Acts 28:19

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 28:17-22

Paul, with a great deal of expense and hazard, is brought a prisoner to Rome, and when he has come nobody appears to prosecute him or lay any thing to his charge; but he must call his own cause; and here he represents it to the chief of the Jews at Rome. It was not long since, by an edict of Claudius, all the Jews were banished from Rome, and kept out till his death; but, in the five years since then, many Jews had come thither, for the advantage of trade, though it does not appear that they... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 28:16-29

28:16-29 When we arrived in Rome, permission was given to Paul to stay in his own house with the soldier who was his guard. After three days he invited the leaders of the Jews to come to see him. When they had assembled, he proceeded to say, "Brethren, although I have done nothing against the People or against our ancestral customs, I was given over as a prisoner into the hands of the Romans from Jerusalem. When the Romans had investigated my case, they wished to release me because there were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 28:19

But when the Jews spake against it ,.... His being cleared and dismissed, and desired he might be sent back to Jerusalem, to be tried and judged there, to which Festus seemed inclined: I was constrained to appeal to Caesar ; to prevent the design of the Jews upon him, which was to way lay him and kill him, or by what ways they could, right or wrong, take away his life; and to provide for his own safety: not that I had ought to accuse my nation of ; meaning, that he had no ill design... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 28:19

Verse 19− 19.I was enforced to appeal. This appeal was full of hatred and envy for this cause, because the authority and liberty of the Jewish nation did seem to be sore opprest, who could have been content to have lived with their own laws. Secondly, because his defense was joined with infamy and loss of all the people. Therefore he answereth this objection also, because he was enforced with the stubbornness of his enemies to fly to this fortress [asylum]. For he is excused by necessity,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:16-19

Paul and the Roman Jews. I. A FINAL PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF INNOCENCE . It is full of manly courage and simplicity. It was no subversive teaching or conduct that had brought him into his present position. No definite charge had ever been proved against him. Like the Master, it was as a fulfiller, not as a destroyer, that he had wrought. It was for the "hope of Israel "he had suffered. Great teachers are always fulfillers. But because they see that truth is not stagnant, but... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:16-23

A unique prisoner. With the masterliness of inspired history, exceeding brevity itself in the passage before us seems to reveal rather than conceal. A few powerful strokes of the pen portray and very strikingly a hero, and one at the same time as real and unusual as ever lived. Great, indeed, must have been the length and the fullness of detail given, if the method of detail had been the one chosen, in order to attain the result of leaving with us an equally correct and complete... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:16-31

The fall. The main feature in these concluding verses of the Acts of the Apostles, as it is one of the most momentous incidents in the history of God's dealings with mankind, is the fall of Israel from their proper place in the Church of God. For nearly two thousand years, if we date from the call of Abraham, this one family had been separated from the rest of mankind, and eventually received institutions of such wonderful strength and vitality as to keep them separate through centuries of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:17-28

The Christian and the Jew. Here we have the Christian and the Jew brought into close contact; and there seems to have been as fair an opportunity for the latter to understand and appreciate the former as could ever have been granted. With calmness, with the wisdom and fullness of long study and mature experience, the most enlightened Christian apologist presented the case of Christianity to these men of the Jewish faith. We may look at— I. THE INTRODUCTION . Paul felt that his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:19

When the Jews spake against it . This is a detail not expressly mentioned in the direct narrative in Acts 25:1-27 ., but which makes that narrative clearer. It shows us that Festus's proposal in Acts 25:9 was made in consequence of the opposition of the Jews to the acquittal which he was disposed to pronounce. I was constrained to appeal . Nothing can be more delicate, more conciliatory, or more truly patriotic than Paul's manner of addressing the Jews. Himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Acts 28:19

The Jews spake against it - Against my being set at liberty.I was constrained - By a regard to my own safety and character.To appeal unto Caesar - See the notes on Acts 25:11.Not that I had aught ... - I did it for my own preservation and safety, not that I wished to accuse my countrymen. Paul had been unjustly accused and injured; yet, with the true spirit of the Christian religion, he here says that he cherished no unkind feelings toward those who had done him wrong. read more

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