In our last post, we discussed how our perception of God is likely influenced by us living in a different dimension than where God resides. He also has unity between his three components of unity, and they can be represented by our human understanding of the positions of prophet, priest, and king. Let’s explore this topic further.

A king is someone who has ultimate authority. This is akin to God the Father who has ultimate authority over all. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:6 – One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. There is no one higher than God the Father and all things work according to his plan which no one can thwart.

A priest has spiritual authority. This is akin to God the Son who enacts God’s plan of reconciliation and will become the ultimate judge of mankind because everyone will be judged according to one’s response to Jesus Christ and his work of redemption and reconciliation. John tells us, in John 5:27 – And he [the Father] has given him [the Son] authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

The term “Son of Man” had a more profound meaning to the Jewish leaders than did the term “Son of God.” Jeus is referred to as “Son of God” 46 times in the New Testament and as “Son of Man” 81 times. The term “Son of God” was applied to angels, pious men, and the kings of Israel. Yet, the term “Son of Man” became symbolic of the coming Jewish Messiah. Well known to Jews, and especially to the Jewish leaders, was this term used by the prophet Daniel: In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence (Dn 7:13).

The prophet Ezekiel was called “son of man” because he typified as a type of the coming Messiah, acted as a divine messenger and mediator between God and humanity, offered hope to the exiled nation of Israel, served as a watchman calling Israel to repentance, acted as a shepherd providing guidance, and as a priest interceding for their reconciliation with God.

This term “Son of Man” became known to refer to their coming Messiah who they believed would bring about an everlasting kingdom where righteousness and justice would reign. The term wasn’t only a title for the Messiah but represented him being both human and divine identifying and sympathizing with the human condition yet possessing the power and authority of God (Title Son of Man). This is why the Jewish leaders got to upset when Jesus referred to himself as Son of Man because he was stating he was both human and divine. They could not accept this because Jesus did not fit the mold for which they had envisioned for their Messiah.

A prophet helps to ensure alignment between the king and the priest so they both give a consistent message to the people about God. This is the working of God the Holy Spirit. Jesus stated in John 15:26 – When the Advocate (i.e., Holy Spirit] comes, whom I [i.e., Christ] will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me (i.e, Christ, the Son of God].

These ways in which God works is for the purpose of creating Unity: both within himself and between himself and mankind.

These roles were not always distinct within the Godhead or within human presentation. Sometimes an individual fulfilled, or tried to fulfill, more than one role. Next time, we’ll go further into this topic. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

God is a God of unity. How does he communicate such a characteristic? He does this through the offices of prophet, priest, and king. This is a trinity of a sort where each serve as a check and balance for the other. We’ll explore this more as we go over this topic in the next several posts.

The Bible tells us that God is a God of order (1Co 14:23). What does that mean? For one, it means that God is about unity which means he is about relationships. And this unity and relationship starts with God himself. The Bible clearly states that God is one: “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God the LORD is one” (Dt 6:4). How does this verse align with God being Trinity? Although not directly stated in the Bible, we do see a Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We experience these as three separate individuals, but they are of one will and work in harmony with each other. So, how do we have a Three-in-One God? Is he really one, or is he three? Perhaps it is a matter of our perception and not a matter of who he is.

Our perception of God can be partly explained by thinking about dimensions. In the book Flatland by Edwin Abbot, originally written as a piece of political satire, it has become more famous about an understanding of dimensional perceptions than it has about politics. Abbott speaks of how someone who lives in a two-dimensional world (i.e., with only length and width—no height) would experience a three-dimensional object, like a sphere. From a Flatland—2-dimensional—perspective, the sphere will at first look like a point which grows as a circle in size until the diameter of the sphere is reached and then shrinks in size until it appears again as a point. Therefore, what is observed is a perspective of the sphere but not the sphere as it really exists in its own dimension. Those in Flatland can only observe the character of the sphere but never the sphere itself.

Maybe a more complex 3-D structure can help us better understand our perception of God: perhaps something like a tetrahedron. In a 2-D world, this object will appear as a progression of different diameter circles going from one circle and ending as three circles. And depending on orientation, it may appear different each time it passes through their dimension. So their experience is different each time if the object’s orientation changes. This is similar to how we experience God. He does not change, just as this object is the same each time, but how we experience him can be different each time, just as the Flatlanders experienced the object differently due to the orientation of the object.

So, if God is a God of order, does that mean we can answer the nagging question, “Is God predictable?” Some, who may look at God as the sphere, say we can see what he has done in the past and then know how he will respond going forward. Others, who may see God as the tetrahedron, say that no one can know what God will do in any given situation. I think there is a better way to look at this. We can observe how God has worked in the past which lets us know how he could work in the future but not how he will work in the future. Why do I say this? Because there are two things to consider: God’s character and God’s methods. His character is consistent. This is equivalent to the object itself which never changed. In Malachi, it states, “I the LORD do not change” (Ml 3:6). This same sentiment is expressed in other Scriptural passages as well. Yet, his methods of working are adaptive. This is similar to the object’s orientation changing. This reminds us of the words of the apostle Paul: “Who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has been his counselor?” (Ro 11:34).

We don’t have the time to go into how God’s heavenly council works, but we do know that how God works on the Earth is patterned after how he works in heaven (Hb 9:24). The trinity can be seen in the earthly duties of a king, a priest, and a prophet.

This is what we will look at in my next post. I hope you join me as we discuss this topic further.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

So far in this miniseries, we have seen how the love of God and the wrath of God are inseparable in God’s character and how that has helped to explain some of our misconceptions about the worldwide flood and the command by God to have Israel wipe out many of the Amorites in their Promised Land when they went to conquer it. Now, let’s look at the New Testament in this same light.

In the New Testament, we see the love and wrath of God are even more intertwined than we saw in the Old Testament. This is because God’s love for us has taken away God’s wrath from us because God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ rather than onto us. We perceive that as his love for us, which it is, but it was also an act of God’s wrath against sin. His ultimate wrath on the earth is postponed until after he comes for his church, his bride.  Therefore, it is something we have not yet seen because it is still part of future prophecy, but it is something that will come to pass.

Also, God is still inclusionary but requires a reality check. As with most countries, you are happily included with them—if you have a passport. He paid for our sins, but action is required on our part. Just because someone has bought you a gift does you no good unless you accept the gift. Why? We are not in His Kingdom until we agree to be in His Kingdom. Contrary to popular belief and song, we are not all God’s children. Why do I say that?

We are born into Satan’s Kingdom. It is in a time dimension. That means there will be an end to it one day. It can be compared to a sinking ship. It requires action to get out of a sinking ship. Jesus said: … whosoever does not believe stands condemned already … (Jn 3:17, NIV). In other words, without making a decision, although it is really a decision of ‘no,’ we go down with the ship. What ties us to this sinking ship is our sin, which is disobedience, or rebellion. Rebellion sounds harsh for disobedience, but it is saying no to anything God has asked us to say yes to. By disobeying, you are actually rebelling against what was asked of you.

We don’t automatically try to get out of the sinking ship because we are blinded by the owner of the ship we are in that there is nothing wrong with the ship. Paul stated the following: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1Co 2:14, NIV). Therefore, action must be taken to become unblinded to Satan’s lies and get out of his kingdom.

We are transferred from the sinking ship (Satan’s Kingdom) to the Lifeboat (God’s Kingdom). However, action is needed on our part. Just because the boat is supplied doesn’t help us unless we get in it. Faith is needed to be transferred from Satan’s Kingdom into God’s Kingdom. Paul tells us the following: “For he (i.e., Jesus Christ) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness (i.e., Satan’s kingdom, the sinking ship) and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves (i.e., God’s Kingdom, the Lifeboat), in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Cl 1:13, NIV).

We find ourselves on the sinking ship of Satan’s Kingdom. When we realize we need and want to be on Christ’s rescue boat and accept his invitation to join him, the Holy Spirit becomes our life preserver which we receive from him. Then he transfers us from our sinking ship, Satan’s Kingdom, into the lifeboat, into God’s Kingdom, where we are now saved from destruction and we can have rest. We use the term “saved” because we have been rescued from destruction, rescued from a sinking ship which is Satan’s Kingdom because his kingdom is this world, and it will come to an end and be destroyed along with all those a part of it. We are transferred into God’s Kingdom which is not of this world, outside time, and therefore will last eternally as will we.

Choice is something God has graciously ensured we possess. The Flood occurred to preserve our God given right of choice. Many of the Amorites were destroyed because of the consequences of their choice. That was true for the captivity of Judah and Israel as well. Christ died on the cross to pay for the sin (disobedience, rebellion) so that choice can be tangible to us once again.

God has given us choice, something Satan does not want us to recognize. He wants us to see choice as something bad, something that infringes upon our rights and makes God look vengeful. Yet, without choice we would be mere robots. Choice comes with obedience and disobedience and comes with consequences. What will you choose with your right of choice? Are you prepared for the consequence? Choose Christ = Everlasting home with Christ where wonderment and joy abounds. Choose our current state (which many look at as not making a choice) = Everlasting home with Satan where regret, chaos, and turmoil abounds.

Bottom line: We need to Choose Wisely.

I trust you do choose wisely if you have not yet done so. Today is the day of salvation (2Co 6:2). The lifeboat is waiting. All you have to do is get in.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In our last post, we talked about God’s instruction to Israel to annihilate the Amorites in the land of Canaan because of their wickedness and their lack of responding to God and turning from their wicked practices. God used Israel to enact the consequence to the Amorite’s sin but was also raising Israel to be his standard to the world. Let’s look more closely at this concept.

Israel was to be the standard to the world. For Israel to be a light to the rest of the world, Israel had to eliminate all elements which were ungodly. A standard must be flawless, or else it is not a standard. This was the reason Israel was held to a higher standard than other nations. All the laws given to Israel was for Israel, not for other nations to follow.

In addition, Israel was not to exclude outsiders from their land – after all, three main trade routes connecting three continents (Africa, Europe, and Asia) went through this area: Way of the Sea (later known as Via Maria), Ridge Route, and King’s Highway. All three of these trade routes would bring Gentiles through Israel so they could be taught the ways of God. Isael was to become the moral compass for the world. If Israel obeyed God and received all the blessings promised them (abundant rain, abundant crops, lush landscape, and longevity; Dt 28:1-14), that would be a testimony to all those who would pass through Israel on any of these three routes and inquire what makes things different here.

However, those living within the boundaries of Israel would be required to exclude wicked practices. Non-Israelites had to abide by the same laws of the land as the Israelites did (Ex 12:48-49, 20:10; Lv 16:29, 17:12, 15; Nu 15:14, 16). It seems God has always expected mankind to understand and follow what he knows is right (Ro 1:18-20), whether being his “chosen” people or not. Justice seems to always follow a failed response to the love of God’s longsuffering.

God allowed non-Israelites to live in the land but also had requirements for them. God often put the alien living in the land in the same category as the poor, orphan, and widow. This is because they were now a minority. They were to be taken care of in a loving way: allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21), were to be treated judiciously (Dt 1:16; 24:17), should not be taken advantage of (Dt 24:14), and part of the third-year tithe would be for the alien (Dt 26:12). This was because God stated he loved the alien (Dt 10:18), and the Israelites were to remember they were once slaves in Egypt (Dt 24:22). This helped to train the Israelites to be kind to their neighbors who were not like them and to allow the non-Israelite to see how God loved them as well.

Those Gentiles living in the land had to obey the laws of the land (Ex 12:49; Lv 24:22):
• allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21)
• had to observe the Sabbath (Ex 20:10)
• had to not work on the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29)
• could not eat blood (Lv 17:10) but had to drain the blood from the animal before preparing and eating (Lv 17:13)
• had to cleanse themselves when encountering anything dead (Lv 17:15)
• would be put to death if they offered their children as a sacrifice to any god (Lv 20:2) or if they blasphemed the name of the Lord (Lv 24:16)
• had to abide by the rules of redemption and of the Jubilee (Lv 25:47-50) and had to abide by the decisions of the judges of the land (Dt 1:16)
• They were to be taught about God and His Law, just as were the Israelites (Dt 31:12-13).
• If they decided to become a proselyte, then all the Mosaic laws applied, and all males had to be circumcised before they could celebrate Passover (Ex 12:48).

God was inclusionary but required righteous living.

Also, God always gave warnings before his justice was administered. Before the flood, God announced coming judgment and the need for repentance (Gn 6:5-7) and announced a flood was coming during the time of Noah (Gn 6:17). He gave the Amorites time to repent before administering his justice (Gn 15:16). God announced his plans to the king of Nineveh (Jh 3:4-5), to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Dn 2), to Cyrus, king of Medo-Persia (Is 45:1-13), and gave visions to Alexander the Great. Paul gave the gospel to Caesar’s household (Pp 4:22) during the time of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, it seems that most of these did not heed his warning. He has also given us a warning of future judgment in his word.

God also glorified himself among the Gentiles. He did not restrict himself just to Israel. The king of Nineveh did respond to Jonah’s preaching (Jh 3:5) and gave Nineveh another one-hundred years before it was finally destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar did finally recognize the authority of God (Dn 4:37), and several times did announce to his entire kingdom that the One True God was to be respected (Dn 2:47; 3:28-29). Several of the kings of Persia did the same (Dn 6:26; Er 1:1-2). Many of Caesar’s household in Rome accepted Christ as their Savior (Pp 4:22).

So, what happened? We know that this ideal state for Israel being a calling card to the rest of the world and to show the world the path to God did not happen. Rather than being inclusionary, they became exclusionary. They used God’s words about them being his chosen possession to mean they were special, meaning, at least in their way of thinking, all others were not special. So, rather than harmony, disharmony occurred. Disobedience led to cursing rather than blessing (Dt 28:15). Then, as typical, and with Satan egging on the disharmony, things never got turned around. Even the coming of their promised Messiah did not produce the harmony that even the Jewish leaders taught. Satan had truly sold them a bill of goods they could not see beyond.

Next time, we’ll look at the New Testament in light of God’s love and justice and see how that affects us today. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Last time, we saw how God’s love for us became a major driving force for the worldwide flood which he sent over the Earth. Satan was trying to destroy God’s gift of choice to us and God ensured that did not happen. This time, let’s look at God’s command against the Amorites in the land of Canaan.

What possible reason could God have for wiping out many of the those in the land of Canaan when Israel conquered the land? Why couldn’t they all just get along? God was in the process of creating a standard for the world. Let’s first look at what God told Israel about this:

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Dt 7:1-6, NIV; emphasis mine).

Israel was to be the standard, the beacon, for the entire world. Purity and devotion to God was an imperative given for them to affect the world and lead others toward God. Godliness can devolve into evil and chaos more easily than evil can evolve into godliness and order. God knew this and took precaution in that regard.

You may be thinking, well Abraham was already in the land at one point, why did God lead his descendants out just to bring them back to destroy the people there? Let’s look at what God told Abraham:

“Then the LORD said to him, ‘Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure’” (Gn 15:13-16, NIV).

Here, again, God was being merciful. He was giving the Amorites time to repent and turn away from their evil practices. As you can see, he gave them a lot of time. Also, we should note here that God was enslaving the descendants of Abraham, the people of promise, to try and reach the Amorites who were Gentile. This does not agree with the narrative of God being wrathful to all Gentiles.

So, what was God’s overarching rationale for his actions here? This gave Israel a way to come out of Egypt as an unfettered nation making them totally dependent upon God and allowed them to become an instantaneous nation without ties to those around them. And, as stated above, it gave the Amorites time to respond to God: approximately 500 years, but they did not. The Amorites practiced sensuous and orgiastic fertility cult worship utilizing male and female shrine prostitutes and practiced child sacrifice which included the child being placed in the fire while alive. It was stated that other nations did not go to such extremes in brutality, lust, and abandon in such practices as did the Amorites. In some ways, this is similar to our discussion about the Flood in our previous post. Satan was scheming to prevent God’s promise to Abraham from coming true and blinded the Amorites to God’s love for them.

