Acts 19:1-20

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul’s third missionary journey. We had the beginning yesterday in just one verse (Acts 18:23), but only that he had begun traveling. The Apollos-Priscilla-Aquila-Paul-Holy Spirit connection is a bit confusing in chapter 18’s ending and chapter 19’s beginning. When he came to Ephesus Apollos knew only about the baptism of John (Acts 18:25). Paul had left Priscilla and Aquila behind when he left Ephesus (Acts 18:19) and they instructed Apollos more accurately (Acts 18:26). So Paul comes to Ephesus some many months later. But when he arrives in Ephesus after these many months, with Priscilla and Aquila having been there the entire time that he had been traveling, these Ephesians did not know about the Holy Spirit. Paul had been with Priscilla and Aquila some 18 months in Corinth; I would have thought that he would have instructed them more completely in the Holy Spirit and His work in believers’ lives. But these Ephesian disciples knew only of the baptism of John – what they might have learned from Apollos. So there is some confusion therein that I cannot resolve, as to Priscilla and Aquila’s ministry in Ephesus, or even the reality of Paul’s having visited there many months prior (Acts 18:19-21) – and no Holy Spirit knowledge!

Ephesus was a bustling port city during Paul’s three years there. (Their harbor has now silted over and it is some three miles from the Aegean Sea.) As a major commercial center, Paul’s ministry there was easily extended out into the rest of Asia (Acts 19:10) – actually Turkey/Asia Minor as we know it today. Later we will read the Epistle to the Colossians. The Colossians were very likely one of the beneficiaries of Paul Ephesian ministry, with Colossae being some 120 miles east of Ephesus.

I’m sure that we all have special verses from Scripture, verses that we have memorized or that have touched us in some special way. Today we have one of those for me, when the evil spirit answered the seven sons of Sceva: “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (19:15b) Yes, it’s a bit silly that this verse should always jump out at me – surely due to its silliness and not to it’s spiritual meaning. But there is something worthy of consideration: “Who are you?” Do evil spirits (or common, everyday people) recognize Jesus in me? In you? Who are you?

Blessings!

Acts 18:18-28

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul’s second missionary journey continued and ended, from Corinth to Ephesus to Caesarea to Jerusalem (likely) to Antioch and on to his third missionary journey – to Galatia and Phrygia.

Paul takes Priscilla and Aquila with him to Ephesus and leaves them there, which turned out to be a good move, since Apollos came to Ephesus and had to be instructed correctly by Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:24-26). One wonders why Paul did not leave Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth – why take them along at all? Clearly Paul was hearing from the Lord in all this!

There’s a lot of travel in verse 22: When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. It’s very likely that the church he greeted was the Jerusalem church. Jerusalem is about 2500 feet above sea level – we’ve talked earlier about travelers going “up” to Jerusalem even when it was a journey to the south. In addition, Caesarea is much closer to Jerusalem (about 75 miles) than to Antioch (250 miles), and the verse continues with Paul going “down” to Antioch (to the north and at sea level again). Luke leaves out a lot of intermediate information in today’s reading!

Verse 23 begins Paul’s third missionary journey. Then the chapter ends with a focus on Apollos. Remember this name. We’ll read about him again when we get to I Corinthians (I Cor 1:12, 3:4-11).

Blessings!

Acts 18:1-17

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul’s second missionary journey continued, in Corinth. Two leaders/rulers of the synagogue are mentioned, Crispus in verse 8 and Sosthenes in verse 17. More on each of them below.

Paul rejects the Jews and says that he’s going to the Gentiles (Acts 18:6). Then we see Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, turning to faith (Acts 18:8) and Paul moving in with Titius Justus, whose house was next to the synagogue. So even if Paul rejected the Jews, he was still readily available to them. And very possibly, many of the Corinthians who believed (Acts 18:8) could have been Jews.

