But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”
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Acts 17:5-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!” The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things. When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Parallel Translations
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But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.
When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”
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But the Iewes which beleved not havynge indignacion toke vnto the evyll men which were vagabondes and gadered a company and set all the cite on a roore and made asaute vnto the housse of Iason and sought to bringe the out to the people.
But when they founde them not they drue Iason and certayne brethren vnto the heedes of the cite cryinge: these that trouble the worlde are come hydder also
which Iason hath receaved prevely. And these all do contrary to the elders of Cesar affirmynge another kynge one Iesus.
Show all 3 translations
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But the Iewes which beleeued not, mooued with enuie, tooke vnto them certaine vagabonds and wicked fellowes, and whe they had assembled the multitude, they made a tumult in the citie, and made assault against the house of Iason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
But when they found them not, they drew Iason and certaine brethren vnto the heads of the citie, crying, These are they which haue subuerted the state of the world, and here they are,
Whom Iason hath receiued, and these all doe against the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another King, one Iesus.
Cross-references (43)
- Acts 24:5 (v6) For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the…
- Acts 16:19-21 (v6) But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the…
- Acts 28:22 (v6) But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”
- Luke 23:2 (v7) They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself…
- Luke 23:5 (v6) But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place.”
Show all 43 cross-references
- Acts 17:13 (v5) But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise,…
- Galatians 5:26 (v5) Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
- Acts 21:28-31 (v6) crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover,…
- 1 Kings 18:17-18 (v6) When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your…
- Jeremiah 38:2-4 (v6) “Yahweh says, ‘He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out to the…
- Matthew 24:14 (v6) This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
- John 19:12 (v7) At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone…
- Acts 6:12-13 (v6) They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, then brought him in to the council, and set…
- Acts 14:2 (v5) But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.
- Acts 16:21 (v7) and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
- Acts 17:7 (v5) whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”
- Acts 18:12-13 (v6) But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying,…
- Acts 22:22-23 (v6) They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to…
- Romans 16:21 (v5) Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives.
- Galatians 5:21 (v5) envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 (v5) For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from…
- Exodus 3:8-9 (v6) I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a…
- Judges 9:4 (v5) They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed…
- Amos 7:10 (v6) Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of…
- Matthew 27:18 (v5) For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up.
- Acts 13:45 (v5) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.
- Acts 14:19 (v5) But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city,…
- Acts 18:12 (v5) But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
- Acts 19:24-34 (v5) For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen, whom he…
- Acts 19:40 (v5) For indeed we are in danger of being accused concerning today’s riot, there being no cause. Concerning it, we wouldn’t be able to give an…
- 1 Corinthians 3:3 (v5) for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the…
- Job 30:1-10 (v5) “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs. Of what use is…
- Psalms 35:15 (v5) But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t…
- Psalms 69:12 (v5) Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
- Proverbs 14:30 (v5) The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.
- Acts 7:9 (v5) “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,
- James 4:5 (v5) Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
- Ezra 4:12-15 (v7) Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and bad city, and…
- Isaiah 26:11 (v5) Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume…
- Daniel 3:12 (v7) There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O…
- Daniel 6:13 (v7) Then they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn’t respect you, O king,…
- Acts 25:8-11 (v7) while he said in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I sinned at all.” But…
- 1 Peter 2:15 (v7) For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv5–7 5. And being moved with envy. We see how…
5. And being moved with envy. We see how Paul could nowhere erect the kingdom of Christ without some conflict, for so soon as any fruit of doctrine appeared, there arose persecution therewithal; but because he knew that he was to war against Satan and the wickedness of the world, he was not only hardened against all assaults, but he was more encouraged more courageously to proceed. Therefore, all the servants of Christ must be content with this one example of him, if they see that their labor doth yield some fruit, they must recompense all manner of persecutions with this reward. And this place teacheth that the zeal wherewith the unbelievers are carried headlong, and set on fire, is nothing else but furious force, because it is not governed by the prudence of the Spirit, neither yet with righteousness or equity. And though they do always pretend the name of God for an excuse of their disordered zeal, yet this history doth plainly declare, that mere hypocrisy doth reign inwardly, and that all corners of their hearts are stuffed with poisoned malice. These enemies of Paul did boast that they were defenders of the law of God; and that they did hate Paul, and contend with him only in defense thereof.
Why do they then arm the wicked, and conspire together with them to raise tumult? Why then do they also before a profane magistrate bring the gospel in that contempt which might have redounded to the contempt of the law? Such sedition doth plainly declare, that they were moved with nothing less than desire to please God, to be thus hot against Paul, for to what end do they beset Jason’s house, and strive disorderly to pluck out Paul thence, save only that they may set him before the people to be stoned? Therefore, let us know that wicked zeal, which is hot [boils] in superstitious men, is always infected with hypocrisy and malice; and this is the cause that it breaketh out into cruelty without keeping any measure.
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Taking to them certain vagabonds. The Greek word which Luke useth doth signify sluggards, and men whereof there ought no account to be made, who, having nothing wherewith they could keep themselves occupied at home, did run up and down idle; or bold [audacious] fellows and hungry, who are ready to forswear themselves to raise tumults, and to be at one end of every wicked fact. Whereby it doth likewise appear that their own conscience told them that they did amiss, seeing they got wicked men to take their part, and to give them their consent. For seeing the magistrate did favor them, what did move them to raise that tempest, save only because they had no hope to have any success, unless (matters should be out of order and) all should be in an uproar? And Luke describeth how such fans did raise sedition; to wit, they gathered the people together in troops, and spread abroad their poison here and there, until they were strong enough to make an assault; which policy [artifice] is too common among seditions fellows, as those cities which are subject to this mischief do full well know.
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 vv5–6 Certain companions which do nothing but walk the streets,…
Certain companions which do nothing but walk the streets, wicked men, to be hired for every man’s money, to do any mischief, such as we commonly call the rascals and very sinks and dunghill knaves of all towns and cities.
Although the zeal of the unfaithful seems never so goodly, yet at length it is found to have neither truth nor equity: But yet the wicked cannot do what they list, for even among themselves God stirreth up some, whose help he useth to the deliverance of his.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–7 5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with…
5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
Ver. 5. Of the baser sort] Viles et venales, saith one, Vagi, otiosique, saith another, such as had little to do but to walk the streets and run on errands, the rascality and sink of the city.
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Set all the City on an uproar] Quia perturbato statu melius consequi valent quod volunt. The devil loves to fish in troubled waters. When he hath set all on a hurry, as in Saul, then he can the sooner enter and play his pranks. So can his instruments.
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 vv5–7 Believed not; or were not convinced, or persuaded by…
Believed not; or were not convinced, or persuaded by St. Paul’s sermons and arguments.
Moved with envy, or zeal; which, as fire in the chimney, its due place, is useful and necessary; but when scattered abroad, and out of its place, is most dangerous and destructive.
