Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Acts Kabanata 16

Acts 16:1. A certain disciple—named Timotheus— See the passages in the margin, and the preface to the first epistle to Timothy.

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Acts 16:3. And circumcised him— In order to do justice to St. Paul's conduct in this affair, we must recollect, that he always openly avowed that the Gentiles were free from the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonies, and that the Jews were not to expect salvation by them; and he also taught that they were not in conscience obliged to observe them at all, except in cases where the omission of them would give offence: but because his enemies represented him as teaching people to despise the law of Moses, and even as blaspheming it; he therefore took some opportunities of conforming to it publicly himself, to shew how far he was from condemning it as evil. This is the true key to his conduct here, and in ch. Acts 21:21, &c. And though, when the Jewish zealots would have imposed it upon him to compel Titus, who was a Greek and Gentile, and of Gentile parents, to be circumcised, even while he was at Jerusalem, he resolutely refused, Galatians 2:3-5. Yet here he voluntarily persuaded Timothy to submit to that rite; knowing that the omission of it in him, who was a Jew by the mother's side, would have given offence: besides, he was the more desirous to obviate any prejudices against this excellent youth, whose early acquaintance with the Scriptures of the Old Testament (2 Timothy 3:15.) might render him peculiarly capable of preaching in the synagogues with advantage; which, had he been uncircumcised, would not have been permitted. Timothy had most probably been baptized when he first embraced Christianity; but it does not appear that he then received any spiritual gifts, or miraculous powers, very probably because of his unripe age: but as he had, since his baptism, approved himself in a distinguishing manner, and much beyond his age, and was now pointed out for an evangelist by the Spirit of prophesy, (1 Timothy 1:18; 1 Timothy 4:14.) the apostle laid his hands upon him, and imparted unto him the Holy Spirit, 2Ti 1:6 that is, to qualify him for the great work, whereunto God, by the mouth of his prophets, had appointed and called him.

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Acts 16:4. The decrees,— Namely, those which were determined as a rule for their direction, by the apostles and elders in full council at Jerusalem. See the preceding chapter, Acts 16:22, &c. The word Δογματα, rendered decrees, says L'Enfant, always signifies something temporary and ceremonial, and not laws of perpetual and universal obligation. Compare Ephesians 2:15.Colossians 2:14; Colossians 2:14.

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Acts 16:6. To preach the word in Asia,— That is, in Asia Proper, or Proconsular Asia, as all the places mentioned in the former verses lay in Asia Minor. It is also apparent that flourishing churches were afterwards planted there; particularly at Colosse, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia; so that it seems to have been the determination of Providence, that, instead of going through this region now, by such a leisurely progress as that in which they proceeded in their former journey through Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, &c. they should hasten to Europe directly, and preach the gospel first in Philippi, which was a Roman colony, and then in the neighbouring parts; while, in the mean time, the Asiatic provinces now passed over, might hear some report of it from their neighbours, and so be prepared to receive with greater advantage the labours of the apostles, when they should return to them, as St. Paul afterwards did: ch. Acts 18:23, &c. By this means the spread of the gospel would, in any given time, be wider than (other circumstances being equal) it would have been, had they taken all the interjacent places in their way.

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Acts 16:7. The Spirit— Many manuscripts and versions of undoubted authority read here, The Spirit of Jesus.

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Acts 16:9. There stood a man of Macedonia,— Some think St. Paul knew his country by his dress, or language; but there was no need of his attending to such particularities, as the vision itself mentions the country: it has also been thought, by some, to have been a particular person with whom St. Paul was acquainted in Macedonia, and therefore they would render the Greek literally a certain Macedonian. Grotius has suggested that it was the guardian angel of Macedonia, who appeared in human form. See his note on the place.

