crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”
Their fury blinds them utterly, they see Trophimus with Paul in the city and conclude he brought him into the temple itself, then cry sacrilege on this phantom offense. Such is the way of prejudiced minds: they seize a false opinion and run headlong at the innocent. We must guard ourselves against the distemperature of affections, lest light prejudices overtake us and we become their instruments.
AI summary
Paul seized in the very temple where he ought to have been safe, where his blood nearly mingles with the sacrifices themselves. The informers were Jews of Asia, men who lived abroad in pursuit of gain, yet now they appear zealous for a sanctuary they habitually neglected, profaning with their own hands the place they pretend to guard.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 21:27-40
Why cry for help against one weak man? They wanted numbers to give weight to their charge and shelter from accountability. What they really hated was that Paul preached God's favor to the Gentiles too, that Christ ends the law's dominion over righteousness, yet they slandered him as an Antinomian when he honored the law more truly than they did.
AI summary