Acts shows how the good news about Jesus impacted a variety of cultures as it grew from a handful of followers into a movement. It crossed gender, ethnic, linguistic, geographic, and economic boundaries in places as diverse as …
• Jerusalem (Acts 1:12–26; 7:1–53; 8:1). The ancient holy city witnessed the church’s dramatic birth but was left behind as the gospel spread across the rest of the Roman empire.
• Samaria (8:5). The Samaritans suffered centuries of ethnic discrimination until a minority preacher invited them to join the community of faith.
• Damascus (9:2). A city torn between rival claims of ownership helped spread the Christian message throughout the ancient world.
• Tarsus (11:25). The empire’s second most important center of learning produced one of Christianity’s most influential messengers.
• Antioch (13:1). A multiethnic church in the empire’s third-largest city became the headquarters of early Christianity.
• Cyprus (13:4). This Mediterranean island was a frequent stopover for Christian travelers.
• Philippi (16:12). A retirement community for Roman military officers became the gateway for Christianity’s spread to the West.
• Athens (17:15). Curious philosophers heard the news about Christ but preferred debate rather than commitment.
• Alexandria (18:24). This center of education and scholarship was home to the world’s first Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• Ephesus (19:10). This shrine of first-century paganism was upended when the gospel transformed its economy.
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A Grand Strategy
As Jesus gave His final instructions to His followers (Acts 1:4, 12), He outlined His vision for the world (1:8). He indicated that the gospel would first penetrate Jerusalem, two miles to the west. From there it would spread to the surrounding region, Judea, and to its estranged cousin to the north, Samaria, and eventually to the entire world, including the vast Roman empire.
While Christians today call out Acts 1:8 as inspiration to spread the news about Jesus to the world, those who first heard the mandate might have been less enthusiastic. All of the places Jesus listed promised trouble if not danger. Jews, the ethnic majority of Jesus’ listeners, were a small minority in the Roman empire. Worse yet, most of the apostles came from Galilee, a region north of Samaria. Galileans often faced scorn from their Judean brothers. Jerusalemites were especially harsh. They considered themselves more ethnically pure and more religiously orthodox—less “contaminated” by foreign influences—than those from “Galilee of the Gentiles.” Even the Galilean accent was ridiculed.
Jerusalem
Jerusalem was the center of Judea’s religious, political, economic, and cultural life. It was the site of the Lord’s recent crucifixion, and its leaders plotted to stamp out what was left of His movement. Jesus nevertheless told His followers to begin their witness there. They must have wondered whether Jesus could protect them from the inevitable hostilities, and they likely worried over whether they would suffer the same death as Jesus had.
Judea and Samaria
Jerusalem was the urban center of the province of Judea. If the gospel could penetrate the city, it would soon spread to its environs. And Jesus purposefully linked Judea to Samaria, its cousin to the north. The two regions had endured a bitter rivalry that went back to the seventh century B.C., when the Assyrians had colonized Samaria with non-Jews, foreigners who intermarried with Israelites. Judea, which means “Jewish,” considered itself the home of pure Judaism and viewed Samaria as an estranged, corrupt relative. As John pointed out in his account of the woman at the well at Sychar, “Jews [had] no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9). To reach Judea with the gospel, the Galilean apostles would have to break through barriers of pride, arrogance, and long-held ethnic prejudices.
The End of the Earth
Any mention of the gospel spreading to “the end of the earth” implied the eventual inclusion of Gentiles. To the apostles, this was the ultimate shock. They saw the world divided into Jews and non-Jews. The most orthodox Jews would have nothing to do with foreigners. Even Jews such as the apostles, who had grown up alongside Gentiles, avoided contact whenever possible.
For the gospel to spread to the Gentiles, Jesus’ followers would have to redefine their entire worldview. In time, the gospel did indeed overcome every ethnic, religious, and cultural wall faced by the early Christians, but not without significant conflict (see “Ethnic Walls Break Down” at Acts 10:44, 45 and “Controversy in the Early Church” at Acts 15:1–21).
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As the account of the Book of Acts begins, Jesus’ followers appear confused and fearful, but by the end of the book they are energetically transforming the Roman world. Only one dynamic can account for this dramatic change: the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise: “You shall receive power.” Note these important facts:
• Jesus did not enable His followers to exert physical force or political authority. While Israel had enjoyed military superiority under David and Solomon, those days were a distant memory. Jesus never promised a revival of Jewish dominance. The word power means “ability” or “capacity,” so the power that the Holy Spirit would provide was the new abilities Christ’s followers needed to carry the gospel forward.
• Power came from above. The disciples were to look for supernatural ability via the Holy Spirit to make them effective in presenting the news about Jesus. Until the Spirit arrived, they were powerless to spread the Good News to every person and place they were meant to take it.
• The believers were to be witnesses of Christ, not of Christians. They were to make disciples not of themselves but of the risen Lord (Matt. 28:18–20).
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To find out more about the men who gathered with others in the Upper Room to await the promise of the Spirit, see “The Twelve” at Matthew 10:2.
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The first prayer meeting of the new movement was extraordinarily inclusive. Jewish religious gatherings separated men and women and assigned them different roles, but here the apostles were joined by female followers of Jesus, including His mother. God meant for every person in this group of united, dedicated followers to be His witness.
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The death of Judas Iscariot (Matt. 26:14) was memorialized in the purchase of land for a cemetery, which was named the Field of Blood.
Matthew explains that the chief priests bought the field with the thirty pieces of silver they had paid Judas to betray Jesus. Remorseful at having given up his innocent Lord, Judas threw the money onto the temple floor and hanged himself shortly thereafter. Because the coins were tainted with “the price of blood” (27:6), they could not be deposited in the temple treasury. So they were used to buy a field to bury foreigners and strangers (27:7). Acts notes that Judas “purchased a field with the wages of iniquity” (Acts 1:18), but he bought it only in the sense that his money was used to purchase the land.
Tradition holds that this field is on the Hill of Evil Counsel, a level spot overlooking the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem.
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The Spirit chose an opportune time to launch the church. The drama that unfolded in Acts 2–3 perfectly matched the meaning of the feast that was currently underway in Jerusalem, and the diverse crowds packing the city to celebrate became a ready audience for the astonishing events to come.
The Jews observed three major annual feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread (or Passover), the Feast of Weeks (or Harvest, or Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (or Tents, or Booths). For each feast, thousands of Jews made the pilgrimage to the temple at Jerusalem.
The Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost) received its name from its occurrence seven weeks (or fifty days) after Passover. Families offered thanks for the completed harvest by giving the firstfruits of their produce to the priests. No one worked on the day of Pentecost. Everyone was expected to participate in the festival—wives and husbands, parents and children, servants, priests, widows, orphans, even visitors and foreigners. The people recalled the days of their slavery in Egypt, and they were reminded to observe God’s law.
God’s Spirit chose this day to descend on the 120 believers gathered in the Upper Room. The event followed Jesus’ death on the cross by fifty days. And it turned into a spiritual harvest: three thousand people responded to Peter’s message about the good news of Christ (Acts 2:41). They became the firstfruits of the church.
More: Learn more about these significant celebrations in “Jewish Feasts” at Luke 2:42 and “Living Water” at John 7:37.
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What happened at Pentecost began to reverse the effects of the events at the Tower of Babel, when God mixed up the people’s language and scattered the nations (Gen. 11:1–9). At Pentecost, He gathered His people from the nations to Jerusalem. Once again, confusion abounded (Acts 2:6), but this time it was in amazement that ordinary men and women were speaking in all the languages of the world. The Spirit gave birth to an international and multilingual church when onlookers heard the gospel and believed.
More: Both at Babel and at Pentecost, God was pursuing His plan to save people from sin. Learn more in “From Babel to Pentecost: Scattering and Gathering” at Gen. 11:8, 9).
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The Feast of Pentecost brought together thousands of Jews and converts to Judaism from all over the Roman empire and beyond. Jesus’ promise that the gospel would spread “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) was thus partially fulfilled much more rapidly than the apostles probably expected. The three thousand who believed in Jesus following Peter’s speech (2:14–41) lingered for a time in Jerusalem, but eventually they returned to their homelands and took their new faith with them.
• Parthia: A region that included portions of modern-day Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. It was part of the Persian empire conquered by the Greeks in 330 B.C., but after breaking away in 250 B.C., it built its own empire. The Romans were never able to conquer Parthia, and it became the other superpower of the first century.
• Media: A mountainous region southwest of Parthia. It switched alliances between Assyria and Babylon to suit its present interests. Like the Parthians, Medes were Indo-European peoples who adhered to the dualistic religion of Zoroastrianism.
• Elam: Home to an ancient people who fought with the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians for control of Mesopotamia. After defeating the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., the Assyrians deported a population of Elamites to Samaria and sent some Samaritan Jews to Elam.
• Mesopotamia: The land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq, homeland of the Jewish patriarch Abraham and later of the feared Babylonians.
• Judea: The Graeco-Roman name for the homeland of the Jews.
• Cappadocia: A large Roman province in eastern Asia Minor, now Turkey.
• Pontus: A Roman province in northern Asia Minor next to the Black Sea. This mountainous region produced olives, grain, and timber.
• Asia: A strategic Roman province that included the rival cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos. Its wealth and culture were legendary, and positions in its government were among the most prized in the Roman empire.
• Phrygia: A large mountainous region divided by the Romans between Galatia in the east and Asia in the west.
• Pamphylia: A region along the southern coast of Asia Minor. Its name means “A Region of Every Tribe.”
• Egypt: Homeland of the greatest empires of the ancient world. By the New Testament era an estimated one million Jews lived in Alexandria. They had been scattered from Palestine after Israel’s fall to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and Judah’s fall to the Babylonians in 587 B.C.
• Libya and Cyrene: The same region as modern-day Libya on the northern coast of Africa. Founded by the Greeks, Cyrene was established by the Romans as the provincial capital of Libya. In New Testament times it was an intellectual center with a large Jewish population.
• Rome: Capital of the empire and the symbolic center of Luke’s world.
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The converts from Peter’s sermon stayed on in Jerusalem for a while, possibly as guests of the handful of local disciples. They celebrated their new life in Christ with four crucial acts:
1. They listened to the apostles’ teaching.
2. They practiced community by sharing meals.
3. They worshiped God.
4. They cared for each others’ needs.
More: For help in examining your lifestyle and character in light of Scripture, see “An Inventory of Integrity” at Ps. 15:1. See also “Ten Freedoms” at Gal. 5:18 and “Ten Practical Commandments” at James 2:8–13.
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The faith we celebrate on Sunday can feel disconnected from the world we face on Monday. Acts 4–9 shows how the newly formed group of Christians practiced a regular rhythm of gathering for growth and worship, then scattering into the world to work and share the gospel with others:
Gathered for Growth | Scattered for Work |
Donated money from selling assets to care for the poor (Acts 4:36, 37). | |
Disciplined those who practiced deceit in giving to the poor (Acts 5:1–11). | |
Met in public to care for the sick, many of whom became Christians (Acts 5:12–21). | |
Leaders were arrested and tried on charges of civil disobedience (Acts 5:22–42). | |
Took the gospel to the Samaritans; challenged Simon, a leading sorcerer (Acts 8:3–13). | |
Met to discuss and confirm Samaritan work (Acts 8:14–17). | |
Disciplined a new believer for misuse of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:18–24). | |
Took the Good News to an Ethiopian government official on a highway (Acts 8:26–40). | |
Affirmed and nurtured Saul’s new faith (Acts 9:10–22). | |
Accepted Saul into their community even though he had persecuted them (Acts 9:26–28). |
This pattern continues throughout Acts. The narrative moves back and forth between internal church meetings and external encounters with the surrounding culture. Developing one’s faith and taking it to the world are inextricably connected.
We can build a bridge between our own Sundays and Mondays by moving through this same cycle. We gather to worship, pray, share meals, and absorb teaching—preparing us and giving us the strength to step into Monday’s world of pressure, conflict, and the work of engaging non-believers as they inspect or even oppose our faith. As we scatter to accomplish this work, we will inevitably find areas of our faith where we need to grow—propelling us into Sunday’s world of spiritual nourishment, community, and refinement.
More: Queen Victoria wrote approvingly of a Scottish church where she heard a sermon about how the Christian faith was “not a thing only for Sunday” but “for every action of her life.” See here for an article on this woman who was an avid supporter of authentic, active faith.
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A small-town carpenter’s name became a buzzword of the Roman world. Why? Because there was power in His name. The name Jesus means “The Lord Is Salvation,” and early Christians discovered just how accurately that name conveys God’s character. Acts 3–4 records a sequence of events in which the powerful name of Jesus stands out:
Text: Acts 3:1–10
Event: The lame man is healed at the gate.
The Name of Jesus: The name of Jesus healed him (Acts 3:6).
Text: Acts 3:11–26
Event: Peter’s sermon identifies Jesus with the “I AM” (Ex. 3:14) of Israel’s history.
The Name of Jesus: Faith in the name of Jesus brings salvation (Acts 3:16, 26).
Text: Acts 4:1–12
Event: Peter and John are imprisoned and tried.
The Name of Jesus: No other name but Jesus can bring salvation to the earth (Acts 4:12).
Text: Acts 4:13–22
Event: Peter and John are warned and released.
The Name of Jesus: Despite opposition, the name of Jesus is true: God delivers us (Acts 4:18, 21).
Text: Acts 4:23–37
Event: The church responds by worshiping Jesus, caring for each other, and witnessing about Christ.
The Name of Jesus: Signs and wonders are done through the name of Jesus (Acts 4:30).
More: The term Christian was used to disparage early disciples. See “A New Name for a New Way” at Acts 11:26.
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People marvel when God is at work. Just as all of Jerusalem was awed by the healing of a lame man (Acts 3:11), people today may be shocked by God’s impact on an individual life. Watching God’s work in us may ready them to hear us explain the message of Christ. Their curiosity can open opportunities for us to speak up and help others notice God’s hand behind what they have seen, as did Peter (3:12–26). Of course, like Peter and John, we might also trigger a hostile reaction (4:1–4). We might tap the anger or confusion that people can feel when they become aware that they have offended God. But belonging to God means that we speak the truth no matter what the outcome.
