Genesis 1

Study Guide 121: Acts 16-19 THE GENTILE CHURCH Overview This portion of Acts contains the report of Paul’ s second missionary journey, and a portion of the report of his third. During these years of journeying we find Paul moving from the provinces into the very cultural and trade centers of the Roman Empire. A congregation founded in a central location, like Thessalonica, could become the hub from which the Gospel was spread throughout its area of influence. And this is, of course, exactly what happened. As Paul wrote in a later letter to the Thessalonicans, “ The Lord’ s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia — your faith in Christ has become known everywhere” (1 Thessalonians 1:8). This was the true secret of the early spread of the Gospel: it did not rest on the shoulders of key men like Paul alone. Enthusiastic evangelism was a ministry shared by all. But what made the first-century world so receptive to the Gospel message? In this study guide we look not only at the events reported in Acts 16:1-40 through Acts 19:1-41, but also sketch the religious and moral climate of the first century. That world, like our own in so many ways, was ready to hear the Gospel message when it was appropriately shared. And it was ready to respond.

Commentary The world into which the church now advanced was very different from the provincial land of Palestine. Centuries earlier the conqueror, Alexander the Great, had begun a process which spread Greek culture and language across the Middle East. Asia Minor, Egypt, the Greek Isles, and the ancient Empire of Persia all fell to the conqueror and, after his early death, to the four generals who divided Alexander’ s spoils. The spread of the Greek language and culture unified and linked the world of the New Testament. The vision of “ one world” and of a “ united nations” is no modern invention. It was Alexander’ s dream, hundreds of years before Christ. By the days of the early church, this dream had been realized to the extent that missionaries like Barnabas and Paul did not have the language barrier that missionaries face today. They could communicate everywhere they went in Greek, the second language of elite and commoner alike. Greece conquered the world culturally. But it had taken the expansionist and brutal power of Rome to weld the world together politically. Under the first emperor, Augustus, the Pax Romana (Roman peace) had been imposed by force of arms. The empire which Rome held included not only Egypt and the Middle East, but extended even to the British Isles, encompassing France, Spain, and what is now West Germany. Roman government and Roman law brought an unprecedented stability to the world through which the missionaries traveled. There was no trouble with passports, no detours to avoid wars between bickering states. During the first years of Christianity’ s expansion, the new religion was considered a sect of Judaism by the government. As such the Christian faith was a “ licit religion,” with its freedom of practice guaranteed by the Romans! The Roman world was far less unified religiously. The official religion of the empire was the cult of emperor worship. The classic religion of the period of the Roman republic (with its worship of a pantheon of interchangeable Greek and Roman gods and goddesses headed by Zeus [Jupiter]) now received only perfunctory attention. But existing alongside the official and the classic religions were a number of secret cults, generally referred to as “ mystery religions.” These originated in the East and became more and more popular, as the aberrations of succeeding emperors eroded confidence in the official faith. The austere and distant gods of Greece and Rome offered no personal relationship, and provided no personal religious experience. To fill this need, cults like the Eleusinian, the Dionyisian, the cult of the Great Mother (Cybele), and that of the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, spread through the empire. These mystery religions featured initiation rituals, rites, and myths. The cults had little or no ethical content. Most stressed fertility in a female deity and had both sexual and social appeal. In the sense of belonging that came through initiation into the cult, and in the promise of a special relationship with a mythical deity, many looked for a meaning that life in the Roman Empire, for all its stability, did not provide. The world, empty of promise or hope, was ready for the coming of the Saviour. And this world over which Rome ruled was uniquely shaped to permit the explosive spread of the one faith which actually does meet the deepest needs of man. A faith which rests not on myth, but on the historical fact of God’ s entrance into the world in the person of His own Son, Jesus Christ.

