Douglas Wilson

INTRODUCTION

As we continue through Acts, we come to a passage that is filled with a number of interesting details—details which spread out in different directions. And although various subjects are addressed here, we will come to see that all of it represents the grace of God to us.

THE TEXT

“And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will . . .” (Acts 18:18–28).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul remained in Corinth for a bit, and then left for Syria with Priscilla and Aquila (v. 18). Cenchrea was the eastern port for Corinth, and Paul concluded a Nazarite vow there (v. 18; Num. 6:1-21). He came to Ephesus on the way, and left Priscilla and Aquila there. While there, Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue (v. 19). They wanted him to stay longer, but he declined (v. 20). Paul was eager to make it back to Jerusalem by the upcoming feast, but promised to return if he could. So he left Ephesus (v. 21). He landed at Caesarea, went up to Jerusalem to greet the church, and then went to (Syrian) Antioch (v. 22). After some time there, he went through Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the believers there (v. 23). And then Luke cuts back to Ephesus. An Alexandrian Jew named Apollos showed up there—he was both eloquent and great in the Scriptures (v. 24). He knew the way of the Lord, he was fervent in spirit, and he taught accurately . . . but only up through John’s baptism (v. 25). He taught boldly in the synagogue in Ephesus (which had been open-minded with Paul, remember). Priscilla and Aquila heard him there, took him aside, and brought him up to speed (v. 26). When he decided to go to Achaia, the brothers wrote him a letter of recommendation (v. 27). When he arrived in Achaia, he was a big help to those who had believed through grace (v. 27). The nature of the help was that he vigorously refuted the Jews, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ (v. 28).

PAUL’S ORDERLY WALK

When Paul arrives in Jerusalem later on in Acts, the leaders there acknowledge that Paul himself was an observant Jew—“and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law” (Acts 21:24). We can see that here. He concluded a Nazarite vow that had been ongoing in Corinth (Acts 18:18; Num. 6:13). This included a sin offering, a burnt offering, and a peace offering (Num. 6:16-17). The hair that was cut off was part of the peace offering (Num. 6:18). Perhaps the hair was brought to Jerusalem because that was where the sacrifices would be made. And he apparently had taken another Nazarite vow later on because he purified himself with four men who had also done so, and he paid their expenses (Acts 21: 20-24). The most interesting thing about this would be the fact of the blood sacrifices—but the period between the Lord’s resurrection and 70 A.D. was a transitional time. “In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13, NKJV).

PRISCILLA HELPS OUT

We can also see in this passage that Priscilla was a true co-laborer in the gospel. Apollos showed up with a good message to preach, but he was only part way there. Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak in the synagogue, and his message was really good, but he needed further information. The text says that they took Apollos aside, and they explained things to him more fully (ektithemi, to expound). This verb expound is in the third person plural. This means that Priscilla was talking also.

We know from Scripture that women are not to teach or have authority in the church (1 Tim. 2:12). The reason our formal leadership is all male is because the Word requires this of us. But the Scriptures clearly do not prohibit what Priscilla and Aquila do here. The Bible says nothing about women keeping silence in the parking lot, or over lunch if they hosted Apollos that afternoon.

THE VALUE OF DEBATE

Many people make the mistake of thinking that a public debate is useless if the person being debated is not persuaded. But this is a very great mistake. Notice what it says here. Apollos vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, and this was not an encouragement to them. But rather it was an encouragement to the believers there, who were able to see the position they held ably articulated and defended.

If an apologist has a debate with an atheist on a college campus, the atheist will likely remain unpersuaded. But there are any number of believing college students who are greatly edified as they see the false doctrines that come at them in the classroom being so clearly taken down.

BELIEVED THROUGH GRACE

All of this is the grace of God. And notice that it does not say here that the believers had believed in grace. It says rather that through grace they had believed. Our faith is the gift of God, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-10). God gives repentance to Israel (Acts 5:31). The Jews in Jerusalem rejoiced that God had given the Gentiles repentance to life (Acts 11:18). In Pisidian Antioch, who believed? The Gentiles who were appointed to eternal life did so (Acts 13:48). Why did Lydia believe? Because the Lord opened her heart (Acts 16:14).

There is true glory here, and all of it goes to God our Savior. He is the one who gives us everything. Go back to the beginning, and He was there first. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). At the beginning when you offered up that first faltering prayer—”God, be merciful to me, a sinner”—even that prayer was placed in your mouth as a gift from the Holy Spirit of God. All grace, all the time.

