Commentaires bibliques

It is some rebuke to Barnabas that after he left Paul we hear no more of him, of what he did or suffered for Christ. But Paul, as he was recommended by the brethren to the grace of God, so his services for Christ after this are largely recorded; we are to attend him in this chapter from place to place, wherever he came doing good, either watering or planting, beginning new work or improving what was done. Here is, I. The beginning of his acquaintance with Timothy, and taking him to be his assistant, Ac 16:1-3. II. The visit he made to the churches for their establishment, Ac 16:4,5. III. His call to Macedonia (after a restraint he had been under from going to some other places), and his coming to Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia, with his entertainment there, Ac 16:6-13. IV. The conversion of Lydia there, Ac 16:14,15. V. The casing of an evil spirit out of a damsel, Ac 16:16-18. VI. The accusing and abusing of Paul and Silas for it, their imprisonment, and the indignities done them, Ac 16:19-24. VII. The miraculous conversion of the jailer to the faith of Christ, Ac 16:25-34. VIII. The honourable discharge of Paul and Silas by the magistrates, Ac 16:35-40.

Paul, coming to Derbe and Lystra, meets with Timothy, the son of a Jewess by a Greek father, whom he circumcises and takes with him into his work, Acts 16:1-3. As they pass through the different cities, they deliver the apostles' decrees to the Churches; and they are established in the faith, and daily increase in numbers, Acts 16:4, Acts 16:5. They travel through Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, and to Troas, Acts 16:6-8. Where Paul has a vision, relative to his preaching in Macedonia, Acts 16:9, Acts 16:10. Leaving Troas, he sails to Samothracia and Neapolis, and comes to Philippi in Macedonia, Acts 16:11, Acts 16:12. Lydia, a seller of purple, receives the apostles teaching; and she and her family are baptized, Acts 16:13-16. A young woman, with a spirit of divination, dispossessed by St. Paul, Acts 16:16-18. Her masters, finding their gain by her soothsaying gone, make an attack upon Paul and Silas, drag them before the magistrates, who command them to be beaten, thrust into the closest prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks, Acts 16:19-24. Paul and Silas singing praises at midnight, the prison doors are miraculously opened, and all the bonds of the prisoners loosed, Acts 16:25, Acts 16:26. The keeper being alarmed, supposing that the prisoners were fled, is about to kill himself, but is prevented by Paul, Acts 16:27-28. He inquires the way of salvation, believes, and he and his whole family are baptized, Acts 16:29-34. The next morning the magistrates order the apostles to be dismissed, Acts 16:35, Acts 16:36. Paul pleads his privilege as a Roman, and accuses the magistrates of injustice, who, being alarmed, come themselves to the prison, deliver them, and beg them to depart from the city, Acts 16:37-39. They leave the prison, enter into the house of Lydia, comfort the brethren, and depart, Acts 16:40.

CHAPTER 16

Acts 16:1. After γυναικός Elz. has τινος, which is decidedly spurious according to the evidence.

Acts 16:3. τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ, ὅτι Ἕλλ. ὑπῆρχεν] Lachm. reads ὅτι Ἕλλην ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ὑπῆρχεν, according to A B C א, min. Rightly; the Recepta is a mechanical or designed transposition into the usual mode of expression by attraction. If the reading of Lachm. were a resolution of the attraction, Ἕλλην would not have been placed first.

Acts 16:6. διελθόντες] A B C D E א, min. and several vss. and Fathers have διῆλθον, and in Acts 16:7 for the most part δέ after ἐλθόντες. Both are adopted by Lachm. and Born. The attestation of this reading is so preponderating, that it cannot be held as an emendation to avoid the recurrence of participial clauses. The Recepta, on the contrary, appears to have arisen because of a wish to indicate that the hindrance of the Spirit took place only after passing through Phrygia and Galatia, which appeared necessary if Asia was understood in too wide a sense. The reading of the Vulg. presents another corresponding attempt: “transeuntes autem … vetati sunt.”

Acts 16:7. εἰς τ. Β.] Elz. has κατὰ τ. Β., against decisive evidence. Either a mere error of a copyist after the preceding κατά, or an intentional interpretation.

ʼΙησοῦ] is wanting in Elz., but supported by decisive evidence. If only πνεῦμα were original, the gloss added would not have been Ἰησοῦ (for πν. Ἰησοῦ is not elsewhere found in the N.T.), but, from the preceding, τὸ ἅγιον.

