Acts 22:18

And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18)Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem.—It is obvious that this fits in better with the first hurried visit after St. Paul’s conversion than with the second, when he came with Barnabas with alms for the sufferers from the famine. (See Note on Acts 11:30.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:12-21 The apostle goes on to relate how he was confirmed in the change he had made. The Lord having chosen the sinner, that he should know his will, he is humbled, enlightened, and brought to the knowledge of Christ and his blessed gospel. Christ is here called that Just One; for he is Jesus Christ the righteous. Those whom God has chosen to know his will, must look to Jesus, for by him God has made known his good-will to us. The great gospel privilege, sealed to us by baptism, is the pardon of sins. Be baptized, and wash away thy sins; that is, receive the comfort of the pardon of thy sins in and through Jesus Christ, and lay hold on his righteousness for that purpose; and receive power against sin, for the mortifying of thy corruptions. Be baptized, and rest not in the sign, but make sure of the thing signified, the putting away of the filth of sin. The great gospel duty, to which by our baptism we are bound, is, to seek for the pardon of our sins in Christ's name, and in dependence on him and his righteousness. God appoints his labourers their day and their place, and it is fit they should follow his appointment, though it may cross their own will. Providence contrives better for us than we do for ourselves; we must refer ourselves to God's guidance. If Christ send any one, his Spirit shall go along with him, and give him to see the fruit of his labours. But nothing can reconcile man's heart to the gospel, except the special grace of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And saw him - Evidently, the Lord Jesus, Acts 22:14. He had received his commission from him, and he now received a distinct command to go to the Gentiles.

For they will not receive - The inhabitants of Jerusalem, probably including both Jews and Christians. The Jews would not listen to him because he had become, in their view, an apostate, and they would hate and persecute him. The Christians would not be likely to receive him, for they would remember his former persecutions, and would be suspicious of him because he had been so long in Arabia, and had not sooner connected himself with them. See the notes on Acts 9:26, "And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. get … quickly out of Jerusalem—compare Ac 9:29.

for they will not receive thy testimony … And I said, Lord, they know, &c.—"Can it be, Lord, that they will resist the testimony of one whom they knew so well as among the bitterest of all against Thy disciples, and whom nothing short of resistless evidence could have turned to Thee?"

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; this St. Paul takes notice of, that it might appear unto the Jews that he did not out of choice, or because he bare a grudge against them, decline them, and preach to the Gentiles.

For they will not receive thy testimony concerning me; as if Christ had said, They who were appointed unto life, and were curable, are already cured; but the rest who are hardened, nothing remains for them but utter destruction.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I saw him saying unto me,.... That is, the Lord Jesus Christ, that just One, whom he had seen in his way to Damascus, and whose voice he had heard, and whose name he had called upon at his baptism:

make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: not because his life was in danger, but because Christ had work for him to do elsewhere, which required haste; and that he might not continue here useless and unprofitable, as he would have been, had he staid;

for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me; Christ the omniscient God, and the searcher of the hearts, knew the hardness and unbelief of the Jews; and that they would continue therein, notwithstanding the ministry of the apostle; and that they would give no credit to any testimony of his, that he saw him, as he went to Damascus, and heard words from his mouth. The Ethiopic version renders it without the negative, "for they will receive thee, my witness concerning me"; as if Christ sent the apostle away in all haste from Jerusalem, lest he preaching there, the Jews should believe and be healed; compare with this Matthew 13:14. Very likely this interpreter might be induced to leave out the negative, as thinking that the apostle's reasoning in the following words required such a sense and reading.

Geneva Study Bible

And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 22:18. σπεῦσον καὶ ἔξ.: implying danger, cf. Acts 9:29.—σου μαρτ.: grounded upon the occurrence before Damascus, and so a striking testimony.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. and saw him saying unto me] In Acts 9:29-30 no mention is made that a vision had appeared to Saul commanding him to depart from Jerusalem. It is only said that “the disciples” sent him away. But these two statements are not inconsistent with each other. Saul might be warned to go, and the disciples at the same time prompted to send him. In the same way two different causes, one natural, the other supernatural, are mentioned Acts 13:2-4, viz. the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and the act of the Church of Antioch. And still more like is the statement of St Paul (Galatians 2:2), that he went up to Jerusalem “by revelation,” when it is placed side by side with Acts 15:2 where we are told that the Christians of Antioch determined that Paul and Barnabas should go up to consult the church in Jerusalem.

get thee quickly out of Jerusalem] We know from Galatians 1:18 that the duration of the Apostle’s stay was but fifteen days.

receive thy testimony concerning me] Better (with Rev. Ver.), “receive of thee testimony, &c.” The Apostle, as is clear from what follows in the next verse, considered that he would be specially a messenger likely to persuade and convince men of the truths of the Christian faith. God, in the vision, points out that this will not be so.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 22:18. Αὐτὸν, Him) Jesus, Acts 22:8.—σπεῦσον, make haste) on account of the plot laid for thee, and in order that the sooner thou mayest preach elsewhere.—οὐ παραδέξονται, they will not receive) Tapeinosis [see Append.]: i.e. they will fight against thy testimony.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - Because for for, A.V.; of thee testimony for thy testimony, A.V. and T.R. Get thee quickly, etc. The narrative in Acts 9:28-30 does not mention the vision, but gives the murderous opposition of the Hellenist Jews as the reason of Saul's departure from Jerusalem to Tarsus. Possibly, if it had not been for the Divine warning, the apostle would have braved the danger and lost his life. Acts 22:18