After the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15, Paul sets out again, taking Timothy with him on his second missionary journey (Acts 16–17). “As they traveled from town to town [in Macedonia and Greece], they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey” (16:4). They witnessed the daily growth of the church as they strengthened them in the faith (16:5).

Timothy

Just after the Jerusalem Council declared that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised (15:5–11),

Paul wanted to take [Timothy] along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. (16:3)

Why did Paul insist that Timothy be circumcised while at the same time delivering the message that circumcision was not required for salvation? Because Timothy’s circumcision was not about salvation, but about removing any stumbling block to the message (Rom 14:13, 19).

When have you done something “unnecessary” so as not to get in the way of someone else hearing the message of salvation?

Open and Shut Doors

When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (16:7–10)

I want to abide in Christ so that I can hear the Holy Spirit’s guidance. How has God led you through shutting expected avenues while opening others?

Lydia

When there were not enough men to form a synagogue, Jews worshipped in a “prayer-house,” typically beside bodies of water to facilitate ritual cleansing.¹ That’s where Paul found to a group of women including Lydia by a river in Philippi.

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. (16:13–14)

She then invited the apostles into her home, forming the beginning of the house church in that city. “After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left” (16:40). Scholars think Lydia was the one Paul had in mind when he wrote the salutation in Phil 1:3–6. I’m so encouraged that Lydia and her other women-friends did not let the absence of men hold them back but instead took the initiative and started a church.

How does the example of Lydia encourage you?

Set Free

In Philippi, Paul and Silas are flogged and thrown into prison (16:22–24) for casting a demon out of a slave-girl who predicted the future (and setting her free), thus upsetting the income source of her owner (16:16–19). But God intervened.

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. (16:25–26)

Tara-Leigh Cobble describes their response: “Even in these treacherous and unfair realities, they were filled with joy! With prayer and singing, they reminded themselves of what was true despite their circumstances. Had they been focused on what was happening to them, they may have missed an opportunity for what God wanted to do through them.” ²

Who do you know that needs to be set free (literally or figuratively)? Pray for them.

Salvation

“Believers” (and “believe”) continues to be the primary description for those who respond to the apostles’ message (17:1, 2, 1, 31, 34; 17:6, 12). They “tell the way to be saved” (16:17), “speak the word of the Lord” (16:32), and “preach the good news about Jesus and the resurrection” (17:18). In this section we also find a reminder for the need for repentance (17:30) and a frequently memorized verse:

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.” (16:30–31)

Have you ever used Acts 16:31 to invite someone to salvation? Tell someone about it.

Response

Despite opposition, the church continued to grow:

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. (16:5) 

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. (16:34)

After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. (16:40)

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. (17:4)

As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. (17:12)

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. (17:34)

Again, Tara-Leigh Cobble sums it up so well: “The gospel of Jesus was changing entire communities by flipping individual believers lives upside down—amending their value systems, challenging, their cultural norms, and granting purpose to those on the outskirts of society—and that’s still happening today. Jesus’s entire kingdom message flies in the face of conventional understanding. Many even referred to it as the upside-down kingdom.”³

How have you witnessed God’s upside-down kingdom today?

“Unknown” God

Paul’s experience in Athens was unique in that he debated with philosophers in a city full of temples and various gods. Paul found one altar “to an unknown god” (17:23) and explained his God to them:

The God who made the world and everything in it  (creator)

is the Lord of heaven and earth and (transcendent)

does not live in temples built by human hands. (omnipresent)

And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. (self-sufficient)

Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. (provider)

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; (sovereign)

and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. (immanent)

God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, (savior)

though he is not far from any one of us. (immanuel)

'For in him we live and move and have our being.’ (source)

As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Father)
(17:24–28)

What a God he is! What part of Paul’s description of God encourages you most?

Berea

Some women in my Bible study describe themselves as Bereans. This description is found here in Acts 17:

As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. (17:10–12)

The Berean believers examined (anakrino), i.e. they investigated, inquired into, scrutinized, sifted, and questioned Paul’s teaching according to the Law and the Prophets, the scriptures they had at the time.

In what ways are you like a Berean?

Conclusion

As we approach Easter, I leave you with Paul’s words on the subject, for it is the basis of our faith:

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. (17:3)

Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. (17:18)

God . . .  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. (17:30–31)

Prayer

Jesus, my Savior, I pray that people would seek you and reach out to you and find you, for you are not far from any one of us (17:27). Draw more people to ask how they might be saved and give them faith to believe you are the Messiah, the one who died and rose from the dead.

---

1. https://margmowczko.com/lydia-of-thyatira-philippi/ ↩︎
2. Tara-Leigh Cobble, ACTS, 154. ↩︎
3. Cobble, 159. ↩︎