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THE APOSTLE PAUL (6)

In the fall of 59 or 60 AD, Luke and Aristarchus accompanied Paul, with 273 other passengers (Acts 27:37), onto a grain-ship bound for Rome. The passenger count included many prisoners escorted by a Roman Centurion named Julius (Acts 27:1-2). Luke’s masterpiece is compared with Homer’s Odyssey, Jonah’s Mediterranean Voyage, and is even called in secular circles “one of the most instructive documents for the knowledge of ancient seamanship.” Bruce says, “Paul’s genius for friendship manifested itself at an early stage in the voyage. He so won the confidence of the centurion that, by the time the ship on which they had embarked at Caesarea put in at Sidon, he was allowed to go ashore on parole and visit his friends.”

After stopping in several cities along the way, the ship came in “early October” (59-60 AD) to Fair Havens, on the Isle of Crete (Acts 27:7). Although Paul warned Julius not to sail the Mediterranean during a dangerous time of the year (September 14 through November 11), the Centurion disregarded his advice and tried to reach a farther port in which to spend the winter (Acts 27:9-12). A brief moment of friendly weather gave way to a fierce storm, which drove them out to sea where they expected to die. For 14 nights they were lost at sea and driven nearly mad, but, as Paul prophesied to the passengers, they would be safe after wrecking their ship off the coast of Malta (Acts 27:14 - 28:1). They wintered for three months on Malta, where Paul was a blessing to everyone. He survived a snakebite and healed many people. The following spring (60-61 AD), everyone made it safely to the Bay of Naples, and to the Italian port city of Puteoli (Acts 28:13; modern day Pozzuoli), where Paul and companions stayed for a week with local Christians. Then they walked the rest of the way to Rome. Christians came from Rome to greet and walk with Paul along the Appian Way (Via Appia) for some 30-40 miles outside the city. And so they came to Rome (Acts 28:14).


Julius delivered Paul to the captain of the guard, or some sort of camp commander, in Rome (Acts 28:16), and he was allowed to live at his own expense, by himself, though constantly guarded by a soldier (house arrest). For two years Paul lived in Rome (60-62, or 61-63 AD), and he was able to receive visitors and continue his preaching of the Gospel (Acts 28:23-31). It appears that some Roman Jews came to speak with Paul, unaware of who he was. They considered Christianity a sect and had heard discrediting remarks about the Way (Acts 28:22). They remained unconvinced after hearing Paul, and so he spoke against them the words of Isaiah 6:10, which had become a widespread rebuke of Jews from Christian interpretation of the passage. Paul said finally to them, “Take knowledge, then, that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen to it” (Acts 28:28).

Many scholars think that Paul wrote Hebrews (addressed to the Jewish Christians in Rome?), Ephesians (maybe?), Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon from Rome around 62 AD. And of course, Paul wrote 1 Timothy and Titus toward the end of his stay in Rome (62-63 AD). Meanwhile, Luke may have also finished up his book of Acts during the Roman house arrest timeframe. It is noteworthy that Paul, in these later letters, speaks favorably of Mark, who is linked to Peter and Rome. Papias, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, and Irenaeus all write in the early second century that Mark was Peter’s interpreter. According to Bruce, since the time Paul refused to take him on the second mission trip, Mark “no doubt had matured under the wise and sympathetic guidance of Barnabas and then as aide-de-camp of Peter.” Also, Paul had certainly mellowed in these 12-15 years.

Regarding Philemon, many wonder how and why it made its way into the canon of Scripture. Some speculation is required, but much evidence points to Onesimus himself as a compiler of Pauline writings. In 110 AD, Ignatius, the bishop of Syrian Antioch, wrote to Ephesus, where the bishop’s name was Onesimus. And the letter mimics Paul’s style in Philemon. If Onesimus was 20 years old when he met Paul in Rome, he would have been 70 years old in 110 AD, not a far-fetched age to be a presiding bishop. Some even say that Onesimus had a hand in writing Ephesians. But that’s another story.

Not much has been said about Colossians, primarily because Paul had not been there in person. Colossae was Philemon’s hometown and had been a large and prosperous city in the 400s BC that dwindled to a small town by 50 AD. Today, Colossae is deserted; modern day Honaz is a small town three miles away. Epaphras, a valued colleague of Paul, likely founded the Colossian Church, where some pre-gnostic false teaching erupted as Judaism mixed with non-Jewish philosophy. Some scholars trace this teaching to the Essenes (intellectual exclusiveness, speculative tenets, and asceticism), especially since many specifics mentioned in Colossians are also found in the Qumran texts. Some call it “Jewish non-conformity,” but Paul fights the human traditions by repeatedly and in every way pointing to Christ.

When we come to the letter to the Ephesians, we find his heaviest emphasis on the Holy Spirit. The very presence of the Holy Spirit is evidence of the last days (Joel 2:28). The Spirit confirms that Jesus is the promised Messiah, just as the prophets, including John the Baptist, foretold. The Spirit Himself is the promise, the seal, the deposit, and the guarantee that the resurrection life and glory are by faith in Jesus (Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14). But the Spirit is not only an individual’s experience, for He unifies all believers as the Body of Christ. Jesus broke down barriers (Ephesians 2:14) and enabled Gentiles to join with Jews (Ephesians 3:1; Acts 21:27). Paul was charged with bringing a Gentile into the holy place, and there’s no indication that he did. But to Paul, the barrier was gone; there was no reason a Gentile couldn’t go right into the Holy of Holies. Jesus paved the way, and Hebrews and Ephesians are similar in their emphasis of this important truth.

Paul undoubtedly had deep concern for Christian unity, and he brings in language to speak of this unity – light and darkness (Ephesians 5:7-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; Colossians 1:12). Of course, this language is replete in John’s writings (John 3:19; 12:35; 1 John 1:7; 2:8) and even in the Essenes’ Qumran texts. It’s a call to – by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit – leave the dark, the old way of sin, and enter the light, the new way of life. “One of the most interesting points of affinity,” says Bruce, “between Ephesians and the Qumran texts lies in the idea of the ‘mysteries’ of God.” Paul speaks often of “mysteries,” things once hidden but now revealed (1 Corinthians 2:6,9; 4:1; Romans 1:2; 15:9-12; 16:25; Colossians 1:26; 2:2; Ephesians 1:9; 2:16; 3:8-11; Isaiah 64:4). For example, when Paul says, “It is written,” in 1 Corinthians 2:9 and proceeds to quote a saying, there is some resemblance to Isaiah 64:4, but early church fathers (Origen, Jerome, etc.) say “the words appear in the Secrets (or Apocalypse) of Elijah… They are frequently quoted in the early centuries AD, especially by Gnostic writers, because they lent themselves readily to Gnostic interpretation.” The words are even ascribed to Jesus in the apocryphal Acts of Peter and Gospel of Thomas. Paul may have quoted the words from a Jewish text, the Coptic Testament of Jacob.

