When
they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city, and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.” The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
Acts 16:20-24
Acts 16 [13.] On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.
Acts 16 [16.] As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!” She was doing this for many days.
But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city, and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
Acts 16 [22.] The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
Acts 16 [25.] But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”
Meaning:
In Philippi Paul had cast a spirit of divination out of a slave girl. Her owners, seeing “that the hope of their gain was gone,” seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the marketplace (Acts 16:19). These verses describe the charge they brought, the violence of the crowd and the magistrates, and the harsh imprisonment that followed.
- “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city”
The owners did not mention their lost income. Instead they made a public accusation that would stir the crowd. They appealed to prejudice: “being Jews.” Not long before, the emperor Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome (Acts 18:2), and suspicion of Jews was easy to arouse. Jesus had faced a similar charge before Pilate: “We found this man perverting the nation” (Luke 23:2). When people’s profits are threatened, they often hide their real motive behind patriotic or religious language.
- “Customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans”
Philippi was a Roman colony, and its citizens were proud to be Romans. Roman law discouraged citizens from adopting foreign religions that were not approved. The accusers set “us… Romans” against “these… Jews.” The irony, revealed later, is that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens too (Acts 16:37).
- “The magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods”
There was no trial and no chance for a defense. The magistrates were swept along by the crowd. Beating with rods was a Roman punishment carried out by the officers who attended the magistrates. Paul later counted it among his sufferings: “Three times I was beaten with rods” (2 Corinthians 11:25). Luke does not say why Paul and Silas did not claim their citizenship at once; perhaps they had no chance to be heard in the uproar.
- “Threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks”
The jailer took no chances. The inner prison was the darkest and most secure part, and the stocks held the legs apart painfully, so that the prisoners could neither rest nor move. Their backs were raw from the beating. Jesus had warned his followers: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
- “Having suffered before and been shamefully treated”
Paul never forgot this. Writing to the Thessalonians soon after, he recalled that “having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we grew bold in our God to tell you the Good News” (1 Thessalonians 2:2). He told the Philippians that suffering for Christ was a gift: “it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf” (Philippians 1:29), sharing the same conflict they had seen in him. The suffering did not stop the work; that same night it became the setting for a remarkable conversion.
The Significance of Acts 16:20-24
- Unjust treatment
Paul and Silas were punished for doing good. Believers may still face hostility when the Good News threatens someone’s interests, and Scripture does not pretend otherwise. God sees every injustice.
- Faithfulness in suffering
The sufferings of Paul and Silas were real and painful, yet they did not give up. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5:11).
Cross-References:
2 Corinthians 11:25: "Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned." Paul remembers the beatings.
1 Thessalonians 2:2: "Having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi." Paul recalls Philippi.
Philippians 1:29: "It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf." Suffering for Christ.
John 15:20: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Jesus’ warning.
Conclusion: The owners of the slave girl hid their lost profit behind a charge that Paul and Silas, as Jews, were disturbing a Roman city with unlawful customs. Without a trial the magistrates had them stripped, beaten with rods and thrown into the inner prison with their feet in the stocks. Paul never forgot this shameful treatment, but it did not stop the Good News.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible