The Second Missionary Journey

Acts 15:36-18:22

            One of the saddest stories in the New Testament is tucked at the end of Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas want to check on the churches they established in Asia Minor. Barnabas wanted to bring his nephew John Mark, who had abandoned the original mission, and Paul adamantly and obstinately refused. They were at such loggerheads that they broke up. (What’s ironic is that years later, Paul wants Mark to join him, because Mark is helpful to Paul; 2 Timothy 4:11). Psalm 133:1 exclaims, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” and Paul himself will come to realize how important unity is to the witness of the church. I wonder how things might have gone had hot-headed Paul remained in partnership with the older, wiser Barnabas!

            That’s a question we cannot answer, but Paul set off to visit the churches in Asia Minor by a land route. Paul wanted to move on and open new churches, but the Holy Spirit prevented it. Maybe the Holy Spirit used something dramatic like a vision or dream; maybe it was conditions—a flooded river, news of brigands on the highway. However He did it, He eventually directed them across the Aegean Sea to Greece.

            In Greece, Paul had several significant experiences. In Philippi, a Roman colony (more about that when we read Philippians), there was apparently no Jewish synagogue, so we meet Lydia, a God-fearing Gentile. Later we meet an unnamed Romans jailer. In both cases, they are baptized along with their whole households. Two points here: Baptism begins at the beginning of the life of faith; it is the sacrament of initiation. Therefore it assumes a lifetime of following Jesus. Second, in the practice of baptizing whole households we are led to consider that that includes the children, too. So, perhaps a hint at infant baptism.

            Chapter 17 finds Paul founding a church in Thessalonica and being chased out by jealous Jews. The church remained, though, and Paul wrote two of his 13 letters to them to help them who had had their teacher ripped away too early. In Berea Paul found a warmer reception, and the Jews of the synagogue examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was correct, but trouble followed him form Thessalonica and off he went again.

            Paul’s time in Athens, the philosophical center of the world, forced him to work differently. His work attracted those philosophers, who wanted a well-reasoned account of his faith. Paul’s presentation on Mars Hill begins with their own religiosity and offers that the one god they don’t really know is indeed the one true God. Interestingly, his account leads from God as Creation right to the resurrection of Jesus, a point that was controversial in Greek philosophy.

            Chapter 18 brings Paul to Corinth (notice that the relationships and churches Paul formed on this journey account for more than half of his letters: 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy). Paul stayed there for a year and half. Imagine how much more thoroughly he trained the Corinthians than he had been able to train the Thessalonians!

            In many ways, this second missionary journey was the central time of Paul’s ministry.

The Jerusalem Council

Acts 15

            The question of how a Gentile could become a Christian dominated the early church. Strict Jewish Christians insisted on circumcision (cf. Galatians). (The issue also shapes Romans and Ephesians. It’s in Colossians, too.) This may seem like a non-issue to us, because, of course, we are Gentile believers, and this question was solved in the first century.

            The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 is one of the most prominent efforts at this resolution. There was “sharp dispute and debate” that resulted in a gathering in Jerusalem, still the emotional center of the church. One of the things that is interesting to me is that because this was ultimately a theological issue, it was heard mainly by the apostles and elders. Doctrine is never up for a vote! Peter tells about his experience with Cornelius from chapter 10; Paul and Barnabas relate their activity and “what God had done among the Gentiles.” No one could question that the Lord had blessed the inclusion of the Gentiles!

            James (the brother of Jesus, not the apostle, who had been executed by Herod in 12:2) announced as much. However, at the same time he said, “Let’s not make it difficult,” he added several stipulations. The best way to understand the letter is that the apostles and elders in the mother church were asking Gentile converts to be careful of those practices that were common among Gentiles but particularly offensive to Jews. That the prohibitions were not permanent or draconian is seen in Paul’s later discussion of eating meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8-9, where he takes the same line: “It’s probably nothing, but make sure you don’t give unnecessary offense.”

Paul’s First Missionary Journey

Acts 13-14

            We refer to the events of Acts 13-14 as Paul’s first missionary journey, but that’s a bit of a misnomer for two reasons. First, Barnabas is a full partner in the work; frankly, he’s the senior partner in the work. Second, Paul didn’t go of his own volition. The church in Antioch sent him. More importantly, the Holy Spirit sent them (13:2, 4). It’s important to recognize the Holy Spirit’s role here and in our own work. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit works in hidden ways, and His direction is hard to see. Consider the calling of a pastor. There can be a lot of human maneuvering. Sometimes men angle to be considered; sometimes congregations argue and fight and disagree; sometimes the minority has it in their head to oppose the incoming pastor because he wasn’t their candidate; sometimes the incoming pastor isn’t anything like how he portrayed himself Yet, in all of that, in all of the church’s work, in her success and in her failures, the Holy Spirit guides and directs His church.

