 
 
 away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, 31 
 that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every 
 one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I com- 3* 
 mend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is 
 
 had learnt how out of the professedly Christian body some would go 
 back like Demas (2 Tim. iv. 10) through love of this world's good 
 things, and some would err concerning the truth, like Hymenseus and 
 Philetus, and that their word would eat like a canker, and they would 
 overthrow the faith of some. These are the speakers of perverse 
 things, things which should twist even the Apostle's own words into a 
 wrong sense. 
 
 shall men arise... draw away disciples after theni] Better, "the disci- 
 files^'' i.e. other members of the Christian body. It is not that these 
 men will desire and endeavour to gain disciples, but they will do their 
 best, after their own falling-away, to drag others likewise from the 
 true faith. This is expressed also by the verb which implies the tearing 
 away from that to which they are already attached, and this more literal 
 translation of the verb expresses the labour and exertion which these 
 false teachers will spend to achieve their object. 
 
 31. Therefore watch'] The sort of watching implied is that unsleep- 
 ing alertness which can never be taken by surprise. 
 
 and remetnber, that by the space of three years] As the verb here is a 
 participial form the Rev. Ver. translates '■^Wherefore zaatch ye, remem- 
 bering, &c.," in which there is this gain, that the watchfulness which 
 the Apostle enjoins is thus enforced by his own example. Be ye 
 •watchful, because ye know that I was so night and day while I was 
 among you. The " three years " may be a speaking in round numbers, 
 yet it cannot have been far from the length of time which Paul spent 
 •at Ephesus. vSee notes on xix. 8, 10. 
 
 / ceased not to warn [admonish. Rev. P^er.] every one night and 
 day with tears] We know from his appeal to the Corinthians 
 (2 Cor. xi. 29) and other places, how sympathetic St Paul was in all 
 that concerned his flock. " Who is weak, and I am not weak ? who is 
 •offended, and I burn not?" And if for weakness and offences, how much 
 more in a city like Ephesus where idolatry was rampant everywhere. 
 We need not contine the "every one" to the presbyters, St Paul's 
 labour was spent on the whole Ephesian Church. 
 
 32. And nozv, brethren, I covimend. ..his grace] The oldest authorities 
 omit " brethren." I am to leave you, but I commend you to One who 
 will help you as He has helped me, and who will not leave you. "The 
 word of His grace " means the gracious promises of the Gospel, such 
 as those which Christ gave to His disciples when He foretold the mission 
 of the Comforter (John xvii. 7 — 12), and which the Christian preachers 
 might repeat as His words to the converts who believed on His name. 
 
 which, &c.] This must refer to God, and not to the intervening 
 explanatory clause concerning the "word of God's grace." It is God 
 who can build up His people, and give them their heavenly inheritance. 
 
 ACTS 20 
 
282 THE ACTS, XX. [vv. 33—35. 
 
 able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among 
 
 33 all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no 77ian's 
 
 34 silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that 
 these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to 
 
 35 them that were with me. I have shewed you all t/wigSy 
 
 and to give yoti an inheritance] The oldest texts give "the in- 
 heritancey The figure is taken from the apportionment of the promised 
 land among the Israelites. The part of each of God's servants in the 
 heavenly Canaan is to be regarded as definitely as were the possessions 
 of the chosen people in the earthly Canaan. 
 
 among. ..sanctified] The tense is literally ' ' that have been sanctified." 
 But just as the Apostle uses "saints" frequently in his Epistles to 
 mean those who have been called to be such, so here his words do 
 not indicate that those of whom he speaks have attained the perfection 
 of hnlin-'c;^. AVhen they reach their inheritance, then they will have 
 been perfected in Christ. 
 
 66. I nave coveicd\ Rev, Ver. "/ coveted.^'' But this seems un- 
 necessary. The Apostle implies that the state of mind was his when 
 he was with them and continues still. 
 
 apparel] In which Oriental wealth largely consisted. Hence Naaman 
 brings " changes of raiment " as well as money among the rewards 
 which he expects to give for his cure (2 Kings v. 5), and the same 
 may be noticed in many other parts of the Scripture history. Cp. 
 Gen. xxiv. 53; xlv. 22 ; 2 Kings vii. 3, &c. 
 
 34. Yea, ye yourselves know] The oldest texts omit "Yea." The 
 working in company with Aquila and Priscilla, which the Apostle 
 began in Corinth, was probably continued when they came together 
 to Ephesus, and so the Apostle's trade and his steady pursuit of it 
 would be well known to many of the listeners. It has been suggested 
 that he was a partner in trade-matters with Philemon during this resi- 
 dence at Ephesus. Cp. Philemon 17. 
 
 t/iat these hands have ministered] No doubt, he held them forth, and 
 they bore marks that not only while at Ephesus, but since that time 
 they had laboured for the means of living. 
 
 tmto...them that were vjith me] We cannot determine under what 
 circumstances the Apostle felt himself called upon to minister by his 
 hand-labour to the support of his companions. We may be sure 
 however that the necessity was there, and that St Paul, working him- 
 self, did not countenance indolence in others. And when we read 
 of Timothy's "often infirmities" (r Tim. v. 23) we may conjecture 
 that there were those among the companions of St Paul who were 
 less able to work with the hands than the Apostle himself. 
 
 35. / have shezved yoic all thins^s] Better (as Rev. Fer.) " /« all 
 things I gave yott an example.'''' The verb is cognate with that noun 
 which Jesus uses (John xiii. 15), "I have given you an example that 
 ye should do as I have done unto you." 
 
V. 36.] THE ACTS, XX. 283 
 
 how that so labouring 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. 
 
 And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and 36 
 
 how that so labo7iring'\ i.e. in like manner as the Apostle laboured. 
 And the verb implies ''wearying toil." He had spared for no fatigue. 
 He speaks of this toil (2 Cor. xi. 27), "in laborer and travail." 
 
 ye ought to sttpport {Rev. Ver. '■'■ help "] the zveak'] By " weak " does 
 St Paul here mean those standing in need of material or moral help ? 
 Grimm (s. v.) takes it for the poor, those who are in want from any 
 cause, as those must have been who could not support themselves, and 
 whose wants the Apostle supplied by his own labour. Yet this is a 
 very rare sense, as he admits, for the verb to have, and " feebleness " 
 of faith and trust is much the more common meaning. And that sense 
 suits well here. If among new converts large demands should be 
 made for the support of those who minister, they who are weak in the 
 faith as yet, may be offended thereby, and becoming suspicious, regard 
 the preacher's office as a source of temporal gain. An example like 
 St Paul's would remove the scruples of such men, and when they 
 became more grounded in the faith, these matters would trouble 
 them no more. For the use of "weak" in the sense of moral, rather 
 than physical, weakness, cp. Job iv. 3. 4 ; Is. xxxv. 3. 
 
 and to rei7iembcr . . .J csiis\ He appeals to them as though the saying 
 was well-known, and as we notice this, we cannot but wonder at the 
 scanty number of the words which have been handed down as " words 
 of Jesus" beyond what we find in the Gospel. This is the only one in 
 the New Testament, and from all the rest of the Christian literature we 
 cannot gather more than a score of sentences beside. See Westcott, 
 Jntrod. to Study of the Gospels, pp. 428 seqq. 
 
 how he said'\ The Greek has an emphatic pronoun, which is repre- 
 sented in the Rev. Ver. ''he himself said.'^ 
 
 It is.... receive] In support of what has just been said about 
 strengthening the feeble in faith, these words seem as readily applicable 
 to that view of the Apostle's meaning, as to the sense of "poverty." 
 What would be given in this special case, would be spiritual strength 
 and trust ; what is referred to in " receive " is the temporal support 
 of the preacher, which St Paul refrained from claiming. We cannot 
 doubt that he felt how much more blessed it was to win one waverer to 
 Christ than it would have been to be spared his toils at tent-making by 
 the contributions of his converts. 
 
 36. The kneeling posture marks the special character and solemnity 
 of the prayer. We find the Apostle doing the same in his parting from 
 the brethren at Tyre (xxi. 5). On the usual custom of standing in 
 prayer, cp. Mark xi. 25 and the account of the Pharisee and publican 
 (Luke xviii. 11 — 13). It has often been noticed that the historian, who 
 gives the speech with unusual fulness, does not venture to record the 
 prayer. 
 
 2D 2 
 
284 THE ACTS, XX. XXL [w. 37, 38; i. 
 
 37 i)ra)-ed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on 
 
 38 Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the 
 words which he spake, that they should see his face no 
 more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. 
 
 I — 6. PauVs Voyage from Miletus^ and his Stay in Tyre, 
 
 21 And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, 
 and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Cos, 
 and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto 
 
 37. kissed hinil The word is not the simple verb but expresses 
 earnest, sorrowing salutations. 
 
 38. sorrowing... the 7uo7-ds which he spake] More literally "the 
 word which he had spoken " {Rev. Ver.). 
 
 that they should see, &c.] The word in the original is not that which the 
 Apostle uses in verse 25, when he says he shall not come again. So the 
 Rev. Ver. has well given "behold." The Greek expresses the earnest 
 reverent gaze, with which we can fancy those who knew the Apostle and 
 his work would look upon him. His presence filled not only the eye, 
 but the mind, they contemplated all which the sight of him would recall. 
 
 And they accompanied him unto the ship] Rev. Ver. "And they 
 brought him on his way, &c." thus making the rendering of the verb 
 here agree with the language of xv. 3 and xxi. 5. They would not lose 
 one look or one word before they were forced to do so. We can see 
 from these words that the harbour was at some distance from the town 
 of Miletus. See on verses 15 and 17. 
 
 XXI. 1—6. Paul's Voyage from Miletus, and his Stay in 
 Tyre. 
 
 1. And it came to pass, that after ive were gotten fro?7i them, and had 
 launched} The Rev. Ver. has reproduced the Greek construction, but 
 the sentence is not a happy one, nor the gain worth the sacrifice. "And 
 when it came to pass that we were parted from them, and had set sail." 
 It gives perhaps a little more of the sense of difficulty in tearing them- 
 selves away which is in the original, but it is not what an Englishman 
 would say. 
 
 The vessel in which they sailed from Troas to Patara seems to have 
 been under the Apostle's control, and they could stay wherever and as 
 long as they pleased. 
 
 we caine...Cos\ The name, sometimes spelt Coos, should be written 
 Cos. It is a small island, now called Statichio, on the coast of Asia 
 Minor, just at the entrance of the Archipelago, and in old times was 
 famous for its wines and some light- woven fabrics. There was also in 
 the island a temple of Aesculapius to which was attached a medical 
 school. 
 
 and the day following unto Rhodes'] In xx. 1 5 the A. V. gave three 
 
vv. 2, 3.] THE ACTS, XXI. 285 
 
 Patara : and finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we 2 
 went aboard, and set forth. Now when we had discovered 3 
 Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, 
 and landed at Tyre : for there the ship was to unlade her 
 
 times over "the next day," and in each case the Greek was different, and 
 here we have a fourth form in the original for the same sense. In one 
 case in the former chapter the Rev. Ver. left "next day," and they 
 make that change here, but as the Greek is not the same it is not easy 
 to see why the A,V. should not be left alone. 
 
 Rhodes is the famous island at the south-west extremity of Asia Minor, 
 off the coast of Caria and Lycia. The city of Rhodes and the island of 
 which it is the capital were famous in the times of the Peloponnesian 
 war. It was well supplied with timber fit for shipbuilding and hence 
 became famous for its navy, and its position has caused the island to 
 play a conspicuous part in European history from that time onward. 
 It was celebrated for the great Temple of the Sun, whose worship in the 
 island is marked by the head of Apollo on the coinage. With this 
 worship was connected the great statue known as the Colossus, whicli 
 was meant as a figure of the sun, and was one of the wonders of the 
 world. In the Roman times many privileges were granted to Rhodes 
 by the Roman emperors, while in mediaeval history this was the last 
 Christian city which resisted the advance of the Saracens. 
 
 Patnrd\ This was a city on the coast of Lycia. It was devoted to 
 the worship of Apollo, who is hence sometimes called by classical 
 writers Patareus. The city was not far from the river Xanthus, and 
 Patara was the port of the city of Xanthus. We can understand, there- 
 fore, why St Paul's voyage in the coasting vessel should end here, 
 because at such a port he would be likely to find a larger vessel to carry 
 him to Syria. 
 
 2. And fitiding a ship sailittg over unto Phenicid\ Rev. Ver. liter- 
 ally, '■'' having found Ti ship crossing, &c." Phoenicia was the country on 
 the coast of the Levant, north of Palestine. It contained the important 
 cities of Tyre and Sidon. 
 
 wc went aboard, and set fortK\ Rrv. Ver. ^^ set sail.'^ 
 
 3. No^u when ive had discovered Cyprus'X ^^z/. F?r. " And when we 
 had come in sight of." "Discover" has now acquired the special sense 
 of "finding for the first time." On Cyprus, see notes on xiii. 4 seqq. 
 
 wc...Syrid\ This was the general name for the whole district lying 
 along the Mediterranean from Cilicia down to Egypt. 
 
 Tyre'\ One of the chief ports of Phoenicia, and a city of very great 
 antiquity. It was built partly on the mainland and partly on an island, 
 and is often mentioned both in Scripture and in profane literature. It 
 is noticed as a strongly fortified city as early as Joshua xix. 29. We 
 read of its fame in the time of Solomon in connexion with the building of 
 the temple, and Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the daughter of Ethbaal, 
 called King of the Sidonians in Scripture, but in Josephus {A7tt. viii. 13, 
 •2) King of Tyre. The city was besieged by Shalmaneser and afterwards 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, and was captured by Alexander the Great. 
 
286 THE ACTS, XXI. [vv. 4, 5. 
 
 4 burden. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: 
 who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go 
 
 5 up to Jerusalem. And when we had accomplished those 
 days, we departed and went 0117- way; and they all brought 
 us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of 
 
 Christ went on one of his journeys from Galilee into the neighbour- 
 hood of Tyre, if not to the city itself, which was about 30 miles from 
 Nazareth, and it must have been then in much the same condition as at 
 this visit of St Paul. 
 
 there the ship, &c.] And so most pi-obably the further voyage to 
 Ptolemais was made in a different vessel, this one going "no farther. 
 
 4. And Jindins^ disciples'] Better, '■'And having found the disciples'"'' 
 with Rev. Vcr. This means the members of the Christian church of 
 Tyre, not some disciples who by chance happened to be at Tyre. That 
 there was already a Christian congregation there is probable from the 
 account of the spread of the Gospel given in xi. 19, and as brethren in 
 Phoenicia are spoken of in xv. 3. If there were such anywhere in that 
 country, they would presumably be in Tyre. 
 
 we tarried there seven days] The Apostle now finds that he can 
 easily accomplish his journey to Jerusalem in time, and so he no longer 
 hastens as he did when all the probable mishaps of a coasting voyage 
 ■were before him. 
 
 who said to Paid through the Spirit] Rev. Ver. ''■and these said, &c." 
 The Apostle himself was urged by some inward prompting to go on to 
 Jerusalem "not knowing what might befall him." The Spirit warns 
 these disciples of the dangers which would come upon him. We need 
 not judge that these things are contrary one to the other. The Apostle 
 knew that bonds and afflictions were to be his lot everywhere, and 
 though the Spirit shewed to his friends that he would suffer, yet the im- 
 pulse of the same Spirit urged him forward, because it was God's will 
 that he should suffer thus in the cause and for the greater furtherance of 
 the gospel. 
 
 that he should not go up to 'jfcrusalem] The oldest texts give a 
 reading which the Rev. Ver. represents ''should not set foot in.'" 
 
 5. And when tue had accomplished those days] Rev. Ver. very literally 
 "And zvhen it came to pass that zve had accomplished the days.'''' 
 This means, of course, the seven days mentioned above. The verb 
 rjendered "accomplished" is very unusual in this sense, though the 
 Vulgate explains it so, and Chrysostom gave it that meaning, so we may 
 accept it. Some, keeping to a more common use of it "to fit out," have 
 proposed to understand the word "ship" as the object of it, and to 
 render " when we had refitted (the ship) during those days." 
 
 we departed and 7vent our zaay] Because of the word "way" coming 
 in the next clause for different Greek, the Rev. Ver. has here "went on 
 our journey." 
 
 and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children] i.e. 
 with their wives and children, the whole Christian community escorting 
 
vv. 6—8.] THE ACTS, XXI. 287 
 
 the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed. 
 And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took 
 ship; and they returned home again. 
 
 7 — 14. PauV s Jou7'ney to Cesarea, and his Stay there. 
 
 And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came 7 
 to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them 
 one day. And the next day we that were of Paul's company s 
 departed, and came unto Cesarea : and we entered into the 
 house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of. the seven; 
 
 the Apostle to the shore. The existence of these families shews that 
 "the disciples" (ver. 4) is required. They were the Church of Tyi^e. 
 
 and we kneeled down on the shore, and pray ed^^ To follow the reading 
 of the oldest text, the Rev. Ver. joins the construction of this verse with 
 the following, '^ attd kneeling down on the beach, we prayed aiid bade each 
 other farezvell.''^ On the action cp. xx. 36. 
 
 6. The best text requires here for the last clause, ^^ and we zuent on 
 ioard the ship, but they returned home again.'''' There is nothing in the 
 Greek to tell us whether the ship was the same in which they had come, 
 or not. 
 
 7—14. Paul's Journey to Cesarea, and his Stay there. 
 
 And when... Ptole)nais'\ For "our course" Rev. Ver. has "the voyage" 
 and for "came to" reads "arrived at." For the same verb in xvi. i, 
 " came to " is left. 
 
 Ptolemais is the name given during Macedonian and Roman rule to 
 the city anciently called Accho (Judges i. 31), and known in modern 
 history as St Jean d^ Acre or often simply Acre. In the earliest times 
 it was the most important town on that portion of the coast, but at the 
 beginning of the Christian era was far surpassed by Csesarea, which 
 was the residence of Herod and of the Roman governor. 
 
 and saluted the brethren^ There was therefore a Christian society in 
 Ptolemais also. As the place lay on the great high-road by the coast. 
 It was certain to be visited by some of the earliest preachers, when the 
 •disciples were dispersed from Jerusalem after the death of Stephen. 
 
 8. And the next day] Rev. Ver. "And on the morrow." 
 
 tve that were of Paul's company'] The Greek for the last five of these 
 words is omitted in the best MSS. We can see at once how such a 
 -marginal comment, thought useful by the reader of an early MS., would 
 be brought into the text without scruple by the next copyist, 
 
 unto Cesarea] Though it was possible to have made this journey by 
 sea, the verb seems rather to leave us to infer that it was a land journey. 
 The road between the two places was of the best. 
 
 and we entered... a7td abode with him] Rev. Ver. (as Greek) '■'■and 
 entering... we abode, &c." Philip is named next after Stephen in the 
 
288 THE ACTS, XXI. [vv. 9— ii. 
 
 9 and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, 
 
 to virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many 
 
 days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named 
 
 II Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's 
 
 girdle, and bound his oivn hands and feet, and said, Thus 
 
 narrative (vi. 5) of the choosing of the seven, and though no such pro- 
 minent exhibition of his zeal is narrated as of Stephen, yet we are told, 
 that he went away from Jerusalem and was the first to carry the Gospel 
 to the Samaritans (Acts viii. 5). He also was directed by the angel 
 of the Lord to go and baptize the Ethiopian eunuch (viii. 26—38), thus 
 being doubly an ambassador to the Gentiles, and earning his title of 
 " Evangelist." He preached afterwards at Ashdod, and from the chapter 
 before us we may conclude that he had made his home at Ceesarea. 
 Such a situation, the meeting-place of Gentiles with Jews, was the 
 proper scene for such a missionary to labour in, and such a labourer 
 would rejoice greatly to welcome to his house the great apostle who- 
 had gone forth once and again unto the Gentiles and with such mighty 
 blessing on his work. 
 
 9. And the same man... prophesy] Rev. Vei\ '■'■Now this man had, &c."' 
 The family of the Evangelist were walking in their father's steps. These 
 daughters, instead of resting at home, took upon them the hard duty of 
 publishing the message of the Gospel. The English word "prophesy" 
 has come to have, since about the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 only the one sense of " to predict what is yet to come." In the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth "pi-ophesyings" meant "preachings," and Jeremy 
 Taylor's famous work on the " Liberty of Prophesying," was written to 
 uphold the freedom of preaching. These women were, in their degree, 
 Evangelists also. 
 
 10. And as 7ve tarried there many days] The word rendered " many '^ 
 is not the one commonly so translated. It is equal to "some" as Rev. 
 
 Ver. in margin, and implies that the Apostle made a suitable stay, such 
 as was seemly with a host of such a kind. 
 
 there... Agabtis] Perhaps the same who (xi. 1%) at Antioch foretold 
 the coming famine. The prophets mentioned on that occasion had also 
 come up from Jerusalem, and the name being somewhat unusual, makes 
 the identity very probable. 
 
 11. Aftd when he was come... he took... and hound his ow7t hands and 
 feet] The oldest MSS. have "feet and hands," and \hQRev. Ver. adopts 
 
 the Greek construction, '■'■ And coming ...and taking... he bounds &c.'^ 
 His adoption of this figurative action makes it almost certain that the 
 man was a Jew. Similar actions are common with the Old Testament 
 prophets. Thus Isaiah (xx. 3) walks naked and barefoot. Jeremiah 
 (xiii. 5) hides his girdle by the river Euphrates, and (xix. 10, 11) breaks 
 the potter's vessel in the Valley of Hinnom ; Ezekiel (iv. i — 3) draws 
 on a tile a picture of the siege of Jerusalem, and (v. i — 4) cuts off his 
 hair and burns and destroys it as God commanded. So too Zedekiah 
 
vv. 12—14.] THE ACTS, XXL 289 
 
 saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind 
 the man that oweth this girdle, and shall deliver hi?n into 
 the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these i?- 
 things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to 
 go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered. What mean ye 13. 
 to weep and to break mine heart ? for I am ready not to 
 be- bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of 
 the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we 14. 
 ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. 
 
 the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron (r Kings xxii. 11). With this 
 act of Agabus may be compared our Lord's words to St Peter (John 
 xxi. 18). 
 
 The girdle was that band with which the loose Oriental robe was 
 drawn together at the waist. It was of considerable size, and served 
 the purposes of a pocket, the money being carried in it. To judge from 
 the verb employed in describing the prophet's action, it seems that 
 St Paul had laid aside his girdle and that it was taken up by Agabus 
 from the place where it lay. 
 
 and said. . . Gentiles] That we may observe the Apostle's zeal to carry 
 out the Lord's will, once more we are told how the Holy Ghost made 
 known to him through others that he was about to TDe made a prisoner, 
 and still we see him go forward unmoved, because though others might 
 know that he was to suffer, and might in their affection strive to liold. 
 him back, he was convinced that such suffering was the Lord's way for 
 him, and so he went on. 
 
 12. -we, and they of that place'] We (i. e. St Luke and the rest who 
 were his fellow-travellers) and the Christians of Csesarea. The act 
 of Agabus was in all probability done with some publicity. 
 
 13. Then Paul answered. What mean ye to ivecp and to break mine ' 
 hearty Better (with Rev. Ver.'), "What do ye, weeping and breaking 
 my heart?" The sentence is little more than an emphatic question, 
 "Why do ye weep?" implying, of course, the exhortation, "Don't 
 weep, &c." The verb for "break" is found only here in N. T., and 
 signifies the weakening of purpose in any one. So the Apostle inti- 
 mates not that they intended, as we should say "to break his heart" by 
 adding to his sorrow, but to weaken his determination, and deter hin> 
 from his journey. 
 
 for... Jesus] The pronoun " I" stands emphatically in the Greek, and 
 shews that the Apostle had long ago counted the cost of Christ's ser- 
 vice, and found the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be- 
 compared with the glory that was to be revealed. 
 
 14. And... be done] They gathered from the language of St Paul 
 that he had a higher leading than theirs in what he was doing, and 
 feeling that Christ's guidance was better than any other, they quieted 
 their minds with the thought that the work was "for the name of the 
 Lord Jesus," who would strengthen His servant to do His will. 
 
290 THE ACTS, XXI. [vv. 15, 16. 
 
 - 15, 16. The Journey to Jerusalem, 
 
 Ts And after those days we took up our carriages, and went 
 «6 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 lodge. ■ 
 
 15, 16. The Journey to Jerusalem. 
 
 15. And after those days we took up our carriages'] Rev. Ver. " ottr 
 Tjaggage." In the English of the A.V. '* carriages " were things which 
 were carried. The word is found in this sense, i Sam. xvii. 22; Is. x. 
 28, as well as in this passage. So in Shakespeare, and cp. Earle's 
 Microcosmographie {Axh&x), p. 41, "His thoughts are not loaden with 
 any carriage besides." But the use is quite lost now. The verb indi- 
 cates rather "packing up" for the purpose of removal, than "taking 
 up " in the act of moving. 
 
 16. There went with tis also. ..of Cesarea] The Greek text has 
 a conjunction to introduce the sentence, "And there went, &c....from 
 Ccesareay The Evangelist had formed a Church where he had settled, 
 and the congregation were, like their teacher, concerned at St Paul's 
 danger, and so some went with him to Jerusalem. Perhaps the nucleus 
 of the Church may be dated from the baptism of Cornelius, and Philip 
 settling in Ccesarea carried on what had been begun by St Peter. 
 
 and brought with them] There is no special v/ord in Greek for the 
 last two English words. The original is a participle, meaning " lead- 
 ing." Therefore the Rev. Ver. renders " <^rm^7«^," and adds "with 
 them" in italics. But seeing that " to lead " is " to bring somebody 
 with you," the A.V. seem.s justified in printing "with Uiem " in 
 Roman letters as being necessary to the sense and implied in the 
 meaning of the verb. 
 
 one Mnason of Cyprus] This man belonged to Cyprus, but had 
 now his home in Jerusalem. Just as Barnabas and his sister Mary, 
 the mother of John Mark, who were also Cypriotes, seem to have 
 ■done. 
 
 an old disciple] Rev. Ver. "early." He had become a Christian in 
 the first days of the gospel preaching, in the beginning oi the Church 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 with... lodge] At such a time this was no unnecessary precaution, 
 for at the Feast Jerusalem was certain to ' be full ot people, and by this 
 arrangement made in Ccesarea, the whole party was saved the trouble 
 of searching for a lodging when they arrived. To find a house in 
 -which the Apostle and those with him might all be received would 
 probably have been attended with much difficulty. To be the owner 
 of such a house Mnason must have been one of the wealthier members 
 of the congregation. His name is Greek, and he was most likely one 
 of the Hellenists. Or, if he were a Jew, Mnason was perhaps substi- 
 tuted for some Jewish name, e.g. Manasseh. 
 
w. 17—20.] THE ACTS, XXL 291 
 
 17 — 36. Arrival at Jerusalem. PauV s Reception by the 
 Church and by the People. 
 
 And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren 17 
 received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in is 
 with us unto James ; and all the elders were present. And 19 
 when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what 
 things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. 
 And when they heard /'/, they glorified the Lord, and said 20 
 
 17 — 36. Arrival at Jerusalem. Paul's Reception by the 
 Church and by the People. 
 
 17. And... gladly] The brethren, whose joy is here spoken of, 
 would be those Christians who first learnt of the arrival of Paul at 
 Mnason's house. It is not the public reception which is here intended, 
 for however welcome Paul may have been to individuals, the heads of 
 the Church were manifestly apprehensive of trouble which might arise 
 from his presence in Jerusalem. 
 
 18. And the day following... J amcs\ This was the Church's recep- 
 tion of the returned missionaries. Notice of their arrival would soon 
 be given, and the authorities who were at the time resident in Jeru- 
 salem were gathered together. There was not any Apostle there or 
 St Luke would hardly have failed to mention the fact, as he was one of 
 those present. Paul took with him to this interview all who had 
 shared in his labours, that their work, as well as his own might receive 
 the recognition of the mother church of Christ. The James here men- 
 tioned is the same Avho appears recognised as the head of the congrega- 
 tion in Jerusalem (xii. 17, xy. 13). He was most probably one of our 
 Lord's brethren. See note on xii. 17. 
 
 and... present] These men, with James, formed the government of 
 the Church, and were the persons to whom the Apostle would naturally 
 <lesire to give an account of his labours. In the proceedings which 
 follow, the narrative does not, as in the council at Jerusalem, represent 
 James as taking the lead, or being spokesman ; he is only mentioned 
 as the person to whom the missionaries specially went. The advice 
 given to St Paul is couched in the plural number, as if the elders had 
 jointly tendered it. 
 
 And... saluted them] The verb is used both of the greetings at part- 
 ing and arrival, and these in the East were of a much more formal 
 character than is common in Western countries. 
 
 he declared particularly what things] More literally (with Rev. Ver.)y 
 ^' he rehearsed one by one the things which. '^ Such a narrative must 
 have consumed a long time, though St Luke, having previously given 
 a sketch of what the Apostle had done, omits any speech of St Paul here. 
 
 God... by his ministry] We cannot doubt, from what remains to us 
 of St Paul's writings, that this was the tone of all that he would say. 
 God had been pleased to use him, and for His own glory had made St 
 Paul's weakness effective. 
 
 20. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord] The oldest 
 
292 THE ACTS, XXI. [v. 21. 
 
 unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of 
 Jews there are which beUeve ; and they are all zealous of 
 the law: and they are informed of thee, that thou teach- 
 est all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake 
 Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their 
 
 MSS. read God. They took up the strain of thanksgiving which had 
 run through all the Apostle's story. 
 
 and said tinto hiniX Their anxiety makes itself apparent at once, 
 and we come here face to face with what must have been one of the 
 greatest difficulties for the early Christians. Before Jerusalem was 
 destroyed there must ever have been at that centre a party zealous for 
 the law, with whom labour among the Gentiles would find small favour. 
 
 Thou seest, brother] The verb is not the ordinary one for to see. 
 It implies that there had been an opportunity for the Apostle to behold 
 some Christian gathering. At this feast the Christians would have as 
 much interest in a commemorative assembly as the Jews. 
 
 how mayiy thousands'] The Greek is "myriads," but the word is 
 used indefinitely, like our "thousand," to signify a large number. 
 
 of "Jezvs there are which believe] The most authoritative Greek text 
 is rendered by the Rev. Ver. '■'■there are among the Jeivs of them wMcli 
 have believed." These were persons who, as was not unnatural, 
 accepted Christianity as the supplement of Judaism, but made no break 
 with their old faith, of the observances of which their life-long training 
 had made them tenacious. To such men, as Christianity rested on the 
 Old Testament Scripture, there would seem little need to make a rent 
 between their old life and the new. 
 
 a7id they are all zealojis of (for) the la7v'] i. e. rigorous maintainers 
 of all the ceremonial of the Mosaic code. The word is the same as the 
 name of the sect. Zealots. 
 
 21. and they are inforjucd of thee] More clearly and in accordance 
 with modern English, the Rev. Ver. ''they have been infor77ied con- 
 cerning thee.'''' The verb is a very significant one, from which comes 
 our English "catechize." It iniplies, therefore, that the process of educat- 
 ing public opinion in Jerusalem about St Paul had been a diligent 
 business. They had taught the lesson persistently till their hearers 
 were fully trained in it. We can hence understand the great hostility 
 which the Apostle experienced, and his strong language about these 
 Judaizers. They must have had their partizans at work in preparation 
 for his visit, and have poisoned men's minds against him. 
 
 that thou teachest...to forsake Moses] The calumniators made use 
 of the Apostle's earnest words to Gentile converts, that they should not 
 accept Judaism first as a door to Christianity, to bring a charge that, to 
 lews also, he spake of the law as no longer to be regarded. "We can 
 see from what we know of his words and actions how false this was, but 
 at such a time and amid such a populace the charge would rouse great 
 animosity, and have no chance of being refuted. 
 
 saying that they ought not io circirmcise their children] More simply 
 
vv. 22-24.1 THE ACTS, XXL 293 
 
 children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it ^^ 
 therefore ? the multitude must needs come together : for 
 they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that 23 
 we say to thee : We have four men which have a vow on 
 them ; them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at 24 
 
 {with Rev. Vt-r.), "telling them not to," Sec. This had so long been the 
 mark of the Jsew, and the expression "uncircumcised" meant something 
 so abhorrent to his mind, that we cannot wonder that this is put in the 
 forefront of the charge. For the sense of contempt and abomination 
 in the name, cf i Sam. xvii. 26; Ezek. xxviii. 10, xxxii. 29, 30. 
 
 neither to %valk after the customs\ The customs being the ceremonial 
 law of the Jews. There is quite a Jewish sound in the frequent Old 
 Testament phrase "to walk after." 
 
 22. What is it iherefore?'\ i.e. How stands the matter? An ex- 
 pression used as introductory to the consideration of what is best to be 
 done. 
 
 the 7/ncltztude must needs conic together^ The oldest texts omit all but 
 the word here rendered "needs," giving only, ^'■theywill certainly hear 
 that thoti art come,'''' for the rest of the verse. Some keeping the Greek 
 of the Textus Keceptus, have translated "A multitude will certainly, &c. " 
 But the reading of the oldest MSS. seems to give the most natural sense. 
 The gathering before whom Paul had been speaking was composed of 
 only the conspicuous members of the Christian body, to hear a report 
 on the day after St Paul's arrival. The rest of the speech addressed to the 
 Apostle gives no hint of a crowd to be gathered, but recommends a 
 policy by which the Judreo-Christians might learn gradually in their own 
 visits to the temple that the Apostle against whom they had heard 
 such reports was there himself taking part in the observance of the 
 Mosaic customs. 
 
 23. Do therefore... vow on them'] They advise St Paul to take a 
 part in the ceremonies of a Nazarite vow. He could not go through 
 the whole course of the observance, for these men had already for some 
 time.had the vow upon them, but it was permitted among the Jews for 
 anyone who wished, to join in the final purification ceremonies of this 
 vow; and this was the more readily permitted, if the person wishing to 
 take a share, only in this concluding portion, bore the charges of the 
 person or persons to whom he joined himself. It is significant of the 
 intense clinging to 'the older ceremonial in the Jewish Church that 
 among the Christian congregation there were men found who had taken 
 this vow upon them. If the authorities knew of St Paul's previous 
 observance of a like vow (xviii. 18) they would have no scruple in 
 urging him to take part in a similar service again. For an account of 
 the Nazarite's vow, see Numbers vi. i — 21. It is not there specified 
 how long the observance of the vow lasted, and the time may have 
 varied in different cases, but the final ceremonies appear to have lasted 
 seven days. 
 
 24. them take, and purify thyself with them] i. e. make thyself one 
 
294 THE ACTS, XXI. [v. 25. 
 
 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 thou thyself also 
 25 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 them- 
 
 of their company, and observe all the ordinances, with regard to purifi- 
 cation and keeping from what is unclean, which they observe. 
 
 a7id be at charges with {better, for) the7?i\ Josephus [Antiq. XIX. 6. i) 
 tells how Agrippa took upon him the expenses of many Nazarites. Cp. 
 also Bell. Jtid. ii. 15. i, from which passage it appears that the whole 
 time of the Nazarite's vow there mentioned was thirty days. 
 
 that they may shave their heads'] Which was done at the conclusion of 
 the vow, and when the victims were offered, the hair was burnt in the 
 fire which was under the sacrifice of the peace-offering. The charges 
 which had to be borne by St Paul would be the cost of the victims and 
 other things connected with the sacrifice. 
 
 and all may know] The oldest texts read, ^^ and all shall know." 
 
 that those things, whereof they %vere informed concerning thee, are 
 nothing] Rev. Ver. " that there is no truth in the things whereof they 
 have been informed concerning thee." The " are nothing " of the A. V. 
 is an attempt to keep closer to the Greek, and means "have no founda- 
 tion in fact." Cp. xxv. ii. 
 
 btcf that... and keepest {Rev. Ver. keeping) the law] The participial 
 clause expresses the nature of the orderly walk. It was in the special 
 manner which the Jews so regarded. 
 