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INTRODUCTION

The next city that Paul came to was Corinth, which came to be the home of one of the more important churches in the New Testament. Corinth is about 48 miles southwest of Athens, and is situated on the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow strip of land that connected Attica (northern Achaia) from the Peloponnese (southern Achaia). Corinth was an important trading center, with access to the sea in both eastern and western directions.

THE TEXT

“After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them . . . ” (Acts 18:1–17).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul left Athens and arrived in Corinth (v. 1). He there met Aquila and his wife Priscilla (v. 2). Aquila was a Jew from Pontus, which runs along the southern shore of the Black Sea. This couple was in Corinth because Claudius had recently banished all Jews from Rome (v. 2). They were tentmakers, as Paul was, and so he took up residence with them (v. 3). He took every sabbath as an opportunity to reason with both Jews and Greeks at the synagogue (v. 4). Silas and Timothy finally arrived, and Paul became more importunate, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ (v. 5). They reacted in opposition to the point of blasphemy, and so Paul shook the dust from his clothing saying that they had condemned themselves. He then turned to the Gentiles (v. 6). He moved house, moving in with Justus, a worshiper of God, and who lived right next door to the synagogue (v. 7). But after Paul wrote off the Jews, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed. And he and his house were baptized, and a large number of Corinthians believed (v. 8). The Lord encouraged Paul in a night vision, encouraging him to speak out because He had many people in this city. Paul would not be hurt (vv. 9-10). And so Paul taught there for a year and a half (v. 11). Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia, and this enables us to date the planting of the Corinthian church at 51/52 A.D. During Gallio’s tenure, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul, dragging him before the judgment seat—recently discovered in the old city (v. 12). Their accusation was that Paul was persuading men to worship God in ways contrary to (Roman) law (v. 13). Paul was about to defend himself when Gallio, who saw through the schemers, and threw the case out of court (vv. 14-15). The bailiff, or someone like him, escorted all of them forcibly to the curb (v. 16). There are clearly some elements to this drama that we don’t have because then it says that certain Greeks beat up Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, but Gallio didn’t care (v. 17).

GALLIO’S INCONSISTENCY

We begin with some sympathy for Gallio. He was the brother of Seneca the philosopher, and we understand why a Roman of his stature would not want to be dragged into arcane Jewish theological disputes. So far so good. But not only had Paul led Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue to the Lord a year and a half before, but now had apparently done it again. This Sosthenes was apparently the next chief ruler of the synagogue, and he was also converted (see 1 Cor. 1:1).

Gallio had begged off settling a theological dispute, but to have the Greeks assaulting an innocent man in front of the judgment seat was his business, and it was the kind of business that he had said he would attend to. As we consider this, our sympathy for Gallio begins to fade. The magistrate is a deacon of God, assigned the task of punishing the wrongdoer and rewarding the righteous (Rom. 13:4).

TUMULTUOUS GRACE

There is no way to introduce efficacious grace into a sinful world without causing turmoil. And the more abundant the grace, the more violent the reactions.

Remember that Paul was encouraged here in that night vision. The Lord told him that He had many people in this city (vv. 9-10). The genuine believers there were most dear to Paul (1 Cor. 4:14-15; 2 Cor. 6:11-13). There had been no riot in Athens, and why? Because that was a place where the elect just trickled in. Here, as in other places, the elect of God began to pour in. And what happened then?

Well, the Jews attacked them. And then the Greeks attacked. Then Gallio refused to help. And then, as we see from the two letters to the Corinthians that we have, not to mention a letter to them that we have from Clement, Paul’s good friend (Phil. 4:3), the church there was afflicted by internal dissensions and disruptions. Satan knows how to attack from without and from within.

And every true reformation according to grace is going to be attacked both ways. The one reaction we should not display is that of being surprised.

Christ, the friend of sinners, has never been the friend of sin.

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INTRODUCTION

So Paul was in Athens, waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. While he was waiting, he found himself greatly vexed and provoked over the rampant idolatry there. Athens was disease-ridden, and their sickness was images. This passage tells us what happened next.

