" PAST " SAINT PAUL PART V THE MISSIONARY Part III

 

St Paul the Missionary Part III


THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY 53 - 58 A.D.( Paul is 48-52 years old as he begins.) Covers modern Syria, Turkey, Greece and Israel.

SILAS RETURNED to St. Peter. Timothy remained with Paul and they were joined by Luke’s brother Titus.

From Caesarea Paul returned to Antioch in Syria. He spent some time there during the winter months building up the church. Then he moved on again through the Phrygian region of Galatia strengthening the Faith of the churches he and his companions had previously visited. At Derbe they were joined by the disciple Gaius.

They travelled on to Ephesus. For three months Paul preached in the synagogue there, but the Jews in the main hardened their hearts against his teaching. So Paul and his companions withdrew from the synagogue and based their preaching and teaching efforts each day in the school of Tyrannus. They operated in this way with great effect for two years. Paul worked many miracles and exorcisms in this time by the power of God.

Numbers of others purported to perform exorcisms in Our Lord’s name. Among them were the seven sons of Skeva one of the Jewish chief priests. In the course of one of their efforts, the evil spirit addressed them. It acknowledged the Name of Jesus and even of Paul which they had used, but expressed contempt for them and violently attacked them forcing them to flee naked and wounded. News of the event spread widely through Ephesus. The Name of Jesus came to be treated with great reverence and those who had followed the black arts of sorcery came forward making a bonfire of their books and instruments and seeking conversion.

Paul decided to travel on through Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem and on to Rome. Pausing a little longer in Asia Minor, he sent Timothy and another disciple, Erastus, on into Macedonia. During this period there was a spectacular disturbance when the silversmiths of Ephesus, whose business relied on making images of the goddess Diana, stirred up a riot against Paul and his companions. The mob seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonian companions of Paul, and forced them to the theatre where the tumult grew with great confusion and lack of direction. Paul wanted to go to the theatre to address the mob but was dissuaded by the disciples who feared he would be killed. The Jews at the theatre pushed forward Alexander who tried to speak. But as soon as the mob found out he was a Jew, he was drowned out. For two hours the tumult went on aimlessly. Finally, the town clerk calmed the mob down, reminding them that if called to account for this disturbance of the peace, they could not do so. He convinced them to break up and, if they had any legitimate complaint to take it to court.

Paul then gathered the disciples to comfort and encourage them and set out on his journey to Macedonia with Titus, Gaius and Aristarchus.

Here, where the Church had been hounded by an enraged mob shouting “Great is Diana of Ephesus”, some 374 years later, the Council of Ephesus was to define the doctrine that Mary is the Mother of God. A man-made “goddess” had been forgotten and the honour of the Blessed Virgin became the focus of attention in Ephesus.

Having travelled through Macedonia, Paul and his companions went on to Greece where they spent 3 months preaching and teaching. Paul was preparing to sail for Syria when he learned of a plot by the Jews to murder him during the voyage. Rapidly changing his plans, he returned through Macedonia accompanied by Sopater of Beroea. Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, together with Tychicus and Trophimus of the Asian church sailed on to Troas where they were re-united with Paul, Sopater and Luke. It was at Troas, whilst Paul was preaching for many hours, that the young man Eutychus, who had been sitting on the sill of a window dozed off and fell to his death in the street.. Paul miraculously brought him to life.

Paul moved on to Assos by land whereas the rest of the group travelled on by sea. Assos was an ancient city founded around 1,000 B.C. In 133 B.C. it was absorbed into the Roman Empire. Here Paul came aboard and they sailed on to Mitylene the capital of the island of Lesbos.

This group of representatives of the various churches which Paul led was travelling to Jerusalem with funds collected to aid the disciples there. Paul was eager to reach Jerusalem promptly, hoping to be in Jerusalem in time for the feast of Pentecost. It was for this reason that from Mitylene he asked the leaders of the Church of Ephesus to come to him on the coast, and there in most moving terms encouraged them and farewelled them forever, well aware of the continuing peril to his life.

They sailed on via Cos and Rhodes to Patara where they joined another ship sailing for Phoenicia and on to Syria where the vessel was busy discharging cargo and re-loading for a week. They spent this time in Tyre. This very ancient city was founded around 3,000 B.C., so that, even in Paul’s time it was truly ancient. It had been devastated by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. – its 30,000 inhabitants massacred or sold into slavery. In 64 B.C. the inevitable happened and, along with the rest of Syria, it came under Roman control.