So we come to the end of Paul’s life, which came in Rome by beheading. Some scholars suggest he died on the heels of these two years under Roman house arrest. There is no certainty that his trial ever came before Caesar, though, and many credit court congestion or think the Sanhedrin never showed up to prosecute. Records of the Roman judicial system don’t reveal a specific statute of limitations, but they do show that prosecutors were given 18 months from an assigned court date to appear for the trial or face a stiff fine. If prosecutors still didn’t show up within 2 years, there’s no evidence that Rome would simply release a prisoner. Neither Luke nor Paul tell us specifically what happened, but we can speculate from Paul’s pastoral epistles, namely 2 Timothy, that he was released for a time – perhaps visiting Crete and/or Nicopolis (Titus 1:5; 3:12) and even Spain (Romans 15:28) – and then re-imprisoned in a harsher condition, until he was executed.

A fire broke out in Rome on July 18-19, 64 AD. Nero was away but returned to provide relief. Rumors spread that he had set the fire so he could rebuild the way he wanted, but to avoid this stereotype, according to Tacitus, Nero blamed the Christians. One author said, “Christians were generally disliked for what their neighbors regarded as anti-social attitudes.” Christians, then, under Nero in 64-65 AD, were sportingly executed until public pity kept Nero from continuing this strategy. But what happened to Paul? Was he dead by this time? Had he left Rome only to be brought back in the midst of this persecution? Clement of Rome, writing in vague language to the Corinthians in the mid-to-late 90s AD, some 30 years after his death, said that Paul was exiled, but also that he reached the limit of the west, bore testimony before the rulers, and so departed as “the greatest example of endurance.” In 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Paul was obvious struggling in his prison environment. Onesiphorus, an Ephesian Christian, labored to find him in Rome. Paul’s final words appear in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”

Well after his death, Paul’s legacy lives on. The apocryphal Acts of Peter, likely composed around 180 AD, describes Paul’s departure from Italy by sea for Spain. The Roman Presbyter Gaius, quoted by Eusebius, in response to a claim that one could visit the tombs of Philip the evangelist and his daughters in Asia, said, “I can point out the trophies (tombstones) of the apostles (Peter and Paul, who are traditionally recognized as the founders of the Roman Church, though neither actually did): [on] the Vatican Hill (Peter) [and] the Ostian Way (Paul).” There are churches at those sites today. A memorial chapel was built on the Ostian Way at Aquae Salviae (now called Tre Fontane), near the third milestone, where, tradition asserts, Paul was beheaded. They say his head bounced three times, forming the three fountains after which the place is named. Excavations of the site revealed two concrete slabs which had engraved on them, “To Paul, Apostle and Martyr.” Though the writing dates only back to the fourth century, the location is in what was a pagan necropolis, not a place pious people would have chosen to commemorate such a legacy if they were inventing the tale.

In time, Peter’s value to Rome was more and more greatly appreciated, while “Paul’s contribution to early Christianity was in practice increasingly overlooked. To be sure,” Bruce says, “Paul with the sword of the spirit stands in the forecourt of St. Peter’s Basilica, alongside Peter with the keys of the Kingdom, just as Peter faces Paul in front of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls – more congenial associates in death, perhaps, than they were in life. But there may be a symbolical fitness, it has sometimes been said, in the location of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. Paul might have understood and approved; he was well accustomed to being odd man out.” Paul’s pride and joy was found in his converts. People mattered most to Paul, and that may have been the case because Paul mattered most to Jesus. Jesus humbled Paul, not by removing his pride, but by changing the things he would boast in. Taming his impetuousness, Jesus made Paul meek. And it didn’t happen by rules or regulations, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:15 shows that people in Asia turned away from Paul; this happened as Paul spent time in prison, and no one was there to adequately take his place. John and Philip made their way into Asia and stabilized things by the mid-to-late 60’s AD. The Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 AD put an end to Jerusalem’s authority, at least until 135 AD, and Paul’s legacy was rightly restored. Early in the second century AD, an unknown Christian (either Onesimus or someone from Alexandria) compiled ten of Paul’s letters into one volume and circulated them throughout the known world, resulting in both orthodox and heterodox authors using Paul’s letters to make their points. Marcion, for a heterodox example, said in 144 AD that Paul’s ten letters and Luke’s gospel made up the New Testament. In response, orthodox church fathers named thirteen letters of Paul, four gospel accounts, Acts, Peter’s letters, James, and John’s letters as authoritative. Even Hebrews was included – as Paul’s – by 180 AD. Around 150 AD, an Asian presbyter recorded, out of love for Paul, a fictional account of his ministry – the Acts of Paul. Some believed it to be true, even the part where Paul was put in the arena to be killed by a lion, but he befriended and baptized the lion instead. Paul’s legend was often embellished, but his message never changed, which proves his abiding greatness. Augustine, Luther and the Reformers, the Wesleys in the Great Awakening, and even American democracy relied heavily on Paul’s teaching that grace changes people; grace without change (antinomianism) and attempts to change without grace (legalism) always fail.

Bruce concludes, “Although he was rabbinically trained, his reappraisal of the whole spirit and content of his earlier training was so radical that many Jewish scholars have had difficulty in recognizing him as the product of a rabbinical education. They have found it easier to appreciate the Prophet of Nazareth (who, indeed, was not rabbinically trained) than the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul presents an enigma with which they cannot readily come to terms… Paul looked forward to the day when the racial, religious, sexual, and social prejudices or discrimination to which on principle he denied any place in the Christian fellowship would be banished from the whole new creation. And he placed a higher valuation on human personality than social or political democracy could ever do when he insisted that the weaker members of the community should received special consideration because each of them, however insignificant in other respects, was ‘the brother (or sister) for whom Christ died’ (1 Corinthians 8:11). Campaigner for spiritual liberty that he was, he gave one thing precedence even over liberty, and that one thing was love. But spiritual liberty is not really diminished by love; both together are imparted by the Spirit, and to serve in love is perfect freedom. In this, as in so many other respects, Paul has remained unsurpassed in his insight into the mind of Christ.”

THE APOSTLE PAUL (5)

It is worth summarizing Paul’s letter to the Romans here. Romans (57 AD) is often been compared to a systematic theology, because its content can easily be summarized by various doctrinal headings, which are often the same as those followed in the creeds, confessions, catechisms, and systematic theologies throughout church history: God, creation and fall, the work of redemption in Christ, the application of redemption by the Spirit, and the Christian life and relation to the world, etc. But it is important to point out that the Book of Romans was not written as a systematic theology; rather, there is a specific historical context that drives Paul’s arguments (especially concerning the relationship between Jews and Gentiles). Notice especially how Paul raises and answers questions throughout the letter. This tool is used both to prove that what he is teaching is true and to cause his audience to engage these issues with their full intellect. The Epistle contains an unfolding theological argument that attempts to summarize God’s work throughout the Scriptures.

1:1-17 Introduction & Thesis
1:18-3:20 Before Paul can elaborate on the good news of v17, he must explain the bad news. All of humanity faces a problem: the wrath of God, which is entirely justified because all of humanity has violated His law. The Gentiles know God according to general revelation, and the Jews know God according to special revelation, yet both have failed to worship and obey Him.
3:21-4:25 Back to the good news: Since everyone is under sin and God’s wrath, the only way out is the Gospel: the announcement that, in Christ, God has provided a righteousness that satisfies His holy requirements. All of this is received through faith alone, apart from works, just as the Old Testament Scriptures have taught, which the examples of Abraham and David demonstrate. Christ propitiated God’s wrath in His death and justified the wicked by His resurrection.
5:1-11 We have peace with God thanks to the work of Jesus Christ. Our understanding of this truth should result in rejoicing, in spite of and even on account of our sufferings.
5:12-21 At this point, Paul has concluded his summary of justification by grace through faith in Christ. This brief section serves as an interlude revisiting our sinfulness and God’s amazing mercy by comparing and contrasting Jesus with Adam. V20 stirs a question that gets Paul going on what happens after justification – namely, sanctification.
6:1-7:6 God has not only secured our salvation from the condemnation of the law, but also from the dominion of sin and death. Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, we are made new creatures, no longer slaves to sin, as shown through an example of marriage.
7:7-8:39 Despite this truth, we continue to struggle throughout our life with indwelling sin, and the only hope we have is to look to Christ, with the indwelling Spirit testifying in our hearts to our adoption and keeping alive within us the hope that all of creation will share with us in the final redemption. The Golden Chain of Salvation reminds us that God is at work (v28-30) in us to sanctify us according to His purpose. In light of this, nothing can separate us from God’s love.
9:1-11:36 How can we trust Paul’s Gospel if God has been unfaithful to His earlier promises to Israel? What about Israel in this grand scheme? God has always maintained a faithful remnant among the physical descendants of Abraham, and even among the Gentiles, by sovereign election. Salvation is solely a matter of God’s mercy alone. Faith, which comes through hearing the Gospel, is how salvation is received, and plenty of messengers have been sent to proclaim the genuine offer of the Gospel. All along, God has been perfectly faithful to His promises, and after He adds the complete number of Gentile branches to the Tree of Israel, He will bring in the fullness of the Jews as well. The plan of God throughout time is amazing.
12:1-15:13 Application of 1-8 and 9-11: In view of God’s mercy, which staggers our imagination, we no longer offer dead animal sacrifices for atonement; rather, our own bodies serve as living sacrifices out of praise and thanksgiving. In that light, we must not judge one other in disputable matters, but instead, by grace, build each other up by loving and serving selflessly.
15:14-16 Note the clear display of the Communion of Saints and powerful conclusion in v26-27: Paul accomplished his mission, writing “so that all nations might believe and obey Him – To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

Martin Luther said about Romans, “You had better follow the order of this epistle. Worry first about Christ and the Gospel, that you may recognize your sin and His grace. Then fight your sin, as the first eight chapters have taught. Then, when you have reached the eighth chapter, and are under the cross and suffering, this will teach you correctly of predestination in chapters 9, 10, and 11, and how comforting it is. In chapter 12 he teaches what true worship is, and makes all Christians priests. They are to offer not money or cattle, as under the law, but their own bodies, with slaying of the lusts. Then he describes the outward conduct of Christians, under the spiritual government, telling how they are to teach, preach, rule, serve, give, suffer, love, live, and act toward friend, foe, and all men. These are the works that a Christian does; after all, faith takes no holidays. This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament, and is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. We can never read it or ponder over it too much; for the more we deal with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes.”

Finally, John Calvin said of Romans, “It can never be sufficiently appreciated that when anyone gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture. The whole Epistle is so methodical, that even its very beginning is framed according to the rules of art.”

The Roman Church was founded on a Jewish base, before any apostle came and preached there. Though Paul notes Andronicus and Junias as apostles who were in the Lord before he was; perhaps they were in Jerusalem to hear Peter’s Pentecost sermon only to return to Rome and found the Roman Christian Church amongst their Jewish brethren. Jews and Romans had a tenuous relationship from 19 AD, when there was a major and scandalous financial misappropriation that may have led to Paul’s comment in Romans 2:24, that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the Jews. Claudius placed a number of travel and business restrictions on the Jews when he became Emperor in 41 AD, based on uprisings in Alexandria and Jerusalem. There were an estimated 40-60,000 Jews in Rome as of 49 AD, when he expelled them from Rome. Secular historians ascribe the eviction to Jewish uproars instigated by the Christians in their midst. Though it is impossible to know how many Roman Jews had become Christians prior to 49 AD, once many of them returned in 55 AD (after Claudius died and Nero succeeded him), the Christian community in Rome was comprised of a minority of Jews and a majority of Gentiles. Paul elaborates on this physical reality by explaining it spiritually in Romans 11. Gentiles had no right to boast; their inclusion would ultimately lead to more Jews turning to Christ. Some suggest Hebrews was written (by Paul) specifically to Roman Jews / Jewish Christians further explaining their situation (Hebrews 13:13).

In Romans 16, Paul greets many people, seemingly in 5 or 6 groups, pointing to the fact that many of Paul’s acquaintances had moved to Rome but lacked a central meeting place (perhaps due to the size of the city, which was separated into suburbs). It is also noteworthy that many of the names appear in records of imperial households. Due to the decentralization, it is not surprising that Ignatius reports that there was no bishop in Rome, even as late as 110 AD. It is suggested that Phoebe, from Cenchreae, the port of Corinth, delivered Romans to each house church. In early or mid April 57 AD, Paul’s delegates to Jerusalem left Cenchreae by ship, but Paul and Luke went a different route due to a plot against Paul’s life (Acts 20:6). They would meet up later in the voyage and hope to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, which was the last week of May. From the Philippian port of Neapolis, it took Paul and Luke five days to reach Troas, four more than when they had gone earlier in the opposite direction. They celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread at Troas (Acts 20:6), with the body of believers there, and Paul even taught late into the night. Eutychus was in the audience, and Paul’s sermon put him to sleep. He fell out a third story window, but thankfully, he was alive and well. They made their way to Miletus, visiting several cities along the way (Acts 20:15). There they were delayed in harbor, probably due to cargo issues for the ship, so Paul invited the Ephesian elders to come down 30 miles and visit him. He warned them of impending danger, both from within and without (Acts 20:15-38). No mention is made of a Christian congregation in Miletus, but there is plentiful evidence of a Jewish synagogue there at that time, with a number of God-fearers as well.

Before arriving at Caesarea, the party stayed at Tyre for seven days, fellowshipping and praying on the beach with the Christians there, though no specific mention of their congregation is made (Acts 11:19). In Caesarea, Paul and his friends stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist for several days (Acts 21:1-8). Perhaps he visited Cornelius, who lived there, as well. Then Paul and his colleagues made for Jerusalem, guided by Mnason, a Hellenist Christian from Cyprus who would host them while in Jerusalem. Paul had been warned twice (by the Ephesian elders and again by the prophet Agabus) about going to the city (Acts 21:4, 10-15), but everyone proclaimed in the end, “the Lord’s will be done” (Acts 21:14). The delegation met James and the elders – perhaps the Sanhedrin of the true Jewish remnant (believers) – and they glorified God. But they were also quick to point out the Jews who believed the gospel and kept the law; they apparently did not accept Paul’s gift, which signified a break between Paul and Jerusalem that would never be healed.