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Lewd fellows; such as stand in markets and public places, gazing, and having nothing to do.
Of the baser sort: to what meat and base acts do not blind zeal and the rage of persecutors descend!
Jason; some think this to be the Greek name which the Hellenists did use for Joshua, or Jesus. This man was one of the dispersion, who came from Judea into Syria, and from thence into Macedonia; and is famous, so far as the word of God is preached, for being the host to Paul and Silas; and is mentioned, Rom 16:21.
To bring them out to the people, for to slay them. Nothing but their blood could quench the thirst of their persecutors; but having no just cause for the spilling of it, they are willing to have others to bear the odium of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–7 But the Jews which believed not,.... The Alexandrian copy,…
But the Jews which believed not,.... The Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions leave out the words, "which believed not"; but whether this character is expressed or not, it is certain that the unbelieving Jews are here intended:
moved with envy; at the success of the apostles, many of their own people and of their proselytes, and some of the better sort being converted by them: or "with zeal"; for what they called the glory of God, but it was not according to knowledge; it was a blind and ignorant zeal, a zeal for the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses, and for the traditions of the elders:
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took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort; or of the market folks, who sat and sold things in the market, and were generally of the meaner and vulgar sort, as the word may signify; or who stood idle in the market place, squandering away their time in an idle manner, not caring to work, and so were fit persons, and who could easily be gathered together, for such service as the unbelieving Jews employed them in; or they were a sort of officers and servants, that attended courts of judicature, and cited persons thither, and assisted in the business done there, and who were commonly men of profligate and abandoned lives:
and gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar; they raised a mob, and made a clamour, which brought people out of their houses to inquire what was the matter, and so gave great disturbance and uneasiness to the inhabitants:
and assaulted the house of Jason: who by what follows appears to have been a disciple of Christ, a believer in him, and the host of the apostle and his companions, who being an inhabitant of Thessalonica, at least having a dwelling house there, received them into it. This Jason is said to be one of the seventy disciples, and afterwards bishop of Tarsus, but this is not certain; nor whether he was a Jew or a Greek, very probably the former: we read of Jason the brother of Onias the high priest, a Jew,
"But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, called Epiphanes, took the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias laboured underhand to be high priest,'' (2 Maccabees 4:7)
whose name was Jesus, the same with Joshua, but as Josephus (i) says, he called himself Jason; and so this man's Hebrew name might be Jesus or Joshua, and his Greek name Jason; and very likely he was a believer in Christ before the apostle came to Thessalonica, and it may be is the same who is spoken of in Rom 16:21. See Gill on Rom 16:21. Some of the ancients (k) make mention of a disputation between Jason, a Christian Hebrew, and Papiscus, an Alexandrian Jew, but there is no reason to believe that he is the Jason here spoken of:
and sought to bring them out to the people; they expected to have found Paul and Silas in Jason's house, where they lodged, and their intention was to have dragged them out and exposed them to popular fury, to be beaten or stoned by the people; and so the Arabic version reads, "requiring those two apostles, that they might set them before the people"; or put them into the hands of the mob, which they had gathered, to do as they would with them.
(i) Antiqu. l. 12. c. 5. sect. 1. (k) Origen. contr. celsum, 1. 4. p. 199. Cyprian. opera, p. 562. & Hieron. Quaest. in Gen. fol. 65. E. Tom. III.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Verse 5. The Jews which believed not, moved with…
Verse 5. The Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them] Instead of this sentence, the most correct MSS. and versions read simply, προσλαβομενοι δε οἱ Ιουδαιοι. But the Jews taking, c., leaving out the words, ζηλωσαντες, απειθουντες, which believed not, moved with envy: these words do not appear to be genuine there is the strongest evidence against them, and they should be omitted.
Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort] This is not a very intelligible translation. The original is, των αγοραιων τινας ανδοας πονηρους. The word αγοραιοι, which we translate the baser sort, is by Hesychius explained, οἱ εν αγορᾳ αναϚρεφομενοι, those who transact business in courts of justice. The same word is used by the Jews in Hebrew letters to signify judges; and אגוריאות של גוים agorioth shel goyim, signifies judges of the Gentiles. These were probably a low kind of lawyers, what we would call pettifoggers, or attorneys without principle, who gave advice for a trifle, and fomented disputes and litigations among the people. The Itala version of the Codex Bezae calls them quosdam forenses, certain lawyers. As the Jews, from their small number, could not easily raise up a mob, they cunningly employed those unprincipled men, who probably had a certain degree of juridical credit and authority, to denounce the apostles as seditious men; and this was, very likely, the reason why they employed those in preference to any others. They were such as always attended forensic litigations, waiting for a job, and willing to defend any side of a question for money. They were wicked men of the forensic tribe.
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Gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar] And, after having made this sedition and disturbance, charged the whole on the peaceable and innocent apostles! This is precisely the same way that persecution against the truth and followers of Christ is still carried on. Some wicked man in the parish gets a wicked attorney and a constable to head a mob, which they themselves have raised; and, having committed a number of outrages, abusing men and women, haul the minister of Christ to some magistrate who knows as little of his office as he cares for the Gospel; they there charge the outrages which themselves have committed on the preacher and his peaceable hearers; and the peacemaker, appointed by a good king, according to the wise and excellent regulations of a sound constitution, forgetting whose minister he is, neither administers justice nor maintains truth; but, espousing the part of the mob, assumes, ex officio, the character of a persecutor. The preacher is imprisoned, his hearers fined for listening to that Gospel which has not only made them wise unto salvation, but also peaceable and orderly citizens, and which would have had the same effect on the unprincipled magistrate, the parish squire, and the mob, had they heard it with the same reverence and respect. Had I not witnessed such scenes, and such prostitution of justice, I could not have described them.
Assaulted the house of Jason] This was the place where the apostles lodged; and therefore his goods were clear spoil, and his person fair game. This is a case which frequently occurs where the Gospel is preached in its spirit and power. And, even in this moat favoured kingdom, the most scandalous excesses of this kind have been committed, and a justice of the peace has been found to sanction the proceedings; and, when an appeal has been made to the laws, a grand jury has been found capable of throwing out the true bill!