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This same Caiaphas had once been Israel’s high priest, making him the most influential member of the Jewish Council. For more on this man and his evil legacy, see his profile at Matthew 26:3 and “The Religious Power Broker” at Matthew 26:3–5.
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The modern world is full of opinions about the ultimate meaning of life. Some say it is to achieve inner fulfillment, accumulate wealth, family and friends, have a good time, or be a good person. Into this muddle of ideas the Bible injects the radical notion that what truly matters is salvation, which can only happen through entering into an authentic reconciliation and relationship with God that causes a fundamental change to how we live now and forever. Scripture also adds that the only way to become reconciled to God is through faith in Jesus—a personal response of trust in His claim of lordship and the atonement for our sins that He accomplished on the cross.
This exclusive idea about the meaning of life and the sole way to find it does not go down easily in a world of competing religious claims and warring cultures. Any assertion that there is only one route to eternal life invites protests and accusations of religious prejudice. These responses are often based on an assumption that the differences between different religions and belief systems are so small as to be inconsequential.
Of all the large and legitimate differences between belief systems that we could explore at length, there is one that matters most from a Christian perspective. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). All human beings “must be saved” (Acts 4:12; emphasis added) by relying on Jesus.
Our desire to be inclusive and to minimize conflict between followers of different faiths may tempt us to be silent about what God’s Word clearly declares. Our recognition that there are truths and helpful insights in many religions may make us question whether sharing our concept of truth really matters. Or our awareness that people find authentic happiness in a multitude of things other than the promise of salvation may make us wonder if we have anything to offer. But the early Christians stood and declared the gospel because they accepted what God has revealed as fully true. Whatever human beings might want or wish or think, He has declared that only through Christ can we find forgiveness for our sins.
More: Just as Peter affirmed the uniqueness of the Lord, so Moses told the people of his day that there is no other god besides Him (Deut. 4:35). This belief set the Israelites apart from a polytheistic world. See “Monotheism” at Deut. 6:4.
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As Peter and John argued their case before the Sanhedrin, or Jewish ruling council, they stood before what amounted to the supreme court of the Jews. See “Stephen’s Trial and Murder” at Acts 6:12.
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Living in an unbelieving world can sometimes feel like swimming upstream. As we come face-to-face with misunderstanding, challenges to our values, and outright mockery, each day can end in discouragement and exhaustion.
The early Christians felt the same stress. They dealt with the detention of their leaders (Acts 4:1–3), violent threats (4:21, 29), and malicious plots against their community (4:25). In response, they came together to pray and be filled with the Holy Spirit yet again (4:31). They needed to be renewed.
Like our first-century brothers and sisters, we need to regularly connect for spiritual rejuvenation. Gatherings like worship services and small groups can help to supply the continual renewal we need to follow Christ—as long as we are faithful in making them a regular part of life.
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The first Christians were generous when it came to personal property, holding “all things in common.” We likely have an immediate reaction to that thought, either quickly dismissing it or wondering if communal life is God’s intention for us now.
These early Christians were not communists setting up an economic system. They were simply interacting with each other with gracious, Christlike compassion. Their behavior was a result of the Spirit’s outpouring (Acts 2:1–4). Sadly, not all New Testament believers demonstrated a similar concern in their fellow believers’ welfare (5:1–11; 1 Cor. 6:8; James 4:1, 2).
Scripture never mandates equal distribution of goods. Nor does it call for eliminating personal property or ownership. This passage (along with Acts 2:44, 45) is a description, not a prescription. With that said, this doesn’t mean that there is anything inappropriate about communal living either. Christians who feel called to a communal lifestyle should feel free to pursue it with other likeminded believers.
The important thing to remember is that when the New Testament makes specific commands about issues such as wealth, caring for the poor, work, equality, widows, slaves, and social justice, it inevitably calls us to compassion and generosity—not to asceticism, the attempt to become godlier through self-denial and the renouncement of wealth. Paul even warns against that view (Col. 2:18–23). The Bible condemns the love of wealth, not the possession of it, as a root of evil (1 Tim. 6:9–10).
There were both rich and poor counted among the first Christians (2 Cor. 8:2; 1 Tim. 6:17–19). Many of us have a much higher standard of living than they had, but we often find it hard to match their generosity. If we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, then we too ought to respond to people’s needs with His love. Even if we do not practice communal living, we are still members of one community.
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The apostles chose the perfect Christian name for Joses of Cyprus when they called him Barnabas (“Son of Encouragement”). Every time Barnabas appears in Scripture he is helping others along in the faith, and he stands out as the Bible’s best model of how to mentor young believers. Several New Testament churches trace their beginnings to his efforts (see “Kingdom Mentoring” at Acts 9:26–30 and see here for an article on the life of Barnabas).
Although Levites traditionally lived off the temple system, Barnabas owned real estate. When he became a follower of Jesus, he sold it and donated the proceeds to caring for the poor. He later joined Paul in refusing to make a living from the gospel (1 Cor. 9:6).
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Given name: Joses (a form of Joseph).
Renamed (by the apostles): Barnabas (“Son of Encouragement” or “Son of Consolation”).
Home: Cyprus.
Family: A Levite by birth.
A primary responsibility: Landowner.
Best known for: Recruiting and mentoring promising young leaders such as Saul and John Mark.
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How tightly we hang on to cash, land, buildings, or other possessions speaks volumes about our values. If we hold to these things with clenched fists, we will be sure to exhibit traits like possessiveness, stinginess, manipulation, and elitism.
Barnabas converted land that he owned into cash for needy believers (Acts 4:36, 37). He cheerfully let go of the money, laying it at the apostles’ feet for them to administer. Ananias and Sapphira engaged in a similar transaction toward the same need, but they subsequently lied about their gift (5:1, 2). They apparently wanted to look good among other disciples while secretly holding on to some of the money from the sale.
God calls us to hold whatever we have lightly. After all, everything we possess comes from Him. He gives it to us as a trust to manage and not a treasure to hoard.
More: While we should all strive to be cheerful givers (2 Cor. 9:7), Jesus also warned against parading our generosity in front of others. See “Anonymous Givers” at Matt. 6:1–4.
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Names mean: “The Lord Is Gracious” (Ananias) and “Beautiful” (Sapphira).
Not to be confused with: Ananias, the disciple in Damascus who was the first believer to visit Saul after his conversion (Acts 9:10); Ananias the high priest (23:2).
Best known for: Lying to Peter about donating money to the church and being struck dead by the Holy Spirit for their deception.
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Christians faced with a conflict between God’s authority and human authority must think, speak, and act cautiously yet courageously. Notice what Peter and the other apostles did:
• They aimed to serve and glorify God. They were not driven by their egos. They did not seek to advance their own power.
• They disobeyed at a specific point. They did not resist the wider authority of the Jewish Council.
• They submitted to both the council and God. They did not harbor anger toward authority in general.
• They delivered a factual message about God’s plan and power. They spoke with love and did not slander or disrespect those in authority.
• They accepted the cost of being loyal to the truth.
More: How should believers respond when their surrounding culture seems hostile to faith? See “Models of Faith in Hostile Societies” at Dan. 2:48, 49 and “Bowing to God Alone” at Dan. 3:7. See also articles on the lives of Josephine Bakhita (here), Martin Luther King Jr. (here), Esther John (here), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (here), Albert Lutuli (here), Frederick Douglass (here), Óscar Romero (here), and Watchman Nee (here).
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The community of believers at Jerusalem was constantly growing and changing (Acts 1:15; 2:41, 47; 4:4, 32; 5:14). They experienced amazing unity (2:46; 4:32; 5:12), and their sacrificial generosity meant that their material needs were being met (2:45; 4:34, 36).
But a problem with feeding widows threatened to fracture this successful community (6:1). The underlying issue was less about meeting physical needs than simmering ethnic hostility between the Hebrews (Jews born in Judea and Galilee) and the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews born outside of Palestine). Hellenists were despised by many who considered them to be “contaminated” by Gentiles, but Hellenists responded to the gospel in large numbers. The clash could easily have destroyed the church or divided it into separate ethnic communities. But the apostles took steps to head off a crisis.
• They met face-to-face with the Hellenists (the powerful met with the powerless).
• They listened to complaints and acknowledged their legitimacy.
• They worked with the Hellenists to devise guidelines for godly leaders and chose seven whose names suggest they were from the Hellenist minority at Jerusalem.
• They approved and commissioned these new leaders by praying with them, laying their hands on them, and committing to work with them.
• They gave the new leaders authority over the distribution of food for widows.
• They shared power and resources and affirmed the dignity of the newly chosen leaders.
The result was that “the word of God spread, and … multiplied greatly in Jerusalem” (6:7).
More: Harriet Beecher Stowe helped the American people overcome ethnic prejudice through her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. See here for an article on her life.
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Name means: “Wreath” or “Crown.”
Background: A Hellenist (Greek-speaking) Jew.
Occupation: Unknown; he managed the church’s food distribution program in response to ethnic strife (Acts 6:1–7); later became an evangelist.
Best known as: The first Christian martyr. He turned the tables on the council that put him on trial, in effect trying them for rejecting Jesus. Widespread persecution of the church broke out after his death, scattering believers far and wide.
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Ethnic tension played a decisive role in the trial and death of Stephen, the church’s first martyr. While other members of the early church had been brought before the Jewish Council (Acts 6:12; 4:1–23), it was Stephen, likely a Hellenist, who first died for his faith.
Hellenists—Greek-speaking Jews born outside of Palestine—were among the first people attracted by the gospel. Treated as second-class citizens by native-born Jews, many found acceptance in the early church. It could be that as the new faith threatened to further alienate Hellenistic Jews from the full-blooded majority, some Hellenists (6:9) gained a motive to try to discredit the Christian movement.
Their opposition focused on Stephen, a dynamic, emerging leader who enjoyed in the church a prominence that would have been denied to him in the Jewish community. His trial and murder (ch. 7) showed that the Hellenists willingly sacrificed one of their own to demonstrate loyalty to the ruling system.
The strategy worked. Stephen’s death precipitated intense persecution of the early Christians, sanctioned by the council and led by a new young leader, Saul of Tarsus (8:1–3; 9:1, 2).
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The Jewish Council, also known as the Sanhedrin, was the highest ruling body and supreme court of the Jews. The council …
• Was led by the high priest, the most powerful Jewish official in the city.
• Had 71 members, including priests, leading men (elders), and experts in Mosaic law (scribes).
• Was dominated in the first century by two major parties, Pharisees and Sadducees (see “Political Parties of Jesus’ Day” at Matt. 16:1).
• Was allowed by Rome to oversee religious, civil, and criminal issues in the province of Judea.
• Had the political power to appoint kings and high priests, make war, manipulate the city, and expand the temple.
• Had the judicial power to judge traitorous priests, false prophets, rebel leaders, and rebellious tribes.
• Had the religious power to ordain certain services, such as the Day of Atonement (see “The Day of Atonement” at Lev. 16:1–34).
• Had its own police force.
• Was prevented by Rome from exercising capital punishment.
• Included these prominent council members mentioned in the Bible:
• Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:43)
• Annas and Caiaphas, high priests (Luke 3:2)
• Gamaliel (Acts 5:34)
• Ananias (23:2)
• Possibly Tertullus, an orator (24:1–2)
• Possibly Saul, a student of Gamaliel (22:3)
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Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in A.D. 70 forced the Jews to completely rethink the significance of Jerusalem and its institutions. But as Stephen’s speech before the council shows, Christians began changing their perspective long before the city’s fall.
Stephen and his fellow Christians had dispensed with the idea that the world revolved around Israel—and that Israel in turn revolved around Jerusalem’s temple and the Law. They still saw Jerusalem as more than just a city, however, but its importance was symbolic of an even higher ideal (see the holy city’s profile at Matt. 23:37). Stephen’s eloquent history lesson drove this home in four points:
1. The nation of Israel was born in Mesopotamia—not Jerusalem (Acts 7:2–5).
2. God liberated His people at locations outside of Palestine—in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the Sinai wilderness—not Jerusalem (7:9–36).
3. The Law was given in the desert—not Jerusalem (7:38).
4. God lives in heaven rather than in a physical building—again, not Jerusalem (7:39–50).
Stephen’s view of history infuriated city leaders and set them against the Christian movement. The outraged council stoned Stephen to death and allowed Saul to start openly persecuting Jesus’ followers (7:54—8:3). Yet, by God’s design, that violence helped to expand the church (8:4). God had always intended for His followers to move beyond Jerusalem, but it took some tragedy to get them moving.
Stephen’s ability to rethink his perspective on Jerusalem challenges us to examine our own loyalty to long-held visions of the past. Are our interpretations of history affected by unwise assumptions or prejudices? As we reflect upon the past, we should pray for the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and help us to know when to hold on to established ideas about history, and when to let them go.
More: Stephen was the first Christian to die for his faith. Find out more about him in “Stephen’s Trial and Murder” at Acts 6:12.
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Modern Martyrs
Just weeks after Óscar Romero (1917–1980) was appointed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador in early 1977, his longtime friend and fellow priest Rutilio Grande was brutally assassinated. Known for his work helping to organize and empower the lower class, Grande was slain along with two other men as they drove through sugarcane fields on their way to evening mass.
Romero arrived at the church where his friend’s bullet-torn body had been laid. The archbishop listened for hours as impoverished farmers detailed their miseries. Until that moment, Romero had been a supporter of non-confrontation, moderation, and maintaining a stabilizing presence in his troubled nation. But while many had accused the church of bowing to powerful landowners and businesspeople as well as the deadly right-wing paramilitaries that supported them, Rutilio Grande had taken a stand on the side of the poor and paid for it with his life. Romero later said, “When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, ‘If they have killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.’”
