Bible Studies in the Life of Paul, Historical and ConstructiveSell, Henry T. (Henry Thorne)
Religion
Bible Studies in the Life of Paul, Historical and Constructive
Sell, Henry T. (Henry Thorne)
Paul, the Apostle, Saint
+The Record+ of the three missionary journeys, is briefly
comprised in eight and a half chapters (Acts 13:1-21:17),
and it does not profess to be a complete one. Only the
most striking incidents and events, and probably not all
of these, are given. There were side trips not recorded
by Luke; Paul speaks of one to Illyricum (Rom. 15:19),
and of others in which he underwent great perils (2
Cor. 11:24-27).
The purpose of Luke seems to be to show how, in
accordance with the command and promise of Christ, the
knowledge and power of the gospel was spread, beginning
in Jerusalem, through Judea, and Samaria, throughout
the heathen world (Acts 1:8); everything seems to be
made to bend to this purpose. Certainly there could be
no more graphic and concise account of these epoch
making events than that given us by this wonderful
narrator.
+Other Long Journeys.+--1. Paul's voyage to Rome as
a prisoner. Luke gives a full account of this voyage, its
many interesting incidents (Acts 27:1-28:16), and of the
circumstances which led up to it (Acts 21:17-27:1).
2. There is every reason to believe that Paul was
released at the end of his two years imprisonment in
Rome (Acts 28:30) and that he made an Eastern journey
as far as Colossae and a Western journey as far as Spain.
NOTE.--These last journeys are considered in chapter ten.
+Method of Work and Support.+--Paul and his companion,
or company, when they entered into a city would
first seek for a lodging and then for work, going from one
tent maker's door to another until finally a place was
found. Then upon the following Sabbath they would
seek the Jewish synagogue and after the reading of the
Scriptures, when an opportunity was given, Paul would
arise and begin to speak, (Acts 13:14-16) leading up
through the Old Testament message (Acts 13:17-43) to
the great topic of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah
and closing with an exhortation to believe on Him. Such
a speech would naturally excite great interest coming from
the lips of one, who by his speech and the handling of the
Old Testament, would be recognized as a cultivated
Jewish Rabbi. Paul would be asked to speak again the next
Sabbath (Acts 13:44-52), the synagogue would be full of
people and he would set forth Jesus Christ more plainly
as the Savior both of Jew and Gentile. This would
generally be a signal for the Jews to contradict and oppose
Paul, but some Jews would believe with a number of
Gentiles. This would be the starting point of the
Christian church in that community. The Jews, however, who
were untouched by what Paul preached, and who looked
upon him as the destroyer of their religion, would raise a
cry against him and seek to have him expelled from the
city. This experience was frequently repeated. There
were great difficulties also to be encountered when the
heathen thought that their worship was in danger (Acts
19:20-30).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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