Acts: The Expansion of the Church
Session 9
Estimated reading time: 25 minutes
Expansion to Europe
In this chapter of “Acts: The Expansion of the Church” we are going to talk about “Expansion Into Europe.” I thought about giving this chapter a subtitle; “Turning Lemons to Lemonade,” which is a bit of a dorky subtitle, but you will get the point as we go along. We will begin our study in Acts 15, verse 35. This is after the Jerusalem Council when Judas and Silas return to Antioch and spend time there, positively confirming and establishing the brothers and Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch.
Acts 15:35–36 APNT
Now Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch and were teaching and preaching the word of God with many others.
And after [some] days, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers who are in every city in which we have preached the word of God and let us see what they are doing.”
You see Paul’s heart; he really wanted to go back and confirm the new believers and continue to work with them. He was not into just preaching and simply leaving them there and never going back. He came back through a number of different times to visit. This is what we would call the beginning of the second missionary journey.
Acts 15:37–39 APNT
And Barnabas wanted to take John, who was called Mark.
but Paul did not want to take him with them, because he had left them while they were in Pamphylia and had not gone with them. (This happened on the first missionary journey.)
Because of this contention, they separated from each other (Talking about Paul and Barnabas.) and Barnabas took Mark and journeyed by sea and traveled to Cyprus.
If you remember, Barnabas was originally from Cyprus and had they gone back through every place they had gone previously, they would have started in Cyprus and then gone back up around to Pisidia, Antioch, Lystra, and Iconium. When Paul and Barnabus separated, we do not really know exactly why they had this contention. There is much speculation, but the Word does not really tell us. In this particular case, I think I say I do not know. What we do know later; Mark is with Peter and there is a reconciliation with him. Mark is the one who writes the Gospel of Mark and he is well thought of. It is very possible this contention was only at this particular moment. Perhaps they simply went into two different fields and the separation was not necessarily forever.
Acts 15:40 APNT
Now Paul chose Silas and went away, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God. (This is the same way it described that they were entrusted to the grace of God in the first missionary journey.)
Acts 15:41 APNT
And he traveled in Syria (Paul and Silas started in Syria.) and in Cilicia and established the churches.
If you look at the map shown above which we will be referring to quite a bit. It shows all the mountains and the topography of the places that we will be talking about. We will be starting in Antioch and they go back through Syria, Cilicia and the town in Cilicia that Paul is from, which is Tarsus. They go back through Syria, Cilicia and establish the churches. So now chapter 16, verse one.
Acts 16:1a APNT
And he arrived at the city [of] Derbe and of Lystra…
They went over the Taurus Mountains, past Tarsus. The first city they come to is Derbe,and the next one is Lystra. Lystra is where the man who was lame from his birth was healed.
Acts 16:1b–2 APNT
And there was a certain disciple there, whose name [was] Timothy, the son of a certain faithful Judean woman and his father was an Aramean.” (or his father was a Greek)
And all the disciples who were from Lystra and from Iconium gave testimony concerning him.
His reputation, even as a young disciple, had gone all the way up to Iconium from Derbe, from Lystra to Iconium to Derbe. He was well known and well thought of. We will look at
2 Timothy where it tells us a little bit more about Timothy and what Paul thought of him.
2 Timothy 1:5 APNT
by the remembrance I have about your steadfast faith that lived first in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded is also in you.
Here we have the name of his Judean mother. Her name was Eunice. Then in chapter 3, verse 15.
2 Timothy 3:15 APNT
and that from your youth you were taught the holy writings, which are able to make you wise for life (or salvation) by the faith of Jesus Christ.
We see from a very young age he was taught the scriptures; so much so that when he became a believer, he was a really strong believer even from the very beginning. Continuing in Acts 16:3, we see:
Acts 16:3 APNT
Paul wanted to take this [man] with him, so he took [and] circumcised him because of the Judeans that were in the place, for all of them knew his father was an Aramean.
Timothy was from a Judean mother, but he had never been circumcised. Paul wanted to take him on the journey. Do you think this is a rather incongruous thing to do at the moment because the whole issue discussed during the Jerusalem Council was whether or not a person needed to be circumcised to be a believer. That could not be the reason Paul circumcised him. He circumcised him, if he was going on the journey with Paul, so he would be able to go into the synagogues and associate with other Judean people without any controversy. It was actually about how the outreach of the Word would continue and be easier to accomplish. He certainly was not saying that Timothy had to be circumcised in order to be a believer. We will learn more about Timothy later on as it goes along. He begins to travel with Paul and Silas.
