John Calvin Commentary Acts 16:11

"Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;" — Acts 16:11 (ASV)

This history shows, as it were, in a mirror, how sharply the Lord tested the faith and patience of His people by bringing them into great difficulties which they could not have overcome unless they had been endowed with remarkable steadfastness. For Paul's entrance into Macedonia is reported to be such that it might have caused him to give little credence to the vision.

These holy men, leaving the work they were engaged in, crossed the seas with great haste, as if the entire nation of the Macedonians would have come to meet them with an earnest desire to be helped. Now, the outcome is so far from corresponding to their hope that they are almost completely silenced.

When they enter the chief city, they find no one there with whom they could labor. Therefore, they are forced to go into the open country so they might speak in an obscure corner and wilderness. Indeed, even there they cannot find one man who will listen to their doctrine; they can only find one woman to be a disciple of Christ, and she was a foreigner.

Who would not have said that this journey, which turned out so unfortunately, was foolishly undertaken? But the Lord thus brings about His works through humble and weak means, so that His power may shine more clearly in the end. And it was most fitting that the beginnings of the kingdom of Christ should be so ordered that they might experience the humility of the cross.

But we must note the steadfastness of Paul and his companions, who, not being dismayed by such unsuccessful beginnings, try to see if any opportunity will present itself, contrary to their expectation. And certainly, the servants of Christ must struggle against all hindrances. Nor should they be discouraged, but continue on tomorrow if today no fruit of their labor appears, for they have no reason to desire to be more fortunate than Paul.

When Luke says that they stayed in that city, some would prefer to understand this to mean that they conferred or disputed, but the other translation is clearer. And the text persuades us to choose it, because Luke will shortly after declare that Lydia was the first-fruits of that Church. We may easily guess that the apostles went out of the city because no gate was opened to them in it.