Year 1, Day 254: Acts 21

Philip

In Acts 21 we have a really neat story, one that I referenced in the comments for the post on Acts 8.  Here we have Paul on his way back to Jerusalem to likely end his ministry.  Who is it that Paul goes to see?  Philip.  Who was it that took the Gospel to the Samaritans in the first place and started all of this “non-Jews can follow Christ?”  Philip.  It is neat how in Acts 8 we see Philip begins the process with the Samaritans, in the intervening chapters we see Paul take up the mantle after Philip is put in Ceasarea by the Holy Spirit, and then in Acts 21 we see Paul return to Philip as he lays the mantle back down.  It is a neat cycle of events that happens here, and I think we are apt to miss this in a casual reading of the text.

Tyre

Okay, to get to that point I skipped over the part about Paul visiting Tyre.  There are some neat things in this passage, as well.  Notice that Paul has to seek out the followers of Christ here?  He knows they are here.  He doesn’t feel the need to plant a new church.  He goes and finds them and has unity with them!  The world doesn’t need more churches.  The world needs believing people uniting together and praising God.

The way that the Bible reads, we are free to assume that Paul didn’t have any experience with the followers of Christ in Tyre.  We aren’t told that Paul ever went to Tyre.  Yet the Christians in Tyre accept Paul, embrace Paul, and when it comes time for Paul and his friends to leave they walk him to the boat!  Look at the bond of Christian love that can grow in just a week as long as people want the Spirit to bind them together!

Caesarea

Then Paul goes to Caesarea as mentioned earlier.  He not only visits Philip there, but Agabus comes and see him, too!  Again we have cyclical occurrences.  Note that it was Agabus’ prediction of the famine in Jerusalem that inspired Paul to be out collecting money for the widows and orphans in Jerusalem.  (See Acts 11:28)  In a way it was Agabus that inspired one of the more important aspects of Paul’s mission, and now it is Agabus who is here to receive Paul and tell him that completing this mission will end in his arrest.  It is amazing to see how God continues to reuse those who are truly spiritual in another person’s life.

Paul and the Christian Elders

Of course, Paul heads up to Jerusalem and meets with the elders.  The elders celebrate what the Holy Spirit is doing in Paul.  However, the elders are realists.  They know that they are sharing the Temple with traditional Jews.  They also know that there are no doubt many Christians in Jerusalem who are not mature enough in their faith to accept that the Gentiles can receive God’s Holy Spirit without becoming a Jew first.  The elders already know that there are people who are actively sowing lies about Paul’s teaching in order to cause dissention.  (See Acts 21:20-21)  As leaders, they ask Paul to compromise and to assert his Judaism – at least while he is in Jerusalem.

So Paul does just this.  He goes and prepares himself under a vow.  He compromises.  And while ultimately I think that the compromise was a good decision, what does it gain Paul?  No doubt Paul has to go back to his Gentile followers who followed him to Jerusalem and explain that what he is doing is not necessary at all but rather being done for the spiritually weak in Jerusalem.  What’s worse is that in the end, Paul still gets arrested!

But Paul knew that danger was coming.  Paul wasn’t looking to avoid the consequences.  Paul simply wanted to make it easiest for everyone to see in Christ through Paul.  That’s the point of the compromise.  Paul doesn’t compromise to avoid the arrest.  Paul compromises in an attempt to bring truth even to them.

Arrest

Paul does get arrested.  Notice that he gets arrested over a false charge even!  The Jews in the temple assume that because they saw Paul earlier in the city with Trophimus - a Gentile from Asia Minor – that Paul has brought him into the temple!  Oh, the danger of making assumptions about another person’s faith!  It gets Paul arrested and dragged out of the Temple and into the court of the Gentiles.  Quite literally Agabus’ prediction comes true here!

What can we learn?  I write this blog as I prepare to preach a Sunday sermon on Romans 14:1-12.  We do not live to ourselves.  In other words, we should follow Christ’s desire for us, not our own self-mongerism.  We do not die to ourselves.  In other words, the goal of my life is not to make decisions that make me live the longest.  Rather, the goal of my life is to make decisions so that should I die I am dying following what Christ has called me to do.  Paul lives this out throughout the whole passage.

Some talk a good talk.  Some even walk a good walk.  A few good people will even die for the good walk.  When I die, I’d like to die being one of those people in the last category.

<><

An Aside About Philip's Daughters

As a comment, let me talk a little about Acts 21:9.  I didn’t talk about it at all in the blog, but it really deserves some attention.  Philip has four daughters who all prophesy.

First, let’s remember the biblical definition of a prophet.  A prophet is someone who brings God’s Word to their contemporaries.  In other words, they give sermons and talk about God in the life of the people.  They aren’t predictors of the future; prophets are people who try to evoke change in the people around them!  I believe here we have clear evidence of the welcome role of women in the Christian church – at least in places where people were spiritually mature enough to accept it.

Here’s how I know that this is significant.  You see, writing was a costly process back then.  First you had to buy the equipment, which was not cheap since only 2% of the population knew how to do it (in other words: demand was very low and this would make the items rare).  Then you had to find someone who could write and employ them (Much as I believe Theophilus has done here with Luke).

What is significant about this?  Simply put, ancient writers were masters at writing what was important enough to preserve while leaving out the unimportant.  It isn’t like they had the printing press and could push out book after book.  No, writing was costly and time consuming.  They were masters of efficiency!

So when we have a verse like Acts 21:9 – a verse that could easily have been left out and not changed the story in the slightest – it should get our attention.  Luke could easily have left out this verse and there would have been no difference in the story about Paul.  Since Luke included it, he must have a reason.

Some argue that Luke includes this to help identify which Philip Paul visits on his way to Jerusalem.  But that is unnecessary.  Luke has already done this in Acts 21:8 when Luke says that Philip was one of the “Seven” (see Acts 6).  There is only one Philip in that list, so we know exactly who Paul visits.  Thus Acts 21:9 has nothing to do with identifying Philip.

What is left?  Clearly the verse is meant to speak on its own.  It is meant to identify the daughters.  What about the daughters, then?  Well, we are only told one thing about them.  We are told what Luke wants us to know.  They are accepted as being people who proclaim God’s message to their community.  They aren’t just students of the faith; they are teachers and preachers and proclaimers of faith!

I see this as a clear witness that women should be allowed in the ranks of the ordained, the teachers of faith, or whatever other title people use for those who bring God’s Word to their contemporaries.