Acts 16:4 APNT
And while they went among the cities, they were preaching and teaching them to be keeping the commandments which the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem had written.
This is referring to those decrees that we had read about in the previous chapter. Now they are in Galatia. When we had talked about Book of Galatians; it was written after the Jerusalem Council and prior to this journey. When the Galatians in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Pisidia of Antioch had received the letter of Galatians and it stirred them up. When Paul and Silas arrive they have the decrees with them. They establish and explain even more about the heart of both what happened in the Jerusalem Council and the Book of Galatians. So it continues in verse 5:
Acts 16:5 APNT
Yet the churches were established in faith and increased in number every day.
It says, “the churches increased in number every day.” Not only were people but also churches were increasing every day. Verse 6 goes on:
Acts 16:6a APNT
And they walked…
They walked. Sometimes we might forget about how they were traveling. They walked the entire way. They did not fly. They did not take a bus. They did not even have a car. They were walking over mountains. It was not always so easy. We continue in the second part of verse 6:
Acts 16:6b APNT
…in the regions of Phrygia and of Galatia (They were continuing past Antioch of Pisidia.) and the Holy Spirit hindered them from speaking the word of God in Asia.
Had they kept on going in the direction they were, they would have gone towards Colossae and Ephesus and many other cities in that area. This is what you would call Asia. However, it says the Holy Spirit or God forbid them, “hindered them from speaking the word of God in Asia.” They must have been puzzled. “Okay, I guess we are not supposed to go that way.” That would have been, from the map’s point of view, they would have been going towards the Mediterranean Sea, towards Ephesus. Later on, Ephesus is a wonderful location and so is Colossae, however it was not yet the time for them to go there. Verse 7 goes on.
Acts 16:7 APNT
…And after they had come to the region [of] Mysia…
This area is quite a bit farther north. You can see they are traveling on the edge of the mountains that are now in what we call Turkey; and they are going up towards the north. On the northeast side of that road is a place called Bithynia. “…they wanted to go from there to Bithynia;” which from there would have led to many places to the East. However is says; “…yet the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.”
This seems like a very unusual way to say it. They did not say “God did not permit them.”
Usually it says Holy Spirit. Sometimes it says Spirit of Christ. I believe this is the only place it says, “Spirit of Jesus.” We see and understand that Jesus is the head of the body. So you can understand why it says “Spirit of Jesus” here, because this is talking about something very specific that is a direction for these specific members of the body.
Acts 16:8 APNT
And after they had gone out from Mysia, they went down to the region [of] Troas.
Here is a little background about the region of Troas. Troas is right on the Aegean Sea and is the gateway into Europe. From there people could cross the Aegean Sea to Macedonia and then down to Greece. Troas became a center for the church much later in the Book of Acts and in several of the epistles as a place where the parchments were kept. There were believers there evidently who were fluent in various languages. I believe there was a center in Troas where manuscripts began to be translated back and forth between Aramaic and Greek; and they were kept there and guarded there. Later on Paul asks to have the parchments that are there brought to him; because they started to preserve the written Word of God in that location. This was taking place in many other places as well, but I think that Troas is a really interesting place. The second thing about Troas; Luke is from there. We are going to see that in a minute. Paul and Silas are in Troas. Then what happens?
Acts 16:9–10a APNT
And in a vision during the night, there appeared to Paul (as [it were]) a certain Macedonian man who was standing and begging him, saying, “Come to Macedonia and help us.”
And after Paul had seen this vision, immediately we wanted to leave for Macedonia…
Here is the first “we” in the Book of Acts; when it changes pronouns from “they” to “we,” which indicates Luke is with them. Luke wanted to go to Macedonia with Paul; and at this point he joins them on their journey.
Acts 16:10b APNT
…because we understood that our Lord had called us to preach to them.
From the vision they understood, they concluded, that God really wanted them to preach to the Macedonians. So, from being hindered from going into Asia, and then being hindered from going into Bithynia; now it becomes clear this is the direction they should go.
Acts 16:11–12 APNT
And we traveled from Troas and headed straight for Samothracia (Now that was a mountainous island in the north of the Aegean Sea, so their mode of travel now has changed.) and from there on the next day, we came to the city [of] Neapolis, (about 100 miles from Troas.) and from there to Philippi, (They would be traveling inland about 10 miles.) which is the chief [city] of Macedonia and is a colony. And we were in that city certain days.
