Apostle Paul: Macedonian Call and a Jailbreak (Day 2)

Day 2: Acts 16- Paul's Macedonian Call and a Jailbreak

   The Bible reading plan comes from here. I am using the Matthew Henry Commentary alongside my Bible (NIV). You can find my Day 1 Reflections here.

An Array of Things I Learned:

I did not understand why Acts 16:3 was important to the story line until I read the historical context. Acts 16:3 says, "Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek." (NIV) I had always read the verse and glanced over it. Paul did not have Timothy circumcised because of the law; Paul was against those who made circumcision necessary for salvation. Paul was going to minister to the Jews, and Timothy's circumcision would make the ministry acceptable among the Jews (p. 1698).

My commentary made an interesting point about Acts 16:11- 15. The question behind the commentary is "Why is Lydia's conversion recorded?" I'm sure there were plenty of others who Paul, Silas, and Timothy had met. Why wasn't someone else's story recorded? Maybe someone of high power, or someone with a unique conversion? We have conversion stories, such as Paul's, that were affected by miracle. But not all conversion stories need to be ornate. Some, such as Lydia's, were brought on by ordinary methods (p. 1699).

Whenever I have read this story before, the beatings Paul and Silas went through were always overlooked. 'They were beaten and thrown in prison' was the extent of my knowledge. Granted, you aren't going to explain all the details to a little kid. But now that I'm grown up... I think I can handle it. Hold on... What mom??... No I won't clean my room!... Anyways. My commentary says, "This was one of those three times that Paul was beaten with rods, according to the Roman usage, which was not under the compassionate limitation of the number of stripes not to exceed forty, which was provided by the Jewish law. It is here said that they laid many stripes upon them (v. 23), without counting how many, one would think, this might have satiated their cruelty; if they must be whipped, surely they must be discharged. No, they are imprisoned" (p. 1700). The beating that Paul and Silas went through was severe, and that is putting it into kind terms. If they were wiped, the beating would have been limited, but Paul and Silas were beaten with rods. To follow their beating, despite one thinking this may be enough punishment, they were thrown in prison. And they weren't thrown into just any prison cell; they were thrown into the inner cell which is the deepest part of the prison.

Despite all that they went through, Paul and Silas still praised God. They prayed, sang, and witnessed to the guard. When they were released (read the Acts 16 for the full story! It's a good one.), Paul finally brought up the issue that he was a Roman citizen. One might wonder why he did not say this earlier, because it would have saved him a beating. But "Paul did not plead this before he was beaten lest he should seem to be afraid of suffering for the truth which he had preached. He had nobler things than this to comfort himself with in his affliction. He did not plead it afterwards, to put an honor upon the cause he suffered for, to let the world know that the preachers of the gospel merited better treatment. He did it likewise to mollify the magistrates towards the Christians at Philippi, and beget in the people a better opinion of the Christian religion" (p. 1702). What I gather from all of this: Paul was a brave and selfless man.