Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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,

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 out, 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 her that her ravings were prophetic.

they caught Paul and Silas ] As being the two most prominent members of the mission party.

into the market-place ] The great place of concourse, and where, as in the Roman forum, would be the seat of the authorities.

unto the rulers ] The Greek word is the general one for rulers, and signifies “the authorities,” the special members thereof being indicated by the next verse.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The hope of their gains was gone – It was this that troubled and enraged them. Instead of regarding the act as proof of divine power, they were intent only on their profits. Their indignation furnishes a remarkable illustration of the fixedness with which people will regard wealth; of the fact that the love of it will blind them to all the truths of religion, and all the proofs of the power and presence of God; and of the fact that any interposition of divine power that destroys their hopes of gain, fills them with wrath, and hatred, and complaining. Many a man has been opposed to God and his gospel because, if religion should be extensively prevalent, his hopes of gain would be gone. Many a slave-dealer, and many a trafficker in ardent spirits, and many a man engaged in other unlawful modes of gain, has been unwilling to abandon his employments simply because his hopes of gain would be destroyed. No small part of the opposition to the gospel arises from the fact that, if embraced, it would strike at so much of the dishonorable employments of people, and make them honest and conscientious.

The market-place – The court or forum. The market-place was a place of concourse, and the courts were often held in or near those places.

The rulers – The term used here refers commonly to civil magistrates.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 16:19-26

And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone.

Apostolic duty and vicissitudes

I. Christs servants will use whatever power they possess to set the slaves of Satan free. Paul did not act from mere impulse, but upon the principle of compassion with which all true Christians are animated, he was miraculously endowed, it is true, while we have only the power of influence and persuasion. But when a country is invaded, what patriot will draw back because he has not a rifle of the most approved pattern? Let us then do what we can to exorcise the demons of intemperance, etc.

II. Christs servants are not to expect that their efforts will win earthly rewards. This ought to be the result; but connected with all evils are vested interests which resist all efforts to diminish their gains. The owners of this damsel looked not at her benefit, but at their loss. For the same reason all reformers have been hated; and they must not be surprised at it (Joh 15:19-21).

III. Christ secures for His servants not exemption from sorrow, but a sustaining joy. All power is given to Christ, and He sometimes uses it to disappoint the enemies of His servants; but more frequently He leaves them, as here, to suffer for His names sake. But it is then that He gives then the sweetest assurances of His presence and love; and makes them more than conquerors (Act 5:41).

IV. By their conduct towards their persecutors Christs servants show that they are His. That can be no merely human religion which enables men to conquer the natural desire for revenge, and to do good to those by whom they have been despitefully used.

V. By their fidelity to conviction and the beauty of their character Christs servants will ultimately win the respect of those who have wronged them. The behaviour of Paul and Silas impressed the jailer quite as much as the earthquake. That might have been a natural occurrence, but the cheerfulness and kindness of the missionaries under the circumstances were obviously supernatural. So it is that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

VI. Turning to the jailer, we learn–

1. That the worst of men may become the servants of Christ.

2. That they may become so instantly. How long does it take to enlist a recruit? The resolve may be the fruit of long consideration, and it may take months of drill to make him an efficient soldier; but the act of enlistment is instantaneous.

3. The proof that men have become servants of Christ consists not in emotion but in conduct. (R. A. Bertram.)

Paul at Philippi

I. The preparation for Gods spiritual work. The rebuke of the evil spirit in the girl, the anger of the crowd, the imprisonment, seemed to form a series of events complete in itself and existing for itself, if we may say so. But these things were but the preparation for something more important.

1. The preparation for Gods work was by affliction. The disciples found themselves cast down, but the sequel showed it was in order that they might be exalted, by being used as a means of glorying God. A mans best work comes sometimes after he has ceased to be able to work at all. God works through our afflictions even when we do not know it. Well may we then count it joy when we are honoured by falling upon them.

2. The affliction of the apostles was certain, sooner or later, because of the ever persisting antagonism between the gospel and the world. And is it not forever so to the end of time? Must not the gospel always find opposition from the world? Surely this vile world is not a friend to grace to help us on to God.

3. Pauls understanding of this made him careless of being unpopular. He had counted the cost of his service and was willing to pay it.

4. The affliction of the apostles was relieved by faith. They trusted God to give them strength to endure it, to lead them out of it into safety, and beyond these, to use the affliction itself as an instrument of his own purposes.

5. God is with His children in times of trial.

6. Such faith makes one thoughtful for others. Paul was not so absorbed in his own rapture as to forget the jailer. Do thyself no harm; for we are all here. Forgetfulness of others is no part of the souls deepest joy.

7. In Pauls joy in God there was involved forgiveness to those who injured him.

II. The work of God. God by His permission of the apostles affliction had made ready for the first soul-ingathering among the heathen of Europe.

1. The first element that appears in the experience of the Philippian jailer is fear. He was trembling when he sprang into the cell (Act 16:29). John Bunyan had an awful experience of his own sinfulness before he was converted. If all have sinned, all are entitled to a guilty fearful conscience.

2. This dread of conscience was immediately accompanied by a consciousness of the supernatural.

3. With fear went desire. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What it was to be saved he knew in a most undefined way. Wants do not have to be defined in order to be genuine. A child knows that it feels bad but cannot always tell where or why, yet its suffering is most real. And to want the gospel comes with complete satisfaction. But it does not come except to the want.

4. The jailer was willing to do anything necessary for salvation. Sirs, what must I do?

5. The answer has well been called classic. It sums up once for all the ages everything that is required of man in order to be saved.

(1) Do nothing. Salvation is not of works.

(2) Believe.

(3) Make Christ the object of faith.

6. This faith has its social bearing. It is recognised as an influential element in the family, which is here shown to be the God-constituted unit of human life.

7. True faith will not be ignorant. It recognises its imperfection and is ever seeking to learn more of the truth of God, that it may appropriate it by faith (verse 32).

8. As soon as faith had entered the jailers heart, it emerged again in a deed of kindness; he washed the apostles wounds. So by a beautiful spiritual chemistry faith is ever transmuting the love of God as it comes into our upward-opened hearts into love for our fellow men (1Jn 4:12).

9. Immediately there came an open recognition of Christian faith in the form of baptism. Wherever there is faith there should be frank, manly avowal of it.

10. No wonder the jailer when he had brought them into his house rejoiced (verse 34). It was the happiest time he had ever known in his life. No wonder the jailer rejoiced. Blessed beyond words are all those who come to know Christ and His salvation.

III. Lessons about conversion.

1. Providence often prepares for it, sometimes by suffering and sorrow.

2. There are many ways of being led to Christ, and all are valid. Lydia came one way, the jailer another. No one need try to force himself into anothers experience.

3. Faith is the same for all. All are sinners. All need the atoning blood. All must trust without any merit of their own.

4. Salvation is free to all. What Paul said to the jailer he said to the whole world. Whosoever will may come. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

The consequences of doing good

1. If you destroy a mans hope of gain you are very apt to make him your enemy.

2. When you are hindering a mans business, he will charge you with precipitating a general business panic.

3. When you drive prosperity from a bad mans door, you may be inviting adversity to enter your own.

4. When you help some afflicted one, when you free some oppressed one, the affliction or the oppression may be transferred to yourself.

5. When you do a good deed, and are put in prison for it, wait for Gods deliverance–it will come.

6. The night is not all dark, nor the stocks hard, nor the imprisonment bitter, to those who, in the consciousness that they are suffering for Christ, wait for the breaking fetters and the earthquake shock. (S. S. Times.)

Antagonism to religion: how aroused

So long as the preaching of the gospel does not interfere with bad mens money making, bad men are disposed to let it alone, as none of their business. But when the work of these temperance people interferes with liquor selling; when the work of these law and order people stops the selling of vile books and pictures, and closes Sunday concert saloons; when the religious sentiment of the community rises up against lotteries and raffles; when the political reform movements propose to stop stealing in the city institutions–then it is evident to every servant of the devil whose supply of gain is thereby cut off, that these men do exceedingly trouble our city, and the same feeling against the gospel is aroused in them as showed itself in the impoverished hog raisers of the Gadarenes. This is one of the sure hindrances in the path of all zealous Christian workers. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)

The effects of Christianity on ancient superstitions

The priesthood in all its branches, Flamens, Augurs, Hornspices, contemplated the advance of Christianity with dismay. It emptied their temples, curtailed their sacrifices, reduced their profits, exposed their frauds. (J. J. Blunt, D. D.)

And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison.—

The punishment of the missionaries

The words imply a punishment of more than usual severity, such as would leave their backs lacerated and bleeding. So in 1Th 2:2, St. Paul speaks of having been shamefully entreated at Philippi. Those who have seen anything of the prisons of the Roman empire, as e.g., Mamertine dungeon at Rome itself, can picture to themselves the darkness and foulness of the den into which St. Paul and his friend were now thrust: the dark cavern-like cell, below the ground, the damp and reeking walls, the companionship of the vilest outcasts. And, as if this were not enough, they were fastened in the stocks. St. Luke used the Greek term xylon, the same as is used sometimes for the cross (Act 5:30; Act 13:29). The technical Latin word was nervus. Like the English stocks, it was a wooden frame with five holes, into which head and feet and arms were thrust, and the prisoner left in an attitude of little ease. Here, however, it would seem, the feet only were fastened, the rest of the body being left lying on the ground. If the received version of Job 13:27; Job 33:11, which follows the LXX and the Vulgate, be correct, the punishment was common at a very early period in the East (compare Jer 29:26). (Dean Plumptre.)

Paul imprisoned at Philippi

When Catherine Evans, a Quaker heroine of the seventeenth century, was imprisoned within the gloomy walls of the Inquisition, in the Island of Malta, for obeying what she regarded as a call from God to preach the gospel in the East, she was put into an inner room of the Inquisition, which had only two little holes in it for light and air, and which was so exceedingly hot that it seemed to be the intention to stifle her. On one occasion Friar Malachi told her unless she abandoned her religion she should never go out of that room alive. To this she fearlessly replied, The Lord is sufficient to deliver me, but whether He will or no, I will not forsake the living fountain to drink at a broken cistern. In like manner Paul and Silas, when apprehended and thrust into the inner prison of Philippi, were not debarred thereby from praising and preaching Christ. To such men, indeed,

Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage.

Christian preachers in prison

Some years ago three Primitive Methodist preachers went to mission a town in Worcestershire, and when they commenced the service, there was a magistrate, a clergyman, and a constable. The constable was ordered to take the preacher down, and he took him down and put him in prison; but there was immediately a second one up preaching away. The magistrate ordered the constable to take the second one, and then the third one was up preaching away. He bad orders to take the third, and he put all three together into the prison and they made a noise there. The magistrate went to the constable, and he said, What a noise those men are making; go and separate them, and do not let them make a noise like that. So the man went in and separated them, and he put two of them in a cell with a robber, and they preached the gospel to the robber. They preached to him, and they prayed with him, and he got converted. More noise than ever now. The magistrate said, I told you to separate those men. Well, he said, I have separated them. Separate them again, then. Well, he said, if I separate them again they will all get it. That robber is as bad as they are now.

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.—

Devotion under difficulties

I. The men engaged were eminently good. Paul and Silas.

1. They were employed in the highest service.

2. They were the truest benefactors of society.

3. They were successful opponents of evil.

4. They were martyrs to religious fidelity.

II. The place was notoriously wicked. Prison.

1. Circumstances are no criterion of character.

2. Doing good does not necessarily produce its equivalent.

3. The world is ignorant of the nature of true religion.

4. The good are non-resistant in their method of meeting persecution.

5. The ungodly are permitted great freedom.

III. The time was extremely unusual. Midnight. It was neither of the usual hours of devotion. The heart of man on earth and the ear of God in heaven are not regulated by our chronometers. Midnight, as well as midday, is the accepted time.

1. It was singular time. The world asleep.

2. It was sacred time. David and other eminent servants of God often worshipped them.

3. It was suitable time. Silence reigned. Quietness favourable to devotion.

IV. The service was marvellous in its nature. They had been stopped serving God by preaching. In the circumstances they did what they could.

1. There was supplication.

(1) Probably for pardon of enemies.

(2) Probably for success of mission.

(3) Probably for guidance in difficulties.

(4) Probably for preservation of converts.

2. There was song.

(1) Consciousness of Divine favour.

(2) Acknowledgment of Divine favour.

(3) Enjoyment of Divine favour.

3. There was sublimity. Such conduct in such a place was unique–marvellous.

V. The results were extraordinarily great.

1. Shaking of the prison.

(1) Proof of the Divine presence.

(2) Illustration of the Divine power.

(3) Sign of the Divine indignation.

(4) Symbol of the Divine goodness. Open doors and broken chains. Moral freedom.

2. Conversion of the prison keeper.

(1) Fear.

(2) Inquiry.

(3) Instruction.

(4) Faith.

(5) Obedience.

(6) Courtesy.

(7) Joy.

3. Liberation of the prisoners.

(1) Infringement of rights.

(2) Assertion of claims.

(3) Acknowledgment of wrong.

(4) Freedom.

Conclusion:

1. God cares for the good.

2. Fidelity to God rewarded.

3. Ultimate triumph of the gospel.

4. Worship God. (B. D. Johns.)

Paul and Silas sing praises at midnight

Like the nightingale, which warbles forth its beautiful notes in the night time, and when other birds are quietly asleep, so these two apostles sang praises to God at unconventional hours, for they were in unusual circumstances, and in an unconventional place. Many people will go some distance to hear the nightingale, and do not soon forget its notes; so all this prisoners in the jail at Philippi heard the apostles sing that night, and, it is hoped, they never forgot it. The other day, when the wind was furiously swaying the trees, when the heavy hailstones rattled against the window panes, and the darkened skies poured down the rain in torrents amid lightning flashes, until our hearts were quaking with fear, a beautiful little bird sat upon one of our sheltered rose bushes and sang its clear and beautiful notes, as though it knew God would not suffer the storm to hurt it. So, when the storm of persecution burst over the apostles at Philippi, though the excitement of their situation and the soreness of their stripes kept them awake, as some think, yet they sang praises to God, believing not only that their situation would be a furtherance to the gospel, but that God would not suffer them to be hurt.

A wonderful nocturnal service

I. The unusual hour of prayer–midnight.

II. The singular temple–a prison.

III. The remarkable conductors of the service.

Paul and Silas in the stocks.

IV. The strange congregation–the prisoners in their cells. (K. Gerok.)

The prayer meeting in the Philippian jail

It is always easy to have an excellent prayer meeting when the heart is right. There were three persons attending this one there in the jail. The ancient Jews had a saying, Where two persons meet, there is ever a third. Paul and Silas and Jesus Christ spent the night together (Mat 18:19-20). It was a most unusual–

I. Time–midnight. The Jews were strict as to their stated seasons of supplication; but this was the hour of neither the evening nor the morning oblation. But God never slumbers, He is alive to His childrens wants even in the dead of night.

II. Place. This was the first time the voice of Christian devotion was heard in those precincts–the earliest dungeon in Europe which held a mercy seat, although it has had many successors.

III. Posture. It was neither standing, nor kneeling, nor lying on ones face. What a poor time they would have had, if they had been compelled to use a formula or work themselves into an attitude. God does not care for attitudes when only the heart is right, and the spirit true, and the want pressing.

IV. Kind of prayer. Praying, they sang. They set their petitions to music. True prayer is praise, and genuine praise is prayer.

V. Expression of prayer–by tones of old Hebrew melodies such as one hears now in the synagogue: wild, pathetic, plaintive, and fascinating. Match one of Davids psalms or Isaiahs anthems to it, and it will move ones heart like a strain from the sky. He who has at command psalm after psalm has wonderful resources of comfort in his times of trouble.

VI. Reach of prayer. No doubt God heard it, but the prisoners also heard it. These were the songs in the night that Elihu told Job about; perhaps the psalm was that where David told of the good his singing did him (Psa 42:8). And we can have no sort of doubt that the jailer heard everything that was going on.

VII. Force of prayer. The Lord sent the earthquake in answer, and converted the jailer.

VIII. Direction of prayer. Imagine a triangle. The perpendicular line represents the direction of a Christian mans petition: it goes up straight towards God. The horizontal line represents the level pressure of the same force, going out towards those within range. That jailer, no doubt, heard the singing and the praying; it was not addressed to him, but it swept out toward him with lateral force. It is not safe to calculate deliberately upon affecting a bystander by our supplication; preaching in prayers is never to be commended; but a life of prayer, and an unconscious fervour of prayer in an individual instance, may be useful to one who watches it. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

The power of song

Wondrous power of music! When prayers give out, when all is dark, the mystic waves of sweet melody have still force to lift us out of ourselves, and upon their golden tides our souls seem to float away and leave far behind them the sad life of tears and strife. I note that Jesus is recorded as singing but once. It was when His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death–when the gloom and foreboding was deepest–when His disciples could not speak or pray, and hardly dared to think. Then, after supper, when they had sung a hymn, they went out into Gethsemane. In our own homes, in times of deep trouble–after the death or burial of a beloved one–in the midst of some great pain or loss–when the children look blankly at each other, and sit talking in whispers, and father and mother scarce know how to speak without weeping–a sister or friend will go to the piano or harmonium, and presently there shall arise such a sweet hymn as shall draw the voices of the sorrowing little company together, and the cloud will be lifted, something like a tender serenity and peace coming over the oppressed and darkened hearts as the pulses of the music rise and fall. Indeed there have been times in the history of the Church when music, hymn singing, chanting, have done duty for almost the whole of religion. What a part did hymn singing play in the life of Luther–in the Lollard movement–in Wesleyan prayer meetings–in the Salvation Armies–past and present. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)

Sorrow producing song

The agonies of Germany in the Thirty Years War and other conflicts was productive of a vast number of patriotic and Christian songs. At the end of the seventeenth century, Councillor Faankenau made a collection of 32,712, which he presented in three hundred volumes to the University library at Copenhagen; while in 1718 another collector, Wetzel, reckoned 55,000 printed German hymns. (J. FB. Tinling, B. A.)

Joy in trouble, its influence upon others

A lamp, when lighted, may burn by day, but it is only at night that it is seen by the neighbourhood. The darkness does not kindle or cause the light, but the darkness reveals it and spreads it around. It is thus that consistent joy in the Lord, when believers attain it, in a time of trouble becomes an effective testimony for Christ. Not a few owe their conversion instrumentally to the light that streamed from a saint in the hour of his departure–to the song that rose from the pilgrim when he was traversing the valley of the shadow of death. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Paul and Silas in prison

No man has more religion than he can show in time of adversity. The jail was a test of the Christian character of Paul and Silas. The way they stood the test, not only exalts them as Christian heroes, but also shows what power there is in the religion of Jesus.

I. A great earthquake.

1. The prisoners rejoicing (verse 25). They were praying–for they needed comfort. They sang praises–for comfort was given. Their hymns were unto God alone; but the prisoners were listening unto them. The Christian often exerts an influence of which he is unaware. What must have been the feelings of the listeners? Probably–

(1) Wonder. Songs from that inner prison was an unheard of thing. From there usually came groans, curses, wails of despair.

(2) A conviction that the two men were sustained by the God whom they were praising.

(3) A desire to partake of the same peace and joy. When a disciple has sunshine in trial, then men say, If religion can do that for us, then we want it. Songs in the night are better than sermons in the daytime.

2. The prisoners loosed. God now endorses the singers. The earthquake was natural in its character; but it happened at a time that shows that God was in it, using it, as He can use any force of nature, to accomplish His will.

II. A great change.

1. The keeper despairing (verse 27). His life depended upon the keeping of the prisoners. Awakened by the shock his first thought was of fidelity to his office, and, when he beheld the open doors, his instant conclusion was that the prisoners had escaped.

2. The keeper saved.

(1) From self-destruction (verse 28). There are two interesting questions in connection with this.

(a) How did Paul know that the keeper was intending suicide? He was in the inner prison, where he could have seen nothing.

(b) Why did none of the prisoners attempt to escape? It would seem as if the songs of the two missionaries, and the marvel which followed, had held them spellbound.

(2) From eternal destruction. Why did the keeper tremble? He was in no danger; for not a prisoner had escaped. He had rightly connected the earthquake with God and the presence of the servants of God. His fear was of Him who is the Judge of all. How was he saved? Believe, etc. Note how much larger the promise was than the question–thou and thy house. He had asked for himself only, but ha obtained assurance for those whose salvation was of as much consequence as his own.

3. The keeper changed. How was the change shown?

(1) In washing their stripes. His occupation had made him indifferent to the sufferings of others. But now that he had learned to love the Saviour his heart was touched with pity.

(2) Was baptized, he and all his immediately. Thus he and they expressed at once their faith in Christ.

(3) Set meat before them. He did not forget any of their physical wants in his own great joy. Those who have been fed with the Bread of Life should not be oblivious to the fact that the minister by whom they are fed has a body that needs to be fed also.

(4) Rejoiced greatly, etc. Now he was the possessor of the same joy that had caused those songs in the night.

III. A great humiliation.

1. The magistrates permission to depart.

(1) Given (verse 35). They realised that they had acted hastily, and without warrant, and desired to get rid of the men as quietly as possible.

(2) Refused. Paul did not stand upon a point of order as a matter of pride. If they departed without vindication, their influence as preachers of the gospel would be gone. For the honour of the Master, they refused to go.

2. The magistrates humiliation (verse 37). And the magistrates were made to come. They did not feel safe until they had gone where they would not again hear from them. The missionaries went out of prison with their innocence as publicly declared as their punishment. And thus they strengthened the hold of the gospel in Philippi.

3. The missionaries departure (verse 40). Having suffered so much, one would think that they needed comforting by the brethren instead. But God had comforted them with so great a comfort, that they still were the richer, and could afford to give. They went away, but they left brethren behind them. The Church was established at Philippi, and that could not be driven out. (M. C. Hazard.)

Paul and Silas in prison

The Christian looks beyond this world for complete happiness. Yet while here on earth he has something which the world can neither give nor take away. Deprive him of all that which ministers to the happiness of worldly men, and still he is happy. We have a striking example of this in the text. What then can make us happy in any condition, or under any circumstances? We answer–that which made Paul and Silas so happy in the prison at Philippi. The same sources of support and joy are open to every real Christian. Let us, then, examine them.

I. Their comparative estimate of what they gained, with what they lost. It is by such comparisons that we form our estimate of almost every condition in human life. In this world, that is reasonably esteemed an eligible condition in which the good to be enjoyed far outweighs the evil to be endured. What then was the case of these prisoners? Were they in prison–it was not the prison of death. Were they in chains–they still possessed the liberty of the sons of God. Did they endure the pains of the lash–they had peace which passeth all understanding. Had they no hopes from the world–they had the hope of eternal glory. Who that possessed millions would grieve at the loss of a penny? When, therefore, we hear them say, As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as having nothing, yet possessing all things, their language is intelligible.

II. The assurance that their sufferings were the means of great good. They regarded suffering not only as inseparably connected with the crown of glory, but as the appointed means of the preparation to wear it. They, therefore, gloried in tribulation because tribulation worketh patience, etc. They rejoiced in the darkness of the dungeon, because there every Christian grace shone purer and brighter.

III. Love to Him for whom they suffered. Love is the strongest passion of the human heart. It is delight in the object loved. With what cheerfulness and pleasure does it lead us to act or suffer! As intimately connected with their love to Christ, I ought to mention the great object of these men–the honour of Christ. Ease, pleasure, honour, interest, life were nothing in their view, and Christ was all in all. Conclusion:

1. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is. Real religion in its nature is a rich source of support and joy in every condition.

2. Religion is as good a thing now as in the days of the apostles. The same sources of enjoyment are open to us as to them. Why then should not religion bless the Christian under the little crosses of this tranquil age, as well as under the terrors which the annals of persecution record? Alas t here is the defect. They have not as much religion as they ought to have and might have. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)

The supreme power of true piety

We gather from this narrative–

1. That good men are persecuted notwithstanding the most evident signs that they are the servants of God. The presumption of evildoers.

2. That the beneficent ministries of good men incur the hatred of unrighteous traffickers.

3. That religious persecutions are generally promoted by men who have the least regard for religion.

4. That religion often has to endure the blame of tumults raised by evildoers.

I. The power of true piety to give men joy amidst circumstances of sorrow. Paul and Silas–

1. Their patient endurance.

2. Their fervent devotion.

(1) Devotion superior to physical pain. They had been beaten. Song stronger than sorrow.

(2) Devotion superior to the suggestion of mental association. Prison a suggestive place.

(3) Devotion superior to the habitual needs of human life. Midnight–time of sleep.

3. Their unique conduct. The masters with gains lost were in despair; the jailer in earthquake was about to commit suicide. Paul and Silas worshipped. Piety is supreme judged by results.

II. The power of true piety to give men calmness in physical disturbance.

1. God takes care of His persecuted servants.

2. The moral significance of the physical occurrences on the earth. Newspapers can only record the earthquake, not its hidden providences.

III. The power of true piety to enable men to give guidance amidst moral perplexity. See how the providence of God has in view the awakening of the souls of men. Believe, etc.

1. This advice was willing.

2. Wise.

3. Practicable.

4. Inspiring.

5. Accepted.

IV. The power of true piety to give men dignity in the humiliating emergencies of life. Let them come, etc.

1. Not the language of proud self-assertion.

2. The language of self-vindication. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Preachers in prison

I. The preachers.

1. Their punishment.

(1) Many stripes.

(2) In the inner prison.

(3) Their feet fast in the stocks. Cell windowless and damp; stocks irritating and painful.

2. Their piety. Prayed and sang. Only heroes of the highest type could have prayed in such a place.

3. Their noise. The prisoners heard them. They will have all the more attentive audience by the place and time. Noise was no new thing in the old prison. Groans, curses, threats had often echoed through those gloomy corridors; but never until now prayer and praise.

4. Their deliverance.

(1) It was supernatural. A great earthquake.

(2) It was instantaneous. Immediately the doors were opened.

(3) It was complete. Every mans bands were loosed.

II. The penitent. The exciting scenes of the afternoon and evening had passed, and at midnight the jailer is fast asleep.

1. His surprise (waking out of his sleep) at the swaying of the prison, the open doors, and the supernatural aspect of things generally.

2. His fear. That the prisoners had fled. Nothing was more reasonable. Prisoners have not much conscience when the alternative of bondage or freedom is before them.

3. His desperation. Would have killed himself. Believing his own life to be forfeited, his first thought was that of suicide. That was the highest point to which heathen culture could rise. The advice of Seneca was, If life is pleasant, live; if not, you have a right to return whence you came.

4. His instructions. Do thyself no harm. How did Paul know he was going to do himself harm?

5. His encouragement. We are all here. How, then, could Paul vouch for this?

6. His penitence. Came trembling. The marvels he had witnessed had aroused his conscience, and smitten him with an awful sense of guilt and alarm.

7. His humility. Fell down before Paul. There are earthquake crises in life when Gods despised people are appreciated–crises when they only can allay the troubled spirit, and answer the momentous questions which agitate and alarm the human heart.

8. His inquiry. What must I do to be saved? The danger implied in this question is not that which prompted him to suicide. The presence of all the prisoners saved him from that. The inquiry involves a conviction–

(1) Of danger. Saved.

(2) Of the importance of action or effort. Must.

(3) Anxiety to do what may be required. What must I do?

(4) Personal responsibility. What must I do? We lose ourselves in the crowd. True penitence individualises the man.

III. The pardon.

1. Its condition–Believe.

2. Its object–Jesus Christ.

3. Its certainty–Thou shalt be saved.

4. Its effects.

(1) Sympathetic–Washed their stripes. A man should doubt his conversion if he does not seek to undo the wrongs of yesterday.

(2) Hospitality–Into his house.

(3) Liberality–Set meat before them.

(4) Public and prompt confession–Baptised straightway.

(5) Influence–And all his. One saved man has a tendency to produce another.

The jailer, though a heathen, had some manhood and character about him, or his family would not have been so ready to follow him with such confidence. (T. Kelly.)

Good men in prison

It is a great disgrace to humanity that its greatest benefactors have been ill-treated. Next to the Saviour, the world has known no truer benefactor than Paul. And yet he was cast into prison. We feel ashamed of our complaining as we think of this Gods true hero singing songs of praise unto the Lord.

I. A good man radiates his influence. He cannot help it.

1. Silas was benefited by his connection with Paul. Silas was a man of mark, but he became more remarkable from his identification with Paul. We may not get earthly greatness or riches, but we must be better in a moral sense by allowing ourselves to be touched by a good mans influence. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.

2. Paul and Silas together exerted a good influence–

(1) On the prisoners, who listened to the sweet singing.

(2) On the jailer, whom they rescued from death. It has been so ever since. The path of the just is as the shining light. A bird will sing in a cage; a preacher has spoken through the grating of his cell.

II. A good mans character is not damaged by outward conditions. His reputation may be affected by them; for a man may have a good character and a bad reputation. Paul and Silas had a bad reputation. But a change is soon brought about. The very jailer acknowledges them as messengers of God. Today the world delights to honour those men who sat in that cell. If we suffer as evil-doers, we have reason to be ashamed; but if we suffer as Christians, let us glorify God on this behalf.

III. Good men are true to their principles, though they have been the causes of disaster. If the world were morally right, correct principles would never bring a man into trouble. If the apostles had been brought up in the school of worldly prudence, and had sat at the feet of Professors Pliable and Worldly Wiseman, they would not have had a sore back that night, though they might have had the worse evil of an uneasy conscience. But they were brought up in the school of Christ. The lesson impressed upon their mind was, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. It was theirs to dare to do the right, and leave consequences. Throw the mere professor into prison, and he soon recants. But when Paul and Silas are thrown into prison, they pray and sing praises unto God. They do not change their mode of procedure.

IV. Good men are sustained and encouraged in their sufferings.

1. The consciousness of having done right is a sustaining power. Paul and Silas had songs given to them in the night time of their confinement, while the poor jailer was in agonies, and the magistrates who condemned were sadly troubled.

2. The consciousness of a helper in heaven is a sustaining power. Paul without prayer would have been Paul without his lofty heroism. Prayer nerved his arm for the conflict, and brought down heavenly blessings. (W. Burrows, B. A.)

Good people in prison

John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer, speaking on one occasion of the cell on Bedford Bridge, where for twelve long years he was confined, said, So, being again delivered up to the jailers hands, I was had home to prison. When Madame Guyon was imprisoned in the Castle of Vincennes, in 1695, she not only sang, but wrote songs of praise to her God. It sometimes seemed to me, she said, as if I were a little bird whom the Lord had placed in a cage, and that I had nothing now to do but to sing. The joy of my heart gave a brightness to the objects around me. The stones of my prison looked in my eyes like rubies. I esteemed them more than all the gaudy brilliancies of a vain world. My heart was full of that joy which Thou givest to them that love Thee in the midst of their greatest crosses–a sentiment which she embodied, during one of her imprisonments, in a touching little poem, which begins thus–

A little bird I am,

Shut from the fields of air;
And in my songs I sit and sing
To Him who placed me there:
Well pleased a prisoner to be,

Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.

Bass Rock, a lonely island cliff in the Firth of Forth, off Haddingtonshire, two miles from land, was once used by the English Government as a fortress and State prison. Here, in the seventeenth century, many good ministers, persecuted for conscience sake, suffered confinement; and one of their number, Mr. Fraser, of Brea, wrote an account of their prison hardships. They were alternately chilled through with cold and half suffocated with smoke, fed with unwholesome food, and scarcely fed at all. Many contracted diseases there which embittered and shortened their lives. But from within those walls the voice of praise and prayer might be often heard, mingled with the laughter, oaths, and songs of the reckless sentinels; and the souls of the captives were borne, on the wings of holy meditation, far aloft and away from the dreary rock within which their bodies were pent. Every day, continues Fraser, I read the Scriptures, exhorted and taught therefrom, did sing psalms and prayed with such of our society as our masters did permit to worship together, and this two times a day. I studied Hebrew and Greek, and I likewise read some divinity, and wrote a Treatise on Faith.

The miracle in the prison

I. The prayer (verse 25). It is night. All are buried in slumber. A dark building–a lodging for the night, a prison. But light is in one of the cells–internal light, the light of faith. Therefore prayer and praise.

II. The shock (verses 26-28). Not only were the walls shaken, but the jailers heart. Certainly at first a shock of anguish and despair. But eternal love watches and prevails. The comforting word. We are all here. Hope returns; but he wishes to see his fortune and to grasp it with his hands (verse 29).

III. The great question (verses 30-82). It is not entirely unpremeditated. Already the praying apostles have caused the presentiment of something higher to rise in him. Perhaps also earlier experiences in his dismal employment. The earthquake has ripened the slumbering seed. The apostles have not fled. How secure and happy they must be! What must I do that I may be the same? The great life question finds also a great life answer. There is one answer. Without Christ no one is saved; through Him all may be saved.

IV. The first love (verses 33, 34). What is it? The attempt to make a return for what has been received–to do good to Christ in His servants. (Lisco.)

What the Lord can make of a prison

I. A quiet chapel of prayer (verse 25).

II. An alarming place of judgment (verses 26-29).

III. A wholesome school of repentance (verses 30, 31).

IV. A brotherly house of Christian love and compassion (verses 32, 33).

V. A blessed birthplace of the new life (verse 34). (K. Gerok.)

Disadvantages made useful

I. Strange places may be changed into churches. If in many cases desecration has taken place, many surprising instances of consecration have also occurred. We might turn every place into a praying ground. The teaching of this immediate lesson is that distressing, harmful, and threatening circumstances may be turned into ladders up to heaven. What are you doing in your unusual circumstances–moaning, groaning, complaining? Paul and Silas sang praises. Such men, therefore, never could be in prison. Christians ought never to be in any circumstances which they cannot turn into sacramental occasions.

II. Christian workers and worshippers may have unexpected observers and listeners. It is always exactly so.

1. You do not speak without being listened to; you do not go to church without being observed. The preacher speaks to his immediate congregation, but he knows not who is listening in the vestibule. And the prisoners were listening. They never heard such music before! They had been accustomed to profane language; to violent and complaining exclamations; but here is a new spirit in the house. It is so at home. Passing the room door, we pause a moment to hear some sweet voice in prayer or praise, and it follows the life like a pleading angel.

2. What is true on the one side is true on the other. The unjust judgment you passed was listened to by your children, and they will grow up to repeat your cynicism.

III. It is possible quietly and even thankfully, to accept all the circumstances of life. Nothing must interfere with the religious sacrifice. Are we in prison? We may have to alter the hour of worship, but not the worship itself. Are we in an uncongenial atmosphere? We may have to wait until the company has broken up before communion with the Father; but it is only waiting. Show me a Christian who does not complain. Where is the ancient joy? May the old days come again! When they come Christians will accept poverty or wealth, life or death, bleak March or warm June, with thankfulness, saying, This is the best for me; I live not in circumstance, but in faith.

IV. This is a full religious service. But there was no preaching, you say. Yes, there was; for we may preach by singing. But, even in a more direct and literal sense, preaching was added to prayer and praise. The earthquake took place, and the jailer, with his house, became a congregation to which Paul and Silas did, in the literal sense of the term, preach. So that night they had a full service–prayer, praise, preaching, and conversion.

V. Look at this conversion of the jailer.

1. It took place under circumstances which may well be described as exciting. Have we not been unjust to what is called religious excitement? But are the circumstances to blame, or ourselves? We like quietness–deadness; we do not like to be excited, because the devil has chloroformed us into a state of insensibility. Jesus Christ did not rebuke the excitement which followed His ministry; when others would have had Him rebuke them, He said, I tell you that if these held their peace, the very stones would cry out.

2. Happily the incident does not end here. To excitement was added the necessary element of instruction (verse 32). Tears in the eyes that are not followed by activities in the hand harden the very heart which for the moment they softened. We shall be the worse for every revival that ends in itself. Times of revival must be followed by times of study. We might get up such services as these almost every day in the week. If we prayed and praised in every prison into which our life is thrust, we should be heard by strange listeners, we should be interrogated by strange inquirers, and doors of usefulness would be opened in the very granite which apparently shuts us in. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The surpassing power of personal Christianity

Here we see it–

I. Elevating the spirit above the greatest trials (verse 25). What gives religion this power.

1. Faith in the Divine superintendence. The apostles knew that they were not here by accident or chance, but that the whole was under the wise and kind control of the Eternal Father. This is consoling. Job felt this. He knoweth the way that I take, etc.

2. Consciousness of Gods approval. The well done of Heaven echoed within, and set all to music. If God be for us, who can be against us? Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, etc.

3. The thought of Christs trials in comparison with their own.

4. Assurance of a glorious deliverance. Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, etc. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared, etc. He who has this religion can find a paradise in a dungeon.

II. Ensuring the interposition of God (verse 26). While caring for all God takes special care of the good.

1. Reason would suggest this, viz., that the Eternal Spirit would feel a greater interest in mind than in matter; that the Eternal Father in His offspring than in His mere workmanship; that the Source of love and holiness in those who participate in His own moral attributes than in those who do not.

2. The Bible teaches this.

(1) In explicit declarations. To that man will I look, etc. As a father pitieth his children, etc. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, etc.

(2) In the biography of the good. Did He not specially interpose on behalf of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles? If necessary He will make the heavens rain bread, and the rock out-pour refreshing streams. He will divide the sea, and stop the mouth of lions.

III. Capacitating the soul for the highest usefulness. The Philippian jailer–

1. Was prevented from self-destruction. The voice of Christianity to man is, Do thyself no harm of any kind. The good are ever useful in preventing evil.

2. Was directed to true safety. His question indicates a complex state of mind. He had regard not only to material and civil deliverance, but to spiritual and eternal. The question implies a sense of peril, and a sense of the necessity of individual effort. Something must be done. Paul, without circumlocution and delay, answers, Believe, etc. Believe on Him as the Representative of Gods love for the sinner, as the Atoner to Gods character, as the Guide to Gods heaven.

3. Experienced a delightful change (verses 33, 34). The ruffian who thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks, now tenderly washes their stripes, and entertains them with pious hospitality. The terror-struck soul who sprang in, in utmost horror, is now full of joy and faith (verse 34).

IV. Investing the soul with the truest independency (verse 35, etc.). This is seen–

1. In their superiority to the fear of man. As soon as they were miraculously delivered from prison, they might have hurried away from such a scene of enemies; but they remained, although the magistrates gave them liberty to depart. They were not afraid. They could chant the 46th psalm.

