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Tag: jews

  • Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17

    Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17

    Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

    Acts of the Apostles 17:1 ESV
    Luke summarizes an 80-90 mile [~130 km] journey from Philippi by these apostles of Christ in a single verse.

    ~ A.D. 50 – Philippi to Thessalonica (by land)

    • Silas and Paulos, who are Roman citizens, as these apostles of the Messiah have just reminded Roman magistrates in Philippi;
    • with Timotheus, a Greek Jew and fellow follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Once again in the city of their second stop in Europe the context of culture comes into play.

    Whereas Philippi (which they have just left after unjust imprisonment and a freeing sign from God) was a ROMAN city on Macedonian soil, Thessalonica is more Greek (in a sense) and has a Jewish place of worship.

    ACTS 17 of the apostles Paul and Silas

    So as in Cypress on Paul's first missionary journey and in most of the large cities of both missions to Asia, Thessalonica has a synagogue where Jews may gather, exchange thoughts and worship God.

    2 And Paul went in, as was his custom..

    Again Paul, Silas and Timothy would have listened to the prescribed Scriptures of the day and then would have discussed their relevance to the Gospel of the Messiah Yeshua.

AND once again on the next Sabbath Saulos, Silas and Timotheus would have repeated this customary worship routine of the Sabbath at the synagogue in Thessalonica.

    No doubt many of the Thessalonians became convinced by these three apostles during these three weeks that Jesus IS risen from the grave and that many Jews have witnessed this Good News of His resurrection.

    (And then, they might confidently add, we have witnessed the many such signs including those last month in Philippi.)

    Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture
    And the men and women we baptized were Romans, including our jailer!

    .. and on three Sabbath days he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead,

    “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

    ACTS 17:3b

    – Did Saulos of Tarsus PREACH IT IN HEBREW to the JEWS?

    Did Paulos PROCLAIM IT from the Greek Septuagint?

    • For that would be how Jewish Thessalonians knew their Scripture of the Old Testament better than you and I
    • Faithful Jews took the Old Covenant of God’s written word to heart.

    Were these Jews converted to their own Messiah by Paul’s reasoning with them perhaps daily for three weeks?

    This Christ whom I Preach

    .. he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

    Acts 17:2b-3 ESV

     4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 

    When the gentile Physician Luke records in his second account that, 'many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women' joined Paul and Silas, he refers not to Jews but to local Hellenist gentiles of Thessalonica - local Greeks.

    Saul of Tarsus, first a Jew, also a Roman, goes to the Jews first AND when they refuse to listen to reason from their own Scripture about the Messiah of Israel, Savior of sinners in all the world, these Apostles and disciples of Yeshua PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED in their own HOME Churches, the public squares and to any of the places a humble created people of any origin gather to seek our Lord and only Savior.

    5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

    Why would they attack 'the house of Jason' (who is first mentioned here)? 

Jason is a Jew who certainly also worshipped in the Thessalonian synagogue and who apparently hosted these three travelers as had Lydia hosted them in Philippi. Some commentators suggest that Jason may be related to Paul.

Like back in Philippi, or contemporarily like those crashing the doors of the US Capitol, this lynch mob (so to speak) wants to rule over the city and throw their opponents out of town.

    6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting,

    “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

    Another King, Jesus

    “KING Jesus in v. 7 is just an accusation

    Worldly god claimants would use the same title for JESUS as Pontius Pilate when the GOVERNOR asks his accused prisonor:

    Are you a king?

    Paul, Silas, Timothy and Christian disciples of the Lord Jesus addressed the Risen Messiah as Christ or Lord!

    In fact, “Caesar is lord” and “Jesus, king of the Jews“ (like Herod was) were ROMAN labels. Except here, as false accusations these are not in any way legitimate Jewish labels OR acknowledgement of a Roman emperor.

    Caesar is Lord evoked emotional reaction to SOME Jews, but others compromised their faith to acknowledge that any MAN other than the LORD God Almighty could be THEIR Lord.

    view of Roman Arch and Rotunda in Thessalonica

    Thessalonica

    Θεσσαλονίκη

    Thessalonica founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great.

    An important metropolis by the Roman period

    source Wikipedia

    The same claim that offends the Jews, JESUS IS LORD, also offends those who worship MANY gods out of our own selfish motives to worship only our SELF by choosing which gods to which we will bow down. INCLUDING:

    ROMANS, who worship Caesar as a god and Greeks, who in addition to celebrating many gods worship their own philosophies of self-deduced knowledge.

