BIBLES NET. COM
Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page
|
[Previous] |
Matthew Henry |
A C T S.
CHAP. XXVIII.
We are the more concerned to take notice of and to improve what is here
recorded concerning blessed Paul because, after the story of this
chapter, we hear no more of him in the sacred history, though we have a
great deal of him yet before us in his epistles. We have attended him
through several chapters from one judgment-seat to another, and could
at last have taken leave of him with the more pleasure if we had left
him at liberty; but in this chapter we are to condole with him, and yet
congratulate him.
I. We condole with him as a poor shipwrecked passenger, stripped of
all; and yet congratulate him,
1. As singularly owned by his God in his distress, preserved himself
from receiving hurt by a viper that fastened on his hand
(ver. 1-6),
and being made an instrument of much good in the island on which they
were cast, in healing many that were sick, and particularly the father
of Publius, the chief man of the island,
2. As much respected by the people there,
II. We condole with him as a poor confined prisoner, carried to Rome
under the notion of a criminal removed by “habeas corpus”
(ver. 11-16),
and yet we congratulate him,
1. Upon the respect shown him by the Christians at Rome, who came a
great way to meet him,
2. Upon the favour he found with the captain of the guard, into whose
custody he was delivered, who suffered him to dwell by himself, and did
not put him in the common prison,
3. Upon the free conference he had with the Jews at Rome, both about
his own affair
and upon the subject of the Christian religion in general
(ver. 23),
the issue of which was that God was glorified, many were edified, the
rest left inexcusable, and the apostles justified in preaching the
gospel to the Gentiles,
4. Upon the undisturbed liberty he had to preach the gospel to all
comers in his own house for two years together,
| Paul’s Voyage towards Rome. |
|
|
1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island
was called Melita.
2 And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for
they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the
present rain, and because of the cold.
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid
them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and
fastened on his hand.
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his
hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a
murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance
suffereth not to live.
5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen
down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and
saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that
he was a god.
7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the
island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us
three days courteously.
8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a
fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed,
and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the
island, came, and were healed:
10 Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we
departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.
What a great variety of places and circumstances do we find Paul in! He
was a planet, and not a fixed star. Here we have him in an island to
which, in all probability, he had never come if he had not been thrown
upon it by a storm; and yet it seems God has work for him to do here.
Even stormy winds fulfil God’s counsel, and an ill wind indeed it is
that blows nobody any good; this ill wind blew good to the island of
Melita; for it gave them Paul’s company for three months, who was a
blessing to every place he came to. This island was called Melita,
lying between Sicily and Africa, twenty miles long, and twelve broad;
it lies furthest from the continent of any island in the Mediterranean;
it is about sixty miles from Sicily. It has been famous since for the
knights of Malta, who, when the Turks overran that part of Christendom,
made a noble stand, and gave some check to the progress of their arms.
Now here we have,
I. The kind reception which the inhabitants of this island gave to the
distressed strangers that were shipwrecked on their coast
(v. 2):
The barbarous people showed us no little kindness. God had
promised that there should be no loss of any man’s life; and, as for
God, his work is perfect. If they had escaped the sea, and when
they came ashore had perished for cold or want, it had been all one;
therefore Providence continues its care of them, and what benefits we
receive by the hand of man must be acknowledged to come from the hand
of God; for every creature is that to us, and no more, that he makes it
to be, and when he pleases, as he can make enemies to be at peace, so
he can make strangers to be friends, friends in need, and those are
friends indeed–friends in adversity, and that is the time
that a brother is born for. Observe,
1. The general notice taken of the kindness which the natives of Malta
showed to Paul and his company. They are called barbarous
people, because they did not, in language and customs, conform
either to the Greeks or Romans, who looked (superciliously enough) upon
all but themselves as barbarians, though otherwise civilized enough,
and perhaps in some cases more civil than they. These barbarous people,
however they were called so, were full of humanity: They showed us
not little kindness. So far were they from making a prey of this
shipwreck, as many, I fear, who are called Christian people, would have
done, that they laid hold of it as an opportunity of showing mercy.
The Samaritan is a better neighbour to the poor wounded man
than the priest or Levite. And verily we have not found greater
humanity among Greeks, or Romans, or Christians, than among these
barbarous people; and it is written for our imitation, that we may
hence learn to be compassionate to those that are in distress and
misery, and to relieve and succour them to the utmost of our ability,
as those that know we ourselves are also in the body. We should
be ready to entertain strangers, as Abraham, who sat at his tent
door to invite passengers in
(Heb. xiii. 2),
but especially strangers in distress, as these were. Honour all
men. If Providence hath so appointed the bounds of our
habitation as to give us an opportunity of being frequently
serviceable to persons at a loss, we should not place it among the
inconveniences of our lot, but the advantages of it; because it is
more blessed to give than to receive. Who knows but these barbarous
people had their lot cast in this island for such a time as this!
2. A particular instance of their kindness: They kindled a fire,
in some large hall or other, and they received us everyone–made
room for us about the fire, and bade us all welcome, without asking
either what country we were of or what religion. In swimming to the
shore, and coming on the broken pieces of the ship, we must
suppose that they were sadly wet, that they had not a dry thread on
them; and, as if that were not enough, to complete the deluge, waters
from above met those from below, and it rained so hard that this would
wet them to the skin presently; and it was a cold rain too, so
that they wanted nothing so much as a good fire (for they had eaten
heartily but just before on ship-board), and this they got for them
presently, to warm them, and dry their clothes. It is sometimes
as much a piece of charity to poor families to supply them with fuel as
with food or raiment. Be you warmed, is as necessary as Be
you filled. When in the extremities of bad weather we find
ourselves fenced against the rigours of the season, by the
accommodations of a warm house, bed, clothes, and a good fire, we
should think how many lie exposed to the present rain, and to the
cold, and pity them, and pray for them, and help them if we
can.
II. The further danger that Paul was in by a viper’s fastening on his
hand, and the unjust construction that the people put upon it. Paul is
among strangers, and appears one of the meanest and most contemptible
of the company, therefore God distinguishes him, and soon causes him to
be taken notice of.
1. When the fire was to be made, and too be made bigger, that so great
a company might all have the benefit of it, Paul was as busy as any of
them in gathering sticks,
v. 3.
Though he was free from all, and of greater account than any of them,
yet he made himself servant of all. Paul was an industrious
active man, and loved to be doing when any thing was to be done, and
never contrived to take his ease. Paul was a humble self-denying man,
and would stoop to any thing by which he might be serviceable, even to
the gathering of sticks to make a fire of. We should reckon nothing
below us but sin, and be willing to condescend to the meanest offices,
if there be occasion, for the good of our brethren. The people were
ready to help them; yet Paul, wet and cold as he is, will not throw it
all upon them, but will help himself. Those that receive benefit by
the fire should help to carry fuel to it.
2. The sticks being old dry rubbish, it happened there was a viper
among them, that lay as dead till it came to the heat, and then
revived, or lay quiet till it felt the fire, and then was provoked, and
flew at him that unawares threw it into the fire, and fastened upon
his hand,
v. 3.
Serpents and such venomous creatures commonly lie among sticks; hence
we read of him that leans on the wall, and a serpent bites him,
Amos v. 19.
It was so common that people were by it frightened from tearing hedges
(Eccl. x. 8):
Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. As there is a
snake under the green grass, so there is often under the dry leaves.