Before God had Israel conquer the land, God was not silent and did not act by surprise. He gave the people opportunities to respond positively to him:  God supplied the godly influence of Melchizedek (Gn 14:18-20), God supplied the godly influence of Abraham (Gn 12:6), and during the time of Abraham, God caused the destruction of other Amorites through the action of five kings around the Dead Sea area (Kedorlaomer, king of Elam; Tidal, king of Goyim; Amraphel, king of Shinar; and Arioch, king of Ellasar) which should have been a wake-up call for the people in the area (Gn 14:1-12): the following races of giants were destroyed: Zuzim, Emim, Horim, and Avim. This later allowed the Israelites to approach the land from the south without retaliation.

The Anakim and Rephaim, the races of giants, were like garrisons around the land of Canaan. It seems more than coincidence that these races of giants surrounded the Promised Land of Canaan that God promised to Abraham and his descendants. Before Israel arrived, God had those giant races in the area south of the Dead Sea be destroyed which allowed the Israelites to not have to contend with them as they approached from the south when they arrived a few centuries later. Yet, there were three main races of giants remaining once Israel reached Canaan: Sihon, near the upper part of the Dead Sea, Og, in Bashan near the Sea of Galilee, and Anak near the coast. God helped Israel destroy these before they entered their Promised Land to help increase Israel’s faith in him and to show that he would protect them as they entered the land he promised them. Yet, all the Anakim were not destroyed as we do read about Goliath and his brothers who were part of the Anakim race of giants (1Sa 17:4; 2Sa 21:15-22).

The giants during this time were likely between 9 and 10 feet in height (1Sa 17:4). The Israelites who spied out the land of Canaan called them Nephilim (Nu 13:33), likely because of their height compared to themselves and not because of angel origin. Satan had somehow gotten the Amorites to genetically produce giants so he could control the land that God had promised to Abraham. Yet, God took care of the situation: either as judgment or as faith by the Israelites in God showing God would protect them. Some do argue that because of the parenthetical statement in this passage in Numbers: “the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim” that they were, somehow, left over from the flood and evolved into this race of giants. Yet, there is also a verse that states all life on earth was wiped out by the flood (Gn 7:21-23). So, if they were descendants from the Nephilim, then it would then imply one of the wives of Noah’s sons had the angel DNA in her genome. Since Canaan, and the Amorites, were descendants of Ham (Gn 10:15-19), that would then suggest these giants could have come through him and his wife.

Also, despite what some claim, total annihilation was the exception rather than the rule. Details of what God asked the Israelites to do are important. The main goal was to have the people leave the land. God told Moses the following: “I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way” (Ex 23:28, NIV). God used natural elements to clear the land for the Israelites.

God reserved annihilation for the cities of inheritance. God stated the following: “In the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD you God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God” (Dt 20:16-18, NIV; emphasis mine). To God, Israel’s spiritual protection was important as that would set the foundation and purpose for their entire existence.

Any other engagement by the Israelites was to be an offer of peace: “When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace” (Dt 20:10, NIV). Yet, this was not the type of peace we think of today. It was not, you go do you and we’ll go and do us. No, peace here meant forced labor. Resistance to this would result in all men of the city being killed, and the women, children, and livestock would become plunder. That sounds harsh to us today. What was God doing here? Any means that Satan could exploit against Israel and God’s plan for them was eliminated. This was necessary for God to establish his standard.

Next time, we’ll explore this concept of a standard and why that was so important going forward. I hope you’ll join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In the last post, it was shown how the love of God and the judgment of God are intertwined and inseparable within God’s character. Understanding that, let’s look at the flood God sent over the Earth with this knowledge. On the surface, it may appear God is being wrathful and not caring about the harm he caused humans. But when we look deeper, another picture emerges. We can see his love and his mercy.

The flood was not just about God’s wrath. There is much more to it. The verse that many turn to so show why God caused the worldwide flood says: “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Gn 6:5, NIV).

While this is true, it is not the whole story. There is a verse that we skipped. Let’s look back a few verses: “The sons of God [i.e., angels] saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose” (Gn 6:2, NIV)

Many want to skip this verse because it seems to imply something that doesn’t seem possible to us or makes us feel uncomfortable about something that is too foreign to our way of thinking. But this verse is the key to understanding the complete picture. How are these two verses tied together? Well, these angels were angels of Lucifer and were known as Watchers – likely because they did not sleep. Their offspring became the Nephilim – giants of great height. Why is this important? It shows us that Lucifer is the real reason for the Flood.

So, what was Lucifer’s diabolical plan that warranted the bringing of a worldwide flood? Through the Book of Enoch and other extra-Biblical sources we find the following about these particular angels:

1. The angels becoming human (Watchers) mated with humans and produced Nephilim (giants likely as tall as trees or higher)
2. These became people’s heroes and took their focus off God
3. Feeding the giants took away crops from humans and the people suffered
4. Lucifer wished to create in his own image as did Yahweh
5. By infusing angel DNA into the human genome, it destroyed the human's gift of choice because angels no longer had choice.

Now, granted, the Bible does not state any of these things explicitly. Why is that? One reason could be that the original audience already knew about this part of their history and Moses only had to mention the topic because the details were already known. The few verses that do talk about these facts are consistent with the overarching premise of these statements. These angels did marry human women (Gn 6:2), they were so tall that they become known as men of renown, i.e., heroes, to many (Gn 6:4). Those who have reported seeing angels under various circumstances often talk of them being extremely tall. Many say that Noah being “blameless among the people of his time” (Gn 6:9, NIV) is indicating that his human genome was pure and not contaminated by the Nephilim DNA. Also, the punishment that Peter mentions about these angels (2Pt 2:4) would indicate what they did was extremely egregious. Otherwise, why such a harsh treatment of these specific angels. Destroying the human genome would indeed be classified as extremely egregious. Peter indicates God placed them in Tartarus, a special place in Sheol made exclusively for these angels. Note: in the NIV and some other versions, the word “hell” is used here, but the Greek word is that for Tartarus.

So, while none of these statements can be explicitly verified, it does seem in line with Satan’s tactics. This also reveals the heart of God and how he was saving mankind from Satan’s scheme to destroy us. While not part of Scripture, these extra-Biblical texts are at least consistent with the premise of Scripture: Peter also states in his epistle: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1Pt 5:8, NIV).

Therefore, it was imperative that Noah and his family survive to keep the human race human.

So, the ark was actually an act of love: (1) it preserved the human race as God had designed it, and (2) it preserved the gift of choice for humans to be maintained. Why is this important? Obedience requires choice, or it is just a programmed act and no longer obedience. God was ensuring that our gift of choice was being maintained for us.

Next time, we’ll look at the other example of God instructing Israel to wipe out the Amorites when they took the land of Canaan. Join me and see what this was truly all about.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Today we want to look at the question of whether God is a God of wrath or not. Some say he is; others say he is not. Some even seem to believe it’s not the same God in the Old Testament that is revealed in the New Testament. But we know that God has told us he never changes. (Ml 3:6) so we need to ask, “What are we missing?” Some of this information has been previously discussed (Is God a God of Wrath?).

The two most common examples cited to show how wrathful and vengeful God is in the Old Testament are the following: the Flood which caused life over all the earth to cease, and the destruction commanded by God on the Amorites in the land of Canaan. People often ask why would God do such things if he really cares about everyone?

Can we come up with reasons for God’s actions? Is there a reason God’s wrath seems more prominent in the Old Testament? And is there a reason for God’s love being more prominent in the New Testament?

Before we go further, I think we need to acknowledge that many times we see things more prominently due to us having a biased view. That’s just being realistic. No one comes with a totally unbiased view. So, we need to recognize that fact and realize this truth can get in the way of us being truly honest with Scripture, being truly honest with what God is doing, and being truly honest with ourselves. Also, we must look deeper than just looking at a mere surface level. That is where many fail, because they are not willing to do that, but are willing to make harsh judgement claims about God without really investigating to see what is truly going on.

So, let’s look at some comparisons between the Old and New Testament texts and see if that helps us with this question we are struggling with.

Let’s first look at the length of time covered by the Old and New Testament texts:

The Old Testament covers about 3600 years.
The Intertestamental Period covers about 400 years.
And the New Testament covers only about 100 years, the smallest of any of these time periods.

I think we can get a biased view because of this time scale. One can see many more examples in the Old Testament just because of the length of time the text is covering. Let’s say you found 100 examples of God being wrathful in the Old Testament. Percentage wise, it would be equivalent to finding only 3 examples in the New Testament. That helps to put this into perspective but doesn’t explain all the discrepancies around this topic.

We also need to look at Theme Comparisons. The Old and New Testaments do not have the same purpose. The Old Testament reveals the preparation for the coming Messiah. The New Testament reveals the revelation of the Messiah’s coming. Can you see how that could change how we look at this question? Describing preparation for something can require more detail than describing the revelation of something.

We shouldn’t allow this controversial topic to blind us to the fact that both the love of God and the wrath of God are found in both the Old and New Testaments. Let’s look at a few examples. These are not exhaustive.

There are many examples of love in the Old Testament:

• Creation of Adam & Eve (initially an idyllic society and would be passed to their descendants for all generations)
• Choosing of Israel by God (initially as a means to evangelize the entire world)
• Salvation of Rahab & Ruth (these were Gentile women brought into Israel; God was using these to show the way forward for the inclusion of everyone)
• Promise of a New Garden of Eden (to show that one day the idyllic society will still happen).

There are also many examples of the love of God in the New Testament:

• Coming of Messiah (to rectify the error that Adam and Eve made)
• Salvation of Mankind (to restore the relationship between God and mankind)
• Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (to guide us and help us to live according to His ways)
• Promise of a Future Resurrection (to give us hope for a joyous eternal future)
• Promise of a New Heaven & Earth (to give us hope and what our future resurrection will give to us).

The same is true for God’s wrath as well. In the Old Testament, we see:

• Worldwide Flood (for the wickedness in the world and what Satan had done to mankind)
• Destruction of Amorites & Canaanites (for their judgment because of their unrepentant hearts and their wicked practices)
• Captivity of Israel & Judah (for their judgment because of their unrepentant hearts and their wicked practices) –God punished both Gentiles and Jews, his “chosen” people, equally.

And in the New Testament we find the following:

• Christ overturning tables at the temple (because they were going against God’s Law ignoring God’s wish for all people, including Gentiles, to be able to worship him)
• Christ criticized Jewish leaders harshly (because they had become so obsessed with works they ignored the requirement of faith and mercy which was even more important)
• Death of Annanias & Saphira (because they lied to the Holy Spirit and God needed to establish a new standard of right living going forward)
• Persecution of Christians (sometimes for judgment but often to strengthen their faith and testimony, and to spread his gospel to more people)
• Tribulation (future judgment like he did in the Old Testament) – We don’t see as much wrath in the New Testament because much of it is prophesied but has not yet been fulfilled.

We sometimes don’t understand how God could be a God of judgment and wrath and at the same time be a God of love. The two seem incongruous. I think we can better understand this dichotomy from what Paul tells us in his epistle to the Roman church. He stated the following: “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Ro 1:20, NIV).

Many have often implied that all that we see: the universe and all of God’s creation we see daily is evidence of God’s majesty and power. Paul says these things are self-evident. While that is true, he also said that his eternal power and divine nature are revealed though his invisible qualities. Why this was not initially brought up is because these qualities of God were invisible and could not be observed. But today, we can observe and see how they, too, bring out not only the majesty of God, but the very nature of God—his character.

What I am referring to are the building blocks of nature itself: the atom. When we go into the quantum world, we find laws that seem unnatural and don’t really operate like we find in the natural world. This helps us understand how our ways of thinking about God is not the way God actually works. The prophet Isaiah said it this way: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord (Is 55:8, NIV). Often, we can see God and his fingerprint if we look at the quantum level of matter, his building blocks for all that we know and experience. Just as his ways are different from ours, so is the quantum world different from our everyday world. How does something so unfamiliar produce something so familiar? Let’s take a closer look and see what we can learn. This has also been discussed in some detail in previous posts: Fingerprint of God: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

The atom is composed of three main particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Yet, science has found that these are composed of more basic building blocks of matter, called quarks. Now each proton and neutron are composed of two types of quarks, three in number, in order to give them their necessary charge. For example, a proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark to give it a positive charge. A neutron is composed of two down quarks and one up quark to give it a neutral charge. These quarks are held together by what have been termed gluons.

As far as we currently know, quarks are inseparable even though they are distinct particles. In the macro world where we live, if two objects are pulled apart, their attraction becomes less. For example, if two magnets are pulled apart from each other, there will come a distance where they no longer get pulled together. That is not the case in the quantum world. In the quantum world, quarks resist separation. If two quarks are pulled apart, their attraction becomes stronger the farther they are pulled apart.

Well, this is how God is. He is composed of both love and justice (that is, judgement and wrath) simultaneously. One can think of his love as one type of quark and justice as another type of quark. One cannot experience one without the other, but both are necessary to accomplish God’s overarching plan. We can say that the Holy Spirit is like the gluon which holds the love, or mercy, of God and the justice, or judgment/wrath, of God together. This plays a cohesive role by the Trinity. The string within each quark, or restrained energy, is God the Father and the Son who are all powerful and release both love and judgment as needed and to the degree that is required.

So, nature has God’s fingerprint within it. As we just read, Paul tells us that nature itself reveals the glory of God (Ro 1). So, why is it here at the quantum level he is revealed even more profoundly? Probably because God knew that one day mankind would be able to view nature at this level and would think science would replace God, but, instead, what it reveals is that the more detailed one gets, the more we understand about God. Nature on the macro level reveals the majesty of God. Nature on the micro level reveals the character of God.

Stay with me going forward as we look at the examples given at the beginning of this post to be looked at in more detail looking at how God’s love and judgment are intertwined and inseparable. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Alone. Amidst a sea of people, I felt a pawn, misunderstood, to no one did I feel drawn.

The internet called and I did answer. Influencers dug into me like an invading cancer.

I lived on their every word, every siren song, feeling invincible, one who could do no wrong.

I subscribed, I gave, I bought, became a part of their tribe, just like a mesmerized enrapt dancer.

Their goals caused resources to drain; yet I in their mind did now wane, no longer relied upon.

My importance no longer mattered, it now seemed scattered, no need of me as their romancer.

Their ears to me were now closed, as if I was indisposed, even though over them I did fawn.

Their thoughts and ideas I still yearn but now I get burned because I receive no answer.

I need their words for healing, to soothe my feeling. To me it did not matter the cost.

Now, drained of time and money, I taste the bitterness of their honey, and feel even more lost.

I turned to something more tangible, something more reliable, upon which I had control.

Academics became my god, no need for a façade, I could count only on myself.

I became consumed with excellent grades; all else seemed to cascade as if into a black hole.

This gave me direction, a purpose, a relevance without rejection, no longer unseen on a shelf.

I thrived on the accolades of my professors, made others the transgressors; them I did cajole.

The envy of my peers thrilled me, put me on a pedestal for all to see, all for praise itself.

The straight A became my goal, something all could behold, that alone became my payroll.

Each grade became thrilling like the shoemaker’s shelf filling with shoes by the mysterious elf.

But, graduation day came, suddenly it all seemed lame, for again I was now alone.

My self-worth now seemed like a sham; the sacrificial lamb without a safe zone.

Good grades, like a golden doorknob, led me to a wonderful job in which I could succeed.

Climb I did; even working abroad in Madrid, to make it to the top of my profession.

I saw others as a means to an end, someone to shape and bend, not one I would truly need.

The pinnacle was my goal, even to the point of losing my soul. My aim no one could question.

Climbing became my reason for living, not a way to be forgiving, even if others had to bleed.

I became envied, even hated, but that just made me feel sated, a price to pay for ascension.

True friends were rare, as many used me only as a fare to launch their own success with speed.

I often used them as a prize to make myself look wise; to me they were only a worthy mention.

But my success became hollow and unwanted, like a house abandoned and haunted.

Emptiness played with my sanity telling me all is just vanity; aloneness in my face is flaunted.

So I changed my aim, a new goal without fame, as my effort became now truly altruistic.

I invested my time treating others like brothers and became a truly sincere friend.

My goal and desire, now second to what they require, is undoubtedly unduly artistic.

Helping them succeed was my only desire and need and so my time I did now lend.

I felt fulfilled; my psyche I could now rebuild and never go back to being egotistic.

Yet their needs became my affliction; my help became their addiction I could not commend.