We see the Jews hassling Paul again: …the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal… (v. 12) Why are they so persistent??!! The Roman proconsul would have none of it and dismissed them all. But then the Jews …seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. (v. 17) That sounds really strange. Did they beat Sosthenes because he also became a believer? Or maybe he was just sympathetic toward Paul? Later Sosthenes is mentioned in Paul’s introduction when he writes back to the Corinthians in his first letter: Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother… (I Corinthians 1:1) Is this Sosthenes in Paul’s Corinthian introduction the same man who was beaten in front of the proconsul? And if so, when did he become a “brother”? So this later mention could be the same Sosthenes as in verse 17 – or not.

Paul spent 18 months in Corinth (Acts 18:11), at times working as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3). Many smaller churches in Protestant denominations have pastors who have full-time or part-time jobs that are not related to their ministry. We refer to these pastors as “bi-vocational”. When we have U.S. missionaries in foreign lands also working full-time or part-time in other jobs, we refer to these missionaries as “tentmakers”. Paul’s “other job” in Corinth is where we get that phrase. Fundamentally, we should all be tentmakers, sharing the Lord with others in whatever we’re doing!

Blessings!

Acts 17:16-34

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul’s second missionary journey continued, Athens.

OK, the critical me coming out…, with repentance! In the past I have criticized Paul’s preaching in Athens (today’s reading). Yes, who am I to criticize Paul??!!! Moving on…

Paul’s sermons to date (and Peter’s and Phillip’s) have been “kerygmatic”: […the preaching of the gospel of Christ, especially in the manner of the early church. (www.dictionary.com/browse/kerygmatic)] Today’s sermon has very little of that. All that we see of “the Gospel” in today’s sermon is a call to repentance, a couple of pronouns, a Man reference, and the resurrection of that Man: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. (vv. 30-31) Except for his mention of idols, much of Paul’s sermon has to do with the physical world – creation and nationalities and philosophies. So in the past I have observed that Paul wrote letters to the Galatians, the Philippians, the Thessalonians, the Corinthians, and the Ephesians – places where he had preached and had converts, but no letters to Athens. That is, I had surmised, his preaching fell on deaf ears in Athens because it was not kerygmatic.

But I was wrong!! As was his custom, Paul first preached in the synagogue and in the marketplace. At the end of today’s reading we see the converts: But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (v. 34) That is, his preaching in the synagogue and the marketplace and the Areopagus (Dionysius was an Areopagite) had its impact – to draw some men and women to belief and to draw the philosopher crowd to want to hear more. All along I have focused on his “Mars Hill” (Areopagus) speech and not his prior preaching. So, in fact, Paul had been preaching the Gospel, probably daily in the synagogue and marketplace, and when he preached about creation to the Mars Hill crowd, he was speaking to them with reference to where they were – he connected to their surroundings so as to get their attention. And after his speaking, they wanted to hear more! (v. 32b) I’m sure that Paul had more to say about Jesus that is not recorded by Luke, but the point is made – we need to reach people “where they are”. Start by relating to them in where they are or in what they’re doing and move the conversation along. The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest. As I have said many times before, “Walk the walk and talk the talk.” We can do this!!

Blessings!

Acts 17:1-15

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul’s second missionary journey, continued, from Philippi to Thessalonica and Berea. Two things stand out for me today – first, so many conversions and then, Jewish anger. As to that first item, conversions in Thessalonica, And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.(v. 4) and then in Berea, Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. (v. 12) The “them” in “some/Many of them” refers to Jews from the synagogues. From his teaching/preaching, some Jews were persuaded, but not all. My sense is that it was the Jewish leaders who were not persuaded and who became jealous (Acts 17:5,13) when the less-learned Jews were persuaded; the leaders probably feared that they would lose many from their congregation.