 25. As totiching the Getitiles which believe] The clause should 
 commence with But, which is expressed in the Greek. The elders, while 
 urging on Paul the course they have described in consideration of 
 Jewish prejudices, are yet careful to distinguish from this the liberty 
 of the Gentiles, and to confirm that liberty, and shew to the Apostle 
 that they were of the same mind as when the council was held (Actsxv.), 
 they refer now to the decisions then arrived at. 
 
 ^ve have writtc7i] Better (with the Rev. Ver.), we wrote. This is 
 said in reference to the time when the decrees were first published (Acts 
 XV. 23). The verb used in that account for "write" (xv. 20) is the 
 same which the elders employ here, and it is not the usual one, shewing 
 that an exact reference is made to the proceedings of the former 
 synod. 
 
 and concluded] Better (with ^^. Ver.), "giving judgment." This 
 word also refers back to xv. 19, where James then said, "My judg- 
 ment is, &c." And although he is not specially named here as the 
 speaker, there must have been one who at this time also gave utterance 
 to the advice of the whole presbytery, and none was more likely to do so 
 than he. 
 
 that they observe no such thing, save only] The oldest texts omit all 
 these Words, and they appear merely to be a marginal comment, echoing 
 
V. 26.] THE ACTS, XXI. 295 
 
 selves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and 
 from strangled, and from fornication. Then Paul took the 2s. 
 
 in part, but with a negative, the language of xv. 5/ ■24. They do not 
 represent any part of the form given in that chapter of the letter of the 
 synod, 
 
 that they keep themselves ff'OJn things offered to idols .. .and from 
 strangled, &c.] The Rev. Ver. makes both the meaning and the 
 English clearer : " that they should keep iheynselves fro7}i things sacri- 
 ficed to idols... and fro?n what is strangled, &c." On the prohibitions 
 and the reasons for them see notes on xv. 20. 
 
 26. Then Paul took the inen'\ This consent of Paul to the advice 
 of James and the elders has been taken by some for a contradiction of 
 the words and character of the Apostle as represented in his own 
 writings. But he has testified of himself (i Cor. ix. 19 — 23) that for 
 the Gospel's sake he was made all things to all men, unto the Jews 
 becoming as a Jew that he might gain the Jews, and for the same end, 
 to them that are without law, as himself without law. And these 
 brethren of the Church of Jerusalem to whom St Paul joined himself 
 were Christians, and therefore were not clinging to legal observances as 
 of merit towards salvation, but as ordinances which were of divine 
 origin, and which education had made them careful to observe. The 
 same spirit had actuated the Apostle to manifest by an outward act hi.s 
 thankfulness for some deliverance when, on a former occasion, he took 
 this vow on himself without the suggestion of others (xviii. 18). In the 
 Christian services of the earliest days there was very little outlet for the 
 expression by action of any religious emotion, and we cannot wonder 
 that a people whose worship for a long time had been mainly in ex- 
 ternal observance should cling still to such outward acts, though they 
 had grown to estimate them as of no saving virtue in themselves. 
 With reference to the supposed contradiction in the two pictures 
 of St Paul as given by St Luke and by himself, we need only 
 compare his language about Judaizers in the Epistle to the Galatians- 
 with what he says of the preaching of the Gospel at Rome by similar 
 adversaries, when he was writing to the Philippians, to see that the 
 Apostle in what he said and did had ever an eye to the circumstances. 
 To the Galatians he speaks in the strongest terms against the Judaizers 
 because their influence was to draw away the Christians in Galatia from 
 the simple Gospel as offered by him in Christ's name to the Gentile?, 
 and to make them substitute for it the observance of the law of Moses 
 as a necessary door to Christianity. He has no words strong enough 
 to express his horror of such teachers in such a place. But the same 
 Paul at Rome, the condition of whose people may be learnt by a perusal 
 01 the first chapter of liis letter to that Church, says (Phil, i, 15 — 18), 
 "Some preach Christ even of envy and strife, supposing to add affliction 
 to my bonds. Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence or in 
 truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." 
 Assuredly there is as much of so-called contradiction between Paul as 
 described in different places by himself, as between his own description 
 
296 THE ACTS, XXI. [v. 27. 
 
 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 
 27 every one of them. And when the seven days were almost 
 ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in 
 
 and what St Luke has left us of his history. Contradiction it is not, but 
 only such concession as might be expected from one strong in the faith 
 as St Paul was when he was dealing, as he was called upon to deal, 
 with two classes of men who could never be brought to the same stand- 
 point. To observe the ceremonial law was not needful for the Gentiles, 
 therefore the Apostle decried its observance and opposed those who would 
 have enforced it. The ceremonial law was abolished for the Jew also in 
 Christ, but it had a divine warrant for those who had been trained in it 
 from their youth up, therefore all that the Apostle here desired was 
 that their true value only should be set on externals. He felt that 
 time would develop Christian worship to fill the place which the Temple 
 Service for a long time must hold among the Christians of Jerusalem. 
 
 and the next day . . .temple'\ The regulation was that the Nazarite 
 should avoid all persons and things that would cause ceremonial defile- 
 ment, and that this might be more thoroughly accomplished the closing 
 days of the vow appear, at this time, to have been passed within the 
 Temple precincts. This, of course, must have been a later arrangement 
 than any which is spoken of in the institution of the vow (Numb. vi.). 
 
 to signify the accomplishment of the days of piirification'\ Rev. Ver. 
 "declaring the fulfilment, &c." The meaning is that St Paul gave 
 notice to the proper of the officials of the Temple that the completion of 
 the vow would be at a certain time. It would be needful for him to do 
 this, as otherwise they would have expected him to keep the full number 
 of days which others observed. After his explanation that he was only 
 a sharer for a time in the vow of his companions, it would be under- 
 stood that his days of purification should terminate when theirs did. 
 
 until that an offering shonld be offered for every one of them'\ Rev. Ver. 
 "Until the offering was, &c." TTie offering is better, for it means that 
 special one which was enjoined by the law. The words are a part not of 
 St Paul's notice to the priests, but of St Luke's history. The Apostle 
 did these things and continued as a Nazarite till the whole ceremonial 
 for all of them was ended. 
 
 27. A7td when the seven days were almost ended^ Rev. Ver. " com- 
 pleted." This seems to have been the period devoted to the more 
 secluded residence in the Temple. 
 
 the Jews which were of Asia] Lit. (with Rev. Ver.) " the Jews from 
 Asia." So that it would seem that a portion of the visitors to Jerusa- 
 lem had known the Apostle in his missionary labours, and may have 
 come after him, in their enmity, to damage his reputation, by calum- 
 nious reports of his teaching, reports which had as much ground in 
 truth as the story about Trophimus from which the tumult arose at 
 this time in Terusalem. 
 
vv. 28,29-] THE ACTS, XXI. 297 
 
 the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, 
 crying out, Men of Israel, help : This is the man, that 28 
 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 this holy place. (For they 29 
 had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, 
 
 7vken.,. stirred up all the people, k-C."] Rev, F^r. " multitude." These 
 Asian Jews were coming up to the Temple for their worship, and may 
 even have been of the company in the ship by which the Apostle and 
 his companions came from Patara. They certainly had known, or 
 found out, that Trophimus was an Ephesian and a Gentile. If they 
 had seen the Apostle in familiar converse with him, this would be 
 enough to rouse their indignation, especially as Paul and his companion 
 would be living together in the same house and at the same board (cp. 
 Acts xi. 3). 
 
 28. crying... help"] The cry as if an outrage had been committed, 
 and they, the strangers visiting Jerusalem, were the persons who could 
 afford the best testimony to what had been done. For had they not seen 
 and heard Paul in Ephesus and elsewhere ? 
 
 This...people\ They would intimate that he was bringing the whole 
 nation into contempt. The Jews no doubt were treated with contempt 
 among the Gentiles, and to hear that one of their own nation had 
 helped this on would rouse them as much as anything could. 
 
 and the law, and this place\ How great a change has come over the 
 Apostle since the day when he joined with those who charged Stephen 
 (ch. vi. 13), with speaking blasphemous words against this holy place 
 (the Temple) and the law. Now a like multitude brings similar charges 
 against him. 
 
 and further brought {Rev. Ver. "and moreover he brought") Greeks 
 also into the temple'] There was in the Temple a "court of the Gentiles" 
 but the accusation against the Apostle was, that during his own sojourn 
 in the sacred precincts he had brought his companions into places 
 which were forbidden to them. How unscrupulous their charge was 
 is indicated by the plural "Greeks," whereas the only person to whom 
 such a term could be applied was Trophimus. 
 
 and hath polluted {Rev. Ver. " defiled ") this holy place] They them- 
 selves as Jews were in the court allotted to their nation, and which was 
 deemed more sacred than that of the Gentiles. The Greek word is 
 literally "made common," and carries the thought back to St Peter's 
 vision, where the Gentiles were figured by the beasts which the Apostle 
 deemed ^'■common or unclean " (Acts x. 14). 
 
 29. For they had, &c.] Hence we see that Trophimus had come 
 with the Apostle not only " as far as Asia " (see note on xx. 4), but 
 all the way to Jerusalem. His name bespeaks the man a Greek, and, 
 from the anger of these Asiatic Jews, he was doubtless a convert to 
 Christianity without having been a proselyte of Judaism. It is notice- 
 able that so ready were these men to find a cause for attacking St Paul, 
 
 ACTS 2 1 
 
298 THE ACTS, XXI. [vv. 30—32. 
 
 whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) 
 
 30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran together : 
 and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple : and 
 
 31 forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to 
 kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, 
 
 32 that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Who immediately 
 
 that they began it on a mere thought, "They supposed Paul had brought- 
 him into the temple." 
 
 30. And... ran together] This is a proof that what James and the 
 elders had stated was true, the whole Jewish community had been 
 "catechized" on the doings of St Paul among the Gentiles. The least 
 spark set the whole train on fire. 
 
 and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple'\ This rendering 
 hardly does justice to the Greek. Read {with Rev. Ver.) " they laid hold 
 on Paul atid dragged him" &c. Their design was probably to get him out 
 of the Temple precincts before they proceeded to further violence. It 
 is clear that all the ceremonies of the Apostle's vow were not yet 
 accomplished, and had they not laid violent hands on him, he might 
 have fled to the altar for safety. That such a murder as they contem- 
 plated was possible in Jerusalem at this period we have evidence in 
 the case of Stephen. 
 
 and fort hzvith the doors were shut'] We need not suppose that any of 
 the Levites, the gatekeepers of the Temple, were of the same mind with 
 the rioters. Their action in closing the gates was only to prevent any 
 profanation of the building by the uproar which they saw to be begin- 
 ning. 
 
 31. And as they went aboiit {Rev. Ver. " were seeking ") to kill him'\ 
 The object of the mob was clearly, now that they had the Apostle in 
 their power, to beat him to death in the crowd, and thus avoid a charge 
 of murder against any individual. 
 
 tidings came unto (Better with Rev. Ver. up to) the chief captain of 
 the band] The chief military ofiicer of the Romans in Jerusalem was 
 stationed in the tower of Antonia, which was situate on the N.W. of 
 the Temple on the hill Acra. It had been built by Herod and was 
 so close to the scene of the tumult that news would be brought at once. 
 The military ofiicer (probably a tribune) is called in the Greek, chiliarchy 
 that is, officer over a thousand men. On the word "band" for a 
 Roman cohort, or troop of soldiers, cf. x. i. The verb "came up to " 
 shews that the writer was familiar with the locality and had the whole 
 scene in his mind. 
 
 that all Jertisalejn was in an uproar] Rev. Ver. "in confusion." At 
 the time of the feast religious party feeling would run very high, and 
 the multitudes of strangers visiting the city would think to shew their 
 zeal for the temple and the law by their eagerness to avenge any sup- 
 posed profanation. 
 
 32. Who ijjwiediately took soldiers and centurions] Clearly he had 
 charge of a considerable troop, which perhaps might just then be aug- 
 
vv. 33, 34-] THE ACTS, XXI. 299 
 
 took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them : and 
 when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left 
 beating of Paul. Then the chief captain came near, and 33 
 took him, and commanded him to be bound with two 
 chains ; and demanded who he was, and what he had done. 
 And some cried one thing, some another, among the 34 
 multitude : and when he could not know the certainty for 
 the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. 
 
 merited in anticipation of any disturbance to which such a concourse, as 
 would come together for the feast, might give rise. 
 
 a7td ra7i dowfi tinto theni] Rev. Ver. *' upon t/iem." The tower was 
 on ihe height above the temple, so that the verb is very correct. 
 
 and wheti they sazv...left heating of Faztl] The Rev. Ver. alters the 
 last four words into " left off beating PauV^ which gives a rhythm not 
 so pleasant, and the older English was not misunderstood. The mob 
 probably knew that Roman law would do justice, and that if the 
 Apostle were found by the chief captain to have been wrongfully 
 treated they would be brought to an account. 
 
 33. Then. ..took hini] The last verb implies a formal arrest, there- 
 fore the jRev. Ver. rightly gives " laid hold 071 him.^'' The chief captain 
 did not come with a view to relieve St Paul, but to find out what was 
 the matter, and seeing the Apostle in the hands of the mob, himself 
 arrested him, that he might not be killed without a hearing. 
 
 and. ..two chai7is\ (Cp. xii. 6.) Evidently, as appears from his lan- 
 guage afterwards, regarding him as some desperate criminal. The 
 chief captain would have thought little of any question about Jewish 
 law (see xxiii. -29). 
 
 ■and de77ianded...do7ie\ The English word de77zand ha.d in early times 
 the sense of "ask," "inquire:" Cp. Cy7nbeli7ie, ill. 6. 92, "We'll 
 mannerly de77ia7id thee of thy story." But it has in modern times only 
 the stronger meaning of imperative questioning. Therefore Rev. Ver. 
 '■'■and inquired." The inquiry was made of the crowd, not of the 
 Apostle. 
 
 34. And so77ie cried \R. V. shouted] another'\ The verb is the 
 
 same which St Luke uses for the din of the multitude which shouted 
 against Jesus (Luke xxiii. 11), "Crucify him;" also for the adulatory 
 shouting in honour of Herod Agrippa (Acts xii. 22). No other New 
 Testament writer uses the word. The chief captain appears to have 
 made an effort to learn what was laid to the charge of the Apostle. 
 
 and 'whe7t tu77iult [R. V. uproar]. Perhaps as at Ephesus (xix. 
 
 32) a large part of the shouters hardly knew themselves for what the 
 clamour was raised. 
 
 he... to be carried \R. V. brought] into the castle"] The Greek word 
 signifies " an encampment," but was employed to designate the barracks 
 which the Romans had in the Tower of Antonia. The same word is 
 rendered "army" in Heb. xi. 34. 
 
 21 — 2 
 
300 THE ACTS, XXI. [w. 35— 38. 
 
 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 — 40. Paul asks leave to address the Crowd. 
 
 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 
 
 38 thou speak Greek ? Art not thou that Egyptian, which be- 
 
 35. And... stairs] This was the flight of steps leading from the 
 Temple area up to the Tower where the soldiers were stationed. The 
 stairs were not covered in, for St Paul is able to address the multitude 
 while standing on them (verse 40). 
 
 so it was., for the violence of the people \R. V. crowd]. The crowd 
 pressed on St Paul with all the more fury because they saw that he 
 was now to be taken out of their hands. Hence it came to pass, that 
 some of the soldiers were obliged, in order to keep him safe, to lift 
 him from his feet and carry him up till he was out of reach, their 
 comrades meanwhile keeping back the people from the foot of the 
 stairs. 
 
 36. For. ..Away with him] The same cry which (Luke xxiii. 18) 
 was used by the Jews before Pilate in reference to Jesus. 
 
 37 — 40. Paul asks leave to address the Crowd. 
 
 37. And as Paul was to be led into the castle] More clearly (with 
 Rev. Ver.) '^was about to be brought. Sec." This must have been when 
 Paul with the soldiers had reached some place where he could be 
 allowed to stand. 
 
 he said [Gk. S2iith]... May I speak unto thee?] Literally, (with Rev. 
 Ver.), " Alay I say something unto thee?" 
 
 Who said. Canst thou specik Greek?] More closely, as Rev. Ver. ^'^ And 
 he said. Dost thou know Greek ?" The chief captain had evidently come 
 down with a preconceived notion who the offender was about whom 
 the disturbance had arisen. And from some source or other he appears 
 to have known that the Egyptian, whom he supposed St Paul to be, 
 could not speak Greek. 
 
 38. Art not thou that Egyptian] Better (as Rev. Ver.), ^^ Art thou 
 not then the Egyptian?" Thus we see more clearly the reason of the 
 previous question which the chief captain had asked. The Egyptian to 
 whom allusion is here made was a sufficiently formidable character, if we 
 only reckon his followers at four thousand desperadoes. Josephus {Ant. 
 XX. 8. 6; Bell. J. ii. 13. 5) tells how he was one of many impostors of 
 the time, and when Felix was governor came to Jerusalem, gave him- 
 self out as a prophet, gathered the people to the Mount of Olives in 
 number about 30,000, telling them that at his word the walls of Jerusa- 
 lem would fall down, and they could then march into the city. Felix 
 
vv. 39, 40.] THE ACTS, XXI. 301 
 
 fore these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the 
 wilderness four thousand men that were murderers ? But 39 
 Paul said, I am a man zuhich am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in 
 Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city : and, I beseech thee, 
 suffer me to speak unto the people. And when he had 40 
 
 with the Roman soldiers went out against liim. The impostor and a 
 part of his adherents fled, but a very large number were killed and others 
 taken prisoners. The narrative of Josephus does not accord with the 
 account of St Luke, but if the former be correct, we may well suppose 
 that the numbers and the occasion spoken of by the chief captain relate 
 to an event anterior to that great gathering on the Mount of Olives. 
 The fame of the impostor may have grown ; indeed, must have done so 
 before he could collect the number of adherents of which Josephus 
 speaks. 
 
 which before these days madest an uproar] The verb, which is found 
 besides in Acts xvii. 6; Gal. v. 12, is active and requires an object. 
 Read "stirred up to sedition" (as Rev. Ver.), and make this verb, like 
 the one which follows, relate to the incitement of the four thousand. 
 
 and .. .murderers'] Read (with R. V.) '■'■and led out into the wilderness 
 V^^ four thousand men of ttie assassins." The Gk. name is Sicarii 
 (i.e. men armed with a dagger), and Josephus {B. y. il. 13. 3), in an 
 account of the lawless bands which infested Judaea in these times, says 
 (after relating how a notorious robber named Eleazar had been taken 
 with his followers and sent in chains to Rome), "But when the country 
 was thus cleared there sprang up another kind of plunderers in Jeru- 
 salem called Sicarii. They kill men by daylight in the midst of the 
 city. Particularly at the feasts they mix with the crowd, carrying small 
 daggers hid under their clothes. With these they wound their adver- 
 saries, and when they have fallen the murderers mix with the crowd and 
 join in the outcry against the crime. Thus they passed unsuspected for a 
 long time. One of their earliest victims was Jonathan the high priest." 
 
 39. But Paul said, I am a 7nan which am a Jew of Tarsus] The 
 A. V. does not often follow the Greek so closely as this. And here it is 
 better to read with the Rev. Ver., '■'■ I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia''' 
 (see vi. 9, notes). 
 
 a citizen of no mean city] Tarsus was the metropolis of Cilicia, and 
 a city remarkable for its culture, and the zeal of its inhabitants for 
 philosophic studies. 
 
 and... people] An objection' has been here raised that it is extremely 
 improbable that the chief captain could have held this conversation with 
 St Paul amid the tumult, and also that he would have granted permission 
 to speak to a man whom he had just taken as his prisoner, and whom he 
 afterwards arranges to examine by scourging (xxii. 24). But we have only 
 to remember that the Apostle and his interlocutor were high up above 
 the crowd, and so away from the noise; that the staircase crowded with 
 soldiers, who could not rapidly be withdrawn because they were re- 
 straining the multitude, made some delay absolutely unavoidable, and 
 
302 THE ACTS, XXI. XXII. [vv. i, 2. 
 
 given him 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, 
 
 I — 21. St PauVs Defence. 
 
 22 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I 
 
 2 make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake 
 
 in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence : 
 
 that, added to this was the surprise of the chief captain that his prisoner 
 could speak Greek, and we have enough warrant for accepting the story as 
 it is here told. Moreover the Greek which the Apostle used was of a very 
 polished character, shewing the education and refinement of the speaker, 
 and making good his claim to respect. 
 
 40. Aiid when he had given him licence [leave, R. V.]. And as the 
 same verb occurs in the previous verse, the Rev. Ver. has there ^'■give me 
 leave to speak, &c." It is fitting that in such passages the renderings 
 should be uniform. 
 
 Paul...people\ Apparently the chief captain had also been so far im- 
 pressed by the conversation of his prisoner, that he allowed at least one 
 of his hands to be released from its chain while he spake to the multi- 
 tude, and this he waved to ask for silence. 
 
 And... great silence'\ The unusual circumstance, and the gesture which 
 could be seen through the whole crowd, would gain an audience very 
 readily. Beside which an Oriental mob is less persistent than those of 
 the western world. 
 
 he spake... in the Hebrew tongue [language, R. V.] This alone, as soon 
 as it was heard, would gain the speaker an audience with many. It was 
 their own speech. For by "Hebrew" here is meant the Aramaic 
 dialect of Palestine. 
 
 XXII. 1—21. St Paul's Defence. 
 
 1. Men, brethren, and fathers'] The Greek is amply rendered (with 
 Rev. Ver.) by '^Brethren and fathers.'" See note on i. 16. 
 
 hear ye my defence which I make now nnto you] The Rev. Ver. sub- 
 stitutes the for my and puts now before make. There seems nothing 
 gained by either change, the former of which leaves a pronoun which is 
 in the original without anything to represent it. The A. V. does repre- 
 sent it, though not exactly after the manner of the Greek construction. 
 
 2. And. ..Hebrew tongue] The beckoning with the hand (xxi. 40) 
 had procured silence , enough for the Apostle's first words to be heard, 
 and now they caught the sound of their own dialect. 
 
 they kept the more silence] The noun in the original refers not only 
 to peace from cries and shouts, but to general quietness, such as would 
 be produced by refraining from all movements. It expresses a very 
 high degree of quietness. Rev. Ver. has ^Hhey were the more qiiiet^'' 
 
vv. 3, 4.] THE ACTS, XXII. 303 
 
 and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in 3 
 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 towards God, as 
 ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the 4 
 death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and 
 
 3. / aj7i verily a man which atn a yew'\ The word rendered verily 
 is omitted in the oldest MSS. The Rro. Vcr. has ^^ I am a Jew,'"' and 
 this renders the original fully enough. Cp. note on verse i above. 
 These first words of the Apostle would correct many wrong impressions 
 among the crowd, for we may be sure that many, beside the Chief Cap- 
 tain, liad the notion that St Paul was one of those foreign desperadoes 
 with which Judaea abounded at this time. 
 
 born in Tarms, a city in Cilicia'] Better, ^*^ born in Tarsus of Cilicia^'' 
 with the Rro. Vcr. On Tarsus see note on vi. 9. 
 
 brought tip in this city] St Paul means not that from his infancy he 
 had lived in Jerusalem, but that, when he had reached an age fitted for 
 it, he was sent from home to be educated under Gamaliel. The verb 
 is used in this sense in classical Greek. On Gamaliel, see note on 
 V. 34- 
 
 at the feet] (Cp. Luke x. 39.) The most usual position of teacher 
 and pupils at the time of St Paul was that both should sit, the former 
 on a higher level than the latter. For the evidence on this matter 
 from the Talmud, see Taylor, Firke Aboth, pp. 28, 29. 
 
 and taught [instructed] according to the perfect [strict] manner of the 
 law of the [our] fathers, and was [being] zealotis, &c.] For an account 
 by the Apostle himself of his Jewish birth, education, and character, 
 cf. Phil. iii. 5, 6. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and his language 
 shews how learned he was in all that concerned his own people. He 
 makes frequent allusions to Jewish customs, laws, and festivals, and 
 reckons his time by the Jewish calendar. He was also a Pharisee, and 
 none of his contemporaries surpassed him while but few equalled him 
 in strictness of legal observance. 
 
 as ye all are] The Apostle wishes to put himself in an acceptable 
 light before them, and for that reason explains that he was, like them- 
 selves, a zealous observer of the law. 
 
 ^ 4. And I persecuted this way, &c.] On " the Way" as the designa- 
 tion of the Christian religion, cp. note on ix. 2. We are not told of any 
 Christians who were put to death through Saul's zealous persecution, 
 for in the case of Stephen he was not a very active agent, but his own 
 statement in this verse, and the stronger expression xxvi. ro, " when 
 they were put to death I gave my voice against them, " make it certain 
 that the persecutions in which he took part were carried beyond im- 
 prisonment even to the martyrdom of the accused. 
 
 into prisons] The original has the plural " prisons," and it is pro- 
 bably intended to express by it, what in chap. xxvi. is given in more 
 <ietail, the wide field over which Saul's zeal was exerted, "being ex- 
 
304 THE ACTS, XXII. [vv. 5—7. 
 
 s 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. 
 
 (> And it came to pass that, as I made my journey, and was 
 come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone 
 
 7 from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto 
 the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, 
 
 ceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange 
 cities." 
 
 5. the high priest doth bear me witness^ The Apostle refers not to 
 the high priest at the time when he was speaking, but to him who had 
 held that office when (ix. i) in his earnestness against the Christians he 
 had desired a commission from the authorities to carry his persecuting 
 measures as far as Damascus. Josephus {Ant. xviii. 5, 3) tells us that 
 in A.D. 37 Theophilus, son of Ananus, was made high priest in the 
 place of his brother Jonathan. The high priest to whom St Paul 
 here alludes was one of these two brothers, for Theophilus held office 
 till he was removed by Agrippa and his place occupied by Simon, 
 called Kantheras (see Jos. A7it. xix. 6, 2, and cp. Farrar's St Paul, i. 
 178). Ananias was high priest at the time of St Paul's arrest. See 
 xxiii. 1. 
 
 and all the estate of the elders'] Though it was now more than twenty 
 years since St Paul's conversion, yet it was not improbable that some 
 members of the Sanhedrin which granted him his commission were 
 still alive, and the records of the transaction were doubtless preserved 
 and could be appealed to. 
 
 letters unto the brethren] i.e. to the Jewish authorities in Damascus. 
 The Jews spake of all their race as brethren from early times (cp. Deut. 
 xviii. 15). 
 
 to bring them which were there, bound unto ycriisalem] The English 
 of the A. V. is not free from ambiguity. The Greek is plain, and the 
 Rev. Ver. gives the sense clearly " to bring them also which were there 
 unto Jerusalem in bonds." 
 
 6. about noon] The time of the day at which the vision occurred 
 is not noticed in chap, ix., but in chap. xxvi. the Apostle also mentions 
 that it was "at mid-day," at which time the heavenly brightness must 
 have been very overpowering to shine above the glare of an Eastern 
 sun. 
 
 7. and heard a voice] As in chap. ix. 4 and 7, so here, and below 
 in verse 9, the case of the noun is varied, so as to mark that the hearing 
 in St Paul's case was diffisrent from the hearing of his companions. 
 The verb can be connected with either a genitive or accusative case. 
 In both the narratives a variation is made, and it was not without its 
 significance (see notes on chap. ix.). St Paul heard intelligible words, 
 the others heard a sound, but it was not speech to them. Cp. the 
 narrative in Daniel x. 6 — 9. 
 
vv. 8—12.] THE ACTS, XXII. 305 
 
 why persecutest thou me ? And I answered, Who art thou, s 
 "Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, 
 whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw 9 
 indeed the hght, and were afraid ; but they heard not the 
 voice of him that spake to me. And I said. What shall I 10 
 do. Lord ? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into 
 Damascus ; and there it shall be told thee of all thirigs 
 which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not n 
 see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them 
 that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ana- 12 
 nias, a devout man according to the law, having a good 
 
 8. of NazaretK\ This is found only here in chap, xxii., the other 
 two accounts omitting the words, though in some MSS., to make one 
 story exactly like the other, they are inserted in ix. 5. Such assimila- 
 tion of verses to each other is not uncommon in the Acts. 
 
 9. and were afraid\ These words are omitted in the oldest MSS. 
 and have been left out in the Rev. Ver. But they are not like any- 
 thing in the other two accounts, the one of which (ix. 7) describes 
 Saul's companions as being "speechless," the other (xxvi. 14) as "all 
 faUing to the ground." Therefore it seems best to retain them, as not 
 being due to any annotation, or to the assimilation of one form of the 
 story to another. The last three letters of this phrase are the same 
 as those of the phrase preceding it, and the eye of a scribe in early 
 times may have passed from one to the other, and thus words belonging 
 to the earliest form of the narrative may have been omitted. 
 
 heard not the voice\ i.e. the words which were spoken to Saul. 
 They were only conscious of a sound around them. See above on 
 verse 7. 
 
 10. which are appointed for thee to dd\ God explained this to 
 Ananias (see ix. 15), how Saul was a chosen vessel to bear His name 
 before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel ; and still more 
 about his labours was to be revealed to the new Apostle himself. 
 According to xxvi. 16 — 18 the character of the work to which he was 
 called was from the first indicated to Saul ; though as no mention is 
 made of Ananias in that passage, it may well be that the Apostle there 
 brings into one statement botli the words he heard on the way, and 
 those which were afterwards spoken to him by Ananias. 
 
 11. could not see for the glory of that light'\ This explanation of the 
 reason of the Apostle's blindness is only given in this place. 
 
 12. Ananias, a devout man according to the law, &c.] The Apostle 
 neglects nothing in his address which can conciliate his audience, and so- 
 he tells them that the messenger whom God sent to him was "well 
 reported of by all the Jews that dwelt in Damascus." (For Ananias se& 
 note on ix. 10.) The hostility towards Christians, which was so strong 
 in Jerusalem, had not at the time of St Paul's conversion manifested itself 
 
3o6 THE ACTS, XXII. [vv. 13—16. 
 
 13 report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and 
 stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. 
 
 14 And the same hour I 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 
 
 15 voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all 
 
 16 men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why 
 
 so greatly in Damascus, since Ananias ' * a disciple " was still in good 
 repute with the Jews there. 
 
 13. and stood'\ The fuller force of the compound verb is given by 
 the Rev. Ver. " and standing by me." 
 
 receive thy sight... I looked tip, &c.] The verb is the same in both 
 places, and this the Rev. Ver. has noted in the margin. But the word 
 is used in both senses elsewhere in N. T., as of Jesus (Luke xix. ^) look- 
 ing up and seeing Zaccheeus in the sycomore tree, and (John ix. 11) of 
 the blind man who received his sight. 
 
 And the same hourl Rev. Ver. with strict grammatical warrant, ^^and 
 in that very hour." 
 
 14. The God of our fathers, &c.] Ananias spake naturally as one 
 Jew to another. At the commencement of the Christian Church there 
 was no thought of a rupture with Judaism, and nothing is more to be 
 noticed in the Acts than the gradual advance made by the Apostles and 
 their companions in appi-ehending what the result of their mission 
 would be. 
 
 hath chosen thee\ The verb, which is found only in the Acts in the 
 N. T., has the sense of committing a work into anyone's hands. So 
 Rev. Ver. " appointed." 
 
 that thou shoiddest know his will] For this i-eason it is that St 
 Paul so often in the commencement of his Epistles speaks of himself as 
 an Apostle according to the will of God. i Cor. i. i ; 2 Cor. i. i ; 
 Eph. i. r ; Col. i. i, &c. The whole passage Eph. i. i — 11 is a 
 comment on this clause. 
 
 and see that Just One] Rro. Ver. " see the righteous One," i.e. Jesus, 
 called "the Holy One and the Just" (Acts iii. 14) and " the Just One" 
 (vii. 52), in both which places the R. V. reads " Righteous," thus connect- 
 ing all the passages with i John ii. i, "We have an Advocate with the 
 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 
 
 and shotddcst hear the voice of his mouth] Rev. Ver. *' a voice from, 
 .&c." In this way Paul was taught of Jesus as the other Apostles. 
 
 15. For thou shalt be his witness, &c.] Thus the commission of the 
 later-called Apostle was in the same terms as those in which Christ had 
 spoken (Acts i. 8) to the eleven before his Ascension. 
 
 tcnto all men] Paul does not utter the word "Gentiles" until he 
 is forced to do so. 
 
 of what thou hast seen and heard] For by revelation the Apostle was 
 made aware of the whole scope of Christian truth, and of those doctrines 
 which Christ in His life on earth had communicated to the Twelve. 
 
vv. 17, 18.] THE ACTS, XXII. 307 
 
 tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy 
 sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it came to pass 17 
 that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I 
 prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and saw him say- is 
 
 16. why tarriest thou ?] According to the narrative in ix. 1 5 the 
 message of Ananias had already proclaimed the gift of the Holy Ghost 
 to Saul, and the favour of God had been shewn in the recovery of his 
 sight. So the question of Ananias becomes parallel to that of St Peter 
 in the house of Cornelius : " Can any man forbid v^^ater that these should 
 not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" 
 
 arise, and be baptized'] Though the gift of the Spirit was announced, 
 yet God directs that the riieans of grace, the sacrament of baptism, 
 which the Apostle must offer to others, should also be received by 
 himself. 
 
 and wash away thy sins'] The close connexion of the sacramental 
 sign with renewing grace is spoken of in like terms by the Apostle in 
 his Epistle to Titus (iii. 5) " according to His mercy He saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 calling on the name of the Lord] The oldest authorities give ' * calling 
 ■on His name," which refers back to " the Just One." Probably the 
 Textus Recepttis is due to a desire to make the phrase accordant vidth 
 ii. 21. 
 
 17. when I was come again toy ertisalevi] Rev. Ver. "had returned." 
 This refers to that visit of the Apostle recorded in Acts ix. 26 seqq. We 
 learn from Gal. i. 18 that three years had elapsed between the conversion 
 of Saul and this visit to Jerusalem, which period is supposed to have 
 been consumed in Arabia (cp. Gal. i. 17). The preaching of Saul at 
 Jerusalem we are told in the Acts roused the anger of the Greek-speak- 
 ing Jews, and that in consequence of their attempts against Saul the 
 Christian congregation sent him away first to Csesarea and then to 
 Tarsus. 
 
 even while I prayed in the temple\ It is worthy of note how often 
 in this address St Paul incidentally expresses himself in such wise as to 
 conciliate the crowd. His visit to the temple for the purpose of prayer 
 was at once a proof that he was not likely to despise Jewish ordinances 
 and religious observances. 
 
 / was in a trance] Better (with Rev. Ver.), " I fell into a trance." 
 This was the occasion of one of those ' ' visions and revelations of the 
 Lord" of which St Paul speaks to the Corinthians {2 Cor. xii. i) and 
 with which, from his conversion onwards, he was many times instructed 
 and comforted. 
 
