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 my favorite Bible characters…!

Barnabas was sent to Antioch by the Jerusalem leaders. When he arrived and surveyed the situation he immediately determined that he should find Saul and bring him. This again reflects Barnabas’ confidence in Saul’s conversion and his knowledge of Paul’s gifts. Paul was entirely literate, probably conversant in Greek and Aramaic, and was raised in the Roman city of Tarsus (modern Turkey). So he would have been well qualified to meet with those Hellenistic Christians in Antioch – a cosmopolitan city, third only to Rome and Alexandria in the Roman Empire. It’s amazing how God puts the people he needs in the places where they are needed. So ask yourself about yourself…? Are you where you are needed?

Slava Bohu!

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 today, I thought further in the book of Acts how often Luke focuses on the apostles’ mission to the Gentiles. We saw Philip’s ministry in chapter 8, now Peter’s ministry in Acts 10-11, and Paul and his companions’ ministry in Acts 13, ff. It’s an important item for Luke, and I began to wonder at his origin, wondering if he had been a Gentile himself. The Encyclopedia Britannica confirmed the likelihood of that possibility (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Luke). That will be something to watch for as we move forward.

Another item that struck me today was the Jerusalem apostles’ ready acceptance of Peter’s story and God’s work among the Gentiles. They seem completely confident of Peter’s leadership and their trust in God working through him. Our spiritual leaders today also need that affirmation – the challenges they face from within and from without are substantial. They need our prayers and support!

Slava Bohu!

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 faith in Christ”. But they don’t go on to explain that caveat. I think my Study Bible notes were written by Baptists! I’d have rather they explained what was meant by “acceptable to Him”. But this item is a longer theological discussion…!!

God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. (vv. 40-41) The Gospels only report on Jesus’ appearances with His disciples, but in reading about these appearances I had never thought about Jesus not appearing to others beyond His disciples. But Peter makes it clear here that Jesus appeared only to His disciples, which begs the question – why did Jesus not appear to anyone except His disciples? I’m imagining the impact He might have had if He had appeared to Pontius Pilate or to Annas or Caiaphas or other influential Jewish leaders. Look at the impact He had on Paul – and on the entire Christian Church to this day – when He appeared to him. But please bear with me – with all that, it is always clear to me that I am not God!! He did what He did for His purposes. It was just an intriguing item that I had not considered before – why Jesus appeared only to His disciples…

And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. (v. 45) This is a striking outcome, completely unexpected by Peter and his friends. I posted yesterday about Cornelius’ “expectant faith” – his expectation that things would be done according to what he believed God was doing. So here we have an example of an “un-expectation” – God “showed up” in the form of the Holy Spirit and surprised Peter and his friends. So yesterday I posted about “expectant faith”. Now today we need to also consider “unexpectant faith” – God can and will show up when we least expect Him. That is, when there are “hard cases” out there where we don’t see any possibility for God to act – He can! I have two in mind right now and I will be praying for them as soon as I post this! Thank you, Lord!

Slava Bohu!

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) he must have been expecting something special to occur when Peter arrived. The fact that an angel had appeared to him probably made it easier for him to have that confidence in Peter’s arrival and to bring his family and friends to his house.

Second, a bit of geography. Caesarea is about 30 miles north, up the coast from Joppa. Cornelius’ vision occurred around 3:00 pm and he sent his couriers out soon thereafter. They probably had a few hours travel that day and into the afternoon the next day before getting directions and arriving at Peter’s. Peter decided that it was too late to start back that same day so he gave the couriers the night to rest, taking off the next morning. They probably got most of the way to Caesarea that day and arrived probably mid- to late-morning or early afternoon at Cornelius’ house. So, reading between the lines, not only did Cornelius expect that Peter would answer his call, but he had every expectation of Peter’s relatively urgent response and fully expected the entourage to arrive sometime midday the fourth day, enough so that he could have his family and friends there when Peter arrived.

What I am pointing out with these observations here is more than simple faith on Cornelius’ part – it was EXPECTANT faith!! Cornelius fully expected that God would do whatever He would and that He would do it with little time lost. Cornelius went from God-fearing to God-trusting to God-active in his life. Cornelius sets a good example for us – so where is our expectant faith?

Slava Bohu!

Acts 10:17-23

In an unworthy, hastily written post late yesterday I remarked on the “voice” (Acts 10:13, 15), with a comment that it was a “voice”, not an angel or the Holy Spirit. Today we correct that observation. Today’s reading specifically says …the Spirit said to him… (v. 19). Interestingly the delegation from Cornelius tells Peter that Cornelius …was directed by a holy angel… (v. 22). So, is this contrast important – that the Spirit spoke to Peter, a believer, while an angel spoke to Cornelius, not yet a believer? With Jesus Himself appearing to Paul as an exception, I wonder if God sends angels to nonbelievers and the Holy Spirit to believers. Back in chapter 8 it was both an angel and the Spirit (Acts 8:26, 29, 39) speaking to and acting upon Philip. I don’t think we can nail God down on this one!

Cornelius is again accorded high praise by Luke (Acts 10:22), just as we pointed out in yesterday’s discussion. But here we have him …well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, which is even stronger than we saw in the earlier passage: the whole Jewish nation!! Consider the implications of that phrase. Cornelius is a centurion in the Roman Cohort, a man highly visible to all the residents of Caesarea. Caesarea, itself, is a major city, a seaport and one of the leading cities of Judea, second only to Jerusalem. We will see Cornelius’ conversion in the next few days. Imagine the multiplication impact his conversion might have had for the whole Jewish nation!! Could this event have been the beginning of an evangelistic “crusade” in Caesarea? Recall that Philip was already likely residing there! Luke will have Peter back in Jerusalem to report on this event, with not much more said of Caesarea. So we’ll never know what wonders God worked there.

But there is a bottom line to all this: God has worked His wonders out with common people and with highly-placed people – even with those of us who are writing and reading these words!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 10:9-16

9:27 pm, a full day after RTB, and I suddenly realized that I had not posted today. But quickly – the one thing that stuck out for me was that …there came a voice to him (v. 13). Not an angel, not God – a voice. Strange!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 10:1-8

An item from yesterday, repeated today… Yesterday’s Acts 9:43 and today’s verse 6 noted that Peter was staying in Joppa with “Simon, a tanner”. My Study Bible noted that a tanner would have regularly dealt with the skins of dead animals and therefore would have been unclean and rejected by “devout” Jews. Peter’s decision to stay with Simon would indicate that he may have already been moving away from traditional Jewish notions of clean and unclean, thereby preparing him for what God would be doing to him and through him in the remainder of this chapter.

Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. (v. 4b) Earlier verse 2 also indicated that Cornelius …gave alms generously to the people. So the angel noted that Cornelius’ generosity was known to God, that God had heard him. I have no doubt that God desires our own generosity to those in need – in my growing-up years the Catholic Church had giving to the poor as one of their “corporal works of mercy”. But I wonder if God’s recognition of Cornelius’ generosity is part of the foundation of the Catholic Church’s teachings on indulgences, an item that Luther had railed about in his “95 Theses” – the actual title of which was “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/bible-answers/theology/luther-95-theses-protestant-reformation.html). Indulgences notwithstanding, giving to the poor and needy is a worthy activity.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 9:31-43

My Study Bible pointed out that Jesus had brought three people back from death – Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5), the only son of a widow (Luke 7), and Lazarus (John 11). But there is one item particularly significant in Peter’s raising Dorcas – before Peter spoke and Dorcas awakened, Peter knelt down and prayed (v. 40). He knew that he was powerless, except in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I wonder about his demeanor. Was Peter certain of the Lord working through him or did he have some doubt that Dorcas could come alive? Was he surprised when Dorcas woke up or was he more confident than ever? And what exactly had he prayed – “…Your will be done…”? Intriguing!

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. (v. 31) I wonder if Saul’s conversion was the main reason that the church had peace. Certainly he was a dominant figure in the early persecution of the Christians, but had he been the ringleader, the acknowledged head of the opposition? Also intriguing…!

Now as Peter went here and there among them all… (v. 32) Peter, a modern-day bishop, visiting “congregations” throughout the region… What a remarkable turnaround for the man who had denied Jesus!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 9:20-30

More Saul activity today… When many days had passed… (v. 23a) Luke writes “many days”, but to learn more we have to go to Paul’s own writings. He tells his story in Galatians 1:13 ff, and his “many days” turns out to be three years. So he was in Damascus and the neighboring Arabian desert for these three years before he ever went up to Jerusalem. During that time in the desert he apparently spoke regularly with either Jesus or the Holy Spirit. A good bit of Internet searching yielded this statement regarding the Galatians 1:13, ff. text: “The point Paul is making to the Galatians is that there has never been any question about the content of the Gospel. The same Christ taught Peter and Paul, and both men were in complete agreement.” The source of this statement goes into greater detail and is worth reading: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-preparation-of-paul/.

More on Saul… Many are fond of saying that “Paul became a basket case.” (v. 25) One item that I always like to point out is the role of Barnabas, one of my favorite Bible characters. When even after three years the disciples in Jerusalem were afraid to meet with Saul, it was trustworthy Barnabas who brought him forward and defended him. (v. 27) We had earlier met Barnabas in Acts 4:36 when he sold land and gave the money to the apostles. We will see him again at length in Acts 12:25, ff.

We have often heard that Paul on his missionary journeys would begin in the local synagogues. Here in verse 20 we see the beginning of that activity. Ironically Saul was on safe ground in the synagogues. After all, he had come to Damascus to arrest followers of “the Way”, so to faithful Jews Paul was a friend and would have been freely admitted. However, once in their midst he began preaching Jesus – that must have been a shocker to the Jews!! I remember in my own early “born again” days how excited I was in my new faith – how I got the local (campus) Catholic Church to begin a Bible Study on Mark; how I visited the Christian bookstore in my hometown and connected with some of the churches there; and how I met up with a former girlfriend to tell her of my new life in Christ. I’m still excited about Jesus – come to Avanza and see!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 9:10-19

Ananias: Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to Your saints at Jerusalem. (v. 13) Luke writes that The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Acts 7:58) I’ve always imagined this “young man named Saul” to be a young bystander – and maybe he was. But only a few verses later Luke writes that “…Saul was ravaging the church.” He must have been a violent young man – his reputation had spread some 100 miles north, to one of the major cities in the Roman Empire. And his humbling was as powerful as his ravaging. Knocked from his horse, struck blind, upbraided by Jesus Himself, led like a beggar to town, and no food or water for three days. Ananias must have been a welcome sight – when he finally regained his!

I’m imagining the conversation between Ananias and Saul. From the text (vv. 10-16) we know that Ananias had a personal relationship with the Lord, to have such a lengthy conversation with Him. We can also imagine Ananias to be one of the leading Christian figures in Damascus – or at least clearly plugged in – since he was well aware of Saul’s Jerusalem activities and that Saul had authority from the chief priests to ravage Damascus. So I imagine Saul rightly and completely humbled before Ananias and I imagine Ananias to be a loving, forgiving father-type to him. I can imagine Ananias quoting Joseph, …you meant evil…, but God meant it for good…, (Genesis 50:20). And I imagine that Saul was fully comforted by Ananias and his loving demeanor. What a joyful baptism that must have been for all who were there! Glory!!

Slava Bohu!