Acts 16:10-13 sits inside this longer paragraph.
6When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. 8Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” 10When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them. 11Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; 12and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.
13On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. 15When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13 10. Being fully persuaded. Hence we gather, that is…
10. Being fully persuaded. Hence we gather, that is was not bare vision, but that it was also confirmed by the testimony of the Spirit. For Satan doth oftentimes abuse ghosts and visures [masks] to deceive withal, that he may mock and cozen the unbelievers. Whereby it cometh to pass, that the bare vision leaveth man’s mind in doubt; but such as are divine indeed, those doth the Spirit seal by a certain mark, that those may not doubt nor waver whom the Lord will have certainly addicted to himself. A wicked spirit appeared to Brutus, inviting him to enter that unhappy combat and battle which he had at Philippi, even in the very same place whereunto Paul was afterwards called. But as the cause was far unlike, so the Lord dealt far otherwise with his servant, so that he put him out of doubt, and left him not astonished with fear. Now, in Paul and his companions the desire to obey ensued immediately upon the certainty; for, so soon as they understand that the Lord called them, they address themselves to their journey. The termination of the participle which is here used is active; and though it have divers significations, I do not doubt but that Luke’s meaning is, that Paul and the rest, after that they had conferred [compared] this vision with the former oracles, were fully persuaded that the Lord had called them into Macedonia.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10, 13 The Saints did not easily believe every vision.
The Saints did not easily believe every vision.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13 10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately…
10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
Ver. 10. Assuredly gathering] It was not therefore a bare vision, but set on upon their spirits by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, as all visions are that come from God. We read in the Roman history of a vision that Brutus had the night before that ill fated battle at Philippi, calling him into Macedonia too, but for his utter ruin. This was a vision from the devil, doubtless, that old man slayer. Cuthbert Simpson’s vision, and afterwards Mr Laremouth’s (who was chaplain to Queen Anne of Cleve), whereby they were comforted in and delivered out of prison, we may read of in the Book of Martyrs. Cardinal Cusan foretold, by some vision that he had, a reformation of religion that should occur A.D. 1507, which was over fifty years after his death. John Trithemius foretold the same A. D. 1508. Genius vero qui Trithemio haec dictavit, albus an ater fuerit, ego non facile dixerim. Merito suspectum est piis, &c., saith Bucholcerus. Who told him so much I cannot tell; but it was the devil in all likelihood. But what a strange conference was that which Luther had with the devil, by his own confession; whereby he was admonished of many abuses of the mass, which thereupon he wrote against. Is Satan divided against himself? Comes any good out of such a Nazareth? Need we not to prove the spirits, whether they be of God? How many have we today (our modern enthusiasts) that dream their Midianitish dreams, and then tell it for gospel to their neighbours as wise as themselves! that lead men into the lion’s mouth (that roaring lion, I mean), under pretence of a revelation; as that old impostor did the young prophet, 1Ki 13:11-18.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–13 Immediately; as soon as God’s will was manifested, they…
Immediately; as soon as God’s will was manifested, they make no delay, not objecting against the journey.
We endeavoured to go; St. Luke, the penman of this book was one of them that went, (the others were Paul, Silas, and Timotheus), and therefore speaks in the plural number.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v11 A farther account is here given of St. Paul’s…
A farther account is here given of St. Paul’s travels to preach the gospel; he departs from Troas to Samothracia, from thence to Neapolis, and thence to Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia. Here on the sabbath-day he went out of the city to the river’s side, where a meeting place for prayer, say some, was built, and made use of, as being remote from the noise and observation of the multitude.
In this oratory, St. Paul preached to the women, they being both most numerous and most zealous; and God gives him the seal of his ministry in the conversion of Lydia.
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In which famous conversion observe how particularly the Holy Ghost is in relating the several circumstances belonging to it; she is described by her person and sex, a certain woman; by her name Lydia; by her calling and employment, a seller of purple; by her city, Thyatira; by her pious disposition, she worshipped God.
Her conversion is described,
1. By the efficient cause of it; the Lord opened her heart.
2. By the instrumental cause of it; her attending to the things that were spoken of Paul.
Learn, 1. That the hearts of persons are naturally shut up and fast barred against Jesus Christ.
2. That the opening of the heart to receive Jesus Christ, is the peculiar effect of the sovereign power and omnipotent grace of God.
3. That till God opens the heart of a sinner, the preaching of the gospel little affecteth, though never so plainly and persuasuvely preached. That when once the heart is opened, the ear will not be shut, the person is truly attentive to the preaching of the gospel: The Lord opened Lydia’s heart, and she attended.
Observe, next, The seal of her conversion and salvation received by her: She was baptized, and her whole house. It was the ordinary way of the apostles to baptize households; not that they were sure that they were all believers, or that the family governors could make them so; but it was their duty to devote all their power to God, and to do their utmost to persuade; and God usually succeeded their endeavours.
Note here, That the church of God for near seventeen hundred years, never refused the baptizing of infants of believing parents, as being taken into covenant with themselves. Having then for so many ages been in the possession of this privilege, we may more reasonably require the Anabaptists to prove by express scripture, that the children were not baptized by the apostles, (when they baptized whole families, yea, whole nations, according to their commission, Mat 28:19) than they can require us to prove that they were.
Lydia and her house were baptized, says the text; that is, says the Syriac, Lydia and her children. Lydia, by reason of her faith in Christ, having a right to baptism, all her family, upon her undertaking to bring them up in the knowledge of Christ, were admitted to the ordinance with her.
Observe lastly, A special fruit and evidence of Lydia’s conversion: she constrained the apostles with an amicable violence, by fervent entreaties and passionate importunities, to receive the civilities of her house. Converted persons have so much love to Christ’s ministers, who were the instruments of their conversion, that they greatly desire to express it by all acts of possible kindness. If ye have judged me faithful, come into my house, and abide there; and she constrained us.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–13 And after he had seen the vision,.... And considered…
And after he had seen the vision,.... And considered it, and related it to his companions: and when they had well weighed it, and the circumstances of it:
immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia; they determined upon it, and took all the proper methods, and made the necessary provisions for it. Here Luke, the writer of this history, first appears, saying, "we endeavoured"; whether he came with the apostle from Antioch, since he is commonly said to have been a physician of Antioch; or whether he met the apostle at Troas, since here is the first hint of him, is not certain:
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assuredly gathering, that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them; they concluded from the vision with great certainty, that they had a manifest call from God to go into Macedonia, and preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of it, not doubting but that they should meet with success. The Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read "God", instead of "Lord".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–13 We sought to go into Macedonia - This is…
We sought to go into Macedonia - This is the first place in which St. Luke intimates his attendance on the apostle. And here he does it only in an oblique manner. Nor does he throughout the history once mention his own name, or any one thing which he did or said for the service of Christianity; though Paul speaks of him in the most honourable terms, Colossians iv, 14; 2 Tim. iv, 11; and probably as the brother whose praise in the Gospel went through all the Churches, 2 Cor. viii, 18. The same remark may be made on the rest of the sacred historians, who every one of them show the like amiable modesty.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–13 Verse 10. We endeavoured to go into Macedonia] This…
Verse 10. We endeavoured to go into Macedonia] This is the first place that the historian St. Luke refers to himself: WE endeavoured, c. And, from this, it has been supposed that he joined the company of Paul, for the first time, at Troas.
Assuredly gathering] συμβιβαζοντες, Drawing an inference from the vision that had appeared.
