Acts 19:9

Act_19:9

Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

The school of Tyrannus

The Greek word for school had a somewhat interesting history. Originally meaning leisure, it was applied to leisure as bestowed on study, then, as here, to the place in which study was pursued; lastly, as in our phrase, the school of Zeno or Epicurus, as a collective term for the followers of a conspicuous teacher. In this case it was probably a lecture room which, as the private property of the owner, was lent or let to the apostle. Of the Tyrannus here mentioned nothing more is known with certainty, but the name is connected with one or two interesting coincidences that are more or less suggestive. Like its Latin equivalent, Rex, it was not uncommon among the class of slaves or freedmen. It is found in the Columbarium of the household of Livia on the Appian Way, and as belonging to one who is described as a Medicus or physician. Both names and professions in this class were very commonly hereditary, and the hypothesis that this Tyrannus was also a physician, and that as such he may have known St. Luke, or possibly may have been among the Jews whom the decree of Claudius (Act_18:2) had driven from Rome, and so shared the fate of Aquila and Priscilla, fits in with and explains the facts recorded. An unconverted teacher of philosophy or rhetoric was not likely to have lent his class room to a preacher of the new faith. (Dean Plumptre.)

The school house of Ephesus

1. Here is Paul in a school house in which the learning of the day was taught. But Paul makes up his mind they need some religion there, and so he goes into it; and daily for two years he gave lectures on Christianity.

I. If the Word of God was appropriate for the public school of Ephesus, why not for public schools elsewhere? Higher than university, than Legislative hall, than Presidential chair, is the common school of this country, because it provides the orators, the painters, the poets, the legislators, the judges, the presidents; dropping upon a million homes the benediction of light and refinement. So queenly a system must be affianced to the king of books, the Bible. This union has given us all we have of culture and refinement. After you put a building up, it is a poor thing to pull out the cornerstone. Suppose I should go to the architect of this building and say, You have no right to be here today. Why, he would reply, I built it. And people would gather around and say, If anybody has a right to be here, he has. Now, my friends, the Word of God is the architect, the foundation, the pillars, the capstone of the great common school system, and there shall be no political nor demoniacal power on earth or hell to expel it.

II. Yet a determined effort is being made to expel it. In support of this it is said--

1. It does not make any difference. What is the reading of half a dozen verses of a chapter in a school? I go into an apothecarys store with a prescription. In making it up the chemist takes one liquid, then another, and then a third, and finally he takes out a small phial, and drops into the general admixture one or two drops. I say to him, Why do you waste time by putting in those drops? Oh, he says, this is the most important part of the prescription. This changes the entire nature of the thing. Without it, it would be death; with it, it will be cure and life. Now you come up to the common school admixture, and you say: There is a quart of arithmetic, and there are two gills of geography, and a pint of grammar, and what is just one or two drops of Scriptural reading going to do? I say it is the most important part of the prescription. It changes the whole nature of everything. Untold blessings depend on the Bible staying where it is. Untold disorder follow upon its being thrust out.

2. The common school was intended only to give secular education. I reply that it is to develop our children so that they shall be prepared for the duties of life. Suppose a man should go to a gymnasium, and say to the manager, I wish you would make that little finger more agile, and strong, and healthy; and develop the toe of the right foot. Why, he would say, You must be insane. If I take you in my institution, I purpose to develop your entire physical organism, and then of course your hand and foot will get the benefit of it. But I cant undertake to treat just the foot and hand. Now you come up to the common school, and you say, Give us secular education, but dont give us religious education. In other words, touch only the tip end of this complex nature; dont get up into the region of the soul: give the children reading, writing, and arithmetic. Ah, we cannot educate our children in this infinitesimal manner. Do you think a man is prepared for the duties of life merely because because he can cipher, or is a good penman? The biggest thief in New York understands arithmetic, and can wield a very skilful pen when it is to put somebody elses name at the foot of a money draft. What this country wants is the pressure of a high moral obligation on her young people, and that you can get from no book except the Bible. The rights of our Jewish and Roman Catholic fellow citizens will be invaded. Well, look at that little urchin! Before him stands the teacher, inflicting him with these oppressive words, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Alas! for the defenceless little Jewish and Roman Catholic children, crushed under the Beatitudes. Besides this, the Bible is the most unsectarian Book in the world. Wyckliffe, and Coverdale, and Matthew translated the Bible in the Roman Catholic Church; and our translation is substantially the same thing. The Bible in the schools does not propose to proselyte. The Bible taught in a Presbyterian Church may get a Presbyterian twist, or taught in a Roman Catholic Church may get a Roman Catholic twist; but the Bible as read in our schools without note or comment, will get no such twist. And then neither Romanists nor Jews have any objection to the Bible as such. Who then want it expelled chiefly? Well, the men who are loose in religious notions, or loose in morals, or base politicians, and for good reasons. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

At school

(childrens sermon):--Do you not pity the poor children who had to go to the school of one Tyrannus? But whenever a schoolmaster is found to be tyrannous nowadays, people write to the newspapers, and Tyrannus is forced to become a little less tyrannous, and the children have a better time of it. You have all to go to some school, but there are some things you can learn not set down in bill, but are worth a very great deal. There, e.g., is--

I. Punctuality. Never be late for school or for anything. God is very punctual. If the sun was late all the clocks would be wrong, and people would be greatly put about; and when you are late mother is put about, and teacher, and yourself; and when attendance marks are read, you wish you had been punctual. Learn the habit of being punctual in all things. If you make but a little mistake in multiplication, that mistake goes on multiplying itself. An unpunctual person puts many other people wrong.

II. Honour. Honour and honesty come from the same word. Now I daresay you would not steal anything with your hands. But did you never at school look over another and copy his answer? That was not honourable--it was dishonest. Learn to be honourable at school. Your teacher is trusting you. Never do mean things. Even when the teacher does not see you, God does. It is good to be clever, but it is better still to be good.

III. Courage. Is not it strange that anyone should need courage to say what is true? You would think it needed more courage to say what was wrong, for he would be very bold who would say that two and two made five. He would not need to be very bold, who said that two and two made four. Yes; but that only shows how far we have all got wrong through sin, that most people are afraid to say what is right. Say boldly when a thing is wrong, that it is wrong, and when it is right, that it is right, and stand by it.

IV. Kindness. Think of others; think of teacher; sometimes he is worried and troubled, or sometimes she has a headache. And try to have a kind way with the other children. Learn kindness in the school, and when you come into the world you will find this to be one of the best lessons you ever learnt in your life, for it is in lovingkindness the spirit of Jesus grows up. (J. R. Howatt.)

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

Act 19:9. Ὡς—πλήθους, when—before the multitude) A cause for just separation is public revilings against the truth.—ἀποστὰς, having withdrawn) He left their synagogue to them, content with a smaller school, and a more select number: ἀποστὰς ἀφώρισε, having withdrawn he separated: by his act he influenced other good men; [and so he secured them against the stumbling-block thrown in their way by the evil-speakers.—V. g.]—καθʼ ἡμέραν, daily) not merely on the Sabbath or Lord’s day.—σχολῇ, the school) instead of the synagogue.

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

Act_19:9. But when some were hardened and refused belief, he severed himself from them (from the synagogue) and separated the Christians, (henceforth) discoursing daily in the school of a certain Tyrannus. Tyrannus (the same name in Apollod. ii. 4. 5; Boeckh, Corp. Inscr. 1732; 2Ma_4:40; Joseph. Antt. xvi. 10. 3, Bell. i. 26. 3; and among the Rabbis טורנום, see Drusius in loc.) is usually considered (as by Lange and Baumgarten, comp. Ewald, p. 516) as a Gentile rhetorician, who had as a public sophist possessed a lecture-room, and is perhaps identical with the one described by Suidas: Τύραννος· σοφιστὴς περὶ στάσεων κ. διαιρέσεως λόγου βιβλία δέκα. But as the text does not indicate a transition of the apostle wholly to the Gentiles (see, on the other hand, Act_18:6-7, Act_13:46), but merely a separation from the synagogue, and as in the new place of instruction (σχολή, a teaching-room, often in Plutarch, etc.), Ἰουδαῖοι (and these are named first, Act_19:10) continued to hear him; as, in fine, Tyrannus, had he been a Gentile, would have to be conceived of as σεβόμενος τὸν θεόν, like Justus, Act_18:7,an essential point, which Luke (comp. Act_18:7) would hardly have left unnoticed: the opinion of Hammond is to be preferred, that Tyrannus is to be considered as a Jewish teacher who had a private synagogue, בית מדדש (in Beth Midrasch docuerunt traditiones atque earum expositiones, Babyl. Berac. f. 17. 1; see Lightf. ad Matth. p. 253 f.; Vitringa, Synag. p. 137). Paul with his Christians withdrew from the public synagogue to the private synagogue of Tyrannus, where he and his doctrine were more secure from public annoyance. The objection, that it would have been inconsistency to pass from the synagogue to a Rabbinical school (Baumgarten), is of no weight, as there were also Rabbins like Gamaliel, and Tyrannus must be considered, at all events, as at least inclined to Christianity.

τ. ὁδόν] see on Act_9:2, Act_18:25.

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 19:9 . ἐσκληρύνοντο : only here and in Rom 9:18 , but four times in Hebrews, three times as a quotation from Psa 95:8 , and once in direct reference to that passage, Act 3:13 , cf. Exo 7:3 , Deu 2:30 , etc. In Sir 30:12 it is found as here with ἀπειθέω , cf. also Clem. Rom., li., 3, 5. ἠπείθ .: “were disobedient,” R.V., unbelief is manifested in disobedience, Westcott, Hebrews , pp. 87, 97, cf. Ign., Magn. , viii., 2; Polyc., Phil. , ii., 1. τὴν ὁδὸν : “the Way,” see on Act 9:2 . κακολ ., Mar 9:39 , used by our Lord of speaking evil of Him, Mat 15:4 , and Mar 7:10 , as a quotation from Exo 21:17 ; in LXX five times, and once in same sense in Mal 4:1Mal 4:1 . ἀποστὰς : as in Act 18:7 , at Corinth; verb only in Luke and Paul, except Heb 3:12 , see Friedrich, p. 7, and above on Act 15:38 , seven times in N.T. with ἀπό and a genitive as here. ἀφώρισε : except Mat 13:49 ; Mat 25:32 (2), only in Luke and Paul, cf. Luk 6:22 , Act 13:2 , Rom 1:1 , 2Co 6:17 , quotation, Gal 1:15 ; Gal 2:12 ; cf. Grimm-Thayer for different shades of meaning, both in a good and bad sense, in classical Greek and also in LXX frequently. It is evidently presupposed that as in Act 18:26 there were still disciples who held fast to the common worship of a Jewish community in the synagogue. καθʼ ἡμέραν : on the days when synagogue worship was held, and so the separation was complete. ἐν σχολῇ Τυράννου τινός , see critical note. We cannot tell whether reference is made to the lecture-hall of some heathen sophist hired by Paul or to the Beth Hammidrash kept by a Jew. Others have thought that Tyrannus, like Titius Justus, Act 18:7 , may have been “a proselyte of the gate,” but if so, one might expect it to be signified as in the case of Justus. The name was common enough, Jos., Ant. , xvi., 10, 3; B. J. , i., 26, 3; 2Ma 4:40 , and see Plumptre’s note, in loco . Overbeck’s view is quite possible, that the expression referred to the standing name of the place, so called from its original owner, cf. Hort, Judaistic Christianity , p. 93. Probably, if we take the first-mentioned view, in teaching in such a school or lecture-hall the Apostle himself would appear to the people at large as one of the rhetors or travelling sophists of the time, Ramsay, St. Paul , pp. 246, 271 (so McGiffert, p. 285, who regards the notice as taken from a trustworthy source). For instances of the use of σχολή as a school of the philosophers for teaching and lecturing see Wetstein, in loco, cf. Latin, auditorium , Zöckler compares St. Augustine’s lecture-hall in Rome before his conversion.

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

By this word Way, the Hebrews understand any kind of life, and here it is taken for Christianity.

For a man to separate himself and others from infidels which are utterly desperate, it is not to divide the Church, but rather to unite it and make it one.

This was a man’s proper name.

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

when divers--"some."

were hardened, &c.--implying that others, probably a large number, believed.

spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed--from the synagogue, as at Corinth (Act 18:7).

and separated the disciples--withdrawing to a separate place of meeting, for the sake both of the converts already made, and the unsophisticated multitude.

disputing--"discoursing" or "discussing."

daily in the school--or lecture hall.

of one Tyrannus--probably a converted teacher of rhetoric or philosophy.

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 9. When divers were hardened] τινες, When some of them were hardened; several no doubt felt the power of Divine truth, and yielded consent. Our term divers, one of the most bald in our language, has too general a meaning for this place.

Behold the effect of the word of God! It is a savour of life unto life, or death unto death, according as it is received or rejected. The twelve men mentioned above received it affectionately, and they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost; the others were hardened, for they refused to believe; and they calumniated the doctrine, and became Satan's preachers among the multitude, to prejudice them against Christ and his religion.

Separated the disciples] Paul, and those converted under his ministry, had doubtless been in the habit of attending public worship in the synagogue: but, on the persecuting conduct of these Jews; he and his converts wholly withdrew from the synagogue, and took a place for themselves; and constantly afterwards held their own meetings at a school room, which they hired no doubt for the purpose.

The school of one Tyrannus.] For σχολη, the school, one MS. has συναγωγη, the synagogue; and, for Tyrannus, some have Tyrannios. Some have considered the original word as being an epithet, rather than the name of a person; and think that a prince or nobleman is intended, because τυραννος, tyrant, is taken in this sense: but this is a most unlikely conjecture. It appears that the person in question was a schoolmaster, and that he lent or hired his room to the apostles; and that they preached daily in it to as many, both Jews and Gentiles, as chose to attend. It is very likely that Tyrannus was a Jew, and was at least well affected to the Christian cause; for we have many proofs that individuals among them kept schools for the instruction of their youth; besides the schools or academies kept by the more celebrated rabbins. See Schoettgen and Vitringa. The school of Tyrannus might have been such a place as Exeter Hall, and such like places for public and especially for extraordinary religious meetings in London.

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

9. Seeing their hearts were hardened. We do not read that Paul was heard so patiently and so favorably by the Jews at any place as at Ephesus at his first coming. For whereas others raising tumults did drive him away, he was requested by these to tarry longer. Now, after that he had endeavored, by the space of three months, to erect the kingdom of God among them, the ungodliness and stubbornness of many doth show itself. For Luke saith that they were hardened; and surely such is the power of the heavenly doctrine that it doth either make the reprobate mad or else more obstinate; and that not of nature, but accidentally, as they say, because, when they be urged by the truth, their secret poison breaketh out.

Luke addeth that they spake evil of the way before the people. For the contemners of the gospel do resist that deadlily among others which they will not embrace. And this do they to no other end, save only because they be desirous (if it can be) to have all men partners in their impiety. It is well known that every ordinance is understood by this word way; but here it is referred unto the gospel of Christ. Now, Luke saith that Paul departed from them, and did separate the brethren, by which example we are taught, that when we have experience of desperate and incurable stubbornness, we must lose our labor no longer. Therefore, Paul admonisheth Titus to avoid a man that is an heretic, after once or twice admonition (Titus 3:10). For the word of God is unjustly blasphemed, if it be cast to dogs and swine. Also, we must provide for the weak, lest through wicked backbitings and slandering of sound doctrine, their godliness be subverted. Therefore, Paul did separate the disciples, lest the goats should with their stink infect the flock of sheep; secondly, that the pure worshippers of God might make profession freely.

Disputing daily. This place showeth how continual Paul’s diligence was in teaching; and that they be too churlish and dainty who are straightway weary of learning. For we see how few come daily, who are ready and apt to hear. And though he had a particular care for the household flock which he had gathered as into a sheepfold, yet he doth not suffer strangers to be destitute of his industry; but continuing the course of his disputation, he trieth whether he can find any which are apt to be taught. He calleth it the school of Tyrannus, meaning no such man as had gotten the government of Asia; for the Romans bare rule throughout all Asia, but it is to be thought that the school was built at the charge of one Tyrannus, and given to the city. Therefore, the faithful did use a public place, which bare the name of the builder, where they had their assemblies.

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.

(9) When divers were hardened and believed not.—Better (the verb implying continuous action), when some were growing hardened and disobedient.

Spake evil of that way before the multitude.—Better, as before, of the way. (See Note on Act_9:2.) The unbelieving Jews acted at Ephesus as at Thessalonica, and tried to wreak their hatred against St. Paul by stirring up suspicion among the Gentiles, especially, as before, among those of the lower class, who were always ready for a tumult.

Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.—The Greek word for “school” had a somewhat interesting history. Originally meaning “leisure,” it was applied to leisure as bestowed on study, then, as here, to the place in which study was pursued; lastly, as in our phrase, “the school of Zeno or Epicurus,” as a collective term for the followers of a conspicuous teacher. In this case, it was probably a lecture-room which, as the private property of the owner, was lent or let to the Apostle.

Of the Tyrannus here mentioned nothing more is known with certainty, but the name is connected with one or two interesting coincidences that are more or less suggestive. Like its Latin equivalent, Rex it was not uncommon among the class of slaves or freed-men. It is found in the Columbarium of the household of Livia on the Appian Way, and as belonging to one who is described as a Medicus or physician. Both names and professions in this class were very commonly hereditary, and the hypothesis that this Tyrannus was also a physician, and that, as such, he may have known St. Luke, or, possibly, may have been among the Jews whom the decree of Claudius (Act_18:2) had driven from Rome, and so shared the faith of Aquila and Priscilla, fits in with and explains the facts recorded. An unconverted teacher of philosophy or rhetoric was not likely to have lent his class-room to a preacher of the new faith. (See also Note on Act_19:12.)

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

9. But when divers were hardened, and believed not] Perhaps there may be a little gain to those unfamiliar with older English in putting (as Rev. Ver.) “some” for “divers,” there seems to be none in giving “and disobedient” instead of “and believed not.” The original looks back to the verb “persuade” in the previous verse. The Apostle tried to persuade, these men refused to be persuaded. That seems better expressed by the A. V.

but spake [better, speaking] evil of that [the] way before the multitude] The evil speaking is the final manifestation of the hardening. The Apostle continued his exhortations to stony-hearted hearers for three months, but when their obstinacy changed into malignity he left them. “The way” was soon given as a distinctive name to “the Christian religion.” See note on Act_9:2 and cf. below Act_19:23.

It was not mere opposition to the arguments of the Apostle which these Jews employed, they took occasion to excite the crowds of the city against him. And it would seem from Act_19:33, where the Jews attempt to put forward a spokesman in the tumult, that they wished the heathen populace to understand that Paul was not approved of by his own nationality.

he departed from them] i.e. ceased to take part in the public services at the synagogue.

and separated the disciples] The Christian part of the congregation, with any of the Jews who were more interested than the rest in his teaching.

disputing [Better, reasoning] daily] The verb is the same as in the previous verse. Among these more sympathizing hearers, he would only have to set forward the arguments for the faith which he preached unto them. His teaching now could go on constantly, and was not confined to the synagogue times of service.

in the school of one Tyrannus] The best authorities omit “one.” The teacher, whether a heathen or a Jew, was a man well known. Otherwise we can conceive no reason for the mention of a proper name. As the name is Greek, some have thought that the place meant was the lecture-room of a philosophic teacher; others, thinking that St Paul would hardly have chosen such a place for his preaching, have preferred to consider it a Jewish school or Beth-Hammidrash, in which his Jewish hearers would be more willing to assemble. Since the listeners are described, in the next verse, as being partly Jews, and partly Greeks, it is impossible to arrive at a conclusion. No doubt the Jews in Ephesus were numerous enough to render such “schools” necessary for their education, and in their intercourse with Gentiles they not unfrequently adopted a Gentile name in addition to their Jewish one. So Tyrannus may have been a Jew.

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.

And this continued by the space of two years,.... Reckoning from the end of the three months, which had been spent in teaching in the synagogue:

so that all they which dwelt in Asia; in the lesser Asia, called the proconsular Asia, of which Ephesus was the chief city:

heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks; these, as they came to Ephesus, whether on account of religion, the Asiatic Jews to their synagogue, and the Greeks or Gentiles to the famous temple of Diana, or on account of trade and business, or for the sake of seeing this place, had the opportunity of hearing the Apostle Paul preach, concerning the person, offices, and grace of Christ; and dispute and reason concerning the more abstruse and difficult points of the Christian religion, in the above school, for two years together; so that the word of the Lord went out from hence, and was spread in all the cities and towns in Asia.

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

9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

Ver. 9. But when divers were hardened] Hardness of heart is either natural or habitual: and this again is increased either by doing (that is, by resisting the word of God), or by suffering it to pass by us without amendment of life.

He departed from them and separated] So did Zuinglius and Luther separate from the Papists for like reason. It was laid to Luther’s charge that he was an apostate. Confitetur se esse apostatam, sed beatum et sanctum, qui fidem diabolo datam non servavit. An apostate he confessed himself; but one that had fallen off from the devil only.

In the school of one Tyrannus] In one ancient copy it is added, "From the fifth hour to the tenth hour:" so indefatigable a preacher was Paul, a very χαλκεντερος, or iron-sides. He had a golden wit in an iron body, as one saith of Julius Scaliger.

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.

But when divers - When some were hardened.

Were hardened - When their hearts were hardened, and they became violently opposed to the gospel. When the truth made no impression on them. The word “harden,” as applied to the heart, is often used to denote “insensibility, and opposition to the gospel.”

But spake evil of that way - Of the gospel - the way, path, or manner in which God saves people. See Act 16:17; Act 18:26; Mat 7:13-14.

Separated the disciples - Removed them from the influence and society of those who were seeking to draw them away from the faith. This is often the best way to prevent the evil influence of others. Christians, if they wish to preserve their minds calm and peaceful; if they wish to avoid the agitations of conflict, and the temptations of those who would lead them astray, should withdraw from their society, and seek the fellowship of their Christian brethren.

Disputing daily - This is not a happy translation. The word used here διαλεγόμενος dialegomenos does not of necessity denote “disputation or contention,” but is often used in a good sense of “reasoning” Act 17:2; Act 18:4, Act 18:19; Act 24:25, or of “public preaching,” Act 20:7, Act 20:9. It is used in this sense here, and denotes that Paul taught publicly, or reasoned on the subject of religion in this place.

In the school of one Tyrannus - Who this Tyrannus was is not known. It is probable that he was a Jew, who was engaged in this employment, and who might not be unfavorably disposed toward Christians. In his school, or in the room which he occupied for teaching, Paul instructed the people when he was driven from the synagogue. Christians at that time had no churches, and they were obliged to assemble in any place where it might be convenient to conduct public worship.

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

Divers were hardened; the sun hardeneth what it doth not soften, and causeth a stench from dunghills, as well as a sweet smell from the mountains of spices; and Christ is for the falling, as well as for the rising of many.

That way; so the doctrine of the gospel is called, by reason of its excellency above other ways. By way the Hebrews understand any course or means to an end. Hence we read of the way of peace, the way of salvation, the way of the Lord.

He departed from them; not frequenting any more the synagogue of the Jews, where they met only with contradiction of their doctrine, and blasphemy against their Saviour.

Tyrannus; some have taken this word appellatively, as denoting some great man, or ruler, who maintained a school, or place for instruction; but it is rather a proper name of some private teacher amongst them: for the Jews had not only public schools, where their consisteries did meet, but private schools, where their law was taught.

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

9. School of one Tyrannus—Ephesus was a Greek city; literature, philosophy, poetry, and rhetoric flourished here. Driven from the synagogue, therefore, the apostle took to the school; doubtless a school of a Greek rhetorician. Here he found a roomy apartment and full congregations.

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

Some for divers, A.V.; disobedient for believed not, A.V.; (hJpeiqoun, as Act_14:2 Act_17:5, T.R.) speaking for but spake, A.V.; the Way for that way, A.V.; reasoning for disputing, A.V.; Tyrannus for one Tyrannus, A.V. Were hardened; or, hardened themselves. Whether considered as active or middle, the hardening their minds against the reception of the truth was just as voluntary an action as that of one who shuts his eyes that he may not see the light. For the use of sklhrunein (Hebrew hvqhi, applied to the heart or the neck), see Rom_9:18; Heb_3:8, 15 4:7 passages all founded upon the LXX of Psa_94:8. See also Exo_7:22 Exo_8:19; and Ecc 30:11, where, as here, disobedience is the consequence of being hardened. Mhpote sklhrunqeish soi, "Lest being hardened he disobey thee. " The A.V., by leaving out "were" before "disobedient," and translating as if "hardened" and "disobedient" were two adjectives, destroys this consequence. Speaking evil of; kakologountev. (see Mat_15:4; Mar_9:39) frequent in the LXX as the rendering of Leqi, (1Sa_3:13) which is otherwise rendered by kakwv eipein," as in Lev_20:9. It is nearly synonymous with blasfhmain. The Way. (as ver. 23; see Act_9:2, note) They would speak evil of the gospel by describing it as a blasphemy against God and against Moses, as contrary to the Law, as subversive of all the customs and traditions of the Jews, and so on. He departed. jApostas is more than simply "departing;" it implies a withdrawal and separation front fellowship with them, as in 1Ti_6:5 (A.V.) "From such withdraw thyself;" Ecc_7:2, "Depart from the unjust". (comp. Luk_13:27) Separated the disciples. Hitherto the converted Jews at Ephesus had continued to join their unconverted brethren in the worship of the synagogue; now Paul withdrew them and separated them. (ajfwrise, Gal_2:10) The school of Tyrannus; scolh, leisure; then, "the employment of leisure," as especially in philosophic discussions and the like; thirdly, the "place" were such discussions were held, a school. It is uncertain whether Tyrannus was a Gentile well known at the time (without the tinov), who kept a lecture room for philosophic discussions or lectures on rhetoric, or whether he was a Jew who held a private school or meeting in his house a beth-midrash as was not uncommon in largo towns where many Jews were (Light foot, vol. 3. p. 236). Beth-midrash The Jewish divinity school, where their doctors disputed of the more high and difficult matters of the Law" (Index to Lightfoot"s Works). It was commonly the upper room in the house of a rabbi (Lightfoot, on Act_2:13, vol. 8:363), whence "house of rabbis "was synonymous with beth-midrash, house of discussion. The name Tyrannus occurs in RAPC 2Ma 4:40; Josephus, "Ant. Jud:," 16:10:4; "Bell Jud:," 1:26:6, of an officer in Herod"s bodyguard, who might be a Jew or a Greek; and a certain Tyrannus is described by Suidas as a sophist and an author, possibly the same as is here spoken of. Lightfoot, Meyer, Alford, and others think that the Tyrannus here spoken of was a Jew; Lange, Olshausen, Howson, Farrar, Lewin, etc., think he was a Greek philosopher or rhetorician. Some think that "the school of Tyrannus" was the name of the lecture-room from some former teacher (see Renan. p. 345).

