Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Confession » Of Christ
I tell you, everyone who will acknowledge me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God,
Verse Concepts
I am baptizing you in water in token of your repentance, but he who is coming after me is stronger than I am, and I am not fit to carry his shoes. He will baptize you in the holy Spirit and in fire.
Verse Concepts
Therefore, I must tell you that no one who is speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God ever says, "Curse Jesus!" and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord!" without being under the influence of the holy Spirit.
Verse Concepts
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God keeps in union with him and he with God.
Verse Concepts
You can tell the Spirit of God in this way: all inspiration that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in human form comes from God, and any inspired utterance that does not acknowledge Jesus does not come from God; it is the inspiration of the Antichrist. You have heard that it was coming, and here it is already in the world.
Yet for all that, even among the leading men, many came to believe in him, but on account of the Pharisees they would not acknowledge it, for fear of being excluded from the synagogues, for they cared more for the approval of men than for the approval of God.
It is not everyone who says to me 'Lord! Lord!' who will get into the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that Day, 'Lord! Lord! Was it not in your name that we prophesied, and by your name that we drove out demons, and by your name that we did many mighty acts?' Then I will say to them plainly, 'I never knew you! Go away from me, you who do wrong!'
Therefore everyone who will acknowledge me before men I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but anyone who disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
(John testified to him and cried out??or it was he who said it??He who was to come after me is now ahead of me
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already made an agreement that if anyone acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, he should be excluded from the synagogues. That was why his parents said, "He is grown up; you must ask him." So they again summoned the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give God the praise. This man we know is a sinful man." read more.
He answered, "I do not know about his being a sinful man. All I know is that I was blind before and now I can see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he make you able to see?" He answered, "I have already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become disciples of his too?" Then they sneered at him, and said, "You are a disciple of his yourself, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man came from." The man answered, "There is something very strange about this! You do not know where he came from, and yet he has made me able to see! We know that God does not listen to sinful people, but if a man is devout and obeys God, God will listen to him. It was never heard of in this world that anyone made a man born blind able to see. If this man were not from God, he could not do anything." They answered, "You were born in utter sin, and are you trying to teach us?" So they excluded him from the synagogue. Jesus learned that they had excluded him, and he found the man and said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man answered, "Who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him already, and it is he who is now talking to you." And he said, "I believe, sir!" and he fell on his knees before him.
He answered, "I do not know about his being a sinful man. All I know is that I was blind before and now I can see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he make you able to see?" He answered, "I have already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become disciples of his too?" Then they sneered at him, and said, "You are a disciple of his yourself, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man came from." The man answered, "There is something very strange about this! You do not know where he came from, and yet he has made me able to see! We know that God does not listen to sinful people, but if a man is devout and obeys God, God will listen to him. It was never heard of in this world that anyone made a man born blind able to see. If this man were not from God, he could not do anything." They answered, "You were born in utter sin, and are you trying to teach us?" So they excluded him from the synagogue. Jesus learned that they had excluded him, and he found the man and said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man answered, "Who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him already, and it is he who is now talking to you." And he said, "I believe, sir!" and he fell on his knees before him.
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Then Philip began, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus. As they went on along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Here is some water! What is there to prevent my being baptized?" OMITTED TEXT
By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Verse Concepts
"John's baptism was a baptism in token of repentance," said Paul, "and he told the people to believe in him who was to follow him, that is, in Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,
For if with your lips you acknowledge the message that Jesus is Lord, and with your mind you believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with their minds men believe and are made upright, and with their lips they make the acknowledgment and are saved. For the Scripture says, "No one who has faith in him will be disappointed."
If we say, "We have fellowship with him," and yet live in darkness, we are lying and not living the truth.
Verse Concepts
Whoever says, "I know him," but does not obey his commands, is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart;
Verse Concepts
Duty » Pressure of » It makes the message imperative
By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Verse Concepts
for we cannot help telling of what we have seen and heard."
Verse Concepts
I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, for the Spirit compels me to go there, though I do not know what will happen to me there,
Verse Concepts
Missionary journeys » Ac 13-14 » Second - with silas
Some time after, Paul said to Barnabas, "Come, let us go back and revisit the brothers in each of the towns where we made the Lord's message known, to see how they are doing." Now Barnabas wanted to take John who was called Mark with them. But Paul did not approve of taking with them a man who had deserted them in Pamphylia instead of going on with them to their work. read more.
They differed so sharply about it that they separated, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. But Paul selected Silas and set out, the brothers commending him to the Lord's favor. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia and strengthened the churches. He went to Derbe and Lystra also. At Lystra there was a disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewish Christian while his father was a Greek, and who was highly thought of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled on from one town to another, they passed on to the brothers for their observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches became stronger and stronger in the faith, and their numbers increased from day to day. Thus they crossed Phrygia and Galatia. The holy Spirit prevented them from delivering the message in Asia, and when they reached Mysia they tried to get into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it, and they passed Mysia and came down to Troas. There Paul had a vision one night; a Macedonian was standing appealing to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." As soon as he had this vision, we made efforts to get on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news. So we sailed from Troas, and ran a straight course to Samothrace, and next day to Neapolis. From there we went to Philippi, a Roman garrison town, and the principal place in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed for some days. On the Sabbath we went outside the gates, to the bank of the river where we supposed there was a praying place, and we sat down and talked with the women who gathered there. One of our hearers was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods, from the town of Thyatira. She was a believer in God, and the Lord touched her heart, and led her to accept Paul's teaching. When she and her household were baptized, she appealed to us, and said, "If you are really convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she insisted upon our coming. Once as we were on our way to the praying place a slave-girl met us who had the gift of ventriloquism, and made her masters a great deal of money by her fortune-telling. This girl would follow Paul and the rest of us, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are making known to you a way of salvation." She did this for a number of days, until Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!" And it came out instantly. But when her masters saw that their hopes of profits were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them to the public square, to the authorities, and brought them before the chief magistrates. "These men," they said, "are Jews, and they are making a great disturbance in our town. They are advocating practices which it is against the law for us as Romans to adopt or observe." The crowd also joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten. After beating them severely, they put them in jail, and gave the jailer orders to keep close watch of them. He, having had such strict orders, put them into the inner cell, and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was such an earthquake that the jail shook to its foundations; all the doors flew open, and everybody's chains were unfastened. It woke up the jailer, and when he saw that the doors of the jail were open, he drew his sword and was just going to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out, "Do not do yourself any harm! We are all here!" Then he called for lights and rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and said to them, "Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus," they said, "and you and your household will be saved!" Then they told God's message to him and to all the members of his household. And right then in the night, he took them and washed their wounds, and he and all his household were baptized immediately. Then he took them up to his house and offered them food, and he and all his household were very happy over their new faith in God. In the morning the magistrates sent policemen with instructions to let the men go. The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested." But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!" The policemen delivered this message to the magistrates, and they were alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens, and came and conciliated them, and took them out of the jail, and begged them to leave the town. After leaving the jail they went to Lydia's house, and saw the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left the town. After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue. Paul went to it as he was accustomed to do, and for three Sabbaths he discussed the Scriptures with them, explaining them and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "Jesus," he said, "of whom I am telling you, is the Christ!" He convinced some of them, and they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a number of the principal women. This offended the Jews and they gathered some unprincipled loafers, formed a mob and started a riot in the town. They attacked Jason's house, to find them and bring them out among the people. As they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the town magistrates, shouting, "The men who have made trouble all over the world have come here too, and Jason has taken them in. They all disobey the emperor's decrees, and claim that someone else called Jesus is king." The crowd and the magistrates were very much excited at hearing this, and they put Jason and the others under bonds before they let them go. The brothers sent Paul and Silas away immediately, in the course of the following night, to Berea. On arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews there were more high-minded than those at Thessalonica, and received the message with great eagerness and studied the Scriptures every day, to find out whether it was true. Many of them became believers and so did no small number of Greek women of position, and men too. But when the Jews at Thessalonica found out that God's message had been delivered at Berea by Paul, they came there too, to excite and stir up the populace. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off to the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind. The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible. While Paul waited for them at Athens, he was exasperated to see how idolatrous the city was. He had discussions at the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped with them, and every day in the public square with any whom he happened to find. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some of them said, "What is this rag-picker trying to make out?" Others said, "He seems to be preaching some foreign deities." This was because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus and said, "May we know just what this new teaching of yours is? Some of the things you tell us sound strange to us, and we want to know just what they mean." For all Athenians and all visitors there from abroad used to spend all their time telling or listening to something new. Then Paul stood up in the middle of the council and said, "Men of Athens, from every point of view I see that you are extremely religious. For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God.' So it is what you already worship in ignorance that I am now telling you of. God who created the world and all that is in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples built by human hands, nor is he waited on by human hands as though he were in need of anything, for he himself gives all men life and breath and everything. From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind, and made them live all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands, so that they might search for God, and perhaps grope for him and find him, though he is never far from any of us. For it is through union with him that we live and move and exist, as some of your poets have said, " 'For we are also his offspring.' So if we are God's children we ought not to imagine that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, wrought by human art and thought. While God overlooked those times of ignorance, he now calls upon all men everywhere to repent, since he has fixed a day on which he will justly judge the world through a man whom he has appointed, and whom he has guaranteed to all men by raising him from the dead." When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We should like to hear you again on this subject." So Paul left the council. Some persons joined him, however, and became believers, among them Dionysius, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and as they practiced the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers. Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message. While Gallio was governor of Greece the Jews made a concerted attack upon Paul, and brought him before the governor. "This fellow," they said, "is trying to induce people to worship God in ways that are against the law." Before Paul could open his lips, Gallio said to the Jews, "If some misdemeanor or rascality were involved, Jews, you might reasonably expect me to listen to you. But as it is only a question of words and titles and your own law, you must look after it yourselves. I refuse to decide such matters." And he drove them away from the court. Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio paid no attention to it. Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under. When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. He bade them goodbye, saying, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he sailed from Ephesus. When he reached Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and paid his respects to the church, and then went on to Antioch.
They differed so sharply about it that they separated, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. But Paul selected Silas and set out, the brothers commending him to the Lord's favor. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia and strengthened the churches. He went to Derbe and Lystra also. At Lystra there was a disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewish Christian while his father was a Greek, and who was highly thought of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled on from one town to another, they passed on to the brothers for their observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches became stronger and stronger in the faith, and their numbers increased from day to day. Thus they crossed Phrygia and Galatia. The holy Spirit prevented them from delivering the message in Asia, and when they reached Mysia they tried to get into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it, and they passed Mysia and came down to Troas. There Paul had a vision one night; a Macedonian was standing appealing to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." As soon as he had this vision, we made efforts to get on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news. So we sailed from Troas, and ran a straight course to Samothrace, and next day to Neapolis. From there we went to Philippi, a Roman garrison town, and the principal place in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed for some days. On the Sabbath we went outside the gates, to the bank of the river where we supposed there was a praying place, and we sat down and talked with the women who gathered there. One of our hearers was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods, from the town of Thyatira. She was a believer in God, and the Lord touched her heart, and led her to accept Paul's teaching. When she and her household were baptized, she appealed to us, and said, "If you are really convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she insisted upon our coming. Once as we were on our way to the praying place a slave-girl met us who had the gift of ventriloquism, and made her masters a great deal of money by her fortune-telling. This girl would follow Paul and the rest of us, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are making known to you a way of salvation." She did this for a number of days, until Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!" And it came out instantly. But when her masters saw that their hopes of profits were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them to the public square, to the authorities, and brought them before the chief magistrates. "These men," they said, "are Jews, and they are making a great disturbance in our town. They are advocating practices which it is against the law for us as Romans to adopt or observe." The crowd also joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten. After beating them severely, they put them in jail, and gave the jailer orders to keep close watch of them. He, having had such strict orders, put them into the inner cell, and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was such an earthquake that the jail shook to its foundations; all the doors flew open, and everybody's chains were unfastened. It woke up the jailer, and when he saw that the doors of the jail were open, he drew his sword and was just going to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out, "Do not do yourself any harm! We are all here!" Then he called for lights and rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and said to them, "Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus," they said, "and you and your