Acts 14:2

Acts 14:2. But the unbelieving Jews. Gloag calls attention to the fact that of the numerous persecutions recorded in the ‘Acts,' there were only two which were not occasioned by the Jews.

Stirred up the Gentiles. That is, rendered hostile. The Jews saw that all those privileges which belonged to the covenant people, and of which they were so jealously proud, would cease altogether to be their peculiar heritage if the Gentiles were admitted on the same terms into the kingdom of God. The very word here used by the writer of the ‘Acts,' ‘ the brethren,' the favourite expression by which the members of the Christian society used to designate themselves, was especially obnoxious to the stubborn Jews, who refused to accept Christ as Messiah. To these unhappy men, the thought that ‘believing Jews' and ‘believing Gentiles' should constitute one holy brotherhood, was strangely hateful.