See how many perils human life is exposed to, and what danger we are in
from the inferior creatures, which have many of them become enemies to
men, since men became rebels to God; and what a mercy it is that we are
preserved from them as we are. We often meet with that which is
mischievous where we expect that which is beneficial; and many come by
hurt when they are honestly employed, and in the way of their duty.
3. The barbarous people concluded that Paul, being a prisoner, was
certainly a murderer, who had appealed to Rome, to escape justice in
his own country, and that this viper was sent by divine justice to be
the avenger of blood; or, if they were not aware that he was a
prisoner, they supposed that he was in his flight; and when they saw
the venomous animal hand on his hand, which it seems he could not,
or would not, immediately throw off, but let it hang, they concluded,
“No doubt this man is a murderer, has shed innocent blood, and
therefore, though he has escaped the sea, yet divine
vengeance pursues him, and fastens upon him now that he is
pleasing himself with the thoughts of that escape, and will not
suffer him to live.” Now in this we may see,
(1.) Some of the discoveries of natural light. They were barbarous
people, perhaps had no books nor learning among them, and yet they knew
naturally,
[1.] That there is a God that governs the world, and a providence that
presides in all occurrences, that things do not come to pass by chance,
no, not such a thing as this, but by divine direction.
[2.] That evil pursues sinners, that there are good works which God
will reward and wicked works which he will punish; there is a divine
nemesis–a vengeance, which sooner or later will reckon for
enormous crimes. They believe not only that there is a God, but that
this God hath said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, even to
death.
[3.] That murder is a heinous crime, and which shall not long go
unpunished, that whoso sheds man’s blood, if his blood be not
shed by man (by the magistrate, as it ought to be) it shall be shed by
the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, who is the avenger of wrong.
Those that think they shall go unpunished in any evil way will be
judged out of the mouth of these barbarians, who could say, without
book, Woe to the wicked, for it shall be ill with them, for the
reward of their hands shall be given them. Those who, because they
have escaped many judgments are secure, and say, We shall have peace
though we go on, and have their hearts so much the more set to
do evil because sentence against their evil works is not executed
speedily, may learn from these illiterate people that, though
malefactors have escaped the vengeance of the sea, yet there is no
outrunning divine justice, vengeance suffers not to live. In
Job’s time you might ask those that to by the way, ask the next
body you met, and they would tell you that the wicked is reserved to
the day of destruction.
(2.) Some of the mistakes of natural light, which needed to be
rectified by divine revelation. In two things their knowledge was
defective:–
[1.] That they thought all wicked people were punished in this life;
that divine vengeance never suffers great and notorious sinners, such
as murderers are, to live long; but that, if they come up out of the
pit, they shall be taken in the snare
if they flee from a lion, a bear shall meet them
(Amos v. 19),
if they escape being drowned, a viper shall fasten upon them; whereas
it is not so. The wicked, even murderers, sometimes live, become
old, yea, are mighty in power; for the day of vengeance is to come
in the other world, the great day of wrath; and though some are
made examples of in this world, to prove that there is a God and a
providence, yet many are left unpunished, to prove that there is a
judgment to come.
[2.] That they thought all who were remarkably afflicted in this life
were wicked people; that a man on whose hand a viper fastens may thence
be judged to be a murderer, as if those on whom the tower in Siloam
fell must needs be greater sinners than all in Jerusalem. This mistake
Job’s friends went upon, in their judgment upon his case; but divine
revelation sets this matter in a true light–that all things come
ordinarily alike to all, that good men are oftentimes greatly afflicted
in this life, for the exercise and improvement of their faith and
patience.
4. When he shook off the viper from his hand, yet they expected that
divine vengeance would ratify the censure they had passed, and that
he would have swollen and burst, through the force of the poison,
or that he would have fallen down dead suddenly. See how apt men
are, when once they have got an ill opinion of a man, though ever so
unjust, to abide by it, and to think that God must necessarily confirm
and ratify their peevish sentence. It was well they did not knock him
down themselves, when they saw he did not swell and fall down; but so
considerate they are as to let Providence work, and to attend the
motions of it.
III. Paul’s deliverance from the danger, and the undue construction the
people put upon this. The viper’s fastening on his hand was a trial of
his faith; and it was found to praise, and honour, and glory: for,
1. It does not appear that it put him into any fright or confusion at
all. He did not shriek or start, nor, as it would be natural for us to
do, throw it off with terror and precipitation; for he suffered it to
hang on so long that the people had time to take notice of it and to
make their remarks upon it. Such a wonderful presence of mind he had,
and such a composure, as no man could have upon such a sudden accident,
but by the special aids of divine grace, and the actual belief and
consideration of that word of Christ concerning his disciples
(Mark xvi. 18),
They shall take up serpents. This it is to have the heart
fixed, trusting in God.
2. He carelessly shook off the viper into the fire, without any
difficulty, calling for help, or any means used to loosen its hold; and
it is probable that it was consumed in the fire. Thus, in the strength
of the grace of Christ, believers shake off the temptations of Satan,
with a holy resolution, saying, as Christ did, Get thee behind me,
Satan; The Lord rebuke thee; and thus they keep themselves, that
the wicked one toucheth them not, so as to fasten upon them,
When we despise the censures and reproaches of men, and look upon them
with a holy contempt, having the testimony of conscience for us, then
we do, as Paul here, shake off the viper into the fire. It does
us no harm, except we fret at it, or be deterred by it from our duty,
or be provoked to render railing for railing.
3. He was none the worse. Those that thought it would have been his
death looked a great while, but saw no harm at all come to him.
God hereby intended to make him remarkable among these barbarous
people, and so to make way for the entertainment of the gospel among
them. It is reported that after this no venomous creature would live in
that island, any more than in Ireland; but I do not find that the
matter of fact is confirmed, though the popish writers speak of it with
assurance.
4. They then magnified him as much as before they had vilified him:
They changed their minds, and said that he was a god–an
immortal god; for they thought it impossible that a mortal man should
have a viper hang on his hand so long and be never the worse. See the
uncertainty of popular opinion, how it turns with the wind, and how apt
it is to run into extremes both ways; from sacrificing to Paul and
Barnabas to stoning them; and here, from condemning him as a
murderer to idolizing him as a god.
IV. The miraculous cure of an old gentleman that was ill of a fever,
and of others that were otherwise diseased, by Paul. And, with these
confirmations of the doctrine of Christ, no doubt there was a faithful
publication of it. Observe,
1. The kind entertainment which Publius, the chief man of the
island, gave to these distressed strangers; he had a considerable
estate in the island, and some think was governor, and he received
them and lodged them three days very courteously, that they might
have time to furnish themselves in other places at the best hand. It is
happy when God gives a large heart to those to whom he has given a
large estate. It became him, who was the chief man of the island, to be
most hospitable and generous,–who was the richest man, to be rich in
good works.
2. The illness of the father of Publius: He lay sick of a
fever and a bloody flux, which often go together, and, when they
do, are commonly fatal. Providence ordered it that he should be ill
just at this time, that the cure of him might be a present recompence
to Publius for his generosity, and the cure of him by miracle a
recompence particularly for his kindness to Paul, whom he received in
the name of a prophet, and had this prophet’s reward.
3. His cure: Paul took cognizance of his case, and though we do not
find he was urged to it, for they had no thought of any such thing, yet
he entered in, not as a physician to heal him by medicines, but as an
apostle to heal him by miracle; and he prayed to God, in Christ’s name,
for his cure, and then laid his hands on him, and he was perfectly well
in an instant. Though he must needs be in years, yet he recovered his
health, and the lengthening out of his life yet longer would be a mercy
to him.
