to enter (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
synagogue
συναγωγὴνsunagōgēn
G4864
an assemblage of persons · noun — accusative singular feminine
boldly
ἐπαρρησιάζετοeparrēsiazeto
G3955
to be frank in utterance · verb — imperfect middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
of
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
three
τρεῖςtreis
G5140
"three" · adjective — accusative plural masculine
months
μῆναςmēnas
G3376
a month · noun — accusative plural masculine
disputing
διαλεγόμενοςdialegomenos
G1256
to say thoroughly · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, nominative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
persuading
πείθωνpeithōn
G3982
to convince (by argument · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
things
τὴνtēn
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — accusative singular feminine
concerning
περὶperi
G4012
properly · preposition
kingdom
βασιλείαςbasileias
G932
properly · noun — genitive singular feminine
God
θεοῦ.theou
G2316
figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things…
Acts 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persu…
Acts 9:20-22 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that y…
Acts 13:14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put i…
Acts 14:1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of th…
Acts 17:1-3 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 19:8-12
Paul is here very busy at Ephesus to do good.
I. He begins, as usual, in the Jews' synagogue, and makes the first offer of the gospel to them, that he might gather in the lost sheep of the house of Israel, who were now scattered upon the mountains. Observe,
1. Where he preached to them: in their synagogue (Act 19:8), as Christ used to do. He went and joined them in their synagogue-worship, to take off their prejudices against him, and to ingratiate himself with them, while there was any hope of winning upon them. Thus he would bear his testimony to public worship on sabbath days. Where there were no Christian assemblies yet formed, he frequented the Jewish assemblies, while the Jews were not…
he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for . . . three months, &c.--See on Act 17:2-3.
Adam Clarke on Acts 19:8
Spake boldly - three months - We have often remarked that St. Paul, in every place, made his first offers of salvation to the Jews; and it was only when they rejected it, that he turned to the Gentiles; see Act 18:6. And the same line of conduct he pursues here: he goes to the school of Tyrannus, at least a public place, to which all might resort, when they obstinately rejected the Gospel in the synagogue.
Disputing and persuading - Διαλεγομενος, και πειθων, Holding conversations with them, in order to persuade them of the truth of the doctrine of Christ.
John Gill on Acts 19:8
And he went into the synagogue,.... Of the Jews at Ephesus, for it seems to have been a private house, where he had met with the twelve baptized disciples, and had laid his hands on them; and these being Jews, as it seems most likely, by their having been baptized into John's baptism, the apostle went along with them to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his usual custom; having a very great desire, and an affectionate concern, for the welfare of his countrymen the Jews:
and spake boldly for the space of three months; that is, he used great freedom of speech, and showed much courage and intrepidity of mind, in preaching the Gospel at the synagogue every sabbath day as it returned, dur…
The Church Fathers
See him in every place forcing his way into the synagogue, and in this manner departing thence. For in every place, he wished to have the occasion given him by them. He wished to separate the disciples thence, and to have the beginning for ceasing to assemble with them, given by the Jews themselves. He was henceforth "provoking them to jealousy." For both the Gentiles readily received him, and the Jews, upon the Gentiles receiving him, repented. This is why he continually made a stir among them, "for three months arguing and persuading concerning the kingdom of God": for you must not suppose because you hear of his "speaking boldly," that there was any harshness: it was of good things that he discoursed, of a kingdom: who would not have heard him?
"And having entered in to the synagogue," etc. But why did he speak boldly? It means, he was ready to confront dangers, and disputed more openly, not veiling the doctrines. "But when some were hardened, and spake evil of the way, having departed from them, he separated the disciples." He put a stop, it means, to their evil-speaking: he did not wish to kindle their envy, nor to bring them into more contention. Hence let us also learn not to put ourselves in the way of evil-speaking men, but to depart from them: he did not speak evil, when himself evil spoken of. "He disputed daily," and by this gained the many, that, being evil intreated and evil spoken of, he did not utterly break away from them, and keep aloof. The evil-speakers are defeated. They calumniated the doctrine itself; therefore so as neither to rouse the disciples to wrath, nor disturb them, he withdrew, showing that everywhere alike they repel salvation from them.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Diana — So called by the Romans; called Artemis by the Greeks, the “great” goddess worshipped among heathen nations under various modifications. Her most noted temple was that at Ephesus. It was built…
Ephesus — The capital of proconsular Asia, which was the western part of Asia Minor. It was colonized principally from Athens. In the time of the Romans it bore the title of “the first and greatest metropolis…
John, Third Epistle of — Is addressed to Caius, or Gaius, but whether to the Christian of that name in Macedonia (Acts 19: 29) or in Corinth (Rom. 16:23) or in Derbe (Acts 20:4) is uncertain. It was written for the purpose…
Boldness, Holy · Exemplified: Paul — Exemplified: Paul
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Acts 19:8-12
8. And going into the synagogue, he spake freely about three months, disputing and persuading concerning the kingdom of God. 9. And when some waxed hard-hearted that they could not believe, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, departing from them he did separate the disciples, and disputed daily in the school of one Tyrannus. 10. And this he did by the space of two years, so that all which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11. And the Lord showed no small miracles by the hands of Paul. 12. So that from his body were brought napkins and partlets unto those that were sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits came…
When Paul laid his hands on them they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in other tongues and prophesied, thereby experiencing the same filling with God’s power and presence that the disciples had received on the day of Pentecost (2:4, 11).
