Acts 13:4-12 You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy… (v. 10) I chuckle every time I read Paul’s description of Elymas. I’m sure Paul was referring to his deeds, not his actual person, but he has harsh words, nonetheless! Recall that Peter had met up with …
Monthly Archives: February 2020
February 19 / Acts 13:1-3
Acts 13:1-3 That’s quite a diversity of prophets in Antioch – hailing from Cyprus, Crete, Tarsus, Lybia?, and Judea?! We have not heard much about Saul since his visit to Jerusalem and his going back home to Tarsus (9:26-30). It’s now been about ten years since his conversion. We saw that Barnabas went to Tarsus …
February 18 / Acts 12:20-25
Acts 12:20-25 Luke is fond of his “summary verses” (v. 24 today). We’ve already seen them in Acts 2:43-47, 4:32-35, 5:42, and we’ll see more in Acts 16:5, 19:20, 28:31. (From yesterday: “He’ll get his.”) Today, Herod got his! An awful, excruciatingly painful five days (Josephus), then death. I know that Jesus loved him to …
February 17 / Acts 12:11-19
Acts 12:11-19 …he <Peter> went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark. (v. 12) A footnote in my Study Bible indicated that Mary was Barnabas’ aunt – with a reference to Colossians 4:10. Looking there I find Paul referring to Barnabas and Mark as cousins. That lends some understanding …
February 16 / Acts 12:5-10
Acts 12:5-10 I’m wondering this morning if a movie has ever been made of Peter’s life. Think about it – a successful, prosperous fisherman, possibly with a number of employees, has his own comfy house in a leading Galilean city. Gets called by and follows Jesus and is in His company for one to three …
February 15 / Acts 12:1-4
Acts 12:1-4 Luke writes a lot in these four verses: James is killed; the Jews are happy; Peter is imprisoned; and the disciples are praying (oops, one verse too many!). Here we see an identification for one of the three “James” names – this one the brother of John and son of Zebedee. We had …
February 14 / Acts 11:19-30
Acts 11:19-30 (Barnabas) …he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord. (v. 23b) Here we see Barnabas again encouraging the believers as he did when he gave proceeds from the sale of land (4:36-37) and when he affirmed Paul to the Jerusalem church (9:27). One of …
February 13 / Acts 11:1-18
Acts 11:1-18 In today’s reading Luke retells the Cornelius incident from the previous chapter, this time from Peter’s perspective as he related the incident to the Jerusalem faithful. I have often found it strange that Luke repeated the incident in such detail, even word-for-word quotations in verses 7-9 and in verse 13. On considering that …
February 12 / Acts 10:34-48
Acts 10:34-48 Peter: Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. (vv. 34-35) Obvious question: Gandhi…? My Study Bible goes on to point out that Cornelius “qualified” under this guideline, but that was not enough – He “lacked …
February 11 / Acts 10:24-33
Acts 10:24-33 Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. (v. 24b) There are a couple of interesting items about this statement. First, Cornelius gathered all of those closest to him. So, (a) he must have had every expectation that Peter would come when he sent for him, and (b) …