Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 23:11
And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
11 25. Paul is cheered by a Vision. The Jews conspire to kill him
11. And the night following ] The Apostle was now, though not rightly a prisoner, yet kept, that he might be out of harm’s way, under the charge of the Roman soldiers. The hearing of his case having been interrupted, another time was to be appointed when the examination should be completed.
the Lord stood by him ] Appearing in a vision as before at Corinth, cp. Act 18:9.
Be of good cheer ] The Apostle could hardly be otherwise than downcast with the events of the previous day. He had entered the Temple and undertaken the Nazarite vow with a view of conciliating the Jews and he had only been saved from being torn in pieces of them through the interference of the Roman commander.
so must thou bear witness also at Rome ] He had already written to the Roman church of his “longing to see them,” and that “oftentimes he had purposed to come unto them (Rom 1:11-13),” and St Luke (Act 19:21) records the intention in the history of St Paul’s stay at Ephesus. The way to compass such a visit had not yet been found, but now it is pointed out by the Lord Himself.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord stood by him – Evidently the Lord Jesus. See the notes on Act 1:24. Compare Act 22:18. The appearance of the Lord in this case was a proof that he approved the course which Paul had taken before the Sanhedrin.
Be of good cheer – It would not be remarkable if Paul, by these constant persecutions, should be dejected in mind. The issue of the whole matter was as yet doubtful. In these circumstances, it must have been especially consoling to him to hear these words of encouragement from the Lord Jesus, and this assurance that the object of his desires would be granted, and that he would be permitted to bear the same witness of him in Rome. Nothing else can comfort and sustain the soul in trials and persecutions but evidence of the approbation of God, and the promises of his gracious aid.
Bear witness also at Rome – This had been the object of his earnest wish Rom 1:10; Rom 15:23-24, and this promise of the Lord Jesus was fulfilled, Act 28:30-31. The promise which was here made to Paul was not directly one of deliverance from the present persecution, but it implied that, and made it certain.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 23:11-35
And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul.
Paul in the castle at Jerusalem
On two other occasions a special Divine encouragement was given to Paul similar to the one here (Act 18:9-10; Act 27:23-24). At other times he acted under the general promises which God makes to all His people; but in these instances, special difficulties made a special promise appropriate. Note–
I. The difficulties and dangers which surrounded Paul.
1. The conspiracy which had been secretly formed against his life. Of this it may be remarked–
(1) That it was made sufficiently strong to render success morally certain. More than forty men who bound themselves over to destruction–to the wrath of God–if they did not succeed.
(2) It might be presumed that Lysias would readily grant a request which would relieve him of embarrassment.
(3) Had the request been granted, it would have been an easy matter to have carried their purpose into execution, for it is not probable that a strong guard would have been sent on an errand apparently so peaceful. In the vision Paul was assured of protection from this danger; and he was rescued in a most remarkable manner (Act 23:16-24).
2. The trials before the Roman governors of Syria. The character of Felix (chap. 24); a man corrupt in heart and life (Act 23:25); ready to be bribed (Act 23:26); disposed to do anything to gratify the Jews (Act 23:27); afforded little reason to hope for justice. The probability that Paul would be delivered up to the Jews, and life again endangered, was not less in the trial before Festus who (chap. 25) was equally disposed to conciliate the Jews (Act 23:9); which led Paul to appeal to Caesar, and secure what had been promised him in the vision. It is easy to see how, when brought before Felix and Festus, the promise that he should bear witness at Rome was necessary to sustain him.
3. The voyage to Rome. In the storm, and shipwreck, all human probability of reaching Rome would fail entirely. Amidst these scenes, Paul could not but fall back on this Divine assurance.
II. The assurance given is the vision, as an illustration of the arrangements which God has made to keep us from despondency.
1. There is need of such an arrangement. We are often surrounded with perils, and are disappointed in our plans. We see no egress from our difficulties; no way of escape from our danger. Obviously we need some arrangement that will inspire hope.
2. We are secretly conscious to ourselves that there is such an arrangement. The world, though full of disappointment and trouble, is not inactive or despairing. There is a conscious something–which inspirits the mariner, the warrior, the farmer, the merchant, the traveller, the Christian. What is this arrangement? How does it appear that it is of Divine origin, and marked by Divine benevolence? In reply to these questions I shall advert–
(1) To the records of the past. We have unconsciously before us, in our difficulties, the memory of the general success which crowns the conflicts of life. The arrangements of God show that the general tendency of things is favourable to effort and to virtue, and preserve the world from idleness and despair.
(2) To the general promises of the Bible. In reference to temporal matters, the promises in regard to success in this life (Isa 33:15-16; Psa 37:25; 1Ti 4:8; Psa 84:11; Php 4:19; Psa 23:1; Heb 13:5), and temporal good (Lev 19:25; Lev 26:4; Deu 7:13; Deu 16:15; Deu 28:4; Psa 67:6) are of a general character; but in reference to the future life they are absolute (Mat 4:7-8; Mar 16:16; Joh 6:37; Rev 22:17). That there are dangers and enemies in the way of our salvation, and that it requires a struggle is certain; but the promise of victory is positive.
(3) To what may be designated an internal confidence of success and safety. How much of hope there is in the young man, the mariner, the merchant, the farmer, etc. God has created the mind buoyant, elastic, hopeful. He leads men to think of recovery and success, rather than to anticipate disaster and defeat. He has thus said to every man, not in distinct vision, yet really, Be of good cheer! (A. Barnes, D. D.)
Good cheer from past and future service
From the midnight whisper of the Lord to Paul we may draw forth sweet encouragement. Paul was like the rest of us, made of flesh and blood, and therefore liable to be cast down: he had kept himself calm at first; but, still, the strong excitement of the day no doubt operated upon his mind, and when he was lying in prison all alone, thinking upon the perils which surrounded him, he needed good cheer, and he received it.
1. This consisted, first, in his Masters presence: The Lord stood by him. If all else forsook him, Jesus was company enough; if all despised him, Jesus smile was patronage enough; if the good cause seemed in danger, in the presence of his Master victory was sure. The Lord stood by him. This shall be said of all who diligently serve God. Dear friend, if you are a worker of the Lord Jesus, depend upon it He will not desert you. Did you ever forsake a friend who was spending his strength for you? If you have done so, you ought to be ashamed of yourself; but I think I hear you say, indignantly, No, I have always been faithful to my faithful friend. Do not, therefore, suspect your Lord of treating you ungenerously, for He is faithful and true.
2. The next comfort for Paul was the reflection that the Lords standing by him proved that He knew where he was, and was aware of his condition. One is reminded of the Quaker who came to see John Bunyan in prison, and said to him, Friend, the Lord sent me to thee, and I have been seeking thee in half the prisons in England. Nay, verily, said John, that cannot be; for if the Lord had sent thee to me, thou wouldst have come here at once, for He knows I have been here for years. God has not a single jewel laid by and forgotten. Thou God seest me is a great consolation to one who delights himself in the Lord. The Lord stood by Paul despite doors and locks: he asked no warders leave to enter, nor did He stir bolt or bar; but there He was, She Companion of His humble servant. If we come into such a peculiar position that no friend knows our experience, none having been tempted as we are, yet the Lord Jesus can enter into our special trial and sympathise in our peculiar grief. Jesus can stand side by side with us, for He has been afflicted in all our afflictions. What is more, that part of our circumstances which we do not know ourselves, Jesus knows, and in these He stands by us; for Paul was not aware of the danger to which he was exposed, he did not know that certain Jews, to the number of forty, had banded together to kill him; but He who was his shield and his exceeding great reward had heard the cruel oath, and arranged to disappoint the bloodthirsty ones. Before Satan can draw the bow the Preserver of men will pus His beloved beyond the reach of the arrow. Before the weapon is forged in the furnace, and fashioned on the anvil, He knows how to provide us with armour of proof which shall turn the edge of She sword and break the point of the spear.
3. When the Lord Jesus came to Paul He gave him a third reason for courage. He said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem. There was much comfort in this assurance that his work was accepted of his Master. We dare not look for much joy in anything that we have done, for our poor works are all imperfect; and yet the Lord sometimes gives His servants honey in the carcasses of lions which they have themselves slain by pouring into their souls a sweet sense of having walked in integrity before Him. Herein is good cheer; for if the Lord accepts, it is a small matter if men condemn. The Lord says to Paul, Thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem. The apostle had done so, but he was too humble to console himself with that fact till his Lord gave him leave to do so by acknowledging the brave deed. It may be that your conscience makes you more familiar with your faults than with your services, and you rather sigh than sing as you look back upon your Christian career; yet your loving Lord rovers all your failures, and commends you for what His grace has enabled you to do in the way of witness bearing. It must be sweet to you to hear Him say, I know thy works; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.
4. A fourth comfort remained for Paul in the words, As thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. The Lord would have us take comfort from the prospect of future service and usefulness. We are not done with yet, and thrown aside as vessels in which the Lord hath no more. This is the chief point of comfort in our Lords word to the apostle. Be of good courage, there is more for you to do, Paul; they cannot kill you at Jerusalem, for you must bear witness also at Rome. Wycliffe could not die though the malicious monks favoured him with their best wishes in that direction. Nay, said the reformer, I shall not die, but live, and declare all the evil deeds of the friars. The sight of rogues to be exposed roused his flickering life, and revived its flame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Pauls vision
1. Christ is constantly with His followers, and He often manifests Himself at the very moment when the future looks darkest to human eyes.
