Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A 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.” When 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.
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Acts 16:8-10 sits inside this longer paragraph.
When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A 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.” When 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. Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; and 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.
Parallel Translations
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Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
A 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.”
When 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.
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Then they went over Misia and cam doune to Troada.
And a vision appered to Paul in the nyght. There stode a man of Macedonia and prayed him sayinge: come into Macedonia and helpe vs.
After he had sene the vision immediatly we prepared to goo into Macedonia certified that the lorde had called vs for to preache the gospell vnto them.
Show all 3 translations
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Therefore they passed through Mysia, and came downe to Troas,
Where a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stoode a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come into Macedonia, and helpe vs.
And after he had seene the vision, immediatly we prepared to goe into Macedonia, being assured that the Lord had called vs to preache the Gospel vnto them.
Cross-references (41)
- 2 Corinthians 2:12 (v8) Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,
- 2 Timothy 4:13 (v8) Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come, and the books, especially the parchments.
- Acts 9:10-12 (v9) Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” He said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.”…
- Acts 16:11 (v8) Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;
- Acts 18:5 (v9) But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Show all 41 cross-references
- Acts 19:21 (v9) Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem,…
- Acts 20:5 (v8) But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas.
- 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 (v10) Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord, I had no relief for my spirit, because…
- Acts 18:9-10 (v9) The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack…
- Acts 20:1 (v9) After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia.
- Romans 10:14-15 (v9) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear…
- Romans 15:26 (v9) For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem.
- Acts 11:5-14 (v9) “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down…
- Acts 14:7 (v10) There they preached the Good News.
- 2 Corinthians 7:5 (v9) For even when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was…
- 2 Corinthians 8:1 (v9) Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the assemblies of Macedonia,
- 2 Corinthians 9:2 (v9) for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your…
- 2 Corinthians 11:9 (v9) When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the…
- 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (v9) It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ, fourteen…
- 2 Corinthians 12:7 (v9) By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 (v9) so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only…
- 1 Thessalonians 4:10 (v9) for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more;
- Psalms 119:60 (v10) I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments.
- Proverbs 3:27-28 (v10) Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come…
- Acts 2:17-18 (v9) ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young…
- Acts 8:26-31 (v9) But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is…
- Acts 9:38 (v9) As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.
- Acts 10:3 (v9) At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
- Acts 10:10-17 (v9) He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and a certain container…
- Acts 10:29 (v10) Therefore I also came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”
- Acts 10:30 (v9) Cornelius said, “Four days ago, I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before…
- Acts 10:32-33 (v9) Send therefore to Joppa, and summon Simon, who is also called Peter. He is staying in the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seaside.…
- Acts 16:10-17 (v10) When 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…
- Acts 20:3 (v9) When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to…
- Acts 20:5-8 (v10) But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas. We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to…
- Acts 20:13-15 (v10) But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there; for he had so arranged, intending himself to go…
- Acts 21:1-18 (v10) When we had departed from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to…
- Acts 22:17-21 (v9) “When I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance, and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of…
- Acts 26:13 (v10) at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.
- Acts 27:1–28:16 (v10) When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the…
- Acts 27:23-24 (v9) For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv9–10 9. A vision by night. The Lord would not…
9. A vision by night. The Lord would not that Paul should stay any longer in Asia; because he would draw him into Macedonia. And Luke expresseth the manner of the drawing, that a man of Macedonia appeared to him by night. Where we must note that the Lord did not always observe the same manner of revelation, because divers kinds are more convenient for confirmation. And it is not said that this vision was offered in a dream, but only in the night season. For there be certain night visions which men see when they be awake.
Help us. This speech setteth forth the ministry committed to Paul. For, seeing that the gospel is the power of God to salvation, (Romans 1:16,) those which are the ministers of God are said to help those who perish; that having delivered them from death, they may bring them unto the inheritance of eternal life. And this ought to be no small encouragement for godly teachers to stir up the heat of their study and desire, when they hear that they call back miserable souls from destruction, and that they help those who should otherwise perish, that they may be saved. Again, all people unto whom the gospel is brought are taught reverently to embrace the ministers thereof as deliverers, unless they will maliciously reject the grace of God; and yet this commendation and title is not so translated unto men, that God is robbed even of the best part of his praise; because, though he by his ministers give salvation, yet is he the only author thereof, as if he reached out his hands to help.
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 vv9–10 They are the ministers of the Gospel, by whom…
They are the ministers of the Gospel, by whom he helpeth such as were like to perish.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8 And they passing by Mysia came down to…
8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
Ver. 8. Came down to Troas] The relics of old Troy, called also Antigonia and Alexandria, as Pliny testifieth.
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 vv8–10 Either the relics of the famous city of Troy,…
Either the relics of the famous city of Troy, or the country thereabouts, in which the city of Antigonia was built.
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 v8 These words are a relation of a message from…
These words are a relation of a message from heaven unto St. Paul, to direct him in his preaching and publishing of the gospel, both as to the place where, and as to the persons to whom, he was to deliver it.
Where note, The manner of it: it was by a vision, A vision appeared. The time of it, it was in the night, the bringer of it, a man of Macedonia: the matter of it, help for the Macedonians, interpreted (ver. 10) to be by the preaching of the gospel. Of all distresses, want of the gospel cries loudest for relief and help; for by want of the gospel, they want everything that is worth having; they want Jesus Christ, who is revealed only by the gospel; they want communion with God, they want the comforts and refreshments of ordinances, and they will at last want heaven and salvation. But that which is most deplorable is this: Those that want the gospel, though they want all these things, yet are they not sensible that they want anything.
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Learn, 2. That the sending of the gospel to one nation, place, or people, and not to another, proceeds from the determinate will and pleasure; Stay not in Asia, go not into Bithynis, but come over into Macedonia; Even so, Father, for thus it seemed good in thy sight.
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 vv8–10 And they passed by Mysia,.... Without stopping or staying…
And they passed by Mysia,.... Without stopping or staying there, though they came to it:
came down to Troas; either the country of Troas, as the Syriac version renders it; which, according to Solinus (m), is bordered on the north part of Galatia, and was near to Lycaonia, Pisidia, and Mygdonia on the south, and to Lydia on the east, and to Mysia and Caria on the north: or rather the city of Troas, which Pliny says (n), was formerly called Antigonia, now Alexandria, a colony of the Romans. Antigonus king of Asia called it Troas at first, because it was in the country, and near where Troy stood, but afterwards he called it, according to his own name, Antigonia; but Lysimachus king of Thrace having got this city into his hands, repaired it, and called it after the name of Alexander, Alexandria; and to distinguish it from Alexandria in Egypt, and other cities of the same name in other places, it was called Alexandria Troas.
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(m) lb. c. 53. (n) Hist. Nat. l. 5. c. 30.
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 vv9–10 A vision appeared to Paul by night - It…
A vision appeared to Paul by night - It was not a dream, though it was by night. No other dream is mentioned in the New Testament than that of Joseph and of Pilate's wife. A man of Macedonia - Probably an angel clothed in the Macedonian habit, or using the language of the country, and representing the inhabitants of it. Help us - Against Satan, ignorance, and sin.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Verse 8. Came down to Troas.] The Troad, or…
Verse 8. Came down to Troas.] The Troad, or part of Phrygia Minor in which the celebrated city of Troy was formerly situated. This city was first built by Dardanus, who was its king, and from whom it was called Dardania; from Tros, his grandson, it was called Troja, or Troy; and from his son, Ilus, it was called Ilium. It has been long so completely destroyed that no ascertainable vestige of it remains; insomuch that some have even doubted of its existence. Those who contend for the reality of the history of Troy suppose it to have stood on the site of the modern village Bounarbachi, about twelve miles from the sea, on an eminence, at the termination of a spacious plain.
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 v9 Act 16:9-10. And — While they were in this…
Act 16:9-10. And — While they were in this place, undetermined, probably, to what coast of Europe they should sail, if, according to their intention, they crossed the sea; a vision appeared to Paul in the night — To direct them: it was not a dream, though it was by night. No dream is mentioned in the New Testament, except that of Joseph, and of Pilate’s wife. There stood a man of Macedonia — Before him, probably an angel, clothed in the Macedonian habit, or using the language of that country, and representing the inhabitants of it; and prayed him — With great earnestness; saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us — Against Satan, ignorance, and sin. And after he had seen the vision — And given an account of it to his companions; immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia — Willingly obeying the heavenly admonition; assuredly gathering — From this vision; that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them — In that country. This is the first place in which Luke intimates his attendance on the apostle. And here he does it only in an oblique manner. Nor does he throughout the history once mention his own name, or any one thing which he did or said for the service of Christianity; though Paul speaks of him in the most honourable terms, Col 4:14; 2Ti 4:11; and probably, as the brother whose praise in the gospel went through all the churches, 2Co 8:18. The same remark may be made on the rest of the sacred historians, who every one of them show the like amiable modesty.
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 vv8–10 Came down to Troas - This was a city…
Came down to Troas - This was a city of Phrygia or Mysia, on the Hellespont, between Troy north, and Assos south. Sometimes the name Troas or Troad, is used to denote the whole country of the Trojans, the province where the ancient city of Troy had stood. This region was much celebrated in the early periods of Grecian history. It was here that the events recorded in the Iliad of Homer are supposed to have occurred. The city of Troy has long since been completely destroyed. Troas is several times mentioned in the New Testament, 2Co 2:12; 2Ti 4:13; Act 20:5.
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 vv9–10 A vision, &c. The tutelar angel of the province,…
A vision, &c. The tutelar angel of the province, according to most interpreters, under the form of a Macedonian, who implored St. Paul in behalf of the province he guarded.
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v9 9And a vision appeared to Paul in [during, διὰ]…
C.—DIVINE INTIMATIONS CONDUCT THE APOSTLE TO EUROPE. SUCCESSFUL COMMENCEMENT; HOSTILITIES AND IMPRISONMENT; BUT ALSO DIVINE DELIVERANCE AT PHILIPPI
Act_16:9-40
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9And a vision appeared to Paul in [during, διὰ] the night: There stood a man of Macedonia [a Macedonian man], and prayed [besought] him, saying, Come [Cross] over into [to] Macedonia, and help us. 10And [But] after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured [sought] to go [to journey] into [to] Macedonia, assuredly gathering [as we concluded] that the Lord6 had called us [thither, προζκέ] for to preach the gospel unto them. 11Therefore loosing [sailing] from Troas, we came with [by] a straight course to Samothracia [Samothrace], and the next day to Neapolis; 12And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief [the first]7 city of that part [city of the district] of Macedonia, and [om. and] a colony: and we were in that [this] city abiding certain days.
13And on the sabbath [day]8 we went out of the city [went out before the gate]9 by a river side [to the river], where prayer was wont to be made [where there was commonly a place of prayer]; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither [who had assembled]. 14And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of [dealer in] purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped [who feared] God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of [by] Paul. 15And [But] when she was baptized, and her household [house], she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to [judged that I am one that believest in] the Lord, come into my house, and abide [continue] there. And she constrained us [to enter]. 16And [But] it came to pass, as we went to prayer, [to the place of prayer, that] a certain damsel [a female slave] possessed with a spirit of divination [who possessed (ἔχουσαν) a soothsaying spirit.]10 met us, which [who] brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17The same [This (one)] followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew [who proclaim] unto us [you]11 the way of salvation. 18And this did she [for] many days. But Paul, being grieved [displeased], turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out at the same hour.
19And [But] when her masters saw that the hope of their gains [gain] was gone, they caught [seized] Paul and Silas, and drew [dragged] them into [to] the market-place12 unto the rulers, 20And brought them to [before] the magistrates [commanders], saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city [These men create disturbances in our city; they are Jews], 21And teach customs, which are not [which it is not] lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being [as we are] Romans. 22And the multitude rose up together [at the same time rose up] against them; and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them [and the commanders directed that their clothes should be torn off, and that they should be beaten with rods]. 23And when they had laid [inflicted] many stripes [blows] upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: 24Who, having received such a charge [command], thrust [cast] them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 25And at [But about] midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto [and praised] God: and the prisoners heard [listened to] them. 26And suddenly there was [occurred] a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands [the bands of all] were loosed [loosened]. 27And [But] the keeper of the prison [jailer] awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his [open, drew a] sword, and would have killed [intended to kill] himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled [had escaped]. 28But Paul cried [called] with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29Then he called for a light [for light, (φῶτα, pl.)], and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before [at the feet of] Paul and Silas, 30and brought [led] them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be [do, in order that I may be] saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ [om. Christ]13, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to [together with]14 all that were in his house. 33And he took them [along] the same [in that] hour of the night, and washed [off] their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34And when he had brought [led] them into his house, he set meat [food] before them, and rejoiced15, believing in God with all his house [rejoiced with all his house that he now believed in God].
35And [But] when it was day, the magistrates [commanders] sent the Serjeants [lictors], saying, Let these men go [Dismiss these men]. 36And the keeper of the prison told this saying [the jailer reported these words] to Paul, The magistrates [commanders] have sent to let you go [that ye should be dismissed]: now therefore depart, and go in [go out, and depart in] peace. 37But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly [publicly] uncondemned [without right or trial], being [although we are] Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do [will] they thrust [cast] us out privily [secretly]? nay verily [No]; but let them [they shall] come themselves and fetch [lead] us out. 38And [Then, δὲ] the Serjeants [lictors] told [reported] these words unto the magistrates [commanders]: and they feared [were afraid], when they heard that they were Romans. 39And they came and besought them, and brought [led] them out, and desired [asked] them to depart out of the city. 40And [But after] they went out of the prison, and [prison, they] entered into the house of [went to]16 Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted [exhorted] them, and departed [left the city].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_16:9. And a vision … night.—A vision in the night directs the apostle to proceed to Macedonia; (ὅραμα is not a dream, of which no trace appears, and which is by no means necessarily indicated by the words διὰ τ. νυκτός.). The appearance was of the following description: a man stood before Paul, whose words made him known as a Macedonian, and as a representative of his nation (Μακεδονίαν—ἡμῖν). Perhaps also Paul ascertained his origin from his national dress; it is true that he had never yet been in Europe, but he may have frequently seen Macedonian seamen in Tarsus, his birth-place, which was a flourishing commercial city. This man entreated him, in the vision, to cross over the sea to Macedonia, and come to the aid of the inhabitants. [The distance from Troas to Macedonia, on the opposite side of the Ægean Sea, was somewhat more than one hundred miles.—Tr.].—It cannot be maintained that an angel appeared to the apostle, in the form of a Macedonian (Grotius); it is as little necessary here to suppose that ὄραμα designates something objective or real, as it is in the case mentioned in Act_10:11-12; Act_10:17; Act_10:19, when Peter, while on a house-top in Joppa, saw a vision. [“It was an unreal apparition.” (Alf.).—Tr.]
Act_16:10. a. And after he had seen the vision.—Paul and his companions at once decided, in consequence of this vision, to proceed to Macedonia, and sought (ἐζητήσαμεν, etc.) for an opportunity to sail thither; for, on considering all the circumstances of the case in their connection, they became convinced (συμβιβάζοντες, comp. Act_9:22) that the Redeemer called them to Macedonia in order to preach the Gospel to that nation. The considerations which, in their combination, fully established them in this opinion, were the following:—a. The Spirit of Jesus had restrained them from preaching the word of God in the western maritime region of Asia Minor (ἡ Ασία, Act_16:6). b. They were restrained, in the same manner, from laboring in Bithynia, Act_16:7. c. And now, on arriving at Troas, and thus reaching the coast of the Ægean Sea, the vision invites them to pass over to Macedonia. But all these circumstances, in such a sequence, cannot have been merely accidental; the help which Paul is asked to bring, is, surely, no other than that which the word of God, and the saving grace of Christ, afford. ‘And therefore’—as they now conclude—‘it is He himself who calls us by the vision to Macedonia, after having previously hindered us from preaching the Gospel on the borders of Asia Minor.’
b. Immediately we endeavored (sought).—The pronoun “we,” and the verb in the first person, are abruptly introduced, from which we discover that the narrator is an eye-witness, and that he accompanied Paul from Troas as a travelling companion. It has, consequently, always been assumed that Luke had joined the company at Troas, or, rather, that Paul had, at that point, associated him with himself. Of this circumstance he makes no mention whatever, because it was, like his personal relations in general, already known to Theophilus and the original readers. This opinion is by no means directly met and disproved by the objections which have, in more recent times, been advanced against it, for the purpose of sustaining the hypothesis that one of the other attendants of the apostle was the writer of this narrative of travel (beginning at Act_16:10), as well as of all the other sections of the Acts, in which “we” occurs (namely, Timotheus, according to Schleiermacher, Bleek, de Wette—or Silas, according to Schwanbeck). It would, on the contrary, be very singular, and, indeed, inexplicable, if the writer, after having been for some time in Paul’s company, should now only employ the first person, Silas having already accompanied Paul from Antioch, and Timotheus at least from Lystra. And the only difficulty which has been specially found in the present passage—namely, that the part which the narrator personally took in the deliberations and ultimate decision, is unsuited to one who had just joined the company—is altogether imaginary. If Paul met with Luke here in Troas, and, as one who had without doubt previously been a Christian, attached him to the company of travellers, it was quite appropriate that he should counsel and decide in common with Silas and Timotheus.
Act_16:11. Therefore loosing [sailing] from Troas.—The second part of this missionary journey, embracing Macedonia, begins with the embarkation of the company, which now consists of four persons. After a rapid and successful voyage in a direct course (εὐθυδρομήσαντες), they reach the island of Samothrace, in the Ægean sea, to the north-west of Troas, and only 38 Roman miles from the Thracian coast. They proceeded, on the next day, to Neapolis, a sea-port of Thrace, situated on the Strymonic Gulf, the modern name of which is Kavalla [Cavallo; Conyb. and H. Life etc. of St. Paul I. 309.—Tr.]. As they were aware that duty called them to Macedonia, they continued their journey without delay, until they reached the Macedonian city of Philippi, about 10 miles [Conyb., etc.] distant from Neapolis, to the north-west. This city was built and fortified by the father of Alexander the Great, on the site of a village called Krenides, on the Thracian boundary, and accordingly hears his name. Luke describes it in a twofold manner. (a) as the first city of that part of Macedonia; (b) as a colony. The latter fact is confirmed by other accounts, according to which Octavianus [Augustus] established the partisans of Antony there, gave the city the character of a colony, and invested it with colonial privileges (jus Italicum). [On this subject see Conyb. and H. I. 313 ff.—Tr.]. But the former remark has created various difficulties. The words πρώτη τῆς μερίδος, etc., might at first suggest the thought that Philippi was intended to be described as the capital of that district of Macedonia. But the classic writers furnish the names of the capitals of the four districts into which Macedonia was divided, with great precision; Philippi is not mentioned in the list, but Amphipolis was, on the contrary, the capital of that district to which Philippi belonged (Macedonia prima). [Thessalonica was the “chief city” of the whole province of Macedonia.—Tr.]. Accordingly, πρώτη cannot be taken in such a sense [as chief city, capital], and still less can it be supposed, with Ewald, that Philippi had been made the capital of the whole province of Macedonia, because the Roman governor perhaps resided there at that time. Further, the interpretation that πρώτη is a title of honor, referring to special privileges granted to the city (Hug; Kuinoel), can claim no consideration, as no facts are on record which sustain it. The same remark applies to the combination of πρώτη πόλις with κολωνία, i.e., the first, the most eminent colonial city, of the region (Meyer); for the arrangement of the words certainly suggests that πρώτη τῆς μερίδος is a second and independent predicate (eademque colonia, van Hengel: Comm. in Ep. ad Phil.). We can, therefore, adopt no other method than to take πρώτη τῆς μερίδος in a topographical sense, viz., ‘which is the first city of the province of Macedonia’ [‘to which we came in that district,’ as Neapolis properly belongs to Thrace. (Alf.).—Tr.]. Meyer objects to this view that Luke cannot have had any conceivable motive for departing from his usual method, by making such a precise geographical statement. But an examination of the context, beginning with Act_16:8, the more carefully it is conducted, will the more successfully remove this difficulty, and also recommend our interpretation as the only one that is correct. The apostle clearly understood, after he had seen that vision in the night, that the Redeemer called him to Macedonia, in order to preach the Gospel there. From that moment he and his companions resolved to continue their missionary journey in a direct course to Macedonia, and they immediately sought for the earliest opportunity to proceed to that country. After they had found a ship and embarked at Troas, they rapidly proceeded, with favorable winds (εὐθυδρομήσαντες), past Samothrace, to Neapolis. [“On a later occasion (Act_20:6) we are told that five days were spent on the passage from Philippi to Troas. On the present occasion the same voyage, in the opposite direction, was made in two.” (Conyb. and H. I. 306.—Tr.]. Now Neapolis was a Thracian city, whereas they had been directed to go to Macedonia. Hence they made no delay, but continued their journey until they reached Philippi, “which is the first city [which we reached] in the province of Macedonia.” According to this interpretation ἥτις retains its sense, as indicating the motive [viz. to reach Macedonia, while Meyer suggests, as the motive indicated by ἥτις, the distinctive character of Philippi, as the most important colonial city of the district.—Tr.]; and our explanation is confirmed by the fact that it is now established (since Rettig published his Quæst. Philippenses, p. 3 ff. 1831), that Neapolis actually belonged at that time to Thrace, and was not attached to Macedonia until the reign of Vespasian.—Erasmus had already given the following interpretation: ea civitas colonia, prima occurrit a Neapoli petentibus Macedoniam, and recent interpreters have adopted the same view, e. g. Olshausen, de Wette [also Alford; Conyb. and H. Life, etc. of St. Paul, p. 309, and 311, note 9.—Tr.]
Act_16:12-13. a. Philippi, which is the chief [the first] city (i.e., in Europe, in which the messengers of Jesus Christ paused, and preached the Gospel).—It was on a sabbath when this first occurred, and on the bank of a river, at a spot which had been assigned and consecrated by custom (ἐνομίζετο) to meetings for prayer (προςευχή, a place of prayer, as a substitute for a synagogue). [“There was no synagogue at Philippi, but only one of those buildings called Proseuchæ, which were distinguished from the regular places of Jewish worship by being of a more slight and temporary structure, and frequently open to the sky.” (Conyb. and H., Life etc. of St. Paul, I. 315.)—Tr.]. This river has hitherto been supposed to be the Strymon, and such is the opinion of Neander, de Wette, and Meyer, 2d ed. [But Meyer now says, in the 3d ed. Acts 1861: “Not the Strymon—but the small stream Gangas, or some other one—.”—Tr.]. These writers are, however, in error, for the Strymon is more than a day’s journey distant from Philippi, to the west [“The nearest point on the Strymon was many miles distant.” (Conyb. etc., as quoted above.)—Tr.]. The wide plain on which the celebrated battle was fought, in which the army of the republicans was defeated by Antony and Octavius (B. C. 42), lay between this river and the city. Another river must, consequently, be meant, which flowed past the city at a distance of, at most, five or six stadia, that is, a sabbath day’s journey. It was, perhaps, the stream which Appian calls the Gangas or Gangites. Dr. Hackett, the same American divine who wrote a Commentary on the Acts, found, on a visit to the place, which, it is true, occurred in the winter (Dec. 13, 1858), a considerable stream flowing on the east side of the ruins of Philippi. [Dr. Hackett, without referring in the last edition, 1863, to his visit, remarks: “In summer the Gangas is almost dry, but in winter or after rains may be full and swollen.” (Com. at Act_16:13).—Tr.]. Now it was precisely on the banks of rivers, or on the seashore, that acts of worship were performed by way of preference, since the water needed for sacred ablutions, was thus furnished at the same time [“as it was customary to wash the hands before prayer.” (Meyer).—Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 10, 23) quotes from a public decree: “they may make their proseuchæ at the sea-side, according to the customs of their forefathers.”—Tr.].
b. And on the sabbath, etc.—The day and the place alike show that the apostle and his companions had Israelites and proselytes primarily in view. It seems, however, that there were, at that time, no Jewish men in the city. [“The number of the Jews at Philippi was small. This is sufficiently accounted for, when we remember that it was a military, and not a mercantile, city.” (Conyb. and H., I. p. 315.—Tr.]. Paul and his companions could speak, in that rural place of prayer, only to the women who had there assembled. And even they may have been few in number, as the speakers could not deliver addresses, but only engage in familiar conversation: καθίσαντες ἐλαλοῦμεν. This expression, as contradistinguished from λέγειν, διαλέγεσθαι, etc. describes a comparatively free and conversational intercourse; and the circumstance that they did not stand, but, rather, sat, while they spoke, indicates that they did not make their remarks in the formal and solemn manner of a public discourse. [Conyb. and H. (I. 317, and note 1) say: “Assuming at once the attitude of teachers, they ‘sat down,’ etc. Comp. ἐκάθισαν, Act_13:14; and ἐκάθισε, Luk_4:20.”—Tr.]
Act_16:14. And a certain woman, etc.—There was one of the hearers who was, in a special degree, open to the influence of the truth, and who listened with earnest attention to all that Paul said. (Διανοίγω signifies to open, to open fully and widely.), [“Luke views this susceptibility of the woman as produced by the influence of the exalted Christ (ὁ κύριος), who promotes the interests of his kingdom, and who opened the heart Of Lydia, διήνοιξε, that is, wrought in her inner vital action a corresponding disposition and adaptation.” (Meyer).—Tr.]. She was a proselyte [“σεβου. τ. θεόν, see Act_13:16” (Meyer)—Tr.], and a dealer in purple, known as Lydia, of the city of Thyatira.—This city belonged to a district of Asia Minor called Lydia, to the north of Sardis. [Lydia was a part of the province of Asia; see above, Act_16:7-8, Exeg. etc., and comp. Rev_1:11; Rev_2:18.—Tr.]. It is quite possible that she bore the name of “the Lydian woman” in Philippi, only on account of her original home; the name of Lydia was, however, very frequently given to females in ancient times.—The city of Thyatira was celebrated, at a very early period, for its purple dyes and purple fabrics, and thus the circumstance that she was a πορφυρόπωλις, a dealer in cloths that had received a purple dye, agrees with her descent. [“The purple color, so extravagantly valued by the ancients, included many shades or tints, from rose-red to sea-green or blue. Lydia’s occupation may have been the sale of the dye itself, procured from a shell-fish (purpura murex), but more probably was that of cloth or clothes dyed with it, etc.” (Alex.)—Tr.]. And as Thyatira itself was a Macedonian colony, (Strabo), we may the more readily understand that circumstances connected with this woman’s trade, brought her at this time to Philippi.
Act_16:15. And when she was baptized.—Although it is not probable that the baptism of Lydia and her family was performed on the spot, it occurred, no doubt, on an early occasion. She then urgently invited the apostle and all his companions to enter her house, and remain there as her guests. Παρεβιάσατο, she constrained them to come; the same word, again occurs in Luk_24:29, as descriptive of friendly and repeated requests and importunities; it does not, however, justify the inference that the missionaries had at first resisted (Bengel; Baumgarten). This proffered hospitality furnished direct evidence of her love to the Redeemer, which proceeded from faith and which manifested itself by disinterested and kind attentions to His messengers. She supported her plea by appealing to the judgment which they had themselves pronounced in her case (κεκρίκατε), and without which they would unquestionably have declined to baptize her; they had declared that she was a believer, in reference to the Lord, πιστὴν τῷ κυρίῳ, which does not mean “faithful” to the Lord, for such a judgment would have been manifestly precipitate. That the messengers of the Gospel acceded to the request of Lydia, and entered her house as guests, may be confidently assumed, for παρεβιάσατο expresses, as in Luk_24:29, not merely the conatus, but also the actus.—[She was baptized, and her household.—“The real strength of the argument (viz., that as households include children, we have no right to except them from the general statement) lies not in any one case, but in the repeated mention of whole houses as baptized.” (Alex.)—“Who can believe that not one infant was found in all these families, and that Jews, accustomed to the circumcision, and Gentiles, accustomed to the lustration, of infants, should not have also brought them to baptism?” (Bengel).—“The practice (of infant-baptism) does not rest on inference, but on the continuity and identity of the covenant of grace to Jew and Christian, the sign only, of admission being altered.”—(Alford).—Tr.]
Act_16:16-18. And it came to pass, etc.—Some days afterwards, and not on the same sabbath (Heinrichs and Kuinoel, whom Meyer has refuted), occurred the expulsion of the soothsaying spirit from a female slave [παιδίσκη in this sense, in the N. T.; see Robinson’s Lex.—Tr.]. She had a πνεῦμα πύθωνα, and practised divination (μαντευομένη), and, indeed, as a ventriloquist, as it may be inferred from the word πύθων. Python was the name of the serpent at Delphi, which was killed by Apollo. The name was afterwards given to any soothsaying δαιμόνιον, and Hesychius specially states that πύθων means a ventriloquist, a soothsaying ventriloquist. Plutarch also mentions incidentally [De def. arac. p. 414. E.—Tr,.] that, in his day, the name πύθων was given to one who, at an earlier period, had been termed an ἐγγαστρίμυθος, or εὐρυκλῆς [“The LXX. usually render אִבוֹת by ἐγγαστρίμυθος, ventriloquist, and correctly; since among the ancients this power of ventriloquism was often misused for the purpose of magic.” (Robinson’s Hebr. Lex. p. 20). Comp. Lev_19:31; Lev_20:6; Lev_20:27, etc. Sept. and see Schleusner: Thes. V. T. ad verb. ἐγγαστρίμυθος.—“Augustine calls this girl ‘ventriloqua foemina’, De Civ. Dei. II. 23. (Conyb. and H. I. 322. n. 1.)—Tr.]. Those persons who placed confidence in the soothsaying of this female, probably believed that a god who prophesied dwelt, in her, but Paul recognized in her one who was possessed by an unclean spirit, that is, she was a demoniac. She was the slave of several joint-owners (πὁ κύριοι), who availed themselves of her soothsaying arts as a source of profit, and who derived large gains from the money paid by the people for her divinations.—This person met Paul and his companions, on a certain occasion, as they were going to the place of prayer, ran after them, and, at the same time, cried to those who passed by, that these men were servants of the most high God, who showed the way of salvation. She accordingly spoke the truth, by means of a clairvoyance and gift, of divination which had been conferred upon her in a supernatural manner. [Without resorting, in this particular case, to ventriloquism and animal magnetism for an explanation, which is no more necessary here than in the analogous cases furnished by the Gospels, e. g., Luk_4:34-35, Mr. Howson remarks: “It is enough to say that we see no reason to blame the opinion of those writers, who believe that a wicked spiritual agency was really exerted in the prophetic sanctuaries and prophetic personages of the heathen world.” (Con. and Howson’s Life etc. of St. Paul. I. 321.—Tr.]. As the woman often repeated the act, Paul felt wounded (διαπονηθείς), because he could not accept of any recommendation and support, or any honor from a spirit which was not of God. Hence, he suddenly turned to the woman who was following him, and commanded the spirit, in the name of Jesus, to come out of her.
Act_16:19-21. And when her masters saw, etc.—This occurrence created enemies, and even subjected Paul and Silas to corporeal punishment and to imprisonment. [“This is the first persecution proceeding from a purely heathen source, of which we have an account.” (Meyer).—Tr.]. ʼΙδόντες can scarcely imply that the owners of the slave were present at the time when, the expulsion of the spirit took place, but rather refers to a subsequent time, when they became convinced that she had been restored to the ordinary psychic state, that the soothsaying spirit had departed from her, and that, consequently, no prospect of additional gains existed. (ʼΕξῆλθεν [applied alike to the departure of the spirit, and to that of the hope of gain, Act_16:18-19.—Tr.], is, intentionally used in a double sense.). Self-interest now goaded them on to seek revenge, and they accordingly seized the persons of Paul and Silas in a violent manner. (Timotheus and Luke, as subordinate companions, were not molested.). The two men were dragged to the market-place before the rulers (οἱ ἄρχοντες, is a general term), and presented, as accused persons, specially to the στρατηγοί. The honorable title of στπατηγός, equivalent to the Roman prætor, was gladly accepted by the highest magistrates in Roman colonial cities, although their proper title was Duumviri (“cum ceteris in coloniis duumviri appellentur, hi se prætores appellari volebant.” Cicero: De Lege Agrar. c. 34.). [“The complainants must have felt some difficulty in stating their grievance.—The law had no remedy for property depreciated by exorcism. The true state of the case was therefore concealed, etc.” (Conyb. and H. p. 323.—Tr.]. The charge, assuming a political character, referred to political disturbances which, as it was alleged, had been created (ἐκτάρασσειν, perturbare), and was founded on the circumstance that these men, being Jews, attempted to introduce customs which the citizens, as Roman subjects and colonists, were not permitted to adopt and practise. [For the authorities respecting the intolerance of the Romans, see Conyb. and H. I. 324, notes,—Tr.]. The name. ʼΙουδαῖοι, is not merely the antithesis to ʼPωμαίοις οῦ̓σι, as distinguishing the one nation from the other, but is, at the same time, pronounced in a bitter and contemptuous manner, and is intended to rouse the angry passions of the hearers.—ʼ́Εθη occurs here [as in Act_6:14] in a wide sense, including customs connected with public worship and the religious life.—It may be added, that these accusers had not yet learned to distinguish Christianity, as such, but still confounded it with Judaism.