I felt somewhat used, trapped, abused, and never thought I would be such a statistic.

Some, addicted to my help, made me want to yelp, as this I truly could not defend.

I now became confused, disillusioned, emotionally bruised, not sure how to cope.

Isn’t friend the opposite of alone? What could now atone for them providing a lack of hope?

Maybe I misunderstood, high was such a likelihood, so I sought out that very special one.

One rising above the crowd being proud they were above the pettiness of the majority.

I didn’t know if one could exist and move to the top of my list making me no longer feel undone.

But to my surprise, I found such a prize, and fell in love making me no longer in the minority.

Our love would stand the test of time, we would forever align and be second to none.

But time did not prove so kind. All began to unwind. True love no longer seemed the authority.

My rock crumbled, my ground rumbled; my best friend, my life, now became just someone.

Marriage was not an oasis, not a solid basis, where my desires could become a superiority.

It became a desert, each grain a hurt I could not avert; something I could no longer trust.

The concept—a façade, merely a mirage, a god preventing aloneness turning to dust.

In the end, I could only count on me; this took quite a while to see. I would now do as I wanted.

I went with every whim, never allowed myself to feel grim, and did whatever felt right.

Living in the moment was freedom, enjoyment became the medium which I now truly flaunted.

The world, as they say, was my oyster with never a nay as I focused only on my own delight.

I plunged into politics, raising money warding off lunatics I felt were definitely unwanted.

Yet I found each candidate’s greed proved greater than the need in their beliefs to fight.

I went in every religious direction promising intimate reflection only to find they taunted

Things devoid of depth or spiritual health which only deepened my unsatisfied plight.

I was now in worse shape than before, an empty shell seeking for more not knowing if it existed.

Every god I tried disappointed making me feel empty inside and life was just truly twisted.

What was now left? Nothing it seemed, which made me bereft. I craved, but nothing satisfied.

What I did not want, but what did taunt, was something which tempted me to pursue.

Someone said I needed God; I gave a nod but knew this was not needed I told myself inside.

But who knew the unseen could charge one like caffeine and fill a void. On this I had to chew.

Christ being far greater than I ever knew, did pursue to make me his bride.

Led me to the Father, who makes a bother over me, and never ever puts me in a queue.

His Spirit becomes my Counselor and opens the door to advice that is so perfect and so wide.

There is nothing he cannot answer in a way that is loving which always yields a breakthrough.

I have found the freedom and joy I had always craved, and am now saved by the Cornerstone

Who gives life eternally to all who ask, so in him I bask and never ever have to feel alone.

By Randy C. Dockens

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In only a few years after the death of the Apostle Paul, Jude, the brother of James who both were half-brothers of Jesus Christ, writes his epistle Jude in 70 AD to warn believers of the false teachers and apostates who were leading people astray. Vespasian was now the Roman Emperor. Jude states that believers should study Scripture and pray so they would not be deceived and can lead others to salvation and be saved from an eternal death.

At least a decade later, John writes his gospel in 85 AD from Ephesus when Domitian is the Roman Emperor. His epistle’s intent was for the readership of all believers. It is likely that the content of his gospel is different from what is in the synoptic gospels because he knew most believers had already read those, so he was adding additional information which had not yet been written. About 92% of what is in John is not in the synoptic gospels. John states that the purpose of his gospel was for the purpose to evangelize so they can believe in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life.

Let’s remind ourselves about the four gospels:

Gospel Christ Viewed As           Written To        No. Chapters   Unique Material            OT Quotes

Matthew           King                    Jews                    28                        42%                                   53

Mark                   Servant              Romans             16                          7%                                   36

Luke                    Man                    Greeks               24                        59%                                   25

John                   God                     Church               21                        92%                                   20

We can see how each successive gospel expanded its targeted audience from mostly Jews as that was the major composition of the church at the time, to Romans as befitting to whom Paul was reaching, to Greeks as that was the popular language at the time to the entire church (both Jews and Gentiles) for which the church was now composed. Do we not see God’s hand at work here? God always supplies what is needed when it is needed. And we see that Mark did not need to have unique material from Matthew as his audience was the Gentile side of Matthew’s audience. John, on the other hand, needed to have unique material because his audience, the church, had already read and knew the material from the other gospels by this time.

About the same time as John released his gospel, he wrote 1st John, his first epistle to a group of churches in Asia Minor centered around Ephesus and likely the city from which John wrote this epistle. There were emerging groups which opposed Christianity and had infiltrated the church. He wrote to give them reasons for being joyful, encouraged them not to sin, and not be deceived by false teaching so they could know they had eternal life, and that they might believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

About five years later, or less, John wrote his second epistle, 2nd John, in 90 AD, also likely from Ephesus. He wrote to “the elect lady and her children.” There is no consensus on whom this is referring. He states that the love of Christ is demonstrated by obeying his commandments and by loving others. John warned of deceivers with the spirit of the antichrist who would deny the incarnation of Christ. Both the deity and humanity of Christ are essential to a correct Biblical view of the person and nature of Christ.

John’s third epistle, 3rd John, was written about the same time as his second, also believed to be from Ephesus. This time he names the person to whom he is writing: Gaius. This was a friend of Peter’s and one who likely helped support Peter and others in their itinerant missionary work. Peter commended Gaius in his good work and contrasted his work to that of Diotrephes who wanted credit for himself and who spoke against Peter and even refused hospitality to those needing it. Demetrius was likely the bearer of the letter to Gaius.

Timothy remained in Ephesus until he was martyred in 93 AD for standing true to the faith. The details around his death are somewhat unclear but, apparently, he was standing up against a debaucherous festival and the people beat him with clubs. His friends got him away, but he died shortly thereafter from his beating.

It seems John became the leader of the church in Ephesus after Timothy. Also because of John not yielding to the commands of the emperor requiring all to bow to a statue of Domitian placed in Ephesus, John was arrested and was attempted to be killed twice, but those attempts failed. He was then exiled to the isle of Patmos for a time, at least until Domitian’s death. John then went back to Ephesus where he died of natural causes.

John wrote the book of Revelation in 95 AD while on the isle of Patmos. There is much poetic license in the imagery he chose. Many believe that those of his day would clearly understand the meaning of his imagery. It is believed by many that John was describing future events of the coming Tribulation Period when the Antichrist will reign over the Earth prior to Christ’s second coming. There are other interpretations of his letter:

Historicist View: Revelation surveys the whole of church history. However, it has been noted that it has little to say of the church development after 1500 A.D.

Preterist View: Fulfillment of Revelation is in the past, shortly after the time of its writing. Many put the date of the writing before 70 A.D. as they believe the descriptions within Revelation are describing the fall of Jerusalem.

Futurist View: Everything in Revelation after Chapter 3 awaits fulfillment in the future. This is probably the most dominant view and is linked heavily to dispensational theology.

Spiritual View: There is no single fulfillment of Revelation; it contains only transcendent principles and recurrent themes. Most with this view believe John reported the visions as he saw them, but they should be interpreted in a more spiritual sense as to be edifying to believers of any age.

Because chapter 20 refers to an event called the Millennium, the interpretation changes to different views of this topic:

Premillennial View: The binding of Satan is still future and occurs upon Christ’s earthly return when he sets up an earthly reign lasting for a literal 1,000 years. At the end of this reign, Satan is loosed for a time and then all the wicked are judged at the Great White Throne, after which the new heavens and earth are created.

Amillennial View: The binding of Satan occurred with Christ’s victory over sin on the cross and the 1,000 years are symbolic of the current church age. At the end of the current age, Satan will be allowed to persecute the church just before Christ’s coming when a judgment of the evil and good will occur. Then the new heavens and earth will be created.

Postmillennial View: Some have a view similar to that of the Amillennialists, while others see the binding of Satan as a future time when the effect of the gospel has reduced his effect to nothing which will bring in a glorious age just before Christ’s return that is symbolic of the 1,000 years. A final attempt of Satan will go nowhere and then there will be a general resurrection and judgment when Christ returns.

The last two chapters deal with a new heaven and earth and thereby have two views of interpretation about this subject:

Literalist: The descriptions in these chapters are taken to be literal and the New Jerusalem will be the eternal home of the redeemed.

Non-Literalist: The whole account is spiritualized with no literal interpretation. Many link these descriptions to the condition of those who are now in a new covenant with God and Christ with the New Jerusalem representing the church itself in its present earthly existence.

It would seem the futurists’ approach, along with the premillennial view and the literal view, to interpreting Revelation is more in line with the prophecy of the Old Testament. One example is with the memorial feasts of Israel. There were seven feasts that God told Israel to keep yearly (Lv 23). Scripture supports that the first four have been literally fulfilled with Christ’s first coming, so it would stand to reason that the next three will be fulfilled in Christ’s second coming.

Passover (Pesach) represents Christ’s crucifixion (Lv 23:5; 1Co 5:7).

Unleavened Bread (Matzah) represents being freed from sin (Lv 23:6-8; 1Pt 2:24).

Firstfruit (Bikkurim) represents Christ’s resurrection (Lv 23:9-14; 1Co 15:20).

Pentecost (Shavuot) represents uniting Jewish and Gentile believers through the Holy Spirit (Lv 23:15-22; Ac 2).

Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) represents the beginning of the tribulation because God remembers his covenant with Israel once the Church, his Bride, is removed (Lv 23:23-25; Dt 30:3-5).

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) represents Christ Second Coming as Israel is restored to God (Lv 16; 23:26-32; Zc 13:1).

Tabernacles (Sukkot) represents Christ’s Millennial reign as he now dwells with his people (Lv 23:33-44; Zc 14:9).

Jubilee represents the future Eternal State (Lv 25; Rv 21-22).

After Domitian’s death, John was allowed to return to Ephesus where it is believed he died of natural causes in 100 A.D. under the reign of the Emperor Trajan.

We see that the New Testament covers almost 100 years and has had a profound impact for several thousand years and will continue to do so until the end of time. I think it is amazing how the Lord works throughout history to bring people to himself and will use any an all who are willing to be used by him and be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Over the last several posts, we have talked about the life of the apostle Paul and all that he accomplished despite all the opposition he had to face. We are often amazed at the accomplishment of Paul and marvel at his perseverance, tenacity, and zeal. Yet, he was only able to achieve such through the help of others. We don’t always focus on this aspect of Paul but often look at him as a lone wolf who by his on grit and fortitude, with the help of the Holy Spirit, of course, achieve so much. But he literally had an army of helpers throughout his work of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look at some of them. I have found the following 70 individuals who supported Paul in some form or fashion:

Barnabas (Ac 4:36): He was a Levite from Cyprus with the name Joseph. The apostles called him Barnabas, meaning Son of Encouragement. He was the one who saw the potential in Saul of Tarsus, took him to see the apostles in Jerusalem after Paul’s conversion and when it was heard that Gentiles were becoming believers in Antioch in Syria went to get him and spent a year with Paul there teaching and preaching. Antioch sent both he and Paul on Paul’s first missionary journey. He intended to go with Paul on his second journey, but Paul did not want to take John Mark who had deserted them shortly after starting their previous journey. This created a split between the two and Barnabas went on his own missionary journey with his nephew John Mark. Later, Paul and John Mark made amends and Mark worked with Paul several times, it is likely that Barnabas and Paul also made amends but there is nothing in Scripture implying such, even though likely.

John Mark (Marcus; Ac 12:12): While he abandoned Paul and Barnabas on his first missionary journey, he became someone useful to Paul. We find him with Paul in Rome during his house arrest and sent his greetings to the church at Colossae. It seems that Paul may have sent him to Colossae, and this was an introduction to the church for his visit. When Paul was incarcerated the second time, he asked Timothy to send for Mark as well. He may have been with Peter at the time where he recorded many stories of Jesus from Peter’s first-hand account. While in Rome, Mark wrote his gospel, maybe from the encouragement from Paul.

Lucius (Ac 13:1): He was a prophet and teacher who was a founding member of the church in Antioch of Syria and one of the first to begin preaching Jesus Christ to Gentiles there. He was from Cyrene, a city in Northern Africa (Libya today). He apparently traveled with Paul as well as he is mentioned sending greetings to the church at Rome in Paul’s letter to them which he wrote from Corinth.

Simon, called Niger (Ac 13:1): He was a prophet and teacher who was a founding member of the church in Antioch of Syria teaching Jesus Christ to Gentiles there. He may have come with Lucius as he, too, was from Africa, and likely had very dark skin. He may have been a product of being converted into Jerusalem at Pentecost or from someone who had been there. He helped to send Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.

Manaen (Ac 13:1): He was a prophet and teacher who was a founding member of the church in Antioch of Syria teaching Jesus Christ to Gentiles there. He was also a Gentile and had grown up with Herod Antipas. It is unclear how he became a believer. He helped to send Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.

Silas (Ac 15:22): He was a Roman citizen and was either from Jerusalem or lived there when he accompanied Barnabas to go to Antioch in Syria, along with Judas (also called Barsabas) when the church in Jerusalem had heard how Gentiles were becoming believers and investigate what was going on. He was also considered a prophet and supported and encouraged the church in Antioch when they saw what was being done there. When Paul and Barnabas split, Silas agreed to go with Paul on his second missionary journey. Silas stayed with Timothy in Berea after Paul had to leave due to some Jews causing trouble for Paul. Both then joined Paul once they received word to accompany him in Athens. At some point, Silas also helped Peter for a time, but we don’t know exactly how.

Timothy (Ac 16:1): He was the son of a Jewish mother and a Gentile father in Lystra and was evidently converted by Paul on his first missionary journey as Paul found him highly respected by all upon his arrival on his second missionary journey. Paul asked him to accompany him and had him circumcised since he was half-Jewish and could better help minister to Jews if he was circumcised. He traveled with Paul to many places and helped to preach and teach about Jesus Christ. He became a leader of the church in Ephesus and went to minister to Paul when Paul was in Roman prison the second time shortly before Paul’s death. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy: the first to encourage him in his ministry at Ephesus and the second requesting Timothy to come to him in Rome.

Jason (Ac 17:5): He was a Jew who housed Paul when he came to Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. When some jealous Jews tried to find Paul at his house, he wasn’t there so they dragged Jason before city officials trying to say that Jason had aided and abetted men who were causing trouble in their city. To appease the crowd, the officials arrested Jason but then allowed him to post bond and let him go. Apparently, Jason also traveled with Paul because he was in Corinth with Paul when Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church.

Priscilla and Aquila (Ac 18:2): Paul called them “co-workers in Christ.” Aquila had the same profession as Paul, a tent maker. Paul met them in Corinth on his second missionary journey. Originally from Pontus (what is now northern Turkey near the Black Sea) but had been living in Rome until Claudius Caesar banished all Jews from Rome. They traveled with Paul as far as Ephesus when he sailed back to Jerusalem. They served in the church there in Ephesus and taught Apollos about Jesus as he only knew about the baptism of John the Baptist. When Claudius Caesar died, they went back to Rome and hosted a church there for a while. They apparently returned to Ephesus and served there with Timothy and hosted a church in their home as Paul tells Timothy to greet them for him when he asked Timothy to meet him in Rome after his second imprisonment.

Titius Justus (Ac 18:7): When Paul was thrown out of the synagogue in Corinth, this man opened his house to Paul.

Crispus (Ac 18:8): He was the leader of the synagogue in Corinth and he and his entire household became believers in Christ due to Paul’s preaching and teaching and was baptized by Paul.

Sosthenes (Ac 18:17): He was the leader of the synagogue in Corinth, perhaps after Crispus became a believer. The Jews in Corinth brought Paul before their proconsul, Gallio, but he would not listen to their complaint as he deemed it a religious matter. The mob then turned on Sosthenes and beat him in front of Gallio, but he again paid them no mind. Evidently, he became a Christian as Paul directs one of his letters to him and to the church at Corinth.

Apollos (Ac 18:24): A Jew from Alexandria who had a keen knowledge of Scripture and keen debating skills. He taught for some time in Corinth and likely other places. Apollos also delivered Paul’s letter to Titus in Crete, likely on his way home to Alexandria. In his letter, Paul asks Titus to help Apollos and Zenas on their journey and supply them with whatever they need.

Tyrannus (Ac 19:9): He owned a lecture hall in Ephesus and allowed Paul to teach there for about two years.

