Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 18:6
And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook [his] raiment, and said unto them, Your blood [be] upon your own heads; I [am] clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
6. opposed themselves ] The word implies very strong opposition, as of a force drawn up in battle array. It was an organized opposition.
and blasphemed ] The same word is used in 2Pe 2:2, “The way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” And the same conduct, though the word is different, is described in the next chapter (Act 19:9), “speaking evil of the Way before the multitude.”
he shook out his raiment ] Figurative of entire renunciation of them. Nothing that pertained to them should cling to him; and in like manner he would cast them off from his thoughts (cp. Act 13:51). For the action cp. Neh 5:13.
Your blood be upon your own heads ] He says “blood” in the sense of “destruction,” using figuratively the language which in Jos 2:19 is used literally.
I will go unto the Gentiles ] i.e. the Gentiles in Corinth. For in future preaching elsewhere (see Act 19:8) he addressed the Jews and went to the synagogue, as had been his custom from the first.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And when they opposed themselves – To him and his message.
And blasphemed – See the notes on Act 13:45.
He shook his raiment – As an expressive act of shaking off the guilt of their condemnation. Compare Act 13:45. He shook his raiment to show that he was resolved henceforward to have nothing to do with them; perhaps, also, to express the fact that God would soon slake them off, or reject them (Doddridge).
Your blood … – The guilt of your destruction is your own. You only are the cause of the destruction that is coming upon you. See the notes on Mat 27:25.
I am clean – I am not to blame for your destruction. I have done my duty. The gospel had been fairly offered and deliberately rejected; and Paul was not to blame for their ruin, which he saw was coming upon them.
I will go … – See Act 13:46.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. When they opposed] , Systematically opposing, putting themselves in warlike order against him: so the word implies.
And blasphemed] This is precisely the way in which they still act. They have no arguments against Jesus being the Messiah; but, having made a covenant with unbelief, as soon as they are pressed on this point, they rail and blaspheme.-See the Tela ignea Satanae, by Wagenseil.
He shook his raiment] This was an action similar to that of shaking the dust of the feet; See Clarke on Mt 10:14. See a parallel act, and its signification, in Ne 5:13: Also I SHOOK MY LAP, and said, So shall God SHAKE every man FROM HIS HOUSE and FROM his LABOUR; even thus shall he be SHAKEN OUT and EMPTIED. St. Paul’s act on this occasion seems to have been the same with this of Nehemiah, and with the same signification; and it is likely that he was led by a Divine impulse to do it-thus signifying the shaking and emptying out of this disobedient people, which took place about sixteen years afterwards.
Your blood be upon your own heads] That is, ye alone are the cause of the destruction that is coming upon yourselves and upon your country.
I am clean] , I am pure or innocent of your death and ruin. I have proposed to you the Gospel of Jesus Christ-the only means by which ye can be saved, and ye have utterly rejected it. I shall labour no more with you; and, from henceforth, shall confine my labours to the Gentiles. St. Paul must refer to the Jews and Gentiles of Corinth particularly; for he preached to the Jews occasionally in other places; see Ac 19:8; Ac 19:9; and several were brought to the knowledge of the truth. But it seems as if the Jews from this time systematically opposed the Gospel of Christ; and yet, general tenders of this salvation were made to them wherever the apostles came; and when they rejected them, the word was sent to the Gentiles; see Ac 19:8; Ac 19:9.
Pure from blood, or pure from guilt, is commonly expressed by ; thus Heliodorus, lib. i. p. 49: , Until now I have lived, preserving myself pure: and Alciphron, lib. i. epist. 7, ad. fin.: , , Nor to stain with pollution the hands which a seafaring life has kept from a child until now pure from iniquity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Blasphemed; they blasphemed Paul, miscalling of him, but especially Christ, whose dishonour grieved Paul most.
He shook his raiment; his upper garment, as the manner was, Mat 26:65, that none of the dust of that place where such blasphemy was spoken might stick unto him. See Act 13:51.
Your blood be upon your own heads; or, You are guilty of your own deaths and damnation, 2Sa 1:16; Mat 27:25;
Felo de se. This expression is borrowed from the witnesses laying their hands on the head of the guilty person; or the sacrificers laying his hand on the head of the beast which was to be slain; Exo 29:10; Lev 1:4.
