Acts 17:7 Whom Jason has received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. Thessalonica, though a free city, was yet under imperial government, and the Jews therefore appeal to the emperor's decree, probably to the edict of Claudius (Acts 18:2), as at least showing the drift of the emperor's policy, even though it was not strictly binding except in Rome and the coloniae. This, however, might prove an insufficient weapon of attack, and therefore they add another charge, to which no magistrate throughout the empire could be indifferent (Luke 23:2; John 19:12). The preachers were not only bringing in a relligio illicita, but were guilty of treason against the majesty of the empire; they said there was "another King." It is clear from the Epistle to the Thessalonians that the kingdom of Christ, and specially His second coming as King, had been very prominent in the apostle's teaching (1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, and this may have furnished materials for the accusation. (Dean Plumptre.) Parallel Verses KJV: Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. |
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