Studies in the Acts of the Apostles

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106. "All safe to land" (27:27-44)

 

Day after day and night after night, for two full weeks that gale continued to blow. This, surely, was not just a climatic freak, but a designed test of the human spirit by a God who "maketh his angels winds."

 

It may be taken as fairly certain that those wretched souls on board never ceased to offer devout prayer - but, as two long weeks dragged their miserable course, they turned less and less to the gods of Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome, and more and more to the God of Israel about whom Paul continued to talk with such assurance.

 

Misery

 

But yet, in spite of the buoyant confid­ence of the apostle, no alleviation of their misery was in sight. The ship was steadily settling lower in the water. None had the slightest idea where they were. All were beset with varying degrees of wretched­ness according to individual physique and temperament. All were soaking wet and chilled to their marrow-bones. There was no kind of comfort, nor easing of their ordeal. Each endless night, with sleep virtually impossible, they "prayed for day" in the hope that salvation would then be in sight. And each grim grey morning there was still a wilderness of wild waves and the fiendish howl of a gusty wind.

 

All this time their water-logged vessel drifted and tossed sluggishly, making 35 to 40 miles a day westward - but for a long time they were not even to know that.

 

Near to land

 

At length the sailors, with their uncanny sixth sense, began to read signs that "some country was approaching them" (so the Greek text reads). Sure enough, from away over on the port bow came the sound of angry waves pounding an unseen shore. Actually it was Point Khoura, the nearest headland on the island of Malta. But for the intense darkness they would have seen it clearly, for it was only half a mile away.

 

The obvious thing was to take sound­ings. Twenty fathoms! And before long, fifteen fathoms! Then how long before their creaking ship grounded in shallows or disintegrated on rocks? In haste no less than four anchors were flung out from the stern, thus keeping the ship in the line of the wind. Many a sea bottom would not have held those anchors, but it so hap­pened that the entrance to what is now St. Paul's Bay has a clay bottom. So, with the ship hove to, all on board anxiously awaited the dawn and its revelation of impending deliverance or destruction.

 

Saving the sailors

 

The sailors, thinking to ensure their own safety at the expense of all the rest, hit on the device of pretending that the ship would be more secure if also more anchors were lowered at a cable's length from the bow. To fulfil this phoney inten­tion the ship's boat was lowered, and the men were about to clamber into it when Paul, seeing through their selfish decep­tion, intervened.

 

'There is no safety for the rest of you' he said to the centurion in the hearing of the soldiers, 'unless these men stay on board.'

 

Not that the boat was going to be much use for the saving of nearly three hundred people. But when it came to handling the ship in the last vital hour or two, perhaps the nautical know-how of the sailors would be all-important (v.38,40).

 

In comprehension of this situation the centurion was only a step behind Paul. It needed, then, only a nod from him, and some of his men drew their swords and slashed through the falls so that within seconds the boat was swept away into the darkness.

 

Although those seamen did not at all realise the fact, Paul had actually saved their lives, for had not the angel of the Lord said to him: "God hath granted thee all them that sail with thee." Their separate effort at gaining safety would infallibly have meant the destruction of all who tried to get away in the boat.

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Breaking Bread — Salvation

 

Then, with daylight still an hour or two away, Paul set about the task of raising the morale of all on board.

 

'Consider,' he said to the whole com­pany, 'you have now gone two full weeks with only an occasional improvised bite of food. Now is your last opportunity to get some nourishment. I've told you already, and now I say it again - there is no ground for fear at all! We shall every one of us come through unscathed. I have the word of the God of Israel for this. So let go your anxiety, and eat some food.'

 

In the spirit of his own exhortation, he forthwith took some of the dry ship's biscuit, and before them all he gave thanks to God for it; then solemnly breaking it, he handed portions to his brethren standing by (Bezan text). It was a deliberate imitation of the Last Supper, and expression of faith that through one all were to be saved (v.24, 43). Who outside Paul's own coterie saw it in that light? But that was how the memory stuck in Luke's mind. And it may be taken as certain that a great many out of that considerable number said their Amen of personal thanks to the God who had so graciously promised them a seemingly impossible salvation.

 

The ship's purser knew that there were 276 people on board - nowhere near the 600 on the big ship which foundered under Josephus when he travelled to Rome. Now a roll-call was taken to make sure that no one had already been lost overboard. This would facilitate a further check when, in accordance with Paul's firm assurance, they came through to land.

 

The last hour of night was taken up with dumping the rest of the wheat cargo. It was important to lighten the ship in the hope of running her as close to shore as possible.

 

Dawn and desperate measures

 

In the first dim light of dawn, the coast ahead was eagerly and repeatedly scan­ned for some recognizable landmark, but all in vain. Some of the seamen on board must have been to Malta before this, for Valetta harbour was a well-used port in those days (e.g. 28:11). But that was seven miles away, and this particular stretch of coast was utterly unfamiliar.

 

However, straight ahead was what looked like a welcoming creek where quiet water and a sandy beach could be expected. It was determined to attempt a landing there. In actual fact it was a channel between a small off-shore island and the mainland.

 

There were two great paddles in the stern by which some degree of steering was normally effected. Useless in the storm, these had been lashed on board in a horizontal position, their fastenings were now cut in the hope that on this last half-mile or so of a ghastly voyage they might afford a modicum of control. Yet more control was hoped for from the hoisting of a foresail.

 

Then, as soon as the anchors were cut loose, the ship gathered way and lum­bered forward to its death.

 

Disappointed when the hoped-for creek turned out to be a mill-race of stormy waters, the captain decided on the best alternative available - a tiny inlet on the port bow.

 

Still some distance from shore, the ship grounded with its bow unbudgeable in the clay bottom. There was now no time to be lost in getting all the personnel to land, for already the battered stem was beginning to disintegrate. How long be­fore the rest of the ship fell apart?

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Double danger

 

In these circumstances the professional instinct of the soldiers was to kill all the prisoners rather than lose them to free­dom, for if some escaped the wreck and got away, would not they - the soldiers -be answerable with their own lives? But the centurion would have none of this, for by this time he respected Paul not only as a fine Roman citizen but also as a valued personal friend. So, specially to save Paul, he curtly forbade the drastic action. Now, without loss of time, the order was given that all who could swim (Paul included? 2 Cor. 11:25) should take to the water and do their best to reach the shore. The rest, equipped with boards and planks from the ship (now fast breaking up), did the best they could for themselves, and so, by the promised Providence of God, within the hour all were safe ashore. Weak and shivering from the cold and wind, but thankful to be alive and on terra firma, they huddled together whilst a quick count of heads was taken.

 

Two hundred and seventy-six! Not a soul lost! And, after their fashion, they uttered their thanks to the God Paul had declared unto them.

 

 

Notes: 27:27-44

27. Driven up and down. Most translate it this way. But N.T. use of this verb suggests "driven through." Isn't it more likely that the storm blew steadily from E.N.E?

Adria. This name was used in that period for (a) the Adriatic Sea; (b) the Mediterranean between Sicily and Greece.

Here, this latter, surely.

Some country. Point Khoura seems to have taken its name from the Greek word used here; cp. the naming of St. Paul's Bay.

28. Twenty. . . fifteen fathoms. These soundings have been proved to be absolutely accurate for the entrance to St. Paul's Bay. Thus it is possible to establish fairly accurately just where the ship anchored.

29. Rocks. The Greek looks like an allusion to Is. 40:4 LXX.

30. Prayed for day; i.e. that the ship would hold together until dawn.

31. These... ye. Paul's confidence makes inclusion of himself unnecessary.

Except these abide in the ship. There is a profound lesson to be learned here. But the ship of Christ in the 20th century has missed it almost completely.