4. The cure of many others, who were invited by this cure to apply to
Paul. If he can heal diseases so easily, so effectually, he shall soon
have patients enough; and he bade them all welcome, and sent
them away with what they came for. He did not plead that he was a
stranger there, thrown accidentally among them, under no obligations to
them and waiting to be gone by the first opportunity, and therefore
might be excused from receiving their applications. No, a good man will
endeavour to do good wherever the providence of God casts him. Paul
reckoned himself a debtor, not only to the Greeks, but to the
Barbarians, and thanked God for an opportunity of being useful among
them. Nay, he was particularly obliged to these inhabitants of Malta
for the seasonable shelter and supply they had afforded him, and hereby
he did in effect discharge his quarters, which should encourage us to
entertain strangers, for some thereby have entertained angels and some
apostles unawares. God will not be behind–hand with any for kindness
shown to his people in distress. We have reason to think that Paul with
these cures preached the gospel to them, and that, coming thus
confirmed and recommended, it was generally embraced among them. And,
if so, never were any people so enriched by a shipwreck on their coasts
as these Maltese were.
V. The grateful acknowledgement which even these barbarous people made
of the kindness Paul had done them, in preaching Christ unto them. They
were civil to him, and to the other ministers that were with him, who,
it is likely, were assisting to him in preaching among them,
1. They honoured us with many honours. They showed them all
possible respect; they saw God honoured them, and therefore they justly
thought themselves obliged to honour them, and thought nothing too much
by which they might testify the esteem they had for them. Perhaps they
made them free of their island by naturalizing them, and admitted them
members of their guilds and fraternities. The faithful preachers of the
gospel are worthy of a double honour, especially when they succeeded in
their labours.
2. When we departed, they loaded us with such things as were
necessary; or, they put on board such things as we had occasion
for. Paul could not labour with his hands here, for he had nothing to
work upon, and therefore accepted the kindness of the good people of
Melita, not as a fee for his cures (freely he had received, and freely
he gave), but as the relief of his wants, and theirs that were with
him. And, having reaped of their spiritual things, it was but just they
should make them those returns,
| Paul at Rome. |
|
|
11 And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria,
which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.
12 And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.
13 And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium:
and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day
to Puteoli:
14 Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them
seven days: and so we went toward Rome.
15 And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to
meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when
Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.
16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the
prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to
dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
We have here the progress of Paul’s voyage towards Rome, and his
arrival there at length. A rough and dangerous voyage he had hitherto
had, and narrowly escaped with his life; but after a storm comes a
calm: the latter part of his voyage was easy and quiet.
| Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus ad Latium——– Through various hazards and events we move To Latium. Tendimus ad cœlum. We make for heaven. ——–Dabit Deus his quoque finem. To these a period will be fixed by Heaven. |
We have here,
I. Their leaving Malta. That island was a happy shelter to them, but it
was not their home; when they are refreshed they must put to sea again.
The difficulties and discouragements we have met with in our Christian
course must not hinder us from pressing forward. Notice is here taken,
1. Of the time of their departure: After three months, the three
winter months. Better lie by, though they lay upon charges, than go
forward while the season was dangerous. Paul had warned them against
venturing to sea in winter weather, and they would not take the
warning; but, now that they had learned it by the difficulties and
dangers they had gone through, he needed not to warn them: their
learning did them good when they had paid dearly for it. Experience is
therefore called the mistress of fools, because those are fools that
will not learn till experience has taught them.
2. Of the ship in which they departed. It was in a ship of Alexandria;
so was that which was cast away,
This ship had wintered in that isle, and was safe. See what
different issues there are of men’s undertakings in this world. Here
were two ships, both of Alexandria, both bound for Italy, both thrown
upon the same island, but one is wrecked there and the other is saved.
Such occurrences may often be observed. Providence sometimes favours
those that deal in the world, and prospers them, that people may be
encouraged to set their hands to worldly business; at other times
Providence crosses them, that people may be warned not to set their
hearts upon it. Events are thus varied, that we may learn both how to
want and how to abound. The historian takes notice of the sign of the
ship, which probably gave it its name: it was Castor and Pollux.
Those little foolish pagan deities, which the poets had made to preside
over storms and to protect seafaring men, as gods of the sea, were
painted or graven upon the fore-part of the ship, and thence the ship
took its name. I suppose this is observed for no other reason than for
the better ascertaining of the story, that ship being well known by
that name and sign by all that dealt between Egypt and Italy. Dr.
Lightfoot thinks that Luke mentions this circumstance to intimate the
men’s superstition, that they hoped they should have better sailing
under this badge than they had had before.
II. Their landing in or about Italy, and the pursuing of their journey
towards Rome.
1. They landed first at Syracuse in Sicily, the chief city of that
island. There they tarried three days, probably having some
goods to put ashore, or some merchandise to make there; for it seems to
have been a trading voyage that this ship made. Paul had now his
curiosity gratified with the sight of places he had often heard of and
wished to see, particularly Syracuse, a place of great antiquity and
note; and yet, it should seem, there were no Christians there.
2. From Syracuse they came to Rhegium, a city in Italy, directly
opposite to Messina in Sicily, belonging to the kingdom of Calabria or
Naples. There, it seems they staid one day; and a very formal story
the Romish legends tell of Paul’s preaching here at this time, and the
fish coming to the shore to hear him,–that with a candle he set a
stone pillar on fire, and by that miracle convinced the people of the
truth of his doctrine, and they were many of them baptized, and he
ordained Stephen, one of his companions in this voyage, to be their
bishop,–and all this, they tell you, was done in this one day; whereas
it does not appear that they did so much as go ashore, but only came to
an anchor in the road.
3. From Rhegium they came to Puteoli, a sea-port town not far from
Naples, now called Pozzolana. The ship of Alexandria was bound
for that port, and therefore there Paul, and the rest that were bound
for Rome, were put ashore, and went the remainder of their way by land.
At Puteoli they found brethren, Christians. Who brought the
knowledge of Christ hither we are not told, but here it was, so
wonderfully did the leaven of the gospel diffuse itself. God has many
that serve and worship him in places where we little think he has. And
observe,
(1.) Though it is probable there were but few brethren in Puteoli, yet
Paul found them out; either they heard of him, or he enquired them out,
but as it were by instinct they got together. Brethren in Christ
should find out one another, and keep up communion with each other, as
those of the same country do in a foreign land.
(2.) They desired Paul and his companions to tarry with them seven
days, that is, to forecast to stay at least one Lord’s day with
them, and to assist them in their public worship that day. They knew
not whether ever they should see Paul at Puteoli again, and therefore
he must not go without giving them a sermon or two, or more. And Paul
was willing to allow them so much of his time; and the centurion under
whose command Paul now was, perhaps having himself friends or business
at Puteoli, agreed to stay one week there, to oblige Paul.
4. From Puteoli they went forward towards Rome; whether they travelled
on foot, or whether they had beasts provided for them to ride on (as
does not appear; but to Rome they must go, and this was their last
stage.
