Commentary - Biblelive.org

Book

Chapter

Read

Acts 15

Acts 16

Acts 17

Acts 16 — Commentary 4

Listen

Click Play to listen

Voice

Speed

Pitch

Benson

Benson Commentary Acts 16:1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Acts 16:1-3 . Then — When he had passed through the regions of Syria and Cilicia; came he to Derbe and Lystra — At which places he had preached the gospel in his former progress. And a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus — As Paul ( 2 Timothy 3:10-11 ) speaks of Timothy as having been a witness of his sufferings at Lystra, and we read nothing of any remarkable sufferings which he endured in this his second progress through these parts, it is probable that Timothy was converted by him in his former journey, and was a spectator of what he then suffered at Lystra, (see chap. Acts 14:19-20 ,) and that Paul then began to have some acquaintance with him. The son of a certain believing Jewess, but his father was a Greek — These circumstances are mentioned as worthy of note, because he afterward became a very considerable person in the church, as well as a faithful and useful friend to the apostle. Who was well reported of, &c. — Was spoken of; by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium — As an eminently serious and devout young man, who had been remarkable for his early piety, having been trained up by his good mother and his grandmother in an acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures from his childhood, 2 Timothy 1:5 ; 2 Timothy 3:15 . Him would Paul have to go forth with him — As an assistant in his work, being directed herein by the Holy Ghost, 1 Timothy 1:18 ; and, to qualify him for the office, he conferred on him the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and had him solemnly set apart for the ministry by the presbytery, or eldership, of Lystra, 1 Timothy 4:14 . For, in his former journey, he and Barnabas had ordained elders in every city. Withal, designing to employ Timothy in preaching to the Jews, he circumcised him; because he knew the Jews would not have respected him as a teacher, if they had taken him for an uncircumcised Gentile. This is that Timothy, whose teachableness and tears made such an impression on the apostle’s mind, that he never forgot them, 2 Timothy 1:4 ; who attended Paul in many of his journeys; and who, in respect of his love to Christ, and zeal for the advancement of the gospel, was like-minded with Paul, Php 2:20 ; so that he was his genuine son; and, as a son serveth with his father, so he served with the apostle in the gospel. On all which accounts, he was of such consideration among the disciples, and also so exceedingly esteemed by Paul for his knowledge and piety, that he allowed him to join him in some of those epistles which he wrote to the churches: while, at the same time, the apostle so greatly honoured him, as to write to him two most excellent letters, found in the canon of Scripture, which bear his name. Acts 16:2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Acts 16:3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek. Acts 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. Acts 16:4-5 . And — In order that peace might be secured among the brethren in these parts, and no unnecessary burden might be imposed upon the Gentile converts, through the arts of any Judaizing teachers; as Paul and his companions went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep — Committed to the custody of each church an exact and attested copy of the decrees, made by the council at Jerusalem. See Acts 15:29 : for, although these decrees were written in the form of a letter to the brethren of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, they belonged equally to all the Gentile converts everywhere. And so were the churches established, &c. — The several churches where they came, being watered by such faithful labourers, and encouraged with so favourable a decision of the grand point then in question, were much confirmed in their adherence to the Christian faith; and increased more and more in number daily — For the burdensome yoke of the law of Moses being now broken, a great obstacle to the conversion of the Gentiles was removed. Acts 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. Acts 16:6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, Acts 16:6-8 . Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia — Greek, ?????????? ?? ??? ??????? , ??? ??? ????????? ????? , having passed through Phrygia and the Galatian country, and spoken there what was sufficient, and delivered to the churches in those parts the decrees above mentioned, in order to their establishment in the true faith of the gospel; and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost (probably by an inward dictate) to preach the word in Asia — That is, in the proconsular Asia: for, “as all the places mentioned in the former verses lay in Asia Minor, it is evident that the word Asia must be thus understood. The reason for this prohibition seems to have been, that the time for preaching in that province was not yet come. But it is certain that flourishing churches were afterward planted there, particularly at Colosse, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia. It seems therefore to have been the determination of Providence, respecting Paul and his companions, that, instead of going through this region now, by such a leisurely progress as that in which they proceeded in their former journey, through Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, &c., they should hasten to Europe directly, and preach the gospel first in Philippi, which was a Roman colony, and then in the neighbouring parts; while, in the mean time, the Asian provinces, now passed over, might hear some report of it from their neighbours and so be prepared to receive, with greater advantage, the labours of the apostles, when they should return to them, as Paul afterward did, chap. Acts 18:23 , &c. By this means the spread of the gospel would, in any given time, be wider than (other circumstances being equal) it would have been, had they taken all the interjacent places in their way.” — Doddridge. After they were come into Mysia — Which was the most western province of the Lesser Asia, and lay on the coast of the Ægean sea; they assayed to go northward into Bithynia — A country bounded on the west by a part of the Propontis and the Thracian Bosphorus, and on the north by the Euxine sea. Probably their intention was to visit the flourishing cities of Nice, Nicomedia, and Chalcedon, and so pass from thence into Europe. But the Spirit suffered them not — Forbidding them as before. Many manuscripts and versions of undoubted authority read here, The Spirit of Jesus. And so passing by the Lesser Mysia — Which separated Bithynia from the country of Troas; they came to the city Troas — A noted seaport, where travellers from the upper coasts of Asia commonly took ship to pass into Europe. Here Paul and his assistants were joined by Luke, ( Acts 16:10 ,) the writer of this history, and a native of Antioch, as is generally believed, who, to the profession of a physician, had joined that of a Christian minister, or evangelist. Acts 16:7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. Acts 16:8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. Acts 16:9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. Acts 16:9-10 . And — While they were in this place, undetermined, probably, to what coast of Europe they should sail, if, according to their intention, they crossed the sea; a vision appeared to Paul in the night — To direct them: it was not a dream, though it was by night. No dream is mentioned in the New Testament, except that of Joseph, and of Pilate’s wife. There stood a man of Macedonia — Before him, probably an angel, clothed in the Macedonian habit, or using the language of that country, and representing the inhabitants of it; and prayed him — With great earnestness; saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us — Against Satan, ignorance, and sin. And after he had seen the vision — And given an account of it to his companions; immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia — Willingly obeying the heavenly admonition; assuredly gathering — From this vision; that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them — In that country. This is the first place in which Luke intimates his attendance on the apostle. And here he does it only in an oblique manner. Nor does he throughout the history once mention his own name, or any one thing which he did or said for the service of Christianity; though Paul speaks of him in the most honourable terms, Colossians 4:14 ; 2 Timothy 4:11 ; and probably, as the brother whose praise in the gospel went through all the churches, 2 Corinthians 8:18 . The same remark may be made on the rest of the sacred historians, who every one of them show the like amiable modesty. Acts 16:10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Acts 16:11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; Acts 16:11-12 . Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came to Samothracia — An island in these seas, famous for being the seat of certain religious mysteries, in equal estimation with those called Eleusinian. But it does not appear that they went ashore there, for they landed the next day at Neapolis — A seaport town of Macedonia. Nor did they make any stay even there, but went straight to Philippi; because it was the chief city of that part of Macedonia — And a Roman colony. Thus Paul, having preached first at Damascus, next at Jerusalem, after that throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles in Syria, Cilicia, and most of the countries of the Lesser Asia, went at length, by the particular commandment of Christ, among the Greek nations, to whom it was proper that the glad tidings of salvation should now be given. For, seeing the gospel was a revelation from the true God, and was supported by great and undeniable miracles, it was fit that it should, in due course, be proposed to those nations who were best qualified to judge of its nature and evidences; because if, upon an accurate examination, great numbers of men embraced the gospel, whose minds were improved by science, and every kind of culture, their conversion would render it indubitable, in after times, that the gospel was supported by those great and undeniable miracles, which the Christian records affirm were performed in every country, by the preachers of the gospel. Besides, God, in his infinite wisdom, was determined that the reigning idolatry should be utterly overthrown in those countries of Europe where it had the greatest support, from the ability and learning of its abetters; that no person might suspect, or affirm, in after times, that idolatry was destroyed, and Christianity established, merely through the ignorance and simplicity of the people among whom it was first preached. Acts 16:12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. Acts 16:13 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 spake unto the women which resorted thither . Acts 16:13-15 . On the sabbath we went out of the city — The Jews usually held their religious assemblies (either by choice or constraint) at a distance from the heathen; by a river side — The river Strymon, which ran between Philippi and Neapolis; where prayer was wont to be made — That is, where the Jews and their proselytes were wont to assemble for prayer. The original expression, which is peculiar and much controverted, ?? ????????? ???????? ????? , may be rendered, Where a proseucha (or place for prayer) was by law allowed. And we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither — At first in a familiar manner; for Paul did not immediately begin to preach. It appears that most or all of the congregation were women; among whom there was one Lydia, a seller of purple, who worshipped the true God — After the Jewish manner; a native of Thyatira — Who had fixed her residence in Philippi, for the sake of commerce; whose heart the Lord opened — The word ???????? , here used, properly refers to the opening of the eyes; and the heart, or mind, has its eyes, Ephesians 1:18 . These are closed by nature; and to open them is the peculiar work of God. Lydia, it seems, was so strongly affected with what Paul said, that she embraced the gospel with the full assurance of faith, and with all her heart. And she was baptized — It seems, immediately upon her believing, and making a profession of her faith; and her household — Those of them that were infants (if any were such) in her right, as her children, the children of believing parents having a right to be admitted to that ordinance; and those that were grown up, through her influence and authority. She and her household were baptized, by the same rule whereby Abraham and his household were circumcised, because the zeal of the covenant belongs to the covenanters and their seed. As it is not probable, that in so many households and families as are said in the New Testament to have been baptized, there was no infant; so, neither is it likely that the Jews, who had so long been accustomed to circumcise their children, would not, when they embraced the gospel, devote them to God by baptism. She besought us — Earnestly entreated us. See how the souls of the faithful cleave to those by whom they are gained to God! saying, If ye have judged me faithful to the Lord — If you have considered me as being sincere in the profession I have made of believing in the Lord Jesus, and really regard me as a true Christian; come into my house and abide there — As long as you stay in this city. This she desired, 1st, To testify her gratitude to them, who had been God’s messengers, and the instruments of his grace to her; imparting the knowledge of salvation, and producing a blessed change in her heart and life. 2d, She desired an opportunity of receiving further instruction. If she could but have them a while in her family, she might hear their heavenly discourse daily, and not only at the place of prayer on sabbath days; in her own house, also, she might not only hear them, but might make inquiries, and receive satisfaction, on many important subjects; and might have them to pray with and for her and her family daily, and thereby bring down the divine blessing upon herself and them. And she constrained us — By her importunity. The expression implies that they were reluctant to accept her invitation, being unwilling to be, in any respect, burdensome to the families of their friends, and studying to make the gospel without charge, in order that the unbelievers might have no occasion given them of reproaching the preachers of it as designing, self-seeking men; and that the Christians might have no reason to complain of the expenses of their religion. Lydia’s pressing invitations, however, overcame their reluctancy, and they at last consented to her request, and abode at her house as long as they continued at Philippi, which was many days: see Acts 16:12 ; Acts 16:18 . During this time they laid the foundation of a numerous church, gathered both from among the Jews and the Gentiles; a church which, after the apostle’s departure, increased so exceedingly, that, when he wrote his epistle to the Philippians, they had several bishops, or presbyters, and deacons, Php 1:1 . Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us : whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. Acts 16:15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us , saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there . And she constrained us. Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: Acts 16:16 . As we went to prayer — Or to the place of prayer, mentioned before; a certain damsel met us (that is, met Paul and his three companions) possessed with a spirit of divination — Greek, ??????? ?????? ??????? , having a spirit of Python, or Apollo. This title, it is generally said, was given to Apollo, on account of his having destroyed a monstrous serpent that was called Python; or a person who for his cruelty was surnamed Python, that is, serpent or dragon, from whence Apollo had the name of Pythius. Plutarch tells us, that those who were inspired with this spirit were ????????????? , persons who spake as seeming to send the voice from their bellies; and Galen mentions the same fact. The manner in which Luke relates the story, plainly implies that he thought this to be a real possession, and that Paul himself viewed it in that light. Nor can the girl’s behaviour, or his, or that of her masters afterward, be accounted for, without allowing this to have been the case. It is well known that the Hebrews called the spirit with which such persons were supposed to be agitated, ??? , ob, because the bodies of those who appeared to be possessed by it were violently distended, like leathern bottles full of wine, and ready to burst. Compare Job 32:18-19 . Which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying — That is, by pretending, with the assistance of a familiar spirit, to discover stolen goods, and to point out the concealed authors of mischiefs, and to disclose the general good or ill-fortune of the persons who applied to her, and their success in particular affairs, with other secrets, for which many ignorant persons, in all countries, are willing to give money. See notes on Deuteronomy 18:10-11 ; 1 Samuel 28:7 . Acts 16:17 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. Acts 16:17-18 . The same followed Paul and us — Luke, Silas, and Timothy; and cried, saying — With great earnestness of voice and gesture; These men are the servants of the most high God, &c. — A great truth: but they did not need, nor would accept of, such testimony. And this she did many succeeding days. But, at length, Paul being wearied with so tedious a circumstance, and grieved — Under an apprehension that this stratagem of Satan might lead the people to imagine that the preachers of the gospel acted in a confederacy with the evil spirit, to whom the heathen worship was addressed; turned — Toward the damsel; and said to the spirit — By whose emotion she spake; I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ — Whose gospel I preach; to come out of her. And he came out the same hour — So that she had never afterward such kind of supernatural agitations, nor pretended to any gift of prophecy for the future. Acts 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. Acts 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, Acts 16:19-21 . And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone — Was vanished with the evil spirit that was cast out. See here of how much evil the love of money is the root! If the preaching of the gospel ruin the craft of the silversmiths, ( Acts 19:24 ,) much more will it ruin that of the soothsayers and fortune-tellers. Hence here is a mighty outcry raised when Satan’s power is broken. The power of Christ, which appeared in dispossessing the woman, and the great kindness done to her, in delivering her out of Satan’s hand, made no impression upon them when they apprehended that they should lose money by it. They caught Paul and Silas — Timothy and Luke, it seems, not being so obnoxious to them; and drew them into the market-place — With a view to accuse them; unto the rulers — Or inferior magistrates, (as the word ???????? here means,) who held their court there. And brought them — ???? ?????????? , to the pretors, or commanders of the army, who, it is probable, as this was a Roman colony, possessed the supreme authority in the city: saying, These men, being Jews — A nation peculiarly despised by the Romans; do exceedingly trouble our city — Disturb it in an insufferable manner; and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive — Being such as would lead us to renounce the gods of our country, and abstain from many things which the Roman laws require. The world has received all the rules and doctrines of all the philosophers that ever were; but gospel truth has something in it peculiarly intolerable to the world; neither to observe, being Romans — “Though there was, as yet, no express law of the senate, or of the emperor, against Christians, as such, yet there was an old law of the Romans