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BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY
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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday November 20, 2016
PAUL’S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY BEGINS
Acts 16:1-15
Acts 16:1-15 chronicles the story of the beginning of the Apostle
Paul’s second missionary journey, which, for the first time, would lead him
into Europe. Along with Silas, and later, Timothy and Luke, Paul travels into
the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, which, at that time (around A.D. 50),
was a province of the Roman Empire.
The men had persistently tried to go north, deeper into the peninsula
of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), but the SPIRIT OF JESUS, by way of some
unexplained methods, had not allowed them to enter. With the issue of the basis
of “Gentile inclusion into the Church” officially settled at the Acts 15
council, Paul, now sets out with Silas, who had replaced Barnabas, on his
second missionary journey.
Paul and Barnabas had split after a disagreement concerning Barnabas’
cousin John Mark. Paul had become disappointed with John Mark, because he
abandoned them on their first missionary journey, while at Perga of Pamphylia
(Acts 13:13). Barnabas and John Mark had already set sail for Barnabas’
homeland, the island of Cyprus, to begin working their mission there.
Meanwhile, Paul and Silas make their first stop in Derbe, and then,
move on to Lystra, the home of Timothy, where Paul had preached on his first
missionary journey and was stoned by an angry mob and left for dead. The people
there had thought that he and Barnabas were the Greek gods Hermes and Zeus
after they had healed a cripple man. However, some Jews came down later from
Antioch and Iconium and turned the people against them, causing them to have to
flee to Derbe (Acts 14:8-19).
While in Lystra, Paul and Silas met the young Disciple Timothy, whose mother was
a Jewish believer, but whose father was a Greek. Timothy was well respected by
the believers in Lystra and Iconium, and so Paul asked him to join them on
their mission.
Out of respect for the opinion of the Jews in that area who knew that
Timothy’s father was a Greek, Paul arranged
for Timothy to be circumcised before they left. The three men then traveled
from town to town explaining the decision made by the Apostles and Elders at
Jerusalem, during the Acts 15 council. That decision, of course, stated that “Gentiles did
not have to be circumcised before becoming Christians”.
Next, Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled through the area of Phrygia
and Galatia, as the HOLY SPIRIT would not let them go any farther into Asia
Minor, at that time. They traveled on to Mysia, and again, tried to go north,
this time, into Bithynia, however, the SPIRIT OF JESUS compelled them, instead,
into the city of Troas. It is here that one of the eventual authors of the New
Testament, Luke,
joins the journey, and it is here that GOD shows Paul a vision, telling him to
go to Macedonia (Europe) and preach the Gospel there.
So the men boarded a boat and sailed from Troas to the
island of Samothrace. They spent the night there, and, the following day, they
landed in the port city of Neapolis. From there they went to the neighboring major city of
Philippi, a Roman colony at that time, in the district
of Macedonia, and they
abided there for three days.
On the Sabbath, they went down to the riverbank,
where some people,
who were worshipers of GOD, met to pray. They sat down to talk to some of the
women, who had come together there. One of them, Lydia of Thyatira, who was a
merchant of expensive purple cloth and a devout worshiper of GOD, listened
intently and opened up her heart to what Paul and his companions were saying
about CHRIST.
She immediately accepted what they were saying and was
baptized, along with other members of her family. Lydia
then insisted that Paul
and his entourage come to her house as her special guests. She and her family
had, that day, become the first Europeans in recorded Scripture to accept
CHRIST into their lives, and this was truly a cause for celebration.
And so we see, at a time when it seemed that all doors were being shut
to Paul and his companions, it turns out that GOD, in HIS infinite wisdom, had
something much greater in store for those who were willing to work according to
HIS will. It must have seemed strange to Paul, being blocked from the Roman
province of Asia by the HOLY SPIRIT, but no one can ever know and understand
the eternal plan of GOD.
Ironically, as history would have it, Asia Minor would become the
place that was to contain all of the recipients of the letters to the seven
churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation by the Apostle John.
Paul and his entourage were then compelled to go the route of
Alexander the great, whom GOD had used some 400 years earlier to spread the
Greek language and culture all over world. HE had by doing so, set the stage for the writing of
the New Testament, of which Paul himself would be its most prolific writer.
The world had already seen the translation of the Old Testament Hebrew
Scriptures into what then had became the universal Greek language of the
“Septuagint” (Greek version of the Old Testament) at Alexandria over 200 years
earlier. And so, here we see GOD putting into
motion, the wheels that would help move the teaching and preaching of the
Gospel to new heights in generations to come.
Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy all believed in the sovereignty of GOD
over all things. And we can see, quite vividly, throughout the Book of Acts,
how that belief impacted their everyday life and travels. And as for the
Thyatiran woman, Lydia, and her family, they, in a very special sense, had
become immortalized, through their faith and belief in
CHRIST.