THE TEXT

“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection . . . So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” (Acts 17:16–34).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While Paul was waiting in Athens, he got worked up over all the idols (v. 16). And so he disputed with Jews, and with God-fearers, and with people in the marketplace (v. 17). He encountered representatives of the two main philosophical schools—Epicurean (pleasure the highest good) and Stoic (duty is). Some called him a “seedpicker” (spermologos), like a sparrow eating fries in the McDonald’s parking lot. Others thought he was preaching two gods, Jesus and Anastasis—the word for resurrection (v. 18). So they brought him to Mars Hill, and invited him to set forth his doctrine because they were curious (vv. 19-20). Luke then gets in a delightful jab about their pursuit of truth being little more than an intellectual hobby to kill time with (v. 21). So Paul stood up and began with the observation that the Athenians were really religious (v. 22). He had noticed walking around that there was even an altar to an unknown god (v. 23). This is the God that Paul was preaching (v. 23). This is the Creator God, who is not contained by any human temples (v. 24). Nor is He dependent upon man’s service, as though He were needy, because He is the source of all life and breath (v. 25). This Creator fashioned all men, who are descended from one blood, and assigned them their places of habitation (v. 26). He did this so that in our groping we might find Him, even though He was not really far off (v. 27). The “live and move” line is likely from the Cretica of Epimenides, a hymn to Zeus. The “offspring” line is from the Stoic poet Aratus, in another hymn to Zeus called Phaenomena. As God’s offspring, we must reject idols and images (v. 29). God winked at this foolishness before, but now He commands repentance (v. 30). He has fixed a day of judgment and reckoning, and has proven who that judge is going to be through His resurrection from the dead (v. 31). When Paul made the resurrection clear, some mocked, while others were still interested (v. 32), and so Paul left (v. 33). A handful believed and came along—Dionysus the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and some others (v. 34).

PAGAN POETS AND PROPHETS

Around 600 B.C. (the age of Jeremiah and Ezekiel), Athens was afflicted with a great plague, and they could do nothing to resolve it. The Pythonness at Delphi told them to send for Epimenides of Crete and to do whatever he said. Remember that the girl in the previous chapter had the spirit of a python. Epimenides came and as a result of his instructions, the Athenians built an altar to “the unknown God,” and sacrificed to Him. The plague then stopped. Centuries later Paul came through and saw the altar, and preached the Creator of all things to them.

In Titus 1:12, Paul quotes Epimenides, and says that he was a prophet (not a false prophet). We don’t have any complete works of Epimenides, but one reasonable reconstruction runs like this:

“They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one, The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies! But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever, For in thee we live and move and have our being.”

The fact that this was in a hymn to Zeus should not disturb us. There were very different narratives about Zeus that were current. There was the historic Zeus, the one that the impudent Cretans had built a tomb for. There was the Zeus of folklore, the skirt-chaser and over-sized fraternity boy. But then there was the Zeus of the philosophers, the Theos who created everything. Paul, a man who hated idols, was willing to work with this.

GENTILES WELCOME

In the Old Testament, Gentiles were not the equivalent of unbelievers. Many were unregenerate unbelievers, but then again, so were many Jews. The Jews were a covenanted nation of priests.

We have Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:27), and after his conversion (2 Kings 5:17) he was even given permission to push his master’s wheelchair into the house of Rimmon (2 Kings 5:18). We have the king of Nineveh and all his people (Jonah 3:6ff). We have Jethro, the priest of Midian (Ex. 3:1). We have Melchizedek, a Canaanite priest and type of Christ to whom Abraham paid tithes (Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:1-2). David stored the Ark of the Covenant at the house of a Gentile, Obed-edom (2 Sam. 6:10)—and he was a Gittite, which meant he probably graduated from the same high school that Goliath did. Later on, this Obed-edom was made a porter at the Tabernacle of David (1 Chron. 15:18). And when Solomon built the Temple, in his prayer of dedication he assumed that various Gentiles would pray toward this Temple, and would be received (1 Kings 8:41-43). And then when Jesus made a whip and cleared out the money-changers and the sellers of sacrificial animals, He was clearing out the Court of the Gentiles in order to make room for them to worship. “And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Mark 11:17).

THE DISTANCE IS ETHICAL

Paul says twice that there was a Gentile worship of the true God that was characterized by ignorance. Note: “whom therefore ye ignorantly worship” (v. 23) and “the times of this ignorance God winked at” (v. 30). God was kind to the nations, giving them their assigned habitations so that they might grope after Him, and even find Him (v. 27). But most of them veered into the rank idolatry that their best philosophers and poets rejected (v. 29).

The God that we cannot see or find is not ontologically distant from us. We live and move and have our being in Him, a fact obvious to astute pagans. We live in a God-environment. The problem is moral and ethical. The problem is not that God is way up in Heaven, or far across the sea. The problem is that we are “seeking after Him,” but with no intention of finding Him. This is how Acts 17 is reconciled with Romans 1-3. If we are to be found, Christ must fetch us.