forbidding them, ‘aut novos deos, aut alienigenas colere,’ either to worship new gods, or the gods of other nations; and requiring them to worship the gods of their country; from which Christianity dissuaded men, not suffering any to worship the gods of their fathers, but requiring them to turn from these dumb idols to the living God, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 ; Acts 14:15 .” — Whitby. Perhaps, also, they alluded to something said by the apostle relating to the kingship of Christ, concerning which we know he preached afterward, at Thessalonica, chap. Acts 17:7 . Acts 16:20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, Acts 16:21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. Acts 16:22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them . Acts 16:22-24 . And the multitude rose up against them — Excited and inflamed by these accusations; and the magistrates — Or the pretors; rent off their clothes — That is, the clothes of Paul and Silas; for such was the Roman method of proceeding in such cases. Their magistrates were wont to command the lictors to rend open the clothes of the criminals, and to beat their bodies with rods; as Grotius here observes. And when they had laid many stripes upon them — Had severely scourged them; (either they did not immediately say they were Romans, or in the tumult it was not regarded;) they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely — Lest, among their numerous friends, a rescue should be attempted; who, having received such a charge — A charge so strict, and from persons of such great rank; thrust them into the inner prison — Where he thought them perfectly secure; especially as he also made their feet fast in the stocks — These were probably those large pieces of wood, in use among the Romans, which not only loaded the legs of the prisoner, but kept them extended in a very painful manner. So that it is highly probable the situation of Paul and Silas here was much more painful than that of an offender sitting in the stocks among us, especially if they lay, as it is very possible they did, with their backs, so lately scourged, on the damp and dirty ground. These multiplied injuries, however, these servants of God, conscious of their integrity, and enjoying a sense of the divine favour, bore not only with entire resignation, but with great joy. Acts 16:23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Acts 16:24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. Acts 16:25-28 . At midnight Paul and Silas prayed — Doubtless, for their persecutors as well as for themselves; and sang praises unto God — Notwithstanding weariness, hunger, stripes, and blood; and the prisoners heard them — Heard a song to which they had not been accustomed, and such as had never been heard in that prison before. And suddenly — While they were thus engaged; there was a great earthquake — A token of God’s favour toward them, and threatening vengeance to their persecutors; so that the foundations of the prison were shaken — And probably of the neighbouring buildings also; and immediately — By the force of the earthquake; all the doors were opened, and, in the same moment, every one’s bands were miraculously loosed — Yet the spirits of the prisoners were impressed with such astonishment, that none of them attempted to escape. And the keeper of the prison — Who, it seems, resided in a part of it, not far from the ward where Paul and Silas lay; awaking out of sleep — Upon this violent concussion of the earth; and seeing the prison-doors open — Was in such consternation, that he drew his sword and would have killed himself — If he had not been prevented by the apostle, to avoid a more severe punishment, supposing that all the prisoners had escaped. For by the Roman laws, in that case, the keeper was liable to the same punishment that awaited the criminals who had escaped. But Paul cried, &c. — As they were all then in the dark, it is not easy to say how Paul knew of the jailer’s purpose, unless it were by hearing same desperate words that declared it, or by some immediate suggestion from God, which is by no means incredible; with a loud voice — Through earnestness, and because he was at some distance; Do thyself no harm — Although the Christian faith opens a bright prospect into another life, yet it absolutely forbids, and effectually prevents, a man’s discharging himself from this. For we are all here — And none of us will take the opportunity of escaping, while the hand of God is working thus awfully around us. Acts 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. Acts 16:27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. Acts 16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Acts 16:29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, Acts 16:29-30 . Then he, &c. — The jailer, greatly terrified by the earthquake, and astonished at Paul’s discovering his purpose to kill himself; called for a light — Greek, ???? , lights, implying, it seems, that on this alarm several of his attendants came with torches, and were present at the inquiry which immediately followed; and sprang in — With a violent and impetuous motion, into the inner prison, and, in the presence of his domestics, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas — Begging them, doubtless, to forgive the injuries he had been obliged to do them; for he was now convinced that they were, what the possessed damsel called them, even the servants of the most high God, who showed to men the way of salvation. And then, in the most respectful manner, brought them out — From the inner prison, in which they were confined; and said, Sirs — ?????? , a style this in which he did not address them the day before; what must I do to be saved? — From the guilt I feel, and the vengeance I fear; probably referring to the testimony of the Pythoness, which had been so often and so publicly repeated. God, however, undoubtedly then set his sins in array before him, and convinced him, in the clearest and strongest manner, that the wrath of God abode upon him. Added to this, probably, “a vast multitude of ideas rushed into his mind at once. He saw by the earthquake the power and displeasure of God; and, together with this, the sweetness and joy of Paul and Silas in their bonds, their willing continuance in prison, when they might easily have escaped, and their generous solicitude for the life of one who had used them so ill, were all circumstances fit to strike powerfully on a mind so passionate as his seems to have been, and might all do their part toward convincing him that these men were indeed divine messengers, and that the divine displeasure was falling on the city, and particularly on himself, for persecuting them. Perhaps some kind and pious words, which Paul and Silas, who took all opportunities of doing good, might have uttered while he was fastening their feet in the stocks, might throw further light on his mind, when recollected amidst such extremity of danger; and, no doubt, the Spirit of God added conviction and energy to all.” — Doddridge. Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:31-34 . And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ — Whom it is our office to preach as the great and only Saviour; and confide wholly in him for salvation; loving, obeying, and living to his glory. As Paul had preached a considerable time at Philippi, the jailer, before this, must have heard of Jesus Christ, perhaps oftener than once: thou shalt be saved — Now and for ever, from every evil; and thy house too, if they also believe. “The meaning cannot be, that the eternal salvation of his family could be secured by his faith, but that his believing in Christ would be the best security of his family from present danger; and that, if they also themselves believed, they would be entitled to the same spiritual and everlasting blessings with himself; which declaration Paul might the rather add, as it is probable that many of them, under this terrible alarm, had attended the master of the family into the dungeon.” And they spake unto him the word of the Lord — That is, Paul declared more fully to them the contents and design of the gospel, giving them a brief account of the person and offices of the Lord Jesus, and of his life, doctrine, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension; all which Silas confirmed by his testimony. And Paul’s discourse on these subjects was so powerfully convincing, that both the jailer, and all the members of his family, became real converts to Christianity, and were baptized straightway. And he took them the same hour, and washed their stripes — Which still remained unhealed. It should not be forgotten, that the apostles had not the power of working miraculous cures when they pleased, either on themselves or on their dearest friends. Nor was it expedient they should; since it would have frustrated many wise designs of God, which were answered by their sufferings. And when he had brought them into his house — After the solemn rite of baptism had been performed; he set meat before them, and rejoiced — In the knowledge which he had obtained of Christ, and the way of salvation through him. Thus faith makes a man joyful, prudent, liberal: believing in God — In the one living and true God; a very different being from the gods in which he had before believed. With all his house — Who, it seems, were all equally impressed with Paul’s sermon as the jailer himself was. Such were the transactions of this memorable night; and those of the next morning were not much less remarkable. Acts 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. Acts 16:33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. Acts 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Acts 16:35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. Acts 16:35-39 . When it was day, the magistrates — Or pretors, being terrified, probably, by the earthquake, which had been felt all over the city, and having been informed of the miraculous opening of the prison-doors, which had changed their opinion of Paul and Silas; sent the sergeants — ?????????? , the rod-bearers, or lictors; saying —