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That the Lord had called us for to preach] That is, they inferred that they were called to preach the Gospel in Macedonia, from what the vision had said, come over and help us the help meaning, preach to us the Gospel. Instead of οκυριος, the Lord, meaning JESUS, several MSS., such as ABCE, several others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Theophylact, and Jerome, have οθεος, GOD. Though this stands on very reputable authority, yet the former seems to be the better reading; for it was the SPIRIT of JESUS, Ac 16:7, that would not suffer them to go into Bithynia, because he had designed that they should immediately preach the Gospel in Macedonia.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 Act 16:11-12. Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came to…
Act 16:11-12. Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came to Samothracia — An island in these seas, famous for being the seat of certain religious mysteries, in equal estimation with those called Eleusinian. But it does not appear that they went ashore there, for they landed the next day at Neapolis — A seaport town of Macedonia. Nor did they make any stay even there, but went straight to Philippi; because it was the chief city of that part of Macedonia — And a Roman colony. Thus Paul, having preached first at Damascus, next at Jerusalem, after that throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles in Syria, Cilicia, and most of the countries of the Lesser Asia, went at length, by the particular commandment of Christ, among the Greek nations, to whom it was proper that the glad tidings of salvation should now be given. For, seeing the gospel was a revelation from the true God, and was supported by great and undeniable miracles, it was fit that it should, in due course, be proposed to those nations who were best qualified to judge of its nature and evidences; because if, upon an accurate examination, great numbers of men embraced the gospel, whose minds were improved by science, and every kind of culture, their conversion would render it indubitable, in after times, that the gospel was supported by those great and undeniable miracles, which the Christian records affirm were performed in every country, by the preachers of the gospel. Besides, God, in his infinite wisdom, was determined that the reigning idolatry should be utterly overthrown in those countries of Europe where it had the greatest support, from the ability and learning of its abetters; that no person might suspect, or affirm, in after times, that idolatry was destroyed, and Christianity established, merely through the ignorance and simplicity of the people among whom it was first preached.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10–13 We endeavored - This is the first instance in…
We endeavored - This is the first instance in which Luke refers to himself as being in company with Paul. It is hence probable that he joined Paul and Silas about this time, and it is evident that he attended Paul in his travels, as recorded throughout the remainder of the Acts .
Assuredly gathering - Being certainly convinced.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10, 13 We. This change in the narration from the third,…
We. This change in the narration from the third, to the first person, we sought, &c. is remarkable. It is hence inferred, that St. Luke, the author of this book, joined St. Paul at Troas, and became his inseparable companion. (Calmet) --- It is, however, probable, that as the narrative in the first person changes again at the end of this chapter, and is not resumed, till the fifth verse of the 20th chapter, that St. Luke was absent on some mission during the time that elapsed between this and their sailing from Philippi, as mentioned hereafter. (Chap. xx. ver. 6) (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–13 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we…
And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia--The "we," here first introduced, is a modest intimation that the historian himself had now joined the missionary party. (The modern objections to this are quite frivolous). Whether Paul's broken health had anything to do with this arrangement for having "the beloved physician" with him [WIES], can never be known with certainty; but that he would deem himself honored in taking care of so precious a life, there can be no doubt.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–13 10. We—This is the first of what have been…
10. We—This is the first of what have been called “the we passages;” that is, passages where the use of the first person plural seems to indicate that the writer was present and engaged in the transactions. The passages are Act_16:10-17; Act_20:5-15; Act_21:1-18; Act_27:1 to Act_28:16. These passages indicate that Paul found Luke here at Troas, and retaining him as far as Philippi, there leaves him; and that six years afterward Luke again joins him at Philippi, passes with him to Jerusalem, and thence to Rome. The “we” is not in all this route uniformly used, for he still speaks of Paul in the third person in those transactions in which the writer himself is less or not at all included.
Called us for to preach—This us indicates that Luke was not only “the beloved physician,” and Paul’s “fellow-labourer,” and the most eminent historian of Christ and the Church, but that he was “called for to preach,” and so was a minister of the word. When he was left, therefore, by Paul at Philippi, there is no fair room to doubt that he was left as minister to the Churches in Macedonia. (See note on Act_16:40, and Act_20:1.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–13 10. we endeavoured] More literally and better, we sought.…
10. we endeavoured] More literally and better, we sought. (So R. V.) The steps taken would be in the way of enquiry how and when they could get across the sea to Europe. Here the writer begins to speak in the first person as if at this point he became a sharer in St Paul’s labours. This he continues till Act_16:17.
to go into Macedonia] The word is stronger than the ordinary verb “to go” and = go forth, an expression very suitable to the first missionary journey from Asia into Europe. This is also as R. V.
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assuredly gathering] The verb has the sense of “coming to a conclusion from putting things side by side.” So it is rendered “proving” in Act_9:22 and elsewhere. Here it means “deeming it to be proved.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–13 (10) Immediately we endeavoured . . .—The natural inference…
(10) Immediately we endeavoured . . .—The natural inference from the sudden appearance of the first person in a narrative previously in the third, is that the author became at this point an actor in the events which he records. (See Introduction to St. Luke’s Gospel.) The other hypothesis, that he incorporates a narrative written by Silas or Timotheus, is not probable in itself, and would naturally have involved an earlier change in the form of the narrative. Accepting the received view, it seems to follow, as there is no mention of the conversion of the Evangelist, that St. Paul and St. Luke must have been already known to each other, probably either at Tarsus or Antioch, the fulness with which the history of the latter Church is given pointing to it as the scene of their previous intimacy. On this assumption, the narrator must have left Antioch after the Council of Jerusalem, probably after the dispute between Paul and Barnabas, and travelled through the interior of Asia Minor, in part, perhaps, in the track of St. Paul’s earlier journey; and so gathered materials for his history till he came to Troas, and there carried on his work as an evangelist. The manner in which St. Luke introduces himself (“the Lord had called us”) implies, it may be noted, that he too was a preacher of the gospel. There is no record here of any mission-work done by St. Paul; but the language in 2Co_2:12, and, yet more, the facts of Act_20:6, imply the existence of a Christian community. We may look, accordingly, on St. Luke as the founder of the Church of Troas, and place this among the “labours in the gospel” to which St. Paul refers in 2Co_8:18. The “we endeavoured” (literally, we sought) implies an immediate inquiry as to what ship was sailing, bound for any port of Macedonia. Such a call as that which had been given in the vision admitted of no delay. It came from the Lord Jesus, as the sequel of that given in the vision in the Temple (Act_22:17-21), and was, therefore, to be obeyed at once.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–13 When for after, A.V.; straightway for immediately, A.V.; sought…
When for after, A.V.; straightway for immediately, A.V.; sought for endeavored, A.V.; go forth for go, A.V.; concluding fur assuredly gathering, A.V.; God for the Lord, A.V. and T.R. Concluding; sumbibazontev, only here in the sense of "concluding or "gathering." in Act_9:22 it is "proving." in Eph_4:16 and Col_2:2 it means to "join together." In classical Greek to "bring together" in the sense of" reconciling," sometimes of" agreeing" to a proposition. In the LXX, to," instruct," "teach". (1Co_2:16) In this verse we first remark the very important introduction of the pronoun we into the narrative, marking the presence of the historian himself, and showing that he first joined St. Paul at Tread He went with him to Philippi (ver. 12), and there he appears to have stopped till St. Paul returned there in his third missionary journey on his way from Achaia to Jerusalem, (Act_20:5, Act_20:6) where we find him still with the apostle. (Act_20:17, Act_20:18) We again find him with St. Paul at Caesarea, while he was a prisoner there, (Act_27:1) and he accompanied him on the voyage to Rome, which is the last place where we heir of him. (Act_27:2, Act_27:3. etc.; 28:2, 11, 14-16; Col_4:14; Phm_1:24) It is quite characteristic of Holy Scripture that things are told, or appear on the face of the narrative, without any explanation. Who Luke was, what brought him to Troas, how he became a companion of St. Paul, whether as his medical adviser or otherwise, we know not. His Christian modesty forbade his speaking about himself.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12–13 And from thence to Philippi.
Act_16:12
And from thence to Philippi.
