Acts 16:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Paul did everything. He both worked miracles and taught, while Silas shared the dangers with him. What great frenzy! Yet by putting them in prison and ordering them to be kept securely, they wished to hear the case.

Then, after many blows, they cast them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

They charged the jailer to keep them securely. Knowing their power, they deceived themselves by telling him to keep them securely. They themselves testified that these were not ordinary men, but great men, who had authority from God to do what they wished.

Behold an unjust judgment and a cruel punishment. The masters of the maidservant accuse Paul and Silas before the magistrates as rebels and disturbers of the common peace.

The magistrates took no explanation from the accused. They did not examine whether the accusation was just. They saw that the whole crowd in the marketplace agreed with the accusers, and that a violent storm had risen against the Apostles on trial.

They not only failed to stop the affair or restrain the insults being inflicted on the Apostles before their eyes. With their own hands, to shame the accused still more, they tore off their garments and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

A certain maidservant had within her a spirit of darkness. Through it she foretold the future and revealed hidden things. Following the Apostles, she said in the hearing of the people, "Behold the servants of God; they preach to you the way of salvation."

It is unknown what moved her to do this, or rather, what moved the spirit dwelling in her. Perhaps he feared being cast out of the divining girl and wished beforehand to dispose Paul favorably toward her.

Or perhaps he found it improper to keep silence about such men, since, as a spirit, he had to know who they were. In any case, he repeated such declarations many times, though by this he seemed to harm himself.

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).

The city rabble took their side. After them the city magistrates also followed, without investigating the matter. They "tore off their garments and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them securely."

They tore off the garments, that is, of the accused. Of course, they did this not with their own hands, but through the city attendants, or so-called lictors, a kind of executioner.

Through them they also inflicted many blows with rods on the naked body. For this reason the garments of those subjected to beating had been torn off.

Paul and Silas accepted this outrage with silent self-denial. They did not then appeal to their right as Roman citizens, by which they were exempt from bodily punishment.

They endured this dishonor to the glory of God for the name of Christ; cf. Acts 5:41. Declaring themselves Roman citizens could, of course, have immediately calmed the fury of the people and freed them from disgrace.

Yet they resolved to accept this dishonor in silence. They would declare it only for their final victory; see verse 37.

The uprising of the people against the Apostles, who had done them no harm, becomes understandable if we suppose one thing. The owners of the divining girl gave part of her earnings to the leaders of the crowd.

They assured them that the magistrates also had been satisfied from this source. The duumvirs often profited from incomes of this kind; cf. Acts 24:26.

From this point of view, the speed of the trial becomes clear. So do the cruelty of the sentence and the rough treatment of the Apostles.

The dignified duumvirs themselves were not ashamed to tear the clothing from them. Then they ordered them to be mercilessly beaten with rods and cast into the deepest interior of the prison.