June 7th
Paul sails for Syria
18: And Paul after this tarried there yet a
good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into
Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea:
for he had a vow. 19: And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he
himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. 20: When they
desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; 21: But bade them
farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem:
but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. 22:
And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he
went down to Antioch. 23: And after he had spent some time there, he departed,
and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening
all the disciples.
Apollos
24: And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at
Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25:
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the
spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the
baptism of John. 26: And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when
Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him
the way of God more perfectly. 27: And when he was disposed to pass into
Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when
he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: 28: For he
mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that
Jesus was Christ.
And so Paul’s eastern missionary journey
comes to an end. The next obvious place to go to would be Rome. But that would
have to be for another day. Paul heads west to Cenchrea the eastern port
opposite Corinth and from there by ship to Ephesus. He travelled with Priscilla
and Aquila. He had shaved his head at Cenchrea because he had a vow to fulfil.
When he arrived at Ephesus he left his companions Aquila and Pricilla there.
While Paul was at Ephesus he went to the synagogue to meet the Christians and
they pleaded for him to stay but he said no l must go to Jerusalem to keep the
Jewish feast, but he promised to return. Paul arrived at Caesarea and went
straight to Jerusalem and then set out again north for Antioch. Then he
returned to southern Turkey to the country of Galatia. He strengthened the
believers in all the churches there. There was a certain Jew who was a disciple
of John the Baptist called Apollos. He has been born in Alexandria. He was
devote and very eloquent and greatly read in the OT scriptures. He was very
fervent in his preaching but he knew only the teachings of John the Baptist. He
began to preach very courageously in the synagogue and Aquila and Pricilla
heard him. They took him to themselves and taught him the message of Christ and
of the Gospel. He went on to distinguish himself in his ministry of the Gospel
in Achaia having been recommended by the believers in a letter. He was very
effective in preaching to the Jews and convincing them publically that Jesus of
Nazareth was the Jewish Messiah. (Often as Christians we fail to realise the
steady ongoing development of Christian truth. There were thousands of people
in NT times that had only ever heard of John the Baptists ministry, others had
gone on to hear Christs preaching and the Apostles and at this time no one had
heard of Paul’s teaching regarding the Church – the body of Christ. Paul had
not outlined it yet in his letter to the Ephesians. Most of the Church were
Jewish and they saw the body of Christians as an extension of Judaism. Yet
Gentiles were also coming to faith in Christ and this lead to a clash between
Jewish Christianity and Gentile Christianity. The Apostles had consulted and
agreed on a way forward but the Gentile churches far away had yet to hear of
their letter described in Ch 15)
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