33. Fasting, i.e. not taking a regular meal. This is not the usual word for 'fasting'.

37. Why Luke's care to specify precisely the number of persons? Would not "nearly three hundred" have done as well? It transpires that 276 is a triangular number; that is Δ 23 = 1 +2+3+ … +23 = 276. It cannot be coincidence that most other NT. numbers are also triangular numbers:

153 (Jn. 21:11) = Δ17

666 (Rev. 13:18) = Δ36 = ΔΔ8

120 (Acts 1:15) = Δ15 = ΔΔ5

28 (2 Cor. 6:4-10 = Δ7

78 (Lk. 3:23-28 + Ps. 22:30?) = Δ12

42 (Mt. 1:2-16 + Ps. 22:30) = 2 Δ 6

NT. multitudes (5000 + 4000 + 3000 + 2000 + (?) 1000)

=1000 Δ 5

Feast of Tabernacles (Num. 29:13ff)

= 13 + 12 + 11 + ... 7 (as the moon shrinks during its third quarter)

= 70, the symbol of Gentiles.

40. Mainsail. There is real doubt about this meaning. In these circumstances, the foresail (smaller and more manageable) is more likely.

44. The Greek could read: 'upon certain others of the ship,' i.e. aided by some of the swimmers.

All safe. The name Melita is undoubtedly derived (via Phoenician) from the Hebrew word for "escape." This was not the first time that a ship's crew had found safety on this island.

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107. From Melita to Rome (28:1 -16)

 

Once ashore, the castaways soon discov­ered where they were, for of course at first light their stricken ship had been observed by the inhabitants of the island and when the survivors came ashore they quickly encountered some of them. But Malta had been settled by the Phoenicians, and there is contemporary evi­dence that their language was Punic. Luke calls them "barbarians." Today this would mean "uncivilised;" but again there is evidence that this was far from being the case. In those days a barbarian was one without facility in Latin or Greek, the two dominant languages.

 

But Phoenician is closely akin to Heb­rew, so very quickly Paul would find communication relatively easy. It would be through him that the name of the island was first known.

 

Although in nearly all countries and all generations the wreck of a ship has been regarded as an opportunity for plunder rather than rescue, these people of Malta proved to be an honourable exception. Since there were too many survivors for the few homes in the locality to accommo­date, the drenched and worn-out travellers were gathered into a sheltered spot, and very quickly a fire was kindled. This became all the more necessary when driving rain set in. Some of the more able-bodied scattered to collect brush­wood.

 

Bitten by a viper

 

Paul lent a hand in this activity. As he was adding his armful of sticks to the fire, a viper hitherto made torpid by the cold now darted away from the heat and fastened on Paul's hand. Men stared horrified at the sight of the venomous creature hanging from his arm. Nothing could now save him. It was sure to be only a matter of moments and he would drop dead. But of this there was no sign at all. Nonchalantly Paul shook the creature off into the flames and stood for a while appreciating the warmth of the fire. He had already been identified as being one of the prisoners, so now these Maltese were convinced that this snake-bite was an evident token of divine justice - Paul must be a murderer who was not going to escape retribution even though he had survived the horrors of sea and storm. They kept on staring at him, unflagging in their confident expectation that death was inevitable. Yet still nothing untoward transpired. So the only alternative conclu­sion was that he was a god! It was Paul's experience at Lystra all over again (14:11,19), only in reverse, for there the populace had begun by revering the apostle as a god, and ended up by treating him as a criminal.

 

Centuries before, men of Israel had been saved from deadly snake-bite by looking in faith to a serpent on a pole. But Paul's faith was entirely in the One who was lifted up on a pole to bring a greater healing than ancient Israel had known (Num.21:6-9;Jn. 3:14).

 

Jesus had promised that his men would "take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them" (Mk. 16:18). Luke aware of that saying of the Lord, doubtless found great satisfaction in chronicling this unique instance of the truth of it.

 

The islanders showed all possible kind­ness to this multitude of shipwrecked folk, and to Paul and his friends the chief man of the island was specially hospitable. The viper episode had evidently made its mark on his mind too when he heard about it.

 

That three-days stay at the home of Publius led to another remarkable inci­dent.

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Malta fever cured

 

Their host's father was a very sick man, suffering from dysentery and recurrent fever (Malta fever, caused by a germ in their goats' milk?). Paul asked to see him.

 

Instead of muttering incantations or pre­scribing outlandish potions, the apostle prayed at the sick man's bedside, and then laid his hands on him. Then, a word of authority, and the old man was fully restored.

 

Word about this remarkable healing, added to the sensational story about Paul and the viper, went round the island in no time at all, with the result that all the sick people (Greek: the rest, which had dis­eases) came or were brought, and all went away cured, and doubtless glorifying the God of Israel - for it is difficult to believe that Paul merely healed without offering also the more important word of healing which the gospel of Christ could impart. The text seems to imply that Luke also was involved in this splendid work, though whether it was by his skill as a doctor or because he too had a healing gift of the Spirit is not clear.

 

In spite of the apostle's unwillingness to make the smallest personal profit out of this beneficence, the people insisted on giving him very substantial gifts of money and clothing, for it was obvious to every­body that he and his friends were now in real need of both.

 

More symbolism

 

In very noticeable fashion Luke has loaded this short section of his narrative with an unusual sequence of "threes" -v.7,11,12, (13), 15,17 - nearly every one of which is in itself of minor importance, so that the reader is led to enquire why this particular emphasis. It seems not unlikely that here there is an extension of the ideas brought together in Chapter 109, for it was on the third day that Paul's Lord rose from the dead. Then, by these three's is the reader being encouraged to grope after the same feature in Paul's survival from certain death (as it seemed)? And, immediately after that "resurrection", the promised signs of healing and poison-survival are wrought through him!

 

Wintering in the main harbour of the island was another big corn carrier bound from Alexandria to Rome - the good ship "Castor and Pollux." Of all the ships Paul travelled in, this is the only one which is named in the record. Thus Luke bids his readers dwell on the significance of this detail.

 

The pale blue discharge of static elec­tricity - St. Elmo's fire - not infrequently seen on the masts of ships was commonly (and rightly?) regarded as a sign of the ship's safety. In ancient days this was attributed to the sons of Zeus. Thus, perhaps, Luke was hinting at the contrast between the ill-fated vessel smashed to pieces in St. Paul's Bay and the safe passage now ensured, under God. Or is it that here, rounding off the parallel be­tween Christ and Paul, the two are put together, with the implied reminder that one of the two stars is perceptibly brighter than the other? It is difficult to know how far to take symbolism of this sort.

 

The three months of winter in Malta now gave place to signs of spring, and the ship called "The Two Sons of God," now much over-crowded with its considerable com­plement of extra passengers, sailed for Syracuse in Sicily.

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Fast sailing

 

There, for three days, the winds were unfavourable. And when at last the next stage of the voyage was attempted, a good deal of tacking was necessary to reach Rhegium, a port in the toe of Italy. But then a strong southerly breeze gave a fast passage to Puteoli, the big ships' best port for Rome.

 

Disembarking, Paul and his friends made enquiry for believers and were greatly pleased to find an ecclesia that they hadn't known to exist. Thereupon the centurion encouraged Paul to spend the next week on parole in their company, thus giving him opportunity for fellowship at their Breaking of Bread. This delay is somewhat mysterious for surely the officer of Bread. This delay is somewhat mysterious for surely the officer would not wish to lose yet another week in getting his party of prisoners to Rome.

 

"Well met, Brother Paul!"

 

The journey resumed, Paul's heart was warmed (Pr.27:17) by the sight of wel­coming parties of brethren at Appii Forum and again at the Three Taverns, ten miles further on. Presumably these were Jew­ish and Gentile brethren travelling separ­ately. The apostle may have had misgiv­ings that they did not unite to greet him, but he was nevertheless much encour­aged that both sections of the ecclesia were glad to see him. His "Epistle to the Romans," aimed primarily at commend­ing Jewish and Gentile believers to a better understanding and tolerance of one another, at any rate, had not created a spirit of estrangement in either group.

 

Doubtless among the brethren now welcoming Paul were a fair number of those to whom he had sent greetings at the end of his epistle. And certainly his fine friends and colleagues Aquila and Priscilla would be there.

 

Rome, at last!

 

On arrival in Rome the prisoners were duly handed over to Burrus, the captain of the Praetorian Guard. But again – such was Paul's standing by this time - the apostle was allowed to occupy a lodging of his own (v.16, 23, 31) within the Praetorian area, under the guard of a quaternion of soldiers who took it in turn to be responsible for him. Never did legionaries have such a light task - or more uplifting, for it is difficult to believe that the apostle did not use the recurring opportunity to educate these men in the Truth of the Gospel.

 

At last the long-formed intention to get to Rome was come to fulfilment.

 

It began (16:37) with an assertion at Philippi of his Roman citizenship. At Corinth (18:2) there came encourage­ment Romeward from Aquila and Priscil­la. Big preaching success in the Roman cities of Asia lifted his eyes to the metropolis (19:21). Soon, in Jerusalem, it was necessary to claim the privileges of his Roman citizenship (22:25). Then came his Lord's firm assurance that "thou must bear witness in Rome also" (23:11). His appeal to Caesar (25:11) crowned the sequence, and made his journey to Rome certain. How would God bless his work here?

[Resource Manager]

Notes: 28:1-16

2. Kindness. The use of this word philanthropia here helps to add meaning to its use in Tit. 3:4. Luke's delightful understatement reads: "no ordinary kindness." Contrast the rancour and hostility Paul encountered everywhere from Jews.

3. Sticks. Gorse still grows in that part of the island.

4. Suffereth not to live. But the Greek is past tense: did not suffer. They regarded Paul as already dead, as good as. For this solution to the problem of evil, see also Gen. 41:21; Lk. 13:1 -3: Job 4:7; Jn. 9:2. But of course it isn't the only answer.

6. They changed their minds etc. Very sardonic. What a splendid literary effect!

7. The chief man. Literally: "the first one." Again, Luke's accuracy in the matter of titles is vindicated. A Maltese inscription has come to light illustrating precisely this usage.

8. Healed. Phil. 2:25-27:1 Tim. 5:23 suggest that Paul did not always have these powers at his command. Every phrase of Is. 42:10 seems marvellously appropriate to this situation.

12. Syracuse. 80 miles in one day.

13. Fetched a compass. A classic example of how the language of King James's men has changed meaning from: "came by an indirect course."

Puteoli. 180 miles from Rhegium, at the north end of the Bay of Naples. An average of approximately 7 knots was not bad going!

14. We found brethren. It is known that there were Christians in near-by Pompeii some time before A.D. 70.

15. To meet us. The word means a formal official meeting. Even in those days the grapevine was efficient.

Appii Forum. Named after the builder of the Appian Way, which road still exists. This place was 40 miles on. The

Roman brethren would not come further because from Puteoli to Appii Forum there were two routes - by road and by canal. Unlucky in choice of route, they would miss Paul.

Took courage. Quoting Job 17:9 LXX?: "Let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage."

16. Captain of the guard. This was Burrus, a very fine character. At this time, and for a few years only, there was only one such captain of the guard. Before and later, two officers shared this responsibility.

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108. In Rome (28:17-31)

 

The edict of Claudius banishing Jews from Rome had long ago become a dead letter. Multitudes of them were already back in the metropolis. It is known that about this time there were no less than eight synagogues in the city. Nero, influ­enced by his concubine Poppaea, was favourably disposed to the Jews. Indeed, this early part of his reign, whilst he was still under the guidance of his tutor, the experienced and kindly Seneca, was one of the finest periods in Roman history for wise government. Even so, there were already signs of a dramatic change for the worse.

 

Appeal to the Roman Jews

 

As soon as Paul was settled in lodgings in the city, he sought contact with the leaders of the Jewish community. He could not go to them, for always there was a chain round his wrist, so by messenger he invited the synagogues to send repre­sentatives to come and meet him.

 

By this time the name of Paul, and what he stood for, was known wherever there was a synagogue. So, if only out of curiosity, delegates came from every segment of Roman Jewry.

 

First of all, Paul was concerned to vindicate himself before them. There was no hope at all that they would listen sympathetically to his message concern­ing Christ if they were full to the top with prejudice against the speaker.

 

He explained as briefly as possible how he came to be a prisoner in Rome. Sanhedrin, Felix, Festus, Agrippa had all recognized that there was really no case against him. Then why had he appealed to Caesar, thus appearing to pass a vote of no confidence in his own people? Simply because of the hatred and excess stirred up against him by a small implac­able minority - "that I might deliver my soul from death" (Bezan text).

 

But, the apostle was careful to stress, he had in no wise turned against his nation because of this. Why, had not his imprisonment during the past two years and more stemmed from his fervent declaration before the Sanhedrin that he clung tenaciously to "the hope of Israel .. .the hope and resurrection of the dead" (23:6)? Because they had heard that he had a message for Gentiles they must not assume that he had lost any of his Jewishness. "It is for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain."

 

The response of his hearers was very guarded. It had to be, for if Paul had been the centre of disturbance and tumult in Judaea, the same could happen in Rome, and the edict of Claudius and the riots which caused it were too recent a memory for comfort. They knew well enough about the Christians as one of the many reli­gious parties into which Jewry was di­vided, and they knew also that these Jewish Christians were execrated by all the rest. But concerning Paul himself there had been no official representations sent them from Jerusalem, either by letter or by official delegate. So until they had heard Paul more fully they thought it best to suspend judgement.

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Sanhedrin case abandoned

 

This fact that the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had not already taken steps to get the synagogues in Rome on their side against Paul calls for explanation. It is hardly adequate to say that the storms which had made Paul's journey to Rome so long and trying must also have delayed any delegates sent from the Sanhedrin, for letters could have been sent by the overland route, and posts along the Roman roads were very efficient and speedy. Also, the fact that two years were to elapse and still no trial strongly sug­gests that the rulers had recognized that they had no case against the apostle, and therefore were content with the next best thing - to have him kept under restraint for as long as possible; and here doubtless the Jewish sympathies of Poppaea would be made use of.

 

On the day fixed for a resumption of discussion with Paul a greater number came together. By this time Jewish Christ­ians in Rome had contributed not a little to the interest taken in the apostle. Probably the talks took place in an open courtyard.

 

Division

 

It was a long session, lasting all through the hours of daylight. Paul expounded at length his faith in Jesus. Did those men now listening to him realise what a rich experience it was for them to hear their Scriptures handled so capably and clearly and convincingly? What a contrast with the aridity of rabbinic tradition!

 

But prejudice dies hard. The Greek verbs imply that in some of them faith was crystallizing out by degrees, but in others (most?) the trend was the other way. Thus discord set in, and since Jesus had already warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand, there was here a foreshadowing of the end of the nation as a coherent organism.

 

After a while the indignant ones began to leave, voting against Paul's gospel with their feet.

 

However, before the meeting broke up Paul made one specially solemn pro­nouncement: "Well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah unto your fathers ...". Thus he put these stubborn contempor­aries of his in the same category with the reprobates of Isaiah's day.

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Isaiah's prophecy of rejection

 

He went on to quote the searing words of rejection from Isaiah 6:9,10 LXX, a passage which (in Mt., Mk., Lk.) Jesus had first applied to his adversaries, which John had used to round off his account of the Lord's ministry, and which in Romans Paul had already woven into his analysis of Jewry's attitude to the gospel.

 

The sequence of ideas in Isaiah 6 is marvellously appropriate to Paul's pre­sent witness to Jewry and the situation he was now attempting to cope with:

Verse
1. The Lord high and lifted up	This is the language describing the Suffering Servant (52:13). And lifted up has the double meaning of "crucified" (Jn. 12:32-34) and "made glorious.
2. The vision of the Cherubim.	Suggests Israel forsaken, as in Ezekiel 1.
3. The fulness of the whole earth is his glory.	The Gospel for the whole world, and not just for Israel.
4. The posts of the door moved; the House filled with smoke.	The first signs of divine judgement on Israel.
5. A man of unclean lips ... a nation of unclean lips.	Saul the persecutor made contrite. Israel unclean and unrepentant.
6. A live coal from the altar.	Paul cleansed of his unworthiness.
8. Send me!	Paul's special mission to take the gospel to his nation everywhere and to the Gentiles.
9. The appeal to Israel rejected	The mass of the nation turning against the gospel.
10. A retributive hardening of heart.	Therefore they could not believe (Jn. 12:39).
11. Cities wasted, without inhabitant.	The Holy Land to be desolated.
12. Men removed far away.	The scattering of the nation.
13. But yet in it a tenth.	Only a remnant of Israel accepting the gospel of Christ (in the last days?).

 

This "last word" of Paul's could hardly have been more ominous. It was a repetition of his synagogue experiences at Antioch in Pisidia, and Corinth, and Ephesus.

 

Apart from individuals who sought him out, and were welcomed, this was the end of the apostle's evangelism among the Jews of Rome.

 

At this place Rackham has the level-headed comment: "In his Epistle to the Romans the apostle in seeking to vindi­cate the ways of God to man sees how... the rejection of the Jews led to the conversion of the Gentiles. But these thoughts are no explanation of the ulti­mate mystery - why does one individual believe and another disbelieve? If we answer that the one believes through the grace of God, this only drives the problem further back - why is divine grace to one and not to another? This question must remain insoluble to finite intelligence" (p. 504).

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Acquitted

 

For two full years Paul continued a prisoner, though under very light restraint. Presumably the Jews of Judaea did nothing further about the case for the prosecution. It would have meant tracking down witnesses from Ephesus (24:19) and Jerusalem and transporting them to Rome - a tedious and highly expensive business, even if it were practicable. So again, presumably, Paul's case at last came up and he was acquitted by default and on the recommendation which even­tually reached Rome from Festus's of­ficials (Festus himself was dying or dead by this time).

 

Paul's prison friends

 

Helped financially by contributions from Philippi (4:10, 14, 18) and probably from aristocratic brethren in Rome, Paul, even though constantly under guard, was able to enjoy liberty of a sort in his own hired house. But he didn't live there alone. Besides members of the Rome ecclesia, both Jews and Gentiles, not a few others came to him from further afield - Timothy, Luke, Aristarchus, Tychicus, Onesimus, Epaphras, Epaphroditus, Mark, Demas, Jesus Justus are all referred to as being with him at this time. A very worthwhile volume could be written about these and other friends of Paul.

 

A detail of special interest illuminates the allusions to Epaphras and Aristarchus who are both referred to as the apostle's fellow-servants and fellow-prisoners (Col. 1:7; 4:10; Philem. 23, 24). It looks as though these two took it in turns to minister to Paul, one being with him in the house - his fellow-prisoner - whilst the other acted as his liaison officer with the ecclesia and the synagogue and Roman authorities. Interchange of these duties from time to time would make these periods of service less burdensome to both.

 

That Luke, "the beloved physician" (Col. 4:14), should continue with Paul a while longer suggests health problems, or Luke would surely have gone back to the ecclesia he so much loved at Philippi. The gifts of money sent thence to Paul were probably inspired by a gentle hint in a letter from Luke to Philippi.

 

That money was brought by Epaphrodi­tus, who may well have been the Philip­pian jailor Paul converted. In Rome Epaphroditus fell desperately ill, and for a while it was touch and go with him (Phil. 2:25-30). As soon as he was fit to travel, Paul sent him off back to Philippi so as to alleviate the ill tidings they had had about their faithful brother.

 

Paul delighted specially in the company of Timothy. "I have no man like-minded, who will as a born son care for your state" (Phil. 2:20). What better thing could Paul have written about him?

 

John Mark, who earlier had been the centre of such strong disagreement be­tween Paul and Barnabas, also came to help. He was now completely reconciled to the apostle and his preaching policy. R.O.P. Taylor has made a good case for the idea that Mark's special forte was the formal instruction of new converts, both before and after baptism. In that capacity he would be of considerable use to Paul whose efforts in the gospel were unflag­ging with all who came or were brought to him.

 

The Bezan text adds here a summary of Paul's teaching during these two years: "Saying that this Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, through whom the whole world is about to be judged."

[Resource Manager]

Prison epistles

 

It seems highly probable (and is indeed taken as definite by a great many com­mentators) that four of Paul's epistles belong to this period - though it may be taken as certain that he wrote a lot more letters than these!

 

Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon were all written at the same time. Tychi­cus, "a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord," was Paul's messenger in the delivery of them. With him went Onesimus, Philemon's runaway slave, whom Paul had taught the Truth in Christ when he turned up in Rome looking for his brother Tychicus.

 

Ephesians and Colossians reckon as two of the most mature, profound, and compressed epistles written by the apos­tle. The former of these seems to have been intended for wider circulation than in the Ephesian ecclesia only.

 

Philippians was written, and sent by the hand of Epaphroditus, at a time when Paul expected very shortly to hear the decision about his appeal to Caesar. In a passage (1:20-26) which has been much misunderstood he thought aloud about the prospects:

 

"With all boldness, as always, now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life (i.e. acquittal, and freedom to serve the Lord more), or by death (i.e. being condemned). For to me, to live is Christ (his personal experience of service and visions and revelations of the Lord), and to die is gain (even thus his martyrdom would magnify the cause of Christ). But if to live in the flesh (i.e. be acquitted), if this is the fruit of my labour (the outcome of my trial), then what I shall choose I wot not. But (with the prospect of freedom) I am in a strait betwixt two (possible policies), having a desire to depart and be with Christ (that is, retire­ment from the strenuous work of preaching to be able to enjoy the visions and revelations from the Lord which he gloried in): nevertheless to abide in the flesh (i.e. to continue active ministry in the ecclesias, as the next verse intimates) is more needful for you. And having this confidence (of impending acquittal), I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith." And so it turned out.

[Resource Manager]

An unfinished story

 

But why did Luke not round off the Book of Acts by telling of Paul's release and renewed activity? Either he concluded the book before Paul was acquitted (but in that case why not wait to get the proper end to the story?), or he stopped there deliberately with the intention of resuming the history in "Volume Three."

 

Of these suggestions, the latter is by far the more likely - for two good reasons:

 

1. Verses 25-31 carry all the marks of a formal conclusion. In his "Acts of the Apostles" Page has a good section on this.
   
2. In 1:1, "the former treatise" uses a word implying the first of more than two, thus suggesting Luke's intention to add at least one other book after Acts.

 

In that case was the "Further Acts of Paul" never written, or being written did if fail to survive? It is known that Luke was still alive four years or so later (2 Tim. 4:11), and again in Paul's company shortly before the apostle died in the Nero persecution. So it seems fairly likely that "Volume Three" never got written. Luke probably died a martyr alongside his old friend. It is difficult to believe that that third history was written and yet was allowed to perish, for as soon as it was available (if it ever was) copies would very quickly multiply. Rome especially had very efficient copying systems in those days.

 

 

Notes: 28:17-31

19. My nation. Paul generously exculpates his people, but by switching from the usual laos (v. 17) to ethnos he hints at estrangement.

20. For the hope of Israel; and for bringing Gentiles into the hope of Israel, Eph. 3:1.

This chain. How it galled this restless energetic man! 26:29; Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20; Philem. 10,13 (2 Tim. 1:16; 2:9). 22. Everywhere spoken against; i.e. everywhere in Jewry.

This sect. As though the Christians formed an exclusive club!

23. There came. This less common word normally means (in NT.) an act brought about by God.

25. They departed. Greek M.V. might imply to save themselves from being worsted in argument.

Well. So also Jesus, in a like spirit; Mk. 7:6,9.

30. Two whole years. And all this time shackled! Phil. 1:13.

31. Preaching. And he a prisoner, and in Rome! A clear testimony to the legality of Christianity.

[Resource Manager]

109. Paul and the Sufferings of Christ

 

In the last few chapters of Acts resembl­ances between Paul and Christ, both in experience and in phraseology, continue to accumulate. These are so detailed that it is quite impossible to believe that they are fortuitous. Paul himself was surely aware of this extended parallel, and gloried in it:

 

a. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus - that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:10,11).

b. "That I may know ... the fellow­ship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" (Phil. 3:10).

c. "I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" (Col. 1:24).

 

Now consider these details:

20:23	Three prophecies of suffering	Luke 9:22, 44; 18:31
21:13	Must go to Jerusalem	Luke 9:51
21:5	"When the days were accomplished."	Luke 9:51 RV
20:8, 11	A Breaking of Bread in an upper room A final warning and exhortation to the disciples.	Luke 22:12-20 Matthew24; John 14-16.
20:28, 31.	"Watch!"	Matthew 24: 42-46.
20:19	"My temptations"	Luke 22:28
21:1	"Torn away" from his friends	Luke 22:41 s.w.
21:13	"Break my heart."	Matthew 26: 37; Psalm 69:20.
20:36; 21:5	Kneeled and prayed.	Luke 22:41.
21:14	"The will of the Lord be done."	Matthew 26:39
21:11	Bound	John 18:12
23:1	Before the Sanhedrin.	Matthew 26:57
23:2	Smitten on the face	John 18:22
21:11	Delivered into the hands of Gentiles	John 18:28
24:25	Before the Roman governor	Matthew 27:2
25:22	Herod Agrippa wanting to see and hear him	Luke 23:18
24:1	His accusers the chief priests The same charges:	Matthew 27:12
24:5	(a) Political-against Caesar	Luke 23:2
24:5	(b) Religious-blasphemy	Matthew 26:65
24:5,6	(c.) Against the temple	Matthew 26:61
25:24	Vehement accusation	Luke 23:10
25:25	"Nothing worthy of death"	Luke 23:14 etc.
26:31	(declared 4 times)
23:9, 29
25:9	Left bound to please the Jews	John 19:16
24:27
25:22	Governor and Herod made friends.	Luke 23:12
22:22	"Away with him!"	Matthew 27:22,23
23:12	Enemies call down a curse on themselves	Matthew 27:25
22:24	Scourging — and in the same place?	John 19:1
23:24,31	"Suffered without the gate," in weakness;	Luke 23:26
27:24,44	Went down into the abyss and yet survived
27:34,35	Brought reassurance to others by eating food in their presence	Luke 24:41-43
27:44	Was the means of salvation to all who trusted in his lead
28	Went away into a far country.	Luke 24:51

[Resource Manager]

One comment on the foregoing:

 

It will be noted that in certain respects Paul's imitation of Christ is complete but, now and then, is somewhat distorted. This is to be expected. The servant is not greater than, is nowhere near as great as, his Master. Similarly, none of the Lord's parables give a complete picture of Truth. Each one concentrates on certain impor­tant facets.

 

The same characteristic of symbolic incompleteness is to be found in the details about the Tabernacle.

 

The veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen was adorned with cher­ubim (Ex. 26:31). These were "of cun­ning work," that is, almost certainly, showing a true pattern of "needlework on both sides" (Jud. 5:30). Thus Christ, whether seen by God or by man, display­ed the Glory of God.

 

But the hanging for the door of the Tent, whilst likewise of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen, had a pattern which was "the work of the embroiderer." This represents the life of the saints, and accordingly cherubim are not mentioned, for in the life of every disciple the Glory of God is distorted. Nor is this inwrought. It is "embroidered" on (Ps. 45:14).

 

This perhaps helps to an understanding of why even in Paul the actual imitation of Christ is at times not as clear-cut as it might be.

 

Yet another impressive parallel is be­tween Paul and Ezekiel.

Acts		Ezekiel
20:22	Bound in the Spirit	3:14
20:6; 21:4, 27	Seven days.	3:15
20:26; 18:6	Clean from the blood of all men	3:18,19
20:29	Grievous wolves	34:25; 22:27; 13:4
20:31	Therefore watch and warn.	3:17
21:24	Nazirite vow	5:1 8:3
20:4	Six men and Paul	9:2
22:6	The Glory out of the north.	1:4
20:32	Build you up... an inheritance among them that are sanctified.	Ch. 40-48 (Temple)
20:28	Feed the flock	34:14, 15
20:35	Support the weak.	34:4 LXX
23:1	Before the Council	8:11
23:3	Whited wall	13:10
23:31	Go forth at even into captivity	12:4
25:27	Bound two years	3:25
26:13, 26:16	The Glory. Stand up upon thy feet	Ch. 1 2:1
9:15	I send thee to the children of Israel	2:3
28:20	Bound with this chain.	7:23
28:17, 23	Chief of the Jews came to Him	8:1
28:27	A hard-hearted people	3:7
28:28	The Gentiles will hear.	3:6
28:30	His own hired house	3:24

[Resource Manager]

110. Luke himself

 

A study of Acts would be seriously in­complete without an attempt to bring its author to life. In the introduction (ch. 1) a few facts and probabilities about him were brought together - his medical lan­guage; the early publication and general acceptance of his gospel; the date of publication of Acts, and why the ex­pected Volume 3 is not now available. An effort must now be made to fill out the portrait.

 

There are hints that from time to time Paul was a sick man. It may be taken as fairly certain that Luke added profession­al interest to his abiding friendship for Paul. So it is not to be wondered at that the apostle should call him "the beloved healer" (Col. 4:14).

 

From the "we" passages (16:10-17; 20:5-21 :18; 27:1-28:16) it is possible to infer that Luke and Paul were together on the Second Journey from Troas to and at Philippi, on the Third Journey from Philippi back to Jerusalem, and from Caesarea throughout the voyage to Rome.

 

As a physician Luke was almost cer­tainly a scholarly man. Indeed, that he was is evident also from the quality of his literary composition. The most elegant stylistic Greek in the New Testament is to be found in his writings, especially in the introduction to his gospel and in certain parts of Acts.

 

Second and third century writers refer to Luke as a citizen of Antioch in Syria, but this could be a false inference from the mention of Lucius in Acts 13:1. It would be a mistake easily made. But Luke's full name would be Lucanus, not Lucius.

 

A much more likely guess is that Luke was a Samaritan. Is it not remarkable that, with only one exception (Jn. 4), every New Testament reference to Samaria and Samaritans comes in Luke and Acts? This identification would readily explain two phenomena in his writings which on the alternative assumption, that he was a Gentile convert, are very dif­ficult to make sense of.

 

One is that Luke shows a very marked familiarity with the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament. This comes out in his Old Testament allusions in scores of places. Also, the textual analysts have estimated that no less than 471 Greek words in the New Testament are used by Luke and by no other New Testament writer, and of these approximately three-quarters are Septuagint words. If he were a Samaritan, and well-educated at that, Luke would certainly be familiar with the Septuagint. But if he were a convert from heathenism, what likelihood of that?

 

But another feature of his writing style is his ready use of Hebraistic idioms and turns of speech. Again, this now presents no difficulty. But if he were of Gentile origin such a characteristic would be quite bewildering.

 

This Samaritan speculation may perhaps be carried a bit further. All the other gospel writers leave their signature on their writings somewhere. Mark tells about the young man in Gethsemane with a linen garment; Matthew is the only one who tells explicitly that Levi the publi­can was himself; John never refers to himself by name, but tells about "the disciple whom Jesus loved." In an attempt to trace Luke's signature, gues­ses have been made that he was one of the two who gave hospitality to the risen Jesus at Emmaus. But there are big improbabilities about this.

 

An attractive alternative is to look for him in the parable of the Good Samar­itan, which lovely story comes only in Luke. This Samaritan, it is implied, was a medico, for he came to the stricken man and "bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine." Would a traveller normally be equipped to deal with a situation of this kind? The idea of Jesus building one of his most moving parables round Luke is very appealing, and it becomes the more so when it is realised that this travelling Samaritan is, in interpretation, a picture of the Saviour himself. It is a pity this suggestion lacks fuller verification.

[Resource Manager]

It has already been suggested that Luke and Titus were brothers (chapter 59) and that the encounter with Luke at Troas came about in the first instance because Titus, accompanying Paul, was also in touch with his brother who evidently had earlier settled down to a professional life at Philippi.

 

Thus the "man of Macedonia" seen by Paul in a dream at Troas was (as Ram­say first suggested) Luke who had joined the party only the day before (see chap­ter 65). Not a few details fall into place when helped by this hypothesis.

 

When Paul and Silas and Timothy were constrained to move on from Phil­ippi, Luke stayed there for something like five years. The healthy condition of the ecclesia there, as may be readily inferred from Paul's Philippian epistle, was almost certainly due in the main to Luke's fine influence.

 

Even though he fails to mention him­self (or his brother) explicitly in Acts or Gospel, a distinct impression comes through to the careful reader of a gracious kindly dedicated Christian gentle­man. He was an evident enthusiast for the particular emphasis which is so per­ceptible in Paul's preaching of the gos­pel: - justification by faith, the forgive­ness of sins, and the fulness of divine grace and providence in the life of the believer. It is noticeable that women find greater prominence in his gospel than in the others. And prayer is another aspect of the life in Christ which he loves to emphasize.

 

It would seem that, when word got round that Paul had been arrested once again during the Nero persecution, Luke lost no time in joining Paul in Rome, even though it meant sharing imprisonment with him. "Only Luke is with me," the apostle wrote in the very last thing that came to the brethren from his pen. At that time to be near to Paul was to be near to danger, so others who might have been expected to rally to his aid kept away.

 

Later traditions (how dependable?) say that Luke died at the age of 74 (or 84). But it seems more likely that when Paul was put to death, Luke died also; what difference would one Christian more or less make to Nero? Anyway, this would readily explain why Luke's Volume 3 was never finished.

[Resource Manager]

Appendix 1

 

Paul's Journeys after his first trial

 

1. To Spain,

 

a. Clement of Rome:

b. "Paul came to the limit of the west."

c. Muratorian Fragment and Ignatius (both 2nd Century) and Jerome say Paul preached in Spain.

d. Inscription found in Spain (reign of Nero): "The government eliminated robbers and those who sought to instil a new superstition in the minds of the people."

 

But:

 

Phil. 1:23-25, Philem. 22 seem to imply an intention to concentrate on consolidation of existing ecclesias and on countering Judaist propaganda.

 

2. The following order is uncertain:

 

a. Crete, with Titus (Tit. 1:3)

b. Corinth (probably)

c. Nicopolis (Tit. 3:12)

d. Dalmatia (probably)

e. Macedonia (1 Tim. 1:3)

f. Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1;2 Pet. 3:15)

g. Ephesus (2 Tim. 1:4)

h. Colosse (Philem. 22)

i. Asian circuit, ending at Troas.

j. Arrested at Troas (2 Tim. 4:13, 14) not long after the Fire of Rome, 19th July, A.D. 67(?).

k. Miletum (2 Tim.4:20)

l. Rome: trial and execution.

[Resource Manager]

Appendix 2

 

The Gift of Tongues

 

One of the most mysterious of all phe­nomena associated with the early church was the power of speaking with tongues, the first of all the gifts which came to those endued with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and which later was found to be man­ifested also at Caesarea (Acts 10:44-48), Corinth (1 Cor. 14), Ephesus (Acts 19:6), and maybe also at Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5:19-22). What precisely was this strange power which vanished along with all the other charismata of the Holy Spirit in the first century?

 

Two drastically differing points of view are commonly held with regard to this problem. One, that it was an actual endowment with the ability to speak a variety of foreign languages, not for preaching, but simply as a marvellous, sensational advertisement. The other, that 'tongues' was an expression of spiritual excitement in the form of a torrent of ecstatic meaningless ejaculations bearing no relation to any known lan­guage. The proviso is usually added to this second view that at Pentecost, though probably not on later occasions, a number of foreign phrases must have been included, to be recognised as such by the assembled multitude.

 

Ground for this second view is usually found in the promise: "They shall speak with new tongues" (Mk. 16:17), though this might merely mean 'new' to those thus gifted.

 

"They began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utter­ance" (Acts 2:4). The Greek word (heter­os) used here for 'other' requires, it is suggested, a different kind of speech, and not just another language of the kind they normally used.

 

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels" (1 Cor. 13:1). The words are interpreted as having reference to a mode of speech which is quite unearthly.

 

"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruit­ful" (1 Cor. 14:14).

 

"For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." (1 Cor. 14:2).

 

The same phenomenon in all places

 

In addition, an attempt is sometimes made to separate off the marvellous happenings at Pentecost from the later manifestation of tongues, as though it were an altogether distinct phenomenon. But this must be strenuously resisted for the following reason:

 

The sequence of events on the Day of Pentecost was (a) the outpouring of the Spirit, (b) speaking with tongues, (c.) praise and prophecy. Now in the case of Cornelius and his household, and also at Ephesus (Acts 10:45, 46; 19:6) precisely the same sequence is specifically men­tioned: "On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." "The Holy Spirit came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophe­sied." This identity with the original man­ifestation is explicitly mentioned by Peter: "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning" (11:15).

 

Hence the gift of tongues at Pentecost differed in no essential feature from its later manifestation at Caesarea and at Ephesus. This was evidently the normal experience, and it may safely be con­cluded that there was no fundamental divergence at Corinth, concerning which ecclesia most is known (1 Cor. 14). Where this question is concerned, Jeru­salem and Corinth cannot be treated separately.

[Resource Manager]

Not gibberish

 

Next, it can be demonstrated that speaking with tongues was not unintelligi­ble gibberish but, on the contrary, was capable of being understood: "We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God ... Every man heard them speak in his own language... how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born" (Acts 2:6, 8, 11).

 

Speaking with tongues also involved prophesying, for Peter explains the one by a quotation from Joel about the other: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (v. 17 and again in v. 18). Comparison should also be made with the passages cited earlier concerning Corne­lius and the Ephesians. Their speaking with tongues is said to have involved prophesying and magnifying God. It is difficult to see how these could find expression in what was meaningless incoherence.

 

Several passages in 1 Cor. 14, the outstanding chapter dealing with this topic, require the same conclusion: v.4: "He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself." But how, if his utter­ance was nought but an outburst of emotional inexplicable frenzy? v.14: "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful." From this, even though the last phrase may at the moment occasion difficulty, it is clear that speaking in a tongue might involve de­finite prayer.

 

v.16, 17 are even more emphatic: "Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For verily thou givest thanks well, but the other is not edified."

 

Yet another factor of importance in this question is Paul's evident inability to understand the speech of Lycaonia (Acts 14:11-14), although some years later he is able to assert: "I speak with tongues more than ye all."

 

Summary

 

Summing up thus far, the following contradictory conclusions have been achieved:

 

(a.) The gifts of tongues mentioned in various different passages are all of a kind.

(b.) The gift included speech in known languages.

(c.) It did not impart knowledge of cur­rent dialects.

(d.) Its results were intelligible, but yet involved a considerable element of incomprehensibility.

 

Any solution must be adequate to cope with all these different aspects of the problem. It is suggested that such a solution is available.

 

At the time when the gospel was being preached by the apostles, Hebrew had almost become a dead language, as Latin and Greek are today. As a language it was spoken by hardly any, yet the study and use of it were very much alive because of the fact that the Old Testament scriptures were written in Hebrew. Also, the temple services were conducted almost entirely in that language. The Dead Sea docu­ments have also revealed that Bar Kochbah, the last of the pseudo-Messiahs, insisted on official documents being in Hebrew - a typical nationalistic gesture.

 

When the first promise of the Holy Spirit was made, Jesus added: "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance" (John 14:26). There can be no doubt that the remarkable detail and reliability of the gospel narratives are due to their having been written by men with divinely activated memories. This special gift of memory was added often to people whose Jewish education and training had already developed the powers of memory considerably more than is normal in these days.

[Resource Manager]

A suggested explanation

 

Consequently it becomes not only feasible but probable that those with the gift of tongues were divinely inspired to remember and repeat portions of Hebrew Scripture and synagogue or temple liturgy which they had heard in the course of religious training over the past years. Such a hypothesis would immediately and easily explain the various outstanding difficulties enumerated above.

 

This suggestion springs in the first instance from the occurrence of a most unusual word in Acts 2:4 "As the Spirit gave them utterance." It is identical with the word used in 1 Chron. 25:1 LXX:". . . the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, son of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals .. ." Just as these priests recited psalms and prayers in the Temple, so also (it is suggested) the apostles and others were inspired to remember and repeat the same kind of thing.

 

Such excited repetition would be unintelligible to the majority, and at the same time intelligible to the well-educated few. Nor would the meaning be utterly wasted (even though only imperfectly under­stood) on the one who made such an utterance.

 

The problems evaporate

 

The most obvious objection to this suggestion is this: How would an inspired repetition in Hebrew of Holy Scripture or temple prayers satisfy the details of Acts: "other tongues ... we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God ... every man in his own lan­guage"?

 

To this reasonable demur there is a simple answer available. In those days Jerusalem was full of synagogues, each one devoted to the special interests of Jews visiting or now residing in the city from various parts of the Dispersion; e.g. "the synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and Asia" (6:9). In these assemblies much of the service would be in Greek, the international language of that period, but also much of it in the language of one particular Jewish com­munity or another from some remote part of the empire. The present writer has heard church services in N.W. Scotland, partly in English and partly in Gaelic. The same bilingual method is followed in not a few churches in Wales? It has been known in at least one Italian ecclesia in America.

 

Thus it would come about that amongst the Jerusalem disciples there would cer­tainly be some who at some time or another had heard prayers and the praise of God in a variety of different tongues, so it seems not unlikely that the Holy Spirit "brought all things to their remembr­ance", so that they were enabled to recall and repeat accurately parts of synagogue services which they had at some time heard in languages unfamiliar to them.

[Resource Manager]

A re-examination of the relevant pas­sages is now called for, to see if the hypothesis fits the facts.

 

"Every man heard them speak in his own language ... And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born" (2:6, 8; see also v. 14, 22). It has to be borne in mind that, contrary to usual assumption, the people thus spoken of were not visitors to Jerusalem who had come for the feast: they were residents, devout men who had made their homes in the Holy City: "There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." These en­thusiasts for the temple and its service would naturally be better equipped than the average member of the crowd to discern the true character of the excited utterance of the apostles. Others - un­learned and unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:23) - naturally reacted differently. To them it was gibberish: "These men are full of new wine." But not so the others: "We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."

 

There is now no difficulty about the amazed enquiry: "Are not all these which speak Galileans?" If indeed it was their speech (Mt. 26:73) and not their dress which identified the apostles as Gali­leans, the ejaculation of surprise can well be understood. Here were rough untu­tored men speaking in public with all the authority and eloquence and also the linguistic learning of fully qualified rabbis.

 

Other passages likewise fall into place and confirm the conclusion arrived at.

 

"He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not to men, but to God: for no man understandeth him: howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries" (1 Cor. 14:2). It is not unlikely that the enthusiasts en­dowed with tongues at Corinth would be mostly Jewish Christians with some back­ground of Hebrew or foreign synagogue liturgy. Their repetition of imperfectly understood prayers and psalms would answer precisely to this description.

 

The words of 1 Cor. 14:5 are now relieved of all difficulty: "Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying." There is a resemblance to the time of Nehemiah when the people returned from Babylon ignorant of the language of their Holy Scriptures: "So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly (RV margin: with interpretation), and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading" (Neh. 8:8).

 

"I thank my God," says Paul, "I speak with tongues more than ye all." How naturally these words come from Gama­liel's most distinguished and greatly travelled pupil, and how easy to reconcile with his inability to understand the speech of Lycaonia, if his gift of tongues was an intensifying of his longstanding familiarity with the ancient speech of his fathers and with Jewish worship as expressed in diverse languages in a variety of synago­gues.

 

Difficulty also evaporates from the words: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels." The tongue of angels surely was the ancient Hebrew by which the law was communicated to Moses (Heb. 2:2). Every angel men­tioned in the Old Testament appears to have spoken in Hebrew.

 

The reference to prayers and giving of thanks in an unknown tongue are now readily seen to be allusions to standard Hebrew prayers, the details of which might not be understood by the one who uttered them and not at all by those who heard, but the gist of which would certain­ly be known to the speaker. A similar meaning can also be read into the words of 1 Cor. 14:14, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful" - words which if they have reference to the utterance of gibberish, are themselves near to being gibberish.

 

The reference to the gift of tongues at Caesarea and Ephesus now presents little difficulty. The new disciples at Ephesus had been disciples of John the Baptist, and were therefore Jews; and Cornelius, though a Gentile, had obviously strong Jewish associations; he was a "proselyte of the gate" and already knew much about the teaching and work of Jesus (Acts 10:37). There would therefore be no more difficulty (humanly speaking) about these men being given superhuman re­collection of the languages of the Old Testament or the synagogues, than was the case of the apostles. Indeed, if those "of the circumcision" who accompanied Peter heard the Gentile Cornelius speak­ing in the holy tongue of their sacred Scriptures their instinctive opposition to the acceptance of Gentiles into the church could have no finer antidote.

[Resource Manager]

Last of all, consideration has to be given to the Biblical argument in 1 Cor. 14:21. There Paul claims that the gift of tongues is a direct fulfilment of Isaiah 28:11; "Nay, but with men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak unto this people" (RV).

 

Modern exposition of these words is usually on these lines: The people of Isaiah's time were so given to self-indulgence and to despising of divine instruction, that God was promising them (with sardonic force) a different set of teachers - the fierce, ravaging Assyrian forces under Sennacherib. But this view is altogether mistaken, as will now be shown.