III. The meeting which the Christians at Rome gave to Paul. It is
probable that notice was sent to them by the Christians at Puteoli, as
soon as ever Paul had come thither, how long he intended to stay there,
and when he would set forward for Rome, which gave an opportunity for
this interview. Observe,
1. The great honour they did to Paul. They had heard much of his fame,
what use God had made of him, and what eminent service he had done to
the kingdom of Christ in the world, and to what multitudes of souls he
had been a spiritual father. They had heard of his sufferings, and how
God had owned him in them, and therefore they not only longed to see
him, but thought themselves obliged to show him all possible respect,
as a glorious advocate for the cause of Christ. He had some time ago
written a long epistle to them, and a most excellent one, the
epistle to the Romans, in which he had not only expressed his great
kindness for them, but had given them a great many useful instructions,
in return for which they show him this respect. They went to meet
him, that they might bring him in state, as ambassadors and judges
make their public entry, though he was a prisoner. Some of them went as
far as Appii-forum, which was fifty-one miles from Rome; others
to a place called the Three Taverns, which was twenty-eight
miles (some reckon it thirty-three miles) from Rome. They are to be
commended for it, that they were so far from being ashamed of him, or
afraid of owning him, because he was a prisoner, that for that very
reason they counted him worthy of double honour, and were the more
careful to show him respect.
2. The great comfort Paul had in this. Now that he was drawing near to
Rome, and perhaps heard at Puteoli what character the emperor Nero now
had, and what a tyrant he had of late become, he began to have some
melancholy thoughts about his appeal to Cæsar, and the consequences of
it. He was drawing near to Rome, where he had never been, where there
were few that knew him or that he knew, and what things might befal him
here he could not tell; but he began to grow dull upon it, till he met
with these good people that came from Rome to show him respect; and
when he saw them,
(1.) He thanked God. We may suppose he thanked them for their
civility, told them again and again how kindly he took it; but this was
not all: he thanked God. Note, If our friends be kind to us, it
is God that makes them so, that puts it into their hearts, and into the
power of their hands, to be so, and we must give him the glory of it.
He thanked God, no doubt, for the civility and generosity of the
barbarous people at Melita, but much more for the pious care of the
Christian people at Rome for him. When he saw so many Christians that
were of Rome, he thanked God that the gospel of Christ had had such
wonderful success there in the metropolis of the empire. When we go
abroad, or but look abroad, into the world, and meet with those, even
in strange places, that bear up Christ’s name, and fear God, and serve
him, we should lift up our hearts to heaven in thanksgiving; blessed be
God that there are so many excellent ones on this earth, bad as it is.
Paul had thanked God for the Christians at Rome before he had ever seen
them, upon the report he had heard concerning them
(Rom. i. 8):
I thank my God for you all. But now that he saw them (and
perhaps they appeared more fashionable and genteel people than most he
had conversed with, or more grave, serious, and intelligent, than most)
he thanked God. But this was not all:
(2.) He took courage. It put new life into him, cheered up his
spirits, and banished his melancholy, and now he can enter Rome a
prisoner as cheerfully as ever he had entered Jerusalem at liberty. he
finds there are those there who love and value him, and whom he may
both converse with and consult with as his friends, which will take off
much of the tediousness of his imprisonment, and the terror of his
appearing before Nero. Note, it is an encouragement to those who are
travelling towards heaven to meet with their fellow travellers, who are
their companions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
When we see the numerous and serious assemblies of good Christians, we
should not only give thanks to God, but take courage to ourselves. And
this is a good reason why respect should be shown to good ministers,
especially when they are in sufferings, and have contempt put upon
them, that it encourages them, and makes both their sufferings and
their services more easy. Yet it is observable that though the
Christians at Rome were now so respectful to Paul, and he had promised
himself so much from their respect, yet they failed him when he most
needed them; for he says
At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook
me. They could easily take a ride of forty or fifty miles to go and
meet Paul, for the pleasantness of the journey; but to venture the
displeasure of the emperor and the disobliging of other great men, by
appearing in defence of Paul and giving evidence for him, here they
desire to be excused; when it comes to this, they will rather ride as
far out of town to miss him as now they did to meet him, which is an
intimation to us to cease from man, and to encourage ourselves in the
Lord our God. The courage we take from his promises will never fail us,
when we shall be ashamed of that which we took from men’s compliments.
Let God be true, but every man a liar.
IV. The delivering of Paul into custody at Rome,
He is now come to his journey’s end. And,
1. He is still a prisoner. He had longed to see Rome, but, when he
comes there, he is delivered, with other prisoners, to the captain
of the guard, and can see no more of Rome than he will permit him.
How many great men had made their entry into Rome, crowned and in
triumph, who really were the plagues of their generation! But here a
good man makes his entry into Rome, chained and triumphed over as a
poor captive, who was really the greatest blessing to his generation.
This thought is enough to put one for ever out of conceit with this
world.
2. Yet he has some favour shown him. He is a prisoner, but not a close
prisoner, not in the common jail: Paul was suffered to dwell by
himself, in some convenient private lodgings which his friends
there provided for him, and a soldier was appointed to be his guard,
who, we hope, was civil to him, and let him take all the liberty that
could be allowed to a prisoner, for he must be very ill-natured indeed
that could be so to such a courteous obliging man as Paul. Paul, being
suffered to dwell by himself, could the better enjoy himself, and his
friends, and his God, than if he had been lodged with the other
prisoners. Note, This may encourage God’s prisoners, that he can give
them favour in the eyes of those that carry them captive
(Ps. cvi. 46),
as Joseph in the eyes of his keeper
and Jehoiachin in the eyes of the king of Babylon,
When God does not deliver his people presently out of bondage, yet, if
he either make it easy to them or them easy under it, they have reason
to be thankful.
| Paul at Rome. |
|
|
17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the
chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he
said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed
nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I
delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
18 Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go,
because there was no cause of death in me.
19 But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to
appeal unto Cæsar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.
20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see
you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of
Israel I am bound with this chain.
21 And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of
Judæa concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came
showed or spake any harm of thee.
22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as
concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken
against.
Paul, with a great deal of expense and hazard, is brought a prisoner to
Rome, and when he has come nobody appears to prosecute him or lay any
thing to his charge; but he must call his own cause; and here he
represents it to the chief of the Jews at Rome. It was not long since,
by an edict of Claudius, all the Jews were banished from Rome, and kept
out till his death; but, in the five years since then, many Jews had
come thither, for the advantage of trade, though it does not appear
that they were allowed any synagogue there or place of public worship;
but these chief of the Jews were those of best figure among
them, the most distinguished men of that religion, who had the best
estates and interests. Paul called them together, being desirous
to stand right in their opinion, and that there might be a good
understanding between him and them. And here we are told,
I. What he said to them, and what account he gave them of his cause. He
speaks respectfully to them, calls them men and brethren, and thereby
intimates that he expects to be treated by them both as a man and as a
brother, and engages to treat them as such and to tell them nothing but
the truth; for we are members one of another–all we are
brethren. Now,
1. He professes his own innocency, and that he had not given any just
occasion to the Jews to bear him such an ill will as generally they
did: “I have committed nothing against the people of the Jews,
have done nothing to the prejudice of their religion or civil
liberties, have added no affliction to their present miseries, they
know I have not; nor have I committed any thing against the customs
of our fathers, either by abrogating or by innovating in religion.”
It is true Paul did not impose the customs of the fathers upon the
Gentiles: they were never intended for them. But it is as true that he
never opposed them in the Jews, but did himself, when he was among
them, conform to them. He never quarrelled with them for practising
according to the usages of their own religion, but only for their
enmity to the Gentiles,
Paul had the testimony of his conscience for him that he had done his
duty to the Jews.
2. He modestly complains of the hard usage he had met with–that,
though he had given them no offence, yet he was delivered prisoner
from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. If he had spoken the
whole truth in this matter, it would have looked worse than it did upon
the Jews, for they would have murdered him without any colour of law or
justice if the Romans had not protected him; but, however, they accused
him as a criminal, before Felix the governor, and, demanding judgment
against him, were, in effect delivering him prisoner into the hands of
the Romans, when he desired no more than a fair and impartial trial by
their own law.