 18. and saw him saying tenia me] In Acts ix. 29 — 30 no mention 
 is made that a vision had appeared to Saul commanding him to depart 
 from Jerusalem. It is only said that "the disciples" sent him away. 
 But these two statements are not inconsistent with each other. Saul 
 might be warned to go, and the disciples at the same time prompted to 
 send him. In the same way two different causes, one natural, the other 
 
3o8 THE ACTS, XXII. [vv. 19—21. 
 
 ing unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusa- 
 lem : for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. 
 
 19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in 
 
 20 every synagogue them that believed on thee : and when the 
 blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing 
 by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of 
 
 21 them that slew him. And he said unto me. Depart : for I 
 will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. 
 
 supernatural, are mentioned Acts xiii. 1 — 4, viz. the prompting of the 
 Holy Spirit, and the act of the Church of Antioch. And still more like 
 is the statement of St Paul (Gal. ii. 2), that he went up to Jerusalem 
 "by revelation," when it is placed side by side with Acts xv. 1 where 
 we are told that the Christians of Antioch determined that Paul and 
 Barnabas should go up to consult the church in Jerusalem. 
 
 get thee quickly out of J ertisaleni\ We know from Gal. i, 18 that the 
 duration of the Apostle's stay was but fifteen days. 
 
 receive thy testimony concerning me'] Better (with Rev. Ver.), " receive 
 of thee testimony, &c." The Apostle, as is clear from what follows in 
 the next verse, considered that he would be specially a messenger likely 
 to persuade and convince men of the truths of the Christian faith. 
 God, in the vision, points out that this will not be so. 
 
 19. Lord, they know, &c.] The Rev. Ver. gives " they themselves 
 know" to mark that the pronoun is emphatic. This is not English, but 
 there seems to be no other way of indicating in our language the 
 emphasis which is expressed in the original. Saul is confident that he 
 will be well known by many to whom he is speaking, and that his 
 zealous persecution of the Christians less than four years before cannot 
 have fallen out of men's memories. 
 
 / imprisoned and beat] The Greek implies that this conduct was of 
 some continuance. Saul was regularly engaged in the work. 
 
 in every synagogue] For the synagogues as places where such punish- 
 ment was inflicted cp. Matth. x. 17, xxiii. 34, Mark xiii. 9, Lukexxi. 12. 
 That they were also places in which charges were heard is seen from 
 Luke xii. 11. 
 
 20. thy martyr Stephen] Better, " Stephen, thy -witness." The 
 Greek word had not yet come to be applied as it afterwards was to 
 those Christians who bore witness to the truth by their death. 
 
 and consenting unto his death] The oldest authorities omit the last 
 three words, which are added to bring the phrase into exact accord with 
 viii. I. 
 
 kept the raiment] cp. vii. 58. 
 
 21. J ivill send thee far hence, 8lC.] Rev. Ver. *' will send thee forth 
 far hence, &c." We need not understand the command as implying 
 that the Apostle's missionary labours were to begin from that moment, 
 but that God's work for him was now appointed, and would begin in 
 His own time, but would be not among Jews or Greeks at Jerusalem, 
 but among the Gentiles in distant places. 
 
vv. 22— 24.] THE ACTS, XXII. 309 
 
 22 — 29. Fury of the Jews. The Chief Capiai7i orders Paul 
 to be scourged, hut on hearmg that he is a Roman^ recalls 
 the order in alarm. 
 
 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lift 22 
 up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the 
 earth : for it is not fit that he should live. And as they 23 
 cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the 
 air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into 24 
 
 unto the Gentiles'] St Paul had kept back the word which he was 
 sure would rouse their anger as long as ever he could, and we may well 
 suppose from the conciliatory tone of much of his speech that the atten- 
 tion of the crowd had been enlisted, for the speaker was a man of culture 
 and spake their own tongue. But when the Gentiles are spoken of as 
 recipients of God's message they break forth into all the excitement of 
 an Oriental mob. 
 
 22 — 29. Fury of the Jews. The Chief Captain orders Paul 
 
 TO BE scourged, BUT ON HEARING THAT HE IS A ROMAN, 
 RECALLS THE ORDER IN ALARM. 
 
 22. unto this word] It is probable that, though listening, they were 
 not well-pleased at some things which they heard. Their pent-up feel- 
 ings broke into instant execration at the hated word. 
 
 and then lift up\ The Rev. Ver. omits " then" for which there is no 
 •word in the original, but it is needed for the English sense, and would 
 be therefore better retained. 
 
 for it is not ft] The best authorities read *' It was not fit." And 
 this no doubt expresses the feeling of the mob. They had listened for 
 a time, but when the speaker made mention of "the Gentiles" they were 
 at once clear that he ought long ago to have been destroyed. He had 
 been all along a man who was not fit to live. 
 
 23. cast off their clothes] i. e. the loose upper robe, which could 
 easily be laid aside, and which in such an excitement would interfere 
 with their movements. Compare the conduct of the crowd when our 
 Lord rode into Jerusalem, and also the behaviour of Jehu's friends, 
 2 Kings ix. 13. 
 
 and threw dust into the air] Compare the action of Sliimei, 1 Sam. 
 xvi. 13, where the marginal rendering shews that the dust was thrown 
 at David. Perhaps it may have been meant in the present case to be 
 thrown at St Paul, who was above the crowd, at the top of the stairs. 
 The attempt to reach him with what they threw was futile, but it shewed 
 what they would fain have done. For a like action as a sign of grief 
 cp. Job ii. 12. 
 
 24. the chief captain, &c.] Probably the chief captain knew nothing 
 of what St Paul had been saying, and would be surprised at the out- 
 break of rage on the part of the people, and conclude from it that there 
 
3IO THE ACTS, XXII. [vv. 25—28. 
 
 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 a 
 
 26 man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ? When the cen- 
 turion heard that, 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 
 
 was some serious charge laid against him which he might best ascertain 
 by subjecting his prisoner to torture till he should confess. 
 
 wherefore they cried so agauist hini\ The Rev. Ver. has "for what 
 cause they so shouted against him," and the verb is rendered "gave a 
 shout" (Acts xii. 22), but there it is the voice of the applauding crowd 
 that is spoken of. In this verse and Luke xxiii. 21 (the only other 
 passage in which the word is found in N. T.) "cry "seems to express 
 better in English the utterance of an infuriated mob. It is true that a 
 different verb is rendered by " cry" in verse 23, but that proves that the 
 Greeks had two verbs which they could use for the noise of a mob, 
 while in English we appear not to be so rich. In the A. V. "shout" 
 seems always used of triumph and exultation. 
 
 25. Atid as they bound him with thongs'] Rro. Ver. "And when they 
 had tied him up with the thongs." This gives more of the force of the 
 verb in the Greek which implies the stretching of the prisoner forward, 
 so that he may be in a position to receive the blows. Some have trans- 
 lated "for the thongs," but the word rendered "thongs" is one which is 
 always used for straps employed for straining or binding tight, and 
 rarely, if ever, for the implement by which the chastisement is in- 
 flicted. 
 
 the centurion that stood by] He was superintending the work of 
 fastening the prisoner to the whipping-post, which was done by the 
 common soldiers. 
 
 a man that is a Roman] It was an offence punishable with the 
 severest penalties for a man to claim to be a Roman citizen, if he were 
 not one. The peril of such an assertion, if it were not true, convinces 
 the centurion at once, and though we are not told so expressly we may 
 feel sure that the operation of " tying up" was stopped. 
 
 26. Take heed what thou doest] The oldest texts omit the word for 
 *' take heed " and so make the remainder to be a blunt question 
 *' What art thou about to do?" And thus Rev. Ver. It was forbidden, 
 under heavy penalty, by the Lex Porcia, to scourge a Roman citizen 
 (Liv. X. 9). 
 
 28. obtained I this freedom] 'QeiiQX ^^ this citizenship" {Rev. Ver.). 
 Probably at the time when the A. V. was made "freedom" conveyed 
 somewhat of this sense as we speak still of bestowing on any one the 
 
vv. 29, 30.] THE ACTS, XXII. 311 
 
 Paul said, But I was free born. Then straightway they de- 29. 
 parted from him which should have examined him : and the 
 chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a 
 Roman, and because he had bound him. 
 
 30. The Chief Captain brings Paul before the Sanhedrin. 
 
 On the morrow, because he would have known the cer- 30. 
 tainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him 
 from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all . 
 
 "freedom " of a city, meaning thereby all the rights of a citizen. It was 
 the Roman boast " I am a Roman citizen,^'' (Cic. in Verr. v. 63). The 
 sale of the freedom of Rome was at times the perquisite of some of the 
 Imperial parasites and favourites, who made what they could of such a 
 privilege. 
 
 / was free born\ Rev. Ver. " I am a Roman born." How St Paul 
 came to be a Roman citizen by birth we cannot tell, probably some 
 ancestor for meritorious conduct had been rewarded with enfranchise- 
 ment. Tarsus was a free city, and had its own laws and magistrates, 
 but that did not constitute its inhabitants Roman citizens. 
 
 29. which should have examined hi?7i\ This is old English for "which 
 were about to examine him" which the Rev. Ver. gives. The verb is 
 euphemistically employed for the scourging which it was proposed to- 
 administer to obtain information from St Paul. 
 
 because he had botind hi?n'\ i.e. bound him for the purpose of scourging. 
 To be bound with a chain as a prisoner was not prohibited in the case 
 of Romans. Hence we find St Paul speaking often in the Epistles, 
 written during his imprisonment at Rome, of the bonds and the "chain" 
 with which he was afflicted. Cp. Phil. i. 7, 13, 14, 16; Col. iv. 18; 
 Philem. 10, 13. Also Acts xxviii. 20, while the next verse in this 
 chapter shews that though the Apostle was unloosed from the whipping- 
 post, he was still kept in bands. 
 
 30. The Chief Captain brings Paul before the Sanhedrin. 
 
 30. because he would have known'] Literally and better (with Rev. 
 Ver.) " desiring to know." The Chief Captain was anxious as-a Roman 
 officer, that justice should be done, and this could only be by having 
 both sides before some authoritative council. 
 
 he loosed hit?t from his bands'\ The oldest MSB. do not contain the 
 last three words, but- they are to be understood, whether expressed or 
 not. 
 
 and commanded the chief priests'] He had discovered thus much that 
 the offence charged against his prisoner was concerning the religion 01 
 the Jews. He therefore summons the chiei religious authorities as those 
 who were best able to decide whether any wrong had been done. 
 
 and all their council] The oldest text omits " their." The council 
 intended was the whole Jewish Sanhedrin. 
 
312 THE ACTS, XXIII. [vv. i, 2. 
 
 their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him 
 before them. 
 
 I — 10. St Paul before the Sanhedrm. Disagreement between 
 the Pharisees afid Sadducees. 
 
 23 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men 
 
 and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before 
 
 2 God until this day. And the high priest Ananias com- 
 
 to appear] i.e. to be assembled in some place to which he might bring 
 Paul, and have the case fairly discussed. The place where the San- 
 hedrin met for their own consultations was called Lishkath-Haggazith 
 and was a hall built of cut stone so situate that one half was built on 
 holy, the other half on the profane ground, and it had two doors, one to 
 admit to each separate section. T. B. Jovia 25*. But whether this 
 was the place of meeting at this time we have no means of deciding. 
 
 brought Paul doivii] The castle was situate on the highest part above 
 the temple, so that wherever he had to go, the Chief Captain must come 
 down. 
 
 set him before thevi\ He appears to have left him there (see xxiii. \o) 
 and to have given him over to them for examination, though still taking 
 care that he should not be the victim of mob-law. 
 
 XXIII. 1—10. St Paul before the Sanhedrin. Disagreement 
 
 BETWEEN the PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 
 
 1. And Paul, earnestly beholding the council'] The verb is one which 
 St Luke very frequently employs to note a speaker's expression at the 
 commencement of a speech, and it is one of those features in the Acts 
 which shew us where the compiler has acted as editor to the narratives 
 which he used. He very generally gives some word to indicate the 
 gesture or look of the person who speaks. This verb is often rendered in 
 A.V. "looking stedfastly" and that rendering the Rev. Ver. gives here. 
 
 Men and brethren] Better, *' Brethren." See note on i. 16. 
 
 / have lived in all good conscience before God until this day] The 
 pronoun " I " is emphatically inserted in the Original. It is as though 
 the Apostle would say, 'You see me before you as though I were an 
 offender, but personally I feel myself innocent.' The verb is one 
 which in profane authors signifies 'to discharge the duties of a citizen.' 
 St Paul implies by its use that he has been obedient to God's laws, 
 as a good citizen would be to the laws of his country. So far as being 
 devoted to God's service, his whole life up to the present moment had 
 been of one piece, it was only that his conscience had been enlightened, 
 and so his behaviour had changed. He had at first lived as a con- 
 scientious and observant Jew, his conscience now approved his conduct 
 as a Christian. 
 
 2. And the high priest Ananias] This was Ananias the son of 
 Nebedseus. (Joseph. Ant. xx. 5, 2.) In the time of the Emperor 
 
vv. 3— 5-] THE ACTS, XXIII. 313 
 
 manded them that stood by him to smite him on the 
 mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, 3 
 thou whited wall : for sittest thou to judge me after the law, 
 and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? 
 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? 4 
 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high s 
 
 Claudius he had been suspended from his ofifice for some offence and 
 sent to Rome [Ant. XX. 6. 2) but afterwards seems to have been held 
 in great reputation in Jerusalem {Ant. XX. 9. 1). 
 
 to smite him on the. month\ No doubt St Paul's address, before the 
 high priest gave this order, had extended much beyond the single 
 sentence which St Luke records, and he only preserves for us that 
 which appears to have moved the anger of the authorities, by his claim 
 to have led a life of which in God's sight he was not ashamed. The 
 action was intended to put a stop to what would be counted the pre- 
 sumptuous language of St Paul. 
 
 3. God shall smite thee., thou ivhited ivall\ Here we may see how 
 veiy far even the excellence of St Paul comes short of the behaviour 
 of the Divine Master, who when he suffered threatened not, and when 
 reviled, reviled not again. We need not however consider that St Paul's 
 language here was a wish for evil upon the high priest, but only an 
 expression of confidence in God that such conduct as that of Ananias 
 would not be allowed to go unpunished. We know from Josephus 
 {Wars, II. 17. 9) that Ananias did come to a violent end. St Paul 
 calls him "whited wall" because he bore the semblance of a minister 
 of justice, but was not what he seemed. Cp. "whited sepulchres" 
 (Matth. xxiii. 27). 
 
 for sittest thou., &c.] The original has merely the copulative con- 
 junction, which the Rev. Ver. consequently represents by "and sittest 
 thou., &c." The translation misses the force of the Greek, which has 
 the pronoun emphatically expressed. The connexion seems to be this. 
 The Apostle had just named the high priest "a whited wall;" he then 
 continues "and dost thou (such an one) sit, &c." 
 
 after the la%u\ i. e. according to the law (as Rev. Ver.). Cp. Pr. Bk. 
 "Deal not with us after our sins." 
 
 cojit?-ary to the law] For St Paul had not yet been heard. Cp. 
 John vii. 51. 
 
 4. God's high priest] So styled because he sat on the judgment- 
 seat as God's representative, cp. Deut. xvii. 8 — 13. In the Old Test, 
 the priestly, and even other, judges are sometimes called by God's own 
 name "Elohim." (See Exod. xxi. 6, xxii, 8, 9 and cp. Ps. Ixxxii. i.) 
 
 5. / zuist not., brethren, that he was the high priest] Several ex- 
 planations have been given of this statement of St Paul. Some think 
 that it may have been true that St Paul from defect of sight, with 
 which he is supposed to have been afflicted, could not distinguish that 
 the speaker was the high priest ; others that the high priest was not 
 in his official position as president of the court ; or that owing to the 
 
 ACTS 2 2 
 
314 THE ACTS, XXIII. [v. 6. 
 
 . ii. 
 
 priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of 
 6 the ruler 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 
 
 troublous times, and St Paul's recent arrival in Jerusalem, he was not 
 aware who was high priest ; or that he was speaking in irony, and 
 meant to imply that the action of the judge was of such a character 
 that none would have supposed him to be high priest ; or that he 
 meant by "I wist not" that for the moment he was not thinking of 
 what he was saying. It is most consonant with St Paul's character 
 to believe that either his own physical deficiency, or some lack of the 
 usual formalities or insignia, made him unable to distinguish that he 
 who had given the order was really the high priest. 
 
 for it is ivritten'] The quotation is from Exod. xxii. 28 and is 
 another illustration of what was said above on verse 4. The whole 
 sentence of the O.T. is "Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse 
 the ruler of thy people" and the marginal note on "gods" is " (^r, 
 judges " which margin should be in the text. The Rev. Ver. in this 
 verse omits " the" befoi^e "high priest" and renders "a ruler" instead 
 of '■'the ruler." 
 
 6. But wken Paul perceived, &c.] We are not told in what way the 
 knowledge which the Apostle here acted on was gained. Perhaps the 
 Pharisees, as in the parable of the Pharisee and publican, kept them- 
 selves apart ; or to a Jewish eye some mark of their dress may have 
 been enough to bespeak a difference of party. St Paul used this party 
 spirit in a perfectly legitimate manner. What he did was not done 
 merely to set them by the ears, but to secure an opportunity for 
 speaking on that central doctrine of Christianity, the resurrection of 
 the dead. (Cp. xxiv. -21.) 
 
 Men and brethreft] Better ^^ Brethren. ^^ See note on i. 16. 
 
 the son of a Pharisee'] The best MSS. give a son of Pharisees. 
 This reading has the advantage of removing St Paul's language beyond 
 the questioning which has sometimes been raised about it. " I am a 
 Pharisee," he says. And the question has been raised, whether he had 
 a right to describe himself thus. When he continues " a son of Pharisees " 
 we see that he is stating that by descent and birth his family had for 
 generations been members of that party. Having said this, he then 
 propounds that doctrine which, of all their teaching, was that which 
 severed them from the Sadducees. That this point also was the central 
 doctrine of Christianity makes St Paul's address not disingenuous, but 
 an appeal to those who agreed with him thus far in his belief, to hear 
 what he had further to say which might meet with their acceptance. 
 And it is not as if the Apostle had raised the question in their midst 
 on some side-issue. The whole teaching of the Christian church rested 
 on the truth of the resurrection, and therefore with much wisdom and 
 without any thought of deception he cries, "I am a Pharisee, and for 
 
w. 7— lo.] THE ACTS, XXIIT. 315 
 
 dead I am called in question. And when he had so said, 7 
 there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sad- 
 ducees : and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees s 
 say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit : 
 but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great 9 
 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 spoken to him, let us not fight against 
 God. And when there arose a great dissension, the chief 10 
 
 teaching the doctrine of the resurrection (which they hold) I am now 
 called in question.' 
 
 7. and the multitnde {Rev. Ver. assembly] was divided] The verb 
 in the original is that from which our EngUsh "schism" is derived, and 
 this points to the character of the division. God made the division 
 work for the safety of his servant, as He many times brings good out 
 of evil. 
 
 8. the Sadducees say that there is no resurrectiori] It is said that 
 their teaching had its rise in the thought that "God's servants should 
 not do service with the hope of reward. " As the life to come would be 
 a reward we are told that their doctrine developed into the denial 
 of the Resurrection. As we meet with them in the New Testament, 
 they are mainly members of the priestly order, and appear to have 
 accepted only the written Law, as distinct from tradition, yet in spite 
 of the mention of angels in the Pentateuch they appear to have ex- 
 plained the language in such wise as to identify these angelic appear- 
 ances with some manifestation of the divine glory, and thus to have 
 come to deny the existence of any spiritual beings distinct from God 
 Himself. In political matters they were on the side of Rome, and 
 in consequence are found uniting at times with the Herodians. 
 
 9. And there arose a great cry {Rev. Ver. clamour] The noise was 
 of an excited mob. It is the same word that is used in the parable of 
 the Ten Virgins, to describe the shout "the bridegroom cometh." 
 
 and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part] The best authorities 
 read "some of the scribes of the Pharisees' part.^"" 
 
 let us not fight against God] These words are not found in the oldest 
 MSS, and it may be that St Luke left the sentence as an incomplete 
 exclamation. This the Rev. Ver. has endeavoured to represent by 
 rendering the preceding clause "And what if a Spirit hath spoken to 
 him, or an angel." The temper of these Pharisees is so very much 
 akin to the counsel of Gamaliel in chap. v. 39, that it is not difficult to 
 understand how a thoughtful reader filled up on his margin the un- 
 finished exclamation by an adaptation of Gamaliel's language, and that 
 these words found their way in a short time into the text. 
 
 10. the chief captain] He must have been in some position where 
 he could watch all the proceedings, though we can hardly think that he 
 was presiding in the Sanhedrin. 
 
3i6 THE ACTS, XXIII. [vv. ii, 12. 
 
 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. 
 
 II — 25. Paul is cheered by a Visioii. The Jews conspire to 
 
 kill him. 
 
 " And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, 
 
 Be of good cheer, Paul : for as thou hast testified of me in 
 
 12 Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And 
 
 when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and 
 
 pulled in pieces of thetn] The Pharisees had constituted themselves 
 protectors of the Apostle, and so the possession of his person had 
 become the object of a struggle between them and their opponents. 
 
 commanded the soldiers] They were in the tower of Antonia, over- 
 looking the Temple-precincts, and so were ready to interfere in the 
 struggle as soon as they were bidden. They were in considerable 
 numbers, for below (ver. 27) the A. V. renders this word by "army." 
 Jerusalem was at this time in such an excited state that the presence of 
 a large Roman force was necessary. 
 
 11—25. Paul is cheered by a Vision. The Jews conspire to 
 
 KILL HIM. 
 
 11. And the night follozuing] The Apostle was now, though not 
 rightly a prisoner, yet kept, that he might be out of harm's way, under 
 the charge of the Roman soldiers. The hearing of his case having been 
 interrupted, another time was to be appointed when the examination 
 should be completed. 
 
 the Lord stood by himl Appearing in a vision as before at Corinth, 
 cp. xviii. 9. 
 
 Be of good cheer'] The Apostle could hardly be otherwise than down- 
 cast with the events of the previous day. He had entered the Temple 
 and undertaken the Nazarite vow with a view of conciliating the Jews 
 and he had only been saved from being torn in pieces of them through 
 the interference of the Roman commander. 
 
 so must thotc bear wittiess also at Rome] He had already written to 
 the Roman church of his "longing to see them," and that "oftentimes 
 he had purposed to come unto them (Rom. i. ir — 13)," and St Luke 
 (Acts xix. 21) records the intention in the history of St Paul's stay at 
 Ephesus. The way to compass such a visit had not yet been found, 
 but now it is pointed out by the Lord Himself. 
 
 12. And rvhen it zvas day] While Paul was receiving comfort from 
 the Lord, the Jews were plotting to secure his destruction and they 
 let no time be wasted. Their plans are ready by the next day, and 
 as soon as it arrived they set about their execution. 
 
 certain of the Jezus banded together] The best MSS. omit certain of 
 The addition looks like a marginal comment of some one who felt that 
 
vv. 13— 15.1 THE ACTS, XXIII. 317 
 
 bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would 
 neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they 
 were more than forty which had made this 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. 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 some- 
 thing more perfectly concerning him : and we, or ever he 
 
 the plot would only be contrived by the Sadducees. The men who 
 banded themselves thus together were probably belonging to the Zealots 
 of whose fanaticism Josephus gives several instances. 
 
 bound themselves wider a curse\ Lit. placed themselves under an 
 anathema. The noun is used in very solemn language twice over by 
 St Paul (Gal. i. 8, 9), "Let him be accursed." It was an invocation 
 of God's vengeance upon themselves, if they failed to do the work 
 which they undertook. 
 
 they 7vould jieither eat nor drink] So that there was no time to be 
 lost ; their work must be promptly executed. 
 
 13. 7nore than forty] Shewing the excited state of popular feeling 
 at this moment among the Jews. They may have been prompted to 
 this method of getting rid of the Apostle, because they had not the 
 power of life and death any longer, and were not likely to procure 
 Paul's death at the hands of the Roman authorities, on any accusation 
 connected with a religious question. 
 
 14. they came to the chief priests and elders] Who were most likely 
 of the Sadducees' part, and who therefore would have no wish to save 
 St Paul's life. 
 
 Wc have bound ourselves under a great curse] Lit. "with a curse 
 have we cursed ourselves." A Hebrew mode of expressing the intensity 
 and earnestness of any action. Cp. " to die the death, &c." 
 
 that we will eat nothing] More literally (with Rev. Ver.) "to taste 
 nothing." 
 
 15. Alow therefore ye with the council, &c.] Rev. Ver. '■'■ do ye^ to 
 mark more clearly the imperative. The chief priests and elders, of the 
 Sadducees' party, were to use their influence in the council, that a 
 request might proceed from the whole body of the Sanhedrin, that 
 Paul should be again brought before them by the chief captain. From 
 what we read of the Sadducees, in the N. T. and Josephus, it is easy 
 to believe that they would be in a majority. 
 
 that he b7'ing him doxvn] i. e. from the tower o! Antonia to the place 
 where the Sanhedrin held its meetings. 
 
 tmto you to inorrow] The oldest MSS. omit the last word. It is 
 found in verse 20 below, and may have been early inserted here to 
 make that verbal accord of the desire for which the received text 01 
 the Acts 01 the Apostles furnishes so many illustrations. 
 
3i8 THE ACTS, XXIII. [vv. i6— 18. 
 
 16 come near, are ready to kill him. And when Paul's sister's 
 son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into 
 
 17 the castle, and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the 
 centurions unto hi?}i, and said, Bring this young man unto 
 the chief captain : for he hath a certain thi7ig to tell him. 
 
 is So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and 
 said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me 
 
 as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerni^ig him'\ 
 Rev. Ver. "as though ye would judge of his case more exactly," which 
 is more in accordance with the classical meaning of the verb. 
 
 we... are ready to kill himl So that the suspicion of complicity in 
 the crime would not fall upon the chief priests and elders. Their 
 intention would appear to have been to give St Paul a fair hearing, and 
 the murder would seem to be the work of some fanatics unconnected 
 with the Council. 
 
 16. And when PauVs sister's son, &c.] The Rev. Ver. keeps to the 
 Greek construction, "But Paul's sister's son heard... and he came, &c." 
 
 We have no other mention of the family of St Paul anywhere in the 
 history. It seems improbable that the sister and her son were settled 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, or we should have been likely to hear of them 
 on Paul's previous visits. His imprisonment at this time was only to 
 keep him from being killed, and so any relative or friend was permitted 
 to come to him. 
 
 he went and entered into the castle] The margin of the Rev. Ver. 
 gives the rendering of the text with a different punctuation : " he heard 
 of their lying in wait, having come in upon them and he entered, &c." 
 
 17. Then Paul called 07ie of the centurions, &c.] The Apostle was 
 under the charge of a military guard, and so would have no difficulty in 
 getting his message conveyed. And the knowledge that he was a 
 Roman citizen, and that by birth, would have spread among the 
 soldiery and would not be without its influence. 
 
 for he hath a certain thing [Rev. Ver. something] to tell him] We 
 have nothing to guide us to a knowledge of how Paul's nephew became 
 acquainted with the plot to murder his uncle. As we know nothing of 
 any kinsmen of St Paul being Christians we may perhaps be right in 
 supposing that the young man was a Jew, present in Jerusalem on 
 account of the feast, and that he had heard among the Jewish popu- 
 lation about the uproar, and the undertaking of the would-be assassins. 
 In his interview with the chief captain it is clear that he was prepared 
 with evidence which M^as convincing to that officer. 
 
 18. he took him, and brought him, &c.] With soldier-like obedience 
 and raising no questions. 
 
 Patil the prisoner'] A name which St Paul was often afterwards to 
 apply to himself. Cp. Eph. iii. i, iv. i ; Philemon i and 9, &c. 
 
 ajid prayed me] In the older English the verb "pray" as here used 
 is no more than "ask," which latter verb is here given by the Rev. Ver., 
 but it is a needless interference with the older diction. 
 
vv. 19—22.] THE ACTS, XXIII. 3^9 
 
 to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to 
 say unto thee. Then the chief captain took him by the 19 
 hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him^ 
 What is that thou hast to tell me ? And he said, The Jews 20 
 have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down 
 Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would 
 inqure somewhat of him more perfectly. But do not thou 21 
 yielc unto them : for there lie in wait for him of them moe 
 than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, 
 that Ihey will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him : 
 and now are 'they ready, looking for a promise from thee. 
 So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and 22 
 charged hifu^ See thou tell no 7nan that thou hast shewed 
 
 19. the chief captain took him by the hand'\ The messenger from 
 a Rorr.an citizen was entitled to some consideration, and the action of 
 the chief captain is meant to encourage the young man. The chief 
 captain would naturally incline to favour Paul after his conversation 
 with him, rather than his Jewish accusers. We can gather this from 
 the tone of the letter which he subsequently sent to Csesarea. 
 
 and zvent with him aside pHvately, and asked him'] The adverb 
 ** privately" is better joined with the verb "asked" as in the Rev. Ver.: 
 this is more in accordance with the Greek order, and such an adverb is 
 somewhat out of place with the first verb, in which privacy is implied 
 without such an addition. 
 
 20. as though they would inquire] The oldest MSS. give '■^ as though 
 tliou wouldest inquire.'''' It is more probable that this older reading was 
 altered to agree with the plural in verse 15, than that the plural was 
 changed into the singular. It was natural enough for the speaker 
 among the Zealots to say to the chief priests "as though ye would 
 inquire," and it is equally natural that Paul's nephew, speaking to the 
 chief captain, who had control of the v/hole proceedings, should say 
 "as though thoti wouldest inquire." 
 
 21. But do not thou yield unto them] More literally, "Do not thou 
 therefore yield, &c." (with Rev. Ver.). 
 
 which have bound theniselves with an oath] The Greek is the same 
 as in verse 12. It is better therefore to render as there "bound them- 
 selves under a curse." Beside which, the invocation implied in the 
 original is much stronger than is indicated by our English "oath." And 
 to vary the English rendering gives an idea of variation in the Greek, 
 which in one continuous narrative should be avoided. 
 
 looking for a p^-omise] Rev. Ver. "the promise " i.e. the one which 
 they are coming to ask you to make. 
 
 22. So the chief captain then let the young man depart] There is 
 but one conjunction in the original, v/hich is doubly rendered here by 
 So and then. It is better to omit the latter. 
 
 and charged him^ See thou tell no man, &c.] The Rev. Ver. has 
 
320 THE ACTS, XXIII. [w. 23-25. 
 
 23 these things to me. And he called unto hi?}i two centurions, 
 saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Cesarea, and 
 horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at 
 
 24 the third hour of the night ; and provide the7n beasts, that 
 they may set Paul on, and bring hi?n safe unto Fehx the 
 
 25 governor. And he wrote a letter after this manner : 
 
 "charging him, Tell no man, &c." The Greek is literally "charging 
 him to tell, &c." but though this is correct enough in Greek wlen a 
 sentence like " that thou hast shewed, &c." is to follow it cannot stand 
 in English ; so for the infinitive "to tell" an imperative or its equiralent 
 must be substituted. The A. V. has taken the one, the Rev. Vtr, the 
 other way of rendering. 
 
 that thoji hast shewed [Rev. Ver. signified] &c.] This change is 
 made because the same word was so rendered in verse 15. 
 
 23. to go to Cesarea'] The residence of the Roman governor and 
 the seat of the chief jurisdiction. The preposition is not the usual one. 
 Hence the Rev. Ver. gives "to go as far as Csesarea." The distance 
 between Jerusalem and Csesarea is about 70 miles. 
 
 and spcar7neii\ The Greek word is an unusual one, and signifies 
 •graspers by the right hand.' Hence it has been explained, as in the 
 A. v., of soldiers who carried a spear in their right hand; others have 
 thought a military guard was meant who kept on the right hand of 
 the prisoners of whom they had charge. The Vulgate gives lancearii, 
 lancers. 
 
 at the third hour of the night] This would be, according to Jewish 
 reckoning, at 9 P. M. 
 
 24. and pi'ovide them beasts] Here is an infinitive, in dependence 
 on the verb in the previous verse, to mark which the Rev. Ver. inserts 
 he bade them. 
 
 Felix the governor] He was made procurator of Judsea by Claudius 
 in A. D. 53. He was the brother of Pallas, the favourite freedman of 
 Claudius, and it was by the interest of his brother, that Felix was 
 advanced, and retained in his position even after the death of Claudius. 
 The character of Felix, as gathered both from Roman and Jewish 
 historians, is that of a mean, profligate and cruel ruler, and even the 
 troublous times in which he lived are not sufficient to excuse the 
 severity of his conduct. After his return to Rome, on the appointment 
 of Festus to be governor in his stead, Felix was accused by the Jews 
 of Caesarea and only saved by the influence which his brother Pallas 
 had with Nero, as he had had with his predecessor. Felix was con- 
 nected with the Herodian family by his marriage with Drusilla the 
 daughter of Herod Agrippa I. He continued to hold office at Csesarea 
 for two years after St Paul's coming there (xxiv. 27) and during the 
 whole of that time the Apostle was his prisoner. 
 
 25. a letter after this mafiner] {Rev. Ver. form]. As both the 
 writer and receiver of the letter were Romans, it is most likely that 
 Latin would be the language of the original, and that St Luke has 
 
vv. 26—28.] THE ACTS, XXIII. 321 
 
 26 — 30. Letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix. 
 
 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix 26 
 sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews, and 27 
 should have been killed of them: then came I with an 
 army, and rescued him, having understood that he was 
 a Roman. And when I would have known the cause 28 
 
 given us a representation of the substance of the document rather than 
 its very words. 
 
 26 — 30. Letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix. 
 
 26. the most excellent governor] The title " most excellent " is that 
 w^hich is given by St Luke at the beginning of his Gospel to the 
 Theophilus for whom he wrote it. Hence it is probable that Theophilus 
 held some official position, it may be under the Romans in Macedonia, 
 where St Luke remained for some time and where he may probably 
 have written his gospel. 
 
 sendeth greetmg] The Rev. Ver. omits the first word. The original^ 
 has only the infinitive " to rejoice " which is of course governed by some 
 word indicating a wish, i.e. = " biddeth to rejoice," " wisheth joy." 
 
 27. This man was taken of the fews] The verb implies a seizure 
 or arrest. It is used (Matth. xxvi. 55 ; Mark xiv. 48) of the party of 
 men who came to seize our Lord, and (Acts xii. 3) of Herod Agrippa's 
 arrest of St Peter. 
 
 It is to be noted that the chief captain employs the word for ?na7t, 
 which in the original implies respect, no doubt because he was presently 
 about to mention that he was a Roman citizen. The same distinction 
 exists in Latin as in Greek, so that the original may have been in 
 either language. There can be little doubt that Roman officers at this 
 time were familiar enough with Greek to write in it, if need were. 
 
 and should have been killed of the?n'] The Rev. Ver. modifies the 
 obsolescent English, and reads "was about to be slain of them." The 
 chief captain does not give a very exact report of what had happened. 
 He says nothing about the strife between the two religious parties ; per- 
 haps he did not understand its nature and cause. 
 
 then came I with an army, and rescued him] Rev. Ver. *^when I came 
 upon them zoith the soldiers, and, &c." This must refer rather to the first 
 rescue from the mob in the Temple-precincts (xxi. 32). There is no word 
 said of what happened afterwards, the binding with two chains, and the 
 intention of scourging the prisoner. 
 
 havijig u7tderstood [R. V. learned] that he was a Roman] The chief 
 captain put this in such wise as to claim credit for interference on behalf 
 of a Roman citizen, and in so doing omits to state that it was only when 
 Paul was about to be scourged and protested against it, that he was dis- 
 covered to be a citizen of Rome by birth. 
 
 28. And when I would have known, &c.] The Rev. Ver. more 
 literally "and desiring to know, &c." The method by which the chief 
 
322 THE ACTS, XXIII. [w. 29—32. 
 
 wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their 
 
 29 council : whom I perceived to be accused of questions 
 of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy 
 
 30 of death or of bonds. And when it was told me how that 
 the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, 
 and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before 
 thee what they had against him. Farewell. 
 
 31 — 35. Paid is brought to Cesarea, and kept prisoner by 
 Felix. 
 
 31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, 
 
 32 and brought him by night to Antipatris. On the morrow 
 
 captain proposed to learn the charge against Paul was by scourging the 
 prisoner. Cp. xxii, 24. 
 
 29. whom I perceived \^R. V. found] to be accused, &c.] At first he 
 would have discovered that the outcry against St Paul had something to 
 do with the regulations of the temple, then that there was a dispute 
 about the resurrection of those who were dead, and that on this point* 
 some of the Jewish leaders sided with Paul. Such questions about their 
 law would seem to the Roman officer quite as unworthy of consideration 
 as they did to Gallio at Corinth (xviii. 15). 
 
 30. And zvhen it 7vas told me how that the yews laid wait for the 
 man] In the oldest MSS. there is no mention made of "the Jews." 
 The J^ev. Ver. therefore renders "and when it was shewn to me that 
 there would be a plot against the man." 
 
 / sent straightway to thee] i.e. I sent him. The pronoun is supplied 
 in the Rev. Ver. as needful to the sense. Of course Lysias implies by 
 his language that he felt that Felix was a more fit person than himself to 
 deal with such a case. 
 
 and gave cofn7)iandment, &c.] By reason of the text in the oldest 
 MSS. the Rev. Ver. has, in the latter part of this clause, "to speak 
 against him before thee." The word "Farewell" is also unsupported 
 by the earliest authorities. 
 
 31 — S5. Paul is brought to Cesarea, and kept prisoner 
 BY Felix. 
 
 31. Then [So] the soldiers, 8ic....took Paul] i.e. they formed a party 
 for his escort, and took him among them. 
 
 and drought him by night] i.e. that same night, starting off early in 
 the night and travelling during night-time, thus getting clear away from 
 Jerusalem before the ambush of the Jews was prepared. 
 
 to Antipatris] This place "was 42 miles from Jerusalem and 26 from 
 Csesarea. It was in early times called Capharsaba, but Herod the 
 Great rebuilt it and named it Antipatris in memory of his father Anti- 
 pater. It lay in a beautiful part of the Vale of Sharon and was both 
 well watered and rich in wood. The remains of a Roman road have been 
 
vv. 33— 35-1 THE ACTS, XXIII. 323 
 
 they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the 
 castle : who, when they came to Cesarea, and delivered the 33 
 epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. 
 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of 34 
 what province he was : and when he understood that he was 
 of Cilicia; I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are 35 
 
 found close by it. For notices of the older city, see Josephus, Ant. xvi. 
 5. 2; I Mace. vii. 31 ; of the place as rebuilt, see Josephus, B.y. i. 4. 
 7; II. 19. I and 9; IV. 8. i. 
 
 32. On the morroiv\ The original has a conjunction which the Rev. 
 Ver. represents by "But." These men^vould return to Jerusalem again 
 on the day of the intended plot. 
 
 they left the horsemai to go with hini] Now that they were far away 
 from Jerusalem and in no fear of a surprise, seventy horsemen were 
 guard enough for the remainder of the way. But it may give us some 
 idea of the dangerous state of the countiy at the time when we consider 
 that the chief captain thought it needful to send with this one prisoner a 
 guard of 470 soldiers. We may also form some idea of what the 
 garrison in Jerusalem must have been when so many men could be 
 detached at a moment's notice. 
 
 and returned to the castle\ Apparently coming back as quickly as 
 it was possible for them to do so. As the road was one much travelled 
 they were probably able to obtain a change of horses here and there. 
 
 33. who, when they came to Cesarea] The Rev. Ver. breaks up the 
 relative into a conjunction and a personal pronoun. "And they, when, 
 &c." This makes the reference to the horsemen more clear. 
 
 and delivered the epistle [letter] to the govertior] It is not easy to see 
 what led the A. V. to give "epistle" here and "letter" for the same 
 word in ver. 25. Sometimes rhythm may account for such a variation, 
 but that is not the case here. 
 
 presented Paul also] If the letter as given above be a copy of the 
 original, the prisoner was not mentioned in it by name, but the soldiers 
 would merely declare that this was the man that had been committed to 
 their charge. 
 
 34. And when the governor had read the letter] The oldest MSS. 
 have nothing either for "the governor" or "the letter." Read (with 
 Rev. Ver.) "And when he had read it." 
 
 of what province he was] Cilicia had been at one time, and perhaps 
 still was, attached to the province of Syria. It was so in the time of 
 Quirinus. This will explain why at once Felix without question de- 
 cided that, at the proper time, he would hear the cause. 
 
 35. / will hear thee] The verb implies a complete and thorough 
 hearing of a case. "I will give thee a full hearing." The Rev. Ver. 
 renders "I will hear thy cause." 
 
 whe7i thine accusers are also come] Assuming that they would appear, 
 since they had been bidden to do so by the chief captain, as he had 
 explained in his letter. Of course Lysias had not said a word of this 
 
324 THE ACTS, XXIV. [v. i. 
 
 also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's 
 judgment hall. 
 
 1 — 9. An'ival of the Accusers. Speech of Tertullus, their 
 advocate. 
 
 24 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended 
 with the elders, and with a certain orator 7tamed Tertullus, 
 
 to the Jews when his letter was written, but intended to do so when 
 Paul was safely on the road to Caesarea. 
 
 to be kept in Herod's judgmetit hall\ The word rendered "judgment 
 hall" is "prsetorium," and may signify either the palace of a prince, the 
 tent of a general, or the barracks of the soldiery. Here it is probably 
 the name of the palace which Herod had erected for himself, and which 
 now was used as the governor's residence. It seems (from xxiv. •24 — 
 26) that it was close to the quarters of Felix himself, and that Paul could 
 speedily be sent for. Render " Herod's palace " (with y?^z/. Ver). The 
 verb employed in the sentence only implies that Paul was to be taken 
 care of; he was not kept in close imprisonment. "A Roman and un- 
 condemned" would not be subject to needless indignities, when his 
 accusers were Jews who could make no such claim for consideration. 
 Cf. xxiv. 23. 
 
 XXIV. 1—9, Arrival of the Accusers. Speech of Tertullus, 
 
 THEIR ADVOCATE. 
 
 1. And after five days\ Most naturally this means after St Paul's 
 arrival in Caesarea, and the events narrated at the end of chap, xxiii. 
 But it may mean five days after the departure of the Apostle from Jeru- 
 salem. The chief captain would give notice to the high priest of what 
 he had done as soon as it was safe to do so. After learning that they 
 must go to Caesarea with their accusation, the enemies of St Paul would 
 spend some little time in preparing their charge for the hearing of Felix, 
 and in providing themselves with an advocate. And as they would not 
 probably travel with as much haste as St Paul's convoy did, five days is 
 not a long interval to elapse before they arrived in Caesarea. 
 
 Ananias the high priest} He would be sure to be hot against the 
 Apostle after that speech about the "whited wall." 
 
 descended} Rev. Ver. [came down], i.e. from the capital to the sea- 
 coast city of Caesarea. 
 
 with the elders} The best MSS. have "■with certain elders."" It is not 
 likely that all the elders came. There would be some, who belonged to 
 the Pharisees, who would rather have spoken in favour of St Paul. 
 Those who came would be Sadducees, and so only a portion of the 
 Council. 
 
 and with a certain oratornamed Tertullus} Rev. Ver. '■^ and with an 
 orator, one Terttdlus." This man, as we may judge from his name, 
 which is a modification of the Latin Tertius, was a Roman, and would 
 be chosen because of his knowledge of Roman law, and his ability 
 
vv. 2, 3.] THE ACTS, XXIV. 325 
 
 who informed the governor against Paul. And when he was 2 
 called/?/-//^, 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 provi- 
 dence, we accept /'/ ahvays, and in all places, most noble 3 
 
 to place the case before Felix in such a light as to make it seem that 
 Paul was dangerous to the Roman power, and not merely a turbulent 
 and renegade Jew. We see below that he endeavoured to do this. 
 
 7vho informed, &c.] Better with Rev. Ver. "And they informed." 
 Thus it is shewn that the relative in the original refers not merely to 
 Tertullus but to the whole deputation. The verb is one which St Luke 
 uses in other places (Acts xxv. 2, 15) of the laying a formal information 
 before a judge. It is also used, Esther ii. 22, of Esther laying the 
 information of the plot of the two chamberlains before king Ahasuerus. 
 
 2. And when he was called forth'\ There is nothing in the original 
 to represent " forth " which is consequently omitted by the Rev. Ver. 
 The "calling" referred to is that of the crier of the court calling on 
 the case. 
 
 Tertullus began to accuse him\ St Luke has given us but the digest 
 of the advocate's speech. The seven verses, in which it is included, 
 and a large part of which is occupied with compliments to the judge, 
 would not have occupied three minutes in the delivery. 
 
 Seeing that by thee we enjoy great qtcietness'] [much peace] The orator 
 seizes on almost the only point in the government of Felix on which he 
 could hang any praise. By severity he had put down false Messiahs, 
 and the partizans of an Egyptian magician, as well as riots in Csesarea 
 and Jerusalem, so that the country was in a more peaceful condition 
 than it had been for a long time past. 
 
 and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence"] 
 Better (with Rev. Ver. and in accordance with the oldest MSS.) "and 
 that by thy providence evils are corrected for this nation." The word 
 rendered "providence" is found 2 Mace. iv. 6 where what is literally 
 " without the king's providence " is rendered " unless the king did look 
 thereto." It was by the severe looking thereto of Felix that disorders 
 were corrected, though we learn from Tacitus {Hist, v, 9; Ann. xii. 54) 
 that his severity in the end bore evil fruit, and it seems probable that 
 his main motive in suppressing other plunderers was that there might 
 be the more left for himself. 
 
 3. we accept it always [Better, in all ways] and in all places] The 
 word rendered " in all ways " is only found here in N. T. and does not 
 mean " always." Some would join " in all ways and in all places" with 
 the former part of the sentence thus: "evils are corrected for this nation 
 in all ways and in all places." "We accept it" means "we acknow- 
 ledge and are glad of it." 
 
 most noble {^R. V. excellent] Felix] The adjective is the same title 
 which was given to Felix in the letter from Claudius Lysias, and which 
 is afterwards given to Festus by St Paul (Acts xxvi. 25). 
 
326 THE ACTS, XXIV. [vv. 4— 6. 
 
 4 Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding, that I be 
 not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest 
 
 5 hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found 
 this man a pestilent/d'//(?2£/, and a mover of sedition among 
 all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the 
 
 6 sect of the Nazarenes : who also hath gone about to pro- 
 
 4. be not... tedious] The notion in the verb is that of stopping a 
 person's way and so hindering him. TertuUus would imply that Felix 
 was so deeply engaged in his public duties that every moment was 
 precious. 
 
 5. For we have found this man a pestilent fellow\ The Greek 
 literally says "a pestilence." The same word in the plural is translated 
 "pestilent fellows" in i Mace. x. 61, and it is further explained there 
 by "men of a wicked life." When they say "we have found" it is 
 implied that they have already spent some pains in detecting the evil 
 ways of the prisoner. 
 
 and a mover of sedition] (insurrections, with oldest MSS. and Rev. 
 Ver.). The first charge had been one of general depravity. On 
 coming to particulars Tertullus puts that first which would most touch' 
 the Roman power, and against which Felix had already shewn himself 
 to be severe. Insurrections were of such common occurrence that one 
 man might at this time be readily the prime mover in many. 
 
 among all the Jews throughout the world] We must bear in mind 
 that Paul had been assailed at a time when Jerusalem was full of 
 strangers come to the feast. It is not improbable that from some of 
 the Jewish visitors particulars had been gathered about the Apostle's 
 troubles at Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus and elsewhere, which in 
 the minds and on the lips of his accusers would be held for seditious 
 conduct, conduct which had brought him at times under the notice of 
 the tribunals. This Tertullus would put forward in its darkest colours. 
 "The world" at this time meant "the whole Roman Empire." Cp. 
 Csesar's decree (Luke ii. i) that "all the world " should be taxed. 
 
 a ringleader] The word is used in classical Greek of the front-rank 
 men in an army. 
 
 of the sect of the Nazarenes] The adjective is used as a term of 
 reproach equivalent to "the followers of him of Nazareth," which origin 
 was to the mind of the Jews enough to stamp Jesus as one of the many 
 false Messiahs. Cp. on the despised character of Nazareth, John i. 46. 
 
 6. %vho also hath gone about [who moreover assayed R. V.] to pro- 
 fane the temple] The old English "gone about" was equivalent to 
 " attempted." Cp. Shaks. Mids. Nt. D. iv. i. 212 : "Man is but an ass, 
 if he go about to expound this dream." But the expression is somewhat 
 obsolete now. 
 
 It is noteworthy that the Jews no longer adhere to their definite 
 charge as made xxi. 28, but only impute to St Paul the attempt at 
 profanation. 
 
vv. 7, 8.] THE ACTS, XXIV. 327 
 
 fane the temple : whom we took, and would have judged 
 according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias came 7 
 upon us, and with great violence took hi??t away out of our 
 hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by s 
 examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all 
 
 7vhom we fook] i.e. by main force. They would represent their 
 proceedings as an arrest of a grave offender. 
 
 and would, &c.] These words, as well as verse 7 and verse 8 down 
 to "come unto thee" are omitted in nearly all the oldest MSS., and by 
 the Rev. Ver., while the Greek Text, in those MSS. where if is found, 
 exhibits many variations. But in spite of this it is very difficult to see 
 how the advocate could have avoided some allusion to the circumstances 
 mentioned in these words. Of course he puts the matter in a light 
 most favourable to the Jews. " We would have judged him according 
 to our law " is very different language from that in which (xxiii. 27) 
 Lysias describes Paul as in danger to be killed by the Jews. The 
 action of Lysias too is described by Tertullus as one of great violence. 
 Probably the Roman soldiers would not handle the mob tenderly. 
 But Tertullus is trying to cast blame upon the chief captain and to 
 represent his party as doing all things according to law. 
 
 atcording to our law'] Tertullus identifies himself, advocate-like, with 
 the Jews whose mouthpiece he is. 
 
 7. But the chief captain Lysias] If this verse be an interpolation, . 
 it differs from others in the Acts very greatly. In other parts of the 
 book such insertions have merely been made to bring the whole of a 
 narrative under view at once, and there has been no variation of an 
 account previously given elsewhere. But here we have a passage not 
 representing the facts as stated before, but giving such a version of 
 them as might make Lysias appear to have been in the wrong, and 
 to have exercised his power in Jerusalem most arbitrarily against men 
 who were only anxious to preserve the purity of their sacred temple. 
 As both the Syriac and the Vulgate represent the passage it is not 
 quite satisfactory to reject it. 
 
 8. commanding his accusers to come unto thee] Which Lysias had 
 not done till Paul was removed beyond reach of pursuit. 
 
 by examining of whom] In the A.V. the relative "whom" is here 
 naturally referred to "accusers." A glance at the Greek shews that this 
 cannot be, for it is in the singular number. The Rev. Ver. gives the 
 literal rendering of the passage thus, ^' Ft-om whom thou zuilt be able, by 
 exat}iininghim thyself to take kttow ledge, &c." If the supposed interpola- 
 tion be accepted as text', then "whom" and "him" would most properly 
 be referred to Lysias. Felix might on the arrival of the chief captain 
 question him and learn the truth of what had taken place. And with 
 this the remark of Felix in verse 22 fits in, "When Lysias the chief 
 captain shall come down, I will determine your matter." If however 
 the doubtful words be rejected, then the pronouns must refer to St Paul. 
 But it is curious, to say the least, that Tertullus should suggest to Felix 
 
328 THE ACTS, XXIV. [vv. 9— ii. 
 
 9 these things, whereof we accuse him. And the Jews also 
 assented, saying that these things were so. 
 
 10 — 21. St PauVs answer to the charge. 
 
 to 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 
 
 II more cheerfully answer for myself : because that thou 
 mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since 
 
 that the truth of his case should be supported by an examination of 
 the person accused. It has therefore been suggested that the word 
 rendered " examining" has regard to some process of torture by which 
 a prisoner might be forced to confess the truth. But for this no 
 sufficient support has been found. The noun derived from this verb is 
 employed (xxv. 26) for the inquiry before Agrippa. On the whole there 
 seems quite as much to be said in favour of the Textus Receptus from 
 internal evidence, as can be brought against it by the evidence of MSS. 
 
 9. And the jfews also assented] [Rev. Ver. joined in the charge.] 
 The verb implies much more than assent. They made common cause 
 with their representative, and by their own language reiterated the 
 accusation. 
 
 saying {R. V. affirming) that these things were so] Ananias and the 
 elders must have first instructed their orator. So that the speech was 
 what they had supplied him with, and must have their accord. 
 
 10—21. St Paul's answer to the charge. 
 
 10. Then Paul, &c.] "When the governor had given him leave to 
 speak the Apostle addressed his defence to the points charged against 
 him. He had not excited the people, nor been the leader of any body 
 of Nazarenes, nor had he polluted the temple. 
 
 thou hast been of many years a fudge] We have arrived in the history 
 at about A. D. 58 or 59, and Felix had been made procurator in A. D. 52. 
 So that "many years" is about six or seven. But many of the governors 
 were recalled before they had held office so long. In verse 17 "many 
 years" must be about four or five. 
 
 / do the more cheerfully, &c.] The best MSS. have the positive, "I 
 cheerfully make my defence." St Paul was so far of good courage, be- 
 cause the experience of Felix, and his knowledge of Jewish manners and 
 customs, would enable him to appreciate the statements which related to 
 the Apostle's presence in Jerusalem. 
 
 11. because that thou mayest understand] Rev. Ver. taking a 
 slightly different reading, "Seeing that thou canst take knowledge." 
 The Apostle means that it was easy to find evidence about all that had 
 happened in such a short space of time. Beside which Felix's know- 
 ledge of Jewish customs would tell him that this was just the time at 
 which foreign Jews came to Jerusalem. 
 
 that there are yet but twelve days] The Rev. Ver. has the more 
 
vv. 12—14.] THE ACTS, XXIV. 329 
 
 I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither 
 found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither 
 raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the 
 city: neither can 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, 
 
 modern English, which is also closer to the Greek, "that it is not more 
 than twelve days." The time may be accounted for thus : the day of 
 St Paul's arrival, the interview with James on the second day, five days 
 may be given to the separate life in the temple during the vow, then the 
 hearing before the council, next day the conspiracy, the tenth day St 
 Paul reached Caesarea, and on the thirteenth day (which leaves five 
 days (xxiv. i), as Jews would reckon from the conspiracy to the hearing 
 in Csesarea) St Paul is before Felix. See Y2j:x2ix\StPaiil, ii. 338 (note). 
 since I went up to y erusalevi for to worship\ The Rev. ?^^r. gets rid 
 of the antiquated English by rendering, "since I went up to worship at 
 Jerusalem." But the A. V, gives more of the emphasis which St Paul 
 intended to lay on the object of his visit. He went on purpose to wor- 
 ship. Was it likely that he would try to profane the temple? And the 
 verb which he uses expresses all the lowly adoration common among 
 Orientals. The Apostle probably chose it for this reason. He would 
 have Felix know that it was in a most reverent frame of mind that he 
 came to the feast. 
 
 12. And they neither found me, &c.J The Apostle gives a flat denial 
 to the charge of insurrection, and challenges them to prove any single 
 point of it. He had not even entered into discussion with any man. 
 
 raising tip the peopWl Rev. Ver. "stirring up a crowd." For the 
 crowd was gathered by the Jews. 
 
 13. neither can they prove [Rev. Ver., with MS. authority, adds to 
 thee) the things, cScc] The proof must be such as the law required, not 
 the mere multiplied assertions of the accusers. The verb implies a 
 formal setting-forth of evidence, and is used by Josephus {De vita sua, 
 6) of aji array of proof which he has set forth to shew that his fellow- 
 countrymen did not enter on a war till they were forced. 
 
 14. after the way which they call heresy^ Better (with Rev. Ver.) 
 "after the Way which they call a sect." The word is the same which 
 is used in verse 5 for the "sect" of the Nazarenes. St Paul employs the 
 expression "the Way," in that sense in which it soon became well 
 known, to signify "the Christian religion." See note on ix. 2. 
 
 so worship I the God of my father s^ Better, as Rev. Ver., "so serve 
 I the God of our fathers." The verb is not the same as in verse 11. 
 Here the notion is of service which a man is bound to pay. The Apostle 
 means that he has cast off no morsel of his* old allegiance. The ad- 
 jective can equally be rendered by " my fathers" or '•'•our fathers," but St 
 Paul's aim is to shew that he has not severed himself from the ancestral 
 faith of the whole nation, and so his thought would include himself with 
 them. 
 
 ACTS 
 
 23 
 
330 THE ACTS, XXIV. [vv. 15— 17. 
 
 believing all things which are written in the law and the 
 
 15 prophets : and have hope towards God, which they them- 
 selves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of 
 
 16 the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do 
 I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of 
 
 17 offence toward God, and toward men. Now after many 
 years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings. 
 
 believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets'\ 
 The Rev. Ver. gives very literally "all things which are according to 
 the Law, and which are written in the Prophets." The Apostle thus 
 testifies to his complete acceptance of all the Jewish Scriptures. Some- 
 times the division is given as "the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms" 
 (Luke xxiv. 44), but more frequently, as in the text, only two sections 
 are named (cp. Matt. vii. 1-2, xi. 13, xxii. 40; Luke xvi. 16; John i. 
 
 45)- 
 
 15. and have {R. V. having) hope... which they themselves also allow\ 
 {R. V. look for). Here the Apostle is of course alluding only to the 
 Pharisees among his own people, but he puts them as representatives of 
 the larger part of the nation. The Rev. Ver. renders "which these also 
 themselves look for," If the Apostle employed the words in that sense 
 he would be turning towards the body of Jews in the court rather than 
 to the Sadducees and their spokesman. 
 
 that there shall he a resurrection of the dead'\ The best MSS. give 
 nothing for the last three words. St Paul adheres to the point- which 
 had before provoked the anger of Ananias and his party, and they must 
 have been the more irritated because the words of the Apostle declare 
 their opponents, the Pharisees, to be holding the true faith, and imply 
 that such is the general belief of the Jewish people. 
 
 both of the just and unjust'\ Speaking in the presence of Felix, the 
 Apostle seems to have chosen words to touch the conscience of the 
 Procurator. 
 
 16. And herein do I exercise myself "^ "Herein" i.e. in the worship, 
 faith and hope spoken of in the two last verses. While holding this 
 belief, and because I hold it, I try to keep my conscience clear. "I ex- 
 ercise myself" that I may, by constant training and striving, at length 
 get near to what I aim after. 
 
 to have ahvays a conscience void of offence, &c.] The Rev. Ver., to 
 preserve the Greek order, puts "alway" at the end of the verse. A man 
 who strove for such an object was neither likely to be a profaner of the 
 Temple, nor a pestilent mover of sedition. His religion was worked 
 into his life. 
 
 17. Now after many years'] He had come to Jerusalem on the 
 return from his second missionary journey in A. D. 53. It was now 
 A. D. 58, so that his absence had lasted four or five years (see note on 
 verge 10). 
 
 / came to bring alms to my nation^ These consisted of the money 
 which had been collected in the churches of Macedonia and Achaia at 
 
vv. I8-20.] THE ACTS, XXIV. 331 
 
 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified is 
 in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult. 
 Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, 19 
 if they had ought against me. Or else let these same 20 
 here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while 
 
 St Paul's request, and which is often alluded to in his epistles (cp. i Cor. 
 xvi. r ; Rom. xv. 26; 2 Cor. viii. 4, &c.). There could be no desire to 
 wound the feelings of the Jews in a man who had come for such a pur- 
 pose. It is noticeable too that he describes the alms as not for the 
 Christians only, but for his nation, conveying by the word the impres- 
 sion of his great regard for all the Jews. 
 
 and offerings] These were the sacrifices connected with the vow 
 which he had undertaken. They must be offei-ed in the Temple, and 
 the offerer was not likely to be one who thought of profaning the holy 
 place. 
 
 18. Whereupoii\ According to the best MSS. the relative here, by 
 its gender, must be referred to the "offerings" which have just been 
 named. Read (with Rev, Ver.) Amidst whicli, i.e. engaged in offering 
 which oblations. 
 
 certain Jews from Asia] These words should, according to all 
 authorities, be placed in the latter clause of the verse. Read ''Amidst 
 which they found, &c." 
 
 found me purified] i.e. abstaining from ail things forbidden by the 
 law of the Nazarites. See Numb. vi. 3 — 8. 
 
 neither with 7?ncltitude, &c,] The gathering of a crowd and raising a 
 disturbance would have been the first steps towards some act of profa- 
 nation. But even this he had not done. The original requires that we 
 should continue the sentence, "but there were certain Jews from Asia," 
 as in the Rev. Ver. It was from the Asiatic Jews, perhaps those from 
 Ephesus, that the uproar had at first been originated. It would appear 
 also that part of Tertullus' argument was derived from their information. 
 Of these Asiatic Jews St Paul was now about to speak, but he checks 
 himself, and does not say any word against them, only that they ought 
 to have been here to explain the offence for which he had been as- 
 sailed. 
 
 19. and object] Better (with i?i?z;. ?^r.), "and to make accusation." 
 They had set the cry against him, and now did not come to say what he 
 had done wrong. They were probably on their way home, now that the 
 feast was over. 
 
 20. Or else let these same here (R. V. these men themselves) say] i. e. 
 the Sadducees with Ananias. The assailants of St Paul were of two 
 classes, first the Asiatic Jews, who were furious against him because of his 
 preaching among the Gentiles in their cities, then those in Jerusalem 
 who hated him for preaching the resurrection. He challenges them 
 both, and when the former do not appear, he turns to the other. 
 
 if they have fotmd any evil doing in me] The oldest MSS. have 
 "what wrong doing they found," omitting "in me." 
 
332 THE ACTS, XXIV. [v v. 21— 23. 
 
 21 I stood before the council, except it be for this one voice, 
 that I cried standing among them, Touching the resur- 
 rection of the dead I am called in question by you this 
 day. 
 
 22 — 27. Adjournment of the cause. Felixes treatment of 
 St Paul. 
 
 22 And when Felix heard these things^ having more perfect 
 knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When 
 Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know 
 
 23 the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded a 
 
 while (Better, when) I stood before the council'\ Up to the moment, 
 when in the presence of the council he had spoken of the resurrection 
 and so produced a division in the assembly, there was no act of St Paul 
 which had to do with any disturbance. The tumult in the temple and 
 while he was speaking from the Tower-stairs was all caused by the 
 Jewish mob. 
 
 21. except it be for this one voice\ i.e. this exclamation or cry. From 
 xxiii. 6 we see that St Paul lifted up his voice, when he mentioned the 
 resurrection. 
 
 I am called in question by [R. V. with MSS. before\ yoti\ "To call in 
 question" means "to put one on his trial." Cf Shaks. Henry IV. (pt. 2) 
 I. 1. 68, "He that was in question for the robbery." 
 
 22—27. Adjournment of the cause. Felix's treatment of 
 St Paul. 
 
 22. having more perfect knowledge of that way] Better " the way," 
 i.e. the Christian religion, for which this soon became the accepted 
 name. See on ix. 2. Felix was more likely to understand something 
 of the relations between Judaism and Christianity, because he had 
 a Jewish wife, Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa I., one who had 
 been brought by her position into connexion with the movements of 
 the time. 
 
 For those introductory words of this verse represented in A.V. by 
 "when he heard these things," there is no Greek in the oldest MSS. 
 Read (with Rev. Ver.) " But Felix, having, &c." 
 
 When Lysias the chief captain shall come down] There had been 
 nothing said in the letter of Lysias, so far as we have it, about his 
 coming to Csesarea, but no doubt he went often between Jerusalem and 
 the residence of the governor. The language of this verse gives some 
 support to the genuineness of verse 7. (See note there.) 
 
 / 7uill know the uttermost of your matter] Better, "I will determine." 
 Cp. xxiii. 15. 
 
 23. And he cominanded a centurion] The Greek noun has the 
 article, therefore the Rev. Ver. gives "the centurion." It might 
 
V. 24.] THE ACTS, XXIV. 333 
 
 centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and 
 that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister 
 or come unto him. And after certain days, when Felix 24 
 came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent 
 
 perhaps be one of the two whom Lysias had put in charge of the 
 conveyance of Paul (xxiii. 23). One might be appointed to go on to 
 Cassarea, while the other returned with the larger part of the convoy 
 from Antipatris. 
 
 to keep Pajtl\ The best MSS. omit the proper name. Read (with 
 Rev. Ver.) "that he should be kept in charge." The verb only conveys 
 the idea of safe keeping, not of severe detention, and it is clear that for 
 some reason Felix shewed himself well-disposed towards the Apostle. 
 Either his conscience moved him, or his hope of gain, or perhaps the 
 flattery and compliments of Tertullus had overshot their mark. 
 
 and to let him have liberty] Better, "and should have indulgence." 
 That is, there should be a relaxation of prison rules in his case. 
 
 arid that he should forbid none of his acquaintance] In order to join 
 on better with the previous clause, read (with Rev. Ver.) "and not to 
 forbid any of his friends." The original has a word stronger than 
 " acquaintance." It refers more particularly to such matters as country, 
 home, family and friends, which are specially a man's own. Here 
 from our limited knowledge we are only able to think of Philip the 
 Evangelist who would be particularly a friend of St Paul, but he 
 had been more than once before in Csesarea, and he had no doubt 
 made himself known there as in other places. Those unnamed disciples 
 of Csesarea (xxi. 16) would be among those who had a warm interest in 
 St Paul, and it is clear from St Luke's language that there were friends 
 at hand and ready to visit the Apostle when they were allowed. 
 
 to mitiister or coine unto hini\ The best MSS. have no Greek for 
 "or come." The verb "minister" implies the doing of those services 
 of which a prisoner even under such liberal conditions must ever stand 
 in need. They would be his means of communication vidth the outer 
 world. And the cupidity of Felix may have suggested that through 
 these friends the means might be supplied for purchasing the Apostle's 
 release. 
 
 24. And after certain days, when Felix came, &c.] To conform to 
 the Greek more strictly, the Rev. Ver. reads " But after certain days, 
 Felix came, &c." It is difficult to say what is gained by this. FeHx 
 did not always reside in Csesarea. After the first hearing of St Paul's 
 cause he had gone away for a time, but on his return he sent for the 
 Apostle to question him on his doctrine. Perhaps those words about 
 the resurrection of the just and the unjust had made him uneasy. 
 
 with his wife Drusilla, which tuas a Jewess] She was a daughter of 
 Herod Agrippa I. and so sister of Agrippa II. and of Bernice. She 
 had formerly been married to Azizus, King of Emesa, but had been 
 induced by Felix to leave her husband, and become his wife. Though 
 she had been only six years of age when her father died (Acts xii. 23) 
 she may have heard of the death of James the brother of John, and the 
 
334 THE ACTS, XXIV. [vv. 25, 26. 
 
 for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 
 
 25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and 
 judgment to come, FeHx trembled, and answered. Go 
 thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, 
 
 26 I will call for thee. He hoped also that money should 
 
 marvellous delivery of St Peter from prison. For such matters would 
 be talked of long after they had happened, and perhaps her father's 
 sudden death may have been ascribed by some to God's vengeance 
 for what he had done against the Christians. Her marriage with the 
 Gentile Felix shewed that she was by no means a strict Jewess, and 
 what she had heard of Jewish opposition to St Paul's teaching may 
 have made her, as well as her husband, desirous to hear him. 
 
 sent for Paul] The Apostle was lodged in some part of the procu- 
 rator's official residence (see xxiii. 35, note) and so was close at hand. 
 
 and heard him concerning the faith in Christ'] The best MSB. add 
 yesus. What St Paul would urge was not only a belief in the Christ, 
 "for whose coming all Jews were looking, but a belief that Jesus of 
 Nazareth was the Messiah whom they had so long expected. 
 
 25. And as he reasoned... and judgme?it [R.V. the judgement] to 
 come] It was to be no barren faith which St Paul commended, but 
 was to have its fruits in the life. Felix perhaps expected some philo- 
 sophical dissertation on the subject of the resurrection, and the life 
 after death. His own conduct, of which Tacitus {Ann. xii. 54, Hist. 
 V. 9) speaks as mean and cruel and profligate, would make the subjects 
 on which St Paul addressed him peculiarly disturbing. For what if 
 this man's teaching should be true ? 
 
 Felix trembled] The expression is much stronger. It implies that 
 he was filled with fear. Therefore the Rev. Ver. gives "was terrified." 
 It can hardly be conceived that St Paul was ignorant of the character 
 of those to whom he was speaking. Felix had been in office long 
 enough to be well known. And the Apostle's themes were exactly 
 those by which he could find the joints in the governor's harness. Of 
 "righteousness" his life's history shews no trace, and for temperance, 
 i.e. self-control, the presence of Drusilla by his side proved that he had 
 no regard. Well might such a man be full of fear at the thought, as 
 St Paul would urge it home, of the judgment after death. But the 
 influence of his terror passed away, for we do not read that the Apostle 
 ever beheld such signs of penitence as led him to quiet the terror, by 
 preaching Christ as the atonement for sin. 
 
 when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee] [Rev. Ver. call 
 thee unto me]. The convenient season never arrived. Felix did not 
 change his conduct. When two years more of his rule were ended and 
 he was superseded by Festus, the Jews in Csesarea brought an accusation 
 against him before Nero, and had it not been for his brother Pallas' 
 influence he would have been punished for his cruelty and injustice. 
 We have no i:ecord of how long he lived after his recall from Ciesarea. 
 
 26. He hoped also {Rev. Ver. withal) that nioney should have been 
 
V.27.] THE ACTS, XXIV. 335 
 
 have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: 
 wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed 
 With him. But after two years Porcius Festus came into 27 
 Felix' room: and Felix, wilHng to shew the Jews a plea- 
 sure, left Paul bound. 
 
 (^. V. would be) given him of Paul] He had heard the Apostle speak 
 of the contributions which he had gathered for the Jews in Jerusalem. 
 His thought would naturally be that if he could raise money for the 
 needs of others, he could do so for his own release. 
 
 that he might loose hini\ These words are unrepresented in the 
 oldest MSS., and read exactly like a marginal explanation which in 
 :ime made its way into the text. 
 
 wherefore {R. V. wherefore also) he sent... communed with hini\ The 
 Driginal gives two reasons why Felix sent for Paul. First he desired 
 to hear about the faith in Christ, and secondly to give the Apostle a 
 chance of offering him a bribe. The verb "communed" implies that 
 he brought about somewhat of a friendly intercourse with his prisoner. 
 In this way the proposal for any terms of release would have been 
 made easy. 
 
