Acts 27:30

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 27:21-44

We have here the issue of the distress of Paul and his fellow-travellers; they escaped with their lives and that was all, and that was for Paul's sake. We are here told (Acts 27:37) what number there were on board?mariners, merchants, soldiers, prisoners, and other passengers, in all two hundred and seventy-six souls; this is taken notice of to make us the more concerned for them in reading the story, that they were such a considerable number, whose lives were now in the utmost jeopardy, and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 27:27-38

27:27-38 When the fourteenth night came and we were drifting across in the Adriatic, in the middle of the night the sailors suspected that some land was approaching them. They took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. Since they were afraid that they would be cast up on rough places they cast four anchors out of the stern and hoped for the day. When the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and were lowering the dinghy into the sea on the pretext of being about to send out anchors from... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 27:30

And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship ,.... To save their lives, concluding that it was in the utmost danger, and that it would quickly, notwithstanding the anchors cast out, break away, and fall upon the rocks, and split to pieces: when they had let down the boat into the sea ; which before they had taken up into the ship, Acts 27:16 and now they let it down, in order to get into it, and make their escape: under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 27:30

The shipmen - The sailors - let down the boat. Having lowered the boat from the deck into the sea, they pretended that it was necessary to carry some anchors ahead, to keep her from being carried in a dangerous direction by the tide, but with the real design to make for shore, and so leave the prisoners and the passengers to their fate. This was timely noticed by the pious and prudent apostle; who, while simply depending on the promise of God, was watching for the safety and comfort of all. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 27:30

Verse 30− 30.And as the mariners sought. The grace of the Holy Spirit appeareth in Paul, even in this point also, in that he did wisely admonish that the mariners should not be suffered to fly. For why doth not rather the centurion, or some other of the company, smell out their fraud, save only that Paul may be the minister of their deliverance, even unto the end? But it is a marvel that he saith, that the rest could not be saved unless the mariners should remain in the ship; as if it were in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 27:1-44

The voyage of life. The journey which is described in this twenty-seventh chapter may suggest to us some of the main features of the long voyage of our life. I. THE VARIETY IS OUR COMPANIONSHIPS . As each passenger on board found himself inseparably associated with a strange admixture of fellow-travelers, so we find ourselves compelled to mingle, more or less closely, with various companions as we and they journey together over the waters of life. There are II. THE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 27:1-44

The voyage to Italy: an allegory of the Christian's course. Bunyan wrote an immortal allegory of the Christian course as a journey by land. It may be rewritten as a sea-voyage. I. THE CHRISTIAN SETS OUT IN STRANGE COMPANY ', AND WITH OFTEN UNCONGENIAL SURROUNDINGS . Romans, Macedonians, prisoners, Alexandrians, are Paul's fellow-voyagers (verses 1, 2, 4-8). No seclusion, no picked society nor refined retirement, can be or ought to be the usual lot of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 27:18-44

The escape from shipwreck. The particular feature in this part of the narrative of the shipwreck to which attention is now invited is the sacrifices by which the final escape was effected. The eighteenth verse finds the whole party on board the ship in an encounter with a furious tempest. We can easily picture to ourselves the sea running high, the vessel crouching as it were before the wind, the waves breaking over the side of the ship, and the water beginning to fill her. At this moment... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 27:21-30

The example of Paul in the storm, I. HIS FIRM FAITH IN HIS GOD , AND THE PEACE OF SOUL THENCE FLOWING , We may compare the picture of the Savior on the lake of Galilee, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" II. HIS CONSEQUENT CALMNESS AND PRUDENCE IN COUNSEL . He sets aside, with clear presence of mind, mistaken plans ( Acts 27:27-32 ); he encourages dispirited minds ( Acts 27:33-38 ); he acts with the fidelity of a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 27:24-31

The Divine and the human will. These two verses have an appearance of inconsistency. How, it may be asked, can both be true? If God had given Paul" all them that sailed with him, " and this so certainly that the apostle could say without qualification, " There shall be no loss of any man's life" ( Acts 27:22 ), how could the desertion of the shipmen ( Acts 27:31 ) have imperiled the safety of the passengers so that Paul exclaimed, " Except these abide," etc.? The answer to this... read more

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