Acts - Chapters 10-28
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ActsSurvey of the New Testament: The Gospels & ActsWinter 2005 |
[Previous: Witness to the Jews][Bibliography]
In the first 8 chapters of Acts the gospel has been proclaimed to the Jews in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. In the last 20 chapters, however, the transition is made for the apostles to be witnesses to the remotest parts of the earth. This is also a transition from being a witness to the Jews to being a witness to the Gentiles. Finally the last section of Acts transitions from the witness of Peter to the witness of Paul.
The move to the witness in the “uttermost parts” required a change in theology for the apostles. Thoroughly grounded in the Jewish law and tradition, the thought of interacting with Gentiles was abhorrent. It took a supernatural revelation to Peter, to open the possibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
In chapter 10 we are introduced to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who is described as “one who feared God.” This man was not Jew, but was nonetheless an “Old Testament” saint. He gave to the poor and he prayed to God continually (10:2). God visits Cornelius and tells him to send his servants to find the apostles Peter, which he does.
Peter meanwhile has been on a missionary journey throughout Judea, performing miracles and preaching the gospel in Lydda and Joppa. While in Joppa Peter has a vision in which a large sheet drops from heaven on which are all kinds of animals which were unclean to eat under the Jewish law. God tells Peter to get up and eat the animals, for they are now unclean. Peter, true to his stubborn character, tells God that he is wrong, so God has to repeat his words.
But not only are the animals no longer unclean, but more importantly, the Gentiles are not unclean either. As Peter is contemplating these things, Cornelius' messengers arrive and in obedience to God, Peter goes with them to Caesarea and enters the house of this Roman solider.
Peter proclaims to Cornelius and his household that Jesus is Christ and Lord (10:36) and that He is the judge of the living and the dead (10:42). He states that they are witnesses of his crucifixion by the Jews (10:39) and his resurrection (10:40-41). Peter states that belief in Him results in the forgiveness of sins (10:43).
In the midst of this sermon, the Holy Spirit falls upon his listeners, and they begin speaking in languages and praising God. Then Peter says,
“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”
Through Peter's vision and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God has now included the Gentiles in his kingdom. God did not wait for Peter or the other apostles to lay their hands on these Gentiles, for He had to demonstrate in a powerful way that “what was unclean is now clean.”
The Jews were very xenophobic at this time, and held a great prejudice against the Gentiles. This prejudice was carried into the early church, and it took much to overcome. When Peter returns from Caesarea, the apostles and other Jewish Christians in Jerusalem criticize him for having entered the home and eaten with an uncircumcised Gentile (11:2-3).
Peter responds by explaining all that had happened, and then concluding “who was I that I could stand in God's way” (11:17). As Gamliel had said, if this movement was of God, no one would be able to stop it. The gospel was now open to the Gentiles. The Jewish Christians heard this, they “quieted down” and declared that “God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life” (11:18).
In 11:19, persecution again spreads the Christians out, this time to Antioch. At first the Christians only share with the Jews in Antioch, but soon some men from Christians from Cyprus arrive in Antioch and begin proclaiming the gospel to the Greeks (11:20). This concerns the apostles, so Barnabas is sent to investigate (11:22).
Barnabas investigates and finds that that many are coming to believe in Antioch. He then travels to Tarsus to find Paul, and the two of them stay in Antioch and teach them for a year.
The church in Antioch becomes an important center for Christianity. This is the first church to preach to the Gentiles. This is the first church to send out missionaries. This is the first church where disciples are called Christians.
The fourth progress report (12:24) concludes the section on the witness in Antioch.
The church in Antioch instigates the next movement outward. In 13:1, they commission Barnabas and Paul to a missionary journey into Cyprus and Asia Minor on the “First Missionary Journey.” On this journey Paul and Barnabas establish a pattern for his visits to each city.
