Acts 16 - The Journey to Philippi

NEW TEACHING

Acts 16 – The Journey to Philippi The Apostle Paul and the authority of Rome Kelvin Beer-Jones 10/1/2012

Early Quakers did not just find comfort in reading the Bible. The testimonies recounted in the Bible gave sometimes profound meaning to Quaker experiences and they often shaped their responses to troubled times strengthening Quakers’ resolve to live differently. The Bible was the pattern for their inspirational lives. The recording of the Apostle Paul’s experiences at Philippi provides a good example of the relationship between the experiences of Early Quakers and the Bible testimonies.

Table of contents

The story begins at Acts 15.36. It is the year 50 AD. ................................................................................... 2 Setting out .................................................................................................................................................. 5 The Council of Jerusalem ............................................................................................................................ 8 Philippi – More Roman than Rome ........................................................................................................... 14 Julia Felix................................................................................................................................................... 17 And so to prison ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Early Quaker parallels ............................................................................................................................... 20 What must I do to be saved? .................................................................................................................... 22 Postscript .................................................................................................................................................. 24

All photographs copyright and courtesy of www.Biblos.com the on line biblical resource centre

The story begins; it is the year 50 AD. We know that the point in time at which the story begins is ‘some days’ after the visit to Antioch which occurred immediately following the Council of Jerusalem (as described in Acts 15.2). Galatians 2.1 places the Jerusalem Council at 14 years after Paul’s conversion. That date can then be back calculated to be in 36 AD, and this seems to be a terminus ante quem. Therefore setting the events narrated in Acts 16 in the year 50 AD seems plausible.

It is usually by means of calculating backwards and forwards from verifiable events in this way that the events difficult to place in time that are described in the Bible are often calculated to have taken place. Frequently historians can establish a verifiable date before which an event cannot have taken place and this is called the terminus ante quem. Similarly the date after which the event cannot have taken place is said to be the terminus post quem.

We begin our story at Acts 15.36 and not Acts 16.1 because the division of the NT texts into chapters occurred sometime after the writing of the earliest available sources. It is therefore reasonable to look for story beginnings and endings where they actually begin and end in the text and these may not be at the more modern chapter divisions.

The story begins with a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and that refers back to an event that took place at Perga in Pamphylia (in southern Turkey) during Paul’s first journey. This is recounted in Acts 13.13-14. Here we are simply told that Paul and the others set sail from Paphos to Perga and then, “John left them and returned to Jerusalem”.

This seemingly unremarkable event now becomes the agent provocateur at the beginning of the story of the second journey that provides Luke with the context in which to explore the personalities of the community around Paul.

Luke builds up a complex picture of the personality of Paul in particular because (I will argue) that is central to the meaning of the story of Acts 16. That he builds up his portrayal of Paul here at Acts 15.36 by referring both backwards to Acts 13.13 and forwards to Acts 21.10 (see below) is witness to Luke’s skill as a story teller.

Paul is portrayed as determined, inflexible and easy to fall out with. The attributes of Paul’s character described here before the journey begins will give considerable force to the drama at Philippi which is about to unfold.

We are expected to be surprised by Luke’s description of Paul here. Luke does not make Paul look impressive by the standards of his day and indeed this description may even have made first readers of Acts wince. In the first century AD the behaviour of great men was almost universally described in accordance with an established and rigid formulaic tradition In other contemporaneous texts a ‘leader’ would almost always be described as virtuous, noble, measured and calm. This would be set out in highly stylised and strictly coded language. Here however, the writer of Acts is showing us a radically

different Paul. Luke deliberately shows us a portrayal of the Christian leader in a way that undermines the accepted tradition. This portrayal of Paul is not just an attempt at a life like rendition, it is central to the early Christian debunking of worldly status, privilege and accepted values. It is core to Paul Mission and it will be demonstrated thrillingly by Paul when he reaches Philippi.

Therefore I would argue that the prequel to the Second Journey not only provides a natural starting point to the story of Paul’s Second Journey, it sets out one of the main purposes behind the story to unfold. The story shows a model of leadership by Paul that is radically the opposite of the expected leadership role models of the time. Early Quakers were also very sensitive to and took up with enthusiasm, similar characterisations of leadership qualities in the seventeenth Century, as those imputed by the writer of Acts to the Apostle Paul here. Early Quakers did so with a view to undermining the sources and symbols of the authority of men in both the Church and civil society around them, very much as they believed that Paul was shown to be doing in the Second Journey described in Act’s and in particular in Pauls imprisonment at Philippi.

Paul prepares to set out from the poor quarter of Jerusalem (Act 15:36 NRSV) After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing."

