Acts 15:36-18:23
New Catholic Bible
Paul’s Second Missionary Journey[a]
36 Paul and Barnabas Separate.[b] After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brethren in all the cities where we proclaimed the word of the Lord so that we can see how they are progressing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul was adamant about not taking with them a man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued to share in their work.
39 As a result, there was such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas sailed to Cyprus with Mark. 40 However, Paul chose Silas and set out on his journey, as the brethren commended him to the grace of the Lord.
41 Pastoral Visit to Asia Minor.[c] He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, bringing strength to the churches.
Chapter 16
1 He then moved on to Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy,[d] the son of a Jewish woman who had become a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 The brethren of Lystra and Iconium regarded him highly, 3 and Paul decided to take him along. Therefore, he had him circumcised, because of the Jews in that region who all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 As they traveled from town to town, they made known to the brethren there the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 Day by day, the churches grew strong in the faith and increased in numbers.
6 They traveled through the region of Phrygia[e] and Galatia because they had been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they approached the border of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but since the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do so, 8 they passed through Mysia and came down to Troas.[f]
Paul at Philippi.[g] 9 During the night, Paul had a vision in which a man of Macedonia appeared to him and pleaded with him, saying, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Once he had seen this vision, we immediately arranged for passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had summoned us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and made a straight run to Samothrace.[h] On the following day, we reached Neapolis, 12 and from there we sailed to Philippi,[i] a leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city.
13 On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate alongside the river where we assumed there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of the women, whose name was Lydia, was a worshiper of God. She was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. 15 When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us insistently, “If you regard me as a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she won us over.
16 Paul Imprisoned at Philippi.[j]On one occasion, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination and brought large profits to her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She began to follow Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days, until Paul became very greatly troubled. He turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And the spirit came out of her instantly.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money from her was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are causing a disturbance in our city. They are Jews, 21 and they are advocating practices that it is illegal for us as Romans to adopt or follow.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten. 23 After they had inflicted a severe beating on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them closely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and locked their feet in the stocks.
25 Paul Set Free. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly, there was such a huge earthquake that the very foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the doors flew open, and everyone’s chains were loosened.
27 When the jailer awakened and saw all the doors of the prison wide open, he drew his sword, intending to kill himself, since he assumed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 However, Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
29 The jailer called for lights and, rushing in, he threw himself before Paul and Silas, trembling with fear. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and so too will your household.” 32 After this, they preached the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
33 At that late hour of the night, the jailer took them and bathed their wounds. Then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 Afterward, he brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced over their belief in God.
35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent police officers with the order, “Let those men go.” 36 The jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go. Now you can come out and depart in peace.” 37 But Paul said to the officers, “We are Roman citizens. They gave us a public beating and threw us into prison without a trial. And now they are going to release us secretly. Absolutely not! Let them come in person and escort us out themselves.”
38 The officers reported Paul’s words, and the magistrates became alarmed when they learned that those men were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them, then escorted them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 After emerging from the prison, they went to Lydia’s home, where they met the brethren and spoke words of encouragement to them. Then they departed.
Chapter 17
Paul in Thessalonica.[k] 1 After they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica[l] where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 Following his usual practice, Paul went in, and for three Sabbaths he argued with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead. “And the Christ,” he said, “is this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” 4 Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many God-fearing Greeks as well as not a few prominent women.
5 However, the Jews became jealous, and they recruited some ruffians from the marketplace, formed a mob, and soon had the city in an uproar. They stormed Jason’s house, intending to bring them out before the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them there, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the city magistrates, shouting, “These people who have been causing trouble all over the world have come here also, 7 and Jason has given them shelter. They are all acting in opposition to the decrees of Caesar, claiming that there is another king named Jesus.” 8 Upon hearing this, the mob and the magistrates were greatly agitated. 9 They then took a bond from Jason and the others before releasing them.
10 Paul in Beroea. As soon as it got dark, the brethren sent Paul and Silas away to Beroea. Upon their arrival, they immediately went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 The people there were more receptive than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with great eagerness, and they examined the Scriptures every day to check whether these things were so. 12 Many of them became believers, as did a considerable number of influential Greek women and men.