Erastus (Ac 19:22): Paul called Erastus a “helper” and was a prominent official in the city of Corinth in Achaia. He was the city’s director of public works. Yet, he still made time to travel with Paul several times. He was with Paul in Ephesus during Paul’s second missionary journey and when Paul decided to travel back to Jerusalem but first go through Macedonia and Achaia first, he sent Erastus, along with Timothy, to Macedonia while he stayed a little longer in Ephesus. It seems he also traveled with Paul to Spain and on the return trip, stayed in Corinth, his hometown, while Paul continued his journey.

Aristarchus (Ac 19:29): Paul calls Aristarchus his “fellow worker.” He was from Thessalonica in Macedonia. We don’t know when he accepted Christ as his Savior, but it may have been during Paul’s second missionary journey when he traveled through Thessalonica. We know he was with Paul in Ephesus during his third missionary journey when Demetrius the silversmith created a riot as he, along with Gaius, were taken by the mob and thrust into the theater. The city clerk calmed the crowd and Aristarchus and Gaius were released. He was also part of the group that accompanied Paul from Corinth back to Jerusalem, although we don’t know for sure if he went all the way to Jerusalem with Paul, but he likely did as he was noted by name to be on board the ship for at least part of the trip as Paul was transferred to Rome. He was also with Paul during his first imprisonment and was noted as a fellow prisoner in Paul’s letter to Colossae but called a fellow worker by Paul to Philemon.

Gaius (Ac 19:29; Ro 16:23; 1Co 1:14; 3Jn 1): There are likely four different men with the name Gaius: (1) Gaius of Macedonia who faced danger from the mob in Ephesus when Demetrius the silversmith created a riot to protest Paul’s teachings; (2) Gaius of Derbe, who was a travel companion of Paul at the end of Paul’s second missionary journey as he traveled from Corinth to Jerusalem; (3) Gaius of Corinth, a convert and host of Paul who Paul baptized; (4) Gaius of unknow location to whom John sent his 3rd epistle and who was noted for his hospitality to many believers. Although, if John had converts in Corinth, then this could be the same Gaius as noted in Corith as Paul noted him for his hospitality as well.

Sosipater (Sopater; Ac 20:4; Ro 16:21; ): He was a Jew from Thessalonica and likely converted on Paul’s second missionary journey when he traveled through that city. He was also with Paul in Corinth when Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church as he sent his greetings to them. He also traveled with Paul on his return trip to Jerusalem, at least for a while.

Secundus (Ac 20:4): He was a Jew from Thessalonica and likely converted on Paul’s second missionary journey when he traveled through that city and also traveled with Paul on his return trip to Jerusalem, at least for a while.

Tychicus (Ac 20:4): He is first mentioned during Paul’s third missionary journey accompanying Paul back to Jerusalem from Corinth. He was from the province of Asia, but we are unsure which city. Likely not Ephesus as he was mentioned with Trophimus who we know was from Ephesus, so when Luke lumped these two together, he just stated the province from where they were from. Paul describes him as a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. He was evidently with Paul in Rome during his first imprisonment as he delivered Paul’s letters to Ephesus and Colossae and was sent as well to tell them more of what was happening with Paul and to give them encouragement. He was also with Paul during his second imprisonment as he delivered Paul’s letter to Timothy and ministered for Timothy in Ephesus while Timothy went to see Paul.

Trophimus (Ac 20:4): He is also first mentioned during Paul’s third missionary journey accompanying Paul back to Jerusalem from Corinth. Like Tychicus, he was also from Ephesus in the province of Asia. We know that he went all the way to Jerusalem with Paul as it was noted that some saw him with Paul walking within the city of Jerusalem. After Paul was released from his first imprisonment, it seemed he traveled with Paul to Spain but on the journey back, because sick and had to recover in Miletus while Paul continued his trip.

Phoebe (Ro 16:1): She took the letter Paul wrote to the church at Rome with her as she, and many other Jews, traveled back to Rome from Greece since Claudius Caesar who had banished Jews from Rome had just died. While in Greece, she lived in Cenchreae, a city on the isthmus of Achaia that was between Corinth and Athens and served as a deacon of the church there. She monetarily supported Paul and others.

Epenetus (Ro 16:5): This man was Paul’s first convert in the province of Asia. He was in Rome when Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church as Paul sent his greetings to him.

Mary (Ro 16:6): There are many women named Mary in the Bible. This one was a friend of Paul and had “worked hard” for those in Rome. It is unclear to what Paul was referring to, but Paul was grateful for her efforts.

Andronicus and Junia (Ro 16:7): Paul states these were “outstanding among the apostles” and that they were Christians before him. They were likely husband and wife and had even been in prison for their efforts. As Paul had not yet been to Rome, they may have become believers when they were in Jerusalem for Shavuot (Pentecost) when the Holy Spirit fell and many believed in Jesus through the disciples’ preaching and they then brought their belief back to Rome and started a house church.

Ampliatus, Urbanus, Stachys (Ro 16:8-9): We know nothing about these men, but Paul called each of them a “dear friend.”

Apelles (Ro 16:10): Apparently, he went through some kind of persecution but remained faithful to Christ and Paul commends him for this.

Aristobulus, Narcissus (Ro 16:10-11): Paul gave greetings to the entire household of each man which must mean that their entire families were believers and involved with the church in Rome.

Herodion (Ro 16:11): Paul called him his “fellow Jew,” so they must have developed a fond closeness at some point. Maybe he met Paul in Corinth as he waited to be able to return to Rome.

Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis (Ro 16:12): Paul states that these women “work hard in the Lord” which likely shows their devotion to God, and likely their devotion to Paul, again, maybe in Corinth as they waited to return to Rome.

Rufus (Ro 16:13): This was likely the son of the man who carried the cross for Jesus to Golgotha. Paul states that he was “chosen in the Lord” and that his mother became a mother to him as well.

Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas (Ro 16:14): Paul sends them greetings along with other brothers and sisters with them. This may have been a house church of which they were a part of in Rome.

Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas (Ro 16:15): Paul sends them greetings along with all the Lord’s people who are with them. This may have been a house church of which they were a part of in Rome.

Tertius (Ro 16:22): He was the scribe who wrote the book of Romans as Paul dictated to him.

Quartus (Ro 16:23): A believer in Corinth when Paul wrote his letter to the church at Rome who Paul refers to as “brother.”

Stephanas (1Co 1:16): He was Paul’s first convert in Achaia, likely Athens, but was now serving in Corinth as Paul seems to imply that the church in Corinth was not really incorporating Stephanis’ family into their church very well. Stephanas was one of three who came to Paul in Ephesus to give their greeting and support.

Fortunatus, Achaicus (1Co 16:17): They both came with Stephanas to Ephesus from Corinth to meet with Paul and give their greetings and support.

Titus (2Co 2:13): Paul calls him “my partner and fellow worker.” He was a Gentile and likely from Antioch in Syria and went with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem for the Church Council meeting held there to discuss Gentile Christians. He served with Paul in Ephesus and Corinth during his second missionary journey. When Paul was addressing issues in Corinth from his time of ministry in Ephesus, he sent Titus to Corinth to see how they were taking Paul’s reprimands. When Paul left Ephesus, he believed he would meet Titus in Troas on his way back from Corinth, but he was not there. This worried Paul so he traveled on to Macedonia, likely Philippi, where he did meet up with Titus and was overjoyed seeing Titus and the happy disposition Titus had about the Corinthian church. It seems Titus also accompanied Paul on his visit to Spain and started a church in Crete on their return. Titus stayed in Crete to lead the church and Paul wrote him a letter of encouragement and instruction sometime later. When Paul was arrested in Nicopolis and sent back to Roman prison, he had Artemas go to Crete and lead the church there so Titus could go to Rome and minister to Paul in prison. Later, Paul sent Titus to Dalmatia to minister there (an area that used to be Yugoslavia and is now Serbia and Montenegro).

Epaphroditus (Pp 2:25): Paul calls him “my brother,” “co-worker,” and “fellow soldier.” Evidently Paul knew him quite well, likely of the time he spent in Philippi. Epaphroditus was from Philippi and brought a financial gift from the church there to Paul when he was imprisoned in Rome. While with Paul, Epaphroditus became very sick and almost died, but God allowed him a full recovery, which Paul said pleased him greatly and relieved his anxiety about him. When Epaphroditus returned, Paul sent his letter to the Philippian church with him.

Epaphras (Cl 1:7): Paul calls him a “dear fellow servant,” “a faithful minister of Christ,” “a servant of Christ Jesus,” and “my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus.” He was a native of Colossae. We don’t know when he became a believer, but it may have been when Paul ministered in Ephesus. It is thought that Epaphras started the church in Colossae. Epaphras was with Paul in Rome during his first imprisonment as Paul sent greetings to the church there in his letter to Colossae and to Philemon specifically in his letter to Philemon.

Onesimus (Cl 4:9; Pm 10): Paul called him “a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.” He was a slave of Philemon in Colossae. Unsatisfied, he stole from his master and then fled, winding up in Rome where he likely thought he could blend into society. Yet, what he stole eventually ran out and he likely tried to steal again and was thrown into prison. This seems to be when he met Paul and through his teaching believed in Christ. He and Paul became good friends. Paul wrote a letter to Philemon to ask him to take Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a fellow brother in Christ. Onesimus traveled with Tychicus as he delivered letters from Paul to Ephesus and Colossae. Philemon lived in Colossae.

Jesus (Justus; Cl 4:11): He was a believer with Paul in Rome during his house arrest.

Luke (Cl 4:14): He was a physician and possibly a Gentile. Being a physician, I am sure he got much practice with Paul, not only a dear friend but a patient. Paul referred to him as “the beloved physician” but also as “a fellow laborer.” We don’t know anything about his conversion, but Luke joined Paul in Troas during his second missionary journey just before they traveled to Philippi due to Paul’s vision of a man in Macedonia asking for help. Luke remained in Philippi until Paul came back through on his way to Jerusalem when he rejoined them as they passed through Philippi. It seems he was with Paul from that point on as we know he was with Paul in his imprisonment in Caesarea where he wrote his gospel and was with Paul in Rome during his first imprisonment where he wrote his book of Acts and Paul mentions him in his letter to Colossae and to Philemon. Luke was also with Paul during his second imprisonment as he mentioned to Timothy when Paul asked for Timothy to come to him in Rome.

Demas (Cl 4:14): Paul called him a “dear friend” and “fellow worker.” We don’t know when Demas joined Paul, but we know he was with Paul during his first imprisonment as Paul gives his greetings to the church at Colossae and to Philemon in his letters to them. He was also with Paul during his second imprisonment, but something happened as Paul stated that Demas deserted him in his time of need and left for Thessalonica. Apparently, he looked for comforts of the world rather than the hardship that he saw Paul go through. The first time Paul was imprisoned, he was under house arrest, so it wasn’t that bad—just freedom restricted. This time, though, Paul was in a dank prison cell and treated more harshly. Perhaps Demas felt this was no longer for him. Another has suggested he may have fallen to the sway of Gnosticism.

Nympha (Cl 4:15): A woman who lived in Colossae and had a house-church in her home. Paul gives her a special greeting.

Archippus (Cl 4:17; Pm 2): He is thought to be the son of Philemon, and Paul gives a special admonishment and encouragement to continue the ministry in which he had received from the Lord.

Onesiphorus (2 Ti 1:16): He apparently lived in Ephesus and befriended Paul multiple times. It seems he even traveled to Rome when Paul was in prison and ministered to him there as well.

Crescens (2Ti 4:10): We know very little about him, but he was with Paul during his second Roman imprisonment and went to Galatia, likely to preach there.

Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia (2Ti 4:21): These are only mentioned once in the Bible in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. They were part of the church in Rome and became good friends of Paul and of Timothy, likely helping both in their ministries.

Artemas (Tt 3:12): He is only mentioned once in Scripture, but apparently Paul depended on him greatly. He seemed to have accompanied Paul to Spain and was sent by Paul to Crete to serve the church there so Titus to come visit Paul—originally to Nicopolis where Paul had decided to winter, but then to Rome as Paul was arrested and placed in prison there.

Zenas (Tt 3:13): A companion and lawyer who traveled with Apollos and helped to deliver Paul’s letter to Titus in Crete, likely on his way to Alexandria. In his letter, Paul asks Titus to help Apollos and Zenas on their journey and supply them with whatever they needed.

As you can see, Paul was able to accomplish so much because he had such dear friends devoted to him and to his mission for the Lord. They were willing to be in the shadows, so to speak, in order to ensure that the gospel was spread far and wide through Paul’s efforts. We all need friends like these, don’t we?

Next, we’ll see what occurred after the mission of Apostle Paul was over. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

About this same time as the book of Hebrews was written in 65 AD, the apostle Peter wrote 1st Peter, his first epistle to believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (what we know as Turkey today) undergoing persecution. We now see why God did not allow Paul to go to these northern provinces in what we today call Turkey, because God was directing Peter to minister to the people there. Peter wrote this epistle from Babylon. Some argue that there was no church in Babylon, so Paul was being euphemistic and was referring to Rome. Yet, there is no need for him to be secretive about where he was writing. It actually makes sense for him to be writing from Babylon for two reasons: (1) although there was no church in Babylon, there was a prominent synagogue there because of the many Jews who remained in this geographic region when some of the Jews were allowed to return to Judah from Babylon, and (2) Peter and many of the other apostles ministered to their fellow Jews with a large contingent of them still living in various parts of Parthia which is where Babylon was located.

Also, there is no hard evidence that Peter ever visited Rome (Lewis). If Peter was in Rome during Paul’s first incarceration, he would most definitely have visited Paul in prison as many others from the churches there did (Ac 28:17-31). If Peter was in Rome during Paul’s second incarceration, he also would likely have visited Paul or let Paul know he was supported, but Paul states that only Luke is with him at this time (2Tm 4:11). Evidence has emerged that Peter likely died and was buried in Jerusalem (Deborah). This would make sense as Peter was known as the apostle to the Jews (Ga 2:7-8) and had ministered to Jews in Parthia (1Pt 5:13) and to those in Asia Minor (today eastern Turkey; 1Pt 1:1). Who was in Rome during this time was likely another Simon—Simon Magus (Two Peters).

This Simon Magus was the same as the one Deacon Philip had encountered in Samaria (Ac 8:9-25). He took the ideas of Zoroastrianism and blended them with Christianity forming Gnostic beliefs that became quite popular, and very seductive, because their teachings were so close, but so far, from the gospel the apostles taught. Simon and his followers would travel behind Paul and teach their heretical teachings once Paul had left a city which confused many of the new believers that Paul had reached. The Gnostics taught salvation through religion rather than a person relationship with Christ. It taught unity by creating a hierarchy where more spiritual understanding would be gained the higher up people went in this hierarchy and created types of sacraments to further create unity and thereby develop a closeness to God.

When Simon Magus arrived in Rome during the reign of Caesar Claudius, the emperor became enamored with Simon due to his magical abilities. So much so that he had a statue made of him which was something quite rare, as usually statues of anyone other than that of the emperor was considered illegal. He integrated Christian terminology into his pagan theology to disguise his intent to exalt himself to the center of Christianity rather than to Jesus Christ. He even created a priesthood to execute his practices. He came to be called Simon Paeter. The word Paeter is an ancient word for interpreter or seer and was associated with ancient priests and a derivative of the word translated as father. It is easy to see how Simon Paeter could be misconstrued for Simon Peter. It is more likely that Simon Paeter was the first bishop of Rome than was Simon Peter. The deaths of Simon Magus and Simon Peter are in controversy and not established well in the historical record.

About two years after writing his first epistle, Peter, in 67 AD, wrote his second epistle, 2nd Peter, likely from Babylon as well, and likely to those in northern areas of what we today call Turkey. It seems that Peter knew of his soon passing as he mentions this in his letter and there is now evidence of his grave being in Jerusalem. The content of this book is somewhat similar to what Jude wrote about in his epistle where he warns people about false prophets and false teachers who act as believers but lead many astray. He states that these people will be held accountable by God, if not in this life, in the life to come. While some scoffers say Christ’s return is doubtful as things have continued on as they always have been. Peter reminds them that the same argument was true for the Flood in Noah’s day. Things were as they were until they were not, and that happened swiftly. Therefore, as Christians, we should live holy and godly lives looking with anticipation to the day of God.

