Axis Mundi: Rome

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint of
"Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

The gospel first arrived in Rome with those believers who heard it proclaimed at Pentecost by Peter. Members of Herod Agrippa’s household, former members Pilot’s household, and returning soldiers that were believers may have also contributed to the testimony in Rome about Jesus. In any case, the Christian presence in Rome that was sufficient by 49 CE to provoke significant unrest in the Jewish community of which it constituted a subset. Seutonius reports in Life of Claudius  that: “because the Jews of Rome were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city.” Among those early believers that left Rome at that time (but later returned) were Priscilla and Aquila, who befriended Paul in Corinth.

And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39)

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” (Ac 2.5-12)

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. (Ac. 18.1)

Rome originally regarded Christians as a Jewish sect, as the ruling below by Gallio indicates, but the continued presence of non-Jewish Christians in Rome following the expulsion of the Jews is no doubt led residents of Rome to conceive of Christians and Jews as separate communities. Non-Jewish believers in Rome may themselves have affected an independence of their Jewish tutors for Paul takes pains to correct this attitude on their part following the return of the Jews to Rome after the death of Claudius in 54 CE. By then, there were numerous household congregations in Rome. There are even believers in Nero’s household by the time of Paul’s house-imprisonment there only a few years later.

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law —settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” So he drove them off. Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.
(Ac 18.12-17)

I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! (Rm 11.13-24)

Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. (Rm 15.25-27)

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them. (Rm 16.3-15)

All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. (Ph 4.22)

By the time Paul arrived in Rome, Synagogues were no longer the principal venue of the Gospel, and the Jewish leaders in Rome seem to have had little exposure to it. Paul himself effected the permanent break between Church and Synagogue shortly after his arrival:

Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.” They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”’

“Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” (Ac 28.17–28)

The growing presence of a tightly knit community not constrained by ethnicity (and answerable to its own leaders) no doubt inspired the fear that erupted in brutal persecution under Nero. The primary threat to Rome was not insurrection but a substitution of Jesus for the traditional values undergirding society. The Gospel has unsettled the social and political dynamics of kingdoms and nations everywhere it has established itself for the kingdom of God is not an earthly power but rather a community of faith that both spans and divides nations, peoples, and tribes.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rm 12.1–2)

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Rm 13.1-7)

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Mt 13.33)

Axis Mundi: Macedonia and Achaia

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

There were fewer Jewish communities in Macedonia and Achaia to facilitate the initial spread of the Gospel, and the apostles sometimes traveled long distances between cities in which they preached extensively. Paul, Silas and Timothy accompanied Luke to Philippi, the regional capital, where they remained for several days without encountering any fellow Jews on their first visit to Macedonia. They went outside the city gates on the Sabbath, expecting to find a gathering place along the river, but there they only encountered a woman from Thyatira (near Ephesus) who had come to believe in God and who now came to believe in Jesus. Her household became the nucleus of the first church in Macedonia, which provided material support for Paul until he became settled in Corinth.

From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. (Ac. 16.12−15)

Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. (Ph. 3.15−16)

The Gospel soon posed a threat to the established social and economic order in Philippi. Here local sentiment erupted in public denunciation of the apostles and their message following the healing of a demoniac slave girl whose owners had profited by her former condition. This resulted in the apostles being summarily flogged and thrown into prison without a trial. A positive consequence of these events was the conversion of their jailor and his household, which further established the church among the people of that region.

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. (Ac. 16.16−23)

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved —you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. (Ac. 16.25−34)

Thessalonica was the first city in Macedonia where Paul and his companions found a synagogue. There Paul reasoned with the Jews for three weeks with the result that some Jews and a larger number of Greeks (including a few prominent women converts) accepted the Gospel. This resulted in a bitter schism, which lead to a near riot provoked by jealous Jews who charged the Christians with sedition. After learning that the Gospel had received a more favorable reception in nearby Berea, these same Jews pursued Paul and his companions there. Paul subsequently decamped for Athens, where he awaited Timothy who meanwhile doubled back to Thessalonica to check on the believers there. Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians indicate that they endured considerable hardship.