The first recorded message of Paul took place in Pisidian Antioch during his first missionary journey. This message has elements of both Peter's message on Pentecost and Stephen's message. Like Stephen, Paul recounts the history of Israel. Like Peter, Paul declares that the Jews crucified Jesus (13:28), that God raised Him (13:30), and that the apostles are witnesses to this fact (13:31). Paul also borrows from the Peters' Pentecost message in his quotation of David from Psalm 16 (13:35). Paul also declares that through Christ sins can be forgiven (13:38).
Paul, however, adds a unique element at the end of his message. Paul states that Christ brings a freedom that cannot be found in the Law of Moses (13:39). This is an intriguing addition to the message given Pisidian Antioch's location in Galatia and Paul's emphasis in his epistle to the Galatians on freedom in Christ.
The similarity between Paul's message and that of Peter is not a coincidence. As the book of Acts shifts from the ministry of Peter to Paul, Luke begins to purposefully draw a comparison between the ministry of Peter and Paul.
| Peter | Paul |
| Ch. 3: Heals lame man | Ch. 14: Heals lame man |
| Ch. 3: Shadows passing heals sick | Ch 19: Exceptional miracles from rags |
| Ch. 8: Laying on hands/Spirit received | Ch. 19: Laying on of hands/Spirit received |
| Ch. 9: Resurrection of Tabitha | Ch. 20: Resurrection of Eutychus |
| Ch. 12: Lead by angel from prison | Ch. 16: Earthquake opens prison |
Luke is establishing Paul's authority as an apostle by showing that his message and his ministry is the same as Peter and the rest of the apostles.
As Paul and Barnabas continue their travels throughout Asia Minor, more and more Gentiles join with the Christians. The response of the Gentiles, however, brings new questions as to the role of Jewish law in Christianity. The early church is struggling for its identity; namely, is Christianity a sect of Judaism or is it something entirely new.
As seen in the sermon in Pisidian Antioch, Paul had already declared that Christ brings freedom which the Law can not bring. From Paul's epistles, we know that he had been teaching freedom from the Law. But many in the church in Jerusalem believed that upon conversion Gentiles needed to be circumcised and begin following the practice of the Jewish law.
The debate was settled in the only recorded church council in scripture. James summed up the argument by showing from the Old Testament that the witness to the Gentiles had been part of the plan all along (15:16-18), and that the earthly kingdom would not take place until the “uttermost parts” knew the gospel. The Gentile believers did not have to be circumcised, nor did they need to keep the Law (15:28). All they were to do was to avoid idolatrous practices and sexual sin (15:29).
The fifth progress report (16:5) concludes the section on the witness in Asia Minor.
After the Jerusalem council, Paul and Barnabas set for their second missionary journey from Antioch. Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them on their journey, but Paul insisted that they travel without Mark because he had abandoned them on a prior trip. The scripture says “there arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.”
Paul selects Silas as his partner for this journey. Their intent was to continue in Asia Minor to check on the churches established in the first journey. But God had a different plan. If the gospel was to reach the remotest parts of the earth, it had to expand to the next sphere of influence: Europe.
The Holy Spirit forbade Paul and Silas from preaching in Asia (16:6). Then Paul receives a vision from God of a man in Macedonia who appeals to Paul to help them (16:9). God had called them to cross over to Europe (16:10), and so they crossed the sea to Macedonia and Greece (16:11).
Just as in the first journey, this second journey also develops a consistent pattern:
The pattern changes somewhat with the audience. Paul, in chapter 17, does not begin in the synagogue, but in the market place. Now Paul speaks in a culturally relevant way to Gentiles first. Paul and Silas become separated after persecution in the city of Berea. Paul flees ahead to Athens, and while waiting for Silas and the others to catch up with him, he acts as a tourist, walking through the beautiful city of Athens (17:16).
Paul begins debating with some Greek philosophers in the market place. This is Paul's second recorded message to Gentiles. He addresses the Athenian philosophers using their philosophical terminology. Like with the Gentiles in Lystra, he begins by discussing God as creator (17:24) and demonstrating that he is transcendent (17:25). Paul declares that all need to repent of their ignorance, for “a Man” is coming who will judge the world. Paul states this man's authority to judge is based on his resurrection from the dead (17:31).