3. He declares the judgment of the Roman governors concerning him,
They examined him, enquired into his case, heard what was to be said
against him, and what he had to say for himself. The chief captain
examined him, so did Felix, and Festus, and Agrippa, and they could
find no cause of death in him; nothing appeared to the contrary but
that he was an honest, quiet, conscientious, good man, and therefore
they would never gratify the Jews with a sentence of death upon him;
but, on the contrary, would have let him go, and have let him go on in
his work too, and have given him no interruption, for they all heard
him and liked his doctrine well enough. It was for the honour of Paul
that those who most carefully examined his case acquitted him, and none
condemned him but unheard, and such as were prejudiced against him.
4. He pleads the necessity he was under to remove himself and his cause
to Rome; and that it was only in his own defence, and not with any
design to recriminate, or exhibit a cross bill against the
complainants,
(v. 19):
When the Jews spoke against it, and entered a caveat against his
discharge, designing, if they could not have him condemned to die, yet
to have him made a prisoner for life, he was constrained to appeal
unto Cæsar, finding that the governors, one after another,
stood so much in awe of the Jews that they could not discharge him, for
fear of making him their enemies, which made it necessary for him to
pray the assistance of the higher powers. This was all he aimed at in
this appeal; not to accuse his nation, but only to vindicate himself.
Every man has a right to plead in his own defence, who yet ought not to
find fault with his neighbours. It is an invidious thing to accuse,
especially to accuse a nation, such a nation. Paul made intercession
for them, but never against them. The Roman government had at this time
an ill opinion of the Jewish nation, as factious, turbulent,
disaffected, and dangerous; and it had been an easy thing for a man
with such a fluent tongue as Paul had, a citizen of Rome, and so
injured as he was, to have exasperated the emperor against the Jewish
nation. But Paul would not for ever so much do such a thing; he was for
making the best of every body, and not making bad worse.
5. He puts his sufferings upon the true footing, and gives them such an
account of the reason of them as should engage them not only not to
join with his persecutors against him, but to concern themselves for
him, and to do what they could on his behalf
(v. 20):
“For this cause I have called for you, not to quarrel with you,
for I have no design to incense the government against you, but to
see you and speak with you as my countrymen, and men that I
would keep up a correspondence with, because for the hope of Israel
I am bound with this chain.” He carried the mark of his
imprisonment about with him, and probably was chained to the soldier
that kept him; and it was,
(1.) Because he preached that the Messiah was come, who was the hope of
Israel, he whom Israel hoped for. “Do not all the Jews agree in this,
that the Messiah will be the glory of his people Israel? And therefore
he is to be hoped for, and this Messiah I preach, and prove he is come.
They would keep up such a hope of a Messiah yet to come as must end in
a despair of him; I preach such a hope in a Messiah already come as
must produce a joy in him.”
(2.) Because he preached that the resurrection of the dead would come.
This also was the hope of Israel; so he had called it,
ch. xxiii. 6; xxiv. 15; xxvi. 6, 7.
“They would have you still expect a Messiah that would free you from
the Roman yoke, and make you great and prosperous upon earth, and it is
this that occupies their thoughts; and they are angry at me for
directing their expectations to the great things of another world, and
persuading them to embrace a Messiah who will secure those to them, and
not external power and grandeur. I am for bringing you to the spiritual
and eternal blessedness upon which our fathers by faith had their eye,
and this is what they hate me for,–because I would take you off from
that which is the cheat of Israel, and will be its shame and ruin, the
notion of a temporal Messiah, and lead you to that which is the true
and real hope of Israel, and the genuine sense of all the promises made
to the fathers, a spiritual kingdom of holiness and love set up in the
hearts of men, to be the pledge of, and preparative for, the joyful
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
II. What was their reply. They own,
1. That they had nothing to say in particular against him; nor had any
instructions to appear as his prosecutors before the emperor, either by
letter or word of mouth
(v. 21):
“We have neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee
(have no orders to prosecute thee) nor have any of the brethren
of the Jewish nation that have lately come up to Rome (as many
occasions drew the Jews thither now that their nation was a province of
that empire) shown or spoken any harm of thee.” This was very
strange, that that restless and inveterate rage of the Jews which had
followed Paul wherever he went should not follow him to Rome, to get
him condemned there. Some think they told a lie here, and had orders to
prosecute him, but durst not own it, being themselves obnoxious to the
emperor’s displeasure, who though he had not, like his predecessors,
banished them all from Rome, yet gave them no countenance there. But I
am apt to think that what they said was true, and Paul now found he had
gained the point he aimed at in appealing to Cæsar, which was to
remove his cause into a court to which they durst not follow it. This
was David’s policy, and it was his security
There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the
Philistines, and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any
coasts of Israel; so shall I escape out of his hands: and it proved
so,
v. 4.
When Saul heard that David had fled to Gath, he sought no more again
for him. Thus did Paul by his appeal: he fled to Rome, where he was
out of their reach; and they said, “Even let him go.”
2. That they desired to know particularly concerning the doctrine he
preached, and the religion he took so much pains to propagate in the
face of so much opposition
(v. 22):
“We desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest—ha
phroneis what thy opinions or sentiments are, what are those
things which thou art so wise about, and hast such a relish of and such
a zeal for; for, though we know little else of Christianity, we know
it is a sect every where spoken against.” Those who said this
scornful spiteful word of the Christian religion were Jews, the
chief of the Jews at Rome, who boasted of their knowledge
(Rom. ii. 17),
and yet this was all they knew concerning the Christian religion, that
it was a sect every where spoken against. They put it into an
ill name, and then ran it down.
(1.) They looked upon it to be a sect, and this was false. True
Christianity establishes that which is of common concern to all
mankind, and is not built upon such narrow opinions and private
interests as sects commonly owe their original to. It aims at no
worldly benefit or advantage as sects do; but all its gains are
spiritual and eternal. And, besides, it has a direct tendency to the
uniting of the children of men, and not the dividing of them, and
setting them at variance, as sects have.
(2.) They said it was every where spoken against, and this was too
true. All that they conversed with spoke against it, and therefore they
concluded every body did: most indeed did. It is, and always has been,
the lot of Christ’s holy religion to be every where spoken against.
| Paul at Rome. |
|
|
23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to
him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the
kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the
law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till
evening.
24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some
believed not.
25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed,
after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not
perceive:
27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them.
28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is
sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had
great reasoning among themselves.
We have here a short account of a long conference which Paul had with
the Jews at Rome about the Christian religion. Though they were so far
prejudiced against it, because it was every where spoken against, as to
call it a sect, yet they were willing to give it a hearing,
which was more than the Jews at Jerusalem would do. It is probable that
these Jews at Rome, being men of larger acquaintance with the world and
more general conversation, were more free in their enquiries than the
bigoted Jews at Jerusalem were, and would not answer this matter before
they heard it.
I. We are here told how Paul managed this conference in defence of the
Christian religion. The Jews appointed the time, a day was set for this
dispute, that all parties concerned might have sufficient notice,
Those Jews seemed well disposed to receive conviction, and yet it did
not prove that they all were so. Now when the day came,
1. There were many got together to Paul. Though he was a
prisoner and could not come out to them, yet they were willing to come
to him to his lodging. And the confinement he was now under, if duly
considered, instead of prejudicing them against his doctrine, ought to
confirm it to them; for it was a sign not only that he believed it, but
that he thought it worth suffering for. One would visit such a man as
Paul in his prison rather than not have instruction from him. And he
made room for them in his lodging, not fearing to give offence to the
government, so that he might do good to them.