2. Christ manifests Himself with a cheering message: Be of good cheer. The poor persecuted disciple, whom apparently only his enemys mutual jealousies preserve from instant death, is made to feel that the power of Omnipotence is behind him.
3. Christ manifests Himself with words of cheer for His followers, but He does not assure them that their troubles are yet over. Paul has testified in Jerusalem, and must go on to bear witness at Rome.
4. Christ gives no furloughs until the conflict is over. All Paul could look forward to in this world was a mere change of battlefields.
5. Christ gives no furloughs here, but gives the assurance of a final honourable discharge to those who fight the battle out. Paul testified for Christ in Jerusalem and Rome; Christ testifies for Paul in the New Jerusalem of God. (S. S. Times.)
The vision in the castle of Antonia
Learn that–
I. Faithful service in the past is rewarded by the comfort of Christs manifest and marked encouragement. Rewards of Christian service are not all kept for heaven. We may not have the crown here, but we may feel the grasp of the hand that shall presently put it on (Isa 41:13). We may not, while on earth, see the Saviour as He is; we may nevertheless feel His presence.
1. The Lords way of comforting His servants is by His presence. When a little child is in great sorrow, only a mothers comfort suffices. Servants, and sisters, and even a fathers comfort are not enough. So we want the mighty volume of His sympathy who alone is sufficiently touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
2. The Lords words of comfort are words of direct encouragement. How characteristic of the Saviour this language is. Fear not, and Be of good cheer, are words constantly on His lips. To Abraham, to Moses, through Isaiah, God whispers, Fear not. To Mary, Joseph, the women, Zacharias, Jairus, the little flock, the daughter of Sion, John in Patmos, etc., Christ and His angels say, Fear not. Christ spake it to the man sick of the palsy, to the frightened disciples in the storm, and to the suffering Church which in the world must have tribulation.
II. The faithful service of the past is a qualification and commission for the difficult duties of the future. As thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must, etc.
1. The past had qualified Paul for the future. Jerusalem, and all that went before, would help him to preach at Rome. The trials here would make him strong before Nero, and his hearers would look on this well-tried servant, and become stronger in his past fidelity and deliverances.
2. His past was also his commission for the future. This new service was the reward of the old fidelity; this new battle the honour conferred for the past victory. Marlboroughs minor victories in 1702 make way for Blenheim in 1704 and Blenheim in turn makes way, later on, for Ramillies. So Talavera, and Salamanca, and Vittoria are but Wellingtons preface and commission for Waterloo. Nelson fought St. Vincent and the Nile only to go on to Trafalgar. So our Lord is wont to say to His servants: Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many; Thou hast been faithful at Jerusalem, reward is to testify at Rome. They who fight their smaller battles well, will find larger field s and nobler victories.
III. The words which Christ speaks as to the faithful past, guide and strengthen His servants in trials get to come. Christs words–
1. Guided Paul as to his after appeal to Rome. When Festus asked, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem (Act 25:9), Paul replied, I appeal unto Caesar. Some good men have accused Paul of weakness and error here. No! Paul felt clear about his duty, and had no regret when Agrippa said, This man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar. The Saviour Himself had said, Thou shalt bear witness at Rome.
2. Gave Paul patience during a long and tedious course of waiting. The apostles heart had long been set on visiting Rome. His enemies were playing into his hands and were undertaking the charges of his journey. But for two whole years Festus kept Paul bound. But the Saviour had promised Rome, and that was enough. Thus patience was born of former faithfulness.
3. Afforded assurance to Paul amidst the terrific dangers of the journey.
4. Was strength to Paul in Rome. (F. G. Marchant.)
Pauls final departure from Jerusalem
Was marked by–
I. A visit from Christ (verse 11). This advent was–
1. Opportune. We may well suppose that Pauls sensitive nature would be subject to many painful memories, gloomy thoughts, boding anxieties, and perhaps sceptical thoughts.
2. Cheering: What a contrast to the words of falsehood, cursing, blasphemy, which during the previous days had been addressed to him! Christs words were words of–
(1) Commendation. Had Paul been allowed the mental agony of questioning whether he had done the right thing in Jerusalem? If so, here is a scattering of the dark thought: Thou hast testified of Me–well done.
(2) Information. Paul had long been intensely anxious to visit Rome (Act 19:21; Rom 1:10; Rom 15:23-24). Perhaps he had given up this long-cherished purpose, and had wept bitter tears of disappointment on the wreck of the loved hope. Christs words now assured him.
3. Suggestive that great trials in duty–
(1) Are no evidence of unfaithfulness.
(2) Are all known to Christ.
(3) Do not release us from the obligation to persevere.
II. A conspiracy of enemies (verses 12-16). This conspiracy was–
1. Malignant. The sufferings to which he was already subject did not satisfy them. Like wild beasts they thirsted for his blood.
2. Determined. They bound themselves under a curse.
3. Strong. More than forty.
4. Cunning (verse 14). Being in the charge of the Roman officer, he could only be got at through the Sanhedrin. The fact that these wretches could make such a request demonstrates the immorality that prevailed amongst the rulers.
III. An interposition of providence. In the verses that follow (16-35) we find Divine Providence–
1. Thwarting the evil. In the method here recorded we find three things which generally characterise the procedure of Providence.
(1) Simplicity. The agency employed was Pauls sisters son. This is all we know of the family of Paul. Here is a young man, probably uninfluential and obscure, who does the work. It has ever been Heavens plan to employ insignificant means for the accomplishment of great ends.
(2) Unexpectedness. Little did the conspirators expect that their plan would be defeated by an obscure youth; little did Paul expect that deliverance would come for him from such a quarter. Means often most unlikely are employed to accomplish important results.
(3) Naturalness. It was natural
(a) for Pauls nephew, having heard of the malignant plot, to seek access to his uncle, and to warn him of it.
(b) For his uncle to despatch him to the chief captain.
(c) For the chief captain, as a man of honour, to act as he did.
2. Delivering the good.
(1) Paul secured a safe journey to Caesarea. Gods resources are greater than the devils. There were forty murderers in quest of Pauls life, but God raised nearly five hundred brave soldiers to protect him. More are they that are for us than they that are against us.
(2) Paul secured a good introduction to the Roman judge, in the letter that was written by Lysias to Felix. So far Paul is safe, and on his way to the imperial city he long desired to visit. Truly, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The call from heaven, Be of good cheer, is for all Christs faithful servants
1. To comfort them at the unrighteous judgment of the world.
2. To indemnify them for the reproach of their ministry.
3. To allay their doubts as to their procedure.
4. To strengthen them for future contests. (K. Gerok.)
And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse.—
The plot of the Jews
Note that hatred–
I. Rises early, but love rises earlier. When morning came the Jews sought Pauls life, but the Lord had stood by Paul long before the morning dawned.
II. Always binds men with a curse, and the curse is on the haters, not on the hated. Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.
III. Demands satisfaction, though bodily wants go unsatisfied. But no soul can live long on hatreds poison.
IV. Demands satisfaction, but it does not secure it, when love appoints otherwise. These plotting Jews died of thirst and starvation if they were faithful to their murderous vow.
V. Is injudicious. It confides its murderous designs to forty men, half of whom are probably constitutionally unable to keep a secret.
VI. Is prompt and energetic. It were well if more of Christs followers had a little of the fiery zeal for Christ that His enemies display against Christ.
VII. Is lying, deceitful, underhanded, unscrupulous, mean. Under the pretence of sending for Paul to question, it makes ready to stab him. (K. Gerok.)
The assassins
One fancies they were chiefly young men, such as are usually foremost in daring and reckless deeds of violence. Probably many of them were students in the rabbinical schools, just as many Nihilists now in Russia are students of the universities. Paul could hardly wonder that some of them should be wrought up to this desperate and cruel undertaking, when he remembered how, a little over twenty years before, he himself had persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem, dragging men and women to prison, and, like some fierce monster, breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. (J. A. Broadus, D. D.)
Confederacy in evil
In union there is strength–strength for evil as well as strength for good; and many a man will consent to wrong-doing in a ring, or in a corporation, or in a society of which he is a member, when he would never think of consenting to that same evil if he were all by himself in action. We have no need to go back to the days of the apostles for illustrations of this evil spirit. Instances of it abound in the European Nihilists, and the international dynamiters, and the gangs of robbers for both political and material plunder, in our American cities and in our American borders; all of whom exhibit everything that was evil in the course of the Jewish zealots, without the mitigating feature of an honest conviction, or of an accord with the prevalent spirit of the age. There is a timeliness in this Bible illustration of this accursed spirit of secret conspiring in an unholy brotherhood against law and religion, and against life and decency. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
The conspiracy against Paul
In the story of the sack of Troy, Virgil has told us of the coming of Venus to AEneas to persuade him to abandon the useless defence of the city. She dispels the cloud which dims his vision, and enables him to see invisible deities who assist the Greeks in their work of conquest and destruction. AEneas now learns that he has done battle, not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces mightier than all the powers of earth. The classic story clearly pictures the natural blindness of men to the spiritual forces which overrule their lives, and the special favour bestowed upon him whose eyes are opened to see events in the light of the unseen world. And this is the great lesson here.
