And preach a fashion which it is not lawful for us to receive nor observe, being Romans.
και καταγγελλουσιν εθη α ουκ εξεστιν ημιν παραδεχεσθαι ουδε ποιειν ρωμαιοις ουσιν
8 Church Fathers comment on this verse
They turned the matter into a crime against the state. Why did they not say that they had cast out a demon, or that they had acted impiously toward God? Why did they turn it into a state crime? In that case they would have harmed themselves. So also they said of Christ: "We have no king but Caesar." "Everyone who makes himself a king is an opponent of Caesar" (Jn 19:12, 15).
The demon said that they proclaim to us the way of salvation. But the masters of the maidservant said that they were prescribing customs which it was not lawful for them to receive.
These are their words: these men, being Jews, disturb not merely their own welfare, but the whole city. They preach customs which we, honorable Romans, ought neither to receive nor observe. The accusation brought against them touched the cherished honor of a Roman.
Why did the inhabitants of the city of Philippi call themselves Romans? This city was built by Philip of Macedon, after whom it was named Philippi. But when the Romans became masters of Greece, they sent a colony there from Rome. Among the Romans there were two kinds of colonies. To the first kind belong those they settled in places that from ancient times had been uninhabited, or had once become deserted. To the second belong those they sent into cities, settling them with soldiers and partly with their subjects. The city of Philippi was a Roman colony of the latter kind. Julius Caesar first enlarged it, and then Augustus. For this reason the coins of this city, used under Claudius Caesar, bore the inscription: of the Julian Augustan Philippian colony.
For this reason Saint Luke called this city by the Roman word colonia, that is, settlement. “From there,” he says, “to Philippi, which is the first city of that part of Macedonia, a colony” (Acts 16:12). For this reason those who lived there called themselves Romans. For this same reason Paul also said of himself that he was a Roman, although by birth he was a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia (Acts 16:37; Acts 22:3, 25). The sacred historian calls those men magistrates whom he had earlier called rulers, because they performed both civil and military offices. Having brought Paul and Silas before them, the masters of the young woman began to say: these men are Jews. They trouble our city, introducing customs which it is not fitting for us either to receive or to practice, because we are Romans.
A certain maidservant had within herself a spirit of darkness, through which she foretold the future and revealed hidden things. Following the apostles, she said in the hearing of the people: behold, servants of God; they preach to you the way of salvation. It is not known what moved her to do this, or rather, the spirit that dwelt in her. Was he afraid of being cast out of the soothsayer, and therefore wished beforehand to dispose Paul favorably toward her? Or did he think it improper to be silent about such men, as a spirit to whom they had to be known? In any case, he repeated such statements many times, although by this he seemed to harm himself. But the apostles were as far from accepting such testimony in their favor as the Savior was.
Paul commanded the spirit to come out of the soothsayer. The maidservant fell silent and completely ceased foretelling. This event would have had no further consequence than the healing of the maidservant, had her masters not lost the rich income they received through the predictions. Angered by this, they stirred up the people, seized Paul and Silas, and brought them before the city authorities, the strategoi. They accused them as disturbers of the public peace, as preachers of a secret religion and customs contrary to those previously established in their city. They accused them as Jews who, contrary to the laws of the empire, were trying to impose their religion on Romans. The city authorities did not examine the matter. They immediately subjected the apostles to public bodily punishment, beat them with rods, and then imprisoned them.
The preaching of the Gospel began successfully here. A wealthy woman named Lydia, who soon turned to faith in Christ, offered the preachers her house for lodging. But the casting out of a divining spirit from a maidservant brought upon Paul and Silas the hatred of her masters, who gained profit from her divinations. They seized the wonder-working preachers and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. These, after inflicting many blows upon them, cast them into prison without trial (vv. 13-23).
Being Jews: this is not merely a designation of the nationality of the new preachers. It is a contemptuous name, opposed to the proud expression, “we are Romans.” Beyond this, the expression seems to indicate that the accusers confused Christianity with Judaism and did not distinguish it as a separate confession of faith. They preach customs: the word customs is used here in a broad sense, both for the manners of social life in general and, in particular, for religious and liturgical customs. The accusers, probably without understanding it themselves and presenting the apostles’ supposed guilt in exaggerated form, express a profound thought. Christian teaching truly transforms the morals and customs of social life, as well as the religious life of paganism.
It is not fitting either to receive or to practice: among the Romans it was strictly forbidden to introduce foreign religious customs contrary to the pagan religion. It is very possible that the fresh impression of Emperor Claudius’s decree expelling the Jews from Rome was also active here (Acts 18:2 and note). For this very reason the accusers insisted on the Jewish nationality of the new preachers and on their introduction of foreign customs.
The accusation made against the apostles by the masters of the soothsayer is reduced to the politics of life and to national antipathies. The factual side of the matter is completely left aside and passed over in silence. Popular disturbance because of preaching and other customs: this is the essence of the accusation. Since the preachers are despised Jews and the hearers are proud Romans, this becomes the motive for condemnation. It seems that no true Roman could have had a ventriloquist as a source of income. Therefore one may think that the masters who kept the young soothsayer were not true Romans. They used this title as one common to those from the central regions of the empire, who enjoyed the Roman court granted to Philippi as a Roman colony of that time.
An appeal to the national pride of the judges and to the protective desire of Roman officials to preserve the increasingly declining good old Roman customs and morals could not fail to influence the authorities. These were more administrative than judicial, since nothing resembling a judicial inquiry was even visible. “But they, the apostles, answer nothing and do not defend themselves, and for that reason appear still more worthy of wonder. ‘When,’ he says, ‘I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Cor 12:10). Thus they were wondrous in meekness.” Bishop Michael supposes that the accusers confused Christians with Jews. Perhaps under the fresh impression of Emperor Claudius’s decree expelling the Jews from Rome (see Acts 18:2), they insisted on the Jewish nationality of the new preachers and on their introduction of foreign customs. Since it would have been useless, and perhaps even ridiculous, for the maidservant’s masters to set forth the true cause of their displeasure, they presented Paul and Silas before the city authorities as violators of public order and despisers of Roman customs. An accusation of this sort was very important. Roman laws tolerated the Jewish religion, recognizing it only as permitted. But Jews, like all nations subject to Rome, were very strictly forbidden to spread their beliefs and encroach upon the sphere belonging to the state religion. Of course, in ordinary life society, and even the guardians of the laws, often looked rather lightly for many reasons upon cases of deviation from the state religion. Yet as soon as formal proceedings were given to such a matter, the seducer was punished very severely. “But what happened here surpassed all likelihood. The accusers had not even finished their words when a terrible tumult of indignation arose. The duumvirs were swept away by the bitterness of the crowd. They decided immediately to satisfy the demand so plainly expressed, without troubling themselves to investigate the matter. At the signal given by the lictor, the apostles were seized, their garments were torn off, their hands were tied to a post, and blows rained upon their naked bodies. After they had been beaten, orders were given to take them to prison and keep them there securely. The apostles placed all their hope in God.”
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 12 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS