Acts 22:18

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 22:18-21

Men's past sins often the unknown determiners of their future life, its opportunities, and its disqualifications. It is possible to take different views of the drift and the intended tenor of this passage. The language of Saul (which Paul now quotes), as found in Acts 22:19 , Acts 22:20 , will be very far from powerless, whether read as a view humbly offered in harmony with the command just laid upon him, or as perhaps is the more probable, in deprecation of it. The passage, however,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Acts 22:18

And saw him - Evidently, the Lord Jesus, Acts 22:14. He had received his commission from him, and he now received a distinct command to go to the Gentiles.For they will not receive - The inhabitants of Jerusalem, probably including both Jews and Christians. The Jews would not listen to him because he had become, in their view, an apostate, and they would hate and persecute him. The Christians would not be likely to receive him, for they would remember his former persecutions, and would be... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Acts 22:17-21

Acts 22:17-21. When I was come again to Jerusalem From Damascus; and prayed in the temple By this he shows that he still paid the temple its due honour, as the house of prayer; I was in a trance Or ecstasy. Perhaps he might continue standing all the while, with an intenseness of countenance which, if it were observed by any near him, might be imputed to the fixedness of his mind in his devotions; or, if he fell down, it might be looked upon as an epileptic fit. And saw him Jesus; ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Acts 22:1-29

Paul’s reply to the crowd (21:37-22:29)By his command of the situation, Paul showed much physical courage and mental alertness. One minute he was snatched from a violent death, the next he was able to address a mob of wildly excited Jews who were screaming for his blood. He spoke with such power that a rioting crowd of would-be murderers listened to him in silence (37-40).Paul wanted to show that he was a zealous Jew, called by God to serve him. He told of his Jewish upbringing and education,... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Acts 22:18

saying . Before "saying" supply ellipsis, "and heard Him". quickly = with (Greek. en. App-104 .) speed. out of . Greek. ek . App-104 . receive . Greek. paradechomai. See note on Acts 16:21 . Figure of speech Tapeinosis. App-6 . testimony . Greek. marturia. See note on p. 1511 and Compare Acts 1:8 . concerning . Greek. peri . App-104 . read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Acts 22:18

Acts 22:18. And saw him— That is, the Lord Jesus. Some suppose, that this memorable event happened in the second journey that St. Paul made to Jerusalem. See ch. Acts 11:30. But the expression rather seems to intimate that it was on his first return to Jerusalem that he had this vision in the temple; and what he pleads here, Act 22:19-20 as to the probability of their receiving his testimony, suits that circumstance of time much better than the other. His dispute with some Hellenist Jews who,... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Acts 22:18

18. get . . . quickly out of Jerusalem—compare Acts 9:29. for they will not receive thy testimony . . . And I said, Lord, they know, &c.—"Can it be, Lord, that they will resist the testimony of one whom they knew so well as among the bitterest of all against Thy disciples, and whom nothing short of resistless evidence could have turned to Thee?" read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Acts 22:1-21

Paul’s speech in his defense 22:1-21The speeches in Acts so far have been mainly in the form of deliberative rhetoric, the purpose of which is to make people change their minds and lives in view of the future. In chapters 22-26, however, the speeches are forensic rhetoric, designed mainly for defensive and apologetic purposes. [Note: See ibid., pp. 660-61, for further discussion.] Paul needed to defend himself against the charge that he had been disloyal to his people, the Mosaic Law, and the... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Acts 22:18-20

In this vision the risen and exalted Jesus of Nazareth instructed Paul to leave Jerusalem. Luke did not mention this instruction earlier (Acts 9:29-30) but emphasized the activity of Paul’s fellow believers in sending him to Tarsus. Their insistence was in harmony with the Lord’s command. Jerusalem was God’s originally intended place of witness, and the temple had been His place of revelation. The reason Paul needed to leave Jerusalem was that the Jews there would not accept his testimony about... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 22:1-30

St. Paul’s Defence1-21. St Paul’s Speech to the People. St. Paul was accused of (1) hostility to the Jews, (2) contempt for the Jewish Law, and (3) the desecration of the Temple. He answers all these charges by showing, (1) that he was a Jew by birth, trained by Gamaliel, and so zealous for the Law, that he had been a persecutor of the Christian faith; (2) that his conversion to Christianity was the result of a direct divine revelation, made first at Damascus, and confirmed by a subsequent... read more

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