13 and Paul answered, `What do ye -- weeping, and crushing mine heart? for I, not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem, am ready, for the name of the Lord Jesus;'
but I make account of none of these, neither do I count my life precious to myself, so that I finish my course with joy, and the ministration that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify fully the good news of the grace of God.
but if also I am poured forth upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and joy with you all,
Who shall separate us from the love of the Christ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (according as it hath been written -- `For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long, we were reckoned as sheep of slaughter,') but in all these we more than conquer, through him who loved us;
for I will shew him how many things it behoveth him for My name to suffer.'
and they did overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life -- unto death;
`Because thou didst keep the word of my endurance, I also will keep thee from the hour of the trial that is about to come upon all the world, to try those dwelling upon the earth.
for I am already being poured out, and the time of my release hath arrived;
no one serving as a soldier did entangle himself with the affairs of life, that him who did enlist him he may please; and if also any one may strive, he is not crowned, except he may strive lawfully; the labouring husbandman it behoveth first of the fruits to partake;
seeing he was longing after you all, and in heaviness, because ye heard that he ailed,
at all times the dying of the Lord Jesus bearing about in the body, that the life also of Jesus in our body may be manifested, for always are we who are living delivered up to death because of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our dying flesh, so that, the death indeed in us doth work, and the life in you. And having the same spirit of the faith, according to that which hath been written, `I believed, therefore I did speak;' we also do believe, therefore also do we speak; knowing that He who did raise up the Lord Jesus, us also through Jesus shall raise up, and shall present with you, for the all things `are' because of you, that the grace having been multiplied, because of the thanksgiving of the more, may abound to the glory of God; wherefore, we faint not, but if also our outward man doth decay, yet the inward is renewed day by day; for the momentary light matter of our tribulation, more and more exceedingly an age-during weight of glory doth work out for us --
and there came a great weeping to all, and having fallen upon the neck of Paul, they were kissing him,
they, indeed, then, departed from the presence of the sanhedrim, rejoicing that for his name they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour,
ministrants of Christ are they? -- as beside myself I speak -- I more; in labours more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths many times; from Jews five times forty `stripes' save one I did receive; thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice was I shipwrecked, a night and a day in the deep I have passed; journeyings many times, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from kindred, perils from nations, perils in city, perils in wilderness, perils in sea, perils among false brethren; in laboriousness and painfulness, in watchings many times, in hunger and thirst, in fastings many times, in cold and nakedness;
And Samuel saith, `And what `is' the noise of this flock in mine ears -- and the noise of the herd which I am hearing?'
And the chief of the company draweth near to him, and saith to him, `What -- to thee, O sleeper? rise, call unto thy God, it may be God doth bethink himself of us, and we do not perish.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 21
Commentary on Acts 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
We have, with a great deal of pleasure, attended the apostle in his travels throughout the Gentile nations to preach the gospel, and have seen a great harvest of souls gathered in to Christ; there we have seen likewise what persecutions he endured; yet still out of them all the Lord presently delivered him, 2 Tim. 3:11. But now we are to attend him to Jerusalem, and there into lasting bonds; the days of his service now seem to be over, and nothing to remain but days of suffering, days of darkness, for they are many. It is a thousand pities that such a workman should be laid aside; yet so it is, and we must not only acquiesce, as his friends then did, saying, "The will of the Lord be done;' but we must believe, and shall find reason to do so, that Paul in the prison, and at the bar, is as truly glorifying God, and serving Christ's interest, as Paul in the pulpit was. In this chapter we have,
Act 21:1-7
We may observe here,
Act 21:8-14
We have here Paul and his company arrived at length at Caesarea, where he designed to make some stay, it being the place where the gospel was first preached to the Gentiles, and the Holy Ghost fell upon them, ch. 10:1, 44. Now here we are told,
Act 21:15-26
In these verses we have,
Act 21:27-40
We have here Paul brought into a captivity which we are not likely to see the end of; for after this he is either hurried from one bar to another, or lies neglected, first in one prison and then in another, and can neither be tried nor bailed. When we see the beginning of a trouble, we know not either how long it will last or how it will issue.