Paul and his group stayed with the church in Tyre. Here disciples were moved by the Spirit to warn Paul against going to Jerusalem .Undismayed they sailed on in due course to Ptolemais and Caesarea where warnings and prophesy of danger to Paul in Jerusalem multiplied. Despite it all Paul would not be deterred – “the will of the Lord be done “ was his response..

After some days they set off for Jerusalem, accompanied by some of the brethren from Caesarea. They were joyfully welcomed in Jerusalem and stayed at the home of Mnason a Cypriot and one of the first converts in Jerusalem. The following day they called upon St. James the Bishop of Jerusalem and all of the presbyters had gathered to meet them and hear their account of all that God had done through them.

It is interesting to recall that it was on this visit, his first to Palestine, that St Luke gathered much of the information for his Gospel and Acts, including, for example, the encounter between St. Phillip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8)

The leading brethren in Jerusalem were concerned for Paul’s safety because many Jewish converts were still hostile toward Paul, principally over the circumcision issue .To make a public demonstration of his respect for the Law they encouraged Paul to accompany four men under a vow to the Temple to join in their purification rite and meet the cost of their head shaving.

The following day, taking their advice, Paul did just that. He repeated the action daily as the vow observances required, but nearing the seventh day, some Jews from Asia Minor saw him in the Temple. They quickly stirred up the crowd thronging the Temple for Pentecost time, accusing Paul of disrespect for the Law and the Temple. Further they accused him of bringing a Gentile into the Temple ( some had seen Paul and Trophimus in the city and assumed he had also brought him into the Temple). The commotion extended beyond the Temple precinct into the city. They dragged Paul out of the Temple seeking to kill him The Roman garrison was installed in the Antonia Fortress which was next to and higher than the Temple site, affording good supervision of what went on there. The Romans were on high alert during such religious festival times, when the population of the city swelled enormously and any number of factors could create major problems if not nipped in the bud. As a result the mob dragging Paul out of the Temple ran straight into the arms of the Roman detachment which had been turned out in the most efficient bit of “policing” recorded in the Gospels. The mob was quickly subdued and the Tribune had Paul secured in double chains mistaking him for an Egyptian trouble maker then being sought. He ordered that Paul be taken into the Fortress since the mob had again become rowdy and irrational.

Paul asks to speak to the Tribune - a Greek who had purchased his Roman Citizenship at high cost (Acts 22:28) The Tribune is surprised that Paul speaks Greek. Paul asks for permission to address the mob and the Tribune agrees. Paul is known to many of the leading Jews from his studies under Gamaliel and his pre-conversion persecution of the Church. He addresses them in Hebrew, the language used by their biblical scholars and he gains a hearing. He moves them beyond what they know of him, relating the story of his miraculous conversion, the vision of Our Lord during Paul’s visit to Jerusalem ( it seems he is speaking of the second visit after his conversion, not the first)commanding him to preach to the Gentiles.

At the mention of the Gentiles, the mob, which had listened quietly until then, burst out in a new clamour. The Tribune ordered Paul to be removed to the soldiers’ quarters and examined under the lash. As the Centurion moved to execute the order Paul asked if he had the right to scourge a Roman citizen who had been neither tried nor sentenced.

The assertion of his Roman Citizenship alarmed the Centurion who went directly to the Tribune to warn him of the problem. The Tribune came to question Paul on the point. Noting Paul’s simple attire, the Tribune comments that his own Roman Citizenship had cost him a great deal of money. Paul is quick to point out that he is a Roman citizen by birth.

So Paul was released until the following day when the Tribune had called him to attend a meeting with the leading priests and members of the Council., to enable the Tribune to hear both sides of the matter. When Paul asserted his lifelong fidelity to God, the High Priest Ananias ordered those near to Paul to strike him in the mouth. Paul rebuked him for pretending to judge Paul by the Law whilst breaking the Law by ordering him to be struck. The bystanders cried out that he should not thus insult the High Priest. Paul makes it clear that he did not know the man was the High Priest and that he is aware of the respect the Law accords him.

But seeing the obvious division between the Sadducees and the Pharisees on the Council, he states that he is being attacked because of his belief as a Pharisee in the resurrection of the dead. The assembly dissolved into a furious dispute between the two factions .The Tribune, fearing for Paul’s safety ordered his troops to protect him and return him in custody to their quarters

 Tony Dixon
 Copyright This article first appeared in the October 2008 issue of FOUNDATION.