I am clean; free from their blood, or the loss of their souls, having warned them, and shown the way of life unto them. Eze 33:4; he had blown the trumpet, and warned the people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Your blood be upon your ownheads, c.See Eze 33:4Eze 33:9.
from henceforth I will gounto the GentilesCompare Ac13:46.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when they opposed themselves,…. To the truth, and contradicted themselves in many instances, and their own prophecies; or those books which they themselves allowed to be the oracles of God, and blasphemed both Christ, and the apostle, and the doctrine which he taught; and railed at him, and spoke evil of him, and used him in a very contumelious and reproachful manner, as they were used from contradicting to go to blaspheming; see Ac 13:45
he shook his raiment; his outer garment, and the dust off from it, as a testimony against them; see Mt 10:14
and said unto them, your blood be upon your heads; meaning, that they were the authors of their own ruin and destruction; that they could not impute it to any other, when it came upon them; and that they were left inexcusable, and must bear their own iniquities, and the punishment of them: this clause is wanting in the Syriac version.
I am clean; meaning from their blood; see Ac 20:26. The apostle seems to allude to Eze 33:4 signifying, that he had discharged his duty as a preacher, and so had delivered his own soul from their blood being required at his hands; and that it rested entirely on themselves, and they were answerable for all their impenitence, unbelief, and blasphemy:
from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles; in that city, and preach the Gospel to them, and no more enter into their synagogue, as it is very likely he afterwards never did; for though Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, was afterwards converted, yet his conversion seems to have been not in the synagogue, but in the house of Justus, which was hard by it. Compare with this Ac 13:46.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When they opposed themselves ( ). Genitive absolute with present middle (direct middle again) of , old verb to range in battle array () face to face with or against (). In the N.T. only here and Rom 13:2; Jas 4:6; 1Pet 5:5. Paul’s fresh activity roused the rabbis as at Antioch in Pisidia and at Thessalonica in concerted opposition and railing (blasphemy).
He shook out his raiment ( ). First aorist middle of , old verb, in the N.T. only here as in 13:51 (middle) and Mark 6:11; Matt 10:15 where active voice occurs of shaking out dust also. Vivid and dramatic picture here like that in Ne 5:13, “undoubtedly a very exasperating gesture” (Ramsay), but Paul was deeply stirred.
Your blood be upon your own heads ( ). As in Ezek 3:18; Ezek 33:4; Ezek 33:8; 2Sam 1:16. Not as a curse, but “a solemn disclaimer of responsibility” by Paul (Page) as in Ac 20:26. The Jews used this very phrase in assuming responsibility for the blood of Jesus (Mt 27:25). Cf. Mt 23:35.
I am clean ( ). Pure from your blood. Repeats the claim made in previous sentence. Paul had done his duty.
From henceforth ( ). Turning point reached in Corinth. He will devote himself to the Gentiles, though Jews will be converted there also. Elsewhere as in Ephesus (19:1-10) and in Rome (Ac 28:23-28) Paul will preach also to Jews.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Opposed themselves [] . Implying an organized or concerted resistance. See on resisteth, 1Pe 5:5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed,” (antitassomenon de auton blasphemounton) “Then when they (the unbelieving Jews) resisted, (opposed) and repeatedly blasphemed,” or protested his teaching and preaching, with deriding and derogatory remarks,
2) “He shook his raiment, and said unto them,” (ektinaksamenos ta himata eipen pros autous) “Shaking his garments (before them) he responded to them,” shook the dust from his garments before their faces, as Nehemiah did, Neh 5:13; and as Paul and Silas had done at Antioch in Pisidia, Act 13:45-46; Act 13:51, and even as the Lord had instructed His apostles, Mat 10:14; Mar 6:11.
3) “Your blood be upon your own heads; (to haima humon epi ten kephalen humon) “Your blood is or (shall be) upon your own heads,” that is the effect or full consequence of your guilt shall hereafter be your own, without excuse, Rom 2:1; Pro 29:11; Act 20:26. Pilate tried to separate himself from the blood of Jesus by washing his hands, but he did it with ulterior motives, Mat 27:24; not as directed by the Lord, Eze 33:4-5.
4) “I am clean” (katharos ego apo tou) “I am clean,” or clear from further responsibility to or toward you all; I have a clean or clear conscience from the consequences of your guilt, Eze 33:9; Act 20:26.
5) “From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.” (nun eis ta ethne poreusomai) “Now and hereafter I will go unto (among) the nations, races, or mixed ethnics of men,” Eze 33:9-11; Rom 11:4-16; 2Pe 3:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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6. When they gainsayed. The Jews suffered Paul after a sort until he came unto the manifest preaching of Christ. And here brake out their rage. And we must note the speech, that they go from gainsaying unto blaspheming and railing. For it falleth out thus for the most part, when men take to themselves such liberty, that the devil doth inflame them by little and little unto greater madness. For which cause, we must take good heed that no wicked lust or desire provoke us to resist the truth; and, above all, let that horrible judgment terrify us which the Spirit of God thundereth out by the mouth of Paul against all rebels. For undoubtedly, in that Paul by shaking his garments gave some token of detestation, it was no human or private indignation, but zeal kindled by God in his heart; yea, God raised him up to be a preacher and setter forth of his vengeance, to the end the enemies of the word might know that they should not escape scot free for their stubbornness. We spake somewhat touching this sign of execration or cursing in the thirteenth chapter, ( Act 13:51.) Let the readers repair thither. The sum is, that God is sorer displeased with contempt of his word than with any wickedness. And surely, men be quite past hope when they tread under foot, or drive from them, the only remedy of all evils and maladies. Now, as the Lord cannot abide rebellion against his word, so it ought to sting and nettle us full sore. My meaning is this, that when the wicked enter combat with God, and, as it were, arm themselves to resist, we are called, as it were, by the heavenly trumpet unto the conflict, because there is nothing more filthy than that the wicked should mock God to his face, whilst we say nothing, and that they should even break out into reproaches and blasphemies. −
Your blood. He denounceth to them vengeance, because they be without excuse. For they can shift no part of their fault from themselves, after that despising the calling of God they have endeavored to put out the light of life. Therefore, seeing they bear the blame of their own destruction, he doth also affirm that they shall be punished. And in saying that he is clean, he testifieth that he hath done his duty, it is well known what the Lord giveth all his ministers in charge in Ezekiel, ( Eze 3:18.) If thou show not unto the wicked that he may convert, − (320) I will require his blood at thy hand. Therefore Paul (because he did what he could to bring the Jews to repentance) doth acquit himself of all guiltiness. And by these words, teachers are warned that unless they will be guilty of blood before the Lord, they must do what in them lieth to bring those which go astray into the way, and that they suffer nothing to perish through ignorance. −
I will go undo the Gentiles. Though the Jews had showed themselves to be most ready to be taught, yet ought Paul to have employed himself to teach the Gentiles, whose apostle and minister he was made; but here he expresseth the passage whereby he withdrew himself from the stubborn Jews for all. For he observed this course in teaching, that beginning with the Jews he might couple the Gentiles with them in the society of faith, and so might make of both together one body of the Church. When there remained no hope to do any good among the Jews, then the Gentiles only remained. Therefore, the sense is this, that they must be deprived of their own inheritance, that it may be given to the Gentiles, and so be wounded, partly that being stricken with fear, yea, being cast down, − (321) they might come to soundness of mind; partly that the emulation or striving of the Gentiles might prick them forward unto repentance. But because they were incurable, reproach and shame served for this purpose only to bring them into despair. −
(320) −
“
Si non annunciaveris ut se convertat,” if you do not warn the wicked to be converted.
(321) −
“
Confusi,” confounded.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed.The latter word includes the reviling of which the Apostle himself was the object, as well as blaspheming against God. Assuming what has been suggested in the Note on Act. 18:2, we may think of these disturbances as reproducing what had already taken place at Rome. We may, perhaps, trace an echo of such blasphemies in the words Anathema be Jesus, of which St. Paul speaks in 1Co. 12:3 as having been uttered as with the vehemence of a simulated inspiration, against which men needed to be warned.
He shook his raiment.On the symbolic significance of the act, see Note on Mat. 10:14. As done by a Jew to Jews no words and no act could so well express the Apostles indignant protest. It was the last resource of one who found appeals to reason and conscience powerless, and was met by brute violence and clamour.
Your blood be upon your own heads.The phrase and thought were both essentially Hebrew. (See Note on Mat. 27:25.) We can hardly think of the Apostle as using them without a distinct recollection of the language which defined the responsibility of a prophet of the truth in Eze. 3:18-19.
From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.The words are almost identical with those in Act. 13:46, and are explained by them. It is obvious in each case that the words have a limited and local application. The Apostle did not renounce all future work among the Jews, but gave up preaching to those at Corinth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Shook his raiment A symbolical action indicating that not even a particle of dust belonging to them should adhere to him; hence entire departure.
Your blood heads The term blood here signifies penalty for the blood shed. (See note on Act 20:26.) The reference is to Eze 3:18, where Ezekiel is set as a spiritual watchman over the spiritual life of Israel. If any man were negligently left by Ezekiel unwarned he would die, but for the blood of his death Ezekiel should be answerable. As Paul had faithfully warned these Jews, their blood, the responsibility and penalty for their destruction, would rest upon themselves. Upon their heads, as being the object on which divine retribution would descend and rest.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook out his raiment and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on will go to the Gentiles.” ’
The consequence of this powerful preaching of the word was that ‘the Jews’ (those who refused to believe) reacted by blaspheming against it. This probably indicates their refusal to accept Christ as the Messiah and being insulting about Him. And the final result was that he deserted the synagogue, shook off its dust from his clothes as a testimony against them, and declared that he was leaving them in order to go the Gentiles outside the synagogue (compare Neh 5:13; Mat 10:14). Of course once he did so he would be even more persona non grata in the synagogue.
‘Your blood be on your own heads.’ Compare 2Sa 1:16; Eze 33:6. Paul no longer considers himself responsible for them. 2Sa 1:16, which contains the more exact parallel, was spoken of one who had ‘slain the Lord’s anointed’. The implication may therefore be that by their blasphemy against Christ he considers that they have crucified Him again (compare Heb 6:6).
We may probably gather from this that the response from the God-fearers had been very different from that of the Jews, and that they had begun to bring Gentile friends to hear Paul. That may well have been part of the reason for the opposition.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 18:6. From henceforth I will go, &c. That is, “From henceforth I will apply myself to the Gentiles only in this city, and no longer fruitlessly attempt the conversion of you Jews.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 18:6 . The refractoriness (Rom 13:2 ) and reviling, which he experienced from them amidst this increased activity, induced him to turn to the Gentiles.
. .] he shook out his garments , ridding himself of the dust, indicating contempt, as in Act 13:51 .
] sc. (Mat 23:35 ), i.e. let the blame of the destruction, which will as a divine punishment reach you, light on no other than yourselves . Comp. 2Sa 1:16 ; 1Ki 2:33 ; Eze 3:16 ff; Eze 33:4 ; Eze 33:7 ff. On or . , see Dem. p. 323, ult. 381. 15. On the elliptical mode of expression, see Mat 27:25 ; 2Sa 1:16 ; Plat. Euthyd . p. 283 E; Arist. Plut . 526. The expression is not to be explained from the custom of laying the hands on the victim (Lev 16:31 ; comp. Herod. ii. 39), as Elsner and others suppose, or on the accused on the part of the witnesses (so Piscator); but in all languages (comp. Heinsius, ad Ov. Her . xx. 127) the head is the significant designation of the person himself. The significance here lies particularly in the conception of the divine punishment coming from above , Rom 1:18 .
What Paul intends by the destruction which he announces as certainly coming, and the blame of which he adjudges to themselves, is not moral corruption (de Wette, who sees here an un-Pauline expression), but eternal , which is conceived as (Rom 1:32 ; Rom 6:16 ; Rom 6:21 ; Rom 6:23 ; Rom 7:5 ; Rom 7:10 ; Rom 7:13 ; Rom 7:24 ; Rom 8:2 ; Rom 8:6 al. ), and therefore symbolized as (to be shed), because the blood is the seat of life (comp. on Act 15:20 ). The setting in of this occurs at the Parousia (2Th 1:8 ). Thus Paul, as his conduct was already in point of fact for his adversaries an (Phi 1:28 ), expressly gives to them such an .
] comp. Act 20:26 .
. . .] as in Act 13:46 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
Ver. 6. And when they opposed ] Gr. , And when they bade him battle. A military term.
Your blood be upon your own heads ] Answerable to their wish, Mat 27:25 , and according to their manner of putting their sins upon the head of the sacrificed creature, Lev 1:4 ; Lev 3:2 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] as in ch. Act 20:26 . The image and nearly the words, are from Eze 33:4 . De Wette should have known better than to call a citation from the LXX an ‘ unpaulinischer Sprachgebrauch .’
