Acts of the ApostlesActs 16:1-40

Before we continue with chapter 16, I’d like to mention something about the timeline of Paul’s journeys and some of the letters he wrote. All of these books and letters were written before Luke pens Acts………………Matt, Mark, Luke, Romans, James, Philemon, Galatians, 1 &2 Thes, 1 & 2 Cor, Colossians, and possibly 1 &2 Timothy. Luke, as we will see a little later, was in the group when Paul visited some of the churches.

I find it particularly interesting that Galatians was written before Acts, and we find the same circumcision question causing problems in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. A comparison of Acts 15 and Galatians 1 and 2 makes an interesting study. Was what was happening in Galatia part of the reason the Council Meeting in Jerusalem took place? Were the same men moving around the country causing problems about Gentile Circumcision? We don’t know, but the problems are very similar. It may be that in some instances, Luke is “filling in the blanks” of some of the letters Paul wrote.

As we continue our study of Acts, I want to go back and pick up some of what we discussed last time.

After the Jerusalem conference concerning Gentile circumcision, Paul, Barnabas, Judas, Silas, and others go to Antioch, Syria, taking with them the letter from the Jerusalem church.

Ac 15:35 (NASB) But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others also, the word of the Lord.

There is evidence we will see later, that Silas may have stayed in Antioch, also.

Ac 15:36 (NASB) After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are."

Map of Second Journey

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This is where Paul and Barnabas split over whether Mark should join them or not. Paul takes Silas and goes into Asia Minor, but Barnabas and Mark go to Cyprus.

Ac 15:39 (NASB)  And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40  But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. 41  And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Map-show first journey

We now pick up Paul and Silas in chapter 16.

Ac 16:1 (NASB)  Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, 2  and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. 3  Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

I find it interesting that this event occurs while Paul is taking a letter to Gentile churches stating that Gentiles need not be circumcised……………….in order to be saved.

Under Jewish law, a child took his religion and his identity from his mother, so, Timothy would have been considered Jewish. It was expected that he would have been circumcised at 8 days. But he wasn't. Most commentaries said that this was because his mother let her husband lead the family.

Here are two differing commentaries about why Paul had Timothy circumcised.

Bible Reader's Companion: This Timothy is the young apprentice of Paul to whom two N.T. letters are addressed. Paul has been criticized for his compromise in having Timothy circumcised. But in Jewish law a child is of the faith of its mother, and Timothy's mother was Jewish. Paul's purpose was to remove a barrier that would have kept Timothy from ministering effectively to Jews, not because circumcision had to do with salvation.Bible Reader's Companion.

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As with the Bible Reader's Companion, some of the commentaries took the approach that Paul had compromised his belief about circumcision by having Timothy circumcised. Others, such as the Expositor's Bible Commentary took the approach that circumcision was an important part of being Jewish.

Expositor's Bible Commentary : As for Timothy, because of his Jewish mother, he was a Jew in the eyes of the Jewish world. Therefore, it was both proper and expedient for Paul to circumcise him. As Paul saw it, being a good Christian did not mean being a bad Jew.

Since they were in Asia Minor, you would think that there were many mixed marriages, so this may have come up many times. Paul may be setting an example with Timothy.

Chapter 15 was almost entirely about a squabble over what? Gentile circumcision? Or was it more about "earning salvation?" Was Jewish circumcision required in order to be saved? Ge 17:10 (KJV)  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

Ge 17:11 (KJV)  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

Ge 17:12 (KJV)  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

It's now about twenty years after the Day of Pentecost.

Ac 16:4 (NASB)  Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.5  So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily. 6  They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;

Apparently, God was not ready for other areas to hear the Gospel, yet. We will see in a couple of verses why God delayed Paul's travels into Asia.

7  and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;8  and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

Pergamum and Troas were located in Mysia. Nicea was located in Bithynia.

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Two times, they were prohibited to go to the areas they wanted to go. We see the Holy Spirit actively involved in making sure they go where God wants them to go.

Show Journey Map

The direction they were headed from Antioch, Pisidia makes it look like they originally planned to work their way through Mysia, Lydia, and Phrygia. There were many large cities in those areas.

Troas, Pergamum and Thyatira were located in the province of Mysia.

Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Ephesus were in the province of Lydia.............as was Troy of the Trojan Horse legend.

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Laodicea was in the province of Phrygia.

First, they were forbidden to go into areas of Asia, specifically Phrygia and Galatia. Then Mysia, then Bithynia. You can see on the map that they seemed to be heading to Nicaea, which is in Bithynia, but then dipped down to Troas.

Show Journey Map

There were several major cities were in Bithynia, such as Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Cius, and Apamea. Bithynia also contained Nicaea, which is where the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church was held in 325 AD.

But Paul has a vision that changes all their plans.

9  A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

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MAP OF PAUL'S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY

10  When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Verse 10 begins what is known as the “we” passages. Luke is including himself with the group.

Bible Exposition Commentary: Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, joined Paul and his party at Troas. There are three "we sections" in Acts: 16:10-17; 20:5-15; and 27:1-28:16. Luke changed from "we" to "they" in Acts 17:1, which suggests that he may have remained in Philippi to pastor the church after Paul left. The next "we section" begins in Acts 20:5 in connection with Paul's trip from Macedonia. Luke devoted a good deal of space to Paul's ministry in Philippi, so perhaps he was a resident of that city.

Up till now, the Gospel has been preached in the Middle East and Asia (Asia Minor.) For the first time, the Gospel is about to go into Europe. God made sure it did!

Ac 16:11 (NASB) So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

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Macarthur Commentary: Samothrace is an island in the Aegean Sea, approximately half way between Asia Minor and the Greek mainland. There they stayed overnight (to avoid the hazards of sailing in the dark) and on the day following sailed on to Neapolis, the port city for Philippi.

It was common for a harbor to be built several miles from a major city because of piracy. However, once Rome was involved, piracy was not a big issue.

12  and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.

Philippi was first occupied in the 6th century BC by settlers from the Aegean islands. (Patmos was one of the islands in the Aegean Sea.) They named it Krenides (the springs,) because water sources in the region were abundant. In it's early years, it was a gold rush town. It was renamed Philippi by Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander around 358 BC. It was brought under Roman rule in 168 BC. It is famous for being the place where Anthony and Octavius fought and conquered Brutus and Cassius, murders of Julius Caesar. It then became a Roman colony that was a settlement for veteran Roman soldiers who were self-governed and free from taxes. More veterans were settled there after the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC.

13  And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

This was probably a shock to Paul. He had received a vision of a MAN from Macedonia begging for help. Eager to help, he and his party left almost immediately for the Macedonian coast. Arriving in Philippi, and probably expecting to find a good sized synagogue, he finds a small group of women assembled on the banks of the river. Nonplussed, he and his group sat down and began teaching these women.

Earlier, Paul had broken through the barrier of Gentiles converting to Christianity and not being circumcised. Here, he breaks through another barrier………….teaching the Gospel to Gentile women having their own worship services.

Expositor’s Commentary: In Jewish law, a synagogue congregation could be formed only if there were at least ten male heads of households…………..a minyan. Failing this, a place of prayer under the open sky and near a river or the sea was to be arranged for. Philippi apparently did not have the quorum and so was without a synagogue.

Bible Background Commentary:…….In places with no official synagogue, Jewish people preferred to meet in a ritually pure place near water; ritual washing of hands before prayer seems to have been standard in Diaspora Judaism, and excavations show the importance of water to synagogues.

So, where did the idea that ten male heads of households are required to start a synagogue come from?

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The biblical source for the requirement of ten men to complete a minyan is Numbers 14:27. 

Nu 14.17 (ISV) How long will this wicked assembly keep complaining about me? I've heard the complaints of the Israelis that they've been murmuring against me.

Moses sent spies to scout the land of Canaan. Ten of them returned and issued a report concluding that it was not a conquerable land. God was extremely disappointed with their lack of faith in His abilities. He turns to Moses and Aaron, telling them: "How long will this evil ‘assembly’ complain against Me?” From here it is deduced that an “assembly” is comprised of ten men.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the Oral Law developed.

Acts 16:14 (KJV) 14  And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.

Note that Luke wrote “us,” which indicates that Luke was still with them.

Show Map of Lydia

Expositor’s Commentary: One of the women was from Thyatira, a city of western Asia Minor. It had been part of the ancient kingdom of Lydia before its incorporation into the Roman province of Asia; hence the woman was called Lydia (or, perhaps, "the Lydian lady"). Thyatira was famous for making purple dyes and for dyeing clothes--industries that were mostly carried on by women at home. Lydia had come to Philippi to carry on

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her trade. She was a "God-fearer," having doubtless received instruction at a synagogue in her native Thyatira. She was likely either a widow or unmarried, and some of the women gathered for worship were relatives and servants living in her home. As she listened, God opened her heart to the Christian message and "she and the members of her household were baptized." Then she urged the missionary party to stay at her home, which they did.

