Acts 16:21

21 and they're advocating customs that we can't accept or practice as Roman citizens."

Acts 16:21 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 16:21

And teach customs
The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read in the singular number, "custom or law"; referring to the doctrine of salvation by Christ, in whose name the spirit of divination was cast out of the maid, and whom they took for a new deity; and so concluded that the apostle and his company were introducing a new religious law or custom, the worship of another God: which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being
Romans;
for the city of Philippi was a Roman colony, and so the inhabitants of it called themselves Romans; or these men might be strictly such, who were transplanted hither; and with the Romans, it was not lawful to receive, observe, and worship, a new or strange deity, without the decree of the senate ^F12.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Tertull. Apolog. c. 5. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 2.

Acts 16:21 In-Context

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities in the public square.

20 In front of the Roman officials, they said, "These men are stirring up a lot of trouble in our city. They're Jews,

21 and they're advocating customs that we can't accept or practice as Roman citizens."

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas. Then the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered [the guards] to beat them with sticks.

23 After they had hit Paul and Silas many times, they threw them in jail and ordered the jailer to keep them under tight security.