            A second thing that stands out is the shifting context. We are no longer in a familiar Jewish context. We are entering the world of the Gentiles. Jewish beliefs still loom large as Paul and Barnabas almost always begin in the synagogue, but Luke portrays that their message is received best by God-fearing Gentiles, a semi-technical term for Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism, but probably hadn’t done everything (especially circumcision!) to fully convert. One of the hints at this changing context is shifting names. In Paphos, Paul and Barnabas encounter a Jewish sorcerer named Bar-Jesus, but he is more commonly known by a Greek name, Elymas. Saul himself begins to be identified as Paul (13:9), his Roman name. (We will find out later that Paul was a Roman citizen, which standing would have been to his advantage in that world.)

            Related, but third, being in a predominantly Gentile culture means that the apostles have to learn new strategies to share the faith. In Pisidian Antioch we see them making a typical presentation to a Jewish crowd (which gets them thrown out of the city—Jewish opposition really ramps up in the second half of Acts). But at Lystra, in a thoroughly pagan context, Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for Greek gods, and their approach to sharing the faith has to change.

In Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria

Acts 6-12

            Lest we think that everything was perfect in the earliest church, Luke sprinkles in several stories of conflict. In chapter 5, we read about the dishonesty of spotlight-seeking Ananias and Sapphira. In chapter 6, we read about a squabble in the church’s social ministry. Several things stand out. First, as I’ve already noted, prejudices exist. Second, the apostles don’t want the day-to-day responsibility for it. Third, in its freedom, the church creates a whole new order, commonly called the diaconate. The word deacon comes literally from the Greek word for servant. Deacons are not what we would call an ordained ministry, but they are a recognized order in the church (Philippians 1:1). While they seem to have been predominantly men (1 Timothy 3:8-10), women were also counted among them (Romans 16:1): in a similar way, our church body trains woman for service in an order called deaconesses.

            Stephen was one of the deacons, although he was certainly qualified to be what the New Testament calls an overseer, what we would call a pastor. He was full of grace, power, and wisdom. Opposition to Stephen in particular rose up in the Synagogue of the Freedmen. Perhaps Stephen was himself a former slave who had been raised in the Jewish Diaspora. Whatever the circumstances, Stephen acquitted himself well, reciting the history of Israel from Abraham to Moses. His argument was, at least in part, that the story of salvation included people who were from outside the narrow boundaries Stephen’s contemporaries had defined: he suggests that Abraham, Joseph, and Moses might not have made the cut by their rules. But when he says that his Jewish contemporaries did not actually follow the law, he went too far, and he was stoned to death.

            In chapter 8, the church finally moves out of Jerusalem, and it does it because of the great persecution that broke out. A number of things to note. First, the apostles stayed behind, and my study Bible suggests that it was primarily the Hellenistic Jewish Christians who were the object of the violence. That fits. In that day, Judaism was very narrowly defined by its most conservative practitioners, namely, the Pharisees. A Greek Jew would have been something that they tolerated without loving, but all their worst suspicions would have been confirmed if a Greek Jew started to follow Jesus! You can imagine young Saul saying, “See! I knew they couldn’t be trusted!” Second, the early church had a saying, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” When Tertullian said that two hundred years after the events of Acts, he meant that the more the Romans persecuted the Christians, the more people came to believe. In this context, persecution gives the impetus for taking the next step: to Judea and Samaria (Acts 1:8).

            So, we read about Philip (not the apostle, but the deacon) who went literally to a city in Samaria and then, at the Spirit’s prompting, to the road to Gaza, an historically Philistine city, where he witnessed to an Ethiopian eunuch. I love the question the eunuch asks. Philip wonders if he understands the Scriptures, and eunuch wonders how he could understand without someone to explain it. We confess that the Bible is clear, that it’s main message of salvation is obvious. That does not mean the Bible is simple. There are some difficult things, and, as we’ve discovered in Today’s Light, the thread of the story is easy to lose in the details—of Moses’ law, of the lists of names, of the obscure prophets. So, there is always a place for a man in my position, whose calling is in part to explain the Scriptures to God’s people, lest they misunderstand and go astray.

            In chapter 9, Luke gives a preview of the second half of the story by introducing Saul’s conversion. I can just imagine the tailspin that put young Saul into! Paul says in Galatians that he spent 3 years thinking about it (Galatians 1:18). We’ll pick up his story in chapter 13.

            Chapters 10 and 11 tells us about Peter’s long road to accepting that Gentiles could really become followers of the Way in the story of Cornelius. Peter demonstrates himself a good Jew by refusing—even in a dream!—to eat unclean animals. He is admonished the Lord not to call unclean what the Lord has made clean. Then, he summoned to the house of a Roman centurion! There he is surprised when his testimony is confirmed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a manner reminiscent of Pentecost. Then, Peter has to explain himself to the church in Jerusalem.

            It’s hard for us to fully comprehend the prejudice that existed in 1^st century Judaism against the Gentiles, and because the first believers were all faithful Jews that prejudice afflicted them, too. I’m searching for an analogy, and the best I can come up with is the prejudice that many Christians feel against Muslims. I’d like to think that if a Muslim converted we’d be thrilled, if for no other reason than that it’s a rebuke of Islam. But if we’re honest, there’s a lot of prejudice there that might prevent us from witnessing in the first place.