Peter and the other apostles had likely left Jerusalem to minister in the lands of the Jewish dispersion. But at Pentecost, many Jews had returned to Jerusalem, and the Ephesian (or Asian) Jews recognized Paul and one of his Gentile converts named Trophimus at the Temple. They accused Paul of bringing a Gentile where Gentiles were not allowed, and they dragged him out and beat him. The Roman military rescued Paul, and he was brought to the tribune, Claudius Lysias, who was surprised by his educated Greek words. (He undoubtedly thought Paul was a renegade Egyptian who stirred up trouble and escaped a couple years earlier.) Paul was given the opportunity to speak, and he addressed the crowd in Aramaic (Acts 22:3-21). His speech stirred the crowd again (especially when he mentioned ministry to the Gentiles), and the tribune order Paul to be imprisoned and flogged. Before the flogging, Paul appealed to his Roman citizenship and avoided the painful punishment. But if he had broken Jewish law, he would be subject to the Sanhedrin. When no witnesses came forward, Paul was held by the tribune, pending the Sanhedrin’s ability to prosecute. It is thought that Paul’s delegation returned to their homes at this time, with the exception of Luke and Aristarchus, who stayed to try to provide care for Paul. Paul defended himself before them by bringing up the resurrection, which caused the Pharisees and Sadducees to argue amongst themselves. When the tribune saw the lack of progress and learned from Paul’s nephew of a plot to assassinate Paul, he sent him to Caesarea under the cover of plentiful guards and nightfall. There, the provincial governor, Felix, would facilitate the case and hearing against him.

Paul spent the next 2 years imprisoned in Caesarea, which was a predominantly Gentile city, in which Roman leadership preferred to live to avoid the Jewishness of Jerusalem. Felix was a freedman, once a slave in the house of the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, who happened to be the mother of Emperor Claudius. Felix had a brother, Pallas, who was Claudius’ chief accountant of the public treasury. Felix had skill in befriending the political and social elite – three of his wives were of royal birth – which helped him to maintain a lifestyle of power and prestige. He also maintained his power by siding with Rome against any uprising. At this time, many zealous Jews were launching terrorist-style, guerilla warfare tactics against any people they felt were siding with Rome, even against their own people. Once such victim of the sicarii – daggermen – was the high priest Jonathan, and Felix fought these uprisings harshly and successfully. Even when Pallas lost his position at Nero’s accession (late 54 AD), Felix was able to keep Rome’s favor, and therefore his position of authority, for five more years.

Five days after Paul’s arrival in Caesarea, the Sanhedrin came with Tertullus, a hired lawyer / orator, to carry out the case against Paul (Acts 24:2). Paul defended himself (Acts 24:10), and Felix delayed a decision, waiting to hear from the tribune, Claudius Lysias, on the matter. We have no further record of Felix holding another hearing, though many experts suppose he had hopes of holding Paul for ransom, taking a bribe to release him to the highest bidder. No offers were tendered, and so Paul remained. Felix called on him from time to time, and Luke says surprisingly that he had “a rather accurate knowledge of the Way” (Acts 24:22). One of his wives, Drusilla, a Jewess, may have wanted to hear Paul. In the end, continued strife between Romans and Jews got Felix recalled to Rome.
Festus succeeded him in 59 AD and reopened the case against Paul. Paul was in danger now, because Festus was siding with the Jews over Rome in many cases. Having no confidence in his chances of a fair trial in this district, Paul appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11). Roman citizenship increasingly abused this right until it was abolished in 212 AD. Claudius always heard the cases himself, but until 62 AD, Nero never did. We don’t know who, if anyone, heard Paul’s case, but because of his case, Bruce says, “It would soon be impossible to regard Christianity as a variety of Judaism… A favorable hearing…might win recognition for Christianity…as the true fulfillment of Israel’s ancestral religion.” Festus was likely glad to have the responsibility off his shoulders, but he still had to draft a letter explaining the situation. Festus passed that duty off to 17-year-old Agrippa II, son of Herod Agrippa I, who died in 44 AD (Acts 12:23). Agrippa, hearing “about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive” (Acts 25:19), wanted to meet and talk with Paul. But he laughed at the rationality of becoming a Christian (Acts 26:27-28), and he suggested that Paul could have been released if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.

THE APOSTLE PAUL (4)

Leaving Antioch in late 49 AD, Paul and Silas traveled to Tarsus, strengthening the churches along the way in Syria and Cilicia, and then on to Derbe and Lystra. In Lystra, they added Timothy to their team; Timothy appears to have been clearly called to this ministry (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6), and became Paul’s frequent traveling companion, fellow laborer in spreading the gospel, and protégé (Acts 16:1; 1 Timothy 1:2, 4:14). Though naturally diffident in temperament, Timothy would never misrepresent Paul (Philippians 2:19-22). But surprisingly – given Paul’s conclusions on the circumcision issue in Acts and Galatians – though not inconsistently, “because of the Jews” (Acts 16:3), Paul had Timothy circumcised. Timothy, unlike Titus, who was not circumcised, was not a Gentile Christian; and although to the Gentiles he appeared to be a Jewish Christian, he wasn’t authentically Jewish because of his Greek father, who likely refused to allow him the Jewish rite of circumcision that his mother, Eunice, would have appreciated. This must have been a stigma of sorts to the young man, perhaps contributing to his timid nature. Therefore, Paul’s decision to circumcise Timothy in order to legitimize his standing among Jews for the sake of his future ministerial efforts, and perhaps even for the sake of his own confidence in ministry. Bruce also considers it to have been “an object lesson for the Gentile Christians in those places (Asia Minor) of the difference between circumcision as an act of legal obedience, undertaken by people like themselves who were under no such obligation, and circumcision as a practical and religiously neutral expedient adopted in a most exceptional case.” This move, therefore, was completely in line with Paul’s principles, both in becoming all things to all men in order to win some (1 Corinthians 9:22), and in the truth that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters (Galatians 5:6; 6:15). Freedom in Christ certainly didn’t demand Timothy’s circumcision, but neither did it prohibit it, especially since it was entirely voluntary and for the sake of improving his ability to minister effectively.

Heading through the Phrygian and Galatic region, where Iconium, and Pisidan Antioch lay, the three missionaries, says Acts 16:6-7, were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia,” and “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” to enter the province of Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1). Perhaps an inward sense of inhibition motivated them to head for the Asia Minor port city of Troas. Troas was an important free city in the Roman Empire, and Acts 20:5-12 reveals that there was a church there – Eutychus fell out of the window during Paul’s late night lesson here – though no detail on its formation or founding is given. Luke joined the group in Troas, and in response to a vision Paul had of a man in Macedonia calling him over (Acts 16:8-9), they immediately traversed the somewhat tenuous sea voyage to Neapolis (Acts 16:10-11) in only one day. (Acts 20:6 notes that the reverse trip took 5 days.) Neapolis was the port of Philippi, which was 10 miles inland along the Roman Via Egnatia, the Roman military road that connected the Aegean Sea and Bosporus Strait with the Adriatic Sea (eastern and western Greece).

Macedonia had been divided into four districts in 167 BC, and Philippi, a Roman colony, was in – but not the capital of – the first district. There was no synagogue in this small town, as there apparently weren’t at least ten Jewish males to constitute one (Qumran’s Essenes engaged in this practice). But outside the city, on the banks of the Gangites River, there was an unofficial place of worship where God-fearing Gentiles gathered to recite Jewish prayers. The four missionaries preached the gospel here, and the Lord opened the heart of a woman named Lydia, who heard Paul’s preaching and responded in faith. She was promptly baptized along with her entire household (Acts 16:12-15), and became the hostess not only of the missionaries during the remainder of their stay but also of the church that formed in Philippi (Acts 16:40). Lydia was a wealthy woman from Thyatira (Revelation 1:11; 2:18-24), where there was a Jewish settlement and where she likely became a God-fearer.

Also while in Philippi, Paul exorcised a spirit of divination from a slave girl (Acts 16:16-18), which made her owners angry that they lost the ability to make more money from the slave’s divination and incited them against the Jewish Christian evangelists. They accused them of proselytizing, which was strongly discouraged in Roman colonies though not technically illegal. Paul and Silas were arrested, stripped, beaten with rods, flogged, and imprisoned (Acts 16:19-24). Luke and Timothy were apparently exempted since they weren’t Jewish, an interesting detail which we will examine shortly. That night, Paul and Silas prayed and sung hymns of praise, and an earthquake shook the prison. When the shackles miraculously fell off and the prison doors miraculously opened, Paul and Silas saved the jailer from killing himself out of fear of the consequences (Acts 16:25-40). They preached the gospel to him and his household, baptized them, and received care from him. The next morning, they were released from prison, but they appealed for an apology, since they were Roman citizens, and, after encouraging Lydia and the young church gathered in her home, they were escorted peaceably from the city. It appears that Luke stayed in Philippi (Acts 16:17; 20:5-6; Philippians 4:3), perhaps to guard the young church until Paul returned, as the other three missionaries passed through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia enroute to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1).

Named after Alexander the Great’s half-sister (and daughter of Philip II), Thessalonica was 90 miles down the Via Egnatia from Philippi. Thessalonica was the largest Macedonian city, and a free city, which served as the capital of the second district. Paul visited a Jewish synagogue there for three consecutive Sabbaths to explain why Jesus is the Old Testament prophesied Savior of mankind (Acts 17:2-4). Jason (Jewish Joshua), who may have been one of Paul’s relatives (Romans 16:21), converted to Christianity and became their host; Aristarchus and Secundus joined them in the faith as well. There were also several pagan (1 Thessalonians 1:9) and God-fearing converts, including many wives of city leaders (Acts 17:4).

It must have troubled the city leaders that their wives had become followers of Jesus. It was quite fashionable among the ladies of socially elite families to attend synagogue, but not to get serious with what must have been seen as a cult or scam-artist’s ploy (1 Thessalonians 2:3-12). Certain Jews, envious of the Gospel’s success, took advantage of this citywide unease and incited a riotous mob (Acts 17:4-5), which dragged Jason and some other believers before the local civil magistrates when it couldn’t find Paul, Silas, and Timothy. They were charged with wrongdoing (Acts 17:5-8), but released after posting bond. Now this charge of causing trouble seems to us like no big deal, but the severity is revealed when understood in the context of the widespread unrest in Jewish/Roman relations throughout the Empire. Jewish freedom fighters (terrorists / zealots) were striving to usher in an era for a militant messiah, and Roman leaders wouldn’t easily distinguish this serious threat to peace from Christianity’s Messiah. Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) expelled the Jews from Rome in 49 AD and refused to allow Jews to enter Alexandria out of fear. Christians, still seen as a sect of Judaism by many, were often included in this persecution. Thus, the Thessalonians’ charge against Paul and company was skillfully worded, effectively an accusation of sedition, akin to the words between Pilate and the Jews found in John 19:13-15. Paul would later refer to this episode as Satan hindering him (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Paul had preached quite prophetically in Thessalonica, referring to eschatological events in predictive fashion. This led to even greater suspicion among the civic leadership, as Augustus and Tiberius had forbid political prophecy (in 11 and 16 AD, respectably – yet the Herods of Judea seemed to appreciate it!) with a penalty of death. Of course, Paul wasn’t talking politics, but the wording he used of Jesus, as King and Savior, was more than enough to be seen as threatening to the Empire.

Paul was essentially forced out of Thessalonica, and he went reluctantly, as the young church needed further guidance. He knew they would face persecution, and so, since he couldn’t make a return visit imminently, he wrote the Thessalonians a couple of letters. Scholars note that “apart from one near-apocalyptic paragraph (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12), 2 Thessalonians [seems] a pale echo of 1 Thessalonians.” Many suggest that our second letter actually preceded our first, and that the depth of 1 Thessalonians was required when 2 Thessalonians didn’t go deep enough. A hint of this truth is that 2 Thessalonians 1:4 speaks of present persecution, while 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and 2:14 speaks of persecution in the past tense. Paul may have written 2 Thessalonians from Athens, which Timothy likely delivered, and 1 Thessalonians from Corinth shortly after Timothy returned with a report on their experiences. Paul would have rejoiced at this report, for the Thessalonians were evangelizing in their persecution, and everyone knew it (1 Thessalonians 1:7-8).

Paul issued further instruction on sexual purity, something the Greeks struggled to learn and apply (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8). Likewise, Paul had to urge them to work, as their brief discussions while he was with them on the topic of eschatology had disinclined them to daily labor. If 2 Thessalonians indeed preceded 1 Thessalonians, then the mention that “‘the day of the Lord’ (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) would not come until certain events had taken place might have stimulated [their] concern about…those…died before it came. On the other hand, if 1 Thessalonians was written first, it might have unintentionally provided ammunition for those who argued that, with the coming day so imminent, there was no point in planning or working in the short interval before it came” (cf. Luke 17:22-27; Mark 13:5-37).

As a brief contextual aside, in 40 AD, it appeared that Caesar Gaius may have been the antichrist, or the man of lawlessness, in the minds of the young Christians, but especially “the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14) to the Jews. Taking his divinity very seriously, he planned to set up his statue in the Jewish Temple. Should everyone “flee to the mountains,” as Jesus commanded, or “resist the outrageous decree to the death” (Bruce quoting Philo and Josephus)? Though Gaius did not follow through with his threat directed at the Jews, the crisis had lasting impact and readied both Jews and Jewish Christians for the end times.

Still today many wonder if Nero, or Titus at Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 AD, fulfilled this apocalyptic imagery, or whether it still remains to be fulfilled. Thus Paul’s writing seems enigmatic to us, though it probably didn’t seem so to the Thessalonians. Nevertheless, Bruce concludes, “The near-apocalyptic imagery of this (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) and other passages in Paul’s Thessalonian correspondence is not characteristic of the main body of his writing. In his later letters he deals from time to time with the same topics…but…in other terms (1 Corinthians 15; Romans 8). Since the Thessalonian letters are among the earliest…this may suggest that he came increasingly to feel that apocalyptic imagery was not the most adequate vehicle for expressing the Christian hope.”

Paul, Silas, and Timothy left Thessalonica during the night for safety. Paul might have, if freely chosen, stayed on the Via Egnatia heading west with hopes of visiting Rome (Romans 1:13; 15:22), but they were escorted south to Berea, which Cicero described as “an out-of-the-way town.” Paul preached in the synagogue, where the Bereans, unlike those in Thessalonica, verified what was preached by studying the Old Testament Scriptures (Acts 17:11-12), and many converted to Christianity, including Sopater, or Sosipater (Acts 20:4; called Paul’s relative, perhaps indicating that he was Jewish, in Romans 16:21). Even Greek men and a large number of prominent Greek women were converted (Acts 17:12). Unfortunately, Jews from Thessalonica arrived in the city seeking to cause more trouble for Paul (Acts 17:13). It was plain that he would have to leave Macedonia, and the Bereans escorted him, not to neighboring Thessaly, which would still be unsafe for Paul, but all the way to Achaia, to the great historical city of Athens. When the escorts returned to Berea, they instructed Silas and Timothy, who had stayed in Berea (Acts 17:14-15), on where to find Paul, who remained alone in Athens for a time (1 Thessalonians 3:1).