When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. (Ac. 17.1−8)

So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. (1 Th. 3.1−7)

The Athens that Paul visited was a city living in the shadow of its glorious past, of which mostly only the architecture remained. Here Paul reasoned with somewhat indifferent Jews in the synagogue as well as with whomever he encountered in the marketplace, including some Epicurean (agnostic) and Stoic (pantheist) philosophers who took offense at Paul’s words and obliged him to explain himself before an assembly of the Areophagus. Here he delivered a universal history of religion which drew a divided response when he cited the resurrection of Jesus as the proof of his argument. Some sneered, though others expressed interest, and one member of the council, Dionysius, became a believer.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:

“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship —and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring. Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Ac. 17.16−34)

Paul did not linger in Athens, but travelled on to Corinth, the regional capital, where he preached for a year and a half, first in the synagogue and later in a household church of Jewish and Gentile believers.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. (Ac. 18.1−8)

Corinth was a Roman colony founded partly as a face-saving gesture and partly for pragmatic reasons. Rome had destroyed the original Corinth in 146 BC for coordinating Greek resistance to Roman control over the Achaia, and the Greeks were fond of pointing to Corinth as an example of what Pax Romana truly meant. Julius Caesar chaffed at this negative publicity and determined to undermine it by resurrecting Corinth as a fabulously prosperous, and profoundly Roman city that showcased how Rome expected to remake Greek society.

The ancient temple to Aphrodite on the acropolis, famous for its multitude of prostitutes, was not rebuilt, and the new city was instead dedicated to Venus of Victory. This Venus was originally the Carthaginian goddess Astarte, goddess of Desire, whom the Romans and taken as their own but refashioned as their goddess of Victory following their utter destruction of Carthage. The symbolism of the substitution of this Venus of Roman Victory for the Aphrodite of Ancient Corinth was not lost on the Greeks.

The new Corinth was settled with Roman war veterans and minor nobles whose loyalty to Rome would serve as a beachhead in the region. The laws and customs were Roman, and the common language was Latin. There was a partial nod to Greek tradition in the form of a revival of the biannual Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympic Games in regional importance, though these were dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter, whose temple at Isthmia was the site of a sumptuous and prestigious banquet for the citizens of Corinth.

Given the nature and function of Roman Corinth, questions of status would have had implications entirely out of proportion to ordinary business in the city, and this is very likely what lies behind the eager admission to fellowship of an incestuous adulterer—presumably someone of very considerable status since incest was a capital crime under Roman Law, which hardly even the powerful dared flaunt. Meanwhile, maintaining good standing in the community was fraught with challenges for Roman citizens who became Christians because participation in civic and professional associations involved pagan sacrifice, feasting, and sometimes prostitution. Corinth was thus a strategic regional center where the local church struggled to maintain an identity rooted in Heaven.

Though Paul had mentored the Corinthian believers for a year and a half and named elders (probably former elders of the local synagogue) to carry on in his stead, the church was later roiled by the arrival of hardline Jewish believers from Jerusalem, the insidious influence of fashionable pagan beliefs like Neo-Platonism, and the ever present pull of worldly prestige and political connections. The church became riven with factions of every sort, with congregants settling some disputes in civil court rather than submit to the ruling of their Jewish elders, who in any case were sometimes deeply divided among themselves on moral and doctrinal issues.

Paul sternly reprimanded the congregation in Corinth after receiving disturbing reports while he was at Ephesus, and he expressed his intent to return to Corinth, but he later decided that the congregation might better heal without revisiting old wounds. Instead of visiting Corinth on his way to and from Macedonia, he instead passed through Macedonia on his way to and from Achaia, where he lingered for three months. During this time he wrote to the congregation in Corinth a second time, this time with words of great tenderness and consolation, and he expressed a renewed desire to visit them; however, it does not seem that Paul ever returned to Corinth.

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? […] I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. (1 Co. 5.1−2, 9−11)

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! 1 Co. 6.1−6)

Axis Mundi: Asia Minor

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

Though Paul spent considerable time in Ephesus, Luke records only five episodes: Apollos, the twelve disciples of John the Baptist, the synagogue, the seven sons of Sceva, and Demetrius the Silversmith. Taken together, these episodes illustrate the range of contexts in which the Gospel has been proclaimed throughout the ages. At the extremes, we have instruction of a receptive believer and persecution by a hostile mob; in between, we have varying degrees of receptiveness, ambivalence and hostility. These are the same contexts in which believers proclaim the Gospel today.

