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Q & A: Acts 16-20

Lesson 16

Question: Why would an “evil” spirit call Paul and his companions “servants of the Most High God” who proclaim “the way of salvation”? That seems to be a pretty good description of them. I know that driving the spirit out did prevent the girl’s masters from her ability for profit.

Answer: It is obvious from the New Testament that demons knew who Jesus was and who his disciples were. They also knew those who were NOT his disciples. One classic case was with the seven sons of Sceva:

“Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.” (Acts 19:14-17).

Why the demons would declare the truth about Jesus or Paul is unknown. However, one time the demons confronted Jesus in a synagogue.

“And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God’” (Luke 4:33-34).

However, we are not told why the demons would announce Jesus or Paul the way they did. I think any ideas would be merely speculation.

Question: Please explain why Paul ordered the demon out of the slave girl and why he was annoyed if the demon was speaking the truth about the apostle.

Answer: The text in question reads:

“As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by soothsaying. She followed Paul and us, crying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.” (Acts 16:16-18).

Actually, the text itself gives us the answer to the question: “Paul was annoyed.” Paul was sick and tired of the wicked spirit speaking through the girl and following him around “for many days” so he finally put an end to it. We can also speculate that he felt sympathy for the girl because she was possessed by an evil spirit and because she was being exploited by her “owners” for their own selfish profit. Paul did not need a demon to announce him, he could do that himself with the help of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders.

Question: In Acts Chapter 16, we hear that Lydia was baptized with her household. Wasn’t it unusual for a woman to be the head of a household?

Answer: The text reads,

“One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul. And when she was baptized, with her household, she besought us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us. . . . “So they went out of the prison, and visited Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they exhorted them and departed.” (Acts 16:14-15, 40)

It may have been unusual for a woman to be a property owner and head of a household in Jewish communities, but the wording “a worshiper of God” means that Lydia was not Jewish but a gentile proselyte to Judaism. Lydia was a Gentile business woman who was probably a widow who inherited the family estate or she was independently wealthy from her own business of selling purple goods with a household of servants and relatives.  It would not be unusual for a gentile woman to be the owner of businesses or the head of a family or estate.

Acts 17

Question: Jason was mentioned as being taken by the jealous Jews who wanted to persecute Paul. He was released after they obtained security. Can you tell me more about Jason. Also, what does the Scripture mean when it mentions security…money or a promise not to preach/teach about Jesus, the Son of God.

Answer: All we know about Jason is that he was the host for Paul and his followers while in Thessalonica. He owned a house where the apostles stayed. Jason was most probably a Jew (Acts 17:2) and a Christian convert. We also know he was courageous and devoted to the truth and willing to stand up in public to defend Paul and the gospel. The name Jason appears again in Romans 16:21 as a “kinsmen” of Paul but there is no evidence that it is the same Jason. Kinsmen here would mean a fellow Jew.

The “security” or “pledge” was probably a large monetary security bond, which was put up by the recent converts, to assure that Paul did not continue to preach in the city.

Question: In discussing the “success” of the early disciples, we start with a population of about 300,000,000 in the Roman Empire at that time. Is there any information about how many of those were Jews and how many were gentile? Also do we know about how many converts into Christianity from each group there might have been before Paul’s death?

The following are quotes from my DVD Apostolic Fathers: Handing on the Faith and are the numbers that I have at my fingertips:

In the first century there were about 60 million people in the Roman Empire,—the Jews numbered about 4 million. By the end of the second century Christianity had expanded across the Empire, making up about 5% of the population.

Question: Is there any significance to the phase “with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men” be repeated throughout the chapter.

Answer:  I am not sure there is a great significance to the mention of prominent women believing the gospel other than to just state a fact. However, Paul is now taking the gospel not only to the Jew but to the Greek. He is called the Apostle to the Uncircumcision. So in emphasizing that he has attracted many wealthy Greek women to the gospel shows that he is successfully fulfilling his mission.

This phenomenon of a group of believing women serving the gospel did not begin with Paul. We read of women of means following Jesus and meeting all of him needs: “Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him” (Matthew 27:55).

