Bible in One Year Day 337 (Acts 16, 1 Corinthians 13-14, Proverbs 28:13-15)

 You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog.  Bible in One Year Readings Index   

Agape Bible Study Acts 16 

Acts 16:1-5 ~ Paul enlists Timothy

As was his practice in the first missionary journey, Paul and his team focus on the larger cities to preach their message. The obvious plan is that the churches established in the cities will spread the Gospel they have been taught to the outlying communities. In Lystra Paul recruits a young man who is the son of a Jewish-Christian woman named Eunice (2 Tim 1:5) and a pagan Greek father (Acts 16:3). His name is Timothy and he will become one of Paul's most faithful companions, accompanying Paul on his second and third missionary journeys (Acts 16:3; 19:22). Paul will mention Timothy as a co-sender in six of his letters in 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon and Colossians, and in the list of fellow Christians who send their greetings to the Christians in Rome, Timothy is listed first in Romans 16:21. Paul will also send Timothy as his emissary on several important missions (see Acts 19:22; 1 Cor 4:17; 1 Thes 3:2). In a letter to the Christians at Philippi, Paul will write concerning Timothy: For I have no one comparable to him for genuine interest in whatever concerns you ... But you know his worth, how as a child with a father he served along with me in the cause of the gospel (Phil 2:20, 22). St. Paul will also send two letters full of fatherly advice to Timothy (1 & 2 Timothy) when he is set in authority as the pastor over the church at Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3; 2 Tim 2:17). Timothy evidently became the son Paul never had, and Paul will write to him in affection terms, referring to Timothy as his dear teknon, "child" (1 Tim 1:2, 18; 2 Tim 1:2, 2:2). 

Acts 16:6-10 ~ The Journey continues through Asia Minor

Question: Paul is leading the mission, but who is in control of the mission?
Answer: God the Holy Spirit is in control of the mission.

The Holy Spirit is continuing to direct their path (also see Acts 4:31; 8:29, 39; 10:44; 13:2, 4). "Asia" in verse 6 is a reference to the Roman Province of Asia which, since 166 BC, included the geographic territories designated as Phrygia, a large region of interior western Asia Minor. 

Macedonia is a region in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula. It was the kingdom Alexander the Great inherited from his father King Philip and from which he launched his conquest of Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and into India. Macedonia became a Roman Province in 148 BC. Do not miss the important role the Roman Empire played in God plan for man's salvation. The peace imposed by the power and might of Rome and their excellent system of roads linking the Empire became the vehicle for spreading the Gospel of salvation across the face of the known world. In 146 BC Roman engineers began to construct an arterial military and commercial road, the Via Egnatia, from the Adriatic coast through Pella, Thessalonica, Amphipolis, Philippi, and Neapolis in Macedonia to Byzantium in Asia Minor. It was the road system used by St. Paul and his missionary team. Paul's vision reminds the reader of Peter's vision that led to the conversion of the Gentile Roman Cornelius in Acts 10.

Question: What is the significance of Paul's vision?
Answer: The Holy Spirit has given Paul permission to evangelize westward into Europe.

Acts 16:11-15 ~ For the first time the Missionaries enter Europe

The year is c. 50 AD and Paul is making his first European converts to Christianity in Macedonia (Acts 16:9-17:14). Lydia was Paul's first convert in the city of Philippi. She was probably a widow who had taken over her husband's business selling luxurious purple-dyed cloth. She was a rarity in the 1^st century; she was a business woman in a male dominated world. 

Acts 16:16-18 ~ Trouble in Philippi

It was probably a week later, on the Sabbath, that the missionaries were accosted by a slave girl possessed by a demon. The literal Greek text says that she had a pythian spirit. The python was the mythical serpent slain by Apollo from which the prophetesses at the shrine at Delphi received their spirit of prophecy. This girl was believed by the people to have a similar gift of prophecy. Pagans were extremely superstitious and relied on those who claimed to have such gifts.
Question: If what she testified about them was true, why did Paul cast out her spirit? See Lk 4:33-35, 41.
Answer: Jesus had similar experiences in the Gospels where demons identified Him as the Son of God. He silenced them because even though what they said was true, He did not want the testimony of unclean spirits. Paul silenced the girl for the same reason.