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Philippi
The apostle had not paused at Samothrace--an island celebrated for its sanctity and its amulets, its gods and orgies, its Cybele and Cobira--a scene where the mysteries of Eastern and Western superstition seem to have met and blended. Nor did he stop at Neapolis, the harbour of the Thymonic gulf, but he pressed on to Philippi; and the ground of his preference was that it was the chief city, etc. This cannot mean the chief or capital city, for that was Thessalonica; and if there existed at that period a minuter subdivision, the principal town was Amphipolis. It probably means that it was the first city of the province that lay upon his journey. It was the chief city of that part, and there was every inducement to fix upon it as a centre of operations. As it was a city and a colony, its importance in itself, and in relation to other towns and districts, made it a fitting place for present work and subsequent enterprise. You may either say that Paul went to Philippi as the first city in his path, for he had been summoned into Macedonia, and he could never think of passing the first city which he came to; or that he formally selected Philippi because of its rank and its privileges as a Roman colony. Philippi was anciently called Krenides, or the Springs, on account of its numerous fountains, in which the Gangites has its sources. Philip, about 358 B.C., enlarged the old town and fortified it, in order to protect the frontiers against Thracian invaders, and named it after himself, to commemorate the addition of a new province to his empire. After the famous battle fought and won in its neighbourhood by the Triumvirs, Augustus conferred special honours on the city, and made it a Roman colony. A military settlement had been made in it, chiefly of the soldiers who had been ranged under the standard of Antony, so that it was a protecting garrison on the confines of Macedonia. A colonia was a reproduction in miniature of the mother city Rome. The Roman law ruled; and the Roman insignia were everywhere seen. The municipal affairs were managed by duumvirs, or praetors. Philippi had also the Jus Italicum, or quaritarian ownership of the soil, its lands enjoying the same freedom from taxation as did the soil of Italy. Highly favoured as Philippi had been, it was in need of help. Political franchise and Roman rights, Grecian tastes and studies, wide and varied commerce, could not give it the requisite aid. It was sunk in a spiritual gloom, which needed a higher light than Italian jurisprudence or Hellenic culture could bring it, It was helpless within itself, and the man who represented it had appealed to the sympathies of a Jewish stranger, whose story of the Cross could lift the darkness off its position and destiny. The spear and phalanx of Macedonia had been famous, and had carried conquest and civilisation through a large portion of the Eastern world; the sun of Greece had not wholly set, and Epicureans and Stoics yet mingled in speculation, and sought after wisdom; the sovereignty of Rome had secured peace in all her provinces, and her great roads not only served for the march of the soldier, but for the cortege of the trader; art and law, beauty and power, song and wealth, the statue and the drama, survived and were adored; but there was in many a heart a sense of want and powerlessness, an indefinite longing after some higher good and portion, a painless and restless agitation, which only he of Tarsus could soothe and satisfy with his preaching of the God-man--the life, hope, and centre of humanity. (Prof. Eadie.)
The first three Philippian converts
1. They are representatives of three different races--the one an Asiatic, the other a Greek, the third a Roman.
2. In the relations of everyday life they have nothing in common: the first is engaged in an important and lucrative branch of traffic; the second, treated by law as a mere chattel without any social or political rights, is employed by her masters to trade on the credulous superstition of the ignorant; the third, equally removed from both, holds a subordinate office under government.
3. In their religious training they stand no less apart. In the one, the speculative mystic temper of Oriental devotion has at length found deeper satisfaction in the revealed truths of the Old Testament; the second, bearing the name of the Pythian god, the reputed source of Greek inspiration, represents an artistic and imaginative religion, though manifested in a very low and degrading form; while the third, if he preserved the characteristic features of his race, must have exhibited a type of worship essentially political in tone. The purple dealer and proselyte of Thyatira, the native slave girl with the divining spirit, the Roman jailer, all alike acknowledge the supremacy of the new faith. In the history of the gospel at Philippi, as in the history of the Church at large, is reflected the great maxim of Christianity, the central truth of the apostles preaching--that here is neither Jew nor Greek, etc. (Gal_3:28).
4. The order of these conversions is significant: first the proselyte, next the Greek, lastly the Roman. Thus the incidents in their sequence, no less than in their variety, symbolise the progress of Christianity throughout the world. Through the Israelite dispersion, through the proselytes whether of the covenant or the gate, the gospel message first reached the Greek. By the instrumentality of the Greek language, and the diffusion of the Greek race, it finally established itself in Rome, the citadel of power and civilisation, whence directly or indirectly it was destined to spread over the whole world. (Bp. Lightfoot.)
Christianity in Europe
I. Accepting Christ (verses 14, 15). It is well to note--
1. Who this convert was.
(1) She was a woman of business. Her perceptions had been sharpened by trade. She was free from the bondage of local prejudice.
(2) She was from Thyatira, a city of Asia, in which district the missionaries had been forbidden to speak the Word. When the Holy Spirit shuts the door in one place, it may be that He intends to reach it by the way of another.
(3) She was a Jewish proselyte. She had learned to worship the true God. Having made that much progress, she was prepared to go still further--much more prepared than the Jews themselves.
2. How she was converted. Whose heart the Lord opened, etc., Paul spoke the Word, but the Lord gave the Word fruitfulness. I planted, Apollos watered; God gave the increase.
3. How her conversion was shown.
(1) Her whole family was converted with her. Through her faith, her servants, and her children, if she had children, were brought into the kingdom of Christ.
(2) She constrained the missionaries to abide with her, which was no small burden. Paul, Timothy, Silas, and Luke made quite a party to take care of. And note how she puts her request. She makes it appear as though they were doing her a favour, rather than she them. They had done so much for her soul that she wanted to do something for their bodies.
II. Saved through Christ. We turn from one who was ready to accept Christ to one who was in the power of Satan. But the power of Christ was shown in the one ease as in the other. The Lord opened the heart of the one, cast out the evil spirit from the other.
1. The evil spirit in possession.
(1) Bringing gain. The unfortunate girl was owned by a joint-stock company. Her owners speculated in the credulity of men. Her insane ravings were taken as the revelation of an oracle.
(2) Bringing reproach. The same following after Paul and us, cried, etc. This she did for many days. The testimony which she bore was the same as that of the evil spirits to the Saviour. The witness was true, but it was not from a good source.
2. The evil spirit cast out.
(1) Why? Paul being sore troubled, etc. At what? Presumably at the character of the endorsement he and his friends were receiving. With this, however, there may have been a great sympathy for the poor girl.
(2) How? I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. The act was done in such a way as to show the faith of Paul in Christ, his dependence upon Christ, and as to honour Christ. Those who witnessed the miracle could not have any doubt as to the power through which the marvel was accomplished.
III. Suffering for Christ.
1. The anger of the masters.
(1) How it arose. Her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone. The maid now spoke rationally, instead of raving, or giving wild, weird utterances that made people think that they were listening to something supernatural. Now no one would pay anything to hear the girl speak good sense. It did not matter to them that the maid was released from a most cruel thraldom. Let a drunkard burst his bonds, and what rum seller will rejoice over his deliverance? Let a gambler throw off the terrible fascination, and how angry are those whom he has been enriching.
(2) How it was manifested.
(a) They laid hold on Paul and Silas, etc. The dragging, we may be sure, was not gently done.
(b) They said, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, etc. The formal complaint did not correspond to the offence. They knew that the magistrates could take no cognisance of such an injury as they had received. They craftily word their complaint. They appeal to the Roman prejudice against the Jews.
2. The anger of the magistrates. The multitude became a mob, and the magistrates not much better. No form of a trial was even pretended. Against these Jews, the accusation of such respectable, dividend-receiving citizens was taken as conclusive evidence. Judgment and sentence were instantaneous.
(1) The missionaries were beaten with many stripes, more cruelly than if they had been committing a crime.
(2) They were cast into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks. What land is there where a similar heroic record has not been made? (M. C. Hazard.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13 10. We endeavored to go into Macedonia. Sought to…
10. We endeavored to go into Macedonia. Sought to find a ship to carry them across. There is no intimation that they preached at this time of Troas, but a few years later we find here a church (20:6–12). Here, first, the writer of Acts speaks of himself as one of the company and adopts the style of an eye witness. It is supposed that Luke joined the missionary band at Troas.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 Act_16:12. The chief city of that part of Macedonia,…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_16:12. The chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.—Better, a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a colony—i.e., of Rome. Macedonia was divided into four parts; but whether “the first” meant “the first arrived at” (Winer, Zöckler, Lightfoot Alford), not a very valuable observation; or the first in political importance (Farrar, Ramsay), which Philippi was, though Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia, and Amphipolis of the province; or “the first to be made a colony” (Grotius, Meyer, Wendt, Overbeck), the distinction pointed out in the text; or “the first city on the frontier” (Wordsworth), is debated, and is not clear. Wordsworth’s idea derives support from the occurrence of a similar phrase in Xenophon (Anab., I. iv. 1): εἰς Ἰσσούς, τῆς Κιλικίας ἐσχάτην πόλιν. Dr. Hort thinks some early corruption has crept into the text, and that instead of μερίδος should be read Πιερίδος (M for II), for Philippi belonged to the Pieria of Mount Paragon, and might well be called “a chief city of Pierian Macedonia” (Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek, 2:97, Appendix.) Ramsay says: “The term ‘first’ was commonly assumed by towns which were or claimed to be chief of a district or province.”
