Paul recruits Timothy
1 Paul traveled on to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy lived there, whose mother was a believer of Jewish origin but whose father was a Greek.
2 As the believers at Lystra and Ico nium spoke well of him, Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him.
3 So he took him and, because of the Jews of that place who all knew that his father was a Greek, he circumcised him.
4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions of the apostles and elders in Jerusa lem, for the people to obey.
5 Mean while, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number every day.
6 They traveled through Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the pro vince of Asia.
7 When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on to Bithy nia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this.
8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
Paul goes to Macedonia
9 There one night Paul had a vision. A Macedo nian stood before him and begged him, “Come over to Ma ce donia and help us!”
10 When he awoke, he told us of this vision and we understood that the Lord was call ing us to give the Good News to the Macedonian people.
11 So we put out to sea from Troas and sailed straight across to Samo thrace Island, and the next day to Nea polis.
12 From there we went inland to Philippi, the leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony. We spent some days in that city.
13 On the sabbath we went outside the city gate to the bank of the river where we thought the Jews would gather to pray. We sat down and began speaking to the women who were gathering there.
14 One of them was a God-fearing woman named Lydia from Thyatira City, a dealer in purple cloth.
As she listened, the Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.
15 After she had been baptized together with her household, she invited us to her house, “If you think I am faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us to accept her invitation.
Paul and Silas in prison
16 One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and gained much profit for her owners by her fortune-telling.
17 She followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, “These peo ple are servants of the Most High God. They will make known to you a way of salvation.”
18 The girl did this for several days until Paul was annoyed. Then he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you, come out of her!” The spirit went out of her that very moment.
19 When her owners realized that all the profits they expected had gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the local authorities.
20 And when they had turned them over to the officials, they said,
21 “These peo ple are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They have come here to introduce customs which are not lawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.”
22 So they set the crowd against them and the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and or dered them to be flogged.
23 And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely.
24 Upon re ceiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
A miraculous deliverance
25 About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
26 Suddenly a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Imme diately all the doors flew open and the chains of all the pri soners fell off.
27 The jailer woke up to see the pri son gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself,
28 but Paul shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We are all still here.”
29 The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas.
30 After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household will be saved.”
32 Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all his household.
33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he and his whole household were baptized at once.
34 He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole house hold his newfound faith in God.
35 The next morning the officials sent police officers with the order, “Let those men go.”
36 So the jailer said to Paul and Silas, “The officials have sent an order for you and Silas to be released. You may leave and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to him, “They flogged us publicly, and jailed us with out trial, men who are Roman citizens; and now they want to smug gle us out secretly? Oh no! Let them come themselves and lead us out.”
38 The police officers reported this to the officials, who were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.
39 So they came and apologized to them, took them out and asked them to leave the town.
40 Once outside the prison, Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s house where they met and en couraged the brothers and sisters, and then departed.
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Comments Acts, Chapter 16
• 16.1 For Paul it is not enough to have established Elders in every com munity; he also wants to have assistants who are to visit and strengthen the existing communities and form new ones, as Paul himself does. Timothy becomes the first of these. The apostle takes into account the good testimony that believers give of Timothy. When it is a matter of looking for leaders for the Church, Paul will always demand that they have a good reputation (see 1 Tim 3:7 and Titus 1:6).
A detail shows us how Paul was able to give in. He does not want pagans to be circumcised: this ritual has no value for a Christian. Yet, since Timothy is Jewish, Paul circumcises him according to the Jewish rite, so that he will not have any problems with believers of Jewish origin, and so that they will be better able to minister among them.
Luke gives but a few details of a journey that probably lasted two years. Paul’s letters give us an idea of the unremitting work he undertook to form believers and their leaders: a mission is more than gathering people together and preaching to them; it has to arouse and convert those who will give life to the community – a life of its own and which will continue to develop.
On two occasions the Holy Spirit prevents Paul from carrying out his plan to develop the Church in the Roman province of Asia. The Spirit shows him he must go beyond, to Macedo nia that was the first province of Europe. Thus God’s will that the Gospel be taken as soon as possible to Rome, the center of the empire, is carried out. Paul, who is so dynamic and enterprising, follows the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
• 9. Suddenly the text mentions we, that is to say, that Luke is beginning to relate his own involvement. We must conclude that in Troas, Paul and Silas met Luke, a doctor from Antioch who was waiting for them. He may have arrived by boat while the two missionaries were traveling inland.
• 16. From the beginning, the Gospel proves its freeing power that in a first time results in the imprisonment of the apostles. Paul frees a female fortune-teller. This gift is condemned in the Old Testament (the Bible seems to recognize that it is not necessarily a question of fraud). This fortune-telling appears to be linked to dark powers that deny the absolute over-ruling power of God regarding the destiny of his children (Col 2:15; 1 Cor 2:8): wanting to know the future is in fact always to doubt God. The master of this girl put forward an argument that was meant to impress the authorities in a society where customs were sacred – the same argument the Jews used and will use against Paul (and later many “Christian” societies will use it against true believers): these people introduce customs which are not lawful for us Romans to adopt and practice.
In Roman jails there was a main room and in the center of the pavement a grill closed the opening through which the most dangerous prisoners were thrown into an underground cell. They throw Paul and Silas there. They are perfectly free in spite of their chains. Though they have been beaten and are wounded, they feel like praising God. In the silence of the night, the jailers and the other prisoners listen to them.
God is also listening. How many similar episodes, wherever a witness of Christian freedom has been at the risk of one’s life and liberty!
We who take the time, and rightly so to prepare for baptism, might be surprised by this very swift baptism of a whole family. It could be said that it was a special case: let us stress also that all this happened in a very different world from our own.
Note also that Paul knows how to defend his rights (v. 37).