 27. But after two j-ears] More literally the Rev. Ver. "But when 
 two years were fulfilled;" and it may be that St Luke would indicate 
 by his expression, that it was not a reckoning of time such as was usual 
 among the Jews, where portions of a year were sometimes counted for a 
 whole, but that the Apostle's detention endured for two years complete. 
 
 Porcius Festus came into Felix' room"] Festus was made governor by 
 Nero probably in A. D. 60 and died in about two years. Josephus {B. J. 
 II. 14. i) gives him a far better character than his predecessor, but he 
 had the same kind of difificulties to deal with in the outbreaks of the 
 populace and the bands of assassins with which the country was 
 infested. (Jos. Ant. xx. 8. 10) The Rev. Ver. "Felix was succeeded 
 by Porcius Festus " comes nearer to the literal rendering " Felix re- 
 ceived Porcius Festus as a successor," but does not make the meaning 
 clearer, and to put "Felix" as the subject in this sentence and in that 
 which immediately follows gives an awkward sound to the English, 
 which was neatly avoided in A.V. 
 
 a7id Felix., willing to shew the Jews a pleasure] The literal sense is 
 "to store up for himself favour with the Jews," therefore the Rev. Ver. 
 gives the proper rendering, "and desiring to gain favour with the Jews." 
 Of course it may be said that if he shewed favour to them he would 
 gain favour with them. But what he particularly desired at this time 
 was to blunt the anger which the Jews (especially those of Csesarea) 
 felt against him, that they might be less bitter in their charges against 
 him on his recall. And so he used Paul as his "Mammon of un- 
 righteousness" and left him detained that he might make himself 
 friends thereby. 
 
 left Paul bound"] \R. V. in bonds.] This seems to indicate that 
 before his departure Felix withdrew the indulgence w'hich had been 
 
336 THE ACTS, XXV. [vv. 1—3. 
 
 I — 12. Arrival of Festiis. PauVs cause heard before hint. 
 Paul appeals to the Emperor. 
 
 25 Now when Festus was come into the province, after 
 
 2 three days he ascended from Cesarea to Jerusalem. Then 
 the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him 
 
 3 against Paul, and besought him, and desired favour against 
 
 previously granted to Paul, and put him in bonds, so as to give to his 
 successor the impression, which the Jews desired, that he was deserving 
 of punishment. It would be very interesting to know what St Paul 
 did during the two years that he was kept at Csesarea. Various con- 
 jectures have been ventured on, but none with any ground of certainty. 
 Some, accepting St Paul as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 point to this period as the time of its composition. Others assign to 
 this imprisonment those letters of the Apostle which speak so much of 
 his bonds, viz. to the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians and 
 Philemon, but the evidence in favour of Rome as the place whence 
 they were written seems far to outweigh all that can be said on behalf 
 of Csesarea. Our only reflection on such a gap as this in the history 
 of St Paul's work must be that the Acts was not intended to be a 
 narrative of any man's labours, but how God employed now this 
 servant, now that, for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. 
 The remembrance of this will prevent us seeking from the book what it 
 was not meant to give. 
 
 XXV. 1 — 12. Arrival of Festus. Paul's cause heard before 
 HIM. Paul appeals to the Emperor. 
 
 1. Noiu when Festus was come into the proznnce\ This may either 
 mean "when he had reached Csesarea," to which, as the seaport, he 
 would naturally come first; or, with margin of the Rev. Ver., "\vhenhe 
 had entered upon his province." The former seems to be the preferable 
 sense because of what follows. 
 
 after three days he ascended {R. V. went up)] He took a very short 
 time to make himself acquainted with what would be his principal resi- 
 dence, and then went up to the capital. 
 
 2. Then the high priest^ 7?. K "And the chief priests." For the best 
 MSS. give the plural. No dotibt Ananias, as before, was the leader of 
 the accusation, but he got others of his own class to support him in 
 Jerusalem. He was their representative when the hearing w;as in 
 Csesarea. 
 
 and the chief of the yews'] This might mean " the chief part ; " there- 
 fore it is better, with R. V., to read "the pi-incipal men of the Jews." 
 The wealthiest men of the nation belonged to the Sadducees. 
 
 informed him against Paul] The verb indicates that the proceedings 
 here assumed a legal form. It was no mere mention in any irregular 
 way, but a definite charge was made, no doubt in the same terms which 
 Tertullus had used before. 
 
vv. 4-6.1 THE ACTS, XXV. 337 
 
 him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying 
 wait in the way to kill him. But Festus answered, that 4 
 Paul should be kept at Cesarea, and that he himself would 
 depart shortly thither. Let them therefore, said he, which s 
 among you are able, go down with me, and accuse this man, 
 if there be any wickedness in him. And when he had 6 
 
 3. and desired favour against hini] i.e. they begged that their case 
 might have some special consideration. They' were many and rich; the 
 accused man was alone and an obscure person, and it was much easier 
 to bring one man from Csesarea, than for their whole body to undertake 
 a journey from Jerusalem thither. No doubt too they hoped that with 
 a new governor their influence and good position would not be without 
 weight. 
 
 laying wait in the way to kill hini] They still adhered to their plan 
 of assassination, than which no crime was more common at this time in 
 Judasa. Perhaps too those men who had bound themselves by a vow, 
 though they had been forced to break it, yet felt dissatisfied tlaat Paul 
 was still alive. 
 
 4. But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept, ho,^ This hardly 
 gives the force of the original, which is better rendered in the Rev. Ver., 
 "that Paul was kept in charge at Caesarea." The governor's position 
 was that the prisoner had been placed by his predecessor in a certain 
 state of custody, and that this could not be interfered with. 
 
 zvould {R. V. was about to) depart shortly thither'] A governor newly 
 arrived must move about actively, and could not remain long even in the 
 capital. To have waited till all the arrangements, which the accusing 
 party were supposed to be ready to make, were complete, would have 
 consumed time, which must be occupied in learning the details of his 
 provincial charge. 
 
 5. Let them therefore... which among you are able] R. V. " which are 
 of power among you." The words of Festus do not refer to whether 
 some of them could go to Csesarea or not, but to the character of those 
 who should go down, that they should be men of influence and 
 character, such as would fitly represent the powerful body who appealed 
 to him. 
 
 go down with me] For they were evidently wealthy persons, whose 
 companionship on the journey might be no discredit to the governor. 
 Festus was no doubt willing to conciliate the influential people in the 
 nation, though he had refused to break through a regulation of his pre- 
 decessor at their request. 
 
 and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him] A large 
 number of MSS., with the Text. Rec, give no word for "wickedness." 
 But in some of the oldest Texts there is a word which signifies "out of the 
 way." The Rev. Ver. therefore gives " and if there is anything amiss in the 
 man, let them accuse him." The adjective is the same that is so 
 rendered, Luke xxiii. 41, "This man hath done nothing amiss." 
 
338 THE ACTS, XXV. [w. 7— 9. 
 
 tarried among them more than ten days, he went down 
 unto Cesarea; and the next day sitting in the judgment 
 
 7 seat, commanded Paul to be brought. And when he 
 was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem 
 stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints 
 
 8 against Paul, which they could not prove. While he 
 answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, 
 neither against the temple, nor yet against Cesar, have 
 
 9 I offended any thing at all. But Festus, willing to do 
 
 6. more than ten days\ The oldest texts read "not more than eight 
 or ten days." This seems the more likely reading. It is more probable 
 that the writer would use words to mark the shortness of the stay, than 
 a form which would seem to describe ten days as a long residence at 
 Jerusalem. Festus was evidently full of business and anxious to get it 
 done. 
 
 and the next day'] Rev. Ver, "on the morrow." The Jewish autho- 
 rities must have accepted the governor's invitation, and have gone down 
 along with him, so that the hearing could begin at once. 
 
 7. the yews which canie^ &c.] Better, with Rev. Ver., "which had 
 come, &c." 
 
 stood round about] The best authorities give ^^ round about him." 
 They were eager to set upon him, and so compassed him on every 
 side. 
 
 aJid laid many and grievous complaints against Paul] The best 
 MSS. have nothing for the last two words. Read, with Rev. Ver.^ 
 following a slightly different text, "bringing against him many and 
 grievous charges." In the two years lapse of time they had gathered up 
 every rumour which they could collect, and these they brought forward, 
 even though they could not support them by evidence. 
 
 8. While he answered for Jiimself] Rev. Ver., with MSS., "While 
 Paul said in his defence." He offered an "Apologia" for himself. He 
 did not make a defence against the unsubstantiated charges, but alluded 
 only to those points on which they would try to prove their case, i. e. his 
 alleged attempt to defile the Temple, his breaches of the Jewish law, 
 and any insurrectionary outbreaks, in which the accusers would try to 
 prove him a leader, and which might be construed into opposition to 
 the Roman power. On this last his accusers would lay most stress. 
 St Luke has only given us the three heads of St Paul's Apologia. 
 
 Neither against the law of the yeivs] The accusation on the former 
 occasion had not dwelt on this point, but in the course of two years they 
 had discovered that the Apqstle had taught among the Gentiles that 
 circumcision was no necessary door for admission to Christianity, and 
 this they would construe into an offence against the Jewish law. 
 
 have I offended any thing at all] Rev. Ver.^ "have I sinned at all." 
 9.. But Festus, willing to do the yeivs a pleasure] Better (with R. V.) 
 "desiring to gain favour with the Jews." Cp. xxiv. 27. Though he had 
 
vv. 10—12.] THE ACTS, XXV. 339 
 
 the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou 
 go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things 
 before me? Then said Paul, I stand at Cesar's judgment 10 
 seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I 
 done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. For if I n 
 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. Then Festus, whea 12 
 
 not consented to their request when he was in Jerusalem, he now went 
 some way towards doing so by his question to Paul. 
 
 Wilt thou...befo7-e ine\ What Festus proposed was equivalent to 
 acquitting the Apostle of any charge which would come under Roman 
 law. He is therefore appealed to on the other accusations. The 
 offences against the law of the Jews and against the Temple must be 
 heard before the Sanhedrin. Would Paul accept an acquittal on one 
 count and submit to a trial before his own people on the rest? And 
 Festus would be present to see that right was done. 
 
 10. I stand at Cesar'' s jiuigme7it seat'\ Better (with ^^. ?^r.) "I am 
 standing before Caesar's judgment seat." This represents more nearly 
 the sense of the original, which implies, " I have been and am standing." 
 The Roman authorities had taken charge of him and had kept him in 
 custody for two years. Of this he reminds the governor, and refuses to 
 be turned over to another tribunal, where he would have for judges, if 
 he ever were allowed to live till his trial, those persons who had been 
 cognizant of the plot to murder him. 
 
 uohere I ought to bejudged'\ Because I am a Roman citizen. 
 
 as thou very -well knowest] Rev. Ver. "as thou also, &c." St Paul 
 does not mean to say that Festus is to be blamed for his proposal. 
 Probably he saw that the governor was acting with a view to conciliate 
 the Jews. But he intends to say that after all that the governor has 
 heard, any man would say at once that there was no case against the 
 prisoner. 
 
 11. For if I be an offender] The best MSS. have not " For." Read, 
 with Rev. Ver., "If then I am a wrong-doer." He has asserted that 
 he was innocent so far as the Jews are concerned. If there be anything 
 against him, it is for the civil jurisdiction of Rome, not for the religious 
 tribunal at Jerusalem, to decide upon. 
 
 no man niay deliver me tmto them] The full idea of the verb is ex- 
 pressed by the margin of the Rev. Ver., "no man may grant me by 
 favour." The use of this word confirms the notion that St Paul saw 
 through what the governor was doing. The word "may" represents the 
 Greek "is able," and therefore the "can" of the Rev. Ver. is to be ap- 
 proved. There is no power anywhere which can give me up to them. 
 
 / appeal tmto Cesar] The final tribunal being the hearing of the 
 Emperor himself. 
 
340 THE ACTS, XXV. [vv. 13, 14. 
 
 he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou 
 appealed unto Cesar? unto Cesar shalt thou go. 
 
 13 — 22. Fesius consults King Agrippa about his prisoner. 
 Agrippa wishes to hear PauVs defence. 
 
 C3 And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came 
 
 [4 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 
 
 12. when he had conferred %vith the council'\ Having taken the opinion 
 of those who sat as assessors with him. Such persons would be specially 
 needed for a new governor, and the governors of Judaea were changed 
 frequently. Of the existence of such assessors in the provinces, see 
 Suetonius Tib. 33; Galba 19. 
 
 13 — 22. Festus consults King Agrippa about his prisoner. 
 Agrippa wishes to hear Paul's defence. 
 
 13. And after certain days] More literally, but with no manifest 
 gain, Rev. Ver. gives "Now when certain days were passed." 
 
 kittg Agrippa^ This was Herod Agrippa II., son of Herod Agrippa 
 I., and consequently a great-grandson of Herod the Great. He was 
 therefore brother of Bernice and Drusilla. On account of his youth he 
 was not appointed to succeed his father when he died. But after a time 
 the Roman Emperor gave him the kingdom of Chalcis, from which he 
 was subsequently transferred to govern the tetrarchies formerly held by 
 Philip and Lysanias, and was named king thereof. Plis kingdom vras 
 afterwards increased by the grant of other cities which Nei'o gave him. 
 At the fall of Jerusalem he retired to Rome, with his sister Bernice, and 
 there died A. D. 100. He had sided with the Romans in the war against 
 the Holy City. Festus was likely to avail himself of an opportunity of 
 consulting Agrippa, for he would expect to be soundly advised by him 
 on any question of Jewish law. 
 
 and Bernice] She was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I. 
 She had first been married to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. Her 
 connexion with her brother Agrippa II. was spoken of both by Roman 
 and Jewish writers as sinful. She was subsequently married to Polemon, 
 king of Cilicia, but soon left him and lived with Agrippa II. in Rome. 
 
 came unto Cesarea to salute Festus] Rev. Ver., following MSS., gives 
 "arrived at Caesarea, and saluted Festus," with a marginal rendering 
 "having saluted." This would seem to imply that the salutation had 
 taken place elsewhere than at Caesarea. This is very improbable. 
 Csesarea was the official residence of the governor, and thither would 
 the vassal-king Agrippa come to pay his formal visit of welcome to the 
 representative of Rome. 
 
 14. And Tuhen they had been there many days] Rev. Ver. "And as 
 they tarried there many days;" a rendering which may be taken to 
 mean that the length of their stay was a reason why Festus set Paul's 
 
vv. 15—19.] THE ACTS, XXV. 341 
 
 ■^ ~ <i 
 
 Felix: about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief 15 
 priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring 
 to have judgment against him. To whom I answered, 16 
 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 con- 
 cerning the crime laid against him. Therefore, when they 17 
 were come hither, without any delay, on the morrow I sat 
 on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be 
 brought forth. Against whom when the accusers stood 18 
 up, they brought none accusation of such things as I 
 supposed : but had certain questions against him of their 19 
 own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, 
 
 cause before the king. This is not the sense of the Greek, so the A.V. 
 appears the better rendering. 
 
 15. the chief priests] See note on verse 2. 
 
 desiring to have judgment against hini] The older MSS. give a 
 stronger word for "judgment" than the Text. Recept. It implies that 
 they held there could be but one opinion and that a condemnatory- 
 sentence might be at once pronounced, even by the newly arrived 
 governor. 
 
 16. to deliver any man to die] The best MSS. omit the Greek for 
 the last two words. Rev. Ver. renders "to give up any man." The 
 verb is the same as in verse 11, and implies the granting as a favour. 
 The language throughout shews that the Jews thought the influence of 
 their party was enough to gain from Festus the condemnation of this 
 so obscure a prisoner, whatever might be the merits of his case. 
 
 and have licence to ansxver for himself] The Greek word for licence 
 is literally "place," and is here used figuratively for "opportunity." So 
 Rom. XV. 23 St Paul says "having no more place in these parts," by 
 which he means that there is no further opportunity for preaching the 
 Gospel there. So Rev. Ver. gives "have had opportunity to make his 
 defence. " 
 
 17. when they were come hither] The Greek is (as Rev. Ver.) 
 " come together here." 
 
 18. of snch thi7igs as I supposed] Following the authority of some 
 ancient MSS. the Rev. Ver. gives "of such evil things as, &c." 
 
 19. of their ozvn s7iperstition \^R. V. religion]. The noun used here 
 is cognate to the adjective employed by St Paul in speaking to the 
 Athenians (xvii. 22). It is a term which might be employed by any 
 one without offence in speaking of a worship with which he did not 
 agree. Addressing Agrippa, Festus would not wish to say a word that 
 might annoy, any more than St Paul wished to irritate the Athenians 
 by his speech. 
 
 of one Jestis] Neither in the hearing of the cause before Felix nor 
 
342 THE ACTS, XXV. [vv. 20— 23. 
 
 20 whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I doubted 
 of such manner ^t/" questions, I asked him whether he would 
 go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these matters. 
 
 21 But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the 
 hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till 
 
 22 I might send him to Cesar. Then Agrippa said unto 
 Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To morrow, 
 said he, thou shalt hear him. 
 
 23 — 27. Assembly of the Court, and address of Festus. 
 
 23 And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Ber- 
 
 when Festus made his inquiry, does St Luke record any mention of the 
 name of Jesus, but it is clear from the explanation here given that not 
 only had Paul stated the doctrine of the Resurrection generally, which 
 the Pharisees accepted, but had also asserted in proof of it that Jesus 
 had risen and "become the firstfruits of them that sleep." 
 
 20. And because I doubted of such manner of questions'\ Rev. Ver.^ 
 ■wdth ancient authorities, gives "And I, being perplexed how to inquire 
 concerning these things." The whole subject was a strange one to 
 Festus, and when he found that some Jews in part at least agreed with 
 St Paul, while others of them were his bitter opponents, he could find 
 no better plan than to turn to a Jew for an explanation. He did not 
 himself know how to conduct an inquiry on such a subject, and yet 
 the Jews' religion, being now allowed by the Empire, must have its 
 causes adjudicated on. 
 
 21. to be reserved imto the hearing of Augustus'] Rev. Ver. "to be 
 kept for the decision of the Emperor." The verb is that which occurs 
 xxiv. -23 where the centurion was commanded to "keep" Paul. He 
 desired to be under the care of the Roman authorities until his case 
 could be properly heard. "Augustus," the title given first to Octavianus, 
 was afterwards conferred on his successors, and so came to mean "His 
 Imperial Majesty," whoever might be on the throne. The present 
 "Augustus" was Nero. In the noun rendered "hearing" we have a 
 word which implies " thorough inquiry." 
 
 22. I would also hear the 7nan myself] Rev. Ver. "I also could 
 wish \niarg. was wishing] to hear, &c." The marginal rendering here 
 given is the most literal and appears to bring out the meaning best. 
 
 "What Agrippa means to say is that he had for some time been wishing 
 to see and hear St Paul. 
 
 23 — 27. Assembly of the Court, and address of Festus. 
 
 23. with great poj?tf\ The children follow in the steps of their 
 father, who formerly had sat on his throne in Caesarea arrayed in royal 
 apparel, to listen to the flatteries of the Tyrian deputation (xii. 21). 
 
vv. 24— 27-] THE ACTS, XXV. 343 
 
 nice, with great pomp, and were entered into the place of 
 hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the 
 city, at Festus' commandment Paul was brought /^r//^. And 24 
 Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here 
 present with us, ye see this ma?i, about whom all the multi- 
 tude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and 
 also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. But 25 
 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. Of whom I have no certain 26 
 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, I might have somewhat to 
 write. For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a 27 
 prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against 
 him. 
 
 were entered'] The A.V. of 161 1 has " was entered," and so it will in 
 consequence be found printed in most English Bibles. The correction 
 is required by the original which is plural. So Rev. Ver. 
 
 the place of hearing] The word is found nowhere else in N. T. It 
 was no doubt some special room attached to the governor's palace, 
 where causes were tried. In classical Greek it signifies "a lecture- 
 room." 
 
 chief captai7ts\ The Greek word chiliaj'chos is constantly used in 
 N. T. for the " prefect " of a Roman cohort. 
 
 24. have dealt with me] Rev. Ver. "made suit to me." In all other 
 places of the N.T. this word is used of "making intercession" to God. 
 
 and also here] No doubt the Sadducees from Jerusalem had been 
 able in the course of two years to work up a great deal of feeling 
 against Paul among their party in Csesarea. So when Festus came 
 he was appealed to by the great men of the residential city as well as 
 by those from Jerusalem. 
 
 25. co??imitted nothing worthy of death] To ask for the life of a 
 prisoner because of some offence against the religious observances of 
 the Jews would be absurd in the eyes of a Roman officer. The best 
 texts give at the beginning of this verse " But I found that, &c." 
 
 to Augustus] See note on verse 21. 
 
 26. mito my lord] Octavianus by an edict forbade the title "Lord" 
 to be given to him. The practice had its rise from parasites. But you 
 find "Dominus" often used in Pliny's letters to Trajan. So that not 
 many en^perors were like Octavian. 
 
 before you] Spoken with a glance towards the chief priests and great 
 persons who were present on the bench. 
 
 specially before thee] i.e. as one most likely to be able to clear up the 
 difficulties which I feel about the prisoner. 
 
344 THE ACTS, XXVI. [vv. 1—5. 
 
 I — 23. FauVs defence before Agrippa. 
 
 26 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to 
 speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and 
 answered for himself: 
 
 2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall 
 answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things 
 
 3 whereof I am accused of the Jews : especially because I know 
 thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are 
 among the Jews : wherefore I beseech thee to hear me 
 
 4 patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at 
 the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the 
 
 5 Jews ; which knew me from the beginning, if they would 
 
 XXVI. 1 — 23. Paul's defence before Agrippa. 
 
 1. and answered for himself\ Rev. Ver. "and made his defence." 
 The verb is the same as before (xix. 33, xxiv. 10, xxv. 8) and intimates 
 that what is coming is an apologia. St Luke here as, in other places 
 notices the gesture of the speaker. 
 
 2. I think myself happy\ Because Agi'ippa was sure to understand 
 much of the feeling imported into the cast, which would be entirely- 
 obscure to a Roman magistrate. Paul would thus be able to make his 
 position clear, and get it explained through Agrippa to the Roman 
 authorities. 
 
 becaicse I shall anszuer for myself\ As in the previous verse, " that L 
 am to make my defence." 
 
 3. especially because I know thee to be expert"] Rev. Ver. quite 
 correctly "especially because thou art expert." The margin which 
 R. V. gives "because thou art especially expert" might be accepted, but 
 we have no reason to think that Agrippa was more than other persons 
 of his station expert in Jewish customs. 
 
 4. at the first] Better (with 7?^. F^r.) "from the beginning." The 
 Apostle though born in Tarsus yet came early to Jerusalem for his 
 education, and it was in the Holy City that his character was formed 
 and his manner of life shewed itself. 
 
 among mine own nation at Jerusalcjn] The oldest MSS. say "and 
 at Jerusalem." This would imply that even before coming to Jerusalem, 
 the Apostle had always dwelt among his own people, and so was not 
 likely to be one who would undervalue Jewish privileges or offend 
 against Jewish prejudices. 
 
 kncnu all the Jews] Because in the persecution of the Christians he 
 had made himself a conspicuous character, had been in favour with the 
 chief priests and allowed to undertake the mission to Damascus. 
 
 5. . which knew me from the beginnings if they would testify] Better 
 (with Rev. Ver.) "having knowledge of me from the first, if they be 
 willing to testify." The word for " from the first " is the same which 
 
vv. 6, 7.] THE ACTS, XXVI. 345 
 
 testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I 
 lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the 6 
 hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers : unto 7 
 which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day 
 
 St Luke uses (Luke i. 3) to indicate his perfect understanding of the 
 Gospel story " from the very first." When we remember that the early 
 part of his Gospel can hardly have been gathered from anybody but the 
 Virgin Mary, who alone could know many of the details, we may well 
 think that the word implies that St Paul had been known from his very 
 childhood. The rest of the sentence seems to intimate that there were 
 some among those who were now his accusers who could give evidence 
 about his previous years if they were so minded. 
 
 the most stt'aitesf] There is nothing in the Greek to warrant the 
 double superlative. Read "straitest." 
 
 sect'] The word is that which is rendered "heresy" by the A. V, in 
 xxiv. 14. Everywhere else in the Acts it is sect. In the Epistles, 
 where the plural only occurs, it is "heresies." 
 
 our religion] The word refers more especially to the outward cere- 
 monials of worship, such as those by which the Pharisees were specially 
 distinguished. 
 
 6. A7td now I stand and am judged] Rev. ?^r. "And now I stand 
 here to be judged." The idea is " I am on my trial." 
 
 for the hope of the promise made of God icnto our fathers] i. e. because 
 I entertain the hope that the promise which God made to the patriarchs 
 and to David shall be fulfilled to us. The "promise" must be of the 
 Messiah and of His coming into the world as King. For this is what 
 the ten tribes were looking for. But this in St Paul's view embraced 
 the doctrine of the resurrection, because that was God's assurance to 
 the world (Acts xvii. 31) that He who was so raised up was to be the 
 judge of quick and dead. 
 
 7. unto zvhich promise] This makes it clear that the promise was 
 the sending of Him in whom all the families of the earth should be 
 blessed. 
 
 our twelve tribes] For the Jews regarded themselves as representing 
 the whole race, and not merely the two tribes of the kingdom of 
 Judah. And this no doubt was true. For tribal names continued to 
 be preserved and with the people of Judah there came back many of the 
 members of the previous captivity of Israel. Thus in the N. T. we 
 find (Luke ii. 36) that Anna was of the tribe of Aser, and St James 
 addresses his Epistle (i. i.) "to the twelve tribes that are scattered 
 abroad" and Paul himself knew that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. 
 Cp. also 1 Chron. xxxi. i. for evidence of the existence of some of the 
 ten tribes after the Captivity. In T. B. Berachoth 10^ Rabbi Jochanan 
 says " I am from the root of Joseph." 
 
 instantly serving God] i.e. earnestly serving God (as R. V.). The 
 old use of the worcl "instantly" has disappeared, and is not very common 
 in any writings but such as are marked by the use of Scripture 
 phraseology, e.g. Latimer's Sermons, Bishop Pilkington's Works, &c. 
 ACTS. 24 
 
346 THE ACTS, XXVI. [vv. 8— ii. 
 
 and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king 
 
 8 Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be 
 thought a tJwig incredible with you, that God should raise 
 
 9 the dead ? I verily thought with myself, that / ought to do 
 many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 10 Which thijig 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 
 synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme ; and being 
 
 For which hope's sake, king Ag}'ippa\ The two last words are omitted 
 in many MSS., in some only the last one. . 
 
 / a77i accused of the Jews\ Emphatically placed to mark the in- 
 consistency of the position. The Jews accuse Paul because he looks for 
 the promise which was made to the forefathers of the Jewish race. 
 
 8. Why shotild it be thought a thing incredible... that God, &c.] More 
 literally (with Rev. Ver.) "Why is it judged incredible with you if God 
 doth raise the dead." The last clause is not to be understood hypotheti- 
 cally, but " If God doth, as he hath done in the case of Jesus." So 
 that it is equivalent to "Why should you not believe that Jesus has 
 been raised from the dead?" 
 
 9. conti-ary to the name'] i. e. to the faith of Jesus Christ, into whose 
 name believers were to be baptized. Cp. v. 41, note. "Name " is con- 
 stantly used in O. T. as the equivalent of " Godhead," and any Jew who 
 heard the language of such a verse as this would understand that the 
 Christians held Jesus to be a divine Being. 
 
 of Jesus of Nazareth] Whom we preach now as raised by God from 
 the dead, and as the fulfiller of the promises made to the fathers. 
 
 10. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem] Saul must have been a 
 most active and prominent agent in the work of persecution in Jeru- 
 salem, for we learn here that the death of Stephen was not the only 
 one for which he had given his vote. He had also had the warrant 
 of the chief priests for other arrests beside those he intended to make 
 in Damascus. We can see that the slaughter of the Christians was 
 not in all cases the result of a sudden outburst of rage at some act or 
 speech, but that some of them were imprisoned, then subjected to a form 
 of trial, and afterwards put to death as men condemned by law. 
 
 11. And I punished them oft in every synagogue] The Gk. continues 
 with a participial construction, represented in Rev. Ver. ' ' and punish- 
 ing. ..in all the synagogues." This closer representation of the original 
 seems to add strength to the description of Saul's former zeal as a perse- 
 cutor. Of the synagogues as places where offenders were accused and 
 punished, cp. Matth. x. 17, xxiii. 34; Mark xiii. 9; Luke xii. ii,xxi. 
 12.. 
 
 and compelled them to blaspheme] Rev. Ver. "I strove to make them 
 blaspheme." The verb is that which is frequently rendered "constrain" 
 
vv. 12—15.] THE ACTS, XXVI. 347 
 
 exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted thein even unto 
 strange cities. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with 12 
 authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, 13 
 O king, I saw in the way a hght from heaven, above the 
 brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them 
 which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to m 
 the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and -saying in 
 the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? 
 // is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, is 
 
 or " compel," but being in the imperfect tense, it seems to signify that the 
 attempt was repeated often, and needed to be so, for it was not in some 
 cases successful. Saul kept on with his constraint. "To blaspheme," 
 i.e. the name of Jesus into which they had been baptized. They were 
 to be forced to renounce the belief in the divinity of Jesus. Cp. on 
 blasphemy of the divine Name, Lev. xxiv. 11 — 16. 
 
 even unto strange \^R. V. foreign] cities\ That is, cities outside the 
 country of the Jews proper. So that, as it appears, Damascus was but 
 one among several cities to which Saul had gone on his errand of punish- 
 ment. 
 
 12. Wherettpon\ The Greek has "in which things ^^^ and the sense is 
 given well by the margin oi R. V. "on which errand." 
 
 with authorityl Rev. Ver. "with tlie authority." Saul was the com- 
 missioner sent by the Jewish magistrates, and at this particular time 
 Damascus had been assigned as the district where he was to search for 
 the Christians. 
 
 13. at midday] There could be no question about the supernatural 
 character of a light which overpowered the midday glare of an Eastern 
 sun. 
 
 14. I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying] The oldest MSS. 
 have only "a voice saying unto me." Saul alone gathered the import 
 of what was said. His companions only heard the sound, not the 
 words. Cp. Dan. x. 7. 
 
 in the Hebrew tongue \^R. V. language] Which is therefore repre- 
 sented by a different orthography of the proper name, not " Saulos," the 
 usual Greek form, but "Saoul," a transliteration of the Hebrew. 
 
 it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks [goad] This is the only 
 place where the oldest MSS. give these words. See note on ix. 5. The 
 figure is from an ox, being driven on in his work. When restive or lazy, 
 the driver pricks him, and in ignorance of the consequences, he kicks 
 back, and so gets another wound. The words would imply that God 
 had been guiding Saul towards the true light for some time before, and 
 that this zeal for persecution was a resistance of the divine urging. It is 
 not unusual for men who are moved to break away from old traditions 
 at such times, by outward acts, to manifest even more zeal than before 
 for their old opinions, as if in fear lest they should be thought to be 
 falling away. This may have been Saul's case, his kicking against the 
 goads. 
 
 24 2 
 
348 THE ACTS, XXVI. [vv. i6— 18. 
 
 Who art thou, Lord ? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou 
 
 i6 persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have 
 
 appeared unto thee for this pii7'pose, to make thee a minister 
 
 and a witness both of these thi?igs which thou hast seen, and 
 
 17 of those things in the which I will appear unto thee ; deHver- 
 ing thee from the people, and/r^?;;? 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, 
 
 15. Who art thoii, Lord'\ The readiness with which "Lord," an 
 expression 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. 
 
 16. to make {R. V. appoint] thee a ministerl The verb is that which 
 in xxii. 14 is rendered "have chosen" {R. V. appointed), and implies a 
 deliberate selection and appointment. Saul was "a chosen vessel" (ix. 
 
 15). 
 
 and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen] Rev. Ver. "a 
 witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me," with a certain 
 amount of MS. authority, though A.V. is well supported. St Paul 
 dwells not unfrequently in his Epistles on his having seen Jesus. Cp. 
 I Cor. ix. I, XV. 8, &c., and he makes this the ground of his independ- 
 ence in the Apostolic work, so that he can say he is not a whit behind 
 any of the other Apostles. 
 
 a7id of those things in the which I will appear tcnto thee\ St Paul was 
 more favoured than the rest of the Apostles, as far as we gather from the 
 N. T. records, with visions from God to guide and comfort him at 
 critical points in his work. Cp. Acts xviii. 9, xxiii. 11 ; and 1 Cor. ii. 2. 
 It was specially important that Paul should have seen Jesus, so that 
 he might bear independent witness to the truth of his resurrection. 
 
 17. delivering thee] i. e. though they may and will seize upon thee 
 ' and persecute thee, yet I am with thee and will save thee from their 
 
 hands. From the first the Apostle knew that in every city persecution 
 was to be his lot. 
 
 the Gentiles, nnto whom now I send thee] The best authorities (with 
 Rev. Ver.) omit "now." The verb "send" is that from which the word 
 "Apostle" comes, and its force is "I make thee my Apostle." In the 
 oldest texts the /is emphatically expressed. "Thou art, as well as the 
 rest, an Apostle chosen by me the Lord Jesus." The mission to the 
 Gentiles seems to have been made clear to Saul from the very first. 
 Compare his own language Gal. i. 16. And in Acts ix. 29 his preaching 
 appears to have been rather directed to the Greek -Jews than to the 
 members of the Church in Jerusalem. 
 
 18. to opejt their eyes, and to turn them] More literally Rev. Ver. 
 "that they may turn." A sentence full of hope and promise of success. 
 
 ' If the eyes of the Gentiles be but opened, then they will turn. In blind- 
 ness the Jews often said (as Paul found) "We see," therefore their sin 
 remained. 
 
vv. 19—21.] THE ACTS, XXVI. 349 
 
 that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance 
 among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 
 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto 19 
 the heavenly vision : but shewed first unto them of Damas- 20 
 cus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of 
 Judasa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and 
 turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these 21 
 causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about 
 
 them which are sanctified by faith that is in me\ Better, with Rev. 
 Ver., "by faith in me." It is by their belief in Jesus that men are 
 sanctified. And here "sanctified," as so often "saint" in St Paul's 
 Epistles, is applied to those who have been set on the way of salvation, 
 and not to those who are perfect in holiness. To that they will be 
 brought if they persevere. 
 
 19. / was not disobedient'\ The verb should be more fully translated 
 "I did not become disobedient." The thought goes back to the "kick- 
 ing against the pricks," the opposition of previous times. That was at 
 an end now. Jesus was " Lord," and Saul's only question "What wilt 
 thou have me to do?" 
 