Romero called for an immediate investigation into the deaths, rejecting his traditional duties as archbishop of appearing at state occasions, including meeting with the president. When El Salvador’s national newspapers dismissed the deaths, Romero’s office released a statement that the true reason for Grande’s killing was “his prophetic and pastoral efforts to raise the consciousness of the people throughout his parish.” Without forcing himself on his people, Grande had been building a “genuine community of faith, hope and love among them … making them aware of their dignity as individuals, of their basic rights.”
From the pulpit Romero protested rampant poverty, oppression, and violence. He fiercely defended the lower class and openly denounced state-supported death squads. He also brought attention to persecution of the church. Priests had been harassed or attacked. Several had been murdered. Thousands of ordinary Christians had been arrested, tortured, and killed. All who had suffered, Romero pointed out, were part of a movement advocating for the poor.
When the Revolutionary Government Junta seized power in 1979, Romero warned that the United States was sending military aid to a government that would use it to sharpen injustice, increase political repression, and legitimize terrorism and assassinations. U.S. support continued, but around the world people began to hear Romero’s pleas. Romero amplified his message by broadcasting his weekly sermon across El Salvador and printing lists of cases of torture and repression in his diocesan weekly paper.
On March 23, 1980, Romero preached a sermon calling Christians in the Salvadoran military to obey God and stop violating their fellow citizens’ basic human rights. The next day the archbishop led mass at a small chapel, and as he lifted the chalice at the end of communion, he was killed by a bullet shot from the back of the church. The funeral following his assassination was attended by a quarter million mourners. He is remembered as a “beloved, peacemaking man of God” though the ceremony was interrupted by bombs and rifle shots, and approximately three dozen people were killed in the violence and ensuing pandemonium.
In the years since these tragic events, Romero’s cause and legacy have received increased support and admiration. The Roman Catholic Church has bestowed several honors upon the assassinated archbishop, and political leaders and organizations have likewise honored this man who willingly laid down his life for others, unyielding in his commitment to promote God’s values in a fallen world.
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Converting Samaritans and Apostles
Jesus predicted that His disciples would take His message not only to Jerusalem but also to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). But at the start of Acts 8, the church had not yet left Jerusalem. Several years had probably passed since Jesus uttered His command. But it would take persecution to move the Lord’s people to obedience.
Jerusalem was not the apostles’ home. The church had no buildings dedicated for its use. The authorities certainly had not welcomed the presence of their movement. Why were the apostles reluctant to leave?
One leading factor was that the apostles had been raised in a culture that was deeply divided along ethnic lines. Preaching the gospel to Jews in Jerusalem was a manageable challenge. But to preach to Samaritans was worse than difficult (see “Jews and Samaritans” at John 4:9). Cultural barriers may have kept the apostles in Jerusalem despite Saul’s persecution (Acts 8:1).
It took a man who was probably a Hellenist (Greek-speaking) Jew to cross the Jewish-Samaritan divide. Philip was a veteran cross-cultural worker (6:1–7) and knew firsthand what it was like to be considered a second-class citizen. When he preached Jesus in the city of Samaria, multitudes responded. The gospel broke through a centuries-old wall of separation.
When news of the revival reached the apostles in Jerusalem, they dispatched Peter and John to investigate. The two Galileans must have been stunned and humbled by what they saw. John, who once wanted to call down fire from heaven on unbelieving Samaritans (Luke 9:52–54), now joined Peter in praying for the Holy Spirit to fall on the new believers.
Ironically, Peter condemned Simon the magician for wanting to purchase the Spirit’s power with money. “I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity,” Peter said (Acts 8:23). Yet a poison of bitterness and bondage of iniquity were also evident in Christians who allowed ethnic differences to keep Samaritans and others from entering the kingdom.
Peter and John returned to Jerusalem changed men. Along the way, they preached in Samaritan villages (8:25). Samaritans were now embracing the gospel, and at least two of the apostles were beginning to embrace Samaritans.
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Name means: “Lover of Horses.”
Not to be confused with: Philip the apostle, one of the Twelve (see “The Twelve” at Matt. 10:2).
Home: The Mediterranean seaport of Caesarea (see Caesarea’s profile at Acts 10:24).
Family: Included four daughters who had the gift of prophecy.
Occupation: Unknown; helped oversee the daily distribution of food to Hellenist widows (6:1–7). He later crossed cultural barriers to take the message of Christ to Samaria.
Best known for: His encounter with the Ethiopian treasurer (8:26–40).
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The Book of Acts gives us four sketches of Philip that touch on issues still confronting the church today:
1. He helped manage a ministry to meet the basic needs of impoverished widows in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1–7).
2. He crossed cultural and ethnic barriers and worked in an urban setting in Samaria (8:5–13).
3. He transcended cultural and ethnic barriers to explain the gospel to an Ethiopian treasurer and baptize him (8:26–40).
4. He welcomed Paul into his home and presented four prophesying daughters (21:8, 9).
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Name means: “[God] Hears.”
Home: Samaria.
Occupation: Sorcerer involved in occult practices (see “Magic and Sorcery” at Rev. 18:23).
Best known for: Attempting to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Simon’s request was motivated by the same lust for power that drives today’s political, entertainment, and business arenas. Popular culture invests famous politicians, actors, athletes, CEOs, and other celebrities with an illusion of unusual importance. Christians even create power figures out of preachers and other speakers, worship leaders, and authors of Christian literature. But God’s power has little or nothing to do with spotlights or acclaim.
Simon had adopted the world’s perspective on power. Showered with uncritical adulation (Acts 8:9, 10), he became convinced of his supposed superhuman significance, and his entire worldview became distorted as a result (8:18, 19).
It’s easy for us to sit back and judge Simon, but we should ask ourselves if we too have succumbed to the illusion of power.
• How much do you daydream about becoming famous—or just well-liked?
• Do you listen to people who are unimpressed with your social status and unwilling to let your weaknesses slide? Or do you prefer only to associate with people who praise you?
• How much do your status and position define who you are? How would you react if you were to lose it all?
More: God’s power is wildly different from the world’s. See “You Shall Receive Power” at Acts 1:8.
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• An ancient African nation that included Egyptian territory south of Aswan (Syene; Ezek. 29:10).
• Sometimes called Nubia or Cush.
• Known for the Blue Nile and White Nile (Is. 18:1), papyrus boats (18:2), and precious topaz (Job 28:19).
• Controlled by Egypt until after the time of David (c. 1000 B.C.).
• Populated by descendants of Ham, the father of Cush (Ethiopia; Gen. 10:6; 1 Chr. 1:8–10) and Mizraim (Egypt). Ethiopia and Egypt were tightly linked throughout history (Is. 20:3–5; Ezek. 30:4–5).
• Its people were known for their tall height and smooth black skin (Is. 18:2; Jer. 13:23) as well as their military prowess (2 Sam. 18:21–32; 2 Chr. 12:3; 14:9–13; Jer. 46:9).
• Attained its peak strength during the reign of Hezekiah (c. 715–686 B.C.), possibly due to disunity within Egypt.
• The conquest of Ethiopia by Babylon was foretold by Ezekiel (Ezek. 30:4–10) and Jeremiah (Jer. 46:9, 10, 13, 14); Isaiah predicted its conquest by Persia (Esth. 1:1; 8:9; Is. 43:3).
• God cared about the Ethiopians (Amos 9:7) and promised that they would be among those who came to Jerusalem to worship the true God (Ps. 68:31; Is. 45:14).
More: Find out more about the people and history of this land in “The Ethiopians” at 2 Chr. 14:12.
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Home: Ethiopia.
Background: Unmarried male officer of the royal household; made a eunuch by his government, a common practice performed on servants of women or those who worked among a king’s wives.
Occupation: Treasurer of Ethiopia under Queen Candace.
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The Ethiopian treasurer was likely a convert to Judaism. He yearned to know the God of Israel, evidenced by his reading of Isaiah 53 (Acts 8:28–33) and the fact that he had to travel more than seven hundred miles—one way—to worship in Jerusalem. The trip would take him and his servants at least thirty days by chariot. He probably would have stayed for at least a month before turning home, meaning he spent at least a quarter of a year on a journey to worship God.
The Bible does not mention what the Ethiopian heard in the city about the followers of Jesus and their persecution. But he responded warmly to Philip. He heard the message about Christ, believed, and was baptized, and became the first known witness to Africa. For the second time in Acts 8, the gospel moved outside of the narrow confines of Jerusalem and Judea.
God once again used Philip—the Greek-speaking table-server—to accomplish a monumental task. Peter, John, and the other apostles were just beginning to figure out that the gospel is meant for all peoples—Hellenists, Samaritans, even Gentiles of all colors and ethnicities.
More: The Ethiopian treasurer was one of many Africans with significant roles in biblical history. See “Africans in the Bible” at Jer. 38:7. For more on Philip, see his profile at Acts 8:5–13.
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• Major city of the Decapolis, a group of ten cities east of the Jordan River.
• Situated at the intersection of the two main international highways of the ancient Middle East: the Way of the Sea and the King’s Highway (see “Travel in the Ancient World” at Acts 13:3, 4).
• Transportation and commercial hub for Palestine and Egypt to the south, the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley to the east, and Antioch and Asia Minor to the north.
• Flat and surrounded by hills, it was difficult to defend.
• Heavily populated by Jews and later by Christians.
• Under Rome, governed itself as a free city; minted its own coinage, adding to its commercial prominence.
• Walled and laid out in a rectangle with two parallel streets running its length. One was (and is) “the street called Straight” (9:11).
More: Learn more about the Damascus of Old Testament times in its other profile at Jer. 49:23.
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Throughout the centuries Damascus had been torn by rival claims of ownership. But it turned out to be an important city in the life of the church. Christians fled there from the persecution that followed Stephen’s death (Acts 8:1, 4). Their faith attracted the attention of the council in Jerusalem, and Saul, the fervent Pharisee in charge of the anti-Christian campaign, was dispatched to investigate and make arrests (9:1, 2).
Saul (also known as Paul; 13:9) experienced a dramatic conversion on the Damascus road that has been celebrated throughout Christian history. Less well known is how Damascus became a strategic center for Paul and the gospel—a place that turned up the volume on the gospel message. The church at Damascus must have been energized by the incredible turn of events of Paul’s conversion. During his three-year stay (Gal. 1:17, 18) he championed the gospel and probably helped win many to the faith. His impact was so noticeable that he was forced to flee the city just as he had forced others to run (Acts 9:23–25).
Damascus nevertheless continued to amplify the gospel as travelers through the Decapolis heard the Good News and spread it throughout the ancient world. Tradition says that the apostle Matthew became a Syrian pastor and established a church in or near the city. The Gospel that he wrote reflects his concern for Syrian believers (see the introduction to Matthew).
A Christian church can still be found in Damascus on a street called Straight (compare 9:11). The Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Syrian Orthodox Church are both headquartered there.
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The Christians at Damascus knew all about Saul (Acts 9:1, 10). Ananias must have been stunned by the Lord’s command to seek out this ruthless persecutor. His protests conveyed his fear of being hunted down, arrested, imprisoned, and ultimately martyred for following the new movement called “the Way” (9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22). But twice God commanded, “Go” (9:11, 15).
Fighting his fears, Ananias went. He prayed for an enemy of the faith to receive the Holy Spirit, then baptized him. By obeying, Ananias witnessed the spiritual birth of Christianity’s foremost spokesperson. He also saw a dramatic demonstration that God’s grace can overcome any past.
This account of Ananias invites us to ask who God might want us to approach with the message of His grace. It challenges us to search out people we consider least likely to respond to Christ. Maybe they too simply need us to reach out in faith and obedience.
More: Paul’s background made him the perfect choice to lead the opposition against the growing Christian movement—and later to lead the movement itself. See “Saul Becomes Paul” at Acts 13:9.
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Not to be confused with: Ananias the deceptive property owner (Acts 5:1); Ananias the notorious high priest (23:2).
Home: Damascus.
Best known as: The man sent by God to lead the zealous persecutor Saul of Tarsus to the Christian faith.
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When Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go … and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19), their objective was not to collect followers for themselves but to win new disciples for their Lord.
Acts recounts how the Spirit-filled apostles obeyed this command. They did not make disciples by bringing people to spiritual decisions and then leaving them to fend for themselves. The apostles instead poured themselves into the ongoing spiritual development of individuals and communities.
Mentoring is as old as the Odyssey of Homer (c. 900–810 B.C.), in which the protagonist Odysseus entrusts the education of his son Telemachus to his friend, named Mentor. A mentor is a trusted counselor or guide, often someone older and more experienced, who imparts valuable wisdom to help another person grow and mature.
The Old Testament is filled with mentoring relationships. Jethro the wealthy livestock owner helped his overworked son-in-law Moses learn to delegate authority (Ex. 18:1–27; see also “Practical Principles for Leadership” at Ex. 18:13–23 and “A Workaholic Intervention” at Ex. 18:18). Deborah, judge over Israel, summoned Barak to military leadership and pushed him to victory over the Canaanite king Jabin, securing forty years of peace (Judg. 4:4–24; see also Deborah’s profile at Judg. 4:4 and Barak’s profile at Judg. 4:6). Eli, a priest of the Lord who failed as a father, successfully raised young Samuel to succeed him (1 Sam. 1:1—3:21; see also Eli’s profile at 1 Sam. 1:9 and Samuel’s profile at 1 Sam. 3:1). The prophet Elijah oversaw the demise of Ahab and Jezebel, then passed his office on to young Elisha, who received a double portion of his spirit (2 Kin. 2:1–15; see also Elijah’s profile at 1 Kin. 17:1 and Elisha’s profile at 2 Kin. 2:3).
Mentoring relationships helped shape leading New Testament figures as well. Barnabas, a wealthy land owner in the early church, became an advocate and guide for Saul, the former enemy and persecutor of Christians (Acts 9:26–30; see also “Son of Encouragement” at Acts 4:36, 37 and here for an article on the life of Barnabas). In part because of the coaching and encouragement he received from Barnabas, Saul (later called Paul) became a central figure in the early church’s efforts to spread the gospel. Paul went on to become a mentor to several other early Christians, notably Timothy, the young pastor of the church at Ephesus (see the introductions to 1 and 2 Timothy; see also the diagram below).
These illustrations and others from Scripture show four significant functions of a kingdom mentor:
1. Mentors actually care. They look for what they can give rather than what they can get. Yet they still value what they can learn from their protégés. They personify Paul’s admonition to look out not only for their own interests but also for the interests of others (Phil. 2:4). See also “Kingdom-Style Mentoring” at 2 Timothy 2:2.
2. Mentors pass along wisdom, skills, and more. Their modeling and coaching eventually leads to handing responsibility over to their followers. Kingdom mentors strive to make their disciples even more capable than they themselves have been (Matt. 10:25).
3. Mentors correct their followers. Barnabas challenged Paul’s negative attitude about John Mark and urged him to take the young disciple along on a second missionary journey (Acts 15:36–39). Paul later changed his perspective and asked Timothy to bring John Mark to him (2 Tim. 4:11). Kingdom mentors do not shy away from confrontation.
4. Mentors make meaningful connections. Saul’s entrée into the early church community was Barnabas (Acts 9). Kingdom mentors introduce their protégés to relationships and resources that will further their development and increase their opportunities for growth and success.
When experienced followers of Jesus make the commitment to mentor Christians younger in the faith, they yield powerful results. Individuals and entire communities benefit when the gospel transforms lives. Saul’s conversion, for example, started a chain of mentoring relationships that extends through the rest of the New Testament, as can be seen on the accompanying diagram.
More: To learn more about mentoring relationships in the Bible, see “Old Testament Mentors” at 2 Kin. 2:13. Mentoring can mean the difference between success and failure in a person’s life. See “Indispensable Role Models” at 2 Chr. 24:17–20.
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Barnabas: A Model of Mentoring
Barnabas could not offer a clearer demonstration of kingdom mentoring. As a model mentor, he …
• Befriended Saul (Paul) as a new believer (Acts 9:26, 27).
• Recruited a forgotten Saul from his home in Tarsus to a year-long project of helping him stabilize a new gathering of multiethnic Christians at Antioch (11:25, 26).
• Helped organize a team of leaders in prayer, fasting, and decision-making. The result was his launching out with Paul to spread the gospel to the West (13:1–3).
• Moved Paul to the forefront of leadership. “Barnabas and Saul” (13:7) became “Paul and his party” (13:13).
• Resisted ethnic hostility, personal attacks, and idol worship (13:46—14:20).
• Corrected misguided attempts at Lystra to revere him and Paul as gods (14:8–18).
• Took the lead with Paul in defending Gentile disciples before the Jerusalem church council (15:1–4, 12).
• Stood up to Paul’s negative opinion of young John Mark (15:36–38).
• Gave John Mark a second chance, taking him along to Cyprus (15:39). He was vindicated years later when Paul described John Mark as “useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11).
More: For more Bible illustrations of godly mentoring see “Old Testament Mentors” at 2 Kin. 2:13. Learn how Barnabas got his name in “Son of Encouragement” at Acts 4:36, 37. See here for an article on the life of Barnabas.
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• Known as Lod in Old Testament times (1 Chr. 8:12) and today.
• Occupied at various times by Jews, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Crusaders.
• Renowned during Peter’s era for a legacy of Jewish scholarship and commerce.
• Burned in A.D. 70 by the Romans.
• Became a center of Christianity in the fourth century.
• Captured from the Arabs by Israel in 1948 and settled by Jewish immigrants.
• Known today for its defense industry, paper products, food preserves, and electrical appliances.
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Name means: “Gazelle.”
Also known as: Dorcas (Greek form of the Aramaic name Tabitha; also means “Gazelle”).
Home: The Mediterranean seaport of Joppa.
Special skills: Creating clothing for destitute widows (Acts 9:36, 39).
Best known for: Being raised from the dead by Peter, demonstrating the gospel’s truth and miraculous power.
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• Mediterranean seaport, the only natural harbor between Egypt and the Bay of Acco (Haifa).
• Named Joppa (“Beautiful”) because of the way sunlight reflected off its buildings and city walls.
• Port where the Old Testament prophet Jonah boarded a ship for Tarshish to avoid preaching in Nineveh (Jon. 1:3).
• Known today as Jaffa or Yafo, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv.
• As the only natural harbor between Egypt and Acco, it is ideally situated for maritime use; it was rarely controlled by Israel, however, which is one reason why the nation never developed a navy that could dominate the Mediterranean.
• See Joppa’s location on the map at Lydda’s profile at Acts 9:32.
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Home: Stationed in Caesarea, Rome’s administrative center in Palestine.
Occupation: Centurion, a Roman officer who oversaw 100 soldiers; as head of the Italian Regiment, he probably had some 600 men under his command.
Best known as: The second recorded Gentile convert to Christianity (after the Ethiopian treasurer). A vision from God led him to fetch Simon Peter from 36 miles away.
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Called by the Spirit
Born into slavery some eighty miles north of New York City, Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) escaped to freedom in 1826 to become an outspoken preacher, abolitionist, and women’s rights advocate.
Born Isabella Baumfree, Truth was one of a dozen or so children. Her father had been captured into slavery in what is now Ghana, and her mother’s parents had been seized in Guinea. At age nine, Truth was torn from her family when she was auctioned with a flock of sheep for one hundred dollars. Her new master beat her daily. By age thirteen, she had lived under four different owners. At seventeen, she fell in love with a fellow slave who was beaten to death because of their relationship. At twenty, she was forced to marry another slave.
The state of New York was due to emancipate all slaves on July 4, 1827. Late in 1826, Truth walked away from slavery. She and her infant daughter were taken in by Isaac and Maria Van Wagener, a Quaker couple who bought her freedom.
Truth had left behind another daughter and a five-year-old son who was soon illegally sold across state lines to an Alabama slave-owner. The Van Wageners helped Truth build a legal case, and after several agonizing months, she emerged as one of the first black women to defeat a white man in court.
Two years after her walk to freedom, Truth experienced a vision in which God showed her His inescapable presence. According to her dictated autobiography, one day “God revealed himself to her, with all the suddenness of a flash of lightning, showing her, ‘in the twinkling of an eye, that he was all over,’ that he pervaded the universe, ‘and that there was no place where God was not.’” With the vision came an overwhelming awareness of God’s love. “Jesus loved me!” Truth declared. “I knowed it. I felt it.”
After a confusing association with a cult and the Millerite movement, Truth had matured in faith and wanted a fresh start. It was then that Isabella Baumfree became Sojourner Truth, when she twice asked God to rename her. First she had a vision in which God gave her the name Sojourner “because I was to travel up an’ down the land, showin’ the people their sins, an’ bein’ a sign unto them.” Her last name would be Truth “because I was to declare the truth to the people.”
With this new mission, Truth traveled throughout New England, joining in prayer meetings and speaking even when met with violence. She was known for her quick wit as well as her determination; when told that if she were to speak in a certain building, the building would be burned, she replied, “Then I will speak to the ashes.” Truth determinedly preached Christ and spoke out against slavery, but she delivered her most famous speech at a women’s rights convention in Ohio in 1851. She declared that she could plow, plant, and gather more than any man. She worked as hard as a man and bore the lash just as well. “And ain’t I a woman?” she famously asked.
During the Civil War, Truth was called to Washington, D.C., to work on behalf of struggling blacks. She met with Abraham Lincoln, helped force integration of the city’s horse-drawn streetcars, and pushed for federal land grants to former slaves. On one occasion she met with the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (see here for an article on her life), who was fascinated by the celebrated, controversial woman. Throughout her life, Truth went wherever the Holy Spirit led her. As she said, “The Spirit calls me, and I must go.”
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• Mediterranean seaport 60 miles northwest of Jerusalem; situated on a major route between Tyre and Alexandria (see “Travel in the Ancient World” at Acts 13:3, 4).
• Political, military, and commercial center of Palestine under the Romans. Pontius Pilate resided in the governor’s palace.
• Sometimes called Caesarea of Palestine to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi (see Caesarea Philippi’s profile at Mark 8:27).
• Given by Caesar Augustus to the Jewish king Herod the Great, who named it Caesarea (22 B.C.) and constructed an aqueduct, amphitheater, horse and chariot racetrack, colonnaded boulevard, and harbor (the city had no natural harbor).
• Site of a Roman temple also built by Herod. Filled with statues of the emperor Augustus, the complex offended the city’s prominent Jewish minority.
• Home of Philip the Evangelist.
• Paul was held there for two years in Herod’s Praetorium, headquarters of an elite Roman corps (Acts 23:23–35; 24:27), perhaps including a famous centurion named Cornelius who converted to Christianity (see his profile at Acts 10:1; see also “Ethnic Walls Break Down” at Acts 10:44, 45).
• Became a major headquarters for the church and center of learning during the later years of the Roman empire.
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While God never shows partiality, people often do. Luke punctuates his Acts account with incidents of ethnic prejudice—followed by their resolution in Christ. He shows that the door of faith is open to the whole world, both Jews and Gentiles.
Jesus sends His followers “to the end of the earth.” | |
3,000 Hellenist Jews from throughout the Roman world come to faith at Pentecost. | |
Hellenist and native-born Jews reconcile. Stephen, Philip, and other Hellenist leaders emerge. | |
Persecuted believers tell their story as they scatter from Jerusalem throughout Samaria. | |
Philip preaches the gospel to the Samaritans and multitudes respond. | |
Peter and John visit new Samaritan believers, pray for them to receive the Spirit, and begin preaching in Samaritan cities. | |
Philip meets an official from Ethiopia and leads him to faith. | |
Peter baptizes Cornelius, a Roman centurion; relatives and close friends join him after seeing the Spirit at work. | |
The gospel spreads to Antioch and a multiethnic church is born. | |
Barnabas and Saul (Paul) take the gospel to Asia Minor, preaching first in synagogues before turning to the Gentiles. | |
A meeting at Jerusalem resolves the controversy over including Gentiles in the church. | |
Paul recruits Timothy, a young believer from a multiethnic and multifaith family. | |
Paul preaches to the intellectuals at Athens, and some respond in faith. | |
Paul speaks to the Gentiles at Corinth, establishing a multiethnic church. | |
Paul explains his Gentile ministry to the Christians at Jerusalem; he brings Greeks into the temple, causing a riot. |
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Acts 10 outlines a major breakthrough for the gospel in race relations. Since the first days of the church, animosity between Jews and Gentiles had kept the apostles from taking the news about Jesus beyond their own familiar world. But when Peter met Cornelius, an officer of Rome’s occupation troops in Palestine, two transformations took place. Cornelius, his family, and his friends came to faith in Christ, and Peter at last realized that God was bringing Gentiles into the church—with or without his approval.
God could have used Philip the Evangelist (see his profile at Acts 8:5–13) to carry the gospel to Cornelius. Caesarea was Philip’s hometown, and this Greek-speaking man had proven his ability to cross ethnic lines. But God called Peter to bring His message to the Roman centurion, and the barriers that had long stood in Peter’s heart began to crumble.
How Peter Saw Cornelius the Centurion
When Peter looked at Cornelius, he saw …
• A temporary resident of Caesarea, the Roman military capital of Palestine (10:1).
• The commander of at least one hundred Roman (enemy) troops (10:1).
• The head of the Italian Regiment (10:1).
• A Gentile (10:1).
• A man who was as spiritually unclean as the forbidden animals of the Old Testament dietary laws (10:11–16).
• A foreigner he could not visit without breaking rabbinic law (10:28).
• An uncircumcised man unfit to share a meal (11:3).
To Peter these factors disqualified Cornelius from serving him dinner, let alone coming to faith. But Peter was locked into what amounted to a Jewish gospel.
God had always wanted the Israelites to treat their Gentile neighbors with respect (Num. 35:15; Deut. 10:19; Ezek. 47:2). But He also charged His people to shun pagan practices, especially idolatry (Lev. 18:24–19:4; Deut. 12:29–31), and with few exceptions, intermarriage was condemned (compare Ex. 34:16; Deut. 7:3; Ezra 9:12; 10:2–44; Neh. 10:30). Above all, Jews were consumed with maintaining their moral purity, and rabbinic tradition made strict separation from Gentiles the rule.
Four hundred years of Greek and Roman oppression further hardened Jewish resolve to avoid contact with foreigners whenever possible. Because Peter and other Jewish believers brought these attitudes with them into the church, it remained almost impossible for them to reach out to Gentiles.
How God Saw Cornelius
God had an entirely different view of Cornelius. The Lord saw that he was …
• Devout (Acts 10:2).
• A God-fearing person—as was his household (10:2).
• Generous to the poor (10:2).
• A man whose prayers and alms were welcomed by God (10:2, 4).
• Obedient to God’s angel (10:7, 8).
• Cleansed by God, so no longer unclean (10:15).
Because of what Christ accomplished on the cross, God was ready to throw the doors of faith wide open to Gentiles: “What God has cleansed you must not call common,” He told Peter (10:9–16). Because of Christ, the centurion could be cleansed of his sin and become acceptable to God.
But Peter was confused. Should he break with his culture and visit this Gentile, violating social codes that were handed down as if they were God’s law? He had at least a couple days to think through the situation as he walked to Caesarea to meet Cornelius. His emotional struggle is obvious in his first words to the assembled group: “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation” (10:28). But God broke down the wall in Peter’s heart by pouring out the Holy Spirit on these Gentile believers (10:44, 45).
Peter’s New Perspective
Listen to the apostle’s marvelously changed view:
• “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” (10:34).
• “But in every nation whoever fears Him … is accepted by Him” (10:35).
• “Jesus Christ … is Lord of all” (10:36).
• “Whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (10:43).
• “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (10:47).
• “God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed” (11:17).
• “Who was I that I could withstand God?” (11:17).
