Acts 16:3 Themes and Topics

He also came down to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple called Timotheus, the son of a believing Jewess and a Greek father. He had a good reputation among the brothers at Lystra and Iconium; so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. read more.
As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed;

But certain individuals came down from Jerusalem and taught the brothers that "unless you get circumcised after the custom of Moses you cannot be saved." Verse Concepts

Verse Concepts

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. Verse Concepts

Was a man circumcised at the time he was called? Then he is not to efface the marks of it. Has any man been called when he was uncircumcised? Then he is not to get circumcised. Verse Concepts

But even my companion Titus, Greek though he was, was not obliged to be circumcised. Verse Concepts

Here, listen to Paul! I tell you, if you get circumcised, Christ will be no use to you. Verse Concepts

These men who are keen upon you getting circumcised are just men who want to make a grand display in the flesh ??it is simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Verse Concepts

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. Verse Concepts

He also came down to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple called Timotheus, the son of a believing Jewess and a Greek father. He had a good reputation among the brothers at Lystra and Iconium; so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. read more.
As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed;

Some days later, Paul said to Barnabas, "Come and let us go back to visit the brothers in every town where we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they are doing." But while Barnabas wanted to take John (who was called Mark) along with them, Paul held they should not take a man with them who had deserted them in Pamphylia, instead of accompanying them on active service. read more.
So in irritation they parted company, Barnabas taking Mark with him and sailing for Cyprus, while Paul selected Silas and went off, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He made his way through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. He also came down to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple called Timotheus, the son of a believing Jewess and a Greek father. He had a good reputation among the brothers at Lystra and Iconium; so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed; and the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers day by day. They crossed Phrygia and the country of Galatia, the holy Spirit having stopped them from preaching the word in Asia; when they got as far as Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them, and so they passed Mysia by and went down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul by night, the vision of a Macedonian standing and appealing to him with the words, "Cross to Macedonia and help us." As soon as he saw the vision, we made efforts to start for Macedonia, inferring that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Setting sail then from Troas we ran straight to Samothrace and on the following day to Neapolis. We then came to the Roman colony of Philippi, which is the foremost town of the district of Macedonia. In this town we spent some days. On the sabbath we went outside the gate to the bank of the river, where as usual there was a place of prayer; we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered. Among the listeners there was a woman called Lydia, a dealer in purple who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She reverenced God, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, along with her household, she begged us, saying, "If you are convinced I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." She compelled us to come. Now it happened as we went to the place of prayer that a slave-girl met us, possessed by a spirit of ventriloquism, and a source of great profit to her owners by her power of fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are servants of the Most High God, they proclaim to you the way of salvation!" She did this for a number of days. Then Paul turned in annoyance and told the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you out of her!" And it left her that very moment. But when her owners saw their chance of profit was gone, they caught hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them before the magistrates in the forum. Bringing them before the praetors they declared, "These fellows are Jews who are making an agitation in our town; they are proclaiming customs which as Romans we are not allowed to accept or observe!" The crowd also joined in the attack upon them, while the praetors, after having them stripped and after ordering them to be flogged with rods, had many lashes inflicted on them and put them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict a charge, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God, while the prisoners listened, all of a sudden there was a great earthquake which shook the very foundations of the prison; the doors all flew open in an instant and the fetters of all the prisoners were unfastened. When the jailer started from his sleep and saw the prison-doors open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing the prisoners had made their escape; but Paul shouted aloud, "Do not harm yourself, we are all here!" So calling for lights he rushed in, fell in terror before Paul and Silas, and brought them out (after securing the other prisoners). "Sirs," he said, "what must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," they said, "and then you will be saved, you and your household as well." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all in his house. Then he took them at that very hour of the night and washed their wounds and got baptized instantly, he and all his family. He took them up to his house and put food before them, overjoyed like all his household at having believed in God. When day broke, the praetors sent the lictors with the message, "Release these men." The jailer repeated this to Paul. "The praetors," he said, "have sent to release you. So come out and go in peace?" But Paul replied, "They flogged us in public and without a trial, flogged Roman citizens! They put us in prison, and now they are going to get rid of us secretly! No indeed! Let them come here themselves and take us out!" The lictors reported this to the praetors, who, on hearing the men were Roman citizens, became alarmed; they went to appease them and after taking them out of prison begged them to leave the town. So they left the prison and went to Lydia's house, where they saw the brothers and encouraged them; then they departed. Travelling on through Amphipolis and Apollonia they reached Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul as usual went in; for three sabbaths he argued with them on the scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that "the Jesus I proclaim to you is the messiah." Some were persuaded and threw in their lot with Paul and Silas, including a host of devout Greeks and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews were aroused to jealousy; they got hold of some idle rascals to form a mob and set the town in an uproar; they attacked Jason's house in the endeavour to bring them out before the populace, but as they failed to find Paul and Silas they haled Jason and some of the brothers before the politarchs, yelling, "These upsetters of the whole world have come here too! Jason has welcomed them! They all violate the decrees of Caesar by declaring someone else called Jesus is king." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this; however, they let Jason and the others go, after binding them over to keep the peace. Then the brothers at once sent off Paul and Silas by night to Beroea. When they arrived there, they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue, where the people were more amenable than at Thessalonica; they were perfectly ready to receive the Word and made a daily study of the scriptures to see if it was really as Paul said. Many of them believed, together with a large number of prominent Greeks, both women and men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica heard that Paul was proclaiming the word of God at Beroea as well, they came to create a disturbance and a riot among the crowds at Beroea too. The brothers then sent off Paul at once on his way to the sea, while Silas and Timotheus remained where they were. Paul's escort brought him as far as Athens and left with instructions that Silas and Timotheus were to join him as soon as possible. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his soul was irritated at the sight of the idols that filled the city. He argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout proselytes and also in the marketplace daily with those who chanced to be present. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also came across him. Some said, "Whatever does the fellow mean with his scraps of learning'?" Others said, "He looks like a herald of foreign deities" (this was because he preached 'Jesus' and 'the Resurrection'). Then taking him to the Areopagus they asked, "May we know what is this novel teaching of yours? You talk of some things that sound strange to us; so we want to know what they mean." (For all the Athenians and the foreign visitors to Athens occupied themselves with nothing else than repeating or listening to the latest novelty.) So Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe at every turn that you are a most religious people. Why, as I passed along and scanned your objects of worship, I actually came upon an altar with the inscription TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Well, I proclaim to you what you worship in your ignorance. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, as Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines that are made by human hands; he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, for it is he who gives life and breath and all things to all men. All nations he has created from a common origin, to dwell all over the earth, fixing their allotted periods and the boundaries of their abodes, meaning them to seek for God on the chance of finding him in their groping for him. Though indeed he is close to each one of us, for it is in him that we live and move and exist ??as some of your own poets have said, 'We too belong to His race.' Well, as the race of God, we ought not to imagine that the divine nature resembles gold or silver or stone, the product of human art and invention. Such ages of ignorance God overlooked, but he now charges men that they are all everywhere to repent, inasmuch as he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world justly by a man whom he has destined for this. And he has given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of a 'resurrection of dead men,' some sneered, while others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. Some men, however, did join him and believe, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman called Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he came across a Jew called Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla, as Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul accosted them, and as he belonged to the same trade he stayed with them and they all worked together. (They were workers in leather by trade.) Every sabbath he argued in the synagogue, persuading both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timotheus came south from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in this preaching of the word, arguing to the Jews that the messiah was Jesus. But as they opposed and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, saying, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not responsible! After this I will go to the Gentiles." Then he removed to the house of a devout proselyte called Titus Justus, which adjoined the synagogue. But Crispus the president of the synagogue believed in the Lord, as did all his household, and many of the Corinthians listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision by night, "Have no fear, speak on and never stop, for I am with you, and no one shall attack and injure you; I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and six months, teaching them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia the Jews without exception rose against Paul and brought him up before the tribunal, crying, "This fellow incites men to worship God contrary to the Law." Paul was just on the point of opening his lips to reply, when Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been a misdemeanour or wicked crime, there would be some reason in me listening to you,O Jews. But as these are merely questions of words and persons and your own Law, you can attend to them for yourselves. I decline to adjudicate upon matters like that." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then all [the Greeks] caught hold of Sosthenes the president of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. After waiting on for a number of days Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. (As the latter was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchreae.) When they reached Ephesus, Paul left them there. He went to the synagogue and argued with the Jews, who asked him to stay for a while. But he would not consent; he said goodbye to them, telling them, "I will come back to you, if it is the will of God." Then, sailing from Ephesus, he reached Caesarea, went up to the capital to salute the church, and travelled down to Antioch.

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. Verse Concepts

He also came down to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple called Timotheus, the son of a believing Jewess and a Greek father. He had a good reputation among the brothers at Lystra and Iconium; so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. read more.
As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed; and the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers day by day.

