Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 23-25.

I want to focus on something that the Roman commander of the Jerusalem garrison wrote in his letter to the governor when he sent Paul to the governor in Caesarea: “there was no charge against him which deserved death or imprisonment.”  So, the commander found no basis for imprisoning Paul, yet he sent him as a prisoner to the governor in Caesarea.  There the governor, Felix, had the Jewish leaders come down and make their case against Paul.  Felix found no basis for condemning Paul, but kept him as a prisoner anyway.  When Festus succeeded Felix as governor, he held a hearing on the charges against Paul.  Festus also found no basis in the law for keeping Paul a prisoner, but ruled in a manner which led Paul to believe he had no choice but to appeal to the emperor.  So, we must ask, since none of these men found a legal basis for Paul to be imprisoned, why did they keep him imprisoned?

The commander of the Jerusalem garrison would have claimed that he did so to protect Paul from those plotting to kill him.  Yet, he did not need to send him to Caesarea as a prisoner in order to protect him.   Luke tells us that Felix was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, but Luke also tells us that he wanted to do the Jews a favor when he left the office of governor, so he did not release Paul.  Festus found no basis  in law for keeping Paul a prisoner, but he wanted Paul to go to Jerusalem to face charges.  However, all three men had one thing in common, they feared that if they released Paul that there would be riots in Jerusalem (and perhaps elsewhere).  So, rather than do what they believed was what the law called for and release Paul, they kept him imprisoned.  The Sanhedrin used the threat of riots to manipulate the Roman authorities into punishing those they found inconvenient.  It is not actually accurate to say it was the Sanhedrin which did this.  As we read between the lines in the Gospels and the Book of Acts we see that it was a select group of the most powerful members of the Sanhedrin, including the high priest.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 21-22.

As Paul was traveling towards Jerusalem, God revealed to him through various prophets that he would be arrested and imprisoned if he went to Jerusalem.  As I have read the passages concerning these warnings over the years I have wondered if God was telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem.  I have come to the conclusion that God was giving Paul a choice.  He could continue to Jerusalem, be arrested, and eventually face martyrdom.  Or, he could choose not to go to Jerusalem, continue to travel around, preaching the Gospel, and, perhaps, avoid martyrdom.  Paul chose the road to suffering on behalf of his faith.  Not all Believers have that choice, some of us will have to choose either faithfulness and suffering, or denying our faith (I have not, so far, been faced with that choice).  If you are one of those given that harder choice, I pray that you find inspiration and comfort from Paul’s example.  I want to note that while it appears that God gave Paul the choice to avoid the suffering awaiting him in Jerusalem, there had been previous occasions where the only choice Paul was given to avoid suffering was to deny his faith.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 19-20.

At the end of yesterday’s passage, Apollos met Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus, where he was preaching about Jesus even though he had never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Luke writes that Priscilla and Aquila explained the way of Christ to Apollos more adequately.  Apollos then travelled to Corinth where he publicly debated those Jews who opposed following Christ.  Meanwhile, Paul returns to Ephesus and discovers some believers there who have not experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Reading between the lines suggests to me that these believers had obtained their faith by listening to Apollos before he met Priscilla and Aquila.  All told this passage indicates the importance of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  This always troubles me because of those who insist that if you have not experienced a dramatic experience comparable to what the disciples experienced on Pentecost you are not truly saved.  I am also troubled by those who downplay the importance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not always as dramatic as what the disciples experienced and I believe that some people are saved without experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit (I believe that Apollos, and the believers Paul found in Ephesus were saved before they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit).  However, the true power of our faith comes about when we are filled by the Holy Spirit in that baptism and we should seek that experience.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 17-18.

In town after town where Paul and his companions preached the crowds were riled up in an attempt to stop them preaching the Gospel.  I always find it noteworthy that in Berea, when people began agitating the crowds against the Gospel, the Believers sent Paul on his way, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind for some period of time.  From this we realize that Paul was more confrontational than many others.  I would argue that we should learn from this that there is a place in the Church for those who are confrontational about preaching the Gospel and a place for those who take a more gentle approach.

