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Serious Gentile Territory (Acts of the Apostles #28) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

We are now accompanying Paul on his first missionary journey, together with Barnabas and their associate minister, John Mark. Now remember the theme of the book of Acts—that being the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem at one end to the uttermost parts of the earth on the other. We are engaged in the arduous process of including the Gentiles in the Christian church, and we have now come to the first giant step.

THE TEXT

“Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away . . .” (Acts 13:1–13).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

We begin with a description of the leadership at Syrian Antioch, made up of prophets and teachers. There was Barnabas, an encouraging man we already now. There was a black man named Simeon (his nickname gives him away). Lucius was from Cyrene, located in the eastern part of modern-day Libya. Manaen was likely a noble, having been raised together with Herod the tetrarch. And there was Saul (v. 1). As they ministered before the Lord (the word is leitourgeo, from which we get liturgy) and were fasting, the Spirit directed them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for the mission work He was calling them to (v. 2). So they fasted and prayed, ordained them to the task by laying hands on them, and sent them off (v. 3). Seleucia was the port city for Antioch, so they went there and then sailed for Cyprus (v. 4), sixty miles west, where Barnabas was originally from (Acts 4:36). Arriving at Salamis, the main port of Cyprus, on the east side of the island, they preached in various synagogues, and John Mark was their associate minister (v. 5). Paphos was a city on the southwestern coast of Cyprus, and when they arrived there they encountered a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-jesus (v. 6). This false one was somehow attached to the Roman proconsul named Sergius Paulus, an intelligent Gentile who was open to the gospel (v. 7). But Elymas (Bar-jesus) opposed his interest and tried to turn him away from the faith (v. 8). So then Saul (or Paul) was filled with the Spirit, fixed his eyes on him (v. 9), and called him a bunch of names (v. 10). He said Elymas was filled with trickery and villainy, a child of the devil, and an enemy of righteousness. “When are you going to stop your perversions?” And then Paul with a word struck him blind for a season, and Elymas began groping in a dark mist, looking for a hand (v. 11). So Sergius Paulus, astonished, believed in the Lord (v. 12). They then sailed north to the city of Perga in Pamphylia (modern Turkey), and John Mark abandoned them there, returning to Jerusalem (v. 13).

A GENTILE COLD CALL

To date, the book of Acts has been slowly inching toward the deep end. We can hear the overture of this theme in the sermon of Stephen to the Sanhedrin—God was not going to safely contained in their holy box. But the initial forays are all Jewish adjacent. The Samaritans are included, but they were at least partly Jewish (Acts 8:14). The Ethiopian eunuch was saved, but he had just been worshiping in Jerusalem (a clear God-fearer), and then he had the good grace to disappear back to Ethiopia (Acts 8:39). Then there was Cornelius, a Roman centurion, but he was a God-fearer also, and had a reputation as such among the Jews (Acts 10:22). So he was included also, but there was disputing over it. The road was starting to get bumpy.

The conversion of Sergius Paulus was the first recorded Gentile convert straight out of paganism.When Saul and Barnabas were ministering in the synagogues of Cyprus, John Mark was right there, serving as their assistant. But then when they presented the gospel to a man who up until ten minutes before had had a sorcerer as part of his entourage, this was a bit much for John Mark. He headed back to Jerusalem at the first opportunity.

SAUL BECOMES PAUL

This significant moment—going straight to a Gentile as a pagan Gentile—is where Luke starts calling Saul Paul. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11), and as we accompany him discharging that office, we start going by his Gentile name. Paul goes by Paul for the remainder of Acts. The only time the name Saul is used after this is in a reference to the first king of Israel (Acts 13:21), and in Paul’s testimonies where the Lord calls him Saul (Acts 22:7; 26:14), and when Ananias does (Acts 22:13). Paul is the great apostle to the Gentiles.

ETHNIC CHALLENGES, THEIRS AND OURS

It is the easiest thing in the world to be suspicious of people who are different, and this includes suspicions created by trivial differences—clothing styles, how much spices flavor the food, and so on. But it is also the easiest thing in the world for liberals to pretend that this is the nature of all ethnic differences by definition, and consequently that ethnicity (and citizenship and borders and so on) shouldn’t matter to anybody at all, for any reason.