Philippi is a very interesting place because it is a Roman colony and was settled by ex-military, ex-Roman legion soldiers, and generals and people that had been in the Roman military. As a result, there were not very many Jews there. In fact, there was no synagogue there at all, which meant there was not a large enough population for them to have a synagogue. We will see what happens at Philippi.
Acts 16:13 APNT
And we went out on the day of the Sabbath outside of the gate of the city by the edge of a river, because a house of prayer was seen there. And after we were seated, we were speaking with the women who were gathered there.
This is showing us that they did not have an actual place to meet. As a result, they were meeting by the edge of a river. The closest river is about a mile and a half away from the city; and a house of prayer was there.
Acts 16:14 APNT
And a certain woman, a seller of purple cloth, who feared God [was there]. Her name was Lydia, from the city [of] Thyatira. Our Lord opened the heart of this [woman] and she heard what Paul said.
This woman, Lydia, is from the city of Thyatira, which is in Asia. She is a businesswoman and she is “a seller of purple cloth.” This particular cloth was precious because the dye that caused the cloth to be purple was extracted from a particular shellfish. The process to extract this material was laborious and therefore the cloth and the garments made from it were expensive. As a businesswoman, she would have been well-known in the city; and she, as we will see in the next verse, was the head of her household. She was probably a widow. She worshipped God. It says that she feared God, so she worshipped the God of Israel. She was a proselyte. Then we see this wonderful phrase, “Our Lord opened the heart of this woman. And she heard what Paul said.”
She and the others were there listening to what Paul was sharing and teaching; but “our Lord” opened her heart. That particular reference is “our Lord, Jesus Christ,” opened her heart. She had been listening, she had been hearing, but now she understood. It was not Paul who opened her heart, and she did not even open her own heart. She worshipped the God of Israel, but it was the Lord, our Lord, who opened her heart.
Acts 16:15 APNT
And she was baptized, she and her household.
(This had become the norm at this point in time. As we have clearly seen, this baptism would have been the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She and her whole household received the Holy Spirit, and would have spoken in tongues. That was the norm.)
And she begged us and was saying, “If you are truly confident that I believe in our Lord, (They would have been truly confident because they would have seen the manifestation.) come, lodge in my house.” And she constrained us much.
This woman was the first believer in Europe. She was also a woman given to hospitality. She constrained them to the point that they could not say no.
Acts 16:16 APNT
And it happened that while we were going to the house of prayer, a certain young woman met us who had a spirit of divinations. And she earned a large profit for her masters by the divination that she was divining. (You can see the play on words there.)
This is referring to the spirit of divination, which is basically a foretelling spirit. Sometimes it is also called a familiar spirit in the Old Testament. An example of someone who was like an oracle in the Old Testament is the man named Balaam, who had the talking ass. Remember? The whole story of Balaam was that he was known and paid for doing foretellings. You can see from the verse where is says, “she earned a large profit for her masters.”
I was reading about this spirit of divination; it is also called a spirit of Python. There was a famous temple in Philippi where people would go to get a foretelling reading by the oracle. They had many other priestesses who would do the same things. Often a Python spirit was described like a ventriloquist: the mouth was not moving, but there would definitely be another voice coming from the person. Sometimes the spirit would be speaking out of strange places of the body other than the mouth.
Acts 16:17 APNT
And she was following Paul and us and was crying out and saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God and are declaring to you the way of life.” (or the way of salvation)
When we read verse 17, she could have been saying it more with real sicky, sweet little voice that was truly smarmy and disturbing. One would almost get frightened just listening to the voice. In addition, if her mouth was not moving at the same time she was talking, it would obviously draw a great deal of attention.
Acts 16:18 APNT
And so she did many days. And Paul was provoked and said to that spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And immediately it went away.”
In the King James you will read it says, “it went away in the same hour,” but immediately it went away. When it says, “Paul was provoked,” it means that “he was grieved and he waited for these many days.” Obviously he could have cast the spirit out at the moment she first started doing it. He actually was grieved for the lady herself, that she would be delivered and receive salvation in the process of being delivered. It was not that he was annoyed and provoked at this spirit. He was grieved in his heart, asking: “Father! What should I do? How should I handle this? When is the best time? Is it now?” He was asking all those questions. You can really see the walking by the spirit in between the lines here.