Though Paul first arrived in Ephesus from Corinth on his second missionary journey, we hear nothing of any converts until his return some time later. Priscilla and Aquila, who had accompanied Paul from Corinth, meanwhile attended a synagogue where they encountered Apollos, a highly educated Jew from Alexandria who taught accurately though incompletely about Jesus. We read that Priscilla and Aquila provided Apollos with a more complete understanding of the Gospel, but they evidently regarded him as a fellow believer because no mention is made of a his subsequent baptism. Luke’s observation that Apollos was a forceful teacher with a thorough knowledge of Scripture has led some, notably Martin Luther, to suggest that he may have been the unnamed author of Hebrews.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.  When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. (Acts 18.24−28)

The first recorded coverts in Ephesus were twelve disciples of John the Baptist whom Paul re-baptized in the name of Jesus. This is the only recorded instance of such a re-baptism unless Jesus washing his disciples’ feet qualifies as re-baptism. The story in any case highlights the vagueness of transition periods—a useful comparison might be the status of people who followed Jesus but died before he did, which probably has something to do with the resurrections mentioned by Matthew.

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[b] you believed?”They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”“John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.  (Acts 19.1-7)

The local synagogue at first welcomed Paul and the other disciples with interested ambivalence, but many closed their hearts to the Gospel when pressed to make a commitment. This resulted in a split between synagogue and church, after which Paul frequented a lecture hall where he held daily discussions with Jews and Greeks alike during the extended lunch hour. During this time, God performed miraculous healings through Paul, which aroused admiration and jealousy among exorcists and magicians in the city, including the sons of a relative of the Chief Priest in Jerusalem. This sentiment turned to fear when the latter were attacked by a demon whom they attempted to expel using the name Jesus as a magical incantation. The incident provoked a number of exorcists and magicians to repent and publicly burn scrolls worth several million dollars in today’s currency.

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (Acts 19.8−10)

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.  (Acts 19.11−20)

The Temple of Artemis, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World, was a massive structure of ornate design that eclipsed the Parthenon and the Coliseum as an architectural marvel. More importantly, the temple treasury—which accepted deposits, minted coins, and made loans—functioned something like a massive bank whose importance made Ephesus the financial center of the Mediterranean as well as the third largest city of the Roman Empire behind Alexandria and Rome. Any assault on the prestige of this temple indirectly impacted the local economy and directly affected the livelihood of local silversmiths such as Demetrius whose business almost certainly involved selling miniature reproductions of the temple. Civic concerns regarding ramifications of the gospel were therefor not unfounded.

About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”(Acts 19.23-27)

The fundamental issue is the nature of each person's treasure: (a) what is the treasure, (b) what makes it so valuable, (c) how great is the treasure, and (d) how vulnerable is it to circumstance? This is what underlies Paul's oblique comparison of the massive temple treasury in Ephesus with the riches that the Ephesian believers share in Christ.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3.17−19)

Axis Mundi: Cyprus and Galatia

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

After the Church in Antioch was firmly established, its leaders sought direction from God, who led them to commission and support Barnabas and Saul has special envoys of the Gospel. The two apostles and John Mark (a cousin of Barnabas) visited Cyprus—the native province of Barnabas—where they preached in Synagogues with no apparent opposition. The Gospel could not have been unknown in Cyprus because Cypriots were among those who had originally spoken to gentiles in Syria about Jesus. Interesting enough, the gentiles in Cyprus did not constitute a separate body of believers as they did in Antioch. Having heard favorable reports about Barnabas and Saul, the governor called them to hear their message, which he himself believed after witnessing the divine cursing of a sorcerer whose council he had previously entertained.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13.4−12)

No doubt emboldened by their encounter with the governor, Barnabas and Saul (now going by his Roman name Paulus) ventured North into the region of Galatia rather than return to Antioch at this point, but John Mark accompanied them only as far as Perga (on the coast of Asia Minor) before abandoning them. Barnabas and Paul pressed on to Pisidian Antioch, a Roman colony where the family of Sergius Paulus had large holdings, and there they proclaimed the Gospel to an initially receptive audience in the local synagogue. These Jews later became incensed when large numbers of Gentiles embraced a message of salvation that undercut the status of Israel by redefining the terms of the covenant. The Jews persuaded women converts of high social standing (whose conversion did not require circumcision) that this defrauded them as well, and these women convinced their husbands to expel the interlopers from the region. Paul and Barnabas then moved on to Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, where they persevered through similar receptions. They eventually retraced their steps to Derbe, encouraging the believers in every previously visited city and appointing elders to continue the work they had begun. From Derbe, they returned to Antioch and gave account of their mission.