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Acts 16:10. Immediately we endeavoured— This is the first place in which St. Luke intimates his attending on the apostle; and it is remarkable, that here he does it in a very oblique manner; nor does he indeed throughout the whole history once mention his own name, or relate one thing which he said or did for the service of Christianity; though St. Paul speaks of him in the most honourable terms, Col 4:14. 2Ti 4:11 and probably 2Co 8:18 as the brother, whose praise in the gospel went through all the churches. The same remark may be made on the rest of the sacred historians, who every one of them shew the like amiable modesty; and what is admired so much in a Caesar, surely should not pass unapplauded in the inspired penmen. We may observe, that when St. Paul speaks of his own services, it is by no means in an ostentatious way, but in his own necessary vindication, appealing to his enemies for the known truth of them: by which means Providence has so ordered it, that the memory of many important facts, which would otherwise have been lost, is preserved, and preserved in such a manner as to carry the strongest evidence along with it. Such instances of the Divine wisdom occurring in the Scripture, are worthy our attentive observation, and thankful acknowledgment.

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Acts 16:13. And on the sabbath we went out, &c.— It should seem that there were but few Jews settled in this city, and those chiefly women, who could not afford to have a synagogue; but where they could not have a synagogue, they used to have an oratory, or a proseucha; that is, "an open court of prayer," commonly built upon the sea-side, or on the banks of a river, which they probably preferred, as being more retired. Some of the Latin poets make mention of proseuchas: (see Juven. Sat. 3: 50. 215.) and into one of them our Saviour is supposed to have gone; Luke 6:12. Some render the Greek here, where, as usual, there was an oratory. These proseuchas differed from the synagogues in several particulars: For, first, in the synagogues the prayers were offered up in public forms, in common for the whole congregation; but in the proseuchas they prayed, as in the courts of the temple, every one apart. Secondly, the synagogues were covered houses; but the proseuchas were open courts, like the forums, which were inclosures open at the top, or like the court of the women, before the temple of Jerusalem. Thirdly, synagogues were generally built within the cities to which they belonged; whereas the proseuchas were commonly out of the city, either by a river, or by the sea-side, and often upon a hill or mountain. One of these being near Philippi, St. Paul and his assistants, well knowing that it was the custom of the Jews to assemble there for their devotion on the sabbath-days, attended there on the first sabbath after their arrival; and though the proseuchas were commonly used only for private prayers, and there was no reading of the law or the prophets in them, nor anydiscourses usually made there, yet they sat down, after the manner of the Jewish doctors, and discoursed concerning the gospel doctrine to the women who assembled there, and who were partly Jews, and partly proselytes of the gate; for it was the custom of the great apostle of the Gentiles every where to begin with such, and first to offer the gospel to them.

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Acts 16:14. Thyatira,— Was a city bordering both on Asia and Lydia; and this woman seems to have derived her name from the latter on that account. She was a proselyte of the gate; that is, one who worshipped the true God, though she did not conform to the Jewish law in all its rites and ceremonies. She heard St. Paul with serious attention; and, through the goodness and grace of God, her heart was affected, and her mind convincedofthetruth and excellence of the Christian religion, which she immediately embraced with the heart unto righteousness, and was baptized with her whole family.

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Acts 16:16. As we went to prayer,— Or, To the oratory. The manner in which St. Luke relates this history,plainly implies that he considered it as a real possession, and that St. Paul himself considered it in that view: nor can we account either for the woman's behaviour, for St. Paul's, or for that of her master's afterwards, without allowing this to be the case. A spirit of divination, is in the original, a spirit of

Pytho, or of Apollo; concerning which see the notes on Lev 19:31 and Deuteronomy 18:11.

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Acts 16:18. But Paul, being grieved,— He might imagine that if the Gentiles believed the testimony of the woman, it might invalidate his doctrine and miracles; and by leading them to suppose that there was a confederacy between them and the evil spirit, it might make the one to be esteemed the effect of magic, and the other no better than the doctrine of devils. He could not but be persuaded, that if the Jews heard of this testimony, it might have a bad influence upon their minds, and make them entertain a suspicion of St. Paul and his associates, for having the approbation and praise of the prince of darkness. The dispossession of the damsel wholly obviated all those inconveniences.