The owners of the girl were outraged that Paul had cut off a source of their income and denounced Paul and Silas to the city's Roman magistrates, the city's legal authorities.
Question: What accusation did they make against Paul and Silas?
Answer: The accused them of encouraging "unlawful" practices.

Christianity was not one of the recognized religions by the Roman Empire; it was considered an illegal religion. Official recognition would not happen until 313 AD in the issuing of the Edict of Milan. The magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned.

Acts 16:25-34 ~ Paul Converts his Jailer

Luke does not present the earthquake as a miracle of God. That part of the northern Greece has frequent earthquakes. Nevertheless, the earthquake resulted in a miracle of faith.
Question: When the jailor thought his prisoners had escaped, why did he attempt suicide? See Acts 12:6-8, 18-19.
Answer: It was the Roman custom for a jailor to forfeit his life if his prisoners escaped.

The Roman soldiers that were assigned to guard Jesus' body were not executed but instead were told to report that Jesus' disciples had taken His body. This is evidence of a conspiracy to undermine the miracle of the Resurrection (see Mt 28:11-15). The jailor and his household are Paul and Silas' second group of converts in Philippi. Notice once again, as in the case of Lydia and Cornelius, that the entire household is baptized which must have included children.

Acts 16:35-40 ~ The Magistrates Release Paul and Silas

The magistrates sent the lictors with the order to release Paul and Silas. A lictor was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant with the special task of attending and guarding magistrates of the Roman Empire who had the right and power to command. Paul withheld the information that he, Timothy, and Silas (and probably Luke) were Roman citizens when they were first brought before the magistrates but now, to the shock and horror of the lictors, he reveals that they have illegally beaten and imprisoned Roman citizens. There were dire consequences for Roman magistrates who infringed on the rights of a Roman citizen. The Roman senator Cicero wrote concerning a Roman citizen's right to due process: To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him an abomination, to slay him almost an act of parricide (Cicero, Against Verres, 2.5.66; also see Livy, History of Rome, 10.9.3-6). Paul will play the Roman citizen "card" again with a Roman Tribune in Acts 22:29. After their release, they return to Lydia's house and then left Philippi. Paul's small beginning in Philippi will result in a Christian faith community to whom Paul will write the New Testament Letter to the Philippians. 

The Council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 is the turning point in Luke's narrative. Prior to the council the focus of the narrative has been on the works of St. Peter but has also included the mention of the Apostle St. John, the works of the deacons Stephen and Philip, the conversion of St. Paul, and his missionary work with the church at Antioch. After the account of the council and its momentous decision concerning the conversion of Gentiles, the focus of the narrative is entire on St. Paul and his mission in fulfilling the final phase of Jesus' command to spread the Gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth among the Gentile nations.

Agape Bible Study 1 Corinthians 13-14 

Chapter 13: The Way of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13:3 ~ The Necessity of Love

Some Christians in the church at Corinth seem to have given certain spiritual gifts undue importance which was causing some tensions in the community. Paul began with a list of spiritual gifts in Chapter 12. Highest on Paul's scale of spiritual gifts is apostleship and lowest on the scale, he will write in Chapter 14, is speaking in tongues. The focus of the discourse in Chapter 13 is to contrast the spiritual gifts with the enduring value that gives them their purpose and effectiveness "love. All the spiritual gifts are ineffective if they are not generated by the love of God flowing through us to others.

St. Paul did not approve of the community's use of spiritual gifts because their attitude did not contribute to the building up of the Body of Christ that is the Church. Instead, St. Paul urged the Christian community at Corinth to put a greater value on the spiritual gifts that contribute to the growth and mission of the Church. In 12:31b, he writes that he will give them more direction concerning works of charity "love in action "that is the greater gift for building up the Body of Christ.

In Chapter 13:1-13, St. Paul preaches a wonderful hymn to charity/love that is one of the most beautiful passages in St. Paul's epistles. He begins by singing the praises of love as seen from three points of view:

1. The superiority of the gift of love and its absolute necessity (verses 1-3).
2. The features of the gift of love in action in its practical application (verses 4-7).
3. The promise that love endures forever (verses 8-13).

