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Tag: paul

What God Hath Wrought
Jerusalem, Jerusalem !

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. – Acts of the Apostles 21:17 ASV

That’s it, really – the end of a THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY OF PAUL (and many other apostles and disciples of the risen Jesus Christ).
- THE END of a FIRST MISSION beginning back in A.D. 47 had been about fourteen years after his conversion before Christ.
  - 1400 miles through CYPRESS and skirting GALATIA.
  - Paul and Barnabas return to the church at Antioch, Syria to ‘report all that God had done.‘
- In ACTS 15, Peter, James, Paul and other leading men of the church meet to resolve issues of JEWS and GENTILES eating and worshiping together, after which apostles were SENT out to the churches.
- These apostles of a SECOND MISSION then departed from Jerusalem to SYRIA and GALATIA in A.D. 49,
  - then crossing into Europe (THRACE, MACEDONIA, GREECE & ACHAIA);
  - Paul returns to ASIA MINOR, establishing an important church in Ephesus.
  - Paul returns to Antioch, via Jerusalem, having travelled a distance of 2800 miles
The Connection of Christ’s Missions

A.D. 52 – Apostles’ Missions so far..
- A.D. 57
  - Paul is about to give an account of his recent 5-year, 2700 mile THIRD MISSION to the church in Jerusalem.
Prophesying the unseen future

previously, a prophesy in Caesarea

Acts of the Apostles 21:
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NOTE: Due to the seriousness of ongoing issues of the Church formally considering Paul's report from mostly Gentile Hellenist Roman cities, please consider the gravity of a more formal Scripture of the American Standard Version (revision of 19th c. English update of the A.D. 1611 King James Bible.) - RH
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More People, More Problems

18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

And when he had saluted them, he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry.
Acts of the Apostles 21:19 ASV
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Let us PAUSE here to consider what witness Paul has 'rehearsed' to this council of Jerusalem Elders. 

It's been some seven or eight years since James and and the leaders of the CHURCH SENT this Apostle to the Gentiles with specific anointing and instruction.
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The things which God hath wrought !
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FIRST: defining a verb made archaic to Common Era ears
Wrought [121x in the ASV]
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- Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of Jehovah was finished. – 2 Chronicles 5:1a
- And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he wrought that which was good and right and faithful before Jehovah his God. – 2 Chronicles 31:20
- And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard thereof, that all the nations that were about us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. – Nehemiah 6:16
But he that *doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.
Gospel of John 3:21 ASV [context John 3:19-21]
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* ποιέω - is the SAME word Luke uses as 'rehearsed' om ACTS 21:19  - ..he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles..
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What hath God wrought, might Isr'l say
Author: Thomas Gibbons AD 1720-1785
Published in 4 hymnals
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WROUGHT ! archaic to Common Era worship perhaps, but having a GRAVITY of TRUTH required of Paul to make his case for the Gentiles to cultural Jews.

And they, when they heard it, glorified God; and they said unto him,

Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have believed;

and they are all zealous for the law: and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
ACTS 29:20b-21 ASV

James tells Paul why he must address many new believers providing truth and evidence overturning false accusations against the Way made by zealous Judeans.

What is it therefore?

they will certainly hear that thou art come.

Remember back in Caesarea?

Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. – Acts of the Apostles 21:11b ASV – prophesy through Agabus for the Apostle Paul

This leader of the Jerusalem church once an unbelieving Galilean Jew (biological half-brother of Jesus) suggests a plan for Paul to convince them.

Do therefore this that we say to thee:
- We have four men that have a vow on them;
- 24 these take, and purify thyself with them,
- and be at charges for them,
- that they may shave their heads:
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These purification rites relate to Levitical Law & ALSO required completion of a VOW to the LORD.
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and all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have been informed concerning thee;

but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, keeping the law.

Clear PUBLIC evidence of TRUTH !

AND in true leadership form JAMES reminds of their decision already made earlier regarding GENTILE customs:

But as touching the Gentiles that have believed, we wrote, giving judgment that they should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication.