Acts 16:9. The order best attested and therefore to be adopted is: ἀνὴρ Μακεδών τις ἦν. So Lachm., also Tisch. and Born.; the latter, however, has deleted ἦν according to too weak evidence (it was wholly superfluous), and, moreover, has in accordance with D adopted ἐν ὁράματι … ὤφθη ὡσεὶ ἀνὴρ κ.τ.λ., an explanatory gloss, as also are the words κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ added after ἑστώς (Born.).

Acts 16:10. ὁ Κύριος] A B C E א, min. Copt. Vulg. Jer. have ὁ Θεός. Recommended by Griesb. and adopted by Lachm. The Recepta is a gloss in accordance with Acts 16:7 (πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ), comp. Acts 13:2, or written on the margin in accordance with Acts 2:39.

Acts 16:13. πύλης] Approved already by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. Tisch. Born. instead of the usual πόλεως, against which A B C D א, min. Copt. Sahid. Vulg. Cant. witness. τῆς πόλεως was written by the side of τῆς πύλης as a gloss (as some vss. have still τ. πύλης τ. πόλεως), and then supplanted the original.

ἐνομίζετο προσευχή] A** B C א, loti. 13, 40, Copt. Aeth. have ἐνομίζομεν προσευχήν. So Lachm. An alteration, because the reading of the text was not understood. From the same misunderstanding the reading in D, Epiph. ἐδόκει προσευχή (so Born.) arose, and the translation of the Vulg., “ubi videbatur oratio esse.”

Acts 16:16. τὴν προσευχήν] In Elz. the article is wanting, but is supported by preponderating evidence and by its necessity (Acts 16:13).

Πύθωνος] A B C* D (?) א, loti 33, Vulg. Cant. and some Fathers have πύθωνα. Adopted by Lachm. Tisch. Born. Correctly; the accusative, not understood, was changed for the genitive as the more intelligible case, which was well known to the transcribers with πνεῦμα (comp. especially, Luke 4:33).

Acts 16:17. Instead of the second ἡμῖν, Tisch. Born. have ὑμῖν, contrary to A C G H, min. vss. and Fathers. But ἡμῖν appeared less suitable, especially as a demoniacal spirit spoke from the παιδίσκη.

Acts 16:24. Instead of εἰληφώς read, with Lachm. and Born., λαβών on decisive evidence.

Acts 16:31. Χριστόν] is with Lachm. and Tisch. to be deleted as a usual addition (comp. on Acts 15:11), on the authority of A B א, min. Copt. Vulg. Lucif.

Acts 16:32. καὶ πᾶσι] A B C D א, min. Vulg. Cant. Lucif. have σὺν πᾶσι. Approved by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. Tisch. Born. The καί easily crept in, because with it the dative πᾶσι τοῖς remained, and because καὶ ὁ οἶκός σου (Acts 16:31) preceded.

Acts 16:34. ἠγαλλιάσατο] C* (?) D, min. Chrys. Oec. Theophyl have ἠγαλλιᾶτο. Approved by Griesb. and adopted by Born, and Tisch. With this weak attestation it is to be regarded as an easily committed error of a transcriber.

Acts 16:39. ἐξελθεῖν τῆς πόλ.] Lachm. and Tisch. read ἀπελθεῖν ἀπὸ τ. πόλ., according to A B א, min. A more definite and precise statement.

Acts 16:40. πρός] Elz. has εἰς against decisive evidence.

1-5. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra; and, behold, a certain disciple was there--that is, at Lystra (not Derbe, as some conclude from

Ac 20:4).

named Timotheus--(See on

Ac 14:20).

As Paul styles him "his own son in the faith"

(1Ti 1:2),

he must have been gained to Christ at the apostle's first visit; and as Paul says he "had fully known his persecutions which came on him at Lystra"

(2Ti 3:10, 11),

he may have been in that group of disciples that surrounded the apparently lifeless body of the apostle outside the walls of Lystra, and that at a time of life when the mind receives its deepest impressions from the spectacle of innocent suffering and undaunted courage [HOWSON]. His would be one of "the souls of the disciples confirmed" at the apostle's second visit, "exhorted to continue in the faith, and" warned "that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God"

(Ac 14:21, 22).

the son of a certain . . . Jewess--"The unfeigned faith which dwelt first in his grandmother Lois" descended to "his mother Eunice," and thence it passed to this youth

(2Ti 1:5),

who "from a child knew the Holy Scriptures"

(2Ti 3:15).