“Luke adds that among these God-fearing Gentiles were numerous women of prominent social status. He uses the characteristic device of understating the obvious: “and not a few of the prominent women.” These women either filled leading positions in that city or they were the wives of city officials. The first option is more likely, for in the Greco-Roman society of that day women often achieved prominence and stature (16:14) (Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W., New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)

“The prominent women were those holding a high status in the Macedonian society, a feature of the Roman world that is attested in ancient literature” ( Gaertner, D. (1993). Acts. The College Press NIV commentary (Ac 17:4). Joplin, Mo.: College Press).

Acts 18

Question: Can you give us any information about the vow Paul had taken? If it was a dedication to God why does it come to an end? Would appreciate any information you have on this.

Answer: Paul took a Jewish vow of purification and was going to Jerusalem to offer the sacrifices to properly fulfill the obligations of the vow. This event took place after Paul wrote Galatians and Romans which were his theological treatises to forbid the Jews from forcing Judaism on the Gentiles as a requirement for salvation. However, since Paul was a circumcised Jew it appears he felt no need to avoid or shun the Jewish practices and offerings prescribed in the Old Testament.

Paul’s actions are described in Acts 18 and 21:

“After this Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchre-ae he cut his hair, for he had a vow.” . . . . “Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity.” Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself with them and went into the temple, to give notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for every one of them.” (Acts 18:18, 23-26)

It seems that the vow he took, that of shaving the head, finds its source in the Nazarite vows found in the book of Numbers 6:1-21. The appropriate part is as follows:

“And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the door of the tent of meeting, and he shall offer his gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and their cereal offering and their drink offerings. And the priest shall present them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its cereal offering and its drink offering. And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven the hair of his consecration, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine. “This is the law for the Nazirite who takes a vow. His offering to the Lord shall be according to his vow as a Nazirite, apart from what else he can afford; in accordance with the vow which he takes, so shall he do according to the law for his separation as a Nazirite.” (Numbers 6:13-21).

Question: we are confused…..Paul shaves his head….why the connection to the Nazarites who is seems never cut their hair?

Answer: From the New Bible Dictionary “Although chronologically not the first biblical reference to the subject, the rules for the Nazirite outlined in Nu. 6 provide the fullest and most convenient basis for discussion. The legislation has three sections.

a. Prohibitions
(i) The Nazirite had to abstain from wine and intoxicating drinks, vinegar and raisins. This may have been aimed at safeguarding the integrity and holiness of the Nazirite from possession by a spirit other than that of Yahweh (cf. Pr. 20:1). Like an officiating priest, the Nazirite renounced wine so as the more worthily to approach God. R. Kittel, however, sees in the abstention a protest against Canaanite culture, and a desire to return to nomadic customs.
(ii) He must not cut his hair during the time of consecration (cf. n?zîr = ‘unpruned vine’, Lv. 25:5, 11). The hair was regarded as the seat of life, ‘the favourite abode of spirits and magical influences’, to be kept in its natural state until its burning ensured its disappearance without fear of profanation.
(iii) He must not go near a dead body, even that of his nearest relation, a prohibition which applied also in the case of the high priest.

b. Violation
If the last-named rule were inadvertently broken, the Nazirite had to undergo closely-detailed purificatory rites, and to begin all over again. It is notable, however, that the terms of the Nazirite vow did not preclude the carrying out of other domestic and social duties.

c. Completion
At the end of his vow the Nazirite had to offer various prescribed sacrifices, and thereafter cut his hair and burn it on the altar. After certain ritual acts by the priest, the Nazirite was freed from his vow.”

Question: Much is said about Paul and his various contemporaries at Ephesus but Luke never mentions either Mary or John. We have been to Ephesus and I have read several things about Mary’s house there and the fact that John brought her there about 10 years after Jesus’ death. Some say Mary lived to be about 65 and that she was about 15 when Jesus was born. This would suggest she may have been still in Ephesus about the year 48-50. Paul was said to have been there about the year 52 the first time and from 53 to 55 the second time. I know there are differing opinions as to whether Mary actually lived there but 3 of our last 4 popes visited her house there and I believe in the early church history there was a Council held at a church dedicated to Mary there. Yes, it had a quarter of a million people but I would think John must have had some followers that would have sought out Paul’s followers in a 3 year period especially with Apollos and other followers of John the Baptist having been there in the years before 52. Any thoughts as to why Luke never mentioned them?