Paul receives their advise humbly (even knowing somewhat of the outcome), as the Apostle has been counseled by the Holy Spirit.

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them went into the temple, declaring the fulfilment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them.

ACTS of the Apostles – To Be Continued…

What God Hath Wrought 2

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Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 26, 2024
Returning to seven servants in the Spirit
Acts of the Apostles 21:

7 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

8 Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

Returning to the Church in order to serve

Paul had first embarked on three missions TEN YEARS AGO from Antioch, with Jerusalem being little more than a stop on his way back to Syria along the roads of a distant mission skirting Galatia once more and bypassing Asia Minor to sail the Aegean to Macedonian and Greek cities.

~ AD 57

His FIVE YEAR THIRD MISSION now complete, the Apostle to the Gentiles now returns to Jerusalem.

Although the Lord Jesus Himself had taught in Tyre and Sidon (and also presumably the great Maccabean port of Ptolemais between them) Paul now lands in Caesarea, Herod’s great Hasmonaean port named for the Emperors they served.

1st c. Roman Cities

ROME ruled with a westward wave that had included all of the Aegean by the time its dual citizen, Saul of Tarsus, had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to much of Syria and Hellenist cities of a former Macedonian Empire.

~ A.D. 40 – a Judean history Before Christ
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NOTE: Earlier in ACTS of the APOSTLES 12 I may have slighted the historical significance of this coastal area in our transition between ACTS of the Apostle Peter and the ACTS and missions of the Apostle Paul.
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Now that Paul is returning home in the year of our Lord 57, let’s take a brief look at another map in the minds of Paul and historical context of Judeans born about the time of Christ Jesus.

~ AD 37

Saul had encountered the risen Christ along a road to Damascus. At the same time the Apostle Peter had taken the Gospel to Samaria and even to the gentiles.

And Saul [Paul], who had been received the the Apostles, then fled to Tarsus from Caesarea. – Acts 9:26-30

Paul is returning to brothers and sisters in Christ in Caesarea all these years later.
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Dr. Luke, who knew a gentile history of his Aegean homeland, must have been taking Paul's account of these days as they sailed toward Judea and Jerusalem.

Here is even more history familiar to the Judeans.
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a Strategic Coastline even Before Christ

The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same.

The map shown here displays this complex political world of the Near East around 90 B.C., shortly before the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
Source: Bible Mapper Atlas

~ 90 B.C.
- After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his empire was divided among his generals, including Ptolemy and Seleucus.
  - Seleucid Empire led Antiochus IV Epiphanes
- open rebellion by faithful Jews under the leadership of Mattathias Maccabeus and his sons in 167 B.C.
- The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same. The map shown [above] displays this complex political world of the Near East ~90 B.C.,
- the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
  - source
Antiochus IV Epiphanes sought to unify his diverse domain by forcing Greek religious and political practices upon all his subjects (1 Maccabees 1; 2 Maccabees 6-7) – source

Division

Before Christ, the GREAT Hellenist ALEXANDER had died in the BABYLON he conquered in a world to the EAST from where Judeans had earlier returned home to Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

Alexander’s thrice-divided Kingdom would eventually leave Jerusalem divided between Maccabean and Hellenist. The ruthless and GREAT builder King Herod also left legacy of a thrice-divided Kingdom to sons upon his death [~4 BC].

The JUDEA (and Jerusalem) prominent in the times of JESUS and Paul does NOT include a separate Samaria (home of the Maccabean revolt) OR Galilee.

Herod had not only named his great harbor and fortress CAESAREA (a clear concession to a Hellenist Rome) but had built a town and fortress to the north also named for the Hellenist father of Alexander, CAESAREA PHILLIPI.

SAUL (Paulos) in Caesarea
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Arriving before Saul - Philip
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- Jerusalem:
Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
Acts of the Apostles 6:1 LSB

.. and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and began proclaiming the [Messiah] Christ to them.
ACTS of the Apostles 8:5 NASB20
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This had been at about the same time Saul was persecuting the church.
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What hinders me from being baptized?
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Philip the Evangelist and deacon from Jerusalem had travelled to Gaza, then was miraculously taken up to take the Gospel north to Caesarea where he would reside.
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But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:40 NASB

PAUL Returning 20 years later to Philip in Caesarea

we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

ACTS of the Apostles 21 – Paul’s return from his third missionary journey – To be continued…

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 19, 2024
Sailing Home on the Aegean
And when they had come to him, he said to them,
“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials..
Acts of the Apostles 20:18-19a LSB – The Apostle Paul bidding farewell to the Ephesian elders

As you know Paul and apostles of his third missionary journey have set sail for Jerusalem.

Three Years in Ephesus with Tears

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.. – Acts 20:28a – the Apostle Paul’s parting advice to the elders of the church.

Anatolian peninsula

Reflecting back on a Third Missionary Journey

Paul had begun this third mission in about A.D. 52 setting out on land from Antioch to visit churches all along the Anatolian peninsula until reaching the Aegean at Ephesus, a distance of more than 500 miles.

A.D. 57

In addition to starting and nurturing an important church in Asia Minor, namely Ephesus, the Apostle had then crossed the Aegean into Europe and done the same for churches in Thessalonica, and Berea; the important Achaian city of Corinth, returning to Thessalonica once more then traveling to the Roman stronghold at Philippi.

The Aegean Missions by Sea

Although these missionaries have bypassed Ephesus on their return to Jerusalem, note Paul’s APOSTOLOIC LETTERS encouraging CHURCHES during these same years:

Epistles to the Thessalonians
- 2 THESSALONIANS (possibly)
  - (if it had not already been delivered during Paul’s Second Missionary Journey along with 1 Thessalonians and an epistle to the Galatians.)
- TWO LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS
- PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE ROMANS,
  - including the major theological epistle preserved in the Bible
  - and no doubt other letters to individuals in Rome as in other cities.
Acts of the Apostles 21:

Now when we had parted from them and had set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos..

and the next day to Rhodes..

and from there to Patara;

.. and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

And when we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

Land Ho! Almost Home

We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days.

Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
Acts of the Apostles 21:4 – New International Version

a word of warning
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Note three things Luke is about to tell us about their arrival:
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- μαθητής (mathētēs) – they sought out OTHER followers of Christ and stayed with them (seven days here in Tyre)
  - disciples in every port AND on various parts of Paul’s missionary journeys various disciples become apostles also sent out to other churches.
  - SEE the list: These disciples are both men and women.
- They spoke to Paul in the Spirit.
  - λέγω – legō
    
    conversation between believers, exhortation in this case they must have thought received through the Spirit
    
    (We’ll come back to this..)
  - πνεῦμα – pneuma
    
    Let Christ-followers reading ‘Spirit‘ 70 times in Acts understand that this is the Holy Spirit who joined in these conversations.
- disciples Prophesied to Paul through the Spirit what would happen if the Apostle ‘set foot’ in Jerusalem (as he had planned).
  - Soon other disciples will provide addition detail of these prophesies though the Spirit.
When it was time to leave, [Luke tells us] we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

6 After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.
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Does the intimacy of their parting not remind us of the Ephesian elders as these apostles crossed the Aegean and Mediterranean?
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διά – λόγος – [dia – log]
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'dialogue' of 'Christians' -literally, dia logos, dia legō 
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- discourse
- to say, to speak
- through
  - by the means of:
the HOLY SPIRIT or HOLY GHOST!

And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

“Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

“But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Acts of the Apostles 2:43, 10:43, 15:11,
references to Strong’s G1223 – dia – meaning “through“

DO NOT DISMISS or overlook frequent intimate conversation between 1st century followers of Christ AND their continual dialogue through the Holy Spirit.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

The Apostle Paul has RECENTLY [A.D. 57] written in a letter to Roman Christ-followers:

.. the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5b excerpt [the context could not be more important]

NEXT: The apostles continue their return from Paul’s Third Missionary Journey and the Holy Spirit reveals more details through prophesy of what will take place in Jerusalem.

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Let's have some dia-log here, dear brother/sister in Christ.
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Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 9, 2024