" PAST " SAINT PAUL Part III THE MISSIONARY

 

Saint Paul the Missionary






THE GREAT COMMISSION

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age”(Matthew 28:19-20) With these words, Our Divine Lord commissioned the Apostles immediately before His Ascension.

Paul, ”last of all, as one untimely born … for I am the least of the Apostles”(1 Cor. 15:8-9), accepted the great commission with his whole soul, spirit, heart and body –“ for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel !”

At the time of his conversion the Church was truly in its infancy. Our Lord had been crucified and the Holy Spirit had come down at the first Pentecost in A.D. 32-33.  In the ensuing years, as we have seen, Paul goes from Damascus to Arabia, back to Damascus, to Jerusalem and home to Tarsus. These travels, including 3-4 years in each of Arabia and Tarsus cover a period of 12 –13 years.

CALL TO THE MISSION

It was Barnabas, a Cypriot by birth, who invited Paul to leave his present preaching of the Word in his native Tarsus to join him in Antioch(Syria) where much had been accomplished since St. Peter’s initial preaching, and the potential remained great. Like hundreds of thousands of the Church’s missionaries over the millennia, Paul, in accepting the cross of the missionary life, gave up the familiarity and relative comfort of home and his own people for a life among strangers – for the sake of Jesus Christ.

FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY A.D. 46 –48  (Paul is 41-45 years old as he begins) COVERS MODERN SYRIA, ISRAEL, CYPRUS & TURKEY)

Antioch in Syria (there was a lesser Antioch in Pisidia) on the river Orontes, was the third largest city of the Roman Empire and was dubbed “Queen of the East”. It had Hellenistic origins. When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC the region was acquired by one of his generals who founded this Antioch around 300 BC(He is said to have founded 15 others – of which Antioch in Pisidia was one -  all named after a member of his family.) The people and their Kings had a troubled history and finally Antioch became a free state under Roman “protection” in 64 BC. Julius Caesar visited in 47 BC and confirmed the city’s freedom. Antioch was progressively dignified by major Roman building works under Augustus and Tiberius. Lying in a major earthquake zone it was badly affected by a great earthquake in A.D. 37  and again during Nero’s reign.

The growth of the Church In this large city(population at the time estimated at around 500,000) must have been significant, for here the followers of the Way were given a name for the first time – Christians.

This growth was a remarkable demonstration of God’s grace and the effectiveness of St .Peter’s earlier preaching. For this was a very “modern” pagan city. Its four miles long main street catered to every pagan desire and its climate is such that it would please any modern Australian.

The converts in the church at Antioch were very largely Gentile and so these earliest efforts began the formation of the Apostle to the Gentiles.

When a visiting member of the church in Jerusalem prophesied that a famine was to come upon the world, the church in Antioch elected Barnabas and Paul to take financial aid to the church in Jerusalem. Having done so they returned to Antioch accompanied by John Mark (St Mark the Evangelist).

The work of St Peter and St Paul and St Barnabas in Antioch was in due course, to produce one of the greatest Doctors of the Church – St John Chrysostom (A.D. 349 – 407 ) Patriarch of Constantinople – a native of Antioch.

CYPRUS

Then (Acts 13:2) via the prophesy of a member of the Antioch congregation the Holy Spirit directed that Barnabas and Paul should be set aside for further missionary work. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit they set out for the port of Seleucia, and embarked for Cyprus arriving at the port of Salamis.

In Cyprus there was a greater Jewish population, and as Barnabas was a Cypriot they had connections they could develop. Accompanied by John Mark they visited all the synagogues, travelling the 60 miles paved road across the island from Salamis to Paphos.

In Paphos the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus asked the Apostles to speak to him about Jesus Christ A magician in the assembly, Elymas, contested everything that Paul said. Filled with the Holy Spirit Paul fixed his eyes on him, and firmly condemned him, telling him that for his evil deeds he would be made blind for a time And so it happened in front of the assembly. Sergius Paulus became a believer. It is interesting that Paul chose to demonstrate God’s power using the same means – temporary blindness- by which Our Lord had so dramatically evidenced His power in Paul’s case.

From Paphos they sailed on to Perge in the Province of Pamphylia. Perge was, even then, a truly ancient city dating from around 1,000 BC. Ruled by the Romans since 188 BC, in Paul’s and Barnabas’ time it was a thoroughly Roman city. It stood 20 km inland on the fringes of the mighty Taurus Mountains rising 12,000 feet high and stretching 500 miles east to west in the northern distance. Acts does not record them preaching in Perge at this time.

