Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: ACTS #26 - 15:36-16:15b)
XVII. 15:36-19:20 GROWING EFFECTIVENESS OF PAUL'S MINISTRY
A. 15:36-16:5 IMPORTANCE OF PERSONNEL IN CHURCH WORK
1. 15:36-41 A SHEPHERD'S HEART: REVISITS NEW CHURCHES
a. 15:36 INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE CHURCH
MeTA DE ti-nas heMEras EIpen pros BarNAban PAUlos,
And after some days Paul said unto Barnabas,
E-pi-STREpsan-tes [1994] dee-pi-skePSOme-tha [1980]tous a-delPHOUS kaTA POlin PAsan
Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city
en hais ka-tegGEIla-men [2605]to LOgon tou KuRIou, pos Echou-sin.
in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and seehow they fare.
b. 15:37 And Barnabas was minded to take with them :John also, :called Mark.
BarNAbas de eBOUle-to [1011]sun-pa-ra-laBEIN [4838]kai ton 'IoAnen, ton kaLOUme-non MARkon.
c. 15:38 PAUL'S NEGATIVE REACTION
PAUlos de eXIou [515] ton a-poSTANta [868] ap' auTON aPO Pam-phuLIas kai me su-nelTHONta auTOIS
But Paul thought not good to take with them him who withdrew from them from Pamphylia
eis to ERgon me sun-pa-ra-lamBAnein [4838]] TOUton.
and went not with them to the work.
d. 15:39-40 RESULT: PARTING OF THE WAYS
eGEneto de pa-ro-xusMOS [3948], HOste a-po-cho-risTHEnai [673] auTOUS ap' alLElon,
And a sharp contention arose, so that they parted from one another,
ton te BarNAban pa-ra-laBONta [3880] ton MARkon, ekPLEUsai [1602] eis KUpron:
and :Barnabas took :Mark along, and sailed unto Cyprus:
PAUlos de e-pi-leXAme-nos [1951] SIlan, eXELthen,
40but Paul chose Silas, andwent forth,
pa-ra-doTHEIS [3860] te CHAri-ti tou KuRIou huPO ton a-delPHON.
being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.
e. 15:41 And he went through :Syria and :Cilicia, confirming the churches.
diERche-to [1330]de ten SuRIan kai ten Ki-liKIan, e-pi-steRIzon [1991]tas ek-kleSIas.
2. 16:1-4 TIMOTHY REPLACES MARK ON THE TEAM
a. 16:1 FIRST MENTION OF TIMOTHY
KaTENte-sen [2658] de kai eis DERben kai eis LUstran:
And he came also to Derbe and to Lystra:
kai iDOU, ma-theTES tis en eKEI, oNOma-ti TiMOthe-os,
and lo, a certain disciple was there, Timothy by name,
huiOS gu-naiKOS 'IouDAIas piSTES; paTROS de HELle-nos.
son of a Jewish woman that believed; but his father wasa Greek.
b. 16:2 He was well reported of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium.
hos e-mar-tuREIto [3140]huPO ton en LUstrois kai 'I-koNIoa-delPHON.
c. 16:3 TIMOTHY CIRCUMCISED
TOUton eTHEle-sen [2309] ho PAUlos sun auTO e-xelTHEIN; kai laBON pe-riEte-men [4059] auTON
Him would :Paul have to go forth with him; and he took andcircumcised him
diA tous IouDAIous tous ONtas en tois TOpois eKEInois:
because of the Jews that were in those :parts:
Edei-san [1492]gar HApan-tes HOti HELlen ho paTER auTOU huPERchen.
for all knew that his :father was a Greek.
d. 16:4. THE JERUSALEM DECREES SHARED
Hos de di-e-poREUon-to [1279] tas POleis, pa-reDIdo-san [3860] auTOIS phuLASsein [5442] ta DOGma-ta [1378]
And as they were proceeding through the cities, they delivered them for keeping the decrees
ta ke-kriMEna [2919] huPO ton a-poSTOlon kai pres-buTEron ton en Ie-ro-soLUmois.
:ordained of the apostles and elders :at Jerusalem.
3. 16:5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Hai men oun ek-kleSIai e-ste-reOUNto [4732] te PIstei, kai e-peRISseu-on [4052] to a-rithMO kath' heMEran.
B. 16:6-10 A LESSON IN GUIDANCE THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT
a. 16:6-8 “CHECKS” FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT
DiELthon de ten PhruGIan kai Ga-la-tiKEN CHOran,
And they went through :Phrygia and theGalatia region,
ko-luTHENtes [2967] huPO tou HaGIou PNEUma-tos laLEsai ton LOgon en te A-SIa;
having been hindered by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in :Asia;
elTHONtes de kaTA ten MuSIan, ePEIra-zon [3985] eis ten Bi-thuNIan po-reuTHEnai;
7 and coming over against :Mysia, they attempted to go into :Bithynia;
kai ouk EIa-sen [1439] auTOUS to PNEUma IeSOU; pa-relTHONtes de ten MuSIan, kaTEbesan eis TroAda.
and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not; 8 and passing by :Mysia, they came down to Troas.
b. 16:9 PAUL'S VISION
kai HOra-ma [3705] diA nukTOS to PAUlo OPHthe [3700]:
And a vision appeared to :Paul at night:
aNER Ma-keDON tis en heSTOS kai pa-ra-kaLON[3870] auTON,
A certain Macedonian man was standing and beseeching him,
kai LEgon, Di-aBAS [1224] eis Ma-ke-doNIan, boEthe-son [997] heMIN.
and saying, Come over into Macedonia, andhelp us.
c. 16:10 GUIDANCE FROM THE VISION
hes de to HOra-ma EIden, euTHEos e-zeTEsa-men [2212]
And when he had seen the vision, straightway we sought
e-xelTHEIN eis ten Ma-ke-doNIan, sunbiBAzon-tes [4822] HOti
to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that :God
proSKEkle-tai[4341] heMAS ho TheOS eu-ag-geLIsas-thai auTOUS.
had called us to preach the gospel unto them.
C. 16:11-40 RESULTS WHEN SPIRIT-GUIDANCE FOLLOWED
1. 16:11-12a GOD'S ROUTE: PHILIPPI
A-nachTHENtes oun aPO TroAdos, eu-thu-droMEsa-men eis Sa-moTHRAken,
Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace.
tede e-piOUseeis NEan POlin;
and the dayfollowing to Neapolis;
ka' 'KEIthen eis PhiLIPpous, HEtis esTIN PROte tes meRIdos [3310], Ma-ke-doNIas POlis, ko-loNIa [2862].
12a and thence to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, first of the district, a colony.
2. 16:12-15 FIRSTFRUITS OF EUROPE
a. 16:12b And we were in this :city tarrying certain days.
Emen de en TAUtetePOlei di-aTRIbon-tes [1304]heMEras tiNAS.
b. 16:13 THE FIRST SABBATH
te te heMEra ton sabBAton eXELtho-men Exo tes PUles [4439] paRA po-taMON [4215],
And on the day of the sabbaths we went forth without the gate by a river side,
hou e-noMIzo-men [3543] proSEUchen EInai; kai kaTHIsan-tes,
where we supposed was a prayer-place; and we sat down,
e-laLOUmen tais su-nelTHOUsais gu-naiXIN.
andspoke to the women that werecome together.
c. 16:14 THE CONVERSION OF LYDIA
KAI tis guNE oNOma-ti LuDIa,
And a certain woman Lydia by name,
por-phuROpo-lis [4211] POle-os Thu-aTEIron, se-boMEne [4576] ton TheON,
a purple-seller of Thyateira City, one that worshiped :God,
Ekou-en: hes ho KUri-os diEnoi-xen [1272]ten karDIan proSEchein [4337]tois la-louMEnois huPO PAUlou.
heard us: whose :heart the Lord opened to give heed to the thingsspoken by Paul.
d. 16:15a THE HOSPITALITY OF LYDIA
hos de e-bapTISthe [907], kai ho OIkos auTES, pa-reKAle-sen [3870],
And when she was baptized, and her :house, she besought us,
LEgou-sa, Ei keKRIkaTE [2919] me piSTEN to KuRIo EInai, ei-selTHONtes eis ton OI-KON mou, MEne-te.
saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my :house, and abide.
e. 16:15b And she constrained us. kai pa-re-biAsa-to [3849]heMAS.
NOTE: 15:36-16:5 - Different writers have had different slants on that which caused Paul and Barnabas to split asunder and go separate ways. Some have felt that Paul did not show openness, love, or offering a second chance to Mark. The fact that in his later years he asked for Mark, they believe point to a mellowing on the part of the apostle.
I however take the other position that Paul was right in refusing Mark so soon for a second trip after his failure in the first; and that Barnabas his uncle was too swayed by blood ties. My reasoning is as follows: Just as Barnabas and Saul were initially sent out by the Presbytery of Antioch in Acts 13:1-3 - so now the same Presbytery launches Paul and Silas for the second missionary journey, while Barnabas and Mark departed to Cyprus without this official approval.
From another viewpoint we could say - “Well, the spat between the two apostles doubled the missionary effort by now having two missionary teams.” Dr. J. Edwin Orr heard his first tremendous cat-fight when he came from Ireland to Canada. In the morning he went out to see all the bits of cat. No such luck. All he discovered was more kittens! His conclusion: - “Just like Baptists! Their differences only produce more churches!”
In 16:6-15 we learn something important to see in visions and also dreams. Paul saw in vision a Macedonian man beseeching him for help. But when he and his team obeyed the vision and arrived in Macedonia close by Philippi - it wasn't a “man” that fulfilled the vision, but Lydia, a “woman”.
Dreams and visions are seldom literal, but symbolical. We must learn to understand how to “decode” our dreams and visions by the use of a “Metaphor Dictionary.” Adrian Beale and Adam Thompson from Australia have produced “Dreams: The Divinity Code: The Keys to Decoding Your Drams and Visions”. It was re-edited this year, and now has over 1100 such helps. See <www.thedivinitycode.org>if this interests you.
16:1-4 is the first mention of Timothy in the NT, replacing Mark on Paul's Team, just as Silas replaced Barnabas. 1 & 2 Timothy by Paul to Timothy is like a Post-graduate course leading to a doctorate degree. No Christian worker should miss mastering these two letters. Titus follows up on this. J.A.W.