Paul teaches that charity that is the application of love in deeds of kindness to others is such an excellent gift that without it all the other spiritual gifts are empty of meaning (verses 1-3). He mentions that those other gifts will appear to be the most exceptional "like the gift of speaking in a heavenly or prophetic language (speaking in "tongues"), the gift of knowledge in interpreting such utterances, the gift of prophecy, and their relationship of these various gifts to each other. However, he says that all these seemingly marvelous works mean nothing if not founded in love. Without love the gift of tongues is only so much noise. Love has to be the motivation for both words and deeds. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a ~ The More Perfect Way of Love

Paul defines "love" by what it does and by what it does not do. The Greek text contains fifteen verbs that are usually translated as adjectives in English. This is probably one of the most beloved and frequently quoted passages written by St. Paul. Paul writes that love is the origin of all virtues in verses 4-7. He starts with two positive traits of love, then he lists eight failures before returning with five positive traits. 

What love is	What love isn't
patient	jealous
kind	pompous/boastful
rejoices in truth	inflated
bears all	rude
believes	self-interested
hopes	quick-tempered
endures	hold on to injuries real or imagined
never fails/never ends	rejoice over wrongdoing

Question: Who is it in salvation history who demonstrated all the positive traits of love?
Answer: Jesus Christ whose self-sacrifice on the altar of the cross was an act of love.

1 Corinthians 13:8b-13 ~ Love Lasts Forever

All of our wisdom and knowledge of God in this life is fragmentary and fleeting. The perfect vision awaits us in the Second Advent of Christ when the prefect will banish the partial. Paul introduces two examples of the partial and the perfect:

·     The first example is the comparison between a child and an adult (verse 11).

·     The second example is a mirror that casts an imperfect image. In the 1^st century AD, mirrors were made of polished bronze or silver and produced a foggy or somewhat distorted image (verse 12). 

Paul used the example of a child to contrast immature and mature Christians in 3:2. Now he uses the image of a child to contrast the present life with the future life of glory. As children learn and mature they care less for childish things and more for adult things in the way a Christian learns to embrace the spiritual charisms over material things. He speaks of the need for Christian maturity in the Christian's growth from a little child in Christ with only a little understanding to a mature servant of the Lord. Yet, Paul writes, in this earthly reality we can only have a partial vision of what is to come. He says that knowledge that leads to maturity cannot be separated from faith and acquires it full meaning in the Christian who lives by the virtues of faith, hope and love. But, Paul says, the greatest of these virtues is love because it has the supreme role in Christian life. This supreme role of love comes from Jesus' command that we must love each other as He has loved us in order to abide in His love as He told His disciples in His homily at the Last Supper in John 15:9-19.

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 ~ Prophecy is a Greater Gift than Speaking in Tongues

In 14:1, Paul returns to what he introduced in 12:31a in striving for the greatest spiritual gifts. Paul's theme of eliminating factions that cause disunity and striving to build up and unify the community is the focus of this chapter. He advises the Corinthians to strive for the spiritual gifts of interpreting Scripture and discerning the will of God for His Church. However, the greatest of the spiritual gifts is love; our love for Christ and our love for one another. 

In verses 2-5, Paul offers a series of contrasts that focus on the Corinthians' interest in speaking in tongues to the point of ignoring other gifts and their failure to appreciate the necessity of prophecy.

Question: What two kinds of communication does he identify that produce what two kinds of effects?
Answer: The two kinds of communication: 

1. The private speech of speaking in tongues directly to God in inarticulate words or sounds that cannot be discerned by others. 
2. The prophetic interpretation of tongues that communicates the intended meaning to others. The two kinds of effects are: 
3. Speaking in tongues when there is no interpretation results in only building up the individual.
4. A prophetic interpretation of speaking in tongues builds up the Church.

1 Corinthians 14:5-12 ~ The Benefits of Interpretation and Revelation

Question: To clarify his point, what examples does Paul use from daily life?
Answer: He gives the examples of the tones and distinct or indistinct sounds of musical instruments (flute, harp, bugle/trumpet) and speaking in a foreign language. The sounds of musical instruments and words of foreign languages are meaningless if they cannot be understood.

8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?
A night watchman blew a distinctive trumpet or bugle signal to announce danger to the community, and soldiers blew trumpets to calling the army to prepare for battle.