Passing on through increasingly mountainous country, they made the 100 mile journey to the Roman Provincial capital of Galatia – Antioch in Pisidia.(Mark left them at Perge and returned to Jerusalem.)

Pisidian Antioch was founded in 280 BC and in 25 BC it became a Roman Military Colony. It stood at the intersection of north/south and east/west roads, a location which, coupled with its fertile surroundings and splendid mountain views, made it of great strategic importance for centuries. Augustus had increased its importance in the Empire and settled 3,000 veterans there.

Paul and Barnabas took their place in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Invited to speak, Paul began as St Stephen had done in Paul’s presence on that terrible day 15 years ago, by recounting the history of God’s dealings with Israel culminating with the Messiah –Jesus Christ. The following Sabbath a huge number of the city’s population turned out to hear Paul and his companions . The Jews resented their success with the Gentiles and opposed them in a very hostile manner. Paul and Barnabas clearly instructed them that they had preached to the Jews first out of duty, but, as they had rejected their teaching, they would now concentrate on the Gentiles. Their success in this effort spread throughout the countryside

But the leading Jews of the city conspired to persecute Paul and Barnabas driving them out so that the Apostles “ shook off the dust from their feet as they left them” and proceeded to Iconium.

Iconium –65 miles south-east of Pisidian Antioch is at the foot of Mount Taurus    ( to-day it is known as Konya, Turkey).It stands 120 miles inland from the Mediterranean and almost 4,000 feet above sea level. Excavations on the site reveal settlement as far back as 3,000 BC. In later times it became a Hellenistic city, but it was finally ceded to Rome in 133 BC. Iconium was the last city of the region of Phrygia before the border of Lycaonia. Because of its fidelity to Rome, Claudius, Emperor at the time of Paul’s and Barnabas’ visit, was to grant it the title Claudioconium . It is the only one of the Galatian cities visited by Paul that still exists. It is here that Paul converted St Thecla mentioned previously in regard to the apocryphal “Acts of Paul and Thecla”.

Paul and Barnabas preached in the synagogue of Iconium and made a large number of converts. But again, the leading Jews, despite Paul’s and Barnabas’ successes were able to incite such a tumult among the unconverted Jews and Gentiles that it was necessary for Paul and Barnabas to pass into Lycaonia, visiting Lystra and Derbe.

Lystra was only 30 km south of Iconium and had been a Roman Military Colony since 6 BC to enable the Romans to better control the mountain tribes to the west .A proper Roman road had been built between Lystra and Iconium for military purposes, making the journey an easy one.

Here Paul’s and Barnabas’ preaching had a surprising effect. The pagan inhabitants – not Romans, because they spoke their own local dialect- were astounded when Paul healed a man who had been lame from birth. They were sure that Paul the chief speaker, was the god Hermes and that Barnabas was the god Zeus. The local priest of the god Jupiter (Defender of the city) brought out bulls for sacrifice and wreaths for the city gates to worship the “divine” visitors. Distraught at this diabolical turn of events Paul and Barnabas tore their garments and did everything they could to insist that they were mere mortals ,but servants of the one true God. With great difficulty Paul and Barnabas prevented the sacrifice.

But Jews from Antioch and Iconium had followed them. Again they stirred up the volatile crowd against Paul and Barnabas. They were highly effective and the mob took up stones and commenced pelting Paul dragging him out of the city and leaving him for dead.. But the disciples formed a protective ring around Paul to protect him from any further violence .In time he recovered somewhat and struggled to his feet re-entering the city which he and Barnabas left the next day.

They went on to Derbe 60 miles south-east of Lystra. For 1,000 years from the time of Paul Derbe was to be a Christian city. During the persecution of Diocletian in A.D. 300,  its people were to suffer terribly. Its church was burned and buried under a hill of earth .The survivors became refugees across the lands as far as western Europe. In modern day France the surname “Derbes” testifies to their suffering for the Faith .Paul and Barnabas made very many converts in Derbe before returning to Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch encouraging the faithful and, after prayer and fasting, selecting and ordaining presbyters for each of the churches.

They returned to Perge, preaching there on this occasion, then went down to the port of Attalia and embarked for Antioch in Syria. They recounted to the faithful in Antioch all that God had helped them to do on their travels, and remained there building up the church for some time.

Tony Dixon

COPYRIGHT This article first appeared in the August, 2008 Issue of FOUNDATION