Tradition has it that Paul was beheaded in 68 A.D. at Aquae Salviae, a place with three springs on the Ostian Way, about 1.5 miles south of Rome. Paul was not crucified as were many Christians because he was a Roman citizen. Therefore, he was allowed a quick death and was beheaded instead.

What a legacy Paul left behind. Don’t you want a legacy like that? Let’s strive to live like he did. What an example to follow.

Of course, Paul could not have achieved all that he did without assistance. Next time we’ll look at who all helped him over the course of his life. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

The apostle Paul is an example where he did not let his circumstances affect his commitment for Christ. He seemed to take what we would consider negative and turned it into a positive. Let’s look at the time of his first Roman incarceration.

Paul and his contingent finally arrived in Italy in 60 AD after their shipwreck and wintering on the island of Malta. Once arriving, many of the Jews in Rome heard that Paul was on his way and went to meet him even before he reached Rome and encouraged his spirits (Ac 28:15). Once in Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier to guard him.

Three days later, Paul called the Jewish leaders to come and meet with him. He told them what had happened to him and what the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had accused him of and why he was not guilty of such charges. They stated no one had sent any letters or information regarding him and his supposed crimes. They were willing to hear more from him and set up a time with him. When they came again, they brought many more Jews with them. Paul spent the entire day explaining to them about the kingdom of God and how the Law of Moses and the Prophets predicted the coming of Jesus and him dying for their sins. Some were convinced while others were not and refused to hear more from Paul. Paul told them that they were fulfilling what the Prophets said about the Jews hearing but never understanding, seeing but never perceiving which has caused them to become calloused. He then warned them that if they refused God’s salvation, it would be preached to the Gentiles who would listen and receive God’s message. Paul was in his own rented house for two years and proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness and without hindrance (Ac 28:17-31).

Paul wrote four of his epistles while arrested in Rome: Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians.

It seems Paul’s epistles Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon were each written about the same time, or at least in the same year (61 AD) and were taken to these churches by Tychicus. While Paul’s letter to Colossians was to the believers at Colossae, it seems his epistle to the Ephesians was not only for the church at Ephesus, but to be a circuit letter for many churches in that area.

Paul did not write Ephesians regarding any specific problem or controversy. He talks about the privileges and responsibilities of those who are part of the Body of Christ. He states that the entire Godhead had part in creating the church, Christ’s bride. In his sovereignty, God the Father called all believers out of humanity unto himself due to his love and for his glory. Although God made the decree that people could be saved, divine justice had to also be satisfied. God the Son, Jesus Christ himself, paid that price of divine justice to provide salvation through the shedding of his blood, declaring us righteous, and setting us free from the power of sin. God’s spirit then seals us indicating we are now God’s and cannot be removed from his hand. He goes on to say that being part of Christ brings us unity. There is no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile. We are all one under Christ. The Holy Spirit then imparts gifts to each believer for the unity of believers and the glory of God. Because of what Christ has done for us, we should live for him out of our gratitude and yield to the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit, especially in marriage, in family, and in our spiritual battle with spiritual forces in this world.

Paul wrote to Colossae to help stabilize the church and to combat heretical teachings that were being promulgated by certain individuals. The church was founded by Epaphras, likely a convert of Paul from Ephesus, and who was likely sent to evangelize Colossae. While primarily composed of Gentiles, the church did have a Jewish component as well. Although Paul had never been to Colossae, he told them he had heard of their faith and regularly prayed for them to grow in real knowledge and wisdom. Paul emphasizes the deity and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

The heretical teachings here seem to be a mixture of Jewish legalism (asceticism) as well as angel worship and Gnosticism. The basis of Gnosticism is that spirit is good and physical is bad. Therefore, if Christ was not all spirit, but took on human bodily form, then he had evil within him. Paul counters this by stating that Christ was the image of God, that is, being the exact reproduction of deity, and was the firstborn, implying that Christ existed prior to creation, and was sovereign over all creation, meaning he is the Lord of creation.

While possessing the powers and attributes of deity, Christ had a human body in order to reconcile man to himself. Faith is built on the firm foundation of the deity of Christ and the sufficiency of his death on the cross. We have life, forgiveness, deliverance, and victory in Christ so we should live a life that conforms to this exalted position. We should relinquish all sinful actions and maintain virtuous living.

As Tychicus delivered Paul’s letter to Colossae, a man by the name of Onesimus accompanied him. Onesimus was a slave under the oversight of a man named Philemon who lived in, or near, Colossae and even hosted a house-church in his home. It is believed that Philemon had heard Paul speak in Ephesus and became a believer in Jesus due to Paul’s teaching. Apparently, Onesimus had stolen from Philemon and fled from his master to Rome where he likely thought he could get lost in the crowd, so to speak. While there, he must have been arrested for something—maybe stealing again. This may be how he met Paul as both were prisoners. Yet, since Paul was renting a house, it is unclear how they actually met. Yet, Paul did minister to him, and he accepted Christ as his Savior and became a dear friend of Paul’s. Paul told him that he had to return to Philemon and repent for his wrongdoing, but Paul was willing to send a letter to Philemon on Onesimus’ behalf since Philemon was a dear friend of Paul’s as well. Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus as he would receive him. He stated that if there was any financial loss to charge Paul and he would repay it. He then reminds Philemon that he, too, had a spiritual debt which Jesus relieved through Paul’s witness to him, so in that sense, Philemon owed far more to Paul than Onesimus owed to Philemon. Paul tells Philemon that he knows he will do the right thing and hopes to stop by once he is out of prison.

The next year (64 AD), Paul wrote his epistle of Philippians to the church at Philippi in Macedonia which was delivered to them by Epaphroditus who was from Philippi. This church had sent Paul a financial gift, so he wanted to thank them. He also wanted them to understand that while he was a prisoner, he was joyful that the gospel of Christ was still being preached, and he indicated his desire to visit them once he was released. Paul also wanted them to understand that circumstances of life should not dictate one’s joyfulness, but that joy came from seeing things though God’s perspective.

While Paul was in prison, Luke completed the book of Acts he was writing ever since he was with Paul on his missionary journeys. We know it was at this time in 63 AD because his writing does not go beyond this point in Paul’s ministry. He again wrote it originally to Theophilus, as he did his gospel. Again, while originally written to him, it was destined for a much larger audience. As stated, his gospel was to show Jesus being superior to any other man and then this book was the sharing of that good news to everyone, both Jew and Greek, and to show that this sharing was not the work of zealous men but done through the leading of the Holy Spirit. It also shows the fulfillment of Christ Great Commission: their witness in Jerusalem by telling the account of Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s followers, the works of Peter, John and the other apostles and their miracles, and the work and stoning of Stephen; their witness in Judea and Samaria through the telling of the work by Philip, Saul, Peter, and the Church; the witness to the uttermost part of the Earth by telling what occurred during Paul’s missionary journeys and his preaching in Rome.

What we know about the rest of Paul’s life and ministry is gleaned through statements made in his various epistles. Paul was released from prison after being incarcerated for three years. It seems after his release Paul sent Timothy to Philippi and he traveled toward Asia Minor visiting Crete along the way establishing a church there. Timothy then met up with Paul somewhere in Asia Minor, likely Miletus as that would be a convenient place for their separate journeys to merge. There is no clear evidence that Paul ever made it back to Ephesus. At any rate, Paul sent Timothy on to Ephesus while he went to Colossae. He may also have visited Laodicea and Hierapolis as Paul was concerned for them as well (Cl 2:1, 4:13). It is then thought Paul traveled on to Troas and then to Philippi and on to other places in Macedonia while Timothy remained at Ephesus to teach and encourage the church there (1Tm 1:3).

Philippi is where Paul likely wrote 1st Timothy, his first letter to Timothy. Paul wanted to return to Ephesus but believed it would still be a while before he could follow up with Timothy in person, so he wrote this letter to him to encourage him and to remind him of his authority and ministry responsibilities as well as to instruct the members of the church in their responsibilities.

It is at this time that Paul likely traveled to Spain and may have gone as far as Great Britain. It is likely he may have taken Titus and Trophimus (2Tm 4:20) with him on this journey because we are told that on the way Paul and Titus visited Crete where Paul had Titus stay behind to minister to the church there. Also, it is noted that Paul stated he left Trophimus sick in Miletus as he traveled to Troas. While some believe this is the time Paul wrote his letter to Titus and did so from Ephesus. But if he never returned to Ephesus, this could not be the case. It is more likely that he wrote to Titus from Corinth as this would be on his journey to get to Nicopolis where we know he visited (Tt 3:12), and would have been a logical place for Paul to run into Apollos and Zenas by whom he sent his letter to Titus (Tt 3:13) as they were likely traveling into Asia Minor or perhaps back to Alexandria, Apollos’ home town. Crete would not have been too far out of their way. We are told that on his way to Nicopolis, Paul had left Erastus in Corinth (2Tm 4:20), so meeting Apollos and Zenas there in Corinth would make sense.

Paul wrote his letter to Titus to encourage him and to teach correct doctrine so he could refute the false teachers there, to remind him to complete the necessary organizational needs of the church, and to ask him to meet him in Nicopolis. Paul was sending Artemas to relieve Titus so he could come and meet Paul in Nicopolis (Tt 3:12). It seems Crete had been inundated with Judaizers wanting to take the congregations back to the ritual laws of Judaism as well as philosophies of Gnosticism, hedonism, and asceticism, all having the desire to take over and control the lives of believers there. Paul sternly warned Titus to stifle these dangerous teachings and focus on the truth of the Gospel dispensing with these manmade myths and traditions.

Something occurred in 64 AD in Nicopolis that got Paul arrested. We are not told any details of the event that led to his arrest and being taken back to Rome. This time, however, he was not allowed to be under house arrest but placed in a dank prison cell. The climate had changed as Nero had accused the Christians of burning Rome and all Christians were now being severely persecuted. It was from here that Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, and this was his final recorded writing. Paul wrote 2nd Timothy to encourage Timothy in his ministry and to ask him to come to Rome to visit him. The tone of this letter is very different from his writing during his first Roman imprisonment. He knew he would not be released this time (2Tm 4:6). It seems that Tychicus delivered this letter to Timothy for Paul (2Tm 4:12) and to allow Timothy to come to Paul. It seems that Paul was still planning for the various churches and their growth: he had Crescens to go to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia (2Tm 4:10). Although Paul stated that he was all alone the first time he went before Caesar (2Tm 4:16-17), he was not alone this time: Onesiphorus visited (2Tm 1:16-17), Luke was with him (2Tm 4:11) as well as several others apparently from the church there in Rome, e.g., Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia (2Tm 4:210. However, being a Christian was now a crime, and several had deserted Paul and/or the faith (2Tm 1:14; 4:10). Paul wanted to see Timothy one last time (2Tm 1:4; 4:9) and wanted Timothy to bring John Mark with him (2Tm 4:11) as well as to stop by Troas and retrieve the cloak, book, and parchments he left there with Carpus (2Tm 4:13).

Once John Mark arrived in Rome to see Paul, it seems this is the time that Mark wrote his gospel while being in Rome. Perhaps it was at Paul encouragement for him to do so. He and Paul had made amends earlier because he was also noted to be in Rome with Paul during his first incarceration as he was noted in Paul’s letter to both Philemon and to the church at Colossae (Pm 1:24; Cl 4:10). When Paul was released from prison the first time, Mark apparently ministered in Rome for a time and then with Peter (1Pt 5:13). It is thought that Mark got many of his stories about Jesus from Peter. Mark’s gospel was geared for a Roman audience as he explained many Jewish and Aramaic terms to his readers which the other gospel writers did not do, and he referred to Simon of Cyrene who bore Jesus’ cross for him to Golgotha as “the father of Alexander and Rufus” and would be known to his readers because Rufus was a member of the church in Rome (Ro 16:13).

During this time of Paul’s imprisonment, the book of Hebrews was written in 65 AD. Some say Paul wrote the letter just before his death in Rome. Others argue that the style of writing differs drastically from the way Paul wrote. There are many writers that have been proposed: Paul, Luke, Barnabas, Silas, Philip, and Apollos. Some traditions state that it was written from Alexandria as there was a large Jewish community there. If that is true, then it may suggest Apollos’ authorship as Alexandria was his hometown.

Although we don’t know the author or the place of authorship, it is clear that the writer wrote to a specific group of people he knew well. Because of the subject matter of the book where Jesus is compared to Old Testament Scriptures, it was likely written primarily to Jewish Christians. Maybe it was written to oppose Judaizers and Gnostics still surfacing in the church, especially those with large Jewish congregations. The writer wrote to convince his audience that Christ was superior to angels, superior to Moses, superior to Aaron, and superior to oneself as the worship of God was to be through Jesus Christ, the “new and living way” and reminds them that the key to true spirituality is one living by faith. Trusting God and what God has said is foundational to spiritual success.

Paul was more upbeat during his first arrest, likely because he could see an eventual way out of prison, and he was able to be under house arrest and have visitors. Yet, his freedoms were still limited. His second time, however, was another matter. He no longer saw an escape and had to come to terms with his likely death. This, of course, changed his mood and the mood of his letters. Yet, he still preserved until the end, wanting to run his life’s race faithfully (2Tm 4:7). May we each be able to do the same.

Join next time as we look at Paul’s last days in Rome and what was going on at that time.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

A lot of times, what we accomplish is based upon our attitude and our circumstances. This was certainly true for the apostle Paul. Let’s look at the time he returned to Jerusalem and was arrested. Some may see this as avoidable, but Paul’s circumstances put him in places he would never have been otherwise. Paul used those times as opportunities to share Jesus.

When Paul decided to sail back to Syria after completing his third missionary journey, it was discovered that some Jews had plotted against him, so he traveled back through Macedonia. Several people went ahead to Troas and waited for Paul and Luke to arrive: Sopater from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, Tychius and Trophimus from Asia. Paul stopped in Philippi for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and then sailed to Troas to meet his other friends (Ac 20:1-6).

Paul stayed in Troas for seven days. On the seventh day he spoke in an upstairs room to the people and intended to leave the next day. Yet he kept on talking until midnight. A young man named Eutychus sat in one of the windows listening. Due to the length of the meeting, he fell asleep and then fell three stories out of the window and died. Paul threw himself on the young man putting his arms around him and the man revived. Everyone returned to the upstairs room, ate, talked until daylight, and Paul then left (Ac 7-12).

Once Paul and his friends reached Miletus, Paul sent through messengers for the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him there. He told them that this could be the last time they may see him because he knew that some Jewish leaders were plotting against him. Yet, he felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to return to Jerusalem. After praying with the Ephesian elders, they wept knowing they may never see Paul again (Ac 20:13-38).

The ship landed in Tyre to unload its cargo, and he met with some believers there for seven days. They reboarded the ship and landed at Ptolemais where he again met with believers there for that day. The next day, they sailed to Caesarea and stayed with the evangelist Philip for seven days. A prophet there, named Agabus, prophesied that Paul would be arrested in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles. Many then tried to persuade him not to go up to Jerusalem, but Paul was insistent that he do so as he felt the Holy Spirit wanted him to do so (Ac 21;1-18).

When arriving in Jerusalem, the disciples there greeted him warmly. The next day, he met with James and the other elders where he told them all that God had done for the Gentiles through his ministry. They all praised God for his work but stated that word was out that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon the Law of Moses, not to have their children circumcised or live according to Jewish customs (Ac 21:17-21).

As Paul had made a previous vow, there were four men with them in Jerusalem who had also made a vow. It was suggested that Paul go with them to the temple and join in their purification rites and pay their expenses for having their heads shaved. Then everyone would know that Paul was living in obedience to the law and the reports told about him were false and all that the Gentile believers had been told was what the Council had said previously: abstain from food sacrifice to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality (Ac 21:22-26).

Paul agreed and went to the temple to set the days for purification. When the purification time was nearly over, Paul was seen in the temple by some Jews from Asia. They created a disturbance by seizing him, claiming he was teaching everyone everywhere against Jewish laws and customs, and had brought Greeks into the temple. Trophimus, an Ephesian, had been seen with Paul in the city but not in the temple. This created such an uproar that people started beating him and would have killed him if a Roman commander had not intervened. Paul had to be carried by soldiers into the barracks next to the temple while many in the crowd kept saying, “Get rid of him!” (Ac 21:27-36).

