Study #58: Paul returned to the assembly at Antioch after stopping at a synagogue in Ephesus (Acts 18:12

Study #58: Paul returned to the assembly at Antioch after stopping at a synagogue in Ephesus (Acts 18:12 - 22)

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The Golden Ratio outline of Acts Chapter 2.2:

Acts, Chapter 2.2: The Gentiles and Jews of Greece violently opposed the efforts of Paul and Silas to plant churches (15:36 - 18:22)

§Unique Introduction: The missionary ministry of Paul is transformed with a new partner, Silas, and a new helper, Timothy (15:36 - 16:5)

¶Opposite Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways because of a disagreement over John Mark (15:36 - 41)

¶Opposite Paul, Silas, and Timothy delivered the decrees of the assembly at Jerusalem to the new Gentile assemblies (16:1 - 5)

§Complement Body: Paul and his missionary team were imprisoned in Philippi and barely escaped a riot in Thessalonica (16:6 - 17:34)

¶Unique The Holy Spirit opened a door to establish a new assembly in Philippi of Greece (16:6 - 15)

¶Complement Paul and Silas were imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Philippi over a false charge (16:16 - 40)

¶Complement The Jews of Thessalonica disrupted the church-planting efforts of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica with a riot (17:1 - 9)

¶Opposite Many of the noble Jews of Berea believed in Christ (17:10 - 15)

¶Opposite Few of the pagan Greeks of Athens believed in Christ (17:16 - 34)

§Complement Conclusion: The Lord opened a door for Paul in Corinth; and another in Ephesus, on his way home to Antioch (18:1 - 22)

¶Complement The Lord blessed Paul’s missionary efforts in the Greek city of Corinth for eighteen months (18:1 - 11)

¶Complement Paul returned to the assembly at Antioch after stopping at a synagogue in Ephesus (18:12 - 22)

We conclude our study of Acts Chapter 2.2 with the second paragraph of the Conclusion Section. The Golden Ratio design of the subparagraphs is “OO-CCU”.

¶Complement Paul returned to the church at Antioch after stopping at a synagogue in Ephesus (Acts 18:12 - 22)

Opposite And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul; and they brought him to the judgment seat; saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the Law of Moses.” And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O you Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names, and of your Law, you see to it: for I will be no judge of such matters.” And he drove them from the judgment seat.

Opposite Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue; and they beat him before the judgment seat; and Gallio cared for none of those things.

Complement And after this, Paul stayed there yet a good while; and then he took his leave of the brethren. And he sailed from there toward Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila (having shorn his head in Cenchrea, because he had a Nazarite vow). And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.

Complement When they asked him repeatedly to stay a longer time with them, he did not agree. But he bade them farewell, saying, “I must by all means keep this feast that is coming in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, if God will.” And he sailed from Ephesus.

Unique And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and greeted the Assembly in Jerusalem, he went down to Antioch.

Comments: The Roman empire in the days of Paul seemed to have little interest in controlling religious expression of any type, at least in the capital city of Greece with the Roman ruler Gallio. When the Jews attempted to have Paul beaten or imprisoned for persuading men “to worship God contrary to the Law of Moses”, Gallio refused to do it, and drove them away.

We would agree with Gallio in our day, wouldn’t we? We don’t want the State to tell us how to worship God, even if it goes against the Bible. Until the Lord Jesus returns and becomes the ruler of Heaven and Earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem, we don’t want anyone telling us how to worship God with laws or rules or regulations, because our governments are not righteous and never will be righteous until the Lord Jesus returns and sets up his Kingdom over all governments.

You cannot expect unrighteous rulers, presidents, governors, senators, representatives (whatever their title) to understand the Bible and follow its teachings in a perfect way, when they are governing a population that does not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior; and most people in the world today are not saved, even many who claim to be Christians.

A Christian nation cannot exist in this evil world! The United States tried to do this in 1776. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were based upon the Bible; but the Founding Fathers of the United States warned that this would not work if the people were not moral and religious (i.e. Christian):

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102

The only way for any people to be “moral” is to be saved or Born again! When John Adams spoke of “moral and religious people”, he was talking about Christians.

Now the Roman empire did not always have this disinterested attitude toward religion, because in later years, the Roman emperors began to persecute Christians and throw them into public arenas where they were eaten by lions or slain by other means.

Why? Because Christians said that there was only one God, Jesus Christ; and all others were false. But the Roman emperors claimed to be gods! So when a Christian said that there was only one God, this offended them; and they began to see Christianity as a threat to their power, so they tried to stamp out Christianity with the sword and the flame and the wild beasts. They burned copies of the Bible wherever they were found, and killed Christians by the tens of thousands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Roman_Empire

At the time of our text, the news about Jesus apparently hadn’t reached the emperor in Rome yet, but that would soon change.

Every time, and in every nation, when a government sponsors one religion above all of the others (whatever it might be: Islam, some sect of Christianity, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc), the inevitable outcome will be persecution against the other religions, every time!

Look at the Muslim nations: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc. No other religion is allowed except Islam, and if you preach the Bible in these countries, you can be killed by a muslim and he will not be punished by the government, because you are “a disbeliever”.