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Act_16:13. By a river side.—Neither the Strymon nor the Nestos, which are both distant from Philippi, but the smaller stream Gangas close by the town. Where prayer was wont to be made; or, where we supposed there has as a place of prayer (R.V.). The received reading corrected thus, where a place of prayer was wont to be, has the support of good authorities. Josephus (Ant., XIV. x. 23) mentions the custom of making “prayer houses” at the seaside.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_16:11-13
Paul and Silas in Philippi; or, the Gospel carried to Europe
I. The journey to Philippi.—
1. From Troas to Samothraoia. No sooner had Paul and his companions, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, the beloved physician, who had now joined the apostle (see “Critical Remarks,” Act_16:10, and “Hints” on Act_16:11), understood the significance of the midnight vision than they proceeded to comply with the call of the Macedonian man. With the early dawn, having turned their steps towards the harbour, and found a ship about to sail for Europe, they engaged berths. As the vessel weighed anchor and shot into the deep “the sun rose and spread the day over the sea and the islands as far as Athos and Samothrace” (Conybeare and Howson). Running in a straight course, or, in modern nautical phrase, sailing before the (south) wind (see Act_21:1, and compare Act_27:16), the vessel would reach the island of Samothrace that day, anchoring for the night to the leeward of it. Samothrace, the present-day Samothraki, about half-way between Troas and Neapolis, contains the highest land in this part of the Ægean except Mount Athos.
2. From Samothrace to Neapolis. “A run of seven or eight hours would bring the vessel under the lee of the island of Thasos, and within a few miles of the coast of Macedonia” (Conybeare and Howson), which accordingly was reached next day. The harbour in which the four passengers disembarked belonged to the town of Neapolis, the modern Kavala, in Thrace, on the Gulf of Strymon, and about ten miles distant from Philippi, to which it served as a port. Hence the missionaries did not linger in Neapolis, but pushed on towards the capital of the district.
3. From Neapolis to Philippi. A short journey of not more than three hours would conduct them to “the chief city of that part of Macedonia,” or to “a city of Macedonia, the first of the district [see “Critical Remarks”], a Roman colony.” This city was Philippi, once an obscure place, called Krenides from its streams and springs, but erected into a frontier city against the Thracian mountaineers, and named after himself by the father of Alexander, and constituted a colonia by Augustus. It was “a fact of deep significance that the first city at which Paul arrived on his entrance into Europe was that colony which was more fit than any other in the empire to be considered the representative of Imperial Rome” (Conybeare and Howson, i. 267).
II. The stay in Philippi.—
1. How long it continued. Impossible to tell. Clearly two Sabbaths (Act_16:13; Act_16:16), and most likely some weeks were spent in the city (Act_16:20).
2. What incidents occurred.
(1) The conversion of Lydia on the first Sabbath in a prayer-house by the river-side, through Paul’s preaching (Act_16:13-15). See below.
(2) The cure of a Pythoness, or damsel possessing a spirit of divination, by the word of Paul who, in the name of Jesus, commanded the spirit to come out of her (Act_16:16-18).
(3) The imprisonment of Paul and Silas by the town magistrates, who first commanded them to be beaten and then handed them over to the care of the town jailor (Act_16:19-24).
(4) The conversion of the jailor, who was spiritually awakened by an earthquake which shook the foundations of the prison at midnight, and by Paul was directed how to find salvation (Act_16:25-34).
III. The departure from Philippi.—
1. After liberation from jail. This took place:
(1) on the morning after the earthquake—“when it was day”;
(2) at the request of the magistrates, who had become alarmed at the situation, either in consequence of the earthquake which seemed like an interposition of the gods on behalf of the prisoners, or because on reflection they had grown convinced of the injustice of what they had done (Act_16:35-36);
(3) after the remonstrance of Paul, who declined to be surreptitiously thrust out of bonds after having been publicly scourged, and that, too, while they were Romans, and who demanded that they should be honourably and openly liberated by the magistrates themselves (Act_16:37); and
(4) by the hands of the magistrates, who, on learning that their prisoners were Roman citizens, feared what might happen to themselves for having so thoughtlessly violated the sanctity of Roman law, and, like evildoers generally who tremble when confronted with the consequences of their crimes, were exceeding glad to get them peacefully despatched beyond the city precincts (Act_16:39).
2. After visiting the house of Lydia. Having resided there before arrest and imprisonment (Act_16:15), they naturally returned thither on release from confinement. Not, however, to stay, but to exchange Christian greetings with, and address words of comfort to, the brethren there assembled, who, having been converted by their ministry, formed the nucleus of the Church to which afterwards the epistle to the Philippians was directed. This done, they departed, but not for ever (see Act_20:6).
Learn.—
1. That the track of the gospel over land and sea has always been guided by God.
2. That Europeans have reasons to bless God for having so early sent the gospel to their shores.
3. That nothing befalls God’s people without His express permission.
4. That events which seem to hinder may eventually further the gospel.
5. That the gospel spreads by means of preaching.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_16:11. The Writer of the “We” Passages; or, Luke the Beloved Physician (see Introduction).—“Of Luke himself, beyond what we learn of his movements and of his character from his own writings, we know but little. There is no reason to reject the unanimous tradition that he was by birth an Antiochene, and it is clear (?) from St. Paul’s allusions that he was a Gentile convert, and that he had not been circumcised (Col_4:10-11; Col_4:14). That he was a close observer, a careful narrator, a man of cultivated intellect, and possessed of a good Greek style we see from his two books; and they also reveal to us a character gentle and manly, sympathetic and self-denying. The incidental allusion of St. Paul shows us that he was a physician, and this allusion is singularly confirmed by his own turns of phrase. The rank of a physician in those days was not in any respect so high as now it is, and does not at all exclude the possibility that St. Luke may have been a freedman; but on this, and all else which concerns him, Scripture and tradition leave us entirely uninformed. That he was familiar with naval matters is strikingly shown in his account of the shipwreck, and it has even been conjectured that he exercised his art in the huge and crowded merchant vessels which were incessantly coasting from point to point of the Mediterranean.—Farrar, “The Life and Work of St. Paul,” chap. xxiv.
St. Luke and St. Paul.—“It may be well to note the phenomena in the writings ascribed to the physician which, though they do not directly indicate his calling, at least fall in with it and are best explained by it.… Thus we find him noting specifically the special combination of fevers (πυρετοί, as in Hippoc., Aph., vii. 63, 64—the plural is obviously technical for feverish symptoms) and a bloody flux (δυσεντερία) from which the father of Publius suffered at Melita (Act_28:8), and using in relation to the generous gifts which it called forth the special word “honour” (τιμή), which, like our “honorarium,” was applied to the payments made to those who practised a profession and not a trade (?). So, again, in the healing of the cripple in the temple (Act_3:7), he records with a technical precision which our English Version but partially represents that “his feet” (not the common πόδες, but βάσεις—a word used by Hippocrates, p. 637) “and ankle-bones” (σφυρά) “were strengthened,” the previous crippled state being due to the congenital imperfect development of the bones and tendons of the feet.… So he stated that the paralysis of Æneas lasted eight years, and that for the whole of that period he had been bedridden (Act_9:33); that from Saul’s eyes “there fell as it had been the scales” (ὡσεὶ λεπίδες) of the incrustation incidental to ophthalmia (Act_9:18); and that the damsel at Philippi had “a spirit of Python,” or Apollo, “presenting phenomena identical with the convulsive movements and wild cries of the Pythian priestess at Delphi” (Act_16:16); while as one whose previous studies had made him acquainted with the recorded cases of phthiriasis, such as those of Antiochus Epiphancs (2Ma_9:9), Pheretima (Herod., iv. 205), and Sylla, and perhaps Herod the Great (Josephus, Ant., Act_17:15), he would note with a special interest the addition of another instance in the death of Herod Agrippa as “eaten by worms,” σκωληκόβρωτος (Act_12:23).—Dean Plumptre, in “The Expositor” (1876), iv., pp. 137–139.