While Paul lost his audience with his discussion of a resurrection, we can see that Paul was trying to direct the message from that which the Gentiles would understand (God as creator) towards the resurrection of Jesus.
Luke records details on this trip of three incidents where Paul is surrounded by uprisings. In 16:19, we see that Paul's ministry in Philippi interrupts the profiteering of some fortunetellers. But when all is said and done, they are exonerated by the magistrates (16:37-40), and it is shown that Paul's rights as a Roman citizen have been violated.
In Corinth, the Jews rise up against Paul and haul him before the Roman official, Gallio (18:12). But Paul is again exonerated by the Roman leader (18:14-15), saying that this was an internal religious debate and that it did not concern him (18:17).
During the third missionary journey, Paul's ministry in Ephesus is so successful that it begins to impact the sale of idols at the temple to Artemis. The merchants rise up in a riot against Paul and take him to the amphitheater. There the town clerk declares that this riot was unlawful and dismissed the assembly (19:38-41).
In all three of these incidents, Luke demonstrates to his audience of the peaceful intentions of the Christian movement and that any disorder was the cause of the Jewish leadership or profiteers.
Paul's third missionary journey is dominated by a two year stay in the city of Ephesus. Rather than a “journey” like the first and second trips, this really is a description of Paul's move to Ephesus and his leaving Ephesus as he journeys back to Jerusalem.
In Ephesus, Paul's associates Priscilla and Aquila met an Alexandrian Jew named Apollos. Apollos was a gifted speaker, and Luke tells us that he was accurately teaching “the things concerning Jesus,” even though he himself had never heard of Jesus, instead being “acquainted only with the baptism of John” (18:25). Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside and told him “the way of God more accurately” (18:26), and Apollos became a powerful apologist for Christianity in Ephesus and Corinth (18:27-19:1).
When Paul came to Ephesus he found some others who evidently may have been converted through Apollos' incomplete teaching of Jesus (19:1). Paul explained to them the fuller message of Jesus as the fulfillment of John the Baptist (19:4), and they immediately became baptized and received the Holy Spirit (19:5-6).
This intriguing narrative gives rise to an intriguing question: when were these disciples of John the Baptist “saved?” They were not “Christians,” for they had not heard the message of Christ. Yet the scripture says Apollos was teaching of things concerning Jesus and they are called disciples.
These were people caught in a dispensational cross-over period. These were Old Testament believes who had not yet heard the New Testament gospel. But when told of the gospel of Jesus Christ they readily accepted it and were baptized.
This leads to a larger question. When Jesus came, there were people who were “saved” by belief in a coming Messiah who would bring salvation to His people. After Pentecost and the institution of the church age, did these people have their salvation revoked until they could hear the gospel of Jesus, at which time they could be re-saved? Of course not. The narrative of Apollos and his disciples confirms this. Old Testament saints remained saints until they heard the gospel. But the confirmation that indeed they were Old Testament saints is that when they heard the New Testament gospel, they readily accepted it. Those who rejected it did not loose their Old Testament salvation, but never had salvation under the Old Testament to begin with.
This explains why Paul and his associates always started by preaching in the synagogues, and explains why the mission of the early church was “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16, 2:9-10). Those who were already saved deserved first to hear the gospel first.
This also has some intriguing ramifications for those who believe, but who may not have a complete understanding of the gospel. People need to be taught “the way of God more accurately,” but their moment of salvation comes when they believe the revelation which God has already provided. This does not mean that we shouldn't send missionaries to unreached peoples, for most are not believers and they need to hear the gospel more fully in order to find salvation. Furthermore, if there are those who already believe but who haven't heard the message of Christ, if they are believers, as they hear the fullness of the gospel, they will readily accept the gospel. If they don't, they were never believers in the first place.
The sixth progress report (19:20) concludes the section on the witness in Europe. In 19:10, the extent of the witness if profound when it states that “all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”
This section of the book of Acts ends while Paul is in Ephesus, and concludes in the midst of what is traditionally known as the third missionary journey. That is because while Paul is still in his final missionary journey, Paul's focused has shifted. He is now heading to Rome. But the road to Rome will go through Jerusalem (19:21).
