MEN COME TO ANTIOCH, WHO TELL THE DISCIPLES THAT THEY CANNOT BE SAVED UNLESS THEY KEEP THE LAW OF MOSES. THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS AT JERUSALEM MEET TOGETHER TO DECIDE THIS QUESTION. PAUL AND BARNABAS PART FROM ONE ANOTHER.
AND some men came from Jerusalem to Antioch, who told the disciples there that they could not be saved, unless they obeyed the law of Moses, which commanded the children of Israel to offer up sacrifices. Now we have read, that for many hundreds of years before Jesus came on the earth, sacrifices were offered up to show that he was coming. But when he had come, there was no more need of sacrifices; for we do not need anything to remind us that a person is coming, after he is here and we have seen him for ourselves. Therefore Paul and Barnabas talked with these men, and tried to make them understand that sacrifices were needed no longer. When they could not do this, they agreed to go with them up to Jerusalem, to inquire about the matter. So they went with them, and after they had come there, the apostles and elders met together to decide this question Then the Holy Spirit told them that now, since the Saviour had been offered up, it was not necessary to offer up any more sacrifices.
And the apostles and elders chose two men, named Judas and Silas, to go back with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. And they wrote a letter for these men to carry with them, and give to the Christians in Antioch, and other cities, telling them that they need no longer offer up lambs, or oxen, or goats to the Lord. For the time was past when the Lord cared that the people should worship him in this way. What he wanted them to do now, was, to obey the words of the gospel, which said, that they should repent of their sins, and believe in his Son Jesus; loving him in their hearts and obeying his commandments.
So Paul and Barnabas, and Judas and Silas, left Jerusalem and came to Antioch; and they called all the disciples together and gave them the letter which the apostles and elders had sent. And the disciples were glad when they read it, and learned that now they could worship God as well in the places where they lived, as if they should go to Jerusalem and offer up sacrifices there.
After these things, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in all the cities where we have preached the gospel, and see how they do. And Barnabas was willing to go, and he wanted to take Mark with them; but Paul thought it not best to take Mark, who, when they took him before, left them, and was unwilling to stay with them to the end of their journey. So they disagreed about this matter, and their disagreement was so great that they parted from one another. Then Barnabas took Mark and sailed to the island of Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and went into Syria, visiting the churches in that land.
And he came to Lystra, the city where he had healed the lame man. There he found a young man named Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess and a disciple of Jesus, but his father was a Gentile. And Timothy was well spoken of by the Christians at Lystra, for from the time he was a little child, he had been taught to know what was in the Scriptures, and to obey the Lord. When Paul saw how wise and good a young man he was, he chose him to go with himself and Silas, so that Timothy might learn to be a minister, and preach the gospel.
And they came to Troas, a city near the sea; there in the night Paul had a vision. He saw a man standing before him, who said, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Macedonia was a country on the other side of the sea; so Paul, and those who were with him, sailed in a ship from Troas and came to a city of Macedonia called Philippi.
On the Sabbath day they went a little way out of the city, to a place by the side of a river, where the Jews used to meet together to pray; and they sat down and talked with the women who came there. And a woman named Lydia, who was a seller of purple cloth, heard them. Then the Lord sent his Spirit into her heart, so that she attended to what Paul said and believed in Jesus. When she and her family had been baptized, she begged Paul and his friends, saying, If you think me a Christian, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded them till they went.
And a young woman who had an evil spirit, and who earned much money for her masters by pretending to tell persons what would happen to them in the future, followed Paul and his companions, and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of God, who show us the way we may be saved. This she did for many days. But Paul, being troubled that she followed them, turned and said to the evil spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And the spirit came out that same hour.
When the masters of the young woman saw that she was made well, and could no longer earn money for them by repeating what the evil spirit said, they were angry, and caught Paul and Silas and brought them before the rulers, saying, These men, who are Jews, do greatly trouble our city, and teach the people things which it is not right for them to do. Then the people of Philippi rose up against them, and the rulers commanded that they should be scourged. And after they had beaten them with many stripes, they put them in prison, telling the jailer to keep them safely. He therefore took them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in stocks, or heavy pieces of wood, so they might not escape.
In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God, and the other prisoners heard them. And, suddenly, there was a great earthquake, which shook the whole prison, and immediately all the doors opened, of their own accord, and the chains that bound the prisoners fell from them. And the keeper of the prison, waking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, and fearing that he would be put to death for allowing the prisoners to escape, drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing they had fled. But Paul cried to him, with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.
Then the jailer called for a light and came trembling into the dungeon where Paul and Silas were, and kneeling down before them, said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They answered him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Then they told him and all who were in his house, about the Saviour, and preached the gospel to them. And they believed, and were all of them baptized. That same hour of the night the jailer took Paul and Silas and washed the wounds that had been made when they were beaten. He brought food also, and set it before them, that they might eat. And the jailer was filled with joy, because he and his family were made Christians, and had their sins forgiven.
In the morning the rulers sent some officers to the prison, who said to the jailer, Let those men go. Then, the jailer told Paul, saying, The rulers have sent to let you go. Now the Jews, as we have read, were servants to the Romans. Yet Paul's father, although he was a Jew, had been made free. We are not told whether he bought his freedom for money, or received it as a reward from the emperor, for doing something that pleased him. But because his father was made a free Roman, Paul also was one. And it was against the law to scourge a free Roman. So when the rulers sent officers to say he might go, Paul answered, They have taken us who are Romans, and although no harm has been proved against us, have beaten us before all the people. If then, they want us to go, let the rulers come themselves and take us out, so that the people may know we were unjustly scourged and cast into prison.
