Paul had been attacked by those in the temple who thought he had brought uncircumcised believers from the nations inside while he was bringing four Nazarite vow-takers into the temple at the end of their time. The Roman commander in Yerushalayim pulled Paul out of the melee, and Paul received permission to address the crowd. The gathering quietly listened to his talk until he mention that the “Righteous One,” i.e. Messiah, had sent Paul to give the good news of God to the nations.
Category: Apostolic Writings
These studies cover the writings by the closest shelakhim (apostles) of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ). Commonly called the “New Testament,” this standard canon includes the four Gospels, the letters and the Apocalypse (Revelation).
Paul returned to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to celebrate one of the appointed times of the LORD. While there, the leadership of the body of believers there note the great work God’s Spirit is doing among the nations but point out opposition from some believers who claim that Paul is teaching believing Jews to disregard Torah — the first five books of the Bible — and tradition. This was a revisiting of the ruling by the Yerushalayim Council, recorded in Acts 15, on what standard the new believers from the nations were called to follow.
Some claim this passage shows Paul’s “being all things to all people,” by going along with the supposedly obsolete Torah. A new body of New Testament scholars are warming to what’s called the New Perspective of Paul, which views the traditional interpretation of “works of law” in the letters to the Galatians and Romans as referring to the Torah itself to be misleading. Today’s discussion of this passage is a beginning point for looking at “works of law” before the study of Galatians begins after Acts.
Paul is anxious to return to Yerushalayim for the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost), but on his way he receives dire warnings of what would face him when he gets there. The events that occur in Yerushalayim start the process of Paul’s journey to Rome.
Paul’s third journey through Asia (modern Turkey), Macedonia and Greece continued. After being run out of Ephesus, Paul traveled to Greece through Macedonia. He planned to sail from Greece to Syria, but the discovery of plot on his life prompted a return tour through Macedonia and western Asia (modern Turkey). During the journey, Paul’s prolific preaching made Eutychus “fall asleep in the LORD” literally and euphemistically, but Paul resurrected him. In another city, Paul confided to the elders of Ephesus that he was “innocent of the blood of all men” by fearlessly proclaiming the good news about God’s mercy for Jew and non-Jew through Messiah Yeshua, yet the Spirit was telling him continually that part of completing his task involved “facing the music” in Yerushalayim.
Paul went from Corinth in Greece to Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. In Ephesus, Priscilla, Aquilla and he met Apollos of Alexander, a biblically strong speaker and debater. Apollos becomes a power preacher about the Messiah, and with the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” he and 11 other believers there become complete. In this story we explore the meanings of “baptism of Yokhanan” and “baptism of the Spirit.”
Many take Acts 18:6 to mean God gave up on the Jews. Is that what it says in context? If so, why did he take a Nazarite vow after his year and a half in Corinth?
Paul has to “start from scratch” when preaching to the gentiles in Athens and Corinth and has to reach a long way back to find common ground with the Greek philosophers in Athens as well as the commerce-driven, pleasure loving Corinthians. Paul did not have a large community to support him in his evangelist efforts so he had to work with his own two hands to feed himself and his entourage. This may have given him opportunity to be “salt and light” in the marketplaces of the Roman world he was trying to reach to with the Gospel.