This is also true in Buddhist nations in Asia; and in China, the communist party only allows Atheism: Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity are only allowed if they are controlled by the communist party.

The Roman Catholic popes attempted to set up a “Christian empire” after Constantine supposedly became a Christian. “The Holy Roman Empire” (Roman Catholic) persecuted those who disagreed with them, especially anabaptists and those who did not believe in a State Church or a “Christian nation”. Inevitably, “the Holy Roman Empire” decayed and was destroyed, because it was corrupt within and was neither holy nor Christian.

This is why Bible-believing Christians should not believe in a “Christian nation” concept. We want our government to favor morality and righteousness, and enforce good laws, but at the same time, we don’t want our government to demand that everyone attend the same church or believe the same doctrines or play any role in the life of religions except to maintain peace, and to enforce law and order.

We want freedom for all religions to practice and believe what they want in this Age, even if it goes against the Bible, as long as the religion doesn’t try to force its will on anyone else, but uses persuasion.

This is what Paul did: “This man PERSUADES men to worship God contrary to the Law of Moses.”

Paul never used a sword or a weapon to force anyone to believe in Christ; he only used the preaching of the Word of God and persuasion to bring souls to Jesus Christ to be saved.

And if a religion attempts to use force or coercion to impose their beliefs on others against their will, then they should be punished by the law.

Likewise, if a government attempts to use force or coercion to impose a belief system on religions against their will, this should be punished by the law as well.

Freedom of religion for all, enforced by a government that is disinterested in one religion over another, is the best compromise that we can hope for in this evil world. This is illustrated well, I believe, by the example of the Roman ruler Gallio.

A “Christian nation” is truly impossible in the long run, because we live in an unrighteous world. If the people as a whole are not Christian, then the nation is not Christian, no matter what is written on monuments or pieces of paper.

On the other hand, if you live in a Republic like the United States, you can elect Christian, or at least good moral people into government to help preserve the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. If we allow the wicked to govern us, then they will do what they can to harm us through their ignorance of the Word of God. There is nothing wrong with electing good people into government so that they may be a blessing to the nation that we live in. We just need to understand that there is only so much that good government can do in a wicked world.

Psalm 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah; and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.”

This verse was written about the Jews under the Old Covenant. But eventually, the Jews broke their covenant with Jehovah, and God turned away from them, and Israel was destroyed by other nations.

This will happen to other nations who turn away from the God of the Bible as well! The United States started out well, but has departed from the God of the Bible in large part. We would be fools to think that God will not judge the United States, as He also judged Israel.

“And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded; and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” 2 Chronicles 15:1-2

I thank God that I was blessed to be born in the United States of America! It is a unique and special country that has been blessed by God; but sadly, that is changing.

Bible Christians are happy to compare the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings freedom and salvation to the souls of sinners, to the teachings of other religions which only bring slavery, sin, and misery to sinners. We want a free marketplace of ideas in every nation to preach the Gospel, and let the Holy Spirit do his work in the souls of sinners, so that at least some of them might be saved.

Galations 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of slavery.” Amen.

Christ and the Apostles never tried to make any nation a “Christian nation” or taught that such a goal was desirable. Instead, the goal was to save individual sinners, and establish churches that were separate from the authority of the nation they were a part of, which would preach the Gospel and be a positive influence on the nation as a whole.

Does that make me anti-American? NO. Even though the American experiment with a Christian nation is failing, I’m still glad that they tried. I have been blessed to be born in the greatest nation that has ever existed. It was a noble experiment that had never been tried before, but it is failing because of SIN and the inevitable fulfillment of prophecy recorded in Revelation that Satan would be allowed to construct a one-world government, with his Anti-christ ruling the world during the Great Tribulation.

This future one-world government cannot co-exist with the United States as a free and independent nation. This is why Satan has been working so hard to destroy it from within! The forces of globalization have been quietly, but surely, working to undermine the United States and build the future one-world government since World War 2; and their work is almost done. The coming of Christ to rapture his children out of this world before the Great Tribulation is very near, my friends.

And after the seven years of the great Tribulation is complete, the Bible tells us that the existing nations will all be destroyed when Christ returns in Judgment:

Daniel 2:44: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

That means that Russia, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon, the nations of Africa, Asian, South America etc, will all be destroyed when Christ returns, and Christ will replace them with righteous governments which will obey his Word!

The churches of Christ must be busy preaching the Gospel and getting people saved, so that they will be ready for that Day of Judgment!

Christ gave his churches a Great Commission to obey until He returns at the end of this Age:

Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority was given to me in Heaven and upon earth. Therefore go, and train disciples out of all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the Age.” Amen.

Friend, if you would like to know the one true God, and you want to go to Heaven instead of Hell when you die, then you must first know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior from sin.

If you know that you are a sinner; and you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and was crucified on a cross to pay for your sins; and that He was buried and rose again from the dead on the third day, victorious over sin, Hell, and the grave, here is a prayer that you can use to be born again and become a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! You are my only hope for salvation! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, you were buried, and you rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”

If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.