Tag: silas

  • Apostles Sent to the Gentiles with a Letter of the Council

    Apostles Sent to the Gentiles with a Letter of the Council

    Will any of the Twelve travel to Antioch Syria from Jerusalem? Or will the Apostles send their Epistle to the Gentiles with other reliable messengers?

    A.D. 49 – Jerusalem Judea in Roman occupied Syria

    Who are these Apostles to the Gentiles?

    Recall that the current crisis of the Church involves both Jews and Gentiles and that the Church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to clarify the Law of Moses.

    A Council of Church Leaders meets under leadership of the Apostles of Jesus, the risen Christ witnessed my the Twelve and many leading men of Jerusalem.

    Acts 15:19-20a – James: Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them..

    Acts 15:

    22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers..


    ἀπόστολος – apostolos – apostle

    a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders

    This is exactly what the Council of Jerusalem has ordered.

    in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers

    • of Barnabas
    • of Timothy
    • and Silvanus

    They SEND these apostles with their epistle of encouragement and specific instructions to the Church and its other leading men in Antioch, obeying Christ’s command to go into all the world — theirs, a gentile world — with the Gospel.

    • ἀπόστολος – Apostle
    • a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders
      • specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ
    • ἀπόστολος apóstolos, ap-os’-tol-os; from G649; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“apostle”) (with miraculous powers):—apostle, messenger, he that is sent.

      ἔθνος – ethnos

      The KJV translates Strong’s G1484 in the following manner: Gentiles (93x), nation (64x), heathen (5x), people (2x).

      We have recently spent time on this on Paul’s first missionary journey, but for clarity definitions which apply here:

      • in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
      • Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
      Acts of the Apostles Missions trips of Paul, Barnabas, Silas and several others
      ACTS on Mission

      Paul

      The Church is already quite familiar with Saul of Tarsus or Paul; who following his first mission from Antioch to the Gentiles along with Joseph of Cypress (Barnabas) has precipitated this Council in Jerusalem.

      In a later Epistle of Paul to the Romans he writes:

      Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

      Letter of Paul to the Romans 11:13-14 ESV

      Think about it, my fellow gentile brothers and sisters in Christ.

      1. Paul identifies himself as an apostle. The Council sent both Paul and Barnabas as apostles for this next mission to the Gentiles.
      2. The Apostle Paul also magnifies his mission is to the Gentiles (although a remnant of Jews will be saved).

      On their first missionary journey the Apostle Paul had proclaimed Christ to the Jews first and then preached the Gospel to the Gentiles.


      Barnabas

      Acts 9 Joseph of Cypress aka Barnabas 'son of encouragement' meets Saul of Tarsus

      Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

      – Acts 4:36-37 ESV

      It was Barnabas, a trusted Jew of the priestly line, who brought Paul to the Apostles after his encounter with the risen Christ (and having heard their former nemesis preach Christ crucified and risen to the Jews in Damascus).

      When a report came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem after some men of Cyprus and Cyrene spoke to the Hellenists in Antioch (and a great number turned to the Lord), they sent Barnabas to Antioch. – from Acts 11:20

      Judas called Barsabbas

      Βαρσαβᾶς – Lexicon :: Strong’s G923 – barsabas

      Barsabas [or Barsabbas] (i. e. son of Saba)

      (Not to be confused with another important disciple and deacon of the church in Jerusalem * possibly also present with its leading men of the Council, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus [Acts 1:23] put forth along with Mathias as a candidate to replace Judas Iscariot in the Twelve Apostles.)

      2. the surname of a certain Judas: Acts 15:22, (B. D. under the word Judas Barsabas].

      * Could Luke’s wording indicate that both were present & this Barsabbas is Judas son of Saba rather than Joseph son of Saba? (And might they even be biological brothers? [again, my speculation])

      Silas

      Σιλᾶν – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4609 – silas

      Contraction for Σιλουανός (G4610) – Silvanus, the same man who in Acts is called Σιλᾶς (which see): 2 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Peter 5:12.

      Silas or Silvanus is a Roman Citizen (as is Paul) sent with the Apostle to the Gentiles on this second mission and other journeys to preach the Gospel to all the world of the Roman Empire.

      A.D. 49 – 51 Secondary Missionary Journey with Paul

      The Council Adjourns

      Acts 15:22b-29 Text of the Council’s Epistle

      They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,

      23 with the following letter:

      “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders,

      to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

      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.

