Escorted from Prison
With the other prisoner’s secured and the jailer a new follower of Jesus, Paul and Silas are welcomed into the guards home where his household puts their faith in the Lord and tends to the apostles wounds (Acts 16.33). At nearly one o’clock in the morning the Spirit of God is working overtime in the life of this family and its servants. Before sunrise everyone is baptized and served a hearty breakfast before returning to the prison.
Europe's First Christian
Acts 16.11 shows us how Paul entered Europe for the first time, through Neapolis to Philippi. The traveling apostle had been through much of the near and middle east, the Province of Asia, but never before set foot on European soil. He was a long way from home, but continued to stick to tried and true methods of evangelism. After all, people are people no matter the country from which they hail.
BFF's Part Ways
Speaking of division, at the end of chapter 15 we see a divide grow between the apostles Paul and Barnabas. The timing of their dispute should not be overlooked. They had just returned from Jerusalem where they were able to debate and amicably defend the gospel and Christian doctrine to everyone’s satisfaction, yet they can’t work out a personal disagreement.
The Return
After establishing a community of believers in Derbe, Paul and Barnabas had to decide the next leg of their journey. Surely they discussed the possibility of heading south to Tarsus and catching a ship back to Antioch in Syria. After having been stoned and left for dead, however, Paul likely worried about the fate of those churches they had established in Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch. They made the hard choice of retracing their steps to assure their brothers and sisters were well and to bring them the encouragement they surely needed.
Imprisoned!
When it comes to litigation we’ve got nothing on the ancient world, which is clearly evident once Paul exorcised a demon of divination from a slave girl. The girl’s owners were outraged when they learned her ability to make them money had vanished along with the evil spirit, and dragged Paul and Silas into court (Acts 16.19). Paul and Silas stood accused of teaching a religion that was not approved by Roman law, of which they were technically guilty.
Following God's Lead
We find Paul, Silas and now Timothy setting out to continue this second missionary journey (Acts 16.6-.10). They set out from Lystra and traveled through Iconium and Pisidian-Antioch and continued west wanting to take the message of the Messiah to the Province of Asia. The Province of Asia is now mostly modern day Turkey and nowhere near the current continent of Asia (which is east of their present position). In doing so they ran into the first of two road blocks.
In Whom Do You Trust?
It is appropriate after a discussion of the office of elder to turn to the first false teaching that threatened the early believers. In Acts 15 we see not only the false teaching, but how the church handled it. There is much for us to learn from this remarkable event, which begins with some Pharisees -- who believe Jesus is the Messiah -- coming to Antioch and adding to the gospel of grace.
...Goes Unpunished
When the crowds witnessed Paul healing the lame man (Acts 14.10), they immediately assumed Paul and Barnabas were the Greek/Roman gods Zeus and Hermes. Someone immediately ran to the temple of Zeus just outside the city and told him everything that had happened. The temple priest prepared sacrifices and gifts for the two “gods” and brought them to the city so they could honor their gods.
Oracle of Delphi Revisited
The rest of this chapter (Acts 16.16-.40) is packed with interesting concepts and teachings, so we’re going to go slowly and try to gain as much understanding as possible from the text. We begin with Paul’s encountering a woman possessed by a spirit of divination. In the Greek this is literally the spirit of Python, which is not surprising when one considers the location of these events.
Timothy Joins the Team
Speaking of division, at the end of chapter 15 we see a divide grow between the apostles Paul and Barnabas. The timing of their dispute should not be overlooked. They had just returned from Jerusalem where they were able to debate and amicably defend the gospel and Christian doctrine to everyone’s satisfaction, yet they can’t work out a personal disagreement.
The First Elders
Before continuing into chapter 15, we need to stop and look at a remarkable event that happened on Paul and Barnabas’ return journey. For the first time the term “elders” is used in church history.
No Good Deed...
Running for their lives, in Acts 14.8 we catch up with Barnabas and Paul in Lystra. Rather than going underground and covertly escaping their pursuers, once in the city they continued in their usual manner and boldly proclaimed the good news of Jesus the Messiah.
