Chapter Eighteen –
Second Journey of Paul Continued
ACTS 18:6-11:
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. While here, Paul would live the very words
that he would later instruct the Philippian Christians to practice after him
(Philippians
4:8-9). He would go on to bring the Gospel to already religious
people, produce good works in the face of adversity, and never allow an
opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus as the Christ to pass. There would
be great success in the power of the Gospel at Philippi.
From
Philippi, Paul will travel to
Thessalonica
and preached to the Jews and devout Greeks in the synagogue with much
success. The unbelieving Jews would stir up a mob and attempt to bring Paul
and his traveling companions out to the people. This would be unsuccessful;
however, it forced the brethren to send Paul and Silas away by night to
Berea.
Paul would enter the synagogue and bring the Gospel of Jesus as the Christ
to these Jews with a much different universal result. They searched, proved,
and readily accepted Paul’s evidence and teaching; however, Jews from
Thessalonica came to Berea and stirred up trouble there. The brethren sent
Paul away by ship to
Athens.
Upon arrival in Athens, and while he is waiting for Silas and Timothy, he
begins to speak in the cities synagogue and market place (Paul is uniquely
moved by the city being given over to idolatry); his preaching soon gains
him an audience with the cities philosophers. Paul’s sermon to these
philosophers finds some limited success and from Athens he will now come to
Corinth.
Please use
the map provided: http://www.plvcc.org/index.html?/articles_live_by_faith/image2/CNM19-Pauls2ndJourney.gif
Text #1:
Acts 18:6-10
“But when
they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to
them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean.
From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
7 And
he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named
Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the
synagogue.
8 Then
Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his
household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
9 Now
the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do
not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;
10 for
I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many
people in this city.”
In our
previous lesson, when Silas and Timothy arrived in Corinth, Paul had already
been reasoning with the Jews in the synagogue concerning the Christ;
however, compelled by the Spirit, he then named the Christ to be Jesus. It
is at the naming of Jesus as the Christ that the Jews are going to stop
listening and instead become antagonists of both Paul delivering the message
and the Lord Jesus Christ (“blasphemed”
as Luke records it).
Your Blood
be upon Your Own Head:
The Gospel
has been fairly offered and then deliberately rejected. Neither the Lord nor
Paul was to blame for their being unworthy of everlasting life; remember the
words of Paul in Antioch:
Acts 13:46
“Then
Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God
should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the
Gentiles.”
As they
opposed the Gospel of Jesus as the Christ, they were truly opposing
themselves, as they were rejecting the only means of reconciliation and
salvation available.
Acts 4:10-12
“let
it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
by Him this man stands here before you whole.
11 This
is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief
cornerstone.’
12 Nor
is there salvation in any other,
for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved.”
Justus:
This is the surname of Titus of Corinth (also known as
Titius Justus, a Latin name); who
would open his home to Paul and the disciples with him.
Crispus: This name is from the Greek, “Krispos”; which means, “Curled”. Luke records that he was the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth. What does Luke mean when he states that he “believed on the Lord”? Is this any different than the rest of the Corinthians in verse 8? The answer is, ‘exactly the same as the rest of the Corinthians’, and the process is beautifully recorded by Luke; “hearing, believed and were baptized.”
This is
additionally confirmed by rightly dividing the word, note:
1 Corinthians 1:14
“I
thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius”
1 Corinthians 12:13
“For
by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or
Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one
Spirit.”
Also review
this list of conversion that we have covered in this series of lessons thus
far:
Acts
2:38-41;
3:19-20;
8:12-13,
35-37;
9:18;
10:48;
16:15,
33;
and now
18:8.
Vision:
The Lord is going to appear to Paul to comfort Him. The Lord is going to do
this several times in our monitoring of Luke’s record of Paul’s work.
It would seem that the same man
who was stoned and left for dead, who walked right back into the very city
that had done this to him, was fearful in Corinth, note:
1 Corinthians 2:3
“I
was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.”
Text #2:
Acts 18:11
“And
he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God
among them.”
As we now
note the length of Paul’s stay, having been comforted by the Lord, he will
labor here in Corinth for a good amount of time. Time enough, in fact, for
Silas and Timothy to return to Thessalonica, deliver the letter Paul wrote
them, assess the effect of the letter, and return back to Paul to report.
It is here
in your Bibles that you will want to make a note that Paul is going to write
the second letter to the Thessalonians. It is believed; and I find no
evidence to discount this time frame, that the second letter is about five
or six months after the delivery of the first.
2 Thessalonians
–
Theme: “Be
counted worthy of your calling” –
1:11;
and “Be steadfast” –
2:15.
Once again, the theme is the universal answer to all their problems and
needs (as well as any that may come our way, present day).
Problems:
Uniquely enough, the problems of the second letter are the same as the
first. They are still dealing with the adversity of persecutions from their
countrymen, and they still misunderstand the return of the Lord.
Outline:
Chapter One:
Greeting;
and then comfort to those being persecuted by non-believers.
Chapter Two:
Re-visiting the second coming of the Lord; this time putting some
comprehension of time to it by describing that it would not come till a
great apostasy came first (not giving specifics of time, but that they
should not be distracted from their foundations by it any longer -
1-12).
In the face of this information, they should simply
“Stand fast” in the oral
instruction and the written instruction they have received to every good
word and work (13-17).
Chapter Three:
Paul asks for prayers from these brethren for his work in Corinth and hopes
that this will help these brethren establish themselves in the Lord, knowing
they are not alone in Paul’s work of the Gospel (1-5).
He then gives the first instruction concerning collective discipline towards
the disorderly (6-15).
Then he gives his heartfelt farewell (16-18).
Next: “Chaos in Corinth!”