36 matching verse commentaries
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. These two things were necessary; first, he was to be baptized on profession of his faith in Jesus, and then, he was to have in his soul a vivid consciousness that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now why tarriest thou?.... Though it might not be the apostle's case, yet it is often the case of many, to procrastinate and delay obedience to the commands of Christ, and particularly to the ordinance of baptism: the reasons of which delay are, the strength of their corruptions, and the weakness of their graces, which cause them to question...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, that when I was come again to Jerusalem,.... Which was three years after his conversion; for he did not immediately return to Jerusalem, but went into Arabia; and when he returned to Damascus, which was three years after he came to Jerusalem; see Galatians 1:17 even while I prayed in the temple; the temple was an house of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I saw him saying unto me,.... That is, the Lord Jesus Christ, that just One, whom he had seen in his way to Damascus, and whose voice he had heard, and whose name he had called upon at his baptism: make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: not because his life was in danger, but because Christ had work for him to do elsewhere, which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I said, Lord, they know, that I imprisoned,.... Men and women, that made a profession of the Christian religion, Acts 8:3 and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee; in Jerusalem there were many synagogues, and in these scourging and beating of offenders were used; [See comments on Matthew 10:17].
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed,.... Stephen was a martyr for Christ, both by confession with his mouth, and by the effusion of his blood; he was the proto-martyr, or "the first martyr" that suffered for Christ; and there are copies, as one of Stephens's, and the Complutensian edition, which so read in this place; his blood was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto me, depart,.... At once from Jerusalem, and out of the land of Judea: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles; to the nations afar off, even as far as Illyricum, Pannonia, or Hungary, where the apostle went and preached, Romans 15:19 and so by a divine mission and commission he became the apostle of the Gentiles, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they gave him audience unto this word..... The Ethiopic version reads, "and I heard him so speaking unto me"; as if it was to be understood of the apostle hearing Christ speaking to him concerning his mission to the Gentiles; whereas the words refer to the Jews attending quietly to the apostle, till he came to that part of his oration. They...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as they cried out,.... In this furious manner: and cast off their clothes; either like madmen, that knew not what they did, or in order to stone him; see Acts 7:57. and threw dust into the air either with their hands, or by striking the earth, and scraping it with their feet, through indignation and wrath, like persons possessed, or mad.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle,.... Into the inside of it; for till now he was upon the top of the stairs, or steps, which led up to it; which might be done in order to save him from the rage of the people, and that he might privately examine him, and get the true state of his case, though he took a very wrong and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as they bound him with thongs,.... To a pillar, in order to be scourged, according to the Roman manner (d). Nor was the Jewish form of scourging much unlike, and perhaps might be now used, which was this; when they scourge anyone they bind both his hands to a pillar, here and there --and they do not strike him standing nor sitting, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When the centurion heard that,.... The question put by Paul, which strongly suggested that he was a Roman: he went and told the chief captain; what Paul had said: saying, take heed what thou dost; or "art about to do"; lest some bad consequences should follow; lest he should affront the Roman people and senate, and lose his place, if not incur...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the chief captain came, and said unto him,.... To Paul: tell me, art thou a Roman? he had told him before that he was a Jew of Tarsus, and which was true, and had said nothing of his being a Roman; wherefore the chief captain desires that he would tell him the whole truth of the matter, whether he was a Roman or not: he said yea; that he was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained I this freedom,.... For, it seems, he was not a Roman born, but very likely a Grecian, or Syrian, by his name Lysias; and as all things were now venal at Rome, the freedom of the city was to be bought with money, though a large sum was insisted on for it: this the chief captain said, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then straightway they departed from him, which should have examined him,.... By scourging; namely, the soldiers, who under the inspection of the centurion, and by the order of the chief captain, were binding him with thongs to scourge him, and thereby extort from him his crime, which was the cause of all this disturbance; but hearing that he was a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
On the morrow,.... The next day; so that Paul was kept in the castle all night: because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews; which, as yet, he could not come at, some saying one thing, and some another; and which he ought to have known before he had bound him, and ordered him to be scourged: he loosed him from...