Acts 16:21

21 What they are doing is advocating customs that are against the law for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."

Acts 16:21 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 16:21

And teach customs
The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read in the singular number, "custom or law"; referring to the doctrine of salvation by Christ, in whose name the spirit of divination was cast out of the maid, and whom they took for a new deity; and so concluded that the apostle and his company were introducing a new religious law or custom, the worship of another God: which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being
Romans;
for the city of Philippi was a Roman colony, and so the inhabitants of it called themselves Romans; or these men might be strictly such, who were transplanted hither; and with the Romans, it was not lawful to receive, observe, and worship, a new or strange deity, without the decree of the senate ^F12.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Tertull. Apolog. c. 5. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 2.

Acts 16:21 In-Context

19 But when her owners saw that what had come out was any further prospect of profit for them, they seized Sha'ul and Sila and dragged them to the market square to face the authorities.

20 Bringing them to the judges, they said, "These men are causing a lot of trouble in our city, since they are Jews.

21 What they are doing is advocating customs that are against the law for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."

22 The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged.

23 After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely.