Jerusalem (Acts 21 et seq.)

The beginning portion of this chapter covers the journey Paul takes to Jerusalem and the people he encounters.

Paul is determined to go to Jerusalem despite warnings about what will happen.  He receives warnings from people "through the Spirit" who urge him not to go.  This is not the same thing as the Spirit telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem.  Rather, it seems that the Spirit warned other people what will happen to Paul and they decide to urge him not to go.  

Whether God wants Paul to go to Jerusalem or not is not stated.  It seems to be this is Paul's initiative.

Paul also encounters another prophetic man who demonstrates to Paul what will happen by using Paul's belt.  He grabs Paul's belt and says that Paul will be bound in Jerusalem.

At Caesarea, we find Philip the Evangelist again.  He has settled down and now has four daughters who are all prophetic.  It is kind of cool to get a postscript on Philip's life.  Likewise, a lot of the Biblical people who had more supernatural ministries don't seem to settle down and have a relatively normal life.  Philip seems to have done that.

In Jerusalem, Paul meets with James and the elders of the church.  They warn Paul that the Jewish believers are concerned that Paul is teaching a total renunciation of the Jewish ways and customs.  I had to reread what James said several times because the reports actually seem true. However, I think the issue revolves around the total renunciation of being Jewish.  

This is supported by James' restatement of the Council of Jerusalem and that they did tell the Gentiles that they do not have to follow the Jewish laws but for four specific areas.

Paul goes to the temple and is mobbed by Jews who are angry at the reports.  

He is being beaten when the Roman commander comes and takes Paul away.

At the Roman stronghold, Paul convinces the commander to let him speak to the crowd.  He does so in Aramaic and recounts the familiar story of how he persecuted Christians until being blinded on the road to Damascus.  

An interesting detail emerges from this recounting.  It seems that Paul first saw Jesus while in a trance in Jerusalem.  At this time, Jesus said that he will send Paul to the Gentiles.  Regarding the time that he saw the blinding light, Paul still refers to it as a light that spoke to him and not as seeing Jesus.

Paul tells the story and the mob want to kill him.  The commander decides to just flog Paul at which time Paul reveals his Roman citizenship.  It would be unlawful to flog Paul as a Roman citizen without first giving him a trial.

Persecution and growth - crisis and opportunity (Acts 8)

The stoning of Stephen begins a violent wave of persecution against the early church.  Saul the persecutor leads it.  He goes door to door, rounding up Christians, and throwing them in jail.  

The believers in Jerusalem scatter throughout Judea and Samaria.  The apostles, however, stay behind in Jerusalem.  The text is silent as to why they do this.  Perhaps they think that God will send other angels to release them from prison.  Alternatively, they rejoiced at being flogged, so they might rejoice at the idea that Saul might punish them some more.

The early church is dispersing and this crisis gives God the opportunity to expand the Gospel to the Gentiles.  Acts 8 records two such anecdotes which involve Philip the food distributor (not the apostle, who remained behind in Jerusalem).

Philip goes through Samaria where he heals cripples and casts out demons.  He encounters a sorcerer named Simon, who is more popularly known as Simon Magus.  Simon Magus performs a lot of acts of sorcery and has group of followers that think he is divine and worship him.  Philip shares the gospel with Simon Magus who believes and is baptized.  

The Apostles Peter and John hear of Philip's evangelism and go to Samaria to baptize his new converts with the Holy Spirit.  It is stated that this is a second baptism, separate and apart from a water baptism.  Thus, Christians can receive salvation, but without a full Holy Spirit baptism.  This also shows that Peter and John were supervising the expansion of the church since Philip is a subordinate.

Peter and John lay hands on some of Philip's new converts so that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  This shows that a Holy Spirit baptism comes from prayer, not water.

Simon Magus sees this and offers Peter money in that he might receive a Holy Spirit baptism.  Peter was probably going to pray for Simon anyway and it is interesting that Simon was not in the original group to receive the Holy Spirit baptism.  Perhaps Peter had questions about the depth of Simon Magus' faith and did feel comfortable with it.  After all, Simon Magus was a renowned sorcerer.  

Peter is repulsed by Simon Magus' offer and rebukes him.  Simon Magus' reaction is ambiguous as he asks Peter to pray for him that he might not be punished.  An open question in the Bible remains is if this showed repentance on the part of Simon Magus.  This is the last that we see of Simon Magus in the Bible.

However, extra-Biblical sources indicate that Simon Magus continued in sorcery.  Early Christian authors trace the Gnostic group Simonians to Simon Magus.  Likewise, in the Acts of Peter, a non-canonical book, Peter encounters Simon Magus again years later in Rome.  Simon Magus is using sorcery to levitate above a crowd when Peter rebukes him.  Simon Magus falls and breaks his leg.  The crowd then turns on Simon Magus and stones him.  The church of Santa Francesca Romana in Rome is built on this location, which suggests that the Catholic tradition believes that this story is true.

Back to Philip in Acts 8, an angel directs Philip to head south where encounters an Ethiopian reading from Isaiah 53.  This is the same chapter about a man who is crucified for the sins of all.  Philip shares the Gospel with him and this man is baptized.  

Immediately after the baptism, the Spirit of God whisks Philip away to another region and the Ethiopian did not see Philip again.

This is one of the few places in the Bible where the test suggests teleportation.  Personally, I am comfortable with the idea of teleportation.  I have read other commentaries which interpret this to mean that Philip was then led to another area and the text fast forwards through the travel.

Either way, both accounts of Philip in Samaria and with the Ethiopian shows the expansive mission of the Gospel to go to the Gentiles.  All of this was result of the persecution in Jerusalem which dispersed he believers where they met with Gentiles.

Seven food distributors (Acts 6)

The distribution of the common food led to another problem.  The widows of the Greek Jews were being overlooked in the distribution of the food.

The apostles were probably managing both the input of money as well as its distribution to those in need.  Acts 5 showed that Peter at least supervised the collection of money.  They also were preaching and being thrown in jail, so no wonder the food distribution was falling through the cracks.

They choose seven people to manage the food distribution.  That way, the apostles could dedicate themselves to preaching and spreading the word.  The more famous of these seven men were Stephen and Philip.  The criteria for being one of the seven was to be full of Spirit and wisdom.  The apostles lay hands on the group

Note, this is another Philip, not Philip the Apostle who is listed in Acts 1:13.

In some ways, this parallels Moses instituting judges to handle minor disputes among the Israelites.  Moses delegated administrative duties as the group was too big to micromanage.  This is the same that is happening here.

The text follows Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power.  He not only does the food distribution, but performs miracles.  Since his job was to distribute food and he also did miracles, one wonders if one such miracle was the miraculous distribution of food, akin to Jesus feeding the 5,000.  However, the text is silent as to specific miracles.

Stephen catches the attention of enemies, who argue with Stephen.  He develops enemies who conspire against him.  He is arrested, taken before the Sanhedrin, and accused of blasphemy.

The story of Stephen also reaffirms that the miracles were not just limited to the apostles.  We previously saw this in Gospels when Jesus sent out the 72 and when they encountered someone who was casting out demons in Jesus' name, but was not part of the core disciples.

Similarly, martyrdom and persecution is not limited to the apostles.