Acts 13:40

Act_13:40-41

Beware therefore.

A solemn warning to the ungodly

We are, in this world, represented as being remarkably under the influence of self-love; but, with regard to the eternal future, the self-love of man is strangely perverted and enfeebled. One of the main objects of the sacred writings is to grapple with this fatal tendency, and one mode is to announce mens danger by reason of their sinful folly; and also the only method by which that danger can be averted. Notice--

I. The infliction to which this solemn caution relates. What is it that we have to beware of? You will find in the context that it is the anger, or the wrath of God (Act_13:41; Isa_29:14; Hab_1:5). Observe--

1. The cause from which the threatened anger arises. God created the universe for His praise, and filled it with all the elements of happiness. And when we find Him going forth amid the threatenings of vengeance, to what is the change to be ascribed? To the introduction of sin. The first transgressors were angels who kept not their first estate, and are reserved, under chains and darkness, unto the judgment of the great day! Afterwards man became a sinner, and by one mans disobedience, many have been made sinners. Hence it is that there comes the threatening. Now, is there anything in this but an equitable arrangement of consequence as following cause?

2. The operations in which that wrath is manifested.

(1) We have tokens around us of the anger of God against sin. In the barrenness of the wilderness; in the scorching of the summer heat; in the withering of the wintry frost; and in disease, pestilence, and death.

(2) And then we must not forget that there are examples of His vengeance of a temporal nature. The deluge, the destruction of the cities of the Plain, the plagues of Egypt, the punishment of the Jaws, etc.

(3) And have there been no manifestations of the wrath of God against sin in modern times?

(4) But is there nothing beyond? We have spoken of temporal evils, but we hear of many announcements in the sacred writings of the wrath which is to come.

II. The considerations by which this solemn caution may be especially enforced. Beware of this wrath--

1. On account of the suddenness with which it is frequently inflicted. Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with a stroke. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, aid that without remedy. There are examples which God has given, in order to illustrate and confirm these general declarations. For example, Nabad and Abihu, Korah and his company, Belshazzar, Ananias, Herod. And have we had no instance of the infliction of the wrath of God in our own times and amongst ourselves? Beware! for the wrath of God, on account of sin, may come upon you unawares.

2. Because when inflicted it causes irreparable ruin. We are not speaking now of temporal evils, but of the future state (Luk_13:24-30).

III. The conduct to which this solemn caution should lead.

1. Men are to embrace the refuge which God has provided from the wrath to come. The Governor of the universe has, while preserving the honour of His justice, magnified the riches of His grace, and He is willing that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And if men, feeling their guilt and their danger, will but come unto Him in the exercise of faith, they shall be forgiven.

2. The resort to the remedy which has been provided must be without delay. Why should we delay? You bare delayed long enough. You have often been invited, and often summoned to beware.

Remember--

1. The brevity and uncertainty of life.

2. The hardening influence of sin. (J. Parsons.)

Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish.

The destruction of despisers

I. The character of these despisers.

1. There are some who despise all religion, and reject even those fundamental principles which revelation presupposes; such as the existence and providence of God, the difference between moral good and evil, and the freedom and accountableness of man.

2. There are some who pretend to believe the truths of natural religion, but despise all revelation. From the supposed sufficiency of human reason for all the purposes of religion, they conclude that no supernatural discovery ever has been or ever will be made.

3. There are some who acknowledge in general the truth of the gospel, but despise its peculiar doctrines.

4. There are those that profess to believe the gospel in all its essential doctrines, and yet in their hearts and lives oppose it.

II. In what respects, it may be said, they will perish wonderfully. Here are two things asserted.

1. Destruction awaits contemptuous sinners. Whatever may be the condition of heathens, who never heard of Christ, awful must be the fate of those, who, having heard of Him, despise and refuse the only Lord who bought them. They who believe not, shall die in their sins; they are condemned already, because they believe not in the name of the only begotten Son of God. If obedience to God is necessary to salvation, faith in Christ must be necessary; for this is the command of God, That we believe on Him whom He hath sent.

2. This destruction when it comes will be wonderful.

(1) Unexpectedly. A punishment which they little thought of will therefore fill sinners with wonder and astonishment. It is said of Jerusalem, Because she remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully. The Scripture represents the destruction of sinners, in general, as coming upon them by surprise.

(2) Exceeding all present conception. There is a strange punishment for the workers of iniquity. Some temporal judgments are so great, that they are called strange and marvellous works. How much more strange and marvellous will be the future punishment of despisers? God will perform a work which they would not believe, though a man should declare it to them. Who knows the power of Gods anger? We cannot conceive--

(a) the great anguish of a self-condemning conscience.

(b) That positive punishment which awaits sinners.

