Paul 4.3

On the second Sabbath, Lydia, one of the women, believed on Jesus as the Messiah. She was not a Jew, but worshipped the one true God along with others who were Jews. Lydia was originally from the city of Thyatira and was wealthy, for she sold purple cloth, the material of kings.

Lydia had brought her whole family to the river that Sabbath, including her husband. They also believed on Christ and were baptized in the Gangites River, even her youngest child who was two. Once they were baptized, she invited Silas, Timothy, and I to stay in her home. And so we did.

Steadily the number of believers in the city grew. Epaphroditus and Clement, Euodia and Syntyche were some of the earliest. We immediately recognized in Epaphroditus and Clement individuals who might oversee the Christians at Philippi long after we had left. Lydia would also help as long as she was there, but as a trader she would not stay in the city forever. It was not long before the church was meeting in Epaphroditus' house.

Paul 4.2

We found a ship headed off along the coast of Macedonia and boarded it. It set out first for the island of Samothrace, where we stayed overnight. The next day it headed for Neapolis, on the southern coast of Macedonia, where we got off with our things. From there it was less than a day's journey along the Via Egnatia to Philippi.

Philippi was a Roman colony. It's official language was Latin, although we had no problem speaking Greek there. Luke had some relatives in the city, who were glad to put us up until we could arrange other accommodations. I set myself up in the marketplace the next day to repair leather goods like tents and such. Then I tried to tell whoever came within earshot about the Messiah.

We were shocked that in such a significant city there was no synagogue to be found. When the Sabbath came, we figured there might be a place of prayer along the Gangites river. Perhaps there were not enough Jewish men in the city to form a synagogue or none of them had a large enough home in which to meet.

Sure enough, we found a group of women praying at dawn along the Gangites. I told them that we were Jews and asked if we might worship with them. When it was time, I asked if I might read the Scripture. Then I presented the good news that the Messiah had indeed come, the hope of Israel. They were excited at the message, and invited me to return the next week to come speak to them again.

4 Macedonia

We did not plan to spend long in Troas, but while we were there, my eyes started to act up again. My eyes had never fully recovered from the appearance of Christ to me. Although God restored much of my sight through Ananias, my eyes occasionally would stop my travels altogether.

But God always seemed to use it for good. Many of the Galatians would not have heard the gospel if I had not lingered because of my eyes. And the same thing happened again at Troas.

After the Lord once again rejected my prayer for complete healing, I sought out a physician in the city. The Lord brought Luke to me, a Gentile who was also a God fearer that attended the synagogue. He received the word of God eagerly and believed on Jesus the Christ. And while I administered the healing of soul to him, he also doctored me back to health.

Luke was so excited for the spread of the gospel that he asked to accompany us on our missionary journey. He also wanted to continue to minister to my health. We gladly accepted.

Paul 3.10

When we left Antioch of Pisidia, we were in completely uncharted territory for the gospel. Where would we go next? We followed the Roman roads northwest toward the coast, stopping in villages along the way. But this was the country. I was looking for a city, where I could share the gospel with as many people as possible. If we could win the cities for Christ, then it would find its way to the country as well.

About a month later, when we came to a crossroads, we camped and sought the Lord's guidance. Should we go south to Asia and to Ephesus? Should we go northeast into Bithynia? The Lord seemed to say "no" to both of those prayers.

Then in the night I had a dream in which a man from Macedonia called to us, "Come over into Macedonia." When I awoke, we all determined that this dream was God's answer to our prayer.

We would go straight on this same road to Troas. Then we would cross by boat that famous sea that Alexander built a bridge across for his troops. Then the gospel would reach Philippi for the first time.

Paul 3.9

When Timothy had made a full recovery, he, Silas, and I embarked for the other cities and villages of Galatia. We first left Lystra for Iconium. There our reception at first was somewhat chilly. After all, it was here and at Antioch of Pisidia that the Judaizers had found their most sympathizing ears.

I discussed these things earnestly with them, for the circumcision had been very convincing. When finally it looked like I would not win them over, Silas brought up the Jerusalem Council and the letter from James to the churches. I had refused to bring it up. But only then did some of them soften before us.

The believers at Antioch were more receptive to me and Silas. But there the question of Timothy especially came up. Why did I circumcise Timothy if circumcision was so unimportant. I told them that I was willing to become all things to all people. To the Jews, I became a Jew that I might win Jews. But to the Gentiles, I became as a Gentile, that I might win some Gentiles.

By the time we left the region, I felt that we had won it back over to the gospel. It was hard won, though.

Paul 3.8

The next Lord's Day, the word of prophecy came to Lois again: "God has set apart Timothy to go with Paul and Silas to do the work of the ministry." The entire assembly said the "Amen."

And so moved by the Spirit, Silas, myself, and the elders of the assembly, including Lois, laid our hands on Timothy and prayed that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered for ministry. He of course was already baptized and had received the Holy Spirit. But now we prayed that he might have a special anointing to be a servant of the gospel as Silas and I were.

God did not dissappoint us. Timothy rose from prayer emboldened and ready to fulfill the commission of our Lord as he told the disciples in Galilee to go into all the world preaching the good news.

"I want to be circumcised," Timothy told the assembly. This was a difficult request for me. The issue of circumcision had been one of the contentions of the letter I had sent to the very churches of this region of Galatia. I had told them that they would fall from God's grace if they submitted to circumcision.

"You do not need to be circumcised to be saved, Timothy. God has granted us all justification by our faith in what God has done through Jesus Christ."

"I know, my father in the Lord," Timothy replied. "But my mother is a Jew, and so I am a Jew by birth. All these years I have lived contrary to God's Law. Grant me that I be a believer justified as what I am, a Jew, rather than a believer justified as a Gentile."

I prayed and wrestled deeply with this decision for several days. And every day Timothy prodded me to allow him circumcision. Finally, I accepted that Timothy was a liability to the mission if he remained uncircumcised. It was not a problem for Titus, for he was not a Jew by nature. He was like the many uncircumcised God-fearers who had attached themselves to synagogues all over the world.

But Timothy was a Jew by nature, and so would be considered an apostate every where we go and fuel for those I was an advocate of sin. I admired Timothy's willingness to undergo this painful operation. We had it done the next day. Then seven days later, when he was mostly recovered, we embarked for Iconium and Antioch of Pisidia.

Paul 3.7

The trip east was significantly more difficult without Titus. He was young and strong and without him Silas and I were forced to carry added weight. But like Abraham, I believed the Lord would provide.

After passing through the Cilician gates and spending a short time in Derbe, we arrived at the home of Eunice in Lystra. When the evening of the Lord's Day came on Saturday night, her house was filled with people from all over the city, both Jews and Gentiles. Eunice herself was a Jew, but her husband was a Greek and had not yet believed in the good news of Jesus the Messiah. We broke bread together and then after supper shared the one cup.

Then we met again in the morning at dawn to sing hymns to Christ. It was at that time that Lois, Eunice's mother, brought a word of prophecy to us. She told us that the Lord was setting apart her grandson Timothy for the work of the ministry, that God wanted him to go with us as we spread the gospel.

He felt the call of God as well, and his mother agreed. We were only worried to know what his father would say.

But then God worked a miracle. The next week his father Demetrius confessed Jesus as Lord and was baptized into Christ. He eagerly committed Timothy to the ministry.

Paul 3.6

Just before we were to leave the city, a man arrived from Antioch with bad news. Titus' father Jason had suddenly died. His mother had sent an urgent message with this Christian merchant that she and the family needed him to return to the city to help with the family.

Titus' face was downcast and torn. He recalled the words of Jesus about leaving one's father and mother for the kingdom.

"But God doesn't always call us to leave our families behind," Silas encouraged him. "You are young, and Christ surely will not return until the gospel is preached to all the nations. Go set your house in order. There will be a time when you will join us again."

Titus looked at me. I discerned that my opinion could sway him either way.

"Do what you believe God requires of you," I said. "If He calls you to go, he will send Silas and us another co-worker."

After two days of prayer and fasting, Titus concluded that God willed him to return to Antioch. So he did.

Paul 3.5

I had spent almost a decade in Cilicia trying to spread the good news of Christ, but with little to show for it. I went from synagogue to synagogue telling anyone who would listen that the Messiah had come. If I found any God-fearers in the synagogues, I tried to meet with them in their homes to teach them about the way. Few received the message.

God showed mercy on me in those days during a time of great discouragement. He took me up into the third heaven, into his very presence. There I saw and heard things that cannot be expressed in words.

We would not spend long in Tarsus. My brother refused to eat with us while we were in his home. But my mother and younger siblings were affectionate. I tried to persuade her of the good news to little effect. She cared little about such things. Her body was weak, and she longed to sleep whether she be raised or not.

The few believers in Tarsus still attended the synagogue, although they always shared a meal on the first day of the week. We met with them one Sunday and encouraged their hearts, urging them to share the good news with others more and more. Then we collected supplies to move on toward southern Galatia.