Act_16:13. An Ancient Prayer Meeting.
I. The place of worship.—
1. Outside the city. Rendered necessary because of the character of the city which, being large and heathen, was not much suited for devotion. Those who wish to pray should withdraw from both the world’s bustle and the world’s superstition and sin (Mat_6:6).
2. By a river side. Jewish prayer-houses were usually erected on river-banks, or at places where water could be easily obtained for ceremonial lustrations. Suggestive of that inward cleansing which is required by all who would approach God in prayer (Isa_1:15-16; Jas_4:8).
3. In a prayer-house. Not an ordinary synagogue (Schürer), there being few Jews in the town; most likely an open space consecrated to Divine worship. Prayer may be offered anywhere. If Christians, for any reason, cannot obtain comfortable edifices in which to worship, rather than not worship at all they should betake themselves to river-banks, hillsides, district moors, dens, and caves of the earth.
II. The time of worship.—The Sabbath. Whether on other days is not clear (see Act_16:16); but in any case the seventh-day worship was not neglected. Neither should the Lord’s-day worship be omitted by Christians (Act_20:7; Heb_10:25).
III. The congregation of worshippers.—A few women; amongst them some converts to Judaism, like Lydia (see below). If no men were present before Paul and his companions arrived upon the scene, the intrusion of four male worshippers must have caused a sensation. Women have always been more devout than men (Act_1:14, Act_13:50).
IV. The acts of worship.—
1. Prayer. This the primary object of such gatherings.
2. Reading of the Scriptures. Though not stated, this may be assumed.
3. Exposition of the word. As in the synagogue by any capable person who might happen to be present (Act_13:15).
Act_16:13. The Opening of the Mission.
I. When was it that they had an opportunity of preaching? It was on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was the great day on which he knew that his work was to be done.
II. Observe, then, the place at which he preached. It was by the river-side, “where prayer was wont to be made.” There appears to have been no synagogue at Philippi.
III. One other thing to be observed is, the persons to whom they preached. They “sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.”
Now, what are the lessons which we are to learn for ourselves from this account of the first preaching of the gospel at Philippi?
1. It is fitted to remind us of the great practical value of the Sabbath.
2. Another lesson which we learn from the history, closely connected with this, is the importance of meeting together for united prayer whenever we have the opportunity.
3. One other thing we are taught by this passage of history which we have been considering to-day, and that is, not to despise any means of doing good, however small it may be, which is put within our reach. We do not know what great results may follow it.—M. F. Day.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv10–13 10. This clear and unmistakable open vision, both seen…
10. This clear and unmistakable open vision, both seen and heard, sweeps away all defalcation as to their evangelistic call to preach the gospel in Europe. For this reason, Christian Europe and America are the spiritual children of Paul. No sooner is the vision seen, and the Macedonian voice heard ringing over the sea, than they all prepare for an immediate embarkation.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v13 Section 2. (Act 16:13-40.)
Section 2. (Act 16:13-40.)
Progress through conflict.
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Philippi is evidently the starting-point of the history proper, as the Spirit of God is pleased to take it up for our instruction. It begins with conflict, and the power of Satan is more nakedly manifest here than at Paphos upon the former journey. It is no longer, however, debased Judaism that is the instrument, but heathenism, the rule of the demons or false gods, which had for the world at large usurped the place of the One true God. The power of the world has here therefore to be reckoned with,, and the progress of the gospel in the teeth of persecution. Yet under no circumstances does the gospel succeed so well; and Philippi is a marked instance of this, -always in lively sympathy with the gospel, as we know from the epistle to the saints there; and to whom the apostle speaks as to sympathetic bearers of his own earnest pressing forward in what was to him a race for a prize. The name Philippi, "fond of horses," naturally reminds us of this, and stamps with its significance spiritually those who now come before us, as well as the whole-hearted laborers the fruit of whose work they are. Progress through conflict may well characterize this section; and there is little true progress made where the adverse power is not realized.
1. The beginning here is in a humble way enough. Here, where they have been brought by, a vision of imploring need, the very man of the vision does not appear; and in the absence of any synagogue, such as in general provided them with their first opportunity, they are fain to go outside the city-gate, by the bank of the river where it was the custom for prayer to be, and speak to the women who seem alone to have the heart to come together. We see that they are not men who will miss a small door open in seeking a large one; and here also, if there be effectual entrance, it must be the Lord who makes it. The heart of Lydia* is thus divinely opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul. Her baptism soon follows, with that of her house, or family, as if the natural consequence of her own faith. So undoubtedly would a proselyte to Judaism as she was have considered it; and the Lord has long since assured us that such a rule as to the kingdom of God has not been repealed (Mat 18:14). Entrance into the Church is not at all in question; to which the baptism of the Spirit alone could introduce. It is the confusion between Church and Kingdom which has largely been the cause of the difficulty upon these points which has arisen. The doctrine is not here before us to consider. Lydia, as the faithful person that she desires to be known as, does not shrink from identifying herself with those who have been the means of bringing her the truth which has won her. In those days it was not possible to be long ignorant of what it involved to do this; but with whole-hearted decision she at once presses the little company of. Christ’s witnesses to come into her house and abide there; and her earnestness will admit of no refusal: she constrained them. In fact the clouds were already gathering which portended a storm which was soon to break.
{*Lydia’s occupation and the city whence she came are given, and these with the significance of her name, would doubtless help in illuminating the brief narrative we have of her conversion, had we eyes to see. Thyatira was a city in Asia, where the door had just been closed on Paul. The first convert in Europe was from that city, and thus the continuity of the work is shown. Her business -said to be characteristic of the city -had to do with the adornment of the natural man. Her lowliness is in striking contrast with the Church of Thyatira (Rev 2:18, etc.), which represents the Church of Rome, the "woman arrayed in purple and scarlet color." -S.R.}
2. The enemy does not begin, however, with an open attack -far from it: he announces himself in the first place as himself a witness to the message that Paul brings! A female slave, having a spirit of Python (supposed to be inspired by Apollo) and who brought her masters much gain by her divinations, followed Paul and his companions on their way to the place of prayer, and day after day cried out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who show you the way of salvation." It was an astonishing testimony from one accredited by the multitude as a true prophetess, but whose whole condition spoke to those who could discern the truth of dreadful bondage to an evil spirit! Yet it was in this case a true testimony, and which from such lips would naturally bring the attention of many to the truth. Nor had those accredited by it any responsibility apparently in the matter. Why should they not even accept such homage to the truth forced from the mouth of a demon? So had the evil spirits in the Lord’s time owned Him as the Holy One of God whom men scoffed at as the Nazarene. But He had silenced them, and cast them out; and now also there could be no alliance between the awful power that held the world captive and Him who is its Deliverer. Satan, if he will testify, shall testify in being cast out; and the apostle, though for a time simply ignoring his effort to attach himself as a parasite to the tree of life, at last brings to bear on him the power of the Name of Jesus Christ, and his captive is set free.
Alas, not always was there to be the wisdom to discern the attack of the enemy in that which spoke highly of the way of salvation, and glorified its ministers. And so in fact was the way to be perverted, and the ministry to become the chief agency in its perversion; the little seed became a tree, with the birds of the air lodged securely in its branches. Who can doubt that we have here a forecast of that which has now become history? -though the disaster wrought is not yet all told out.
Alliance or persecution, -these are the alternatives: false friendship or open war. The apostle’s act shows at once his acceptance of the issue, and presages the final result; though for the present -and this in the ordering of God for blessing to His own -the conflict may seem largely to go against them. The cross must be the way to the crown, as the Lord fully assured us; and "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." The world is adverse, and the condition of progress is that we make our way through hostile forces. At Philippi, the enemy seeks to turn his first discomfiture into success. The loss of their gains stirs up the girl’s masters to drag Paul and Silas before the magistrates, with the charge that as Jews they are troubling the city by introducing customs unlawful to them as Romans. The prejudice against Jews was great, and the last part of the charge had in it a certain amount of truth, as well as ability to rouse the fanaticism of Romans. "The letter of the Roman law, even under the republic, was opposed to the introduction of foreign religions; and though exceptions were allowed, as in the case of the Jews themselves, yet the spirit of the law entirely condemned such changes in worship as were likely to unsettle the minds of the citizens, or to produce any tumultuous uproar . . . . Thus Paul and Silas had undoubtedly been doing what in some degree exposed them to legal penalties; and were beginning a change which tended to bring down, and ultimately did bring down, the whole weight of the Roman law on the martyrs of Christianity" (Conybeare and Howson).