(c) The distress of total despair.

(3) Wonderful, compared with that of other sinners. Despisers will be distinguished in the world of misery from others. Moses having enumerated the singular privileges of the favoured people, says, If ye will not observe to do all the words of this law, the Lord will make your plagues wonderful. The gospel abounds in warnings of this kind. If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, etc.

III. Let me enforce the caution in the text. Beware, etc. In mercy to our guilty world, God has sent His Son to make the purchase, proclaim the offers, and state the terms of eternal salvation. To us the word of this salvation is sent. The question now proposed is, Will you accept it? If you will accept the benefit you must submit to the terms of it. You must repent and yield to the government of the gospel of Christ. If you will not do this, you despise His gospel, and all the blessings which it reveals. Consider what it is that you despise. It is a gospel preached by the Son of God from heaven; confirmed by miracles, preserved in the world by a merciful providence, and transmitted to you by peculiar favour. How worthy, then, of your thankful acceptation! To despise this is to despise that pearl of great price, to purchase which you should be willing to sell all that you have. To despise this is to despise Gods greatest gift, even the gift of His own Son, who came to seek and to save them who were lost. Judge, now, what must be the consequence of this contempt. Know ye, that your judgment lingers not. The Lord will soon arise, that He may do His strange work. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 13:40-41. Beware, therefore — A weighty and reasonable admonition with which the apostle enforces the very important doctrine which he had just delivered. No reproof is, as yet, added to it: lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets — The apostle refers to Hab 1:5, where the destruction of the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans is foretold, as an incredible and unparalleled destruction; and that prophecy is here, with the greatest propriety and correctness, applied to the destruction which was coming on that nation by the Romans, for rejecting the gospel of Christ. The apostle follows the Septuagint translation, which, reading, it seems, בגרים, despisers, instead of בגוים, among the nations, renders the clause, Ιδετε οι καταφρονηται, και επιβλεψατε, και θαυμασατε θαυμασια, και αφανισθητε, See, ye despisers, and behold, and wonder with astonishment, and disappear, or perish; words exactly the same with those used here by the apostle, according to Luke, save that the apostle omits και επιβλεψατε, and θαυμασια. It is as if the apostle had said, “See that the same thing do not happen to you which formerly happened to your ancestors, when the city and temple were destroyed, and they themselves were carried into captivity for despising God’s blessings.” So Grotius. Or, as Dr. Hammond paraphrases the passage, “You are therefore nearly concerned to take heed and beware, that by your obstinately resisting and rejecting this way of salvation now preached, you do not bring destruction upon yourselves, and cause the gospel to be removed to the Gentiles, (Act 13:46,) which is a thing that will come to pass suddenly, though so incredible to you, that you will not believe it when the news of it shall come unto you by them that see it done.” The work here spoken of, which the apostle says they would not believe, though credibly attested to them, may be either, 1st, God’s great work of redeeming the world by Christ, a work which the Jews would in no wise believe, according to Isa 53:1, Who hath believed our report? or, 2d, The work of their destruction as a nation; the dissolving of their polity; the taking of the kingdom of God from them, and giving it to the Gentiles; the destruction of their temple and city, and the dispersion of their people: an awful work of God this, which one would not have believed should ever have been wrought, considering how much they had been the favourites of Heaven. What was said (Lam 4:12) of the calamities which befell them by the Chaldeans, was more especially true of their last destruction: all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem, and have made such destruction, burning the city and temple, slaying upward of a million of people, and either carrying or selling the rest into captivity: so that no prophecy could be more properly applied, the former destruction being a lively emblem of the latter.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:40-41 Paul closed his message with a strong warning (cp. Heb 2:3). The Good News must not be ignored, neglected, or rejected, or frightening consequences will follow.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 13:40. Βλέπετε, beware) An admonition, as yet unaccompanied with censure, but yet one of a serious kind.—ἐν τοῖς προφηταῖς) in the Twelve prophets; namely, in Hab 1:5.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_13:40-41. Ἐν τοῖς προφήταις] in volumine prophetarum, Luk_24:44; Joh_6:45.

Hab_1:5 is here quoted, according to the LXX. (which, instead of בַּגּוֹיִם, probably read בֹּגְדִים), from memory with an unimportant deviation. In the announcement of the penal judgments to be executed by means of the Chaldaeans, which are in Hab. l.c. threatened against the degenerate Jewish nation, the apostle sees a divine threatening, the execution of which, in the Messianic sense, would ensue at the impending last judgment by the punishment befalling the unbelieving Israelites. The divine threatening preserves its power and validity even to the end, and has then its last and highest fulfilment. This last Messianic judgment of Godnot the ruin of the Jewish war (Wetstein and others)is here the ἔργον.

ἀφανίσθητε] vanish, come to nought. Comp. Philostr. Imag. i. 26 : οὐχ ὡς ἀπόλοιντο, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀφανισθεῖεν. Jam_4:14. So very often in classical writers. See Toup, Em. in Suid. I. p. 92. The coming to nought through terror is meant.

ἐργάζομαι] The present denotes what God was just on the point of doing. The ἐγώ annexed (I, whom you despise) has the emphasis of divine authority.

ἔργον] A rhetorically weighty anaphora, and hence without δέ. Comp. Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 341 [E. T. 398]. Krüger, § lix. 1. 3 f.

ἐκδιηγῆται] tells it quite to the end. Comp. Act_15:3; Job_7:3; Sir_39:12; Sir_43:31; Sir_44:8; Joseph. Antt. v. 8. 3; Bell. v. 13. 7.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 13:40 . ἐν τοῖς προφ ., cf. Luk 24:44 , and Act 24:14 ; Joh 6:45 . ἐπέλθῃ : quite Lucan in this sense, cf. Act 8:24 , Luk 11:22 ; Luk 21:26 (Jas 5:1 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The benefits of God turn to the utter undoing of them that contemn them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Beware, therefore, &c.--By this awful warning of the Old Testament the apostle would fain "shut them up unto the faith."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 40. Beware - lest that come upon you, c.] If you reject these benefits, now freely offered to you in this preaching of Christ crucified, you may expect such judgment from the hand of God as your forefathers experienced, when, for their rebellion and their contempt of his benefits, their city was taken, their temple destroyed, and themselves either slain by the sword, or carried into captivity. It is evident that St. Paul refers to Hab 1:5-10 and in those verses the desolation by the Chaldeans is foretold. Never was there a prophecy more correctly and pointedly applied. These Jews did continue to slight the benefits offered to them by the Lord; and they persevered in their rebellion: what was the consequence? The Romans came, took their city, burnt their temple, slew upwards of a million of them, and either carried or sold the rest into captivity. How exactly was the prophecy in both cases fulfilled!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

40. Take heed that that come not upon you. Because he had to do with stiff-necked men, or at least there were diverse in the company which were stiff-necked (as if he meant with a hammer to soften their stubbornnesses) he addeth a chiding unto doctrine. For if the Jews had been obedient and willing to obey, undoubtedly he would have sought sweetly to allure them unto Christ. But it was either their sluggishness, or else their willfulness, that caused him to be more angry; like as all those must be cited to appear before God’s judgment-seat who contemn the grace of Christ and the horrible judgment of eternal death must be denounced to those. He signifieth, indeed, that there is yet place left for repentance, when he willeth them to take heed; yet, notwithstanding, he telleth them therewithal, that unless they beware in time, the horrible vengeance of God is not far off.

Which is said in the prophets. The place which is cited is taken out of the first chapter of Habakkuk, (Habakkuk 1:5;) but because all prophecies were gathered into one volume or body, Paul saith that it is written in the prophets.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(40) Which is spoken of in the prophets.—This formula of citation seems to have been common, as in Act_7:42, in the case of quotations from the Minor Prophets, which were regarded, as it were, as a single volume with this title.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

40. lest that come upon you] viz. a moral and spiritual overthrow as great as the destruction which the Chaldæans and Nebuchadnezzar wrought upon the land and people at the time of the Babylonish captivity to which the prophecy (Hab_1:5) quoted in the next verse refers.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now when the congregation was broken up,.... Or "the synagogue"; not the place, but the people that met in it; when they were "dismissed", as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it; either in a disorderly manner, through the offence the Jews took at Paul's preaching; or if in an orderly way, this was done by "the interpreter"; so it is said (w), that

"R. Hotzpith the interpreter dismissed the people.''

Many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who were converted by this sermon, and believed in Christ, and cordially embraced the doctrines of the Gospel, that had been preached. Piscator thinks that the word "religious" does not belong to the text, but some way or other crept into it, since it supposes some proselytes not to be religious; whereas, though all religious persons were not proselytes, at least proselytes of righteousness, yet all proselytes were religious persons; but it is retained in all copies and versions:

who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God; meaning, not that the Jews and proselytes spoke to Paul and Barnabas, and entreated and persuaded them to persevere in preaching the doctrine of the grace of God, notwithstanding the offence some might take at it, and the ill usage they might meet with on account of it; but that Paul and Barnabas took notice of them, and by their following them, and by the conversation they had with them, found that the word had reached their hearts, and that they had embraced the doctrine of the Gospel; wherefore they spoke a word of exhortation to them, beseeching them to continue in it, it springing from the grace of God, and being a declaration of it; and particularly in those special doctrines of grace, which had been insisted on, namely, remission of sins, and free justification by the blood of Christ; for it is more likely, and was more necessary, that these should be exhorted by the apostles, and not the apostles by them.

