But they said to him: We neither received letters concerning thee from Judea: neither did any of the brethren that came hither relate or speak any evil of thee.
οι δε προς αυτον ειπον ημεις ουτε γραμματα περι σου εδεξαμεθα απο της ιουδαιας ουτε παραγενομενος τις των αδελφων απηγγειλεν η ελαλησεν τι περι σου πονηρον
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
What then did they do? They were so won over by his speech that they began to defend not only themselves, but also their kinsmen, as the writer shows in what follows. It is as though they said: neither by letter nor through men has anything evil about you been reported to us.
Even before Paul's arrival in Rome, it had been suggested to the Jews that they should not accept the preaching about Christ. This applied not only to the Roman Jews, but to all Jews throughout the whole earth. How is this known?
In the writings of ancient authors we find that the priests, scribes, and elders dwelling in Jerusalem wrote letters and sent them to the Jews living in every land. In these letters they reviled the teaching of Christ as a teaching alien to God and urged them not to receive it.
The following prophecy of Isaiah seems to signify the same thing: "Woe to the wings of ships of the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, sending ambassadors by the sea in pledge, and letters written upon the waters" (Isa 18:1-2). This signifies that the impious voice of the people who inhabited Judea was carried on swift-flying ships beyond the land of Ethiopia and to the uttermost ends of the earth.
It also signifies that their apostles, sailing on the waters and crossing the sea, penetrated every land. They carried letters and reviled the teaching about our Savior. Among the Jews it is still customary to call apostles, that is, envoys or messengers, those who carry circular letters from their leaders.
The next part of the prophecy speaks of the disciples of the Savior. The prophecy calls them swift messengers, in distinction from the Jewish apostles mentioned by it, and because they are evangelists to all people.
In presenting the teaching, he found it necessary to touch upon his own circumstances. He supposed that they were somewhat known to them and therefore needed to remove suspicion. But he learned that the Roman Jews had not heard of him.
When Paul declared that he was bound for the hope of Israel, they asked him to unfold his thoughts about this. They said, "We hear that this teaching is much disputed." Paul appointed a day and expounded to them the teaching about the Kingdom of God. He proved from Moses and the prophets that Jesus is the true Messiah.
But his preaching found faith in few, and he had to repeat Isaiah's rebuke to his contemporaries (Acts 28:26-28).
In response to the apostle's speech, the Jews said that they not only did not know him, but had not even heard of him. They probably said this in pretense, though it is difficult to determine the motive for such pretense. It is hard to think that, being in lively communication with Jerusalem and knowing about Christianity, the Roman Jews had not until then heard of the chief preacher of the Christian teaching, against whom Judaism everywhere was especially armed.
Since they could not judge whether he was guilty or right, they nevertheless expressed a desire to hear his way of thinking. They said: We know that this teaching is everywhere disputed. Therefore it is curious to hear what your way of thinking is, how you think and teach, and how far this teaching will prove sound and worthy of attention in your mouth. Thus the Jews intended to appear at the conversation with the apostle as his appraisers and judges.
The answer of the Jews was very diplomatic. Divisions within their own community, arising from disputes about Christ, had aroused such indignation against them among all that some ten years earlier they had suffered a ruinous and shameful expulsion from Rome by decree of the emperor Claudius.
This decree, it is true, had not been carried out with full severity. Yet the Jews did not wish to expose themselves again to so ruinous a disaster. Therefore they gave an indefinite answer, declaring, how truthfully we do not know, that they had received no bad report about the apostle, either in writing or by word of mouth.
If any of the Jews had set out to support the Sanhedrin's accusation against him before Caesar, they could have begun the journey only at the same time as Julius. Thus they could have been delayed by the same storms. Yet the Jews wished to learn from the Apostle Paul the substance of his religious views. Since he was known to be a Christian, they could only say that "this teaching is everywhere spoken against."
We have received no letters, and so forth. The Jews are speaking untruthfully, or at least not the full truth. If they had heard disputes about the Christian teaching (v. 22), they could not have failed to hear and know about Paul, almost the chief laborer and preacher of this disputed teaching.
Perhaps in the most recent period, the time of Paul's trial before Festus, when he demanded Caesar's judgment, they had received neither letters nor oral reports about him. Yet they could not have failed to hear about the apostle's earlier activity.
It is difficult to understand the purpose and reason for this pretense by the Jews. It is equally difficult to understand why they speak of the Christian teaching, properly speaking, from their point of view, a heresy, as if they knew only that it was everywhere disputed. They speak as though they knew nothing at all about the Christian community in Rome. Yet, according to the Epistle to the Romans, it consisted in significant number of converted Jews.
Perhaps this pretense is explained by their haughty attitude toward this heresy. Nevertheless, despite this arrogance, they are interested in hearing this teaching from the mouth of one of its chief preachers. Precisely because he is one of its chief preachers, they themselves call him to this, probably in the hope of putting him to shame. But, as it turned out, they themselves were put to shame.
The answer of the Roman Hebrews to the Apostle Paul's first speech was rather restrained and evasive. They immediately guessed what Paul was speaking to them about in veiled terms. They expressed readiness to listen to this, in their opinion, disputed teaching, but not now, at another time.
According to Saint John Chrysostom, "they do not agree with him, and, having heard a reproach from him, they withdraw, not daring to say anything. For there it was no longer permitted them to do anything against him. It is astonishing how everything, not only what serves our safety, but also what is contrary to it, turns to our good."
"They speak as though saying: neither by letter nor through people has anything bad about you been reported to us. Nevertheless, we would like to hear you. At the same time they already express their opinion beforehand, adding: for we know that this teaching is everywhere spoken against. They did not say, 'We oppose it,' but, 'It is everywhere spoken against,' so as to turn condemnation away from themselves."
Meanwhile, as blessed Theophylact reports, "even before Paul's arrival in Rome it had been suggested to the Jews not to accept the preaching about Christ, and not only to the Roman Jews, but to all Jews. In the writings of ancient authors we find that the priests, scribes, and elders dwelling in Jerusalem wrote letters and sent them to the Jews living in every land. In these letters they reviled the teaching of Christ as a teaching alien to God and urged them not to receive it."
Thus "the Jews are speaking untruthfully, or at least not the full truth. If they had heard disputes about the Christian teaching (verse 22), they could not have failed to hear about Paul. They act as though they know nothing about the Christian community in Rome, although, according to the Epistle to the Romans, it consisted in significant number of Jews."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 26 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS