In this chapter God directs Paul ans Silas to remain in one location for a longer time, rather than moving more quickly from one town to the next. The key is listening to God's direction because what he has us do today might be different from what he wants us to do tomorrow.
Paul begins in Corinth where he stays a year and a half (or more - see v.18) teaching the word of God to the people. God spoke to Paul in a night vision and told him to stay there and keep on teaching and that no one would attack him. In the previous cities (like Thessalonica and Berea in the previous chapter), he was either attacked after a short while by persons from that city or by people from previous cities that he had been in. But here God said that he would be safe. In fact, when someone did try to bring him to trial, the proconsul would not even listen to the accusations against Paul, and the crowd ended up turning against those who were leading the opposition against Paul. Quite a turn of events and God was doing something very different in this city. For a brief moment Paul may have wondered "I thought I would be safe..." when he was taken to court. But before Paul could even answer, God worked it all out. God is faithful and not one of his promises has ever failed!
While in this chapter we don't see any specific mention of miracles or signs and wonders, we certainly know from Paul's letter to the Corinthians (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12-14) that the Holy Spirit was definitely still working in their midst and prophecy and speaking in tongues were fairly common in the regular meetings of the believers since Paul had to give instructions on doing these things in an orderly fashion.
Here also in this city we see Paul working at a second job, tentmaking, with Priscilla and Aquila, fellow believers who were also tentmakers who had been forced to leave Rome. This of course is where the term "tentmaking" comes from when referring to a secular job that a minister of Jesus Christ has in addition to the ministry work.
Another interesting point is how he shifted his focus from the Jewish people who were not listening to the good news of Jesus Christ and went to the Gentiles who were listening. So Paul left those who didn't want to hear and went to those who did - another important ministry principle.
The question of what Paul is doing with his haircut and the vow often comes up. In Numbers 6:1-21, we see a special vow of the Nazirite that a man or woman can take to separate themselves unto the Lord for a specified period of time. In some ways it is like a special period of fasting and the specifics during that time is that a person cannot have their hair cut and they cannot drink or eat anything that comes from a grapevine, even not the skins or seeds. It isn't done for salvation, but rather for a special period of consecration that an individual can choose to do and it appears that it can be of variable time, as decided by the person making the vow of consecration. We don't know how long Paul had taken the vow for, only that he finally got it cut in Cenchreae as he left Corinth.
Father God, please direct us and lead us and help me to hear your voice! Show us when to stay and when to go, who to speak to and when to move on. Let us be wholly devoted to you in all of our hearts and minds, body and soul and may we bring glory to your name!
Paul begins in Corinth where he stays a year and a half (or more - see v.18) teaching the word of God to the people. God spoke to Paul in a night vision and told him to stay there and keep on teaching and that no one would attack him. In the previous cities (like Thessalonica and Berea in the previous chapter), he was either attacked after a short while by persons from that city or by people from previous cities that he had been in. But here God said that he would be safe. In fact, when someone did try to bring him to trial, the proconsul would not even listen to the accusations against Paul, and the crowd ended up turning against those who were leading the opposition against Paul. Quite a turn of events and God was doing something very different in this city. For a brief moment Paul may have wondered "I thought I would be safe..." when he was taken to court. But before Paul could even answer, God worked it all out. God is faithful and not one of his promises has ever failed!
While in this chapter we don't see any specific mention of miracles or signs and wonders, we certainly know from Paul's letter to the Corinthians (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12-14) that the Holy Spirit was definitely still working in their midst and prophecy and speaking in tongues were fairly common in the regular meetings of the believers since Paul had to give instructions on doing these things in an orderly fashion.
Here also in this city we see Paul working at a second job, tentmaking, with Priscilla and Aquila, fellow believers who were also tentmakers who had been forced to leave Rome. This of course is where the term "tentmaking" comes from when referring to a secular job that a minister of Jesus Christ has in addition to the ministry work.
Another interesting point is how he shifted his focus from the Jewish people who were not listening to the good news of Jesus Christ and went to the Gentiles who were listening. So Paul left those who didn't want to hear and went to those who did - another important ministry principle.
The question of what Paul is doing with his haircut and the vow often comes up. In Numbers 6:1-21, we see a special vow of the Nazirite that a man or woman can take to separate themselves unto the Lord for a specified period of time. In some ways it is like a special period of fasting and the specifics during that time is that a person cannot have their hair cut and they cannot drink or eat anything that comes from a grapevine, even not the skins or seeds. It isn't done for salvation, but rather for a special period of consecration that an individual can choose to do and it appears that it can be of variable time, as decided by the person making the vow of consecration. We don't know how long Paul had taken the vow for, only that he finally got it cut in Cenchreae as he left Corinth.
Father God, please direct us and lead us and help me to hear your voice! Show us when to stay and when to go, who to speak to and when to move on. Let us be wholly devoted to you in all of our hearts and minds, body and soul and may we bring glory to your name!
No comments:
Post a Comment