The Core It is clear from our reading of Acts 16-19 that the Apostle Paul was sensitive to first-century culture. But it should also be clear that Paul was careful never to compromise the core issues of the Christian faith. The distinction is often lost. It’ s so easy to take a practice sanctified by tradition and mistake it for a core issue. For instance, for many years in the United States, Sunday evening was dedicated to evangelistic church services. Non-Christians could be brought to church, and an evangelistic message, with an invitation, became the expected thing. As American society changed and new recreational and entertainment patterns developed, Sunday evening no longer was a time when the unchurched slipped into the pew. Even the annual “ revival meetings” were now attended primarily by believers. Yet, the approach to evangelism continued to be the Sunday evening or special revival service. A “ Gospel message” was expected, even though the Gospel might be familiar to everyone present. How different this picture is from Acts. There, Paul took the Gospel to people where they were, and he adapted the form of presentation to his listeners. We see Paul searching out a riverside place of worship, and sitting down to talk the Gospel over with Lydia and her friends. We see Paul moving into the synagogue and there debating in the classic way from the Old Testament Scriptures. When Paul stood before the philosophers in Athens, his presentation took the form of philosophic argument, using even pagan religious poetry and an Athenian altar to “ An Unknown God” as points of contact. His presentation there never once referred to Scripture! And, in Ephesus we see Paul in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, holding “ discussions daily” (Acts 19:9) like other itinerant teachers of his day. As Paul moved to different settings and different cultures, he adapted. He easily shifted the location, and even the form of the Gospel presentation, to fit patterns his listeners were most likely to recognize and to understand. Perhaps we too need to develop the cultural sensitivity of the early missionaries. Perhaps if we were more sensitive to our culture, and less rigid in our terminology, we too might be more effective in our modern evangelism.