Breaking Down Modern Barriers
The incident at Caesarea was not the first time early Christians had to deal with ethnic issues, and attitudes of prejudice and legalism trouble the modern church as much as they did those first followers. We sometimes create wrenching controversies by confusing cultural biases with biblical mandates. But it is a biblical essential that Christians eagerly seek out all people, see them from God’s perspective, love them for the gospel’s sake, and rejoice over all who respond in faith. To wall ourselves off because of fear or prejudice turns us away from God’s compassionate heart.
More: For more on ethnic strife in the church, see “Ethnic Prejudice Confronted” at Acts 6:2–6. Peter’s visit with Cornelius builds on an earlier encounter with Samaritans. See “Converting Samaritans and Apostles” at Acts 8:4–25.
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Conflict happens. Peter’s report of his visit to Cornelius aroused hostility and opposition among some of the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. They found his behavior in Joppa—socializing with the hated and feared Gentiles—totally unacceptable, even scandalous. But Peter responded with a clear, honest description of what happened (Acts 11:4–17). He filled in gaps in their understanding and gently explained his activities. The result was not only understanding but acceptance and approval of the new converts (11:18). People around us need that kind of gentle advocacy, interpretation, and persuasion. We can introduce grace and truth into the space that separates adversaries.
More: Peter had to reinforce his points in a later meeting in Jerusalem. See “Controversy in the Early Church” at Acts 15:1–21.
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The Gospel Spreads Beyond Palestine
Although the apostles remained in Jerusalem, the majority of Christians were scattered elsewhere as Saul and other persecutors mounted deadly attacks following Stephen’s death (Acts 8:1–3; 9:1; 22:4, 5; 26:10, 11). As these refugees searched for places to rebuild their lives, some shared the gospel only with Jews. But Greek-speakers, like those from Cyprus and Cyrene (modern-day Libya), readily crossed ethnic barriers, especially at Antioch.
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Christianity eventually prevailed as the dominant worldview and social force of the Roman world in part because the people of the movement planted churches in dozens of the empire’s major cities. By the end of the first century, Christians had spread the gospel by establishing visible, strategic communities in cities such as Antioch (Acts 11:22, 26; see also Antioch’s profile at Acts 13:1). These Christians stood out from their surrounding culture in their beliefs and values, yet they engaged their surrounding culture in their daily lives and work.
The New Testament word for church is ekklēsia (“assembly” or “congregation”). The ekklēsia was a public assembly called by a herald to discuss legal issues and make community decisions. Paul faced such a gathering at Ephesus, where the town meeting broke into a riot (19:32–41). Ekklēsia always referred to people—first to the citizens of a city and later to gatherings of Christians. There is no evidence that it referred to a church building before the fourth century A.D.
Eight times out of ten, the New Testament uses the word ekklēsia to refer to all of the disciples of a specific city, such as “the church that was at Antioch” (13:1) or “the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2). Elsewhere the term encompasses all Christians in all times and places, in what is often called the universal or catholic church (Eph. 1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23–32).
Christians who came together in these assemblies did not check out of society. Nor did they form congregations that competed with each other for members. They instead lived and worked as members of a larger Christian community and related to other nearby followers as members of a common family in Christ. This radical concept was so extraordinary that by the end of the second century, one author wrote the following:
Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by either country, speech, customs; the fact is, they nowhere settle in cities of their own; they use no peculiar language; they cultivate no eccentric mode of life.… Yet while they dwell in both Greek and non-Greek cities, as each one’s lot was cast, and conform to the customs of the country in dress, food, and mode of life in general, the whole tenor of their way of living stamps it as worthy of admiration and admittedly extraordinary.
The remarkable reputation of early Christians compels us to ask what we will be remembered for—divisions and conflict that distract us from our purpose, or a unity that brings us together to unlock communities for Christ.
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• One of the world’s oldest cities, with a continuous history of several thousand years.
• Capital of the province of Cilicia under the Romans, on the southeast coast of Asia Minor, with a culture heavily influenced by the Greeks.
• Place where Cleopatra first met Mark Antony.
• As a free city under Caesar Augustus it enjoyed self-government and tax-exempt status.
• Distinguished as a center of learning, with schools rivaling those of Alexandria.
• Center of garment and tentmaking industries. Paul may have picked up this trade as a boy.
• Population in Roman times may have been half a million.
• A sizable Jewish population and synagogue by the first century.
More: The greatest product of Tarsus was the apostle Paul. For more on this dynamic leader, see “Saul Becomes Paul” at Acts 13:9.
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As Jesus’ followers grew into a movement, they began to be called “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22). The name probably began as a reference to Christ’s statement, “I am the way” (John 14:6). Most members of the Way had Jewish roots. When Antioch saw an infusion from other ethnic groups, however, no one knew what to call the multicultural body. Old ethnic designations—Jews, Greeks, Romans, Gentiles—no longer fit. The Antiochians seized on the one factor that united the diverse community—Christ. Actually, the term Christian, or Christ-follower, began as a sarcastic put-down (Acts 11:26). But the name stuck and became a badge of honor.
Sadly, the term Christian has in recent times again become treated as an insult in popular culture. Some blame the liberal mindset of modern society for looking down on Christians as uptight, naive fanatics with outdated ideas that are irrelevant to modern life. And that mindset is probably partly to blame. But it would be naive to assume that Christians are not also at least partly responsible for damaging their own public image. The early Christians also lived in a liberal age, yet by the second century A.D. they had earned a reputation for being relatable, relevant, and “worthy of admiration” (see “Churches Unlock Communities” at Acts 11:22).
Jesus Himself warns us that since we are not of the world, the world will hate us just as it hated Him (John 15:18–25). However, this does not give us permission to hate the world back—Jesus certainly doesn’t (3:16). What we are supposed to do, however, is win people over to Christ. How might we live in such a way as to get the world’s attention for all the right reasons? How might we, through our everyday actions, reflect the glory of the kingdom of God?
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Also known as: Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus (his full given name).
Home: Rome.
Family: Married and divorced three wives by whom he had five children. His fourth wife Agrippina fed him poison after forcing him to adopt her son Nero and to proclaim Nero as his heir.
Occupation: Fourth emperor of Rome (A.D. 41–54). The Praetorian Guard found him trembling in a corner following the murder of his predecessor Caligula. A sickly child who grew up to be ugly and ill-mannered, he was considered unfit for public service. Widely regarded as a fool, he was mocked by Seneca in a satire entitled The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius. He wrote some 30 books of Roman history and effectively planted Roman colonies throughout the empire.
Best known for: Quelling a riot “instigated by one Chrestus” that led to the expulsion of Jews and some Christians from Rome, including Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:1, 2). A worldwide famine also occurred during his reign (Acts 11:28).
More: For more on the rulers of the Roman empire and Palestine in the first century, see “New Testament Rulers” at Luke 3:1 and “First-Century Roman Politics” at Luke 22:25.
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Backed by Roman authority, the family of the Herods exerted ruthless control over Palestine during the era of Jesus and the early days of the church. Although they built splendid edifices and strengthened Judea militarily, they are remembered more for a family history of violence, incest, and political intrigue.
Antipater
• Cunning, wealthy, ambitious.
• Leveraged Jewish civil unrest with Roman muscle to seize control (47 B.C.).
• Installed his son Herod (“the Great”) as governor of Judea.
• Died of poisoning.
Herod the Great
• Intelligent, charming, a master of statecraft; like his father, highly ambitious.
• Survived Jewish challenges to his rule through skillful politicking with Roman authorities and by exterminating his enemies, including one wife and three sons.
• Proclaimed king of the Jews by the Romans, a position he held at the birth of Christ (Matt. 2:1).
• Married a total of ten women who bore him at least fifteen children.
• Rebuilt the temple to regain the Jews’ favor but also built temples to pagan gods.
• Deteriorated mentally and physically in later years; before his death, he divided his kingdom among three sons.
Herod Archelaus
• Oldest of Herod’s sons—and the one with the worst reputation.
• Given Judea by his father (2:22).
• Angered the Jews by marrying his half brother’s widow.
• Deposed and banished in A.D. 6, leaving Judea a Roman province without a local ruler (although non-Roman rulers were usually no more than puppets).
Herod Antipas
• Depicted in Scripture as completely immoral.
• Given Galilee and Perea by his father Herod the Great, inheriting the title of tetrarch (“ruler of a fourth part”).
• Childhood companion of Manaen, a leader in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1).
• Divorced his first wife to marry Herodias, wife of his half brother and also his niece.
• Manipulated by Herodias into executing John the Baptist (Matt. 14:1–12; Mark 6:17–28).
• Exiled by Caligula after Herodias’s brother Agrippa accused him of plotting against Rome.
Herod Philip II
• The one bright spot in the family: dignified, modest, and just.
• Given the northeastern territories of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis by his father Herod the Great (Luke 3:1).
Herod Agrippa I
• Grandson of Herod the Great.
• Installed by Caligula, he eventually ruled all of Jewish Palestine.
• Executed the apostle James and persecuted the early church (Acts 12:1, 2).
• Struck down by God for his arrogance (12:21–23).
Herod Agrippa II
• Son of Agrippa I.
• Engaged in an incestuous relationship with his sister Bernice.
• Heard Paul’s defense of his ministry (Acts 25:13—26:32).
• Fled Palestine for Rome during the Jewish revolts, where he died in A.D. 100.
More: Find out about other major political leaders of the Roman empire and Palestine in “New Testament Rulers” at Luke 3:1 and “First-Century Roman Politics” at Luke 22:25.
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First-century Christians made regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem. They met annually in the Upper Room. But it was the city of Antioch, not Jerusalem, that became the center of early Christianity. What developed there could be a model for modern churches.
Antioch was racially diverse and culturally pluralistic. When persecuted Christians arrived there (Acts 11:19–20), they had to struggle to find ways to make the gospel meaningful for disparate groups. Four factors led to their success.
1. They refused to tolerate ethnic divisions. The dominant groups of the Antioch population—Greeks, Syrians, Africans, and Jews—were literally walled off from each other (see Antioch’s profile at Acts 13:1). But the gospel breaks down separation and hostility (Eph. 2:14–22) and brings people together in Christ.
2. They elevated multiethnic leadership. The church deployed pastors, teachers, and evangelists who represented their community’s composition. Notice the cross-section represented by church leadership in Acts 13:1:
• Barnabas, a Hellenist from Cyprus raised in a priestly family. He was the first major leader of the group (4:36; 11:22, 23).
• Simeon (Niger), an African (13:1).
• Lucius of Cyrene, also of African descent (13:1).
• Manaen, a childhood companion of Herod Antipas (the ruler who killed John the Baptist; Mark 6:17–28), perhaps even a relative and certainly a privileged member of society (13:1).
• Saul (Paul), a Hellenistic Jew from Tarsus who possessed rabbinical training and Roman citizenship. Barnabas intentionally recruited this young, untried leader (11:25, 26; 13:1).
3. They deployed teams to tell the story of Jesus. Paul used Antioch as his base for three missionary tours (13:1–3; 15:36–41; 18:22, 23). Antioch was also a crossroads for travelers from the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley to the east, Asia Minor to the north, and Egypt to the south. The church’s location facilitated constant international outreach.
4. They joined together to perform acts of compassion. A famine in Judea became an opportunity for the multiethnic Christians at Antioch to serve their predominantly Jewish brothers to the south (11:27–30). Paul recognized how these projects could unite disconnected churches. “Remember the poor” became a cry that brought together Christians at Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Galatia, and Rome with their sisters and brothers in Jerusalem (20:17, 18, 35; 2 Cor. 8:1—9:15; Gal. 2:10).
Antioch became an ideal model for how the church can function in an environment of diversity and cultural pluralism.
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• One of 16 cities named Antioch, sometimes called “Antioch of Syria.”
• Third-largest city of the Roman empire, with 500,000 to 800,000 residents.
• Known for its political power, energetic trade, vibrant intellectual life, and religious tolerance.
• Divided by walls into four quadrants—Greek, Syrian, African, and Jewish.
• Where followers of the Way were first called Christians (Acts 11:26) and main headquarters of the early church.
• Known today as Antakiya (in Turkey), a town of 35,000.
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As Barnabas and Saul set off on their travels for their God-appointed work, they traveled through Seleucia, the seaport for Antioch. The city was prized by the Romans for its access to the Way of the Sea, a major trade route of the Mediterranean region.
The Way of the Sea
The Way of the Sea (Is. 9:1) was also called “the way of the land of the Philistines” (Ex. 13:17) and later, the Via Maris. It was the most important international highway of the biblical period.
Originating in Egypt, it ran north along the Mediterranean coast. It passed over the Carmel Ridge, through the Valley of Jezreel to Hazor, and on to Damascus. There travelers could head north through Syria toward Asia Minor or east toward Mesopotamia, eventually linking up with the Euphrates River, which the highway followed to the Persian Gulf.
Many key political and commercial centers were located along this road and its lesser branches. Communities thrived by providing supplies and security to the countless caravans traveling the route. But it was the strategic military value of this road that ancient empires prized the most. Controlling a key location such as Damascus or the passes at Megiddo and Hazor allowed an army to shut down the Way of the Sea—or keep it open for its own troops or merchants—making Palestine a perpetually important factor in international politics and trade.
The King’s Highway
A second major road in the region was the King’s Highway (Num. 20:17; 21:22); its northern portion was also called “the way to Bashan” (21:33) or “the road to Bashan” (Deut. 3:1). The King’s Highway ran north and south along the length of the Transjordanian Highlands, near the desert to the east of the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, and the Dead Sea, and linked Damascus (and the Way of the Sea) with Elath on the Gulf of Aqaba. This highway provided a secondary road to Egypt and access to Arabian spice routes. It was often controlled by semi-nomadic people who prevented settlements along its length. During some periods, however, the route was guarded by a network of fortresses.
Secondary Roads
A system of smaller roads opened communication between the many regions of Palestine. A north-south route called the Way of the Wilderness of Edom and the Way of the Wilderness of Moab lay east of the King’s Highway along the desert fringe. It avoided the dry streambeds with their deep canyons, which split the Transjordanian Highlands into distinct geographical regions.
Other regional roads mentioned in Scripture include “the way to the mountains of the Amorites” in the south (1:19); “the road to … Beth Shemesh” linking that city with Jerusalem (1 Sam. 6:9); “the road to Beth Horon,” north of and parallel to the road to Beth Shemesh (13:18); and “the way of the wilderness” west of Jericho to the city of Ai (Josh. 8:15).
Land Journeys
People of means or position like the Ethiopian treasurer (Acts 8:26–28) traveled these roads by chariot or portable chairs (Song 3:6–10). Horses were used almost exclusively for military purposes (Acts 23:23, 24). Ordinary people got around by donkey or on foot, with walkers averaging about sixteen miles per day. At those speeds Joseph and Mary’s trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–5) probably lasted at least five days.
Sea Journeys
Over long distances, traveling by ship was common (Jon. 1; Acts 13:4; 27:1–44). Besides Seleucia, major ports included beautiful Cyrene in northern Africa (Mark 15:21); Caesarea of Palestine (Acts 10:24); Tarsus, the hometown of Saul (11:25); Corinth, perhaps the most celebrated city of the Roman empire; Syracuse, once home to the world’s best navy (28:12); and Puteoli, gateway to Rome (28:13). The islands of Crete and Cyprus (13:4) were major crossroads of Mediterranean shipping.
However, none of these ports topped Alexandria for its reputation as a center of shipbuilding. Cargo ships usually had little room for passengers, but occasionally they carried voyagers on the open deck or in the hold with the cargo (Jon. 1:5). Paul sailed on such a vessel on the last leg of his trip to Rome (Acts 28:11).
Despite a shipwreck (27:13–44) and his allusion to the perils of travel (2 Cor. 11:26), getting around in Paul’s day was relatively simple and considerably safer than in earlier times. Roman control over the Mediterranean put an end to most piracy and highway robbery. Well-maintained Roman roads linking every corner of the empire made travel much more expedient.
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• First called Cyprus by the Greek poet Homer; also known as “copper country.”
• The mostly Greek population was almost always dominated by a stronger nation; controlled by Rome as Christianity rose.
• Dramatically variable climate from warm water at sea level to mountain snows.
• Home of Barnabas (see his profile at Acts 4:36, 37) and Mnason (21:16); a frequent port of call for early Christian travelers (11:19, 20; 13:4–12); the destination chosen by Barnabas and John Mark after separating from Paul (15:36–39).
• The Greek Orthodox Church honors Barnabas as the patron saint of Cyprus.
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• Principal city of ancient Cyprus; not to be confused with the town and island of Salamis off the Grecian coast.
• Boasted a deepwater harbor that once made the town a commercial success; it is now silted over.
• Traded in copper, flax, wine, fruit, and honey.
• Home of an influential Jewish colony when Paul and Barnabas arrived on the initial leg of their first journey.
• Traditional site where Barnabas was martyred by a Jewish mob.
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• Roman capital of Cyprus.
• Less significant than neighboring Salamis, which had a better harbor.
• Site of a famous temple to the goddess Astarte (Greek Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, love, and fertility).
• Where Barnabas and Paul encountered a sorcerer and false prophet and put an end to his heresies (Acts 13:6–12).
• See Paphos’s location on the map at Salamis’s profile at Acts 13:5.
More: Ambrose, the archbishop of Milan during the fourth century A.D., also fought heresy within the church, declaring that he would rather die at the foot of the altar than desert it. See here for an article on the life of Ambrose.
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Sergius Paulus was one of a several government officials in Scripture who turned to God while in office or served Him from positions of civic responsibility. To learn about others, see “Government Employees in the Bible” at Daniel 5:11, 12.
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Also known as: Saul, his Jewish name, perhaps given as a tribute to Israel’s first king, who, like his family, was from the tribe of Benjamin. Called Saul prior to his conversion; Paul may have been his Roman name.
Home: Born at Tarsus; brought up in Jerusalem; settled in Antioch of Syria but traveled throughout the Roman empire with extended stays at Corinth and Ephesus.
Family: Born a Roman citizen, meaning that his father, a Pharisee, was a Roman citizen before him. Luke mentions a sister and her son.
Occupation: Tentmaker by trade; trained as a Pharisee under Gamaliel; became the Jewish Council’s chief agent of anti-Christian activity; later, became a leader in the church, its most well-known and widely traveled spokesperson, and a major New Testament writer.
Life-changing experiences: Witnessing Stephen’s defense before the council and subsequent execution by stoning (Acts 7:1—8:1); meeting Christ on the Damascus road, which led to his conversion and call as an apostle (9:1–31; Gal. 1:1–24).
Best known as: The zealous persecutor of Christians who became a disciple of Jesus and the apostle to the Gentiles.
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Few backgrounds could have better prepared Saul to take the lead in persecuting the early church. He was born at Tarsus, a place he described as “no mean city” (Acts 21:39). This Roman metropolis on the coast of southeast Asia Minor was a center for tentmaking, a factor that likely influenced Saul to choose that craft as a necessary means of making a living (see “Scribes” at Luke 20:39).
Though born at Tarsus, Saul was raised at Jerusalem “at the feet of Gamaliel,” the most illustrious rabbi of the day (Acts 22:3) and a highly respected member of the Jewish Council (5:34; see also “Stephen’s Trial and Murder” at Acts 6:12). Saul took part in technical training in the Law that prepared him to join the Pharisees, the religious elite of Judaism. The rigorous course of study often began at age fourteen and continued to the age of forty.
Saul apparently was a capable student. He outstripped his peers in enthusiasm for ancestral traditions and zeal for the Law (Phil. 3:4–6). Gamaliel likely opened the door for him to observe the council, meet its principals, and understand its inner workings.
Saul happened to be present when the conflict between the council and the early church reached a head with the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:57—8:1). He had likely also witnessed earlier encounters between the council and members of the Way (4:5–18; 5:17–40). But the incident with Stephen seems to have set him on a mission to hunt down and destroy as many Christians as he could (8:1–3).
Ironically, the same background that made this man a persecutor of Christians also prepared him to become their leading spokesperson. Known at first by his Jewish name, Saul, perhaps given in memory of Israel’s first king, he was called Paul after his conversion on the road to Damascus (9:1–31).
Devout, energetic, outspoken, stubborn, and exacting, Paul created far more trouble for the Jews than he ever did for the Christians—not through violence but through the power of ideas. He lived with a price on his head as his former allies sought to silence him for good (9:23–25, 29; 23:12–15; 2 Cor. 11:26, 32, 33).
The greatest irony of Paul’s life was in his calling to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Gal. 1:16; 2:7–9). Paul had been a Pharisee, a title that means “to separate.” Some Pharisees refused to eat with non-Pharisees for fear of being “contaminated” by food not rendered ritually clean. They also cut themselves off from women, lepers, Samaritans, and especially Gentiles (or “foreigners”).
For Paul to take the gospel to the Gentiles was a complete reversal of his life and a total departure from his background as a Pharisee. There were at least four people who helped him make this dramatic change:
• Ananias. This brave disciple met with Paul in the midst of his conversion, then baptized him, thus welcoming Paul into the faith that would totally reshape his worldview (see his profile at Acts 9:10).
• Barnabas. Like Paul, he was a Hellenist Jew. He embraced and mentored Paul when no one else would come near him (see his profile at Acts 4:36, 37).
• Priscilla and Aquila. These fellow tentmakers joined Paul in business at Corinth and likely discussed the faith and its implications with Paul just as they did with Apollos (see their profile at Rom. 16:3–5).
Paul became Christianity’s leading evangelist and theologian. But as his status in the church rose, his perspective on himself became far more humble. He shifted from seeing himself as an important Christian leader to calling himself “the least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9). Later he realized that he was capable of “nothing good” (Rom. 7:18) and was “less than the least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8). In the end he described himself as the “chief” of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) and threw himself on God’s mercy and grace. The fearsome Pharisee of Pharisees became the fearless apostle to the Gentiles whose credo was “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
More: Paul’s transformation into the apostle to the Gentiles took at least ten years as he reevaluated his cultural perspectives and brought them in line with God’s heart for the world. See “Even Spiritual Giants Fall Short” at Gal. 1:11–24 and “An Extremist Transformed” at Gal. 1:13–17. Similar to Paul’s conversion experience, the pastor C. H. Spurgeon recalled, “Long before I began with Christ, He began with me.” See here for an article on the life of C. H. Spurgeon. Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, was also a reformed man like Paul. See here for an article on the life of Charles Colson.
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• Capital city of Pamphylia, a Roman province on the southwest coast of Asia Minor.
• Situated inland to defend against pirates who roamed the coast.
• Full of structures typical of Graeco-Roman cities: an acropolis, a walled lower city, colonnaded streets, a marketplace, public baths, a 12,000-seat stadium, a theater, and a temple to the goddess Artemis (Roman Diana).
• The nearby port city of Attalia, founded by Rome in the second century A.D., eventually overshadowed Perga’s waterway and prosperity. Perga fell into decay—its ruins are still visible—while Attalia (modern-day Antalya) still stands.
• Visited twice by Paul (Acts 13:13, 14; 14:25). This was the first instance of Paul preaching in a predominantly pagan environment. There is no evidence that he had much success.
• See Perga’s location on the map at Salamis’s profile at Acts 13:5.
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• One of 16 Antiochs in the ancient world.
• A commercial and administrative center on the east-west highway from Ephesus to Syria.
• Noted for worship of pagan deities and a temple to Caesar Augustus.
• The city had a rare mix of native Phrygians, Greeks, Jews, and Roman colonists, making it one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the empire.
• Antioch’s relative openness to the gospel, in contrast to the indifference of Perga, motivated Paul to deploy a strategy that he frequently used elsewhere: speaking first to leading Jews and God-fearing Gentiles at the local synagogue, then mingling with the pagan Greeks and Roman colonists.
• See Antioch in Pisidia’s location on the map at Lystra’s profile at Acts 14:8 (included among the cities visited by Paul).
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• Capital of the Roman province of Lycaonia in central Asia Minor.
• Largely Greek, the city was at one time named Claudiconium, reflecting privileges conferred by Emperor Claudius.
• Several major routes led to and from this important crossroads—west to Antioch and Ephesus, south to Lystra and Derbe.
• Bordering a large plateau, Iconium was well-watered and fertile; it prospered from wheat fields and apricot and plum orchards.
• The Iconium church may have been the first to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians as well as the first letter of Peter.
• Known today as Konya in Turkey.
• See Iconium’s location on the map at Lystra’s profile at Acts 14:8.
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• An obscure town on the plains of Lycaonia in central Asia Minor about 45 miles from the Mediterranean.
• Only 25 miles from Iconium but closer to Derbe in its politics and Roman culture.
• A Roman road system, the Via Sebaste, connected Lystra, Iconium, Derbe, and other regional cities.
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• A city in the southeastern part of the Roman province of Lycaonia.
• Now believed to be the unexcavated site of Kerti Huyuk in south central Asia Minor.
• Politically and culturally allied with Lystra in the Roman province of Galatia.
• Home to Gaius, a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 20:4).
• Surviving inscriptions suggest a succession of bishops in Derbe. One of them, Daphnus, was present at the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381. Paul’s efforts in this little town apparently were not in vain.
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• Key seaport on the coast of Pamphylia in south central Asia Minor, serving Perga, the regional capital eight miles inland.
• Archaeologists have found evidence of a double wall, an ancient aqueduct, and a triple gateway constructed under the reign of Hadrian, who visited in A.D. 130.
• Alternately conquered by Turks and Europeans during the Crusades.
• Known today as Adalia (Antalya), this major seaport on Turkey’s Gulf of Adalia is the “Turkish Riviera,” with tourism as its major industry.
• See Attalia’s location on the map at Derbe’s profile at Acts 14:20.
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Controversy in the Early Church
Acts 15 describes a simmering controversy that finally boiled over. It was around A.D. 48, and Paul and Barnabas had just returned to Antioch after their first missionary journey. They reported the amazing news that God had brought Gentiles to faith in Jesus (Acts 14:26, 27). Then men who claimed to speak for the church in Judea arrived with a disturbing message: Gentiles must become Jews in order to be saved. They must reject their own backgrounds and accept the tenets of Jewish religion and culture.
If what they said was the truth, then half the disciples at Antioch were not Christians. Neither were a majority of new followers in churches Paul and Barnabas had planted in Pisidia and Galatia. No wonder the argument created tension and bitterness (15:2, 6, 7, 24).
The dispute was not quickly resolved. Paul reported that Peter went along with the false teachers’ errors. Even Barnabas was swayed (Gal. 2:11–16). The crisis grew so severe that Paul, Barnabas, and others journeyed to Jerusalem for a full-blown debate in the presence of the apostles and elders. The discussion hung on three crucial presentations:
1. Peter’s reminder of his meeting with Cornelius (Acts 10:1–48), when God gave the Holy Spirit to Gentiles.
2. Barnabas and Paul’s account of their recent travels through Asia Minor, a journey in which God worked miracles among the Gentiles.
3. James’s conclusion that these events correlated with the prophetic words of Amos 9:11, 12.
As Paul later communicated in his letter to the Galatians, the conclusion reached was that “there is neither Jew nor Greek … slave nor free … male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
Despite the fact that the young church managed to avert a split between Jewish and Gentile factions, the issues of Acts 15 still trouble us. That ancient scene points out how difficult it is to separate our culture and worldview from our grasp of the gospel. The church often finds security in familiarity and excludes anyone who differs. Diversity feels uncomfortable. But Acts 15 shows us how to speak up and resolve our concerns honestly and biblically.
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As the gospel expanded “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), the first evangelists came across cultures that challenged what had become the conventional beliefs and practices of the Christian movement. Their findings required the church to bring together a diverse body to sort out issues of faith and culture.
As we struggle to work out the relationship between faith and culture today, we must keep in mind that the world contains a wide variety of people who face a wide variety of circumstances and who respond to God in a wide variety of ways. Some controversies between us involve “truth issues.” Others are “love issues.” Some might involve both truth and love. Truth issues call for a clear understanding of Scripture. Love issues require open-mindedness and tolerance. The situation in Acts 15 obliged the early church to deal with both.