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 v5 Act 17:5-7. But the Jews which believed not, &c.…
Act 17:5-7. But the Jews which believed not, &c. — Although many Jews at Thessalonica received and heartily embraced the truth, there were many who rejected it, and that, as it afterward appeared, with much malignity of heart. For the great success which Paul had in converting the idolatrous Gentiles, raised the envy and indignation of the unbelieving Jews to such a pitch, that, transported with a blind and furious zeal, they hired (των αγοραιων τινας ανδρας πονηρους) certain dissolute fellows who frequented the market-place, and were prepared to do any thing, however bad, for a small reward. These gathered a company — Collected a mob; and soon set all the city in an uproar — Threw it into the greatest confusion; and assaulted the house of Jason — Where Paul and his assistants lodged; and sought to bring them out to the people — Whom they had incensed and enraged against them, and by whom they hoped to see them pulled in pieces. And when they found them not — As they expected, in the house; (the apostles, it seems, having been advised to withdraw, as being most obnoxious;) they drew Jason — A converted Jew; and certain brethren — Who were with him; unto the rulers — To whom they represented them as very criminal, in having received and harboured dangerous persons, not fit to be tolerated, enemies to the public peace, who threw every thing into disorder wherever they came: crying, These that have turned the world upside down — With their new doctrine; are come hither also — To create the same disturbance among us; whom Jason hath received — Hath sheltered under his roof, and so hath made himself responsible for all the mischief they may do here; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar — Not to any particular decree, for there was as yet no law of the empire against Christianity; but contrary to Cesar’s power in general to make decrees; saying, that there is another king — Not only a king of the Jews, as Christ was himself charged before Pilate with saying; but a universal Monarch, a Lord of all, as Peter called him in the first sermon he preached to the Gentiles, Act 10:36; for doubtless they alluded to the Christian doctrine concerning the Lordship, or universal dominion of Jesus, which they pretended was inconsistent with the universal lordship of Cesar. It is true, the Roman government, both while it was a commonwealth, and after it came into the hands of the Cesars, was very jealous of any governor under their dominion taking upon him the title of king, and there was an express law against it; but Christ’s kingdom was not of this world. His followers said, indeed, that Jesus was a king, but not an earthly king: not a rival with Cesar, nor one whose ordinances interfered with the decrees of Cesar; but who made it a law of his kingdom, to render unto Cesar the things that were Cesar’s. There was nothing in the doctrine of Christ that tended to the dethroning of princes, or the depriving of them of any of their prerogatives, as they knew very well; and it was against their consciences that they laid any thing of this kind to the charge of Christ’s disciples. And of all people, it ill became the Jews to do it, who hated Cesar and his government, and sought the ruin both of him and it; and who expected a Messiah that should be a temporal prince, and overturn the thrones of kingdoms; and were therefore opposing our Lord Jesus because he did not appear under that character.
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 vv5–7 Moved with envy - That they made so many…
Moved with envy - That they made so many converts, and met with such success.
Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort - This is an unhappy translation. The word “lewd” is not in the original. The Greek is, “And having taken certain wicked people of those who were about the forum,” or market-place. The forum, or market-place, was the place where the idle assembled, and where those were gathered together that wished to be employed, Mat 20:3. Many of these would be of abandoned character, the idle, the dissipated, and the worthless, and, therefore, just the materials for a mob. It does not appear that they felt any particular interest in the subject; but they were, like other mobs, easily excited, and urged on to any acts of violence. The pretence on which the mob was excited was, that they had everywhere produced disturbance, and that they violated the laws of the Roman emperor, Act 17:6-7. It may be observed, however, that a mob usually regards very little the cause in which they are engaged. They may be roused either for or against religion, and become as full of zeal for the insulted honor of religion as against it. The profane, the worthless, and the abandoned thus often become violently enraged for the honor of religion, and full of indignation and tumult against those who are accused of violating public peace and order.
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The house of Jason - Where Paul and Silas were, Act 17:7. Jason appears to have been a relative of Paul, and for this reason it was probable that he lodged with him, Rom 16:21.
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 vv6–7 Who disturb the city,[2] put it in an uproar.…
Who disturb the city,[2] put it in an uproar. In the ordinary Greek copies, for the city, we read the whole world. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Qui urbem concitant, in the common Greek copies, Greek: oikoumenen, orbem: so that this difference might happen in the Latin, by the change of one letter only of urbem, for orbem: but some Greek manuscripts have Greek: ten polin, civitatem.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5–7 the Jews . . . moved with envy--seeing their…
the Jews . . . moved with envy--seeing their influence undermined by this stranger.
lewd fellows of the baser sort--better, perhaps, "worthless market people," that is, idle loungers about the market-place, of indifferent character.
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gathered a company--rather, "having raised a mob."
assaulted the house of Jason--with whom Paul and Silas abode (Act 17:7), one of Paul's kinsmen, apparently (Rom 16:21), and from his name, which was sometimes used as a Greek form of the word Joshua [GROTIUS], probably a Hellenistic Jew.
sought to bring them--Jason's lodgers.
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 vv5–7 5. Envy—At seeing the adherence of persons of rank…
5. Envy—At seeing the adherence of persons of rank becoming Christian, by which the Jewish influence was undermined.
Lewd fellows—Literally, marketers; vagabonds who hung around the markets or forums, serving for pay in mobs, as in the present instance.
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Gathered a company— Significantly expressed by a single Greek compound, οχλοποιησαντες, mob-making.
Jason—Probably a Greek form of Joshua or Jesus.
To the people—More probably, to the demus, public assembly, or town-meeting.
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 vv5–7 5. But the Jews which believed not] In the…
5. But the Jews which believed not] In the oldest MSS. the last three words are unrepresented in the Greek. These are very likely a gloss which has crept into the later texts, the reader who made it on his margin wishing to note that not all the Jews were adverse to the Apostle.
moved with envy (jealousy)] They did not like to see numbers of men and women drawn away from their party.
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certain lewd fellows of the baser sort] The Greek is more nearly represented in modern English by “vile fellows of the rabble.” ἀγοραῖος, “of the rabble,” is properly the man who having no calling lounges about the ἀγορὰ, the market-place, in the hope of picking up a chance living, and who is ready for anything bad or good that may present itself. We have no English word sufficiently dignified to use for such a term in translation. “Loafer” comes nearest, but of course is too colloquial. The word “lewd” meant in old English “people,” but afterwards came to signify (1) “the common people” and (2) “the ignorant and rude among the people,” which is the sense intended by the A. V. The word nearest akin to “lewd” is the Germ. leute = people.
set all the city on an uproar] There is no word in the Greek for “all.” The Jews in Thessalonica must have been numerous and influential to bring about such a tumult, but they preferred to raise (see Act_17:7) the cry that the new teachers were enemies of the Roman power. This would gain them a larger following.
the house of Jason] Manifestly the host of Paul and Silas. Beyond what is said of him in the following verses (6–9) we know nothing. The name is found, Rom_16:21, in a list of those whom St Paul speaks of as his “kinsmen,” but this may be quite a different person. He is most likely to have been a Jew, whose proper name perhaps was Joseph, and Jason, which is Greek, may be only that which he used in his intercourse with Gentiles.
bring them out to the people] So that the excited mob might inflict summary vengeance on them.
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 vv5–7 (5) The Jews which believed not.—The latter words are…
(5) The Jews which believed not.—The latter words are wanting in many MSS., as “filled with envy” are in others.
Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.—The word “lewd” is used in its older sense, as meaning vile, worthless. At a still earlier stage of its history, as in Chaucer and the Vision of Piers Plowman,
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[“How thou lernest the people,
The lered and the lewed, “] i. 2100.
it meant simply the layman, or untaught person, as distinct from the scholar. The “baser sort” answers to a Greek word describing the loungers in the agora, or market-place, ever ready for the excitement of a tumult—the sub-rostrani or turba forensis of Latin writers. Men of such a class, retaining its old habits, are found even among the Christian converts in 2Th_3:11, “working not at all, but busybodies.”
Assaulted the house of Jason.—The ground of the attack was that he had received the preachers as his guests. The name was locally conspicuous as having belonged to the old hero of the Argonautic expedition, and to the tyrant of Pheræ. It is probable, however, that St. Paul would, in the first instance, take up his abode with a Jew, and that Jason, as in the case of the apostate high priest of 2Ma_4:7, was the Greek equivalent for Joshua or Jesus.
To bring them out to the people.—Thessalonica was a free Greek city, and the Jews accordingly in the first instance intended to bring the matter before the popular ecclesia or assembly.
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 vv5–7 Jews for Jews which believed not, A.V. and T.R.;…
Jews for Jews which believed not, A.V. and T.R.; being moved for moved, A.V.; jealousy for envy, A.V.; (see Act_13:45, note) vile fellows of the rabble for lewd fellows of the baser sort, A.V.; gathering a crowd, set for gathered a company and set, A.V.; the city for all the city, A.V.; assaulting they for assaulted and, A.V.; forth for out, A.V. The house of Jason; where it appears from ver. 7, as well as from this verse, Paul and Silas were lodging. If, as is very probable, the Jason here mentioned is the same person as the Jason of Rom_16:21, it would seem that he joined the apostle, either at this time or on his visit to Macedonia mentioned in Act_20:3, and went with him to Corinth, where the Epistle to the Romans was written. He was a relation, suggenh) of St. Paul"s, and doubtless a Jew. Jason was a Romanized form of the name Jesus, or Joshua, as we see in the case of the high priest, the brother of Chins (Josephus, "Ant. Jud:," 12:5:1). It was borne also by Jason of Cyrene, the Jewish historian, (RAPC 2Ma 2:23) and by another mentioned in RAPC 1Ma 7:1:17, etc. St. Luke seems to introduce Jason as a well-known person.
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 vv6–7 These that have turned the world upside down are…
Act_17:6
These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.
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The world turned upside down
This is just an old version of an oft-repeated story. It was laid to the charge of our Master that He was a stirrer of sedition, whereas He had refused to be a king, for He said, My kingdom is not of this world; yet was He crucified under the two false charges of sedition and blasphemy. The same thing occurred with the apostles. This plan was followed afterwards. There was never a calamity befell Rome but the multitude cried, The Christians to the lions! The Christians have done this. And to this day the world still lays its ills at the door of the Christians. Was it not the foolish cry that the great massacre and mutiny in India was caused by the missionaries? But the calumny is too idle to need a refutation. Can it be true, that He whose gospel is love should be the fomenter of disturbance? Did He not Himself pay tribute, and have not His followers at all times been a peaceful generation?--save only and except where the liberty of their conscience was touched. But still, as there is many a true word spoken in jest, so there is many a true word spoken in malice. Christs gospel does turn the world upside down. It was the wrong way upwards before, and now that the gospel is preached, and when it shall prevail, it will just set the world right by turning it upside down. See this--
I. In the world at large. As regards--
1. Character. In the esteem of men, the kingdom of heaven is something like this. High there on the summit sits the great philosopher, the immensely intellectual man. Just below him there is a class--not quite so skilled, but still exceeding wise--who look down at those who stand at the base as the ignoble multitude who know nothing at all. A little lower down, we come to those who seldom will be taught, because they in their own opinion know all there is to be learned. Then after them come a still larger number, who are exceeding wise in worldly wisdom. Lower still are those who have just a respectable amount of knowledge; and then at the very basement are the fool and the babe. How wide the distinction between the simpleton who forms the base, and the wise man who stands resplendent at the apex of the pyramid! Now, see how Christ turns the world upside down. Except ye be converted, and become as little children, etc. God hath chosen the poor of this world, etc. If you wish to see the world turned upside down to perfection, turn to Mat_5:1-48.
(1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, we like a man who has an ambitious spirit, and also a man who has a very fair opinion of himself. But Christ just turns that upside down. The men who have no strength of their own, but look for all to Christ; who seek not to lift their heads above their fellows; who, if they be great, have greatness thrust upon them, but never seek it the world says they are soft; but Christ puts those on the top whom the world puts at the bottom.
(2) There is another lot who are always mourning. They do not let you see it often, but they mourn for their own sin, and then for the sin of the times. The world says they are a moping, melancholy set; but Christ turns the world upside down, and those whom you think to be sorrowful, are the very ones who are to rejoice. Yes, worldling, your joy is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. It blazeth a little, and maketh a great noise: it is soon done with. But light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. You cannot see the light now, because it is sown. But when Christ comes to turn the world upside down, they shall be comforted.
(3) Then there is another race called the meek. I know a man who never feels happy unless he has a lawsuit. A slight affront he would not easily forget. Now the meek are of a very different disposition. They do not put themselves into a passion on a slight affront, for they know that all men are imperfect, and therefore think that perhaps their brother made a mistake. They are quite content to bear and forbear, and put up with a thousand injuries rather than inflict one, though people say, Such a man as that will never get on; he will always be taken in; he has no strength of mind. Ay, but Christ turns it upside down, and He says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Is not that provoking to you graspers, you high-spirited people? you do it in order that you may inherit the earth: see how Christ spites you, and treads your wisdom under feet. After all, the best way to get our rights is to let them alone. The safest way to defend your character is never to say a word about it. Our enemies cannot hurt us, unless we hurt ourselves.
(4) Do you see that gentleman who attends church, reads his Bible, and has family prayers? It is true that he is hard upon his labourers, and exacting at times in his payments; but does justice to all men. This man is on very good terms with himself; and compliments himself on being a very excellent person. If you speak to him about his state before God, he says, that if he does not go to heaven nobody will; for he pays twenty shillings in the pound, and no one can find any fault with his character. Dont you envy him? Well, now, do you see Standing at the back of the church there a poor woman? She dares not speak in the presence of respectable persons; but we gather thus much from her: She has lately found out that she is full of sin, and she desires to know what she must do to be saved. The man stands at the top of the ladder, and this poor woman at the bottom. Now just see the gospel process--the world turned upside down. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
(5) Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. The merciful are not much respected in this world; the man who forgives too much, or who is too generous, is not considered to be wise. But Christ declares that he who has been merciful shall obtain mercy.
(6) Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. The world says, Blessed is the man who indulges in a gay life.
(7) And now look at the ninth verse. You walk through London, and there, in another place, a duke, a mighty man of war. But Christ says, Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. Here is the world turned upside down. The warrior with his garment stained in blood is put into the ignoble earth, to die and rot; but the peacemaker is lifted up, and Gods crown of blessing is put round about his head.
(8) We find a race who have always been hated, about whom He says, Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The whole of these beatitudes are just in conflict with the worlds opinion.
2. Maxims. It was said by them of old time, eye for eye and tooth for tooth; but I say unto you, resist not evil. Whosoever would sue thee at the law and take thy cloak, let him take thy coat also. If any man smite thee on the one cheek, turn unto him the other also. It has been said by them of old time, love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy; but Jesus Christ said, Let love be unto all men. We are told that it is good to a man to make himself rich, but Christ called a certain rich man Thou fool! You would have made an Alderman of him or a Lord Mayor.
3. Religious notions. The worlds religion is--Do, and thou shalt live; Christs religion is--Believe and live. We will have it, that if a man be righteous, sober, upright, he shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but Christ says--This thou oughtest to have done; but still, not this can ever cleanse thee.
II. In the heart. Man is a little world, and what God does in the outer world, He does in the inner. If any of you would be saved, your hearts must be turned upside down.
1. Your judgment. Cannot many of you say that which you now believe to be the truth of God is very far opposed to your former carnal notions?
2. Your hopes. They used to be all for this world. If you could but get rich, he great and honoured, you would be happy! Now your hopes are not on earth; for where your treasure is, there must your heart be also.
3. Your pleasures. You loved the tavern once; you hate it now. You hated Gods house once; it is now your much-loved habitation. The song, the Sunday newspaper, the lewd novel--all these were sweet to your taste; but you have burned the books that once enchanted you, and now the Bible is read and delighted in. The Sabbath was once the dullest day of the week. There are some of you who once loved nothing better than the theatre. You seek now the gathering of the righteous.
4. Your house. Look over the mantelpiece. There is a vile daub of a picture there, and the subject is worse than the style of the thing. But when the man follows Jesus he takes that down, and gets a print of some good old subject representing something Biblical. There is a pack of cards and a cribbage board in the cupboard; he turns them out, and instead he puts there good literature. The children say, Father is so altered. He used to come home drunk, and the children used to run upstairs; and now little John and little Sarah sit at the window and watch till he comes home, He used to teach them to sing Begone, dull care, or something worse; now he tells them of Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. A jolly set of companions he used to have come to see him on a Sunday afternoon; but that is all done with. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Revolution
The world is wrong-side up, and it needs to be turned upside-down in order that it may be right-side up. The time was when men wrote Apologies for Christianity. I hope that day has passed. We want no more apologies for Christianity. We do not mean to make any compromise in the matter. We do not wish to hide the fact that Christianity is revolutionary, and that its tendency is to turn the world upside-down. Our religion has often been misrepresented as though it were a refined imbecility; a spiritual chloroform. The Bible, so far from this, represents it as ransacking and upsetting ten thousand things that now seem to be settled on firm foundations. I hear some man say: I thought religion was peace. That is the final result. A mans arm is out of place. Two men come, and with great effort put it back in the socket. It goes back with great pain. Then it gets well. Our world is horribly disordered and out of joint. It must come under an omnipotent surgery, beneath which there will be pain and anguish before there can come perfect health and quiet. The religion of the Bible will make a revolution--
I. In the family. Those things that are wrong will be overthrown by it, while justice and harmony will take their place. The husband will be head of the household only when he is fit to be. If the wife have more of all that is right, she shall have the supremacy. There is no human or Divine law that makes a woman subordinate to a man unworthy of her. As religion comes in at the front door, mirth and laughter will not go out at the back door. John will laugh just as loud; and George will jump higher than he ever did before. It will establish a family altar. Hannah will rear her Samuel for the temple; a Mary and Martha, and Lazarus will gather in fraternal and sisterly affection in a home in which Jesus dwells. The religion of Jesus will overthrow all jealousies, all janglings; and peace, and order, and holiness will take possession of the home.
II. In commercial. Circles. Find fifty merchants, and you find fifty standards of what is right and wrong. You say to someone about a merchant, Is he honest? Oh yes, but he grinds the faces of his clerks; or he exaggerates the value of his goods, etc. Ah! there is but one standard of the everlastingly right and wrong, and that is the Bible; and when that principle shall get its pry under our commercial houses, one half of them will go over. What is the matter? Has there been a fall in gold? No. Has there been a new tariff? No. Has there been a failure in crops? No. Has there been an unaccountable panic? No. The Lord has set up His throne of judgment in the exchange. What was 1837? What was 1857? What was 1869? A day of judgment. Do you think that God is going to wait until He has burned the world up before He rights these wrongs? The fraudulent man piles up his gains until his property has become a great pyramid; and as he stands looking at it he thinks it can never be destroyed; but the Lord pushes it all over. You build a house, and you put into it a rotten beam. The house is completed. Soon it begins to rock. You call in the mechanics and ask, What is the matter? Says the mechanic, You put a rotten beam into that structure, and the whole thing has got to come down. Here is an estate that seems to be all right now. It has been building a great many years. But fifteen years ago there was a dishonest transaction, and that will keep on working ruin until down the estate will come in wreck and ruin about the possessors ears. I have seen it again and again. The time will come when, through the revolutionary power of this gospel, a falsehood, instead of being called exaggeration, equivocation, or evasion, will be branded a lie! And stealings, that now sometimes go under the head of percentages, and commissions, and bonuses, will be put into the catalogue of state prison offences. Society will be turned upside down, until business dishonesties shall come to an end.
III. In our churches. The non-committal, do-nothing policy will give way to a spirit of bravest conquest. Fiery in this day is salted down just so as to keep. The Church is chiefly anxious to take care of itself; and if we hear of want, and squalour, and heathenism outside, we say, What a pity! and we put our hands in our pockets, and we feel around for a two-cent piece, and with a great flourish we put it upon the plate, and are amazed that the world is not converted in six weeks. Suppose there were a great war; and there were three hundred thousand soldiers, but all except ten men were in their tents, or scouring their muskets, or cooking rations. You would say, Of course, defeat must come in that case. Millions of the professed soldiers of Jesus Christ are cooking rations, or asleep in their tents, while only one man here and there goes out to do battle for the Lord. But, says someone, we are establishing a great many missions. Yes, and they are doing a magnificent work; but every mission chapel is a confession of the disease and weakness of the Church. It is saying to the rich, If you can pay pew rents, come to the main audience room. It is saying to the poor, Your coat is too bad, and your shoes are not good enough. You will have to go by the way of the mission chapel. The mission chapel has become the kitchen, where the Church does its sloppy work. There are hundreds of churches--gorgeously built and supported--that, even on bright days, are not half full; and yet they are building mission chapels, because the great masses of the people are kept out of the main audience room. Now I say that any place of worship which is appropriate for one class is appropriate for all classes. Let the rich and the poor meet together the Lord, the Maker of them all. Revolution! The pride, the exclusiveness, the financial boastings of the Church must come down! It may be that, before the Church learns its duty to the masses, God will scourge it and drive out the money changers. It may be that there is to be a great day of upsetting before that time shall come. In that future day of the reconstructed Church of Christ, the church building will be the most cheerful of all buildings. The pure atmosphere of heaven will sweep out the fetid atmosphere that has been kept in many of our churches boxed up from Sunday to Sunday. The day of which I speak will be a day of great revivals. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
The charge of sedition and faction against good men, especially faithful ministers, considered and accounted for
In discoursing upon this subject, it is proposed, through the assistance of Divine grace--
I. By a short historical deduction to show that the character of seditious, troublesome, and disorderly, hath been constantly given by wicked men to the servants of God. It would not be difficult to point out something of this spirit prevailing in the world, from the life of almost every good man whose name stands upon record, however short and general the account be that is given of many of them in Scripture. I shall content myself with some leading instances, in very different ages, from the earliest to the latest times. The first I shall mention is 1Ki_18:17. Another instance may be found in Jehoshaphat and Ahabs consultation before going out to battle (1Ki_22:7-8). Here, you see, Micaiah was the object of aversion because he denounced the judgment of God against the kings wickedness. See an instance of a general accusation of this kind against all the worshippers of the true God by Haman (Est_3:8). The prophet Jeremiah met with the same treatment at different times. Neither prince, nor priests, nor prophets, were able to bear without resentment the threatenings which he denounced in the name of God (Jer_26:8-9; Jer_26:11; Jer_37:13; Jer_38:4). The prophet Amos is another instance, precisely parallel to the last. Because of his fidelity to God he was invidiously represented as an enemy to the king (Amo_7:10). Our Lord fell under the same accusation. However plain and artless His carriage, He is called a deceiver of the people (Joh_7:12). His enemies endeavoured to embroil Him with the civil government by this insidious question, Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? And that which brought Him at last to the Cross was the same pretended crime (Joh_19:12). I shall close this view of the Scripture history with the passage of which my text is a part. The whole crime of the Apostle Paul and his companion was preaching the doctrine of the cross of Christ, his great and darling theme. Having produced these instances from Scripture, which is liable to no exception, I shall say but little on the subsequent periods of the Church. Whoever will take the pains to look into the history of the Church before the Reformation, cannot fail to observe, that when anyone, either among the clergy or laity, was bold enough to reprove the errors in doctrine, or the ambition, luxury, and worldly lives of his contemporaries, he was immediately branded as a factious and disorderly person, and often severely punished as an enemy to the peace of the Church.
II. We proceed now to inquire, what it is in true religion that gives occasion to this charge, and makes the world prone to believe it.
1. The example of the servants of God is a continual and sensible reproach to the contrary conduct of the men of the world. As a deceived heart turns the wicked aside, so the continuance of self-deceit is necessary to his tasting those pleasures of sin in which his mistaken happiness is placed. To reproach his conduct, therefore, is to disturb his dream, and to wound his peace. And as pride, however finely disguised, has the dominion in every unrenewed heart, bow offensive must every species of reproof be to men of this character? Now, is not the example of every good man a severe though silent reproof to the wicked? And, as every worldly mans own conscience is thus made troublesome to him by the example of the children of God, so it tends to set sinners at variance with one another, and exposes the conduct of each to the censure of the rest. Sin, however universally practised, is yet generally shameful. Conscience though bribed, and comparatively blind in a mans own case, is often just and impartial, at least under far less bias in the case of others. It is in this way, and in this way alone, that the public honour and credit of religion is preserved amidst so great a majority who are enemies to it in their hearts. Must not, then, the example of a strict and conscientious person, set in the strongest light the faults of those who act a contrary part, so often as they happen to fall under observation together. Nay, does it not open the eyes of the world upon many lesser blemishes which would otherwise escape its notice?
2. Another reason why the servants of God are represented as troublesome is, because they will not, and dare not, comply with the sinful commandments of men. In matters merely civil, good men are the most regular citizens and the most obedient subjects. But, as they have a Master in heaven, no earthly power can constrain them to deny His name or desert His cause (chap. 4:19). With what invincible constancy did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow before Nebuchadnezzars golden image? The case of Daniel was perfectly similar, whom even the kings commandment could not restrain from prayer to God. There is a love of dominion natural to all men, which is under no control or restraint in those who are void of religion. This must naturally dispose them to carry on their schemes, and to insist on having them universally complied with. It frets and provokes them, therefore, to find any who will not be subservient to their pleasures. How few are able to bear this with patience, the history of the world in every age is one continued proof. Such refusals, also, do always reflect some dishonour upon the measures to which they stand in opposition. Whatever any person refuses to do, he, as far as in him lies, represents as wrong and sinful; and, in some respects, unworthy or unfit to be done. Thus it comes to be considered, not only as withdrawing his own allegiance, but as corrupting and seducing others.
3. One other reason why the servants of God are accused as troublesome is, because they are, in many instances, obliged to bear testimony against the sins of others, and openly to reprove them (Lev_19:17). Some sins are so flagrant in their nature, that even to witness them with silence would imply some participation of the guilt. In such cases it is the glory of the poorest and meanest servant of God to resent the dishonour that is done to His name, and reprove the most exalted sinner. But this duty, and the odium arising from it, falls most frequently to the share of the prophets and ministers of God, who have received a commission to speak in His name and to plead His cause. How offensive this to human pride! It must certainly either convince or provoke, reform or inflame. How many martyrs to truth have there been since the world began! But there cannot be a better example, or indeed a more lively and well-drawn picture of the effect of plain and just reproof, than in the case of Stephen when pleading his cause before the Jewish rulers (Act_7:51-52; Act_7:54). It is plainly for this reason that the apostles, in their prayers for assistance, do almost constantly ask that they may be endued with a proper degree of boldness and resolution (Act_4:29; Eph_7:19; 2Th_3:2). It is very natural for everyone, at this distance, to imagine that he could have been in no danger of making such an obstinate resistance to the truth, or persecuting, with such implacable enmity, those who espoused it. But all worldly men, in every age, have still the same abhorrence of the faithful servants of God; the same impatience of reproof when it touches themselves. I have taken notice above that in every period of the Church, the most faithful of the servants and ministers of God have, in fact, been counted troublesome by corrupt and worldly men. The same passages of history constantly show that this has arisen chiefly from their attempts to stem the tide of prevailing vice; from their boldness and faithfulness in reproving fashionable crimes. In the twelfth century, Arnulphus, a devout man and excellent preacher, speaks thus to the clergy: I know that you seek my life, and will shortly kill me. But why? I speak the truth to you, I reprehend your pride and haughtiness, avarice and luxury; therefore I please you not.