] Not absolutely , only at Corinth : for Act 18:19 we find him arguing with the Jews again in the synagogue at Ephesus. I have adopted the punctuation of Lachmann, erasing the colon after : I shall henceforth with a pure conscience go to the Gentiles .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 18:6 . .: classical use, of an army ranged in hostile array, or of those opposed to each other in opinion, Thuc., iii., 83. So in later Greek, in Polyb-generally to oppose, to resist. Ramsay renders “and when they began to form a faction against him,” but cf. Rom 13:2 , Jas 4:6 ; Jas 5:6 , 1Pe 5:5 , Pro 3:34 . ., cf. Act 13:45 , or it may be used generally as in Act 19:9 , and 2Pe 2:2 . ., cf. Act 13:51 , note; cf. Mat 10:14 , and LXX, Neh 5:13 , “undoubtedly a very exasperating gesture,” Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 256; but we must remember that the opposition at Corinth seems to have been unusally great, as Ramsay himself points out, u. s. , pp. 143, 256. , cf. Act 20:26 , Hebraistic, cf., e.g. , Mat 27:25 , and in LXX, Lev 20:16 , 2Sa 1:16 , 1Ki 2:37 , Eze 3:18 , etc., i.e. , , Mat 23:35 . Both here and in Act 20:26 we can scarcely doubt that St. Paul had in mind the words of the prophet, Eze 33:6 . ., i.e. , upon yourselves, the head being used for the person for other ideas of the word see Wendt (1888), in loco . De Wette interprets of moral ruin, and others of the eternal , but we cannot refine so much upon a figurative phrase. In Act 18:5 b and 6 Spitta and Jngst see the hand of a Reviser, the former holding that the whole passage runs smoothly with these omissions, whilst Jngst ascribes also the word , Act 18:7 , to the Reviser. According to Clemen, 4 and 5 b , the preaching in the synagogue belongs to Redactor Judaicus, the Jewish persecution in Act 18:6 to the Redactor Antijudaicus. Hilgenfeld agrees with Spitta in so far that he ascribes 5 b and 6 b to “the author to Theophilus”. : scarcely enough to say “I am pure,” have discharged my duty with a clear conscience, cf. Act 20:26 , the same idea here, better to punctuate at , but see Blass, in loco . : from henceforth, i.e. , so far as he is concerned. It is evident that the words did not apply to other places, for in Act 19:8 St. Paul goes to the synagogue according to his wont. The phrase is found five times in St. Luke’s Gospel, but only here in Acts. It is used once elsewhere in N.T, and there by St. Paul, 2Co 5:16 ( cf. Joh 8:11 ). See Friedrich, p. 16, and Hawkins, Hor Synoptic , p. 29.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Acts
PAUL AT CORINTH
Act 18:1 – Act 18:11
Solitude is a hard trial for sensitive natures, and tends to weaken their power of work. Paul was entirely alone in Athens, and appears to have cut his stay there short, since his two companions, who were to have joined him in that city, did not do so till after he had been some time in Corinth. His long stay there has several well-marked stages, which yield valuable lessons.
I. First, we note the solitary Apostle, seeking friends, toiling for bread, and withal preaching Christ.
We cannot tell whether he had had any previous acquaintance with Aquila and his wife, nor indeed is it certain that they had previously been Christians. Paul’s reason for living with them was simply the convenience of getting work at his trade, and it seems probable that, if they had been disciples, that fact would have been named as part of his reason. Pontus lay to the north of Cilicia, and though widely separated from it, was near enough to make a kind of bond as of fellow-countrymen, which would be the stronger because they had the same craft at their finger-ends.
It was the wholesome practice for every Rabbi to learn some trade. If all graduates had to do the same now there would be fewer educated idlers, who are dangerous to society and burdens to themselves and their friends. What a curl of contempt would have lifted the lips of the rich men of Corinth if they had been told that the greatest man in their city was that little Jew tent-maker, and that in this unostentatious fashion he had begun to preach truths which would be like a charge of dynamite to all their social and religious order! True zeal can be patiently silent.
Sewing rough goat’s-hair cloth into tents may be as truly serving Christ as preaching His name. All manner of work that contributes to the same end is the same in worth and in recompense. Perhaps the wholesomest form of Christian ministry is that after the Apostolic pattern, when the teacher can say, as Paul did to the people of Corinth, ‘When I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man.’ If not in letter, at any rate in spirit, his example must be followed. If the preacher would win souls he must be free from any taint of suspicion as to money.