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INTRODUCTION

Thessalonica was a major city in Macedonia. It had a huge harbor and was situated on a major trade route. It had been established by a Macedonian king named Cassander in 315 B.C., who named it after his wife Thessalonike. Paul was supported financially in his mission here by the saints in Philippi, the city he had just come from (Phil. 4:16).

THE TEXT

“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few . . .” (Acts 17:1–15).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

They went through two Macedonian cities (Amphipolis and Apollonia) on their way to Thessalonica, which had a synagogue (v. 1). Paul followed his custom and went there first, reasoning with them there for three sabbath days (v. 2). His argument was that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that this Jesus that he preached was that Christ (v. 3). Some Jews believed and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, but a great number of God-fearing Gentiles believed, and more than a few of their chief women (v. 4). The Jews who refused the proofs, driven by envy, rounded up some bad actors to get a tumult going (v. 5). They gathered up a mob, caused an uproar, and attacked Jason’s house (where Paul and Silas were presumably staying, in order to seize them (v. 5). Because Paul and Silas weren’t there, they grabbed Jason and some brothers instead and brought them to the rulers of the city. “These men who have disrupted the world have come here now” (v. 6). Their complaint was that Jason had showed them hospitality, men who were subversive to the decrees of Caesar, saying that Jesus is a different king (v. 7). This unsettled both the rulers and the people of the city (v. 8). Jason and the others with him posted bail, and were released (v. 9). And so that night the brothers packed off Paul and Silas to Berea, about 45 miles to the west (v. 10). Naturally, they went to the synagogue there. The Jews there were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and two reasons are given for saying this. They were eager for the message to be true, and they double-checked it against Scripture anyway (v. 11). A lot of them believed, and honorable Greek women, as well as Greek men (v. 12). But the unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica heard about this and decided to play the role of a dog in the manger (v. 13) and came to Berea to stir up a mob there. So the brothers sent Paul away right away, with Silas and Timothy remaining for some reason (v. 14). So Paul sailed down to Athens, and he sent word back to Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible (v. 15).

THE GENTILE BREAKPOINT

As we are seeing throughout the book of Acts, the lives of Gentiles and Jews were closely intertwined. It was very common for Gentile admirers of the God of Israel to be closely associated with synagogues, and you can see in both Thessalonica and Berea that what was preached to the Jews got to the Gentiles almost immediately. But from the Roman point of view, there was something unsettling about the Christian appeal to these Gentiles.

The Council of Jerusalem decided that Gentiles did not have to become Jews to become Christians. Hopefully that point has been hammered home by now. But by insisting that the Gentile converts keep themselves from the pollutions of idols (Acts 15:20), the Council decided that Gentile converts had to reject their native gods, their native customs, and They did not have to become Jews, but in this respect, they had to act like Jews.

It was possible for someone to admire the God of Israel from the back row of the synagogue without abandoning their ancient customs. In he Christian gospel opened wide one door in front of them, and slammed shut the door behind them. We are consequently seeing how the pagan populations are growing very nervous about this growing movement. Notice how the trouble-making Jews pitched this to the Gentile rulers of the city—these men are teaching something that is subversive to the decrees of Caesar. They are teaching people about the authority of a different king, one Jesus. This is the kind of charge that was guaranteed to get the attention of civic rulers—nobody wants to be the position of protecting seditious traitors, right?

EAGERLY SKEPTICAL

This is an early version of “trust, but verify.” Notice how Luke describes what it looks like to be well-born, to be noble. Someone comes with a message that promises wonderful things. A noble receives such a teaching warmly, hoping that it is in fact true. But the next step is crucial. They sit down and open up their Bibles. “To the law and to the testimony: If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

ANOTHER KING INDEED

We do indeed preach and declare the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3,6;8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23,31). And there can be no kingdom of God without a king, and the name of this king is Jesus. He is the one who was given universal authority by the Ancient of Days, and a kingdom which cannot be destroyed (Dan. 7:14). He is the one who was given the nations for His inheritance (Ps. 2:8), and He intends to have them all (Matt. 28:18-20).

But He is a High King, not a replacement king. This means that all current political authorities must kiss the Son (Ps. 2:12), lest He be angry. The kings of earth are instructed to wise up (Ps. 2:10), meaning that they must serve and worship Him. They do not throw away their crowns, but rather they must lay them down at the feet of the Lord Jesus, after which they receive them back again. The path of wisdom for them is to echo the words of John the Baptist, wanting Him to increase and for themselves to decrease. But this kind of decrease is glorious, and brings the honor and glory of the kingdoms of men into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:26).

Jesus is king. Christ is king indeed.

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