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Acts 16:21. And teach customs which are not lawful, &c.— Tertullian and Eusebius assert, that the Romans had an ancient law, which forbad the worship of new deities without the permission of the senate; and it is plain from Livy, that, as often as it was violated, it was publicly vindicated by the authority of the state. It is remarkable, that Tully, in his "Book of Laws," gives us the very law in question: The sense of it is to this effect: "No man shall worship the gods clandestinely, or have them separately to himself; nor shall any new and foreign god be worshipped by individuals, till such god hath been legally approved of, and tolerated by the magistrates." If the plea of these Gentiles be founded upon this law, as undoubtedly it was, the inferences they drew from it were generally acknowledged. The comment which the great author just quoted has given us on this law, not only supports this assertion, but seems to be the same: "For each man to have his gods (says he) in peculiar, whether new or stranger-gods, without public allowance, tends to defeat and confound religion:" and what was that, but the same as the miserable plea of their troubling the city exceedingly? But the letter of Mecaenas to Augustus, in Dion Cassius, sets this matter in a stronger light. According to him, "The introducing a new religion, or a new god, if indulged, would indispose men toward the magistrate, and make them less fond of the civil and religious constitutions of their country; from whence factions and confederacies against the state would arise." The apostle's enemies seem to lay great stress upon their being Romans; and the reason of their doing so, appears, from what we have observed, that the Romans were remarkable for not introducing into their public or established worship any new rites, though the Grecians did. This difference was founded on the different genius and origin of the two people; for Rome rising on her own foundation, independent on, and unrelated to any other state, and highly possessed with the enthusiasm of distinction and empire, would naturally esteem her tutelary idol gods as her own peculiar deities, and therefore would reject all foreign mixtures. On the contrary, the Grecian states, related to, and dependent on each other, would more easily admit of an association of their national idol deities; yet we must not hence conclude, that the introduction of a new public worship was allowed even in the Grecian states: it was permitted, but not without the licence of the civil magistrates. Plato has recorded the same law as we quoted from Cicero; and it is further remarkable, that the crime for which Socrates was brought to his trial, and capitally condemned, was the introducing of new deities. But the apostles went further; theycarried the pretensions of the Christian religion so high, that they claimed the title of the only true one for it; and, not stopping here, they urged a necessity for all men to forsake their national religions, and embrace the gospel. What true fortitude did they display through grace! and how exactly similar is the plea of persecutors in all ages! A Socrates must die on this ground in the Heathen world; and an infinitely greater than Socrates must be crucified as a slave on the same plea! Let the faithful confessors of Christ glory when honoured with the same treatment on the same plea, whether from Heathens, Papists, or Protestants.

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Acts 16:22. The magistrates rent off their clothes,— This was the Roman method of proceeding in such cases, and it was also practised among the Jews. The latter part of this verse might be rendered more clearly thus: And the officers tearing off their garments, that is, of Paul and Silas, commanded them to be beaten with rods, by the hands of the lictors, or public beadles, to whom that office belonged.

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Acts 16:24. Made their feet fast in the stocks,— It is generally supposed that these were the cippi, or large pieces of wood used among the Romans, which not only loaded the legs of prisoner's, but sometimes distended them in a very painful manner. So that the situation of Paul and Silas must have been very affecting, especially if they lay with their bare backs, so lately scourged, on the ground, as it is very probable they did. This circumstance renders their songs of praise the more remarkable. Beza explains the original word of the numellae, or pieces of wood containing five holes, in which the neck, hands, and feet were confined in the most uneasy posture that can well be imagined.

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Acts 16:27. He drew out his sword, &c.— By the Roman law, if a prisoner escaped, the gaoler was to suffer what the prisoner was to have suffered. When therefore this man apprehended that all the prisoners were fled, and remembered what strict orders he had received the day before concerning Paul and Silas, he was afraid of the most rigorous treatment from the magistrates, for having executed their orders no better; and, on this account, in his hurry and consternation, was about to have killed himself. Though it be true that some of the philosophers condemned self-murder, yet it was not only justified by many others of them, but had, in fact, prevailed much among the Romans, especially about that time; and had, in the memory of some then living, been dignified, as it were, in Philippi, by the examples of those great men, Brutus and Cassius, who fell on their own swords there. Such is the religion of nature, so called by the infidels, in its most polished state!

