5 So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.
until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Don't be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
and sent Timothy, our brother and God's servant in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith;
They rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Yahweh your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper.
Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.{The 50,000 pieces of silver here probably referred to 50,000 drachmas. If so, the value of the burned books was equivalent to about 160 man-years of wages for agricultural laborers} So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty. Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."
The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 16
Commentary on Acts 16 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 16
It is some rebuke to Barnabas that after he left Paul we hear no more of him, of what he did or suffered for Christ. But Paul, as he was recommended by the brethren to the grace of God, so his services for Christ after this are largely recorded; we are to attend him in this chapter from place to place, wherever he came doing good, either watering or planting, beginning new work or improving what was done. Here is,
Act 16:1-5
Paul was a spiritual father, and as such a one we have him here adopting Timothy, and taking care of the education of many others who had been begotten to Christ by his ministry: and in all he appears to have been a wise and tender father. Here is,
Act 16:6-15
In these verses we have,
Act 16:16-24
Paul and his companions, though they were for some time buried in obscurity at Philippi, yet now begin to be taken notice of.
Now,
Act 16:25-34
We have here the designs of the persecutors of Paul and Silas baffled and broken.
Act 16:35-40
In these verses we have,