Form and Content It’ s important to realize that, while Paul clearly adapted the form of his Gospel presentation to fit the listener and the culture, Paul did not compromise the core itself. D.R. Jackson, in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia (5:725), noted that Paul spoke “ in the way most appropriate to his hearers’ circumstances and cultural background,” but that certain basic themes are consistently present. The themes that Jackson suggests are: “ (1) Christ’ s death, (2) Christ’ s resurrection, (3) witness testimony, (4) Scripture testimony, (5) power, and (6) forgiveness.” Wherever the Gospel message was preached, to Jews or others who had the background of the Old Testament, these elements were emphasized. But in the Acts 17:1-34 report of Paul’ s speech to the philosophers of Athens, the proclamation went further. Paul began in Athens by affirming the existence of a “ God who made the world and everything in it” (Acts 17:24). This God is Himself the sole source of the material universe and animate life. The God who made the world has design and purpose woven into His Creation. History’ s ages are moving toward a divinely determined end; an end in which God “ will judge the world with justice” (Acts 17:31). The proof of God’ s reality and His concern for mankind lies in the fact that God Himself entered space and time in form, undergoing death and then experiencing a bodily Resurrection from the dead (see Acts 17:31). Here we have a true confrontation with the first-century world. Paul might have adapted the cultural forms for those to whom he spoke, but there was no compromise of the Gospel message. And that message went against the grain of the most basic beliefs and values of Paul’ s listeners, just as biblical Christianity contradicts the beliefs and values of modern man today! A weary world view. Acts 17:1-34 mentions the two prevalent schools of philosophy in the time of the early church: Epicureanism and Stoicism. While differing from each other, both philosophies had the same practical purpose: each sought peace of mind. Stoics saw man as a rational being, felt that the world had a moral order, and emphasized a kind of universal law that pantheistically pervaded the universe. Epicureans saw man as a feeling being, emphasized the supremacy of the individual, and affirmed that the universe was but a random combination of atoms, mechanistically determined. They maintained that seeking pleasurable experience was the best way of life. Neither philosophy had any place for a divine Creation. One viewed matter as eternal, while the other regarded matter as pervaded by, and essentially equivalent to, the Divine. Without a personal, supreme God who created for His own purposes, the universe had no known origin, and history had no direction or goal. An individual’ s relationship to either the universe or God (such a god as there was) had no meaning beyond its own existence; no purpose for life could be found outside the brief span of years allotted to an individual. To someone seeking the meaning of human existence these ancient philosophies could only say, “ Exist!” (Eat, drink, and be merry) or “ Endure.” It is true that very few first-century men and women were philosophers, just as relatively few people of our own day consciously struggle with basic questions. But the emptiness of the then-current philosophies was reflected in the attitudes and ideas of the general population. Even the old faith had no adequate explanations. The pantheons of ancient gods and goddesses were simply immortal men and women, freed to indulge in the sins and pettiness their worshipers yearned for themselves. These gods and goddesses had no real concern for humans. Oh, they might choose to favor a special hero, such as Achilles or Hercules, for a time. But they would capriciously turn away from him on a whim at any moment, or they might make him a pawn in a battle with some rival. What’ s more, the gods themselves were not all-powerful! Like men they were helpless before an impersonal fate. The average individual in the first century saw himself as caught under the crushing weight of chance, helpless to affect the course of his own life, and without any hope of establishing a relationship with a trustworthy supernatural power. Such people had only superstitious ritual or magic practices with which to ward off evil. Even those mystery religions, which attracted many in the first century, offered at best some revival of life in the underworld, or the prospect of an escape from punishment, or escape from continued imprisonment in a succession of bodies (reincarnation). The concept of a conscious, bodily resurrection was unthinkable. The view of reality in the ancient world was characterized then by these elements: an impersonal universe, an impersonal fate, an essential purposelessness, no hope for relationship with a faithful deity. Within the framework of this common belief, man lived out his life. The lifestyle of the age had gradually lost the optimism of early Greek culture (ca. 400 b.c.) and was now burdened down with: pluralism (with many competing philosophies of life advanced), relativism (with each individual choosing his or her own thing, accepting the notion that what might be “ right for me” may not be “ right for you” ), superstition (with a variety of straws grasped at in the hope of finding something to satisfy), syncretism (with religious and philosophical notions from many sources combined and recombined in an effort to find meaning). Captured in a world they did not understand, men and women lived lives of quiet desperation or hopelessness. In the words of Paul, they existed “ separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). In the fullest meaning of the word, the first-century world was lost, wandering in meaningless illusion, never penetrating to the reality underlying the universe, and never knowing that a God exists who offers humanity a relationship through which we can recover both meaning and hope. No wonder it was a weary world that the early missionaries invaded! And no wonder that, when we look beyond the surface — past the material peace and prosperity and the often unbridled sensuality — we discover a world of men and women desperately ready for the Gospel’ s Good News. And today? How like the first century our day is! With all its material prosperity, our age is marked with a sense of weariness and hopelessness. Disillusioned by the unfulfilled vision of scientific conquests, as well as by the patriot’ s dream, more and more people turn to ancient avenues in search of hope. For most today the universe is as impersonal as it seemed in the first century. With sophistication we explain origins by an evolution that supposedly took place by random chance, bringing life from lifeless matter. From this empty, impersonal origin we seem to move toward a meaningless end. If that end doesn’ t come soon through a destructive atomic war, mindless depletion of earth’ s natural resources, overpopulation, or pollution of the environment, then the end will still come in some distant age when the universe itself runs down, the stars wink out, and an endless dark descends. No wonder that within such an impersonal universe men and women increasingly turn to drugs, to hedonistic sensualism, to astrology or the occult, or to modern mystery faiths from the East, in a desperate search for meaning and for hope. For perhaps the first time in centuries, the world view of modern man closely resembles the world view of New Testament times! The revolutionary truths so familiar to the Christian are truly revolutionary again. Returning again to the Gospel core, you and I are invited by a living Word to experience again the exciting days of the first century, when the church was vital, and the faith was young. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT The author speaks of fitting the methods used to present the Gospel to the patterns of communication that are present in a society. Have your group members evaluate: which of the following approaches does not “ fit” today’ s world as an effective method in evangelizing?

1. Passing out tracts on a street.
2. Holding revival meetings in a church building.
3. Putting evangelistic sermons on TV.
4. Holding a debate on a college campus.
5. Busing children to Sunday School.
6. Sponsoring a Divorce Recovery Workshop in the community.
7. Holding Bible studies in homes.
8. Doing house-to-house visitation.
9. Plastering your car with “ Jesus saves” bumper stickers.
10. Organizing a mayor’ s prayer breakfast. Discuss each, giving reasons why it does or does not fit contemporary culture. For each which does not fit, ask your group members to suggest alternatives. Then share: “ What was the most important influence in each group member’ s own conversion? How was the Gospel presented to him or her? What conclusions can be drawn, if any, about how to best communicate the Gospel in our modern world?”

Comments on the Text: Acts 16-19 Timothy (Acts 16:1-5). Immediately we are introduced to Timothy, a youth who typifies the first-century world. The son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father, Timothy reflected his century’ s melting-pot quality. Races and cultures united, retaining something of their heritage but also forming something democratic and new. Conversion in Philippi (Acts 16:11-15). Luke, the author of Acts, who had joined the missionary company, identified Philippi as a “ Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia” (Acts 16:12). Originally Roman colonies were garrison settlements of Roman citizens in captured territories, often populated by army veterans and their families. They had such rights as autonomous government, freedom from taxation, and the legal privileges of those living in Italy. A crossroads for both sea and land trade routes, Philippi was an important center of business, government, communications, and culture. It was typical of the metropolitan centers that the missionaries chose for church-planting. Lydia and the women with her were most likely Gentile proselytes (converts) to Judaism. While there was a state religion and mystery religions which featured myths and ritual, neither had any particular moral or ethical content. It was not surprising, in this complex religious climate, to find a group of women drawn to Judaism and gathering outside the city for worship. Nor was it surprising to see Paul sit down and informally share the Christian message. Occultism (Acts 16:16-21). Inside the city we see another aspect of the religious climate of the Roman world. Paul and the others were followed by a slave girl who “ had a spirit by which she predicted the future” (Acts 16:16). As a fortune-teller, she earned a great deal of money for her owners — until Paul, in the name of Jesus, cast out the spirit. Occultism was a feature of the first-century world just as it is a growing element in our own. Exorcism was well known (Acts 19:13-16); witchcraft and sorcery were practiced (Acts 19:17-20). Despite the many religions and philosophies, the average man sensed his hopelessness and knew uncertainty and fear. As Merrill Tenny pointed out, “ The pagan world took for granted that men were under the influence of invisible forces of evil which continually sought their destruction. Only by obtaining ascendancy over these powers through magical arts could they retain their freedom” (New Testament Times, Eerdmans). Roman citizens (Acts 16:35-40). Jailed in Philippi because of mob violence stimulated by the slave girl’ s owners, the missionaries were miraculously released. When the magistrates discovered that they had “ publicly without a trial” (Acts 16:37) beaten men who were Roman citizens, they quickly came to appease the missionary party. Such official misconduct might have cost them their positions, or even led to severe punishment! Roman justice, including the protection of the rights of the individual, was swift and fair. As today, federal justice superseded state and local systems. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN The story of Paul and Silas in Philippi has important lessons for boys and girls. One is illustrated by the reaction of the pagans when Paul cast an evil spirit out of a slave girl. Her owners were angry, and stirred up a violent mob. And Paul, not the wicked owners, was put in jail. Yet Paul and Silas sang in prison and praised God, for they knew what they had done pleased Him. To illustrate draw a 4” circle, with one half a bright color (labeled “ good” ) and the other half a dull color (labeled “ evil” ). Attach the circle to a piece of paper. Draw eyes and write “ God” on one side of the paper and draw eyes and write “ people” on the other. Rotate the circle and point out that people saw what Paul did as bad, but God saw it as good. See if your boys and girls can think of any time when they did something good that a teacher or parent thought was bad. How important it is to remember when that happens that God sees us. We always want to do what pleases God. Then, like Paul and Silas, we can sing and praise the Lord even if other people misunderstand. How important it is to know that we have done the right thing. Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-4). Moving on to Thessalonica, Paul went first to the Jewish synagogue there. In the first-century world there were probably some 4 million Jews, and less than 20 percent lived in Palestine. Most major cities had colonies of Jewish citizens engaged in trade, banking, or manufacturing. In these Jewish centers the Old Testament faith had been maintained, and some of the Gentile population was attracted to Judaism. These Gentiles often became “ God-fearers,” adherents to the moral and theological teachings of Judaism but not full converts to its restrictive lifestyle. Such Jewish centers were normally the place where Paul began his mission. Athens (Acts 17:16-21). In Athens, Paul was confronted with a city full of idols and with philosophers constantly speculating on the nature and meaning of