Acts 27:22

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) And now I exhort you to be of good cheer.—Look and tone, we may well believe, helped the words. It was something in that scene of misery and dejection to see one man stand forward with a brave, calm confidence.

For there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you.—The quiet courage of the speaker’s tone must at once have struck the listeners, even before they heard the grounds on which that courage rested.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:21-29 They did not hearken to the apostle when he warned them of their danger; yet if they acknowledge their folly, and repent of it, he will speak comfort and relief to them when in danger. Most people bring themselves into trouble, because they do not know when they are well off; they come to harm and loss by aiming to mend their condition, often against advice. Observe the solemn profession Paul made of relation to God. No storms or tempests can hinder God's favour to his people, for he is a Help always at hand. It is a comfort to the faithful servants of God when in difficulties, that as long as the Lord has any work for them to do, their lives shall be prolonged. If Paul had thrust himself needlessly into bad company, he might justly have been cast away with them; but God calling him into it, they are preserved with him. They are given thee; there is no greater satisfaction to a good man than to know he is a public blessing. He comforts them with the same comforts wherewith he himself was comforted. God is ever faithful, therefore let all who have an interest in his promises be ever cheerful. As, with God, saying and doing are not two things, believing and enjoying should not be so with us. Hope is an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast, entering into that within the veil. Let those who are in spiritual darkness hold fast by that, and think not of putting to sea again, but abide by Christ, and wait till the day break, and the shadows flee away.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

There shall be no loss - This must have been cheering news to those who had given up all for lost. As Patti had manifested great wisdom in his former advice to them, they might be now more disposed to listen to him. The reason why he believed they would be safe, he immediately states.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21-26. But after long abstinence—(See on [2131]Ac 27:33). "The hardships which the crew endured during a gale of such continuance, and their exhaustion from laboring at the pumps and hunger, may be imagined, but are not described" [Smith].

Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened to me, &c.—not meaning to reflect on them for the past, but to claim their confidence for what he was now to say:

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Provided they would do as he required of them: see Acts 27:31. In God’s promises there is a tacit condition, which from the nature of the thing is to be understood; as in that which was made to Eli, mentioned 1 Samuel 2:30. Paul did foretell this so particularly, that when it was come to pass, he might gain the more reputation to the truth of the gospel which he preached, and more glory to that God whom he worshipped.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer,.... To take heart and courage, and not be cast down, though things had been thus with them, and they were now in a very melancholy plight and condition.

For there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship; the ship will be lost, but not one person in it: there will be a shipwreck, and so every man's life will be in danger, and yet not one will perish; and therefore there was reason to be of good cheer, since this was what they could not, and did not expect, all hope of being saved was gone: wherefore this, if they could but believe it, must be good news to all the company; and in order to engage them to believe it, the apostle adds,

Geneva Study Bible

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 27:22. καὶ τὰ νῦν, see on Acts 27:21, Paul would spare their reproaches, and rather awaken hope in their hearts (Bethge).—παραινῶ: only in Luke, here and in Acts 27:9. Hobart speaks of it as the verb employed for a physician giving his advice, and although the word is common in classical Greek, cf. also 2Ma 7:25-26 R, 3Ma 5:17; 3Ma 7:12 A, its frequency in medical usage may account for its occurrence in this “We” section only; see also Hawkins, Horæ Synopticæ, p. 153.—εὐθυμεῖν, cf. Acts 27:25; Acts 27:36, and Acts 24:10, elsewhere in N.T. only in Jam 5:10, but in classical Greek, and εὔθυμος in 2Ma 11:26. The verb, adjective, and adverb εὐθύμως are used in medical language of the sick keeping up spirit, opposed to ἀθυμία and δυσθυμία; εὐθυμεῖν παραινῶ might therefore well be a medical expression, Hobart, p. 280, although the verb εὐθ. is used intransitively, as here, in classical Greek, and in Plutarch.—ἀποβολὴ: only here in N.T., “there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship,” R.V., Winer-Moulton, lxvii. I.e., πλὴν with the genitive, Acts 8:1; Acts 15:28 (once elsewhere in N.T., Mark 12:32).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. And now] i.e. though my advice was formerly rejected I offer it again.

there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship] R. V. “no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.” This is more literal, but does not alter the sense. The Apostle now speaks in the confidence of a revelation. Formerly (Acts 27:10) he had reasoned from the probabilities of the case.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 27:22. Καί) The particle μὲν, put previously, required δὲ to follow, but καὶ has in it a degree of modesty.—[παραινῶ ὑμᾶς, I exhort you) Paul, however neglected his advice had been, is not angry notwithstanding, but proceeds to give wholesome advice in this place, and in Acts 27:33.—V. g.]—οὐδεμία, πλὴν, no loss—except) A marvellous prediction: Acts 27:24; Acts 27:34; Acts 27:44.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Life for any man's life, A.V.; but only for but, A.V, I exhort you to be of good cheer. Mr. Hobart remarks that this "has all the look of a doctor's expression, παραινεῖν being the term for a physician giving his advice," and "εὔθυμος εὐθυμεῖν, and εὔθυμως being used in medical language in reference to the sick keeping up their spirits, as opposed to ἀθυμία and δυσθυμυία (see ver. 25, note). Loss; ἀποβολή, only here and Romans 11:15; but found in Plato, Aristotle, Josephus, Plutarch, etc. Mark how the message of mercy and love follows the chastisement and its fruit of self-humiliation. In their prosperity and self-confidence they rejected Paul's word at Fair Havens; they listen to it at death's door. Acts 27:22