2. In refusing great benefits, because offered on improper grounds. We will not accept as a favour what we demand as a right. A good man will refuse liberty, social influence, wealth, unless they can be honourably and righteously obtained.

3. In triumphing over their enemies. The tyrants became fawning suppliants at the feet of their prisoners. Such is Christian piety at first displayed in Europe, and in a prison. Piety is not that weak, simpering thing which often passes for it. It is the mightiest force on earth. True Christians have not received the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and of a sound mind. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Gods heroes and mans

On losing a battle in that neighbourhood, Cassius, the last of the Romans, hid himself in his tent, and bade his freedmen strike, while Brutus, in his sullen desperation, fell upon his sword. But, so far from drooping and murmuring, and calling God to account, who had beckoned them to Europe, and yet had permitted them to be so shamefully entreated; so far from resolving to desert a Master who had not protected them, or deeming the vision at Troas a lure to draw them on to stripes and a dungeon, Paul and Silas prayed, and not only poured out their hearts in supplication, but sang praises unto God, and that in no whispered melody, for the prisoners heard them. (Prof. Eadie.)

And the prisoners heard them.–

Indirect means of doing good

Though the speakers were bound, the Word was free; not only the Word that went upward to the throne of God, but also the echo of the Word, that pierced the gloomy partition walls and sank into the startled ears of wretched prisoners. It seemed a roundabout road that the gospel took to reach these Gentiles; but it did not miss its way. There was a dead wall between the apostles and their audience, and therefore they did not preach that night. But there was no wall between them and the Father of their spirits: praying they hymned God, and the prayer sent upward fell down again on the other side of the partition, falling there on listening ears. In this circuitous method the gospel reached some needy souls. It is thus that in modern warfare they often overcome a fortress which is too strong to be taken by direct assault. The wall frowns thick and high between the defenders and the assailants. No missile sent in a direct line can touch the protected garrison. The besiegers in such a case throw their balls high into the heavens; these fall within the enclosure and do their work. When a good soldier of Jesus Christ cannot by direct preaching reach men, he may by prayer and praise. Christians travelling in Romish or otherwise darkened districts, might in this way scatter blessings in their track. And so might those who live in benighted neighbourhoods. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 19. When her masters saw] It appears she was maintained by some men, who received a certain pay from every person whose fortune she told, or to whom she made any discovery of stolen goods, c., c.

The hope of their gains was gone] , This hope viz. the spirit. So completely was this spirit cast out that the girl could divine no more and yet she continued a heathen still, for we do not hear a word of her conversion. Had she been converted, got baptized, and been associated with the apostles, the family of Lydia, c., there would have been some show of reason to believe that there had been no possession in the case, and that the spirit of divination coming out of her meant no more than that, through scruple of conscience, she had left off her imposing arts, and would no longer continue to pretend to do what she knew she could not perform. But she still continued with her masters, though now utterly unable to disclose any thing relative to futurity!

Drew them into the market-place] This was the place of public resort, and, by bringing them here, they might hope to excite a general clamour against them and probably those who are here called , the rulers, were civil magistrates, who kept offices in such public places, for the preservation of the peace of the city. But these words, the rulers, are suspected to be an interpolation by some critics: I think on no good ground.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Her masters; for she was a servant, or slave; and being very advantageous, might have many that had a share in her.

Their gains; the profit could not but be considerable, for they were to come with the rewards of divination in their hands, as they did to Balaam, Num 22:7.

Rulers: See Poole on “Mat 16:20“.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. when her masters saw that thehope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silasas theleading persons.

and drew them into themarket-placeor Forum, where the courts were.

to the magistrates, saying,&c.We have here a full and independent confirmation of thereality of this supernatural cure, since on any other suppositionsuch conduct would be senseless.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And when her masters saw,…. As they might by her sedateness and composure; she not being wild and frantic, and not having such motions and agitations she had whilst under the possession of the evil spirit:

that the hope of their gains was gone; the Syriac version adds, “out of her”; namely, the evil spirit which was the ground and foundation of all their hope of gains, they expected to acquire for themselves; that being gone, they had no more work to do, nor tricks to play, nor profit to expect from the maid: wherefore

they caught Paul and Silas; they being the chief speakers, and principally concerned in the ejection of the evil spirit; they laid hold on them, took them by the collar, or held them by their clothes,

and drew them into the market place: or rather into the court of judicature, as the word also signifies; there to accuse them, and to have them tried, condemned, and punished:

unto the rulers; the judges of the court, it may be the Decuriones; for in a Roman colony as Philippi was, they chose out every tenth man, that was of capacity and ability, to make and establish a public council, and who therefore were called by this name.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Was gone (). Was gone out of the slave girl, second aorist active indicative of . “The two most important social revolutions worked by Christianity have been the elevation of woman and the abolition of slavery” (Furneaux). Both are illustrated here (Lydia and this slave girl). “The most sensitive part of ‘civilized’ man is the pocket” (Ramsay).

Laid hold on (). Second aorist middle participle of as in Acts 9:27; Acts 17:19, but here with hostile intent.

Dragged (). First aorist active indicative of , late form of the old verb (also in Jas 2:6) to draw as a sword, and then to drag one forcibly as here and 21:30. It is also used of spiritual drawing as by Jesus in Joh 12:32. Here it is by violence.

Into the marketplace ( ). Into the Roman forum near which would be the courts of law as in our courthouse square, as in 17:17. Marketing went on also (Mr 7:4), when the crowds collect (Mr 6:56), from , to collect or gather.

Unto the rulers ( ). General Greek term for “the magistrates.”

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Was gone [] . Went out with the evil spirit.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

PAUL AND SILAS CHARGED, BEATEN, AND IMPRISONED V. 19-24

1) “And when her masters saw,” (idontes de hoi kurioi autes) “Then her masters (stockholders) realizing,” recognizing, or comprehending, that the deranged demon possessed damsel or slave girl had been restored, and with it,

2) “That the hope of their gains was gone,” (hoti ekselthen he elpis tes ergasias auton) “That the (or any) hope of their profit or personal gain, dividend, or further profiteering was gone out of her;” Note the cruelty of the covetous souls who for greed, for money had rather see her soul writhing in a demon tormented state, than lose their money, like a pimp controlling a house of prostitution, or a saloon keeper making drunks for money, 1Ti 6:10; Ecc 5:10; Act 19:24-25.

3) “They caught Paul and Silas,” (epilabomenoi ton Paulon kai ton Silan) “They seized (having seized) Paul and Silas,” leaders of the worshipping mission band or party. Luke and Timothy were spared, perhaps because they were thought to be Greeks.

4) “And drew them into the marketplace,” (eilkusan eis ten agoran) “They boisterously dragged (them) unceremoniously into the marketplace,” before the masses of the public, probably dragging them by their feet, Act 14:19. For here the local magistrates would sit in public judgement similar to the Roman forum in open hearing in examination of the accused.

5) “Unto the rulers,” (epi tous archontas) “Before the rulers,” for a stacked, prejudicial judgement, and quick condemnation, without fair and due process of Roman law, because they recognized them to be Jew, Act 16:20.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

−

19. But when her masters. The same devil who of late did flatter Paul by the mouth of the maid, doth now drive her masters into fury, that they may put him to death; so that, having changed his coat, he doth now play a tragedy, who could not speed well before by his fair speech and flattery. And though the heat of zeal wherewith Paul was provoked to anger did raise the whirlwind of persecution, yet is he not therefore to be blamed; neither did it any whit repent Paul that he had wrought the miracle, so that he did wish that were undone which was done, because he knew full well through what motion he had driven the devil out of the maid. Whereby we are taught that we must not rashly condemn things which are well done, and that which is taken in hand at the commandment of God, though an unhappy success follow; because God doth then examine [test] the constancy of those which be his, until a more joyful and prosperous end drive away all sorrow. As touching the men, Luke expresseth the cause why they were so mad upon Paul; to wit, because their hope of filthy gain was gone. But though they were pricked forward with covetousness only to persecute the Gospel and the ministers thereof; yet they pretend a fair color, that it grieveth them that the public state should be perverted, that their ancient laws should be broken, and peace troubled. So, through the enemies of Christ behave themselves wickedly and unhonestly, yet they always invent some cause for their sin. Yea, though their wicked desire appear plainly, yet, with an impudent withal. So at this day those Papists which are more zealous over their law, − (201) have nothing else in their minds besides their gain and government. Let them swear and forswear by all their saints and sacrifices, that they are enforced only with a godly affection; yet the matter itself doth plainly show, that it is the coldness of their kitchens which maketh their zeal so hot, and that ambition is the fan − (202) thereof. For they be either hungry dogs pricked forward with greediness, or furious lions breathing out nothing but cruelty. −

(201) −

“

Acerrimi zelotae legis suae,” the fiercest zealots for their law.

(202) −

“

Flabellum,” bellows.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act. 16:19. The rulers, , were the town magistrates (Luk. 12:58).

Act. 16:20. The magistrates, , were the two chief civic authorities (dunmviri) in a Roman colony town, and were usually styled prtors.

Act. 16:20-21. Being Jewsi.e., belonging to the despised race, whom Claudius had shortly before banished from Rome (Act. 18:2); and being Romansi.e., in proud contrast to the hated sons of Abraham. The distinction between and seems to be that the former is used of something which the speaker or narrator wishes to put forward into notice, either as unknown to his hearer or reader, or in some way to be marked by him for praise or blame; whereas the latter refers to facts known and recognised and taken for granted by both (Alford).

Act. 16:22. Rent offby ordering the lictors to removetheir clothes. The customary mandate was: Summore, lictor, despolia, verbera. Commandedlit., were commandingto beat them, the imperfect showing that the whole process of scourging went on under the narrators eye.

Act. 16:23. The inner prison.In a Roman prison there were usually three distinct parts

(1) the communiora, where the prisoners had light and fresh air,

(2) the interiora, shut off by strong iron gates, with bars and locks, and

(3) the tullianum, or dungeon. The third was a place rather of execution or for one condemned to die (Conybeare and Howson, i. 280, note 4).

Act. 16:27. Would have killed himself.Because he would certainly have been put to death had his prisoners escaped (see Act. 12:19; Act. 27:42).

Act. 16:28. Do thyself no harm.As the prison was dark Paul may have learnt from some exclamation of the jailor that he meditated suicide, or, if ordinary means sufficed not to acquaint him with the keepers purpose, supernatural revelation may have discovered it to him.

Act. 16:29. A light should be lights.

Act. 16:30. Brought them out.Not into his house (see Act. 16:34), but into the outer or common prison or other room belonging to the prison, where they were joined by the jailors family.

Act. 16:34. Believing in God with all his house, should be, he rejoiced with, or over, all his house, having believed in, or having believed, God.

Act. 16:35. The serjeants were the rod bearers or lictors.

Act. 16:37, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, etc.; or, having beaten us publicly uncondemned, they cast us into prison.It was against the Valerin law passed A.U.C. 254 to inflict stripes or torture on any Roman citizen until an appeal to the people had been decided. The Porcian law, passed A.U.C. 506, forbade stripes and torture absolutely. From this passage it appears that Silas as well as Paul was a Roman citizen. That they did not appeal to their Roman citizenship may have been due to the haste with which proceedings had been taken against them. Of the three times Paul was beaten with rods (2Co. 11:25) this was one; the other two are not recorded.

Act. 16:38. They, the magistrates, feared when they heard that they, the apostles, were Romans.Because, according to Roman law, Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum; scelus verberari; prope parricidium, necari (Cicero, In Verrem, v. 66).

Act. 16:40. The use of the third person shows that Luke remained behind in Philippi, where he was afterwards rejoined by the apostle and his company (Act. 20:5).

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.Act. 16:19-34

The First Pagan Persecution; or, the Imprisonment of Paul and Silas

I. Before the magistrates.

1. The prosecutors.

(1) Their persons. The masters of the girl. Their hostility formed the first instance of persecution raised against the apostles by pagans. Hitherto the adversaries of the apostles had been their own countrymen.

(2) Their motive. Because they saw that through the exorcism of the evil spirit from the afflicted maid their gains were gone. Their conduct as well as that of Demetrius of Ephesus (Act. 19:23-31) show that it is always dangerous to touch a mans pocket, and that even religion has little chance when it comes into competition with love of gain. The first way, says Professor Ramsay, in which Christianity excited the popular enmity outside the Jewish community was by disturbing the existing state of society and trade, and not by making innovations in religion (The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 130).

(3) Their violence. Having arrested Paul and Silas as the principal persons in the company, or perhaps because Luke and Timothy were at the moment out of the way, they dragged those into the market-place where the magistratesin this case the Roman police-executive, the duumviri or prtors, as distinguished from the city rulers (see Critical Remarks)were sitting.
2. The accusation. These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, being Romans (Act. 16:20-21). That is to say, they were indicted, not for the crime of observing their own form of worship, which by Roman statute was a religio licita, but of doing what Roman statute did not permit, endeavouring to persuade Romans to forsake their own religious customs and embrace those of (as it seemed) the Jews. If the charge was in appearance true, since the apostles preaching was undoubtedly being attended by conversions, and the Philippians could not then distinguish between Judaism and Christianity, it was still in reality false, since the real head and front of the apostles offence was not the publication of a new religion about which, like other easy-going tolerant pagans, the girls masters did not care two straws (Ramsay), but the interference of his preaching with their unholy profits, about which they were extremely sensitive, and more especially the destruction by his miracle of their stock-in-trade, for which they could perceive no chance of compensation.

3. The multitude. The marketplace mob, composed doubtless for the most part of idlers, out-of-work and loungers (Mat. 20:3; Act. 17:17), having heard the accusation, and having been incapable of understanding a defence, even had it been offered, like other eager and tumultuous rabbles, raised a yell of indignation against the apostles and demanded their punishment (compare Act. 19:28; Act. 19:34; Act. 21:30; Act. 22:22; Luk. 23:18).

4. The magistrates. Yielding to the popular cry, without hearing from the prisoners a word of explanation, far less putting them on trial, the two prtors, representatives of Roman law and justice, who should have studied equity and afforded their prisoners at least an opportunity of speaking in self defence (Act. 25:16), proceeded to act in flagrant violation of Roman law.

(1) Without troubling themselves to conduct even the smallest or most formal investigation, they commanded the apostles to be scourged, in accordance with the customary formula ordering the lictor to remove the prisoners clothes, if not, in blind fury doing this with their own hands, that on the backs of the apostles thus bared might be laid ignominious stripes by means of rodsthough sometimes more severe instruments such as whips, loaded with lead, were employed for the infliction of this degrading punishment. That this was one of the three occasions on which Paul tells us he endured this indignity (2Co. 11:25) there can be no doubt; and should it be inquired why, as afterwards in the castle of Antonia, he did not, in this instance, protect himself by making known his Roman citizenship (Act. 22:25), it may be answered either that both Paul and Silas may have done so, though their voices, if raised, were drowned in the general din, and the fast-falling blows of the rods (Lewin), or that in the agitation of the moment caused by the suddenness of the inhuman proposal it did not occur to them in this way to rescue themselves, or that if it did they may have preferred to suffer, thinking that by so doing they would more effectively promote the cause they had at heart.

(2) Not content with having publicly beaten the apostles, the magistrates cast them into prison, as if they had been convicted of a heinous crime, handing them over wounded and bleeding to the tender mercies of the town jailor with instructions to keep them safely, either in case further proceedings should require to be instituted against them, or perhaps lest some attempt at rescue should be made by their friends.

II. In the inner prison.

1. Their degradation. The town jailor, having perfectly understood what his master wanted, thrust his supposed criminals into the inner prison, the interior ward of a Roman cell, probably a damp, cold chamber, shut off with bolts and bars, iron gates and locks, and totally excluded from fresh air and light (compare Act. 12:6; and see Critical Remarks). In addition, improving most likely on his instructions, he made their feet fast in the stocks, which were pieces of wood drilled through with holes, into which the feet were thrust, and sometimes so far apart as to cause the stocks to become an instrument of acute torture. Compare the treatment of Joseph in the Round House at Heliopolis (Psa. 105:18).

2. Their occupation. So far as can be gathered from Scripture, this was Pauls and Silass first experience of a jail, Yet neither of them yielded to despondent thoughts. Their solitary hours were enlivened, and their pains alleviated by the hallowed exercises of religion, in which they prayed and sang praises to God, doubtless finding appropriate expression for their mingled emotions in well-known words from the Hebrew Psalter (compare Luk. 1:46-55; Luk. 1:68-79; Luk. 2:29-32; Col. 4:2). That they could thus pass the hours of their incarceration, forgetting the pains of their lacerated bodies and tortured limbs in the inward joyfulness of their spirits, was a signal testimony both to the sustaining grace of Him who had given them songs in the night (Job. 35:10), and to the power of that religion they professed and proclaimed to elevate the soul above all lifes ills, as Tertullian finely says, The limbs do not feel the stocks when the heart is in heaven. Nor were their prison devotions without eager listeners on earth, as none can doubt they found delighted hearers in heaven (Psa. 102:19-20). The inmates of the outer or common cell of the prison had never before heard such melodies proceeding from the inner or from any ward of a Roman jail, and kept listening, it can well be imagined, with wonder and amazement.

3. Their deliverance.

(1) Effected by an earthquake, which cannot be successfully explained as a natural occurrence (Baur, Zeller), which might indeed have shaken the prisons foundations, but could hardly have unlocked the barred doors or unloosed the prisoners fetters. That the writer distinctly intended to describe a supernatural interposition on behalf of Paul and Silas can hardly be questioned, even by those who decline to accept the narrative as true history; and that the other prisoners partook of the same gracious visitation was as obviously designed to arrest, impress, and if possible save them, if not from earthly, at all events from spiritual bondage and condemnation. When we reflect, say Conybeare and Howson (i. 282), on their knowledge of the apostles sufferings (for they were doubtless aware of the manner in which they had been brought in and thrust into the dungeon); and on the wonder they must have experienced on hearing sounds of joy from those who were in pain, and on the awe which must have overpowered them when they felt the prison shaken and the chains fall from their limbs; and when to all this we add the effect produced on their minds by all that happened on the following day, and especially the fact that the jailor himself became a Christian, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the hearts of many of those unhappy bondmen were prepared that night to receive the gospel, that the tidings of spiritual liberty came to those whom, but for the captivity of the apostles, it would never have reached, and that the jailor himself was their evangelist and teacher.

(2) Accompanied by a trophy of Divine grace in the person of the jailor who, through the earthquake, was awakened to more than a sense of his temporal danger, even to a realisation of his spiritually lost condition. For this he may have been in some measure prepared by his acquaintance with the character of the apostles preaching, of which he had doubtless heard; though he could hardly have been affected by their praying and singing, since during the time they were engaged in these holy exercises he was sleeping. In answer to his cry of distressSirs! what must I do to be saved?an utterance which cannot be explained as signifying less than genuine soul concernhe was first directed to the one and all-sufficient method of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved; and afterwards along with the inmates of his household, who by this time had appeared upon the scene, the jailors house being not necessarily above (Meyer), but on a higher level than the prison (Act. 16:34), more fully instructed in the way of the Lord, with the happy result that he believed and was baptised, along with all his house, rejoicing in God.

III. In the jailors house.

1. Before they entered it, while yet in the prison court underneath, the jailor took them, his lacerated prisoners, and washed their stripes. A beautiful indication that sympathy, repentance, and gratitudethree emotions to which, probably, he had been long a strangerhad begun to dawn within his soul. The jailor, says Chrysostom, washed them, and he was washed himself. He washed them from their stripes, and he in his turn was washed from his sins.

2. When they were within it, he set meat before them. His former cruelty was changed into hospitality and love (Conybeare and Howson). The two sufferers may well have needed food. They were not likely to have made a meal, when they were thrust into the dungeon (Plumptre). Doubtless by such hospitality the jailor hoped to compensate in some degree for his previous unkindness, and to evince the grateful affection he now entertained towards his benefactors.

3. How they left it. With a triumphant acknowledgment of their innocence on the part of the magistrates (see preceding homily), who, having learnt that their prisoners were Romans, became alarmed for their own safety, because of having violated the sanctity of Roman law in scourging two uncondemned citizens, and with all haste caused them to be fetched from the prison, entreating them at the same time to leave the city. This they agreed to do, but not before they had visited the house of Lydia, and comforted the brethren, amongst whom, doubtless, henceforth the jailor took an honoured place.

Learn.

1. That natural men as a rule, and occasionally spiritual men, as an exception, prefer their businesses to religion.
2. That Christs ambassadors need hardly expect to escape persecution of some sort.
3. That when Christs servants suffer God their maker can give them songs in the night.
4. That no prison doors or bars can keep out God when He wants to be in, or keep in Gods servants when He wants them out.
5. That conversions can occur in the most unlikely places, and pass on the most unlikely persons.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act. 16:20. Preachers of the Gospel, Citytroublers. Because they

I. Interfere with mens sinful gainsbeing teachers of morality.

II. Expose mens intellectual delusionsthe gospel bringing the light of truth to the understanding.

III. Change mens irreligious customssubstituting for the worship of idols that of the true God.

IV. Turn mens thoughts towards salvationmen not caring to be reminded of their lost condition.

Act. 16:24. Fast in the Stocks.

I. A verification of Christs promise.
II. A testimony to the efficiency of the apostles work.
III. A trial of the sincerity of their faith.
IV. A means of helping on the cause of the gospel.

Act. 16:25. Singing in Jail.

I. Not easy.Requires great grace.

II. Perfectly possible.Grace can make a Christian do all things.

III. Eminently comforting.To those who are imprisoned innocently for conscience sake.

IV. Occasionally useful.May lead to the conversion of the prison inmates.

A Strange Religious Service.

I. The unusual hour of prayermidnight.

II. The singular templea prison.

III. The remarkable conductorsPaul and Silas in the stocks.

IV. The strange congregationthe prisoners in their cells.Gerok.

Songs in the Night.

I. The singers.Paul and Silas.

1. Their character.

(1) Servants of the most high God.
(2) Missionaries of the cross.
(3) Benefactors of their race.
2. Their condition. In the night.

(1) In the darkness of a Roman cell.
(2) In the painfulness of bodily suffering.
(3) In the sadness of disappointed hopes.

II. Their songs.

1. The giver of them: God, whose servants they were (Psa. 19:8); Christ, for whose name they had been cast into prison (Joh. 16:33; Joh. 17:13); and the Holy Spirit, in obedience to whose leading they had come to Philippi (Eph. 5:18-19).

2. The burden of them.

(1) Thankfulness that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ (Act. 16:40).

(2) Prayerfulness for grace to sustain them while suffering, and for a happy issue to their trial in the furtherance of their mission.
3. The hearers of them. Doubtless the angels in heaven, but also the prisoners on earth. Christians when at their devotions are more frequently than they suspect observed by others.

4. The effect of them. If they comforted the singers, they most likely helped to convert the listeners.

Act. 16:25. Singing in Jail.His presence turns a prison into a palace, into a paradise. From the delectable orchard of the Leonine prisonso the Italian martyr Algerius dated his letter to a friend. I was carried to the coal-house, saith Mr. Philpot, where I with my fellows do rouse together in the straw as cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, being a long time prisoner under Charles V., was demanded what upheld him at that time. He answered that he felt the Divine consolations of the martyrs (Trapp). (See on. Act. 23:11, Hints.)

Act. 16:26. Opened Doors and Loosened Bands.

I. A miracle of power.Even if explainable as the result of the earthquake, the earthquake itself was the work of God.

II. A symbol of grace.

1. Of the message of the gospel, which proclaims liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

2. Of the influence of the Spirit, which breaks the fetters of sin from the soul and opens the heart to receive the truth.

3. Of the work of providence, which opens doors of usefulness for Christs servants and gives them ability to enter in.

III. A prophecy of glory.Of the opening of the prison-house of the grave and the unloosening of the bands of death.

Act. 16:30-31. The Way of Salvation.

I. The jailors question.

1. Important. Concerning the salvation of the soul, the most momentous of human concerns.

2. Personal. Concerning individual salvation. Salvation a personal affair.

3. Urgent. No time for delay in this concern of the souls salvation.

II. The apostles answer.

1. The simplicity of it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing needful but faith.

2. The certainty of it. Thou shalt be saved. No peradventure.

3. The sufficiency of it. And thy house.

Act. 16:23-34. The Story of the Jailor; or, the Moral and Spiritual History of a Soul.

I. A spiritual sleeper.

1. Unconscious of his moral degradation (Act. 16:24).

2. Insensible to his danger (Act. 16:27).

II. An awakened sinner.Roused from his bodily slumber by means of the earthquake, he instantly realised the peril in which he stood

(1) bodily and temporarily (Act. 16:27), and

(2) spiritually and eternally (Act. 16:30).

III. An anxious inquirer.Manifested by his exclamation, Sirs! what must I do to be saved? (Act. 16:30), which referred exclusively to his deliverance from the spiritual alarm which had seized upon his soul.

IV. An eager listener.This followed of necessity from his soul agitation and the sincerity of his exclamation. Anxious souls always hear the gospel with avidity (Act. 16:32).

V. A humble penitent.Evidenced by his gentle and affectionate treatment of the apostles (Act. 16:33).

VI. A rejoicing believer (Act. 16:34).As faith cometh by hearing, so does joy spring from believing. Not joy is the source of faith, but faith is the source of joy.

VII. A baptised Christian.He and all his were baptised (Act. 16:33), and so incorporated in the Church of Christ.

Act. 16:19-34. The Jailor at Philippi.

