But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.”
38. They were afraid, because they were Romans. They are not once moved with the other point, because they had handled innocents cruelly without discretion; “Nulla interposita cognitione,” without any previous cognisance. and yet that was the greater reproach. But because they did not fear that any man would punish them, they were not moved with God’s judgment.
In these verses we have, I. Orders sent for the discharge of Paul and Silas out of prison Act 16:35, Act 16:36. 1. The magistrates that had so basely abused them the day before gave the orders; and their doing it so early, as soon as it was day, intimates that either they were sensible the terrific earthquake they felt at midnight was intended to...
Commenting on Acts 16:35-40
But Paul said unto them,.... The sergeants, who were present when the jailer reported to Paul the message they came with from the magistrates; though the Syriac version reads in the singular number, "Paul said to him", to the jailer: they have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; what the magistrates ordered to be done to them, is reckoned...