John Gill Commentary Acts 16:21

"and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to receive, or to observe, being Romans." — Acts 16:21 (ASV)

And teach customs The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read in the singular number, "custom or law"; referring to the doctrine of salvation by Christ, in whose name the spirit of divination was cast out of the maid, and whom they took for a new deity; and so concluded that the apostle and his company were introducing a new religious law or custom, the worship of another God:

which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans ; for the city of Philippi was a Roman colony, and so the inhabitants of it called themselves Romans; or these men might be strictly such, who were transplanted hither; and with the Romans, it was not lawful to receive, observe, and worship, a new or strange deity, without the decree of the senate ^F12 .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Tertull. Apolog. c. 5. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 2.