household will be saved!" Then they told God's message to him and to all the members of his household. And right then in the night, he took them and washed their wounds, and he and all his household were baptized immediately. Then he took them up to his house and offered them food, and he and all his household were very happy over their new faith in God. In the morning the magistrates sent policemen with instructions to let the men go. The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested." But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!" The policemen delivered this message to the magistrates, and they were alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens, and came and conciliated them, and took them out of the jail, and begged them to leave the town. After leaving the jail they went to Lydia's house, and saw the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left the town. After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue. Paul went to it as he was accustomed to do, and for three Sabbaths he discussed the Scriptures with them, explaining them and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "Jesus," he said, "of whom I am telling you, is the Christ!" He convinced some of them, and they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a number of the principal women. This offended the Jews and they gathered some unprincipled loafers, formed a mob and started a riot in the town. They attacked Jason's house, to find them and bring them out among the people. As they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the town magistrates, shouting, "The men who have made trouble all over the world have come here too, and Jason has taken them in. They all disobey the emperor's decrees, and claim that someone else called Jesus is king." The crowd and the magistrates were very much excited at hearing this, and they put Jason and the others under bonds before they let them go. The brothers sent Paul and Silas away immediately, in the course of the following night, to Berea. On arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews there were more high-minded than those at Thessalonica, and received the message with great eagerness and studied the Scriptures every day, to find out whether it was true. Many of them became believers and so did no small number of Greek women of position, and men too. But when the Jews at Thessalonica found out that God's message had been delivered at Berea by Paul, they came there too, to excite and stir up the populace. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off to the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind. The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible. While Paul waited for them at Athens, he was exasperated to see how idolatrous the city was. He had discussions at the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped with them, and every day in the public square with any whom he happened to find. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some of them said, "What is this rag-picker trying to make out?" Others said, "He seems to be preaching some foreign deities." This was because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus and said, "May we know just what this new teaching of yours is? Some of the things you tell us sound strange to us, and we want to know just what they mean." For all Athenians and all visitors there from abroad used to spend all their time telling or listening to something new. Then Paul stood up in the middle of the council and said, "Men of Athens, from every point of view I see that you are extremely religious. For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God.' So it is what you already worship in ignorance that I am now telling you of. God who created the world and all that is in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples built by human hands, nor is he waited on by human hands as though he were in need of anything, for he himself gives all men life and breath and everything. From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind, and made them live all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands, so that they might search for God, and perhaps grope for him and find him, though he is never far from any of us. For it is through union with him that we live and move and exist, as some of your poets have said, " 'For we are also his offspring.' So if we are God's children we ought not to imagine that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, wrought by human art and thought. While God overlooked those times of ignorance, he now calls upon all men everywhere to repent, since he has fixed a day on which he will justly judge the world through a man whom he has appointed, and whom he has guaranteed to all men by raising him from the dead." When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We should like to hear you again on this subject." So Paul left the council. Some persons joined him, however, and became believers, among them Dionysius, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and as they practiced the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers. Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message. While Gallio was governor of Greece the Jews made a concerted attack upon Paul, and brought him before the governor. "This fellow," they said, "is trying to induce people to worship God in ways that are against the law." Before Paul could open his lips, Gallio said to the Jews, "If some misdemeanor or rascality were involved, Jews, you might reasonably expect me to listen to you. But as it is only a question of words and titles and your own law, you must look after it yourselves. I refuse to decide such matters." And he drove them away from the court. Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio paid no attention to it. Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under. When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. He bade them goodbye, saying, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he sailed from Ephesus. When he reached Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and paid his respects to the church, and then went on to Antioch.
Paul » Rejected » Jews
Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." read more.
So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message.
So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message.
Paul » teaching » The word of God
Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." read more.
So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message.
So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message.
Paul's » First - with barnabas and john mark ac 13-14 » Second - with silas
Some time after, Paul said to Barnabas, "Come, let us go back and revisit the brothers in each of the towns where we made the Lord's message known, to see how they are doing." Now Barnabas wanted to take John who was called Mark with them. But Paul did not approve of taking with them a man who had deserted them in Pamphylia instead of going on with them to their work. read more.