(Act 15:37 NRSV) Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.

(Act 15:38 NRSV) But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

(Act 15:39 NRSV) The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

At the start of the prequel at Acts 15.36 we were invited to look back to Acts 13.13 in order that the character of Paul may be further built up. We can also look forward to Acts 21.10 to see if later accounts reinforce the picture of Paul that the writer seems to be carefully developing at the start of the Second Journey. Acts 21 takes us forward to Pauls Third Journey and here we find another cameo of Paul’s behaviour, and especially how those around him respond to his behaviour. The characterisation here reinforces that of Acts 13.13 and Acts 15.36.

(Act 21:10 NRSV) While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

(Act 21:11 NRSV) He came to us and took Paul's belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"

(Act 21:12 NRSV) When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

(Act 21:13 NRSV) Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

(Act 21:14 NRSV) Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, "The Lord's will be done."

This look forward to a Third Journey cameo of the personality of Paul completes our assessment of the prologue and readers are now alert to both the strength of Paul’s personality and the portrayal of his leadership, which is described essentially without worldly praise. The story will now develop as a radical challenge to elite Roman authority structures.

Setting out (Act 15:40 NRSV) But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord.

The team would have left a house very like this modern one (Act 15:41 NRSV) He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Modern day Antioch

Antioch in the First Century

Houses in modern Antioch are similar to ancient houses

Tarsus, Paul’s home

The Council of Jerusalem Timothy enters the story here and he is to become one of Paul’s closest companions. He is mentioned as co-worker and brother in both Romans and Corinthians, he is co-author of Philippians, Thessalonians, Philemon and Colossae. How Luke here introduces Timothy is perhaps important. That takes place within the context of the major controversy that the early followers of Jesus contended with and which was addressed at the Council of Jerusalem, whether gentile boys who joined the new church should be circumcised like their Hebrew counterparts.

Pauls stated missionary purpose on this journey is to report to the groups throughout the diaspora about the ruling determined at the Council of Jerusalem with regard to Gentile circumcision. Timothy’s personal situation therefore presents Paul with a conundrum because Timothy both qualifies as Gentile by virtue of his Greek father, and he is also Jewish because his Mother is Jewish. How will Paul determine Timothy’s situation in the light of the Jerusalem Councils ruling?

Timothy’s introduction offers a test of Paul’s intellectual capacity as well as his duty of conformity to the Council of Jerusalem. The writer of Acts uses this opportunity to show to us Pauls mind at work in a problematic situation. Paul has Timothy circumcised. The writer ensures that we relate Paul’s actions here to the ruling of the Council of Jerusalem by reminding us of that ruling alongside the recounting of Timothy’s circumcision.

(Act 16:1 NRSV) Paul went on also to Derbe

A modern house in Derbe

and to Lystra,

The ruins at Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek.

(Act 16:2 NRSV) He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium.

(Act 16:3 NRSV) Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

(Act 16:4 NRSV) As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

The ruling of the Council of Jerusalem reprised here in Acts 16.4 is recorded at Acts 15.19.

(Act 15:19 NRSV) [James] Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, (Act 15:20 NRSV) but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.

(Act 16:5 NRSV) So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

We have now, at it were, dealt at some length with the importance and impact on the communities of the ruling of the Council of Jerusalem and Paul has been shown to be compliant with the Council, even in the difficult matter of Timothy’s circumcision.

From Lystra to Troas, led by the spirit (Act 16:6 NRSV) They went through the region of Phrygia

Modern Phrygia and Galatia,

Modern Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

(Act 16:7 NRSV) When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;

(Act 16:8 NRSV) so, passing by Mysia,

Mysia today they went down to Troas.

Modern Troas, looking out to sea

The sea voyage and the “we” passages (Act 16:9 NRSV) During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

The narrator now moves from third person plural to first person plural – from ‘they’ to ‘we’. Why is that? Is more than one source (or one tradition) being used? Is this where Luke joins the team, if so why is he not announced in the text? Is there something in the tradition of sea voyage stories that make this change of tense acceptable to a first century ear? The change of tense here has stimulated much discussion and analysis by both historians and theologians.

“Sea voyages are not only adventurous but lead to the founding of new cities and the establishment of new leaders. Shipwrecks create the setting for man's display of strength and take the passengers, unplanned, to famous islands and cities of the Mediterranean world. Through these voyages, destiny unfolds and the ways of the gods with men are displayed.”

By Land and By Sea: The ‘We-Passages’ and Ancient Sea Voyages, Vernon K. Robbins Professor of New Testament and Comparative Sacred Texts in the Department and Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University (Act 16:10 NRSV) When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

(Act 16:11 NRSV) We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace,

Modern Samothrace

the following day to Neapolis,

Modern Neapolis (Act 16:12 NRSV) and from there to Philippi,

Ruins at Philippi which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.

Philippi – More Roman than Rome The city appears in the sources during the Roman civil war that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar. His heirs Mark Antony and Octavian confronted the assassins of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius, at the Battle of Philippi in the plain to the west of the city during October in 42 BC. Antony and Octavian were victorious in this final battle against the partisans of the Republic. They released some of their veteran soldiers, probably from legion XXVIII and colonized them in the city, which was refounded as Colonia Victrix Philippensium. In 30 BC, Octavian became Roman emperor, reorganized the colony, and established more settlers there, veterans possibly from the Praetorian Guard and other Italians. The city was renamed Colonia Julia Philippensis, and then Colonia Augusta Julia Philippensis after January, 27 BC, when Octavian received the title Augustus from the Roman Senate.

Following this second renaming, and perhaps after the first, the territory of Philippi was centuriated (divided into squares of land) and distributed to the colonists. The city kept its Macedonian walls, and its general plan was modified only partially by the construction of a forum, a little to the east of the site of The Greek agora. It was a "miniature Rome," under the municipal law of Rome and governed by two military officers, the duumviri, who were appointed directly from Rome.

The via Egnatia The colony recognized its dependence on the mines that brought it its privileged position on the Via Egnatia. This wealth was shown by the many monuments that were particularly imposing considering the relatively small size of the urban area: the forum, laid out in two terraces on both sides of the main road, was constructed in several phases between the reigns of Claudius and Antoninus Pius, and the theatre was enlarged and expanded in order to hold Roman games. There is an abundance of Latin inscriptions testifying to the prosperity of the city.

The Forum at Philippi The colony was settled perhaps in equal thirds by Romans, Greeks and Thracians. It was the principal garrison to defend the superhighway of the Via Egnatia, the road between Rome and Byzantium.

Archaeology shows the Roman members of the community to be very status conscious (Cursus Honorum) and to be enthusiastic participants in the new religion of Emperor Worship. The Greek community was probably established earlier than the Roman and was centred on the extensive gold mines in the hills to the north of the city. The Thracian community was probably based around Philippi as the trading hub with Byzantium.

(Act 16:13 NRSV) On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river,

The river Orontes outside the walls of Philippi

where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.

(Act 16:14 NRSV) A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

Julia Felix from Pompeii, a contemporary of Lydia?

(Act 16:15 NRSV) When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

Julia Felix house in Pompeii

Julia Felix Julia Felix was a Roman woman who resided in the city of Pompeii. From her Roman cognomina it can be determined that her family were most likely freedmen. Julia Felix was a very wealthy property owner who inherited her money from her family. She owned a grand villa that took up an entire block in the city of Pompeii and it was well furnished and decorated until it was ruined in the major earthquake of 62 A.D. that caused much damage.

After the earthquake, she came up with a brilliant idea. Instead of trying to pay for all the damages herself, she rented out her property to residents of Pompeii who may have lost their homes and so she transformed parts of her villa into public Roman baths, shops, taverns, and apartments. To promote the Roman baths, a complete listing of facilities and a boastful advertising statement about quality was included, and in the villa of Julia Felix it was described as “good enough for Venus.� Renting out her villa helped her earn extra income and establish herself as a property owner, business woman, and public figure in Pompeii.

(Act 16:16 NRSV) One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

(Act 16:17 NRSV) While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."

(Act 16:18 NRSV) She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.

(Act 16:19 NRSV) But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

The forum at Philippi

And so to prison (Act 16:20 NRSV) When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews (Act 16:21 NRSV) and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."

(Act 16:22 NRSV) The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

(Act 16:23 NRSV) After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

The two accusations here ‘disturbing the city’ and ‘unlawful customs’ point up the essentially Romanness of the city of Philippi. The challenge to Paul and Silas is comprehensive, it is a challenge framed both in law (Res Privata) and in custom (Mos Maiorum). The challenge in law is the interruption of trade and especially the trade of a roman citizen (we can infer that the slave’s owners were Roman citizens). It was a grave offense for a non roman to interfere with the trade of a roman citizen. The challenge in custom includes the aspect of the offence whereby Paul has interfered with the natural authority (the Paterfamilias) of the slave’s owners in that Paul has both broken that relationship (by rendering the woman of no economic value to her owners) and by showing that Jesus Christ is a capable higher authority capable of nullifying the paterfamilias relationship.

We are perhaps here supposed to ask ‘why does Paul not reveal his status as a roman citizen. Were he to do so the firstly the Duumviri (City magistrates) would not have authority over him and secondly, the dispute would be between two roman citizen, having equal status. The case must be tried at Rome and by peers, not at Philippi by a delegated authority. Paul’s silence here acts to move the drama forward but perhaps more importantly tells us about Paul’s determination to recognise only the authority of Christ and not that of Rome.

This could be the prison at Philippi

The inside of the prison

Early Quaker parallels The following extract is taken from William Sewel's 1695 History of a People Called Quakers (At the time of Sewel's publication, the below persecutions had occurred only thirty years previously, so William Sewel was able to talk to actual victims, eye-witnesses, and examine fresh court records.) ‌‌‌more than four thousand and two hundred of those called Quakers, both men and women, were in prison in England; and denoting the number of them that were imprisoned in each county, either for frequenting meetings, or for denying to swear, etc. Many of these had been grievously beaten, or their clothes torn or taken away from them; and some were put into such stinking dungeons, which some great men said, they would not have put their hunting dogs there. Some prisons were crowded full both of men and women, so that there was not sufficient room for all to sit down at once; and in Cheshire sixty-eight persons were in this manner locked up in a small room; an evident sign that they were a harmless people, that would not make any resistance, or use force. By such ill-treatment many grew sick, and not a few died in such jails; for no age or sex was regarded, but even ancient people of sixty, seventy, and more years of age, were not spared; and the most of these being tradesmen, shopkeepers, and husbandmen, were thus reduced to poverty; for their goods were also seized, for not going to church, (so called), or for not paying tithes. Many times they were forced to lie in prison on cold nasty ground, without being allowed to have any straw; and often they have been kept several days without food; no wonder therefore that many died by such hard imprisonments as these.

(Act 16:24 NRSV) Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

(Act 16:25 NRSV) About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

George Whitehead was born at Sunrigg in Westmoreland in 1636. He became convinced of Quaker principles when only 14 years of age.

Yet I am still truly and humbly thankful to the Lord our God, in remembrance of his great kindness to us,- how wonderfully he supported and comforted us through and over all these our tribulations, strait confinements, and ill-usages, and preserved us in bodily health. In the comfortable enjoyment of his glorious divine power and presence, several of us have often been made to sing aloud in praise to his glorious name; yes, his high praises have been in our mouths oftentimes, to the great amazement and astonishment of the malefactors shut up in the same ward with us. When walking there, our hearts have been lifted up in living praise to the Lord, often for several hours together, with voices of melody. Oh! The sweet presence and power of the Lord our God, how precious to be enjoyed in prisons and dungeons, and strait confinements.

O my soul, still blesses you the Lord, and forever praises his excellent name, for the true inward sense and experience you have often and long had, and still have, of his divine power and

unspeakable goodness. Glory and dominion be to our God, and to the Lamb that sits upon the throne, forever and ever. Let the praise be unto him in whom is our help, salvation and strength.

What must I do to be saved?

(Act 16:26 NRSV) Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.

Luke may have been writing this shortly after the earthquake at Pompeii and so this image might have been a very powerful and immediate one indeed.

(Act 16:27 NRSV) When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

The gaoler may have been a roman citizen like many of the Philippian community. It was custom for a disgraced roman to commit (sometimes involuntary) suicide rather than bear the disgrace of an appearance in court for a breach of esteem. It is also the case that such an act would enable the suicide to pass property to his heirs rather than have that property forfeit to the government.

(Act 16:28 NRSV) But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."

(Act 16:29 NRSV) The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

(Act 16:30 NRSV) Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

John Bunyan in Bedford Gaol Now I saw, upon a time when he (Pilgrim) was walking in the fields, that he was (as he was wont) reading in his book, and greatly distressed in his mind; and, as he read, he burst out, as he had done before, crying, "What must I do to be saved?" John Bunyan – Pilgrims Progress part one.

(Act 16:31 NRSV) They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

(Act 16:32 NRSV) They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

(Act 16:33 NRSV) At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

(Act 16:34 NRSV) He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

At the end of the story we return to the characterisation of Paul with which the story began. Now see that Paul’s temperament is both in accord with his mission and has been shown to be triumphant over the authority and status of the roman authority, affirming that authority now resides in Christ and not in Rome.

(Act 16:35 NRSV) When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, "Let those men go."

(Act 16:36 NRSV) And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace."

(Act 16:37 NRSV) But Paul replied, "They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves."

(Act 16:38 NRSV) The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; (Act 16:39 NRSV) so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

(Act 16:40 NRSV) After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.

Postscript