Thus the prince of this world had taken means to secure himself against the truth which might dethrone him; and at Philippi different causes combined to rouse the excitement of the mob so as to carry the magistrates along with it. The arrested men are stripped and beaten in the merciless way natural, not merely in the hard pagan world, but in the lawless condition in which things were at present. Bruised and bleeding they are thrust into prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe; who on his part thrusts them into the innermost dungeon, and their feet into the stocks.
These are the world’s weapons, which are freely used upon unarmed and defenceless men, teachers, as an oracle of their own had loudly proclaimed, of the way of salvation. But if the weapons of these men are not carnal, they are, in the language of one of the sufferers here, "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds," and presently the prison walls are stirred to their foundations, as vibrating to the unaccustomed sound of prayer and praise from lips that cannot be silenced as the hearts that move them cannot be stilled.
3. "At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God; and the prisoners listened to them."
What a new sound it must have been! Had it been in a Christian land, as we say, however poorly any land may be that, we should think of memories that it would awaken in whatever hardened hearts; but here there were no memories to awaken; it was a new gospel of gladness going forth, which in such circumstances those old Romans knew not. They could die well, as we know; -sternly, grimly, they could die; with their song too upon their lips, as heroes, patriots, and in softer moods of love and loyalty; but all this was inspiration from earthly sources, and not strange to men: here was inspiration of another kind, -a new strain that held the listeners by its rapt unearthliness, its confidence and joy in an unseen God. Here was its revelation -its gospel: would there be answer to this undoubting claim upon One assumed so near and competent?
Suddenly an unexpected answer came: a great earthquake rocked the prison to its foundations; and in a moment all the doors were opened, and every one’s bonds were loosed! Yet all the more the wonder held them: they were in hands so manifestly mighty, so interested too, and guided by purpose for the manifestation of which they could only wait. Did not some realize perhaps, that there was here a God worth waiting for, whom it must be a joy to know?
There was one, however, to whom what had taken place was a message of death, or seemed such. The jailer, roused from sleep by the sudden shock, and seeing the prison doors open, supposed that the prisoners had escaped. In that case, from the severity of the Roman law there would have been for him no escape. He had drawn his sword to kill himself, in despair of life, when a voice of quiet assurance from the depths of the prison arrested him. "Do thyself no harm," it called; "for we are all here." In that instant the voice of God had spoken to him; the keeper and his captives had changed places: the perfect authority breathing in these words, coupled with mercy to himself so great, which had laid aside all that self-concern prompted to, to care for a mere careless and hardened persecutor, smote him with conviction that God was with these men. He was in their hands, and not they in his. Conscience and heart were roused in him together; the sense of sin, and of goodness that drew him after it. He called for lights, and sprang in, and fell down before Paul and Silas, trembling with these new emotions; and bringing them out, with the voice of the prophetess, no doubt, ringing in his ears, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
It was such a cry as divine grace awakens and responds to. The facing of death immediately before, the consciousness of the divine hand in all that had taken place, had been used of the Spirit of God to make him understand what salvation would mean, though not the way of it. The way he did not understand; nor could he have understood without further help the simple words (to us, thank God!) in which it was made known to him: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, -thou and thy house." It is a blessed word; blessed in the largeness of assurance that clings to it; and which, though on opposite sides misconceived, we are not to give up on that account.
It is faith in a personal Saviour that is preached to the convicted man, -a committing himself to One mighty to save; a believing on, which is trusting, leaning on. It is not a doctrine simply that he is to accept, but a living Person who is to be trusted.
But then it is a Person who has accomplished a work for men, in the power of which He is Lord and Christ; not simply Sovereign Ruler, but the "Anointed" Priest, the Representative of His people. As having stood in our place upon the cross, He stands as the One in whom we are accepted before God.
It is necessarily, therefore, faith which saves, just because it is Christ who saves; it is not the value of faith in itself, although there is value in faith; for it is the real active principle in every soul: so that it can be said, "Faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone." It works because it puts Christ in His place, and so God (as manifested in Christ) in His also. But as contrasted with works it is the very confession of creature nothingness and worthlessness, in which it lays hold of Another as all its competence and all its boast. Repentance and faith are thus but the opposite sides of the amazing change which is wrought in conversion: the one is the face turned towards God, as the other is the back turned upon self. Each therefore implies the other.
But now as to the closing words, "thou and thy house:" have they any special encouragement as to the family of a believer, or have they not? Do they mean only "thou, if thou believest, and thy house also, if they believe"? Or do they mean something more than this? Would there be need to assure the penitent here, that faith being the way of salvation, it was as open to his house upon their believing as to himself? It does not seem as if he would need to be assured of that.
On the other hand, there should not need to say, that if faith be, as it surely is, the way of salvation there is no exemption of the family of a believer from the necessity of faith. If there should possibly be any, as is sometimes stated, who with the plain word of Scripture before them can yet hold that for a believer’s house there is even the possibility that without faith they may still please God, or that the father’s faith can in anywise be proxy for that of the child, such a superstition needs only to be brought into honest daylight to be refuted. Quite a different thing it is to believe that there are special promises to a believer’s house, not unconditional, and yet conditioned only upon his being in practical reality, and in relation to that which is in question, a believer. Such a belief has plenty to ground itself upon in Scripture, and is not a superstition but a faith.
Take Abraham, "the father of all them that believe" (Rom 4:11), as an illustration and somewhat more. "I know him," says the Lord, "that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him" (Gen 18:19). Here is, indeed, not a promise but an assurance, grounded upon that which the practical character of his faith wrought in the Old Testament example of it. Himself called out from the idolatry around to keep the way of the Lord, he acknowledged Him as the God of his household as well as his own God. With such purpose of heart the wise man’s proverb would be fulfilled as to his house, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Pro 22:6). This is the rule of the Christian’s house, according to which he is to bring up his children in the "nurture (or discipline) and admonition of the Lord" (Eph 6:4). To this the promise applies that assures him that it shall be effectual; and not in vain is the assurance. The faith which it is true they need cannot be imparted by all that man can do for them: how comforting then the word which entitles confidence in the Lord to whom we bring them, and whose we would have them, that nevertheless this "discipline and admonition" shall be effectual! Discipleship, government, discipline belong to the kingdom; and "thou and thy house" have always been the rule in the kingdom of God. Yet all here is distinctly conditional, not absolute, as the Gospels fully show us; and to this, and not to the Church, is baptism introductory (see Mat 28:18-19, notes); all is perfectly intelligible, therefore, when we find directly here, that "they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house;" and that the jailer "was baptized, he and all his, immediately."
Notable it is that of Israel’s "set times" (Lev 23:1-44), which typically present God’s ways (as we say dispensationally), on to the end which is God’s rest, those from Passover to Pentecost speak of what was indeed offered to Israel, and thus might have been hers, but being rejected through unbelief, they have passed from her in their spiritual significance and become the peculiar portion of the (characteristically Gentile) Church. No doubt can be entertained as to Pentecost; but the Sheaf of First-fruits also, which is Christ in resurrection, the promise of the harvest to come, is also ours whose portion will be with Him in this, while Israel inherits hers upon earth. Accordingly the feasts which speak of the national blessing come afterwards, with an interval between, in the seventh month; the feast of trumpets gathering them afresh, at the new moon, when the Sun of righteousness begins to shine afresh upon Israel; the day of atonement then showing their sins put upon the scapegoat and sent away; and finally the feast of tabernacles consummates their blessing.
Passover, let us notice, is not like the day of atonement, one sacrifice covering all the people, but "a lamb for a house," each family distinctly represented. Nay, if one should be defiled at the time of its celebration, or on a journey afar off, a second Passover can be kept, to remedy the omission. I do not say but that, in a secondary sense, this may apply to Israel, who were indeed defiled at the time of Christ’s suffering for men; but this would only confirm the more the application of the Passover primarily to the present going out of the gospel in the day of Israel’s rejection.