Act_16:22-24. And the multitude rose up together.—The multitude, after having rapidly assembled, at once united with the masters of that slave, in assailing the two Christians (σννεπέστη), probably by tumultuous cries and demands. And the duumviri, doubtless alarmed, and anxious to appease the excited people, immediately proceeded, without any previous trial or judicial process, to inflict a corporeal punishment, by administering many blows on the naked bodies of the accused; (περιῤῥήξαντες τὰ ἱμάτια, comp. Liv. II. 5. 8; lacerantibus vestem lictoribus). The act was unquestionably not performed by the στρατηγοί personally (Bengel), but by the inferior officers of justice (the ῥαβδοῦχοι, Act_16:35; Act_16:38, the lictors), who inflicted the blows with rods (virgis cædere). [“Many stripes—there being no such merciful restriction in the Roman practice, as in that of the Jews (2Co_11:24), or rather in the law of Moses (Deu_25:3).” (Alex.).—Tr.]. The punishment was, probably, ordered and inflicted with such haste and passion that no protest against it could be audibly made. After this scene, which preceded any form of trial, the two strangers were committed to prison, and special orders were given to the jailer to secure them carefully. He obeyed by consigning them, as if they were dangerous criminals, to a cell which was situated far in the interior of the prison (ἐσωτέραν), and, also, by fastening their feet in the stocks (τὸ ξύλον, nervus). This instrument was a heavy piece of wood with holes, into which the feet were placed in such a manner that they were widely distended; hence it was also an implement of torture.
Act_16:25-28. And at midnight.—The miraculous aid. While Paul and Silas, in this ignominious and painful situation, were nevertheless, engaged, at midnight, in praying to God, and praising him [singing hymns to his praise, ὕμνουν,—Tr.] with loud voices, insomuch that the other prisoners listened in wonder, the foundations of the building were shaken by a violent earthquake; all the doors were thrown open, and not only were their own fetters instantly loosened, but also those of all (παντων) the other prisoners. The jailer, suddenly awaking, supposed at first, when he found the doors open, that his prisoners had escaped, and intended, amid loud cries of despair, to commit suicide. At that moment Paul called to him, and calmed him with the assurance that all were there. [“By the Roman law, the jailer was to undergo the same punishment which the malefactors who escaped by his negligence were to have suffered.” (Conyb. and H. I. 329. n. 2.—Tr.].—The other prisoners had listened to the, prayers of the two men, and when the earthquake occurred, which opened the doors and loosened all bonds, they felt the power of God, and, deeply impressed by the miracle, remained motionless in their cells.
Act_16:29-34. Then he called for a light.—The effect produced by the miracle, in the case of the jailer. He hastily entered with a light into the inner prison (εἰζεπήδησε), and, filled with fear, and trembling from anguish of conscience (ἔντρομος), threw himself at the feet of Paul and Silas; for he was now thoroughly convinced that they were specially protected by the Deity. He then led them out of the ἐσωτέρα φυλακή, (Act_16:24), and conducted them to the inner court of the prison (προαγ.—ἔξω); here he respectfully addressed them (κύριοι), and asked what he ought to do, in order to obtain that salvation which they preached (Act_16:17). ["Ινα σωθῶ; he refers to that σωτηρία, that ὁδὸν σωτηρίας, Act_16:17, which, as he had previously heard, they showed to men; he was now convinced that they spoke the truth. (Meyer).—Tr.]. They require faith in Jesus as the Lord, and assure him that thus he and all the inmates of his house would be saved. They begin at once to proclaim succinctly to him and to all who belong to him, the word concerning Jesus Christ [καὶ ἐλάλησαν]. The result was, that he, together with his whole house (πανοικί scarcely occurs except in the later Greek), believed in God; (the expression οεουστευκώς τῷ θεῷ, because he had been a pagan and polytheist. He and all his were baptized during the same night; the rite was unquestionably administered in the court within the enclosure of the prison, at a well or tank. And we may infer from Act_16:33, that his baptism, occurred in immediate connection with his own act of washing the bloody marks made by the rods on the persons of Paul and Silas. [Constructio prægnaus in Act_16:33, ἐλουσν, etc., i.e., he washed and cleansed them from the blows, that is, from the blood with which they were covered in consequence of the blows. (Winer: Gr. N. T. § 47. 5. b. and § 66. 2.—Tr.]. They returned that act of love by another, when they baptized him and his family at the same water. [“Nothing follows as to his immersion, since both ablutions may have been performed at the mouth of a deep well, or even with a bowl of water brought in for the purpose.” (Alexander). A well or cistern may have supplied the bowl with water; facilities for an immersion could scarcely have been found in the interior of an ancient Roman prison. If, on the other hand, Paul had stealthily gone forth during the night, in order to immerse the jailer in a neighboring stream, how could he, as an honest man, have, on the next day, declared that, after having been ignominiously conducted within the prison-walls, he would not leave them, until the magistrates personally led him forth?—Tr.]. And now the jailer provided food in his own dwelling for the two men, who were exhausted by the cruel treatment which they had received, the scourging, and the severe confinement. (The expression άναγαών—εῖ̓ς, does not imply, as Meyer interprets it, that the jailer’s abode was a story higher than the prison, but merely that it was a story higher than the court of the prison, in which the ablution of the prisoners, and his own baptism had occurred). τράπεζαν is both a Hebrew and a Roman mode of expression; ,חַּעְַר̇ךְ לְפָנַי שֻׁלְחָן Psa_23:5, apposuit mensam, and occurs in Greek as early as the age of Homer. (Od. E. 93).
Act_16:35-40. a. And when it was day.—The honorable dismission of the prisoners. On the next morning, the duumviri, who had, after further reflection during the interval, perceived that they had acted with too much precipitation, and who had probably received tidings of the occurrences in the prison during the night, were willing to dispose of the whole matter at once, by dismissing the prisoners. They accordingly sent an order by the lictors to the jailer, directing him to dismiss those people; (the order is expressed in haughty and contemptuous terms, τ. ἀνθρ. ἐκείνους). The jailer communicated the message to the two men, and supposed that they would now be gratified on recovering their liberty (ἐξελθόντες), and being permitted to continue their journey without molestation (ἐν εἰρήνῃ). But Paul objected to such a course; he represented to the officials before him (πρός αὐτούς, i.e., the jailer and the lictors), that the whole procedure had been contrary to law. He and Silas had, in violation of every sentiment of justice, been punished without a trial and judgment (ἀκατακρίτους); besides, they had both, although as Roman citizens, they could not be subjected to such a punishment, been scourged with rods, in opposition to the Roman law, and, moreover, they had suffered in public (δημοσία), which circumstance was an additional aggravation of the injury. [“By the Lex Valeria, passed A. U. C. 264, and the Lex Porcia, A. U. C. 506, Roman citizens were, exempted from stripes and torture: by the former, till an appeal to the people was decided,—by the latter, absolutely.” (Alford, Meyer). “The violation of the rights of citizens, was regarded as treason, and, as such, severely punished.” (Meyer, on Act_16:38).—Tr.]. They had then—Paul continues—been imprisoned. And now the magistrates wish to terminate the affair in a secret manner (λάθρα, the antithesis to δημοσία), by driving them abruptly from the prison, as they are already doing (pres. ἐκβάλλουσιν), as far as it depends on them. Paul’s meaning is: ‘All this is wrong;’ hence he peremptorily refuses to go (οὐ γαρ;—γάρ indicates that the direct negative, οὐ, contains the reason for the preceding indignant question [“and αλλά corresponds adversatively to οὐ.” (Meyer). See Winer: Gr. N. T. § 53. 8. a. note 2.—Tr.]). He demands that the duumviri should come personally (αὐτοί, not merely, sending the Motors), for the purpose of conducting them forth from the prison. Any other course might have suggested the thought that the prisoners had not been entirely free from guilt, and Paul’s departure might, at a subsequent period, have been represented as an escape, if he had withdrawn in the informal and quiet manner which had been proposed. [Doubtless, too, he apprehended that such a stain on his own reputation, might be prejudicial to the holy cause for which he labored.—Tr.].—He therefore testifies that he and Silas were Roman citizens (ἄνθρωποι ʼPωμαῖοι). In the ease of Silas, this fact is not known from other sources, but we are informed in Act_22:25-28, that Paul possessed the privilege of Roman citizenship from his birth. But he did not acquire it as a native of Tarsus, as some have erroneously supposed (Bengel), because that city was an urbs libera. [That is, it was not a colonia or municipium, but had only received the right from Augustus, after the civil war, of being governed by its own magistrates, while it acknowledged the Roman sovereignty; its citizens were not endowed with the privileges attaching to Roman citizenship. (Meyer).—Tr.]. Hence his father, or one of his ancestors must have received the Roman citizenship as a reward for services rendered to the state, or have acquired it by purchase. [See Exeg. etc., notes on Act_22:24-29.—Tr.]
b. And they feared.—When the authorities of the city received the report respecting Paul’s statements, they were alarmed (φοβηθέντες), particularly as the prisoners enjoyed the rights of Roman citizens. Their illegal proceedings in the case of men invested with this character, might easily subject them to a trial and to punishment. They were consequently induced to proceed in person to the prison, and address the prisoners in terms of entreaty (παρακαλεῖν undoubtedly implies, in this connection, that they made an apology, and entreated the latter to be satisfied); they conducted them in an honorable manner beyond the prison walls (ἐξαγαγόντες), and courteously requested (ἠρώτων) that they would voluntarily leave the city. Paul and Silas complied, without, however, exhibiting great haste; they first visited the house of Lydia (ἐξελθόντες—εἰςῆλθον), and there saw, exhorted [“παρεκάλεσαν, that they should not waver in their Christian confession.” (Meyer).—Tr.], and strengthened the brethren, i.e., both their fellow-travellers, Timotheus and Luke, and also the new converts.—ʼΕξῆλθον refers solely to Paul and Silas, and, as contradistinguished from the use of the first person (Act_16:16 ff.), implies that at least Luke, and perhaps also Timotheus, remained for the present, in Philippi, [“Timotheus seems to have rejoined Paul and Silas, if not at Thessalonica, at least at Berœa (Act_17:14). But we do not see St. Luke again in the Apostle’s company till the third missionary journey and the second visit to Macedonia (Act_20:4-6), where the first person, ‘we’ re-appears.” (Conyb. and H. I. 334.—Tr.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The transition of the Gospel to Europe strikingly illustrates the work and the kingdom of Christ in their incipient state, when they were apparently feeble, and as insignificant as a mustard-seed. When the apostle became conscious that he had received a call to Macedonia, he and his companions found originally, on reaching the first city of that country, no other hearers of the saving truth which they proclaimed, except some females. Nevertheless, these servants of Christ did not regard such a beginning as insignificant. Jesus himself had conversed with a Samaritan woman at a well, and the act surprised his disciples (Joh_4:27). The apostles of the Gentiles imitate their Master. If they cannot address many hearers, they are willing to speak to a few. Although their communications cannot assume the form of a sermon or public discourse, they are still happy that they are able to speak of Jesus, in a familiar conversation, to those few souls. And yet this apparently insignificant seed, produced a rich and precious harvest—the flourishing congregation of Philippi.
2. There was one individual among the few female hearers, who took to heart the words which Paul spoke, and listened with devout attention. Her susceptibility itself was already an effect of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ had called his messengers to Macedonia, and it was He who opened her heart. Christ has the key of David; he can so open, that no man can shut. (Rev_3:7). The human heart is closed and barred by sin, so that divine truth cannot enter, enlighten the mind, direct the will, and renew the inner man. Grace opens the heart and converts it into good ground, in which the seed can remain, take root, and grow. The word is the same, but the hearing is twofold: when the Lord opens the heart, Conversion is possible to man, but it is actually effected only when man himself also receives the word with willingness and attention. Chrysostom says: τὸ μὲν οῦ̓ν ἀνοῖξαι τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ δὲ προςέχειν αὐτῆς, ῶοτε καὶ θεῖου καὶ ἀνθρώπινον ἡν.
3. Baptism is administered on two occasions that are described in this chapter, and each time an entire family is baptized—Lydia and her household, Act_16:15; the jailer and “all his”, Act_16:33. This is the first mention which Luke makes in his narrative of the missionary labors of Paul, of the baptism of the converted; and it is a significant circumstance, in both of the cases described in the present chapter, that all who belonged to the two persons named, were baptized along with them. Both passages, Act_16:15; Act_16:33, are adduced in favor of Infant-baptism, as an apostolical practice, on the supposition that little children were undoubtedly also counted as members of the family; and Bengel asks: Quis credat, in tot familiis nullum fuisse infantem? It is true that we cannot by any means maintain that this was the fact, with such confidence as to quote it as evidence. The most important feature of the whole subject, however, is not connected with the questions whether there were children in those families, or what their ages may have been. It is rather the indisputable fact, that in both cases the whole household, or all who belonged to the families, were baptized with the respective heads, which is here of a decisive character. It involves the conception of a Christian family, a Christian household. Personal self-determination is indeed a lofty privilege; still, it is not consistent with the truth to isolate the individual; the unity of the family in Christ, the consecration of the household through grace, the entire subjection of all to one Lord—these seem to us to be here required by the will of God. And it is a remarkable fact that this aspect of salvation is prominently exhibited in the apostolical history, first of all, on European ground.
4. The apostle of the Redeemer engages in a conflict with heathenism on a Macedonico-Hellenic soil. The arts of divination had been extensively practised ever since the Peloponnesian war. Polytheism prevailed; the Pythian oracles stood in the closest connection with the worship of Apollo. Even the comparative purity of which the whole system might possibly boast, gradually disappeared, and a superstitious form of soothsaying succeeded; a calculating selfishness, and gross or artful frauds were found in company with superstition. All these features—essentially heathenish as they are—were revealed in a hideous combination, in the case of the soothsaying female slave. The most serious injuries inflicted on the apostles proceeded from men whose interests had suffered. This circumstance does not, however, justify the inference that the whole affair was nothing else than an imposition, since, on this supposition, the exclamation of the slave, recorded in Act_16:17, would be altogether inexplicable. We must probably assume that the case exhibits a kind of clairvoyance. And in that the apostle recognizes a demoniacal power, and expels the spirit by a powerful command issued in the name of Jesus. Bengel remarks: Erat spiritus non e pessimis; quia non citius commovit Paulum: sed tamen expelli dignus. Any toleration of such exclamations, and, much more, any alliance with such spirits, could have had no other effect than that of dishonoring the Gospel, and hindering the grace and truth of God.
5. But the expulsion of the spirit in the power of Christ, subjects the apostles to a political accusation. In Jerusalem, the ostensible ground for the persecutions to which the apostles (Act_4:2; Act_4:7; Act_5:28) and Stephen (Act_6:11-14) were exposed, had been uniformly furnished by religion. The sufferers were accused of having invaded the rights of the hierarchical officers and teachers, and of having uttered blasphemies against God and Moses, the temple and the law. In Philippi, persecution assumes a political character; Paul and Silas are charged with having created disturbances, and attempted to introduce customs which were contrary to the Roman customs. Persecutions had been previously endured on a heathen soil (in Antioch of Pisidia, Act_13:14; Act_13:50, in Iconium, and in Lystra, Act_14:4; Act_14:19), but this is the first instance, in which, besides, the motives of the persecutors really proceeded from a heathenish source alone. The Roman authorities of the colonial city of Philippi, impelled by the covetousness of certain individuals who had sustained a loss, and by the excited but blind passions of the populace, hastily adopted illegal and unjustifiable measures. The whole occurrence may be viewed as a premonition of all those bloody persecutions to which the Roman empire was about to subject the Christians during two centuries (comp. Baumgarten, II. 1. p. 210, 211).—Indeed, the sufferings of Christ Himself, furnish the proper type of all the persecutions which have befallen His church. This is specially the case in so far as He was himself brought before both Jewish and heathen tribunals, and condemned, by the Jewish hierarchy for irreligion, and by the Roman procurator, for a political offence. The experience of his disciples is now the same in both respects: they are accused, at first, of offences of a hierarchical and religious, and, afterwards, of those of a political nature.