(w) T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 67. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

Ver. 40. Beware therefore lest] Ministers must mix law and gospel together in their discourses. Sour and sweet make the best sauce.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Beware, therefore - Avoid what is threatened. It will come on some; and Paul exhorted his hearers to beware lest it should come on them. It was the more important to caution them against this danger, as the Jews held that they were safe.

Lest that come - That calamity; that threatened punishment.

In the prophets - In that part of the Scriptures called “the Prophets.” The Jews divided the Old Testament into three parts, of which “the Book of the Prophets” was one. See the notes on Luk 24:44. The place where this is recorded is Hab 1:5. It is not taken from the Hebrew, but substantially from the Septuagint. The original design of the threatening was to announce the destruction that would come upon the nation by the Chaldeans. The original threatening was fulfilled. But it was as applicable to the Jews in the time of Paul as in the time of Habakkuk. The principle of the passage is, that if they held in contempt the doings of God, they would perish. The work which God was to do by means of the Chaldeans was so fearful, so unusual, and so remarkable, that they would not believe it in time to avoid the calamity. In the same way, the manner in which God gave the Messiah was so little in accordance with their expectation, that they might see it, yet disbelieve it; that they might have the fullest proof, and yet despise it; that they might wonder, and be amazed and astonished, and yet refuse to believe it, and be destroyed.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

See then that you reject not this divine Saviour, lest what has been denounced by the prophets fall upon your incredulous heads: I will abandon the holy place which I entrusted to you; I will cease to look upon you as my people; I will transfer my kingdom to the Gentiles. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Hab 1:5. He cautions these Jews, lest the same thing threatened by the prophet to their fathers come also upon them; for sin is as odious unto God as ever, and God is as jealous of his honour, which sin robs him of, as ever he was.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

40. Beware therefore—Having unfolded the Gospel, Paul now warns them against the perdition resulting from its rejection.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Spoken for spoken of, A.V.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Beware - A weighty and seasonable admonition. No reproof is as yet added to it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

40-41. He here quotes Hab 1:5, in which the prophets warned them lest they reject the glorious tidings of their crucified, risen and ascended Lord, and be plunged into hopeless ruin.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

40, 41. This passage in Paul's speech was most unwelcome to his Jewish hearers. It was an express disparagement of the law of Moses such as always fell harshly upon Jewish ears. We consequently see in the next and last paragraph of the speech an indication of a change in the aspect of the audience. It is only an audience in whom a most unfavorable change is discernible, that so watchful a speaker could address in these words: (40) " Beware, then, lest that which is said in the prophets come upon you; (41) Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I do a work in your days, a work which you will not believe though one should fully declare it to you. " No doubt some evidence of their incredulity was visible in their countenances, if it was not exhibited by audible murmurings. The force of the quotation was to show, that if they did reject the gospel, they would only be identifying themselves with a class of whom this conduct had been predicted.

The surprise expressed by the prophet, that they would not believe though one should declare it to them, does not assume that they should believe facts so astounding upon the mere assertion of an individual; but the object of surprise is, that they would not believe though one should declare it fully to them, that is, with all the incontestable evidences of its reality. Undoubtedly the work referred to by the apostle, in his application of the prophet's language, is the work of raising up a savior to Israel in the person of Jesus.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Connecting Statement:

Paul finishes his speech in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, which he began in Acts 13:16.

General Information:

In his message to the people in the synagogue, Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk.

General Information:

Here the word "I" refers to God.

be careful

It is implied that the thing they should be careful about is Paul's message. AT: "give close attention to the things I have said" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

that the thing the prophets spoke about

"so that what the prophets spoke about"

Look, you despisers

"you who feel contempt" or "you who ridicule"

be astonished

"be amazed" or "be shocked"

then perish

"then die"

am doing a work

"am doing something" or "am doing a deed"

in your days

"during your lifetime"

A work that

"I am doing something which"

even if someone announces it to you

"even if someone tells you about it"

translationWords

prophet

works

believe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

40. ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς omitted with אBD. Vulg. ‘vobis.’

40. μὴ ἐπέλθῃ, lest there come about, viz. a moral and spiritual overthrow as great as the destruction which the Chaldæans and Nebuchadnezzar wrought upon the land and people at the time of the Babylonish captivity, to which the prophecy (Hab 1:5) quoted in the next verse refers.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

40.] The object of preaching the Gospel to the Jews first was for a testimony to them: its reception was almost uniformly unfavourable: and against such anticipated rejection he now warns them.

τοῖς προφ.] The book of the prophets: see ch. 3:18, note.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.