II. The second stage in Paul’s Corinthian residence is the increased activity when his friends, Silas and Timothy, came from Beroea.
The reading of Act 18:5 , ‘Paul was constrained by the word,’ brings out strikingly the Christian impulse which makes speech of the Gospel a necessity. The force of that impulse may vary, as it did with Paul; but if we have any deep possession of the grace of God for ourselves, we shall, like him, feel it pressing us for utterance, as soon as the need of providing daily bread becomes less stringent and our hearts are gladdened by Christian communion. It augurs ill for a man’s hold of the word if the word does not hold him. He who never felt that he was weary of forbearing, and that the word was like a fire, if it was ‘shut up in his bones,’ has need to ask himself if he has any belief in the Gospel. The craving to impart ever accompanies real possession.
The Apostle’s solemn symbolism, announcing his cessation of efforts among the Jews, has of course reference only to Corinth, for we find him in his subsequent ministry adhering to his method, ‘to the Jew first.’ It is a great part of Christian wisdom in evangelical work to recognise the right time to give up efforts which have been fruitless. Much strength is wasted, and many hearts depressed, by obstinate continuance in such methods or on such fields as have cost much effort and yielded no fruit. We often call it faith, when it is only pride, which prevents the acknowledgment of failure. Better to learn the lessons taught by Providence, and to try a new ‘claim,’ than to keep on digging and washing when we only find sand and mud. God teaches us by failures as well as by successes. Let us not be too conceited to learn the lesson or to confess defeat, and shift our ground accordingly.
It is a solemn thing to say ‘I am clean.’ We need to have been very diligent, very loving, very prayerful to God, and very persuasive in pleading with men, before we dare to roll all the blame of their condemnation on themselves. But we have no right to say, ‘Henceforth I go to’ others, until we can say that we have done all that man-or, at any rate, that we-can do to avert the doom.
Paul did not go so far away but that any whose hearts God had touched could easily find him. It was with a lingering eye to his countrymen that he took up his abode in the house of ‘one that feared God,’ that is, a proselyte; and that he settled down next door to the synagogue. What a glimpse of yearning love which cannot bear to give Israel up as hopeless, that simple detail gives us! And may we not say that the yearning of the servant is caught from the example of the Master? ‘How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?’ Does not Christ, in His long-suffering love, linger in like manner round each closed heart? and if He withdraws a little way, does He not do so rather to stimulate search after Him, and tarry near enough to be found by every seeking heart?
Paul’s purpose in his solemn warning to the Jews of Corinth was partly accomplished. The ruler of the synagogue ‘believed in the Lord with all his house.’ Thus men are sometimes brought to decision for Christ by the apparently impending possibility of His Gospel leaving them to themselves. ‘Blessings brighten as they take their flight.’ Severity sometimes effects what forbearance fails to achieve. If the train is on the point of starting, the hesitating passenger will swiftly make up his mind and rush for a seat. It is permissible to press for immediate decision on the ground that the time is short, and that soon these things ‘will be hid from the eyes.’
We learn from 1Co 1:14 , that Paul deviated from his usual practice, and himself baptized Crispus. We may be very sure that his doing so arose from no unworthy subserviency to an important convert, but indicated how deeply grateful he was to the Lord for giving him, as a seal to a ministry which had seemed barren, so encouraging a token. The opposition and blasphemy of many are outweighed, to a true evangelist, by the conversion of one; and while all souls are in one aspect equally valuable, they are unequal in the influence which they may exert on others. So it was with Crispus, for ‘many of the Corinthians hearing’ of such a signal fact as the conversion of the chief of the synagogue, likewise ‘believed.’ We may distinguish in our estimate of the value of converts, without being untrue to the great principle that all men are equally precious in Christ’s eyes.
III. The next stage is the vision to Paul and his consequent protracted residence in Corinth.
But the mere calming of fear, worthy object as it is, is by no means the main part of the message of the vision. ‘Speak, and hold not thy peace,’ is its central word. Fear which makes a Christian dumb is always cowardly, and always exaggerated. Speech which comes from trembling lips may be very powerful, and there is no better remedy for terror than work for Christ. If we screw ourselves up to do what we fear to do, the dread vanishes, as a bather recovers himself as soon as his head has once been under water.
