PAUL THE APOSTLE 2
PAUL THE APOSTLE 2
After so many Gentiles received Christ, the unbelieving Jews expelled Paul and Barnabas from Antioch, and they then went to Iconium in nearby Galatia (CP V 50-52). At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue and preached the gospel of Christ. A great multitude, both Jews and Gentiles, got saved. Paul and Barnabas stayed at Iconium for a considerable time and God did many signs and wonders through them. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the people and split the city. Part of the city sided with the Jews and part with Paul and Barnabas. Compelled to flee a threatened stoning, they crossed over into the neighbouring province, Lycaonia and went first to Lystra, and later, to Derbe. They preached the gospel of Jesus (CP Ac 14:1-7). A congenital cripple got healed at Lystra when Paul prayed over him, causing the townspeople to proclaim him and Barnabas gods in the flesh. They tried to offer up sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas which greatly distressed them because it was idolatry. They tried to stop the people but they would not listen, and soon the Jews from Antioch in Pisidia and Iconium won them over, and they turned against Paul and stoned him to the point of death, then dragged him out of the city (CP V 8-19). Many in the contemporary church believe that Paul was dead here and was restored to life by the prayers of the local Christians gathered around him. Paul rose up and went back into Lystra and next day he and Barnabas went to Derbe (CP V 20). They preached the gospel of Jesus in Derbe, leading many of the people to Christ and teaching them the way of the Lord. After that they returned again to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch in Pisidia to strengthen and encourage the new converts in their faith, and to appoint elders in each of the local assemblies (CP Ac 14:21-23). From Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas returned again to Perga, where John Mark defected. They preached the gospel there and also in nearby Attalia, after which they returned to their home church in Antioch Syria. This completed their first apostolic mission (CP V 24-28). This first missionary journey by Paul and Barnabas, which began in Ac 13:1, took approximately three years to complete.
Sometime after his return to Antioch, Paul faced his first great theological crisis. There was much dissention in the church because Jewish Christians were trying to impose their view on Gentile converts that they had to be circumcised like them and keep the law of Moses, as well as believe in Jesus, to be saved. After it was revealed to Paul by God that he should go, the church at Antioch decided to send him and Barnabas to Jerusalem and let the apostles and the council of elders in the church there adjudicate upon the matter. Paul also took Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile Christian with him (CP Ga 2:1-10). All that took place at Jerusalem is recorded in Ac 15:1-29 which we will examine in more detail shortly, but first, it should be noted here that the gospel Paul preached to the Gentiles which he communicated privately to the apostles in Ga 2:2, is the same gospel of grace that the apostles preached to the Jews. Ga 2:2 does not teach as some think, that there were two gospels then - one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. It simply means as is explained in V 7-9, that God had delegated to Paul the gospel of grace to the Gentiles, and to Peter, the same gospel of grace to the Jews (CP V 7-9).
Now let us look at Ac 15:1-29 (CP Ac 15:1-29). One of the most vital doctrines of the Christian faith was resolved here; that is, that salvation is by grace through faith alone (CP Eph 2:8-9). In trying to impose circumcision and obedience to the law of Moses as a prerequisite for salvation upon the Gentiles, the Jewish Christians - Paul called them false brethren in Ga 2:4 - where teaching salvation by works, which Peter showed was wrong in Ac 15:7-9 (CP V 7-9). James summed up in the light of Old Testament prophecy now being fulfilled in the salvation of the Gentiles, that they should not be burdened with any requirements of the Old Testament law, but abstain from those things that are forbidden under the New Testament. James recommendations were unanimously agreed to and acted upon, and Judas Barsabas and Silas were authorised to return to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas and report the findings (CP V 13-31). Any misgivings Paul may have had regarding his apostolic authority in his gospel to the Gentiles being recognised by the apostles in Jerusalem, were soon dispelled when James, Peter and John, perceiving the grace God had given him, extended to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship (CP Ga 2:7-9).
Sometime after Paul returned to Antioch from Jerusalem, Peter visited and openly fellowshipped with the Gentile Christians, but when some legalistic Jews - Judaisers - from the Jerusalem Church arrived, he ceased fellowshipping for fear of how they might react. The Jewish Christians also stopped fellowshipping, and it threatened to split the church, turning Jewish and Gentile Christians against each other. Barnabas even got involved (CP Ga 2:11-17). What Peter did was clearly wrong. It was such a contradiction of the gospel of grace and so hypocritical, that Paul had to publicly rebuke him, because it was Peter God used to settle the issue of Jews and Gentiles fellowshipping in the first place (CP Ac 10:28-35 and 11:1-8).
Soon after confronting Peter, Paul decided on a return journey with Barnabas to the places where they had previously been to see how the churches they founded were going. Barnabas wanted John Mark to go with them but Paul would not agree because of his defection on the first journey. There was sharp contention between them over the matter and so they split up. Paul chose Silas to go with him and Barnabas took John Mark. They went to Cyprus while Paul and Silas journeyed through Syria and Cilicia. This is the commencement of Paul's second missionary journey (CP Ac 15:36-41). It is important to note here that while Paul and Barnabas' parting may not have been amicable, all the parties were reconciled again later on (CP 1Cor 9:6; Col 4:10; 2Ti 4:11; Phm 23-24). We learn from this that while Christians may fall out with each other, they must never harbour grudges against each other, but be reconciled (CP Eph 4:26, 31-32).
When Paul returned to Lystra - where he had been left for dead after being stoned on his first missionary journey - he was joined by Timothy, a young convert from his first mission (CP Ac 16:1-3). Timothy was an uncircumcised Jew from a mixed marriage between a Gentile father and a Jewish mother, and so that the Jews would not reject the gospel being proclaimed by Timothy as an uncircumcised Gentile, he circumcised him. As an uncircumcised son of a mixed marriage, Timothy would be a stumbling block to winning Jews to Christ (CP 1Cor 9:19-23). As they called on the various churches in the region, Paul and his two helpers also delivered the decrees ordained by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem; that the Gentile converts would not be burdened with any requirements of the Old Covenant law - they only had to abstain from those things that were forbidden under the New Testament already. It helped the churches to become more established in the faith, and their numbers increased daily (CP Ac 16:4-5). Paul and his companions journeyed throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia where churches were already established, but when they tried to take the gospel further into Asia Minor, the Holy Spirit checked them at that time (CP V 6-8). The reason why the Holy Spirit checked Paul and the others from going further into Asia at that time was because they were desperately required to take the gospel into Greece (CP V 9-10).