translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ACT

label: NET study note

text: Derbe was a city in Lycaonia about 35 mi (60 km) southeast of Lystra. It was about 90 mi (145 km) from Tarsus. map For location see JP1-E2 ; JP2-E2 ; JP3-E2 .


text: Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium. map For location see JP1-E2 ; JP2-E2 ; JP3-E2 .


text: His father was a Greek. Timothy was the offspring of a mixed marriage between a Jewish woman (see 2 Tim 1:5 ) and a Gentile man. On mixed marriages in Judaism, see Neh 13:23-27 ; Ezra 9:1-10:44 ; Mal 2:10-16 ; Jub . 30:7-17; m. Qiddushin 3.12; m. Yevamot 7.5.


text: Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 25 mi (40 km) south of Iconium.


text: Iconium was a city in Lycaonia about 110 mi (175 km) east of Pisidian Antioch.


text: Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia.


text: Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor (North Galatia), or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch (South Galatia). The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.


text: Mysia was a province in northwest Asia Minor.


text: Bithynia was a province in northern Asia Minor northeast of Mysia.


text: Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, near ancient Troy.


text: Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.


text: Troas was a port city (and surrounding region) on the northwest coast of Asia Minor. See v. 8 .


text: Samothrace is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea.


text: Neapolis was a seaport on the southern coast of Macedonia. It was 10 mi (16 km) from Philippi.


text: A Roman colony was a city whose residents were regarded as Roman citizens, since such cities were originally colonized by citizens of Rome. From Troas to Philippi was 130 mi (208 km).


text: To the women. Apparently there were not enough Jews present in Philippi to have a synagogue (ten men would have been required to have one).


text: Thyatira was a city in the province of Lydia in Asia Minor.


text: Proclaiming to you the way of salvation. The remarks were an ironic recognition of Paul’s authority, but he did not desire such a witness, possibly for fear of confusion. Her expression the Most High God might have been understood as Zeus by the audience.


text: Customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice. Ironically, the charges are similar to those made against Jesus in Luke 23:2 , where Jews argued he was “twisting” their customs. The charge has three elements: (1) a racial element (Jewish); (2) a social element (unlawful); and (3) a traditional element (not their customs).


text: Praying and singing hymns to God. Tertullian said, “The legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is in heaven” ( To the Martyrs 2; cf. Rom 5:3 ; Jas 1:2 ; 1 Pet 5:6 ). The presence of God means the potential to be free (cf. v. 26 ).


text: Was about to kill himself. The jailer’s penalty for failing to guard the prisoners would have been death, so he contemplated saving the leaders the trouble (see Acts 12:19; 27:42 ).


text: Do not harm yourself. Again the irony is that Paul is the agent through whom the jailer is spared.


text: Here the summary term of response is a call to believe . In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.


text: The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1 , Isa 1:10 , Jonah 1:1 ). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου ( rJhma tou kuriou ; Luke 22:61 , Acts 11:16 , 1 Pet 1:25 ) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου ( logo" tou kuriou ; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 19:10, 20 ; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15 ; 2 Thess 3:1 ). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.


text: All his family. It was often the case in the ancient world that conversion of the father led to the conversion of all those in the household.


text: They themselves must come and escort us out! Paul was asking for the injustice he and Silas suffered to be symbolically righted. It was a way of publicly taking their actions off the record and showing the apostles’ innocence, a major public statement. Note the apology given in v. 39 .


text: Roman citizens. This fact was disturbing to the officials because due process was a right for a Roman citizen, well established in Roman law. To flog a Roman citizen was considered an abomination. Such punishment was reserved for noncitizens.