 

In the time of Hezekiah the worship of the Lord had become sadly perverted:

 

"The priest and the prophet have erred . . . they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." The jibe of the drunkards was turned by Isaiah the prophet into the enunciation of a stern and sober truth: "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine: them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept: line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." The incurable apostasy of those who were themselves the appointed religious lead­ers of Israel created a hard necessity to start afresh with a new generation of childlike learners. "With another tongue" God was going to speak unto this people.

 

Thus it came about. Hezekiah's reform­ation brought to Jerusalem a great crowd of Galileans, "men of strange lips and with another tongue", all intent on a zealous return to the Lord their God and the celebration of His Passover. These men with their country ignorance and uncouth northern dialect, became the instructors in godliness of "the scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem."

 

But the more important fulfilment of the Scripture came in the time of the apostles. The scornful men in Jerusalem gave no heed to the appeals of the Son of God: they erred in vision and stumbled in judgement. So Jesus turned to those who would receive the Word of God as little children (Lk. 10:21). These he patiently instructed and duly appointed to be the new generation of teachers in Israel. These despised provincials - "Are not all these which speak Galileans?" - were given credentials: an inspired remembr­ance of the tongue of ancient learning and of the variegated languages of the Diaspora synagogue services. "Where­fore", Paul concludes with great cogency, "tongues are for a sign not to them that believe, but to them (Jews) that believe not."

 

Thus the proper understanding of the Biblical basis for the gift of tongues requires that this strange phenomenon should be associated first and foremost with the holy language of Israel. It is a pity that loose ideas about the appositeness of New Testament citations of the Old should have blinded so many students of Scripture to the force and instruction latent in this passage which Paul culled from Isaiah.

 

Paul's argument, then, required that the witness of the gift of tongues be to unbelieving Israel. Accordingly the first outpouring of the Spirit was in Jerusalem, exactly as Joel had foretold (2:28-32, especially 32). This was why the Lord Jesus commanded the disciples "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4).

 

But Joel 2 will certainly be fulfilled again. It requires an outpouring of the Spirit in the Last Days, with another sensational demonstration of the gift of tongues. And as on the former occasion, so again Joel will be fulfilled first of all in Jerusalem - "a sign not to them that believe, but to them (Israel) that believe not."

 

Behold, then, the astonishing phe­nomenon in this twentieth century - in scores of cities round the world confident claims are being made of a pentecostal power to speak with tongues, but not yet at Jerusalem!

 

One has yet to hear an adequate pentecostal answer to this argument.

[Resource Manager]

Appendix 3

 

THE JEWISH PLOT

 

WHEN the leaders of the Jews sought to at least contain the new movement led by Jesus of Nazareth, they brought to bear every subtle form of attack and denigra­tion they were capable of. And when these failed, as they must when dealing with a man such as Jesus, they had to fall back on crude "thud and blunder" methods which involved using all the organized powers of religion and state to get him crucified.

 

With Jesus himself out of the way they next found that the hard facts of his resurrection and of the transformation and inspiration of his apostles shewed their problem to be still unsolved. Now open persecution only seemed to make the movement prosper more than ever. The blood of the martyrs was already becoming the seed of the Ecclesia. But the old resources of craft and cunning were not atrophied. A deliberate attempt was made to wreck the new "sect" from within. Nowhere is this stated categor­ically in the New Testament, but the build-up of passages pointing to such a conclusion, and the flowering of others taking on bigger meaning in the light of this idea, is very persuasive.

 

The Judaist "underground"

 

In Galatians 2:4, 5 Paul has a re­miniscence of "false brethren unawares brought in, who came in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour." These words can mean only one thing, that agents were being planted in the early church with instruc­tions to conform in all outward seeming to the standard pattern of Christian disci­pleship, but to work over a period of years towards either steering the eccle­sias back to loyalty to the Law or creating such internal dissensions as could only have a serious deleterious effect on the community generally.

 

These agents provocateurs would necessarily have to be exceptionally clever men who were also marvellously able in hypocritically covering up their true character. There was no lack of excellent material in the ranks of the Pharisees and the priests. So when "a great company of the priests were obe­dient to the faith" (Acts 6:7), it would be a comparatively easy matter to get one or two of these spies accepted among them.

 

It is understandable that since the big majority of the early disciples were re­latively lowly people, in wealth, social standing and education, these acces­sions to the ecclesia from the upper echelons of Jewish society would climb fast in the esteem of their brethren and in the opportunities accorded to them as teachers and leaders (footnote).

 

Consequently at a fairly early date it was possible for these men, working with all the dedicated fervour and persistence of a Communist cell, to exercise an almost unbelievable degree of influence.

 

They first shewed their strength at Antioch, where their words were evident­ly so emphatic and persuasive as to sway Peter himself. The details of this encounter have been analysed in chap­ter 57, which see.

 

Footnote: *(even though Jesus had warned against this very thing; Luke 14:7-11).

[Resource Manager]

Paul the obstacle

 

From this incident these men of evil intention saw clearly that they could expect no real success in their project whilst Paul stood in the way. In intellec­tual grasp of the issues at stake, in ability to get at the crux of a problem, in moral fibre and toughness of character, they were no match for him. And he had the status of Apostle, which none of them could claim. So from now on, it was on him and his work that they must concen­trate.

 

Galatia

 

Their next campaign again brought quick encouraging victories. When news got back to Judaea of the big success of the missionary journey of Paul and Bar­nabas in converting Galatian Gentiles to the Faith, they (or, more probably, others working in concert with them) promptly followed the same route, visiting each newly-founded ecclesia. They assumed to themselves, and were accorded, the highest possible degree of holiness and authority. Were they not men of great education, learned in the Law and mem­bers of the apostles' own ecclesia in Jerusalem?

 

In the hands of such men these spir­itually unsophisticated Galatians were an instrument to play whatever tune they chose. The greatness of Moses' Law (which Paul himself had, no doubt, often talked about!) would be skilfully stressed in their teaching. To be sure, Christ was to be accepted without any reservation, but Moses also. Look at the Biblical mandates for circumcision. There must be baptism truly - but also circumcision. And the Sabbath dated from Creation. Was it now to be lightly cast aside?

 

Then the cleverest trick of all. As things are, you and we cannot have true reli­gious fellowship together because we follow different food laws. Accept the prohibitions Moses laid on unclean foods, and we are truly your brethren -but not until!" "They seek you in no good way"; wrote Paul regarding this part of their campaign, "nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them" (4:17 RV). Here then was not only subtle persuasion, but the iron hand in the velvet glove - the blackmail of disfel­lowship, hinted at just sufficiently to frighten men feeling unsure of them­selves. The same disreputable tactics have even been known in the twentieth century.

It was a resounding success from the start. The battle was won with hardly a blow. And these bewildered Galatians settled down to learn how to be good Jews in order to be Christians.

 

When news of this reached Paul, be blazed. White-hot with anger and bitter disappointment he dashed off his great Letter to the Galatians in which every emotion jostled with quick-fire argument, exhortation and appeal. At the time this was the best response he could muster. The obvious course of action to follow was to return hot-foot to Galatia to straighten the problem out in person. But this was not possible for him because the same sort of controversy had erupted in Antioch and Jerusalem, and Paul was needed for the Council which was to be held in order to reach some authoritative decision about it for all the ecclesias.

 

The charitable compromise reached at the Council in Jerusalem made conces­sions of a practical character to the life-long deep-rooted prejudices of the brethren who had spent all their lives honouring the Law of Moses; it also brought the way of life of Jewish and Gentile Christians close enough together to make fellowship and closer social contact a more real thing.

 

Meantime Paul's letter to Galatia had done its job. The new brethren were back on course. "I would they were even cut off which trouble you," Paul had written. And if the trouble-makers, doubtless feeling well-pleased with themselves, had not already gone away before his letter was received, there need be little doubt that is what would have happened to them!