In Athens, while waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him, Paul got into a debate with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.  These two schools of philosophy were in direct conflict with each other, but both were materialistic philosophies.  That is both schools taught that all beings are entirely material with nothing that was not part of the physical world.  While Paul made some converts in Athens, we know from reading between the lines from his letters to the Corinthian Church that he felt getting into debates with the philosophers was a mistake.  However, I believe that Paul, and certainly Luke, felt that the argument Paul made in Athens concerning the “unknown god” was an important Christian apologetic.  Paul’s argument was that God has revealed Himself to mankind through aspects of the world, that those who truly seek the Truth will find God.  In fact, that is part of the point of Luke including mention of Apollos later in this passage.  Apollos appears to have come to a belief in Jesus from a combination of hearsay and studying Jewish Scripture.  In today’s passage Priscilla and Aquila  introduced Apollos to the Holy Spirit.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 14-16.

I want to start out by looking at the way in which “the crowd” in Lystra shifted from wanting to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas as gods to stoning Paul.  While “the crowd” which stoned Paul was almost certainly not the same group of people as the one which acclaimed Paul and Barnabas as gods, the shift does serve as a warning about the fickleness of crowds.  In both cases the crowd followed their emotions rather than careful thought.  And in both cases the crowd was encouraged in their emotional response by those who stood to benefit from their incorrect reaction to circumstances.  I take two lessons from these events.  We should not follow the crowds when emotions are running high, and we should not stoke those emotions in order to gain advantage for ourselves.

On the subject of emotion getting the best of us, I want to look at the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas about taking John Mark with them on a second journey.  Paul approached Barnabas about going back to visit the places they had preached the Word on their previous trip.  Barnabas thought that was a good idea and wanted to take the young man, John Mark (who we know primarily as Mark) with them.  Paul resisted that idea because Mark had left them early on the previous journey.  Barnabas insisted that they give Mark a second chance and Paul refused.  Leading the two men to go their separate ways.  Luke’s wording in saying the Mark had deserted them on the first journey suggests that he thought that Paul had a valid point.  However, I also think that Luke recognized at the time of writing that Barnabas was right to give Mark a second chance (based partly on the fact that in his account of Mark leaving them on the first trip he downplays it).  We cannot know how things would have worked out if Paul and Barnabas had resolved their differences and travelled together this time, but we do know that God used their separation to enrich the Church.  Mark travelled with Barnabas and became a pillar of the next generation of Church leaders, writing one of the four Gospels which we have to this day (and being such assistance to Paul later that Paul refers to him in his letters).  On the other side, Paul took Timothy under his wing on his travels and Timothy also became a pillar of the next generation of Church leaders.  It seems unlikely that if Mark had been travelling with Paul that Paul would have recruited Timothy to travel with them.  So, the dispute between Paul and Barnabas led them to each train a young man for leadership in the Church.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 9-10.

Sometimes I think we do not pay enough attention to the bravery of the Ananias in the account of Saul’s conversion.  I think that there are two reasons for this.  The first being that the account is about Saul’s conversion and Saul plays such a major role later in the Book of Acts (and the development of the Church), while we know nothing more about this Ananias than what we are told here.  Additionally, we tend to think of the other Believer named Ananias, the one who, with his wife, conspired to pretend he had given more to aid the poor than he actually had.  That being said, let us look at the actions of this Ananias.  He had clearly heard that Saul was persecuting those who followed Jesus and testified in His name.  Further, it seems likely that he had heard that something had happened to Saul on his way to Damascus.  Perhaps he was even feeling that he should go to Saul and offer prayer for his sight to be restored in Jesus’ name.  However, he was afraid to do so, until he had a vision telling him to do just that.  Let us think about the situation.  Word had either gotten to Damascus ahead of Saul, or perhaps spread after his arrival, that he was coming to imprison Believers and take them back to Jerusalem for punishment.  When Saul arrived in Damascus word quickly spread among the Jews, including the Believers, that something had happened to him on the road to Damascus and now he was blind.  The Believers in Damascus must have felt great joy at Saul’s misfortune, hopefully, not for his suffering but because it meant he would be unable to impose suffering on others.  But Ananias felt compelled to relieve Saul’s suffering and attempt to call him into service to Christ.  When we see those who have chosen to be our enemies, let us strive to follow Ananias’ example.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 7-8.

Yesterday I wrote about how the Believers prayed for boldness to preach in Jesus’ name in the face of threats.  The passage ended with Stephen being arrested for doing just that.  Today’s passage begins with Stephen’s trial.  There he even more boldly testifies about Jesus by tying the numerous times when the Israelites refused to obey God’s commands with the Sanhedrin calling for Jesus to be crucified.  As he was dying Stephen did two things which recall Jesus’ death on the cross.  Just as Jesus had called upon God to Receive His spirit as He died, so Stephen asked Jesus to receive his spirit.  Then, Stephen prayed that God not hold the sin of murdering him against those doing so, just as Jesus had prayed for God to forgive those who crucified Him. This represents a model we should strive to emulate as we face death, whether from the hands of men or from natural causes.  I want to note that the group which stoned Stephen to death was the same group which a few months earlier took Jesus before Pilate because they did not have the legal authority to condemn Him to death.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 4-6.

The first thing I want to comment on is the way in which Luke changed how he reported numbers.  Back in chapter 2, after Peter’s speech on Pentecost, Luke reported that the number of believers rose to around 3,000.  Then in today’s passage, after Peter and John had healed the lame man, Luke reports that the number of men who believed rose to about 5,000.  So, before Pentecost, the number of believers was around 120, after Pentecost it was around 3,000, and after this incident it rose to well over 5,000 (I would assume that the number of women believers was at least similar to the number of men who believed, but it may have been much higher).

However, that is not the main thing I want to write about today.  Rather, I want to write about Peter and John’s response to the Sanhedrin’s threats, and the prayer of response which the Believers offered up when they heard about it.  First, Peter and John asked if the Sanhedrin believed that they should listen to the Sanhedrin over listening to God.  Should we listen to human authorities or to God?  Then, Peter and John gave their answer to that question: they could not help but speak that which God directed them to speak.  I hope their question is as much of a rhetorical question for you as it was for the two of them.  Next I want to look at how the Body of Believers responded to the threats.  Now the obvious part of their response was that they prayed.  But we can learn a lot from what they prayed.  They did not pray that God would protect them from the threats which had been issued against them should they continue to preach in the name of Jesus.  Instead, they prayed that God would make them bold in the face of those threats.  Do we share their faith to pray that God make us bold in the face of threats?  I am not sure that I have the faith to take that position.  I strive to reach the place where I will pray to stand firm against threats rather than praying for protection from them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 1-3.

On the day of Pentecost, the Believers were gathered together in one place when the Holy Spirit descended upon them.  The first thing of importance I want to note is that when they began speaking in tongues, it was in languages they had never learned but understood by people who were nearby.  I am not quite sure what happened here, but whatever it was it attracted to attention of people outside of the building they were meeting in.  As I tried to understand it today, it struck me that as people came to investigate the loud wind they heard, different ones among the disciples began explaining to them, in their native language, what had happened.  Before long, people began to notice that the speakers were all from Galilee and one or more of them was speaking in every language represented by those who came to investigate (or maybe just to gawk).  Which attracted still more people so that  things became very chaotic.  At which point, Peter and the Eleven (side note: even though they had appointed Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve a few days earlier, it was still “the Eleven”) stood up to bring order to what was going on.

So, points about this rather chaotic event I want to point out.  When the Holy Spirit caused the disciples to speak in tongues it was in order for them to speak to those who were present.  When things became chaotic, the leaders worked together to make things more orderly.  Finally, Peter promises that everyone who repents and is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ will receive the Holy Spirit, not just those present, but their children and those far off, all who God will call.  This always reminds me of how weak my faith is.  This account, and other passages in the New Testament, convince me that the Holy Spirit will work miracles through those who receive Him in accordance with their faith.  I have never witnessed anything close to the working of the Holy Spirit described here and elsewhere and I know that is because I lack sufficient faith to truly believe it can happen to me.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.