Paul 3.4

My heart began to quicken as we approached the eastern city gates of Tarsus. It was now several years since I had been home. My father was long dead, but my mother was alive. My elder brother now was the father of the family and she continued to live in what was now his household.

He of course did not approve of my messianic beliefs, but as family he would allow us to stay at his home. My father had not been particularly pious for most of his life. We were Roman citizens. My grandfather had made tents for Julius Caesar's army as he pursued Mark Antony across the world. In return he and his family was granted Roman citizenship.

We were also citizens of Tarsus, and as a boy I attended the gymnasium for some time. I learned Homer and the basics of rhetoric. Meanwhile I learned Hebrew letters on the Sabbath. We were one of the weathier Jewish families in the city at that time.

Then one year my father announced that we were going to go to Jerusalem for Passover. He had never been to the city and wanted to visit it before he died. The experience would change our family forever. My father returned from Jerusalem determined that we would follow the customs of our ancestors. He betrothed my sister to the son of a distant cousin in Jerusalem, and he sent me to learn the teachings of the Pharisees, since they were the most respected of all the Jewish sects in the city.

Paul 3.3

The Holy Spirit then make it very clear to me who I would ask to accompany me on the next mission. Silas was a Greek speaking Jew who agreed with me that the Jerusalem letter was a step back rather than forward for the gospel. He was better suited than Barnabas to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.

Then Titus, if he could join us, would be an excellent assistant. We would use him not only to help carry our supplies, but after the letter to the Galatians it had become clear to me how helpful it would be to have a secretary around to draft letters. I had hopes that Titus might be able to do this for the sake of the gospel.

Both Silas and Titus were excited at the idea. And Titus' father, Jason, was honored to see God's hand on his son's life. We took a couple weeks to gather supplies and then headed north toward my home country of Cilicia and the city of Tarsus.

The trip from Antioch to Tarsus took a little over a week and was a fairly easy journey. We crossed through the familiar Syrian Gates of Mt. Amanus and northward to Issus, where Alexander the Great defeated the Persians for good. From there the trip to Tarsus was a leisurely trip across the lower plain of Cilicia.

Paul 3.2

But the real disagreement started when Mark arrived from Jerusalem. Barnabas wanted to take him with us, at least to Cyprus.

"Cyprus is only the beginning of our mission," I argued. "We need helpers who will stay with us beyond Galatia and on into the west. Mark will no doubt leave us again as soon as we leave for the mainland. Titus would be a much better helper on our journey. He will stick with us no matter how hard the journey or persecution."

"I don't think it wise to have a Gentile as one of our assistants," Barnabas responded. "With Titus in our company we will immediately face obstacles with the synagogues. Mark is a law observant Jew and would put no stumblingblock to our ministry. He has great potential! And now that Jerusalem has officially opened the door to the Gentiles he will not shrink from ministry to them."

This comment angered me. "The gospel does not need cowards. The work to which God has called us will involve great opposition. What will Mark do when they come after us with stones? Will he run away, like he did the night they arrested Jesus?

"And this letter," I continued, "you know that it only threatens to divide the sacrificed body of Christ. It is so hypocritical when none of the apostles keeps the purity laws well enough to trouble about these sorts of things.

"I fear that Mark is simply a pawn of Jerusalem, sent to hold the gospel back. I will not take him with me," I said.

"If Mark is a pawn then I am a pawn, Saul," Barnabas fired back. "If you will not take Mark, then I will not be going with you either. You are not wise in your zeal. You bring all those around you into unnecessary danger. You are not the only one who would die for his faith. But there is no honor in a death before its time."

It became quite clear to me that Barnabas would be just as much a hindrance to the mission to which God called me as Mark would. Barnabas would not disregard the judgment of the pillars, and I didn't consider it of God. I needed co-workers who had no reservations about God's full acceptance of the Gentiles, clean or unclean.

We agreed to go our separate ways in peace. Barnabas and Mark would return to Cyprus. Meanwhile I would have to find a new coworker and assistant.

3 A Second Journey

It was not long after we returned to Antioch that Barnabas came to me. He believed we should revisit the churches we had founded on our first journey. We would strengthen their faith and share the "good news" of the Jerusalem letter.

I agreed, although I was far more interested in the churches of Galatia than those on the island of Cyprus. Most of the believers on Cyprus were Jewish believers. And I wanted to go further west to preach the gospel in places it had not yet reached.

At the same time, Barnabas and I still disagreed about James' decision. "What is it that the Lord said to the Pharisees," I reminded him. "'It is not what goes into a person that makes you unclean.' Doesn't this mean that Jesus declared all foods clean?"

Barnabas was open to being convinced, but he insisted we must obey the authority of the apostles.

"Am I not an apostle too," I pleaded with him. "Are you not also an apostle? Didn't the Lord himself appear to you in Jerusalem, sending you to proclaim the good news?"

"But the Twelve have a special authority beyond ours," Barnabas believed. "You have forgotten your place, brother Saul. You never knew our Lord Jesus in the flesh as the others. And it was not long ago that you were 'exiled' in Cilicia. You have really spent very little time with the community of faith. You've spent most of your time as a believer isolated and alone."

Paul 2.11

I left the meeting with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I had gained a powerful weapon with which to squash any who would tell the Gentiles they must be circumcised. In addition to my own authority in the Lord, I could now refer also to the decision of the apostles, if I so wished.

Yet I resisted imposing the holiness codes of Leviticus on the Gentiles, just so that they could eat with those of us who were Jews. Silas, one of the brothers who had attended from Antioch, was also disturbed by the letter James had drafted for the Gentile churches. He was one of those who had stood by me in the controversy with Cephas.

"What do you think of this letter?" he asked me on the journey back.

"The churches to which I minister will never see or hear of it from me," I said with a smile.

"Amen," was Silas' only reply, with a grin on his face as well.

As for Barnabas, I was uncertain. There were still some tensions between us. I believed it was time to follow up with the assemblies God had founded through us in Cyprus and Galatia. The question in my mind was whether this great man of faith was becoming a stumblingblock to the Gentile believers. God had done such great things through him among the Gentiles. It would be a shame for him now to stand in God's way!

Paul 2.10

Finally, James rendered a decision.

"Brothers, the elders and apostles have prayed and thoroughly discussed this important matter. As Peter has said, God has already shown us both in Scripture and with Cornelius that He has mercy not only on His people but also on the stranger in our gates. Clearly those Gentiles who are baptized in the name of Jesus can be saved.

"Yet we who are Jews must also follow the Law. As the prophet says, "I, God, do not change." God chose Israel to be His people out of all the nations of the earth. He gave Abraham the sign of circumcision. He gave the Law to Moses. Jesus' death does not nullify the Law or the Prophets for us Jews.

"Although it is not a problem for those of us who are here in Jerusalem, God's favor on the Gentiles has created problems for Jews in the Diaspora. For example, how can Jews share the Lord's Supper with unclean Gentiles?

"So after much prayer and fasting, the apostles and elders have come to a conclusion. We will send a letter to all Gentile believers. Barnabas and Saul will take it back with them to Antioch and from there it will be distributed to all converts from the nations.

"If the Gentiles will abstain from foods that make us unclean--meat that has been sacrificed to an idol, any meat that still has blood in it, especially meat that has been strangled, and of course if they will give up their perverse sexual immorality--if the Gentiles will do these things, then we will be able to eat at table with them."

Paul 2.9

When Judas had finished, a cache of Amens rumbled through the crowd.

Then Peter spoke. "Israelites, I agree with you that salvation is of the Jews and that we are the people of God. But Scripture also shows that God cares through us for the stranger in the land who is in our midst. And God even sent Jonah to the Ninevites, the greatest enemies of Israel in that day, in order to give them the chance to repent.

"We apostles and elders marvelled some years back when God chose to bring the gospel to the Gentiles by my lips. God gave me a dream of a net with unclean food that He told me to kill and eat. Of course even in my dream I refused. Three times God brought this dream to me. He was telling me to go to the house of Cornelius, even though it would normally make me unclean.

While I was there, God sent the Holy Spirit on these God-fearing men. I was amazed. They were uncircumcised men, and yet God purified their hearts. They were not even baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah yet!

We could have debated this issue for a long time, but God settled the issue before we even began the debate. The Gentiles can indeed escape God's wrath because of the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. They are like the stranger in our midst."

I did not like Peter's approach to the matter, but I recognized it was more likely to convince than my argument would have.

Then I felt deeply patronized when James gave Barnabas and me a moment to tell of the success we had experienced among the Gentiles of Galatia. I was particularly keen to mention the signs and wonders that the Holy Spirit had done through us. What signs had God ever done through these false brothers?

Barnabas told them how he believed God had actually raised me from the dead at Lystra. Even the Judaizers there gave in to laughter at the thought that some in the city there had believed we were Zeus and Hermes, just because we had healed a lame man.