            The main point of chapter 8-12 is that the church carried the Word beyond Jerusalem into the surrounding region. Chapter 13 will send Paul and Barnabas to the ends of the earth.

            One last note, though, a thing that makes me laugh every time I read it. In chapter 12, an angel springs Peter out of prison (again) and he heads for the house where the church typically meets. A servant named Rhoda opens the door, sees Peter, and leaves him sitting outside! She tries to tell the others, who don’t believer her. And there’s poor Peter, a fugitive, on a dark street, knocking! It’s one of my favorite little stories in Acts!

Strange Stories of the Apostles

Acts 5

            Acts 5 demonstrates the powerful witness the church was giving in Jerusalem and the increasing persecution that accompanied it.

            The first story is the strange story of Ananias and Sapphira. Maybe strange isn’t the right word. How about disturbing? From our perspective, the punishment seems all out of proportion to the crime. Yes, they lied, but they still made a generous gift to the church. That they were both struck dead seems wrong. I’d suggest two things. First, the main point of the story is exactly to demonstrate the power the apostles were exuding. More on that in a minute. Second, I think it demonstrates that our ways of thinking are not always in line with God’s. We think, “What’s the big deal? They were a little dishonest, but they gave most of the money…” I’m reminded, though, of Jesus observing the widow in the temple and declaring that her small gift of two cents was more than all the others because she gave out of her poverty. The Lord is not so interested in the size of the gift so much as the condition of the heart, and Ananias and Sapphira’s hearts weren’t in great condition. They were more interested in the praise that came with their gift than with making an honest gift. The problem is not that they kept some back but that they showed the true state of their hearts by lying about it.

            The power of the apostles shines through in the next section, too. There, people lay their sick out so that Peter’s shadow can cross over them. In Jerusalem at least, the apostles are perceived as more powerful than Jesus had been! No wonder the leaders of Israel wanted to silence them.

            In the story of the apostles’ arrest, notice three things. First, Peter’s assertion, “We must obey God rather than men.” It bears thinking about. Sometimes we act as if that gives us permission to defy all sorts of rules. But the thing is that the rulers had specifically forbidden something the Lord had explicitly commanded. In that case, we’d have no choice but to disobey. But there are many other cases where we submit to the government. A lot more could be said…

            Second, Gamaliel shows exceptional wisdom. If it’s from men, it will fail; if it’s from God, you can’t do anything about it.

            Third, one of the most remarkable statements in the whole book is at the end of the chapter. Having been arrested and beaten, the apostles rejoiced “because they had been counted worthy of suffering for the Name” (5:41). I daresay that’s a pretty remarkable sentiment, and one that we would be hard pressed to emulate! But they loved Jesus so much that to be abused in some small way as he had been—and that because they were testifying of Him—was counted a joy! (See James 1:2-4.)

Healing a Beggar

Acts 3-4

            In today’s reading, Peter and John heal a crippled man. This action draws a crowd and becomes an opportunity to preach about Jesus. As we’d expect, the Jewish leaders don’t appreciate the effort, but the apostles are defiant. Witness and persecution are two main themes of Acts.

            There are a couple of things to highlight in the passage. First, Peter and John understand the miracle not as their own but an extension of the healing ministry of Jesus. They also see it as a promise of a greater gift to be given—times of refreshing, ultimately poured out on the last day at the resurrection. The chief priests were particularly disturbed at this aspect of the apostles’ teaching, namely, the resurrection of the dead (4:2). Why would that be a problem? Strange as it may sound to our ears, in ancient Israel resurrection was considered a revolutionary idea—not in the sense “no one ever thought of that before,” but in the sense that it was associated with revolutionaries who sought the overthrow of the occupying powers. So, it was considered subversive, dangerous.

            The last thing to notice is Peter’s bold declaration about Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” It’s an exclusive claim very similar to Yahweh’s in the Old Testament, that He would not share His glory with another. So, Jesus claims to be the exclusive way to salvation.

Pentecost

Acts 2

            In Acts 2, the early church is empowered to engage the mission of God through the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are a lot of things we could talk about, but let’s just highlight the gift of different languages, miraculously given. That day, people from all over the world were gathered in Jerusalem, and the earliest believers could tell them all about Jesus. In the second half of the book, they were sent to the ends of the earth. Again, the message is clear: the Gospel is for all people.

            The end of Peter’s sermon is of particular significance for Lutherans. Peter calls the crowd to repent (a plural verb; you, as a group, repent). It seems that Peter’s call for repentance isn’t exactly what we usually think of as repentance, which is personal sorrow over and turning away from sin. The plural seems to indicate that Peter is calling collective Israel to turn and follow the One who is really their Messiah. On the other hand, the call to be baptized is singular. The point is that opponents of infant baptism will often appeal to this passage as a way of saying that some kind of prior, self-conscious repentance is necessary before someone can be baptized. But the shift from plural to singular undermines that position. Further, the promise in verse 39, that the promise is for them and for their children, is the closest we come to an outright command to baptize babies. Certainly it tells us that babies are meant to be included in God’s saving works.