I. Do you, jail keeper of Philippi, believe in being scared into religion? An earthquakepardon the suggestionis a shaky foundation for a religious resolve. Now do you believe in religion which begins in fear? The question is stated offensively, although in a popular form, such is the jailors reply; but I do believe that fear is a proper motive to religion and in religion. In my case it worked well. I came into the kingdom moved by fear, as the history plainly tells you. Other motives were present, but fear was foremost. The absence of fear would have been stolidity. It is the part of wisdom to be taught by events. In them God is the Teacher, and when events are fearful we ought to fear. It is worth while to listen to the testimony of the jailor upon this point, because current religious thought of a superficial and sentimental sort hesitates to find a place for fear amongst the motives to religion. Fear which takes counsel of the reason and not of the imagination is a proper motive to religion and in religion. Noah was not playing the part of a craven in a truly courageous world when he, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. An apostle made no ill-judged appeal to fear when he said to impenitent men, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God And now let us give to fear its true place amongst religious motives. Do the great hopes of the gospel fill and sway our hearts? Then away with fear! Does the love of God, like a summers atmosphere full of sweet odours, enfold our spirits in its warm embrace? Then away with fear! Does gratitude, the sense of infinite indebtedness to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, stir our hearts, so that to lay our powers and possessions at his feet is only a grateful and easy task? Then away with fear. Is the sense of duty so dominant in our hearts that we are always ready to make payment of our dues to God? Then away with fear. But if none of these higher motives have control, then, as we love our souls, we ought not to allay our fears in any other way than by seeking the grace of God to save us from the danger which occasions fear. It is conceivable that the jailor might have reasoned with his fears until all apprehension vanished, but in so doing he would have lost his soul.

II. If we were permitted to make further inquiries of the jailor, a second query would arise. We should be disposed to say: You were upon that night of the earthquake plunged into the greatest excitement. You were well-nigh beside yourself. Of a sudden, the record tells us, you whipped out your sword to take your own life. This therefore is our question, Do you believe in emotional religion? My own religious life began in a sudden and tidal sweep of the emotions, is the reply. They were emotions which I did not stop to analyse or question, and which I could not control. Confused, tumultuous feelings rushed and crowded in upon me. The sudden manifestation of the power of God, His marvellous interference in behalf of the prisoners, His no less wonderful interposition to prevent the escape of the prisoners; in some way there came to me suddenly and with overwhelming power the feeling that I was a lost soul; that I could not repress this feeling was my salvation. And besides this, it is to be remembered that no life is unemotional. If a fervent religions experience seems to any one the commitment of life to the control of the emotions, be it remembered that irreligious experience has its controlling emotions also. The publican who smote upon his breast was an emotional man no doubt, but he was not more under the power of emotion in his penitence and humility than the Pharisee was emotional in the self-complacency which prompted his useless prayer; only a Pharisees emotion was narrower and meaner, an emotion occasioned by thought of self, while the publicans higher emotion grew out of his thought of God. I thank Thee that I dont believe in emotional religion. It is wise to turn over the pages of the Bible, and to review the lives of Gods chosen ones, the master-workmen of all time, to see whether or not their religion was emotional. The record will tell us of Elijahs tempestuous emotion in the wilderness and before the prophets of Baal. The religion which God honours and loves and uses is one which not only convinces the intellect, but which powerfully sways the heart. In thoughtful communities the Church of these last times is in as little danger of undue emotion as the North Sea is in danger from the blasts of the sirocco, a wind which never blows north of Italy. A philosophic calmness in religion may proceed from a dim apprehension of what it is to be under condemnation for sin and a feeble gratitude to our Redeemer. God is in holy emotions; cultivate them by increasing your knowledge of Him. Follow them loyally. Do not think the Christian heart that never sings or weeps is the better therefor.

III. Were we permitted further to interrogate the jailor, we should be interested to seek answer to a third question. It is this: Do you believe in sudden conversion? You will pardon us of these last times whose habits of thought are evolutionary, if we look upon character as a slow and steady growth. It results from education and training and habit and circumstances. What character is to-day is the result of what it was yesterday. To-morrow grows up out of to-day. Now, can any man be changed at once in the spirit and purpose of his life? That such a change is possible, such is the jailors reply, my own experience is the sufficient proof. I was converted suddenly and thoroughly; within an hours time I was convicted of sin, found peace with God, and did the first works of love. In that hour of visitation from the Spirit of the living God I was transformed. That midnight hour was the pivot upon which my life turned, the hour of destiny when by faith in Christ I laid fast hold upon the grace of God.

IV. There is a final inquiry which we should place before the converted jailor, if he were present and willing to entertain our interrogations. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. It is of this answer that we wish to ask: Is not this a narrow gospel? Are there not broader conceptions of the way of life? Is nothing to be said, when this great question is answered, of civilisation, of orderly, law-abiding life, of good citizenship, of morality, of neighbourly kindness, of a human endeavour and resolve to keep the commandments? Surely salvation must mean good character. Is not the command too narrow for the diversified conditions of the good and the bad, the wise and the ignorant, the cultured and the uncouth? The command is narrow, is the courteous answer, but not narrower than the way of life. Its adaptation to the diverse conditions of human experience each man must determine for himself. I can only bear testimony that it was marvellously fitted to my needs. I needed a power within to calm the tumult of my spirit, to quiet a guilty conscience, and that power came to me by faith in Jesus. I needed to learn the lesson of human pity and kindness, and having received faith in Jesus I arose and tenderly washed the stripes of Paul and Silas, and set before them the choicest food my house could furnish. Narrow? In my case it turned out to be the one duty out of which came a dutiful life. If the command seems to be narrow, we have only to obey it to find it exceeding broad. It touches all character and truth.W. G. Sperry.

Act. 16:35. Let those Men go!

I. An order of fear.The Philippian magistrates to the prison serjeants. Those who wrong their fellows are commonly delighted to be relieved of the presence of their victims; like Ammon, who, having humbled Tamar, hated her exceedingly, and said, Arise, be gone! (2Sa. 13:15).

II. A command of love.Jesus to His captors in the garden: If ye seek Me, let these go their way (Joh. 18:8). A signal mark of Christs affection for His own, in whose behalf He was going forward to condemnation and death.

III. A sentence of justice.God to believers, in whose room and stead Christ has suffered the penaly of sin: There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ (Rom. 5:1). He that believeth is passed from death unto life (Joh. 5:24).

IV. A proclamation of power.The glorified Christ when He speaks over the graves of His people, as He did at Lazaruss tomb (Joh. 11:44): Loose them, and let them go! The hour is coming, etc. (Joh. 5:28-29).

Act. 16:40. The Brethren in Lydias House; or, the Church at Philippi.

I. Its original members.

1. Lydia. That this lady is not mentioned in the epistle to the Philippians may have been due to her having died or returned to her native city before the epistle was written, unless the unlikely supposition be adopted that she was either Euodia or Syntyche. Had the epistle been a forgery she would most probably have been named.

2. The jailor. The same difficulty presents itself with regard to this early disciple, who also is passed over in silence, which shows how dangerous it is to draw conclusions from the omissions of a composer.

3. Euodia and Syntyche. Two Christian females (Php. 4:2), who appear to have been somewhat estranged from one another at the time when Paul wrote to the Church in Philippi, unless the suggestion be adopted (Farrar) that Paul was only alluding to their joint wrestlings for the gospel.

4. Zyzygus and Clement. The former term, meaning yoke-fellow, has been taken as designating an individual of that name whom the apostle playfully addresses (Meyer, Farrar, and others)an interpretation in support of which much can be advanced; but doubt remains whether, after all, it is not Epaphroditus (Php. 4:18), to whom the apostle refers under this appellation (Hutchison). Of Clement, whom tradition reports to have been the third bishop of Rome, Pauls letter affords no clue to the identification, resting satisfied with describing him as a fellow-worker, whose name, along with those of others, was written in the Book of Life.

II. Its original character.Whatever it may have become in later years, when Paul wrote to it, its members were distinguished by several delightful features.

1. Steadfast faith. Firm adherence to the gospel (Php. 1:5), even in the face of persecution (Php. 1:28-30).

2. Joyful confidence. Exulting in Christ (Php. 2:17-18), and in their personal experience of his salvation.

3. Tender sympathy with the apostle in his labours and afflictions (Php. 4:14).

4. Generous liberality in contributing to the apostles needs (Php. 4:15).

5. Laborious activity, working together for the advancement of the gospel (Php. 1:27; Php. 4:3).

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(19) That the hope of their gains was gone.Better, of their occupation. The word for gains is the same as that translated gain and craft in Act. 19:24-25. There is something like a prophetic significance in the use, at this stage, of the word which was the key to nearly all the persecutions to which the early believers were exposed. Men could tolerate varieties of worship or the speculations of philosophers: they were roused to madness by that which threatened their business. The use in the Greek of the same verb for was gone, as had been used in the previous verse for come out, gives an emphasis which the English does not reproduce. Their business and the spirit of divination passed away together.

Paul and Silas.Luke and Timotheus escaped, probably, as less conspicuous.

Drew them into the marketplace.The marketplace, or Agora, was, in all Greek cities, the centre of social life. In Philippi, as a colonia, reproducing the arrangements of Rome, it would answer to the Forum, where the magistrates habitually sat. What had taken place would naturally cause excitement and attract a crowd.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

19. Gains were gone An irremediable change had taken place in the girl, showing both power in the apostle and a previous involuntary condition in her. So impressed was the apostolic superiority over the infernal or the pagan that we wonder not that a Church of intense faith arose in Philippi, as we shall find to have been the fact by reading Paul’s most rich and loving EPISTLE to the Philippians. But, alas for these traders in oracles! they are unable to conjure another response from their pythoness.

Drew them As a plaintiff by ancient law was entitled to drag his defendant.

Marketplace The agora or forum, where legal business was transacted by the magistrates.

Rulers The city was, forsooth, a Roman colonia; the dignity of the Roman law was to be maintained, and the magistrates wore the very titles of a true Roman magistracy.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they laid hold on Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers,’

Her masters, who were no doubt already wealthy and influential, were angry when they realised that the source of their profits had been removed, and they had Paul and Silas dragged into the market place before the authorities, the ‘archontes’, the chief men. The marketplace was often the place where justice was carried out, because the marketplace was the focal point in any city. Archaeological discoveries in ancient Philippi may in fact well have unearthed this very ‘place of justice’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Arrest and Imprisonment Lead To Additions To The Church In Philippi (16:19-34).

But the problem was that what he had done would hit at men’s pockets. They did not care about the girl herself, they had not cared that she was making a nuisance of herself, they were not too concerned about what it meant to the gods, but they were concerned about one thing , and that was Mammon. What had happened would lose them a great deal of money and the result was that they were angry. They were a picture of the greed and lack of compassion of people over things that concerned themselves.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Paul and Silas imprisoned:

v. 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,

v. 20. and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,

v. 21. and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.

v. 22. And the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

v. 23. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely;

v. 24. who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

When the evil spirit went out of the slave-girl, the hope of gain of her masters also went out, as Luke notes, in a fine play upon the word. The income from this source was not only endangered, but was cut off entirely, a fact which touched them in their most sensitive spot. But when the owners of the girl realized this, they were filled with anger. Laying hold upon Paul and Silas, they half pulled and half dragged them to the market-place, to the forum, before the magistrates of the city. Here they became a little less turbulent in their behavior, leading their prisoners up to the praetors with some semblance of order and decency. The praetors were the chief authorities of the city, whose duty it was to try all cases of a political nature. The official title of the two men was duoviri, but they often styled themselves praetors. The charge of the masters of the slave was somewhat peculiar. They declared that Paul and Silas, Jews as they were, were not only creating a disturbance in the city, but were agitating the town by proclaiming such religious customs as would not be proper for them to accept and to exercise, since they were Romans. The complaint then was, in brief, that the apostles were upsetting the entire social and religious system of the city, a fact all the more to be condemned since the accused belonged to the despised Jews. The insinuation, which hinted at the introduction of prohibited religious customs of a particularly objectionable kind, as well as the fact that the men were Jews, was sufficient to rouse the multitude present in the forum, a mob which was easily incensed and swayed. Without so much as giving the prisoners an opportunity of defending themselves against the charges, the praetors led in the assault upon them by causing their clothes to be torn from their bodies and then commanding them to be beaten with rods, a grievous and degrading punishment. Only after many lashes had been laid upon Paul and Silas was the first fury satisfied. But then came the further indignity, according to which the praetors cast them into prison and gave the keeper of the jail the earnest charge to keep them safely with all diligence and rigor. This command the keeper interpreted in his own way, influenced possibly also by his own feeling in the matter, for he not only put them into the inner prison, with several walls between them and freedom and a minimum of light and air to cheer them, but he also secured their feet in the stocks, a wooden instrument of torture in which the feet were tightly clamped, holding them firmly in one position and thereby causing a good deal of pain. The clamping of the feet in the stocks interfered with the circulation and cramped the muscles, a torture which became more unendurable with every minute. Note: Every confessor of Christ and of the Gospel is liable to be treated in the same way, to become a partaker of the reproach of Christ. And those men especially that proclaim the way of salvation are considered disturbers of the peace and insurrectionists by the children of the world.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Act 16:19-20. Unto the rulers, The word , made use of in the 20th verse, denotes with the Greeks Roman praetors; and if it was applied to the Duumviri, who were the governors of colonies, it was by way of compliment. At the first appearance of the Christian religion, some of the Gentiles considered the Christians as no other than a particular set of Jews, because at that time those who professed it, were descended from the same stock, born in the same country, and received the same scriptures: and this was certainly enough to denominate them Jews, (as we find them called here,) among those who were strangers to both religio

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Act 16:19-21 . The first persecution which is reported to us as stirred up on the part of the Gentiles . Comp. 1Th 2:2 .