Lydia and her family will forever be
remembered, as the
first European family to accept our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. And her first act as a
Christian was, ironically, to invite other Christians into her home. It is the kind of human action
that CHRIST had, years earlier, commanded us to perform.
It is true that, before we
can offer our love, charity, and ministry to people in the Church, and, in the
world, we must first show, and be able to offer that same love, charity, and
ministry to people within our own homes.
Oftentimes we look at home as a place where we
can go to shut the world out; however, equally, our homes should be a place with an open door. The
effectiveness of our ministry at church is always predicated upon the life we
live at home. The way to a changed home, church, job, and life, has always
been, through a changed heart.
PAUL AND SILAS IN PRISON
Acts 16:16-40
Taking up at verse 16 we
see Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke all going down to a place where Christians
often went to pray. On the way there however, they came across a
demon-possessed servant girl who was adept in fortunetelling (pytho), and whom
made lots of money for her superiors by applying her counterfeit skills. On
this occasion she saw an opportunity to pipe into a new market by attaching
herself to these popular men of the newly founded Christian movement.
And so she decided to follow along behind
these powerful ministers in an attempt to endear herself to the Christian
Church followers of CHRIST. She praised the work of Paul and the other men and
pretended to be a believer, and she continued on with her antics for several
days.
Finally Paul, being fed
up her posturing, and trying to promote herself in the Church, in pursuit of
financial gain for her superiors, Paul turned abruptly, and commanded in the
name of JESUS that the demon come out of her (v.18). The demon instantly left
the young girl, taking with it, her ability ply your trade in witchcraft and
fortunetelling.
This action by Paul
shattered the hopes and dreams of her superiors and dealt a heavy blow to their
livelihood. And so the men grabbed Paul and Silas, because they were Jewish,
and dragged them before the authorities of the city, and all the people were in
an uproar shouting that Paul and Silas were teaching the people to do things
that were contrary to the customs of Rome.
In those days the Jews
were being heavily persecuted throughout the Roman Empire because of their
teachings about CHRIST. They were actually being expelled from Rome altogether,
by the Emperor Claudius, and so it didn’t take much goading the stir up a mob
against the two pure-blood Jewish members of the group.
Probably the reason why
Luke and Timothy weren’t taken was likely because of their pedigree. Luke was
Gentile, and Timothy was half-breed. Although Timothy’s mother was Jewish, his
father was Gentile, and so the men felt pretty comfortable taking the Jews to
jail because they felt sure that they had the backing of the emperor, and
weren’t in danger of violating any of Rome’s civil disturbance ordinances.
And so a mob quickly
foamed against Paul and Silas, and the civil leaders took them into custody and
had them stripped, severely beaten, and thrown into prison (v.22). The jailer
was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape, and so he secured them in the
inner dungeon and placed shackles on their feet as an extra measure of
precaution.
Suddenly around midnight
as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to GOD, a great earthquake came
and shook the foundation of the prison so hard that all the cell doors came
open, and the chains of all the prisoners came loose and fell to the floor.
The jailer woke to find
the prison doors open and naturally assumed that all the prisoners had escaped.
At that point he was so afraid of what the city officials would do to him, that
he drew his own sword planning to kill himself, rather than to face punishment
from his superiors. At that point, however, Paul called out to the distraught
jailer, reassuring him that they were all still sitting in their cells.
Trembling with fear, the
jailer called for lights and ran quickly to the inner dungeon and fell down
before Paul and Silas and asked them, “What must I do to be saved?” They told
the jailer, “Believe on the LORD JESUS and you will be saved, along with your
entire household”. Paul and Silas then shared the Word of the LORD with him and
all who lived in his household and each member believed.
Later the jailer washed
Paul and Silas’ wounds, and he and each member of his family were baptized.
Then he brought Paul and Silas to his home and prepared a meal for them, and
all the members of his house rejoiced and celebrated because they all believed
in GOD WHO saved them through Paul and Silas.
Apparently, after
feeding Paul and Silas, the jailer took them back to their cell, because the
following morning that is where we find them, as police officers were sent to
the jail by the city officials with a message to release the two men from
custody. But when the jailer informed the pair of the good news, surprisingly
Paul refused to leave unless the city officials came down to the jail
personally to release them.
Here in this final
passage of chapter 16, Paul and Silas decides to invoke their rights as Roman
citizens, and to protest the unjust actions that were perpetrated against the
two of them without due process of law. It was illegal to scourge a Roman
citizen, and it was also illegal to jail a Roman citizen without first trying
them to determine guilt or innocence.
When the police reported
back to the city officials, they were alarmed to hear that both Paul and Silas
were Roman citizens. For fear that they would come under fire from the Roman
government for their actions against Paul and Silas, the officials hurried down
to the prison, apologized to them, and then begged them to leave the city.
However, afterwards Paul and Silas returned to the home of Lydia instead, and
met with the believers there, encouraging them before leaving for Thessalonica.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
