AND AFTER THE UPROAR WAS CEASED,.... Which Demetrius, and the craftsmen, had raised at Ephesus, and which was put an end to by the speech of the town clerk, or register keeper of the theatre: PAUL CALLED UNTO HIM THE DISCIPLES; the members of the church at Ephesus, whom he convened, either at his o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD GONE OVER THOSE PARTS,.... Of Macedonia, and the cities in it before mentioned; AND HAD GIVEN THEM MUCH EXHORTATION; to abide by the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel, and to walk worthy of it in their lives and conversations; and this exhortation he was frequently giving, as o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE ABODE THREE MONTHS,.... In Greece: AND WHEN THE JEWS LAID WAIT FOR HIM, AS HE WAS ABOUT TO SAIL INTO SYRIA; from some part of Greece, in order to go to Jerusalem; which the Jews in the parts of Greece understanding, laid wait for him, either by sea or land, with an intention either to tak... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE ACCOMPANIED HIM INTO ASIA SOPATER OF BEREA,.... This Sopater is thought to be the same with Sosipater in Romans 16:21 and in three of Beza's copies, and in as many of Stephens's, he is so called here; the Ethiopic version calls him Peter, a citizen of Berea; and the Arabic version Sopater... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE GOING BEFORE,.... The apostle into Asia, all but Sopater, who accompanied him: TARRIED FOR US AT TROAS; a city in Asia Minor; see Acts 16:8 whither they went before hand a nearer way, to provide for the apostle, and where they waited for him, and for Sopater, and for Luke, the writer of this... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE SAILED AWAY FROM PHILIPPI,.... Which was in Macedonia, from whence they came in a straight course by Samothracia, over the Hellespont, to Troas, where the above six persons were waiting for them: and they set sail AFTER THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD; or the passover; which is mentioned only t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND UPON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK,.... Or Lord's day, Revelation 1:10 and which Justin Martyr calls Sunday; on which day, he says i, all, both in city and country, met in one place for religious worship; and on this day, it appears from hence, and from other places, that the apostles and primitive... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WERE MANY LIGHTS IN THE UPPER CHAMBER,.... Which were lighted up, both for necessary uses, to see by, to read the word, and to administer the ordinance of the supper, and for the comfort and pleasure of the whole company, both preacher and hearers; as well as to remove all ground of suspic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE SAT IN A WINDOW A CERTAIN YOUNG MAN,.... In the upper room, where he placed himself, either for air and refreshment, the chamber being suffocating, through the number of people, and of lights; or for want of room, the place being full: NAMED EUTYCHUS; a Greek name, which signifies one of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PAUL WENT DOWN,.... From the upper room, where they were assembled, into the court, yard, or street, where he fell; or into the lower room of the house, where he was brought when taken up. The apostle might see him fall, or he might be told of it, or he might have an intimation of it from the Sp... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE THEREFORE WAS COME UP AGAIN,.... Into the upper room, where he was before, and where the disciples were gathered together: AND HAD BROKEN BREAD AND EATEN; administered the Lord's supper, and also eat for his bodily refreshment: AND TALKED A LONG WHILE: about the ordinance and the doctrines... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY BROUGHT THE YOUNG MAN ALIVE,.... Up into the upper room, and presented him alive to the disciples: AND WERE NOT A LITTLE COMFORTED; that is, the disciples, at the sight of the young man, who was taken up dead, not only for his sake, but chiefly because by this miracle the Gospel, which the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE WENT BEFORE TO SHIP,.... That is, Luke, the writer of this history, and the rest of the apostle's company, went before him to a ship, which lay at Troas, and went aboard it: AND SAILED UNTO ASSOS; a city of Aeolia, or Mysia; and is said by Pliny to be the same with Apollonia; and which he pl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE MET WITH US AT ASSOS,.... According to appointment: WE TOOK HIM IN; to the ship, and so sailed on: AND CAME TO MITYLENE; a city in Lesbos u, an island in the Aegean sea, now Metelino: sometimes the island is so called, and is about seven miles and a half from the continent: of this cit... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE SAILED THENCE,.... From Mitylene: AND CAME THE NEXT DAY OVER AGAINST CHIOS; which, according to R. Benjamin Tudelensis b, was three days' sail from Mitylene; according to Pliny c it was sixty five miles from it, and is an island in the Icarian or Aegean sea, and lies between Lesbos and Samos... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR PAUL HAD DETERMINED TO SAIL BY EPHESUS,.... That is, to sail by it, without calling at it, as he did, for it lay by the shore before he came to Miletus; but he chose not to stop there, fearing he should be detained by the brethren there: BECAUSE HE WOULD NOT SPEND THE TIME IN ASIA; of which Eph... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FROM MILETUS HE SENT TO EPHESUS,.... Which is said, by some, to be about four hundred furlongs from Miletus, and, by others, ten German miles. AND CALLED THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH; that is, at Ephesus; not the ancient members of the church, but the officers of it; the pastors, bishops, and overs... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY WERE COME TO HIM,.... That is, when the elders or pastors of the church at Ephesus were come to the apostle at Miletus: HE SAID UNTO THEM, YE KNOW, FROM THE FIRST DAY I CAME INTO ASIA; to Ephesus the chief city in it: AFTER WHAT MANNER I HAVE BEEN WITH YOU AT ALL SEASONS; what was hi... [ Continue Reading ]
SERVING THE LORD WITH ALL HUMILITY OF MIND,.... Meaning, in the ministration of the Gospel, being conscious to himself of his own weakness and insufficiency in himself for such service; no ways elated with those excellent and extraordinary gifts bestowed upon him; ascribing all his success to the po... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HOW I KEPT BACK NOTHING THAT WAS PROFITABLE UNTO YOU,.... The Syriac version supplies, "to your souls"; to lead them into a true knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, and to confirm them in the same, and to preserve them from errors in principle, and immoralities in practice, and to encourag... [ Continue Reading ]
TESTIFYING BOTH TO THE JEWS, AND ALSO TO THE GREEKS,.... To the Jews first in their synagogue, and then to both Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles, in the school of Tyrannus; opening and explaining to both the nature and use, urging and insisting upon, and proving by undeniable testimonies the necessity,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW BEHOLD, I GO BOUND IN THE SPIRIT UNTO JERUSALEM,.... Not in his own spirit, though the Ethiopic version reads, "in my spirit"; as if he was pressed and straitened, and troubled within himself, at what afflictions and bonds he was to endure at Jerusalem; for this is not consistent with what h... [ Continue Reading ]
SAVE THAT THE HOLY GHOST WITNESSETH IN EVERY CITY,.... As he passed along, where there was a church, or any number of saints: in the churches of those times there were prophets who foretold things to come, and by these the Holy Ghost testified to the apostle, as he travelled along, and called upon t... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME,.... From the hope of the Gospel, nor from the ministry of the word, nor from his journey to Jerusalem; they did not shake his faith, nor inject fear into him, nor cause him to alter his purpose and design: NEITHER COUNT I MY LIFE DEAR UNTO MYSELF: life is a very va... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW BEHOLD,.... This is not only a note of asseveration, but of attention, stirring up to observe what is here asserted: I KNOW THAT YE ALL, AMONG WHOM I HAVE GONE PREACHING THE KINGDOM OF GOD, SHALL SEE MY FACE NO MORE; the sense is, that none of them should ever see him again, none of the chu... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE I TAKE YOU TO RECORD THIS DAY,.... This is a solemn appeal to the elders of the church at Ephesus, who knew his doctrine and manner of life for a considerable time among them: THAT I AM PURE FROM THE BLOOD OF ALL MEN: or "of you all", as some copies, and the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic v... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I HAVE NOT SHUNNED TO DECLARE UNTO YOU ALL THE COUNSEL OF GOD. By which is meant, not the purposes and decrees of God, latent in his own breast, these the apostle could not declare; but his revealed will in the Gospel, concerning the salvation of men by Jesus Christ, even the whole of the Gospel... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HEED THEREFORE UNTO YOURSELVES,.... Since the blood of men may be required of those, who are negligent or partial in their office, and shun to declare the whole counsel of God: this exhortation is given them not merely as men, to take care of their bodily health, the outward concerns of life, a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I KNOW THIS,.... By divine revelation: THAT AFTER MY DEPARTING; either out of this world, or after his leaving them now, and proceeding on, his journey: SHALL GRIEVOUS WOLVES ENTER IN AMONG YOU; false teachers, comparable to wolves, for their craft and cunning, and for their greedy, covetous,... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO OF YOUR OWN SELVES SHALL MEN ARISE,.... Not only false teachers from abroad should come and enter among them, but some would spring up out of their own communities, such as had been admitted members of them, and of whom they had hoped well; such were Hymenseus, Philetus, Alexander, Hertoogenes,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WATCH,.... Meaning both over themselves, and the flock; to prevent, if possible, false teachers entering in, and to nip the buds of heresy and schism, as soon as they appear, and to preserve themselves, and the church, from being carried away with the error of the wicked. AND REMEMBER THA... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW BRETHREN,.... So the apostle calls the elders of the church at Ephesus; though they had not the same gifts, and were not in the same high office as he was, yet he puts himself upon a level with them, as if he and they were fellow elders, as Peter calls himself, 1 Peter 5:1 which is an instan... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE COVETED NO MAN'S SILVER, OR GOLD, OR APPAREL. This the apostle says, not merely in vindication of himself, and his character, from all charge or suspicion of avarice; but chiefly for the instruction of these elders, and all others of the same office, not to indulge the sin of covetousness, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, YOU YOURSELVES KNOW,.... So far was the apostle from desiring to have other men's money, or to wear their apparel, or to eat their bread, that he could appeal to these elders for the truth of it, they having been eyewitnesses of it: THAT THESE HANDS HAVE MINISTERED UNTO MY NECESSITIES; meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SHOWED YOU ALL THINGS,.... Both as to doctrine and practice, and had set them an example how to behave in every point, and particularly in this: HOW THAT SO LABOURING YE OUGHT TO SUPPORT THE WEAK; the sense of which is, that they should labour with their hands as he did, and so support the w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD THUS SPOKEN,.... And finished his speech to the elders: he kneeled down: upon the floor, which was a prayer gesture, used by Christ, and others; for, it seems, the disuse of kneeling in prayer, between the passover and pentecost, which Tertullian k, and other writers, speak of, had n... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY ALL WEPT SORE,.... At the thoughts of parting with such a faithful and affectionate friend and servant of Christ; and no doubt but their affections were greatly moved by his prayers for them, as well as by his discourse to them. Christians are not Stoics, religion does not take away and des... [ Continue Reading ]
SORROWING MOST OF ALL FOR THE WORDS WHICH HE SPAKE,.... In Acts 20:25 it filled them with sorrow to part with him; but this was increased, and made almost intolerable by what he said, THAT THEY SHOULD SEE HIS FACE NO MORE: could they have hoped to have seen him again, it would have made their part... [ Continue Reading ]