] When they saw that with the departure of the god from the slave their hope of further gain had departed ( ), they dragged Paul and Silas (not Timothy and Luke along with them, but only the two principal persons) to the market (where, according to the custom of the Greeks, the courts of justice were erected) to the archons. [58] But these, the city-judges (comp. Luk 12:58 , and the archons in Athens in Hermann’s Staatsalterth. 138), must have referred the matter to the ; and therefore the narrative proceeds: . . . . The accusation amounted to revolt against the Roman political authority .

The are the praetores , as the two chief Roman magistrates (the duumviri , Cic. de leg. agr. 35) in towns which were colonies called themselves. Diod. Sic. T. X. p. 146, ed. Bip.; Arrian, Epict. ii. 1. 26; Polyb. xxxiii. 1. 5; Spanheim, ad Julian. Orat. I. p. 76, de usu et praest. num. I. p. 697, II. p. 601; Alberti, Obss. p. 253. The name has its origin from the position of the old Greek strategoi. Dem. 400, 26; Aristot. Polit. vii. 8, ed. Becker, II. p. 1322; Hermann, Staatsalterth . 153; Dorville, ad Char. p. 447.

.] to bring into utter disorder . See on , Act 13:33 ; Plut. Coriol. 19 : “Suberat utilitas privata; publica obtenditur” (Bengel).

. .] prefixed with haughty emphasis, and answering to the following “ though they are Jews. ”

] proud contrast to the odious . Calvin aptly says: “Versute composita fuit haec criminatio ad gravandos Christi servos; nam ab una parte obtendunt Romanum nomen, quo nihil erat magis favorabile: rursum ex nomine Judaico, quod tunc infame erat, conflant illis invidiam; nam quantum ad religionem, plus habebant Romani affinitatis cum aliis quibuslibet, quam cum gente Judaica.”

The introduction of strange religious customs and usages ( ), in opposition to the native religion , was strictly interdicted by the Romans. See Wetstein in loc. Possibly here also the yet fresh impression of the edict of Claudius (see on Act 18:2 ) co-operated.

[58] Not different from , Act 17:6 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

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, (20) And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, (21) And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. (22) And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. (23) And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: (24) Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Reader! while attending to what is here said, in the conflicts and sufferings of God’s faithful servants, do not forget what the Lord Jesus said, In the world ye shall have tribulation. In me ye shall have peace, Joh 16:33 . Paul refers to this unjust and cruel treatment in his Epistle to the Thessalonians; and makes use of it to shew that the Lord’s promise had its accomplishment. For yourselves (said he) brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain; but even after we had suffered before, and were shamefully treated as ye know at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention, 1Th 2:1-2 . And it is very blessed to behold, how stripes occasioned strength; and the malice of enemies endeared the Lord to the hearts of his suffering servants. Look at these holy men under every conflict. Wherever they were, how shamefully soever, as Paul saith, they were handled, the bitterness of persecution only rendered them more impregnable to suffering. None of these move me, (said Paul,) neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God, Act 20:24 . What a blessed frame of mind! Oh! what a gracious God to give it!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

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,

Ver. 19. Their gains were gone ] , was gone forth together with the devil. They that count all fish that comes to not, will in the end catch the devil and all. You are his birds, saith Bradford to such, whom when the devil hath well fed, he will broach you and eat you, chaw you and champ you, world without end, in eternal woe and misery.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

19. ] Her masters (a partnership of persons, not plur. for sing.

They may have been the hredes of some one to whom she had belonged) perceived that the hope of their gain had gone out ( with the dmon ).

. . gives the idea of force having been used. So we have ‘obtorto collo ad prtorem trahor,’ Plaut. Pn. iii. 5. 45.

Paul and Silas only are apprehended as having been the principal persons in the company. When De Wette says that, if Luke here were the narrator, he must say something of Timotheus, as he mentions him ch. Act 17:14 , Act 18:5 , and yet holds (on Act 16:10 ) that Timotheus himself is the narrator, he forgets that the same reasoning will apply to him also , if it applies at all, which I much doubt. When two persons of a company are described as being apprehended, we do not need an express assertion to assure us that the rest were not.

. said generally : they dragged them to the forum to the authorities, afterwards specified as .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 16:19 . . . . .: “The most sensitive part of ‘civilised’ man is his pocket,” Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 237, and we can see how bitter was the hostility excited both here and at Ephesus when the new faith threatened existing pecuniary profits. .: here with hostile intent, see above on Act 9:27 and further on Act 17:19 . : with violence, so in Jas 2:4 (Act 21:30 ), cf. Saul before his conversion, Act 8:3 , . “Everywhere money the cause of evils: O that heathen cruelty! they wished the girl to be still a demoniac, that they might make money by her!” Chrys., Hom. , xxx., 5. .: where the magistrates would sit, as in the Roman forum. : it is of course possible that the two clauses mean the same thing, and that the expressions halt, as Lightfoot and Ramsay maintain, between the Greek form and the Latin, between the ordinary Greek term for the supreme board of magistrates in any city , and the popular Latin designation , prtores (“non licet distinguere inter . et .,” Blass, so O. Holtzmann, Weiss, Wendt). But the former may mean the magistrates who happened to be presiding at the time in the forum , whereas the milder verb may imply that there was another stage in the case, and that it was referred to the , the prtors (as they called themselves), because they were the chief magisterial authorities, and the accusation assumed a political form. Meyer and Zckler, H. Holtzmann distinguish between the two, as if . were the local magistrates of the town, cf. , Act 17:6 . In the municipia and coloni the chief governing power was in the hands of duoviri who apparently in many places assumed the title of prtors, cf. Cicero, De Leg. Agr. , ii., 34, where he speaks with amusement of the duoviri at Capua who showed their ambition in this way, cf. Horace, Sat. , i., 5, 34. A duumvir of Philippi is a title borne out by inscriptions, Lightfoot, Phil. , p. 51, note; Felten, p. 315.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts

THE RIOT AT PHILIPPI

Act 16:19 – Act 16:34 .

This incident gives us the Apostle’s first experience of purely Gentile opposition. The whole scene has a different stamp from that of former antagonisms, and reminds us that we have passed into Europe. The accusers and the grounds of accusation are new. Formerly Jews had led the attack; now Gentiles do so. Crimes against religion were charged before; now crimes against law and order. Hence the narrative is more extended, in accordance with the prevailing habit of the book, to dilate on the first of a series and to summarise subsequent members of it. We may note the unfounded charge and unjust sentence; the joyful confessors and the answer to their trust; the great light that shone on the jailer’s darkness.

I. This was a rough beginning of the work undertaken at the call of Christ.

Less courageous and faithful men might have thought, ‘Were we right in “assuredly gathering” that His hand pointed us hither, since this is the reception we find?’ But though the wind meets us as soon as we clear the harbour, the salt spray dashing in our faces is no sign that we should not have left shelter. A difficult beginning often means a prosperous course; and hardships are not tokens of having made a mistake.

The root of the first antagonism to the Gospel in Europe was purely mercenary. The pythoness’s masters had no horror of Paul’s doctrines. They were animated by no zeal for Apollo. They only saw a source of profit drying up. Infinitely more respectable was Jewish opposition, which was, at all events, the perverted working of noble sentiments. Zeal for religion, even when the zeal is impure and the notions of religion imperfect, is higher than mere anger at pecuniary loss. How much of the opposition since and to-day comes from the same mean source! Lust and appetite organise profitable trades, in which ‘the money has no smell,’ however foul the cesspool from which it has been brought. And when Christian people set themselves against these abominations, capital takes the command of the mob of drink-sellers and consumers, or of those from haunts of fleshly sin, and shrieks about interfering with honest industry, and seeking to enforce sour-faced Puritanism on society. The Church may be very sure that it is failing in some part of its duty, if there is no class of those who fatten on providing for sin howling at its heels, because it is interfering with the hope of their gains.

The charge against the little group took no heed of the real character of their message. It artfully put prominent their nationality. These early anti-Semitic agitators knew the value of a good solid prejudice, and of a nickname. ‘Jews’-that was enough. The rioters were ‘Romans’-of a sort, no doubt, but it was poor pride for a Macedonian to plume himself on having lost his nationality. The great crime laid to Paul’s charge was-troubling the city. So it always is. Whether it be George Fox, or John Wesley, or the Salvation Army, the disorderly elements of every community attack the preachers of the Gospel in the name of order, and break the peace in their eagerness to have it kept. There was no ‘trouble’ in Philippi, but the uproar which they themselves were making. The quiet praying-place by the riverside, and the silencing of the maiden’s shout in the streets, were not exactly the signs of disturbers of civic tranquillity.

The accuracy of the charge may be measured by the ignorance of the accusers that Paul and his friends were in any way different from the run of Jews. No doubt they were supposed to be teaching Jewish practices, which were supposed to be inconsistent with Roman citizenship. But if the magistrates had said, ‘What customs?’ the charge would have collapsed. Thank God, the Gospel has a witness to bear against many ‘customs’; but it does not begin by attacking even these, much less by prescribing illegalities. Its errand was and is to the individual first. It sets the inner man right with God, and then the new life works itself out, and will war against evils which the old life deemed good; but the conception of Christianity as a code regulating actions is superficial, whether it is held by friends or foes.

There is always a mob ready to follow any leader, especially if there is the prospect of hurting somebody. The lovers of tranquillity showed how they loved it by dragging Paul and Silas into the forum, and bellowing untrue charges against them. The mob seconded them; ‘they rose up together [with the slave-owners] against Paul and Silas.’ The magistrates, knowing the ticklish material that they had to deal with, and seeing only a couple of Jews from nobody knew where, did not think it worth while to inquire or remonstrate. They were either cowed or indifferent; and so, to show how zealous they and the mob were for Roman law, they drove a coach-and-six clean through it, and without the show of investigation, scourged and threw into prison the silent Apostles. It was a specimen of what has happened too often since. How many saints have been martyred to keep popular feeling in good tune! And how many politicians will strain conscience to-day, because they are afraid of what Luke here unpolitely calls ‘the multitude,’ or as we might render it, ‘the mob,’ but which we now fit with a much more respectful appellation!

The jailer, on his part, in the true spirit of small officials, was ready to better his instructions. It is dangerous to give vague directions to such people. When the judge has ordered unlawful scourging, the turnkey is not likely to interpret the requirement of safe keeping too leniently. One would not look for much human kindness in a Philippian jail. So it was natural that the deepest, darkest, most foul-smelling den should he chosen for the two, and that they should he thrust, bleeding backs and all, into the stocks, to sleep if they could.

II. These birds could sing in a darkened cage.

The jailer’s treatment of them after his conversion shows what he had neglected to do at first. They had no food; their bloody backs were unsponged; they were thrust into a filthy hole, and put in a posture of torture. No wonder that they could not sleep! But what hindered sleep would, with most men, have sorely dimmed trust and checked praise. Not so with them. God gave them ‘songs in the night.’ We can hear the strains through all the centuries, and they bid us be cheerful and trustful, whatever befalls. Surely Christian faith never is more noble than when it triumphs over circumstances, and brings praises from lips which, if sense had its way, would wail and groan. ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world.’ The true anaesthetic is trust in God. No wonder that the baser sort of prisoners-and base enough they probably were-’were listening to them,’ for such sounds had never been heard there before. In how many a prison have they been heard since!

We are not told that the Apostles prayed for deliverance. Such deliverance had not been always granted. Peter indeed had been set free, but Stephen and James had been martyred, and these two heroes had no ground to expect a miracle to free them. But thankful trust is always an appeal to God. And it is always answered, whether by deliverance from or support in trial.

This time deliverance came. The tremor of the earth was the token of God’s answer. It does not seem likely that an earthquake could loosen fetters in a jail full of prisoners, but more probably the opening of the doors and the falling off of the chains were due to a separate act of divine power, the earthquake being but the audible token thereof. At all events, here again, the first of a series has distinguishing features, and may stand as type of all its successors. God will never leave trusting hearts to the fury of enemies. He sometimes will stretch out a hand and set them free, He sometimes will leave them to bear the utmost that the world can do, but He will always hear their cry and save them. Paul had learned the lesson which Philippi was meant to teach, when he said, though anticipating a speedy death by martyrdom, ‘The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me into His heavenly Kingdom.’