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13.44−52)

Luke records a particularly striking event that occurred in Lystra. Here the crowd hailed Paul and Barnabas as gods after Paul healed a man crippled from birth who had been listening to the apostles’ message. A famous legend recounted how Mercury (Wind) and Zeus (Sky) had once destroyed a town in the region after finding no hospitality except in the house of a poor and elderly couple. The inhabitants of Lystra had no intention of repeating that mistake, and they brought bulls to make sacrifices to the supposed gods. When the apostles tore their clothes in shame and persuaded the crowd to desist, the crowd relented—after all Zeus and Mercury had similarly told Philemon and his wife to desist from killing their only goose. However, the crowd turned against the very individuals they had so recently wanted to recognize as gods when Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium arrived to denounce the apostles as imposters who were deceiving the entire region. The local populace was no doubt anxious to avoid a direct conflict between the testimony of a miracle and the testimony of established tradition, so the charges against Paul and Barnabas by their own co-religionists provided the residents of Lystra a convenient opportunity to cling to tradition in the face of contrary evidence.

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14.8−23)

Sometime later, Paul returned to Galatia accompanied by Silas, while Barnabas made a return visit to Cyprus with John Mark. The apostles had bitterly quarreled over the propriety of including John Mark and so went their separate ways. John Mark, cousin to Barnabas, had completed the original mission to Cyprus but turned back rather than press on into the unfamiliar region of Galatia.

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15.36−41)

The primary purpose of these follow-up trips was to check on the health of the isolated converts, but a second purpose was to confirm the ruling by at the council in Jerusalem against burdening non-Jewish believers with the full weight of the Law. The role of Silas on this trip was of considerable significance since he was one of two official emissaries of this ruling, which rejected a requirement prevalent throughout Galatia that Gentiles be circumcised. Paul nevertheless circumcised Timothy (whose mother was a Jew but whose father was a Gentile) so that this disciple might belong to Israel for the sake of the Gospel; the circumcision was not for Timothy’s benefit but for the benefit of Israel.

Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers  at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 16.1−5)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4.1−11)

Paul once again visited Galatia on his way overland from Antioch to Ephesus. We have no details of this third visit, but we do note that his letter to the Colossians, written only a few years later, warns against seeking justification through the Law. Given that Colossae was located in Western Asia, not overly far from Pisidian Antioch, it seems likely that the allure of the Law remained strong in the back country of Asia Minor.

 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. (Acts 18.23−23)

Axis Mundi: Syria

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

Ordinary believers brought the Gospel to their home regions of Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. We can safely assume that they shared the Gospel among their co-religionists with varying degrees of discretion in and out of the Synagogue setting. At some point, men from Cyprus and from Cyrene (Libya) also began to proclaim the Gospel to Greeks, who by implication were not God-fearing Gentiles associated with a Synagogue. The believers in Antioch did not share this practice of preaching to Gentiles; so when men from Cyprus and from Cyrene won converts in Antioch, it resulted in the awkward establishment of a non-pagan, non-Jewish congregation of believers in that city, whom the locals termed “Christians.” The apostles sent Barnabas (himself a Levite from Cyprus) to Antioch to evaluate the novel situation of Gentile believers unattached to a synagogue. Perhaps influenced by Peter’s example at the house of Cornelius, Barnabas accepted the novel situation as an outworking of the grace of God. He recruited Saul from Tarsus to help him minister to this unusual congregation. Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen (a childhood companion of Herod the Tetrarch) also provided leadership.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Ac 11.19-26)

We have no account of Paul’s activities between the time he returned to Tarsus and the time he joined Barnabas in Antioch, though some of the trials he enumerates in 2 Corinthians 11.23-24 must have occurred during that period. This means that he had continued to preach Christ as dynamically as he had in Damascus and Jerusalem. Antioch did not represent a return to service for Saul. He simply reenters the narrative frame of Acts. This is worth noting because we are easily tempted to believe that nothing significant happened if it wasn’t reported—or that anything famous is by definition more significant—which leads us to equate celebrity with godliness.