Some days later, Paul said to Barnabas, "Come and let us go back to visit the brothers in every town where we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they are doing." But while Barnabas wanted to take John (who was called Mark) along with them, Paul held they should not take a man with them who had deserted them in Pamphylia, instead of accompanying them on active service. read more.
So in irritation they parted company, Barnabas taking Mark with him and sailing for Cyprus, while Paul selected Silas and went off, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He made his way through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. He also came down to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple called Timotheus, the son of a believing Jewess and a Greek father. He had a good reputation among the brothers at Lystra and Iconium; so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed; and the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers day by day. They crossed Phrygia and the country of Galatia, the holy Spirit having stopped them from preaching the word in Asia; when they got as far as Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them, and so they passed Mysia by and went down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul by night, the vision of a Macedonian standing and appealing to him with the words, "Cross to Macedonia and help us." As soon as he saw the vision, we made efforts to start for Macedonia, inferring that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Setting sail then from Troas we ran straight to Samothrace and on the following day to Neapolis. We then came to the Roman colony of Philippi, which is the foremost town of the district of Macedonia. In this town we spent some days. On the sabbath we went outside the gate to the bank of the river, where as usual there was a place of prayer; we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered. Among the listeners there was a woman called Lydia, a dealer in purple who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She reverenced God, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, along with her household, she begged us, saying, "If you are convinced I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." She compelled us to come. Now it happened as we went to the place of prayer that a slave-girl met us, possessed by a spirit of ventriloquism, and a source of great profit to her owners by her power of fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are servants of the Most High God, they proclaim to you the way of salvation!" She did this for a number of days. Then Paul turned in annoyance and told the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you out of her!" And it left her that very moment. But when her owners saw their chance of profit was gone, they caught hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them before the magistrates in the forum. Bringing them before the praetors they declared, "These fellows are Jews who are making an agitation in our town; they are proclaiming customs which as Romans we are not allowed to accept or observe!" The crowd also joined in the attack upon them, while the praetors, after having them stripped and after ordering them to be flogged with rods, had many lashes inflicted on them and put them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict a charge, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God, while the prisoners listened, all of a sudden there was a great earthquake which shook the very foundations of the prison; the doors all flew open in an instant and the fetters of all the prisoners were unfastened. When the jailer started from his sleep and saw the prison-doors open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing the prisoners had made their escape; but Paul shouted aloud, "Do not harm yourself, we are all here!" So calling for lights he rushed in, fell in terror before Paul and Silas, and brought them out (after securing the other prisoners). "Sirs," he said, "what must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," they said, "and then you will be saved, you and your household as well." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all in his house. Then he took them at that very hour of the night and washed their wounds and got baptized instantly, he and all his family. He took them up to his house and put food before them, overjoyed like all his household at having believed in God. When day broke, the praetors sent the lictors with the message, "Release these men." The jailer repeated this to Paul. "The praetors," he said, "have sent to release you. So come out and go in peace?" But Paul replied, "They flogged us in public and without a trial, flogged Roman citizens! They put us in prison, and now they are going to get rid of us secretly! No indeed! Let them come here themselves and take us out!" The lictors reported this to the praetors, who, on hearing the men were Roman citizens, became alarmed; they went to appease them and after taking them out of prison begged them to leave the town. So they left the prison and went to Lydia's house, where they saw the brothers and encouraged them; then they departed. Travelling on through Amphipolis and Apollonia they reached Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul as usual went in; for three sabbaths he argued with them on the scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that "the Jesus I proclaim to you is the messiah." Some were persuaded and threw in their lot with Paul and Silas, including a host of devout Greeks and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews were aroused to jealousy; they got hold of some idle rascals to form a mob and set the town in an uproar; they attacked Jason's house in the endeavour to bring them out before the populace, but as they failed to find Paul and Silas they haled Jason and some of the brothers before the politarchs, yelling, "These upsetters of the whole world have come here too! Jason has welcomed them! They all violate the decrees of Caesar by declaring someone else called Jesus is king." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this; however, they let Jason and the others go, after binding them over to keep the peace. Then the brothers at once sent off Paul and Silas by night to Beroea. When they arrived there, they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue, where the people were more amenable than at Thessalonica; they were perfectly ready to receive the Word and made a daily study of the scriptures to see if it was really as Paul said. Many of them believed, together with a large number of prominent Greeks, both women and men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica heard that Paul was proclaiming the word of God at Beroea as well, they came to create a disturbance and a riot among the crowds at Beroea too. The brothers then sent off Paul at once on his way to the sea, while Silas and Timotheus remained where they were. Paul's escort brought him as far as Athens and left with instructions that Silas and Timotheus were to join him as soon as possible. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his soul was irritated at the sight of the idols that filled the city. He argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout proselytes and also in the marketplace daily with those who chanced to be present. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also came across him. Some said, "Whatever does the fellow mean with his scraps of learning'?" Others said, "He looks like a herald of foreign deities" (this was because he preached 'Jesus' and 'the Resurrection'). Then taking him to the Areopagus they asked, "May we know what is this novel teaching of yours? You talk of some things that sound strange to us; so we want to know what they mean." (For all the Athenians and the foreign visitors to Athens occupied themselves with nothing else than repeating or listening to the latest novelty.) So Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe at every turn that you are a most religious people. Why, as I passed along and scanned your objects of worship, I actually came upon an altar with the inscription TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Well, I proclaim to you what you worship in your ignorance. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, as Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines that are made by human hands; he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, for it is he who gives life and breath and all things to all men. All nations he has created from a common origin, to dwell all over the earth, fixing their allotted periods and the boundaries of their abodes, meaning them to seek for God on the chance of finding him in their groping for him. Though indeed he is close to each one of us, for it is in him that we live and move and exist ??as some of your own poets have said, 'We too belong to His race.' Well, as the race of God, we ought not to imagine that the divine nature resembles gold or silver or stone, the product of human art and invention. Such ages of ignorance God overlooked, but he now charges men that they are all everywhere to repent, inasmuch as he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world justly by a man whom he has destined for this. And he has given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of a 'resurrection of dead men,' some sneered, while others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. Some men, however, did join him and believe, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman called Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he came across a Jew called Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla, as Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul accosted them, and as he belonged to the same trade he stayed with them and they all worked together. (They were workers in leather by trade.) Every sabbath he argued in the synagogue, persuading both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timotheus came south from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in this preaching of the word, arguing to the Jews that the messiah was Jesus. But as they opposed and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, saying, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not responsible! After this I will go to the Gentiles." Then he removed to the house of a devout proselyte called Titus Justus, which adjoined the synagogue. But Crispus the president of the synagogue believed in the Lord, as did all his household, and many of the Corinthians listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision by night, "Have no fear, speak on and never stop, for I am with you, and no one shall attack and injure you; I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and six months, teaching them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia the Jews without exception rose against Paul and brought him up before the tribunal, crying, "This fellow incites men to worship God contrary to the Law." Paul was just on the point of opening his lips to reply, when Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been a misdemeanour or wicked crime, there would be some reason in me listening to you,O Jews. But as these are merely questions of words and persons and your own Law, you can attend to them for yourselves. I decline to adjudicate upon matters like that." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then all [the Greeks] caught hold of Sosthenes the president of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. After waiting on for a number of days Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. (As the latter was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchreae.) When they reached Ephesus, Paul left them there. He went to the synagogue and argued with the Jews, who asked him to stay for a while. But he would not consent; he said goodbye to them, telling them, "I will come back to you, if it is the will of God." Then, sailing from Ephesus, he reached Caesarea, went up to the capital to salute the church, and travelled down to Antioch.

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. Verse Concepts

"I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel in all the strictness of our ancestral Law, ardent for God as you all are to-day. Verse Concepts

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. Verse Concepts

They glorified God when they heard it. Then they said to him, "Brother, you see how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, all of them ardent upholders of the Law. Verse Concepts

Some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not allowed on the sabbath?" Verse Concepts

and how I outstripped many of my own age and race in my special ardour for the ancestral traditions of my house. Verse Concepts

But some of the believers who belonged to the Pharisaic party got up and said, "Gentiles must be circumcised and told to observe the law of Moses." Verse Concepts

The Pharisees said to him, "Look at what they are doing on the sabbath! That is not allowed." Verse Concepts

But the president of the synagogue was annoyed at Jesus healing on the sabbath, and he said to the crowd, "There are six days for work to be done; come during them to get healed, instead of on the sabbath." Verse Concepts

So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "This is the sabbath, you have no right to be carrying your mat." Verse Concepts

I can vouch for their zeal for God; only, it is not zeal with knowledge. Verse Concepts

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek. Verse Concepts

I sent Timotheus our brother, a minister of God in the gospel of Christ, for your strengthening and encouragement in the faith, Verse Concepts