 20. but shelved [7?. V. declared] The word signifies the delivery 
 of a message. Saul was henceforth God's evangelist. 
 
 and at yerHsalejti] Cp. ix. 29. Here he spake boldly in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians, so that they went 
 about to kill him. 
 
 and throughout all the coasts of jfitdo'a'] Of this ministration we 
 are only told, ix. 30, that the brethren finding Saul in danger in Jeru- 
 salem, brought him to Ciesarea, and thence sent him to Tarsus. But 
 as we see in the history of Felix (cp. xxiii. 34, note) that Cilicia was some- 
 times reckoned as a part of the province of Jud^a, the preaching in 
 Cilicia may be included in the expression "country of Jud?ea." And 
 we may feel sure that Paul, wherever he might be, never laid aside the 
 character which Christ's mission had imposed upon him. 
 
 and do tvorks meet for repentance\ Rev. Ver., more literally and 
 better, "doing works worthy of repentance" or "worthy of their re- 
 pentance." For the works were to be a sign of their repentance and 
 turning unto God ; the means whereby the reality of their sorrow, and 
 the earnestness of their desire, was to be shewn. 
 
 21. For these caiises'\ Lit. "on account of these things" which the 
 R. V. better represents by ''for this cause." 
 
 the Jeivs catight me \_R. V. seized me] The word implies an arrest 
 with violence. 
 
 and went about {R. V. assayed] to kill me] St Paul combines the 
 riot in the Temple with the subsequent plot before he was sent to 
 Caesarea. Or he may be alluding only to the violence by which he 
 was nearly torn in pieces before the chief captain came to his rescue. 
 The verb rendered "kill" indicates the laying violent hands on anyone, 
 and so favours the latter view. 
 
350 THE ACTS, XXVI. [vv. 22, 23. 
 
 22 to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I con- 
 tinue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, 
 saying none other things than those which the prophets and 
 
 23 Moses did say should come : that Christ should suffer, and 
 that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, 
 and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. 
 
 22. Having therefore obtained help of God \^R. V. the help that is 
 from God.] The "therefore" imphes that against such attempts the 
 help which alone could deliver him was divine. The word for " help" 
 means the succour of an ally, and recalls God's promise "Surely I will 
 be with thee." 
 
 / contintie \^R. V. stand] 7into this day] The Apostle has in mind 
 the many attempts to cast him down which had been made by Jews, 
 and Gentiles too, during his missionary journeys. He has been rescued 
 in many ways, and is still there standing safe and sound through the 
 help which God hath sent him. He does not forget human agency, 
 but this, whatever it was, was all sent of God. 
 
 witnessing {R. V. testifying] both to small and great] He was now 
 before two who would be named great, and he knew that God had 
 declared that he should testify "before kings" (ix. 15). 
 
 the prophets and Moses] i.e. the whole Old Testament Scriptures. 
 The form of the phrase is usually " Moses and the prophets" according 
 to the order of the O. T. books. Sometimes we have "the Law and 
 the prophets," and once (Luke xxiv. 44) "the law of Moses, the prophets 
 and the Psalms." 
 
 23. that Christ should suffer] Rev. Ver. "How that the Christ 
 must suffer,", but giving in the margin on "How that" or "if" or 
 "whether." The Greek is the conjunction ordinarily rendered "if," 
 and the literal meaning is " If the Christ be one who has to suffer." The 
 original puts it as though it were a question on which there was debate 
 among the Jews. As indeed there was. See John xii. 34. And out of 
 the Scriptures Paul says he answered the question whether this should 
 be so. As his answer was a positive one the sense is nearly enough 
 represented by "that" in the A.V., but we should read "the Christ." 
 
 and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and 
 should shew light] The Rev. Ver. gives a better representation of the 
 original thus, "and how that he first by the resur?-ection pf the dead 
 should proclaim.^'' Christ was the firstfruits of them that sleep. His 
 resurrection was an earnest of the general resurrection. Thus life 
 and immortality were brought to light. " Should proclaim " = "is about 
 to proclaim," for this is the gospel which is to be preached from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 light unto the people, and to the Gentiles] The best MSS. insert 
 "both" before "unto." The "people," i.e. of the Jews. Christ was 
 spoken of in like terms by the aged Simeon. " A light to lighten the 
 Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel." And he could 
 say this because in Jesus he beheld God's "salvation." He could 
 
vv. 24— 26.] THE ACTS, XXVI. 35i 
 
 24 — 32. Interruption by Festus. Appeal to Agrippa. 
 Consultation and decision. 
 
 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud 24 
 voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth 
 make thee mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble 25 
 Festus ; but speak forth t/ie words of truth and soberness. 
 For the king knoweth of these thingSy before whom also I 26 
 speak freely : for I am persuaded that none of these things 
 are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a 
 
 "depart in peace," being sure that "to die" was only the pledge of "to 
 rise again." 
 
 24 — 32. Interruption by Festus. Appeal to Agrippa. Con- 
 sultation AND decision. 
 
 24 Festus said with a loud voice] Probably what had last fallen 
 from Paul seemed to him little better than lunatic ravings. The Gospel 
 of the Cross did appear as " foolishness" to the Gentile world. And this 
 Gospel he had just heard in all its fulness : that the Christ by suffering 
 of death and rising to life again should be the source of true enlighten- 
 ment both to Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 Paul, thou art beside thyself {R. V. mad]. As the same word is taken 
 up in the following verse, it is better that it should be rendered alike 
 in both places. 
 
 much learning doth make thee mad] Lit. (with R. V.) "doth turn 
 thee to madness." But there is nothing gained by construing thus, 
 and much is lost in English vigour. "Much learning" is literally "the 
 many writings." As in John vii. 15, where the same word is rendered 
 "letters," it may mean study and learning generally. But it seems 
 better to take it of those writings (viz. the Old Testament) to which 
 Paul had been appealing. For as a religious literature no nation, not 
 even the polished Greeks, had anything to place in comparison with 
 the Sacred Books of the Jews. 
 
 25. most noble \^R. V. excellent] Festus] The same title of respect 
 which is given to Felix (xxiii. 26, xxiv. 3). As St Chrysostom remarks 
 the Apostle now answers with gentleness, not as to the high priest 
 (xxiii. 3). 
 
 soberness] The word, in classical Greek, is the opposite to that 
 " madness " unto which Festus had said Paul was turned. 
 
 26. none of these things are hidden froDi him'] i.e. the history of 
 the life and works of Jesus, of His death and resurrection, of the 
 marvellous gifts of Pentecost, and the preaching of the Gospel since 
 Jesus had been crucified. 
 
 for this thing was not done in a corner] Of the truth of this we can 
 be sure from the excitement caused both in the religious and political 
 world by the work of Jesus during his life, by the efforts put forth to 
 stop his teaching, which culminated in a trial in which both Jewish 
 
352 THE ACTS, XXVI. [vv. 27—29. 
 
 27 corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? I 
 
 28 know that thou beUevest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, 
 
 29 Almost thou persuadest me to 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 
 
 and Roman magistrates were consulted, and by the exclamation of the 
 Pharisees (John xii. 19) "The world is gone after him," and the de- 
 claration (Acts xvii. 6) " These that have turned the world upside down." 
 
 27. believest thoti the prophets] Whose writings foretell these events 
 of which I am speaking, and which have had their fulfilment in the 
 history of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 / knozv that thou believest] The Apostle answers his own question, 
 for he is sure that Agrippa would not have given a different answer, 
 seeing how anxious all his family were, in spite of their relations with 
 Rome, to be accepted of the Jewish nation. St Paul does not imply 
 by his words any conviction about the character of Agrippa's faith in 
 the Scriptures. 
 
 28. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian] Rev. Ver. "With 
 but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian." The 
 original is "with [or in] little (labour or time) thou art persuading 
 me, &c." It would seem therefore that the Rev. Ver. represents 
 Agrippa's words more nearly than A. V. "With little labour" or "in 
 a little time " implies that the king despised the attempt which had 
 been made to convince him, and mocked at the language of St Paul 
 in so readily taking for granted that the king was in accord with him. 
 It is as though he said "You are supposing that I accept these words 
 of the prophets in the same sense as you do, and you are a fool for your 
 pains, to think that with so little trouble and in so short a space you 
 could win me over to your side. And such a side ! To be a Christian." 
 The name had, no doubt, been given, when it was first applied (Acts 
 xi. 26), to the adherents of Jesus as a term of reproach, and it is likely 
 that it had not yet won its way to be a name of credit, at all events 
 among such men as Agrippa and his friends. For we have no reason 
 to suppose that the king was influenced at all by Paul's words. 
 
 29. both ahnost, and altogether] The literal rendering of the Greek 
 is given by the Rev. Ver. "whether with little or with much," and it 
 is difficult to see how the sense of the A. V. can be extracted from the 
 words. The Apostle takes up the jeer of the king in a serious tone, and 
 replies : " I may have seemed to use little persuasion, and suddenly to 
 have jumped at the conclusion that you accept the teaching of the 
 prophets as I myself receive it; but whether it need little or much 
 persuasion, or little or much time, my prayer to God is, for you and 
 for all who listen to me that they may become such as I am, save as to 
 my bonds." 
 
 were... such as I am] Better with -^^z/. Ver. "might become such as 
 I am." Paul avoids the word "Christian," which for himself he might 
 willingly have accepted (cp. i Pet. iv, 16), but which was used by the 
 
vv. 30—32; I, 2.] THE ACTS, XXVI. XXVII. 353 
 
 I am, except these bonds. And when he had thus spoken, 30 
 the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they 
 that sat with them : and when they were gone aside, they 31 
 talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing 
 worthy of death or of bonds. Then said Agrippa unto 32 
 Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had 
 not appealed unto Cesar. 
 
 I — 44. PauVs voyage and shipwreck. 
 And when it was determined that we should sail into 27 
 Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto 
 one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. And 2 
 
 king in a mocking sense, and therefore would not have made his wish 
 seem an acceptable one. You may call me "Christian" in mockery, 
 my joy and hope and faith in Christ are such, that I know no better 
 prayer for any than to wish you all the like blessings. 
 
 except these bonds] From this it is clear, in spite of the leniency with 
 which Paul had been at first treated by Felix, that either because his 
 case was deemed more serious in consequence of his being left in prison 
 so long, or because he was just now before the court as a prisoner, the 
 Apostle had been put in chains. 
 
 30. And when he had thus spoken] The oldest MSS. omit these 
 words. 
 
 they that sat with theni] i.e. the chief captains and the principal men 
 of Caesarea. (See xxv. 23.) The authorities withdrew to consult upon 
 what they had heard. 
 
 31. they talked between themselves] R.V. " they spake one to another. " 
 This is more literal and conveys better the idea that they were all of 
 one mind about the case. 
 
 32. viight have been set at liberty] Thus Agrippa, looking at the 
 question from the Jewish stand-point, confirms the opinion of the Roman 
 magistrate (cp. xxv. 25). So that St Paul was acquitted on all hands, 
 and Festus may rightly be deemed guilty because he had driven an 
 innocent man to appeal to a higher court, from fear that he would be 
 delivered into the power of his enemies. But God was using human 
 means for bringing the Apostle to Rome, and so fulfilling his servant's 
 great desire, and in such wise that he should be heard before kings in 
 behalf of the Gospel. 
 
 if he had not appealed] The appeal put an end to all powers of a 
 lower court either to condemn or absolve. 
 
 XXVII. 1 — 44. Paul's voyage and shipwreck. 
 
 1. they delive7'ed Fatil] i.e. the soldiers who had the care of him 
 did so, by order of Festus. 
 
 a centtcrion] This was generally the rank of the officers appointed 
 to such a charge. Cp. xxi. 32, xxiv. 23, &c. 
 
 of Augustus' baitd] Rev. Ver. "Of the Augustan band." The 
 
354 THE ACTS, XXVII. [v. 3. 
 
 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 JuHus courteously entreated Paul, 
 and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh him- 
 
 word rendered "band" might be translated "cohort" as in the margin 
 of R. v., and it is said that in the time of Octavianus Augustus there 
 were some legions to which the title "Augustan" (Gk. Sebastos) was 
 given, as being specially the Imperial troops, and that perhaps among 
 the soldiers in Caesarea there was a detachment of these legions. But 
 as Caesarea was itself called "Sebaste" it seems more likely that the 
 soldiers were Samaritan troops belonging to Ctesarea itself. And 
 Josephus {Wars ii. 12. 5) makes mention of troops which had their 
 name, Sebasteni, from this city Csesarea Sebaste. 
 
 2. A?2d entering into {R. V. embarking in)] The verb is the technical 
 term for "going on board." 
 
 Adramyttuim'\ a seaport on the coast of that district of Asia Minor 
 called Mysia, and in early times ^olis. It appears to have been in 
 St Paul's time a place of considerable trade, and Pliny (v. 30) mentions 
 it as an assize town. The reason why the Apostle and his companions 
 embarked on board a vessel from this port was that it was probably 
 the easiest way of getting into the line of vessels going from Asia to the 
 West. The isle of Lesbos lay off the gulf on which Adramyttium was 
 situated, and to which it gave name, and the town was in close connexion 
 with Ephesus, Miletus, Pergamos and Troas, and so was a considerable 
 centre of commerce. 
 
 we latmched, meaning to sail'\ The best INISS. make the participle 
 refer to the ship and not to the Apostle and his company. So read, 
 with Rev. Ver. "a ship... which was about to sail unto tlie places on 
 the coast of Asia, we put to sea." For in a voyage of such a character 
 they would be very likely to find, in some of the ports at which they 
 touched, a vessel that would convey them to Italy. 
 
 Aristarchus\ Mentioned before (xix. 29) as one of those whom the 
 mob in Ephesus seized in their fury against St Paul. He went, as it 
 seems, with the Apostle into Europe, for he is enumerated amongst those 
 who accompanied St Paul (xx. 4) on his return. After the present 
 notice of him, we learn nothing more of his history except that from 
 Col. iv. 10 and Philem. 24 we can gather that he remained with the 
 Apostle during his first Roman imprisonment. 
 
 3. Sido}i\ The well-known seaport on the coast of Phoenicia. 
 courteotisly entreated Fatil'\ "To entreat" is in modern English only 
 
 used as "to beseech" "to supplicate." In the older language it had 
 the same sense as "to treat," "use" has now. Cp. Shaks. Ben.VI. (pt. 2) 
 ii. 4. 81 '^Entreat her not the worse, in that I pray you use her well." 
 ThejV. V. has "treated Paul kindly." 
 
 to refresh himself] The Greek is literally "to receive attention." 
 The Apostle no doubt knew some of the residents in Sidon, and at his 
 
vv. 4—8.] THE ACTS, XXVII. 355 
 
 self. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed 4 
 under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. And when 5 
 we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we 
 came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the centurion 6 
 found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy ; and he put us 
 therein. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and ^ 
 scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffer- 
 ing us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone ; and s 
 
 request the centurion allowed him, while the vessel stayed there, to 
 enjoy their coiPxpany and kind offices. 
 
 4. And when we had latmched from thence\ R. V. "And putting 
 to sea from thence." "Launch" has become a little restricted in 
 meaning in modern English, but compare, for the sense, Christ's words 
 to Peter (Luke v. 4), " Launch out into the deep." 
 
 vje sailed under Cypriis\ i.e. between Cyprus and the mainland, 
 so as to have the shelter of the island on their left to protect them 
 from the contrary winds. R. V. "under the lee of Cyprus," 
 
 5. the sea of Cilicia and Pa77iphylid\ R. V., more correctly, "the 
 sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia." These two countries formed 
 the coast of Asia Minor in that portion which is opposite Cyprus. 
 
 Myra'\ Lies about 20 stadia (2^ miles) from the coast on the river 
 Andriacus. 
 
 6. a ship of Alexandria'] They found a means of transport into 
 Italy sooner perhaps than they had expected. It may be that the 
 same strong contrary winds from the west which had altered already 
 the course of their voyage from Sidon, had carried this vessel across 
 the Mediterranean to the Asiatic coast. Myra was certainly out of the 
 way for persons sailing from N. Africa to Italy. 
 
 7. sailed slozvly many days'] Kept back by the same head- winds. 
 and scarce ivere come over agaitist Cnidus] The word rendered 
 
 "scarce" would be better "with difficulty." They had been forced 
 to hug the coast all the way from Myra, and v/hen off Cnidus they 
 were only opposite to the S.W. extremity of Asia Minor. Cnidus was, 
 as its remains demonstrate, a famous seaport town in ancient times, 
 and we find that Jews dwelt there in the days of the Maccabees 
 (t Mace. XV. 23). It was a notable seat of the worship of Aphro- 
 dite. 
 
 the wind not suffering us] Better, with. R.V., " not further suffering 
 us," i.e. not allowing us to make further progress. 
 
 under Crete] Rev. Ver., "under the lee of Crete." See above on 
 verse 4. Crete is the modern island of Candia. Salmone was the 
 eastern extremity of the island, off which when they came they sheltered 
 themselves under the island, and sailed to the south of it, to avoid the 
 wind as much as might be. 
 
 8. and ha/'dly passijtg it] "Hardly" is in the original the same 
 word which was rendered "scarce" in the previous verse. Read (with 
 
356 THE ACTS, XXVII. [vv. 9— ii. 
 
 hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The 
 9 fair havens ; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea. 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 the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the 
 
 R.V.) "with difficulty coasting along it." The verb represents the 
 voyage as made by keeping close in to the southern shores of the 
 island. 
 
 cajue unto a place] i.e. on the coast of Crete. The Gk. gives (as 
 R. V.) "a certain place." 
 
 which is called The fair havens] R. V. ''called Fair Havens." This 
 place, though mentioned nowhere else in literature, yet is known by 
 the same name still. It is on the south of Crete, four or five miles 
 east of Cape Matala, which is the largest headland on that side of the 
 island, 
 
 Lasea] This city has also been identified ver>' recently. Its ruins 
 were discovered in 1856, a few miles east of Fair Havens. See Smith's 
 Voyage and Shipivreck of St Paul, App. III. pp. 262, 263. 
 
 9. No7u when much time was spent] Waiting for a change of wind, 
 and in debate on what course should next be taken. 
 
 and when sailing {R. V. and the voyage) was 7iow dangerous] It had 
 come to be dangerous by the iate season of the year. In St Paul's day 
 navigation both among the Jews and other nations was only attempted 
 for a limited portion of the year. 
 
 because the fast was ?zow already past^ The fast here meant is that 
 on the great Day of Atonement, which falls on the tenth day of Tishri, 
 the seventh month of the Jewish year. This corresponds to a part of 
 September and October of our calendar. So that a stormy season was 
 to be expected. 
 
 10. Sirs, I perceive that this {R. V. the) voyage will be with hurt 
 and much damage {R. V. injury and much loss)]. Evidently the character 
 of the Apostle had won him the regard and respect of those in charge 
 of the vessel as well as of the centurion. He must have had some ex- 
 perience of sailing in the Mediterranean, and so was fitted to speak on 
 the question which was now being debated. We should bear in mind 
 too that he had seen more of perils by sea already than we gather from 
 the Acts. For some time before this voyage to Rome, he wrote to the 
 Corinthians (2 Cor. xi. 25), "Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and 
 a day I have been in the deep." 
 
 The verb rendered "I perceive" implies the results of observation, 
 and does not refer to any supernatural communication which the Apostle 
 had received. This is clear from the end of the verse where St Paul 
 speaks of hurt to the lives of those on board, which did not come to 
 pass (verse 44). 
 
vv. 12—13.] THE ACTS, XXVII. 357 
 
 centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, 
 more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And 12 
 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, arid there to winter ; which is 
 a haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north 
 west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that 13 
 they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed 
 
 11. the centurion believed {R. V. gave more heed to)] As the cen- 
 turion was in charge of prisoners for the Imperial tribunal, his wish 
 would be much regarded by both owner and sailing-master. And it 
 was natural when they recommended the attempt to proceed that he 
 should not listen to Paul's advice and remain where they were. 
 
 the master] i.e. the sailing-master. The original means "pilot," 
 which term must here be understood of that officer who had charge of 
 the navigation. 
 
 the owner of the ship] Who was probably owner of the cargo too, and 
 if, as is most likely, this was corn, he would be sailing with it, that he 
 might dispose of it to the best advantage when they reached Italy. 
 
 12. not commodious to zvinter in] And this was what they most 
 likely would have to do, wherever they stopped, as the season for sailing 
 was nearly over. 
 
 to depart thence also] The oldest MSS. do not represent the last 
 word. {R. V. "to put to sea from thence)." The word is the technical 
 term, and not the ordinary word for "depart." 
 
 they might attain to Phenice] {R. V. " they could reach Phoenix.") 
 Phoenix is no doubt the correct orthography of the name. The place 
 is mentioned both by Strabo and Ptolemy, and has been identified with 
 the modern port of Lutro (Spratt's Ci-ete ii. 250 seqq.). 
 
 and lieth tozuard the south west and north west] {R. V. looking north- 
 east and south-east) The original is "looking down the south-west 
 wind and dovm the north-west wind." To look down a wind is to 
 look in the direction in which it blows. So as a south-west wind would 
 blow towards N.E., the Rev. Ver. appears to give the correct sense, 
 and the haven of Lutro answers these conditions, being open towards 
 the east. 
 
 13. the south wind blew softly] The storm appeared to have in some 
 degree abated, and the change of wind must have been very complete, 
 for (see verses 7, 8) they had previously sailed under the lee of Crete to 
 get shelter from the no7'th wind. 
 
 loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete] {R. V. "They weighed 
 anchor and sailed along Crete, close in shore)." The word for "close 
 in shore " is asson, and it has been by 'some taken for a proper name 
 and endeavours been made to discover traces of some place so named 
 in Crete. But though the translation "when they had loosed from 
 Assos" is as old as^the Vulgate, there can be little doubt that the 
 
35'S THE ACTS, XXVII. [vv. 14—16. 
 
 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 
 
 Greek word is really the comparative degree of an adverb signifying 
 "near." So it literally means "nearer," and is probably used to in- 
 dicate that the coasting voyage now being made was one in which the 
 coast was hugged more closely than usual. This is intended by R. V. 
 "close in shore." 
 
 14. there arose against it] The word "it" must mean the last- 
 mentioned subject, the island Crete. Thus ihe A. V. would state that 
 the south wind, which already had begun to blow, became tempestuous, 
 and dashed against the island. But if so, it must have carried the 
 vessel with it. Whereas, -vA'hat really happened was that they were 
 driven southward to the island of Clauda. It is therefore better to 
 take the preposition — dozun from, a sense which it often has in such 
 a construction, than to give the verb the more literal meaning from 
 the margin of A. V., and to construe (with R.V.) "there beat down 
 from it, &c." The wind suddenly changed from south to north, and 
 coming over the land carried the vessel southward away from Crete. 
 Such changes are not unusual in the Mediterranean (Smith's Voyage of 
 St Paid, p. 99). 
 
 a tempestuous zvind] The adjective is one from which the word 
 "typhoon" is derived. 
 
 called Euroclydo7i\ {R. V. "which is called Euraquilo"). This 
 reading of 7^*. V. is supported by the oldest MSS., and has the Vulgate 
 "Euroaquilo" in its favour, and it exactly describes the wind which 
 would carry the vessel in the direction indicated. It is known in Greek 
 by the name "Coecias" and is a north-east wind. Some have thought 
 that the reading of the A. V., which has the support of many MSS., 
 arose from a corruption in the mouths of sailors. For the word 
 "Euraquilo" is a hybrid, the first portion being Greek, the latter 
 Latin. The form in the Text Rec. gives it a look of being all Greek, 
 and the words "which is called" seem to intimate that the name was 
 one known to the sailors, rather than a word of general use. Whereas 
 "Euraquilo" would have needed no such introductory expression, but 
 have been understood at once by its etymology. 
 
 15. and could not bear up into the zaind] [R.V. "face the wind"). 
 This comes nearer to the original, which is literally "to look the wind 
 in the eye." 
 
 we let her drive] {R. V. "we gave way to it, and were driven.) The 
 literal rendering is "having given way M'e were driven." The general 
 usage of the verb in the sense of "yielding to superior force" makes 
 it most pi-obable that the meaning is "we yielded to the wind." The 
 A. V; makes the sense "we yielded the vessel up." 
 
 16i And rtinniitg tender a certain island which is called Clazida] 
 [R. V. And running under the lee of a small island, called Cauda") 
 
vv. 17, 18.] THE ACTS, XXVII. 359 
 
 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, 
 strake sail,' and so were driven. And we being exceedingly 
 tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship ; 
 
 For the verb cp. above on verses 4 and 7. The word for "island" is 
 here in the original a diminutive form, hence "small island." The 
 name "Cauda" which has the best MS. support agrees well with the 
 form which the name has assumed in modern times, "Gozzo" and 
 "Gaudo." But the foi-ra in A.V. is warranted by the orthography of 
 Ptolemy (Claudos) and Pliny (Glaudos). 
 
 we had nmch work to come by the doaf] This is most idiomatic old 
 English, but is changed in J?. V. into "we were able, with difficulty, to 
 secure the boat. " The boats in old times were not as in modern ships 
 made fast round about the vessel, but were carried on in tow. In stormy 
 weather, there was of course much danger that the boat would be 
 washed away. This was the case here, and as soon as ever they had 
 gained the shelter of the island, they set about making sure of its safety 
 by hauling it on board, but this they were not able to do without much 
 difficulty, probably because it had been already filled with water. 
 
 17. which when they had taken up] \^R. V. "and when they had 
 hoisted it up"]. The sense of the verb is thus fully brought out, as it 
 indicates the labour which the work required. 
 
 helps'] These were strong cables, which were drawn several times 
 round the hulls of vessels, to help in keeping the timbers from parting. 
 The technical term for the operation is "to frap" a vessel, and it is 
 only in modern times that the process has been abandoned. 
 
 shottld fall into the quicksands\ \^R.V. "lest they should be cast 
 upon the Syrtis"]. The Syrtis Major and Syrtis Minor are two quick- 
 sands on the north coast of Africa, of which the Syrtis Major lies most 
 to the east, between Tripoli and Barca, and was the shoal on to which 
 the sailors at this time were afraid of being driven. 
 
 strake sail] [A*. V. "lowered the gear"] The noun is a very general 
 one, signifying "tackling" or "implements" of any kind. What was 
 done was to lower everything from aloft that could be dispensed with. 
 They could not have struck sail, because to do so would be to give up 
 all the chance which remained of using the wind to avoid the Syrtis, 
 which was what they desired to do. 
 
 18. And we being exceedingly tossed with a te7?ipest'\ Better, with 
 R,V. "and as we laboured exceedingly with the storm." The storm 
 waxed in violence. 
 
 the next day they lightened the ship] This is not as precise as the 
 original. Read "they set about throwing the cargo overboard." The 
 verb is an imperfect, and the noun is used in classical Greek for "a 
 cargo cast forth." The ship was probably carrying corn from Alexandria 
 to Italy, and if so the load would be a heavy one and its removal a great 
 relief to the struggling vessel. On the African supply of corn to Italy 
 cp. Juv. Sat. V. 118 seqq. 
 
36o THE ACTS, XXVII. [vv. 19— 23. 
 
 19 and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling 
 
 20 of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days 
 appeared, and no small tempest lay on ms, all hope that we 
 
 21 should be saved was then taken away. 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 
 
 22 from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And 
 now I exhort you to be of good cheer : for there shall be no 
 
 23 loss of any man's Hfe among you, but of the ship. For there 
 
 19. we cast out tvith our otvn hands] The oldest MSB., with R.V. 
 read "They cast out with their &c." which is much more likely than 
 that the writer of the narrative, even if he were a fellow-traveller with 
 St Paul in this voyage, was employed in such a work, which is pre- 
 eminently that which the sailors alone would undertake. 
 
 the tackling] {Gk. furniture). The word is closely akin to that used 
 in verse 17 for "gear." As that signified all that could be spared from 
 aloft, so this seems to mean all that could be removed from the deck 
 or the hull of the vessel. 
 
 20. m jnany days appeared] [R. V. shone upon us for many days]. 
 This does not imply a continuous darkness like night, but that the mist 
 and spray made the w^hole sky obscure both by day and night. In 
 such a state of things we can understand how hopeless seemed the case 
 of the Apostle and his fellows. They were at the mercy of the storm, 
 and could neither know the direction in which they were carried, nor 
 see if they were nearing any danger. 
 
 21. But after long abstinence] As this sentence stands in A.V. it 
 seems to indicate that the Apostle had been observing this long 
 abstinence before he spake to his companions. The Gk. means that 
 everybody on board had been without food for a long time. Read 
 (with R. V.) "when they had been long without food." This was in 
 consequence of the excitement which made it impossible to eat, as well 
 as the condition of the vessel which made the preparation of food very 
 difticult. They had been living on anything that happened to be 
 attainable, and that had been very little. 
 
 and not have loosed \^R. V. set sail] from Crete] His exhortation had 
 been that they should stay at Fair Havens, even though it was not so 
 very commodious as a harbour. 
 
 and to have gained [gotten R.V.] this harm [injury R. V.] and loss] 
 "To gain a loss" is a Greek, though not an English expression, and 
 signifies "to prevent the loss by avoiding the danger." The negative of 
 the previous clause must not therefore be taken with this clause too, 
 but the whole read as meaning "ye would not have set sail from Crete, 
 and so would have escaped (been the gainers in respect of) this harm 
 and loss from which ye now suffer." 
 
 22. A7id notv] i.e. though my advice was formerly rejected I offer 
 it again. 
 
vv. 24—27.] THE ACTS, XXVII. 361 
 
 stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and 
 whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought 24 
 before Cesar : and lo, God hath given thee all them that 
 sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer : for I be- 25 
 lieve God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit 26 
 we must be cast upon a certain island. 
 
 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were 27 
 driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen 
 
 there shall be no loss of any man's life aviottg you, but of the ship] 
 R. V. "no loss of life among you, but only of the ship." This is more 
 literal, but does not alter the sense. The Apostle now speaks in the 
 confidence of a revelation. Formerly (verse 10) he had reasoned from 
 the probabilities of the case. 
 
 23. the angel of God] {R. V. an angel of the God]. In speaking to 
 heathens this would be the sense which the Apostle designed to convey. 
 They had their own gods. But St Paul stood in a different relation 
 to his God from any which they would acknowledge towards their 
 divinities. To him God was a Father, and therefore all obedience an'd 
 service Avere His due. Cp. the language of Jonah when he was among 
 the heathen sailors. (Jonah i. 9.) 
 
 24. thou must he brought \R.V. stand] before Cesar] i.e. "and that 
 this may come to pass, thou shalt be saved from the present danger." 
 
 God hath given [R. V. granted] thee] This must be understood as in 
 answer to prayer on the part of St Paul. In the midst of such peril, 
 though no mention is made of the fact, we cannot doubt that the 
 Apostle cried unto the Lord in his distress, and the gracious answer 
 was vouchsafed that all should be preserved. It is not with any thought 
 of boastfulness that he speaks thus to the heathen captain and centurion. 
 All the praise is ascribed to God, and thus the heathen would learn 
 that St Paul had God very near unto him. 
 
 25. for I believe God] And he implies "I would have you do so too." 
 In the midst of danger, few things could be more inspiriting than such 
 an address. And by this time all in the ship must have learnt that they 
 had no common prisoner in the Jew who had appealed from his own 
 people to the Roman Emperor. 
 
 26. tipon a certain island] Hence it appears that in the vision 
 some details of the manner of their preservation had been made known 
 to St Paul by the divine messenger. 
 
 27. the foiirteenth night] i.e. from the time of their sailing away 
 from Fair Havens. Since that time they had been constantly driven 
 to and fro, 
 
 in Adria] \R. V. in the sea i?/" Adria]. That part of the Mediterranean 
 ■which lies between Greece, Italy and Africa is so called. The name 
 embraced a much wider extent of sea than the present Gulf of Venice, 
 which is called "the Adriatic." Cf. Strabo, 11. 123. 
 
 the shipmen deemed] [R. V. surmised]. Their knowledge of the sea 
 -would enable them to form an opinion from things which others would 
 ACTS 25 
 
362 THE ACTS, XXVII. [vv. 28— 31. 
 
 23 deemed that they drew near to some country; and sounded, 
 and found it twenty fathoms : and when they had gone a 
 little further, they sounded again, and found // fifteen 
 
 29 fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon 
 rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished 
 
 30 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 cast anchors out 
 
 21 of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the 
 
 hardly notice, some alteration in the currents or the different character 
 and sounds of the waves, dashed as they would be against the land. 
 
 28. and sounded'\ In ancient times, this must have been the only 
 means of feeling their way in dark and stormy weather. The lead 
 must have been in constant use. 
 
 found it twenty fathotns\ The original has no word for "it," which 
 is therefore omitted by R.V. What is meant is "they found twenty 
 fathoms' depth of water." The same omission is found a6 the end of 
 the verse also. 
 
 and 7vhen they had gone a little fiirther'\ The verb has no sense of 
 "going," but only implies that they allowed an interval to elapse. The 
 movement of the vessel meanwhile is of course understood, but the 
 simpler rendering of the R.V. "after a little space" is to be preferred. 
 
 fifteen fathoms'] So rapid a decrease in the depth of the water shewed 
 them that they would soon be ashore. 
 
 29. lest we should have fallen upon rocks'] [R. V. should be cast 
 ashore on rocky ground]. That rocks were near was evident from the 
 dashing of the waves. But the morning, even with the faint light 
 which appeared through the dark clouds, might enable them to make 
 for a part where the coast was not so full of danger. 
 
 out of the stern] Thus trying as best they might to keep the head of 
 the vessel towards the land and yet let her come no nearer to it, until 
 they could make out what it was like. 
 
 wished for the day] Or the verb may be rendered "prayed." The 
 similarity of the circumstances to those in Jonah's voyage would thus 
 be made still greater, for then the heathen sailors prayed to their own 
 gods. 
 
 30. were about to fee] The Greek is better represented by the R. V. 
 "were seeking to flee." They had hit upon a device which they thought 
 would enable them to have the fust chance for safety and now they set 
 about to carry it out. Everybody would agree that it was the most 
 important matter at the moment to hold the ship in her position. So 
 they professed to be anxious to make her secure fore as well as 
 aft, and to lay out anchors from the foreship. For doing this they 
 made out that the boat must be lowered from the deck, and that having 
 been done, they intended to avail themselves of it and to row towards 
 the shore. Paul's interference stopped them. 
 
vv. 32— 35.] THE ACTS, XXVII. 3^3 
 
 soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. 
 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her 32 
 fall off. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought 33 
 ^/lem all to take meat, saying. This day is the fourteenth 
 day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken 
 nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat : for this 34 
 is for your health : for there shall not a hair fall from the 
 head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken, he 35 
 took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of f/iem 
 
 31. Pattl said to the centurion and to the soldiers] These would 
 probably be able to stop the intended desertion better than the captain 
 of the vessel. At all events they were strong enough in numbers to 
 take the matter into their own hands, and cut the boat adrift. It seems 
 too (from verse 11) that the centurion had much to do with the direction 
 of the ship. Probably he had chartered her for the conveyance of his 
 prisoners and so had the right to be consulted on all that was done. 
 
 Except these abide in the ship] We see from this that every human 
 effort was still to be made, although God had revealed to Paul that they 
 should all be saved. If the sailors had left, the ignorance of the soldiers 
 and other passengers would not have availed to save them at such a 
 time. The skill of the sailors was to be exerted to carry out what God 
 had promised. 
 
 32. cut off[R.V. away] the ropes of the boat] i.e. cut asunder the 
 ropes which attached the boat to the ship. 
 
 33. while the day was coming on] Before it was light enough to see 
 what had best be done. Here again we may notice how every means 
 was to be employed for safety. Paul urges them to take now a proper 
 meal that when the time for work arrives they may be in a condition to 
 undertake it. The remaining clauses of the verse are not to be under- 
 stood as implying that the fast had been entire for so long a time. Such 
 a thing is impossible. But what the Apostle means is that the crew 
 and passengers had taken during all that time no regular food, only 
 snatching a morsel now and then when they were able, and that of 
 something which had not been prepared. 
 
 34. to take some meat] "Meat" in the older English was used for 
 any kind of food, which is what the Greek signifies, "nourishment." 
 Therefore in these verses the R.V. has everywhere "food." 
 
 this is for your health] \_R. V. safety.] The R. V. is the better 
 rendering of the Greek, and agrees with what has been said on verse 32. 
 The men when they had eaten would be able to do more towards their 
 own preservation . 
 
 there shall not a hair fall, &c.] The best MSS. have "perish" instead 
 of "fall," and so R. V. The phrase is a proverbial one to express com- 
 plete deliverance. Cp. i Sam. xiv. 45 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 1 1 ; i Kings i. 52 j 
 Luke xxi. 18. 
 
 35. gave thanks to God] As he had advised, so he set the example 
 
 25 2 
 
364 THE ACTS, XXVII. [vv. 36—39. 
 
 36 all : and when he had broken //, 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 
 lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. 
 
 39 And when it was day, they knew riot the land : but they 
 
 of taking food. But he did more than this. He made an Eucharist 
 of this meal. In the sight of the heathen soldiers and sailors, he brake 
 the bread in solemn thanksgiving, and thus converted the whole into a 
 religious act, which can hardly have been without its influence on the 
 minds of some, at all events, of those who had heard St Paul's previous 
 words about the revelation which God had made to him. 
 
 36. alio/ good cheer] Paul's hopeful spirit had breathed hope into the 
 whole company, and doubtless the religious character infused into the 
 meal was not without a calming influence. 
 
 took sojiie meat] The "some" of the A. V. seems warranted by the 
 genitive case in the original, and is therefore to be preferred to the 
 *'tookfood"ofthei?. F. 
 
 37. two Jnindred threescore and sixteen] As we do not know the 
 number of prisoners and soldiers, it is impossible to form any conclusion 
 about the manning of such a ship as this. The number here mentioned 
 is very large, and we cannot suppose that a merchantman from Alex- 
 andria to Rome would cany a very large crew. But to accept the read- 
 ing (supported by very little authority) which makes the whole company 
 "about threescore and sixteen" has equal difficulty on the other side, 
 and the way in which it arose can be easily explained from the use of 
 letters for numerals among the Greeks. A vessel which could have four 
 anchors cast from the stern, and still have more to spare for the foreship, 
 must have been of large size and have needed many hands. The occa- 
 sion of the numbering was probably the near expectation of coming 
 ashore, and so it was needful to have all told, for the captain, in respect 
 of the crew, and for the centurion, that of his prisoners and soldiers none 
 might be allowed to escape or be missing. The mention of the number 
 at this point of the history is one of the many very natural features of 
 the narrative. 
 
 38. And when they had eaten enotigh] Gk. "And having been satis- 
 fied with food." When they had satisfied their present need, there was 
 no use in trying to save more of the food which they had. So they set 
 about lightening the ship. This is implied by the tense of the verb, and 
 the next clause tells us the way they did it. They cast into the sea the 
 corn which had been the first cargo of the vessel from Alexandria. No 
 doubt this was the heaviest part of the freight, and would relieve the 
 vessel greatly. 
 
 39. they kneiu not the land] We are not from this to suppose that 
 none of the sailors were acquainted with the island of Malta, but that the 
 point of the land close to which they were was unrecognised by them. 
 When they were close in shore, and amid stormy weather, this could 
 
vv. 40, 41.] THE ACTS, XXVII. 365 
 
 discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they^ 
 were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And 40 
 when they had taken up the anchors, they committed them- 
 selves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised 
 up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore. And \x 
 falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship 
 
 very well happen, as they were a long way distant from the usual 
 harbour. 
 
 but they discovered a certain creek with a shore} Better (with R. V.) 
 *'they perceived a certain bay with a beach." The word is used to 
 signify such a sandy beach as might allow a ship to be run aground upon 
 it without the danger of her immediately coming to pieces. 
 
 into the which they were vmtded, if it were possible, to thrust in the 
 ship] Better (with R. V.) "and they took counsel whether they could 
 drive the ship upon it," i.e. they saw that the beach was such that they 
 had a chance of landing there, and they discussed the best way of doing 
 so, in their present maimed condition. 
 
 40. And whe7t they had taken tip the anchors'] The verb in the 
 original implies that they cast loose all the anchors round about the 
 stern of the vessel where they had laid them out. So the R. V. rightly 
 gives "And casting off the anchors." When they had thrown overboard a 
 load of corn, they would have no wish to encumber themselves with the 
 weight of the anchors or to take the trouble of hauling them up. 
 
 they co)ninitted themselves tmto the seci\ The italics of the A, V. shew 
 that "themselves" is unrepresented in the original. It is far better to 
 refer the verb to the anchors already mentioned, and render (with R. V. ) 
 "they left them in the sea." 
 
 and loosed the rudder bands] The original has an adverb which is 
 feebly represented by the conjunction of the A. V. Read (as-/?. V.) "at 
 the same time loosing," &c. The rudders, of which the ancient ships 
 had two, had been made fast, and raised out of the water, when the 
 anchors were laid out in the stern. Now that an attempt is to be made 
 to steer the ship toward the beach they are let down again into the 
 water. 
 
 and hoised up the mainsail] The Gk. word "artemon" here used, 
 was in old times the name given to the "foresail" of the vessel, and 
 so it should be rendered here. Cognate words are now employed for 
 the larger sails of vessels in the Mediterranean, but the " foresail" was 
 all they here had left. 
 
 tozuard shore] i.e. toward this beach, which seemed a suitable place 
 where they might try to land. 
 
 41. And falling into a place tvhere two seas met] The conjunction 
 should here be rendered adversatively "But." The verse goes on to 
 describe some circumstances which defeated the intention of the sailors. 
 Read "But lighting upon a place, iS:c." This is one of the features of 
 the narrative by which the locality can almost certainly be identified. 
 The little island of Salmonetta forms with the Maltese coast near St 
 
366 THE ACTS, XXVII. [vv. 42—44. 
 
 aground ; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained un- 
 moveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence 
 
 42 of the waves. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the 
 prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. 
 
 43 But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their 
 purpose; and commanded that they which could swim 
 
 44 should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land : and 
 
 Paul's Bay exactly such a position as is here described. From the sea 
 at a little distance, it appears as though the land were all continuous, 
 and the current between the island and the mainland is only discovered 
 on a nearer approach. This current by its deposits has raised a mud- 
 bank where its force is broken by the opposing sea, and into this bank, 
 just at the place where the current meets the sea- waves, was the ship 
 driven, the force of the water preventing the vessel from reaching the 
 beach just beyond. So it came to pass that though they got much 
 nearer to the shore than at first, yet after all they had to swim for their 
 lives. 
 
 but the kinder pari was brokeul Read (as R. V.) "the stern began 
 to break up." The verb in the orginal expresses an incomplete and 
 gradual process. When the foreship was immoveable, the stern would 
 also be held fast, and so be acted on by the waves with great violence and 
 begin to go to pieces. 
 
 with the violence of the ivaves] The best MSS. do not represent the 
 last three words. Of course they are to be understood, if they be not 
 there. 
 
 42. to kill the prisoners] This was the advice of the soldiers because, 
 by the Roman law, they were answerable with their own lives for the 
 prisoners placed under their charge. 
 
 43. But the centurion, luillijig to save] The Gk. woi-d indicates an 
 active desire, and not a mere willingness. Read (with K. V.) "desiring 
 to save." The centurion could not fail to feel that it was to the Apostle 
 that the safety of the whole party was due, and he could hardly help 
 feeling admiration for the prisoner, after all he had seen of him. From 
 the first (see verse 3) he had been well disposed toward Paul, and the 
 after events would not have lessened his regard. So to save him, he 
 stops the design of his men, and saves the whole number of the 
 prisoners. 
 
 kept them] Better, "hindered them" or (with R. V.) "stayed them.'^ 
 The verb is a forcible word, and shews that the centurion was in full 
 command of his men, and had not in the confusion lost his thoughtful- 
 ness and presence of mind. 
 
 they which could swim] This was the wisest course to adopt. Thus 
 ' there would be a body ready on the shore to help those who only could 
 float thither by the aid of something to which they were clinging. As 
 St Paul had already been thrice shipwrecked and had been in the deep 
 a night and a day (2 Cor. xi. 25) we may be sure that he was among 
 those who were told off to swim ashore. 
 
vv. I, 2.] THE ACTS, XXVIII. 367 
 
 the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the 
 ship. And so it came to pass, that ihey escaped all safe to 
 land. 
 
 I — TO. The sJiipw recked covipany Jwspifahly entertained in 
 Malta. Paul, bitten by a viper, feels no hurt. Cure of 
 thz father of the chief magistrate. 
 
 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the 28 
 island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed 2 
 
 should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land'] [R. V. *^ should 
 cast tJutnselves overboard and get first to the land"] What is represented 
 in the A.V., by "into the sea" is merely the preposition compounded 
 with the verb "to cast." This \\ie R.V. represents by "overboard," 
 and so brings the word "first" into its proper and emphatic position. 
 The swimmers were to get into safety first of all, that then they might 
 be in readiness to succour those who drifted to the land on the floating 
 spars and planks. 
 
 44. and the rest] The nominative is here left pendent, both in the 
 original and the translation. We supply readily in thought the needful 
 words "should get to the land." 
 
 so7}ie on boards [/?. V. planks] and some on broken pieces of \R. V. 
 other things from] the ship] The R. V. is the closest rendering of the 
 Greek, but the A. V. gives the sense. The things on which they were 
 saved were pieces which on the stranding of the vessel would be broken 
 away from the main timbers. Everything that was needless to be kept 
 on board they had already thrown over, and so we cannot think here of 
 loose furniture of the vessel, but only of the framework itself. 
 
 escaped all safe] {R. V. all escaped safe]. The transposition of 
 R.V. makes the emphasis clear. "All safe" might be read as if it 
 meant "quite safe," and "all" were merely an adverb qualifying the 
 adjective. 
 
 XXVIII. 1—10. The shipwrecked company hospitably 
 
 ENTERTAIMEI) IN MaLTA. PAUL, BITTEN BY A VIPER, FEELS 
 
 NO HURT. Cure of the father of the chief magistrate. 
 
 1. And lahen ttiey ivere escaped] The oldest MSS. give the first 
 person plural in this verse. Render (with R. V.) "when we were... we 
 knew." 
 
 Melita] They would at once learn what the land was from the 
 natives whom they found on the shore. Tradition has from the earliest 
 times identified Melita with the modern Malta. But Constantine 
 Porphyrogenitus {dc Adm. Imp. p. 36) and others after him have at- 
 tempted to shew that Meleda, a small island in the Adriatic Sea, not 
 far from the coast of Illyria, was the scene of the shipwreck. They have 
 supported this opinion by confining the sense of Adria (xxvii. 27) to the 
 
36S THE ACTS, XXVIII. [v. 3. 
 
 us no little kindness : for they kindled a fire, and received 
 
 us every one, because of the present rain, and because of 
 
 3 the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, 
 
 and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, 
 
 modern Adriatic Sea, by their explanation of "barbarians" in the next 
 verse of this chapter, and by the absence of vipers at the present time 
 from the island of Malta. But the latter circumstance is not without a 
 parallel. The advance of cultivation and alteration of temperature have 
 destroyed poisonous beasts out of other districts besides Malta, and the 
 two first arguments are founded on mistakes. Moreover it is hardly 
 possible to conceive that a ship should be driven for fourteen days in the 
 Adriatic without going ashore, and the direction in which they sailed 
 after finding a fresh vessel (xxviii. 11, 12) is also completely opposed to 
 the idea that they were wrecked in the Gulf of Venice. 
 
 2. And the barbarous people] {R. V. barbarians] The word is 
 •used in the original, as it was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. 
 Those who did not speak their language were to them always "bar- 
 barians" not necessarily in our modern sense but as strange and foreign 
 folks. The language spoken in Malta was probably a Phoenician dialect, 
 As the island had received most of its inhabitants from Carthage, but 
 had come under Roman rule in the second Punic war (Livy, xxi. 51). 
 
 shewed us no little \R. V. no common] kindness'] The same Greek 
 expression is used xix. 11 of St Paul's miracles. There both versions 
 give "special" as the rendering. And w^e might hsre read "shewed us 
 especial kindness." 
 
 received ns every one] \R. V. all] i.e. took us under their care. At 
 first of course the hospitality would be shewn by kind treatment on the 
 beach, evidenced by their lighting a fire. Afterwards, as the stay was 
 of three months' duration, the sailors and prisoners would find quarters 
 in the dwellings of the natives. Paul, the centurion, and sorhe others 
 were received into the house of the chief magistrate. The rain con- 
 tinued after they had got ashore, and the storm had so lowered the 
 temperature that the first thing to be done was to make a large fire. 
 
 3. And \R. V. But] ivhen Paid had gathered] This is only another 
 sign of the active spirit of the Apostle. Whatever was to be done, 
 if he were able to take a part in it, he was never wanting, whether it 
 was in counselling about a difficulty, in comforting under danger, or 
 helping by bodily labour to relieve the general distress. 
 
 a bundle of sticks] The word in the original would apply very fitly to 
 the brushwood and furze which is said to be the only material growing 
 near St Paul's Bay of which a fire could be made. 
 
 there came a viper] Dr Farrar {Life of St Paid, ii. 384, note) has 
 noticed that the viper has disappeared from the isle of Arran, as it 
 is now said to have done from Malta. 
 
 Old, of the heat] [R.V. by reason of the heat] The original has the 
 preposition usually rendered "from." The R.V. gives the better 
 explanation of its meaning here. The creature had been numbed by 
 
vv. 4— 7-] THE ACTS, XXVIII. 369 
 
 and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw 4 
 the veno?nous beast hang on his hand, they said among 
 themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though 
 he hath escaped the sea, yet Vengeance suffereth not to live. 
 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. 5 
 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or e 
 fallen down 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. In the same 7 
 quarters were possessions of the chief maji of the island, 
 
 the cold, and feeling the sudden warmth, woke up and sprang away 
 from it. 
 
 4. satu the venomous beast\ There is nothing in the Greek to repre- 
 sent "venomous," though it was because the inhabitants knew that 
 such was its character that they Avere so astonished at what happened. 
 
 Vengeance suffereth not to live\ \R. V. "Justice hath not suffered 
 to live "] This is an instance in which the A.V. expresses far more 
 truly than the R. V. the sense of the Greek. The indefinite meaning 
 ■of the Greek aorist is often more like what we call the English present 
 than the perfect. "I eat" does not necessarily mean "I am eating" 
 and covers more time than "I have eaten." It may be present, but it 
 can refer both to past and future time. What the people meant to say 
 M'as that Justice, as her wont is, is finding out the wrong- doer. 
 
 5. And [A'. V. Howbeit] he shook off the beast} The rendering of 
 the particles by the R. V. is to be preferred. The verb is the same 
 which is used (Luke ix. 5) of shaking off dust from the feet. The idea 
 conveyed is that Paul was quite composed in what he did, and that the 
 beast was no cause of alarm to him. 
 
 6. Howbeit they looked when he should have szuolleji] Better (with 
 R.V.) "But they expected that he would have swollen." Such being 
 the usual effect of the viper's bite, and making itself apparent in a very 
 short time. 
 
 but after they had looked a great while] \^R. V. "but when they were 
 long in expectation."] The verb is the same as in the first clause of the 
 verse, and does not express merely the gazing upon Paul, but the thought 
 in their minds of what was to come. The pluperfect of the A.V. is the 
 better English. So read "when they had been long in expectation." 
 
 sazu no harm] [R.V. "beheld nothing amiss."] The adjective 
 is the same which is used, Luke xxiii. 41, ''This man hath done 
 nothing amiss,'' and can be applied to anything abnormal, whether 
 it be as there a breach of a law, or as here a change of condition. 
 
 and said that he was a god] Compare the conduct of the Lycaonians 
 in Eystra (xiv. 11 seqq.), whose behaviour afterwards shews that the 
 opinion quickly formed was unstable, and liable to change as suddenly 
 £is, it came. 
 
 7. /// the same quarters were possessions of ^z.] The A.V. omits 
 
370 THE ACTS, XXVIII. [vv. 8—10, 
 
 whose name was Publius ; who received us, and lodged its 
 
 8 three days courteously. And it came to pass, that the 
 father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flixe : 
 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 
 
 the conjunction, and the indefinite word "possessions" is improved on 
 by R. V. *' Now in the neighbourhood of that place were lands belong- 
 ing to, &c." The nearest place to what is believed to have been the 
 scene of the wreck is the town now called Alta Vecchia. 
 
 the chief man of the island^ The Greek word is " Protos," which is- 
 known from inscriptions (see Bochart, Geogr. ii. i. •26) to have been 
 the official title of the governor of Melita. The island of Melita be- 
 longed to the province of the Sicilian Praetor (Cicero, Verr. IV. 18), 
 whose legate Publius probably was. Tradition makes him become 
 bishop of Malta. 
 
 who received iis\ This was only natural in the Roman official, for 
 Paul was under the charge of a Roman officer, and had appealed for 
 hearing to the Roman Emperor. 
 
 and lodged [/v. V. entertained] tts three days] This was until arrange- 
 ments could be made for a more permanent dwelling-place. As they 
 must remain in the island through the stormy weather of winter, before 
 they could start again, it would be needful to provide them with settled 
 quarters. They could not be guests for the whole three months. 
 
 8. And it came to pass, that] {R.V. "and it was so, that"]. The 
 R. V. is the better modern rendering. The expression means "It hap- 
 pened that, &c.," not that after the arrival of St Paul the father fell ill^ 
 which might be taken as the meaning of the A.V. 
 
 of a fever and of a bloody flixe] [A'. V. "of fever and dysentery"]. 
 The words are technical such as a physician, as St Luke is reputed ta 
 have been, would be likely to use in describing the disease. The first, 
 which is in the plural number, implies the fits of fever which occur at 
 intervals in such diseases as ague. 
 
 9. others also] \^R. V. the rest also] The latter rendering is to be 
 preferred. It was not a few who came, but during the three months of 
 their stay all the others who were in sickness and heard of what had 
 been done for the father of the chief magistrate (and it was sure to be 
 widely noised abroad) came to be cured. 
 
 luho also honoured ns] i.e. the whole people upon whom these bene- 
 fits had been conferred honoured Paul and for his sake the rest of the 
 party. 
 
 with 7nany honours] No doubt these included gifts of money and 
 such things as would be needed by travellers who had lost everything, 
 in the shipwreck: but to restrict the word to the sense of "honorarium" 
 or fee, such as might be paid to a physician, is to narrow the meaning, 
 needlessly, and to put a construction on the proceeding which it cannot 
 
vv. II, 12.] THE ACTS, XXVIII. 371 
 
 departed, they laded us with such things as were neces- 
 sary. 
 
 II — 16. The voyage from Malta and the arrival in Roitie. 
 
 And after three months we departed in a ship ofn 
 Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was 
 Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried la 
 
 bear. The Apostle who prayed and laid his hands on the sick and 
 healed them was not the sort of person to whom they would offer money 
 as a fee. 
 
 and when w: departed^ \R. V. sailed] This is better, for the word 
 is one constantly used of putting out to sea, and not of any ordinary 
 departure by other modes of travel. 
 
 they laded tis with such tilings as were 7iecessary\ \^R. V. "they put 
 on board such things as we needed"]. The bounty must have been 
 large if we consider the number of those for whom it was given. But 
 Publius would set the example and others would not be slow to' 
 follow it. 
 
 11—16. The voyage from Malta and the arrival in Rome. 
 
 11. And after three months^ The proper season for sailing having 
 again come round, now that the winter was over. 
 
 7ve departed] {R. V. set sail]. The verb is the same as in the pre- 
 ceding verse. 
 
 in a ship of Alexatidna] Another vessel employed in the same trade 
 probably as that in which (xxviii. 6) they had embarked at Myra, and 
 suffered so many perils. 
 
 which had wintered in the islel Having got so far on the voyage out 
 before the stormy weather came on. As the harbour was then where 
 it now is, the ship had wintered in what is now Valetta. 
 
 whose sign was Castor and Follnx] {R. V. the Twin Brothers]. The 
 Greek is Dioscuri, the name given to Jupiter's two sons born of Leda, 
 who, when they were translated to the sky, became a constellation of 
 special favour towards sailors. Horace speaks of them as " lucida 
 sidera" {Od. i. 3. ■2), where he describes their beneficent influence on 
 the ocean. By " sign" is meant what we now call "figure-head," only 
 that the ancient ships had such signs both at stem and stern, and often 
 the figure was that of some divinity. 
 
 If for no other reason than the description of the vessel in which the 
 further journey was performed we cannot accept the theory that the 
 wreck took place in the Adriatic sea. It would be hard to conceive of 
 a vessel from Alexandria, which had stopped on its voyage to Italy to 
 avoid the storms of winter, being found so far out of its course as 
 Meleda in the Adriatic. 
 
 12. And landing [/?. V. touching] at Syracuse'] The vessel takes 
 the regular road, sailing north from Valetta to Sicily. Syracuse was 
 one of the chief towns of Sicily lying on the south-eastern extremity^ 
 
372 THE ACTS, XXVIII. [vv. 13, 14. 
 
 T3 there three days. And from thence we fet a compass, and 
 came to Rhegium : and after one day the south wind blew, 
 
 14 and we came the next day to PuteoU : where we found 
 brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days : 
 
 and was famous in classical histoiy as the scene of many of the disas- 
 ters of the Athenian fleet and army in their expedition to Sicily during 
 the Peloponnesian war. 
 
 13. we fct a compass] [R.V. "made a circuit"] The old English- 
 phrase of the A.V. is not uncommon, cp. 2 Sam. v. 23; -2 Kings iii. 
 •9. They made this winding course because the favourable wind, for 
 which they had probably been waiting during the three days' stay at 
 Syracuse, did not come. " fet" is the old preterite of " fetch " and is 
 found often in the version of 161 1, but has been changed by modern 
 printers. 
 
 came to [R. V. arrived at] Rhegium'] The modern Reggio situated at 
 the southern point of Italy, on the straits of Messina. At this place 
 ■Caligula designed to construct a harbour for these corn ships coming 
 from Egypt to Italy, but his intention was never carried out. 
 
 the south wind hlevJ] Better (with R. V.) "a south wind sprang up." 
 Thus by a change of wind they were able to go speedily forward, 
 instead of tacking as they had been obliged to do from Syracuse to 
 Rhegium. 
 
 to Puteolt] This is the modern Fozzicoli, near Naples. In St Paul's 
 <lay it was a principal port of Rome, and to it came most of the corn 
 supply from Egypt. 
 
 14. zvhere we found brethren] i.e. there was a Christian Church 
 established in Puteoli, and it was to such a degree well known, that the 
 Apostle on his arrival at once learnt of its existence. From this we 
 may gather that the Christians in Italy had already spread to a consi- 
 derable extent, and hence it seems very probable that Christianity had 
 been carried into that country from Jerusalem soon after the first Pen- 
 tecostal preaching, at which time Roman visitors were present in the 
 Holy City. Of course in such a place as Puteoli the Jews were likely 
 to congregate, for the sake of trade, more than in many other places of 
 Italy, and from their body the earliest converts to Christianity must 
 have been made. But that, without any previous recorded visit of an 
 Apostle, there should already be in Puteoli a numerous band of 
 Christians is evidence of the zeal with which the new faith was being 
 propagated. For it was now only about 28 years since the death of 
 Jesus. 
 
 and were desired] S^R. V. intreated]. The stronger word represents 
 the original better. It has generally been thought that the duration of 
 this stay was arranged so that the Apostle might be present with the 
 Church in Puteoli at least over one Lord's day. Thus the Christian 
 congregation would be able to gather in its entirety, and to hear from 
 the lips of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, the Gospel for which he 
 was now " an ambassador in bonds." We do not know whether any 
 circumstances occurred to detain Julius in Puteoli, but if it were not so. 
 
V. 15-] THE ACTS, XXVIII. 373 
 
 and so we went toward Rome. And from thence, when the 15 
 brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii 
 forum, and The three taverns : whom when Paul saw, he 
 
 it is a token of the great influence which St Paul had obtained over the 
 centurion, that he was permitted to stay such a long time with his 
 Christian friends, when the capital was so near at hand. 
 
 and so we iveiit toward Rome\ The Greek is more nearly represented 
 by the R. V. "and so we came to Rome." The narrative at first 
 speaks of the completed voyage, and then in verse 15 mention is made 
 of some details which relate to the short land journey from Puteoli to- 
 the capital. 
 
 15. zvhen the h-ethren heard of iis\ Between Puteoli and Rome 
 there was constant communication, and the seven days of the Apostle's 
 sojourn in -the port were amply sufficient to make the whole Christian 
 body in Rome aware of his arrival in Italy and of the time when he 
 would set out towards the city. 
 
 they came to 7neet tis\ If it were quite certain that the sixteenth 
 chapter of the Epistle to the Romans was part of the letter which was 
 sent to that Church we might make sure of the names of some who. 
 would be of the party which started from Rome to welcome St Paul on 
 his arrival in Italy. Aquila and Priscilla, Epcenetus; Andronicus and 
 Junias, who are both spoken of as having been formerly fellow-prisoners 
 with the Apostle; Rufus, Herodion and Apelles, who are mentioned 
 there in terms of the greatest affection, could hardly have failed to be 
 among the company at Appii Forum. But the whole closing chapter 
 of the Epistle to the Romans appears to apply better to some Asiatic 
 Church, probably Ephesus, than to Rome, and so it is unsafe to con- 
 clude that the Christians there mentioned were those who now met 
 St Paul and cheered him on his way, 
 
 as far as Appii forii77i\ \R. V. the Market of Appius] The name 
 ' Forum ' seems to have been given by the Romans to places such as we 
 should now call Borough-towns. The town here mentioned was 
 situated on the Appian Way, the great road from Rome to Brundusium. 
 Both road and town owed their name to the famous Appius Claudius, 
 the Roman Censor, and this town is mentioned by Horace as crowded 
 with sailors, and abounding in tavernkeepers of bad character {Sat. i. 
 5.4). It was distant rather more than forty miles from Rome, and as^ 
 the Appian Way was only one of two ways by which travellers could 
 go from Appii Forum to the Imperial City, it M'as natural that the 
 deputation from Rome should halt here and wait for the Apostle's 
 arrival. 
 
 The three tavernsi The name '^ Tai>erntz" had in Latin a much 
 wider signification than the English " Taverns" and was applied to any 
 shop whatever, not as the English word to one where refreshments are 
 sold. The site of this place has not been identified, but it is said to 
 have been about ten miles nearer to Rome than Appii Forum ; and the 
 body of Christians who came as far as this had perhaps set out trom 
 Rome later than their brethren. The whole distance from Puteoli to 
 
374 THE ACTS, XXVIII. [v. i6. 
 
 i6 thanked God, and took courage. 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. 
 
 Rome was about 140 miles. "Tres Tabernce" is placed 33 miles from 
 Rome. 
 
 he thanked God, and took cotirage'] When thinking and writing about 
 his coming to Rome, Paul had never thought that his first visit to it 
 M'ould be as a prisoner. He had hoped (Rom. i. 11 — 12) to come as 
 the bearer of some spiritual blessing, and to be comforted himself by 
 the faith of the Roman brethren. How different was the event from 
 what he had pictured. But yet here were some of the brethren, and 
 their faith and love were made manifest by their journey to meet the 
 Apostle, and no doubt they brought with them the salutations of all 
 the Church. This was somewhat to be thankful for. The prisoner 
 would not be without sympathy, and the spiritual gift might be im- 
 parted even though Paul was no longer free. The cause of Christ was 
 advancing; and cheered by the evidence of this the Apostle's heart 
 revived. 
 
 16. And when we came to Rome\ There was much that might have 
 been said of this land journey from Puteoli to Rome, and the writer of 
 the Acts was one of the fellow-travellers. But it is foreign to his pur- 
 pose to dwell on anything which does not concern the spread of the 
 Gospel according to the command of Jesus (Acts i. 8), and so he leaves 
 all the glorious sights and scenery unmentioned, and tells us no word 
 of the many monuments which stood along the Appian Way, only 
 noticing, what his history required, the two little bands, that repre- 
 sented Christ's cause and the work of the Gospel, in the great city to 
 which they were approaching. 
 
 the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard : but'\ 
 For these words there is no text in the oldest Greek MSS. which we 
 possess. But the words are not of the same character as many of the 
 sentences which seem introduced into the text of the Acts by later 
 hands. They are entirely independent of anything either in the Acts or 
 the Epistles of St Paul, and it is not easy to understand why they should 
 have been added to the original text. There is moreover such similarity 
 between the ending of the first and last words in the clause, that the eye 
 of an early scribe may have passed over from the one to the other, and 
 thus omitted the clause, and in this way may have originated the text of 
 the MSS. which leave the passage out. 
 
 The "Captain of the Guard" here alluded to was probably the 
 "praefectus prsetorio," one of whose duties was to take charge of those 
 persons from the provinces whose causes were to be brought before the 
 Emperor. 
 
 Paul was suffered to dwell \R. V. abide] by himself '\ This lenity was 
 probably due to the commendation of the centurion J ulius, who cannot 
 i)ut have found that he had charge of no ordinary prisoner in St Paul, 
 
vv. 17, 18.] THE ACTS, XXVI 1 1. 37 S 
 
 17 — 28. St Faid's mtervieia with the Jetvs in Rome. 
 
 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called 17 
 the chief of the Jews together : and when they were come 
 together, he said unto them, JSIen and brethren, though I 
 have committed nothing against the people, or customs of 
 our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into 
 the hands of the Romans. Who, when they had examined 18 
 
 and having been saved and aided by the Apostle's advice would natu- 
 rally wish to do something in return. 
 
 with a soldier that kept [A\ V. guarded] hiiTi] The custom was 
 that the prisoner should be chained by one hand to the soldier while 
 he was on guard. And to this chain the Apostle often makes ajlusion 
 in the Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon) 
 written during this imprisonment. See also below, verse 20. The 
 frequent change of the pei'son who guarded him would give the 
 Apostle an opportunity of spreading the knowledge of his cause, and 
 the message of the Gospel, very widely among the Praetorian guards 
 who had him in charge, and many things would have been heard by 
 them from the soldiers who had sailed with St Paul, which would 
 make them ready to attend to the narrative of their prisoner. 
 
 17 — 28. St Paul's interview with the Jews in Rome. 
 
 17. after three days\ At first the Apostle would naturally desire to 
 learn all he could of the Christian congregations at Rome from those 
 who had been the first to welcome him on his approach to that city. 
 But for this, three days sufficed. Then he set about explaining his 
 position to those of his fellow-countrymen, not Christians, who were of 
 most importance in Rome. For to them would most probably be 
 forwarded an account of the charges to be laid against the Apostle, 
 and of the evidence by which they were to be supported. 
 
 Paul called the chief of the Jezus together'] Keeping still to the rule to 
 offer the Gospel first to the Jews, even here in Rome, where he had 
 good reason to think that his message would not be received. The 
 decree by which in the reign of Claudius all the Jews had been banished 
 from Rome (xviii. 2) was evidently no longer in force. For clearly 
 there was an important body of them resident in the city. 
 
 Men- and brethre}{\ See note on i. 16. 
 
 though I have committed \^R. V. had done] 7iothing against the people, 
 or customs of our fathers] For everywhere had he shewn himself 
 desirous that his own people should hear the message of the Gospel 
 first, and for Jews he had never forbidden circumcision, only insisting 
 that Gentile converts should not be forced to submit to the Jewish law 
 before they were received into the Christian Church. 
 
 delivered prisoner... into the hands of the Romans] He describes the 
 result, rather than the steps by which it was brought about. The chief 
 captain had rescued him from the violence of the Jewish mob, and he 
 
2>7C> THE ACTS, XXVIII. [vv. 19-21, 
 
 me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of 
 
 19 death in me. But when the Jews spake against //", I was 
 constrained to appeal unto Cesar; not that I had ought to 
 
 20 accuse my nation of. For this cause therefore have I 
 called for you, to see yoit^ and to speak Wiih you: because 
 that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. 
 
 21 And they said unto him. We neither received letters out of 
 Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that 
 
 had never since been out of the care of the Roman authorities. Yet 
 but for the Jews he never would have been a Roman prisoner, and 
 when the Sadducees in Jerusalem found that he was not to be given up 
 to them, they made themselves his accusers before Felix and Festus. 
 
 18. would have let vie go] {R.V. "desired to set me at liberty"} 
 Alluding most probably to Agrippa's remark (xxvi. 32) and the state- 
 ment of Festus (xxv. 25). It seems probable that Felix would have 
 found means to set Paul free had the requisite bribe been offered tcv 
 him (xxiv. 26). All were convinced of his innocence. 
 
 19. not that I had ought to accuse my nation of] St Paul shews 
 himself the patriotic Jew. He knew how many things his fellow- 
 countrymen had suffered at the hands of the Roman power, and he 
 did not wish in any way to bring on them any more trouble. He 
 therefore explains that he had taken the course of appealing to Caesar 
 only because he saw no other means of obtaining his release. If that 
 were secured he wished to lay no charge at the door oi his accusers or 
 their brethren in Rome. 
 
 20. For this ca7ise therefore have I called for you to see you, and tO' 
 speak with you] \^R.V. "did I intreat you to see and to speak with 
 ine'^] As the marginal note in the R. V. shews, the A. V. may be a 
 correct rendering of the Greek, arid it is more probable that Paul would 
 say that he Avished to speak to the Jews than that he wished them ta 
 come and speak with him. 
 
 because that for the hope of Israel I ant bound with this chain] The 
 hope of Israel is the general expectation of Messiah. In Jesus Paul 
 believed that the expected Saviour had appeared, and for preaching 
 this he had been attacked and made a prisoner. He held the same 
 faith as all the Jews, only going in this matter farther than they in that 
 he believed the ancient promise was now fulfilled. We can see fron> 
 the reply of the Jews that they understood his position exactly. 
 
 21. letters .out of [K. V. from] Judea concerniyig thee] This may 
 easily be understood. For no ship starting later than that in which 
 St Paul sailed was likely to have arrived in Rome before he reached 
 that city, and the Jews who conducted the accusation would take a. 
 little time for drawing up all the details which they desired to lay 
 before the court of appeal, so that their despatch would be sent later 
 than the time of Paul's sailing. For before it was determined that he 
 should be sent to Rome they would see no necessity for informing the 
 Jews there concerning his case. 
 
w. 22, 23.] THE ACTS, XXVIII. 377 
 
 came shewed or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to 22 
 hear of thee what thou thinkest : for as concerning this sect, 
 we know that every where it is spoken against. And when 23 
 they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into 
 his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the 
 
 neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee] 
 [R. V. "nor did any of the brethren come hither and report or speak &c."] 
 The English of the A. V. makes the words refer to any who might have 
 come to Rome from Judaea at any time. And it is conceivable that 
 during the time between Paul's first arrest and his arrival in Rome 
 many opportunities might have arisen for news about the prisoner to 
 have been sent to Rome. But in the original it appears as if only the 
 present time were in the minds of the speakers, and what they want 
 to say is represented by the R.V. "Nobody has come in connection 
 with this trial and appeal to tell us any evil about thee." They seem 
 not to have been at all anxious to move in the matter. At whatever 
 time the edict of Claudius was withdrawn it could only be within the 
 last few years (ten at the most) that the Jewish population had been 
 again permitted to come to Rome. They were probably loath therefore 
 to call public attention again to their nation by appearing before the 
 court of appeal in a cause connected with their religion. 
 
