The Bible Recap - Day 332 (Acts 18-19) - Year 6

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Yesterday we read Paul's letter to the Thessalonians and today we jump back into his second missionary journey. He leaves Athens and makes the two-day trip to Corinth. There he meets Aquila and Priscilla, a married couple who have just moved back from Italy because they were forced out of Rome. They're tentmakers by trade, which happens to be how Paul makes a living too. He probably makes tents Sunday to Thursday, then on Saturday he heads to the synagogue to do some reasoning, as is his way. When Paul and Silas finally make it to Corinth, Paul is shaking out his tunic at the Corinthian Jews. You may remember that Jesus told the

apostles to shake the dust off their feet in the towns of the people who rejected them. That's in Matthew 10. And if you were with us in the Old Testament, the prophet Nehemiah shook out his tunic for a similar reason in chapter 5. This shaking out is a dismissive gesture. It's the bifelicia of the Bible. Paul has done all he can do.

He shared the gospel with them and they're outright rejecting it. So while he's in Corinth, he's going to focus on talking to the Gentiles there instead. What Jesus said about shaking the dust off and what Paul does here, these actions are location-specific. This isn't a dismissal of the Jews at large. Even by the end of the chapter, other Jews have come to Christ. But after Paul changes his focus to the Gentiles, a lot of them turn to Christ, too. God speaks to him in a vision and encourages him to keep at it, because God will protect him and his work will bear fruit, because God has plans to save a lot of people there. Getting this kind of encouragement from God about protection usually means there's going to be some kind of threat to be protected from. As Paul sticks around for a year and

a half preaching the gospel, the local Jews eventually bring an accusation against him. But the local governor dismisses it and lets Paul go. God protects him just like he promised. After leaving Corinth, he stops in at supercuts for a trim. This may seem like strange information to put in the Bible, but Luke mentions that it's related to a vow Paul took. Most likely, this is the Nazarite vow. We talked about this on our first day in the New Testament. This is the kind of vow the angel commanded JTB to live under for his entire life. When you take this vow, you don't cut your hair

and you don't drink any alcohol or even eat grapes. Most people take this vow voluntarily and for a specific period of time. Then at the end of the vow, they go for a haircut. Most likely, Paul adhered to the Nazarite vow while he was living in Corinth, which is known for its worldliness. It would have been a way to set himself apart

as someone who is serious about the things of God. If you want more info on the Nazarite vow, check out the article in the show notes. Paul drops Aquila and Priscilla off in Ephesus before popping around to preach in a lot of different cities, seemingly without incident. In Ephesus, popping around to preach in a lot of different cities, seemingly without incident. In Ephesus, A and P run into a guy named Apollos, who is a compelling, precise teacher despite the fact that he doesn't even have the Holy Spirit.

So they both pull him aside and together they explain things to him to fill out his theology a bit more. And Luke seems to imply that his faith is made whole at that point. He becomes a huge asset to the early church. While Apollo heads to Corinth, Paul goes back to Ephesus where Apollo's had just been. It's unclear if they run into each other along the way, but Paul does seem to run into some of the people

who'd been hearing Apollo's preach, perhaps, because they're not aware of the Holy Spirit either. In fact, they were baptized by JTB before Jesus ever started his public ministry, and they probably moved out of the area at that point. But as soon as they hear about Jesus and the Spirit, they're on board. They're filled with the Holy Spirit and start prophesying and speaking in tongues. By the way, we often think of prophecy as telling the future, but what it really means

is telling the truth. Though it may be the truth about the future, but we don't know which version this was. And as for the speaking in tongues, this is the second time we've seen this in Scripture, but we don't have nearly the amount of information here that we did in the other account, so it's hard to say how this was used here specifically. Paul sticks around and teaches in the synagogue every week, and he's very persuasive. But after a few months, some of the people who've been hearing the same thing over and over but not yielding to the truth are starting to push back.

So Paul says, that's my cue. I don't have any interest in casting my pearls before swine. So he goes down the street to teach in a different building, one that is probably more of a cultural space where non-religious people gather. It's called Tyrannus Hall. And if you think Ed didn't imagine a T. Rick statue behind him as he's teaching, think again. He keeps teaching there daily for two years. And because Ephesus is a major city for business and travel, a lot of people passing through hear his teaching, then take it home with them, and the word spreads throughout Asia. As Paul keeps teaching in the area, God begins doing some uniquely miraculous things through his ministry. People are even healed by his handkerchiefs. These things are so unique, in fact, that even Scripture notes how odd it is. And one of the side effects, of course, is that people who are power-hungry want in on the action. Some local exorcists who don't know Jesus

start trying to invoke His name secondhand, mimicking what they've seen Paul do. They're treating Jesus' name like an incantation. Like we've talked about before, there isn't power in the word Jesus, there's power in the person of Jesus. And we can't access His power apart from His person. So when seven brothers are trying to gang up on a demon by using Jesus' name like a magic spell,

it backfires on them. The demon basically responds by saying, I know who Jesus is, of course, and I've heard of Paul, but I don't know you, and I don't have to listen to you. Since these guys don't have the Holy Spirit, they have no authority over the demon. It beats up all of them, and they leave the house naked and wounded. Yikes. As word spreads about this event and the gospel, people start repenting. They start confessing their sins and turning from them. They renounce the dark arts they've been practicing and demonstrated that they value God and His Word above everything else. In 1920, says,

The Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Meanwhile, a silversmith starts to get nervous that his livelihood is in jeopardy. He makes statues of false gods for a living and the gospel is a threat to that. What's more, their whole culture is built around the Greek goddess Artemis, an idol. So this guy calls a meeting of the local silversmith union

and they begin to riot. They drag two of the disciples out, but some of the others protect Paul from the crowd. A mob mentality takes over, and some of the people who are rioting don't even know why they're rioting. Finally, the town clerk speaks up. He tries to reason with them by saying, look, we all know Artemis is in charge. We have her statue and her holy meteorite, so you can all calm down. He knows they need to reel it in. Otherwise, the Romans will be breathing down their necks for being out of control, so they stop.

What was your guide shot today? Mine was in his sovereign timing and placement of every detail. Here are just two examples I saw today, one from each chapter. In chapter 18, it showed up like this. If Paul hadn't been a tentmaker, and if A and P hadn't been forced out of Rome, they never would have met and bonded, and they wouldn't have gone to Ephesus with them where they eventually met Apollos, who they trained in preaching. And that is how the early church was built up through Apollos, because Paul made tents and because A and P were forced to leave Rome. In chapter 19, it showed up like this.

If the Jews in the synagogue at Ephesus hadn't grown stubborn, Paul wouldn't have had to find a new spot to teach, and he never would have ended up at T-Rex Stadium, where people from all over the world stopped in every day and heard about Jesus. And that's how the gospel spread to Asia, because the Jews in Ephesus rejected it. God is weaving all these little details together behind the scenes, everything from jobs to timing to rejection. He has His hands in everything. Because how else could he work all things together

for the good of those who love him? Like Romans 8.28 said, if he weren't working in all things. He's always at work on our behalf. I love him. He's where the joy is. Tomorrow we'll be starting 1 Corinthians. It's 16 chapters long.

We're linking to a short video overview in the show notes, so check that out if you've got 8 minutes. Silent night may be a tune we hear a lot at this time of year, but we know that all may not be calm or bright. There's so much going on sometimes that it's hard to rest or rest well. That's why this month's bonus content for our ReCaptains is a short Bible study we wrote called Soul Rest that focuses on what it means to abide in Christ. If you're currently a ReCaptain at this tier, just log into your account to get your

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