John Calvin Commentary Acts 27:21

"And when they had been long without food, then Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss." — Acts 27:21 (ASV)

After long abstinence. Though Luke does not plainly express how the mariners and soldiers behaved, he does plainly distinguish Paul from them, declaring that he stood in their midst to comfort their faint hearts. For no one is fit to exhort but the one who is himself an example of constancy and fortitude.

Furthermore, Paul deferred this exhortation until they were all at their last extremity. We may easily gather from the common custom of unbelievers that they raged and made a great commotion at first. A moderate and soft voice could never have been heard amid those cries and tumults.

Now, after they were weary with working and howling, they sat still, all dispirited, and Paul began to speak to them. Therefore, it was fitting that they should languish like men half dead, until they were somewhat quiet and could hear a man who would give them good counsel.

Nevertheless, Paul seems to act unseasonably when he reproaches them for their foolishness, because they would not follow his counsel when all was well, since they knew that he was inexperienced in sailing, just as he himself also knew how unskilled and ignorant he was.

But if we consider what a hard matter it is to bring people to soundness of mind, this rebuke was very profitable. Paul’s authority would have been worthless, nor would it have influenced them at all, unless they recognized that it had not gone well with them because they had despised him before.

Chiding is indeed cruel and brings no comfort; but if it is tempered with some remedy, it then becomes a part of the medicine. So, after Paul had made the mariners attentive and had taught by the event itself that they ought to believe him, he exhorts them to be of good courage and promises them safety.

And this is a sign of no small boldness, when he says that they ought to have obeyed him. Therefore, he testifies by these words that he spoke nothing unadvisedly, but commanded them to do what God had prescribed. For though we do not read that he had some special revelation given to him then, yet he himself knew that the Spirit was secretly guiding him, so that he might without fear take it upon himself to give counsel, since he had the Spirit of God as his guide.

By this, what I mentioned recently becomes clearer: that Paul, in speaking this way, awakens the mariners so that they may more attentively hear what he will say. Otherwise, it would have been a ridiculous thing for a man who was in danger of drowning to promise safety to those who shared the same calamity.