Chú giải Kinh Thánh

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

Where was a synagogue of the Jews — Who did much hurt there by their crossness, neither pleasing God nor profiting men,1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:15 .

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And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

Out of the Scriptures — Wherein they were wondrously expert. Quilibet nostrum de lege interrogatus facilius quam nomen suum recitat, saith Josephus. We have the Scriptures at our fingers’ ends.

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Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

Alleging — Or laying it so plain before their eyes ( παρατιθεμενος ), that they could not but see it, unless they were of those qui festucam quaerunt unde oculos sibi eruant, as Bernard hath it, who seek straws to put out their own eyes also.

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And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

Consorted with Paul — Were knit unto them in the straitest bonds, as man and wife, brother and sister: Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis. No such bond as religion, προσεκληρωθησαν .

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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.

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.

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.

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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;

Turned the world, … — αναστατουντες . So Elias was called the troubler of Israel, Luther the trumpet of rebellion. It is not the gospel, but men’s corruption, that breeds the trouble; as it is not, the sea, but the foulness of men’s stomachs, that makes them seasick.

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Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

Whom Jason hath received — υποδεδεκται . Clanculum excepit, so Erasmus well rendereth it, hath closely and covertly entertained them, as Obadiah did the Lord’s prophets.

Contrary to the decrees of Caesar — Unicum crimen eorum, qui crimine vacabant. Tacit. The only crime of them who were without offense.

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And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.

And they troubled the people and the rulers — The devil and his agents, as they are of turbulent spirits, like Ishmael, Pope Urban (who was therefore called Turban, from his troublesomeness), and the Jesuits; so they love to fish in troubled waters, and to set all on a hurry by incensing rulers against the people of God, and seeking to persuade them that they are antimagistratical. Hence the devil again casteth some of them into prison, Revelation 2:10 ; sc. by his imps and instruments armed with authority.

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