Answer: Frankly, Luke has disappointed me on several fronts. Imagine if he had told us exactly what Jesus spoke about with the men on the road to Emmaus? And what about the two weeks Paul spent along with Peter? Why aren’t we told about that?

And what about Peter? In Acts 12 it just says that Peter went off to another place! Except for Acts 15 we are told nothing else about Peter and all of him amazing ministry. And what about Paul? Luke writes Acts but gives us no satisfactory end to the story. We are not told anything about the last part of Paul’s life. So, it is not surprising that Luke tells us very little about Mary.

Very little is told us about Mary in the Bible or even in the early Church. We understand from history that she went to Ephesus with John and in my video I give as much information as we have about the end of her life. There are a few non-canonical writings that tell us things about Mary though there is doubt as to how reliable the accounts are. So, bottom line is we do not know much about Mary’s later life and we do not know why Paul, Luke or other writers tell us so little about Mary, Peter, Paul or many other saints in their later life.

Lesson 20

Question: Study Question #6, in Acts 20 starting with verse 7, it sounds like they gathered together to break bread, Paul started talking (the Liturgy of the Word), and they didn’t get to the actual “breaking of bread” (the Liturgy of the Eucharist) until Monday. Am I reading this wrong? The commentary sounded like they broke bread first and then Paul started talking? Study Question #6 asks about the sequence, and I’m not sure I understand it.

Answer: First, we must remember that midnight would not have been the start of a new day for Jews or Greeks. For Romans the new day started at midnight, but for Greeks and Jews the new day began at sunset. I also think it might be a bit anachronistic, or reading too much back into the story if we insist on this being a Mass in the full sense as we know it today with all the developed rubrics along with the “smells and bells.” Paul was definitely teaching them and then they broke bread, but we are not told too many details. As to Paul speaking after the breaking of bread, it would not be unusual, even today, for a bishop or priest to stay behind after the divine liturgy to continue talking and teaching the people.

Question: When I read Acts 20:7 I thought Paul’s “speech” was the sermon, and that he had not reached the liturgy of the Eucharist yet. In “Rome to Home” the Holy Father’s quote seems to agree when he says, “At Troas, when the Christians gathered around Paul ‘to break bread,’ Luke relates that the gathering began with a long speech by the Apostle (Acts 20:7)….” Is there evidence for the assertion in the commentary on page 241 that Paul’s speech took place after breaking bread together?

Answer: Please see the answer to the question above which is very similar and I think my answer covers this question.

Question: After Paul’s lengthy Liturgy of the Word, it seems as though the Liturgy of the Eucharist didn’t begin until midnight, i.e. Monday. Was that still considered the Lord’s Day?

Answer: As stated in the previous two answers, Jews and Greeks did not see midnight as the start of the new day. For them the day ended and started anew at sunset. Therefore days were calculated differently. Also, they didn’t have all the carefully developed rules and rubrics that have rightfully developed over the centuries.

Question: Our class is interested in the whereabouts of the Virgin Mary during this time of Acts. We haven’t heard of her since the upper room. With Paul in Ephesus, does tradition teach that she had already moved there with St. John?

Answer: In my documentary Mary, Mother of God I explain all of this in some detail, and all on location. Yes, when Mary was given into the hands of John at the Cross, she moved into his home and lived with him. Had Mary had had other sons they would have been responsible to care for their mother, but in the absence of other sons and because Joseph had died, Mary was given to the disciple John to be his mother, and he her son. At this point we see that John has become representative of all disciples and Mary the mother of the Church.

Mary was in the Upper Room with the disciples and the 120. Some time after this John traveled to Ephesus and soon became the bishop. Mary went with him and the tradition says that John built a house for her in the mountains above Ephesus where she could live with other holy woman separated from the wickedness of Ephesus. The foundations of this house were discovered after a vision by the German Sister Ann Emmerick. Since then it has been declared a shrine by one pope and visited by three others. I have visited Mary’s House many times.

In my documentary I conclude that around 49 AD John returned to Jerusalem for the Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15. Mary would have been about 70 years old and returned to Jerusalem with John. There she “fell asleep” (the Dormition of Mary). The Daughter of Jerusalem had returned to Jerusalem, the land of her fathers. It was from Jerusalem that she was assumed into heaven.

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