2. He was very large and full in his discourse with them, seeking their
conviction more than his own vindication.
(1.) He expounded, or explained, the kingdom of God to them,–showed
them the nature of that kingdom and the glorious purposes and designs
of it, that it is heavenly and spiritual, seated in the minds of men,
and shines not in external pomp, but in purity of heart and life. That
which kept the Jews in their unbelief was a misunderstanding of the
kingdom of God, as if it came with observation; let but that be
expounded to them, and set in a true light, and they will be brought
into obedience to it.
(2.) He not only expounded the kingdom of God, but he testified
it,–plainly declared it to them, and confirmed it by incontestable
proofs, that the kingdom of God by the Messiah’s administration was
come, and was now set up in the world. He attested the extraordinary
powers in the kingdom of grace by which bore his testimony to it from
his own experience of its power and influence upon him, and the manner
of his being brought into subjection to it.
(3.) He not only expounded and testified the kingdom of God, but he
persuaded them, urged it upon their consciences and pressed them with
all earnestness to embrace the kingdom of God, and submit to it, and
not to persist in an opposition to it. He followed his doctrine (the
explication and confirmation of it) with a warm and lively application
to his hearers, which is the most proper and profitable method of
preaching.
(4.) He persuaded them concerning Jesus. The design and tendency of his
whole discourse were to bring them to Christ, to convince them of his
being the Messiah, and to engage them to believe in him as he is
offered in the gospel. He urged upon them, ta peri tou
Iesou—the things concerning Jesus, the prophecies of
him, which he read to them out of the law of Moses and out of the
prophets, as pointing at the Messiah, and showed how they had all
had their accomplishment in this Jesus. They being Jews, he dealt with
them out of the scriptures of the Old Testament, and demonstrated that
these were so far from making against Christianity that they were the
great proofs of it; so that, if we compare the history of the New
Testament with the prophecy of the Old, we must conclude that this
Jesus is he that should come, and we are to look for no other.
3. He was very long; for he continued his discourse, and it should seem
to have been a continued discourse, from morning till evening;
perhaps it was a discourse eight or ten hours long. The subject was
curious–he was full of it–it was of vast importance–he was in good
earnest, and his heart was upon it–he knew not when he should have such
another opportunity, and therefore, without begging pardon for tiring
their patience, he kept them all day; but it is probable that he spent
some of the time in prayer with them and for them.
II. What was the effect of this discourse. One would have thought that
so good a cause as that of Christianity, and managed by such a skilful
hand as Paul’s, could not but carry the day, and that all the hearers
would have yielded to it presently; but it did not prove so: the child
Jesus is set for the fall of some and the rising again of others, a
foundation stone to some and a stone of stumbling to others.
1. They did not agree among themselves,
v. 25.
Some of them thought Paul was in the right, others would not admit it.
This is that division which Christ came to send, that fire which he
came to kindle,
Paul preached with a great deal of plainness and clearness, and yet his
hearers could not agree about the sense and evidence of what he
preached.
2. Some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed
not,
v. 24.
There was the disagreement. Such as this has always been the success of
the gospel; to some it has been a savour of life unto life, to
others a savour of death unto death. Some are wrought upon by
the word, and others hardened; some receive the light, and others shut
their eyes against it. So it was among Christ’s hearers, and the
spectators of his miracles, some believed and some blasphemed. If all
had believed, there had been no disagreement; so that all the blame of
the division lay upon those who would not believe.
III. The awakening word which Paul said to them at parting. He
perceived by what they muttered that there were many among them, and
perhaps the greater part, that were obstinate, and would not yield to
the conviction of what he said; and they were getting up to be gone,
they had had enough of it: “Hold,” says Paul, “take one word with you
before you go, and consider of it when you come home: what do you think
will be the effect of your obstinate infidelity? What will you do in
the end hereof? What will it come to?”
1. “You will by the righteous judgment of God be sealed up under
unbelief. You harden your own hearts, and God will harden them as he
did Pharaoh’s’; and this is what was prophesied of concerning you. Turn
to that scripture
and read it seriously, and tremble lest the case there described should
prove to be your case.” As there are in the Old Testament gospel
promises, which will be accomplished in all that believe, so there are
gospel threatenings of spiritual judgments, which will be fulfilled in
those that believe not; and this is one. It is part of the commission
given to Isaiah the prophet; he is sent to make those worse that would
not be made better. Well spoke the Holy Ghost by Esaias the
prophet unto our fathers. What was spoken by JEHOVAH is here said to be spoken by the Holy Ghost,
which proves that the Holy Ghost is God; and what was spoken to Isaiah
is here said to be spoken by him to their fathers, for he was ordered
to tell the people what God said to him; and, though what is there said
had in it much of terror to the people and of grief to the prophet, yet
it is here said to be well spoken. Hezekiah said concerning a message
of wrath, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken,
Isa. xxxix. 8.
And he that believes not shall be damned is gospel, as well as,
He that believes shall be saved,
Mark xvi. 16.
Or this may be explained by that of our Saviour
(Matt. xv. 7),
“Well did Esaias prophesy of you. The Holy Ghost said to your
fathers, that which would be fulfilled in you, Hearing you shall
hear, and shall not understand.”
(1.) “That which was their great sin against God is yours; and that is
this, you will not see. You shut your eyes against the most convincing
evidence possible, and will not admit the conclusion, though you cannot
deny the premises: Your eyes you have closed,”
This intimates an obstinate infidelity, and a willing slavery to
prejudice. “As your fathers would not see God’s hand lifted up against
them in his judgments
so you will not see God’s hand stretched out to you in gospel grace.”
It was true of these unbelieving Jews that they were prejudiced against
the gospel; they did not see, because they were resolved they would
not, and none so blind as those that will not see. They would not
prosecute their convictions, and for this reason would not admit them.
They have purposely closed their eyes, lest they should see with
their eyes the great things which belong to their everlasting
peace, should see the glory of God, the amiableness of Christ, the
deformity of sin, the beauty of holiness, the vanity of this world, and
the reality of another. They will not be changed and governed by these
truths, and therefore will not receive the evidence of them, lest
they should hear with their ears that which they are loth to hear,
the wrath of God revealed from heaven against them, and the will of God
revealed from heaven to them. They stop their ears, like the deaf
adder, that will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he
ever so wisely. Thus their fathers did; they would not hear,
Zech. vii. 11, 12.
And that which they are afraid of in shutting up their eyes and ears,
and barricading (as it were) both their learning senses against him
that made both the hearing ear and the seeing eye, is, lest they
should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them. They kept their mind in the dark, or at least in
a constant confusion and tumult, lest, if they should admit a
considerate sober thought, they should understand with their heart how
much it is both their duty and their interest to be religious, and so
by degrees the truth should be too hard for them, and they should be
converted from the evil ways which they take pleasure in, to those
exercises to which they have now an aversion. Observe, God’s method is
to bring people first to see and he and so to understand with their
hearts, and then to convert them, and bow their wills, and so heal
them, which is the regular way of dealing with a rational soul; and
therefore Satan prevents the conversion of souls to God by blinding the
mind and darkening the understanding,
And the case is very sad when the sinner joins with him herein, and
puts out his own eyes. Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant–They
plunge into ignorance, that they may sin the more freely. They are
in love with their disease, and are afraid lest God should heal them;
like Babylon of old, We would have healed her, and she would not be
healed,
This was the sin.
(2.) “That which was the great judgment of God upon them for this sin
is his judgment upon you, and that is, you shall be blind. God will
give you up to a judicial infatuation: Hearing you shall
hear–you shall have the word of God preached to you over and
over–but you shall not understand it; because you will not give
your minds to understand it, God will not give you strength and grace
to understand it. Seeing you shall see–you shall have abundance
of miracles and signs done before your eyes–but you shall not
perceive the convincing evidence of them. Take heed lest what
Moses said to your fathers should be true of you
The Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and
ears to hear, unto this day; and what Isaiah said to the men of his
generation
The Lord has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has
closed your eyes.” What with their resisting the grace of God and
rebelling against the light, and God’s withdrawing and withholding his
grace and light from them,–what with their not receiving the love of
the truth, and God’s giving them up for that to strong delusions, to
believe a lie,–what with their wilful and what with their judicial
hardness, the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing. They are stupid and senseless, and not wrought
upon by all that can be said to them. No physic that can be given them
operates upon them, nor will reach them, and therefore their disease
must be adjudged incurable, and their case desperate. How should those
be happy that will not be healed of a disease that makes them
miserable? And how should those be healed that will not be converted to
the use of the methods of cure? And how should those be converted that
will not be convinced either of their disease or of their remedy? And
how should those be convinced that shut their eyes and stop their
ears? Let all that hear the gospel, and do not heed it, tremble at
this doom; for, when once they are thus given up to hardness of heart,
they are already in the suburbs of hell; for who shall heal them, if
God do not?
2. “Your unbelief will justify God in sending the gospel to the Gentile
world, which is the thing you look upon with such a jealous eye
(v. 28):
therefore seeing you put the grace of God away from you, and will not
submit to the power of divine truth and love, seeing you will not be
converted and healed in the methods which divine wisdom has appointed,
therefore be it known unto you that the salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles, that salvation which was of the Jews only
(John iv. 22),
the offer of it is made to them, the means of it afforded to them, and
they stand fairer for it than you do; it is sent to them, and they will
hear it, and receive it, and be happy in it.” Now Paul designs hereby,
(1.) To abate their displeasure at the preaching of the gospel to the
Gentiles, by showing them the absurdity of it. They were angry that the
salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles, and thought it was too great
a favour done to them; but, if they thought that salvation of so small
a value as not to be worthy of their acceptance, surely they could not
grudge it to the Gentiles as too good for them, nor envy them for it.
The salvation of God was sent into the world, the Jews had the first
offer of it, it was fairly proposed to them, it was earnestly pressed
upon them, but they refused it; they would not accept the invitation
which was given to them first to the wedding-feast and therefore must
thank themselves if other guests be invited. If they will not strike
the bargain, nor come up to the terms, they ought not to be angry at
those that will. They cannot complain that the Gentiles took it over
their heads, or out of their hands, for they had quite taken their
hands off it, nay, they had lifted up the heel against it; and
therefore it is their fault, for it is through their fall that
salvation is come to the Gentiles,
Rom. xi. 11.
(2.) To improve their displeasure at the favour done to the Gentiles to
their advantage, and to bring good out of that evil; for when he had
spoken of this very thing in his epistle to the Romans, the benefit
which the Gentiles had by the unbelief and rejection of the Jews, he
says, he took notice of it on purpose that he might provoke his dear
countrymen the Jews to a holy emulation, and might save some of
them,
Rom. xi. 14.
The Jews have rejected the gospel of Christ, and pushed it off to the
Gentiles, but it is not yet too late to repent of their refusal, and to
accept of the salvation which they did make light of; they may say No,
and take it, as the elder brother in the parable, who, when he was
bidden to go work in the vineyard, first said, I will
not, and yet afterwards repented and went,
Matt. xxi. 29.
Is the gospel sent to the Gentiles? Let us go after it rather than come
short of it. And will they hear it, who are thought to be out of
hearing, and have been so long like the idols they worshipped, that
have ears and hear not? And shall not we hear it, whose privilege
it is to have God so nigh to us in all that we call upon him for? Thus
he would have them to argue, and to be shamed into the belief of the
gospel by the welcome it met with among the Gentiles. And, if it had
not that effect upon them, it would aggravate their condemnation, as it
did that of the scribes and Pharisees, who, when they saw the publicans
and harlots submit to John’s baptism, did not afterwards thereupon
repent of their folly, that they might believe him,
Matt. xxi. 32.
IV. The breaking up of the assembly, as it should seem, in some
disorder.
1. They turned their backs upon Paul. Those of them that believed not
were extremely nettled at that last word which he said, that they
should be judicially blinded, and that the light of the gospel should
shine among those that sat in darkness. When Paul had said these
words, he had said enough for them, and they departed,
perhaps not so much enraged as some others of their nation had been
upon the like occasion, but stupid and unconcerned, no more affected,
either with those terrible words in the close of his discourse or all
the comfortable words he had spoken before, than the seats they sat on.
They departed, many of them with a resolution never to hear Paul preach
again, nor trouble themselves with further enquiries about this matter.
2. They set their faces one against another; for they had great
disputes among themselves. There was not only a quarrel between those
who believed and those who believed not, but even among those who
believed not there were debates. Those that agreed to depart from Paul,
yet agreed not in the reasons why they departed, but had great
reasoning among themselves. Many have great reasoning who yet do
not reason right, can find fault with one another’s opinions, and yet
not yield to truth. Nor will men’s reasoning among themselves convince
them, without the grace of God to open their understandings.
| Paul Preaches Two Years at Rome. |
|
|
30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and
received all that came in unto him,
31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things
which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man
forbidding him.
We are here taking our leave of the history of blessed Paul; and
therefore, since God saw it not fit that we should know any more of
him, we should carefully take notice of every particular of the
circumstances in which we must here leave him.
I. It cannot but be a trouble to us that we must leave him in bonds for
Christ, nay, and that we have no prospect given us of his being set at
liberty. Two whole years of that good man’s life are here spent
in confinement, and, for aught that appears, he was never enquired
after, all that time, by those whose prisoner he was. He appealed to
Cæsar, in hope of a speedy discharge from his imprisonment, the
governors having signified to his imperial majesty concerning the
prisoner that he had done nothing worthy of death or bonds, and
yet he is detained a prisoner. So little reason have we to trust in
men, especially despised prisoners in great men; witness the case of
Joseph, whom the chief butler remembered not, but forgot,
Gen. xl. 23.