13 However, when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God was being proclaimed by Paul in Beroea, they followed him there to cause trouble and stir up the crowds. 14 Therefore, the brethren immediately sent Paul on his way to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. 15 After Paul’s escorts brought him as far as Athens, they returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
16 Paul in Athens.[m] While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was outraged to note that the city was full of idols. 17 Therefore, he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and also in the city square with whoever chanced to be there. 18 Even a few Epicurean and Stoic philosophers[n] argued with him. Some asked, “What is this man babbling about?” Others said, “Apparently, he is here to promote foreign deities,” because he was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 Therefore, they took him and brought him to the Areopagus[o] and asked him, “Can you explain to us what this new doctrine is that you are teaching? 20 You are presenting strange ideas to us, and we would like to find out what they all mean.” 21 The major pastime of the Athenians and the foreigners living there was to spend their time telling or listening to the latest ideas.
22 Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus.[p]Then Paul stood before them in the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens, I have seen how religious you are. 23 For as I walked around, looking carefully at your shrines, I noticed among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What, therefore, you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines made by human hands. 25 Nor is he served by human hands as though he were in need of anything. Rather, it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and all other things. 26 From one ancestor,[q] he created all peoples to occupy the entire earth, and he decreed their appointed times and the boundaries of where they would live.
27 “He did all this so that people might seek God in the hope that by groping for him they might find him, even though indeed he is not far from any one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’[r] As even your own poets have said, ‘We are all his offspring.’
29 “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like an image of gold or silver or stone, fashioned by human art and imagination. 30 God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, but now he commands people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world with justice by a man whom he has appointed. He has given public confirmation of this to all by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, “We should like to hear you speak further on this subject at another time.” 33 After that, Paul left them. 34 However, some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius[s] the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, as well as some others.
Chapter 18
Paul in Corinth.[t] 1 At that point, Paul departed from Athens and moved on to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius[u] had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. He went to visit them, 3 and because they were tentmakers just as he was, he stayed with them and they worked together.[v] 4 Every Sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue, attempting to convert both Jews and Greeks.
5 After Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted all his efforts to preaching the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 When they opposed him and began to hurl insults, he shook out his garments in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I have a clear conscience. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.”
7 With that, he left and went to the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, who lived next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord along with his entire household. Many Corinthians who heard Paul came to believe and were baptized.
9 One night, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision[w] and said, “Do not be afraid. Continue with your preaching, and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you. No one will attack you or try to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.” 11 And so he remained there for eighteen months, teaching the word of God to them.
12 Accusations before Gallio. However, when Gallio became proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the Law.”
14 Just as Paul was about to refute them, Gallio said to the Jews, “If you were accusing this man of some crime or fraudulent act, O Jews, I would be more than willing to listen to your complaint. 15 But since your argument is about words and names and your own Law, settle it yourselves. I have no intention of making judgments about such matters.” 16 With that, he dismissed them from the tribunal. 17 Then they all attacked Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio remained unconcerned about their action.
18 Return to Antioch in Pisidia.[x] After he remained in Corinth for some considerable time, Paul took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae, he had his hair cut because he had taken a vow.
19 When they reached Ephesus,[y] he left them there. He himself went into the synagogue and had discussions with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay longer, he declined, 21 but on taking leave of them he promised, “I will return to you, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the Church,[z] and then he went down to Antioch.
Ephesus[aa]
Paul’s Third Missionary Journey[ab]
23 Paul Strengthens the Churches. After spending some time there, he departed and traveled through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Footnotes
- Acts 15:36 The planned visit to the communities already established turns into the “second missionary journey,” during which the Gospel enters into the daily life and culture of the Greco-Roman world.
- Acts 15:36 The choice of members of the team is not without difficult but normal confrontations. Attitudes toward John Mark lie at the origin of the tension (see Acts 13:5; 13:13). Finally, two teams are formed for two different projects. Barnabas takes John with him, and Paul takes Silas.
- Acts 15:41 Paul is opposed in principle to the circumcision of Christians of non-Jewish origin, but Timothy is a special case. If he were not circumcised, he could not speak in a synagogue and, in addition, he would have been regarded as an apostate, since his mother was Jewish; in the present missionary program, the first contacts were still taking place in the synagogues. The Spirit mysteriously intervenes to decide which direction the mission is to take. The whole Book of Acts is written in this perspective: the entire spread of the Gospel has been guided by the Spirit (see 1 Pet 1:12).
- Acts 16:1 Timothy: a fellow worker of Paul, to whom the latter will address two Letters.
- Acts 16:6 Phrygia: originally, this was the Hellenistic country of Phrygia, but it had now become part of the Roman provinces of Asia (which was only one-third of Asia Minor) and Galatia. Galatian Phrygia contained both Iconium and Antioch. Asia included Mysia, Lydia, and Caria in addition to parts of Phrygia.
- Acts 16:8 Troas: a Roman colony and an important seaport 10 miles from the ancient city of Troy. Paul returned to it after his third missionary journey (Acts 20:5-12).
- Acts 16:9 The account shifts to the first person, “we” (v. 10), as Luke will do three more times (Acts 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1—28:16); these passages probably represent personal notes of Luke about events that he himself witnessed (see Lk 1:1). The listeners and different social groups are always addressed according to the same order. One tries at first to make the Jewish community change its mind and accept the fulfillment of the history of its people; then one turns to the Gentiles. At Philippi, Paul encounters some Jews who are influenced by Hellenism and devoted to commerce. The home of Lydia becomes the center of a community.
- Acts 16:11 Samothrace: an island in the northeastern Aegean Sea. Neapolis: the seaport for Philippi, ten miles away.
- Acts 16:12 Philippi: a city in eastern Macedonia. Some of its members establish a flourishing Christian community to which one of Paul’s Letters will later be addressed.
- Acts 16:16 Even when it is not stirred up by the reaction of the Jews, opposition to the Gospel arises out of a desire for ill-gotten gain. Some Jews at Ephesus claim Christianity advocates customs that as Roman citizens they cannot legally tolerate in the cities of the Empire.
The account of Paul’s deliverance is centered above all on the transformation that takes place in the jailer. It is an account of conversion. Paul makes good use of his Roman citizenship to keep the field open for his future missionary activity (see Acts 22:19). - Acts 17:1 Jewish groups resent the rise of Christian communities as a rival enterprise and a risk for their peaceful establishment in the cities of the Empire—something that is always precarious. Unless the Jews accept Jesus as the fulfillment of the Scriptures, they can do nothing but be opposed to such communities.
The community of the Thessalonians will later receive the first two Letters written by Paul, which enable us to glimpse the fervor and anxieties of a young Church. The substance of Paul’s preaching at Thessalonica is summed up in verse 3: there we find the general structure of the discourses of Acts. A woman once again appears in a new role (Acts 17:12; 18:2) and is even named for her own sake, with no reference to a man (Acts 17:34). Christian lay people suffer in the name of the apostles. The opposition they encounter is on the juridical level. The confrontation with the Roman world will take place on a political level, where Roman culture and civilization are better expressed. - Acts 17:1 Amphipolis . . . Thessalonica: cities on the so-called Egnatian Way, which ran east and west through Greece and also included Philippi. Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia with a population of more than 200,000, and it lay about 100 miles from Philippi.
- Acts 17:16 Paul reaches Athens, which some 500 years before had been at the height of its glory in philosophy, literature, and art. In the twilight of its fame, it still housed a highly regarded university and was a force in philosophical thinking, as evidenced by the Epicureans and Stoics who engage Paul in discussion. He is led to the Areopagus—before a body that functioned in matters pertaining to religion, culture, and education. They evaluate him as the promoter of a new religion.
- Acts 17:18 Epicurean and Stoic philosophers: followers of the two prevailing philosophical systems. The Epicureans follow Epicurus (342–271 B.C.) in abandoning the search for pure truth by reason as hopeless and giving themselves over to present pleasures. The Stoics follow Zeno and Chrysippius (3rd century B.C.) and embrace a philosophy of self-repression because of human self-sufficiency. What is this man babbling about?: it seems to be a way of saying that the speaker is an eclectic, gathering ideas from all sources. Jesus and the resurrection: the Athenians misconstrue Paul’s words, thinking that he is speaking about Jesus and the goddess Anastasis, which means resurrection.
- Acts 17:19 Areopagus: this may refer either to a hill of Ares west of the Acropolis or to the Council of Athens that once met on it.
