Chapter 28:
| Darby
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| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
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| Matthew Henry Concise
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| Wesley
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 John Romans
Acts 28
Verse 1. Melita or Malta, is about twelve miles broad, twenty long, and
sixty distant from Sicily to the south. It yields abundance of
honey, (whence its name was taken,) with much cotton, and is
very fruitful, though it has only three feet depth of earth above the
solid rock. The Emperor Charles the Fifth gave it, in 1530, to the
knights of Rhodes, driven out of Rhodes by the Turks. They are a
thousand in number, of whom five hundred always reside on the
island.
Verse
2. And the barbarians - So the Roman and Greeks termed all
nations but their own. But surely the generosity shown by these
uncultivated inhabitants of Malta, was far more valuable than all
the varnish which the politest education could give, where it
taught not humanity and compassion.
Verse
4. And when the barbarians saw - they said - Seeing also his
chains, Doubtless this man is a murderer - Such rarely go
unpunished even in this life; whom vengeance hath not suffered to
live - They look upon him as a dead man already. It is with
pleasure that we trace among these barbarians the force of
conscience, and the belief of a particular providence: which some
people of more learning have stupidly thought it philosophy to
despise. But they erred in imagining, that calamities must always
be interpreted as judgments. Let us guard against this, lest, like
them, we condemn not only the innocent, but the excellent of the
earth.
Verse
5. Having shaken off the venomous animal, he suffered no harm -
The words of an eminent modern historian are, "No venomous
kind of serpent now breeds in Malta, neither hurts if it be brought
thither from another place. Children are seen there handling and
playing even with scorpions; I have seen one eating them." If this
be so, it seems to be fixed by the wisdom of God, as an eternal
memorial of what he once wrought there.
Verse
6. They changed their minds, and said he was a God - Such is the
stability of human reason! A little before he was a murderer; and
presently he is a God: (just as the people of Lystra; one hour
sacrificing, and the next stoning:) nay, but there is a medium. He
is neither a murderer nor a God, but a man of God. But natural
men never run into greater mistakes, than in judging of the
children of God.
Verse
7. The chief man of the island - In wealth if not in power also.
Three days - The first three days of our stay on the island.
Verse
11. Whose sign was - It was the custom of the ancients to have
images on the head of their ships, from which they took their
names. Castor and Pollux - Two heathen gods who were thought
favourable to mariners.
Verse
15. The brethren - That is, the Christians, came out thence to meet
us - It is remarkable that there is no certain account by whom
Christianity was planted at Rome. Probably some inhabitants of
that city were at Jerusalem on the day of pentecost, chap. ii, 10;
and being then converted themselves, carried the Gospel thither at
their return. Appii-Forum was a town fifty-one miles from Rome;
the Three Taverns about thirty. He took courage - He saw Christ
was at Rome also, and now forgot all the troubles of his journey.
Verse
16. With the soldier - To whom he was chained, as the Roman
custom was.
Verse
17. And after three days - Given to rest and prayer, Paul called the
chief of the Jews together - He always sought the Jews first; but
being now bound, he could not so conveniently go round to them.
Though I have done nothing - Seeing him chained, they might
have suspected he had. Therefore he first obviates this suspicion.
Verse
19. When the Jews opposed it - He speaks tenderly of them, not
mentioning their repeated attempts to murder him. Not that I had
any thing to accuse my nation of - Not that I had any design to
accuse others, but merely to defend myself.
Verse
20. The hope of Israel - What Israel hopes for, namely, the
Messiah and the resurrection.
Verse
21. We have neither received letters concerning thee - There must
have been a peculiar providence in this, nor has any of the
brethren - The Jews, related - Professedly, in a set discourse, or
spoke - Occasionally, in conversation, any evil of thee - How
must the bridle then have been in their mouth!
Verse
22. This sect we know is every where spoken against - This is no
proof at all of a bad cause, but a very probable mark of a good
one.
Verse
23. To whom he expounded, testifying the kingdom of God, and
persuading them concerning Jesus - These were his two grand
topics,
1. That the kingdom of the Messiah was of a spiritual, not
temporal nature:
2. That Jesus of Nazareth was the very person foretold, as the
Lord of that kingdom. On this head he had as much need to
persuade as to convince, their will making as strong a resistance
as their understanding.
Verse
24. And some believed the things that were spoken - With the
heart, as well as understanding.
Verse
25. Well spake the Holy Ghost to your fathers - Which is equally
applicable to you.
Verse
26. Hearing ye shall hear - That is, ye shall most surely hear, and
shall not understand - The words manifestly denote a judicial
blindness, consequent upon a wilful and obstinate resistance of
the truth. First they would not, afterward they could not, believe.
Isaiah vi, 9, &c.; Matt. xiii, 14; John xii, 40.
Verse
28. The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles - Namely, from
this time. Before this no apostle had been at Rome. St. Paul was
the first.
Verse
30. And Paul continued two whole years - After which this book
was written, long before St. Paul's death, and was undoubtedly
published with his approbation by St. Luke, who continued with
him to the last, 2 Tim. iv, 11. And received all that came to him -
Whether they were Jews or Gentiles. These two years completed
twenty-five years after our saviour's passion. Such progress had
the Gospel made by that time, in the parts of the world which lay
west of Jerusalem, by the ministry of St. Paul among the Gentiles.
How far eastward the other apostles had carried it in the same
time, history does not inform us.
Verse
31. No man forbidding him - Such was the victory of the word of
God. While Paul was preaching at Rome, the Gospel shone with
its highest lustre. Here therefore the Acts of the Apostles end; and
end with great advantage. Otherwise St. Luke could easily have
continued his narrative to the apostle's death.
Chapter 28:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 John Romans
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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