And they gave him audience - They heard him patiently.
Unto this word - The word “Gentile.”
Away with such a fellow - Greek: “take such a man from the earth,” that is, “put him to death.” It is language of strong indignation and abhorrence. The reasons of their induction were, not that they supposed that the Gentiles could not be brought into covenant with God, for they would themselves compass sea and land to make one proselyte, but:
- That they believed that Paul taught that they might be saved without conforming to the Law of Moses; and,
- His speech implied that the Jews were more hardened than the Gentiles, and that he had a greater prospect of success in bringing them to God than he had in regard to the Jews.