Bible 101 - Acts 20:7-23

Presented September 25, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: When last we saw Paul he was on his third missionary journey (53-57 A.D.), heading back through Macedonia in preparation for a return trip by sea to Jerusalem. He'd spent the previous two years and three months in Ephesus, a city noted for its worship of Diana/Artemis. And Paul, toward the end of his time in this city, is nearly killed in a riot precipitated by the silversmiths who fear their income from selling statues of the city's goddess is drying up. But Paul leaves behind a growing group of believers; when he'd arrived, there were 12 disciples (19:7), but when he leaves, there are many more. In fact, the riot is based on Demetrius's accusation that "Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia" (19:26). The word of God is spreading through Paul's ministry, his converts taking the Gospel to the end of the earth.

Acts 20:7: Paul has sent everyone except Luke on ahead to Troas while he remains a little longer in Macedonia, and the two of them then go to Philippi to celebrate Passover, staying for several days and then joining the advance party in Troas. Here they stay for seven days, and on Sunday, the day before they plan to leave on their trip home, Paul and the people celebrate Holy Eucharist together. We know from his first letter to the Corinthians (ch. 11), Paul valued the celebration of communion. After they complete the sacrament, Paul begins to speak, and as they are in an upstairs room with lots of lamps burning (and taking oxygen from the air), a young man sitting on a window sill goes to sleep about midnight, and falls out the window, landing on the ground three stories below. Paul runs down shouting "don't be alarmed," and stretches himself over the dead body of the youth, saying "he's alive." (Does this remind you the miracles of of Elijah and Elisha?) The crowd returned to the upstairs room, had refreshments, and Paul kept talking until daylight. That morning, Paul's companions went to the ship and sailed for Assos; Paul, however, decided to make the journey from Troas to Assos by foot.

Acts 20:14: Paul had a lot on his mind, and used this long walk (20 miles) to think and pray. We'll see from subsequent events that he is becoming aware that this is his final trip to these believers, and that ahead of him wait "prison and hardship" (v. 23). He joins the group at Assos and they sail to Mitylene, then to Kios, Samos, Miletus with a sense of urgency to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost. (Recall they celebrated Passover in Philippi and Pentecost is 50 days later.) From Miletus, he sends a message to Ephesus and believers come to see him in Miletus. Paul's farewell to them is a revelation of Paul's love for them - and of Paul's purpose in life. He tells them "compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and harships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20:22-24). What a statement! Paul intends to spend the rest of his life (and he has about 11 more years before his execution in Rome), preaching, writing, being a faithful witness to Jesus Christ. He tells the Ephesian delgation that he will never see them again, commits them to God and warns them to keep their faith in Jesus strong. This chapter ends with the group kneeling on the beach in prayer, tearfully sending Paul off to Jerusalem.

Acts 21: Luke writes "After we had torn ourselves away from them. . ." showing just how hard it was for Paul to leave these folks with whom he'd spent more than two years. They sailed from Assos to Cos, then to Rhodes and Patara where they changed ships, sailing for Tyre where they landed. There they found disciples and stayed for seven days with them. These believers told Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but he, like Jesus, has "set his face like a flint," and is determined to go. And like the Ephesians, this group prays with Paul on the beach, he boards the ship and they sail for Caesarea. Here they stayed with Phillip (one of the seven deacons appointed to run the food program by the early church; he then was an evangelist. See Acts 6 and 8), and met his family. While at Phillip's house, they are reunited with Agabus the prophet (we met him earlier in Acts 11:27-29 when he prophesied in Antioch that there would be a famine in the Roman world), and Agabus demonstrates with Paul's own belt the "hand cuffs" he'll wear in Jerusalem. Once more the believers plead with Paul to cancel his trip to Jerusalem, but Paul says "I am ready not only to be bound for the gospel but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus," and finally the believers say "God's will be done," and let him go. And so Paul and his companions go to Jerusalem where they stay with a believer named Mnason (probably a friend of Barnabas, also from Cyprus, and one of the earliest Jerusalem Christians).

Acts 21:17: Paul is received with warmth by believers in Jerusalem, and Paul goes the next day to visit James, the brother of Jesus, who's effectively the Bishop of Jerusalem at this time. Paul tells James and the elders what he's been doing (his last visit to Jerusalem was at the end of his second missionary journey, probably four years before). They praised God, but then they have bad news for Paul. The Jewish Christians of Jerusalem have been hearing rumors that Paul is telling both gentile and Jewish converts they do not have to follow the law of Moses. This must seem like déjà vu to Paul. In Acts 15, the council of Jerusalem had decided that to be a Christian, one would not have to follow the Mosaic law; their only requirements were to abstain from food offered to idols, meat not properly drained of blood, and sexual immorality. Paul himself had taken their letter to the Christians in Asia Minor. The Judaizers, as this group of Jewish Christians are known, are a small group but a vocal one. They travel all over Galatia and Paul writes to the Galatians to clarify the law's role in a Christian's life. James suggests that Paul make a symbolic act to mollify this group of believers: follow the purification ceremony with some who've taken a Nazirite vow and pay for their purification and the sacrifices that would conclude the vow. Paul agrees and for seven days, he's engaged in the purification rites, and makes the arrangements with the Temple priests.

Acts 21:27: Near the end of this seven day period, Jews from Asia Minor come to town. Perhaps they were already there, having come to the Temple for Pentecost, but it appears they are the rabble rousers who've followed Paul all around, those "jealous Jews" who get Paul arrested in Philippi, who turn the city against him in Lystra and plotted to arrest him in Berea. These Jews "stir up the crowd" in Jerusalem and Paul is seized, accusations thrown at him. Because the city is crowded with visitors and pilgrims, a large contingent of Roman soldiers is there to keep peace, and someone tells their commander about the riot near the temple. He arrests Paul and binds him in chains; Agabus's prophecy is fulfilled. The Roman commander knows Paul is at the center of this commotion, but not why, so he asks questions and the roar of the crowd only gets louder - everyone shouting their charges against Paul at once. Paul speaks to the commanding officer in Greek, asking if he can speak to the crowd. The officer is confused; he'd been thinking Paul was a rabble rouser from Egypt, but if he speaks Greek, he can't be that man. Paul tells him who he is and gets the officer's permission to speak. Paul, standing on the steps of the Antonia Fortress, asks the crowd to be silent and he begins to address them.

Acts 22: Once Paul begins speaking in Aramaic, the crowd gets quiet and listens. Paul, as he has done so often before, tells them about the way the saving grace of Jesus Christ had rescued him. He tells them that before God got his attention, he himself had been zealous to wipe out the Christians. He tells the crowd that on the way to Damascus, he sees a great light and hears the voice of Jesus speaking to him. Ananias, a disciple, visits Paul during his recovery from the blindness following Jesus' appearance to him. Ananias reveals God's call to Paul, baptizes him and tells him to get up and begin work. Paul goes to Jerusalem, there has a vision that he must leave the city (this shortly after his conversion) because the Jews and the believers there would know him as the persecutor rather than believe he'd been transformed by God's grace and the Holy Spirit's power. (We know that Paul leaves Jerusalem for Tarsus, eventually goes to Antioch where he teaches with Barnabas.) And then Paul, still on the steps of the Antonia Fortress, tells the crowd: "God told me to go to the gentiles." Not the right things to say to this crowd of zealous Jews; now they want him killed. The Roman officer gets Paul inside the barracks before the crowd can lynch him, tells the soldiers to flog and question him. Paul says "no you don't; I'm a Roman citizen." Paul had once before invoked his Roman citizenship; in Philippi, he told the jailer that he'd been wrongly jailed (no trial) and that as a Roman citizen, he wanted an apology; he got one. Here the commander asks "are you a citizen?" and Paul says he is; the soldier confides that he'd bought his citizenship, and Paul says "I was born a Roman citizen." Paul's family had obtained citizenship and he inherited it. The Roman officer keeps Paul in "protective custody" overnight, and the next morning, orders Paul released so that he can appear before the Sanhedrin.

Acts 23: Paul is escorted to the Sanhedrin by the Roman soldiers. Earlier in church history, Peter and John had stood before this body, were questioned, arrested and cautioned not to continue to speak in Jesus' name; the apostles had said they would "obey God rather than man," and continued to witness to what they'd seen and heard. Paul, too, appears before a stony faced group, one he'd aspired to join, and from whom he'd received permission to go after Christians, arresting and even stoning them. Now Paul is a prisoner of Christ himself, and he tells the Sanhedrin "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." They don't agree, and the high priest Ananias orders Paul struck on the mouth for such blasphemy. Paul tells him he'll be struck for such a breach of the Mosaic law, calling him a hypocrite. So much of this "trial" reminds us of Jesus' appearance before the Sanhedrin. Paul is told that he's insulted the high priest, and Paul replies, "I did not know he was the high priest." We can read this two ways: first, it could be that Paul cannot clearly see the man or his robes and truly isn't aware of his identity. Or we can read it that Paul is sarcastic: "I didn't know HE was the high priest" meaning "such a hypocrite cannot be God's choice." But Paul is not silenced; he says to them "I am a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee, on trial because I believe in the resurrection of the dead." In effect, Paul is dividing the Sanhedrin since the Sadduceean members of the group do not believe in a resurrection. The group argues, and the dispute becomes so violent the Roman commander fears for Paul's life. He orders Paul taken to the barracks again and that night, God appears to Paul in a dream telling him "Take courage; as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must also testify in Rome." Paul knew trouble lay ahead; he had told the believers he was willing to die for Jesus Christ. And indeed he will, but not there in Jerusalem, and not in 57 A.D. (the 25th birthday of the church).

Acts 23:12: The next morning a group of at least 40 Jews took an oath to fast until they'd killed Paul, and they told the elders and chief priests their plan. They ask that the Sanhedrin demand Paul's appearance before them once more, and while he was on his way to the temple, the group of conspirators would ambush Paul and kill him. Paul's nephew overheard this plot, went to the barracks where Paul was being held, told him, and Paul said to a centurion guarding him, "Take this young man to the commander." The centurion does, and Paul's nephew tells the commander about the plot. The threat is taken seriously, and Paul's nephew is allowed to leave but told to tell no one about what he'd overheard.

Acts 23:23: the Roman officer decides to get Paul out of Jerusalem and to Caesarea where the governor can decide what Paul's fate will be. And so nearly 500 men are dispatched to spirit Paul away at night. Paul is given a horse to ride, and off they go with a letter to Governor Felix explaining why Paul has been sent to Casesarea. And so at 9 p.m., they left Jerusalem, going as far as Antipatris (about 30 miles from Jerusalem); there they spent the night. The next morning, all but the 70 mounted soldiers are sent back to Jerusalem, while Paul and his cavalry escort continue to Caesarea. Paul is now a prisoner of the Roman government, awaiting a hearing.

Next week: We'll hear Paul speaking before Felix.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Note: For a chart of Paul's life with dates and places, see
http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/paul/timeline.html;
also one with maps in addition to a narrative of the trips can be found at:
http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CN092MAPS1.htm

Let's close in prayer.