I. God is ever present and active in human affairs. Not always manifestly. The young man who stood by the side of Elisha at Dothan saw nothing at first to persuade him that God was present. But when his eyes were opened he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire. The forty conspirators here sought no help and feared no hindrance from the hand of God, although their design was made in the name of their religion. But when the fruits of religion are hatred and wrath and thirst for blood, God is not in it. The help to which these men turned was their own cunning. If we can manage Claudius Lysias, they said, nothing shall save Paul. And yet God was present and active, giving them freedom to make their plans, and some degree of freedom in executing them, but keeping results in His own hand. So, let us believe, He always works.
II. Gods agents in these events were blind to this transcendent fact.
1. Claudius Lysias was unconscious of anything of the sort. He was only a shrewd man, bent upon extricating himself from perplexing difficulties. Alarmed by the, to him unaccountable, violence of the Jews, and disturbed by his non-recognition of a Roman citizen, he fixed upon the plan of sending Paul to Caesarea, as a safe way of relieving himself from further responsibility.
2. More culpable was the blindness of the chief priests and elders and conspirators. How came it that they, belonging to the nation chosen of God to receive the special revelation of His will, were so blind to His purposes? The answer is: Their moral blindness was a result of past sins. We can see God in His plans and wishes only along the line of a sincere and holy purpose.
III. The apostle was the one man of open vision. Nothing in his outward condition had power to obliterate or to disturb his sense of Gods nearness, and of His infinite grace. The Roman barracks had been to him a Bethel.
1. To find the reason for this vision we must go back to the very beginning of Pauls Christian life. In the saying, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, is to be found the reason why at critical moments in his life the Lord stood by him to reassure his heart. There is a wonder working instrument of science, by the aid of which one may hear the voice of a friend who is in the heart of a distant city. So upon devoutly attentive ears there may fall, distinct and musical, the still small voice of God, which not all earths many voices can drown.
2. The apostles assurance of Gods presence led him not to a passive reliance, but to cooperation. As he saw the power of the Roman soldiery enlisted in his behalf, he gladly availed himself of their protecting care. When the young man came into his presence to reveal the plot of the conspirators, be immediately availed himself of this information, and laid claim to the help of the chief captain. (W. G. Sperry.)
Divine assistance
1. God strengthens His servants internally by the promise of His grace (verse 14).
2. He reveals the designs of their enemies (verse 16).
3. He stirs up for them active friends (Pauls nephew) and powerful protectors (Lysias).
4. He brings them uninjured through the midst of their enemies (verse 23).
5. He gives them an honourable testimony on the way (verse 25, etc.). (K. Gerok.)
Divine protection
I. Required against the crafty designs of enemies who–
1. Unite against the righteous (verses 12, 13).
2. Disguise themselves under a pious appearance (verses 14, 15).
II. Experienced. God–
1. Brings the wickedness to light (verse 16).
2. Directs the hearts of men for the good of the righteous (verses 17-22). (Lisco.)
And they came to the chief priests and elders and said signify to the chief captain.—
Evil-doing by proxy
Many persons who would not themselves commit a crime can be induced to have a share in the results of crime. There are railroad stockholders who would not themselves attempt bribery, who will accept a dividend on stock which has been made profitable through a bribery of the Legislature for its advantage. There are bank stockholders who will share without a protest the proceeds of a guilty compromise made by the bank officials with bank robbers for the recovery of stolen funds. And there are Christian voters who will vote for a corrupt man in city councils or in the Legislature, because his corrupt ways increase the value of real estate, or improve the health and comfort of the community. Those Jewish conspirators knew something about human nature when they went to the chief priests and elders, and said, All we ask of you is to get Paul into the open street; then well see to it that he never troubles you again. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Be of good cheer, Paul] It is no wonder if, with all these trials and difficulties, St. Paul was much dejected in mind; and especially as he had not any direct intimation from God what the end of the present trials would be: to comfort him and strengthen his faith, God gave him this vision.
So must thou bear witness also at Rome.] This was pleasing intelligence to Paul, who had long desired to see that city, and preach the Gospel of Christ there. He appears to have had an intimation that he should see it; but how, he could not tell; and this vision satisfied him that he should be sent thither by God himself. This would settle every fear and scruple concerning the issue of the present persecution.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord stood by him; in a revelation appearing inwardly to his mind; which is the rather thought to have been so, because it is here said to have been in the night; but whether by vision or revelation, it is all one as to this purpose, and neither were unfrequent unto Paul, 2Co 12:1.
Be of good cheer: so true it is what our Saviour had promised and foretold, Joh 16:33, In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. the night followinghisheart perhaps sinking, in the solitude of his barrack ward, andthinking perhaps that all the predictions of danger at Jerusalem werenow to be fulfilled in his death there.
the Lordthat is,Jesus.
stood by him . . . Be of goodcheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so mustthou . . . also at Romethat is, “Thy work in Jerusalem isdone, faithfully and well done; but thou art not to die here; thypurpose next to ‘see Rome’ (Ac19:21) shall not be disappointed, and there also must thou bearwitness of Me.” As this vision was not unneeded now, so we shallfind it cheering and upholding him throughout all that befell him upto his arrival there.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the night following,…. The day in which Paul was brought before the sanhedrim, and pleaded his own cause before them, and had thrown them into confusion and division:
the Lord stood by him; the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in a vision to him, and stood very near him, by the side of him, by the bed or couch on which he might lie: and said,
be of good cheer, Paul; though he was now a prisoner in the castle; and though the high priest, and the Sadducees especially, were enraged against him; and though a plot was about to be formed to take away his life; for this exhortation seems to be designed to prepare him for further trials, and to prevent discouragement under them; which shows the great care of Christ over him, his concern for him, and love to him: the word Paul is not in the Alexandrian copy, nor in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; but the calling him by name seems to express not only singular knowledge of him, but greater familiarity and affection; it is in the Arabic version, and in other Greek copies:
for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem; not only in the Christian church, and before the Apostle James, and the elders, but in the Jewish sanhedrim, and before the high priest, Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, where and before whom, though not particularly recorded, he bore a testimony for Jesus, that he was the true Messiah; and that though he died, he was risen from the dead, and was at the right hand of God, and was the only Saviour of men:
so must thou bear witness also at Rome; as he had bore a public and faithful witness to the person, office, and grace of Christ at Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; so it was necessary, by the decree of God, and for the glory of Christ, that he should bear a like testimony at Rome, the chief city in the whole world; hereby signifying, that he should not die at Jerusalem, and giving him a hint that he should appeal to Caesar, which he afterwards did.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The night following ( ). Locative case, on the next (following) night.
The Lord ( ). Jesus. Paul never needed Jesus more than now. On a previous occasion the whole church prayed for Peter’s release (12:5), but Paul clearly had no such grip on the church as that, though he had been kindly welcomed (21:18). In every crisis Jesus appears to him (cf. Ac 18:9). It looked dark for Paul till Jesus spoke. Once before in Jerusalem Jesus spoke words of cheer (22:18). Then he was told to leave Jerusalem. Now he is to have “cheer” or “courage” (). Jesus used this very word to others (Matt 9:2; Matt 9:22; Mark 10:49). It is a brave word.
Thou hast testified (). First aorist middle indicative second person singular of , strong word (see on 22:18).
Must thou ( ). That is the needed word and on this Paul leans. His hopes (19:21) of going to Rome will not be in vain. He can bide Christ’s time now. And Jesus has approved his witness in Jerusalem.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
PAUL CALLED OF THE LORD TO GOOD CHEER V. 11
1) “And the night following,” (te de epiouse nukti) “Then during the next night,” the night following his arraignment and the dissension and uproar in the Jewish council, described, Act 23:2-10.
2) “The Lord stood by him and said,” (epistas auto ho kurios eipen) “The Lord came to, and stood by or before him, (and) said;” In the solitude of his barracks-ward, as a man, Paul likely thought that the many predictions of danger to him in Jerusalem were now about to be fulfilled in his death there, but his glorified, ever present Master came, Heb 13:5; He came as He had in a vision, Act 18:9.
3) “Be of good cheer, Paul: (tharsei) “Be of good courage,” or disposition, Paul. For it is proper always to rejoice, 1Th 5:16; Php_4:4; 2Co 6:10.
4) “For thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem,” (hos gar diemarturo ta peri emou eis lerousalem) “For as you solemnly, earnestly, testified things concerning me in Jerusalem,” before the wild, incited mob, and before the Sanhedrin council, as well as formerly at the Jerusalem church council, Act 15:12.
5) “So must thou bear witness also at Rome.” (houto se die kai eis hromen marturesai) “So must you also bear witness to me in Rome,” a thing he had long desired and often expressed a will to do, Rom 1:13-16; Rom 15:21-32; Act 19:21; Act 27:23-24; Act 28:16-31.
Our Lord comes to His people, to help even in their crisis: 1) To cheer the sick and diseased, Mat 9:2; Mat 9:22; Mar 10:49.
2) To the disciples in the storm, Mat 14:27.