Paul asked the commander if he could speak to the people. The commander thought he was an Egyptian who had led four thousand terrorists in a revolt. Paul identified himself and was allowed to speak. Paul began to give his testimony, and the people listened until he stated the Lord had sent him to the Gentiles (Ac 21:37-22:21).

The crowd then lost it and shouted he was not fit to live. The commander had Paul taken to the Roman barracks and told a centurion to flog him. Paul asked the man tasked with the deed if he could do this to a Roman citizen. The centurion went to the commander and told him Paul was a Roman citizen. Those who had come to interrogate Paul withdrew immediately upon hearing this news. The commander then tried to find out what was going on (Ac 22:22-29).

The centurion released Paul and commanded the chief priests and Sanhedrin to assemble. He then brought Paul to stand before them to find out the charges. Paul stated he had fulfilled his duty to God in a good conscience. Ananias, the current high priest, ordered those near him to strike Paul on the mouth. Paul then reprimanded him and called him a whitewashed wall. Then Paul was reprimanded for speaking such against the high priest. Paul then apologized saying he did not know Ananias was the high priest. He may have known Ananias but not that he had become high priest. When Paul carried out his persecutions of Christians, Caiaphas was the high priest. Because Paul had no personal dealings with the Sanhedrin after his conversion, he likely did not know when Caiaphas was removed from being high priest and Ananias put into that position since he had been out of the country for several years at this point. Paul then realized that both Sadducees and Pharisees were present, so he stated he was standing before them because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead. This then caused a dispute between those present because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead in the last day, but the Pharisees did. Many of the Pharisees stood up for him at that point and created such a dispute that the commander was afraid Paul would get torn to pieces by them. He ordered his troops to go down and take Paul by force and bring him back to the barracks. That night, an angel appeared to Paul and said Paul would testify for God in Rome (Ac 22:30-23:11).

Several Jews formed an oath among themselves that they would neither eat nor drink until Paul was dead. They then went to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin with their plot of how they could have Paul murdered. Yet, Paul’s nephew heard of their plan and told Paul who then requested the centurion guarding him to take his nephew to the commander. He told the commander that more than forty men were waiting to kill Paul when the commander would have Paul delivered to the Sanhedrin as their request (Ac 23:12-22).

That night, the commander had Paul delivered to Governor Felix in Caesarea with the protection of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen, and sent a letter of explanation as to why Paul was delivered to him. When Felix learned that Paul was from Cilicia, he agreed to hear his case, likely because Cilicia was a Roman province and Paul was a Roman citizen. Felix gave Paul certain liberties not awarded to all prisoners. He was able to have friends visit him and take care of his needs (Ac 23:23-35).

Felix was a freed slave of the mother of Caesar Claudius, Antonia. Claudius liked Felix and gave him the governorship of Samaria and Judea around 52 AD, six years before Paul was delivered to him. He had a bad reputation among the Jews and was known for his violence. He married Drusilla, a Jew, who was the daughter of Herod Agrippa I and known for her beauty. She was already married to Azizus, a Syrian king, who she married at age 14, but Felix persuaded her, with the help of Simon Magus, who he had befriended in Rome, to divorce and marry him, which she did at age 20.

The time now was 56 AD, and this is also the time that Luke wrote his gospel. He emphasized the humanity of Jesus to highlight Jesus’ character, show his relationship with mankind, and demonstrate him as the perfect sacrifice for all of humanity’s sin. As he was writing this as a proof-text to Theophilus (Lk 1:3-4), apparently a good friend of his and likely of Greek or Roman descent, with his name meaning “friend of God” or “loved by God.” Yet, he likely meant this to be not just a personal letter but to be read by many other Gentiles to help them see Jesus Christ as the answer to their spiritual pursuit. The Greeks had a pursuit of the perfect man, so Luke was presenting the only one who was perfect and the only one whom they should follow.

While Paul was under arrest there in Caesarea, Felix and Drusilla had Paul brought before them where he spoke to them about his faith in Jesus Christ. Once Paul got to the issue of judgment to come, Felix stopped Paul from speaking further and said he would call for Paul again at some point, but he never did (Ac 24:24-25). Yet, he did not pronounce judgment on Paul either, likely because he knew he was innocent, and knew that although the Jewish leaders wanted Paul gone, the regular Jewish people did not. Keeping Paul in prison placated both sides, so it was good for him politically to keep Paul in prison. What Felix really wanted was a bribe in order to dismiss the charges against Paul which would get Paul out of his hair once and for all. Yet the bribe never came and so he never made a judgment on Paul. So he left Paul in prison for two years without making any type of decision regarding his guilt or innocence (Ac 24:26-27).

Due to some mismanagement, Felix was recalled to Rome and Festus was made the new governor by Emperor Nero in 59 AD. There is not a lot of information about Festus, but he was apparently a more fair ruler than was Felix. Only three days after arriving in Caesarea, Festus went to Jerusalem where the Jewish leaders presented their charges against Paul to him and requested Paul be transferred to Jerusalem under their care. Their plan was to have him killed via ambush as he was being transferred back to Jerusalem. Yet, Festus requested that they accompany him back to Caesarea and have their charges against Paul presented to him there (Ac 25:1-5).

Once back at Caesarea, Festus had Paul brought before him. The Jewish leaders gave many accusations but could not prove any of them. Festus then asked whether Paul was willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial for the charges brought before him by the Jewish leaders. Paul stated that he was not guilty of the crime made against him which the Jewish leaders could not prove. If he wasn’t guilty then he should not be handed over to them. He was standing before a court of Caesar, so he appealed to Caesar. Festus met with his council and then declared, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!” (Ac 25:6-12).

A few days later, King Agrippa I and Bernice, his sister, arrived in Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. Some believed the two had an incestuous relationship, but no one could ever prove it. Festus told him about Paul and the circumstances for him being in Caesarea. Agrippa said he would like to hear Paul. Festus arranged the meeting and told Agrippa he was glad for him to hear Paul because although Paul had appealed to Caesar, he could not really find any substantial charges to place against him that would be valid for Caesar Nero to understand (Ac 25:13-27).

Paul told of his testimony as to how he became a Christian and how God had sent him to tell of Jesus Christ and his resurrection to the Gentiles and how the prophets had even spoken of the coming Messiah who would die and be raised for his people and Jesus Christ was that man. Festus then had Paul stop speaking saying he had gone mad. Paul replied that he was not mad and that Agrippa, being a Jew, new of these scriptures and the Jewish beliefs about a coming Messiah. Agrippa then replied, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” to which Paul responded, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains” (Ac 26:1-29).

With that Agrippa stood, ending the proceedings. Agrippa, Bernice, and Festus left the room. Agrippa told Festus that Paul could be freed if he had not appealed to Caesar because there was nothing upon which he was guilty of either death or imprisonment (Ac 26:30-32). This was a copout because if he was not guilty either of them could have released him. Appealing to Caesar without any conviction was not a reason for Paul to have to appear before Caesar.

So, with unknown charges, Paul was sent to Rome with other prisoners but was allowed to have friends travel with him, which included Luke and Aristarchus (from Thessalonica). Somehow the centurion of the Imperial Regiment in charge of the prisoners, named Julius, treated Paul kindly and allowed him to see his friends when the ship landed in Sidon. As they put out to sea again, the ship sailed to the south of Cyprus due to the winds and landed in Myra of Lycia. The prisoners were then transferred to another ship headed from Alexandria to Italy. Due to the weather, the going was slow because it was in the late seventh month (after Day of Atonement) nearing winter. Paul warned that they were in danger due to the winter weather. Yet the centurion did not heed him but followed the directions of the ship’s pilot who said they could reach the far coast of Crete and winter there. Yet, the ship entered a giant storm with hurricane-force winds and blew them far off course. After fourteen days, Paul announced that an angel had appeared to him to tell him that everyone would survive if they all stayed together. Once they ran aground, the officers wanted to kill the prisoners to prevent them from swimming ashore and escaping. The centurion protecting Paul persuaded them not to do that and they all swam to shore or used planks to do so. They found themselves on the island of Malta (Ac 27:1-44).

The islanders showed them kindness and built a fire because everyone was wet and cold. Collecting firewood, Paul was bitten by a viper. When nothing happened to Paul, everyone thought him a god. Publius, the chief official of the island, welcomed Paul and his friends into his house where they stayed for three days. His father was sick, and Paul healed him. Hearing the news, other residents of the island who were sick came to Paul and he healed them as well. After three months, when it was time to set sail again, the people furnished them with all the supplies they needed (Ac 28:1-10).

Wow! Who other than Paul could have endured and yet accomplish so much? Could you? But we are expected to, aren’t we? Maybe we need a Holy Spirit renewal.

Join me next week to see what happens once Paul reaches Rome.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

While Paul was in Corinth during his third missionary journey in 56 AD, he wrote his Roman epistle to the house churches in that city. He had a desire to visit them but knew that may not be possible due to the circumstances he found himself in with some Jews plotting to have him killed. He wrote this letter to help reunite Jewish and Gentile Christians by active foresight wanting to ensure the unity between them became reestablished. Emperor Claudius had all Jews leave about five years earlier. Now, with his death, Jews were allowed back into Rome. Paul knew that this act of removing all Jews, even Christian Jews, likely caused the house churches in Rome to change dramatically. For five years these churches would not have had any Jewish influence in how the churches operated. It would be a shock for Gentiles to hear criticism from their Jewish brethren on their services because they were not Jewish enough, and a shock to the Jewish believers to see how much things had changed since they had left. That is likely why Paul used a question/answer format to help Gentiles understand the Jewish perspective of scripture and help the Jews to understand why certain Jewish customs were not really necessary any longer. Many of the people Paul mentions at the end of his epistle were likely displaced Jewish believers who left Rome and stayed in Corinth or nearby areas waiting for the time they could return to Rome, their hometown. Phoebe, a deacon in the church at Cenchreae, not very far from Corinith, was the bearer of Paul’s letter to the believers at Rome. Paul also desired to enlist the help of the Roman church with his missionary efforts to the west, including Spain, emphasized the universality of the gospel stating it was for both Jews and Gentiles, wrote to provide a comprehensive presentation of the doctrine of salvation by faith, and sought their prayer support.

Paul states that the gospel of Jesus Christ had been promised by the Old Testament prophets and contrasts the Old Testament and the dispensation of the Law to the New Testament and the dispensation of the Church. He quotes more Old Testament scripture than any other New Testament book where the quotes refer to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David, all associated with covenants in the Old Testament. Paul also quotes Habakkuk stating that the just shall live by faith. Paul addressed the sinfulness and condemnation of all men, the justification of believing sinners, the sanctification of believing sinners, the place that Israel has in the plans of God, and the righteousness of God in practical living. In his conclusion, he provides greetings to 35 people mentioned by name.

In his letter, Paul mentions three churches. One was the church that met in the home of Pricilla and Aquilla (Ro 16:3-5) who he knew well as he had met them in Corinth on his second missionary journey and had worked with them extensively (Ac 18:1-4). He then mentions Andronicus and Junia (Ro 16:7) who had been Christians even before he, and they had been imprisoned for their actions. Since Paul had never been to Rome at this point, it could be that Andronicus and Junia had been in Jerusalem for Shavuot (Pentecost) when the Holy Spirit fell causing them to hear about Jesus Christ at that time and had believed.

Paul then mentions those who had caused divisions and put obstacles in their way contrary to the teachings they had learned and cautions these believers to stay away from them because they were not serving Christ but their own desires (Ro 16:17-19). Who Paul was referring to may likely have been the so-called church that Simon Magus had infiltrated. This is the sorcerer who Deacon Philip had first encountered in Samaria (Ac 8:9-25) and began teaching gnostic ideas and had likely infiltrated the Roman Gentile church when the Jews were banished from Rome by Claudius Caesar and initiated anti-Semitic beliefs. This is likely the reason for Paul including much doctrine in his letter to ensure they understood the correct doctrine rooted in Jesus Christ and emphasizing that God was not done with his nation Israel.

Simon Magus likely made his way to Rome during the reign of Claudius Caesar. Claudius apparently became enamored with him and all his magical abilities. While there, he met Marcus Antonias Felix, originally a slave of Claudius Caesar’s mother Antonia. He was a favorite of hers and she helped him earn his freedom. He was well liked by Claudius as well. It seems Felix did a favor for Simon Magus by encouraging Claudius to expel the Jews from Rome (First Church Rome). Later, when Claudius made Felix procurator of Judea, Simon Magus did him a favor by enchanting Drusilla, of Hasmonean descent and sister of Herod Agrippa II, to leave her current husband and her religion and marry Felix (Bible Hub). It seems the Hasmonean women were considered extremely beautiful.

With the Jews out of Rome, it allowed Simon Magus to operate more freely with Gentile Christians and argue his own interpretation of Scripture through the lens of Zoroastrianism and Gnosticism with little push back. Over time, he became revered by the Gentile Christians who bestowed the term, Father, or Paeter (the Latin name for Father) to him as many looked up to him for guidance and appreciated his leadership of the Roman church in which he taught his Gnostic beliefs and hierarchal mysteries which later morphed into what was labeled Simonism. It seems he went back to his teachings in Samaria as one who was almost like a god, taught that the god of the Bible was subservient to the all-existing god. After all, if the God of the Hebrews allowed evil, how good of a god could he actually be? This was likely the start of the church teaching antisemitic beliefs and the teachings of Jesus being a man who received a god spirit at his baptism which was taken away just before his crucifixion. Belief in Jesus was important but true salvation came by following rituals and not through Jesus Christ himself.

Since he now went by the name Simon Paeter, this may be how he became confused with Simon Peter over time. It is likely Simon Magus became the first bishop of Rome rather than Simon Peter (Two Peters, Hoeck), as Peter was noted at the apostle to the Jews (Ga 2:7-8) and preached to Jews in Parthia (1Pt 5:13) and northeastern Asia Minor (today Turkey; 1Pt 1:1). This could also explain some of the beliefs, teachings, and church structure that began to occur in the Roman church with the exclusion of Jews in its congregation. There is no solid evidence, only tradition, that apostle Peter ever visited Rome (Lewis). Evidence has emerged that Peter likely died and was buried in Jerusalem (Deborah).

Therefore, it was no accident as to the teachings Paul included in his epistle to the Roman house churches: the need for unity between Jew and Gentile believers, how God was not yet done with Israel as a nation, and strong doctrine showing that all focus should be on the belief in Jesus Christ himself and his redemptive work via his death, burial, and resurrection. We, too, need to be sure that this is our spiritual foundation and not built on anything else. Anything else is superfluous.

Paul’s problems are not over, though. Unfortunately, they are just beginning. Join me next time for more.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Many times, we feel that hardship is a hidden message that we need to change our direction. This was not the case with the apostle Paul. He followed the lead of the Holy Spirit despite the opposition and hardships he had to go through. His love for those he served and taught was far greater than the personal pain he went through to help them grow in the Lord. Let’s see some examples of this.

It seems after Paul arrived back in Antioch, Syria, after his second missionary journey, he spent little time there before again took off again. In 54 AD, only four years after he had begun his second journey, he left again going throughout Galatia and Phrygia (parts of what is today the country of Turkey) to strengthen believers in the churches he had established to ensure they were still growing and teaching correctly. Nero was now the reigning Roman emperor.

In the meanwhile, Apollos from Alexandria, Egypt, came to Ephesus. He was a very educated man and had a thorough understanding of the Scriptures, yet he did not know anything beyond the baptism that John the Baptist preached. Aquilla and Pricilla invited him to their home and told him about Jesus Christ and he was converted (Ac 18:24-16). When he went to the province of Achaia (this is where Corinth and Athens were located), he was able to publicly debate the Jewish leaders and teach about Jesus being the Messiah.

While Apollos was debating and teaching in Corinth, Paul continued his journey visiting the various churches he had established and worked his way back to Ephesus. He spent three months teaching in the synagogue there, but due to the obstinate nature of many of the Jews, he stopped teaching there and instead taught in a lecture hall owned by Tyrannus. He taught here for about two years. Many people, both Jews and Gentiles heard about Jesus Christ due to his teaching. God also did many miracles through the apostle Paul. The glory of God was so strong on Paul that even his clothing and handkerchiefs were able to cause healing to the sick and the removal of evil spirits (Ac 19:8-12).