    SOON we will travel to Corinth where Paul will later write to the church:

    For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

    ~ A.D. 55 – from the first letter of Paul to the Church at Corinth – Corinthians 1:22-24 ESV

    Time to move on from Thessalonica

    • “These men have turned the world upside down
    • Jason has received them
    • they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar
    • saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

    8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

    9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

    The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea..

    ACTS of the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy — To Be Continued…

  • Circumcision < Saul's Extreme Cultural Cut of Timothy

    Circumcision < Saul's Extreme Cultural Cut of Timothy

    Why does circumcision of Timothy now seem to be a necessity if he is to continue with Paul and Silas on this second missionary journey?

    After parting ways with Barnabas, Paul has chosen Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 

    And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

    Acts of the Apostles 15:41 ESV
    Lystra and Derbe in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey
    view of the Taurus mountains looking Southeast back toward roads from Syria

    Paul, on this second missionary journey began via a land route from the church in Antioch, rather than by sea and then proceeding north from Perga as he and Barnabas had traveled before after walking across Cypress to its coastal towns.

    Acts 16:

    Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.

    A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

    2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

    Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in the Taurus mountains.

    3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

    But wait! I thought that we had settled those issues of circumcision at the Council in Jerusalem?

    Truth for Gentiles who turn to God
    Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Acts 15:24-25 ESV

    Cultural clashes between Greeks and Jews

    In fact, Saul of Tarsus continues to preach Christ to the Jews at great cost as the apostle returns once more to their local synagogues along with others.

    Do you recall the issue which had led Paul and Barnabas to return to Jerusalem?

    Circumcision.

    Many gentiles had come to follow Christ and worshiped as brothers alongside converted Jews of The Way. Young Timothy is the son of one such believer.

    Saul of Tarsus had been equally zealous for the Mosaic traditions before his encounter with Christ some years ago.

    Joseph of Cypress (Barnabas) had sought out Saul in Tarsus where Paul had mostly stayed out of sight of zealous Judaizers for ten years. This is not dissimilar to Joseph bringing Mary and the child Jesus out of Egypt more than forty years before after the death of Herod’s grandfather.

    Yet Zealots for the Law and traditions had recently caused trouble on Saul’s first missionary journey with Barnabas.

    Apostles sent out into ever-changing political landscapes of Rome, Judea and a Hellenist world in between journeyed on frequently-shifting tectonic plates of clashing cultures.

    Some men had come down to Antioch from Judea saying,

    “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

    Acts 15:1b ESV

    This incident in Iconium, one of many, had threatened the apostles sent out by the Church.

    On his second missionary journey Paul seeks out these new believers once more, including a young man named Timothy who had been raised by his Jewish grandmother and mother.

    Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in the Taurus mountains.

    16:2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

    Luke mentions [16:1] that Paul and Silas travel to Lystra and Derbe even before now mentioning ‘brothers‘ in Iconium. What had happened in Iconium last time?

    Iconium – A Pattern of Persecution
    Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.- Acts of the Apostles 14:1 ESV

    At Iconium as in Antioch Pisidia the apostles received a divided (and sometimes violent) reception to the Gospel.

    The Jews of Cilicia held to their Jewishness in opposition to rampant cultural sin in the customs and ceremonies of an idolatrous Hellenistic majority of their own towns. Saul of Tarsus returns to these Christian brothers trying to convince other Jewish brothers that Jesus is the Christ.

    How could these apostles of the risen Jesus reach even more Jews in theirs journeys?

    In order to do this the Apostle Paul and his company of men must seem most Jewish in order to proclaim Christ in their synagogues.

    BUT the issue of bringing Timothy to other towns is that his father is Greek and of course had not circumcised his son eight days after his birth — in the manner and custom of Hebrew fathers.

    Circumcision set (18th c.)

    חֲתַן דָּמִים לַמּוּלֹֽת׃

    Circumcision

    At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” with reference to the circumcision.

    Exodus 4:26b – Proclamation of Zipporah after she completed this sign of the covenant of the LORD on Moses’ son.

    We read and the Hellenists read of the signs that the Lord God had confirmed His solemn promises to Abraham.

    And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

    ACTS of the Apostles 7:8 – from the preaching of Stephen to the Sanhedrin (most likely with Saul of Tarsus nearby)

    Let’s be clear that in the διαθήκη covenant of περιτομή circumcision that our solemn agreement cut with the LORD is paramount to any sign or evidence of the flesh.

    And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

    “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

    Gospel of Luke 22:20 – the words of the Lord Jesus to the Twelve at the meal of the last Passover

    WE are not Jews or Christians — true followers of the LORD (as was Moses) — true disciples of Jesus the Christ of the New Covenant — by signs of baptism, communion, ceremony or any other claim of grace separate from God’s covenant in Scripture.

    The Apostle Peter had also been confronted with this same issue after reporting back to the Church in Jerusalem of the signs of the Holy Spirit also given to the gentiles.

    Peter, John, Phillip, Paul, Barnabas and all the evangelists of the Gospel must continue to convince Jews as well as gentiles concerning God’s mercy and new covenant of the heart.

    Paul’s later letter begins by addressing circumcision.

    Epistle of Paul to the Romans

    For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

    Romans 1:16 ESV

    To the Jew FIRST — Apostolic approach of taking the Gospel into all of the 1st century world.

    Paul mentions the culture of so many idolaters among whom the Jews and Christians live. This idolatry is a legitimate concern, more so than a sign of circumcision.

    Romans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

    24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

    Amen.

    These Hellenists to whom the LORD made the Jews a light living among them are citizens of many towns to which Paul now will bring this Greek disciple named Timothy.

    BUT the Jews have been rightly cautious about now allowing the leaven of their idol worship come near the worship of the Living God — most especially at their own Passover feasts.

    2023 Google Earth view of Greece, next stop on Paul's second missionary Journey in Acts 16.
    Note: Konya (Iconium near Derbe & Lystra) in foreground – source: Google Earth AD2023

    For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
    So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

    Paul’s letter to the Romans 2:25-26 ESV

    Festivals of Pagan Idolatry

    I have only to mention recent, current and highly anticipated pagan festivals of the 21st century to paint a glace of the idolatry of first century — idol worship including parades, drinking, ritual sex, raucous celebrations and porneia in the public places — which Jews and Christians recognize as abhorrent to Almighty God.

    The Hellenes to which Paul, Silas and Timothy would soon travel lived NOT in a unified Greece under Roman occupation similar to the religiously-united Judea of the Jews throughout the Empire, but in numerous culturally divergent city-states conquered separately by Roman centurions advancing from ports of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.

    Idolatries of the Hellenes worshipping gods of each city, similar to god idols of Roman myths allowed for a tolerant Roman peace. Romans simply viewed idol worship as harmless and practical public parties of a cultural nature, even a religious duty.

    These frequent festivals sometimes celebrated each year may have been out of obligation, but culturally they generally were celebrations influential men of the city used to maintain their hold on the women, boys, slaves and money they controlled.

    Remember, in most of the Roman Empire and most Hellenist cities MOST men served other men of means in charge of various aspects of their everyday lives. Many captive slaves worked for local land owners and the Roman army as well, including young boys who served their masters in ways NOT acceptable to any faithful Jew.

    On the further mission beyond Derbe, Lystra and Iconium (modern-day Kona, Turkiye) Silas and Saul of Tarsus would certainly NOT want any fellow Jew to mistake this faithful young man and disciple, Timothy, as a Greek (because of his uncircumcision by his non-Jewish Greek father) as some Jews who traveled like Saul already knew.

    Acts 16 continued (with Timothy)..

    4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

    Acts 15 Decisions of the Council in Jerusalem (last year)
.. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. 
If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. 

Farewell.”

    So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

    Acts of the Apostles 16:5 ESV

    ACTS of the apostles Silas, Paul and Timothy .. To Be Continued…

  • According to the Custom of Moses

    According to the Custom of Moses

    Paul and Barnabas have returned from Cypress and the mountain cities of nearby Asia minor after nearly two years of an amazing first missionary journey from Antioch.

    But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

    Acts of the Apostles 15:1 ESV

    TRADITION, TRADITION, TRADITION, some preach. — We all know the type (and EACH of us in our own way have danced the dance).