Why was Paul not to be afraid? It is easy to say, ‘Fear not,’ but unless the exhortation is accompanied with some good reason shown, it is wasted breath. Paul got a truth put into his heart which ends all fear-’For I am with thee.’ Surely that is enough to exorcise all demons of cowardice or despondency, and it is the assurance that all Christ’s servants may lay up in their hearts, for use at all moments and in all moods. His presence, in no metaphor, but in deepest inmost reality, is theirs, and whether their fears come from without or within, His presence is more than enough to make them brave and strong.
Paul needed a vision, for Paul had never seen Christ ‘after the flesh,’ nor heard His parting promise. We do not need it, for we have the unalterable word, which He left with all His disciples when He ascended, and which remains true to the ends of the world and till the world ends.
The consequence of Christ’s presence is not exemption from attacks, but preservation in them. Men may ‘set on’ Paul, but they cannot ‘hurt’ him. The promise was literally fulfilled when the would-be accusers were contemptuously sent away by Gallio, the embodiment of Roman even-handedness and despising of the deepest things. It is fulfilled no less truly to-day; for no hurt can come to us if Christ is with us, and whatever does come is not hurt.
‘I have much people in this city.’ Jesus saw what Paul did not, the souls yet to be won for Him. That loving Eye gladly beholds His own sheep, though they may be yet in danger of the wolves, and far from the Shepherd. ‘Them also He must bring’; and His servants are wise if, in all their labours, they cherish the courage that comes from the consciousness of His presence, and the unquenchable hope, which sees in the most degraded and alienated those whom the Good Shepherd will yet find in the wilderness and bear back to the fold. Such a hope will quicken them for all service, and such a vision will embolden them in all peril.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
oppossd themselves. Greek. antitassomai, to set in battle array. Elsewhere translated “resist”. Rom 13:2. J as. Act 4:6; Act 5:6. 1Pe 5:6.
shook. Greek. ektinasso. See note on Act 13:51.
raiment = outer garments. Greek. himation. Compare Act 12:8.
your own heads. Fig. Synecdoche. App-6. “Head” put for man himself.
clean = pure (Greek. katharos), i.e. free from responsibility. Compare Act 20:26. Eze 3:17-21.
henceforth = now.
Gentiles. Greek. ethnos. i.e. in Corinth. See next verse. He still continued to go first to, the synagogues in other places. See Act 19:8 and App-181.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] as in ch. Act 20:26. The image and nearly the words, are from Eze 33:4. De Wette should have known better than to call a citation from the LXX an unpaulinischer Sprachgebrauch.
] Not absolutely, only at Corinth: for Act 18:19 we find him arguing with the Jews again in the synagogue at Ephesus. I have adopted the punctuation of Lachmann, erasing the colon after : I shall henceforth with a pure conscience go to the Gentiles.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 18:6. , having shaken) The meaning of this gesture (significant act) is understood from the words with which he accompanied it.-, your blood) souls. Life and death are put in antithesis: also, life and soul on the one hand, and death and the shedding of the blood on the other: comp. 1Sa 22:22, , I am the occasion of the lives (being taken).-) The Hebrew , upon. This denotes guilt resting or falling upon.- , I am clean) No one can say so, who has not previously fulfilled (the duty of giving) his testimony.-, I will go) So Paul changed his lodging: and yet he did not entirely withdraw himself from the better class of Jews, whom he made by this very act the more earnestly attentive.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
they: Act 13:45, Act 19:9, Act 26:11, Luk 22:65, 1Th 2:14-16, 2Ti 2:25, Jam 2:6, Jam 2:7, 1Pe 4:4, 1Pe 4:14
he shook: Act 13:51, Neh 5:13, Mat 10:14, Luk 9:5, Luk 10:10, Luk 10:11
Your: Act 20:26, Act 20:27, Lev 20:9, Lev 20:11, Lev 20:12, 2Sa 1:16, Eze 3:18, Eze 3:19, Eze 18:13, Eze 33:4, Eze 33:8, Eze 33:9, 1Ti 5:22
from: Act 13:46, Act 13:47, Act 19:9, Act 19:10, Act 26:20, Act 28:28, Mat 8:11, Mat 21:43, Mat 22:10, Rom 3:29, Rom 9:25, Rom 9:26, Rom 9:30-33, Rom 10:12, Rom 10:13, Rom 11:11-15
Reciprocal: Jos 2:19 – his blood Psa 51:14 – bloodguiltiness Jer 38:21 – this is Amo 3:13 – and testify Mic 3:8 – I am Mic 5:8 – as a lion Mat 10:6 – go Mat 16:4 – And he Mat 21:41 – and will let out Mar 6:11 – whosoever Mar 8:13 – General Luk 14:18 – all Luk 14:23 – Go Luk 24:47 – among Act 6:11 – blasphemous Act 22:21 – for Act 28:24 – General Rom 2:9 – of the Jew Rom 11:20 – because Rom 11:28 – are enemies Gal 2:7 – the gospel of the uncircumcision
