Acts 16:21

21 and are proclaiming customs that are not permitted for us to accept or to practice, [because 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 their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas [and] dragged [them] into the marketplace before the rulers.

20 And [when they] had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,

21 and are proclaiming customs that are not permitted for us to accept or to practice, [because we] are Romans!"

22 And the crowd joined in attacking them, and the chief magistrates tore off their clothing [and] gave orders to beat [them] with rods.

23 And [after they] had inflicted many blows on them, they threw [them] into prison, giving orders to the jailer to guard them securely.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[because]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("are") which is understood as causal