Yet some think that though it be not mentioned here, yet it was in the
former of these two years, and early too in that year, that he was
first brought before Nero, and then his bonds in Christ were manifest
in Cæsar’s court, as he says,
And at this first answer it was that no man stood by him,
2 Tim. iv. 16.
But it seems, instead of being set at liberty upon this appeal, as he
expected, he hardly escaped out of the emperor’s hands with his life;
he calls it a deliverance out of the mouth of the lion,
and his speaking there of his first answer intimates that since that he
had a second, in which he had come off better, and yet was not
discharged. During these two years’ imprisonment he wrote his epistle
to the Galatians, then his second epistle to Timothy, then those to the
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and to Philemon, in which he
mentions several things particularly concerning his imprisonment; and,
lastly, his epistle to the Hebrews just after he was set at liberty, as
Timothy also was, who, coming to visit him, was upon some account or
other made his fellow-prisoner (with whom, writes Paul to the
Hebrews,
if he come shortly, I will see you), but how or by what means he
obtained his liberty we are not told, only that two years he was a
prisoner. Tradition says that after his discharge he went from Italy to
Spain, thence to Crete, and so with Timothy into Judea, and thence went
to visit the churches in Asia, and at length came a second time to
Rome, and there was beheaded in the last year of Nero. But Baronius
himself owns that there is no certainty of any thing concerning him
betwixt his release from this imprisonment and his martyrdom; but it is
said by some that Nero, having, when he began to play the tyrant, set
himself against the Christians, and persecuted them (and he was the
first of the emperors that made a law against them, as Tertullian says,
Apol. cap. 5), the church at Rome was much weakened by that
persecution, and this brought Paul the second time to Rome, to
re-establish the church there, and to comfort the souls of the
disciples that were left, and so he fell a second time into Nero’s
hand. And Chrysostom relates that a young woman that was one of Nero’s
misses (to speak modishly) being converted, by Paul’s preaching, to the
Christian faith, and so brought off from the lewd course of life she
had lived, Nero was incensed against Paul for it, and ordered him first
to be imprisoned, and then put to death. But to keep to this short
account here given of it,
1. It would grieve one to think that such a useful man as Paul was
should be so long in restraint. Two years he was a prisoner under Felix
(ch. xxiv. 27),
and, besides all the time that passed between that and his coming to
Rome, he is here two years more a prisoner under Nero. How many
churches might Paul have planted, how many cities and nations might he
have brought over to Christ, in these five years’ time (for so much it
was at least), if he had been at liberty! But God is wise, and will
show that he is not debtor to the most useful instruments he employs,
but can and will carry on his own interest, both without their services
and by their sufferings. Even Paul’s bonds fell out to the
furtherance of the gospel,
Phil. i. 12-14.
2. Yet even Paul’s imprisonment was in some respects a kindness to him,
for these two years he dwelt in his own hired house, and that
was more, for aught I know, than ever he had done before. He had always
been accustomed to sojourn in the houses of others, now he has a house
of his own–his own while he pays the rent of it; and such a retirement
as this would be a refreshment to one who had been all his days an
itinerant. He had been accustomed to be always upon the remove, seldom
staid long at a place, but now he lived for two years in the same
house; so that the bringing of him into this prison was like Christ’s
call to his disciples to come into a desert place, and rest
awhile,
Mark vi. 31.
When he was at liberty, he was in continual fear by reason of the
lying in wait of the Jews
(ch. xx. 19),
but now his prison was his castle. Thus out of the eater came forth
meat, and out of the strong sweetness.
II. Yet it is a pleasure to us (for we are sure it was to him) that,
though we leave him in bonds for Christ, yet we leave him at work for
Christ, and this made his bonds easy that he was not by them bound out
from serving God and doing good. His prison becomes a temple, a church,
and then it is to him a palace. His hands are tied, but, thanks be to
God, his mouth is not stopped; a faithful zealous minister can better
bear any hardship than being silenced. Here is Paul a prisoner, and yet
a preacher; he is bound, but the word of the Lord is not bound. When he
wrote his epistle to the Romans, he said he longed to see them, that
he might impart unto them some spiritual gift
(Rom. i. 11);
he was glad to see some of them
(v. 15),
but it would not be half his joy unless he could impart to them some
spiritual gift, which here he has an opportunity to do, and then he
will not complain of his confinement. Observe,
1. To whom he preached: to all that had a mind to hear him, whether
Jews or Gentiles. Whether he had liberty to go to other houses to
preach does not appear; it is likely not; but whoever would had liberty
to come to his house to hear, and they were welcome: He received all
that came to him. Note, Ministers’ doors should be open to such as
desire to receive instruction from them, and they should be glad of an
opportunity to advise those that are in care about their souls. Paul
could not preach in a synagogue, or any public place of meeting that
was sumptuous and capacious, but he preached in a poor cottage of his
own. Note, When we cannot do what we would in the service of God we
must do what we can. Those ministers that have but little hired houses
should rather preach in them, if they may be allowed to do that, than
be silent. He received all that came to him, and was not afraid
of the greatest, nor ashamed of the meanest. He was ready to preach on
the first day of the week to Christians, on the seventh day to Jews,
and to all who would come on any day of the week; and he might hope the
better to speed because they came in unto him, which supposed a
desire to be instructed and a willingness to learn, and where these are
it is probable that some good may be done.
2. What he preached. He does not fill their heads with curious
speculations, nor with matters of state and politics, but he keeps to
his text, minds his business as an apostle.
(1.) He is God’s ambassador, and therefore preaches the kingdom of
God, does all he can to preach it up, negotiates the affairs of it,
in order to the advancing of all its true interests. He meddles not
with the affairs of the kingdoms of men; let those treat of them whose
work it is. He preaches the kingdom of God among men, and the word of
that kingdom; the same that he defended in his public disputes,
testifying the kingdom of God
(v. 23),
he enforced in his public preaching, as that which, if received aright,
will make us all wise and good, wiser and better, which is the end of
preaching.
(2.) He is an agent for Christ, a friend of the bridegroom, and
therefore teaches those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ–the whole history of Christ, his incarnation, doctrine,
life, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension; all that relates to the
mystery of godliness. Paul stuck still to his principle–to know and
preach nothing but Christ, and him crucified. Ministers, when in
their preaching they are tempted to diverge from that which is their
main business, should reduce themselves with this question, What does
this concern the Lord Jesus Christ? What tendency has it to bring us to
him, and to keep us walking in him? For we preach not ourselves, but
Christ.
3. With what liberty he preached.
(1.) Divine grace gave him a liberty of spirit. He preached with all
confidence, as one that was himself well assured of the truth of
what he preached–that it was what he durst stand by; and of the worth
of it–that it was what he durst suffer for. He was not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ.
(2.) Divine Providence gave him a liberty of speech: No man
forbidding him, giving him any check for what he did or laying any
restraint upon him. The Jews that used to forbid him to speak to the
Gentiles had no authority here; and the Roman government as yet took no
cognizance of the profession of Christianity as a crime. Herein we must
acknowledge the hand of God,
[1.] Setting bounds to the rage of persecutors; where he does not turn
the heart, yet he can tie the hand and bridle the tongue. Nero was a
bloody man, and there were many, both Jews and Gentiles, in Rome, that
hated Christianity; and yet so it was, unaccountably, that Paul though
a prisoner was connived at in preaching the gospel, and it was not
construed a breach of the peace. Thus God makes the wrath of men to
praise him, and restrains the remainder of it,
Ps. lxxvi. 10.
Though there were so many that had it in their power to forbid Paul’s
preaching (even the common soldier that kept him might have done it),
yet God so ordered it, that no man did forbid him.
[2.] See God here providing comfort for the relief of the persecuted.
Though it was a very low and narrow sphere of opportunity that Paul was
here placed in, compared with what he had been in, yet, such as it was,
he was not molested nor disturbed in it. Though it was not a wide door
that was opened to him, yet it was kept open, and no man was suffered
to shut it; and it was to many an effectual door, so that there were
saints even in Cæsar’s household,
When the city of our solemnities is thus made a quiet habitation at any
time, and we are fed from day to day with the bread of life, no man
forbidding us, we must give thanks to God for it and prepare for
changes, still longing for that holy mountain in which there shall
never be any pricking brier nor grieving thorn.
|
[Previous] |
Matthew Henry |
|
Back to Bibles Net . Com – Online Christian Library Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary – Free Download |
Copyright 2008. Bibles Net. Com. All Rights Reserved.