3) “And to the disciples in deeper need, to cheer, Joh 16:33; Heb 13:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
−
11. And the night following. Luke declareth that Paul was strengthened with an oracle, that he might stand courageously against terrible assaults when things were so far out of order. Surely it could not be but that he was sore afraid, and that he was sore troubled with the remembrance of things to come. Wherefore, the oracle was not superfluous. Those former things whereby he was taught that God cared for him, ought to have sufficed to nourish his hope, and to have kept him from fainting; but because in great dangers Satan doth oftentimes procure new fears, that he may thereby (if he cannot altogether overwhelm God’s promises in the hearts of the godly) at least darken the same with clouds, it is needful that the remembrance of them be renewed, that faith, being holpen with new props and stays, may stand more steadfastly. But the sum is, that Paul may behave himself boldly, because he must be Christ’s witness at Rome also. But this seemeth to be but a cold and vain consolation, as if he should say, Fear not, because thou must abide a sorer brunt; for it had been better, according to the flesh, once to die, and with speed to end his days, than to pine away in bands, and long time to lie in prison. The Lord doth not promise to deliver him; no, he saith not so much as that he shall have a joyful end; only he saith, that those troubles and afflictions, wherewith he was too sore oppressed already, shall continue long. But by this we gather better of what great importance this confidence is, that the Lord hath respect unto us in our miseries, though he stretch not forth his hand by and by to help us. −
Therefore, let us learn, even in most extreme afflictions, to stay ourselves upon the word of God alone; and let us never faint so long as he quickeneth us with the testimony of his fatherly love. And because oracles are not now sent from heaven, neither doth the Lord himself appear by visions, we must meditate upon his innumerable promises, whereby he doth testify that he will be nigh unto us continually. If it be expedient that an angel come down unto us, the Lord will not deny even this kind of confirmation. Nevertheless, we must give this honor to the word, that being content with it alone we wait patiently for that help which it promiseth us. −
Moreover, it did profit some nothing to hear angels which were sent down from heaven; but the Lord doth not in vain seal up in the hearts of the faithful by his Spirit those promises which are made by him. And as he doth not in vain beat them in and often repeat them, − (545) so let our faith exercise itself diligently in the continual remembrance of them. For if it were necessary that Paul’s faith should be oftentimes set and stored up with a new help, there is none of us which needeth not many more helps. Also, our minds must be armed with patience, that they may pass through the long and troublesome circuits of troubles and afflictions. −
(545) −
“
Inculcat,” inculcates.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
f.
The Lord encourages Paul. Act. 23:11.
Act. 23:11
And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer: for as thou hast testified concerning me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Act. 23:11 But in this dark hour the Lord stood by him to speak to him in the most wonderful and cheering words. Be of good cheer for as thou hast testified concerning me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
It was no promise of release from bonds nor a fore-note of victory, but simply that he would live and testify for the Messiah. This was enough.
878.
What was the thought of the Lords encouragement?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) Be of good cheer, Paul.The day had been one of strange excitement, and most have roused many anxieties. Personal fear as to suffering or death he was, more than most men, free from; but was his work to be cut short? Was he to fall a victim to the malice of the Jews? Was the desire, which he had cherished for many years, to preach the gospel in the great capital of the empire (Rom. 1:13; Rom. 15:23) to be frustrated? These questions pressed upon him in the wakeful night that followed the exhausting day; and, with a nature like St. Pauls, such anxieties could not but find expression in his prayers. To those prayers the vision and apocalypse of the Lord of which we now read was manifestly the answer. To him, tossed on these waves and billows of the soul, as once before to the Twelve tossing on the troubled waters of the Sea of Galilee (Mat. 14:27), there came the words, full of comfort and of hope, Be of good cheer. There might be delay and suffering, and a long trial of patience, but the end was certain; he was to reach the goal of Rome.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Night following Exhausted with the past two days’ excitements, alone in the desolate barracks, does the blessed Jesus find and console his faithful confessor. Has the lonely advocate for his Lord any misgivings that unholy passion has stained his record that day? This Be of good cheer assures his spirit on that point, and infuses within him the freshness of a new life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, “Be of good cheer, for as you have testified concerning me at Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome.” ’
In fact there was apparently only One person who was satisfied with the way that things were going, and that night the risen Lord stood by Paul, presumably visually, and encouraged him (compare Act 18:9-10; Act 22:17-21). He told him to be in good heart, for it was God’s purpose that just as he had testified openly about Him in Jerusalem, so he would testify in Rome. He was not to see what was happening as a setback, but as an opportunity. God was in control.
At first sight it might appear to us that Paul’s being in captivity was a hindrance to the spread of the Good News. Think what he could do if he was free, we might say. But we need to recognise that that might not have been so. Paul was now such a marked man, and so intensely hated by many Jews in many cities, that wherever he went his life was in danger. So much so that some followed him around with the aim of killing him. And what was more this then not only meant that his own life was in danger, but that it would also cause problems for his companions and for the churches. He had after all, already been responsible for a number of ‘uprisings’ in a number of cities, which could always flare up once he visited them again. And now that he was such a marked man it would not be easy for him to slip in and out unnoticed. This being so his being directly under the protection of Roman soldiers, with his companions able to visit him freely, gave him the opportunity to think through problems and enabled him to run a kind of Bible School and Correspondence course in complete safety, and at the same time brought great encouragement to the church because they saw how bravely he faced his trial. They would not want to let him down. And it would even support his doctrine. For his doctrine was being substantiated by his life. There is no one who is believed quite as much as a martyr.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 23:11. The Lord stood by him, &c. This plainly shews that our Lord approved of the part which St. Paul had acted before the sanhedrim, though some had censured it without understanding or considering the circumstance of it. Witsius observes, that it must have been a greater consolation to so faithful a soldier of Christ as St. Paul was, having been thus approved and encouraged by his general, to be led on to further combats, than to be immediately dismissed: and such a temper he expresses, Php 1:20; Php 1:26.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 23:11-14 . Whether the appearance of Christ encouraging Paul to further stedfastness was a vision in a dream, or a vision in a waking state, perhaps in an ecstasy, cannot be determined (in opposition to Olshausen, who holds the latter as decided, see on Act 16:9 ).
. and .] The preacher coming from without preaches into the city ; comp. Mar 14:9 . See on Mar 1:39 , also on Act 9:28 , Act 26:20 . Observe also, that Jerusalem and Rome are the capitals of the world , of the East and West. But a further advance, into Spain , were it otherwise demonstrable, would not be excluded by the intimation in this passage, since it fixes no terminus ad quem (in opposition to Otto, Pastoralbr . p. 171).
Act 23:12 . ] a combination (Act 19:40 ; 1Ma 14:44 ; Polyb. iv. 34. 6), afterwards still more precisely described by , a conspiracy . That the conspirators were zealots and sicarii, perhaps instigated by Ananias himself (concerning whom, however, it is not demonstrable that he was himself a Sadducee), as Kuinoel thinks, is not to be maintained. Certainly those Asiatics in Act 21:27 were concerned in it.
] the Jews , as the opposition. This general statement is afterwards more precisely limited, Act 23:13 .
. ] they cursed themselves , pronounced on themselves (in the event of transgression) the , the curse of divine wrath and divine rejection, declaring that they would neither eat nor drink ( , Act 23:14 , expresses both) until, etc. See on similar self-imprecations (which, in the event of the matter being frustrated without the person’s own fault, could be removed by the Rabbins, Lightfoot in loc.), Selden, de Synedr. p. 108 f.
] with the subjunctive, because the matter is contemplated directly, and without ; Fritzsche, ad Matth. p. 499; Winer, p. 279 [E. T. 371].
Act 23:14 . . . . .] That they applied to the Sadducean Sanhedrists, is evident of itself from what goes before.
. .] Winer, p. 434 [E. T. 584].
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Pause over this verse for the sweetness of it. How very gracious was it in the Lord Jesus, thus to favor his servant with another vision, as he had done before! (see Act 18:9 and Commentary.) And how blessed in the Lord, by way of shewing him that all the contrivances of his enemies for his destruction at Jerusalem, should not affect his life; that the Lord had business for him yet to perform at Rome. And this was peculiarly consolatory to the Apostle, because though Agabus by the Spirit had prophesied of his being bound at Jerusalem, yet now from the Lord himself he was taught, that at this time he was not to die there. Precious Lord Jesus! who shall count, yea, what imagination of men, or angels, can fully conceive the boundless love of thine heart? And, oh! how sweet to my soul is the recollection, (in the very moment of writing this Poor Man’s Commentary,) that to Paul, upon this occasion here recorded, and upon every other to thy Church and people, all that love of thine, and the communication of it, flows from thy double nature, thy God-Man love, to endear it ten thousand fold to our souls!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Ver. 11. The Lord stood by him ] Turned his prison into a palace, as likewise he did to Algerius, Christ’s prisoner, and Master Philpot, thus to his friends, Though I tell you I am in hell in the judgment of this world, assuredly I feel in the same the consolation of heaven, I praise God; and this loathsome and horrible prison is as pleasant to me as the walk in the garden of the King’s Bench.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] By these few words, the Lord assured him (1) of a safe issue from his present troubles ; (2) of an accomplishment of his intention of visiting Rome ; (3) of the certainty that however he might be sent thither, he should preach the gospel, and bear testimony there . So that they upheld and comforted him (1) in the uncertainty of his life from the Jews : (2) in the uncertainty of his liberation from prison at Csarea : (3) in the uncertainty of his surviving the storm in the Mediterranean : (4) in the uncertainty of his fate on arriving at Rome . So may one crumb of divine grace and help be multiplied to feed five thousand wants and anxieties.