6. “By succumbing, we conquer”, is here again the watch-word. The two imprisoned witnesses of Christ have suffered the deepest humiliation; their feet are fastened in the stocks; their backs are lacerated with stripes; they are cast among common criminals. They are, nevertheless, so joyful and happy when they offer prayer to God, in the middle of the night, that they sing hymns of praise with loud voices. Thus the spirit prevails over the flesh; thus faith and patience prevail over tribulation. And the miracle by which their bonds were burst asunder, and the doors opened, is the answer of God to the prayers and praises which they offered to Him. The prison is converted into a church—a place suited for baptism, for gentle ministrations to the suffering (Act_16:33), and for a cheerful agape (Act_16:34).
7. The question and the answer in Act_16:30-31, are both, as it were, classical. Both strike precisely the central point at which they are aimed—the central point of the heart, and also that of the plan of salvation. The question proceeds from the heart, and reaches the heart. On the day of Pentecost, those Jews whose hearts had been so deeply moved by Peter’s discourse, exclaimed: “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Act_2:37). Here, in Philippi, the jailer, who had been powerfully affected by the occurrence that had taken place, and who was troubled in his conscience, asked, in most respectful terms: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” His anguish of conscience, the fear of divine punishment, and an ardent desire for salvation, combine to prompt a question expressive not only of a wish for practical instructions, but also of an inward longing to reach the goal (σωθῆναι). The latter feature is not seen in Act_2:37; but the pagan, whose natural way was dark and conducted neither to peace nor to knowledge, was negatively prepared by this very circumstance for asking such a question; it proceeded from the depths of a heart which was conscious of its own emptiness, and yet thirsted after God and that salvation which is in God. But he does not merely desire to receive or take—he is also willing and resolved to do (ποιεῖν) all that is requisite, in order to reach the goal. And thus a consciousness of his misery, a desire for salvation, a thirst after knowledge, and a willingness to do his duty, are all found in combination in his soul; and “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” [Mat_12:34]. These are, indeed, the sentiments of a truly awakened soul, which is not far from the kingdom of God, which has been happily reached by preventing grace [gratia præveniens], and which seeks and knocks.—The answer of the two servants of Christ is worthy of the question. They state the means and the way to which the question referred, in brief and appropriate terms; proceeding at once to the main point, they reply: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” They exhibit to this seeking soul the Person of Christ, in whom alone there is salvation, and add no unmeaning phrases. They demand a faith of which His Person is the object—nothing more than faith, and nothing less. “Fide sola” had become the watch-word of the apostle Paul, and, in accordance with his example, was afterwards adopted by the Reformers as their own. The jailer was willing to do (ποιεῖν) all that should be asked; neverthless, they demand, not multiplied services, labors, and works wrought by himself, but solely faith, that is, a cordial acceptance and appropriation of the personal Saviour Himself, and implicit confidence in Him. Still, the faith to which this man attained, impelled him to render all the services which gratitude and love could suggest, and which he could perform; he compassionately washed their stripes, and supplied them, in their state of exhaustion, with food.—He had desired salvation, and to this inquiry, too, the messengers reply. They do not detain him on the road, but at once direct his attention to the goal. In this case again, the grace of God, who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, [Eph_3:20], transcends the desires of man. The jailer had spoken only in reference to himself (σωθῶ): the answer is: σωθήσῃ σὺ καὶ ὁ οῖ̓κός σαυ—salvation shall come [Luk_19:9], not to him alone, but also to his whole household. The paternal love of God in Christ is so abundant, that he can grant pardon, salvation, and peace to many at the same time, and bestow his grace on the whole family, as well as on its head. Paul and Silas accordingly continued to speak the word of the Lord to the jailer, and to all that were in his house, and then baptized him and ‘all his.’
8. The change of opinion on the part of the magistrates, the release of the prisoners, and the respectful and honorable manner in which the former conducted the latter forth from the prison, are prophetic signs of the victorious and honorable termination of the humiliations and persecutions to which Christianity would be subjected by the Roman Empire. The sufferings and the crucifixion of Christ were followed by his glorious resurrection. And the Church of Christ, over which the sign of the cross is seen, may, even in seasons of humiliation, that seem to conduct, to defeat and ruin, nevertheless always expect an Easter morning, and a glorious victory—provided that she follows in his footsteps, and never denies Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_16:9. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.—Faithful servants of Jesus walk as in the presence of God continually, by night as well as by day, and conform to his will; when they awake, they are still with him. (Psa_139:18). (Ap. Past.).—Come over… and help us.—When a teacher properly considers the mournful condition of the unconverted, or the anxious desires of awakened souls, should not his heart be deeply moved, and impel him to hasten to their relief? Had not the Lord Jesus compassion on the multitude, when he saw them as sheep without a shepherd? (Ap. Past).—The great missionary call; “Come over and help us”: I. Addressed by the heathen world to Christendom, and intended (a) to reveal the misery of the heathen, and (b) to rouse our active love; II. Addressed by Christendom to heaven, imploring the Lord (a) to show us the right way (Act_16:10 ff.), and (b) to open the hearts of heathens (Act_16:14).—Come over, and help us! I. This call for help was once addressed by the pagan West to the Christian East; II. It is now addressed to Western Christianity by the East, which has relapsed into its former misery; III. This cry for relief may, possibly, be uttered at some future time by lands that still enjoy the blessings of the Gospel, when their ingratitude has caused the candlestick of the Gospel to be removed, and when the word of God (“the passing shower”, as Luther terms it), shall have passed by; IV. Therefore, to-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts [Heb_3:7-8].
Act_16:10. Immediately we endeavored, etc.—Luke introduces himself, in his narrative, in this quiet, modest, and even reserved, manner. While he gazes at the great apostle, he entirely forgets himself; and when the Lord and His cause come into view, he loses sight of all persons.—Assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us.—Hence the Lord was already in Macedonia, and the vision taught them that his presence there had preceded them. (Bengel).—As soon as we are assured of the divine will, let us earnestly endeavor to obey it without delay. (Quesnel).
Act_16:11. We came with a straight course.—When the ways of man please God, the winds and the weather are often made the agents which assist him. (Starke).—The prosperous voyage increased their confidence. “Ye are truly welcome,” said Europe. (Bengel).
Act_16:12. Philippi, which is the chief city.—Great cities are frequently marked by great vices; still, we can often do good there, sooner than we could elsewhere.
Act_16:13. And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, etc.—Paul and his companions had received this extraordinary and divine call to proceed to Macedonia; but now observe the artless and simple manner in which they commence their labors. They remain alone during a few days. Then they proceed, like others, to a common place of devotion, and content themselves with speaking there to a few women; they are calm, full of faith, and willing to follow the leadings of God. They exhibit no intemperate zeal; they form no lofty design. May the Lord conduct us also in such a middle course, between an extravagant zeal (which nature, and not grace, enkindles) on the one hand, and sloth and negligence, on the other; His blessing will be granted at the proper time. (Ap. Past.).—Every place is suited for true prayer—the field, Gen_24:63; the seashore, Act_21:5; the prison, Act_16:25; the belly of a fish, Jon_2:1-2; the fiery furnace, (the prayer of Azarias) [the apocryphal addition to Dan_3:23, entitled in the English trans.: “The Song of the three children, etc.”.—Tr.]; 1Ti_2:8. (Starke).
Act_16:14. A … woman named Lydia, … which worshipped God.—We do not see vast numbers before us here, whom the lessons of the apostles won for the cause of the Gospel; Lydia stands alone. When the kingdom of God first comes, it resembles a grain of mustard-seed. This new convert, at first a solitary woman, soon gains associates; the number increases, and the result is, the establishment of that noble congregation at Philippi, to which Paul addresses his admirable Epistle, and which he calls his “crown”. [Php_4:1]. (Ap. Past.).—Lydia was in precisely that frame of mind, in which the Macedonian man seemed to be, whom Paul saw in the vision. (Ibid.).—A seller of purple.—She was, consequently, a woman who had engaged in trade, and who possessed a certain amount of property. We can fear God and love his word, whether we are occupied with commercial affairs, or hold any other position in society. Hence Paul does not advise Lydia to abandon her occupation. Still, our business affairs are never to be influenced by unbelief, covetousness, and the cares of this world; the word of God must be more precious in our eyes than all the wealth of the world. (Bogatzky).—Whose heart the Lord opened.—The teacher addresses the ear in vain, unless God opens the heart, but man must consent that it should be opened. (Rev_3:20).—When the Gospel reaches a hearer’s heart, the circumstance proves, not that the speaker is an excellent preacher, but that the Lord Himself stands before the door, and has opened the internal ear. (Gossner).
Act_16:15. She besought us, saying, etc.—All her words and acts demonstrate the genuineness of her faith: it is, I. Humble, submitting to the judgment of experienced Christians: “if ye have judged, etc.”; II. Eager to learn, desiring increased power; III. Grateful to God; IV. Rich in works of love (all this is indicated in the words: “come into my house, and abide there.”); V. Influential as an example: “when she was baptized, and her household.”—And her household.—What would Lydia have said, if the preachers of the Lord Jesus had declined to baptize the little children of her household? She would have begun to mistrust her own faith—that gracious gift of God! (Besser).
(—
Act_16:9-15.). The first planting of the divine word in our part of the world: I. The manner in which it was effected, Act_16:11-13; II. The success of the work, Act_16:14-15. (Lisco).—Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it [Luk_11:28]: I. How should we hear it? (a) With a mind withdrawn from the affairs of the world; Lydia had retired from the city; (b) with a heart consecrated by prayer; Lydia had gone forth to pray; (c) with an earnest desire for all the grace that God is willing to bestow; the Lord opened the heart of Lydia. II. How should we keep it? (a) Not by being satisfied with transient emotions, but by entering into a true communion of life with the Lord; Lydia received baptism; (b) by endeavoring to communicate to others our newly acquired faith; Lydia’s household is baptized with her; (c) by endeavoring to pay our debt of gratitude to the Lord in acts of disinterested love to our neighbor; Lydia constrains her benefactors to receive, her hospitable services. (From Lisco).—The earliest preaching of the Gospel in our part of the world: I. Who sends the preacher? II. Who is the preacher? III. Who is the hearer? (C. Beck: Hom. Rep.).—The guidance of God and the intelligence of man, combined in the work of extending the kingdom of God: I. God grants the vision to Paul, and opens the heart of Lydia; II. Paul understands and intelligently obeys the divine call, and wisely chooses the time and the place of his first discourse at Philippi. (ib.).—Lydia, the first Christian of Europe, a living illustration of the manner in which God opens a door for his word: I. By land and by sea. Paul’s passage to Europe; the distress of the world calls him; the love of Christ constrains him; the hand of the Lord leads him. II. To the ear and the heart. Paul’s first discourse in Philippi; the Lord gives him an opportunity to preach the word, gathers hearers around him, and opens a heart that receives the truth. III. To the family and the church. The fruits of Lydia’s conversion. The Lord opens her mouth for a public confession of Him—the hearts of her family for a devout imitation of her example—her hand for offices of gratitude and love.—The decisive victory at Philippi. The bloody battle of Philippi, a century previously, had laid the foundation of the empire of Augustus; the bloodless victory of Paul now lays the foundation for the kingdom of Christ on earth.
Act_16:16. Which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.—It is a common vice of men that they give largely in matters which do not belong to their province, while they will not expend a farthing on the true worship of God and on useful institutions. (Starke).
Act_16:17. Cried, saying, These men are the servants, etc.—When Satan is transformed into an angel of light [2Co_11:14], he is most of all dangerous.—The devil often preaches the article of faith concerning God, but applies it to purposes of his own. (Starke).—When the devil cannot actually arrest the progress of the kingdom of God, he endeavors, at least, to make common cause with it, and thus affix a stigma to it. But the Lord Jesus, with his servants, has always carefully guarded against such dangers. Luther, for instance, learned from his experience, that attempts are often made to insnare men by flattering words. (Rieger).—A threefold artifice of the devil is here concealed: 1. He attempted to excite the self-complacency of the apostles, and weaken their zeal for Jesus by worldly praise. Many an upright teacher has already fallen into this snare. 2. He attempted to flatter them by the words of the female slave, so that they might allow him to retain possession of her, and continue his work of deceit. 3. He designed by these means to persuade the people that the apostles were his friends, and thus impair the strength of the Christian religion. (Ap. Past.).
Act_16:18. But Paul, being grieved.—Christ does not need the praise of the devil, either in His own behalf, or in that of his servants. True Christians should regard the praise of wicked people with suspicion, and feel that it is even a hateful thing. (Starke). (The Grecian sage asked: “What base thing have I done, that this man praises me?”). The Lord grant us purity of sentiment, as the love of praise so easily besets us!—I command thee … out of her.—The powers of falsehood, which had already acquired such influence, the miserable condition of the slave, who might yet be saved, and a well-founded apprehension that Christianity might be regarded as also a magic art, that enveloped itself in darkness, combined to impel Paul to speak and act with such earnestness. (Rieger).
(Act_16:16-18). The servants of the Most High God shew the way of salvation (Act_16:17); this witness is true, although it proceeds from a lying mouth: I. Who are the servants of God? Those who serve God and his word alone, and not the false spirit of the world, self-interest, and pride, Act_16:16; Act_16:18. II. What is the way of salvation which they teach? The answer in Act_16:31. (From Lisco).—The Christian’s conduct with respect to that which is wonderful, when the latter neither proceeds from the power of faith, nor is connected with it: I. The apostle’s mode of action; II. The rule with which it furnishes us. (Schleiermacher).—No alliance between the kingdom of truth and falsehood! I. The kingdom of truth does not need it; II. It was never benefited by it.—Distrust, O Christian, the praise of the world! I. It desires to excite thy vanity by means of that which is not thy merit, but a work of grace; II. It desires to check thy zeal, when directed against all ungodliness; III. It desires to allure thee from the service of thy God, and consign thee to the bondage of men.
Act_16:19. Saw that the hope of their gains was gone.—The Gospel does, indeed, seriously interfere at times with the gains of men, since it forbids and condemns many profitable arts, and involves us in many trials and difficulties. (Starke).
Act_16:20. These men … do exceedingly trouble our city.—Those who disturb the false peace of sinners, are usually denounced as disturbers of the public peace; 1Ki_18:17; Amo_7:10. (Starke).—Lupus in fabula! The lamb is accused by the wolf of having troubled the water, and yet the latter drank higher up in the brook.
Act_16:21. These men being Jews … teach customs … being Romans.—The charge against the servants of Christ is framed with great cunning; the accusers appeal, on the one hand, to the Roman name, the highest badge of distinction; they arouse, on the other, the hatred of the people against the apostles, by applying to them the name of Jews, which was, at that time, a term of reproach. (Calvin).—The devil had borne witness that they proclaimed the way of salvation, and now their teaching is represented as of such a nature that it could not with propriety be received! Perverse world! (Ap. Past.).—Two well-founded charges against the messengers of Christ, before the tribunal of the world: I. They disturb the city, i.e., arouse the sinner from his false repose; II. They are Jews, and teach customs which do not accord with those of the Romans, i.e., they humble the pride of the natural man.
Act_16:22. Rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.—It is better to suffer for the sake of Jesus, than to be praised by the devil. (Ap. Past.).
Act_16:23. They cast them into prison.—Since Christ himself was numbered with the transgressors [Isa_53:12], it is an honor to his servants to suffer imprisonment for his sake (Starke).—Let us value the writings of the apostle the more highly, on account of the “honorarium” which he received. (Besser). [Honorarium, i, e., the pay for the services of authors, physicians, etc. (Heyse).—Tr.]
