Luke chronicles THIS history of the first mission of the Church at Antioch published sometime around A.D. 60-62.
Many Christians may already have read John Mark’s Gospel written during the A.D. 50’s just a few years after this first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas.
Cyprus was allowed a large amount of autonomy remaining mainly Greek in culture while adopting and adapting Roman customs. No Roman colonies were settled on the island.
The island is prone to earthquakes, several in the centuries prior to this missionary journey
including one as recently as A.D. 16.
Cypress had been an Egyptian (King Ptolemy) part of Roman Cilicia
a gift of Julius Caesar to Cleopatra
After Caesar Augustus defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Rome made it a senatorial province
separate from Cilicia with Nea Paphos as its capitol
5. And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they also had John as their helper.
NOTE TWO POINTS HERE:
.. they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews
Luke introduces John Mark as a helper to Barnabas and Saul.
As you can see from the map of cities on Cypress at the time, this mission team would have traveled on land several times to preach the Gospel in synagogues of these Greco-Roman cities on Cypress. Not only was distance a factor in their travel but also mountains which rose to steep heights above the island. This took some time and not just a few days.
In addition to noting last time that Cypress was mostly Greek and Phoenician with a few Jews, previously I pointed out that their ‘additional passenger,’John, is the same John with earlier connections to Peter’s preaching and miracles.
Luke notes that his fellow Gospel writer [John Mark] also begins this mission trip in A.D. 47.
Paphos consisted of the Roman cites of Nea Pafos and Palaipafos on the southwestern coast of the island of Cypress
6 And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus…
We'll introduce ourselves to this new character Bar-Jesus who they encounter on this mission shortly, but first let's take a quick look at Paphos.
Paphos
Traveling roads across the whole island would have been a journey of 110 miles along the coast OR perhaps further if they traveled additional routes familiar to Joseph [Barnabas] and others through the mountains to other cities.
New Paphos (Nea Paphos), NW of old Paphos by 7.5 miles has a natural harbor and was built by Augustus of Rome for commerce and governing its Provence of Cypress.
Old Paphos was a centre for Aphrodite’s cult. Aphrodite’s mythical birthplace was on the island.
.. the grove and altar of Aphrodite at Paphos are mentioned in the Odyssey (700 BC).
Archaeology established that Cypriots venerated a fertility goddess in a cult that combined Aegean and eastern mainland aspects before the arrival of the mainland Greeks.
Every spring a festival was held here in honor of the goddess Aphrodite – source
Phoenician merchants from Kition [Cyprus] who gained permission to found at Athens [Greece] a shrine of Aphrodite, whom they presumably looked upon as their ancestral deity Astarte – Aphrodite. READ MORE BELOW:
Let’s be clear up front. I can assure you through Scripture(the written word of God we call THE BIBLE) that our Creator said, “Church.”
So that we are on the same page (so to speak) I will get to a written definition of Church shortly. But first — and perhaps more importantly — I have a question to ask YOU.
WHO is Asking?
Why is THIS important?
Does the person asking you about “Church“ really want to know what God said?
OR
Is this question of theirs a veiled dismissal of God
AND built on a premise opposed to the Authority of God’s Word?
Who believes that God created the CHURCH?
FIRST: Most likely NO ONE has asked you about your “church.”
If you made a list including one hundred [100] from your neighborhood, work and extended family,
HOW MANY would even ASK YOU ANYTHING about CHURCHor GOD or Jesus Christ?
Perhaps, one?
(Not even Christians of our church typically engage each other in conversation about 'church' beyond the walls of the church building or in our mortal time beyond a single worship service duplicated twice on Sunday.)
SECONDLY: IF you ever hear a person ask you about your ‘church‘ and Scripture ,
ASK YOURSELF, “WHO IS ASKING?”
You probably know several variations of the original QUESTION directly from your Bible.
Of course most of us cannot read the original so we must rely on a translation of Scripture (me included)-- but (keep in mind) --
NO man or woman can claim truth while they reconstruct Scripture into words they want the Bible to say.
WORDS have both meaning and intent. Therefore a preacher or teacher of the BIBLE MUST stick to preaching or teaching from a reliable English translation AND NOT SUBSTITUTE your own 'better,' less-offensive words.
The BIG QUESTION of THE DECEIVER goes something like the reconstruction by Satan sketched out (and linked) below.
Does the preacher of the Word who shepherds your church have the integrity to ALWAYS use the written word of God from the Bible as written?
a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place
No mention of the ‘church building’ here, although this ‘public place’ could be a building, tent, other home or anywhere two or three ‘citizens’ are gathered together.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; G1577 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christians and unbelievers alike think of CHURCH as an exclusive reference to a building or place where JESUS worshipers gather together as a ‘religious’ routine typically on Sunday only.
However, a deeper look into how ‘church’ is used in the Bible — Old Testament AND New — will reveal a more significant connection of this ‘gathering of citizens’ to the LORD God.
Gather me the people together – קָהַל
The summons or call to worship is from the LORD Himself!
The first reference to the ‘church’ or gathering in the Greek Septuagint comes from the LORD through Moses. Each assembly of the hebrew people, the citizens called out of Egypt and frequently out of their tents in the wilderness, was called by the LORD GOD.
The LORD calls out the CHURCH, a chosen company of worshipers of the LORD our God.
View a link to these references from the Septuagint in the common Greek of the first century Roman Empire when Israel no longer existed and JESUS taught in Galilee, Samaria and Judea.
“Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may have them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’
Deuteronomy 4:10
“The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly..
“This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the LORD my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’
Deuteronomy 9:10; 18:16
It’s pretty serious business:
However, the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will wipe him out of My book. But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless on the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
Exodus 32:33-34 NASB20
— a chosen citizenry created in the image of the LORD against whom they turn (again and again)
“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4 :: WLC; 6:5 NASB20
Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the LORD, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.
Exodus 34:10 NASB20
— the LAW of the LORD our God (broken again and again)
“Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst.
Exodus 34:12 NASB20
— covenant, solemn promise after solemn promise (broken again and again)
“For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.
Deuteronomy 31:20 NASB20
AND even in the New Testament
— an often apostate church continually asking, “DID GOD REALLY SAY?“
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
YES, God — JESUS — really did say, CHURCH.
Scripture — spoken by the LORD, written in the Law and the Prophets, preached by the Lord Jesus Christ, taught by the Apostles — Scripture affirms Christ’s Church already built by HIM and in no need of tearing down out of a lack of faith.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man [messenger] of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
Why do you ask?
"Did God really say, Church?" is our first post for a NEW TalkofJESUS.com SERIES, addressing philosophies and questions underlying intentional deconstruction of the 21st Century Church.
And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.
We suppose here (though possibly not specifically in celebrating this Last Seder) that JESUS at various times during His three-year leading of the Apostles routinely recited Scripture from their Jewish Bible to these Jewish disciples of the Messiah.
Excerpts to Bible Translations linked below from: NASB; Somali Bible; Orthodox Jewish Bible;The Westminster Leningrad Codex
Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt.. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male.. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month,
then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.
Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
They shall eat the flesh that same night.. and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is the Lord’s Passover.
For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn…
The Lord’s Supper (Blood of a New Covenant)
and after he had given thanks he broke it and said,
the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will
“This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.”
And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant H1285 which I have made with them.
Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Letter to the Hebrews of the Church, redeemed saints of the Messiah, 13:20-21 NASB20