While the “congregation” at Philippi was possibly the smallest one started by Paul, it became very special to Paul. We will see this when we study Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

16  It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

Bible Knowledge Commentary: Some men were exploiting a demon-possessed slave girl for her ability to predict the future. The English words, a spirit by which she predicted the future, translate two Greek words, "a spirit, a python." This concept goes back to the Greek city of Delphi where the god Apollo was believed to be embodied in a python snake. The original priestess at Delphi was purported to be possessed by Apollo and thereby able to predict the future; therefore anyone possessed by the python spirit could foretell coming events. No doubt an actual demon gave such a person predictive powers.

17  Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." 18  She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out at that very moment.

Paul becomes extremely annoyed. The Greek is to be “worn out.” So, he turns and casts the demon out in the name of Jesus Christ. One would think that her family and people who knew her would be very happy for her, but not her managers. I say managers, because she was simply a business venture to some men who were making money off of her prophesies. So, they had Paul and Silas arrested and taken to court.

19  But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, 20  and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,

Timothy was not arrested. Maybe he didn’t look Jewish enough. Luke was a Gentile, so he was not arrested, either. Maybe it was because Paul and Silas had done all the speaking. At any rate, only Paul and Silas were arrested.

21  and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans."

Remember what was said earlier about Philippi?

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It then became a Roman colony that was a settlement for veteran Roman soldiers who were self-governed and free from taxes.

They were self-governed, but didn’t want Rome to get upset about what occurred in their city. So, the city officials had them beaten and thrown in prison. Paul, being a Roman citizen, could have stopped it, but apparently decided to let it play out.

There was an attitude of anti-Semitism in Rome that would occasionally get really bad. Some of the Roman emperors, from time to time, would run Jews out of Rome. About this time, Emperor Claudius, who reigned from 41-54 AD issued a decree expelling all Jews from Rome. There were at least two expulsions of Jews from Rome before this event. In 139 BC the Jews were expelled after being accused of aggressive missionary efforts. Then in AD 19 Tiberius once again expelled Jews from the city for similar reasons.

Jews were blessed by God, and were very good businessmen/women. As a result, they would accumulate wealth, which would be taken every time they were expelled. It made good economic sense to expel them on occasion. An unintended consequence, however, was that highly productive citizens were lost to the community, so they were allowed to creep back in over time.

We read about the expulsion by Claudius in chapter 18:

Ac 18:2 (NASB)  …………. because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.

Ac 16:22 (NASB) The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;

Expositor’s Commentary: Jailers commonly were retired army veterans, who could be expected to follow orders and use their military skills as required.

24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

MacArthur NT Commentary: Taking no chances with such important prisoners, the jailer threw the two battered and bleeding men into the inner, most secure, part of the prison. He then took the further precaution of fastening their feet in the stocks.

Vincent Word Studies in the New Testament. "The state prison was arranged on pretty much one and the same plan through the Roman empire, nay, we may say throughout the ancient world. It was commonly attached to the government buildings, and consisted of two parts. The first was the vestibule, or outward prison, approached from the praetorium, and surrounded by cells opening into it. The prisoners who were confined in these cells had the benefit of the air and light which the hall admitted. From the vestibule there was a passage into the interior prison, called Robur or Lignum, from the beams of

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wood which were the instruments of confinement, or from the character of its floor. It had no window or outlet except this door, which, when closed, absolutely shut out light and air. This apartment was the place into which Paul and Silas were cast at Philippi.”

Picture of Prison

Artist Rendering of Stocks

25  But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26  and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. 27  When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

Commentary on Acts of the Apostles: The jailer seems not to have heard the singing, but was awakened by the motion of the earthquake, the slamming of the doors, and the clanking of the fetters which fell from the hands of the prisoners. (27) “And the jailer, awaking out of sleep, and seeing the prison-doors open, drew his sword, and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled.” It was not so dark as to prevent him from seeing, to some extent, what had taken place. He supposed that the prisoners had, as a matter of course, all rushed out through the open doors. He knew what the penalty, under Roman law, for allowing prisoners to escape, was death; and that peculiar code of honor among the Romans, which made them prefer to die by their own hands, rather than by that of an enemy or an executioner, drove him to this attempt at suicide.

28  But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!" 29  And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30  and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31  They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32  And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33  And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34  And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

35  Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, "Release those men."

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36  And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace." 37  But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out."

We don’t know the reason why Paul reacted the way he did. I think we can assume it wasn’t simply to embarrass the men who had thrown them in jail. Maybe it was to show them that, while Paul could have had them arrested, he showed them mercy. Or, maybe it was to provide some cover for the Philippian Christians. Whatever his motives, I think we can assume that his motives were pure.

38  The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39  and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city.

The magistrates were in fear for their lives. They wanted Paul and his company gone!!!

40  They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

Luke has apparently left them at this point. No more “we.”

By the time Paul writes his letter the church at Philippi, there had been lots of growth in the church.

Php 1:1 (NASB)  Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:

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