Expositors

Expositor's Bible Commentary Acts 16:1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Acts 16:6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 6 Chapter 11 APOSTOLIC QUARRELS AND THE SECOND TOUR. Acts 15:36 ; Acts 15:39 ; Acts 16:6 ; Acts 16:8-9 THE second missionary tour of St. Paul now claims our attention, specially because it involves the first proclamation of Christianity by an apostle within the boundaries of Europe. The course of the narrative up to this will show that any Christian effort in Europe by an apostle, St. Peter or any one else prior to St. Paul’s work, was almost impossible. To the Twelve and to men like-minded with them, it must have seemed a daring-innovation to bring the gospel message directly to bear upon the masses of Gentile paganism. Men of conservative minds like the Twelve doubtless restrained their own efforts up to the time of St. Paul’s second tour within the bounds of Israel, according to the flesh, in Palestine and the neighbouring lands, finding there an ample field upon which to exercise their diligence. And then when we turn to St. Paul and St. Barnabas, who had dared to realise the free-ness and fulness of the gospel message, we shall see that the Syrian Antioch and Syria itself and Asia Minor had hitherto afforded them scope quite sufficient to engage their utmost attention. A few moments’ reflection upon the circumstances of the primitive Christian Church and the developments through which Apostolic Christianity passed are quite sufficient to dispel all such fabulous incrustations upon the original record as those involved in St. Peter’s episcopate at Antioch or his lengthened rule over the Church at Rome. If the latter story was to be accepted, St. Peter must have been Bishop of Rome long before a mission was despatched to the Gentiles from Antioch, if not even before the vision was seen at Joppa by St. Peter when the admission of the Gentiles to the Church was first authorised under any terms whatsoever. In fact, it would be impossible to fit the actions of St. Peter into any scheme whatsoever, if we bring him to Rome and make him bishop there for twenty-five years beginning at the year 42, the time usually assigned by Roman Catholic historians. It is hard enough to frame a hypothetical scheme, which will find a due and fitting place for the various recorded actions of St. Peter, quite apart from any supposed Roman episcopate lasting over such an extended period. St. Peter and St. Paul had, for instance, a dispute at Antioch of which we read much in the second chapter of the Galatian epistle. Where shall we fix that dispute? Some place it during the interval of the Synod at Jerusalem and the second missionary tour of which we now propose to treat. Others place it at the conclusion of that tour, when St. Paul was resting at Antioch for a little after the work of that second journey. As we are not writing the life of St. Paul, but simply commenting upon the narratives of his labours as told in the Acts, we must be content to refer to the Lives of St. Paul by Conybeare and Howson, and Archdeacon Farrar, and to Bishop Lightfoot’s "Galatians," all of whom place this quarrel before the second tour, and to Mr. Findlay’s "Galatians" in our own series, who upholds the other view. Supposing, however, that we take the former view in deference to the weighty authorities just mentioned, we then find. that there were two serious quarrels which must for a time have marred the unity and Christian concord of the Antiochene Church. The reproof of St. Peter by St. Paul for his dissimulation was made on a public occasion before the whole Church. It must have caused considerable excitement and discussion, and. raised much human feeling in Antioch. Barnabas too, the chosen friend and companion of St. Paul, was involved in the matter, and must have felt himself condemned in the strong language addressed to St. Peter. This may have caused for a time a certain amount of estrangement between the various parties. A close study of the Acts of the Apostles dispels at once the notion men would fain cherish, that the apostles and the early Christians lived just like angels without any trace of human passion or discord. The apostles had their differences and misunderstandings very like our own. Hot tempers and subsequent coolnesses arose, and produced evil results between men entrusted with the very highest offices, and paved the way, as quarrels always do, for fresh disturbances at some future time. So it was at Antioch, where the public reproof of St. Peter by St. Paul involved St. Barnabas, and may have left traces upon the gentle soul of the Son of Consolation which were not wholly eradicated by the time that a new source of trouble arose. The ministry of St. Paul at Antioch was prolonged for some time after the Jerusalem Synod, and then the Holy Ghost again impelled him to return and visit all the Churches which he had founded in Cyprus and Asia Minor. He recognised the necessity for supervision, support, and guidance as far as the new converts were concerned, The seed might be from heaven and the work might be God’s own, but still human effort must take its share and do its duty, or else the work may fail and the good seed never attain perfection. St. Paul therefore proposed to Barnabas a second joint mission, intending to visit "the brethren in every city wherein they had proclaimed the word of the Lord." Barnabas desired to take with them his kinsman Mark, but Paul, remembering his weakness and defection on their previous journey, would have nothing to say to the young man. Then there arose a sharp contention between them, or as the original expression is, there arose a paroxysm between the apostles, so that the loving Christian workers and friends of bygone years, "men who had hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," separated the one from the other, and worked from henceforth in widely different localities. I. There are few portions of the Acts more fruitful in spiritual instruction, or teeming with. more abundant lessons, or richer in application! to present difficulties, than this very incident. Let us note a few of them. One thought, for instance, which occurs at once to any reflecting mind is this: what an extraordinary thing it is that two such holy and devoted men as Paul and-Barnabas should have had a quarrel at all; and. when they did quarrel, would it not have been far better to have hushed the matter up and never! have let the world know anything at all about it? Now I do not say that it is well for Christian people always to proclaim aloud and tell the world at large all about the various unpleasant circumstances of their lives, their quarrels, their misunderstandings, their personal failings and backslidings. Life would be simply intolerable did we live always, at all times, and under all circumstances beneath the full glare of publicity. Personal quarrels too, family jars and bickerings, have a rapid tendency to heal themselves if kept in the gloom, the soft, toned, shaded light of retirement. They have an unhappy tendency to harden and perpetuate themselves when dragged beneath the fierce light of public opinion and the outside world. Yet it is well for the Church at large that such a record has been left for us of the fact that the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas waxed so fierce that they departed the one from the other, to teach us what we are apt to forget-the true character of the apostles. Human nature is intensely inclined to idolatry. One idol may be knocked down, but as soon as it is displaced the heart straightway sets to work to erect another idol in its stead, and men have been ready to make idols of the apostles. They have been ready to imagine them supernatural characters tainted with no sin, tempted by no passion, weakened by no infirmity. If these incidents had not been recorded-the quarrel with Peter and the quarrel with Barnabas-we should have been apt to forget that the apostles were men of like passions with ourselves, and thus