 22. But we desire to hear of thee] He was a Jew, one of their 
 own nation, and was likely to be able to put his belief before them in 
 its true light. They professed to be open to reason, but this may have 
 been only because they knew not what else to do. 
 
 concerning this sect] It is clear from this expression that they had 
 learnt from St Paul's speech, though St Luke does not record the 
 v/ords, that he was an adherent of Jesus of Nazareth, and held that in 
 Him "the hope of Israel" had been fulfilled. 
 
 we know] [A'. V. "it is known to us"]- The change has the merit of 
 being very literal. Other merit it would be hard to find in it. 
 
 ez>e}y where it is spoken against] They were doubtless aware of many 
 of the attacks which had been made by their countrymen on the 
 Christians both in the cities of Asia and Europe, and would have heard 
 them spoken of as the men who were turning the world upside down. 
 The result of the conference was that a day was fixed, on which the 
 Apostle, should set forth to them his opinions, so that, as they had no 
 other means for deciding on their course of action, they might discover 
 for themselves what would be the best course to take. 
 
 23. many^ The original is the comparative degree, and implies 
 that the first visitors had been only a small deputation, but that on the 
 set day they and their fellows appeared "in greater numbers." 
 
 into his lodging] From this it would seem that for the first portion 
 of the time that Paul was in Rome, he was allowed to accept the 
 hospitality of the Christian body, and though chained to his guard, yet 
 to be resident in a house which his friends had provided for him, and 
 where he waS| as far as he could be under the circumstances, treated as 
 their guest. 
 
 ACTS 26 
 
378 THE ACTS, XXVIII. [vv. 24—27. 
 
 kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both 
 out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from 
 
 24 morning till evening. And some believed the things which 
 
 25 were spoken, and some believed not. And when they 
 agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul 
 had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by 
 
 26 Esaias the prophet 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 per- 
 
 27ceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, 
 and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes 
 have they closed; lest they should see with their 
 
 to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God'\ [R. V. "ex- 
 pounded the matter, testifying the, &c."] i.e. bearing witness that the 
 Messianic hope, which the Jews all spake of as the kingdom of God, or 
 the kingdom of heaven, had now been revealed. 
 
 frorn moj-ning till evening] It is clear from what follows that as in 
 Jerusalem so here, there were some to whom the Apostle's words were 
 not all unwelcome. This accounts for their staying to hear him the 
 whole day through. 
 
 24. so?ne believed not] [R. V. disbelieved]. No doubt both the 
 Sadducees and the Pharisees had their representatives here as elsewhere 
 among the Jewish population. 
 
 25. agreed not amojtg the?Jiselves] This may have been the real cause 
 of their inaction in the matter of the Apostle's trial. He would not 
 have been without a party of supporters among their own body. 
 
 unto our [R. V. your] fathers] The change of pronoun has the sup- 
 port of the oldest MSS., and is more in accord with the spirit in which 
 St Paul is speaking. He would wish to distinguish these obstinate Jews 
 from himself and others who received the words of the Old Testament 
 as fulfilled in Jesus. 
 
 26. saying, &c.] The passage which the Apostle quotes is from 
 Isaiah vi. 9, and had already been quoted by our Lord himself against 
 the Jews (Matt. xiii. 14; Mark iv. 12; Luke viii. 10; see also John 
 xii. 40) when He was explaining why all His teaching was given in 
 parables. He spake in this wise first because had He said openly all that 
 He wished to teach He would have had far less chance of acceptance than 
 when His message was veiled under a parable ; and next He so spake 
 that those only who cared to manifest a desire to know the deeper 
 meaning of His words might be able to do so. His words were for 
 those who had ears to hear. But most of those to whom He spake had 
 not. 
 
 Hearing \R. V. "By hearing"] i.e. with the outward organs ye shall 
 catch what is said, but since ye have no heart for the message, ye shall 
 not understand. 
 
vv. 28—30.] THE ACTS, XXVIII. 379 
 
 eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with 
 their heart, and should be converted, and I should 
 heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the 2s 
 salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they 
 will hear it. And when he had said these words^ the Jews 29 
 departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. 
 
 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, 30 
 
 27. and should be converted] \^R. V. "and should turn again"] The 
 new rendering is to be preferred on account of the restricted meaning 
 which in modern speech has become attached to the word "convert." 
 In the older language it signified "to turn round and go back again." 
 
 28. the {R. V. this] salvation of God] The oldest MSS. add "this," 
 and it has been almost surely omitted in later MSS. by the carelessness 
 of the scribes. The Apostle would be anxious to emphasize that the 
 doctrine which he was preaching to them and which they were rejecting, 
 that this^ was God's very message of salvation. 
 
 and that they will hear it] This is certainly a wrong sense of the 
 original. The Apostle does not wish to convey, as the English Version 
 does, a taunt to the Jews that they come behind the Gentiles. What 
 he wants to express is, that now the message has been given according to 
 Christ's command to the Jews everywhere, for Rome may be regarded 
 as the centre of the then known world, and now the time has come when 
 the Gentiles should in their turn be privileged to have everywhere the 
 offers of the Gospel. Therefore read (with R. V.) "they will also hear" 
 {i.e. as well as you), though looked upon by strict Jews as beyond the 
 pale of salvation. 
 
 29. And when, &c.] This verse is omitted in the oldest MSS. and 
 in R. V. 
 
 30. And Paul] The proper name is omitted in the oldest MSS., 
 and this omission supports the rejection of verse 29. It is only the in- 
 sertion of that verse which rendered the word "Paul" here needful to 
 the sense. 
 
 two whole years] Of these years we have no history, except such as 
 we can gather from the four Epistles which were written from Rome 
 during the time (see above on verse 16). We know that from first to 
 last the chain galled both his body and mind (Eph. iii. i, iv. i ; Phil. i. 
 13, 16; Col. iv. 18; Philem. verses i, 9, 10), and that his case was at 
 times an object of much anxiety (Phil. ii. 23, 24). We also learn from 
 the Stame letters that beside Ivuke and Aristarchus (Acts xxvii. 27), he 
 had also the fellowship, for some time at least, of Tychicus, who (Eph. 
 vi. 21) was the bearer of his letter to Ephesus; of Timothy, whom 
 (Phil. i. i; Col. i. i; Philem. i) he joins with himself in the greeting 
 to the Churches of Philippi and Colossae and also in that to Philemon. 
 In the former of these Churches Timothy had been a fellow-labourer 
 with the Apostle. Epaphroditus came with the Philippian contributions 
 to the need of the imprisoned Apostle (Phil. iv. 18). Oneiimus found 
 out St Paul when in flight from his master he made his way to Rome 
 
SSo THE ACTS, XXVIII. [v. 31. 
 
 31 and received all 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 for- 
 bidding him. 
 
 (Col. iv. 9; Philem. 10). Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, was also 
 there, and another Jewish convert, Jesus, called Justus, of whom we 
 only know that the Apostle considered him worthy to be called a 
 fellow-worker unto the liingdom of God (Col. iii. 12). Epaphras, from 
 the churches in Laodicea and Hierapolis, had come to visit Paul, and 
 to bring him the greetings doubtless of the Christians there, and carry 
 back some words of earnest counsel and advice from the Roman 
 prisoner (Col. iii. 12). Last of all Demas was there, soon after to be 
 mentioned as having forsaken the good way through love of this 
 present world (Col. iii. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 10). More than this and the few 
 words in this verse we do not know of this first imprisonment. 
 
 in his own hired house\ \R. V. dwelling] The means for such hiring 
 were provided by the liberality of the Philippians and others, for the 
 Apostle could no longer with his own hands minister even to his own 
 wants. 
 
 all that came \R. V. went] in unto hijji\ For the fulness of Gospel 
 freedom had now been reached, and the word of God and the kingdom of 
 God were open to all who sought unto them. 
 
 with all confidence, no man forbidding hini] The word rendered 
 "confidence" {R. V. "boldness"] implies that "freedom of speech" 
 which was looked upon by the Athenians as the great mark of their 
 liberty. For Englishmen there must arise the thought that perhaps 
 from some of those Roman soldiers who heard Paul in his prison the 
 message of the Gospel came first to our island. 
 
 The historian had now reached the end of his work, and does not even 
 tell the manner of the Apostle's release, though as he mentions the 
 duration of the imprisonment, he must have known how he came to be 
 liberated. But that concerned not the purpose of his record, and so he 
 has no word more. " Victo7'ia Verbi Dei. Faulus Romce. Apex 
 Evangelii. Actortnn Fiytis'^ (Bengel). 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbot (Dr), note of, 279 
 
 about, use of, 249 
 
 Achaia, notice of, 237 
 
 Acts, not a work of the second century, 
 
 33 , 
 
 — title of, 1 
 
 — purpose of writer, i, 5 
 
 — design of, ix 
 
 — a history of beginnings, x 
 
 — title of, not original, xv 
 
 — testimony to, from the Epistles, 
 
 xxi 
 
 — suggested authors of, xxii 
 
 — date of, xxiv 
 
 — sources of narrative, xxxii 
 
 — difficulties in, considered xxxiii 
 
 seqq. 
 Adramyttium, 354 
 Adria, meaning of, 361 
 Africa, corn supply from, 359 
 Agapse, 272 
 Agrippa, Herod II., 340 
 
 — pomp of, 342 
 Akeldama, name of Potter's field, 12 
 Alexander at Ephesus, 262 
 Alexandria, 243 
 
 — ships of, 355 
 
 — Jews in, 76 
 almost = with little labour, 352 
 alms for the Jewish Christians, 330 
 Amos, quotation from, 192 
 Amphipolis, 215 
 
 Ananias, 305 
 
 — of Damascus, 113 
 
 — sin and death of, 53 
 
 — the high-priest, 312 
 Andrew, not in same place in list of the 
 
 twelve, 8 
 angel, face of an, 78 
 angelic aid to the disciples, 62 
 angels, Jewish belief concerning, 149 
 
 — present at Sinai, 93 
 Annas the high-priest, 42 
 Antioch, Church at, 185 
 
 — in Pisidia, Paul's visit to, 161 
 
 Antioch in Sjnria, 142 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, his death, 153 
 
 Antipatris, 322 
 
 Antonia, tower of, 298, 316 
 
 ApoUonia, 215 
 
 — situation of, 133 
 ApoUos, 243 
 
 apostles, names of recited, why, 8 
 
 — did not baptize, why, 138 
 apparel, element of oriental wealth, 282 
 aprons, brought from Paul's body, 252 
 Appii Forum, 373 
 
 Aquila, 232, 241, 245 
 Arabia, Saul's retirement to, 118 
 Aratus, quoted, 229 
 Areopagus, council of, 224 
 Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea, 119 
 Aristarchus, 260, 268, 354 
 Ascension, not on the same day as 
 Resurrection, 3 
 — witnesses of, 5 
 Asia, meaning of, 251 
 
 — Churches in, 259 
 
 — what meant by, 18 
 Assos, 272 
 
 Athenians, lovers of news, 225 
 Athens, idols in, 221 
 
 — Paul's speech at, 225 
 Attalia, seaport of, 182 
 Augustan band, 353 
 
 Augustus, title of Roman emperors, 342 
 A20tus=Ashdod, 108 
 
 babbler, meaning of, 223 
 
 baptism, by descent into the water, 107 
 
 — even after the gift of the Spirit, 
 
 i3~* 
 Barjesus, Jewish name of Elymas, 158 
 Barnabas, 52 
 
 — introduces Saul, 121 
 
 — is sent to Antioch, 143 
 
 — named before Paul, 198 
 basket, Saul let down in, 119 
 Baucis and Philemon, story of, 178 
 beautiful gate of the Temple, 32 
 
382 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Berea, 219 
 
 Bernice, 340 
 
 Berytus {Beyrout), fostered by Herod 
 
 Agrippa, 152 
 Beth-din, 44 
 Beth-Hammidrash, 251 
 bishops = overseers, 279 
 Blastus, perhaps a Roman, 153 
 blood, of the eating of, 194 
 books, of charms, 255 
 
 — burnt, value of, 256 
 breaking of bread, 270 
 
 breaking of bread, name for the Holy 
 
 Communion, 29, 30 
 burial near Jerusalem highly valued, 16 
 burial-places, character of Jewish, 57 
 burials, Jewish care concerning, 96 
 
 Caesar, appeal to, 339 
 
 Caesarea, Paul's imprisonment at, 333 
 
 — Palestina, 108 
 Caiaphas, high-priest, 42 
 
 Caligula would place his statue in the 
 
 Temple, 122 
 Canaanite = Zelotes, 8 
 Candace, name of a series of queens, 104 
 captain of the temple, 39 
 Castor and Pollux, 371 
 Cenchrese, port of Corinth, 240 
 centurions, high character of, in Gospels, 
 
 127 
 chains, prisoners bound with, 299 
 charges, to be at, 294 
 Charran = Haran, 79 
 chief of Asia, explained, 261 
 chief priest, 253 
 Chios, 273 
 Christ, brethren of, 9 
 
 — often at the feasts, 15 
 
 — manifested only to Hisdisciples,i37 
 Christians, flight of to Pella, 23 
 
 — name first given, why, 144 
 Cilicia, attached to the province of Syria, 
 
 — position of, 77 
 Cilicium, 233 
 
 circumcision, they of the, 139 
 Clauda or Cauda, 358 
 Claudius, edict of, 232 
 
 — L^sias, 321, 327 
 clothes, casting off, 309 
 cloven tongues, what, 15 
 Cnidus, 355 
 
 Coincidences in Acts with the Epistles, 
 
 xxix 
 collections for Judaea, 286 
 commendation, letters of, 246 
 common, all things held in, 29, 51 
 Corinth, city of, 231 
 
 — Christians at, 236 
 
 — Apollos preaches there, 245 
 Cornelius the centurion, 126 
 
 Cos, 284 
 
 council, Jewish great, 44 
 
 counsel of God explained, 279 
 
 Crete, 355 
 
 cripple, cure of, at Lystra, 176 
 
 Crispus, 235 
 
 crucifixion, Roman punishment, 66 
 
 curse, binding under a, 317 
 
 customs, Jewish, 317 
 
 Cyprus, birthplace of Barnabas, 201 
 
 — governor of, called proconsul, 158 
 Cyrene, Jews in, 18 
 
 Daimonia, what, 223 
 Damascus, antiquity of, 109 
 — ■ roads towards, no 
 
 — Saul's stay there, 116 
 Daniel, scruples of, concerning eating, 
 
 194 
 David's prophecy of Christ, 24, 26 
 David, sepulchre of, 25 
 
 — is not raised, 165 
 deacons, appointment of, 73 
 
 — all Hellenists, 75 
 defilement, fear of, 43 
 
 — instances of, 134 
 Demetrius the silversmith, 257 
 departing, explained, 280 
 deputies, explained, 294 
 Derbe, 201 
 
 — Paul's visit to, 177, 181 
 description, marked difference of lan- 
 guage used in, 33 
 
 Diana of the Ephesians, 258 
 Dinah, tradition of a twin to, 83 
 Dionysius the Areopagite, 231 
 disciples, did not sell all they had. 52 
 
 — residence of, in Jerusalem, 48 
 dispersion after Stephen's death, 96 
 
 — the Jewish, 232 
 Divine Name, power of, 253 
 
 divorce, a woman could claim, if her hus- 
 band became a tanner, 125 
 Dorcas, meaning of, 124 
 Drusilla, wife of Felix, 333 
 dust, shaking from the feet, 169 
 — throwing in the air, 309 
 
 ears, why the flap of, is soft, 94 
 Eastern houses, windows of, 270 
 Edom, perhaps various reading of Adam, 
 
 192 
 Egypt, why so often mentioned by 
 
 Stephen, 83 
 Egyptian bondage, time of, 81 
 
 — rebels, 300 
 Elamites, 17 
 Elkanah, 38 
 
 Elymas, the sorcerer, at Cyprus, 157 ^ 
 
 — why less punished than Ananias, 
 
 159 
 Ephesian letters, 255 
 Ephesus, 241 
 
 — Paul at, 250 
 
 — ruins of, 259 
 
 — theatre of, 261 
 
INDEX. 
 
 383 
 
 Ephesus, elders of, 274 
 
 Epicureans, 222 
 
 Epistles of St Paul not noticed in Acts 
 
 xxviii 
 Ethiopia, a general name, 104 
 Ethiopian eunuch, baptism of, 104 
 Euroclydon, 358 
 Eutychus, restoration of, 270 
 execution, Jewish modes of, 146 
 
 Fair Havens, 356 
 
 faith, exhibition of, 6r 
 
 famines, numerous in time of Claudius, 
 
 145 
 Fast of the Day of Atonement, 356 
 fear upon all, why, 58 
 feasts, great Jewish, 15 
 Felix, governor of Judsea, 320 
 
 — character of, 325 
 ^ — Paul before, 328 
 fellowship, what it was, 29 
 Field (Dr), note of, 277 
 figurative actions, 288 
 
 fire, tongues of, were persistent, 26 
 forty days, Christ's lesson during the, 3 
 
 Gains, 260, 269 
 
 — of Derbe, 181 
 Galatia, 203 
 Galilee, dialect of, 6 
 gall of bitterness, 102 
 Gallio, proconsul, 237 
 Gamaliel, notices of, 67 
 garlands, use of, in sacrifice, 178 
 Gaza, roads to, 103 
 
 Gentiles, admission of, always borne in 
 mind, 28 
 
 — did not go at once into a Jewish 
 
 house, 131 
 
 — avoided by the Jews, 134 
 girdle, use of, 289 
 
 God, to tempt, 189 
 grace, renewing in baptism, 307 
 Grecians = Hellenists, 72, 121 
 Greece, Paul's visit to, 267, 
 Greek = Gentile, 202 
 
 — particles, force of, 36 
 Greeks in the 'Temple, 297 
 
 "hang on a tree," a Petrine phrase, 66 
 Hannah, first spake of Messiah, 38 
 Hebraism, 196, 199 
 Hebrew = Aramaic, 302 
 
 — idiomatic expression in, 87 
 
 — form of Saul's name used, iii 
 Helen, queen of Adiabene, helps the 
 
 Jews in a famine, 145 
 hell = Hades, 24 
 
 Hellenes, question of the reading, 173 
 Heresy = sect, 329, 345 
 Heresies not much noticed in Acts, xxvi 
 Herod Antipas, 49 
 Herod Agrippa I., 146 seqq. 
 Herod's judgment-hall, 324 
 
 high-priest, often more than one, 42 
 
 history contemporary alluded to in Acts, 
 xxiv seqq. 
 
 Holy Ghost, divinity of, 56 
 
 — the giving of the, 247 
 
 Horeb, place appointed for God's wor- 
 ship, 81 
 
 hours of the Jewish day, 22 
 
 household, meaning of, 207 
 
 Hushim, meaning of, 83 
 
 hyperbole, example of, 16 
 
 Iconium, Paul visits, 173 
 idols, pollutions of, 193 
 ignorance, degrees of, 36 
 ignorant, senses of the word, 46 
 image which fell from Jupiter, 263 
 imprisonment, use of among the Jews, 41 
 invocation of punishment, conditional, loi 
 Italian band, 126 
 
 James, of Alphseus, 8 
 James, son of Zebedee, killed, 146 
 James, bishop of Jerusalem, 151, 191, 291 
 Jason, perhaps a Jew, 217 
 Jerusalem, why the disciples remained 
 at, 4 
 
 — filled with Christian teaching, 
 
 65 
 
 — Apostles resident at, 186 
 
 — ^ largely garrisoned, 323 
 Jesus, i.e. Joshua, 91 
 
 — words of, 283 
 
 Jewish life, little regarded, 239 
 
 — mothers, children of, are Jews, 
 203 
 
 Jews, their denial of Christ, 35 
 
 — dislike to, 209 
 
 — all taught a trade, 233 
 Jochebed, where born, 83 
 Johanan ben Zaccai, 44 
 John, baptism of, 243, 248 
 Joppa, Peter visits, 124 
 
 Josephus, confusion in statements of, 70 
 
 — his account of the flight of 
 
 Moses, '86 
 
 — on the death of Herod Agrippa, 
 
 153 
 journey, conductmg on, 186 
 Judaizers, 187 
 
 Judas, of Galilee, rebellion of, 70 
 Judas, of James, 8 
 Judas Iscariot, death of, 11 
 Judas, named Barsabbas, 196 
 judgments, not given in the night, 41 
 Jupiter, why Barnabas was so called, 
 
 178 
 Just One (the), 306 
 Justus, 234 
 
 kingdom of God, 3 
 kneeling, 283 
 
 Lasea, 326 
 
384 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Law, a hedge about, 190 
 — and the prophets, 330 
 lawful assembly, explained, 265 
 legion, Roman, complement of, 126 
 Libertines, synagogue of, 76 
 lictors at Philippi, 209, 213 
 loss, to gain a, 360 
 lots, casting of, 14 
 Luke's narrative, character of, 13 
 Luke, his use of technical words, 32 
 
 — has a physician's eye, 48 
 
 — medical terms used by, 370 
 
 — probably remained near Philippi, xx 
 
 — tradition ascribes Acts to, xvi 
 LXX., variation of, from the Hebrew, 91, 
 
 106 
 — version of, used by the Ethiopian 
 
 eunuch, 106 
 Lycaonia, language of, 177 
 Lychus valley. Churches in, 206 
 Lydda, Paul heals iEneas at, 123 
 Lydia, 206 
 Lystra, 201 
 
 — Paul visits, 175 
 
 Madian = Midian, 86 
 
 mainsail, 365 
 
 Manaen=Menahem, 155 
 
 martyr = witness, 308 
 
 Mary, mother of John-Mark, 149 
 
 Matthias, notices of, 14 
 
 Melita= Malta 367 
 
 Memmuneh, 63 
 
 mercies, sure, of David, 165 
 
 Mercurius, why Paul so called, 178 
 
 Messiah, first mention of, 38 
 
 — • Jewish calculations concerning, 69 
 Midrash Rabbah on Gen. xii. 4, 80; Eccl. 
 
 i- 9, 37 
 Miletus, 273 
 
 — Paul's address at, 277 
 ministration, daily, what, 73 
 miracles, various names for, 24 
 miraculous recovery of St Paul after 
 
 being stoned, 181 
 Mitylene, 273 
 Mnason, 290 
 
 Moloch, tabernacle of, 90 
 morning sacrifice, time of, 63 
 Moses, custom of, 185 
 
 — = the books of Moses, 195 
 
 — power of his rod, 35 
 
 — parallel between him and Christ, 
 
 37 
 
 — exceeding fair, 85 
 
 — learning of, 85 
 
 — age of at various events, 86 
 
 — sons of, 87 
 
 much learnings the many writings, 351 
 murmuring of, the Hellenists, 71 
 Myra, 355 
 
 name, the significance of, 71 
 
 — Jews often had more than one, 13 
 
 narrative, personal portions of, not unim- 
 portant, XX 
 
 nations, seven cast out of Canaan, 162 
 
 Nazarenes, sect of, 326 
 
 Nazarite, vow of, 293, 296 
 
 Neapolis, 205 
 
 Nicolaitanes, 75 
 
 no little = special, 368 
 
 number of those who went down into 
 Egypt, 82 
 
 one that worshipped God, 235 
 " once a bishop, always a bishop," 43 
 oracles, living, why so called, S9 
 oriental robes, character of, 148 
 orthography of Old Test, best preserved 
 
 in New Test., 87, 91 
 outbreaks of rage, sudden, 65 
 
 "Paphos, capital of Cyprus, 157 
 Parthians, 17 
 Patara, 285 
 particles, force of, 10 
 patriarchs, burial of, 83 
 Paul, plot against, 267 
 
 — education of, 303 
 
 — politic conduct of, 314 
 
 — how a Pharisee, 314 
 
 — preaching before Felix, 334 
 
 — his visit to Jerusalem, 188 
 
 — and Barnabas, contention between, 
 
 200 
 
 — perhaps unfamiliar with Latin, 213 
 
 — probable course of journey of, 220 
 
 — visions of, 235, 316, 361 
 
 — vow of, 240 
 
 — patriotism of, 376 
 
 — lodging of, 377 
 
 — first imprisonment of, 379 
 
 — why Saul took the name, 159 
 
 — stoned at Lystra, 180 
 
 — journeys of, xiv 
 Paul's sister's son, 318 
 
 — speech compared with Stephen's, 
 
 228 
 
 — preaching at Jerusalem, 349 
 Pentecost, why chosen for the gift of the 
 
 Spirit, 15 
 
 — feast of, 274 
 Perga visited by St Paul, 160 
 Peter, change in, after Pentecost, 4 
 
 — graphic language of, 33 
 
 — shadow of, not the healing power, 
 
 60 
 
 — vision of, and its meaning, 126 
 
 seqq. 
 
 — brought out of prison, 149 
 
 — words peculiar to, 189 
 
 — mentioned for the last time, 190 
 
 — dismissed from the history, xiii 
 Pharisees, mentioned away from Jerusa- 
 lem, 187 
 
 Philemon at Colosse, 278 
 
 — Paul perhaps a partner with, 282 
 
INDEX. 
 
 3^S 
 
 Philip, preaching of, 97 
 
 — caught away by the Spirit, 108 
 
 — the Evangelist, 242, 287 
 Philippi, 205 
 
 — magistrates of, 209 
 
 — Paul's stay at, 269 
 Philippians, Paul's joy over the, 214 
 Phoenicia, 186 
 
 Phoenix, 357 
 
 Phrygia, 203 
 
 Pilate, Roman governor, 50 
 
 Politarches, magistrate of Thessalonica, 
 
 218 
 Porcius Festus, 335 
 possessions, not all sold, 55 
 poverty of Jewish Church, reasons of, 145 
 power of God, the great, 99 
 pcwers=miracles, 252 
 prayer, hours of, 31 
 preaching, forbidden by the Spirit, 204 
 
 — in Europe, first effect of, 212 
 preparation of Ananias to visit Saul, 114 
 pricks, meaning of, 347 
 
 priests, duties of Jewish, 39 
 — why specially mentioned as converts, 
 
 75 
 prince of life, 35 
 Priscilla=Prisca, 232, 241, 245 
 prisoner, bound for scourging, 310 
 prisoners, why to be killed, 366 
 proconsul, proper title of the governor of 
 
 Cyprus, 158 
 pronoun, ist pers. plur. use of, 208 
 prophecy, David's, of Judas explained, 
 lo, 12 
 
 — gifts of, 23 
 
 — what, 249 
 prophesyings, what, 288 
 prophets bear witness to Christ, 137 
 
 — at Antioch, 145 
 proselytes, as if new creations, 79 
 proseuche = place of prayer, 206 
 Protos, title of governor of Malta, 370 
 psalm, primary meaning of second, 49 
 Ptolemais, 287 
 
 punishment of Ananias, why so severe, 56 
 Puteoli, 372 
 Python, spirit, 207 
 
 raiment, shaking of, 234 
 
 reading aloud, Jewish custom of, 105 
 
 refreshing, times of, 36 
 
 Remphan, star of, 90 
 
 repetition of a vision, reason for, 130 
 
 rest for the Church, reason of, 122 
 
 restitution, times of, 37 
 
 reward of iniquity, a Petrine phrase, 11 
 
 Rhegium, 372 
 
 Rhodes, 285 
 
 Roman colony, 205 
 
 — officials, responsibility of, 21X 
 
 — chief captain, 298 
 
 — citizenship, 311 
 Romans, not to be scourged, 214 
 
 ACTS 
 
 Rome, Paul's wish to visit, 257 
 
 — Christians at, 373 
 
 roofs of houses flat in the East, 129 
 
 Rhoda, behaviour of, 150 
 
 sabbath day's journey, 6 
 
 " sabbath, the next," meaning of, 167 
 
 Sadducees, name and tenets of, 40 
 
 — why angry at the disciples, 63 
 
 — tenets of, 315 
 saints, use of the word, 282 
 Salmonetta, island of, 365 
 salvation kept in God's own power, 66 
 Samaria, the city of, 97 
 
 — Peter and John sent into, 100 
 Samos, 273 
 
 Samothrace, 205 
 
 Samuel, head of the prophets, 38 
 
 Sanhedrin, meeting place of, 312 
 
 Sapphira, her sin, 54 
 
 Saul among the prophets explained, 38 
 
 — length of his reign, 163 
 
 — present at Stephen's death, 95 
 
 — fierce persecution by, 346 
 Sceva, sons of, 253 
 
 scribes, duties of, 42 
 
 Scriptures, Jewish division of, 90 
 
 — Jewish manner of reading, 169 
 
 seqq. 
 
 — to search the, 219 
 Secundus, 268 
 security, to take, 218 
 Seleucia, seaport of Antioch, 156 
 senate of Israel, 63 
 Septuagint, variation of, 192 
 
 Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, 
 
 158 
 services of Jews, in Greek, 72 
 seven, why that number of deacons, 74 
 Sharon, plain of, 123 
 Shimeon ha-Tsaddik, story of, 6 
 sicarii, 301 
 Sichem, place of, 80 
 Sidon, 354 
 
 — its commerce hindered how, 152 
 Silas, 195 
 
 — stays at Antioch, 200 
 Silvanus not = L74ca/tus, xxiii 
 silver shrines, 258 
 
 Simeon, called Niger, 155 
 
 — = Simon, for Peter, 191 
 Simon Magus, 98 
 
 simony, loi 
 
 Sinai, all the world present at, 88 
 Socrates, habit of, 221 
 soldiers on guard, 375 
 Solomon's porch, 34 
 " Son of Consolation," 42 
 soothsaying, 208 
 Sopater, 268 
 Sosthenes, 239 
 
 sound at Pentecost, character of, 17 
 spearmen, meaning of word, 320 
 speech of disciples at Pentecost not 
 jargon, 17 
 
 27 
 
386 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 spirit, guidance of the, 198 
 
 — persons possessed with the, 207 
 spirits, unclean, 61 
 
 Stephen, appointment of, 74 
 
 — accusation of, 78 
 
 — death of, 95 
 Stephen's speech, analysis of, xi 
 
 — why reported so fully, xii 
 
 stocks, 2 TO 
 
 Stoics, 222 
 
 stoning, process of, 94 
 
 St Paul's Bay, 366 
 
 street called Straight, 114 
 
 suicide, though justifiable, 211 
 
 superstition = religion, 341 
 
 superstitious, meaning of, 226 
 
 synagogue, same, trades set together in 
 
 the, 233 
 Syracuse, 371 
 Syrtes, the, 359 
 
 tabernacle, not stationary in Canaan, 91 
 
 Tabitha, meaning of, 124 
 
 tanner, trade of, abominable, 125 
 
 Targum on Eccl. x. 16 — 17, 22 
 
 Tarsus, capital of Cilicia, 77 
 
 taxing, days of, 70 
 
 temple, why the Apostles frequented it, 
 
 — site of, 31 
 
 — captain of, 39 
 tentmakers, 233 
 Terah, death of, 80 
 Tertullus, a Roman orator, 324 
 text, Greek, alteration in, 31, 49 
 Thecla, Acts of Paul and, 175 
 Theophilus, a person of rank, 2 
 Theudas, rebellion of, discussed, 69 
 Thessalonians, Epistles to the, 236 
 Thessalonica, 215 
 
 Thyatira, 206 
 Timothy, 202, 257 
 
 — probably a native of Lystra, 176 
 Titus, with St Paul, 186 
 
 Tobit, blindness of, 116 
 tombs in Jerusalem, 25 
 tongues, to speak with, 16, 20 
 
 — gift of, 249 
 torture, use of, 328 
 town-clerk, office of, 263 
 trance, Paul in a, 307 
 Tres Tabernse, 373 
 Troas, 204 
 
 — Paul tarries at, 269 
 
 Trogyllium, 273 
 Trophimus, 269 
 Trophimus, an Ephesian, 297 
 twelve tribes (the), 345 
 Tychicus, 269 
 Tyrannus, school of, 251 
 Tyre, 285 ' 
 — its commerce hindered how, 251 
 
 uncircumcised, a term of great reproach, 
 
 92 
 unknown God, altar to the, 226 
 unleavened bread, days of, 147 
 upper room, 7 
 Ur of the Chaldees, 79 
 
 vagabond Jews, 253 
 
 vessel, chosen, 115 
 
 vipers, disappearance of, from Malta, 
 
 .368 
 Virgin Mary, last mention of, 9 
 visions, 204 
 voice, how heard at Paul's conversion, 
 
 way = the Christian religion, 303, 332 
 
 — the, a name for the Christian so- 
 
 ciety, 109 
 " we," does the writer hereby include 
 
 himself? 182 
 we, passages with this pronoun consider- 
 ed, xviii 
 weak, meaning of, 283 
 white apparel, men in = angels, 6 
 whited wall, 313 
 wilderness, plagues in the, 88 
 wine, when the Jews drank, 22 
 wink at (to) meaning of, 229 
 witnesses, false, at Stephen's trial, 77 
 wolves, false teachers so called, 280 
 women, position of among early Chris- 
 tians, 9 
 
 — roused against the Apostles, 168 
 
 — regard to, by Christianity, 206 
 
 — honourable, 219 
 words, peculiar, 203, 216 
 
 world (the) = the Roman Empire, 218 
 worshipper, explained, 263 
 worms, persons eaten of, 155 
 worship refused by St Peter, 133 
 
 young men, not officials, 57 
 zealots, who were they, 8 
 
INDEX. 
 
 387 
 
 EXPLANATION OF WORDS AND PHRASES. 
 
 accord, of its own, 149 
 allege, 216 
 alms, 32 
 answer, 34 
 approve, 23 
 assay, 204 
 barbarous, 368 
 bishoprick = office, 12 
 call m question, 332 
 carriages, 290 
 coasts, 247 
 come by, 359 
 common, 130 
 constantly, 150 
 converted, 36 
 door of faith, 183 
 elders, 146 
 entreat, 354 
 ethnarch, 119 
 fetch a compass, 372 
 first = former, 2 
 frap, 359 
 
 glory = tongue, 24 
 go about, 326 
 go in and out, 13 
 hand of, by the, 24 
 implead, 265 
 infallible proofs, 3 
 launch, 353 
 
 lewd, 217 
 
 meat, 363 
 
 name = power, 35, 44 
 
 names = persons, 9 
 
 noise = voice, 16 
 
 one heart and one soul, 51 
 
 openly, 213 
 
 other (pi.). 218 
 
 place, his own, 14 
 
 power, 5 
 
 proselyte, 19 
 
 purchase, 10 
 
 quaternion, 147 
 
 right hand, 26 
 
 scales, 115 
 
 sect, 62 
 
 star-chamber, 19 n. 
 
 suborn, 77 
 
 sustenance, 82 
 
 temptation, 257 
 
 testify, 28 
 
 untoward, 28 
 
 vanities, 179 
 
 visit, 86 
 
 ward, 149 
 
 warned from God, 132 
 
 words, 132 
 
 wot, 36 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BV C. J. CLAY, M.A. &. SON, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
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