III. The jailer behaves as such a man in his position would do.

He apparently slept in a place that commanded a view of the doors; and he lay dressed, with his sword beside him, in case of riot or attempted escape. His first impulse on awaking is to look at the gates. They are open; then some of his charge have broken them. His immediate thought of suicide not only shows the savage severity of punishment which he knew would fall on him, but tells a dreary tale of the desperate sense of the worthlessness of life and blank ignorance of anything beyond which then infected the Roman world. Suicide, the refuge of cowards or of pessimists, sometimes becomes epidemic. Faith must have died and hope vanished before a man can say, ‘I will take the leap into the dark.’

Paul’s words freed the man from one fear, but woke a less selfish and profounder awe. What did all this succession of strange things mean? Here are doors open; how came that? Here are prisoners with the possibility of escape refusing it; how came that? Here is one of his victims tenderly careful of his life and peacefulness, and taking the upper hand of him; how came that? A nameless awe begins to creep over him; and when he gets lights, and sees the two whom he had made fast in the stocks standing there free, and yet not caring to go forth, his rough nature is broken down. He recognises his superiors. He remembers the pythoness’s testimony, that they told ‘the way of salvation.’

His question seems ‘psychologically impossible’ to critics, who have probably never asked it themselves. Wonderful results follow from the judicious use of that imposing word ‘psychologically’; but while we are not to suppose that this man knew all that ‘salvation’ meant, there is no improbability in his asking such a question, if due regard is paid to the whole preceding events, beginning with the maiden’s words, and including the impression of Paul’s personality and the mysterious freeing of the prisoners.

His dread was the natural fear that springs when a man is brought face to face with God; and his question, vague and ignorant as it was, is the cry of the dim consciousness that lies dormant in all men-the consciousness of needing deliverance and healing. It erred in supposing that he had to ‘do’ anything; but it was absolutely right in supposing that he needed salvation, and that Paul could tell him how to get it. How many of us, knowing far more than he, have never asked the same wise question, or have never gone to Paul for an answer? It is a question which we should all ask; for we all need salvation, which is deliverance from danger and healing for soul-sickness.

Paul’s answer is blessedly short and clear. Its brevity and decisive plainness are the glory of the Gospel. It crystallises into a short sentence the essential directory for all men.

See how little it takes to secure salvation. But see how much it takes; for the hardest thing of all is to be content to accept it as a gift, ‘without money and without price.’ Many people have listened to sermons all their lives, and still have no clear understanding of the way of salvation. Alas that so often the divine simplicity and brevity of Paul’s answer are darkened by a multitude of irrelevant words and explanations which explain nothing!

The passage ends with the blessing which we may all receive. Of course the career begun then had to be continued by repeated acts of faith, and by growing knowledge and obedience. The incipient salvation is very incomplete, but very real. There is no reason to doubt that, for some characters, the only way of becoming Christians is to become so by one dead-lift of resolution. Some things are best done slowly; some things best quickly. One swift blow makes a cleaner fracture than filing or sawing. The light comes into some lives like sunshine in northern latitudes, with long dawn and slowly growing brightness; but in some the sun leaps into the sky in a moment, as in the tropics. What matter how long it takes to rise, if it does rise, and climb to the zenith?

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 16:19-24

19But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, 20and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, 21and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.” 22The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Act 16:19 “saw that their hope of profit was gone” These “masters” did not care at all that a human being had been freed from the bondage to evil. They were distressed by the monetary loss (cf. Act 16:16), much like the people in Luk 8:26-39.

“seized Paul and Silas” Why Luke and Timothy were not taken is uncertain.

Act 16:20 “chief magistrates” This is the term praetors. Officially their titles were duumvirs, but we learn from Cicero that many liked to be called Praetors. Luke is very accurate in his use of Roman governmental officials’ titles. This is one of several evidences of his historicity.

Act 16:20-21 “being Jews. . .being Romans” This shows their racial pride and prejudice. Paul’s time in Philippi may be close to Claudius’ edict expelling the Jews from Rome, A.D. 49-50 (actually he forbade any Jewish worship practices). Roman anti-Semitism may be seen in Cicero’s Pro Fiasco 28 and Javenal 14.96-106.

“proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept” Notice this charge has nothing to do with the slave girl’s exorcism. It apparently refers to their preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Judaism was a legal religion in the Roman Empire, but as it became obvious that Christianity was destined to be seen as a separate and, therefore, illegal religion. It was illegal for Jews to attempt to proselytize Romans, and it was illegal for Paul as well.

Act 16:22 “tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them” The verbal forms imply that the two Praetors, moved by the uproar of the crowd, tore the clothes off Paul and Silas themselves (aorist active participle, plural). This would have been highly unusual for them to be such active participants in a judicial event.

1. they tore off (aorist active participle)

2. they ordered to flog (i.e., an imperfect active indicative followed by a present active infinitive)

“to be beaten with rods” This type of punishment (i.e., verberatio, which was administered by the authority of a city court) was not as severe as Roman scourging. There was no set number for the blows. Paul was beaten like this three times (cf. 2Co 11:25). This is the only recorded one (cf. 1Th 2:2).

Act 16:24 “inner prison” This means maximum security. There was a fear factor here (cf. Act 16:29). Paul’s exorcism got their attention.

“feet in the stocks” Most jails of that day had chains attached to the walls to which the prisoner was shackled. Therefore, the doors were only latched, not locked. These stocks would spread the feet wide apart and caused great discomfort and added security.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

was gone = came out. Same word as in Act 16:18. Perhaps the demon rent and tore her in coming out, as in Mar 9:26. Luk 9:42.

caught = laid hold on.

drew = dragged. Greek. helkuo. Compare Act 21:30, where helko, the classical form, is used, and see note on Joh 12:32.

marketplace. Greek. agora. Where the courts were held. Latin. forum.

rulers = authorities. Greek. archon.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

19.] Her masters (a partnership of persons, not plur. for sing.

They may have been the hredes of some one to whom she had belonged) perceived that the hope of their gain had gone out (with the dmon).

. . gives the idea of force having been used. So we have obtorto collo ad prtorem trahor, Plaut. Pn. iii. 5. 45.

Paul and Silas only are apprehended as having been the principal persons in the company. When De Wette says that, if Luke here were the narrator, he must say something of Timotheus, as he mentions him ch. Act 17:14, Act 18:5,-and yet holds (on Act 16:10) that Timotheus himself is the narrator, he forgets that the same reasoning will apply to him also, if it applies at all, which I much doubt. When two persons of a company are described as being apprehended, we do not need an express assertion to assure us that the rest were not.

. said generally: they dragged them to the forum to the authorities,-afterwards specified as .

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 16:19. , having seen) But they ought to have thought thus: The Pythoness spirit either with truth praised Paul, or not with truth. If not with truth, it is a false spirit; if with truth, why should we oppose Paul?

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

drew

(Greek – ,” probably by the feet). Cf. Act 14:19.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

the hope: Act 19:24-27, 1Ti 6:10

they: Act 9:16, Act 14:5, Act 14:19, Act 15:26, Act 18:12, Act 18:13, Act 21:30, Mat 10:16-18, Mat 24:9, Mar 13:9, 2Co 6:5

marketplace: or, court

Reciprocal: Jer 26:9 – And all Dan 6:12 – they Zep 1:9 – which Act 4:3 – laid Act 6:12 – and caught Act 15:22 – Silas Act 17:6 – they drew Act 19:25 – ye know Act 19:28 – they 2Co 11:26 – in perils by the Phi 1:30 – which 1Th 1:1 – Silvanus Jam 2:6 – and Rev 18:15 – which

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

9

Act 16:19. The love of money is a strong sentiment (1Ti 6:10), and it caused these wicked masters of the girl to plan the persecution of Paul and Silas. They drew them by force into the marketplace, “a place where assemblies are held. Thayer.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 16:19. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone. It was simply revenge that prompted these covetous men to procure the apostles arrest. When the evil spirit had once been exorcised, the power of ventriloquism and of uttering prophecies of future events was gone, and with it their hope of making money out of her.

Drew them into the market-place unto the rulers. That is, into the Forum, where the city authorities, who in a colony like Philippi were styled praetors, held their court of justice.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Act 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, (Act 19:24,) much more will it ruin that of the soothsayers and fortune-tellers. Hence here is a mighty outcry raised when Satans 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 Satans 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, 1Th 1:10; Act 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. Act 17:7.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

19-21. (19) “Then her masters, seeing that the hope of their gain was gone, seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place to the rulers, (20) and leading him forward to the magistrates, they said, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, (21) and are announcing customs which it is unlawful for us, being Romans, to receive or to observe.” In this accusation, the real cause of complaint was concealed, for several reasons: First, The disinterested multitude would naturally sympathize with the girl who had been restored to her mind, rather than with the masters who had made her misfortune a source of profit. Second, To have made prominent the fact that Paul, by a word, had expelled the demon, would have made an impression favorable to him and his cause. But the Jews and their religion were particularly obnoxious to the Romans, and hence, when the accusation was made by men of wealth and influence, that these men, “being Jews,” were introducing customs contrary to the religion and laws of Rome, it was easy to excite the populace against them.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

19-24. After the demon has evacuated the damsel, she has no more power to tell fortunes and practice divination than any other person. Consequently, her owners, seeing that they can get no more money for her fortune-telling, fly with an awful rage against Paul, arouse the rabble, stirring up their European prejudices against these Asiatic intruders, exciting to their very utmost Gentile prejudices against these impudent and meddlesome Jews, accusing them of infringing upon their rights and privileges as Roman citizens. They so manipulate the uncouth rabble as to raise a general uproar against the apostles, maneuvering to deceive the Roman magistrates and precipitate them into a premature and illegal verdict, even foregoing the very form of a trial, so that they simply command the lictors to strip and beat them with their cruel rods pursuant to the Roman custom.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Act 16:19-34. Imprisonment of Paul and Silas. The Prison Broken.The rulers (Act 16:19) are the heads of police; they are afterwards called Strategi, which answers to the Roman Prtores. Philippi was a colony, its magistrates were Roman, duoviri, and had the fasces, the Roman rods, showing their power to order a beating. The missionaries are accused of making a disturbance in the city, being Jews (Jews are generally unpopular, and at Philippi they are not strong), and of introducing strange customs, i.e. a religion which was not an allowed one, in the Roman community. The populace takes the side of the accusers; a beating on the bare body is at once inflicted (cf. 2Co 11:25). The inner prison into which they were put was, to judge by other known cases, a place totally dark and underground. (Cf. Passion of Perpetua, 3; Euseb., Eccl. Hist., V. i. 31.) The opening of the doors by the earthquake is quite possible, but not the loosening of the chains; this happens to Peter also (see Act 12:7). Act 12:19 shows what happened to the gaoler whose prisoners escaped. This one is about to commit suicide. The doors being open, there is some light in the inner cell; Paul can assure the gaoler that his prisoners are all safe. The reporter of the scene is not present. The gaoler brings out Paul and Silas (D says he first secured the other prisoners); and in his alarm, having heard no doubt of the nature of their mission in the town (Act 16:17), he addresses them respectfully and asks them to direct him for his salvation. The rest of the story speaks best for itself.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

16:19 {11} 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,

(11) Covetousness of evil gain and of profit is an occasion for persecuting the truth. In the meanwhile, God sparing Timothy, calls Paul and Silas as the stronger to battle.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Clearly the actions of the girl’s masters against Paul and Silas, whom the people perceived as Jews, were prejudicial. They wanted to get even for causing them financial loss (cf. Act 19:24-27), not for preaching the gospel. Normally only wealthy people took the risk of prosecuting someone in court since such action was very expensive. [Note: Witherington, p. 496.] This is the first formal indictment against Paul that Luke recorded in Acts. The market place was the agora.

"Often, if not always, the greatest obstacle to the crusade of Christ is the selfishness of men." [Note: Barclay, p. 135.]

Two magistrates (praetors) governed each Roman colony. [Note: F. J. Foakes-Jackson and Kirsopp Lake, The Acts of the Apostles, 4:194-95.] Recently the Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome (Act 18:2). Consequently anti-Semitism was running especially high throughout the empire and in Philippi, which had an unusually large military population. It was contrary to Roman law for local people to try to change the religion of Roman citizens, of which there were many in Philippi. The girl’s masters assumed that Paul and Silas were proselytizing for Judaism since the customs Paul proclaimed included worship of Jesus, a Jew, rather than the emperor.

"The accusation against Paul and Silas in Act 16:20-21 is one of a series. In Acts 16-19 we find four scenes that feature accusations against Christians, and these accusations are parts of similar sequences of events. The sequence contains three basic elements: (1) Christians are forcefully brought before officials or a public assembly. (2) They are accused, and this accusation is highlighted by direct quotation. (3) We are told the result of this attempt to curb the Christian mission." [Note: Tannehill, 2:201-2.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)