Paul's Second Journey: Thi: Churches Of Macedonia (Vii)

by J. Miller. | Category: The Growth Of The Fellowship | Jul 1959

Before Paul set out on his second journey a serious state of things developed in the church in Antioch (of Syria). Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, that except they were circumcised they could not be saved. We are told that Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and questioning with them, and as a result of all this, the brethren appointed Paul and Barnabas and certain others to go to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem about the matter. It seems also that Peter was visiting Antioch at this same time. This we learn from Galatians 2.11-21. The men of Acts 15.1 seem to be the same as the certain that came from James (Galatians 2.12). When these men came, Peter, who had been eating with the Gentiles, withdrew and separated himself from the latter, fearing those men of the circumcision. Thus a cleavage took place, and even Barnabas, Paul's fellow-worker, was carried away with this hypocrisy or pretence. Paul withstood Peter to the face because he stood condemned, for Peter knew the gospel better than act thus. But the fear of man ever brings a snare, and Peter, knowing the strong current of law-keeping amongst the Jewish people in the Fellowship in Jerusalem, gave way before these men.

Not only did Paul go up to Jerusalem with the rest of the brethren from Antioch, as sent by the brethren there, he went up by revelation to lay before the apostles, the men of repute, in Jerusalem, the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles. Unity of mind was reached among the apostles on the gospel, and fellowship was established as to the different spheres of service of Peter and Paul (Galatians 2.1-10). After this came the general counsel of the apostles and elders to consider the same subject of the gospel and what should be required of the Gentiles as to behaviour, not as to salvation, which is ever by grace through faith and through faith alone. Here again unity of mind was reached by the apostles and elders under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for they said, in the letter which they addressed to the brethren in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us "(Acts 15.28).

Judas and Silas were chosen to carry the letter to those to whom it was addressed. These two brethren continued sometime in Antioch after they had delivered the letter, the contents of which brought much joy and consolation. Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch with many others, preaching the word of the Lord.

After this, Paul proposed to Barnabas that they should return and visit the brethren where they had proclaimed the word of the Lord. Then came the division of Paul and Barnabas, to which we have already called attention. Barnabas was minded to take with them John Mark (who was a cousin of Barnabas-Colossians 4.10), but Paul opposed this, and after differing sharply they parted asunder from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed

for Cyprus, his home island, but Paul chose Silas, and being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord, he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches.

Following this no doubt he crossed the Taurus mountains, probably by the pass called the Cilician Gates, and entering Galatia he came to Derbe and later to Lystra. Timothy, as we have said before, belonged to Derbe. Timothy had been saved on Paul's previous visit to Derbe, and possibly his mother and grandmother also. These were Jewesses, but Timothy's father was a Greek. The fame of Timothy reached to Lystra and Iconium, and the brethren there gave a good report of him. Paul would have Timothy go forth with him to the Lord's work, and here began one of the sweetest partnerships in the work of the Lord to be found in the Scriptures. It is a pattern for all time, of an older and a younger man being yoked together, a spiritual father and his beloved and true child in faith. This with the sending forth of Barnabas and Saul are the guiding scriptures in the New Testament in connexion with the sending and going forth of whole-time servants of the Lord into His service (Acts 13.1-4 and 16.1-3). This gift of divine service was given to Timothy by (Dia, through, by means of) the laying on of Paul's hands (2 Timothy 1.6), and through (Dia) prophecy with (Meta, together with, party with, as indicative of the fellowship of) the laying on of the hands of the presbytery or elderhood. This elderhood comprised the elders of the churches of Galatia, with Paul as the representative of the elderhood in a wider sense than that in Galatia. Thus Timothy went forth with the full fellowship of the elders responsible in their care of the Lord's work and servants. The going forth of the Lord's servants to whole-time service calls for the safeguarding of the principles of fellowship, that is the manward side, and the other, the Godward side of such an action, is, to be assured that the man who is going out has the gift and calling for such a work.

Paul took and circumcised Timothy before they set out together, and it might be questioned whether Paul was not going contrary to the decision regarding circumcision in the counsel of apostles and elders in Jerusalem, as given in chapter 15. Also, it might be reasoned that Paul was going against what he wrote on the subject later in his epistle to the Galatians. Acts 16.3 gives his reasons for so acting. He did so for two reasons, (1) "because of the Jews that were in those parts" and (2) "for they all knew that his father was a Greek." His action was because he did not want Timothy's uncircumcision to be a barrier to his ministry to Jewish people. It was in keeping with his avowed method of reaching men with the gospel, "I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9.19-23).

Having delivered the decrees of the counsel of the apostles and elders to the churches of Galatia,(by which these churches were strengthened), they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, but were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. They had also to pass Bithynia, and Mysia, the latter being part of the Roman province of Asia, so they came to the seaport of Troas. Here Paul had the vision of the man of Macedonia beckoning him to come over into Macedonia and help them. As a result of this, we read," Straightway we sought to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us for to preach the gospel unto them" (Acts 16.10). Here we have a matter of considerable interest contained in the plural pronoun "we." Here at Troas Luke, the beloved physician and Paul's companion in travel joins the little band of the Lord's workers. It is the first time in the Acts that Luke the writer uses " we," as including himself.

Setting sail from Troas they reached Neapolis (new city), and then went on by land to Philippi, the first city of the district and a Roman colony. The work in Philippi began in an unostentatious way. In other cities which Paul visited he went into the synagogue and there with one address so moved his audience that many disciples were made. But here in Philippi the Lord's servants went out on the sabbath day by a river side, where they supposed there was a place of prayer. We do not read of any men being there, but they sat down and spoke to certain women which had come together. One of these was Lydia the purple-seller from Thyatira, a woman that worshipped God. The Lord opened this dear woman's heart to give heed to the gospel which Paul spoke. She became a disciple, and those of her household did also and they were all baptized. Not only was her heart opened, the door of her house was opened to the apostle and his companions. Such is the sweet and beautiful effect of the gospel in human hearts, it sweetens and cleanses every channel of human thought, and casts out selfishness and hardness of heart.

As Paul and the others went from time to time to the place of prayer they were followed by a young woman, a fortune-teller, who kept crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, which proclaim unto you the way of salvation " (Acts 16.17). Paul, being sorely troubled, turned one day and said to the spirit which had taken possession of her, "I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour." What became of this maiden is not revealed to us, but one may express a wishful thought, that she found her place with the rest of those beloved saints in Philippi in the church there.

This kindly act of the apostle to this maid in ridding her of this evil spirit brought down the ire of her covetous masters, the hope of their gain being now gone. Paul and Silas were brought before the magistrates and were beaten with rods and cast into the inner prison and their feet were made fast in the stocks. In the wretchedness of their position they prayed to God, and in the joy of their spirit in being counted worthy to suffer for the Name they sang hymns. Then we are told- "And the prisoners were listening to them." Such words and such songs the prisoners had never heard before. It would no

doubt seem to them, that " heaven came down their souls to greet." But not only were the prisoners listening, God was listening, and He gave the earth a shake. There was an earthquake, and such was the mystery of this earthquake, that the doors were opened and every one's bands were loosed. They were free; God had freed them all for the sake of His servants. The earthquake roused the sleeping jailor, and when he saw the open doors he thought that all the prisoners were gone, and this would have been a tragedy for him on the morrow, so he sought to escape the consequences of his sleep by taking his own life, as many others have done to escape the consequences of their deeds. But, lo, a voice from the inner prison startles him. It was the voice of Paul, the praying and singing man, now about to be the saver of a would-be suicide. "Do thyself no harm: for we are all here." The jailor called for lights, and sprang in (such was his urgent desire to be saved), and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What a change God can make in a few minutes! The bruised and battered men of a few hours before are now the men at whose feet the jailor bows. Their message to the jailor is one of the clear testimonies of the gospel, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house." This does not mean that the members of his house would be saved by proxy, saved because the head of the house, the jailor, was saved, but it means that as he would be saved by believing on the Lord Jesus, so also could they be, each one of them. The sequel to this remarkable story was that the jailor was saved, and Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him, with all that were in his house. The jailor took them and washed their stripes, and he was baptized, he and all his immediately. He brought them into his house and set meat before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his house, having believed in God. There is nothing in this passage to support or give countenance to the practice of such as believe in, so called, " household baptism," that is, the baptism of unsaved persons because the head of the house has been saved and baptized. The singular verb Parathehen which shows the action of the jailor placing food upon his table for Paul and Silas, in which verb the pronoun "he" is implied, must take the singular perfect participle Pepisteuhos, rendered "having believed," and gives not one whit of encouragement to the thought that the jailor believed and his household did not. The fact that there was household rejoicing proves conclusively that the opposite of this took place.

The leaving of the prison by Paul and Silas was one of honour, for the magistrates who had condemned them had to come down and bring them out of the prison. They also asked them to go from their city. Thus they came out of the prison and entered into the house of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren and comforted them they departed.

From Philippi they took their journey through Amphipolis and Apollonia and at length came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews (Acts 17). This statement about this Jewish synagogue may reflect upon what happened in Philippi, in which city there is no reference to a synagogue. We are told that Paul as his custom was went in unto them in the synagogue for three sabbath days and reasoned with them from the Scriptures; the subject of which reasoning was that Christ must suffer and rise from the dead, and that Jesus was the Christ. Some of the Jews were persuaded, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. Thus the divine message went on its triumphant way, as Paul said, "Thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2. 14). But here again, as in the cities of Galatia, the Jews were moved with jealousy, and took certain vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd set the city in an uproar. The house of Jason was assaulted and he with certain brethren were dragged before the rulers of the city. The indictment against the Lord's servants was, "These men that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." Jason was also accused of having received these men who acted contrary to the decrees of Ceasar, and said that there was another king, one Jesus. This Jewish scheming and stirring up trouble greatly disturbed the multitude and the rulers of the city, and when the rulers had taken security from Jason and the rest they let them go. During Paul's visit, we judge, the church of God in Thessalonica was planted.

Following this uproar the brethren sent away Paul and Silas by night to Beroean, and when they arrived there they, as their custom was, went into the synagogue of the Jews, and we are told that the Jews of Beroea were more noble than those of Thessalonica, and "that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17.11). Many of them believed and also of the Greek women of honourable estate, and of men, not a few. There can be little doubt that the church in Beroea was planted at that same time. Thus we know of three churches in Macedonia, those in Philippi, Thessalonica and Beroea. The work however was not allowed to go on long in peace, for when the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul had proclaimed the word of God in Beroea, they came thither and stirred up the multitude and again Paul was sent forth by the brethren as far as the sea. Timothy and Silas abode still in Beroea. Paul was conducted and brought to Athens, and those who conducted Paul to Athens received command to Timothy and Silas, that they should come to Paul at Athens with all speed.

More is to be learned of the work in Thessalonica from the two epistles of Paul to that church. Of them it is said, "Ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." Also, " Ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drave out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins alway: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thessalonians 1.6; 2.14-16). Such is the solemn indictment of the Holy Spirit through Paul against the Jewish people because of their deeds, which were in evidence against the Lord's work both in Galatia and Macedonia.

J. Miller. | Jul 1959
The Growth Of The Fellowship