Paul finishes his third missionary journey with a whirlwind tour through Macedonia and Greece, and then back to Miletus where he meets with the elders from the church in Ephesus. He gives them a long farewell address (20:17-35), and then they all weep and hug Paul knowing that they would never see Paul again (20:38).
Most of the Ephesian elders probably thought that Paul's journey to Jerusalem would result in his execution. All the Christians who met with Paul as he headed towards Jerusalem clearly expected that Paul would be killed when he arrived. In Tyre, the disciples told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem (21:4). In Caesarea, Agabus the prophet tells Paul he will be bound in Jerusalem (21:11), and the Caesarean believers beg Paul not to go to Jerusalem (21:12).
But Paul's purpose was to go to Jerusalem, for the Spirit had told him that the road to Rome would go through Jerusalem (19:21). Was the Spirit being contradictory, telling Agabus and the Christians in Tyre one thing, while telling Paul another? If we look closely at Agabus' prophecy, it was not a prohibition but a merely a declaration of what was to come. Furthermore, the church in Tyre was in the Spirit, but it doesn't mean that the message was from the Spirit.
Paul would go to Jerusalem because he knew that he would be arrested, after which he would appeal to Caesar, as was his right as a Roman citizen, thus providing him with a trip to Rome with all expenses paid by the Roman empire. The gospel would reach the remotest parts of the earth by first heading back to the center of it all.
All happens according to plan. Paul is arrested in Jerusalem. The actual charge against Paul is that he brought a Gentile into the temple (21:28), something he did not do (21:29). It seems that Paul's mission to the Gentiles not only upset those within the church, but it upset those Jews outside of the church as well. This charge enrages the crowd and a riot starts. Paul is rescued/arrested by the Roman army for disturbing the peace (21:30-36).
After some clarification as to his identity (21:38-39), Paul convinces the Roman army commander to let him talk with the gathered Jewish mob (21:40). In this message we see that Paul departs from a proclamation of what others have witnessed regarding Jesus (i.e. his death and resurrection), and instead proclaims what he has witnessed about Jesus. Paul recounts his conversion experience (22:6-16) and his vision of Jesus and His call to the Gentiles (22:17-21). Paul is “being a witness” of Christ, in the way that Christ has affected him.
The Jews become enraged by Paul's explanation of his mission to the Gentiles, but when the Roman centurion discovers that Paul was a Roman citizen, he unbinds Paul. But he has to put him back into protective custody because he was afraid the Jewish leaders would kill Paul otherwise (23:10).
Paul remains in “protective” custody in Jerusalem, and it seems that Paul's plan to make it to Rome had been thwarted. But Paul received sees the Lord that night and receives a promise that he would be his witness in Rome (23:11).
Eventually Paul is moved to a prison in Caesarea, again because of threats against his life. The centurion sends a letter with Paul to the governor in Caesarea, Felix. This letter is just one of many declarations by Roman officials in the book of Acts that Paul is not the cause of the disruption of peace wherever he goes, but that he is innocent of any of the charges.
In Caesarea Paul is given an opportunity to responds to his Jewish accusers before the Roman governor Felix. As he had done in his trial before the Jewish Council in chapter 23, Paul emphasizes only his belief in a resurrection, thereby making the dispute look like the longstanding theological debate between the Pharisees and Sadducees (24:21). Felix only keeps Paul imprisoned because of his own corruption (24:26).
Paul remains imprisoned in Caesarea for two years when a new Roman governor is appointed. The new Roman governor, Festus, asks visiting King Agrippa to help determine the charge against Paul before he sends him to face Caesar. As he did in Acts 22, Paul proclaims his personal experience with Jesus rather than that of the other apostles. As he did before Felix, Paul states that he is preaching nothing more than the Jewish prophets have stated. However, Paul goes on to proclaim that the Old Testament prophets had predicted a suffering Christ who would rise from the dead (26:23). This clearly is a defense of Jesus as the Christ, for his listeners would have known of Jesus death and of the rumors of his resurrection.
Festus (25:25) and Agrippa (26:32) both agree that it is only because Paul appealed to Caesar that they couldn't release him. Luke is demonstrating to a skeptical audience, that Christianity is not a threat to the Empire and that in reality the leadership is civil, and for the most part been badly treated by those in authority.
| Passage | Official | Position | Location | Contribution to the defense of Christianity |
| 10:1-48 | Cornelius, | Centurion | Caesarea | God-fearing centurion. Used by the Holy Spirit to demonstrate that Christianity was open to the Gentiles |
| 13:6-12 | Sergius Paulus | Proconsul | Cyprus | Saw the Paul and Barn. blind Elymas the magician. Believed and was amazed at the teaching of the Lord. |
| 16:19-40 | Philippian Magistrate | Magistrate | Philippi | Embarrassed at having falsely jailed the Roman citizens, Paul and Silas. Asked them to leave to avoid a scene. |
| 18:1-17 | Gallio | Proconsul | Corinth | Declared the dispute as being between Jewish sects and was not a civil matter. |
| 21:31-40, 23:16-35 | Claudius Lysias | Commander of Roman cohort | Jerusalem | Dispute is about Jewish Law. Not worthy of death or imprisonment. |
| 24:1-27 | Felix | Governor | Caesarea | Delayed judgment hoping for a bribe. Held him to please the Jews. |
| 25:1-12, 26:24-32 | Festus | Governor | Caesarea | Agrippa said to him, “This man might have been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar. |
| 27:1-44 | Julius | Centurion | Ship | Ignored advice of Paul to their peril. |
Because Paul appealed to Caesar, his trial would take place in Rome not Caesarea. So he it put on a ship with other prisoners and they set sail for Rome. The journey turns out to be very eventful, for they end up in a storm and are shipwrecked on the island of Malta. But even in this narrative, Luke is defending Paul as a man innocent of the charges against him. Paul is not a trouble maker, but as an extraordinary man possessing great integrity.
Finally, after wintering in Malta for three months, they depart for Rome. Paul is placed under house arrest, but is free to preach. He gathers the Jewish leaders in Rome and defends himself. Word has already arrived from Jerusalem warning the leadership to watch out for Paul (28:21), but they decided to hear Paul for themselves (28:22).
Large numbers of Jews came to hear Paul as he preaches about the “kingdom of God”, showing them that Jesus as Messiah as predicted in the Law and Prophets (28:23). This ties back to the beginning of the book of Acts, where the apostles ask about the kingdom of God and Jesus gives proof that he is the Messiah from the Law and the Prophets.
Some believe and some do not (28:24). When those reject him begin to leave, Paul gives a parting word, quoting Isaiah as a demonstration that their rejection had been predicted (28:26-27), and that it is for this reason that salvation would be offered to the Gentiles (28:28).
Luke ends the book demonstrating how it is that the gospel moved from being a small Jewish sect in Jerusalem to a Gentile movement found throughout the empire and even in Rome itself. He concludes with his seventh and final progress report (28:30-31), declaring that the message of the kingdom of God continued in Rome with “all openness, unhindered.” Even the might of the Roman Empire could not stop the progress of the gospel!
The apostles expected Christ's kingdom and the end of the age to come after His resurrection. But the program was not their design. Paul expected to preach the gospel to the Jews, but the program was not his design. The Jewish Christians expected Gentiles to follow the Jewish traditions, but the program was not their design. The history of the church, and its quick growth was designed by God, powered by God, and as Gamaliel put it, “of God.”
The apostles fulfilled the commission of Christ not through their tremendous vision and strategy. Vision and strategy belonged to Christ. Their fulfillment came with their willingness to look for the open doors and walk through them, whether it be Paul hearing the Europeans calling to him, or Peter responding to the Spirit's leading to enter Cornelius' house. It was uncomfortable to them, and often just opposite what they expected. But their willingness to listen to the Spirit and respond, resulted in the growth of the church.
[Previous: Witness to the Jews][Bibliography]
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