As to the second item, Jewish anger, first in Thessalonica, But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob… (v. 5) This sounds so much like the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem bringing a mob to Gethsemane to arrest Jesus! And again in Berea, But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. (v. 13) It’s just really strange to me that the Jewish leaders were so opposed to this new religion that they followed the same pattern in Macedonia that the Galatian churches had followed on Paul’s first missionary journey, following him and attacking him wherever he went!

A third item. Paul explains three distinct items to those attending in the Thessalonian synagogue:

1. That Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah), and
2. That as the Christ He had to suffer, and
3. That as the Christ He had to rise from the dead.

Acts 17:3 says that Paul not only explained these things, but that he also proved them. As a young rabbinical student Paul was well trained in the Old Testament and could cite “chapter and verse” from …Moses and all the prophets… (Luke 24:27), especially Messianic verses from Isaiah. So he was able to prove to some of the Jews that their long-awaited Messiah had come. That would have taken a major leap of faith for those Jews who joined Paul and Silas to leave behind their Jewish friends (and leaders). Paul must have been very convincing!

Blessings!

Acts 16:16-40

Dear RTB’ers,

June 6, D-Day, 80 years since the Allied landing in Normandy and the beginning of the end of World War II. Less than a year later the European war was over. D-Day. A real Memorial Day memory.

Paul’s second missionary journey continued. In Acts 16:16-17 we have more “us” pronouns. We won’t see them again until Acts 20:5, during Paul’s third missionary journey. So where is Luke for this intermediate time?

I’ve always wondered at Paul and Silas allowing themselves to be beaten, when they were Roman citizens and should have been tried before a judge and jury before being punished. I feel like I would have claimed my Roman citizenship immediately! Paul had already been stoned in Lystra and left for dead. (Acts 14:19) Maybe he was remembering the Lord’s words to Ananias after his Damascus road experience: For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name. (Acts 9:16) Paul knew that he would be suffering as he spoke about Jesus; maybe he was just accepting that beating in stride, knowing the Lord had told him it would be so.

… [the jailer] put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (v. 24) The jailer put them in the inner prison, a much more secure location than the “entry-way” cells, and he put their feet in the stocks. All that seems excessive for two men who hadn’t even been formally tried! But then again, it makes their release that much more powerful!

Two sets of conversions here in Philippi – Lydia and her household (Acts 16:15) and the jailer and his family (Act 16:33) – the first through a peaceful prayer meeting and the second born out of substantial conflict. God works in peoples’ hearts, wherever and whenever He chooses. But He asks us to be His “boots on the ground”.

Lydia… It was on the way to their prayer meeting that Paul and Silas were apprehended, beaten and put in jail. So Lydia and her household and any other converts would have known about these events and very likely would have been praying for Paul and Silas – for their comfort and maybe even for their deliverance. So yes, Paul and Silas …were praying and singing hymns to God… (v. 25), but prayer on their behalf was probably being offered by the Lydia crowd. I can imagine the Lydia crowd rejoicing when Paul and Silas arrived at her house; I can hear them reporting about their own prayer time. And now as Paul and Silas have …encouraged them and departed (v. 40), the Lydia crowd can hold on to and regularly recall their prayer time and the Lord’s deliverance. Yes, I’m reading into the text thoughts that are not explicitly there, but there’s a point worth making: our prayers matter! Pray without ceasing! (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

So Acts 16, the Philippi story. When we get to Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, we’ll need to recall this Acts 16 incident. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is full of joy, surprising when Paul would have been remembering his and Silas’s suffering there. But my guess is that he is remembering those two sets of conversions! So what do we remember? Our past difficulties or the Lord’s saving grace? Or both!

Blessings!

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See also: November 30 (2023) / Acts 15:36-18:11

Acts 16:6-15

Dear RTB’ers, 

Paul’s second missionary journey continued, from Asia Minor (Turkey) to Macedonia/Greece. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (vv. 8-9) What’s strange to me in these two verses is that Paul is even at Troas. If you look at a map, the Galatian cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe are in east-central modern-day Turkey, directly north of Cyprus, very far inland from the western coast of modern-day Turkey. In fact, Galatian Antioch is closer to Syrian Antioch than it is to Troas. So, having visited those four Galatian cities where he had preached before, Paul continues northwest through Phrygia and Mysia. Paul had been prohibited by the Spirit to speak further in Asia (modern-day Turkey), so he was intending to go to Bithynia, on the northern coast of modern-day Turkey (the southern coast of the Black Sea), a couple hundred miles east of Istanbul. But he was prohibited by the Spirit to go there also. So his only course was westward, to the west coast of modern-day Turkey, where Troas was located. And at Troas, as fortune (and the Holy Spirit) would have it, he gets the call in a dream to cross the Aegean Sea to go to Philippi, a city in what was then Macedonia and is now in the northeastern strip of land in modern-day Greece.

Why is this strange to me? It took two prohibitions from the Holy Spirit and one dream to get Paul to where the Lord wanted him. That is, Paul had made his plans, but the Lord took over and gave Paul His plans! I look at Paul’s change-of-plans and compare his journey to how Carol and I have found our way to St. Andrew’s. I failed at Texas A&M University – I was denied tenure in 1990. I failed at the University of Delaware even though I was a visiting professor there. And the Episcopal Church failed to follow Scripture faithfully in 2003, leading to St. Andrew’s being formed and forcing us to look for fellowship outside the Episcopal Church. Three major failures and here we are!! Each of those failures was heartbreaking at the time, but the Lord had His plan for us. Blows me away when I really think about it…!!

And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (v. 10) No doubt, upon reading this verse the words “we” and “us” jumped out. Yes, this is the first occurrence of the “we” passages in Acts, that Luke had joined Paul on this second missionary journey. We will see quite a few more. I’ve previously mentioned that Luke is widely regarded as a great historian, both in his gospel and even more so for his narrative of Acts. He is now giving us a first-person account, which further strengthens his standing among Bible scholars and secular historians.

Another item in that verse stands out to me – God had called us to preach the gospel to them. I never think of Luke as a preacher. Clearly Paul and Silas were preachers and teachers, but upon seeing this verse anew I can easily see Luke standing up for the gospel alongside Paul and Silas.

Blessings!

Acts 15:35-16:5

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul’s second missionary journey. I’ve always been troubled by Paul and Barnabas separating over the issue of John Mark going along. But you may recall that Barnabas was John Mark’s cousin (Colossians 4:10, translated as “uncle” only in the KJV), so family ties would have prompted Barnabas to have Mark along. And as I ponder this further, I always remember Barnabas as an encourager; even his name translates as the “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). So I see that Barnabas wants John Mark to go along as an encouragement to this young missionary. But Paul is adamant against him going along and they separate. But, Paul and Barnabas going different directions meant a doubling of missionary activity. So, not all bad…

More geography… And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (15:41) Evidently Paul and Silas traveled by land to get to Derbe and Lystra (Acts 16:1). In so doing, they more than likely traveled through Paul’s hometown, Tarsus. Surprisingly, nothing is mentioned of that possibility, even though Paul and Silas went through “…Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” (15:41) Presumably there was more evangelism in Asia Minor than is reported in Acts. So, a question – might there have been a church in Paul’s hometown? Interesting!

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. (16:3) I imagine you wonder, along with me, as to why Paul had Timothy circumcised when the Jerusalem Council (yesterday in Acts 15) said there was no need for Gentiles to be circumcised. But Timothy’s mother was Jewish and his father was Greek, so he did not fall fully into either camp. My Study Bible suggested that it was for the sake of expediency, so that Paul’s work among the many Jews in that region would be more effective.

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. (16:4) There has been a lot of discussion among Bible scholars as to when the Jerusalem Council met. I won’t go into all that, but it seems clear from this verse that the Council met sometime between Paul’s first and second missionary journeys. If Paul is bringing the decisions of the Council to these cities, there is a clear suggestion that those decisions had not been made by the first time he visited these cities. Small point…

Blessings!