Some Jewish men tried to copy what Paul did and cast out demons, but these men were beaten so badly by the demon possessed man that they barely escaped with their life—they were naked and bleeding from the encounter. This caused the name of Jesus to become held in high honor and many practicing sorcery burned their scrolls publicly (Ac 19:13-20).

While in Ephesus, Paul wrote, as far as we know, four letters to the church in Corinth. Two are lost to antiquity, but two are part of his New Testament epistles. The first letter to the church at Corinth, not part of Scripture, was written to encourage them not to participate with individuals who were immoral (1Co 5:9). This may have been due to the society in which they grew up and lived where immorality was part of their everyday culture with nothing wrong considered with such actions because prostitution in their temples was part of their worship of the various Greek gods with sexual pleasure and satisfaction being held in higher regard than moral purity. We don’t have any information about this letter except the reference he made to it in what we know as his epistle of 1st Corinthians. Paul received word that the church there was still having some serious problems that he knew should be addressed. In addition, a letter arrived from the church with a series of questions seeking his guidance (1Co 7:1). Paul then wrote what we know as 1st Corinthians to address these issues and these questions.

The overarching theme in Paul’s letter to Corinth we note as 1st Corinthians was sanctification and their lack of unity (1Co 1:10). He first has to deal with their division and reminds them that while men can have good and legitimate ministries, believers are to be united in Christ and not to a particular person. He also cautioned them to not view and take care of issues that may arise as the world would handle such issues but to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in all matters affecting the church and later goes into further detail about how they were bringing each other to civil court rather than dealing with such disputes as Christian brothers in Christ. He then dealt with immorality that existed in the church. He reminds them they are not to tolerate such behavior among believers and, if necessary, have the person removed from their congregation (1Co 5:9-11). While they had grown up with immorality as a common practice within Corithian society, they could no longer live that way as they had to reflect the righteousness of Christ. Because of their society, they had questions regarding marriage, divorce, and eating sacrificial meat made to idols.

Paul then addresses the proper way to handle the Lord’s Supper, what we call Communion today, as part of their worship service and addresses their concern regarding spiritual gifts and states that the church is like a human body where every member and every function is important, and one cannot be more important than another because they are interdependent. All gifts are important and should be used in concert for a given whole used in love for each other and love toward God. He then goes on to address the false idea that there is no resurrection from the dead. He emphasizes that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith, for if Christ was not raised then neither would we be raised. As Christ was raised from the dead with a new, glorified body, so will we.

Around 55 AD during Paul’s stay in Ephesus, he made a quick trip back to Corinth which he considered a painful visit (2Co 2:1), likely still dealing with the same man addressed in his first epistle (1Co 5:1). After getting back to Ephesus, Paul wrote another letter, again not part of Scripture, and sent this to the church at Corinth via Titus (2Co 7:8). Paul had intensions of going throughout Macedonia and Achaia before returning to Jerusalem and then to Rome, but he stayed in Ephesus awhile longer but sent Timothy and Erastus ahead of him into Macedonia, probably seeing if they could hear back from Titus any earlier.

In Ephesus there was a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines for Artemis, who many believed was the protector of Ephesus and was one of the main gods worshipped in this city. Because of the preaching of Paul and the conversion of so many Ephesians, Demetrius saw a decline in his business. Fewer and fewer people were buying these shrines. He called all the tradesmen in the city together and insinuated that all their businesses were in jeopardy if Paul was allowed to continue. Hed also stated Paul was putting their beloved goddess herself and her temple in danger of becoming discredited and robbing her of her divine majesty.

A riot ensued placing the whole city in an uproar but many of those participating in the commotion didn’t even know what the uproar was about (Ac 19:23). Some of Paul’s companions from Macedonia, Gaius and Aristarchus, were pulled into the open theater where the crowd had gathered. Paul wanted to enter and address the crowd but the disciples there and even some of the officials who had become friends of Paul advised him not to appear. The city clerk stepped in and quieted the crowd and told Demetrius that if he had any legal grounds for his concerns to bring them to the courts; otherwise, he and others would be charged with rioting which would serve no one. At that, the crowd disbanded.

When the commotion settled down, Paul said his goodbye to the disciples there to head out for Macedonia. It seems Paul was anxious to hear back from Titus concerning the congregation at Corinth and went to Troas where he preached hoping to meet Titus on his return trip (2Co 2:13). Not finding Titus there, Paul departed for Macedonia and met Titus in Philippi. He gave a favorable report but there was still an aggressive minority in Corinth opposed to Paul. Paul wrote 2nd Corinthians, likely from Philippi, to reinforce his authority as an apostle, to thank them for their favorable response to him, to remind them about giving to the poor in Judea and to instruct them in the proper attitude toward one who repents. Titus took this epistle back to the Corinthians and told them Paul had plans on visiting them soon.

As Titus went directly back to Corinth, Paul made a circuit through the churches in Macedonia to encourage them and then to Greece where he stayed for three months. Therefore, he most likely made it back to Corinth as he stated was his desire.

I think Paul’s example is humbling for us as we often give up with just a little adversity. This should give us pause as we reflect on all Paul did and what he went through and compare that to our own lives.

Next time, we’ll see some more evidence of his tenacity in his following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

We saw in other posts that Paul had to contend with false doctrine which tried to misconstrue the correct teachings about Jesus Christ. This time, we’ll see that he also had to contend with lies that were told about him to try and lead people away for the truth Paul had delivered to the churches he established.

When Paul arrived in Corinth in 51 AD, he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica because he was concerned about the church there as he had been forced out and had not had a lot of time with the new believers there (1Th 3:2-3). When Timothy returned, he reported good news of their faith but reported some issues as well (1Th 3:6-13). This is when Paul wrote his epistle of 1st Thessalonians so he could address these issues. Of course, the Jews who had caused Paul to leave the city spoke against Paul and used the argument that if Paul really cared for them, he would not have left them like he did.

This shows one of Satan’s most famous tactics, which is not new at all. He causes the issues and then uses those who he influences to be the one to bring the upset people solace and lead them astray once the Christian influence has been eliminated.

Paul defends his commitment to the Thessalonians by reminding them of what he had done for them and taught them, and because of his love for them, he sent Timothy to them as he was prevented time and again from returning himself. He thanks them for living pleasing to God and reminds them to avoid sexual immorality because those acts are displeasing to God (1Th 4:3-7). These people were living in a city where such events were part of their daily worship, so it was important to remind them to live differently from how they grew up. Paul then talks to them about some misunderstood ideas about what occurs at one’s death and about Christ’s imminent return (1Th 4:13-5:11).

Not long after writing his first letter to the Thessalonians, he wrote his second epistle, 2nd Thessalonians, to them as it seemed what he had written about Christ’s return was misconstrued by some. Evidently there were some people teaching falsely about Christ’s return stating that the Tribulation had already come and used Paul as their source of their facts regarding this. Paul wanted to set the record straight about this false teaching and that he was not the source of such doctrine (2Th 2:1-12).

He reminds them of what he had taught them. Before the Tribulation occurs, the “man of lawlessness,” the Antichrist would first be revealed. While the Satanic spirit of this lawless one is working in the world, the particular individual through whom Satan would work has not yet been revealed because the Holy Spirit is currently restraining his power. But one day, the Holy Spirit will remove his restraint, and the Antichrist will then be able to assume power.

Paul then encourages them to remain firm in the faith and in the truth of Jesus Christ which he had taught them. He then requests their prayers for the gospel to spread and warns them that no one should be idle in their work for the Lord but be engaged and active in pursing their relationship and growth in Christ (2Th 2:13-17).

After about eighteen months in Corinth, Paul, Silas, and Timothy set sail to go back to Syria. Priscilla and Aquilla went with them. He stopped in Ephesus where Priscilla and Aquilla stayed (Ac 18:19). While there, Paul preached in the synagogue. He was asked to stay longer, but he refused. After arriving back in Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem and met with those believers there and then went back to Antioch in Syria (Ac 18:22).

We can see how Satan uses multiple tactics to cause confusion and discord. May we ever strive to bring truth and harmony instead.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

The way God works is never haphazard even if may seem so to us on the surface. Let’s see if we can better understand God’s plan in working with the Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire. His plan was quite genius, really. God’s first step was to have Jews spread throughout the Roman Empire. This is why he stated that salvation was first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (Ro 1:16). The Jews were the ones who brought God’s teachings of morality and right living to the known world. Let’s think about the Gentile culture, whether that be Greek or Roman. The Greeks sought knowledge. We see in Athens the Areopagus (or Mars Hill) was dedicated to the art of debate so that the citizens could understand important knowledge taught by the very best minds (Ac 17:22). Romans were more about might and strength. The gods of both cultures typified physical beauty, strength, virility, allurement, and seduction. The people’s worship of these gods was that as well.

Paul dealt with this issue with the Corinthians as well as they were simultaneously living in sexual immorality and trying to live as Christians (1Co 5:1). They had a difficult time in understanding that their ways prior to becoming a Christian were wrong because they grew up with this being the standard way of worship. For example, Corinth had a separate temple for each of ten different gods (including one to Caesar) with each temple in interconnecting lush foliage looking beautiful but hiding much darkness.

This was also where the temple to Aphrodite resided high on the outcropping of the city with other temples below it, all within a beautiful garden-type area for people to enjoy. The temple for Aphrodite housed both female and male shrine prostitutes, considered sacred, allowing one to indulge in one’s physical lusts as a sacred act which pleased the gods, gave the people favor, and the gods would bless their families and crops through their offerings of animals and their offering of themselves in such acts. Becoming a temple prostitute was looked on with favor, one who was blessed by the gods. This was a lot for Christianity to overcome. Yet, some were conducting sexual practices that were considered wrong by even their pre-conversion societal standards (1Co 5:1). Yet, the Gnostics taught that this was okay because the physical had no bearing on the spiritual. Paul made several counter arguments against this teaching (1Co 5:9-12; 6:18-20). On his third missionary journey, Paul visited Corinth several times and wrote to them about this issue and other issues, like unity within Christ (1Co 1:10), required by being a bride of Christ (2Co 11:2).

The same is true today. Many people, supposedly believers in Christ, don’t know that living together before marriage, or sex outside of marriage is wrong. Sexual impurity is again not relevant in their minds. Plus, unity is even further apart than in Paul’s day. Not only do we have disunity between Jew and non-Jew Christians, but between Christian denominations as well. Are we really behaving like a true bride? Does a bridegroom want a schizophrenic bride to love and cherish? We need a mind and worldview renewal in order to be Christ’s pure bride (Ep 4:11-13).

We also need to appreciate the two main false doctrines that Paul and those with him had to constantly contend with. Throughout Paul’s evangelistic missionary journeys, he had a battle with both sides of the morality issue teaching their beliefs after he left a region. On one side, Judaizers traveled behind Paul and taught one must become a Jewish proselyte by being circumcised and obey all the Laws of Moses before one could accept Christ as Savior. In their eyes, living morally was a necessary first step before believing in Jesus and his sacrifice for sins.  To them, physical works were important and necessary. This was the problem that Christ tried to deal with the Jews when he was among them. One cannot become righteous by one’s own efforts (Ep 2:8-9). Christ’s death liberated them from this misconception, but many taught otherwise. Paul fought hard to teach against such a man-made requirement and wanted to let the Gentile believers know of their Christian liberty, which had been validated by the Jerusalem Council, did not require such things. Paul stated he even had to reprimand Peter in this regard (Ga 2:11-14). This was a hard lesson for many Jews to comprehend.

On the other hand, Gnostics also traveled behind Paul and taught their philosophy of how to explain the nature of God, creation, good and evil, man, and the purpose of life. Their teachings were deceptive because Gnosticism was able to be combined with Paul’s teachings of Christianity to make it sound similar to what Paul taught but be off enough to be something completely different (1Co 2:6-8; Ep 2:8-9; Cl 2:8; 1Ti 6:20). This took the focus from Christ and his redemptive work and made it more about man and how to uncover the good from within and discover the secret mysteries about the essence of God. To them, spiritual works were important. Gnosticism taught Jesus Christ was a step in the process of understanding universal mysteries but did not teach the necessity of Christ’s transforming power or the receipt of the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul stated to the Colossians that he wished for them to understand the knowledge of God’s will and his wisdom and spiritual understanding (Cl 1:9). They didn’t need to look within themselves but to Jesus Christ who was the one who reveals who God really is. Salvation comes by Jesus and his blood. Not from ourselves (Cl 1:13-14).

How does one ensure they are not succumbed by a false belief or doctrine? As Paul taught, God’s truth is not complicated. Anyone who teaches any doctrine other than the belief in Jesus Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection should be avoided (Ga 1:8; 1Ti 6:3-5; Tt 1:9). His death paid our sin debt (1Jn 2:2), his burial settled our punishment (Hb 2:9; 1Pt 3:18), and his resurrection makes us entirely new (Ep 2:4-7). We are declared righteous because of our belief in his righteousness and not by anything we can do (Ro 3:24).

We are transformed by first realizing our plight. We are born into Satan’s kingdom and need to be transferred into God’s kingdom. We don’t, and can’t, decide which kingdom to be in. As Christ stated, we are already condemned because we are born into Satan’s kingdom (Jn 3:18). We can only get out of his kingdom by submitting to Christ’s death burial and resurrection realizing that his payment alone for our sin is what can save us out of our plight (2Co 5:17). The Holy Spirit then indwells us and transfers us from Satan’s kingdom to Christ’s kingdom (Ep 1:13-14) and empowers us to be victors over Satan’s schemes with the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Ep 1:19-20). This is what the true church is all about. This is what the Holy Spirit desires us to focus on. This is what changes lives. Ask yourself: Are you focusing on the right thing? The Holy Spirit is asking us to follow his leading. May we continue to do so.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Sometimes we can get stifled in our desired progress because of the adversity that comes our way. Paul was an exception to this. He did not focus on the adversity which came against him and his work. He focused upon God and what he believed the Holy Spirit wanted him to do and went in what direction he felt the Holy Spirit lead. Let’s look at some examples.

Once Paul returned to Antioch from the Jerusalem Council, he wrote his epistle to the Galatians. He wanted to let the Gentile believers know of their Christian liberty which had been validated by the Jerusalem Council and to refute those who were insisting they as Gentile believers first had to become Jews. He called these people Judaizers as they were teaching that a Gentile could not become a Christian if they did not first become a Jewish proselyte. These were likely those Jews who had followed him on his first missionary journey to get those in Lystra to turn on Paul and stone him. This thought process was true for many Jewish Christians in Jerusalem as well. While he and Barnabas returned to Antioch, these Jews had gone to the same churches he had visited to refute what Paul had told them. The letter of Galatians was Paul’s rebuttal to defend his apostolic role which God himself had bestowed upon him and to let them know that salvation is by faith alone apart from works: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Ga 2:15-16).

Three years after his first missionary journey, Paul began his second in 50 AD, but with great controversy as to who would be his companion. He wanted to take Barnabas with him again, but Barnabas was adamant that John Mark would accompany them. Yet, Paul was adamant that they not take him. This caused a split between them and Paul wound up taking Silas (Ac 15:39-41). Barnabas took John Mark and set sail for Cyprus. We don’t know the destinations of the journey of Barnabas and John Mark, but we do know that Paul and Silas go through Syria into Cilicia revisiting the churches Paul established on his first missionary journey. When they got to Lystra, it was found that Timothy was well respected by the believers there. Paul asked Timothy to accompany him and Silas on their journey and he did. Because Timothy was half-Jewish, he encouraged Timothy to become circumcised so that he could better minister to the Jewish citizens in the towns in which they visited (Ac 16:1-5).

Timothy traveled with them throughout Phrygia and Galatia, territories in what we today know as the country of Turkey. The Holy Spirit prevented Paul from preaching in other provinces in this area at this time. Instead, he had a vision of a Macedonian man asking for help while he was staying in Troas, a city on the western shore of this area. This is also the time that he meets Luke who accompanies Paul on his journey. Taking his dream as a sign from the Holy Spirit, they sailed to the Grecian coast and wound up in the city of Philippi (Ac 16:6-12).