No city in the Roman Empire could match Athens for the qualities Greek-speaking people most admired. When Rome took possession of Athens in 146 BC, the city was allowed to remain self-governing, a free city in the Roman Empire. Waiting for the arrival of his companions, Paul must have toured the city, knowing its great history. Troubled by how pervasive the worship of false gods were among the Athenians (Acts 17:16), Paul began to preach the gospel, and his preaching earned an invitation to speak before the areopagus, “the most venerable of Athenian institutions,” which at one time functioned as a senate, though in Paul’s day merely held prestige as an authority on moral and religious matters. This would have taken place at the agora (Mars Hill), at the foot of the acropolis, where men would gather to discuss and debate the moral, philosophical, and political issues of the day.

Paul’s speech before the areopagus (Acts 17:22-31) has been scrutinized perhaps more than any other of his monologues. Motifs of this speech are found elsewhere, but this is a full and well-adapted effort, given the intellectual climate of the audience. Bruce explains, Paul “begins with God the creator of all, continues with God the sustainer of all, and concludes with God the judge of all,” much as the orientation of Scripture itself. Paul found a point of contact with the altar to the unknown god, traditionally set up by Epimenedes, a Cretan scholar, whom Paul quotes in his speech. Interpreting this altar as a confession of ignorance, Paul had come to dispel that ignorance.

After commencing, as noted, with creation, Paul points out what higher paganism knew to be true, that divinity cannot be contained or housed by mankind (Euripedes). Likewise, as Plato noted and as Paul pronounced, divinity has no need of humanity (Psalm 50:9-12; Acts 17:25). Paul’s biblical insight continues with something to say about mankind. All men come from God through Adam, the common ancestor of all men, a fact which most pagans – especially in Athens – would have denied, seeing a scale of evolution-like descent, from elite intellectuals to typical Greeks to barbarians. Furthermore, says Paul, God is sovereign over each man’s life and even his placement, not arbitrarily, but so that each man would seek God. Rather than say, “God created man in His image,” Paul chose a quote by Epimenedes and another by Aratus. His concern was not to liken the Biblical God to Zeus for the Athenians’ transition, but, as Bruce notes, “to impress on his hearers the responsibility of all men, as God’s creatures into whom He has breathed the breathe of life, to give Him the honor which is His due.”

Finally, Paul issues a call to repentance, focusing on God’s merciful forbearance and Christ’s resurrection, before announcing the impending judgment. While some have criticized Paul for not being more direct with his word choice, such as in Romans 1:18-32 where he was speaking to believers, but he knew his audience; Bruce says, “The thought of being ‘in Christ’ by grace would have been meaningless to pagans.” Nevertheless, Paul “does not cease to be fundamentally biblical in his approach to the Greeks, even when his biblical emphasis might seem to diminish his chances of success.” Bruce goes on, “If Paul had spoken of the immortality of the soul, he would have commanded the assent of most of his hearers except the Epicureans, but the idea of resurrection was absurd… Outright ridicule and polite dismissal were the main responses to Paul’s exposition of the knowledge of God. [Only] one member of the court of the Areopagus is said to have believed his message – Dionysius.” There were a number of other hearers who followed Paul, perhaps in the infancy of belief and in hopes of learning more, and there was also a woman named Damaris, about whom nothing else is known. Bruce concludes, “We hear of no church in Athens in the apostolic age, and when Paul speaks of the ‘firstfruits of Achaia,’ it is to a family in Corinth that he refers (1 Corinthians 16:15).”

In late summer 50 AD, perhaps dejected by his Athenian experience – violence is easier to take than polite amusement – and anxious about the condition of the Macedonians, Paul came to Corinth “in weakness and in much fear and trembling” (Acts 17:33; 18:1; 1 Corinthians 2:3). There was little reason to expect success in Corinth, given its reputation, which we’ll consider in a moment, but Paul spent 18 months there and founded a vigorous, though volatile, Christian church. Acts 18:9-10 records an important vision Paul had shortly after arriving in Corinth, in which the Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” Paul’s time in Corinth was not his plan, but it was the Lord’s plan, and it served, as Bruce notes, “to deepen his human sympathy and to promote his pastoral maturity.”

Corinth was a pre-Greek city known for its commercialism, luxury, and sexual laxity. A fifth century BC Greek verb translated “to play the Corinthian,” literally meant to practice well the art of fornication. Idolatry was also practiced in abundance (1 Corinthians 8:5), with shrines to Aphrodite, Ares, Melicertes (the primary deity of Tyre), Poseidon, and Apollo. The Corinth of old had been completely destroyed in 146 BC and rebuilt in 44 BC as a Roman colony, the capital of Achaia. Its citizens were Romans (Italians), but there were plenty of Greek and Jewish inhabitants as well. Upon arrival, it appears that Paul found employment with Aquila and Priscilla, wealthy tent makers and Jewish Christians from Rome. They probably were forced from Rome under Claudius’ edict to expel Jews (and Jewish Christians) in 49 AD. (There is no doubt that the Jewish clamor, which earned their harsh treatment, was in part due to the Christian movement.) Paul was certainly grateful to them for their friendship, and perhaps even their employment and financial / ministerial support. But he was more appreciative for their service to the Gentile churches (Romans 16:4). And interestingly, where others probably referred to the wife casually, as Priscilla, Paul nearly always spoke of her formally, as Prisca, perhaps honoring her as the more impressive personality of the couple.

In several weeks of synagogue preaching in Corinth, Paul won many converts, including the synagogue leader, Crispus, and a God-fearing synagogue neighbor, Gaius Titius Justus (Acts 18:7-8; 1 Corinthians 1:15; Romans 16:23), who became Paul’s host, once the Jews expelled him from the synagogue, and even the host of the Corinthian congregation. Stephanus and his family are also mentioned as Paul’s first converts, whom he himself baptized. Once Silas and Timothy arrived in Corinth, likely with a gift of financial support for Paul from the Macedonian Christians, Paul was able to stop the tent-making and engage in full time ministry work. Since the Corinthians cherished “wisdom,” he counter-culturally resolved to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Ironically, that resolution drew pagan attention, and many of them became followers of Christ, including Erastus (Acts 19:22; Romans 16:23; 2 Timothy 4:20), who served as the city treasurer for a time. Speculation allows us to consider that he may have eventually become the curator of public works, for archaeologists have discovered an inscription, dating to 75 AD, bearing his name and declaring that he used his own money to pave a portion of the streets of Corinth.