But ethnic differences can be adiaphora (as noted above), with some cultures using a lot more nutmeg than is proper. At the next level up, differences can be substantive, but not overtly moral (education, literacy, artistic, etc.). And there are also ethnic differences that are directly moral. When the Jerusalem Council made their determination, one of the things they required was that the Gentiles avoid fornication (Acts 15:29). And remember that the new members class at Corinth had to contain the reminder to stop visiting prostitutes (1 Cor. 6:15). But because people are the way they are, these three levels get all jumbled up together, such that some people start thinking that the nutmeg is a dog-whistle for fornication.

So keep your eye on the ball—

“Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11).

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The Unrivaled Story of Easter | Easter Sunday

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INTRODUCTION

The number of rival stories to the Gospel are legion. You are confronted with a host of competing salvation stories. All of these rival stories are powerless to save. Their allure is found in their escapist fantasy. Escape from responsibility. Escape from consequences. Escape from accountability. Christ’s Resurrection is the true story of restoration, true salvation, and life.

THE TEXT

And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. Acts 20:6-12

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

As Paul is making his way back to Jerusalem, after his 3rd missionary journey (circa AD57), we’re told of this weeklong visit to the city of Troas, about 10 miles south of legendary Troy. At the end of this week of ministry (v6), the saints gather, on the first day of the week, for a worship service and farewell to Paul and his companions. This is the first record of a Christian service held on a Sunday. It was an evening service, for the express purpose of partaking the Lord’s Supper and to hear Paul’s preaching. Paul was feeling a bit loquacious, and the sermon went long (v7). The room was well-lit with lamps (v8). A young man name Eutychus (fortunate/lucky) perched himself in the window. As the sermon went on, he sunk into a deep sleep, and fell out of the third story window. As you can imagine, the congregation hurried to check on him, but he “was taken up dead” (v9).

Having had his sermon interrupted, Paul himself went down to the site of the tragedy. Paul falls on the lad, and encourages the saints to not be troubled for the boy’s psyche (soul/life) is in him (v10). Luke retells this healing in in order to leave us in a momentary suspense, we are left with a bit of uncertainty about Eutchysus’ condition. We are told that Paul goes back upstairs, the Lord’s Supper (or perhaps the potluck) is held, Paul picks up his sermon where he left off, continuing until daybreak at which point Paul and his companions depart for their next destination (v11). Only after the dawning of the new day does Luke confirm that Eutychus had really been raised from death to life, to the great comfort of the Troas church (v12).

AN UNFORTUNATE STORY

At first blush, this might seem like a story that Luke includes to keep his retelling of Paul’s itinerary interesting. But there really is a lot more brewing here than just a story to keep the reader entertained. There are at least three striking reasons for the inclusion of this short resurrection story within the broader history of Acts.

The first reason for the inclusion of this story is that Luke presents to us a picture of early Christian worship, with its center of gravity being on the Lord’s Day. Not only do we see that this service took place on the first day of the week (Sunday), but it took place the Sunday after Easter. In this regard, the raising of Eutychus can be seen as God adding an exclamation mark to this Sunday service. The church revolves around the worship of the God who died and rose again and in Whom we too die and rise again. When we gather together to break bread we are putting the resurrection as the hinge upon which our whole life turns. Worship is central. Thus, it is fitting for Christian worship to plant its flag on the Lord’s Day.

The second reason for this story is that earlier in Acts Peter had raised Tabitha (Acts 9); now Paul raises a man from the dead. Looking at both resurrections, the language is quite reminiscent of the stories of Elijah & Elisha raising people to life (1 Kings 17:17–24, 2 Kings 4:18–37). Putting these two apostolic resurrection miracles together we see in them a continuity between the OT Prophets and these NT Apostles, between the church in her immaturity under the Law, and the church coming into maturity through the Gospel. The resurrection power of God is central to all history. The Prophets foreshadowed it. Christ procured it. The Apostles continued it. From the fall until Christ’s resurrection, God promised a new creation to His people (Is. 42:9). Therefore, in this account we see that the work of the church, the very life-blood of the church, is this doctrine of the resurrection we receive through our union with Christ’s resurrection.

The third reason is the least evident, but is like a lovely song you hear once and then can’t seem to stop humming. Luke is subverting Homer. Luke is hi-jacking pagan myths. Luke is saying, we’ve got a better hero than Odysseus. In Homer’s Odyssey there is an episode of one of Odysseus’ companions, the youngest in fact, a young man named Elpenor. He is repeatedly described as being unlucky. After a feast, in the darkened halls of Circe, a deep sleep falls upon Elpenor. The company is setting sail the next morning. In the morning, Elpenor in his haste falls from the roof, breaks his neck, dies and his psyche (soul) departs to Hades. His companions take him up dead. The first soul in Hades that Odysseus meets is Elpenor, the hero can do nothing to save his young companion. The only thing that can be done is offer him a ritual burial, which takes place at dawn. Sorrow is the end of Elpenor’s story, whereas comfort is the end of Eutychus’. In other words, Luke saw this episode with Eutychus as an opportunity to present the Christian story as the true myth. Homer’s hero was powerless to raise his companion to life. Jesus, by His servant Paul, resurrects the young man named Lucky. The heroes of Ancient Troy are impotent, the servants of Christ bear in them the power of an endless life.

LIFE RESTORED

All anti-Gospels bake down to a very simple error: escapism. In the pagan myths, the hope was that by various virtues and heroic exploits you might be deemed worthy to escape this material realm and dwell in a realm of hedonistic bliss and without accountability. Darwinism tells you that you are as meaningless as pond scum zapped by lightning, and so you must escape your meaninglessness by assisting in the next stage of human evolution. Climate change alarmists insist that this world is on the verge of a calamitous ending, and in order to escape you must end your bloodline, and consign yourself to as small a pile of dust when you die.

But there are other stories we tell ourselves. Stories that say, “Once a miserable sinner, always a miserable sinner.” There is a sad sort of impotent pseudo-Christianity that treats Christ’s death as our ticket to an ethereal world. It sees this world as not our home, we are only passing through. But the true Gospel is that this world will itself be resurrected, because it is the inheritance of Jesus the Risen Christ.

Therefore, by faith in Christ your story is like fortunate Eutychus. All other stories invite you to a daydream of escapism. The unrivaled story of Easter restores you to life. You are restored to responsibility. You are sanctified unto service. You are delivered to dominion. Your story doesn’t end in an unfortunate fall. It ends with a feast with the saints of God, in celebration of our Lord who died and rose again for our eternal salvation.

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Struck by an Angel (Acts of the Apostles #27)

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INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, we should notice a few introductions, and a notable contrast. We are introduced to John Mark, the author of the second gospel, in which he served as Peter’s “secretary.” We are also introduced, obliquely, to James the Lord’s brother. And the contrast is between how the angel of the Lord treated Peter over against Herod.

THE TEXT

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him . . .” (Acts 12:1-25).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

So Herod decided to harass the church (v. 1), with the result that James the apostle was martyred (v. 2). Herod saw that this scored some points for him with the Jews, so he arrested Peter (v. 3). This was again the time of Passover. Peter was turned over to four squads of soldiers, with the intent that he would be brought out before the people after Passover (v. 4). So Peter was in jail, with the church praying earnestly for him (v. 5). So the night before he was to be brought out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with 2 chains, and with guards at the gate (v. 6). An angel of the Lord appeared, and a bright light, and the angel struck Peter on the side, telling him to get up quickly (v. 7), which he did, the chains having fallen off. The angel told him to put on his sandals and cloak, and to follow (v. 8). Peter did what he was told, thinking it a vision (v. 9). They passed two guard posts, and then came to an iron gate to the city, which opened by itself. They went out, down one street, and the angel disappeared (v. 10). Peter realized what had happened—an angel had delivered him from Herod, and the bloodlust of the Jews (v. 11). He thought about it, and went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where there was a prayer meeting going on (v. 12). Peter knocked at the gate, and a slave girl named Rhoda answered (v. 13). She recognized Peter’s voice, and without opening up, ran in and told everybody (v. 14). They all said she was crazy, but she insisted, and so they said it must be some kind of angelic doppelganger (v. 15). Peter kept knocking and they finally opened the door, they were astounded (v. 16). He quieted them by gesticulating, told them the story, and told them to get the word to (a different) James, and the brothers, and then he disappeared (v. 17). In the morning, there was a commotion at the prison over the missing prisoner (v. 18). Herod inquired, and ordered the guards to be executed (v. 19), and then left for Caesarea.