      We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 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.”

      30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch…


      ACTS of the Apostles TO BE CONTINUED…

      in Antioch Syria…

      map of route between Jerusalem and Antioch where apostles sent missionaries into all the world of the gentiles

      Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

    • Pray also for me

      Pray also for me

      I have a prayer list. If you are reading this, you probably do too.

      Some of the names on mine: Lissette, Rachel, David, Ashley, Dad, Ed, Ken, Jenny, Tom, Robin, Marianna.

      Please pray for these loved ones of my family.

      I guess that all Christians pray for our families at times (as we ought). It’s in our own best interests, in addition to theirs. IF God blesses a family member and does not curse them, our prayer is answered (maybe not in our way, but in His).

      But the truth is that most people, probably even most christians, do NOT take any time to pray for others (except out of circumstances of desperation).

      Why not?

      Why don’t we at least take time to pray for our family (let alone our boss or workers or neighbors or friends or our President and Congress or the hungry or homeless or one in prison or any others…)?

      I suspect that most of us are too caught-up in our ‘selves.’

      So it is with some hesitation that I even ask you to pray also for me.

      Let’s talk about prayer briefly from the Bible. (For an in-depth study of prayer would take more time than we are willing.)

      In fact: PLEASE take just a moment right NOW to STOP reading, close out the world, close your eyes, bow your head & PRAY.

      amen. 

       

      What does it mean to pray?

      To begin, perhaps you would like to look at a few examples: first, from the Hebrew word for pray:

      God speaking to Abimelech in a dream here: Genesis 20:7 Now then, return the man’s wife,for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live.

      Here is a reason to NOT complain about God: Numbers 11: And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 

      The story of 1 Samuel 1 shows the prayer of Hannah, the answer of the Lord and the sacrifice of thanksgiving from Hannah.

      Many of the Psalms of David speak not only directly to our hearts, but also provide examples of prayer to God:

      Psalm 5

      Give ear to my words, O Lord;
      consider my groaning.
      2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
      my King and my God,
      for to you do I pray.
      3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
      in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

      Do we do that?

      Do we pray to the Lord in the morning? (Did you this morning?)

      Do we even offer a small sacrifice of our mortal time?

      We also know that the Priests and Prophets prayed to God on behalf of their people. In fact, we probably recall at least one Prophet also praying to God for himself.

      Jonah 2: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

      “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
      and he answered me;
      out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
      and you heard my voice.

      In ALL prayer we should see something in common:

      Prayer implies conversation with God

      A faithful man or woman may assume an answer from God our Father.

      In the New Testament, Jesus and later the Apostles teach us to pray.

      A brief look at the Greek word for pray:

      Jesus sums it up perfectly in Matthew 6 (some of which we memorize & other of His instructions about prayer we sometime forget).

      5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray… that they may be seen by others…

      6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

      7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases… for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

      8 … for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

      “Our Father in heaven…

      (Though your memorized words are good, Jesus was showing us HOW to ask. Pay attention to the structure of His Prayer and you will learn truly how to pray.)

      Peter and the Apostles prayed before decisions [Acts 1:24], prayed before healings [Acts 6:6], prayed and fasted, prayed and sang hymns.

      One of our best instructions about prayer from Paul, Silas, and Timothy:

      1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

      Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;

      for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

      Most encouraging to the churches of the first century – to all of the believers – the Letters from the Apostles and leaders of the Church are filled with references of personal prayers for individuals and prayers of thanksgiving for the church corporately as a body of believers for whom they prayed.

      Colossians 1: (from Paul and Timothy)

      3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard ofyour faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints…

      9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…

      (I pray that ALL of our church leaders pray for us like that and also encourage us by such public praise in prayer as did Paul and Timothy.)

      Do our church leaders call us to pray for each other and pray also for them?

      Colossians 4:3 Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains.

      1 Thessalonians 5:25 Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.

      2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us.Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.

      Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do.

      Since I do not address you as a church, but individually as my brother or sister in our Lord Christ Jesus, I do ask that you will pray also for me.

      I would ask that you pray for our Christian Social Witness and for the sharing of the Gospel through this place for your encouragement.

      I will pray for you, as will others with whom you Share your COMMENTS.

      Please ASK for prayer in our comments. May we add you to our prayers?

      May our Lord, Christ Jesus bless you and keep you for His own until we pray with each other once again. amen.

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