This is two-fold lesson for us. God does not require us to do everything. Just as God had someone else in mind to minister to these other regions where Paul was not allowed to go, God sometimes restricts our reach as well. Also, we need to heed the leading of the Holy Spirit which will then yield the outcome God has in mind for us.

In Philippi, Paul and company met Lydia who accepted Christ from their teaching and provided lodging for them (Ac 16:13-15). The people of the church established here became dear friends of Paul and often supported him—both monetarily as well as prayerfully. While here, he delivered a woman from possession by a soothsayer demon. Her handler got very angry and falsified charges to have Paul and Silas placed in prison. While in prison, God sent an earthquake which allowed Paul to minister to the prison warden. Both he and his whole household became Christians. Because Paul was a Roman citizen, the officials became worried Paul might bring charges against them for putting him in prison without a trial. If he did, they would be in big trouble, so they tried to smooth things over and asked him to leave their city (Ac 16:16-40).

Paul, Silas, and Timothy moved on to Thessalonica where Paul preached in the synagogue there for several weeks. Thessalonica was a Roman city but also had a large Jewish population with a total population of around 200,000 people. Not far from this city stood Mt. Olympus which accounted for the city’s devotion to many of the Greek pantheon of gods. Yet, this did not decrease the people’s hunger for what Paul was preaching to them. Because so many people were listening to Paul, the Jewish leaders became jealous of him and created a riot and blamed it on Paul. The believers there hid Paul, Silas, and Timothy and sent them out of the city at nightfall (Ac 17:1-10).

They then entered the city of Berea where the people were very receptive to Paul’s teachings, but the Jews from Thessalonica went to Berea and stirred up false accusations against Paul. The believers there escorted Paul to Athens, but Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. Once in Athens, Paul sent for Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens (Ac 17:11-15).

In Athens, Paul preached to the people in Athens about the monument he discovered within the city which was dedicated to An Unknown God. Seeing their religiosity, he used the platform of the Areopagus, a place for debate about various topics, as a way to explain to them that Jesus Christ was the Unknown God whom they needed to know. Several people, including some of prominence, accepted what he said and became converted (Ac 17:16-34).

After leaving Athens, he entered Corinth and met Aquilla and Pricillia. Both Aquilla and Paul had the profession of tent making in common, which caused a quick bond between them as well as them also being believers. They had come to Corinth because Claudius Caesar had ordered all Jews to leave Rome (Ac 18:1-4).

Paul spent a year and a half here in Corinth because God revealed to him that no harm would come to him, and many would come to Christ. Some tried to bring charges against Paul, but the proconsul of the region did not take them seriously (Ac 18:5-17).

Would we be so calm as Paul seemed to be during such struggles? He had a very tight relationship with God and the Holy Spirit who were able to quell his fears and anxiety. Feeling the confidence the Holy Spirit gave him allowed him to continue without fearing the outcome. May we be able to do the same.

Next time, we’ll look at how what Paul was doing was all part of God’s plan and how he had been working on this plan for a very long time—even before Paul was ever on the scene. I hope you join me for that discussion.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Most of Jesus’ apostles served in Jerusalem, at least initially. We don’t have a lot of information within Scripture about their activities. Let’s start out looking what God was doing with the Apostle Paul who had been called by God to minister to Gentiles.

After serving the church in Antioch for a year, Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey in 47 AD. John Mark, a nephew of Barnabas, went with them, but turned back after they sailed from Cyprus and reached Pamphylia, a region on the southern coast of what we know as Turkey today (Ac 13:13). Paul and Barnabas first taught in the synagogues wherever they went within the region of Pamphylia and Galatia and then would preach to the Gentiles and anyone who wanted to listen. Many of the Jewish leaders became jealous of Paul and Barnabas’ success and would follow them to whatever city they went to try and get the people to reject their teaching (Ac 13:19). They were able to get the people of Lystra to turn against Paul and the citizens of that city stoned him. Yet this is also where Timothy heard Paul and became a Christian (Ac 16:1).

Once back at Antioch in 49 AD, some visitors from Jerusalem taught that the Gentiles must first convert to Judaism before they could become Christians (Ac 15:1). This elicited so much pushback from Paul and Barnabas that they were sent to Jerusalem to debate this issue with the Church Council in Jerusalem. Titus, a Greek, also accompanied them to Jerusalem. From what Paul told the Council about his and Barnabas’ experience in Asia Minor and Peter’s encounter with Cornelius, the Council realized that God was working mightily with the Gentiles and had them receive the Holy Spirit without having to become a Jewish proselyte first. The Council concluded that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised but should abstain from meat offered to idols or from strangled animals, from blood, and from sexual immorality (Ac 15:20, 23-29). They also recognized that Paul had been called by God to the Gentiles and Peter called to his Jewish brethren (Ga 2:7-9).

Barnabas had his nephew, John Mark, return to Antioch with them. When Paul got back to Antioch, he read them the letter and the people rejoiced in the support they were given. Apparently, several people from Jerusalem came and helped teach at this time. One was Peter himself, but Paul had to reprimand Peter publicly because he was showing favoritism toward the Jewish Christians over the Gentile Christians (Ga 2:14). It seems Peter, as well as many other Jews, had a hard time with being on equal spiritual footing with Gentiles. While he believed it, this did not make it any easier for him to implement. He became cliquish without even realizing he was doing so until it was pointed out to him.

This can be true for us as well. Often, we are cliquish by clinging to the familiar with Christian friends rather than reaching out to those who don’t know Christ. We need to understand that we are Christ’s ambassadors in this world (2Co 5:20). We are in the world but not of it (Jn 17:16). We are to be the promoters of Christ’s kingdom to those not yet of it and don’t even realize it is something to which they have access or even need (Ro 8:7).

This was likely near the time that the twelve apostles began their evangelistic ministry outside Jerusalem. Most of the disciples continued to minister to Jews with many going east into Parthia as there was a large Jewish contingent still there from the time of their original exile into Assyria and Babylon. Here is a brief description of what some Biblical texts and tradition states about the twelve disciples (most of this information is from McBirnie’s book Search for the Twelve Apostles):

Peter: became a pillar of the church in Jerusalem along with James, the half-brother of Jesus, and ministered to Jews in Babylon and in the northern part of what we today call Turkey.

Andrew: went to Scythia (land mainly between and just north of the Black and Caspian Seas) and ministered to the Jews there and possibly died a martyr’s death—possibly stoned and crucified. There are some who say that he later went to Asia Minor (today the country of Turkey) and spent time in Ephesus with John and later went to Greece where he won a Grecian governor’s wife to Christ which so angered the man that he had Andrew crucified in Patras.

James: was martyred early by King Agrippa I around 44 A.D. There are some who say that before this he traveled with Peter to India to preach to Jews who had been scattered there.

John: he moved to Ephesus prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and likely took Mary, the mother of Jesus with him. We know he opposed emperor worship which got him exiled to the isle of Patmos by emperor Domitian. After Domitian’s death, he was allowed to return to Ephesus where he died of natural causes.

Philip: went to Scythia and ministered to the Jews there for twenty years. It would seem fitting that he and Andrew would be there together as they had known each other since their time being disciples of John the Baptist. Later in his life, he apparently went to Phrygia (part of today’s Turkey) and died in Hierapolis, possibly a martyr’s death (stoning and crucifixion) due to him standing up against the city’s idolatry.

Bartholomew (Nathanael): He apparently went to parts of India for a time to preach Jesus to Jews found there. It seems he later went to Hierapolis to be with Philip. He apparently was arrested with Philip but for some reason was released. He arrived in Armenia (land between and just south of the Black and Caspian Seas) sometime later where he met a martyr’s death of crucifixion.

Thomas: he became a central figure of the apostolic movement eastward from Jerusalem and spent much time in Babylon and later ministered in parts of India establishing many churches along the way. He was martyred somewhere in India by being thrust through by a lance.

Matthew: There is much controversy as to what happened to Matthew. It is thought he went to Ethiopia. Yet, there were two: one in Africa and one in Parthia, just south of the Caspian Sea. Since there is a tradition that a copy of his gospel reached India, it would seem he likely ministered in Parthia rather than in Africa. There is also some who say he had many confrontations with the Sanhedrin in Alexandria, Egypt. Some say he died a natural death, and this may have occurred in Egypt.

James, the son of Alphaeus (James the Less, or James the Younger): he may have served as a leader in the Syrian church at Antioch and it is believed he was stoned by Jews for preaching Christ and was buried in Jerusalem.

Thaddaeus (Jude): It is thought he originally ministered in Syria living in Damascus and then in Armenia, likely with Barthalomew and Thomas for a time, and is thought to have been martyred when he returned to Syria by being killed by magicians who were enraged by the destruction of their idols using a halberd (type of hand-held axe) or club.

Simon the Zealot: It is thought he traveled to Egypt, through North Africa to Carthage, to Spain and then to Britain. He likely did not stay long in Britain but returned to Persia where he ministered with Thaddaeus in Syria and Mesopotamia. It is believed he was martyred by being sawn asunder.

Matthias: He was the one who replaced Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve. It is believed he helped to evangelize Armenia and later ministered in Damascus in Syria and died in Phaleaon, a city in Judea, by stoning.

As we can see, Christ’s original eleven, and Matthias replacing Judas, mainly served their fellow Jews to try and win them over to Christ, although they did witness to many Gentiles in that process. They each remained faithful and never failed to be a true witness about their Lord and Savior even at the cost of their very lives.

Do we have the same drive and commitment. May we be that if the time ever comes to make such a drastic decision if and when adversity comes out way. Next time, we’ll look at adversity that followed Paul and how he worked through it. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Satan is good at distractions. The interesting thing about his distractions is that we don’t even know they are distractions. Let’s see a few of them as the Early Church was beginning to get started.

When Phasaelis, Herod Antipas’ Nabatean wife, discovers Antipas’ plans to divorce her and marry Herodias, the granddaughter of Herod the Great, she goes back to her father in Petra to inform him. Phasaelis’ father, Aretas IV, doesn’t take the news well. To him it was an insult, so he brings his Arabian army against Antipas around 36 AD. Philip the Tetrarch had died about two years earlier with his territory going back to Syria. This actual fight was slightly after Paul was in Damascus. Likely, a Nabatean contingent was housed there to prepare for battle. The Jewish leaders may have used the Nabatean governor in Damascus to help with their desire to now get rid of Paul as, according to their thinking, he had betrayed them. That way, they did not need to be beholden to Rome or explain themselves to Roman authorities.

Aretas IV defeated Antipas’ army at Gamala, north of Galilee, but apparently did not remove Antipas from power as he later vied for even more power from a later Roman emperor. Tiberias Caesar in Rome ordered the destruction of Aretas IV but died before this could occur so his command was never carried out. Caligula then began to reign in Rome in 37 AD.

During this time, Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great and brother of Herodias, is educated in Rome and befriends Caligula who agrees to give him his uncle Philip’s previous territory north and east of the Sea of Galilee and bestow on him the title of king. Hearing that Caligula was going to make Agrippa a king, Antipas tries to usurp him and get the title for himself. In the end, Antipas gets banished to Gaul (what is today France) and all of Antipas’ territories were given to Agrippa I as well. Before Caligula could bestow him the title of king, Caligula is assassinated.

Agrippa I then becomes instrumental in getting Claudius to become the next Caesar. Because of his favor, Claudius bestows the land of Idumea, Judea and Samaria to Agrippa’s kingdom as well. In the end, Herod Agrippa I ruled the same territory as his grandfather, Herod the Great.

As the new king of the Jews, Herod Agrippa I had several people from the Church in Jerusalem arrested and had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword in 44 AD (Ac 12:2). Seeing that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he also had Peter arrested (Ac 12:3). Yet, God sent an angel and had Peter released from prison (Ac 12:5-19). When Herod Agrippa I was in Caesarea Maritima, God struck him down after he gave a rousing speech where he tried to portray himself as a god (Ac 12:19-23). He later died, likely from parasites.

As all of this was going on, many Gentiles became followers of Christ at Antioch in Syria due to the witness of the Jewish Christians who had come there from Jerusalem and other places due to their persecution. Hearing of this, the Jerusalem Church sent Barnabas to investigate. Being impressed with what he saw, he went to Tarsus and brought Paul back to Antioch where they ministered together (Ac 11: 19-26). Note: It seems from this time forth, Saul used his Latin name Paul almost exclusively.

About a year later, in 45 AD, is the time when the epistle of James was written from Jerusalem by James himself, the half-brother of Jesus, to those Christians who had been scattered to various places due to the stoning of Stephen and the persecution of Christians brought on by Saul of Tarsus (Ja 1:1). There were very few Gentiles who were a part of the church at this time.

These Jewish believers had apparently gone too far from doing away with their Jewish mindset of actions being more important than inward belief, which Jesus had accused the Jewish leaders of doing (e.g. Mt 23:27-28). James gave a reprimand so these Jewish believers in Christ could understand that they needed to keep their Jewish mindset of deeds being important but also incorporate their inward beliefs of Christ’s teachings and let their inward change be manifested and shown to others by their actions (Ja 2:18). James’ words were also a reprimand for the Gnostic beliefs that had already begun to arise, likely through the teachings of Simon Magus.

This is a lesson for us as well that we need to let our actions reveal our inward belief in Christ. James was basically saying what Christ told them: they will know you are followers of Christ by your love (Jn 13:35).

This was also about the time Matthew released his gospel which he wrote about Jesus Christ being their long-awaited Messianic King. It makes sense it would be at this time when the majority of the church was composed of Jews. His gospel presented Jesus in the light of being the coming King which all Old Testament prophets prophesied about with Jesus fulfilling all the prophecies that had been prescribed to their coming Messiah. He has over fifty Old Testament quotes in his gospel and over 40% of his writing is unique to his gospel.

As you can see, there were many potential distractions for those in the early church from the political chaos that was going on around them and figuring out how to live in this new age of persecution. James tried to get them to focus on what was important. May we do the same. We have so many things going on around us that we can take our focus off what is important spiritually. Let’s do what James told the Jewish believers to do: show Jesus to others by your love for them. At this same time, God was working with the Gentiles to bring them to himself.

Cornelius, a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea who had become a devout believer in God but, evidently, not a Jewish proselyte, has an angelic visitation telling him to send for Peter who was currently staying in Joppa (Ac 10:1-8). This is when Peter had his vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven with all kinds of animals which Peter knew as unclean animals. God told him not to call anything unclean whom God had made clean (Ac 10:9-16). When Cornelius’ men arrived, he went with them and told Cornelius and his household about Christ, and they accepted Christ as their Savior and received the Holy Spirit with a sign of speaking in tongues without ever becoming Jewish proselytes (i.e., no circumcision). Peter then knew this was the interpretation to his vision which God had sent him (Ac 10:44-48).

Through all of what we went over in the last few posts, we see how Satan continues to work in world affairs. He turned the world of the Jews upside down by placing the birthright of Esau back over the descendants of Jacob eventually leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and their temple. Yet, God’s plan went around Satan’s plan. It was a better plan and one that not only was good for the Jews, his chosen people, but good for the entire world. His plan was to first fulfill the spiritual prophecies of his coming before he would take care of physical prophecies of his coming. This was important because his act of dying on the cross took care of the sin problem we have. We are all born into Satan’s kingdom and must make a decision to be switched from Satan’s kingdom into God’s kingdom (Jn 3:18; Ro 5:12). Christ paved the way for that to occur. He paid our ransom, our blood-debt, so that we don’t have to, and he was able to do that for the entire world (Jn 3:16). So, by a simple act of faith on our part, we can be declared righteous and become a join-heir with Christ and inherit eternal life here and in the life to come (Ro 8:12-17). We are given the Holy Spirit to indwell us so we can become more like him in our day to day lives and be his ambassadors to the rest of the world to let them know the good news of Jesus Christ and what he has done for them just as he did for us (2Co 5:20).

We have been talking about how the church began to form, but what about the rest of Jesus’ apostles? We know that Paul was designated the apostle to the Gentiles (Ac 9:15; Ga 2:7) and that Peter was stated to be the apostle to the Jews (Ga 2:7). What about the other apostles? We’ll discuss that next time. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens