| Acts 16 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Acts 15:22–24 in Latin (left column) and Greek (right column) inCodex Laudianus, written about AD 550. | |
| Book | Acts of the Apostles |
| Category | Church history |
| Christian Bible part | New Testament |
| Order in the Christian part | 5 |
Acts 16 is the sixteenth chapter of theActs of the Apostles in theNew Testament of theChristianBible. It records the start of the second missionary journey ofPaul, together withSilas andTimothy. The book containing this chapter isanonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed thatLuke composed this book as well as theGospel of Luke.[1]
The original text was written inKoine Greek. Thischapter is divided into 40 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
This chapter mentions the following places (in order of appearance):
The second missionary journey of Paul started aroundAD 49.[6]
One of Paul's most trusted and well-known co-workers (Romans 16:21), Timothy is mentioned in the epistles to the churches inRome andCorinth, to theHebrews and cited as co-author of the letters to Philippi, Thessalonica (2 epistles), Philemon, and Colossae.
The apostolic decree from theCouncil of Jerusalem (Greek plural: δογματα (dogmata), commonly used for a "formal decision by a civic assembly") is mentioned for the last time. The decree itself was addressed to "the Gentiles inAntioch,Syria, andCilicia",[10] but Luke also considered it relevant to the churches in this wider area.[11]
This section records the journey out of Paul's previous mission area ('region of Phrygia and Galatia' in verse 6) in the center and southern part ofAnatolia, approaching the north-west corner ofAsia Minor following ancient trade routes, one of which reached north of Antioch, leading "westwards down theLycus Valley towardsEphesus".[11] TheRoman roads north ofAntioch inPisidia were built in a later period. At two points, the direction of the travel was determined by theHoly Spirit (verse 6); the term is "clearly interchangeable" with "the Spirit of Jesus" (verse 7): firstly, not to take the road that could lead westward toSmyrna, and secondly not to take the other road leading northwards toBithynia andPontus, but to follow the road towardsTroas.[11]
The absence of a preaching account along this part of the journey indicates that they were continually waiting for guidance, which finally came to Paul when they arrived in the port city ofTroas, in a vision of a call for help from the man of Macedonia.[11]
Verse 9 records a vision in which the Paul is said to have seen a 'man of Macedonia' pleading with him to "come over to Macedonia and help" them. Although it came at night, Paul is said to have a "vision", not a dream (inNew Testament, dreams were only linked toJoseph andPontius Pilate's wife).[12] The passage reports that Paul and his companions responded immediately to the invitation. It is considered to echoJoshua 10:6 in which the men ofGibeon sent toJoshua saying " ... come up to us quickly, save us and help us".[13] Thefirst seal of Massachusetts Bay Colony had anAmerican Indian with ascroll coming out over his mouth with the words "Come over and help us", also said to echo the words of the man of Macedonia.[14]
The details of sea travel include the specific jargon of seafaring ('set sail', 'took a straight course', verse 11) and everyport of call (Samothrace,Neapolis). From Neapolis, the journey is by land alongVia Egnatia, theRoman road connecting the northernAegean cities (Philippi, as well asAmphipolis,Apollonia, andThessalonica inActs 17:1) to the ports atAdriatic Sea.[17]
Philippi was a Roman colony, originally settled by Roman army veterans with Roman magistrates and laws.[19]
The independent status ofLydia as a trader and householder (verse 15) was not unusual for women among the 'traveling merchants and artisans' in most Greek cities of the ancient world and such women often became 'patron and benefactor to Jewish and other immigrant communities'.[19]
The passage refers of woman who was possessed by a spirit of divination, whose nature remains unclear. Paul ordered to the spirit to come out of her and this happened in the Name of Jesus Christ, like apostles were called to do against demons (Mark 16:16–18). Nevertheless, the spirit of divination (Ancient Greek:πνεῦμα Πύθωνα,romanized: pneumaPythōna[26]) affirmed for some days that Paul and Silas were servants of the Most High God.
The dramatic scenes of Paul's imprisonment and escape in Philippi mirrors Peter's experience in Jerusalem (Acts 12:6—17). The singing hymn in prison is similar to the act of the philosopher Socrates (Epict. Diss. 2.6.26—7) and the rescue by divine intervention because of faithfulness to God is like that of the prophet Daniel and his friends (cf.Daniel 3,Daniel 6). Instead of escaping during earthquake, Paul honorably stayed inside (by implication also keeping the other prisoners in place) so he could prevent the jailer to commit a shame-induced suicide (verse 28) and brought change in this person's life: treating his prisoners with honor (verse 30; disregarding his original orders in verse 23), washing their wounds (verse 33) and inquiring them about salvation (verse 30). Paul's 'shameful experience of prison' was turned into a successful mission (verse 32), even in the middle of the night (verses 25, 33), that the jailer 'with his entire household' became a 'paradigmatic convert' (stressed three times in verses 32, 33, 34), baptized, 'sharing table-fellowship', and 'rejoicing' (verses 33, 34).[19]
When the 'police' (Greek:rhabdouchoi, "lictors", verse 35) came to order the jailer to release him, Paul chose this time to reveal his Roman citizenship (cf.Acts 22:22–29;25:1–12), which higher standards of legal treatment than other people in the empire should prevent him and his companion to be publicly humiliated, and the violation of this could result in severe punishment for the magistrates (verse 37).[28] A complete role-reversal then happened with the magistrates coming to 'apologize' to Paul (better translation: "implore", from Greek:parekalesan, verse 39), vindicating Paul's faithfulness to God who can turn around potentially humiliating situations into honor.[19]
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