III. Practical improvement.
1. You may learn from what has been said upon this subject the just and proper answer to an objection against the gospel, much insisted on by its enemies, viz., That it has introduced persecution for conscience sake, with which the world was in a great measure unacquainted before. There are few subjects on which infidels enlarge with greater pleasure, than the cruel animosity that has prevailed, the savage and inhuman massacres that have been perpetrated on a religious account since the publication of the gospel, I think this objection is but seldom answered as it might be. It is usually observed that whatever may have been done by those professing the gospel, there is no countenance given in it to such a spirit and practice. But the objection is not wholly removed while infidels are allowed still to contend that persecution has been its constant attendant and inseparable effect. We ought, therefore, to wrest this argument out of their hands, and first to produce this fact as an accomplishment of our Saviours prediction (Mat_10:34-36). Having gone thus far, we have reason to contend that the disciples of Christ have always suffered, and never inflicted the injury, though they have often been obliged to bear the blame. The multitude of heathen religions, though not always, yet did generally agree together: and well they might, for they were all from the same author. None of them, however, could agree with the gospel, for this plain reason, that no lie is of the truth. But from what quarter did the violence proceed? Did not the dreadful persecutions against the Christians, in the three first centuries, proceed from the heathens? Did the Christians commit any other crime against them, than pointing out the sin and danger of their idolatrous worship and immoral practices? Was not this alone sufficient to raise a cry against them, as turning the world upside down? And in all the subsequent persecutions among professing Christians, was it anything else than the proud, violent, and worldly spirit of those who made a gain of godliness, oppressing the few real believers of every denomination?
2. From what hath been said you may see the guilt and danger of those who falsely accuse the children of God. Nay, our present state as a Church and nation, seems to render such a warning peculiarly seasonable. We have long enjoyed outward peace. In every other country this has introduced a worldly spirit, ambition, luxury, and sloth. And is there no vestige of these characters among us now? Are there not some who cannot endure such strictness as is inconsistent with conformity to the gay and fashionable world? Do not all such incline to charge every profession of piety with hypocrisy? Do they not consider every faithful reprover as an enemy to their peace? Do they not hear with secret pleasure, and spread with apparent triumph, every report to the prejudice of such troublers of Israel? This, then, is the character, and as many of you as conscience charges with the guilt may see your danger. You may see whose cause you plead, and whose reward you shall share.
3. If this has been the constant lot of all the servants of God, to be accused as seditious and troublesome, let every cautious person beware of being misled by the persecuting cry.
4. Since the world is so prone to receive the accusation of faction against the children of God, let them be careful to give no real ground for it.
(1) Let all our zeal for the glory of God be conducted, not only with steadiness but with meekness.
(2) Let ministers take care to avoid officiously intermeddling in civil matters.
5. Since the charge of faction and sedition has been always brought against faithful ministers, let us learn to bear it with patience and never dissemble the truth, or depart in any measure from our duty in order to avoid it. (J. Witherspoon, D. D.)
The world turned upside down
We may regard the words in three points of view.
I. As an expression of the deep-seated hostility of the human heart against the gospel. The love of God--the service of God--the glory of God--the actual intercourse of the soul with God, are all in complete repugnance to the emotions and tastes of general society: therefore such a religion must be opposed and decried. But how shall this be done? It is too palpable a thing to say that we ought not to love God, or serve Him sincerely; but rather to be satisfied with a mere dead form of religion. Such language were too palpable an insult to the rights of Deity. To what delusion, then, must they have recourse in this perplexity? The difficulty has been met in this way. They affix a reproachful term to true religion, and then they proceed to decry it, under the shelter of that term. Thus they soothe their conscience under the sophistical delusion that it is error, rather than truth, which they oppose.
II. As a verification of the truth of Christianity. The time will come, are the words of its great Author to His little band of brethren, when he that killeth you will think that he doeth God service. Ye shall be hated of all men for My names sake, is another of His predictions. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution.
III. As the unwitting testimony of enemies to the power and design of the gospel. They said that the apostles were revolutionists, disturbers of the peace, preachers of another king--one Jesus. Politically, this was a gross falsehood: evangelically, it was, and still is, true. Sin has turned away the heart of man, his face, and feet, and hands, from God; and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, by which the entire moral nature of man is to be changed and converted from darkness to light--from sin to holiness--from alienation to friendship--and from the vassalage of Satan unto liberty and life. (American National Preacher.)
The gospel a revolution
I. The gospel creates a disturbance.
1. Internally--in mens hearts.
2. Externally--in their social relations.
II. The object of this disturbance.
1. Not the subversion, but the conversion of the world.
2. Not its destruction, but its salvation. (W. W. Wythe.)
Christianity a revolution
I. The broadest the world has ever seen.
1. By its breadth, it aims at the whole world.
2. By its depth, the territory of the spirit.
II. The most legitimate.
1. By its aim, the salvation of the world.
2. By the means employed, the weapons of the Spirit. (K. Gerok.)
The revolutionary spirit of Christianity
I. The world is wrong side up.
II. It wants turning upside down.
III. We are the men to do it. (Early Methodist Sermon.)
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 v5 5–9. But the Jews. As usual, a part believed…
5–9. But the Jews. As usual, a part believed and the others were filled with hatred. Certain lewd fellows. “Vile fellows of the rabble.” The Jews called in the worst classes to aid them. Assaulted the house of Jason. Paul and Silas had abode there (verse 7), but were not found, probably from having a warning. Drew Jason … unto the rulers of the city. Called “politarchs” in the Greek text, and so called in an inscription of the first century still seen on an ancient arch in the city. These that have turned the world upside down. A strong tribute to the revolutionizing power of the new Faith. It did change the world.
These all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar. A false charge, but the one most likely to secure the attention of the magistrates. Saying that there is another king. The Romans never called their ruler a king, but he was so called by subject nations. The Jews said to Pilate, “We will have no king but Cæsar.” The only ground for the charge against Paul was that he preached the kingdom of Christ.
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They troubled … the rulers. Troubled, because it was a charge of disloyalty to the Roman Cæsar, and of an attempt to have another king. They were utterly ignorant of the nature of Christ's kingdom.