, see reff. and ch. Act 2:39 , pregnant.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 23:11 . . ., see Knabenbauer’s note, p. 385, on Hilgenfeld’s strictures; and below on the need and fitness of the appearance of the Lord on this night. , cf. Act 12:7 , and Act 18:9 . ., evidently Jesus, as the context implies. : only in the imperative in N.T. (seven times); the word on the lips of Christ had brought cheer to the sick and diseased, Mat 9:2 ; Mat 9:22 , Mar 10:49 ; to the disciples sailing on the sea, Mat 14:27 , Mar 6:50 ; to the same disciples in an hour of deeper need, Joh 16:33 , cf. its use in LXX as a message of encouragement (elsewhere we have the verb , so in Paul and Heb., but cf. Apoc. of Peter , v., Blass, Gram. , p. 24). The Apostle might well stand in need of an assurance after the events of the day that his labours would not be cut short before his great desire was fulfilled. The words of the Lord as given to us by St. Luke intimate that the Evangelist regarded Paul’s visit to Rome as apex Evangelii , so far as his present work was concerned. : the word seems to imply the thoroughness of the Apostle’s testimony, and to show that his method of bearing it was approved by his Lord, see on Act 2:40 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Acts
CHRIST’S WITNESSES
Act 23:11
It had long been Paul’s ambition to ‘preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.’ His settled policy, as shown by this Book of the Acts, was to fly at the head, to attack the great centres of population. We trace him from Antioch to Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus; and of course Rome was the goal, where a blow struck at the heart might reverberate through the empire. So he had planned for it, and prayed about it, and thought about it, and spoken about it. But his wish was accomplished, as our prayers and purposes so often are, in a manner very strange to him. A popular riot in Jerusalem, a half-friendly arrest by the contemptuous impartiality of a Roman officer, a final rejection by the Sanhedrim, a prison in Caesarea, an appeal to Caesar, a weary voyage, a shipwreck: this was the chain of circumstances which fulfilled his desire, and brought him to the imperial city.
My text comes at the crisis of his fate. He has just been rejected by his people, and for the moment is in safety in the castle under the charge of the Roman garrison. One can fancy how, as he lay there in the barrack that night, he felt that he had come to a turning-point; and the thoughts were busy in his mind, ‘Is this for life or for death? Am I to do any more work for Christ, or am I silenced for ever?’-’And the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul!’ The divine message assured him that he should live; it testified of Christ’s approbation of his past, and promised him that, in recompense for that past, he should have wider work to do. So he passed to the unknown future quietly; and went on his way with the Master by his side.
Now, dear friends, it seems to me that in these great words there lie lessons applying to all Christian people as truly, though in different fashion, as they did to the Apostle, and having an especial bearing on that great enterprise of Christian missions, with which I would connect them in this sermon. I desire, then, to draw out the lessons which seem to me to lie under the surface of this great promise.
I. To live ought to be, for a Christian, to witness.
Let me just urge this upon you for a few moments. It seems to me that to raise up witnesses for Himself is, in one aspect, the very purpose of all Christ’s work. You and I, dear brethren, if we have any living hold of that Lord, have received Him into our hearts, not only in order that for ourselves we may rejoice in Him, but in order that, for ourselves rejoicing in Him, we may ‘show forth the virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.’ There is no creature so great as that he is not regarded as a means to a further end; and there is no creature so small but that he has the right to claim happiness and blessing from the Hand that made him. Jesus Christ has drawn us to Himself, that we may know the sweetness of His presence, the cleansing of His blood, the stirring and impulse of His indwelling life in us for our own joy and our own completion, but also that we may be His witnesses and weapons, according to that great word: ‘This people have I formed for Myself. They shall shew forth My praise.’
God has ‘shined into our hearts in order that we may give,’ reflecting the beams that fall upon them, ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.’ Brother and sister, if you have the Christian life in your souls, one purpose of your possessing it is that you may bear witness for Him.
Again, such witness-bearing is the result of all true, deep, Christian life. All life longs to manifest itself in action. Every conviction that a man has seeks for utterance; especially so do the beliefs that go deepest and touch the moral and spiritual nature and relationships of a man. He that perceives them is thereby impelled to desire to utter them. There can be no real, deep possession of that great truth of the Gospel which we profess to be the foundation of our personal lives, unless we have felt the impulse to spread the name and to declare the sweetness of the Lord. The very same impulse that makes the loving heart carve the beloved name on the smooth rind of the tree makes it sweet to one who is in real touch and living fellowship with Jesus Christ to speak about Him. O brother! there is a very sharp test for us. I know that there are hundreds of professing Christians-decent, respectable sort of people, with a tepid, average amount of Christian faith and principle in them-who never felt that overmastering desire, ‘I must let this thing out through my lips.’ Why? Why do they not feel it? Because their own possession of Christ is so superficial and partial. Jeremiah’s experience will be repeated where there is vigorous Christian life: ‘Thy word shut up in my bones was like a fire’-that burned itself through all the mass that was laid upon it, and ate its way victoriously into the light-’and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.’ Christian men and women, do you know anything of that o’er-mastering impulse? If you do not, look to the depth and reality of your Christian profession.
Again, this witnessing is the condition of all strong life. If you keep nipping the buds off a plant you will kill it. If you never say a word to a human soul about your Christianity, your Christianity will tend to evaporate. Action confirms and strengthens convictions; speech deepens conviction; and although it is possible for any one- and some of us ministers are in great danger of making the possibility a reality-to talk away his religion, for one of us who loses it by speaking too much about it, there are twenty that damage it by speaking too little. Shut it up, and it will be like some wild creature put into a cellar, fast locked and unventilated; when you open the door it will be dead. Shut it up, as so many of our average Christian professors and members of our congregations and churches do, and when you come to take it out, it will be like some volatile perfume that has been put into a vial and locked away in a drawer and forgotten; there will be nothing left but an empty bottle, and a rotten cork. Speak your faith if you would have your faith strengthened. Muzzle it, and you go a long way to kill it. You are witnesses, and you cannot blink the obligation nor shirk the duties without damaging that in yourselves to which you are to witness.
Further, this task of witnessing for Christ can be done by all kinds of life. I do not need to dwell upon the distinction between the two great methods which open themselves out before every one of us. They do so; for direct work in speaking the name of Jesus Christ is possible for every Christian, whoever he or she is, however weak, ignorant, uninfluential, with howsoever narrow a circle. There is always somebody that God means to be the audience of His servant whenever that servant speaks of Christ. Do you not know that there are people in this world, as wives, children, parents, friends of different sorts, who would listen to you more readily than they would listen to any one else speaking about Jesus Christ? Friend, have you utilised these relationships in the interests of that great Name, and in the highest interests of the persons that sustain them to you, and of yourselves who sustain these to them?
And then there is indirect work that we can all do in various ways, I do not mean only by giving money, though of course that is important, but I mean all the manifold ways in which Christian people can show their sympathy with, and their interest in, the various forms in which adventurous, chivalrous, enterprising Christian benevolence expresses itself. It was an old law in Israel that ‘as his part was that went down into the battle, so should his part be that tarried by the stuff.’ When victory was won and the spoil came to be shared, the men who had stopped behind and looked after the base of operations and kept open the communications received the same portion as the man that, in the front rank of the battle, had rushed upon the spears of the Amalekites. Why? Because from the same motive they had been co-operant to the same great end. The Master has taken up that very thought, and has applied it in relation to the indirect work of His people, when He says, ‘He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.’ The motive is the same; therefore the essential character of the act is the same; therefore the recompense is identical. You can witness for Christ directly, if you can say-and you can all say if you like-’We have found the Messias,’ and you can witness for Christ by casting yourselves earnestly into sympathy with and, so far as possible, help to the work that your brethren are doing. Dear friends, I beseech you to remember that we are all of us, if we are His followers, bound in our humble measure and degree, and with a reverent apprehension of the gulf between us and Him, still to take up His words and say, ‘To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth.’
II. There is a second thought that I would suggest from these words, and that is that secular events are ordered with a view to this witnessing.
No doubt it would be a miserably inadequate account of things to say that the Roman Empire came into existence for the sake of propagating Christianity. No doubt it is always dangerous to account for any phenomenon by the ends which, to our apprehension, it serves. But at the same time the study of the purposes which a given thing, being in existence, serves, and the study of the forces which brought it into existence, ought to be combined, and when combined, they present a double reason for adoring that great Providence which ‘makes the wrath of men to praise’ it, and uses for moral and spiritual ends the creatures that exist, the events that emerge, and even the godless doings of godless men.
So here we have a standing example of the way in which, like silk-worms that are spinning threads for a web that they have no notion of, the deeds of men that think not so are yet grasped and twined together by Jesus Christ, the Lord of providence, so as to bring about the realisation of His great purposes. And that is always so, more or less clearly.
For instance, if we wish to understand our own lives, do not let us dwell upon the superficialities of joy or sorrow, gain or loss, but let us get down to the depth, and see that all these externals have two great purposes in view-first, that we may be made like our Lord, as the Scripture itself says, ‘That we may be partakers of His holiness,’ and then that we may bear our testimony to His grace and love. Oh, if we would only look at life from that point of view, we should be brought to a stand less often at what we choose to call the mysteries of providence! Not enjoyment, not sorrow, but our perfecting in godliness and of the increase of our power and opportunities to bear witness to Him, are the intention of all that befalls us.