- Acts 17:22 Paul’s speech is a masterpiece of judicious adaptability to the Greek mentality. Yet he and his hearers are on different wave lengths. He preaches a way of life and calls for a faith while the cultured Greeks seek only a truth that satisfies the mind. A crucified and resurrected God can make no impact on them, and they take Paul for a buffoon (v. 14). Others think of him as a fanatic worshiper of new gods: “Jesus” and “Resurrection,” his spouse (v. 18). Paul first sets forth his theodicy: there is one God, who is spiritual, personal, and provident (vv. 22-26). Then he cites their poets, interpreting them in a monotheistic fashion (vv. 27-30). Finally, his Christology is very brief (v. 31), because of the uproar provoked by the subject of the resurrection, which was openly rejected by all the Hellenistic schools of philosophy.
- Acts 17:26 From one ancestor: or “from one blood.” Decreed their appointed times: or “decreed limits to their existence.”
- Acts 17:28 In him we live and move and have our being: a citation from the writings of the Cretan poet Epimenides (6th century B.C.). We are all his offspring: a citation from the Cilician poet Aratus (c. 315–240) as well as from Cleanthes (331–233 B.C.). Paul also quotes Greek poets in 1 Cor 15:33 and Tit 1:12.
- Acts 17:34 Dionysius: the passage suggests that this individual should be known to the readers. A theologian of the 5th or 6th century published mystical writings under this name. Some claim that this Pseudo-Dionysius (Denis) was the first bishop of Paris in the 3rd century.
- Acts 18:1 These passages deal with one of Paul’s most important activities. The great city of Corinth was at that time a cosmopolitan place and had a rather bad reputation due to the erotic cult of the goddess Aphrodite.
With its reference to Gallio in verse 12, the account provides us with a sure chronological clue to the events reported, since an inscription enables us to pinpoint the proconsulate of Gallio, a brother of Seneca, to the years A.D. 51–52 or 52–53. - Acts 18:2 Claudius: Emperor of Rome from A.D. 41 to 54. He expelled the Jews from Rome because of “their continuous tumults instigated by Chrestus,” a common misspelling for “Christ.” Needless to say, the tumults were instigated not by Christ but by the differing opinions people held about him.
- Acts 18:3 Paul was probably taught the trade of tentmaker in his youth, in accord with the Jewish custom of giving manual training to sons.
- Acts 18:9 In a vision: Paul now glimpses in a vision (see Acts 23:11) the Lord whom he has already seen in a resurrected body at his conversion (see Acts 9:4-6; 1 Cor 15:8) and in the temple in ecstasy (see Acts 22:17-18).
- Acts 18:18 After more than two and a half years of labor in Corinth, Paul embarks for Antioch. The Nazirite vow was a special consecration to God, usually lasting 30 days and taking the form of a special way of life (see Num 6:1-21).
Instead of reaching Antioch Paul lands at Ephesus, which will soon become the center of the following cycle of the Book. He leaves Priscilla and Aquila there, who will become the nucleus of a Christian community. - Acts 18:19 Ephesus: a leading city of Asia Minor and the capital of the province of Asia, where the temple of Artemis (Diana) was located.
- Acts 18:22 He went up and greeted the Church: although this could refer to a congregation in Caesarea, the words “he went up” indicate that it was the Church at Jerusalem, which was about 2500 feet above sea level.
- Acts 18:23 According to the author of Acts, Ephesus is the third center for the spread of God’s word. The city was a great center of commerce, and in it the cultural and religious currents of the Greco-Roman world and the East came together. Paul remains there for more than two years, and it is thought that he there wrote the Letters to the Corinthians, the Philippians, and perhaps the Galatians. Later on, the Letter to the Ephesians, one of the imprisonment letters, would be addressed to this community.
The early Church was now encountering other religious currents (besides the Judaic), and non-Jewish life was coming to the fore. The essence of the faith had to be brought out in the face of multiple cultural influences. - Acts 18:23 Paul remains at Syrian Antioch for some time, probably through the spring of 53, and then starts his third missionary journey. Setting out for Ephesus, some 1500 miles to the west, he revisits the Churches around Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. The account of this third journey focuses on his work at Ephesus (Acts 19:1—20:1).
