Acts 28:3-6

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 28:4

Verse 4− 4.So soon as the barbarians saw. This judgment was common in all ages, that those who were grievously punished had grievously offended. Neither was this persuasion conceived of nothing; but it came rather from a true feeling of godliness. For God, to the end he might make the world without excuse, would have this deeply rooted in the minds of all men, that calamity and adversity, and chiefly notable destruction, were testimonies and signs of his wrath and just vengeance against sins.... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 28:5

Verse 5− 5.Shaking off the viper. The shaking off of the viper is a token of a quiet mind. For we see how greatly fear doth trouble and weaken men; and yet you must not think that Paul was altogether void of fear. For faith doth not make us blockish, as brain-sick men do imagine, when they be out of danger. − (659) But though faith doth not quite take away the feeling of evils, yet it doth temperate the same, lest the godly be more afraid than is meet; that they may always be bold and have a... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 28:6

Verse 6− 6.Changing their minds, they said. This so wonderful and sudden a change ought to have inwardly touched the men of Melita, and to have moved them to give the glory to the mercy of God, as they did before to vengeance. But as man’s reason is always carried amiss unto extremities, they make Paul at a sudden a god, whom they took before to be a wicked murderer. But if he could not choose but be the one, it had been better for him to be counted a murderer than a god. And surely Paul would... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-6

The instability of ignorance, and the stability of the true Christian. The whole circumstance an apt illustration of the spiritual forces working in the midst of the natural. The shipwrecked company. Paul active in helping. The barbarians better than those who abused Divine blessings like the Jews, who violated Divine order like the Romans; but, though actuated by kindness, easily led away by superstition and ignorant prejudice. I. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF NATURAL INSTINCTS . ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-6

A strong family likeness. This short episode is, in its proportion, as refreshing to the reader as to those who played the actual part in it. It is the oasis of narrative. It reads like a brief parable of the human heart. Or we may be impressed by it, as by some portrait, which presents to our view features with which we seem to be very familiar, and half hiding, half revealing a likeness to some one well known. They are the features that "half conceal and half reveal" the likeness of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

Kindness. Genuine kindness is a pleasant thing to see by whomsoever and under whatsoever circumstances it is exercised. God has planted it in the human breast, and it is one of the distinctive attributes of man. Too often, indeed, the indulgence of bad passions is suffered to choke it, and rival interests to interfere with its action. Still, there it is, a faint reflection, it is true, of the love of God, but nevertheless a remnant of God's image in man; pleasant to behold, sweetening the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

A picture of the human. In these few verses we have a graphic picture of some of the experiences of our life and of the instincts or intuitions of our nature. I. A PICTURE OF THE HUMAN . 1. Human suffering. 2. Unspoiled human nature. Such is the dire effect of long-continued, sin upon the soul, that it often happens that nearly every vestige of the goodness with which our Creator first endowed us disappears. As God made us, it was natural that we should compassionate... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

Occurrences at Malta. I. THE HOSPITALITY OF THE HEATHEN . The instinct of kindness is God-implanted in the human heart. Hospitality was not so much a virtue in heathendom as the refusal of it a crime. So much the more must any "shutting up of the bowels of compassion" against the needy brother or the stranger be an offence against the Son of man. The great charge which he, in his depiction of the scene of judgment, brings against the unfaithful is the neglect of the common... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:3

But for and, A.V.; a viper came for there came a viper, A.V.; by reason of for out of, A.V. Had gathered ; συστρέψαντος , only here and in the LXX . of 11:3 and 12:4 , for "to collect," "gather together." But συστροφή ( Acts 19:40 ; Acts 23:12 ) means "a concourse," "a conspiracy." In classical Greek συστρέφειν is "to twist up together," to "form into a compact body," and the like. A bundle of sticks ; φρυγάνων πλῆθος . The word only occurs in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:4

Beast for venomous beast, A.V.; hanging from for hang on, A.V.; one to another for among themselves, A.V.; escaped from for escaped, A.V.; justice for vengeance, A.V. ; hath not suffered for suffereth not, A.V. The beast ( τὸ θηρίον ). It is peculiar to medical writers to use θηρίον as synonymous with ἔχιδνα , a viper. So also θηριόδηκτος , bit by a viper, θηριακή , an antidote to the bite of a viper (Dioscorides, Galen, etc.). Justice ( ἥ... read more

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