Acts 15:13-34

Dear RTB’ers,

Although we hail the Council of Jerusalem as a true success, with unity and leadership and some measure of compromise, I am troubled by one item: …we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions… (v. 24). We saw the beginning of this issue in yesterday’s reading: But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” (Acts 15:1) The issue became an issue when those “men from Judea” went off on their own without the blessing or the covering of their spiritual leaders. Granted, this issue would have come up later (and remained a problem, as we will see later in Acts), but these men created friction within the body by doing what they did. For us today, better to seek council before taking on controversial issues.

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us… (v. 28). This verse has always struck me positively every time I read it – “…to the Holy Spirit and to us…” The apostles and elders clearly had the Holy Spirit first in their lives – individually and corporately. And with that they were able to come to (what seems to be) unanimous agreement on the message that they were sending to Gentile believers. They had already used Scripture to support their resolution of the main issue (vv. 16-18, earlier, quoting Amos 9:11-12) and now Holy Spirit guidance in putting forth their message.

But there was one other item in their message – reality: the reality of life in the Gentile world and the reality of Jewish history and customs. The prohibition on sexual immorality and on sacrifices to idols struck directly at the Gentile world, where idol worship and cult prostitution were common. The apostles and elders wanted to make a strong statement to non-believing Gentiles that these Gentile believers were different, that they recognized only the one true God. The restriction on blood and strangling were targeted to Jewish believers, so that the Gentile believers would not offend their Jewish brethren. Both of these restrictions come from Leviticus 17:11, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Eating or drinking blood was clearly prohibited. And since there is no blood shed when an animal is strangled, the blood remains within and falls under the same restriction.

Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and reality – a good combination for us to live by.

Depending on the translation that you are reading, the following verse may be absent: But it seemed good to Silas to remain there. (v. 34) [NOTE: The ESV has it in a footnote.] But it’s a key verse, as we will see in a few weeks when Silas becomes Paul’s missionary companion.

“Encouragement” shows up twice in the last few verses –in verse 31 when the letter from the apostles and elders is read and in verse 32, when Judas and Silas strengthen and encourage the congregation. And it’s not the first time in Acts that we’ve seen “encouragement”, first and foremost with Barnabas himself, whose name means “Son of Encouragement”. I like encouragement!

Blessings!

Acts 15:1-12

Dear RTB’ers, 

First, a couple of brief geographical items… Paul and Barnabas (and a large contingent of Christians) are based in “Antioch”. This “Antioch” is Syrian Antioch, about 300 miles north of Jerusalem, on the northeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as opposed to Pisidian Antioch, which Paul and Barnabas had visited in Acts 13-14, in the heart of modern-day Turkey (Asia Minor). Most mentions of Antioch, with no context or qualifier, refer to Syrian Antioch, the “secondary head” of the church outside of Jerusalem.

The divisive issue is raised in verse 5: But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” And while circumcision is the divisive issue, it is worth noting that we see Pharisees as believers! Some of them have come a long way, no doubt influenced by Peter and John before their Council (Acts 3-4), Saul’s conversion and testimony (Acts 9, ff.), and other events in and around Jerusalem and Judea. Pharisees as believers is a huge step forward for the Jerusalem church!!

This Jerusalem Council, most of Acts 15, is a good lesson in church unity and leadership, often referred to when divisive issues arise within the church. After the issue was presented before them, The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. (v. 6). Then they took the time to hear from the major parties who had been at the forefront of the Gentile missions – Paul and Barnabas reporting on their missionary activity in Cyprus and in Asia Minor and Peter reminding the gathering of his visits to Samaria and Caesarea. But I think that the key item from the Jerusalem Council has to do with listening: And after there had been much debate… (v. 7); And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened… (v. 12). Let everyone speak and let everyone listen.

We’ll see tomorrow how this matter was resolved.

Blessings!