life. Luke noted, “ All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” (Acts 17:21). This rather graphic description may remind us of today’ s intelligentsia. Paul gave the residents of Athens a unique exposition of the Gospel, starting from the assumptions and ideas of his listeners and then leading them to a confrontation with revealed truth. His sermon here, so different from Peter’ s sermons recorded earlier in Acts, “ recognizes the philosophical cast of mind of his audience and presents his message understandably to them in terms of the three great questions of philosophy: ‘ Whence,’ ‘ What,’ and ‘ Whither’ ; or otherwise stated, ‘ the origin,’ ‘ the nature,’ and ‘ the end of all things’” (Carter and Earle, The Acts of the Apostles, Zondervan). In his exposition Paul quoted, not from Scripture but from Greek religious poetry! Corinth (Acts 18:1-5). Moving on from Athens, Paul came to Corinth, a city that typifies another dimension of the first-century world. Corinth was a byword for licentiousness and moral corruption, so much so that “ to Corinthianize” was a common phrase meaning “ to carry on immorally.” Here Paul lived for some time, teaching in the synagogue until he was expelled, and then teaching in the home of a believer next door to the synagogue. Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos (Acts 18:18-28). Two of Paul’ s well-known converts were Priscilla and Aquila, a couple who are also mentioned in Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; and 2 Timothy 4:19. Aquila and Priscilla went with Paul to Ephesus where they met Apollos who spoke powerfully of the coming Messiah. Apollos had known only about the ministry of John the Baptist, and had not yet heard the full Gospel. Rather than speaking up publicly, the quiet Priscilla and Aquila invited him home, and explained the Gospel “ more adequately.” This sensitive and loving instruction quickly won the open Apollos, who went on to become a powerful witness and evangelist. How important that we do not correct others in a way that embarrasses or alienates them! How much we need the spirit of Priscilla and Aquila in the modern church. Ephesus (Acts 19:1-41). Moving on to Ephesus, Paul found himself in one of the world’ s great religious centers. This city’ s life was dominated by the temple and cult worship of Diana (or Artemis). Here Paul again taught, first in the Jewish synagogue, then, when expelled, in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, who apparently was one of the many teachers of rhetoric or philosophy found in first-century cities. Paul rented his facilities for use when the owner was not teaching. Within two years, the Gospel message had such an impact on the city that the business of the silversmiths and other craftsmen, which was based on selling religious items to tourists and pilgrims, had fallen off significantly. The leader of the tradesmen warned his fellow craftsmen not only of a loss of trade but “ also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty” (Acts 19:27). Again a riot ensued, but this time it was squelched by the city officials, who insisted that the swelling Christian movement “ neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess” (Acts 19:37). Christianity did confront the culture and faith of the first century, but the confrontation was on the deepest levels of human experience, and not marked by disrespectful actions or language. The church in mission is neither rebellious nor destructively radical. The Christian revolution takes place within the hearts of men. Confrontations that invariably follow the Gospel message are the outgrowth of personal transformation. With the Gospel comes a rediscovery of reality, and a recovery of hope. And these are the key to building the kingdom of God.

Teaching Guide Prepare How do you believe that the modern world resembles first-century society?

Explore

1. As your group members assemble, brainstorm: “ How do most people who are not believers view the universe? Where they came from? Where they are going?” List suggestions on the chalkboard.
2. Give a minilecture, describing the worldview of those who lived in the Roman Empire in the first century. Include an outline of the philosophical views then held, as discussed in the guide’ s commentary.

Expand

1. Have each person in your group read quickly through Acts 16-19, or assign a different chapter to different individuals. Each is to note the special qualities or traits of the people in the cities mentioned and how the apostle adjusted his presentations of the Gospel. After hearing reports, give a brief orientation to how the apostle sought to adjust the manner of presentation of the Gospel to cultural difference while retaining the Gospel’ s core.
2. Use the “ link-to-life” suggestion above to think together about how to best share the Gospel in our own time.

Apply Divide into pairs. Have each person think of one individual he or she knows. Describe that individual to the partner. Then think of how his or her differences can be used to tailor a sharing of the Gospel he or she can best hear.