I need not speak about how this same principle must be applied, by every man who believes in a divine providence, to the wider events of the world’s history, I need not dwell upon that, nor will your time allow me to do it, but one word I should like to say, and that is that surely the two facts that we, as Christians, possess, as we believe, the pure faith, and that we, as Englishmen, are members of a community whose influence is world-wide, do not come together for nothing, or only that some of you might make fortunes out of the East Indian and China trade, but in order that all we English Christians might feel that, our speaking as we do the language which is destined, as it would appear, to run round the whole world, and our having, as we have, the faith which we believe brings salvation to every man of every race and tongue who accepts it, and our having this responsible necessary contact with the heathen races, lay upon us English Christians obligations the pressure and solemnity of which we have yet failed to appreciate.
Paul was immortal till his work was done. ‘Be of good cheer, Paul; thou must bear witness at Rome.’ And so, for ourselves and for the Gospel that we profess, the same divine Providence which orders events so that His servants may have the opportunities of witnessing to it, will take care that it shall not perish-notwithstanding all the premature jubilation of anti-Christian literature and thought in this day-until it has done its work. We need have no fear for ourselves, for though our blind eyes often fail to see, and our bleeding hearts often fail to accept, the conviction that there are no unfinished lives for His servants, yet we may be sure that He will watch over each of His children till they have finished the work that He gives them to do. And we may be sure, in regard to His great Gospel, that nothing can sink the ship that carries Christ and His fortunes. ‘Be of good cheer . . . thou hast borne witness . . . thou must bear witness.’
III. Lastly, we have here another principle-namely that faithful witnessing is rewarded by further witnessing.
That is the law for life and everywhere, the tools to the hand that can use them. The man that can do a thing gets it to do in too large a measure, as he sometimes thinks; but he gets it, and it is all right that he should. ‘To him that hath shall be given.’ And it is the law for heaven. ‘Thou hast borne witness down on the little dark earth; come up higher and witness for Me here, amid the blaze.’
It is the law for this Christian work of ours. If you have shone faithfully in your ‘little corner,’ as the child’s hymn says, you will be taken out and set upon the lamp-stand, that you ‘may give light to all that are in the house.’ And it is the law for this great enterprise of Christian missions, as we all know. We are overwhelmed with our success. Doors are opening around us on every side. There is no limit to the work that English Churches can do, except their inclination to do it. But the opportunities open to us require a far deeper consecration and a far closer dwelling beside our Master than we have ever realised. We are half asleep yet; we do not know our resources in men, in money, in activity, in prayer.
Surely there can be no sadder sign of decadence and no surer precursor of extinction than to fall beneath the demands of our day; to have doors opening at which we are too lazy or selfish to go in; to be so sound asleep that we never hear the man of Macedonia when he stands by us and cries, ‘Come over and help us!’ We are members of a Church that God has appointed to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. We are citizens of a nation whose influence is ubiquitous and felt in every land. By both characters, God summons us to tasks which will tax all our resources worthily to do. We inherit a work from our fathers which God has shown that He owns by giving us these golden opportunities. He summons us: ‘Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. Come out of Jerusalem; come into Rome.’ Shall we respond? God give us grace to fill the sphere in which He has set us, till He lifts us to the wider one, where the faithfulness of the steward is exchanged for the authority of the ruler, and the toil of the servant for the joy of the Lord!
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 23:11
11But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
Act 23:11 “the Lord stood at his side” Here is another personal vision to encourage Paul (cf. Act 18:9-10; Act 22:17-19; Act 27:23-24). Paul was not a man without discouragement and doubt.
“Take courage” This is a present active imperative. This is the only use of this term in Luke’s writings. Paul must have shared this with Luke. Jesus uses the term several times (cf. Mat 9:2; Mat 9:22; Mat 14:27; Joh 16:33).
“you must witness at Rome also” It was God’s will for Paul to be imprisoned so that he might appear before Caesar. The gospel will be preached in Rome (cf. Act 19:21; Act 22:21)!
For “must” see full note at Act 1:16.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
following. Greek. epeimi. See note on Act 7:26.
the Lord. App-98.
Be of good cheer = Take courage. Greek. tharseo. Here; Mat 9:2, Mat 9:22; Mat 14:27. Mar 6:50; Mar 10:49. Luk 8:48. Joh 16:33.
Paul. The texts omit.
testified. Greek. diamarturomai. See note on Act 2:40.
bear witness. Greek. martureo. See p. 1511 and note on Joh 1:7.
also at Rorne = at Rome also.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] By these few words, the Lord assured him (1) of a safe issue from his present troubles; (2) of an accomplishment of his intention of visiting Rome; (3) of the certainty that however he might be sent thither, he should preach the gospel, and bear testimony there. So that they upheld and comforted him (1) in the uncertainty of his life from the Jews: (2) in the uncertainty of his liberation from prison at Csarea: (3) in the uncertainty of his surviving the storm in the Mediterranean: (4) in the uncertainty of his fate on arriving at Rome. So may one crumb of divine grace and help be multiplied to feed five thousand wants and anxieties.
, see reff. and ch. Act 2:39,-pregnant.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 23:11. , but on the following night) When dangers have come to their height, then especially does the Lord disclose Himself with His consolation. The Divine promises were given, as to the people in the Old Testament, so to the saints individually, at that time especially when all things might seem to them desperate: comp. Act 23:16, ch. Act 27:23; 2Ti 4:17.- ) the Lord, Jesus. What Paul in the spirit had proposed to himself, ch. Act 19:21, the Lord establishes (confirm), now when it was the mature (ripe) time. A third declaration is added by the angel of GOD: ch. Act 27:23-24. Accordingly from this chapter 23, the main subject of this book is the apostolical testimony accomplished by Paul at Rome: 2Ti 4:17. But if the defenders of Peters supremacy had found either the whole or only the half of this ascribed to Peter, how they would urge it!-, thou hast testified) especially during the immediately preceding days.-, , in Jerusalem, at Rome) The two metropolitan cities of the world.-, thou must) Danger in the eyes of God is a mere nothing. The very hindrances prove advantages.-, also) To him who hath it shall be given.- , at Rome) The promise, reaching to a distance, embraced all the nearer and intermediate times. Paul shall bear witness at Rome: therefore he shall come to Rome: therefore he shall escape the plots of the Jews, and the dangers of the sea, and injury from the viper.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Act 23:11-25
PLOT TO KILL PAUL
Act 23:11-25
11 And the night following-Paul was now a prisoner; the chief captain, Lysias, held him as a prisoner. Conditions were unavorable to Paul; he is discouraged, cast down, full of gloomy doubts. There is no mention of any sympathy from the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. At this time, when all seem to have forsaken him, the Lord stood by him. He strengthened and encouraged Paul by saying, Be of good cheer. Paul had desired to preach the gospel to his own people in Jerusalem; he had two opportunities, and twice he had to be rescued from those who sought to kill him. The first instance is recorded in Act 9:26-30, and the second is here. The Lord, who had appeared to him on the way to Damascus (Act 9:5), in the temple (Act 22:17-18), and at Corinth (Act 18:9), now appeared to him and comforted him with the promise that he would be able to fulfill his desire to preach the gospel at Rome (Act 19:21; Rom 1:11-13 Rom 15:23). The promise was of further service to the Lord among the Gentiles, and especially at Rome.
12 And when it was day,-At the very time that the Lord was encouraging Paul, the Jews were plotting to kill him. These forty Jews who were planning to murder Paul were in the end to send him to Rome to preach the gospel there. We are not told whether these Jews were Pharisees or Sadducees; the inference is that they were in favor with the Sadducees who had so violently opposed Paul in the council. They bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. These forty Jews anathematized themselves. The Greek anathematizo means to place one under a curse. King Saul took an anathema that imperiled the life of his son Jonathan. (1Sa 14:24.) The Greek for banded together is poiesantes sustrophen, and literally means having made a conspiracy. This pledge not to eat nor drink was a very ancient form of oath or vow. (1Sa 14:24; 2Sa 3:35.)
13 And they were more than forty-Some think these forty were Assassins and of the Zealots, which was a wild and fanatical party of that time. The number forty shows how many enemies Paul had; it also shows how difficult it would be to keep the secret from Pauls friends. We do not know what curse they took upon themselves if they failed to carry out their desire.
14 And they came to the chief priests-These forty Jews who had bound themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul came to the chief priests and the elders and reported their oath. David had divided the priests into twenty-four courses or classes. The head of each of these classes was called a chief priest. The elders were the rulers of the cities; they may have included some members of the Sanhedrin. It seems clear that the chief priests and those of the elders here mentioned belonged to the party of the Sadducees. This band of assassins felt free to go to the Sanhedrin and make known their intentions; they knew that the Sanhedrin was in sympathy with their efforts to kill Paul. Jesus had predicted that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offered service unto God. (Joh 16:2.)
15 Now therefore do ye with the council signify-Paul was still in the hands of Lysias, the chief captain. This band of assassins told the Sanhedrin in detail their plan. The council was to call on the chief captain to send Paul to the council that Paul may be examined further; they were to call upon Paul and kill him before he came to the council. The council was to make a formal or legal request for a regular and legal investigation; it was assumed that Lysias would be disposed to grant the request. The forty men assured the council that they would do their part and would kill Paul before he came to the council. This would keep the council in the clear, as they thought. The conspirators had stated their case clearly and had revealed the plot to the council which seemed ready to cooperate with them in destroying Paul.
