Chapter Sixteen –
Second Journey of Paul
ACTS 16:16-24:
We began
this journey with Paul and Silas in
Antioch of Syria;
they then traveled through the rest of
Syria
and through the region of
Cilicia
strengthening the Bodies of Christ
along the way. When they came to the area of the two cities of
Lystra and Derbe,
they will pick up young Timothy to travel with them. They delivered the
decrees to these cities which strengthened them to a productive unity. From
here they will travel to two new areas of Asia Minor;
Phrygia and Galatia.
Luke does not record anything about these visits and Paul will not return to
these regions until
Chapter 19.
Passing
through the region of Mysia (having been forbidden by the Spirit of God to
go into Asia and Bithynia at this time), Paul and his group have come to
Troas.
Here at Troas, Paul will have a vision encouraging him to go to Macedonia
and bring the Gospel. As they determine to go to Macedonia, we learn that
Luke joins them.
They set
out across the Aegean Sea and cross with relative ease, stopping at the
island of
Samothrace,
and the next day arriving at
Neapolis,
the sea port town for Philippi. From Neapolis they head straight to
Philippi,
the chief city of this region.
Please use
the map provided:
http://www.plvcc.org/index.html?/articles_live_by_faith/image2/CNM19-Pauls2ndJourney.gif
Note:
Before we begin to look into the work of Paul here in Philippi, I would like
to share with you, from his own words, some things to consider as we look at
the events in Philippi, note:
Philippians 4:8-9
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever
things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things
are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are
of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is
anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
9
The things
which you learned and received and heard and saw
in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
As Paul
writes back to the Christians established by the preaching of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ here in Philippi, he reminds them of all the properties
necessary to learn, and states that they have witnessed all of them in his
actions among them. We will in the next lessons begin to look at three
examples of these events to be noticed and recalled by these brethren and
you and me.
Text #1:
Acts 16:16-19
“Now
it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with
a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by
fortune-telling.
17
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the
servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
18
And this she did for many days.
But Paul,
greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name
of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.
19
But when
her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and
Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.”
Example
#2: Producing Good Works in the Face of Adversity!
As Paul is
going to make his way to the same location he found Lydia and her household
in order to pray, he will come across a slave girl who is the source of much
profit for her masters.
Spirit of
Divination:
This is
from the Greek “Ruthun”, and used
in the since of ‘the spirit of a large snake’. Ruthun is the rudimentary
word for the English ‘Python’. These are very similar to the Hebrew word
used in
Genesis 3, translated to the English ‘Serpent’.
Luke is
stating that a spirit of unsavory character has entered her and enabled her
to practice soothsaying for her masters.
Yes, this
had to be a fact in order for the Apostolic power through the Spirit of God
to demonstrate that the name of Jesus Christ had power over all
principalities and powers, whether in heaven or on earth (Matthew
28:18;
Philippians 2:9-11; etc…). God’s allowance of this for a time,
was a sign for all of us, testifying of the authenticity of the word
delivered by the Apostles of Jesus the Christ (Mark
16:20). Everything that has been revealed always has purpose and
order, nothing is random. Since the word is once delivered and testified of,
there is no further need to demonstrate this any longer (Jude
3;
2
Peter 1:16-21).
Come Out of
Her:
The claims
of the slave girl were absolutely true concerning who Paul and Silas were,
and they came to people who had some confidence in her utterances; so, why
did this annoy the Apostle to the Gentiles so much?
The answer
of course is found in Luke’s description of the source of the claims. To
accept demons as witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus as the Christ would be to
convince the people that there was an alliance between them and the words of
the Apostles!
This would
be like advertising an invitation to come and worship with the saints on the
side of a beer delivery truck. Thus all good report would be lost due to the
nefarious source used to broadcast the truth. To guard against this
association with evil in any way, both Jesus (see:
Mark
1:34;
3:11-12) and His disciples cast out demons. This demonstrated
that they abhorred evil in any form (Romans
12:9), and that they wielded a greater power than that of evil,
one capable of delivering man from evil (Ephesians
6:11)!
Text #2:
Acts 16:20-24
“And they brought them to the magistrates, and said,
“These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city;
21
and they
teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or
observe.”
22
Then the
multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their
clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23
And when
they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison,
commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
24
Having
received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their
feet in the stocks.”
Magistrates:
This term
is used in the English to explain Praetors, or judicial rulers. Since this
is the chief city in this Roman province, it should not surprise us to find
the regions judicial rulers located here.
Persecution:
Paul knew
great persecution from the Jews as he preached Jesus as the Christ; however,
starting here, we will find that the only time the Gentiles persecuted the
Apostle sent to them was when he removed their source of income (we will see
another instance of this when he is sought by the guild of silversmiths in
Ephesus –
Acts
19:23-41).
Commanded a
Beating:
The first
thing to note as the masters of this young woman bring them to the
magistrates is that neither Luke nor Timothy is brought. It may be that they
only brought Paul and Silas because they were Jews and it seems there
is no love for Jews in Philippi.
The second
thing to note is they don’t charge Paul and Silas with the miracle, but that
“they teach customs which are not
lawful for Romans to receive or observe.” This can only be a reference
to the one true God, versus the Caesars of Rome who often proclaimed
themselves gods.
At any
rate, the swift anger of the people and the magistrates is going to cause
them to commit a grievous error. They are going to administer judgment on
Paul and Silas without trial, thinking them to be Jews, instead of
determining that Paul was a Roman citizen, and then worthy of due process.
Roman Scourge Instrument
This
sketch depicts a Roman Flagrum which was designed to quickly remove the
flesh from the body of a victim.
The Romans
were masters at the administration of beatings (the practice known as
‘Flagrum’). There were commonly
only two punishments for crime in the Roman Empire, beatings and death (and
in the case of death, one was always beaten before being crucified). Since
Rome used capital punishment as a pure deterrent, beatings were administered
by the Romans in such a way as to make sure they were satisfied you would
never consider committing this crime again. This was a brutal punishment,
often employing both whips with stone, metal, or bone attached to the end of
the lengths and rods. The administration of the beating was subjective and
purely the purview of the supervisor of the beating (usually a centurion);
lasting until he was satisfied.
Luke uses
the terminology of “Many stripes”; which is the Latin ‘Verbera’,
both to describe the practice and to give the impression of the severity of
their punishment.
They are
then imprisoned in chains in their abused condition. This is where we will
find them in the next lesson.
Next: “Paul Never Allows an Opportunity to Pass!”