Acts 16:10
Called to preach the gospel to them
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
And when he saw the vision, immediately we endeavored to go forth to Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the LORD has called us to preach good news to them,
바울이 이 환상을 본 후에 우리가 곧 마게도냐로 떠나기를 힘쓰니 이는 하나님이 저 사람들에게 복음을 전하라고 우리를 부르신 줄로 인정함이러라
그가 그 환상을 본 뒤에 주께서 그들에게 복음을 선포하라고 우리를 부르신 줄로 확신하였으므로 우리가 즉시 마케도니아로 들어가려고 힘쓰니라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Acts 16:6-15 as a whole
The removals of ministers, and the dispensing the means of grace by them, are in particular under Divine conduct and direction. We must follow Providence: and whatever we seek to do, if that suffer us not, we ought to submit and believe to be for the best. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Acts 16:10
We sought to go into Macedonia - This is the first place in which St. Luke intimates his attendance on the apostle. And here he does it only in an oblique manner. Nor does he throughout the history once mention his own name, or any one thing which he did or said for the service…
Read the whole commentary →
Note
The Holy Spirit had kept Paul's company from speaking the word in the province of Asia, and the Spirit of Jesus would not let them enter Bithynia. At Troas, in the night, Paul saw a man of Macedonia pleading with him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9). This verse is the conclusion they drew.
As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Acts 16:10In this verse the story shifts from "they" to "we." Luke, the author of Acts, is commonly thought to have joined Paul here. The company sailed by Samothrace and Neapolis to the Roman colony of Philippi, "the leading city of that district of Macedonia" (Acts 16:12), and on the Sabbath spoke to the women gathered by the river. Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, was listening, and "The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message" (Acts 16:14); she and her household were baptized.
The verb is in the aorist infinitive, euangelisasthai, with "them" (autous) as its object: "to bring them the good news." "Had called," proskeklētai, is a perfect: the call was given and it stands. "Concluding" translates symbibazontes, a verb that means to put together, to bring into agreement; the company laid the closed roads beside the night vision and drew their conclusion together. The man in the vision asked for help. They understood that the help Macedonia needed was the gospel.
The KJV reads "the Lord had called us," the BSB "God had called us"; the Textus Receptus reads kurios, "Lord," and the critical text theos, "God." The KJV's "assuredly gathering" is a fine old rendering of symbibazontes, a conclusion pieced together from what they had seen; the BSB's "concluding" says the same in one word. Both say "preach the gospel," and the LSV, "preach good news."
Wesley sees Luke in the pronoun: "This is the first place in which St. Luke intimates his attendance on the apostle" Wesley. And he admires Luke's reticence: "Nor does he throughout the history once mention his own name" Wesley. Matthew Henry, on the closed doors before the open one, says simply, "We must follow Providence" Matthew Henry, and adds, "God's calls must be complied with readily" Matthew Henry.
Years later Paul wrote to the church at Philippi of "the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia" (Philippians 4:15) and thanked God for their "partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:5). The road opened by a vision in the night led to a church that shared the gospel with Paul for years.
The road in this verse did not open as planned. Twice it closed before the way across the sea opened. It is God who decides where the gospel goes, and the verse suggests that the help people most need, whether or not they know how to ask for it, is that news.