Act_16:24. Who, having received such a charge … the stocks.—Fidelity in discharging the duties of an office, even when unwisely exhibited, does not hinder, but may, at times, promote the conversion of men. (Starke).—The limbs do not feel the stocks, when the heart is in heaven. (Tertullian).—The feet of those who publish peace, are never more beautiful [Isa_3:7], than when they are bound in fetters and iron. (Gossner).
Act_16:25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, etc.—True Christians can, by their prayers and hymns, convert even a court of death, and a gate of hell, into a sanctuary and a gate of heaven. (Starke).—The place does not sanctify the person, but the person sanctifies the place. (Quenstedt).—It is no difficult art to sing praises in the external church, when it is not only tolerated, but even protected, and when money is paid for such praises; but no one, unless he is a true disciple of Jesus, and endowed with grace, can praise and sing in a prison, in bonds, and after having been scourged. (Gossner).—The wonderful worship of God at night in the prison of Philippi: I. The unusual hour of prayer—midnight; II. The singular temple—a prison; III. The remarkable appearance of those who conduct the services—Paul and Silas in the stocks; IV. The strange congregation—the prisoners in their cells.—Paul and Silas, singing praises by night, or, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” [1Jn_5:4].—The prayer in the prison at night, and the Amen pronounced by heaven (the earthquake).
Act_16:26. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, etc.—It was the answer to their hymns of praise. (Gossner).—.The prayers of the saints move heaven and earth. (Starke).—It was a great miracle, when all the doors were opened and the bands loosed inconsequence of the earthquake; but it was a still greater miracle when the hearts of the jailer and of all his household were opened, (id.).—Every deliverance that is granted at any time to the servants of God, bears a certain resemblance to the final deliverance, when, at the sound of the last trumpet, even the prisons of the graves will be opened and the bands of corruption be loosed, and when the souls of men, motionless as it were, will anxiously await the things that shall come to pass. (Williger).—The midnight earthquake at Philippi, a miracle wrought by Him who breaks all bonds: I. He bursts the bonds of affliction, when his elect cry day and night unto him [Luk_18:7], (Paul and Silas); II. He breaks the chains of sin, when the soul that is bound, sighs after Him (the jailer); III. He opens a path for His word and kingdom, although the world may attempt to fetter them (the word of God is not bound [2Ti_2:9]); IV. He bursts open the prison of the grave, when the hour of eternal redemption arrives.—The midnight hour in the prison at Philippi, an image of the solemn hour of the Lord: I. The world sleeps, but believers await it with watchfulness and prayer; II. The earth trembles, but the Lord is near; III. The servants of sin stand trembling before the tribunal, but the children of the kingdom lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh [Luk_21:28].
Act_16:27. He drew out his sword, etc.—God permitted this jailer, who was soon afterwards converted, to exhibit the utmost wrath, and even despair; he was thus, in truth, a brand plucked out of the fire [Zec_3:2], well suited to demonstrate the power of the Gospel, which can transfer sinners from the borders of hell to the life of heaven. Such cases encourage us to carry the Gospel to the rudest and most barbarous tribes, even under the most unpromising circumstances. Even the man who contemplates suicide, and whose sword is already at his breast, may yet be saved. (Ap. Past.).
Act_16:28. But Paul cried with a loud voice, etc.—The jailer, in his fright, and in the darkness of the night, cannot see Paul, but the latter sees him, and rescues him from his great danger. While the sinner sits, as a captive, in the deepest night of sin and fear, the eyes of Jesus, who is gracious and merciful, are fixed upon him. (Ap. Past.).—Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.—The command and will of God bind His people more firmly than iron chains and oaken stocks.—“We are all here”—a consolatory assurance given by the messengers of the Gospel to men in despair. Not only Paul and Silas utter the words, but Peter and John, with all the apostles and prophets, unite with them in saying: “We are all here,” I. With the witness of the word; II. With the example furnished by our walk; III. With the interceding prayers of our love.
Act_16:29. And came trembling.—He did not tremble for his office, his character, or his life, since the danger had passed away, and all the prisoners were there; he trembled in the anguish of his soul, as an awakened sinner standing in the presence of an unknown God.—Fell down before Paul and Silas.—The jailer on his knees before his prisoners—what a wonderful change! It impressively attests the majesty of the true servants of God, and the insignificance of merely secular authorities.
Act_16:30. And said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?—We are told in Act_16:27, that “he called for a light”, in order to look for the prisoners. He now calls for the true light, in order to go forth out of his own prison.—The heart of the jailer seems to repeat, and, indeed, to his own great advantage, the words: “Come over, and help us.” When we meet with such an awakened conscience, we can accomplish a great work with a few words; but it is often long before the question is seriously asked: “What must I do to be saved?” (Rieger).
Act_16:31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, etc.—The apostate emperor, Julian, said in mockery to the Christians: “Faith !—This is the whole of your wisdom!” Let us abide by this wisdom. (Besser).—The most important question, and the most important answer, (Lisco).—Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy house ! For, with this faith, thou receivest, I. A divine family friend; II. A holy family discipline; III. Undisturbed family peace; IV. A secure family position; V. An infallible family remedy; VI. A heavenly family portion (a wedding sermon).
Act_16:32. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, etc.—The apostles not only promised salvation to him and his house, but also brought it to them through the preaching of the Gospel. (Williger).
Act_16:33. And washed their stripes.—When faith enters into the heart, it transforms the individual; the stern jailer is converted into a kind physician, and host. (Starke).—And was baptized, he and all his.—He first removed their bodily uncleanness—the blood which had flowed from their wounds; he could no longer endure the sight of those evidences of the cruel treatment which these servants of God had received; he now asked that he and “all his” might, through them, be cleansed in baptism, and be freed from spiritual uncleanness. (Williger).—The jailer has now become himself a prisoner—a prisoner of Jesus Christ; but these are blessed bonds!
Act_16:34. He set meat before them, and rejoiced, etc.—This was a genuine marriage feast, in the joy of which the whole family shared. (Bogatzky).—All these details enable us to discern in the jailer, after he had become a believer, the cheerful spirit of Martha, which appropriately reveals itself only when it succeeds the thoughtful silence of Mary, and when the one thing needful is secured. (Williger).—In Philippi, a business-place (Lydia’s house), and then a prison, were the first missionary stations; two families in that city furnished the church with a home. It was necessary that, in the pagan world, the Christian family should become the nursery of congregational life, each household a congregation on a small, and each congregation a family, on a large, scale. (Besser).
(——On Act_16:25-34.). The conversion of the jailer at Philippi: I. The preparatory circumstances: (a) externally, the earthquake; (b) internally, the alternation of opposite emotions—anguish and despair, peace and joy. II. The means through which it was accomplished: (a) the question, which referred to the way of salvation; (b) the answer, which proclaimed salvation. III. The results: (a) active gratitude towards the apostles; (b) a blessing permanently abiding on the man and his house. (From Lisco).—The miracle of the night of imprisonment (a homily). I. The prayer, Act_16:25. It is night; all are buried in sleep. A gloomy edifice; an abode of darkness—a prison. But in one of the cells a light, an internal light—the light of faith. Hence, prayer and praise. II. The convulsion, Act_16:26-28. The earthquake—it convulsed not only the prison-walls, but also the heart of the keeper of the prison. At first, indeed, an agony even unto despair. But eternal love watches and rules. The comforting assurance: “We are all here.” Hope revives; still, the jailer desires to obtain ocular proof, Act_16:29. III. The great question, Act_16:30-32. It proceeded from causes that are partially apparent: the praying apostles opened an indistinct view of a higher power; perhaps, too, earlier experiences in his gloomy calling, recurred to his mind. The convulsion brought the slumbering seed to maturity.—The apostles had not fled; how secure and happy they must be! What must I do to be in the same state? The great and vital question receives a great and vital answer. There can be but one answer: “Without Christ, none are saved; through Him, all can be saved—thou, and thy house”. IV. The first love [Rev_2:4], Act_16:33-34. What is it? The effort to return that which has been received—to do good to Christ in the person of His servants, the brethren. His heart cannot contain such blessedness—it is a fire enkindled in the house, which reaches all the members of the family. (From Lisco).—The light of the grace of the Lord, arising in the middle of the night: I. Over His friends, (Paul and Silas); II. Over His enemies (the jailer and his house).—The miracles of grace wrought in the prison at Philippi: I. The Lord releases those that are bound: (a) internally free—they pray and sing; b) externally free—the bands are loosed, the doors are opened. II. He binds those that are free: (a) the fetters of agony and fear—the terror and trembling of the jailor; (b) the bands of faith and love [Hos_11:4]—his conversion and joy.—The purposes to which the Lord can apply a prison; He can convert it into, I. A peaceful chapel of prayer, Act_16:25; II. An alarming place of judgment, Act_16:26-29; III. A useful school of repentance and faith, Act_16:30-31; IV. A hospitable house of Christian love and mercy, Act_16:32-33; V. A blessed birth-place of the new life, Act_16:34. (Sermon for a House of correction and a prison).
Act_16:35. And when it was day, etc.—The apostles had hot spoken in defence of themselves before the magistrates, but the Lord had awakened the conscience of the latter. When His servants suffer and are silent, He defends their cause. (Ap. Past.).—Let those men go.—Such words, which Jesus said to his enemies near the mount of Olives, are now our security: “If ye seek me, lot these go their way” [Joh_18:8]. For now the world, death and the devil, the judgment and hell, are compelled by the power of Jesus to let his children and servants go. (Ap. Past.).—The unexpected command to dismiss Paul, was, in truth, an act of the tender mercy of God, performed in behalf of the jailer, who was only a beginner in the faith. It would have been a severe trial for him, if ha had received a command to subject these servants of Jesus to additional torments. It was, therefore, with sincere joy that he proclaimed their innocence and release. We should always treat young persons and beginners with gentleness and indulgence, until they have acquired strength. (Ap. Past.).
Act_16:36. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.—The jailer was already surprised that the magistrates should voluntarily issue such a command; but a still deeper humiliation awaited them. There are times coming when arrogant sinners will address their prayers for pardon, not only to the Lord, but also to his servants; for the saints will be their judges (1Co_6:2). (Williger).
Act_16:31. But Paul said unto them, etc.—It is at times both wise and kind, to address, in somewhat bold terms, those who can be restrained from doing evil by nothing but by fear. (Quesnel).—We ought not to yield to malicious men in a single point, not, however, from revengeful motives, but in order that their shame may be revealed, to the honor of the name of Christ; otherwise, they will become still more presumptuous (1Ki_18:17-18). (Starke).—The world would gladly consign its past acts of injustice to oblivion, but should not always be permitted to adopt this course. The Holy Spirit teaches us that we should not be humble at an improper time, but regulate our conduct in such a manner, that it may conform to the guidance of God. It is necessary that those who are invested with civil offices, should see, at least to some extent, that the course of the Gospel is guided by a higher hand. (Rieger).—Being Romans.—“Our citizenship [πολίτευμα, Php_3:20; ‘conversation’, i.e., walk, etc. Engl. Version.—Tr.] is in heaven.” Paul well knew that this privilege was of more value than that of his Roman citizenship. Comp. Php_3:8. (Starke).
Act_16:38. And they feared, etc.—The magistrates were alarmed when they heard that the prisoners were Romans; they did not bestow a thought, on the ill-treatment which Christians had received from them. Thus God at times attaches some badge to the pilgrim’s garb of his children, which may not indeed win the sincere love of others, but which at least avails to prevent further acts of violence. (Rieger).
Act_16:39. Desired them to depart out of the city.—When unchristian rulers perceive that the Gospel has made a deep impression, they no doubt wish that Christ and his word could be restricted to India or Turkey, so that their repose might not be disturbed. Compare the conduct of the Gergesenes, Mat_8:34. (Starke).
Act_16:40. When they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.—Such a departure of these faithful witnesses of Jesus, was honorable to them. They had accomplished the work that had been assigned to them; they had gathered brethren together; they comfort them; and now they depart. God grant that when we leave the world, we also may receive such a testimony from God. (Ap. Past.).
(——On Act_16:35-40). The unexpected issue: I. The sudden release; II. The bold protest; III. The honorable apology; II. The peaceful departure. (From Lisco.).—The honorable departure of the messengers of God from Philippi: I. The power of the Lord is revealed; II. The shame of his servants is effaced; III. Proud enemies are humbled; IV. Faithful friends are gained.—Under what circumstances may a Christian defend the honor of his name, and insist on his rights ? I. When he is influenced, not by insults offered to his self-love, but by his sense of justice, and his zeal for the honor of God. II. When he does not depend on his own resources, but appeals to justice and to truth; III. When it is his object, not to crush, but to convince and reform the offender.
Act_16:36. “Go in peace”—the noblest words of farewell which could be addressed to the servants of God: I. By their friends, to whom they had brought salvation and peace (the jailer); II. By their enemies, who could not touch God’s anointed (the magistrates); III. By the Lord, who gives them the testimony: “They have done what they could.” Mar_14:8.—[The conversion of the Philippian jailer: I. The circumstances under which it occurred; (a) the providential visit of the apostles to Philippi; (b) the jailer’s personal knowledge of their doctrine (apparent from ver 31, and acquired, when the divining spirit was expelled, Act_16:17-18—when they endured the scourging with constancy—when they addressed him, as he fastened their feet in the stocks—never before, such prisoners); (c) the miraculous earthquake, and its immediate effects. II. Its genuineness, proved (a) from the peculiar power of Gospel truth (Rom_1:16; Jam_1:18; it had already impressed him); (b) from the divine attestation which, as he felt, the preaching of Paul received (the earthquake—to us, e. g., the spread of the Gospel, etc.); (c) from the subsequent course of the apostles (as in Lydia’s case, Act_16:15; they would not have baptized him, if they had not “judged” that he was a believer). III. Lessons: (a) the solemn duties which the gifts of divine grace impose on us (reflection, self-examination, repentance, faith); (b) the adaptation of the Gospel to the spiritual wants of all men (Jews, Gentiles—the high and the low); (c) the practical value of the doctrine of faith in Christ.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[6]Act_16:10. ὁ κύριος [of text. rec.], the reading found in Cod. D. G. H., in several oriental versions, fathers, etc., is preferable to ὁ θεός, as the latter could have easily been substituted for the former. [ὁ θεος is adopted by Lach. and Tisch., from A. B. C. E. Cod. Sin., Vulg., fathers; Alf. retains κύριος, and regards θεός as a gloss.—Tr.]
[7]Act_16:12. [For chief, the margin offers first, the latter being a literal version of the original. See below, Exeg, note on Act_16:11—Tr.]
[8]Act_16:13. a. [The margin furnishes the following: “Sabbath: Gr. sabbath-day” (Geneva); the latter is a fuller or more literal rendering of the original (ἡμέρᾳ τῶν σαββάτων), than the one which the translators inserted in the text.—Tr.]
[9] Act_16:13. b. The text. rec. has πόλεως [from E. G. H.] but the reading πύλης is better attested [by A. B. C. D., Cod. Sin., Vulg., etc., and is adopted by Lach., Tisch., Born., and Alf.—Meyer, on the contrary says: “τ. πύλης is a gloss, which was subsequently inserted in the text in place of τ.πόλεως”—Tr.]
[In the same verse, in place of ἐνομίζετο, Lach. inserts ἐνομίζομεν, from A (corrected). B. C. The accusative, προςευχήν, (also adopted by Lach.), occurs in A (corrected), and C, but not in B. The Vulg. (ubi videbatur oratio esse,) accords with D., which reads ἐδόκει προςευχή, (adopted by Born.). Meyer regards these variations as proceeding from a misunderstanding of the original text.—Cod. Sin., stands alone; it reads ἐνομίζεν προςευχήν—Tr.]
[10]Act_16:16. [The margin furnishes the following: “of divination; or, of Python.”—Tr.]. The text. rec. reads πύθωνος, in accordance with several MSS. [D. E. G. H], while the oldest MSS. [A. B. C.; Cod. Sin.; also Vulg.] exhibit the accusative πύθωνα, which those copyists [who substituted the Gen.] do not appear to have understood. [The accusative is preferred by Lach., Tisch., and Alf.—“In N. T. Act_16:16, ἔχ. πν. IIύθωνος, having a spirit of Python, i. e., a soothsaying demon.” (Rob. Lex. ad verb.). So also Wahl. See below, Exeg. note on Act_16:16.—(Wiclif, Geneva: of divination; Rheims: a Pythonical spirit.—Tr.]