Paul 2.8

"Brothers," Judas began, "everyone here today is a son of Abraham. As the Law commands, we were all circumcised on the eighth day. Most of us here are from the tribes of Judah or Benjamin. We all know that Scripture cannot be broken. We keep the Law because God has commanded us to do so in the holy Scriptures.

"When God raised Jesus from the dead, He showed that Jesus' death was a pleasing sacrifice to Him for the sins of Israel. If we will renew our commitment to the covenant, Jesus faithful death will bring the wrath of God toward us to an end. Then Christ will return and restore the kingdom to Israel.

"But the message that Saul and others have been preaching to Gentiles is false. Salvation is of the Jews and unless they convert and become circumcised, they cannot escape God's coming wrath on the enemies of Israel. What is worse is that when Jews make themselves unclean by table fellowship with these idolatrous, sexually immoral pagans, they nullify Jesus' faithfulness and bring the wrath of God back on Israel all over again.

"The Gentiles can be saved. But only if they become sons of Abraham."

Paul 2.7

We met in the upper room, well over a hundred of us. There was quite a clamor when I entered into the cavernous place, a quite unusual room for a house to have. At times I could tell people were avoiding contact with me so that they did not become unclean. "I guess I won't be having dinner with you tonight," I chuckled to myself.

Finally, James got order in the room and the meeting began.

"A number of issues are causing great division among us these days, especially as more and more believers carry out the great commission of our Lord to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Some of the brothers here feel strongly about the message that should be given to Gentiles, and we want to give them ear."

At that point a young man named Judas was given voice. He was the son of a prominent Pharisee and had believed in Jesus as Messiah. He was just a boy when I had known him. I wondered what his father would say if he were still alive about his acceptance of Jesus.

But then again, the Pharisees had always been less concerned about the Peters and Johns than about the Stephens and Philips. My persecution primarily targeted the Greek-speaking Christians whose message was so anti-temple. Still, I was not sure if I could call Judas and his group truly brothers. They seemed more like false brothers to me, who had snuck into our midst to spy out the freedom we have in the Lord.

Paul 2.6

And so Barnabas and I headed for Jerusalem once again, this time as representatives of the churches in Antioch. The mood between Barnabas and me was not as smooth as before. But he bore me no grudge for my words, and I continued to consider him a close brother. We went up by land this time, through Phoenicia and then Samaria. The trip took several weeks, but we arrived in Jerusalem in plenty of time.

I'll admit that I felt less and less comfortable with the complexion of the churches in Judea. James was a more forceful leader than Peter and had clearly become the central authority in Jerusalem. What was striking to me is how many Jews had come to believe in Jesus for political reasons. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah because they wanted him to come from heaven, destroy the Romans, and liberate Israel. But they scarcely knew of Jesus' love and compassion for the sinner.

One of the most ironic things about these zealots was the fact that they could combine belief in Jesus with a radical renewal of law keeping. I returned to Jerusalem to find the children of prominent Pharisees I had known calling themselves Christians. How ironic, they had created a Jesus who was exactly the opposite of the true Jesus. Their Jesus lived like a Pharisee, not like someone who criticized them!

Their Jesus would not allow his disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath. Their Jesus would not have dinner with prostitutes or tax collectors. Maybe they thought that now that he was with God, he had learned better of what he taught on earth? It was unbelievable to me how many in the church could call themselves Christians and yet have no real sense of what that meant!

Paul 2.5

It did not take long for word of my letter to the Galatians to get out. For one, I shared the copy of the letter I kept with me to the church in Manaen's house. Before long it was all over town. Divisions in the city between believers deepened as lines were drawn.

Peter had by this time returned to Jerusalem, but in less than a month word had reached there as well. The "Judaizers" of Jerusalem--those who were insisting Gentiles get circumcised--were now incensed and began to press James and Peter to clamp down on me and the Gentile church.

When the first echo of the letter came back from Galatia, the furor moved to the next level. The Gentile churches had heeded Paul's words and had rejected the false teaching of the missionaries from Antioch. Lois of Lystra, in whose home the believers of that city met, had refused even to allow the teachers to speak in her house.

These pressures led James to call a meeting in Jerusalem to take place in a month's time. Leaders from the churches of Judea and beyond would assemble to hear the apostles' thoughts on the issue of Jew in relation to Gentile, particularly whether it was necessary for them to be circumcised in order to be saved. With boldness I began to prepare for the coming journey.