Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself! We are all here!”

“But how, it has been asked by skeptical critics, could Paul in his inner prison know what the jailer was about to do? In many conceivable ways, without supposing any supernatural communication.”

Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

“"That was a true cry which the Pythoness uttered, 'These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation!”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved--The brevity, simplicity, and directness of this reply are, in the circumstances, singularly beautiful.”

Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.

“And they spake unto him the word of the Lord--unfolding now, doubtless, more fully what "the Lord Jesus Christ" was to whom they had pointed his faith, and what the "salvation" was which this would bring him.”

At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.

“But now, when his whole heart was opened to his spiritual benefactors, he cannot rest until he has done all in his power for their bodily relief.”

After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house to see the brothers and encourage them. Then they left the city.

“And they went out of the prison--Having attained their object--to vindicate their civil rights, by the infraction of which in this case the Gospel in their persons had been illegally affronted--they had no mind to carry the matter farther.”

explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.

“Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, &c.--His preaching, it seems, was chiefly expository, and designed to establish from the Old Testament Scriptures (1) that the predicted Messiah was to be a suffering and dying, and therefore a rising, Messiah; (2) that this…”

But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now…

“And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers--literally, "the politarchs"; the very name given to the magistrates of Thessalonica in an inscription on a still remaining arch of the city--so minute is the accuracy of this history.”

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

“Mark the "nobility" ascribed to this state of mind. searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so--whether the Christian interpretation which the apostle put upon the Old Testament Scriptures was the true one.”

The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

“Accordingly, it was only on arriving at Athens, that the convoy of Berean brethren, who had gone thus far with him, were sent back to bid Silas and Timothy follow him thither.”

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.

“Therefore disputed--or, discussed. he in the synagogue with the Jews--The sense is not, "Therefore went he to the Jews," because the Gentile Athenians were steeped in idolatry; but, "Therefore set he himself to lift up his voice to the idol city, but, as his manner…”

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?”

“While therefore the Stoical was in itself superior to the Epicurean system, both were alike hostile to the Gospel. "The two enemies it has ever had to contend with are the two ruling principles of the Epicureans and Stoics--Pleasure and Pride" [HOWSON].”

Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

“(The authorized translation would imply that only too much superstition was wrong, and represents the apostle as repelling his hearers in the very first sentence; whereas the whole discourse is studiously courteous).”

For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.

“Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship--rather, "Whom, therefore, knowing Him not, ye worship," alluding to "The Unknown God." him declare--announce. I unto you--This is like none of his previous discourses, save that to the idolaters of Lycaonia (Ac 14:15-17).”

For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed.

“Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world--Such language beyond doubt teaches that the judgment will, in its essence, be a solemn judicial assize held upon all mankind at once.”

At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

“So Paul departed--Whether he would have opened, to any extent, the Gospel scheme in this address, if he had not been interrupted, or whether he reserved this for exposition afterwards to earnest inquirers, we cannot tell.”

But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

“Ancient tradition says he was placed by the apostle over the little flock at Athens. "Certainly the number of converts there and of men fit for office in the Church was not so great that there could be much choice" [OLSHAUSEN].”

There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave…

“From this province there were Jews at Jerusalem on the great Pentecost (Ac 2:9), and the Christians of it are included among "the strangers of the dispersion," to whom Peter addressed his first Epistle (1Pe 1:1).”

Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.

“He now wrote his FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS, in which the "pressure" which resulted from all this strikingly appears. (See Introduction to First Thessalonians).”

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent.

“Then spake the Lord to Paul . . . by a vision, Be not afraid . . . no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, &c.--From this it would seem that these signal successes were stirring up the wrath of the unbelieving Jews…”

Paul remained in Corinth for quite some time before saying goodbye to the brothers.

“It was probably one made in one of his seasons of difficulty or danger, in prosecution of which he cuts off his hair and hastens to Jerusalem to offer the requisite sacrifice within the prescribed thirty days [JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 2.15.1].”

But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.

“I must . . . keep this feast--probably Pentecost, presenting a noble opportunity of preaching the Gospel. but I will return--the fulfilment of which promise is recorded in Ac 19:1.”

When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch.

“The expression "going up" is invariably used of a journey to the metropolis; and thence he naturally "went down to Antioch."”

After Paul had spent some time in Antioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

“Galatia and Phrygia in order--visiting the several churches in succession. Galatia is mentioned first here, as he would come to it first from Antioch.”

When Apollos resolved to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.

“And when he was disposed--"minded," "resolved." to pass into Achaia--of which Corinth, on the opposite coast (see on Ac 18:1), was the capital; there to proclaim that Gospel which he now more fully comprehended. the brethren--We had not before heard of such gathered at Ephesus.”