Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”
They interrupt him not merely to silence him, but to demand his death, and this frenzied pride shows plainly what grips them. The Jews set such store by Abraham's lineage that they make their own dignity an idol, defending it more fiercely than the Law itself, as though all religion hung on their superiority alone. When Paul says God sent him to the Gentiles, they rage; they cannot bear that God's grace should reach beyond them.
AI summary
The moment he speaks of being sent to the Gentiles, they cannot endure it, such hatred have they for the Gentiles, such jealousy. They will hear nothing more. Galled consciences refuse even to listen to reason; men resolved not to be ruled by it will not hear it if they can help it. So they shout him down in fury.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 22:22-30
The chief captain, though he rescues Paul from the mob's hands, concludes he must be guilty of some crime to provoke such rage. So he orders him scourged to extract a confession, thinking torture will wring from him the truth of what he has done. He takes a wholly unjustifiable method to learn why the people cry out against him.
AI summary