Acts 21:19

19 And [after] greeting them, he began to relate {one after the other} [the things] which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

Acts 21:19 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 21:19

And when he had saluted them
James and the elders with him; which was either done by a kiss, as the Arabic version adds; or by asking of their health, and wishing a continuance of it, and all prosperity to attend them: the Ethiopic version reads,

they saluted him;
and no doubt the salutations were reciprocal:

he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the
Gentiles by his ministry;
it is very likely that this account begins where that ends, which he had delivered in the presence of James, and others, some years ago, ( Acts 15:12 ) and takes in all his travels and ministry, and the success of it; not only in Syria, Cilicia, and Lycaonia, after he had set out from Antioch again, but in Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia; as at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and elsewhere: he declared, what multitudes of souls were converted, and what numbers of churches were planted; and this he ascribes not to himself, but to the power and grace of God, which had attended his ministry; he was only an instrument, God was the efficient, and ought to have the glory.

Acts 21:19 In-Context

17 And [when] we came to Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly.
18 And on the next [day] Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
19 And [after] greeting them, he began to relate {one after the other} [the things] which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 And [when] they heard [this], they began to glorify God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many ten thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous adherents of the law.
21 And they have been informed about you that you are teaching all the Jews [who are] among the Gentiles [the] abandonment of Moses, telling them not to circumcise [their] children or to live according to [our] customs.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("greeting") which is understood as temporal
  • [b]. *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to relate")
  • [c]. Literally "with respect to each one"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.