The Jews eventually raised another tumult against Paul, bringing him before Gallio, the newly appointed (in July 51 AD) Roman proconsul of Achaia (Acts 18:12-16). Gallio’s refusal to hear the matter, thinking Paul’s Christianity to be merely an internal conflict over the doctrines of Judaism, a matter which was outside his jurisdiction, set a precedent that enabled Christianity to spread under the protection of Judaism, which was a lawful religion under Roman law, for another decade or so. (If it had been determined that Christianity did not fall under Judaism, Paul could have been convicted as a propagator of an illegal religion, punishable by death.) Sosthenes, the synagogue leader who presumably took the place of Crispus and brought the charge against Paul to Gallio, bore a beating in Paul’s place, and Gallio literally “pretended not to notice.” Perhaps this beating brought him to turn to Christ and follow Paul, as he, if indeed this is the same man as tradition suggests, is mentioned even as co-author of the first Corinthian correspondence in 1 Corinthians 1:1.

Remaining in Corinth a short while longer after the incitement (Acts 18:18), Paul eventually traveled with Priscilla and Aquila to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19; approximately 52 AD). Paul preached in a synagogue briefly, gaining significant interest from the Jews and God-fearers there, but then left Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus while he went to Caesarea and on to Jerusalem (Acts 18:19-22) in order to celebrate one of the three primary Jewish feasts – Passover (Unleavened Bread), the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth), or Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks). It has been suggested that this trip to Jerusalem was for Paul a fulfillment of some sort of Nazarite vow he took in response to the vision he had ensuring his protection and blessing in Corinth (Acts 18:21). He made his way to Antioch, officially ending his second mission trip (Acts 18:22).

Meanwhile, a Jewish Christian named Apollos showed up in Ephesus eloquently preaching the gospel in the synagogues. Priscilla and Aquila heard him gladly, but took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:26). “Learned” and “well versed in the Scriptures,” Apollos had come from Alexandria, where he had likely studied under the Jewish scholar and philosopher, Philo, who died in 50 AD. The fact that Apollos was already a Christian when he came to Ephesus, yet unfamiliar with Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit, suggests that Christianity had made its way to Alexandria from a non-Apostolic source. Bruce says, “Alexandrian Christianity…was for some generations regarded as defective by the standards of Jerusalem (in the apostolic age) and Rome (in post-apostolic times).” (But Alexandria did go on to produce a number of prominent church fathers, such as Clement, Origen, Athanasius, and Cyril.)

When Apollos left Ephesus for Corinth, he had a letter of commendation from Aquila and Priscila, which was addressed not to the synagogue but to the disciples, or the church. Nevertheless, it appears he went to the synagogue, where he “was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:27-28). The Corinthians cherished Apollos and his eloquence, and this would later cause division within the congregation, as some preferred him to Paul while others remained loyal to Paul. Though Paul may have been rightly concerned over who built on his foundations, he had no anxiety about the work of Apollos and considered him valuable in every way (1 Corinthians 3:3-6,22; 4:6; 16:12; Titus 3:13). Apollos remained in Corinth for quite some time, even as Paul was making his way from Antioch to Ephesus as the beginning of what we call his third missionary trip.

In fact it was when Paul was in Ephesus that he heard of Apollos’ ministry. Representatives from Chloe’s Corinthian household, which presumably hosted a church congregation there, came to Ephesus with news for Paul from Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:11). In addition to mentioning Apollos, they also mentioned that some of the Corinthians preferred Peter’s ministry to Paul’s. This, of course, implies that Peter had also been in Corinth working with the church there. Once scholar tracks Peter as venturing from Jerusalem to Rome after Emperor Claudius died (and the ban on Jews in Rome was lifted) on October 13, 54 AD, stopping in Corinth for a time, or simply preaching the gospel while en route. Another scholar maintains that Peter’s ministry expanded to the Gentile regions after Paul rebuked him in Antioch years (or months) earlier.

Though Paul wasn’t threatened by Apollos in Corinth, the same probably cannot be said about his feelings regarding Peter, based on the possibility that Peter’s authority – unlike that of Apollos – could be deemed by any audience as being higher than his own. Some suggest that Peter never came to Rome, only that other Jewish Christians – perhaps even those labeled Judaizers – came in Peter’s name, urging audiences to observe certain food laws or participate in various traditional rites and/or festivals. Still there were others in Corinth, according to Chloe’s representatives send to Paul in Ephesus, that separated into a faction claiming only to follow Christ, not Peter, Paul, or Apollos. This kind of division drove Paul crazy, as he can’t imagine (because it isn’t possible for) a divided Christ! “I follow Christ” should not have been a slogan for a particular denomination, but it seemed to Paul that this is exactly what it had become. These factions, along with the discovery of subtle differences between Gentile and Jewish application of the language of the gospel, forced Paul to labor with the Corinthians for years, engaging in multiple correspondences explaining gospel application more clearly.

Paul battled legalism on the one hand and antinomianism on the other throughout his ministry. But in no place did he do it more clearly, all the while fighting to keep his audience’s loyalty, threatened both from within and without the church body, than with the Corinthians. For Paul, the message of Christianity was very much about liberty, and he was often accused of antinomianism because of his emphasis on grace. But self-imposed restrictions on liberty for the sake of gratitude and charity are the essential application of Paul’s gospel, and these must be made voluntarily, lest freedom and grace be threatened or even negated by legalism. Bruce says, “Paul goes as far as he can with his converts in either the ascetic (legalistic) or the libertarian (antinomian) direction, until he reaches a point where he calls a halt, and profoundly qualifies his foregoing concession… It was not Paul’s way to impose a rule but to help his converts to judge such issues for themselves in the light of basic Christian principles. One of the most important of these principles was to consider the consciences of weaker brethren so as to assist them gently to a better and more enlightened appreciation of what their faith involved. Otherwise a Christian’s freedom was not to be impaired by external restrictions.”

After Timothy delivered 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, which included Paul’s travel plan of a lengthy winter visit to Corinth after Pentecost in Ephesus and briefly seeing the Macedonians, Paul changed his plans. He had decided to briefly visit Corinth twice, en route to and returning from Macedonia. Then he would go to Jerusalem with a gift of financial support, accompanied by an entourage of Gentile ministry supporters. But the trouble in Corinth, relayed to him by Timothy, forced another change of plans – this one painful. Paul quickly visited Corinth from Ephesus, and he returned saddened by his experience. He wrote a severe letter, which Titus delivered and which we lack (though some say 2 Corinthians 10-13 is part of that severe letter). He regretted writing it, out of fear that it would make things worse. He waited in depression and in some sort of extreme danger in Ephesus, and then he went to Troas hoping to find Titus. When certain that Titus wouldn’t sail to Troas, because of the winter weather, Paul headed for Macedonia (2 Corinthians 7:5), hoping to find him there. When he found Titus and learned of the Corinthians’ repentant and reconciled condition, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians and had Titus deliver it, saying that he would soon come and rejoice with them – hopefully, assuming they continued in Christ under Paul’s tutelage and not by failing prey to other so-called authorities. Bruce concludes, “There never came a time during Paul’s life, so far as can be known, when he could feel that the cause of gospel liberty had finally triumphed at Corinth. ‘Paul, who learned at Corinth what it is to be weak in Christ, shows there perhaps more clearly than elsewhere his full stature of Christian intelligence, firmness, and magnanimity’ (Barrett).”

The purpose, then, of Paul’s Corinthian correspondence was to convey these truths, most of which he undertook while in Ephesus, where we now turn our attention. Paul’s third trip, which lasted from 53-58 AD and was more of a lifestyle than a mere voyage, began with him setting out from Antioch, taking the land route through the Asia Minor regions of Galatia and Phrygia in order to strengthen all the disciples (Acts 18:23), just as he had done on his second trip. He eventually arrived in Ephesus and remained there for nearly three years (Acts 19:1-20). Javan in Genesis 10:4 represents the early Greeks, who settled western Asia Minor, which was controlled by Cyrus of Persia in 546 BC. These people groups regained independence while Xerxes was king (480-479 BC), but became vassals again by 387 BC. Alexander liberated them from Persian dependence in 334 BC, and they enjoyed civic autonomy under the Roman Empire.

Though Pergamum was the capital of the region, Ephesus was the largest, most prosperous, and most illustrious settlement, seated at the mouth of a river and claiming home to the goddess Artemis, who was worshipped even before the reign and influence of Greece. Legend says the many-breasted image of Artemis fell from the sky (Acts 19:35), proving its divine origin. Her temple, four times larger than the Parthenon, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and worship of Artemis had spread from Ephesus throughout Asia and to the entire world (Acts 19:27). The Temple no longer exists, but its foundations were excavated in 1869 in a swamp some 3 miles outside the city, which was a seaport in Biblical times. Today, it lays seven miles inland.

During his nearly three years in Ephesus, Paul directed the evangelization of Asia. He and his colleagues, such as Epaphras, were so effective that “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). The region’s Christian heritage was maintained until 1923, when the Greeks and Turks swapped populations. While Luke does not seem to have been with Paul in Ephesus, and while Paul doesn’t record details of his ministry there in his letters, others, such as Aristarchus, must have given details to Luke, as several colorful episodes are recorded in Acts 19. It appears that the Christians in Ephesus, prior to Paul’s arrival, knew nothing of the Holy Spirit, and, like Apollos, knew only the baptism of John. Therefore, we see the only clear re-baptism in the Bible in Ephesus. (Even the re-baptism of Apollos in inferred, though not necessarily implied, and the disciples of Jesus do not appear to have undergone an additional water baptism; but the Ephesians do.)

Paul was welcomed in the synagogue for three months before being forced out, and it doesn’t seem that the synagogue leaders evicted Paul. Rather, unspecified “stubborn” unbelievers seem to have sent Paul away, “speaking evil of the Way before the congregation” (Acts 19:8). It appears that Paul left with other believers and began meeting in the hall of Tyrannus, about whom nothing is known. Paul had access to the hall from 11 AM – 4 PM daily, and he taught and held public debates during this time, proving both the stamina of Paul and his audience in the heat of the day. Paul may have made tents in the mornings and evenings of these early days in Ephesus (Acts 20:34). Interestingly, Ephesus was known as a city of magical arts. Shakespeare even alludes to this in his Comedy of Errors. Therefore, it is no surprise that Paul was seen as a magician of sorts because of his miracles of healing done in the name of Jesus. Others also attempted to use “in the name of Jesus” as a magical formula. It didn’t work for the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13), as the power was not the formula but the faith; it was not magic, but miracle. Many magicians in Ephesus, by the preaching of Paul, saw the evil of their ways, turned to faith in Christ, and burned their valuable magic scrolls. The Ephesian ministry was so successful that the idol makers for Artemis became concerned that their selling business was in jeopardy. So Demetrius, one of the sellers (and perhaps cult leaders), started a riot that captured Gaius and Aristarchus, but failed to locate Paul. The Jews were uneasy about the proceedings, as they didn’t approve of Paul’s message, but neither did they worship Artemis. Alexander, an Ephesian Jew, tried unsuccessfully to calm the riot, but the city secretary quited the crowd and told them to prosecute Paul if there was a violation. Rioting would not help matters, but taking the matter to court might solve it.

Paul faced many dangers in Ephesus, such as fighting wild beasts (1 Corinthians 15:32) and a near certain-death experience (2 Corinthians 1:8-10). Despite “many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9), there were many opportunities. His enemies were Jews (Acts 20:19; 21:27) and pagan Gentiles (2 Timothy 4:14). But Priscila and Aquila risked their lives for him (Romans 16:4), perhaps as he faced imprisonment in Ephesus with Andronicas and Junias (Romans 16:7; 2 Corinthians 11:23-27). Nevertheless, the fruitful time had a major impact on Paul’s inner life. Some scholars call this portion of Paul’s ministry (and especially his near-death experience) “a sort of second conversion.” Though others say “it is probably impossible to draw a sharp line between Paul’s attitude to life before the crisis and his attitude after it.”

If any noteworthy shift can be found, it may be in “his thinking about the life to come.” There were wide-ranging opinions in Jewish thought on the subject from 200 BC – 100 AD. For example, this was a primary point of disagreement between the Pharisees and Sadducees (Acts 23:6; 24:15). Whatever Paul may have thought as a Jew (Daniel 12:2; Proverbs 10:7), his opinion undoubtedly changed as a Christian. He began to consider Christ’s second coming (parousia; Isaiah 27:13; Daniel 7:13). Immortality of the soul was a given, but it seems Paul thought at first that he and most of his contemporaries would see the return of Christ (as depicted in Thessalonians, one of Paul’s earliest works). Later, Paul may have realized that he would not live to see it. Nonetheless, he could not consider immortality apart from a body. For the Greeks, man was an embodied soul, but for the Jews, man was an animated body. To be living without a body, for Paul, was nonsense (2 Corinthians 5:1-10). There would be no time, at least from the perspective of self, between death and eternity. Even death cannot separate us from God (Romans 8:32-39)!

As Paul’s Ephesian ministry came to an end, he longed to see Rome. But Rome, for Paul, was a stepping stone, not his ultimate goal. He longed for Spain (Romans 15:23), and he even said that he “no longer has any room for work in these regions.” Paul mentions having taken the gospel as far as Illyricum, which was the province north of Greece on the Adriatic Sea. Though he mentions it several places (Romans 15, Titus 3:12, 2 Timothy 4:10), we know nothing of any trip he might have made there. Acts 20:1-3 provides time for Paul to have gone from Ephesus to Macedonia and beyond before coming back down to Achaia for three months. But we’re just not sure when he went there, or when he went with Titus to Crete for that matter. But why Spain? Paul yearned to go where the gospel was not. It is likely that the Mediterranean coast had been reached with the gospel by this time, except for Spain, the western border of the Roman Empire. Spain would have truly been a new frontier, as it was Latin-speaking.
So leaving Ephesus, with the dual goal of evangelism and collecting a financial gift for Jerusalem, Paul visited Macedonia and Achaia for three months (Acts 20:1-3), and maybe Illyricum and/or Crete, before heading for Jerusalem. Jerusalem was important to Paul; unfortunately, Paul was not as important to Jerusalem. Perhaps he hoped the gift he would bring would change their opinion of his ministry. And as noted earlier, Paul saw this gift as a voluntary expression of gratitude, but the recipients may have deemed it a necessary tribute to them from Gentiles. But Paul wasn’t planning to show up in Jerusalem with a bag of money; he was bringing a delegation! Gentiles from many of the churches Paul had founded were accompanying him to Jerusalem, for this was his offering more so than money. Paul was undoubtedly pondering the relation between his Gentile ministry and God’s plan for Israel, which led him to include a lengthy section on this topic in his letter to the Romans, written before making his way to Jerusalem.