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one; three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; I spent a night and a day in the open sea. (2 Co 11.23-24)

The lingering question of circumcision (acceptance of the Law) eventually came to a head at the council in Jerusalem. The council ruled against burdening non-Jewish believers with the full weight of the Law, singling out only food sacrificed to idols, blood, and sexual immorality. One might reasonably ask why the council specified these restrictions instead of simply citing the Ten Commandments. Moreover, one might ask what is implied by the comment: “Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15.21). The answer to both questions is likely twofold. Firstly, the so-called Noahide Laws were considered binding on Jews and non-Jews alike. The Talmud summarizes the basic formulation of these laws as follows: “Seven precepts were the sons of Noah taught: social laws, [and] to refrain from blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, bloodshed, robbery and eating flesh cut from a living animal” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin VII.56a). Observance of these laws was not considered meritorious unless performed by faith upon hearing Scripture proclaimed—hence the reference to Moses being preached. Secondly, Leviticus 17-19 applies to non-Israelites living within the domains of Israel, which would include any community where the laws of Moses are proclaimed.

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. (Ac 15.1-2)

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ things known from long ago.’

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” (Ac 15.12-21)

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Co 2.13−17)

[The practice of meeting on Sunday probably arose at this time for the simple reason that this day was observed as a rest day throughout the Eastern Provinces by everyone except the Jews, who had official sanction to observe the Sabbath. These provinces observed an astrological week requiring seven days to reconcile a cycle of two twelve-hour periods with a cycle of seven planetary influences. The cycle of planets ruling any given hour corresponded to the seven observable planets arranged in descending order of presumed distance from the Earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Each day of the week assumed the name of the planet ruling the first hour of that day, resulting in successive days named after Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Because the first day of the week was identified with the unlucky planet Saturn, the eastern provinces celebrated the second day of the week as a kind of feast day in honor of a tutelary deity of Rome: Sol Invictus (i.e. The Sun). The astrological week was originally out of phase with the sabbatical week by one day, but the two systems were eventually reconciled with Sunday reckoned as the first day following the rise of Christianity as a major social force in the Roman Empire. (see Hutton Webster. Rest Days. New York: McMillan, 1916).]

Axis Mundi: Judea and Samaria

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of"Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

Luke intertwines accounts of Peter in Judea, Phillip in Samaria, and Paul in parts beyond to paint a picture of the growth of the Church, but the recorded exploits of these men (however extraordinary) represent only a fraction of the activities hinted at by the book of Acts. Many activities are attributed to ordinary believers like Stephen and Phillip who were in no way professional Christians. Only the apostles seemed to have held special status in the Church and depended on the gifts of believers. Believers like us fulfilled the roles of evangelist and missionary as well as prophet, elder, counselor, and comforter. This was especially true after the believers dispersed throughout Judea and Samaria following the stoning of Stephen.

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” [...] On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. [...] Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 6.8-14; 8.1; 8.4)

Phillip displayed astonishing initiative in Samaria that bordered on presumption. He had the faith to perform miraculous healings though no one specifically granted him this authority, and he preached the Gospel to semi-Gentiles, whom he also baptized as believers without requiring their explicit embrace of strict Judaism (conversion of Samaritans to strict Judaism in any case required only baptism since Samaritans already observed their own rite of circumcision). Rather than condemn Phillip’s actions, the apostles affirmed and extended them, praying that these new believers also receive the Holy Spirit and carrying the Gospel to even more cities in the region. Phillip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch further extended the principle of inclusion because this man was barred from full acceptance as a convert to Judaism owing to his castration.

Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8.5-8; 14-17)

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. […] Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. (Acts 8.26-31;35-38)

This brings us to the baptism of the Roman Centurion and the God-fearing Gentiles that met in his house. The men could have been circumcised, but they weren’t. Nevertheless, when the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his companions, Peter concluded that there was nothing more to add except the formal sign of acceptance into the body of Christ. Questioned about this baptism of uncircumcised Gentiles into the body of Christ, Peter relates how God had spoken to him in a vision just prior to receiving the message from Cornelius. We learn later that this was not the end of the matter, for it resurfaced at Antioch and in Galatia.

The following day [Peter] arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. (Acts 10.24−48)

The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story. […] When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”(Acts 11.1-4;18)

Phillip and Peter not only accepted Samaritan and Gentile believers as brothers and sisters in Christ, they fellowshipped with them. The acceptance of food and lodging from Samaritan converts was not, strictly speaking, objectionable to observant Jews, because converts were held in high regard. However, consorting with uncircumcised Gentiles was clearly offensive to most Jews of the period, primarily because any food they might offer was almost certainly unclean. The ministry of Jesus among the Samaritans, Phoenicians and Greeks was unusual in this respect, as was his regard for women and people of inferior social status.

Note: Neither Scripture nor the Talmud support the judgment that Simon the Tanner practiced an “unclean” profession. Leviticus only proscribes contact with animal carcasses in the sense of animals not killed by hunting or sacrifice. Otherwise, no meat would be clean. This explains why dried fish (such as fed to the five thousand) was commonly consumed throughout Israel. The Talmud does list tanners, herders and perfumers as “despised” professions, evidently because of the stench associated with these professions, but it nowhere declares these professions "unclean." Such a judgment would pose some difficulty considering the livelihoods of the Patriarchs, Moses and David.

Axis Mundi: Jerusalem

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

Having lived and travelled with Jesus for more than two years, the apostles were disturbed by the prospect of being left on their own, but Jesus assured them that they would not be left alone even though he was leaving them for God would send his Spirit to indwell them.

“You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (Jn 14.4-6)

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.” (Jn 14.19)

“All this I have spoken while still with you; but the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (Jn 14.25-26)

Jesus instructed the apostles that the Spirit would remind them of the things he had taught as well as open their minds to understand how the scriptures proclaimed these very teachings. They would thereby come to understand all things and would receive boldness and wisdom to proclaim these things to the world.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Lk 24.45-49)

The apostles remained in Jerusalem, evidently at the home of John Mark’s mother (see Ac 12.12), where they awaited the promised outpouring of the Spirit.

Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Ac 1:12-14)

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Ac 2.1-4)

Though this outpouring of the Spirit took place in a private home, the accompanying commotion attracted the attention of the surrounding neighborhood, including Jews visiting from as far away as Persia and Rome who heard the gospel preached in their native tongues, thereby signaling the fullness of prophetic time.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. (Ac 2.5-16)

“In the last days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Jl 2.28-32)

The number of believers in Jerusalem swelled by several thousand, many of whom were likely priests who normally resided elsewhere or expatriate Jews who tarried in Jerusalem beyond the 50 days of Passover and Pentecost. The extraordinary generosity of the disciples in Jerusalem enabled these visitors to learn more about Jesus before returning home with the gospel, which is evidently how the gospel first arrived in Rome and many distant places.

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Ac 2.41-45)

The believers regularly met by Solomon’s Colonnade on the Temple mount for teaching, fellowship, prayer, and distribution of roasted meat from Fellowship Offerings, breaking into smaller groups each night to observe the Lord's Supper in private homes. The growing numbers soon made it expedient for the apostles to delegate routine administrative tasks to trusted men nominated by the body of believers while retaining responsibility for teaching and discipline. This division of labor was later formalized in the unpaid offices of elder and deacon.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Ac 2.46-47)

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. (Ac 5.12-16)

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Ac 6.1-4)

The rapid growth of this community of disciples also posed a problem for Synagogue and Sanhedrin because the apostles exercised an authority independent of these institutions, whose own authority harkened back to the restoration of Israel in the days of Esra. When verbal argument proved insufficient to justify the status quo, Synagogue and Sanhedrin resorted to violent persecution, which had the unintended effect of dispersing the believers in Jerusalem—and with them the gospel—throughout Judea and beyond.

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. (Ac 8.1)

The apostles themselves remained in Jerusalem for two decades.