But what then is the principle that faces us in the Passover? Clearly, it is "Thou and thy house;" the heads of the houses kill the lamb, and sprinkle the blood upon the lintel and the two side-posts of the houses where they eat it. The family character of the redemption feast is manifest; and notice again that it is at Philippi, among those who are Gentile -no synagogue of the Jews in the place, and not a word of any man of Israel in the place, save only the preachers themselves, that we hear what we may call now the passover gospel -"Thou shalt be saved: thou and thy house."
What a change has passed, and as in a moment, upon the hardened instrument of heathen cruelty and opposition to the word of Christ! "He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and having brought them up into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced with all his house, believing God." Although we have to translate perhaps in this way, on account of the difficulty of other rendering in English, yet it should be understood that the expression "with all his house" is not here as in the case of Crispus afterwards where it is said that he "believed with all his house" (Act 18:8). Here it is an adverb, and there should be a reason for the difference, the effect of which would be to make the joy more simply his own. It is certain, at least, that although they had spoken the word to all that were in his house, faith is ascribed to himself alone.
The work in the prison is done, and now indeed the prison doors can hold them no longer. The day having come, the magistrates sent the lictors with a curt message to "Let those men go." But Paul is concerned that there should be no avoidable reproach left upon the testimony, and he refuses to be dismissed in this manner after the public wrong upon men uncondemned. The magistrates are afraid when they hear that they are Roman citizens they have been treating in this manner, and come in humble fashion to bring them out; begging them, however, to leave the city. They return therefore to Lydia’s house; and after having there met the brethren (of whom, in the time that had elapsed, and as from the epistle afterwards we cannot but infer that, there were many), and having comforted them, they departed.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv10, 13 Act 16:10 - Act 16:11.
Acts
HOW TO SECURE A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE
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Act 16:10 - Act 16:11.
This book of the Acts is careful to point out how each fresh step in the extension of the Church’s work was directed and commanded by Jesus Christ Himself. Thus Philip was sent by specific injunction to ‘join himself’ to the chariot of the Ethiopian statesman. Thus Peter on the house-top at Joppa, looking out over the waters of the western sea, had the vision of the great sheet, knit at the four corners. And thus Paul, in singularly similar circumstances, in the little seaport of Troas, looking out over the narrower sea which there separates Asia from Europe, had the vision of the man of Macedonia, with his cry, ‘Come over and help us!’ The whole narrative before us bears upon the one point, that Christ Himself directs the expansion of His kingdom. And there never was a more fateful moment than that at which the Gospel, in the person of the Apostle, crossed the sea, and effected a lodgment in the progressive quarter of the world.
Now what I wish to do is to note how Paul and his little company behaved themselves when they had received Christ’s commandment. For I think there are lessons worth the gathering to be found there. There was no doubt about the vision; the question was what it meant. So note three stages. First, careful consideration, with one’s own common sense, of what God wants us to do-’Assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us.’ Then, let no grass grow under our feet- immediate obedience-’Straightway we endeavoured to go into Macedonia.’ And then, patient pondering and instantaneous submission get the reward-’We came with a straight course.’ He gave the winds and the waves charge concerning them. Now there are three lessons for us. Taken together, they are patterns of what ought to be in our experience, and will be, if the conditions are complied with.
I. First, Careful Consideration.
Paul had no doubt that what he saw was a vision from Christ, and not a mere dream of the night, born of the reverberation of waking thoughts and anxieties, that took the shape of the plaintive cry of the man of Macedonia. But then the next step was to be quite sure of what the vision meant. And so, wisely, he does not make up his mind himself, but calls in the three men who were with him. And what a significant little group it was! There were Timothy, Silas, and Luke -Silas, from Jerusalem; Timothy, half a Gentile; Luke, altogether a Gentile; and Paul himself-and these four shook the world. They come together, and they talk the matter over. The word of my text rendered ‘assuredly gathering’ is a picturesque one. It literally means ‘laying things together.’ They set various facts side by side, or as we say in our colloquial idiom, ‘They put this and that together,’ and so they came to understand what the vision meant.
What had they to help them to understand it? Well, they had this fact, that in all the former part of their journey they had been met by hindrances; that their path had been hedged up here, there, and everywhere. Paul set out from Antioch, meaning a quiet little tour of visitation amongst the churches that had been already established. Jesus Christ meant Philippi and Athens and Corinth and Ephesus, before Paul got back again. So we read in an earlier portion of the chapter that the Spirit of Jesus forbade them to speak the Word in one region, and checked and hindered them when, baffled, they tried to go to another. There then remained only one other road open to them, and that led to the coast. Thus putting together their hindrances and their stimuluses, they came to the conclusion that unitedly the two said plainly, ‘Go across the sea, and preach the word there.’
Now it is a very commonplace and homely piece of teaching to remind you that time is not wasted in making quite sure of the meaning of providences which seem to declare the will of God, before we begin to act. But the commonest duties are very often neglected; and we preachers, I think, would very often do more good by hammering at commonplace themes than by bringing out original and fresh ones. And so I venture to say a word about the immense importance to Christian life and Christian service of this preliminary step-’assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us.’ What have we to do in order to be quite sure of God’s intention for us?
Well, the first thing seems to me to make quite sure that we want to know it, and that we do not want to force our intentions upon Him, and then to plume ourselves upon being obedient to His call, when we are only doing what we like. There is a vast deal of unconscious insincerity in us all; and especially in regard to Christian work there is an enormous amount of it. People will say, ‘Oh, I have such a strong impulse in a given direction, to do certain kinds of Christian service, that I am quite sure that it is God’s will.’ How are you sure? A strong impulse may be a temptation from the devil as well as a call from God. And men who simply act on untested impulses, even the most benevolent which spring directly from large Christian principles, may be making deplorable mistakes. It is not enough to have pure motives. It is useless to say, ‘Such and such a course of action is clearly the result of the truths of the Gospel.’ That may be all perfectly true, and yet the course may not be the course for you. For there may be practical considerations, which do not come into our view unless we carefully think about them, which forbid us to take such a path. So remember that strong impulses are not guiding lights; nor is it enough to vindicate our pursuing some mode of Christian service that it is in accordance with the principles of the Gospel. ‘Circumstances alter cases’ is a very homely old saying; but if Christian people would only bring the common sense to bear upon their religious life which they need to bring to bear upon their business life, unless they are going into the Gazette, there would be less waste work in the Christian Church than there is to-day. I do not want less zeal; I want that the reins of the fiery steed shall be kept well in hand. The difference between a fanatic, who is a fool, and an enthusiast, who is a wise man, is that the one brings calm reason to bear, and an open-eyed consideration of circumstances all round; and the other sees but one thing at a time, and shuts his eyes, like a bull in a field, and charges at that. So let us be sure, to begin with, that we want to know what God wants us to do; and that we are not palming our wishes upon Him, and calling them His providences.
Then there is another plain, practical consideration that comes out of this story, and that is, Do not be above being taught by failures and hindrances. You know the old proverb, ‘It is waste time to flog a dead horse.’ There is not a little well-meant work flung away, because it is expended on obviously hopeless efforts to revivify, perhaps, some moribund thing or to continue, perhaps, in some old, well-worn rut, instead of striking out into a new path. Paul was full of enthusiasm for the evangelisation of Asia Minor, and he might have said a great deal about the importance of going to Ephesus. He tried to do it, but Christ said ‘No.’ and Paul did not knock his head against the stone wall that lay between him and the accomplishment of his purpose, but he gave it up and tried another tack. He next wished to go up into Bithynia, and he might have said a great deal about the needs of the people by the Euxine; but again down came the barrier, and he had once more to learn the lesson, ‘Not as thou wilt, but as I will.’ He was not above being taught by his failures. Some of us are; and it is very difficult, and needs a great deal of Christian wisdom and unselfishness, to distinguish between hindrances in the way of work which are meant to evoke larger efforts, and hindrances which are meant to say, ‘Try another path, and do not waste time here any longer.’
But if we wish supremely to know God’s will, He will help us to distinguish between these two kinds of difficulties. Some one has said, ‘Difficulties are things to be overcome.’ Yes, but not always. They very often are, and we should thank God for them then; but they sometimes are God’s warnings to us to go by another road. So we need discretion, and patience, and suspense of judgment to be brought to bear upon all our purposes and plans.
Then, of course, I need not remind you that the way to get light is to seek it in the Book and in communion with Him whom the Book reveals to us as the true Word of God: ‘He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ So careful consideration is a preliminary to all good Christian work. And, if you can, talk to some Timothy and Silas and Luke about your course, and do not be above taking a brother’s advice.
II. The next step is Immediate Submission.
When they had assuredly gathered that the Lord had called them, ‘immediately’-there is great virtue in that one word-’we endeavoured to go into Macedonia.’ Delayed obedience is the brother- and, if I may mingle metaphors, sometimes the father-of disobedience. It sometimes means simple feebleness of conviction, indolence, and a general lack of fervour. It means very often a reluctance to do the duty that lies plainly before us. And, dear brethren, as I have said about the former lesson, so I say about this. The homely virtue, which we all know to be indispensable to success in common daily life and commercial undertakings, is no less indispensable to all vigour of Christian life and to all nobleness of Christian service. We have no hours to waste; the time is short. In the harvest-field, especially when it is getting near the end of the week, and the Sunday is at hand, there are little leisure and little tolerance of slow workers. And for us the fields are white, the labourers are few, the Lord of the harvest is imperative, the sun is hurrying to the west, and the sickles will have to be laid down before long. So, ‘immediately we endeavoured.’
Delayed duty is present discomfort. As long as a man has a conscience, so long will he be restless and uneasy until he has, as the Quakers say, ‘cleared himself of his burden,’ and done what he knows that he ought to do, and got done with it. Delayed obedience means wasted possibilities of service, and so is ever to be avoided. The more disagreeable anything is which is plainly a duty, the more reason there is for doing it right away. ‘I made haste, and delayed not, but made haste to keep Thy commandments.’
Did you ever count how many ‘straightways’ there are in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel? If you have not, will you do it when you go home; and notice how they come in? In the story of Christ’s opening ministry every fresh incident is tacked on to the one before it, in that chapter, by that same word ‘straightway.’ ‘Straightway’ He does that; ‘anon’ He does this; ‘immediately’ He does the other thing. All is one continuous stream of acts of service. The Gospel of Mark is the Gospel of the servant, and it sets forth the pattern to which all Christian service ought to be conformed.
So if we take Jesus Christ for our Example, unhasting and unresting in the work of the Lord, we shall let no moment pass burdened with undischarged duty; and we shall find that all the moments are few enough for the discharge of the duties incumbent upon us.
III. So, lastly, careful consideration and unhesitating obedience lead to a Straight Course.
Well, it is not so always, but it is so generally. There is a wonderful power in diligent doing of God’s known will to smooth away difficulties and avoid troubles. I do not, of course, mean that a man who thus lives, patiently ascertaining and then promptly doing what God would have him do, has any miraculous exemption from the ordinary sorrows and trials of life. But sure I am that a very, very large proportion of all the hindrances and disappointments, storms and quicksands, calms which prevent progress and headwinds that beat in our faces, are directly the products of our negligence in one or other of these two respects, and that although by no means absolutely, yet to an extent that we should not believe if we had not the experience of it, the wish to do God’s will and the doing of it with our might when we know what it is have a talismanic power in calming the seas and bringing us to the desired haven.
But though this is not always absolutely true in regard of outward things, it is, without exception or limitation, true in regard of the inward life. For if my supreme will is to do God’s will then nothing which is His will, and comes to me because it is can be a hindrance in my doing that.
As an old proverb says, ‘Travelling merchants can never be out of their road.’ And a Christian man whose path is simple obedience to the will of God can never be turned from that path by whatever hindrances may affect his outward life. So, in deepest truth, there is always a calm voyage for the men whose eyes are open to discern, and whose hands are swift to fulfil, the commandments of their Father in heaven. For them all winds blow them to their port; for them ‘all things work together for good’; with them God’s servants who hearken to the voice of His commandments, and are His ministers to do His pleasure, can never be other than in amity and alliance. He who is God’s servant is the world’s master. ‘All things are yours if ye are Christ’s.’
So, brethren, careful study of providences and visions, of hindrances and stimulus, careful setting of our lives side by side with the Master’s, and a swift delight in doing the will of the Lord, will secure for us, in inmost truth, a prosperous voyage, till all storms are hushed, ‘and they are glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them to their desired haven.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv10–13 See notes on verse 9
See notes on verse 9
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13 The change here from "they," as in the preceding…
we
The change here from "they," as in the preceding verses, to "we" indicates that at Troas Luke, the narrator, joined Paul’s company.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 Paul and His Companions at Philippi
Paul and His Companions at Philippi
The voyage to Philippi:
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v. 11. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia and the next day to Neapolis,
v. 12. and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia and a colony, and we were in that city abiding certain days.
v. 13. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
In those days of active commercial intercourse between the various Aegean ports, it did not take long for them to find a ship upon which they could take passage. Paul and his companions therefore drew away, they set sail from Troas, being favored by a good stiff breeze from the south and east, which enabled them to make a straight run past the island of Imbros to that called Samothrace, one of the northernmost islands of the Grecian archipelago. Here they turned toward the west and sailed past the island of Thasus to the Macedonian port of Neapolis, the latter part of the journey taking only one day. Thus the voyage had been undertaken under unusually propitious circumstances and completed in an exceptionally short time. The missionaries did not remain in Neapolis, however, but pressed on to the larger city of Philippi, which was a Roman colony, both coins and inscriptions corroborating the words of Luke. Near it was fought the great battle between Augustus and Antony on one side, and Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Julius Caesar, on the other, the battle which decided that Rome would be an empire, and not a republic. In honor of this event Philippi had been granted the rights of a Roman colony, as the name "praetors," used by Luke to designate the officials of the city, also shows. And Philippi was the first city in that district, or division, of Macedonia. For almost two Centuries before, Macedonia had been divided into four districts, whose general boundaries were still recognized, although they were no longer accepted by the government as political districts. That Philippi was the first, the most important city of that part of Macedonia was due to its location on the great Egnatian Way, the main Roman road between Europe and Asia. It was in those days what Byzantium, or Constantinople, later became, the gateway to the Orient. The Roman province of Macedonia lay between Greece and the Aegean Sea, on the south, and the Balkan Mountains, on the north. In Philippi, then, where the East and the West met, these travelers from the Orient spent some time, anxious to gain some souls for the Lord. Since the Jewish population of the city at that time was not large enough to support a synagogue, and the Jews had therefore the custom of gathering outside of the city gates, on the banks of a river, by the riverside, and of holding their meetings of prayer there, this site had become known as the place of prayer. To that spot, therefore, Paul and his companions also went on the Sabbath, to the river Gangas or Gangites. There was probably no formal worship, as in the synagogues, although there may have been leaders of the devotions. At any rate, Paul accommodated himself to the conditions. He sat down with his party among the worshipers and spent the morning talking to the women that had come together there. It seems, then, that the Jews and proselytes of the city consisted largely of women, many of whom occupied positions of considerable freedom and social influence, a fact which is fully borne out by careful historical research. Note: it may have seemed strange to Paul, after all the elaborate preparations, to find only a handful of women assembled, but God has His own ways of doing things and conducting the affairs of His kingdom, as the subsequent condition of the Philippian congregation shows.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul and his companions are now in Philippi on their missionary trip. Verse 13 begins the story of Lydia. This short story happens during Paul's travels.
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Samothrace ... Neapolis
These are coastal cities near Phillipi in Macedonia. (See: How to Translate Names)
we came to Neapolis
Here "came to" can be translated as "went to" or "arrived at." (See: Go and Come)
a Roman colony
This is a city outside of Italy where many people who came from Rome lived. The people there had the same rights and freedoms as people who lived in cities in Italy. They could govern themselves and they did not have to pay taxes. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Troas
Philippi
Macedonia
Rome
day
Sabbath
gate
pray
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10–13 16:10 we: The most natural interpretation of the shift…
16:10 we: The most natural interpretation of the shift from “they” to “we” is that Luke accompanied Paul from Troas to Philippi (16:10-17). Later Luke joined Paul again at Philippi and sailed with him to Troas, then to Miletus (20:5-15), then from Miletus to Jerusalem (21:1-18). After Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Caesarea, Luke traveled with him to Rome (27:1–28:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.