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Acts 16:28. But Paul cried with a loud voice,— St. Paul, like a true Christian, a benevolent and brave man through the grace of God, was tender and solicitous about the life of one, who, but a few hours before, had treated him with such rigour. As they were all at present in the dark, it is not easy to say how St. Paul knew of the gaoler's purpose, unless it were by hearing some desperate words that declared it, or by some immediate suggestion from God; which, amid such a scene of wonders, is by no means improbable.

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Acts 16:33. And he took them the same hour, &c.— It appears from this circumstance of the gaoler's washing their stripes, that the apostles had not a power of working miraculous cures whenever they pleased, either on their own bodies, or those of their dearest friends. Had they possessed such a power, it would have been their duty to have used it, unless they had a discovery of the divine will, that in such and such instances the use of it should be waved. The continual use of such a power would certainly have frustrated many of those noble purposes in providence, which their sufferings answered, and would have introduced many inconveniencies. The gaoler, in proof of his altered sentiments and genuine sincerity, not only washed the stripes, and took care of the apostles, but was baptized, he and his house, immediately, as the converts to Christianity commonly were in the apostolic age; for that had been the way by which the Jews used to receive whole families of the Heathens, when they became full proselytes to the Jewish religion; and our Saviour had appointed it as the way of initiating persons into the Christian church. The Jews would naturally have inquired of John the Baptist what the meaning of baptism was, and not why he baptized, though he professed he was not the Messiah, if it had not been a rite which theythemselves made use of when they received proselytes into the church; and our Saviour, in like manner, would not have commanded his apostles, Go, and baptize all nations, without explaining what he meant by baptizing them, unless it had been a thing well known, and which they had no need to have explained to them. It is very remarkable, that we have two instances in this one chapter of whole households being in this manner, and at once, received into the Christian Church; and such expressions as Lydia's being baptized and her house, and the gaoler and all his family, cannot be understood with their proper emphasis, unless we suppose them to be allusions to such a remarkable and well-known custom. We may just observe, that the practice of Abraham, with respect to the initiating rite of circumcision, was agreeable to this. See Genesis 17:26-27.

But I feel myself obliged in dutyto consider further the argument which this passage affords us in favour of infant baptism. There is no room to doubt, considering Abraham's character, but that when God first made his covenant with him and his seed, and ordered every male in his house to be circumcised, all the adult males of his family were instructed in the knowledge of God, and of his covenant, in order to their having the token of it applied to them, as well as to the children and himself, according to God's appointment: (Genesis 17:7-14; Gen 18:19) And the same may be said in respect to the Jewish proselytes and their families; since, as to this point, there was one law to the Israelites and the strangers: (Exodus 12:48-49.) and therefore its being said, that Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to the gaoler and all that were in his house, Act 16:32 when the gospel seal of the covenant was to be applied to him and all his, is no more an argument against his having children baptized, than it is that there were no male infants in Abraham's family to be circumcised, nor any infants in the families of proselytes to be baptized as well as circumcised; because the adult persons in both were to be instructed, before either of those rites was to be applied to them; as the adult persons in the gaoler's house were first to be taught, that they might be baptized upon their own personal profession of faith, and by their own consent. And if any suppose that there were no children in his house, nor in Lydia's, Act 16:15 they take that for granted, which it isimpossible to prove: but it is certain, that the terms household and a man's house, all along in the Old Testament, generally include the children of the family: and if, as it is asserted by many great writers, it was a well-known and long-continued custom among the Jews, to admit proselytes into the church of Israel, by baptizing them and their whole families, inclusive of their infants, (see Lightfoot's Harm. on John 1:25.) there is a plain reference to that custom, when in this chapter it is said, that Lydia and her house, and the gaoler and all his, were baptized: and it is very remarkable, in my judgment, that in this history of the acts of the apostles, God's covenant with his people and their seed, and the application of the New Testament seal of it to children as well as adult persons, is strongly intimated, first with respect to the converted Jews, afterwards to the Proselytes of the gate, and then again to the idolatrous Gentiles, in some of the first openings of the gospel dispensation among them respectively. As to the Jews, St. Peter called them to repent and be baptized, because the promise was to them and to their children, and ran in the like strain to such as should be called from among the Gentiles: Acts 2:38-39. As to the Proselytes of the gate, Lydia and her household, Act 16:15 or, as the Syriac has it, the children of her house, were baptized; which shews at least, that, in those early times, children were deemed such parts of the household as were baptized. As to idolatrous Gentiles, the gaoler and all his were baptized. And it seems highly improbable, that the gaoler and his house were baptized by immersion; since, as far as appears, that ordinance was all on a sudden administered to them severally, while they were in the prison; and since the mangled condition of Paul and Silas's bodies, by means of their being severely scourged the day before, made it very improper, not to say unsafe, for them to go at midnight into the water so deep, as that mode of baptizing would oblige them to do.

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Acts 16:35. The magistrates sent— The magistrates who had ordered Paul and Silas to be scourged and imprisoned without a legal trial, or any crime proved against them, seem to have had a more disturbed night than their innocent prisoners. Very probably they had since reflected in a more cool manner upon their miraculously curing the Pythoness; and, according to the reading of two ancient manuscripts, had felt the earthquake, and were terrified thereby: but whether that reading be genuine or not, before the next morning they appear to have been very sensible that they had gone beyond their commission; and that they were in danger of being called to an account by their superiors for their illegal and rash proceedings: for the Jews were generally, throughout the whole Roman empire, allowed the free exercise of their religion, and to make as many proselytes as they could by fair and legal methods; and the Christians were thus far looked upon as a sect of the Jews, and had the same privileges.

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Acts 16:37. They have beaten up, &c.— The magistrates, in their treatment of Paul and Silas, had violated no less than three laws: First, in punishing them without a trial, which was not only an infringement of the Roman law, but of the law of nations. They had likewise violated the Valerian law, which forbad that a Roman citizen should be bound: and, thirdly, the Sempronian,or Porcian law, which forbad any man to punish a Roman citizen with rods. If it be asked, Why Paul and Silas did not plead their privilege before? We answer, That the hurry and noise of the execution prevented it; and perhaps, amidsuch a tumult, it might be apprehended that the people would have murdered them, if they had not been in some measure appeased by their sufferings; not to say how possible it is, that the plea, if made, might not be regarded, amid so riotous a mob. The circumstances of St. Paul, when he pleaded it, ch. 22; 25 were very different. If it be further asked, Why it was now so soon believed? It may be replied, not only that it was extremely hazardous to make such a claim falsely, (for Claudius punished it with death,) but also that there was a certain dignity in the manner in which St. Paulmade this plea, which added a sensible credibility to it; especially as they had now no further sufferings to apprehend, and as the earthquake, which might perhaps affect the whole city, seemed to have referred so evidently to their cas

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Acts 16:38. And the serjeants, &c.— St. Paul seems, in his own conduct here, to have had a regard to the honour and interests of Christianity in this place, as well as to their own civil rights as men and Romans; for such a token of public respect from the magistrates, as the serjeants or lictors were commissioned to require, would undoubtedly encourage the new converts, and remove a stumbling-block out of the way of others, who might not have discerned the true lustre of the characters of Paul and Silas amid so much infamy as they had before suffered.

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Acts 16:39. And besought them— The word Παρεκαλεσαν, here rendered besought, is in the very next verse, as well as in many other places, rendered comforted; and so it should have been rendered here, as it gives us the idea of a more respectful treatment. Some manuscripts have an addition here, importing that the magistrates, in a respectful manner, conducted them out of the prison, and humbly begged of them to leave the city.

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