16 But Pauls sisters son heard-This is the only reference that we have of Pauls family in the Acts. In his letter to the Romans Paul speaks of his kinsmen who lived in Rome. (Rom 16:7 Rom 16:11.) His friends here, and afterwards at Caesarea (Act 24:23), appear to have been permitted to visit him, which shows that the authorities did not think him to be a criminal. It is not certain that Pauls sister resided in Jerusalem; neither is it certain that the young man who informed Paul lived in Jerusalem. He was granted permission to visit Paul. We do not know that Pauls nephew was a Christian; neither do we know how he gained his information. The fact that the young man entered into the castle and told Paul of the plot shows that Pauls friends had free access to him.
17 And Paul called unto him one of the centurions,-Paul, even as a prisoner, exercised some authority over others; he called one of the centurions or officers to him, and requested this centurion to take this young man to the chief captain. Paul did not trust the centurion with the secret that had been brought to him; he wanted the young man to tell the chief captain from his own mouth the plot that had been laid for him. We gather here that Pauls nephew was a young man. Although Paul had been assured of his safety by the Lord (Act 23:11), he used all precaution and proper means for his safety. Gods promise does not dispense with the legitimate means that we must use. This young man had some important business with the chief captain, and Paul desired that he be escorted to him by a centurion.
18 So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain,-The centurion was kind enough to take Pauls nephew to the chief captain. It is not known that the chief captain or the centurion knew that the young man was Pauls nephew. The centurion reported that Paul had called him and asked him to bring this young man to the chief captain, as he had something to say to him. The Roman officers now seem to be careful to treat Paul with kindness, since they know that he is a Roman citizen. Their previous treatment of him, when they thought he was only a Jew, exposed them to severe penalties of the law should Paul or his friends bring a complaint against them. It was a wise policy for the officers to give Paul as much freedom as possible and to grant his friends the privilege of communicating with him. This helps us to understand the willingness of the centurion to take the young man to Lysias, and the readiness of Lysias to grant a private interview with the young man.
19 And the chief captain took him by the hand,-In verse 18 the centurion refers to Paul the prisoner; Paul later, in writing some of his letters, refers to himself as a prisoner. (Eph 4:1.) The chief captain received the young man with courtesy; he took him by the hand, which indicated an eager interest in what concerned the case of this prisoner; he showed the young man that he had confidence in him. He took the young man aside and asked him privately what matter he had to bring to him. This shows that the chief captain was eager to get all the information that he could. We do not know the age of this young man; the Greek neanias is the same word that is used with respect to Paul in Act 7:58; it is also the same word that is used for Eutychus in Act 20:9.
20 And he said, The Jews have agreed-The young man reported faithfully and accurately the plot that he had learned whereby the Jews had determined to kill Paul. This shows that the conspirators clearly represented the state of Jewish feeling toward Paul in Jerusalem. The young man was able to quote accurately the language of the conspirators. The young man reports that the Jews had agreed to ask Lysias to bring Paul before the council as though thou wouldest inquire somewhat more exactly concerning him. But the conspirators had said to the council to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin so that the Sanhedrin might make further examination of Paul. There seems to be a slight discrepancy here. It may be that the inquiry was proposed to both parties, and the young man only refers to that by Lysias through courtesy to him.
21 Do not thou therefore yield unto them:-The young man now pleaded with Lysias not to yield or listen to the request from the Jews or the Council. The Greek here signifies be not thou persuaded by them, or obey not their request. The young man gave the reason for Lysias not yielding to their entreaty by saying that there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men who had determined not to eat nor to drink till they had killed Paul. He further urged that these Jews were now ready and looking for the promise from thee to bring Paul before the council. The Jews waited for the expected promise from the chief captain, and had made ready the ambuscade by which they hoped to get rid of Paul without the Sanhedrin having any apparent hand in the murder. The young mans language implies that the council had agreed to the base plot, or that he believed that they would do so. The haste which Lysias exercised in getting Paul out of the city implies that he and the other Roman officials believed the report of the young man.
22 So the chief captain let the young man go,-The chief captain was satisfied with the report, and believed that the young man had told the truth. He enjoined secrecy on the part of the young man that he should not let anyone know that he had reported the Jews to him. His sympathies were clearly with Paul. He cautioned the young man not to let anyone know what he had reported. He did this to avoid any interference with his own plans, or a new conspiracy; also to avoid danger to the young man for revealing the secret; and again to avoid any explanation of his conduct to the Jewish leaders. He did not want the Jews to suspect that his action was based on any knowledge of their plot. He exercised his own rights in sending a prisoner under such circumstances to the governor at Caesarea.
23 And he called unto him two of the centurions,-Lysias acted with military promptitude; he ordered two centurions with two hundred soldiers or legionnaires and seventy cavalry and two hundred light armed troops to escort Paul to Caesarea. This was a large escort; he took every precaution to protect the safety of Paul and to deliver him to the Roman authorities at Caesarea. They left at the third hour of the night. This was at nine P.M. It was early enough for them to travel a full nights journey under cover of the darkness. With a military guard of two hundred foot soldiers or heavy armed soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred light armed footmen, four hundred seventy soldiers and their officers, Paul was safe from any mob force of conspirators who might try to seize him from the soldiers and kill him.
24 and he bade them provide beasts,-Beasts is from the Greek ktene, and may mean asses or horses; it does not mean war horses. These beasts were for Paul and some soldier to ride. More than one would be needed for Pauls use, as he was chained to a soldier; one or more would be needed for baggage. Some have inferred that the entire force was to be mounted on beasts; but the order was to provide beasts that Paul might be set thereon. He was to be brought to Felix the governor. Felix was a brother of Pallas, the notorious favorite of Claudius. He and his brothers had been slaves, but were now freedmen; Felix was made procurator of Judea by Claudius A.D. 52; he held this position until Festus succeeded him. He was married to Drusilla, the daughter of Herod Agrippa I, with the hope of winning the favor of the Jews. Felix was one of the most depraved men of his time; Tacitus says of him that with all cruelty and lust he exercised the power of a king with the spirit of a slave/ The term governor means leader, and was applied to leaders of all sorts.
25 And he wrote a letter-Lysias wrote a letter to Felix the governor. This was the formal and official explanation why Paul was sent to the higher officer for trial; it was called elogium; this letter was not an accusation against Paul, but rather a statement favorable to him. Some understand that Luke here gives only the substance of the letter and does not give a copy of it. A copy of the letter may have been given Paul after his appeal to Caesar; it was probably written in Latin. The letter was probably read in open court before Felix and its contents could be learned.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Lord: Act 2:25, Act 18:9, Act 27:23, Act 27:24, Psa 46:1, Psa 46:2, Psa 109:31, Isa 41:10, Isa 41:14, Isa 43:2, Jer 15:19-21, Mat 28:20, Joh 14:18, 2Co 1:8-10
Be: Act 27:22, Act 27:25, Mat 9:2, Mat 14:27, Joh 16:33
for: Act 19:21, Act 20:22, Act 22:18, Act 28:23-28, Rom 1:15, Rom 1:16, Phi 1:13, 2Ti 4:17
must: Act 28:30, Act 28:31, Isa 46:10, Joh 11:8-10
Reciprocal: Psa 31:15 – My times Joh 7:44 – no man Joh 15:27 – ye also Act 2:10 – strangers Act 22:15 – thou shalt Act 24:11 – but Act 25:12 – unto Caesar shalt Act 26:16 – in the Act 26:22 – obtained Act 27:1 – when Act 28:16 – Rome 1Co 1:6 – the 1Co 9:1 – have 2Co 12:1 – visions Gal 2:2 – by 2Ti 2:25 – instructing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE PASTORS WAY OF PEACE
The Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Act 23:11
This was in the Antonian citadel, in the night. The immediate sequel of the text is the conspiracy for St. Pauls assassination, when at dawn of day the more than forty arranged how and where they might fall upon their victim.
In such a frame is set this radiant picture. Serene and infinitely at liberty, He Who always knows the way to the solitudes and sorrows of His people stood by His Apostles side. He called His servant by his name. He placed Himself in sympathetic contact with his fears. And He lifted him out of them with the sublime reassurance that the servant was in the path of the Masters will, and therefore altogether safe in the escort of the Masters love and power. The path was developing and ascending. Jerusalem was about to be exchanged for Rome. And Jesus Christ guarantees St. Pauls safety here and his safety there, assuring him of a deep inward continuity through all the changes, as well as of a rest and refuge amidst all the storms.
There is in the message to St. Paul an intimate relation to ourselves, to the pastors of to-day. How shall we read that message out?
I. It is a message of the power of Christ to transcend and transfigure difficulty.
II. It is a message that Christ is able to transfigure lifes deep changes, till they are as it were harmonised into one song by the reconciling magic of His will. From Jerusalem to Rome, from a place which, with all its alarms, was yet redolent to him of memory and old ways, to the world-city, dangerously new and different; that was a great change for St. Paul.
III. What better can I do than move you to pray for your clergy, chosen servants and messengers of Christ?
(a) Pray that in all their care and labour the Lord may evermore stand by them, morning, noon, and night, saying to them, at the heart of all circumstances, Fear not; I am with thee.
(b) Pray that the sevenfold Spirit may fill their spirit with counsel, and with the might of truth and love and with the great gift of power for God with men.
(c) Pray that the heavenly Scriptures may be evermore lighted up to them by that same Spirit, and that the sure Word, in its fullness and its sublime proportion, which is of God, may be their lamp, and oracle, and song.
(d) Pray that they may have grace faithfully to fulfil their call to be, above all men, preachers of that Word, and that they may evermore rejoice to set forth from it before all men our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as our all in all, for this life and the life to come, for pardon, holiness, and heaven, in His finished work, in His everlasting working.
Bishop H. C. G. Moule.
Illustration
The responsibility of the congregation was a thought which Bishop Westcott touched on many times; never, perhaps, with more force than in this passage from one of his Ordination addresses. Priest and people act and react one upon the other. They suffer together, they advance together. If it is true, as we all must admit, that the priest must use for his people every grace of the Spirit with which he is endowed, it is no less true that the people on their part must use for their priest that sevenfold gift which they too received by the apostolic laying on of hands. To them also is entrusted a stewardship of sacred treasures by which those that have rule over them must be supported. This truth, this vital truth, has, I think, been commonly overlooked; and there has followed, naturally, on the one side an assumption of lordship, and on the other side a suppression of spiritual force.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
Act 23:11. The imprisonment of Paul in the soldiers’ barracks was a friendly act as it pertained to his personal safety, but the whole situation was one of apparent danger, and one that had many discouraging phases. It was an appropriate time for the Lord to speak words of cheer to him. Bear witness also at Rome. See the comments at chapter 19:21 as to when he would bear this testimony at Rome.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 23:11. And the night following, the Lard stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Probably the Lord Jesus made this revelation to the apostle in a dream. Paul saw his Master standing by him, and heard His comforting cheering words. It was indeed a most solemn crisis in his eventful life. He had but just escaped death, owing his safety on the two preceding days alone to the intervention of the Roman soldiery. He was on the threshold of a prison whence he knew that, owing to the sleepless cunning of the Jewish hierarchy, there would be no going out till the morning of his execution. He had, besides, good reason for feeling very dispirited with the result of the witness he had borne at Jerusalem.
All these gloomy thoughts no doubt weighed on the wearied apostles mind as he lay down and tried to sleep that night in the barrack prison-room in Antonia. But the Lord had pity on His harassed servant, and reassured him, telling him that not only would he be preserved in all his present dangers, but that, improbable as it then seemed, he would live to bear his gallant testimony in distant Romein Rome where he had so long and so earnestly desired to labour. So may one crumb of Divine grace and help be multiplied to feed 5000 wants and anxieties (Alford). Pauls voice, so said his Master to him, was to be heard in the two capitals of the worldin Jerusalem the metropolis of the religious, and in Rome the metropolis of the civil world. The results of his preaching in each of these centres deserve attention. In Jerusalem, Pauls mission was a complete failure: his words there were spoken to the winds, they were written upon the sand; but when Paul left Jerusalem, the days of the city were numbered. In about ten years from the day when his pleading voice was drowned by the execrations in the temple, and a few hours later in the Sanhedrim hall, not one stone of the doomed city was left on another. In Rome he helped to build up a flourishing church. His presence had been long looked for in the great metropolis; and when the sovereignty of the world was lost to the imperial city, the once despised religion of Paul and his companions restored to the Rome which had welcomed him and received his message, a new and even grander empire than the proudest of the early Csars had ruled over. The words of the Master in the vision were indeed fulfilledfulfilled, too, in that deeper sense which the solemn word to bear witness was beginning to assume in the familiar language of Christians.
Paul would be preserved to help in laying the foundation stories of the Roman Church; and besides this, the day was not so far distant when the veteran soldier of Christ should again bear his true loyal witness to the Master, when in the martyrs painful death he should pass to his rest at Rome.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The Lord Protected Paul From the Jews
With all the hostility the Jews had shown him since his arrival in Jerusalem, Paul may have doubted if he would ever escape that city and fulfill his desire to preach in Rome. The Lord appeared to him at night and encouraged him to continue to be of good cheer, which is the meaning of the imperative used in Act 23:11 , according to Lenski. The Lord assured the apostle that he would get to give the same testimony in Rome as he had in Jerusalem.
The next morning, more than forty Jews took an oath to neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Bruce believes their vow may have been something like the following, “So may God do to us, and more also, if we eat or drink until we have killed Paul.” He also noted that the “Mishnah makes provision for relief from such vows as could not be fulfilled ‘by reason of constraint.'” The forty plus men reported their plan to the chief priests and elders and enlisted their help in the conspiracy by asking time to get the captain to bring Paul before the council again on the pretext of more thoroughly judging his case. They hoped to kill Paul as he was being brought from the barracks to the council meeting place ( Act 23:12-15 ).
God, in his providence, had Paul’s sister’s son in a position to hear the plot. He then entered into the barracks where the apostle was being kept and informed him of the intention of the conspirators. Paul immediately called for a centurion and asked him to take his nephew to the chief captain. The centurion did just as requested and brought this young man to the commander. The fact that he took the young man by the hand may indicate how young he really was. At any rate, the commander asked Paul’s nephew what he had to tell him. He revealed the entire plot against his uncle. The chief captain then asked him to tell no one what he had reported to him in private and let the young man go ( Act 23:16-22 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
11. If we had some epistle from Paul’s pen, written at this time, it would tell of great distress and despondency; for such a state of mind is clearly indicated by an event which now transpired. (11) “And the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, Paul, for as you have testified concerning me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” It is not to be presumed that this personal appearance of the Lord to encourage him occurred when it was not needed, or when encouragement could be supplied in an ordinary way. It is quite certain, therefore, that Paul’s spirit was greatly burdened that night. The long-dreaded bonds and afflictions, which had hung like a dark cloud before him on his journey from Corinth to Jerusalem, had now at last fallen upon him. Thus far, since his arrest, he may have been cheered by the hope that the fervent prayers of himself and many brethren, which, in anticipation of these calamities, had been urged at the throne of favor for months past, would prove effectual for his deliverance, and for the realization of his long-cherished desire to visit Rome. But his speeches before the mob and the Sanhedrim had only exasperated his enemies, who were now, more than ever, intent upon his destruction; and his jailer, though disposed to do justice, knew not what to do but to keep him in prison. In whatever direction he could look, prison walls or a bloody grave stood before him, and hedged up his way, either to Rome or to any other field of future usefulness. But just at the proper moment to save him from despair, the solemn assurance is give, that his long-continued prayers would yet be answered, and he should preach the Word in Rome as he had done in Jerusalem. In tracing the fulfillment of this promise, we shall witness a remarkable illustration of the workings of providence in answer to prayer.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
THE CONSPIRACY AND DELIVERANCE
11-35. That mighty vision was the secret of Pauls redoubtable courage and sanctified versatility. He knew he was to see Rome. Gods heroes are immortal until the last battle is fought. What a formidable conspiracy! Forty stalwarts, oath-bound never to eat nor drink until they kill Paul. God quickens the acute ears of Pauls little nephew, unnoticed by the conspirators. Lysias here shows up a noble character, as well as true loyalty in the protection of a Roman citizen. When Martin Cozta, an Americanized Hungarian, was condemned by the Austrian General at Smyrna, on the Mediterranean, to die, Captain Ingram, with only one hundred men, in command of the United States warship St. Louis, delivered him out of the hands of one hundred thousand Austrian soldiers. Lysias sends two hundred infantry and seventy cavalry to take Paul, at nine oclock that night, and carry him safe to Governor Felix, at Caesarea, with an explanatory letter stating how he had interposed and rescued Paul, regardless of expense and labor, because he was a Roman citizen. Here we see Pauls old Lictorian Pharisaical identity and his political rights are all laid under contribution to save his life. God works by means. Some things He can do through wicked, worldly people, like the Roman soldiers, and other things He can do through dead church members, like the Pharisees.
God help us to appreciate His providence as well as His grace. Herod had a palace at Caesarea and a judgment-hall in it, which, we find, becomes the comfortable quarters of Paul.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Act 23:11. The Lord Appears to Paul.This section is independent of the preceding scene; the testifying spoken of is in ch. 22, and the vision would stand quite well after Act 22:29. The idea of Rome was in his mind (see Act 19:21); the Lord makes his imprisonment appear as a road there, which it was.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 11
At Rome; thus implying that he was to be rescued from the danger which threatened him, and enabled to execute his purpose of going to Rome. (Acts 19:21.)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The Lord’s encouragement of Paul 23:11
Paul was undoubtedly wondering how he would ever get out of the mess in which he found himself. At this critical moment, during the night of the next day (Gr. te epiouse nykti), the Lord appeared to him again (cf. Act 9:4-6; Act 16:9; Act 18:9-10; Act 22:17-21; Act 27:23-24; Gen 15:1). The Lord’s appearances to Paul all occurred at great crises in his life. He assured the apostle that he would bear witness in Rome as he had already done in Jerusalem (Act 1:8). This revelation is essential to Luke’s purpose in writing Acts, and it certainly must have given Paul confidence as the events that followed unfolded.
"When Jesus’ witnesses were previously imprisoned, prison doors were wondrously opened for them (Act 5:17-21; Act 12:1-11; Act 16:23-26). That is no longer the case. The Lord’s reassurance must take the place of miraculously opening doors. The divine power that rescues from prison has become a powerful presence that enables the witness to endure an imprisonment that lasts for years." [Note: Tannehill, 2:292.]
"This assurance meant much to Paul during the delays and anxieties of the next two years, and goes far to account for the calm and dignified bearing which seemed to mark him out as a master of events rather than their victim." [Note: Bruce, Commentary on . . ., p. 455.]