Handelingen 16:37

37 Maar Paulus zeide tot hen: Zij hebben ons, die Romeinen zijn, onveroordeeld in het openbaar gegeseld, en in de gevangenis geworpen, en werpen zij ons nu heimelijk daaruit? Niet alzo; maar dat zij zelven komen, en ons uitleiden.

Handelingen 16:37 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 16:37

But Paul said unto them
The sergeants, who were present when the jailer reported to Paul the message they came with from the magistrates; though the Syriac version reads in the singular number, "Paul said to him", to the jailer:

they have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast
us into prison;
what the magistrates ordered to be done to them, is reckoned all one as if they had done it themselves; and which was done "openly", before all the people, in the most public manner; to their great reproach, being put to open shame, as if they had been the most notorious malefactors living; when they were "uncondemned", had done nothing worthy of condemnation, being innocent and without fault, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render the word; nor was their cause heard, or they suffered to make any defence for themselves; and what was an aggravation of all this, that this was done in a Roman colony, and by Roman magistrates; and to persons that were Romans, at least one of them, Paul, who was of the city of Tarsus: for, according to the Porcian and Sempronian laws, a Roman citizen might neither be bound nor beaten ^F14; but these magistrates, not content to beat Paul and Silas, without knowing the truth of their case, had cast them into prison as malefactors, and for further punishment:

and now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily;
or so it shall not be: this shows, that the apostle was acquainted with the Roman laws, as well as with the rites and customs of the Jews; and acted the wise and prudent, as well as the honest and harmless part; and this he did, not so much for the honour of the Roman name, as for the honour of the Christian name; for he considered, that should he and his companion go out of the prison in such a private manner, it might be taken for granted, that they had been guilty of some notorious offence, and had justly suffered the punishment of the law for it, which would have been a reproach to Christianity, and a scandal to the Gospel: wherefore the apostle refuses to go out in this manner, adding,

but let them come themselves, and fetch us out;
that by so doing, they might own the illegality of their proceedings, and declare the innocence of the apostles.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Cicero orat. 10. in Verrem, l. 5. p. 603. & orat. 18. pro Rabirio, p. 714.

Handelingen 16:37 In-Context

35 En als het dag geworden was, zonden de hoofdmannen de stadsdienaars, zeggende: Laat die mensen los.

36 En de stokbewaarder boodschapte deze woorden aan Paulus, zeggende: De hoofdmannen hebben gezonden, dat gij zoudt losgelaten worden; gaat dan nu uit, en reist heen in vrede.

37 Maar Paulus zeide tot hen: Zij hebben ons, die Romeinen zijn, onveroordeeld in het openbaar gegeseld, en in de gevangenis geworpen, en werpen zij ons nu heimelijk daaruit? Niet alzo; maar dat zij zelven komen, en ons uitleiden.

38 En de stadsdienaars boodschapten deze woorden wederom den hoofdmannen; en zij werden bevreesd, horende, dat zij Romeinen waren.

39 En zij, komende, baden hen, en als zij hen uitgeleid hadden, begeerden zij, dat zij uit de stad gaan zouden.