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 v5 5-9. Meanwhile the unbelieving Jews, mad and jealous of…
5-9. Meanwhile the unbelieving Jews, mad and jealous of the Gentiles, run round and stir up the uncouth rabble, assault the house of Jason where the apostles were lodging, aiming to kill them, but the Lord having hidden them so they can not find them, they drag out Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, the mob roaring aloud, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom Jason has received.” Frequently Satan accidentally tells the truth, as he did in this case. God made the world right side up; the devil turned it over in the Fall, so it has ever since been wrong side up. Therefore the work of the gospel is “to turn the world upside down,” which is the only way to get it again right side up. “All these act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, i. e., Jesus.” Read Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, and you find them full of the Lord’s glorious coming again to reign in righteousness. This is the reason they charged the apostle with preaching that Jesus is King, because he not only preached Jesus the Christ, the Savior of the world, but our glorious coming King. “Receiving satisfaction from Jason and the rest, they released them,” i. e., when Jason and the other brethren whom they had seized satisfied them that they did not have the apostles in their possession nor know where they were, then they released them.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv5–7 5-9. Such a movement among the devout Gentiles, whose…
5-9. Such a movement among the devout Gentiles, whose presence at the synagogue worship was a source of pride to the Jews, was exceedingly mortifying to those Jews who obstinately remained in unbelief. Their number and popular influence in Thessalonica enabled them to give serious trouble to Paul and Silas. (5) " But the unbelieving Jews, being full of zeal, collected certain wicked men of the idle class, and raising a mob, set the city in an uproar. And rushing to the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. (6) But not finding them, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the city rulers, crying out, These men, who have turned the world upside down, have come hither also; (7) whom Jason has received; and they are all acting contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. (8) And they troubled the people and the city rulers, when they heard these things; (9) and having taken security of Jason and the others, they released them. "
In the accusation preferred by the Jews there were two specifications, each one of which had some truth in it. Nearly everywhere that Paul and Silas had preached, there had been some public disturbance, which was in some way attributable to their preaching. But their accusers were at fault in throwing the censure on the wrong party. The fact that angry excitement follows the preaching of a certain man, or set of men, is no proof, either in that day or this, that the preaching is improper, either in matter or manner. When men are willing to receive the truth, and to reject all error, the preaching of the gospel can have none but peaceful and happy effects. But otherwise, it still brings "not peace, but a sword," and is the "savor of death unto death." The apostolic method was to fearlessly preach the truth, and leave the consequences with God and the people.
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The other specification, that the brethren acted contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there was another king, Jesus, shows that Paul, while opposing the Jewish idea that the Messiah was to be an earthly prince had not failed to represent him as a king. He represented him, indeed, as the "King of kings, and Lord or lords." But the accusation contained a willful perversion of his language; for these Jews knew very well, as their predecessors before the bar of Pilate knew, that Jesus claimed to be no rival of Cæsar. If he had, they would have been better pleased with him than they were.
One reason why the Gentiles and city rulers were so readily excited by this accusation was the fact that the Jews had then but recently been banished from Rome, as we learn from a statement below in reference to Priscilla and Aquila. The unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica, anxious to prove their own loyalty, adroitly directed public odium toward the Christian Jews, as the real disturbers of the public peace, and enemies of Cæsar.
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 v6 dragged. See margin ref., (See Scofield "Act 16:19").
drew
dragged. See margin ref., (See Scofield "Act 16:19").
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 v5 The tumult raised by the Jews:
The tumult raised by the Jews:
v. 5. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar; and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
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v. 6. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
v. 7. whom Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
v. 8. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
v. 9. And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go.
The experience which Paul had had in Pisidian Antioch, chap. 13:50, was here repeated. The great mass of the Jews refused to believe his message, and these men became violently jealous, not only on account of the preaching of the Messiah, but also because of the success which attended the efforts of Paul and Silas. So they resorted to methods which are often employed by men of their stamp. They went to the forum and got hold of some of the idle, pettifogging lawyers, a pest then as now, market-place agitators, always ready for any kind of mischief. With their aid they soon gathered a mob of hoodlums and set the city in an uproar. It was a typical case of mob rule, with the authorities indifferent or helpless. They stormed the house of Jason, where the apostles were lodging, or where the Christian assemblies were held; their main intention was to bring out Paul and Silas to the people, to the free assembly of all the people as a political party with executive rights. The thoughts upon which this movement was based may well have been that the entire populace could be swayed to take summary vengeance on the missionaries then and there. But since they did not find Paul and Silas, they dragged Jason and some of the other Christians out before the politarchs of the city (for that is the title which the rulers of this city bore). Their charge against these men, which they literally bawled out in their baffled rage, was given a political tinge, namely, that Jason had received into his house and was harboring some dangerous political agitators, men that had upset the whole world, caused disturbances throughout the Roman Empire, and had now come here. Insurrectionists all of them were, men that were always acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar pertaining to treason by declaring that another man is king, one Jesus. It was the same accusation which had been made in the case of Jesus, Luk 23:2, and it came upon the disciples in accordance with the prediction of Jesus that His disciples must expect to share the lot of the Master. The fact that the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and that its subjects never interfere with temporal power and government so long as they are conscious of their distinction, was not understood or was deliberately ignored by the accusers. And their bold statement succeeded in exciting both the people and the politarchs, since the charges pointed to the possibility of a revolution unless measures were taken at once to suppress the movement. The result was that Jason, having only entertained the missionaries, was not punished personally, but the politarchs obliged him to give bond in a large amount to keep the peace of the city, as also the other disciples that had been haled into court, after which they were released. The enemies of Christ use both subtlety and force in their ceaseless endeavor to hinder the preaching of the Gospel; but the Lord directs the affairs of His kingdom for the salvation of men.
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 v5 General Information:
General Information:
Here the word "they" refers to the unbelieving Jews and wicked men from the marketplace.
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being moved with jealousy
The feeling of jealousy is spoken of as if jealousy were actually moving the person. AT: "feeling very jealous" or "feeling very angry" (See: Metaphor)
with jealousy
It can be stated explicitly that these Jews were jealous because some of the Jews and Greeks believed Paul's message. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
took certain wicked men
Here "took" does not mean the Jews took these people by force. It means the Jews persuaded these wicked men to help them.
certain wicked men
"some evil men." The word "men" here refers specifically to males.
from the marketplace
"from the public square." This is a public place of business, where buying and selling of goods, cattle, or services take place.
set the city in an uproar
Here "the city" stands for the people in the city. AT: "caused the people of the city to be in an uproar" or "caused the people of the city to riot" (See: Metonymy)
Assaulting the house
"Violently attacking the house." This probably means the people were throwing rocks at the house and trying to break down the door of the house.
Jason
This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)
out to the people
Possible meanings or "people" are 1) a governmental or legal group of citizens gathered to make a decision or 2) a mob.
certain other brothers
Here "brothers" refers to believers. AT: "some other believers"
before the officials
"in the presence of the officials"
These men who have
The Jewish leaders were speaking and the phrase, "These men," refers to Paul and Silas.
turned the world upside down
This phrase is another way of saying Paul and Silas where causing trouble everywhere they went. The Jewish leaders were exaggerating the influence Paul and Silas were having with their teaching. AT: "caused trouble everywhere in the world" or "caused trouble everywhere they have gone" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Idiom)
Jason has welcomed
This phrase signals that Jason was in agreement with the apostles' troubling message.
translationWords
believe
Jew
jealous
Paul
Silas
brother
decree
Caesar
king
Jesus
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 v5 17:5-7 Once again, the enemies of the Christian faith…
17:5-7 Once again, the enemies of the Christian faith saw it as a disruptive threat (cp. 16:19-21). Ironically, they gathered some troublemakers and then accused Paul and Silas of causing trouble by disturbing the peace and committing treason against Caesar—serious charges of threatening the stability of the empire (cp. Luke 23:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.