[11]Act_16:17. [ὑμῖν is adopted by Lach., Tisch., and Born, from B. D. E. also, Cod. Sin., Vulg., etc., while Alford, in accordance with Meyer’s opinion, reads ἡμῖν, as found in A. C (corrected), G. H., fathers, etc.—Tr.]
[12]Act_16:19. [The margin exhibits the following: “market-place; or, court.”—“̓Aγορά—in N. T., a place, market-place, forum, etc.” (Rob. Lex. N. T.). In the eleven passages in which the word occurs in the N. T., it is, with a single excepception (Mar_6:56, “street”) translated market or market-place, i. e., a place of public resort.—(Tynd. Cranm., Geneva, Rheims: market-place—Tr.]
[13]Act_16:31. The text. rec. inserts Xριστόν, in accordance with most of the MSS. [C. D. E. G. H.]; nevertheless, the word should be cancelled as spurious, according to A. B. [also Cod. Sin., Vulg.], and this has been done by Lach., and Tisch. [and Alf.].
[14]Act_16:32. σύν is supported by decidedly the greater weight of authority [A. B. C. D.; also Cod. Sin., Vulg.], and should be regarded as genuine; καί was substituted for it as a more simple reading, [σύν, by Lach., Tisch., Born., and Alf,—καί, in text. rec., occurs in E. G. II.—Tr.]
[15]Act_16:34. The imperfect, ἠγαλλιᾶτο [adopted by Tisch. and Alf.] appears to have been the original reading, in Cod. C. and occurs also in Cod. Cantabrigiensis [D.], as well as in the writings of Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Theophylact; it should, hence, be preferred to the aorist ἠγαλλιάσατο. [The aorist, however, of text. rec. is found in A. B. C (first correction,). E. G. H., Cod. Sin., and is adopted by Lachmann.—Tr.]
[16]Act_16:40. [For εἰς τὴν Λυδίαν, of text. rec., (found only in a few minuscules), recent editors substitute πρὸς τ. Λ A. in accordance with A. B. D. E. G. H. Cod. Sin.; Vulg. (ad.) See Winer, Gram. § 49. a.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8–10 came down to Troas--a city on the northeast coast…
came down to Troas--a city on the northeast coast of the Ægean Sea, the boundary of Asia Minor on the west; the region of which was the scene of the great Trojan war.
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 vv8–10 8. Passing by Mysia—The Spirit had forbidden them to…
8. Passing by Mysia—The Spirit had forbidden them to preach in Asia, (in which Mysia was included,) but did not preclude their passing through without preaching. Paul from the Bithynian border bent his western course, probably to Adramyttium; thence, taking the Roman road along the gulf, in the regions of Mount Ida, comes down to the Hellespont at Alexandria Troas. Before him lie the waters that divide Asia from Europe. Divine warnings have bidden him away from Asia; shall he now cross the celebrated straits, and set his foot on European soil? Yonder lies the vast continent. First in order is Greece, brightened with points of a rare civilization; next comes Rome, the seat of empire; and central in Europe are the vast hives of barbarians, noble in race, the ancestors of modern Europe and of us, but as yet dividing the forests with the savage beasts. To the margin of this Europe, our apostle comes, charged with a mission pregnant with the hopes of modern civilization. To all his queries now comes a divine answer.
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 vv8–10 8. And they passing by Mysia] i.e. without preaching…
8. And they passing by Mysia] i.e. without preaching in that district, which was a part of Proconsular Asia, where they were not permitted to preach.
came down to Troas] The well-known seaport on the coast of Mysia.
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 vv8–10 (8) Came down to Troas.—Their travels had at last…
(8) Came down to Troas.—Their travels had at last led them to the coast, and they looked out upon the waters of the Ægean. The town of Alexandria Troas, at this time reckoned as a Roman colony and a free city, recalls to our memories, without entering into vexed questions as to its identity with the site of the older Troy, the great poem which tells us the tale of Ilium. To St. Paul that poem was probably unknown, and had it been otherwise, the associations connected with it would have had no charms for him. The question which must have occupied all his thoughts was, where he was next to proclaim the glad tidings of the Christ, and of forgiveness and peace through Him. That question, we may well believe, expressed itself in prayer, and to that prayer the vision of the next verse was an answer.
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 vv8–10 Passing they came for they passing came, A.V. They…
Passing they came for they passing came, A.V. They would have gone north to Bithynia, where, we know from 1Pe_1:1, there were many Jews. But the Spirit ordered them westwards, to the seacoast of Troas, that they might be ready to sail for Macedonia. In like manner Abraham went out not knowing whither he went. (Heb_11:8) Truly the footsteps of God"s providence are not known!
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 v8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas…
Act_16:8-12
And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
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Pauls vision at Troas
I. Its benevolence. What is the gospel? Help for man. It helps man--
1. To know God.
2. To preach Christ.
3. To promote civilisation.
II. Its influence. It recognises--
1. The independent capacity of man as a moral agent.
2. The weakness of man.
III. Its ministration. The appeals of humanity to Christianity are various.
1. By the information of history.
2. By the general operation of Christian principles.
3. By inward impressions. (Caleb Morris.)
What might have happened had the vision not occurred
That figure represented Europe, and its cry for help Europe s need of Christ. Paul recognised in it a Divine summons; and the very next sunset which bathed the Hellespont in its golden light shone upon his figure seated on the deck of a ship whose prow was moving towards the shore of Macedonia. In this passage of Paul, from Asia to Europe, a great providential decision was taking effect, of which, as children of the West, we cannot think without the profoundest thankfulness. Christianity arose in Asia and among an Oriental people; and it might have been expected to spread first among those races to which the Jews were most akin. Instead of coming west, it might have gone eastwards, It might have penetrated into Arabia and taken possession of those regions where the faith of the False Prophet now holds sway. It might have visited the wandering tribes of Central Asia, and, piercing its way down through the passes of the Himalayas, reared its temples on the banks of the Ganges, the Indus, and the Godavery. It might have travelled farther east to deliver the swarming millions of China from the cold secularism of Confucius. Had it done so, missionaries from India and Japan might have been coming to England at the present day to tell the story of the cross. But Providence conferred on Europe a blessed priority, and the fate of our Continent was decided when Paul crossed the Hellespont. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.--
The Macedonian spectre
Sometimes men hear better with their eyes than with their ears. Truth will get in through the imagination when it will make no impression through the intellect. Hence Bunyan was as philosophical as he was ingenious in representing Mansoul as having Feel-gate, Nose-gate, Mouth-gate, as well as the chief among them all, Ear-gate and Eye-gate. But when the grand attack of Diabolos was made it was found that Captain Resistance was established above Ear-gate; but Ear-gate was much more slightly defended. In Scripture there is constant recognition of this comparative ease of entering the human soul by the way of the eyes. Hence we are sure to find some splendid vision whenever a fresh messenger is appointed from God to men. Observe:--
I. That this vision was addressed to an inspired man. It found him shaken with uttermost perplexity, and was the only thing which availed to give direction in his present duty. Twice in succession their intentions were suddenly held in check by a power higher than their own. The man of those regions deepens the impressiveness of such a strange discipline. For while the apostle was urging his way east the Holy Ghost was constraining him to go to the west. Westward the star of empire takes its way, seems to be the Divine rule for human history. Learn:
1. That the great Head of the Church retains guidance of every form of Christian enterprise. It was the Spirit of Jesus which stopped Paul now, just as He did on the road to Damascus. That we must ask Gods decision, when we set about religious effort. We are to invite Divine cooperation in selection of methods, as well as in choice of ends, and so to discern in failure a stimulant to faith, and in success a reason for our giving new glory to God.
II. This story throws light upon calls to service.
1. Any real declaration of want is a call. Anything that has a voice can utter a call. Adaptations to usefulness are direct calls to usefulness.
2. The supreme necessity of a lost human soul. The words which the world at large is speaking are Come over and held us. It does not appear to have occurred that the spectre could have possibly had any meaning beside a religious one. All men the world over have one point in common at which they need succour: they must have pardon for sin.
3. The calls to duty which one has afford a safe exposition of his heart. A politician would have imagined that a struggling people were sending for soldiers to fight for their cause. A philanthropist would find some signs of a famine. Thus each would discover his own.
III. How readily these messengers of Christ started out on a foreign mission.
1. Note the intense form of expression: immediately, etc.
2. The finest picture in this world is that of a human will surrendered in sublime obedience to the will of God. The beauty of the Troad is famous: think of Mount Ida, the city of Priam, the tomb of Achilles. But the chief fame of that region now is found in the remembrance that there four men set out upon the sea to conquer Europe unto Christ. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The Macedonian phantom
I. St. Pauls need of faith and Divine guidance. The apostles differed from ourselves in that they were endowed with extraordinary gifts.
1. It might have been thought that, possessed as they were of superhuman might, there would have been but little opportunity or demand for that trust which is required from ourselves. But that the apostles were able to work miracles did not secure to them the supply even of their daily wants. It was a strange, but an instructive spectacle, that of a man who could raise the dead, obliged to labour like a common artisan in order to procure a meal. But God, in order to keep His servant dependent on himself, would not allow him to exercise, on his own behalf, the powers which were so mighty in subjugating the world.
2. The apostles had the gift of prophecy, and, privileged with immediate revelation, they knew far more than common men of the will and purposes of the Almighty. But this was no more allowed than their power of working miracles, to diminish the necessity for the exertion of faith. You might have thought that such men would never have been at any loss with regard to their own plans. Yet this was far from being the case. The Apostles appear to have had just our trials of faith; they were called upon for the same patient waiting on God, the same watching the leadings of His Providence, the same studying the minute indications of His will. If you look at the verses which immediately precede our text, you will find abundant evidence that St. Paul and his companions were required, like ourselves, to go forward in faith, uninformed as to the precise course which God would have them take, but acting on the assurance that He directs the steps of all such as commit themselves to His guidance.
3. At last, there is granted unto Paul the vision recorded in our text, from which he is enabled assuredly to gather that the Lord designed him to preach in Macedonia. We hear much of the leadings of Gods providence; and it is our business to be always on the watch for the leadings; assured that, as God taught His people of old by the cloud upon the tabernacle, He will not fail now to vouchsafe guidance to those who in all their ways acknowledge Him. But we are not to expect that the leadings of Providence will be always, or even often, marked and distinct. This would be to change the character of our dispensation; for if the pillar of fire and cloud went visibly before us, it would be by sight, and no longer by faith, that Christians were required to walk. It is the easiest thing in the world to imagine the leadings of Providence, where we have already got the leadings of inclination. And we may learn from the instance of St. Paul that, even where there is prayerfulness and entire submission, it may be only by dark intimations, and after many frustrations, that Gods providence will mark out our course.
II. St. Pauls vision. There is not one who does not consider that sleep is a sort of image of death. The heathen spake of death as a sleep; and Scripture, from the very first, made use of the figure. But the metaphor has not been carried to its proper extent.
1. I do indeed think that God designed sleep as the standing image of death. But I think also that God hereby meant to fix their thoughts, not only on their dying, but on their rising from the dead. Why, when every morning calls us from our beds, strung with new energy, and, as it were, freshened into a new life--why are we to speak of sleep as though it imaged our death, but not also our resurrection?
2. But our condition whilst asleep furnishes notices of our condition whilst we lie amongst the dead.
(1) In sleep it is not the whole man, it is only the earthly part that falleth asleep. The bodily senses and faculties are suspended from their usual exercise; but the mind is more than commonly active. What flights will the soul take during sleep. It may be well doubted whether the soul is ever inactive: we do not always remember our dreams; but, probably, we always dream. And what ought we to gather from this? Surely, that the soul shall be active while the body lies dead.
(2) Neither is this all. Such passages of Scripture as our text teach us that while the body is asleep the soul may be receiving instruction. It is every way observable that God should have made such frequent use of visions or dreams in the communicating intimations of His will. He might have given these intimations through many other modes; for nothing can be more vague or uncertain than a dream. And it may have been that in thus frequently employing dreams, and employing them more frequently whilst there was less distinct information as to mans state after death, Gods purpose was to direct attention to the capacity of the soul for receiving instruction, yet not through the organs of the body, but whilst those organs might be closed and unable to discharge their ordinary offices. The separate state shall not be a state of dull inactivity or low attainment: that state is imaged by sleep; and as if to tell me what the righteous may expect in that state, God hath come to His servants in visions of the night, and taught them in sleep what they had vainly striven to discover when awake. And now I am not to give room to any fears that, whilst the flesh lies slumbering in the grave, the soul will not be admitted into acquaintance with portions of Gods will which it may vainly have endeavoured to ascertain whilst on earth; enough that St. Paul, whilst awake, had meditated to preach in Asia, and assayed to go into Bithynia, seeking fruitlessly to determine what Gods will might be, and yet that St. Paul, in sleep, which is the image of death, was thoroughly instructed in regard of that will--there stood by him in a vision, a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
III. St. Pauls interpretation of the vision. There is no reason to think that any further revelation was added; the expression, assuredly gathering, implies that the disciples were left to draw the inference that the Lord had called them for to preach the gospel unto them. They never seem to have imagined that there might be any other way in which they could help the Macedonians, that the Macedonians could want any other sort of help. Do you not, then, see that St. Paul and his companions lived for only one object? that they acknowledged but one supply for all the wants of the world? Ah, how very different would it be amongst ourselves! Let the phantom be sent to one of our statesmen; let the form of the wild Indian, or of the African, stand by his bedside in the stillness of the midnight, and breathe, in accents compelling his attention, the simple entreaty, Come over and help us, and how would the politician interpret the call? He would probably conclude that ruthless foes were invading the distant country; and his first, his only thought, might be to send an army to its succour. Or let the spectre go and speak to one of our merchants--he would presently think of commercial embarrassments or commercial openings, and if he assuredly gathered anything it would be that he must freight a vessel and send out a mercantile establishment. Or if it were even to one of our benevolent and philanthropic men that the phantom addressed itself, the likelihood is he would think of famine, or pestilence, and he would hesitate as to what help could be given, till he had made out some particular and temporal evil under which they were labouring. And yet, whatever our occupation, we are professed servants of Christ, and all bound, by the vows of our profession, to take as our chief object the advancing Christs kingdom. It was not merely because St. Pauls business was that of a preacher that he interpreted a cry for help into a cry for the gospel; St. Paul was also a tent maker; St. Luke was a physician; but it never occurred to either the one or the other that assistance might be wanted to teach a trade or heal a disease: their ruling desire was that of glorifying Christ; they could not, therefore, be invited into a country and not seize on the invitation as an opening for Christianity. They believed that in carrying Christianity to a land, they were carrying that which would best rectify disorders, alleviate distresses, assuage sorrows, and multiply happiness. And, therefore, they never stopped to consider whether they had at their disposal the particular engine which, on a human computation, might be suited for counteracting a particular evil--enough that they had the gospel to preach; and they felt that they had an engine which could in no case be inappropriate and in none inefficient. Let us learn, from the example of St. Paul, to set a higher value on the gospel: whether it be as a nation or as individuals that we are called upon by the Macedonian for help; whether the cry, borne from heathen lauds, be a cry specifically for religious instruction, or the cry generally of suffering and degraded humanity.
IV. St. Pauls obedience to the vision. Observe how ready they were to obey Gods will the moment they had ascertained it. Immediately. It had not been into Macedonia that they had been wishing or purposing to go, and unbelief might have suggested, Shall we let a phantom guide us? ought we not at least to wait for some less dubious intimation? But no; there was sufficient reason to think that Gods will was now discovered, and there was nothing to be done but to hasten to the sea and seek the means of embarking. Alas! we are all ready enough to follow the leadings of Gods providence when they concur with our own wish; but how reluctant are we when God points in one direction and inclination in another! This is the trial--to set out for Macedonia, to which duty calls us, in place of staying at Troas, to which our own wishes bind us. But a Christian should have no will of his own--he is the servant of a Master in heaven, and the only thing for him to ascertain is where that Master would have him work, and what He would have him do. Has the phantom been at his bedside? Then he ought not to confer with flesh and blood. He is indeed to take every just means for assuring himself that he is not deceived, that the phantom has not been woven from the imagining of his own brain, but has really been sent to him by his Master. But this having been done, there is no room for hesitation. And are we not summoned to Macedonia? and is not the voice for assistance more thrilling and more plaintive than that which fell, in night visions, on the ear of St. Paul? It is the voice, not only of the Macedonian, the foreigner, the heathen; it is the voice of our own countrymen. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The cry of the Macedonian to Paul
The cry--
I. Was human.
1. A man--
(1) Not an angelic intelligence.
(2) Not a member of a class, but of a race. It was not a philosopher, artist, priest, warrior, king; but a man.
2. It is the humanity in heathendom that is in moral distress. The aid that is so deeply required is not secular, political, educational, military, but moral. Help to the conscience, soul; help to man as man in his spiritual and eternal relationships.
II. Was significant. Come over and help us. It implies--
1. A sense of need. Man everywhere feels that there is something wanting to make matters right between him and his God. Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord?
2. Conscious inability to supply the need. The Macedonian felt that the Macedonians, with all their wealth and intelligence, could not supply the necessity. Heathenism has no self-redemptive power.
3. Faith is the power of Christians to help. The Macedonian took it for granted that Paul could help. Macedonia represents the western world. Once this call sounded for help from the heathen West to the Christian East; now it sounds from the heathen East to the Christian West.
III. Was obeyed. Paul attends at once to the call. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The cry of the heathen
Consider--
I. The wants of the heathen. Think of the millions of India ignorant of God, of Christ, and of the way of salvation; destitute of hope, victims of the most degrading superstition, Of their rites we may well say with St. Paul (Eph_5:12; Rom_1:29-32).
II. The character of the blessing.
1. It offers a Divine atonement.
2. The Holy Spirit applies it and imparts the state of mind essentially necessary (Mar_16:16).
III. Our obligations.
1. It is the command of Christ, Go ye, etc. (Mar_16:15).
2. Common humanity demands it.
IV. The motives which urge us.
1. The facilities offered for the propagation of the gospel. Multitudes are prepared for it. The Bible is translated into their tongues, there is a disposition to read it, prejudice is wearing away. God is pouring out His blessing on the means already employed.
2. Our abundant means. We have wealth, piety, influence, talent, all at our command.
3. The magnitude of the work calls forth our exertions.
V. Improvement.
1. The glory of the Redeemer is involved in the extension of His Church. Has not God given Him the heathen for His inheritance, etc. Every soul saved adds one gem to the Redeemers crown. Is not this the object of our daily prayer, Thy kingdom come, and can we consistently use the words without employing the means?
2. Gratitude, as enlightened Gentiles. Here God was once unknown. All the blessings we enjoy we owe to the labours of those holy men who left their peaceful homes to preach among us the unsearchable riches of Christ.
3. Compassion to their deplorable state. The temporal salvation of millions of men is not equal to that of one soul. (Pulpit.)
The vision and the call
I. The vision. They came down to Troas--that is, to Troy, a modern city bearing the name, and marking the region, if not the site, of Priams Troy, the City of the Iliad and the blind singers deathless song. Such places are fountains of inspiration in themselves. Hill and grove, stream and plain, are vocal with great memories; and the soul that is worthy of such a scene hears, as Augustine heard voices in the air saying, Let us, too, conquer something. But more depends upon the soul than on the scene; for whatever it looks upon the eye can only see what the eye brings with it, the means of seeing, for everything wears the hue of the spirit. Xerxes, Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar, and many more came to this famed region, and each one saw and heard according to the spirit that was in him visions of battles. But the man who had now come to Troy had brought with him another spirit and an eye capable of nobler visions. He brought with him a great soul, wide in the range of its sympathies, sensitive, impressionable, and glowing with the quenchless passion of love to God and man. Never in all its eventful history had Troy an eye so rich in the means of seeing whatever Troy could show. And what did Paul see upon the Trojan plain? Behold, then, the new Troy that God would have besieged and conquered, as the spring besieges, and as the summer conquers the land! Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and the message that moulded his life came to him from the very lips of God, speaking in person. That was the highest vision of which the best man in that stage of the worlds spiritual development was capable. But Paul in that great moment, not only of his life, beheld, not the Lord high and lifted up, but a man of Europe, one of ourselves, and heard a human voice pleading in the darkness for such help as he could give. It was the vision rendered possible by the Incarnation of the Son of God, and necessary by the state of the world. He beheld a man! That is the vision needed today. In all our difficulties in England, political, economic, social and ecclesiastic, the devils policy is still to raise such a dust of controversy as to hide man from man. Penetrate to the heart of any question of the day, and there you find a man, a man asking for help. At the heart of the Drink Question, at the heart of the Labour Question, there are men, not monsters, but men, flesh of our flesh, men with difficulties, crying to us, calling to us, pleading with us. And our only hope of settling these questions lies in laying the cloud of devils dust of passion and prejudice until we can see the man and hear what he is saying. And this great matter of missions, what is it? Do some of you young people think that, after all, it is nothing but a war of religions? that it is simply a crusade of one creed against another? Nothing of the sort. It is mans ministry to man. How shall we figure heathenism to ourselves tonight? Shall we call up a vision of idols and groves and temples and mitred priests and garlanded victims? No; all that is mere detail. If you want to see heathenism in the fullest pathos and tragedy of its fate, think of it under the guise of a man with soul enough to conceive the sublime ideas of Brahminism, with conscience enough to appreciate the grand moral precepts of Buddha, with brain enough to frame the marvellous scheme of Confucius, and spirituality enough in him to see with Zoroaster that the difference between good and evil is no measurable distance, but a distance as between day and night. We have to approach them rather in the spirit of brotherliness; for a man stands before us, and yet in a spirit of compassion for this man, so noble, so subtle, so mighty of intellect, is weighed down, is cramped, he is weary with searching and cannot find, he is a baffled man, and he asks us to help him with that very thing in the possession of which alone we are superior to him, the thing which, perhaps, when we have handed it to him he will be able to make a very much better use of than we have made.
II. The call. Human need is always sacred and ever oracular, for through it God speaks. The will of God is the only plain thing in this universe, the only thing that is absolutely known. Everything else has darkness and mist about it, but the will of God is absolutely plain. The will of God is gladness, sunshine, music, life. It is everywhere. Go forth into the byways and highways of London with open eye and reverent heart, and you shall see it written upon every human need, and you shall hear it speaking to you in every human cry. It is the will of God that men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; and Gods will be done! The call of God is a call to unity. When he had seen the vision we sought to go forth. It is noticed that the word we comes in here for the first time. The men felt that it was a call not only to action, but to united action. There had been quarrels and partings at Antioch. Paul and Barnabas had separated; but this revelation of the need of the world came to give compression and compactness and unity to this little band. If you want to see the quarrel at Antioch in its true nature, look at it in the light of Europes need; and if you want to see the divisions and the jealousies that divide Christian people at home, look at them against the worlds need today. God is not calling us simply to action, but to united action, to cooperation, to Christian unity. Twice one man is not simply two, but two plus their unity. It does not matter how many they are. It is not the number of men that work; it is the spirit in which any number work; their unity tells.
III. The work. God had called us to preach the gospel unto them. Dr. Owen, in his sermon on this text, says: No men want help like the men that want the gospel. But what is the gospel?
1. Preaching the gospel; what is it? It is calling the righteous to repentance. There were good folk in Philippi, and Paul found them engaged in a good work on a good day. Well, then, let well alone? No, for it is not at all well. Nowhere in all Philippi was Paul more needed than among these good folk praying on the Sabbath day by the rivers brim; and there is no one in all England that needs a mission more than many a good, blameless, irreproachable, man. But are there good among the heathen? Oh! yes. I am no more concerned to deny goodness to India and China than St. Luke to Philippi. There is goodness among the heathen, conscientiousness, aspiration, prayerfulness. Why, then, send missions to good people? Why? Because the goodness of the world, almost more than its badness, demonstrates the absolute necessity of the gospel. If the badness of the world proves how far down man can fall left to himself, the goodness of the world goes to show what a very little way, left to himself, he can lift himself from where he has fallen.
2. Preaching the gospel, what is it? Deliverance of the captives. As Paul passed and repassed through the streets on his way to the place of prayer, to preach to the good, kind people, he saw another phase of European life--a poor girl, on whose supposed powers of divination greedy men were making a fat living. Well, she, too, as well as Lydia, should be helped. Paul held a gospel in trust for her. Oh! yes: but think of the difficulties and the danger of doing it! For timid friends tell Paul, who had never been in Europe before; never been face to face with downright heathenism before: She is a property, a human chattel; she belongs to the men who live upon her powers. Salvation for her means ruin for them: good money is good in Europe, and what it might mean ultimately for Paul no one could say. Then think of the scandal, the interruptions of the good work so nicely begun--all this to be stopped and a great scandal raised, and Christianity itself, perhaps. Yes, there were strong reasons for not touching this matter, and Paul seems to have shrunk from doing so. But God forced his hand. The girl followed him day by day, advertising the mission that he had been sent upon, until, at last, able to bear it no longer, he stood there in the open street and, in the name of Christ, opened fire upon the devil in her, and the more malignant devil in her masters. Yes, there was a scandal and tumult, and much trouble came of it. But it had to be done, for in this matter peace is with the devil and the fight is with God.
3. Preaching the gospel to the heathen is preaching Christ as the Saviour of lost men. Philippi held not Lydia only, not girls like that poor lost, wild one; but men like this gaoler, coarse, hardened, sceptical. What can Paul do to help that man? What does that man want? Why, he wants everything; he wants the chief thing. And so, from obeying the vision they saw and following the call they heard, God led these people into a work that touched the European town at every point of its life, and stirred it to its lowest depths. They left it in a few days a different place from what they had found it. (J. M. Gibbon.)
The cry of the heathen
This was no doubt a special vision sent of God for the direction of the apostle. And yet the vision may be very readily accounted for by natural causes. Men usually dream of that which is most upon their minds. Who marvels that the miser dreams of gold, the mother of her infant, the soldier of battle? No wonder that Paul, whose whole soul was full of his Masters cause, should have a vision concerning a new field of labour. God sometimes tells men in their sleep the secret they could not discover when they were awake. We have heard of the preacher who dreamed his sermon and then preached it. The text suggests that--
I. The greatest help that can be given to any people is the preaching of the gospel. Those who have not the gospel stand in the greatest need of help; but when the gospel is carried, you carry everything within it.
1. Many lands are still subject to despots. How is liberty to be established in these lands? We need something more potent than steel to carve out the liberty of mankind. If liberty, equality, and fraternity, the three great words that are the worlds heirloom, are ever to be fully known, it must be by the preaching of the Word of Jesus.
2. See how the nations are lying under gloomy superstition. How many have their intellect blighted, their hopes blasted, their progress stepped, by the cursed dominancy of priests. But the preaching of the gospel which teaches that believers are all priests and kings--this, and this only, is the worlds hope of its deliverance from the slavery of the body and the yet more accursed bondage of the soul.
3. There are many places where all social comforts and enjoyments are as yet totally unknown. Nothing else can make the barbarian into a civilised man but the cross.
4. There are districts where the ground is red with blood. What shall we do to put an end to war? The gospel of Jesus shall yet break the battle bow in sunder.
5. But still, the greatest help that the gospel brings is help to the soul. Does not your heart desire that the blind eye should be opened, the misguided directed, the vicious led to virtue, and the virtuous to righteousness! Ye must send the gospel far and wide. How can they believe without a preacher? How can they preach except they be sent?
II. Every day and hour the nations are saying, Come over and help us. They do not vocally ask for help; nay, if you send it, they will many of them reject it. Missionaries have been slain; but still the nations are silently crying, Come over and help us. If I saw a person in the street faint and dying, although he spoke not to me, I should think the weakness of his silence more potent than all the power of words. Ay, and if I saw him like a maniac, pushing me from him, for that very reason I would give him my assistance; and so must you do. It is ours to thrust our kindness upon unwilling men, because we believe that their unwillingness arises from the madness of their disease. Unborn generations shall bless the men that sent the gospel which at first their fathers did reject.
III. What do you mean to do is answer to the heathens cry? Have I one man who has a mind to go and preach the gospel in other lands? Because if I have, and if I have ten others who have a mind to give him ten pounds a year, I have an opening for sending him out at once. Who can tell?--he might be another Livingstone. Have we no young men here who are ready to volunteer? And what are you resolved to do who cannot preach? Says one, I will pray. Do so; but in doing that, recollect that is what the Roman priest did for the beggar. The priest said he would not give him a sovereign, nor a half-crown, nor a penny. Holy father, said the beggar, will you give me your prayers? Yes, said the priest; kneel down. No, said the beggar; for if your prayers had been worth a penny, you would not have given them to me. If you have nought else to give to Christ, ye need not be ashamed; but if you are blessed in your substance, you will be lying before Him if you ask Him to bless His cause and do not give of your means in its support. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Cry of the heathen
One sunny evening, on Mr. Masons return from a preaching excursion among the Burmans, the first object which attracted his attention was the fine form of a Sgare chief, who, seated like a child at Mrs. Masons feet, was earnestly imploring her to visit the karens in his village and neighbourhood. We have heard of Christianity, and it seems to us something wonderful. We do not understand it, and yet it seems the very thing we want. Come to our jungle homes, and preach to us on our native streams. Many will believe. I have a Burman wife, and I have daughters, and sons-in-law, and brothers, and nephews, all of whom will become Christians, as well as myself, as soon as we really understand. In a few years this man became one of the most efficient labourers in Merqui and Tavoy, and under his influence many were baptized. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)
A cry for help
The form of the petition, which we may declare without exaggeration to be addressed to all of us in the periodical call of Christian missions, places in a very attractive light the work to which it refers. The gospel is designed by its Author, and is felt by its true disciples to be the help of man. The Bible is full of this aspect of the gospel. Man wants help, and God alone offers him help.
I. Instruction is help. We all speak of the helplessness of the blind. See a blind man groping his way: math the vacillation of his step, the uncertainty of his hand; see how a little child, a dumb animal, a lifeless staff, is welcomed as the guide and helper. Now what the light of the sun is to one who has to move among the things of this world, that knowledge is to a man who has to find his way through the mysteries, perils, and obstructions of this life into an eternal state. Well can you imagine yourself crying, in the words of the text, Come over and help me! Help me by telling me for certain what I am and where; who is He above me, and what the life beyond; how I can so pass through things temporal that I finally lose not the things eternal.
II. Comfort is help. See how the Psalmist cries out for help in his hours of distress. Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because Thou, Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me. Holpen and comforted. The two things are one. If I could only feel that someone has cared for my soul, it is help at once. It is neglect, indifference, alienation, which disheartens and makes me feel myself helpless. Let me know that God whom I have displeased yet loves, that God whom I have neglected waits for me with outstretched arm, and I can bear anything, I can do anything. It is so when first the gospel is apprehended as indeed a message of peace from God. And it is so again day by day. The gospel is indeed help for the helpless and life from the dead.
III. But there are hearts of which the inward thought is, The help I need most of all is, in the simplest sense, assistance--aid against difficulties, enemies, temptations. Yes, here we touch the vital point. What makes a true Christian love his gospel is that he finds strength in it. (Dean Vaughan.)
A call for help
Oriental in its lineage and nativity Christianity was destined to become European in its triumphs. A few centuries saw it wither in those lands which gave it birth. Whereas transplanted to Europe it has struck here abiding roots and borne ample fruit. Nourished by the stronger soil of Western life, it is now beginning to repay the East its early obligations. The moment to which the text refers was one of the supreme turning points of history. It was a moment sure to come. Sooner or later the gospel was bound to pass from the continent of its infancy to that robuster continent which was to prove the home of its manhood. Yet it needed quite a series of unusual providential indications to bring that mission band down to Treas. Again and again had the unseen Guide of that enterprise stood, like the angel of Balaam, barring progress. Read widely the Macedonians appeal suggests--
I. That all human religions, governments, literature, civilisation, have ended in a confession of failure.
1. What are human religions but attempts to find God? But they strive after the unattainable. The net result of them all in Pauls day was a general scepticism respecting religious truths, and despair respecting their highest good.
2. The end of government and all social systems is the regeneration of society and a reign of justice, peace, and happiness; and at this problem men had long been working. Government by one, by a few, by the many, by the best--the world has tried them all, and under all of them has gone to corruption.
3. This failure repeats itself in the individual soul. The inward history of every man, when the net result of all lifes efforts comes to be inspected, does not satisfy even the man himself. It is not what it ought or was meant to be.
II. To all this incessant, profound, pathetic plaint of humanity, Gods answer has been the gospel of His Son, or rather Gods Son Himself. He is the Helper who has come over to us. He has brought light, revealing the Father whom we had ignorantly worshipped; peace cancelling guilt and atoning for transgression; power to break the bonds of evil habit, to renew the wasted moral energy, and to build up holy character. We believe in this Helper; to receive Christ is to be a Christian. Come and see if He be not the Christ of God.
III. Christ being Gods response to the cry for help, it follows that Christians in their turn must listen to the cry and answer it. If the gospel has not forgotten its own origin it can never hear unmoved the Macedonian appeal. Christianity, is nothing if not a mission; and the Churchs loyalty is tested by the degree of her sensitiveness to catch and her promptness to answer the cry of perishing men. Not that the Church must wait for any formal invitation. Paul did not wait for that. Macedonia knew and cared nothing about Christianity. The cry came not from Europe, but from God. What the vision meant was that Macedonia needed and was ready for the gospel. And no other provocation is needed for the Churchs missionary effort today. Note then--
1. The need. The study of comparative religion yields two results--
(1) It brings to light the seeds of spiritual truth which lie buried beneath the great old religions, and which testify to the inextinguishable cravings after God to which Christ is Gods reply.
(2) It shows the necessity for the Christian revelation. To know heathenism thoroughly is to know not only its fragments of partial truth, but also their insufficiency, and their witness to mans abortive spiritual struggles. There is great need for a fuller acquaintance with heathen creeds, and their outcome in heathen life. It is most difficult for men whose moral sense has been refined by Christianity to fathom the deeps of sinfulness and cruelty in which men have been plunged by unnumbered centuries of heathenism. Had Christians only an exacter knowledge of these things, compassion for the heathen would be vastly more keen and active than it is.
2. The readiness. The Church literally staggers beneath appeals for help. You can scarcely name a region that is inaccessible to the gospel. This is the privilege and perplexity of all our Churches. (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)
The worlds want, the worlds cry
It is only hearts burdened with Divine pity, and moved by Divine love, that see such visions or hear such voices as Paul saw and heard. The cold and indifferent sleep on; never hear and never see the great spirit world that wraps us close round. But we must not suppose that the Macedonians were actually hungering for the gospel. We know that they did not welcome Paul. His first sermon was preached to a few women only, and he was beaten and disregarded by the Philippians at large, and driven from their city; and when he went further south to Thessalonica, they assaulted him so furiously that he had to escape out of the city by night. And further south again in Athens they mocked him and said, What will this babbler say? Alas! the heathen, as a rule, do not see their darkness or feel their misery. The sheep in the wilderness, though utterly lost and in utmost peril, never seek the shepherd; it is the shepherd who has to seek the sheep. There was once an old man, diseased and worn and literally clothed in rags, who sat by the wayside begging, an object of pity: yet he never uttered a word, but simply sat there. One day a gentleman passing by was struck by his abject misery, but as no appeal was made he passed on. Yet, haunted by the mans woe-begotten appearance, he came back and said, Are you in want? And the old man replied, Oh, sir! I am sick and cold and hungry. Then said the gentleman, Why dont you beg? And the old man, stretching out his worn, wasted hands, and looking at his rag-covered body, said, Sir, I am begging with a thousand tongues. Yes, his misery was begging more eloquently than words. And it is thus that the heathen world is begging at the doors of the Church. It is its misery that begs; for the heathen are without God, and without hope in the world. But it is only a Christians eye that can see that misery, and only a Christians ear that can hear the cry. But what kind of help did the Macedonians want from Paul? and what kind of help had Paul to give them? It was--
1. Help out of their debasing idolatries and superstitions to the knowledge of the one true and living God.
2. Help out of their moral degradation to a higher and nobler life.
3. Help out of darkness and death to Christ and life. (G. Owen.)
The beginning of European missions
I. The dream. It seems a slight sort of thing to be the beginning of any enterprise, for a dream may arise from some slight derangement of the body, some uneasy posture, some preoccupation of the mind. Sometimes, however, it may be the effluence of another life. Just as a telegraph wire will transmit an influence that will reach another wire quite detached from it miles away--how, no man knows--so there are souls, perhaps, with so much vitality and power to propagate an impression that they may waft their desire into other hearts by the subtle breathing and yearning of the soul. In such a case a dream may have a meaning. God fulfils Himself in many ways, and sometimes, when He cannot get into our waking mind, He will enter into the mind while it sleeps, and convey His message there. From the result we see that this dream was a ministering angel. Mark some of the strange things about him.
1. It is very strange that He goes to the hearts that He does. Truly there was need of some angel to be the mouthpiece of creation that was groaning. For despair spread over the face of the people. The power of Rome was oppressive; liberty was extinct; the laws were bitter and cruel in a degree we cannot easily imagine. But surely that angel went to the wrong house. Let him go to the emperor, to the Roman Senate, to some that had power to see to the well-being of the people. But he is gone to travel-stained men with no fitness for any task like this. Angel, you have come to the wrong door. But oh! woe always knows in what direction to look for help; it has an instinct unerring as the childs for the mothers breast. And the dream angel, that is the pleader for human help, is always coming to Christian hearts. They may be few and poor; but somehow the cry of distress is always coming to the Church of Christ, as if she had some secret by which to heal the troubles of men. It may be the poor people of London; the ignorance of little children; orphans; the hospital; some nation struggling for liberty; womanhood. All the sorrowful the world over passing by all others say to us, Come over and help us. In Tokio, in Japan, a pool woman asked to be led to the Christian people. They asked her what she wanted. She said she understood that they knew how to heal the broken heart, and her heart was broken, and she wanted to find them. You cannot get out of this position. It is an evidence of Christianity little noticed, the expectation that the world has from us. Realise it. You may learn what to do in learning what the world expects you to do. The first marvel about this dream angel is the people to whom he goes.
2. The next strange thing about this dream angel is that he gets into the heart he goes to. It was not every heart that he got into. There are thoughts and feelings that cannot be got into our minds and hearts, for they are not big enough for them. There are some who can look upon sorrow and never see a claim in it; who can have the gospel and never feel that they have anything that can heal the woes of men. If such an angel had come to such, he might have stood at the door and knocked the whole night through, and he would not have disturbed their slumber. We would have told him that the rich man lived in the next street, or that somebody that was particularly interested in this sort of work was to be found somewhere else, or of the number of calls that we had, or turned to ask the news from Macedon: what about the crops, and the business, and the state of the frontier? The dream angel has been trying to get into some of our hearts for years, and we do not heed him, and send him away. Blessed are the souls that are open to let him in. All Christ-like hearts listen to such appeals. St. Patrick heard the dream voice, and the great missionaries of the Middle Ages--Boniface, the missionary of Central Europe; Raymond Lully, who went to Northern Africa; Xavier, who went to the furthest India and the edge of China. He came to our own Carey. There are some people that have never seen this dream angel. God pity them! Blessed are they who have.
II. What did they do with the dream? What would you have done? Probably you would have told it as rather a strange, curious dream, and have forgotten it. And suppose you had been with Paul; would you have given in to him, and gone to Macedonia on the mere strength of this dream? I fancy Silas would be very much tempted to say, Well, Paul, that is you all over; your dream cometh of your compassions. When you were at Antioch you thought of Cyprus, and when you got to Cyprus you thought of Asia Minor; when yon were at Syria you wanted to go to Rome, and when you get to Rome you will want to go to Spain--always the regions beyond. Your dream by night just comes of your thought by day. I can fancy Luke was tempted to say, Paul, you had a very serious illness in Galatia a month or two ago, ought you to go yonder? Oh, if it had been you or I, we would have wanted a month or two to consider it, and we would have got everybodys opinion till we got addled by the multitude of opinions that we took, and chilled by the cold water we invited. What did they do? (verse 10). How long it takes to convince us of any duty! We ask for light, and when light comes we look at it as if it had been something sent on approbation, and send it back, or wait for God to change His mind and show us something else; or we consult with flesh and blood, with books, and wonder whether we have to do it, or perhaps we say, Is it necessary? Is there not somebody else that can do it? Happy are those hearts that are easily convincible of Gods love and of their own duty. These men were of that make. They assuredly gathered that the Lord had called, and there was an end of it. Four big children, not stupid enough to philosophise, nor prudent enough to tarry for light, but heroes as well as children. Immediately they endeavoured to go. Not lingering. How much they gained by their promptness! Why, if they had waited till tomorrow the ship would have been gone, and no one knows how long it would have been before another vessel would sail in that direction. Besides, when you are guided by Gods eye, the eye that guides you smiles on you, and you walk in the light. And they went with its bloom upon them, and the voyage pleasant, and three days do not elapse before they are in the capital of Macedon at their work. Brethren, this world is too short for us to practise delay. You are going to give a lot of money to the missions when your fortune is made. Immediately they endeavoured to go into Macedonia--that was Pauls example. Tomorrow is not yours or mine; today is ours. Be like the stars, as Goethe said; not hasting, not tarrying, waiting till the light is clear; the moment it is clear, go forth.
III. The result of this action. What was it? Perhaps not very encouraging at first. Nobody is waiting for them. They go out to the little oratory by the riverside; there is not a man, only a few women. It is true that one of them is converted; it is true that another is converted. And then, when they have got into prison, another low-natured man that it took an earthquake to rouse is added to the other two; and thus there are three to start the Christian worship in Europe. It is a strange trio--a seeker after God, a poor demoniac woman, and a great sinner. You know that is the way the Church is gathered--seekers, sufferers, sinners. Was that all? Not quite all. For these three, with two women at the head, grew into the noblest of all the Apostolic Churches. Then after Philippi they went to Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, Corinth; and the Church grew and grew till today European Christianity has grown out of it. Brethren, send the bail rolling, and somebody else will keep it up. Sow one seed, and a thousand years hence some fruit of it may wave. Were they repaid? What says your heart? What would you give to have their reward in heaven? Oh! what overpowering delight would it be to any one of us to have a ten thousandth part of the reward that came to them! So all are rewarded that obey these heavenly visions. (R. Glover.)
The charter of Massachusetts
granted by Charles I contains an expression of the hope that the settlers to whom it is granted may win and incite the natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith, which, in our royal intention, and the adventurers free profession, is the principal end of this plantation. The first seal of the State represents an Indian giving utterance to the words, Come over and help us. (W. E. Rae.)
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 v10 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.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8. Mysia borders the Aegean Sea, lying between Asia…
8. Mysia borders the Aegean Sea, lying between Asia and Europe, Troas, the capital on the sea-shore, occupying the site of old Troy, so memorable in Homer’s “Iliad.”
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v10 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 vv8–10 See notes on verse 6
See notes on verse 6
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 vv9–10 prayed him
prayed him
beseeching him. Here the Gospel turns toward Europe.
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 v9 The vision:
The vision:
v. 9. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.
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v. 10. and after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them.
The reason for all this maneuvering now became apparent. During the night, apparently the same night after they had arrived in Troas, a vision appeared to Paul by which the Lord intended to communicate His will to the apostle. A man from Macedonia was standing before him, either in a dream or in a condition of ecstasy, addressing him in words of earnest pleading: Cross over into Macedonia; help us! When Paul had seen this vision, he and his companions, to whom Luke had now been added, at once made earnest efforts to leave for Macedonia, for they were firmly agreed that the Lord had chosen this method of calling them to preach the Gospel in Europe. The little company now consisted of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, one as anxious as the other to secure early passage on some boat that plied between the Aegean ports. Note: Whenever the directions of the Lord as to some work to be done are plain, all those that are concerned should be filled with the same anxiety to enter upon the work; for His business requireth haste.
Vision, Dream, and Revelation. (Theophany and Angelophany.)
One of the features of Bible history, both in the Old and in the New Testament, is the matter-of-fact reference which the holy writers make to special revelations of the Lord by means of appearances, visions, and dreams. in practically every case of this kind which has been recorded, these appearances were attended by extraordinary, immediate communications of God to men, usually regarding some event which was to take place in the near future. The Bible itself speaks of these extraordinary revelations, making a distinction between true and false dreams and visions. "If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream," Num 12:6. "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions," Joe 3:21. The manner of testing whether a prophet be true or false is described in Deu 13:1-18. "They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination. and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart," Jer 14:14; Jer 23:16.
In some cases, God Himself appeared, either in a voice, in some visible form, or in a more or less tangible image in a vision or in a dream. Moses was privileged above all the people of Israel on account of the manner in which the Lord communicated with him. "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold," Num 12:7-8. To Abram the Lord spoke in a vision, Gen 15:1, also to Jacob in the visions of the night, Gen 46:2. In the case of Samuel it was a vision in a dream, 1Sa 3:1-21. To Solomon the Lord appeared in a dream by night, 1Ki 3:5. A large part, if not all, of the prophecy of Isaiah was received by him in a vision, Isa 1:1. The Lord spoke to Ananias of Damascus in a vision, Act 9:10.
Although they are closely related to the foregoing, a special class may be made of the appearances of the "Angel of the Lord," the revelations of the second person of the Godhead, the "Angel of the covenant," in the Old Testament. The Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, Gen 16:1-16, and rained brimstone and fire upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, Gen 19:24. The Angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness, Gen 16:7-9. He appeared to Moses at various times, Exo 3:2; Exo 14:19; Act 7:30. Gideon saw Him when he was threshing wheat by the wine-press. Jdg 6:11-12. To Manoah and his wife the Angel of the Lord predicted the birth of Samson. Jdg 13:1-25. He gave a command to Elijah the Tishbite, 2Ki 1:3.
From these visions and revelations. which are properly termed theophanies (appearances of God) we distinguish angelophanies (appearances of angels) either in dreams or in an ordinary meeting, face to face. Thus the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the Temple, Luk 1:22, and to Mary in her home, Luk 1:27. To Joseph an angel of the Lord spoke repeatedly in a dream, Mat 1:20; Mat 2:13; Mat 2:19. The warning of God to the wise men was also given in a dream. Mat 2:12. That the "man from Macedonia" in the passage above, Act 16:9, was an angel seems fairly certain.
A final form of communication or extraordinary revelation was that by means of visions in the strictest sense, when the senses of the person concerned were affected in some unusual way and he was in a state of transport, or ecstasy. This was the case with Peter at Joppa, Act 11:5. It was probably also the condition of Paul at the time of his conversion, Act 9:1-43; Act 22:1-30; Act 26:1-32. He himself describes such an ecstatic vision when he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter, 2Co 12:2-4. Into this class belongs also the vision which John had when he received the information and saw the pictures which he has recorded in the Book of revelation.
It is well to remember, in connection with the many dreams in our days, for which people seek and receive explanations from mediums, fortune-tellers, etc. , what Luther says: "Therefore we should not believe the dreams, nor explain them as it seems well to our reason, but leave it to God, as Joseph says, Gen 40:8. Although they are common to both Christians and Gentiles, yet no one knows what they mean unless the Holy Ghost also explains them. As. Peter, 2 Eph 1:20, commands that we should not believe any explanation in spiritual things, unless it be from God. Therefore, dreams may come and dreams may go: do you not interpret them; let God make it sure, be not, sure of thyself."
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 v9 A vision appeared to Paul
A vision appeared to Paul
"Paul saw a vision from God" or "Paul had a vision from God"
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calling him
"begging him" or "inviting him"
Come over into Macedonia
The phrase "Come over" is used because Macedonia is across the sea from Troas.
we set out to go to Macedonia ... God had called us
Here the words "we" and "us" refer to Paul and his companions including Luke, the author of Acts.
translationWords
vision
Paul
Macedonia
God
preach
good news
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 vv8–10 16:8 Troas, a major port on the Aegean Sea,…
16:8 Troas, a major port on the Aegean Sea, was one of the more significant cities in the Roman Empire. Paul’s strategy was often to visit principal places such as Troas, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. When the Christian faith had been planted in major centers, local Christian workers could carry it into outlying areas (e.g., Epaphras took the message from Ephesus to Colosse, Col 1:7; 4:12-13).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.