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
Act 18:6. Opposed themselves means they set themselves in opposition to the teaching of Paul. Shook his raiment was an old custom of expressing one’s attitude toward something very evil. Blood be upon your own heads. Whatever punishment they suffered would be their own fault because they had refused to hear the warnings of the Gospel. Paul usually gave the Jews first chance in his teaching, but if they rejected it he would turn to the Gentiles. (See chapter 13:46.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 18:6. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed. The more than usually violent opposition of the Jews which appears from these words, and also from the apostles sad, reproachful allusion in the First Epistle, written about this time, to Thessalonica (1Th 2:14), was no doubt stirred up by the intense earnestness of Paul in his work after the arrival of Silas and Timotheus, when he was pressed and constrained by the word.
He shook his raiment. That is, he shook the very dust out of his garmentsa similarly symbolical action to the one related in chap. Act 13:51, in Pisidian Antioch, when he shook off the dust of his feet. In each of these dramatic actions, so common among oriental peoples, Paul desired to show his complete renunciation of those Jews displeasing to God, and enemies to all mankind, as he terms them in his Thessalonian letter; not even a particle of dust might remain on his feet or garments as a bond of union (see the direction of the Master in such cases, Mat 10:14).
Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. I am pure, he would say, free from guilt and responsibility, although you, in your blind perverseness, perish. The terms of this terrible expression would be well known to the Jewish Rabbis and leaders at Corinth; they were from Eze 33:4.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
6, 7. The increase of Paul’s earnestness was responded to by an increased virulence in the opposition of the unbelieving Jews. (6) “But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said to them, Your blood be upon your own head; I am clean. Henceforth I will go to the Gentiles. (7) And he departed thence, and went into the house of a man named Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was adjacent to the synagogue.” When they began to resist his preaching with passion and violent imprecations, he could no longer hope to do them good, and to press the subject further upon them would be to cast pearls before swine. Upon leaving the synagogue, he was not driven into the streets for a meeting-place; but, as was usually the case, while he was urging, with so little success, the claims of Jesus upon the Jews, at least one Gentile, who had learned to worship the true God, heard him more favorably, and offered him the use of his private dwelling, which stood close by. Justus was not yet a disciple, but, as suits the meaning of his name, he was disposed to see justice done to the persecuted apostle.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
6. You see the rupture long brewing and sorrowfully anticipated by Paul is bound to come: He divides the church. They drive him out of the synagogue, just like you see going on all around you this day: some receive the gospel of holiness and others reject it. So the church is divided; some go into holiness and others oppose it. Paul is fortunate. Titius Justus, one of his converts, owns a house adjoining the synagogue, into which he invites Paul and all of the holiness people.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
18:6 {3} And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook [his] raiment, and said unto them, Your {d} blood [be] upon your own heads; I [am] clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
(3) Although we have tried all possible means, and yet in vain, we must not stop our work, but forsake the rebellious, and go to those that are more obedient.
(d) This is a type of speech taken from the Hebrews, by which he means that the Jews are the cause of their own destruction, and as for him, that he is without fault in forsaking them and going to other nations.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul’s hearers blasphemed when they spoke things about Jesus Christ that were not true (cf. Act 13:45; Act 26:11). Shaking out one’s garment so no dust from the place remained symbolized the same thing as shaking the dust from one’s sandals (Act 13:51), namely, rejection. Paul felt he had fulfilled his responsibility to deliver the gospel to these Jews (cf. Eze 33:1-9). Consequently he turned his attention to evangelizing the Gentiles, as he had done before (Act 13:7-11; Act 13:46; Act 14:2-6; Act 17:5; cf. Act 19:8-9; Act 28:23-28).