Acts 28:5 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

What a great variety of places and circumstances do we find Paul in! He was a planet, and not a fixed star. Here we have him in an island to which, in all probability, he had never come if he had not been thrown upon it by a storm; and yet it seems God has work for him to do here. Even stormy winds fulfil God's counsel, and an ill wind indeed it is that blows nobody any good; this ill wind blew good to the island of Melita; for it gave them Paul's company for three months, who was a blessing... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 28:1-6

28:1-6 When we had been brought safely to shore, we recognized that the island was Malta. The natives showed us quite extraordinary kindness for they lit a bonfire and brought us all to it because of the rain which had come on and the cold. When Paul had twisted up a faggot of sticks and placed it on the fire, a viper came out of it because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer and,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 28:5

And he shook off the beast into the fire ,.... Having held it a while, and as being master of it, and as not being afraid of it, though it was the ready way to provoke it to fasten on him again: and felt no harm ; it having not bit him, nor infected him with its poison; and hereby was fulfilled what our Lord promised to his disciples, Mark 16:18 ; read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 28:5

Shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm - This is a presumptive evidence that the viper did not bite St. Paul: it fastened on his hand, but had no power to injure him. 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

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

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 28:1-6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 28:5

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 28:5

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

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

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