In the meantime, there had been a political quarrel between Herod and the cities of Tyre and Sidon (v. 20). But they wanted to make peace because they were dependent upon imports from Herod, negotiating through an official of Herod’s named Blastus (v. 20). So Herod came out to make a speech, in royal apparel (v. 21). The people were enthusiastic—“the voice of a god, not a man” (v. 22). Because he did not give God glory, the angel of the Lord struck him, and he was consumed by worms and died (v. 23). The Word of God, however, continued to thrive (v. 24). And when Barnabas and Saul completed their famine relief ministry, they left Jerusalem for Antioch, taking John Mark with them (v. 25).

JAMES, THE LORD’S BROTHER

The chapter begins with James, the brother of John, getting executed. He was half of the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17), a son of Zebedee. He was one of the Twelve, and the first apostle to die. But notice that Peter tells the people at John Mark’s house to get to the word to “James and to the brethren.” This is James, the Lord’s brother, and author of the book of James. When Jesus was alive, James was not a believer (John 7:5), but we know that Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7). And by this point in Acts, he already has a position of some prominence (v. 17). By the Jerusalem Council, in Acts 15, he presides over the Council.

AND JOHN MARK

This is the place where John Mark is introduced by name. But it is at least possible that we have seen him before. Take note of the fact that he lives in a house in Jerusalem big enough to host a prayer meeting, and it is a house with at least one domestic slave, Rhoda. John Mark is wealthy, in other words. And in the account of the rich young ruler, which occurs in three gospels (Matt. 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30), the gospel of Mark is suggestive in that it is the only one where it says Jesus looked on him and “loved him” (Mark 10:21). And in one other tantalizing possibility, with an incident unique to Mark, a young man ran off naked the night of the Lord’s arrest (Mark 14:51-52). It is hard for me to understand what on earth that detail might be there for, if not for Mark making a point of including it.

STRUCK BY THE ANGEL

Josephus has an account of Herod Agrippa’s death in his Antiquities (19.8.2). While being hailed as a god, he was struck with severe abdominal pain, was carried to the palace, and died five days later.

So in this chapter, two men are struck (patasso), Peter for blessing and Herod for cursing. For Peter, that striking results in deliverance from death. For Herod, the striking results in an agonizing death. In both cases, the striking is performed by the angel of the Lord. And it appears from the nature of Herod’s affliction that they were both struck in the middle of the body.

What may we take from this? God’s providential dealings with us are frequently inscrutable, and we often do not know what is going on. Peter thought his deliverance was a vision. The people at John Mark’s thought it was more likely that they were being visited by Peter’s angel than that Peter had been delivered by an angel. In a contrasting way, Herod was slow to read his impending judgment. We need to be more quick-eyed in seeing God’s kindness to us. Our deliverance does not always look or feel like deliverance. And the judgment of God might be arriving in the roar of the crowd’s approval. When the angel of the Lord strikes you, what kind of striking shall it be?

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Not Incredible at All | Easter Sunday

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INTRODUCTION

The philosopher Leibniz put the problem into a nutshell when he asked “why is there something rather than nothing at all?” That is one of the fundamental questions, is it not? But for the believer, because God is the eternal I AM, the idea that there could ever be nothing is nonsensical. It could have been the case that there was no created thing, but an absolute vacuity is absurd. God is the living God, and He is the answer to all our questions.

THE TEXT

“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:6–8).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The apostle Paul had been arrested, and was being kept as a political prisoner because of pressure from his enemies in Jerusalem. His imprisonment was in Caesarea, down on the coast of the Mediterranean. The governor was a man named Festus and he had arranged for the visiting king, Agrippa, to hear what Paul had to say for himself. His puzzle was how to frame his letter to Caesar because Paul had appealed his case to Caesar, and Festus did not know what to say about it (Acts 25:25-26).

In the course of his defense before Agrippa, Paul uttered the words of our text. Paul said that he was being judged for the hope of the promise that God had made to his Jewish fathers (v. 6). God had promised resurrection to the Israelite nation, for the fulfillment of which they looked in hope (v. 7). It was because of that hope as fulfilled in Christ, Paul said, that he was under these accusations. He then asks a very pointed question—why should we consider it incredible that God should raise the dead (v. 8)? This is a question we really ought to consider more carefully than we do.

THE ASSUMPTIONS OF AUTONOMY

What the autonomous unbeliever and skeptic wants to do is raise doubts and questions about every platform except the one on which he is standing.

Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose there is a small tribe living on a small island in the midst of a vast ocean, and they have lived there time out of mind. Now suppose one of them one day invents a telescope and he sees, off in the distance, another island with people walking around on it. When he announces his discovery to the tribe, their tribal skeptic scoffs and says that it is impossible for people to survive on an isolated island like that—such a stupid idea shouldn’t be entertained for a minute. But then an astute teenager asks, “What about us then?”

Christopher Hitchens and I were once on Joy Behar’s television show, and all the infidels were making fun of me, the fundamentalist, for believing the Bible. In the Bible, they scoffed, animals talk—serpent in the garden, Balaam’s donkey, ho ho ho. But then I said, “We are animals. And we talk.”

Materialistic atheists like to mock believers because we believe that the dead can live again. We believe that life can come from death. My point here is that so do they. They believe that there was an inexplicable instant when inorganic matter suddenly became organic matter—life from death. Christians are the ones who believe that it can happen twice. Everyone thinks it happened once.

We believe in magic, and so do they. The thing that distinguishes us is that we believe in a magician. They think the tricks know how to do themselves.

BACK TO THE FAITH OF PAUL

The promise to the fathers was that God would raise the dead at the end of human history. The message of the gospel is that He determined to give us an earnest payment on that resurrection, right in the middle of human history. God gave us a preview of the end, and He did this two thousand years ago. We know that it will happen, and we know this for the excellent reason that it has happened. And what has happened can happen again. Because God has promised it, it will happen again.

“Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22–23).

Christ’s resurrection was not a stand-alone affair. He descended into the grave, and then reached under human history to take hold of the Last Day, and He pulled it up behind Him when He rose from the dead. The conquest of death that was to happen at the end of all things has already occurred.

Because it has already occurred, we can walk in the reality of Christ’s life, what Paul calls newness of life. We are born again and justified through our participation in the resurrection that has happened, and because of that we look forward to the resurrection that necessarily will happen. This is a glorious already/not yet.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

So this is not incredible at all. The Scriptures teach us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). We were dead in our transgressions and sins (Eph. 2:1), and it is the raised Christ who transforms us from that condition of death. Just a few verses down—“Even when we were dead in sins, [He] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Eph. 2:5). It is easy to say that we would believe if we had been there at the empty tomb two thousand years ago. But the proclamation of the empty tomb is powerful. The tombs of sin and death are still emptying. Believe, and yours will be one of them.

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The Primitive Gospel (Acts of the Apostles #26) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

As we continue to work our way through the book of Acts, we are not going to spend very much time on the retelling in verses 4-14. But we are not setting this repetition aside as unimportant because Luke obviously intends to emphasize it. He wants us to note it. He tells the story in chapter 10, and then repeats it in detail in chapter 11. Then there is a strong reference to this episode at the Jerusalem Council later (Acts 15:7-11). This incident was a significant event.

We can note a few additional details we learn in this recounting. We learn that six Jews accompanied Peter from Joppa (v. 12). We learn that the angel told Cornelius that the message that Peter would bring would be words of salvation (v. 14). And Peter tells us here that the Spirit fell on them near the beginning of his talk (v. 15). So we will begin our exposition at verse 16.

THE TEXT

“And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying .. .” (Acts 11:1–30).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

So the apostles and brothers of Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the Word of God (v. 1). So when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the circumcision party there challenged him (v. 2). The charge was that Peter had gone in with Gentiles, and had shared table fellowship (v. 3). The eating appears to have been the central problem. So Peter tells the story over again (vv. 7-15), including the fact that “these” six men here saw it all.

Peter remembered the Lord’s statement that John baptized with water, but that His followers would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (v. 16). So if God gave Gentiles the Spirit in the same way that He had done for the Jews on Pentecost, who was Peter to fight God (v. 17)? Now this satisfied them and they glorified God (v. 18), saying that God had granted Gentiles repentance unto life. But this resolution was only temporary.

Those who had scattered because of the persecution after Stephen’s death preached the word to Jews only, but doing so in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Cyrene (v. 19). Phoenicia was along the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus was an island about sixty miles out, and Cyrene was in modern day Libya, on the north coast of Africa. Some of these men from Cyprus and Cyrene came to (Syrian) Antioch and began preaching the Lord Jesus to Greeks (v. 20). The hand of the Lord was with them, and many believed and turned to the Lord (v. 21). The church at Jerusalem heard about this, and so they sent Barnabas to Antioch to check it out (v. 22). He got there, saw the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them to cling to the Lord with resolute and steadfast hearts (v. 23). He was a good man, full of the Spirit and faith, and many more people were converted (v. 24). So Barnabas went to Tarsus to enlist the help of Saul (v. 25). This was about 80 miles away, as the crow flies. They came back to Antioch and taught a lot of people there for a year (v. 26). The name Christian was first applied to believers there in that city (v. 26).

During that time, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch (v. 27), and one of them named Agabus prophesied that there would be a great famine throughout the empire (oikoumene), which then happened during the reign of Claudius Caesar (v. 28). Claudius reigned from 41 A.D. to 54 A.D. The believers there in Antioch, each according to capacity, decided to send a famine relief gift to Judea (v. 29). They did this, and sent it to the elders there by the hands of Saul and Barnabas (v. 30).

THE FIRST PAULINE EPISTLE

One of the things we should want to do is integrate the timeline of the epistles into the history of Acts. Our first opportunity to do this comes with Galatians, which I take to be Paul’s earliest letter in the canon. But to do this we have to answer the question, “Who were the Galatians exactly?” There was ethnic Galatia up north—think rural Celtic tribes—and there was the Roman province of Galatia down south. Think of the difference between the Dakota Indian tribe, and South Dakota.

If Paul is writing to the Galatians of the Roman province, then this places his book in the chronology of Acts. If he is writing to the ethnic Galatians up north, then we don’t quite know how and when Paul got acquainted with them. This is important for several reasons. One is that the “south Galatian” understanding gives us an early date for Galatians, and a mature statement of justification by faith alone very early on in the history of the church. It was not a late “add on,” not a Pauline afterthought. Second, the details in Galatians blend very nicely with Acts on this view. For example, the “famine relief visit” (Acts 11:28-29) is the visit that was in response to a revelation (Gal. 2:2). And third, it explains why Paul didn’t appeal to the decision of the Jerusalem council in a letter dedicated to the very same controversy. He didn’t appeal to it because it had not yet happened. It also explains the heat of Galatians.

The mission to the province of Galatia happened in the neighborhood of 47-48 A.D. and the Jerusalem Council somewhere near 48-49 A.D. Thus the best date for the writing of Galatians would be right before the Council, probably in 48 A.D., during the reign of Claudius.

THE GOSPEL AT GROUND ZERO

In the book of Galatians, we see a fully-formed and robust articulation of justification by faith alone, apart from works of the law. With an early date for Galatians, we can see just exactly how Paul was instructing the early Christians—what he was teaching them. We also see how this proclaimed gospel was causing an inchoate church to form, making the gospel the seed of the church, and not the other way around. We also see how this plain gospel was senior to the church, and to her officers, and senior to angelic messengers. If we or an angel from heaven, preach a different gospel than the one that was first preached to you, then let that messenger be accursed and damned (Gal. 1:8).

And what is that gospel? That Christ, the eternal Son of God, was made man for our sakes. He lived a perfect, sinless life, was crucified, buried, raised, and ascended, and all of His perfections are imputed, gratis, to anyone who looks to Him in faith. That is the Word that establishes the church, and that is the Word that builds a new world.

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