Paul the Apostle Part 8.

Paul the apostle:

Part 8.

Soon the apostles were to begin their struggle with the powers in the spiritual world in which the pagan Gentiles paid honor. A female slave, when under the powers of darkness and in a possessed state, one that brought profits to her master’s besieged Paul and the others for help. Because of her cries for help, Paul was moved with compassion and addressed the spirit in the girl. He said, “I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her.”

Now the masters of this girl saw that their profits were being hurt, so they took Paul and Silas and dragged them before the magistrates as the multitude of the people clamored against them, charging them with “troubling the city,” and introducing observances which were unlawful for Romans.

If the magistrates had acted with true justice, they may have had second thoughts on how to deal with the two. But those who complained were unworthy representatives of the Roman magistracy, and without any further inquiry the magistrates gave in to the clamor of the citizens who than tore away the clothes of Paul and Silas, beat them; then through them into prison.

This cruelty was to be a signal to them of the appearance of God for their deliverance. The narrative tells of the earthquake, the jailer’s terror, his conversion and baptism Acts 16:26-34. In the morning, the magistrates, either having heard of what had happened, or having repented of their injustice, or having done all they meant to do by way of pacifying the people, sent word to the prison that the men might be let go.

But Paul denounced plainly their unlawful acts, informing them that those whom they had beaten and imprisoned without trial were Roman citizens. The magistrates were greatly alarmed and saw the necessity of humbling themselves. They came and begged them to leave the city. Paul and Silas consented to do so, and after paying a visit to “the brethren” in the house of Lydia, they departed.

Leaving Luke and perhaps Timothy for a short time, at Philippi, Paul and Silas travelled through Amphiboles and Apollonian, and stopped again at Thessalonica. At this city, there was a synagogue of the Jews. True to his custom, Paul went in to them, and for three Sabbath days proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, as he would have done in a city of Judea.

Yet again, as in Pisidia Antioch, the envy of the Jews again became hostile and boiled over. The mob assaulted the house of Jason, with whom Paul and Silas were staying as guests. Not finding them, they dragged Jason and some other brethren before the magistrates. In this case the magistrates appeared to have acted wisely and justly, by taking care of Jason and the others, and letting them go. After these signs of danger, the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night.

The Epistles to the Thessalonians were written very soon after the apostle’s visit, and contain more particulars of his work in funding that church than we find in any other Epistle. The whole of these letters ought to be read for the information they give to us. When Paul and Silas left Thessalonica, they came to Berea (to the Jewish (synagogues,)  here they found the Jews more ready to receive the gospel then those at Thessalonica.

Accordingly they gained many converts, both Jews and Greeks; but the Orthodox Jews of Thessalonica, hearing of it, sent emissaries to stir up the people and because of this, it served Paul much more if he should leave the city, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. Some of the “brethren:” went with Paul as far as Athens, where they left him, carrying back a request to Silas and Timothy that they would join him as soon as possible.

In Athens Paul witnessed the most profuse idolatry side by side with the most pretentious Philosophy, either would have been enough to stimulate his spirit. To idolaters and philosophers alike he felt equally urged to proclaim Jesus Christ and the living God. So he went to his own countrymen and proselytes in the synagogue and declared to them that the Messiah had come; but he also spoke as if he were Socrates himself to the people in the market; and with the followers of the two great schools of philosophy, the Epicureans and Stoics concerning Jesus and the Resurrection.

Phillip Laspino   www.seekfirstwisdom.com