Acts 16:21

21 They are suggesting practices that are against Roman law. These are practices we can't accept or take part in."

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 The female slave's owners realized that their hope of making money was gone. So they grabbed Paul and Silas. They dragged them into the market place to face the authorities.

20 They brought them to the judges. "These men are Jews," her owners said. "They are making trouble in our city.

21 They are suggesting practices that are against Roman law. These are practices we can't accept or take part in."

22 The crowd joined the attack against Paul and Silas. The judges ordered that Paul and Silas be stripped and beaten.

23 They were whipped without mercy. Then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.