Vers. 9, 10. The shelter awhile of young converts.

We must be conscious, in reading this passage, of something approaching a new point of departure on the part of Paul. He was not the man hitherto to shrink from either the malice of the synagogue or the uproar of the market-hall. But there were reasons why, with so long a stay at Ephesus, the company of the disciples should be "separated, and some foreshadowing be now given, under the continued supervision of Paul, of what should come to be the form of an individual Christian Church. And we have here the nucleus of this. We are reminded of the Church of Christ, as existing in any individual place, that it should be answerable to find

I A HOME OF SOME SAFETY FOR DISCIPLES. Such a home should be able to show:

1. Shelter from the "hardened" world; the world that does not believe, and resolutely will not believe; the world that, being thus disposed as to itself, is also manifestly disposed to disturb the belief and peace of those who do believe, seeking to enter in to ravage "the flock". (Act_20:29) This it was abundantly easy to do in the synagogue by every kind of dishonest quibble and disputatious debate. It should not be by any means so possible within the fold of the Church.

2. Teaching of the truth. The truth should be certain of being obtained here, and the teacher should be competent. He will teach, not by force of authority, but by persuasion of the truth. He will be listened to and esteemed because he shall prove his word, and prove it to be a word of power.

1. Sympathizing companionship. It is needed

1. for prayer and the exercises of religion;

2. for daily social life;

3. for the stimulating of religious purpose and work.

II AN OPEN DOOR OF ENTRANCE AND A WELCOME FOR THE WORLD.

1. Nothing more dishonors the place of the Church of Christ, or disowns all that is most characteristic of his Spirit, than exclusiveness.

2. The door of entrance is to be large enough to admit not only the honest seekers, not only those who already show the signs of penitence, not only those by nature humble and meek, but all who will enter the worst, the most unpromising. These cannot, indeed, enter into the Church itself of Christ; but even to them welcome may be given to the place of the Church, that "haply they may be born" again therein. If, indeed, they enter and stay to show themselves the disturbers of disciples and the resolutely "hardened," we have here our authority how to proceed. But otherwise let them be free to enter within the walls of Zion. Let them there hear the Word and, if needs be, debate it. Let them be free to hear the prayers and join the songs of disciples; for "much people" for Christ may be amongst them. This is at least one of the ways by which the world is to be gained for Christ. It does not, indeed, exempt the Church from missionary and "aggressive" work work which probably, in the more settled ecclesiastical state of our own country, has been lamentably overlooked. But it appears that it was the method by which, during "the space of two years, all they which dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." When the world"s turbulent streams dash by that river, full and deep and peaceful, of the city of God, the very contrast will arrest attention and arouse reflection in not a few. B.

The first Christian congregation.

St. Paul had before this taken a room near the synagogue at Corinth, but it seems that this case at Ephesus represents the first distinct effort to form a Christian congregation, with its own order and officers, as separate from the synagogue. Now St. Paul casts himself free of Judaism; the time had come for separation, and for arranging a distinctly Christian organization. The school of Tyrannus was a public hall for lecturing and discussion. Canon Farrar says, There must have been many an anxious hour, many a bitter struggle, many an exciting debate, before the Jews finally adopted a tone, not only of decided rejection, but even of so fierce an opposition, that St. Paul was forced once more, as at Corinth, openly to secede from their communion. We do not sufficiently estimate the pain which such circumstances must have caused to him. His life was so beset with trials, that each trial, however heavy in itself, is passed over amid a multitude that were still more grievous. But we must remember that St. Paul, though a Christian, still regarded himself as a true Israelite, and he must have felt, at least as severely as a Luther or a Whitefield, this involuntary alienation from the religious communion of his childhood." We do but suggest three lines of thought; the treatment of them will depend upon the standpoint of the preacher.

I SEPARATION AS AFFECTING THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH. Several distinct conceptions of Christ"s Church on earth are found established among Christian people. Show how the idea of separation stands related to each; and how the Church, as a whole, ought to stand to any separated members.

II SEPARATION AS AFFECTING THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS. Show that as fellowship depends on common Christian life and interests, we may reasonably expect it to triumph over differences in modes of worship, places of worship, and even over diversities of opinion.

III SEPARATION AS AFFECTING THE RELATIONS OF MINISTERS TO SECTIONS. Especially point out the peril of overestimating the point of division, and setting it in undue prominence in public teaching. A minister may preach sectional opinion rather than the whole counsel of God. R.T.

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

The way - The Christian way of worshipping God. He departed - Leaving them their synagogue to themselves. Discoursing daily - Not on the Sabbath only, in the school of one Tyrannus - Which we do not find was any otherwise consecrated, than by preaching the Gospel there.

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

9. This Tyrannus, who received Paul and his meeting, after his expulsion from the synagogue, was evidently one of Paul’s Jewish converts, keeping a private synagogue in the city.

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

See notes on verse 8

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.

9. When divers were hardened. As soon as they began to raise scenes of strife in the synagogue, he ceased to teach there. He removed the disciples from the synagogue, forming a separate body, and taught daily in the school of one Tyrannus. Either a place where lectures were given on Greek philosophy, or, as some have supposed, a rabbinical school. One Greek New Testament manuscript says he taught “from the sixth to the tenth hour,” specifying the hours that he had the use of the building.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

9. τινός omitted with אAB. Vulg. has ‘cujusdam.’

9. ὡς δέ τινες ἐσκληρύνοντο καὶ ἠπείθουν, but when divers were hardened, and believed not, that is, refused the persuasion spoken of in the previous verse. The same two verbs are found together in Sir 30:11 of the training of a son, θλάσον τὰς πλευρὰς αὐτοῦ ὡς ἔστι νήπιος μήποτε σκληρυνθεὶς ἀπειθήσῃ σοι.

κακολογοῦντες τὴν ὁδὸν ἐνώπιον τοῦ πλήθυς, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude. The evil speaking is the final manifestation of the hardening. The Apostle continued his exhortations to stonyhearted hearers for three months, but when their obstinacy changed into malignity he left them, ἡ ὁδός was soon given as a distinctive name to ‘the Christian religion.’ See note on Act 9:2 and cf. below Act 19:23.

It was not mere opposition to the arguments of the Apostle which these Jews employed, they took occasion to excite the crowds of the city against him. And it would seem from Act 19:33, where the Jews attempt to put forward a spokesman in the tumult, that they wished the heathen populace to believe that Paul was not approved of by his own nationality.

ἀποστὰς ἀπ’ αὐτῶν, departing from them, i.e. ceasing to take part any longer in the services at the synagogue, through which the evil speaking had been aroused.

ἀφώρισεν τοὺς μαθητάς, he separated the disciples. The Christian part of the congregation, with any of the Jews who were attracted more than the rest by his teaching.

διαλεγόμενος, reasoning (as in Act 19:8). Among these more sympathizing hearers, he would only have to set forward the arguments for the faith which he preached unto them. His teaching now could go on constantly (καθ’ ἡμέραν), and was not confined to the synagogue times of service.

ἐν τῇ σχολῇ Τυράννου, in the school of Tyrannus. This teacher, whether a heathen or a Jew, was a man well known. Otherwise we can conceive no reason for the mention of a proper name. As the name is Greek, some have thought that the place meant was the lecture-room of a philosophic teacher; others, thinking that St Paul would hardly have chosen such a place for his preaching, have preferred to consider it a Jewish school or Beth-Hammidrash, in which his Jewish hearers would be more willing to assemble. Since the listeners are described, in the next verse, as being partly Jews, and partly Greeks, it is impossible to arrive at a conclusion. No doubt the Jews in Ephesus were numerous enough to render such ‘schools’ necessary for their education, and in their intercourse with Gentiles they not unfrequently adopted a Gentile name in addition to their Jewish one. So Tyrannus may have been a Jew.

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.

9.] Probably the school of Tyrannus was a private synagogue (called Beth Midrasch by the Jews), where he might assemble the believing Jews quietly, and also invite the attendance of Gentiles to hear the word. But it is also possible that, as commonly supposed, Tyrannus may have been a Gentile sophist. The name occurs as a proper name, 2 Macc. 4:40 Ed-vat. (Αυρανου ),—and with τινος (see var. readd.).

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