Acts 20:22

And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit. — The question meets us as before (see Note on Acts 19:21), whether the words refer to the direct action of the Holy Spirit or to the higher element of St. Paul’s own nature, as in 1 Corinthians 5:3; 2 Corinthians 2:13. On the whole, the latter seems the more probable, subject, as before, to the reservation that the word is used because it points to that part of his being which was most in communion with the Divine Spirit. (Comp. Romans 8:16.) He was going to Jerusalem regardless of results, under a constraint which virtually limited the freedom of his human will. As in 1 Corinthians 9:16, a “necessity” was laid upon him.