to lose the full force-the bracing, stimulating force-of such exhortations as that delivered by St. Paul when he said to a primitive Church, "Follow me, as I, a poor, weak, failing, passionate man, have followed Christ." We have the thorough humanity of the apostles vigorously presented and enforced in this passage. There is no suppression of weak points, no accentuation of strong points, no hiding of defects and weaknesses, no dwelling Upon virtues and graces. We have the apostles presented at times vigorous, united, harmonious; at other times weak, timorous, and cowardly. Again, we note that this passage not only shows us the human frailties and weaknesses which marked the apostles, and found a place in characters and persons called to the very highest places; it has also a lesson for the Church of all time in the circumstances which led to the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas. We do well to mark carefully that Antioch saw two such quarrels, the one of which, as we have already pointed out, may have had something to say to the other. The quarrel between St. Paul and St. Peter indeed has a history which strikingly illustrates this tendency of which we have just now spoken. Some expositors, jealous of the good fame and reputation and temper of the apostles, have explained the ‘quarrel at Antioch between St. Paul and St. Peter as not having been a real quarrel at all, but an edifying piece of acting, a dispute got up between the apostles to enforce and proclaim the freedom of the Gentiles, a mere piece of knavery and deception utterly foreign to such a truth-loving character as was St. Paul’s. It is interesting, however, to note as manifesting their natural characteristics, which were not destroyed, but merely elevated, purified, and sanctified by Divine grace, that the apostles Paul and Barnabas quarrelled about a purely personal matter. They had finished their first missionary tour on which they had been accompanied by St. Mark, who had acted as their attendant or servant, carrying, we may suppose, their luggage, and discharging all. the subordinate offices such service might involve. The labour and toil and personal danger incident to such a career were too much for the young man. So with all the fickleness, the weakness, the want of strong definite purpose we often find in young people, he abandoned his work simply because it involved the exercise of a certain amount of self-sacrifice. And now, when Paul and Barnabas are setting out again, and Barnabas wishes to take the same favourite relative with them, St. Paul naturally objects, and then the bitter, passionate quarrel ensues. St. Paul just experienced here what we all must more or less experience, the crosses and trials of public life, if we wish to pass through that life with a good conscience. Public life, I say-and I mean thereby not a political life, which alone we usually dignify by that name, but the ordinary. life which every man and every woman amongst us must live as we go in and out and discharge our duties amid our fellow-men, -public life, the life we live once we leave our closet communion with God in the early morning till we return thereto in the eventide, is in all its department most trying. It is trying to temper, and it is. trying to principle, and no one can hope to pass through it without serious and grievous temptations. I do not wonder that men have often felt, as the old Eastern monks did, that salvation was more easily won in solitude than in living and working amid the busy haunts of men where bad temper and hot words so often conspire to make one return home from a hard day’s work feeling miserable within on account of repeated falls and shortcomings. Shall we then act as. they did? Shall we shut out the world completely and cease to take any part in a struggle which seems to tell so disastrously upon the-equable calm of our spiritual life? Nay, indeed, for such a course would be unworthy a soldier of the Cross, and very unlike the example shown by the blessed apostle St. Paul, who had to battle not only against others, but had also to. battle against himself and his own passionate. nature, and was crowned as a victor, not because-he ran away, but because he conquered through the grace of Christ. And now it is well that we should note the special trials he had to endure. He had to fight against the spirit of cowardly self-indulgence in others, and he had to fight against the spirit of jobbery. These things indeed caused the rupture in the apostolic friendship. St. Barnabas, apostle though he was, thought far more of the interests of his cousin than of the interests of Christ’s mission. St. Paul with his devotion to. Christ may have been a little intolerant of the weakness of youth, but he rightly judged that one who had proved untrustworthy before should not be rapidly and at once trusted again. And St. Paul was thoroughly right, and has left a very useful and practical example. Many young men among us are like St. Mark. The St. Marks of our own day are a very numerous class. They have no respect for their engagements. They will undertake work and allow themselves. to be calculated upon, and arrangements to be made accordingly. But then comes the stress of action, and their place is found wanting, and the work undertaken by them is found undone. And then they wonder and complain that their lives are unsuccessful, and that men and women who are in earnest will not trust or employ them in the future! These are the men who are the social wrecks in life. They proclaim loudly in streets and highways the hard treatment which they have received. They tell forth their own misery, and speak as if they were the most deserving and at the same time the most ill-treated of men; and yet they are but reaping as they have sown, and their failures and their misfortunes are only the due and fitting rewards of their want of earnestness, diligence, and self-denial. To the young this episode proclaims aloud. Respect your engagements, regard public employments as solemn contracts in God’s sight. Take pains with your work. Be willing to endure any trouble for its sake. There is no such thing as genius in ordinary life. Genius has been well defined as an infinite capacity for taking pains. And thus avoid the miserable weakness of St. Mark, who fled from his work because it entailed trouble and self-denial on his part. Then, again, we view St. Paul with admiration because he withstood the spirit of jobbery when it displayed itself even in a saint. Barnabas in plain language wished to perpetrate a job in favour of a member of his family, and St. Paul withstood him. And how often since has the same spirit thus displayed itself to the injury of God’s cause! Let us note how the case stood. St. Barnabas was a good pious man of very strong emotional feelings. But he allowed himself to be guided, as pious people often do, by their emotions, affections, prejudices, not by their reason and judgment. With such men, when their affections come into play, jobbery is the most natural thing in the world. It is the very breath of their nostrils. It is the atmosphere in which they revel. Barnabas loved his cousin John Mark, with strong, powerful, absorbing love, and that emotion blinded Barnabas to Mark’s faults, and led him on his behalf to quarrel with his firmer, wiser, and more vigorous friend. Jobbery is a vice peculiar to no age and to no profession. It flourishes in the most religious as in the most worldly circles. In religious circles it often takes the most sickening forms, when miserable, narrow selfishness assumes the garb and adopts the language of Christian piety. St. Paul’s action proclaims to Christian men a very needful lesson. It says, in fact, Set your faces against jobbery of every kind. Regard power, influence, patronage as a sacred trust. Permit not fear, affection, or party spirit to blind your eyes or prejudice your judgment against real merit; so shall you be following in the footsteps of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, with his heroic championship of that which was righteous and true, and of One higher still, for thus you shall be following the Master’s own example, whose highest praise was this: "He loved righteousness, and hated iniquity." We have now bestowed a lengthened notice upon this quarrel, because it corrects a very mistaken notion about the apostles, and shows us how thoroughly natural and human, how very like our own, was the everyday life of the primitive Church. It takes away the false halo of infallibility and impeccability with which we are apt to invest the apostles, making us view them as real, fallible, weak, sinful men like ourselves, and thereby exalts the power of that grace which made them so eminent in Christian character, so abundant in Christian labours. Let us now apply ourselves to trace the course of St. Paul’s second tour. The effect of the quarrel between the friends was that St. Paul took Silas and St. Barnabas took Mark, and they separated; the latter going to Cyprus, the native country of Barnabas, while Paul and Silas devoted themselves to Syria and Asia Minor and their Churches. The division between these holy men became thus doubly profitable to the Church of Christ. It is perpetually profitable, by way of warning and example, as we have just now shown; and then it became profitable because it led to two distinct missions being carried on, the one in the Island of Cyprus, the other on the continent of Asia. The wrath of man is thus again overruled to the greater glory of God, and human weakness is made to promote the interests of the gospel. We read, too, "they parted asunder, the one from the other." How very differently they acted from the manner in which modern Christians do! Their difference in opinion did not lead them to depart into exactly the same district, and there pursue a policy of opposition the one against the other. They sought rather districts widely separated, where their social differences could have no effect upon the cause they both loved. How very differently modern Christians act, and how very disastrous the consequent results! How very scandalous, how very injurious to Christ’s cause, when Christian missionaries of different communions appear warring one with another in face of the pagan world! Surely the world of paganism is wide enough and large enough to afford scope for the utmost efforts of all Christians without European Christendom exporting its divisions and quarrels to afford matter for mockery to scoffing idolaters! We have heard lately a great deal about the differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries in Central Africa, terminating in war and bloodshed and in the most miserable recriminations threatening the peace and welfare of the nations of Europe. Surely there must have been an error of judgment somewhere or another in this case, and Africa must be ample enough to afford abundant room for the independent action of the largest bodies of missionaries without resorting to armed conflicts which recall the religious wars between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland! With the subsequent labours of Barnabas we have nothing to do, as he now disappears from the Acts of the Apostles, though it would appear from a reference by St. Paul- 1 Corinthians 9:6 , "Or I only, and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working?"-as if at that time, four or five years after the quarrel, they were again labouring together at Ephesus, where First Corinthians was written, or else why should Barnabas be mentioned in that connection at all. Let us now briefly indicate the course of St. Paul’s labours during the next three years, as his second missionary tour must have extended over at least that space of time. St. Paul and his companion Silas left Antioch amid the prayers of the whole Church. Evidently the brethren viewed Paul’s conduct with approbation, and accompanied him therefore with fervent supplications for success in his self-denying labours. He proceeded by land into Cilicia and Asia Minor, and wherever he went he delivered the apostolic decree in order that he might counteract the workings of the Judaisers. This decree served a twofold purpose. It relieved the minds of the Gentile brethren with respect to the law and its observances, and it also showed to them that the Jerusalem Church and apostles recognised the Divine authority and apostolate of St. Paul himself, which these "false brethren" from Jerusalem had already assailed, as they did four or five years later both in Galatia and at Corinth. We know not what special towns St. Paul visited in Cilicia, but we may be sure that the Church of Tarsus, his native place, where in the first fervour of his conversion he had already laboured for a considerable period, must have received a visit from him. We may be certain that his opponents would not leave such an important town unvisited, and we may be equally certain that St. Paul, who, as his Epistles show, was always keenly alive to the opinion of his converts with respect to his apostolic authority, would have been specially anxious to let his fellow townsmen at Tarsus see that he was no unauthorised or false teacher, but that the Jerusalem Church recognised his work and teaching in the amplest manner. Starting then anew from Tarsus, Paul and Silas set out upon an enormous journey, penetrating, as few modern travellers even now do, from the southeastern extremity of Asia Minor to the northwestern coast, a journey which, with its necessarily prolonged delays, must have taken them at least a year and a half. St. Paul seems to have carefully availed himself of the Roman road system. We are merely given the very barest outline of the course which he pursued, but then, when we take up the index maps of Asia Minor inserted in Ramsay’s "Historical Geography of Asia Minor," showing the road systems at various periods, we see that a great Roman road followed the very route which St. Paul took. It started from Tarsus and passed to Derbe, whence of course the road to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch had already been traversed by St. Paul. He must have made lengthened visits to all these places, as he had much to do and much to teach. He had to expound the decree of the Apostolic Council, to explain Christian truth, to correct the errors and abuses which were daily creeping in, and to enlarge the organisation of the Christian Church by fresh ordinations. Take the case of Timothy as an example of the trouble St. Paul must have experienced. He came to Derbe, where he first found some of the converts made on his earlier tour; whence he passed to Lystra, where he met Timothy, whose acquaintance he had doubtless made on his first journey. He was the son of a Jewess, though his father was a Gentile. St. Paul took and circumcised him to conciliate the Jews. The Apostle must have bestowed a great deal of trouble on this point alone, explaining to the Gentile portion of the Christian community the principles on which he acted and their perfect consistency with his own conduct at Jerusalem and his advocacy of Gentile freedom from the law. Then he ordained him. This we do not learn from the Acts, but from St. Paul’s Epistles to Timothy. The Acts simply says of Timothy, "Him would Paul have to go forth with him." But then when we turn to the Epistles written to Timothy, we find that it was not as an ordinary companion that Timothy was taken. He went forth as St. Paul himself had gone forth from the Church of Antioch, a duly ordained and publicly recognised messenger of Christ. We can glean from St. Paul’s letters to Timothy the order and ceremonies of this primitive ordination. The rite, as ministered on that occasion, embraced prophesyings or preachings by St. Paul himself and by others upon the serious character of the office then undertaken. This seems plainly intimated in 1 Timothy 1:18 : "This charge I commit unto thee, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee"; while there seems a reference to his own exhortations and directions in 2 Timothy 2:2 . where he writes, "The things which ‘thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men." After this there was probably, as in modern ordinations, a searching examination of the candidate, with a solemn profession of faith on his part, to which St. Paul refers in 1 Timothy 6:12 , "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. I charge thee in the sight of God who quickeneth all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; that thou keep the commandment without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." And finally there came the imposition of hands, in which the local presbyters assisted St. Paul, though St. Paul was so far the guiding and ruling personage that, though in one place { 1 Timothy 4:14 } he speaks of the gift of God which Timothy possessed, as given "by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery," in another place he describes it as given to the young evangelist by the imposition of St. Paul’s own hands. { 2 Timothy 1:6 } This ordination of Timothy and adoption of him as his special attendant stood at the very beginning of a prolonged tour throughout the central and northern districts of Asia Minor, of which we get only a mere hint in Acts 16:6-8 : "They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia; and when they were come over against Mysia, they essayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not; and passing by Mysia, they came unto Troas." This is the brief sketch of St. Paul’s labours through the northwestern provinces of Asia Minor, during which he visited the district of Galatia and preached the gospel amid the various tribal communities of Celts who inhabited that district. St. Paul’s work in Galatia is specially interesting to ourselves. The Celtic race certainly furnished the groundwork of the population in England, Ireland, and Scotland, and finds to this day lineal representatives in the Celtic-speaking inhabitants of these three islands. Galatia was thoroughly Celtic in St. Paul’s day. But how, it may be said, did the Gauls come there? We all know of the Gauls or Celts in Western Europe, and every person of even moderate education has heard of the Gauls who invaded Italy and sacked Rome when that city was yet an unknown factor in the world’s history, and yet but very few know that the same wave of invasion which brought the Gauls to Rome led another division of them into Asia Minor, where-as Dr. Lightfoot shows in his Introduction to his Commentary about three hundred years before St. Paul’s day they settled down in the region called after them Galatia, perpetuating in that neighbourhood the tribal organisation, the language, the national feelings, habits, and customs which have universally marked the Celtic race, whether in ancient or in modern times. St. Paul on this second missionary tour paid his first visit to this district of Galatia. St. Paul usually directed his attention to great cities. Where vast masses of humanity were gathered together, there St. Paul loved to fling himself with all the mighty force of his unquenchable enthusiasm. But Galatia was quite unlike other districts with which he had dealt in this special respect. Like the Celtic race all the world over, the Gauls of Galatia specially delighted in village communities. They did not care for the society and tone of great towns, and Galatia was wanting in such. St. Paul, too, does not seem originally to have intended to labour amongst the Galatians at all. In view of his great design to preach in large cities, and concentrate his efforts where they could most effectually tell upon the masses, he seems to have been hurrying through Galatia when God laid His heavy hand upon the Apostle and delayed his course that we might be able to see how the gospel could tell upon Gauls and Celts even as upon other nations. This interesting circumstance is made known to us by St. Paul himself in the Epistle to the Galatians 4:13 : "Ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you for the first time." Paul, to put it in plain language, fell sick in Galatia. He was delayed on his journey by the ophthalmia or some other form of disease, which was his thorn in the flesh, and, then, utilising the compulsory delay, and turning every moment to advantage, he evangelised the village communities of Galatia with which he came in contact, so that his Epistle is directed, not as in other cases to the Church of a city or to an individual man, but the Epistle in which he deals with great fundamental questions of Christian freedom is addressed to the Churches of Galatia, a vast district of country. Mere accident, as it would seem to the eye of sense, produced the Epistle to the Galatians, which shows us the peculiar weakness and the peculiar strength of the Celtic race, their enthusiasm, their genuine warmth, their fickleness, their love for that which is striking, showy, material, exterior. But when we pass from Galatia we know nothing of the course of St. Paul’s further labours in Asia Minor. St. Luke was not with him during this portion of his work, and so the details given us are very few. We are told that "the Spirit of Jesus" would not permit him to preach in Bithynia, though Bithynia became afterwards rich in Christian Churches, and was one of the districts to which St. Peter some years later addressed his first Epistle. The Jews were numerous in the districts of Bithynia and Asia, and "the Spirit of Jesus" or "the Holy Ghost"-for the sacred writer seems to use the terms as equivalent the one to the other-had determined to utilise St. Paul in working directly among the Gentiles, reserving the preaching of the gospel to the Dispersion, as the scattered Jews were called, to St. Peter and his friends. It is thus we would explain the restraint exercised upon St. Paul on this occasion. Divine providence had cut out his great work in Europe, and was impelling him westward even when he desired to tarry in Asia. How the Spirit exercised this restraint or communicated His will we know not. St. Paul lived, however, in an atmosphere of Divine communion. He cultivated perpetually a sense of the Divine presence, and those who do so experience a guidance of which the outer world knows nothing. Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in one of his marvellous spiritual discourses called the "Via Intelligentiae," or the Way of Knowledge, speaks much on this subject, pointing out that they who live closest to God have a knowledge and a love peculiar to themselves. And surely every sincere and earnest follower of Christ has experienced somewhat of the same mystical blessings! God’s truest servants commit their lives and their actions in devout prayer to the guidance of their heavenly Father, and then when they look back over the past they see how marvellously they have been restrained from courses which would have been fraught with evil, how strangely they have been led by ways which have been full of mercy and goodness and blessing. Thus it was that St. Paul was at length led down to the ancient city of Troas where God revealed to him in a new fashion his ordained field of labour. A man of Macedonia. appeared in a night vision inviting him over to Europe, and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." Troas was a very fitting place in which this vision should appear. Of old time and in days of classic fable Troas had been the meeting-place where, as Homer and as Virgil tell, Europe and Asia had met in stern conflict, and where Europe as represented by Greece had come off victorious, bringing home the spoils which human nature counted most precious. Europe and Asia again meet at Troas, but no longer in carnal conflict or in deadly fight. The interests of Europe and of Asia again touch one another, and Europe again carries off from the same spot spoil more precious far than Grecian poet ever dreamt of, for "when Paul had seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God called us for to preach the gospel unto them." Whereupon we notice two points and offer just two obse

Illustrator

Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and behold a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus. Acts 16:1-3 Timotheus W. Brock, jun. 1. The first of Paul's missionary journeys reached its furthest limit at Lystra — the most uncivilised place he ever visited. Even here, however, he left a Church which he now found standing steadfast, and among its members a youth of peculiar promise, who bore the now famous name of Timothy. 2. On the mother's side Timothy was a Jew. Both mother and grandmother were devout, and it is therefore surprising that "his father was a Greek," and probably a heathen. Mixed marriages were held in horror by orthodox Jews. At Lystra, however, Jews were few, and the rigour of custom must have been relaxed. Timothy had never been circumcised. But what might escape remark in Lycaonia, would prove a scandal elsewhere; and with his usual practical judgment, Paul "took and circumcised him" before he led him forth to work. 3. The spiritual ancestry of Timothy is as clearly marked as the natural. Prepared for the willing reception of the gospel by the godly education of his childhood, he became Paul's "own son in the faith." In the interval between the two visits he had advanced to a character of marked ability and usefulness. Paul, always on the watch for helpers, saw the materials lying ready for a noble missionary life. "Him would Paul have to go forth with him." And with this period we connect the numerous allusions to his ordination service. The Church appears gathered in solemn assembly. He makes "a good profession before many witnesses." Then the apostle explains the labours and the risks of the Christian warfare, and charges his "son" to be brave, patient, and believing. The laying on of hands succeeds; and the prayer of the Church rises to heaven on his behalf. Nor in vain; for to that moment is referred the special anointing of the Spirit which fitted the young man for his future ministry. And, amid smiles and tears, we see him going forth into the great world, in the footsteps of the Captain who had chosen him to be a soldier. 4. Timothy's work constantly widened in range and in importance. Very young when he went out with Paul, it was fitting that he should at first remain in the background. But, from references in the epistles, we discover how usefully and industriously he was employed. From Corinth he is sent to the Thessalonians, "to establish and comfort them in their faith." From Ephesus he is sent to the Corinthians "to bring them into remembrance" of the truth they seemed to have forgotten. He passed through his apprenticeship in a loyal and loving spirit; and presently rose to be a master, with enterprises of his own. Still comparatively young, he is left at Ephesus with an Herculean task on his hands. He becomes the recognised successor of the great apostle, invested with an authority hardly inferior to his own. When that apostle's end draws near, and he seeks someone to be his comforter and executor, it is to Timothy that the summons is sent; and we learn, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, that he was imprisoned for Christ, and, if tradition is to be trusted, he died at last a martyr's death in the streets of his own turbulent Ephesus. 5. With little beyond allusions to guide us, it is difficult to decide on Timothy's qualities. His bodily health was feeble, and required stimulants; his natural disposition appears to have been as sensitive as Paul's, and perhaps deficient in forwardness and courage. The situation of affairs at Ephesus was at the time extremely difficult and even dangerous. The bravest might easily have lost heart in such an atmosphere, and would have needed to sustain him every motive which an apostle could supply. Paul did not think meanly of his follower. On the contrary, he speaks of his unfeigned faith, his unwearied service, his strict fidelity. He declares that in all the chosen hand of his fellow labourers there is none so disinterested, so full of sympathy, so much after his own heart. More dazzling names than his are to be seen in the firmament of the early Church; Apollos flames across the sky, leaving behind the brilliant sparks of his Alexandrian rhetoric: but the star of Timotheus brains on with a gentle, gracious, and unfading lustre, holding forth the word of life. 6. Whatever the contrast between Timothy's mission and ours, his character is one which, in its strength, its modesty, and its devotedness, may be ours. Character is a building of which God is the architect, and all the designs are His. But the building rises stone on stone, and is the work of many different hands; and it is useful to inquire what influences we can trace as helping to make this man what he was.(1) One was the Bible. "From a child" it had been his great lesson book. And now, in this great age of making books, where, by common confession, is there a book that will do for character what the Bible does?(2) No less helpful were personal influences. The Bible is the best of books; but the character of those who teach it adds immensely to its power. Now the earliest Scripture lessons of Timothy were mingled with the happy associations of hours spent at the feet of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. When they and he were parted, the same good work was carried on by apostolic hands. How much may be done to impart interest and impressiveness to the Word of God! The desire to see her child become another Timothy lives in many a Christian mother's heart: does not the power to make him so, under the Divine blessing, lie largely in her hands? The Bible class, wisely conducted, becomes the very garden of the Lord, where the young plants are nourished to a full stature and strength.(3) Yet, after all, the main human force at work in the formation of Timothy's character was Timothy himself: for the determining will was his own. ( W. Brock, jun. )

Matthew Henry

16:1-5 Well may the church look for much service from youthful ministers who set out in the same spirit as Timothy. But when men will submit in nothing, and oblige in nothing, the first elements of the Christian temper seem to be wanting; and there is great reason to believe that the doctrines and precepts of the gospel will not be successfully taught. The design of the decree being to set aside the ceremonial law, and its carnal ordinances, believers were confirmed in the Christian faith, because it set up a spiritual way of serving God, as suited to the nature both of God and man. Thus the church increased in numbers daily. 16:6-15 The removals of ministers, and the dispensing the means of grace by them, are in particular under Divine conduct and direction. We must follow Providence: and whatever we seek to do, if that suffer us not, we ought to submit and believe to be for the best. People greatly need help for their souls, it is their duty to look out for it, and to invite those among them who can help them. And God's calls must be complied with readily. A solemn assembly the worshippers of God must have, if possible, upon the sabbath day. If we have not synagogues, we must be thankful for more private places, and resort to them; not forsaking the assembling together, as our opportunities are. Among the hearers of Paul was a woman, named Lydia. She had an honest calling, which the historian notices to her praise. Yet though she had a calling to mind, she found time to improve advantages for her soul. It will not excuse us from religious duties, to say, We have a trade to mind; for have not we also a God to serve, and souls to look after? Religion does not call us from our business in the world, but directs us in it. Pride, prejudice, and sin shut out the truths of God, till his grace makes way for them into the understanding and affections; and the Lord alone can open the heart to receive and believe his word. We must believe in Jesus Christ; there is no coming to God as a Father, but by the Son as Mediator. 16:16-24 Satan, though the father of lies, will declare the most important truths, when he can thereby serve his purposes. But much mischief is done to the real servants of Christ, by unholy and false preachers of the gospel, who are confounded with them by careless observers. Those who do good by drawing men from sin, may expect to be reviled as troublers of the city. While they teach men to fear God, to believe in Christ, to forsake sin, and to live godly lives, they will be accused of teaching bad customs. 16:25-34 The consolations of God to his suffering servants are neither few nor small. How much more happy are true Christians than their prosperous enemies! As in the dark, so out of the depths, we may cry unto God. No place, no time is amiss for prayer, if the heart be lifted up to God. No trouble, however grievous, should hinder us from praise. Christianity proves itself to be of God, in that it obliges us to be just to our own lives. Paul cried aloud to make the jailer hear, and to make him heed, saying, Do thyself no harm. All the cautions of the word of God against sin, and all appearances of it, and approaches to it, have this tendency. Man, woman, do not ruin thyself; hurt not thyself, and then none else can hurt thee; do not sin, for nothing but that can hurt thee. Even as to the body, we are cautioned against the sins which do harm to that. Converting grace changes people's language of and to good people and good ministers. How serious the jailer's inquiry! His salvation becomes his great concern; that lies nearest his heart, which before was furthest from his thoughts. It is his own precious soul that he is concerned about. Those who are thoroughly convinced of sin, and truly concerned about their salvation, will give themselves up to Christ. Here is the sum of the whole gospel, the covenant of grace in a few words; Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. The Lord so blessed the word, that the jailer was at once softened and humbled. He treated them with kindness and compassion, and, professing faith in Christ, was baptized in that name, with his family. The Spirit of grace worked such a strong faith in them, as did away further doubt; and Paul and Silas knew by the Spirit, that a work of God was wrought in them. When sinners are thus converted, they will love and honour those whom they before despised and hated, and will seek to lessen the suffering they before desired to increase. When the fruits of faith begin to appear, terrors will be followed by confidence and joy in God. 16:35-40 Paul, though willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, and without any desire to avenge himself, did not choose to depart under the charge of having deserved wrongful punishment, and therefore required to be dismissed in an honourable manner. It was not a mere point of honour that the apostle stood upon, but justice, and not to himself so much as to his cause. And when proper apology is made, Christians should never express personal anger, nor insist too strictly upon personal amends. The Lord will make them more than conquerors in every conflict; instead of being cast down by their sufferings, they will become comforters of their brethren.