What issues in the modern church come down to truth? What circumstances demand our loving tolerance of legitimate differences of opinion and practice? What issues demand us to grow in both truth and love?
More: There is one Lord and one faith, but there are many ways that faith may be lived out. See “Faith in Context” at Ezek. 22:15.
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Diverse Opportunities for a Diverse Church
In many nations and especially in the western hemisphere, the church faces an increasingly pluralistic society, and it is highly unlikely we will ever return to a uniform culture, if that ever existed in the first place. But the Book of Acts shows that we can thrive in this new world. The response of the apostolic council at Jerusalem to an influx of Gentile believers demonstrates that Christians must allow for cultural differences if they want their churches to survive.
The collections of people who responded to the gospel and banded together in the first century defy modern market research and principles of church growth. Modern thinking holds that groups of people with similar sociological backgrounds grow larger more quickly than ones with different backgrounds. Some argue that like attracts like, so churches should target people of the same race, demographic profile, and socioeconomic status.
The untidy collection of Christians in Acts upends that idea. Diverse churches sprouted up spontaneously in response to God’s grace.
Diverse Backgrounds
The first Christians …
• Came from all classes of society, from the wealthy and privileged to the destitute, including beggars, slaves, and even criminals.
• Represented the diverse cultures of the day—Roman, Greek, Hebrew, African, Arab, and more.
• Varied widely in political allegiances and power. Government, military, and civic leaders joined reactionaries, revolutionaries, and displaced refugees.
• Developed leadership that was male and female, old and young.
• Came from every kind of religious tradition—pagan sorcery and mystery cults, Greek and Roman mythology, idol worship, Judaism, and more.
Diverse Abilities
The early believers were …
• Landholders such as Barnabas (Acts 4:34–37), Ananias and Sapphira (5:1–11), Mnason (21:16) and Publius (28:7–10).
• Health care workers such as Luke (Acts 1:1; see also Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11).
• Lecturers and teachers such as Stephen (Acts 6:8–10), Philip (8:4, 5), Priscilla and Aquila (18:26), and Apollos (18:24–28), as well as Peter, Paul, and the other apostles.
• Government officials, military personnel, and civic leaders, including the Ethiopian treasurer (8:26–40), Saul (Paul; 8:3; 9:1, 2; 26:9–11), the centurion Cornelius (10:1–48) the proconsul Sergius Paulus (13:6–12), a Philippian jailer (16:22–34), Dionysius (17:34), and Crispus (18:8).
• Merchants and tradespeople such as Saul, who was a tentmaker (Paul; 18:3); Dorcas, who may have worked in the tailoring and garment industry (9:43); Simon, a leather tanner (9:43); Lydia, a woman who manufactured, imported, and exported clothing for the rich (16:13–15, 40), and the tentmakers Priscilla and Aquila (18:2, 3).
Diverse Contributions
The church offered …
• Advocacy by Barnabas on behalf of Saul (9:26, 27); by Paul and Barnabas on behalf of a slave girl to free her from oppressive masters (16:16–21); and by Ephesian believers on behalf of Apollos (18:27, 28).
• Charity and hospitality, often anonymous and large scale, to meet both social and spiritual needs (2:45; 4:32; 11:29, 30; 28:13–15).
• Ethnic reconciliation as deacons acted on behalf of neglected widows (6:1–6); as Philip carried the gospel across ethnic barriers (8:4–17, 26–40); as Peter met with the Gentile Cornelius and defended his actions to Jewish leaders at Jerusalem (10:1—11:30); as Paul and Barnabas brought together Gentiles and Jews at Antioch in Pisidia (13:46–52); as the council at Jerusalem accepted Gentiles as equals in the faith, sending Judas and Silas as emissaries to welcome them (15:1–35); as Paul recruited Timothy to spread the gospel (16:1–5).
The early church was a diverse, grass-roots movement that drew people together in innovative ways. It moved them toward one another and out into their communities in service and love. Like the early church, the modern body of Christ exists in a pluralistic society full of opportunities for unparalleled innovation and growth.
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Also known as: Silvanus (another form of Silas), meaning “Person of the Woods.”
First noticed as: One of four Jerusalem church leaders named to write and deliver to Antioch a pivotal decision on the status of Gentile converts (Acts 15:22).
Best known as: Paul’s traveling companion on his second missionary journey after the apostle rejected John Mark (15:36–41). Silas’s Roman citizenship and ties to the Jerusalem church proved useful to their work. Silas also became Paul’s writing assistant and was imprisoned with Paul at Philippi on the night when the Philippian jailer and his family believed and were baptized (16:16–34).
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Not to be confused with: John, one of the Twelve and a close friend of Jesus.
Family: Son of Mary, who owned a house in Jerusalem where the church often prayed; relative of Barnabas. Peter affectionately referred to Mark as his “son” (1 Pet. 5:13).
Background: Came from a family wealthy enough to own a large home with at least one servant. They frequently hosted Christian gatherings.
Best known for: Leaving Paul and Barnabas on their first preaching tour after visiting Cyprus (Acts 13:13); later writing the Gospel that bears his name, Mark.
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The story of John Mark shows how important it can be to give someone a second chance. Spurned by Paul for going home to Jerusalem instead of continuing on a journey to Asia Minor (Acts 13:13; 15:38), John Mark was fortunate to have an expert mentor for a cousin (see “Son of Encouragement” at Acts 4:36, 37). Just as he had done for Paul when everyone else shunned him, Barnabas took John Mark home with him to Cyprus, where he nurtured him personally and spiritually.
Because of Barnabas, John Mark turned out to be a unique gift to the church. He became Peter’s valued associate and probably traveled with him to Rome. Tradition says that he composed his Gospel there by writing down Peter’s memories of Jesus’ life and teaching.
Paul finally had to admit John Mark’s value. Late in life, he wrote to Timothy and urged him to “get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). Indeed he was. Early church tradition says that John Mark was the first evangelist to Alexandria and its first bishop. He won many followers for Jesus there.
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Paul recruited Timothy to accompany him on the very trip for which he had just rejected John Mark (Acts 15:37–41). To understand what Paul saw in the young man from Lystra, see the introductions to 1 and 2 Timothy. Timothy eventually took on the major assignment of leading a multiethnic church at Ephesus. See “Kingdom Mentoring” at Acts 9:26–30.
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Iconium. Lystra. Derbe. Philippi. Ephesus. Corinth. Antioch. Athens. To us those are probably just dots on a map. But they were major cities of the Roman empire, centers of influence that attracted Christian messengers like Paul. He brought the news about Jesus to these cities’ marketplaces, arts communities, academies, councils, courts, prisons, temples, and synagogues.
Paul was from the beautiful coastal city of Tarsus, “no mean city” as he described it (see Tarsus’s profile at Acts 11:25). At some point he left that city of half a million residents, because he was raised in Jerusalem, one of the largest cities in the empire. So he was no stranger to city life. As we see his work in retrospect, it’s obvious that he preferred working in urban centers, a strategy that offered several advantages:
• He could use a common language. Among rural peoples, older ethnic languages prevailed, but multicultural city dwellers spoke to each other in koinē (“common”) Greek.
• He could expect heightened receptivity. Then, as today, inhabitants of urban locales were perhaps more likely to entertain new ideas and consider change.
• He could multiply his influence. Large communities stood at the crossroads of communication and commerce, so they amplified the Christian message far beyond city limits.
• He could impact multiple ethnic groups. The gospel is inclusive and multiethnic, uniting people of every background. Cities forced people into close proximity—Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor. But the message of Christ brought them together in love.
• He could reach the workplace. As a tentmaker Paul identified with the vast numbers of artisans who populated Roman cities. Urban areas were often divided into districts according to crafts, and workers formed guilds to enhance their trades. Paul used these coalitions to spread the message.
• He could count on the Roman legal system. Paul believed that his message was relevant to the political, economic, and religious institutions of his day. As a Roman citizen, he demanded justice. He used the empire’s courts to attract a wider audience for the gospel.
Paul intentionally went to cities, proclaiming a gospel with implications for every listener. He understood that the news about Jesus Christ spoke not only to private individuals but to public society as well. He would likely urge us today to pay attention to our cities. Our influence in our communities can build on a careful study of Paul’s strategy.
More: One of the best models for inclusiveness in the church can be found in the congregation at Antioch (see “The Antioch Model” at Acts 13:1–3). Christianity conquered Rome by establishing dozens of churches by the end of the first century. See “Churches Unlock Communities” at Acts 11:22.
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• A Roman province in the westernmost portion of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
• Never granted independent status, so its precise boundaries remain unknown.
• Passively allied with the Trojans during the legendary Trojan War.
• Apparently of little interest to Paul, who hastily passed by Mysia on his way to Troas (Acts 16:8); there is no evidence of other Christian outreach here.
• See the region’s location on the map at Troas’s profile at Acts 16:8.
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• Major city on the coast of Mysia in northwest Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
• Located on the rugged Plain of Troas, 10 miles south of legendary city of Troy.
• Called Alexandria Troas in Paul’s day in honor of Alexander the Great.
• A key Roman seaport offering the shortest route from Asia to Greece.
• Visited by Paul at least three times: en route to Macedonia (Acts 16:11), after his journey to Ephesus (20:6; 2 Cor. 2:12), and once when he left his cloak and books at the house of Carpus (2 Tim. 4:13).
• Paul’s vision and subsequent trip from Troas to Neapolis (Acts 16:9–11) caused a major shift for Western civilization. From there Christianity spread westward, gaining a foothold at Philippi in Macedonia, moving into Europe, and eventually pervading the entire western hemisphere.
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• City in eastern Macedonia (modern-day Greece) 10 miles inland from the Aegean Sea.
• Name means “City of Philip.”
• Founded in 356 B.C. by the illustrious Macedonian king Philip, father of Alexander the Great.
• Honored by Caesar Augustus with the establishment of a Roman military colony under the pretentious name Colonia Augusta Julia Philippensis. Retired soldiers received parcels of land as rewards.
• A gateway city on the Egnatian Way, the highway connecting the empire east to west; much of the traffic to Rome from the east funneled through Philippi.
• Once the site of vast gold and silver mines.
• Pride, self-importance, and affluence marked its residents; they basked in the city’s rich political and military history.
• Paul had not planned to visit Philippi until a vision persuaded him to change direction (Acts 16:9, 10). The city became key to the gospel’s spread once a church was established there.
• See Philippi’s location on the maps at Troas’s profile at Acts 16:8 and at “A Humble Message for a Proud City” at Phil. 1:1.
More: For more about the church that Paul founded at Philippi, read the Book of Philippians.
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Home: Originally Thyatira, a large industrial city and leading exporter of purple dye; relocated to Philippi, a Roman colony on a busy trade route.
Family: Unknown; the text mentions her “household” (Acts 16:15).
Occupation: Owner of a business that traded in the exotic dye known as purple, as well as dyed cloth.
Best known for: Becoming the first known convert to Christianity in the West and hosting the first church in Europe in her home.
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Lydia’s hometown of Thyatira thrived by manufacturing and trading in purple, for which it was renowned in the Roman world. The most expensive of dyes and a mark of wealth or royalty, purple came from the murex, a shellfish found only along the northeastern Mediterranean coast. A quarter million mollusks were required to make an ounce of the dye, which partly accounted for its staggering price. Purple cloth ranked in value with gold and was considered vital not only for adorning emperors and temples but for paying tribute and as a currency in international trade. During Old Testament times, purple was used in several features of the tabernacle (for example, Ex. 26:1, 31, 36) and the temple (for example, 2 Chr. 3:14).
We do not know when Lydia relocated to Philippi, but it was a smart business move. A Latin inscription found in the city mentions the economic importance of the dyeing trade. Philippi was the leading Roman colony of the region, set on the major east-west highway connecting Europe to the Middle East. Its people were known for trying to outdo Rome in dress and manners.
Lydia probably belonged to a guild of dyers. Guilds were professional associations that sometimes involved pagan customs and practices such as worship of the trade’s patron god. Lydia’s conversion did not change her occupation, but it radically altered her loyalty. Her business contacts likely introduced Paul to Macedonia’s powerful elite.
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Among the first people to join the Christian movement in the West were the Philippian jailer and his entire family. Families played an important role in the gospel’s spread during the church’s early years. Acts and the New Testament letters often show acceptance of faith as the decision of an entire family or clan.
For better or worse, life at home impacted the faith and commitment of several families as well as unmarried individuals recorded in Acts and the New Testament letters.
Family Name | Description |
• Ananias • His wife Sapphira | These landowners in the early church saw the praise heaped on Barnabas for selling his property and donating the proceeds to the movement. They sold their property and told Peter they were donating the funds. When their conspiracy to keep part of the money was uncovered, the Holy Spirit struck them dead. |
• Philip • His four daughters | Philip was one of seven men selected to manage the delivery of food to widows. As an evangelist, he crossed ethnic barriers by taking the gospel to Samaria and witnessing to an Ethiopian official. He later hosted Paul and other travelers at his home in Caesarea, where his four daughters prophesied. |
Simon | Little is known about this tanner of Joppa except that he hosted Peter at his home during the apostle’s momentous trip to Caesarea to share the gospel with Cornelius, a Gentile centurion. |
• Mary • John Mark, her son • Rhoda, their maid | This woman of means made her home available as a center of Christian activity in Jerusalem. When Peter was released from prison, he went to her house, where disciples were meeting to pray. John Mark traveled with his cousin Barnabas, Mary’s nephew, and later wrote the earliest surviving narrative of Jesus’ life and teachings. |
Barnabas | This landowner, donor, and leader of the early church brought Saul into the circle of believers, mentored him in the faith, and worked with him to extend the movement. He also mentored and defended his cousin John Mark. At Antioch, he helped stabilize a new church that crossed many ethnic barriers. |
• Eunice • Her mother Lois • Eunice’s son Timothy • His unnamed father, a Gentile | A Jewish mother and grandmother instilled faith in Timothy, the product of a Jewish-Gentile marriage. Chosen and mentored by Paul, he became a pastor and coworker in spreading Christianity. |
• Lydia • Her household | This upscale garment dealer from Philippi, along with her household, became the first European Christians. Likely a Gentile, she hosted Paul and other travelers at her home, risking social and economic pushback but helping to found a church. |
• A jailer of Philippi • His household | Shaken by an earthquake and the apparent escape of his prisoners, this man, probably a retired Roman soldier, was about to take his own life when Paul and Silas told him what he needed to do to be saved. His entire family believed and he welcomed the apostles into his home. |
• Priscilla • Aquila, her husband | This couple, possibly a marriage between a Roman woman and a Jewish man, became partners in manufacturing tents with Paul. Together they mentored a teacher named Apollos. They also helped lead congregations at Corinth, Rome, and Ephesus, at least some of which met in their home. |
• Saul, later called Paul • His sister • Her son | This young Jewish man with Roman citizenship started out as a well-trained Pharisee determined to stamp out Christianity. But a dramatic encounter with the risen Christ caused him to make a complete turnabout, and he ended up as the faith’s most ardent and widely traveled spokesperson. Apparently his nephew and perhaps his sister joined him in the faith. |
• Felix • Drusilla, his third wife • Their son Agrippa | This Roman procurator (governor) of Judea married the Jewish Drusilla, youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, linking him to the infamous Herod dynasty. Like the Herods, he considered himself above the law because of his influence with the courts. When Paul was brought before him, he hoped to collect a bribe. Felix and Drusilla’s son Agrippa died during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. |
• Herod Agrippa II • Bernice, his sister and lover • Their two sons | This son of Herod Agrippa I became governor over part of Palestine. His sister Bernice first married a man named Marcus, then her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. After his death she married Polemo, king of Cilicia, but deserted him shortly after the wedding. Making her way to Jerusalem, she became her brother’s lover and had two sons by him. During this time Paul was brought before the couple to make a defense. Later, during the Jewish revolt, Agrippa fled Palestine for Rome, where he ruled in absentia. Bernice became the mistress of the victorious Roman general and emperor Vespasian, then of his son Titus. |
• Publius • His father | This leading citizen of Malta welcomed shipwrecked Paul and other travelers to his estate, hosting the group for three days. Paul healed Publius’s father of feverish dysentery, attracting many others with illnesses. |
• Philemon • Apphia, possibly his wife • Onesimus, their runaway slave | Likely a businessman of Colosse, Philemon and his family hosted a church in their home. When Paul sent back his runaway slave Onesimus, he was challenged to regard him as a brother in the faith rather than as a rebellious slave. There is some evidence that suggests that Onesimus later became the first bishop of Ephesus. |
• Onesiphorus • His household | A relative unknown of Scripture, this man received high praise from Paul for his diligence in locating the imprisoned apostle in Rome and bringing him help. |
More: Learn about the sobering stories of the world’s first families in “Family Expectations” at Gen. 42:36. The Gospels share still more family portraits. See “Families of the Gospels” at Luke 20:34.
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• Named in honor of a woman, the wife of Cassander, sister of Alexander the Great and daughter of Philip II of Macedonia.
• Leading city of Macedonia and capital of its district, second only to Corinth as the commercial center of Greece.
• Located on the Thermaic Gulf and the main regional seaport.
• Founded by King Cassander of Macedonia in 316 B.C. to resettle war refugees from 26 towns that he had destroyed.
• Granted free-city status by Rome, allowing it to levy taxes, mint coins, and appoint local magistrates, known as politarchs. Jason and other Christians were dragged before these officials (Acts 17:5–9).
• Located on the Egnatian Way, a Roman road extending across Macedonia from the Adriatic Sea to the Aegean Sea. The highway and a well-situated harbor brought heavy commercial and military traffic through the city.
• See Thessalonica’s location on the map at Berea’s profile at Acts 17:10.
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Thessalonica gave women more opportunities than did most first-century cities. Women there were known for their business contributions, their support of public projects, and their leadership in city government. When the gospel arrived, many of these “leading women” responded, unlike their counterparts in Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:50). The difference is difficult to explain, but their response shows that success does not necessarily keep people from responding to the message of Jesus.
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• City in southwest Macedonia located along the major east-west trade route 45 miles west of Thessalonica.
• Capital of the Macedonian region.
• Large and wealthy at the time of Paul, it later prospered even more under Byzantine rule; by the time of the Ottoman Turks (sixteenth century) it had become Europe’s foremost trade center for the Middle East.
• Sopater, Paul’s companion from Berea (Acts 20:4), may have come to faith when the fair-minded Bereans searched the Scriptures daily (17:11).
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At Athens the gospel collided with a centuries-old culture of discourse and intellectualism. Paul had encountered Greek philosophy elsewhere; his hometown of Tarsus was a center of scholarship. But his visit to Athens brought him into direct contact with the heirs of the city’s celebrated intellectual tradition (Acts 17:18).
Based on passages such as 1 Corinthians 2:1–5, some think that Paul was intimidated by the arrogance and cynicism of the leisurely Epicureans and Stoics (Acts 17:18–21). But even if Paul felt more anxiety addressing the audience at Athens, Acts gives no hint that he in any way felt inferior. He took his arguments to their own forum, the Areopagus, building on common ground by discussing their altar “to the unknown god” and citing one of their poets (17:23, 28).
Judging by the number of people who believed his message, Paul’s strategy was ineffective, though not futile. A handful trusted in Christ. The rest dismissed him immediately or postponed judgment pending later discussion, which apparently never came, because Paul departed.
Some point to this scene and believe that the apostle was wrong for ever going to Athens. They contend that Paul was so disillusioned by the experience that for a time he left the ministry to make tents at Corinth (18:1–3). His words in 1 Corinthians 1:18—2:5 denouncing philosophy supposedly support this view. Some even conclude that offering the gospel to intellectuals is a waste of time.
While Luke does not explain exactly why Paul left Athens, nothing in the text supports the idea that Paul became disillusioned. He never left his ministry, just as he had never abandoned his trade of tentmaking (see “Paul’s Tentmaking” at Acts 18:1–3). As he worked alongside Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth, he continued to preach in the synagogue and in the house of Justus (18:4, 7), a project that lasted more than eighteen months (18:11). For two years he followed the same pattern at Ephesus (19:8–10).
Paul’s approach to the Athenian intellectuals should encourage us to actively participate in universities and other centers of learning. Anyone God calls to work in academia has an outstanding model to follow: Paul, God’s apostle to the intellectuals.
More: Moses and Daniel are among the other biblical examples of people whose education was essential to accomplishing God’s purposes. See “The Value of Preparation” at Ex. 2:11 and “A Secular Education” at Dan. 1:4.
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• Leading city of ancient Greece and capital of the district of Attica.
• Name derived from the Greek goddess Athena.
• Renowned for its philosophers, schools, and academies.
• As a free city, was governed independently and paid no taxes to Rome.
• Though Paul won several new followers of Christ there, it may have been years later before an Athenian church was formed.
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Paul addressed the Greeks in Athens in three starkly different settings:
• the synagogue—the Jewish center of worship,
• the Areopagus—the supreme tribunal, and
• the agora—the marketplace.
These disparate settings required distinct approaches that point to Paul’s exceptional ability as a teacher.
It is intriguing that Paul spoke out in the marketplace. Because there were few if any believers in Athens, he had to work from the outside in to present the gospel to Athenian workers. But today Christians are already planted in all levels of business in every sector of industry. Paul’s example presses us to ask if we are prepared to represent Christ, His message, and His values wherever we already work. Our faith is not a purely personal affair, and just as God sent Paul to the agora of Athens, He has sent us to carry the message of Christ to our workplace.
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Apparently none of Athens’s Epicurean or Stoic philosophers responded to Paul’s message about Christ. But Luke does name two individuals who formed the nucleus of a group that believed—an Athenian council member, Dionysius, and a woman, Damaris.
As a member of the court, Dionysius was likely a man of some standing. Later writers name him as the first bishop of the church at Athens.
As an Athenian woman, it was remarkable that Damaris would be among the first to believe. Greek women rarely participated in philosophical discourses. They were generally secluded at home while their husbands pursued leisurely activities such as gymnastics, politics, and philosophy.
There are several possibilities to explain how Damaris managed to hear Paul and decide to follow Christ. One is that she was among a class of women known as hetairai, specially trained companions to wealthy men who were educated in subjects usually reserved for males, such as rhetoric and philosophy. Make no mistake: hetairai existed to entertain their partners. They were not as respected as wives, but they did enjoy many more freedoms, including the opportunity to attend the daily philosophical discussions in the marketplace and the Areopagus (Acts 17:17, 19).
There is no way to know for certain whether Damaris was a hetaira. But whatever her role in society was, she courageously went against the prevailing opinion by siding with Paul, Dionysius, and the message about the resurrected Christ.
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Although many work in ministry today as a full-time profession, some of the first Christian workers earned all or part of their living through other occupations. Paul was a tentmaker, a trade he may have learned as a boy in Tarsus. Some pastors are returning to that kind of bivocationalism as a practical reality because their churches cannot support them financially. Others do it out of motivation to stay connected to the world of their members. In developing countries, everyday job skills are desperately needed to supply food, shelter, and economic development.
More: Jesus might have made His living through a non-ministry job, as did most rabbis of His day. See “Jesus the Carpenter” at Mark 6:3 and “Scribes” at Luke 20:39. For more on modern ministry staff supporting themselves through other occupations see “Professional Christian Workers” at 1 Cor. 9:1–23.
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By teaming up with Priscilla and Aquila, Paul made a smart business move and cultivated lifelong friends. Find out more about this outstanding first-century couple in their profile at Romans 16:3–5.
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A majority of converts to early Christianity—at least in Corinth—were from the lower classes. There were “not many mighty,” as Paul put it (1 Cor. 1:26–28). But several prominent citizens were attracted to the new religion, including Justus, who lived next door to the synagogue, probably in a house of some size, as well as Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue (Acts 18:7, 8), and Erastus, the city treasurer (Rom. 16:23). The gospel showed incredible power in breaking down what seemed like unshakable social barriers to create a new people of God.
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Sosthenes may have been the prosecuting lawyer who brought the case against Paul—and lost. The unfortunate synagogue ruler was beaten in a moment of mob reaction. But the story may have had a happy ending. A few years later, a man named Sosthenes was with Paul in Ephesus as the apostle wrote to the Corinthians. Paul sends greetings from “Sosthenes our brother” (1 Cor. 1:1). We cannot know whether this was the same man, but there is a chance that Paul’s treatment of an opponent may have won him over to Jesus. In any case, the idea brings up some important questions: How do we treat our rivals and enemies? Are we gracious whether we win or lose?
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• Corinth’s eastern seaport on the Saronic Gulf; used as a starting point for trade with Asia. Sailors hauled small ships and their cargo across the Isthmus of Corinth on a man-made “ship road” rather than sailing 200 miles around the dangerous peninsula.
• Temples to a variety of pagan deities have been excavated in the Cenchrean harbor.
• Shared Corinth’s ethnic diversity, open-mindedness, and moneymaking prowess; also the site of the biennial Isthmian games (see “The Games” at 1 Cor. 9:24–27).
• Home of Phoebe, the courier of Paul’s letter to Rome (Rom. 16:1, 2).
• Site of modern-day Kichries, Greece.
• See Cenchrea’s location on the map at Athens’s profile at Acts 17:15.
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The Bible mentions Alexandria only four times (Acts 6:9; 18:24; 27:6; 28:11). But the city’s influence on the New Testament and the church reached much further than these sparse references, because Alexandria was the birthplace of the Greek Old Testament translation known as the Septuagint.
Jews were scattered among the cities of the Alexandrian, Greek, and Roman empires. By the first century, more than one million Jews lived in Egypt. In Alexandria they were concentrated in districts separate from their Gentile neighbors, but isolation from Jerusalem took its toll. Each succeeding generation moved further away from Judaism, adopting the Hellenistic patterns of Alexandrian society.
The Septuagint was a response to this cultural assimilation. Tradition says that Jewish leaders in Alexandria invited some seventy Greek-speaking elders from Israel to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into koinē, the Greek spoken as a trade language throughout the ancient world.
Several legends attribute miraculous events to their work, which was completed in the second century A.D. One claims that the translators were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Another maintains that the seventy worked independently, but their finished versions matched in every detail. At any rate, the translation known as the Septuagint (Latin: septuaginta, or LXX for seventy) was a scholarly feat of immense importance.
This Greek work became the everyday Scriptures of the early church. It was the Bible Peter quoted at Pentecost and the Bible Apollos grew up with. Conceived in a world-class pluralistic city, it was the first Hebrew Scripture translated into a vernacular language and encouraged the use of koinē for the New Testament. The Septuagint is still the authorized Bible of the Greek Orthodox Church. This Alexandrian translation made Scripture readable and relevant to common people, both Jew and Gentile, and it was an indispensable tool in spreading the gospel throughout the Roman world.
More: The spread of the synagogue was closely related to the development of the Septuagint. See “A Gift of the Exile” at Ezek. 14:1 and “The Synagogue” at Mark 1:21.
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• One of 21 cities founded by Alexander the Great named Alexandria or Alexander.
• Major port on the Nile Delta, with a canal accessing the Mediterranean Sea.
• Possibly the second-largest city of the Roman empire, with a population of approximately 500,000 including slaves.
• Jews migrated to the city in large numbers.
• Renowned for shipbuilding (Acts 27:6; 28:11).
• Featured the best emporium, or trade center, of the ancient world. Exported papyrus, books, ivory, wood, glasswork, precious metals, bronze, perfumes, cosmetics, and domestic animals. Imported horses, wine, and olive oil from Greece, timber from Cyprus, silk from Africa and the East, and precious stones.
• Site of a library housing 700,000 volumes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, making it the intellectual center of the Roman empire.
• Birthplace of Apollos (18:24).
• John Mark, author of the earliest written Gospel, may have founded a church there in A.D. 67. It later became a major hub for Christian philosophers and theologians.
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