His gifts and destination to the ministry of Christ had already been attested

(1Ti 1:18; 4:14);

and though some ten years after this Paul speaks of him as still young

(1Ti 4:12),

"he was already well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium"

(Ac 16:2),

and consequently must have been well known through all that quarter.

but his father was a Greek--Such mixed marriages, though little practiced, and disliked by the stricter Jews in Palestine, must have been very frequent among the Jews of the dispersion, especially in remote districts, where but few of the scattered people were settled [HOWSON].

Then came he - That is, Paul in company with Silas. Luke does not give us the history of Barnabas, but confines his narrative to the journey of Paul.

To Derbe and Lystra - See the notes on Acts 14:6.

And behold, a certain disciple named Timotheus - It was to this disciple that Paul afterward addressed the two epistles which bear his name. It is evident that he was a native of one of these places, but whether of Derbe or Lystra it is impossible to determine.

The son of a certain woman ... - Her name was Eunice, 2 Timothy 1:5.

And believed - And was a Christian. It is stated also that her mother was a woman of distinguished Christian piety, 2 Timothy 1:5. It was not lawful for a Jew to marry a woman of another nation, or to give his daughter in marriage to a Gentile, Ezra 9:12. But it is probable that this law was not regarded very strictly by the Jews who lived in the midst of pagan nations. It is evident that Timothy, at this time, was very young; for when Paul besought him to abide at Ephesus, to take charge of the church there 1 Timothy 1:3, he addressed him then as a young man, 1 Timothy 4:12, "Let no man despise thy youth."

But his father was a Greek - Evidently, a man who had not been circumcised, for had he been Timothy would have been also.

A certain disciple - Bishop Pearce would read the latter part of this verse and the beginning of the next thus - A certain disciple named Timotheus, (the son of a certain Jewish woman that believed, but of a father who was a Greek), who was well reported of by the brethren, etc.

This Timothy was the same person to whom St. Paul wrote those two noble epistles which are still extant. His mother's name was Eunice, as we learn from 2 Timothy 1:5. What his father's name was we know not; he was either a mere heathen, or, at most, only a proselyte of the gate, who never submitted to circumcision: had he submitted to this rite, he would, no doubt, have circumcised his son; but the son being without it is a proof that the father was so too. Some MSS. state that Timothy's mother was now a widow; but this does not appear to be well founded.

Then came he to Derbe and Lystra,.... Which were cities of Lycaonia, Acts 14:6 after Paul had gone through Syria and Cilicia; in the last of these places, he had been stoned, and yet goes thither again; none of these things moved him from the preaching of the Gospel, and from the care of the churches, such zeal, courage, and intrepidity was he possessed of:

and behold a certain disciple was there: a converted person, a believer in Christ, one that had learned to know and deny himself, and understood the way of salvation by Christ, and was a follower of him; whether the apostle was an instrument of his conversion, when he was before in these parts, is not certain, though probable, since he often calls him his son; nor is it so evident whether he was at Derbe or at Lystra, though the latter seems most likely, since a report was given of him by the brethren there, and at Iconium, when no mention is made of Derbe, in the following verse:

named Timotheus; or Timothy, the same person to whom afterwards the apostle wrote two epistles: it is a name much used among the Greeks, and his father was a Greek; one of this name, who was an historian among the Greeks, is frequently mentioned by Laertius (r); and there was another of this name, the son of Conon, an Athenian general (s); and another that was a captain or general of Antiochus,

"Afterward he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a mighty power, and much people, with Timotheus their captain.'' (1 Maccabees 5:6)

"Now Timotheus, whom the Jews had overcome before, when he had gathered a great multitude of foreign forces, and horses out of Asia not a few, came as though he would take Jewry by force of arms.'' (2 Maccabees 10:24)

the name signifies one that honoured God, or was honoured by God; both were true in this disciple of Christ:

the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed; his mother was a Jewish woman, but a believer in Christ, her name was Eunice, 2 Timothy 1:5

but his father was a Greek; a Gentile, an uncircumcised one, and so he seems to have remained, by his sons not being circumcised.

(r) De Vit. Philosoph. l. 3. in Vit. Platon. & l. 4. Vit. Speusippi, & l. 5. Vit. Aristotel. (s) Aelian. Hist. Var. l. 2. c. 10, 18. & l. 3. c. 16, 47.