Acts 16:19–21 APNT
And when her masters saw that the hope of their profit had gone out of her, they arrested Paul and Silas and dragged [and] brought them to the marketplace.
And they brought them to the magistrates and to the rulers of the city and were saying, “These men are troubling our city, because they are Judeans and are preaching to us customs that are not permitted for us to receive and to do because we are Romans.”
The real reason they arrested Paul and Silas was because they had lost their profit. As a result, they invented the reason that they were going against the Roman law in some manner.
Acts 16:22 APNT
And a large crowd gathered against them. Then the magistrates tore their garments and commanded to beat them.
The rulers and magistrates were extremely angry and gave the command to beat them. I want you to think about that.
Acts 16:23–24 APNT
And after they had beaten them much, they threw them into prison and commanded the keeper of the prison to keep them carefully. (They were beaten violently. They were wounded and bleeding.)
Now when he received this command, (the keeper of the prison) he brought [them] in [and] confined them in the inner room of the prison and fastened their feet in stocks.”
Take a moment to picture this. They were beaten severely. They were wounded and thrown in prison. This was not like the county jail or like anything we would with which we would be familiar, where they had a cot to sleep on or a meal. They were not taken to where the other prisoners were, but they were taken into the dungeon: the deepest, darkest place of this prison where there would have been no light. It probably would have been wet; and possibly infested with rats. When the jailer received this command, he brought them in and confined them in the inner room of the prison. He fastened their feet in stocks, probably their arms, maybe even their necks as well. This would have been rusty metal bound tightly around their wounded bodies, and in this manner they were then secured.
Acts 16:25 APNT
And in the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were praying and praising God and the prisoners were listening to them.
They were not complaining. They were not crying. They were not moaning about their wounds! Nothing! They were praying and they were praising God. They were continuing to speak boldly to all those prisoners that could hear them. It must have been such an amazing thing to have known about these men who were so severely beaten and yet they were praising God. In fact, there is a wonderful song you can listen to on YouTube. It is by a man named Ray Boltz, entitled “I Will Praise the Lord.” He also does a video of this whole scene that is truly amazing. It will make you cry, because in the middle of the worst circumstances, they were praising the Lord.
Acts 16:26–28 APNT
And suddenly, there was a great earthquake and the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately, all the doors were opened and the fastenings of all were released. (Not only Paul and Silas were released, but also the fastenings of all were released.)
And when the keeper of the prison was awakened and saw that the doors of the prison were opened, he took a sword and wanted to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had fled.
And Paul called to him with a loud voice and said to him, “Do not do to yourself anything evil, because all of us are here.”
Think about this. If Paul was in the inner prison and the keeper was outside where the prisoners were; Paul had to have said this by revelation. Paul knew; God told him: “He is going to kill himself.” He then called to the keeper: “Do not harm yourself!”
Acts 16–29–30 APNT
And he lit a lamp for himself and sprang up and entered, trembling, and fell at the feet of Paul and of Silas.
And he brought them outside and said to them, “My lords, (or sirs) what is necessary for me to do, so that I may have life?” (or salvation)
“What must I do to be saved?” That was his question. It showed the tremendous hunger in his heart and how all of these events transpired to focus on this one thing: “What do you have? I want it too.”
Acts 16:31–32 APNT
And they said to him, “Believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and you will have life, you and your house.”
And they spoke to him the word of the LORD and to all his household.
Paul and Silas did not stop to say, “ We have been beaten and are bleeding. Do you think you can clean up our backs a little bit? We have not eaten for 24 hours. We could use a little food. We can definitely teach you the Word of God, but we need a little help here first.” They did not do that. They did not complain; they simply began preaching the Word, and they did not focus on their problems.
Acts 16:33–34 APNT
And immediately (We have this immediately over and over.) in the night, he took [and] washed them of their wounds and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.
And he took [and] brought them up to his house and set a table for them and was rejoicing, he and his household, in the faith of God.
You see here that he was baptized also. When he spoke in tongues, then the people of his household spoke in tongues also. Can you imagine the rejoicing that happened? It was the confirmation to Paul and Silas: this was the man God had shown them in the vision. This is the man who was saying, “Come over…and help us.” The first believers had been women, now here is the man. It happened in one of the most horrifying and horrific type of situations that could ever have happened where they were beaten.
Acts 16:35–39 APNT
And when it was morning, the magistrates sent sergeants to say to the ruler of the prisoners, “Release those men.”
And when the ruler of the prison heard about [it], he told Paul this message, “The magistrates have sent [a message] that you should be released, and now leave, go in peace.”
Paul said to him, “They have beaten Roman men without fault before the eye of the whole world (Meaning that because Silas was also a Roman citizen; they had no right to beat him either.) and have put [them] into prison and now secretly do they send us away? Indeed not! Rather, they should come [and] send us away.”
And the sergeants went and told the magistrates these words that were said to them. And when they heard that they were Romans, they were afraid.
And they came to them and begged them to go out and to leave the city.
Why did they not say that they were Romans before? They could have avoided the whole beating. This was a Roman colony that operated under the same laws as the city of Rome.
It was unlawful for a Roman citizen to be beaten without a trial; however they had not mentioned one word about being Roman citizens until this point. This had to be by revelation as well.
Acts 16:40 APNT
And after they had gone out of the prison, they entered [the house of] Lydia and saw the brothers there and comforted them and left.
Here you see, they returned to the home of Lydia, the woman who had constrained them and extended hospitality to them. They also saw the brothers there. You can see already a church beginning to spring up. They “comforted them and left.”
The other thing that you see from chapter 17, verse 1: “And they passed by the cities…” (and they continue on their journey.) Luke is left in Philippi. He is the one who continues to strengthen and establish the church at Philippi. The Philippian church was not only one of the first churches in Europe, but it also became known for its example of generosity and giving throughout the books of 2nd Corinthians and Philippians. Both books talk about how they had a tremendous amount of giving. It is believed Luke stayed in Philippi for approximately eight years because at that point he joins Paul on his third missionary journey.
To summarize this chapter, I think the question we see throughout the Book of Acts, “What must I do to be saved?” is the key question. For everyone, whether they were the Greeks or Romans who lived during that time, or people who live in our culture today; this is the key question. These people in Philippi were living in the grip of an imperial cult and a pantheon of gods, with rampant idol worship, oracles, and false prophecies. That is how they had grown up. We, in our culture, live in an era of atheism and commercialism and ignorance of God, in general, or even tolerance of Christianity. The same question, “What must I do to be saved?”, is the same question we should ask now. There are three examples of people who believed in Philippi that give us a clue of how to respond in answer to that question. The first person was Lydia how God opened her heart, and the Lord worked in her to draw her. It says in the Gospels that Jesus Christ draws all men to him. So he drew her. Then God, by way of the Spirit, helped Paul and Silas get to where she was. You see again, it is almost like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, for which there was perfect timing involved to orchestrate the entire thing. God opened Lydia’s heart to respond. This is the same thing that happens when people are asking the question: “What must I do to be saved? What is salvation? How do I get it? Where is it? I do not know.” When they ask the question, then God opens their hearts.
Then we see the slave girl. God not only opened her heart, but He also cleansed her and freed her from the horrible demonic oppression that she was under. As a result, the truth set her free and Paul waited for the perfect time when that would be available to happen. As soon as he said, “in the name of Jesus Christ, Spirit get out,” it departed immediately. It did not come back either. You see when we operate and walk by the Spirit in discerning and casting out spirits, it works! It is backed up by God 100%. It is not only that they turn to the Lord, but also they are set free.
Thirdly, we see the jailer, is probably the greatest example. He is most likely a Roman military person who is very strict. He has his orders and he is determined to follow those orders to the “T.” He is determined to do a great job. However, deep in his heart he has that same hunger. “What is all this? “Why are these men here? Look at what they are doing.
They are praising God! How could they be praising God when we just inflicted the most horrible torture upon them?” He has that same question rising up in his heart when Paul says to him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and all your household.” He is saying, “Make Jesus Lord! When you believe this from your heart, then you will receive the righteousness that is available in Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” We do not take the verses about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ out of context and simply use them as a mantra or formula for people to be born again. However, we do see it in the entire context of Acts 16.
Then, you see there is a progression, God opens a person’s heart. He desires them to be set free; which then leads to salvation which remains not only for that person but also their entire household. It then progresses from there, because this started the whole move into Europe. God could have gone the other way. He could have sent Paul and Silas to Asia, to China, to the East; and it would never have moved in Europe like it did. Many of us and those who are reading this book who are from a European family; you can be so thankful this was the direction God chose; because from here the Word moved into Europe and to the United States and to our time. It would not have gone in that same direction had God not guided it that way.
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