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com
    map of Mediterranean coastline - Jerusalem, Antioch Syria Cypress & Antioch Pisidia on Paul's first missionary journey

    And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. – Acts 15:2 ESV

    ἔθος – Ethos of Μωϋσῆς

    Controversies of the Custom of Moses Continue

    ethos – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1485 – ethos

    • custom
    • usage prescribed by law, institute, prescription, rite

    ἔθος – Ethos from the Greek of Paul, Barnabas, the local language of the church at Antioch Syria from where these apostles had been sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit and the church — Ethos from the common Greek Jesus preached to the crowds of Galilee and Judea nearly two decades earlier

    ἔθνος – Ethnos NOT of Μωϋσῆς

    — ethos, so similar and applicable to ethnos, that is, ἔθνος, used for ‘the nations’ or gentiles.

    ἔθνος – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1484 – ethnos

    • a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
      • a company, troop, swarm
    • a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
      • the human family
    • a tribe, nation, people group
    • in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
    • Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians

    Circumcision (and other Mosaic traditions)

    ~ A.D. 60-62 – Luke’s two accounts of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles are published for a church suffering severe persecution throughout the Empire, including Jerusalem which is about to be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70.

    ~ A.D. 49 – Luke’s records this encounter between some men of Judea and Gentile Christians of Antioch Syria. This takes place after their first missionary journey, leads to a council at Jerusalem and consequently to a second missionary journey (into the world of the gentiles).

    So my first reaction to such opposition is WHY is circumcision such a BIG DEAL with these men?

    ~ A.D. 32 [Jerusalem]

    Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. .. and they set up false witnesses who said, “..we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

    Acts of the Apostles 6:9-14 ESV – excerpt from Jewish accusation of Stephen

    The issue of the LAW, covenants and traditions is NOT who has broken with tradition but who the LORD now separates to HIMSELF by the Sacrifice of Christ.

    The Testimony of Christ by Stephen
    Timeline: Moses *uncertain *(~15th or 13th c. B.C.); (Precise timeline of Joshua & the Judges of Israel uncertain.):
David *~1000 B.C. (dates differ between various sources); Solomon ~900's B.C. - First Temple of the United Kingdom of Israel (Judah in the south & Israel in the north) ended in 931 B.C. at Solomon's death.

Stephen's testimony before Jerusalem's leaders takes place about ten centuries (1000 years) after David, 
but just two years after these judges of Herod's temple reject their Messiah Jesus.

    Acts of the Apostles

    Paul and Barnabas have prevailed over such opposition by the power of the Holy Spirit throughout their first missionary Journey already.

    Opposed to the Gospel at the Gate: Bar-Jesus
    Acts 13:9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 

    For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
    “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

    Acts of the Apostles 13:47 ESV

    The issue of salvation of the Gentiles NOT the traditions of Moses, Israel, Abraham or David.

    Unworthy of Eternal Life
    But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. – Acts of the Apostles 13:50 ESV
    Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in the Taurus mountains.

    Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

    But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

    Act of the Apostles 14:1-2 ESV

    But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds [at Lystra], they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

    Acts of the Apostles 14:19 ESV

    And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. – Acts 14:23 ESV

    Acts 15 of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas

    So several months back before this year of our Lord 49, the Holy Spirit anointed these apostles to be sent out from the church at Antioch. Their mission was first to the Jews, but also to Romans in the Roman cities and Greeks in the Greek cities — men NOT of the circumcision AND women as well – the ethos of the ethnos as it were — the uncustomary customs of the gentiles accepted into the Church by its Apostles and Elders as new traditions of grace in Jesus Christ.

    2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

    map of first century coast of Phoenicia, Samaria and Judea
    Journey from Antioch to Jerusalem via Roman roads to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia, Caesarea on the Samarian coast and Joppa on the Judean coast to Jerusalem is approximately 350 miles.
    So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

    NEXT: The Council at Jerusalem

    Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem (by the church at Antioch Syria) from where the Holy Spirit had sent them into the lands of the Gentiles.

    These apostles of Antioch continue to proclaim the Gospel as previously on this next journey of more than three-hundred miles to Jerusalem.

    The Samaritans and certainly Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon are NOT of an ethos like the Judeans either (but Jesus had brought the Gospel to these towns too).

    The church has also added Romans in Caesarea when Peter previously visited, as had Samaritans witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit in Joppa.

    In Jerusalem Peter, Paul, Barnabas, the Apostles and many others will sort it all out as the Holy Spirit continues to bring both Jew and Gentile together in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    To be continued…