When the rulers heard that Paul was a Roman, they were afraid lest they might be punished for what they had done to him; and they came and begged him earnestly to go out of the city. Then he and Silas left the prison and came into the house of Lydia; after they had met with the disciples there, and talked with them, to comfort them, they departed from Philippi and went on their journey.
And they came to another city of Macedonia called Thessalonica, where was a synagogue. And Paul, for three Sabbath days, went into it and preached to the Jews, as he used to do in every city; explaining the Scriptures to them and showing, from what the prophets had written, that Jesus was the Saviour. And some of them believed, and many of the Gentiles, also.
But the Jews, who would not believe, being angry because they saw others believing, took wicked men with them and made an uproar in the city, and went to the house where Paul and Silas stayed, to bring them out to the people. When they could not find them, they caught the man to whom the house belonged, whose name was Jason, and brought him before the rulers, saying, The men called Christians, who have made such trouble and confusion in other places, have come here also. They disobey the decrees of Cæsar, and say there is another king named Jesus. Yet Jason has taken them into his house. Then the rulers made Jason promise that Paul and Silas should cause no more disturbance among the people, and afterward let him go. But the brethren, that is, the men who were Christians in Thessalonica, sent Paul and Silas away by night to another city called Berea.
When they came there they went into the synagogue to preach to the Jews. Now the Jews in Berea were more willing to learn than those in Thessalonica, for they listened to the gospel, and after hearing it, they read, every day, in the Scriptures, to see whether the things that Paul and Silas told them out of the prophets were true. Therefore many of them believed, and of the Gentiles also, both men and women, not a few. But when the Jews who had driven Paul away from Thessalonica, heard that he was preaching in Berea, they came there to stir up the people against him. Then the brethren sent him away from Berea, but Silas and Timothy stayed there still.
And the men who went with Paul brought him to Athens, which was the chief city of a country called Greece. The people of Athens were considered the wisest people living at that time, and were known all over the world for their learning; yet they worshipped false gods. They made beautiful statues of these, and built splendid temples and altars to them in different parts of their city. But among the altars was one with these words on it, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. For though they had many gods, the people felt there was one God whom they had never learned about. Therefore, they built this altar to him.
And as Paul passed through the streets of Athens, he saw that the city was full of idols. This grieved him at his heart; and he preached not only to the Jews in their synagogue, but he went every day to the market-place, where the people of the city met, and explained the gospel to them. When the philosophers, or wise men of Athens, heard him, some of them asked, What is it that this fellow says? Others answered, He seems to be telling about some new gods. They said this, because he preached about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to the place where the chief court of Athens met, on a hill called Mars' Hill, in the centre of the city: and they said to him, Tell us now what this gospel is which thou art preaching; for thou dost speak strange words, and we would like to know what they mean. For the people of Athens spent all their time in doing nothing else but either in telling or hearing some new thing.
Then Paul stood up, and said, Ye men of Athens, I see that you think a great deal about the gods which you worship; for as I walked through your city, looking at your temples, your altars, and your images, I saw an altar with these words written on it: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. That God, therefore, whom you worship without knowing him, I now want to tell you of.
Then Paul told them that God, who made the world, and made them, did not live in temples such as they built, neither was he like the idols of gold and silver and stone, which were made by men's hands. While the people knew no better than to worship such idols, Paul said, God had not destroyed them for doing it, but had allowed them to live, and had given them food and clothing and everything that they needed. But now he told all men to worship idols no more, commanding them to repent of their sins and believe on Jesus, because he had appointed a day when he would send him to judge them; and God had given them a proof that he would do this, by raising Jesus up from the dead.
When the men of Athens heard Paul speak of the resurrection, or the raising up from the dead, some mocked him, but others said, We will hear thee speak again of this matter. Yet a number of those who had heard him, believed, among whom was Dionysius, one of the members of the chief court of Athens, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
After these things, Paul left Athens and came to the city of Corinth. And he found there a Jew named Aquila, with his wife Priscilla. The Jews used always to teach their sons some business, or trade, while they were young, so that they might be able when they grew older, to support themselves. Paul had been taught while young, to be a tent-maker; and though now he was an apostle, whenever he was in want, he made tents for his living. And because Aquila was also a tent-maker, Paul went to stay and work with him. But every Sabbath day he came into the synagogue and taught the people, persuading both the Jews and the Gentiles to believe in the Saviour. When the Jews contradicted him, and spoke wickedly of Jesus, he said to them, I have done my duty in telling you of him. If you will not be saved, the fault is your own; from this time I will go and preach to the Gentiles.
Now Corinth, like Athens, was a great city, but the people who lived there were wicked. Yet the Lord spoke to Paul in the night, in a vision, and told him that many of them should become Christians; and he commanded Paul to preach boldly and without fear; For, the Lord said, I am with thee to take care of thee, and no man shall hurt thee. Paul stayed in Corinth a year and six months, preaching to the people. But the Jews of that city who would not believe, rose up against him and brought him before the governor, saying, This fellow teaches men to worship God in a way that is wrong. When Paul was going to answer them, the governor said to those who brought him, If this man had done something that was really wicked, it would be right that I should hear what you have to say against him. But if it be only a question about your worship, you may attend to it yourselves, for I will not be a judge between you in such matters. And he drove them away. Then the Gentiles, being angry at the Jews for persecuting Paul, took the chief ruler of the synagogue and beat him, even before the governor. Yet the governor did not stop them, for he cared about none of those things.