They differed so sharply about it that they separated, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. But Paul selected Silas and set out, the brothers commending him to the Lord's favor. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia and strengthened the churches. He went to Derbe and Lystra also. At Lystra there was a disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewish Christian while his father was a Greek, and who was highly thought of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled on from one town to another, they passed on to the brothers for their observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches became stronger and stronger in the faith, and their numbers increased from day to day. Thus they crossed Phrygia and Galatia. The holy Spirit prevented them from delivering the message in Asia, and when they reached Mysia they tried to get into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it, and they passed Mysia and came down to Troas. There Paul had a vision one night; a Macedonian was standing appealing to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." As soon as he had this vision, we made efforts to get on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news. So we sailed from Troas, and ran a straight course to Samothrace, and next day to Neapolis. From there we went to Philippi, a Roman garrison town, and the principal place in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed for some days. On the Sabbath we went outside the gates, to the bank of the river where we supposed there was a praying place, and we sat down and talked with the women who gathered there. One of our hearers was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods, from the town of Thyatira. She was a believer in God, and the Lord touched her heart, and led her to accept Paul's teaching. When she and her household were baptized, she appealed to us, and said, "If you are really convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she insisted upon our coming. Once as we were on our way to the praying place a slave-girl met us who had the gift of ventriloquism, and made her masters a great deal of money by her fortune-telling. This girl would follow Paul and the rest of us, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are making known to you a way of salvation." She did this for a number of days, until Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!" And it came out instantly. But when her masters saw that their hopes of profits were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them to the public square, to the authorities, and brought them before the chief magistrates. "These men," they said, "are Jews, and they are making a great disturbance in our town. They are advocating practices which it is against the law for us as Romans to adopt or observe." The crowd also joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten. After beating them severely, they put them in jail, and gave the jailer orders to keep close watch of them. He, having had such strict orders, put them into the inner cell, and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was such an earthquake that the jail shook to its foundations; all the doors flew open, and everybody's chains were unfastened. It woke up the jailer, and when he saw that the doors of the jail were open, he drew his sword and was just going to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out, "Do not do yourself any harm! We are all here!" Then he called for lights and rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and said to them, "Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus," they said, "and you and your household will be saved!" Then they told God's message to him and to all the members of his household. And right then in the night, he took them and washed their wounds, and he and all his household were baptized immediately. Then he took them up to his house and offered them food, and he and all his household were very happy over their new faith in God. In the morning the magistrates sent policemen with instructions to let the men go. The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested." But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!" The policemen delivered this message to the magistrates, and they were alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens, and came and conciliated them, and took them out of the jail, and begged them to leave the town. After leaving the jail they went to Lydia's house, and saw the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left the town. After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue. Paul went to it as he was accustomed to do, and for three Sabbaths he discussed the Scriptures with them, explaining them and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "Jesus," he said, "of whom I am telling you, is the Christ!" He convinced some of them, and they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a number of the principal women. This offended the Jews and they gathered some unprincipled loafers, formed a mob and started a riot in the town. They attacked Jason's house, to find them and bring them out among the people. As they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the town magistrates, shouting, "The men who have made trouble all over the world have come here too, and Jason has taken them in. They all disobey the emperor's decrees, and claim that someone else called Jesus is king." The crowd and the magistrates were very much excited at hearing this, and they put Jason and the others under bonds before they let them go. The brothers sent Paul and Silas away immediately, in the course of the following night, to Berea. On arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews there were more high-minded than those at Thessalonica, and received the message with great eagerness and studied the Scriptures every day, to find out whether it was true. Many of them became believers and so did no small number of Greek women of position, and men too. But when the Jews at Thessalonica found out that God's message had been delivered at Berea by Paul, they came there too, to excite and stir up the populace. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off to the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind. The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible. While Paul waited for them at Athens, he was exasperated to see how idolatrous the city was. He had discussions at the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped with them, and every day in the public square with any whom he happened to find. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some of them said, "What is this rag-picker trying to make out?" Others said, "He seems to be preaching some foreign deities." This was because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus and said, "May we know just what this new teaching of yours is? Some of the things you tell us sound strange to us, and we want to know just what they mean." For all Athenians and all visitors there from abroad used to spend all their time telling or listening to something new. Then Paul stood up in the middle of the council and said, "Men of Athens, from every point of view I see that you are extremely religious. For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God.' So it is what you already worship in ignorance that I am now telling you of. God who created the world and all that is in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples built by human hands, nor is he waited on by human hands as though he were in need of anything, for he himself gives all men life and breath and everything. From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind, and made them live all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands, so that they might search for God, and perhaps grope for him and find him, though he is never far from any of us. For it is through union with him that we live and move and exist, as some of your poets have said, " 'For we are also his offspring.' So if we are God's children we ought not to imagine that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, wrought by human art and thought. While God overlooked those times of ignorance, he now calls upon all men everywhere to repent, since he has fixed a day on which he will justly judge the world through a man whom he has appointed, and whom he has guaranteed to all men by raising him from the dead." When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We should like to hear you again on this subject." So Paul left the council. Some persons joined him, however, and became believers, among them Dionysius, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and as they practiced the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers. Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message. While Gallio was governor of Greece the Jews made a concerted attack upon Paul, and brought him before the governor. "This fellow," they said, "is trying to induce people to worship God in ways that are against the law." Before Paul could open his lips, Gallio said to the Jews, "If some misdemeanor or rascality were involved, Jews, you might reasonably expect me to listen to you. But as it is only a question of words and titles and your own law, you must look after it yourselves. I refuse to decide such matters." And he drove them away from the court. Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio paid no attention to it. Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under. When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. He bade them goodbye, saying, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he sailed from Ephesus. When he reached Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and paid his respects to the church, and then went on to Antioch.
They differed so sharply about it that they separated, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. But Paul selected Silas and set out, the brothers commending him to the Lord's favor. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia and strengthened the churches. He went to Derbe and Lystra also. At Lystra there was a disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewish Christian while his father was a Greek, and who was highly thought of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled on from one town to another, they passed on to the brothers for their observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches became stronger and stronger in the faith, and their numbers increased from day to day. Thus they crossed Phrygia and Galatia. The holy Spirit prevented them from delivering the message in Asia, and when they reached Mysia they tried to get into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it, and they passed Mysia and came down to Troas. There Paul had a vision one night; a Macedonian was standing appealing to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." As soon as he had this vision, we made efforts to get on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news. So we sailed from Troas, and ran a straight course to Samothrace, and next day to Neapolis. From there we went to Philippi, a Roman garrison town, and the principal place in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed for some days. On the Sabbath we went outside the gates, to the bank of the river where we supposed there was a praying place, and we sat down and talked with the women who gathered there. One of our hearers was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods, from the town of Thyatira. She was a believer in God, and the Lord touched her heart, and led her to accept Paul's teaching. When she and her household were baptized, she appealed to us, and said, "If you are really convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she insisted upon our coming. Once as we were on our way to the praying place a slave-girl met us who had the gift of ventriloquism, and made her masters a great deal of money by her fortune-telling. This girl would follow Paul and the rest of us, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are making known to you a way of salvation." She did this for a number of days, until Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!" And it came out instantly. But when her masters saw that their hopes of profits were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them to the public square, to the authorities, and brought them before the chief magistrates. "These men," they said, "are Jews, and they are making a great disturbance in our town. They are advocating practices which it is against the law for us as Romans to adopt or observe." The crowd also joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten. After beating them severely, they put them in jail, and gave the jailer orders to keep close watch of them. He, having had such strict orders, put them into the inner cell, and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was such an earthquake that the jail shook to its foundations; all the doors flew open, and everybody's chains were unfastened. It woke up the jailer, and when he saw that the doors of the jail were open, he drew his sword and was just going to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out, "Do not do yourself any harm! We are all here!" Then he called for lights and rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and said to them, "Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe in the Lord Jesus," they said, "and you and your household will be saved!" Then they told God's message to him and to all the members of his household. And right then in the night, he took them and washed their wounds, and he and all his household were baptized immediately. Then he took them up to his house and offered them food, and he and all his household were very happy over their new faith in God. In the morning the magistrates sent policemen with instructions to let the men go. The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested." But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!" The policemen delivered this message to the magistrates, and they were alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens, and came and conciliated them, and took them out of the jail, and begged them to leave the town. After leaving the jail they went to Lydia's house, and saw the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left the town. After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue. Paul went to it as he was accustomed to do, and for three Sabbaths he discussed the Scriptures with them, explaining them and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "Jesus," he said, "of whom I am telling you, is the Christ!" He convinced some of them, and they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a number of the principal women. This offended the Jews and they gathered some unprincipled loafers, formed a mob and started a riot in the town. They attacked Jason's house, to find them and bring them out among the people. As they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the town magistrates, shouting, "The men who have made trouble all over the world have come here too, and Jason has taken them in. They all disobey the emperor's decrees, and claim that someone else called Jesus is king." The crowd and the magistrates were very much excited at hearing this, and they put Jason and the others under bonds before they let them go. The brothers sent Paul and Silas away immediately, in the course of the following night, to Berea. On arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews there were more high-minded than those at Thessalonica, and received the message with great eagerness and studied the Scriptures every day, to find out whether it was true. Many of them became believers and so did no small number of Greek women of position, and men too. But when the Jews at Thessalonica found out that God's message had been delivered at Berea by Paul, they came there too, to excite and stir up the populace. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off to the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind. The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible. While Paul waited for them at Athens, he was exasperated to see how idolatrous the city was. He had discussions at the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped with them, and every day in the public square with any whom he happened to find. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some of them said, "What is this rag-picker trying to make out?" Others said, "He seems to be preaching some foreign deities." This was because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus and said, "May we know just what this new teaching of yours is? Some of the things you tell us sound strange to us, and we want to know just what they mean." For all Athenians and all visitors there from abroad used to spend all their time telling or listening to something new. Then Paul stood up in the middle of the council and said, "Men of Athens, from every point of view I see that you are extremely religious. For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God.' So it is what you already worship in ignorance that I am now telling you of. God who created the world and all that is in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples built by human hands, nor is he waited on by human hands as though he were in need of anything, for he himself gives all men life and breath and everything. From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind, and made them live all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands, so that they might search for God, and perhaps grope for him and find him, though he is never far from any of us. For it is through union with him that we live and move and exist, as some of your poets have said, " 'For we are also his offspring.' So if we are God's children we ought not to imagine that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, wrought by human art and thought. While God overlooked those times of ignorance, he now calls upon all men everywhere to repent, since he has fixed a day on which he will justly judge the world through a man whom he has appointed, and whom he has guaranteed to all men by raising him from the dead." When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We should like to hear you again on this subject." So Paul left the council. Some persons joined him, however, and became believers, among them Dionysius, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and as they practiced the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers. Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message. While Gallio was governor of Greece the Jews made a concerted attack upon Paul, and brought him before the governor. "This fellow," they said, "is trying to induce people to worship God in ways that are against the law." Before Paul could open his lips, Gallio said to the Jews, "If some misdemeanor or rascality were involved, Jews, you might reasonably expect me to listen to you. But as it is only a question of words and titles and your own law, you must look after it yourselves. I refuse to decide such matters." And he drove them away from the court. Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio paid no attention to it. Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under. When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. He bade them goodbye, saying, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he sailed from Ephesus. When he reached Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and paid his respects to the church, and then went on to Antioch.
Pressure of duty » It makes the message imperative
By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Verse Concepts
for we cannot help telling of what we have seen and heard."
Verse Concepts
I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, for the Spirit compels me to go there, though I do not know what will happen to me there,
Verse Concepts
Silas » Rejoins paul at corinth
By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Verse Concepts
The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible.
Verse Concepts
Timothy » Rejoined paul at corinth
By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Verse Concepts
The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible.
Verse Concepts