1 Corinthians 14:13-19 ~ Interpretation is Necessary

In verses 13-14, Paul describes speaking in tongues as an activity of the human spirit that is a kind of contemplative prayer in which the mind is not active and is at rest in conversation with God. He contrasts that inactivity with prophetic utterances in which God engages the mind of the individual and imparts words to share with the community. 

I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with the mind. I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will also sing praise with the mind.
Paul recommends praying, giving thanks and giving praise to God in both the spirit and the mind.

how shall one who holds the place of the uninstructed say the "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?
It was the custom in the Jewish synagogue to answer an "Amen" of public agreement to a communal prayer. Answering "amen" is a tradition carried over into the Christian assembly of worship and continues to this day. "Amen" is from the Hebrew word eman and has the meaning "so be it," so it is," or "it is true." However, "amen" is an acrostic formed from the first letters of the Hebrew phrase "God is a trustworthy King" = "El Melech Ne'eman" (Talmud, Shabbat 119b). It appears for the first time in the Book of Numbers 5:22, and it is used as a response by a congregation to a prayer (Ps 89:53) or as a declaration (twelve times in Dt 27:15-28). Christ is called "the Amen" in Revelation 3:14 because He is God the trustworthy the King of kings and the realization of all the promises of God to humanity (see 2 Cor 1:20; CCC 1061-65).

Paul defends speaking in tongues as a genuine spiritual gift, but he again emphasizes that God's word of prophecy that comes to the mind of the interpreter to share with the congregation is far more valuable a spiritual gift because it benefits the Church.

1 Corinthians 14:20-25 ~ The Function of the Spiritual Gift of Speaking in Tongues

Paul accuses the Corinthian Christians of being immature. They should be like innocent children with respect to their knowledge of evil, but mature in their understanding of the benefits of spiritual gifts and what actions builds up and unifies the Church.

Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:11-12, editing the quote slightly to apply to the Corinthian situation. Paul worries about the danger of uninterrupted tongues for the members of the community who cannot obtain any benefit from the utterances. However, the greater danger is to the recent convert who might be turned away. In the passage from which Paul quotes, Isaiah had consistently warned the covenant people that unless they repented, they would perish at the hands of the Assyrians. The prophet warned if they persisted in not listening to God that He would communicate through "people speaking strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners" by bringing judgment upon them for their failures to listen to the voice of God through His prophet to keep their covenant promises. The "strange tongues" of the foreign Assyrian invaders was the sign of the fulfillment of God's judgment.

1 Corinthians 14:26-33a ~ Rules of Order in the Assembly

Question: What practical instruction does Paul give for keeping order in the assembly of worship?
Answer:

1. Worship in the assembly should progress in an orderly fashion.
2. Not more than two or three should speak in tongues and not at once but in turns.
3. There should be someone present who can interpret the words of the speaker/speakers.
4. If there is no one to interpret, there should be no public expression of tongues.
5. Only two or three prophets should speak one at a time, and the others should discern the application of the prophetic message for the assembly.

1 Corinthians 14:33b-40 ~ The Role of Women in the Assembly

Paul is continuing to address problems within the liturgical assembly. In 11:4-5, Paul defended a woman's right to pray in the assembly, but in this passage, he deals with the problem of women taking an active role in the liturgy of worship. As the Church at Corinth began to attract more Gentile women, they may have expected to take on the same kinds of ministerial roles that women commanded in pagan worship served by priests as well as priestesses. In most cases of goddess worship, the ministers were predominately priestesses led by a high priestess. A role for women in the ministerial priesthood is not what Jesus established. Jesus did not establish a male priesthood because of cultural constraints. Jesus had women disciples who traveled with Him. For a Jewish Rabbi to have women disciples traveling with him was an unheard of practice in Jesus' time, but He demanded such a high standard of morality among His men disciples that women were protected in His service. 

God is not constrained by customs of the times; He establishes customs and practices for all generations. Nor is Paul imposing his ideas on the Church. In other letters, he upholds the equality of women with men in service to Christ where he writes there is neither Jew nor Greek nor man nor woman to distinguish one Christian from another (Gal 3:28). All are equal members of the "priesthood of believers" (see CCC 784, 941, 1119, 1141, 1143, 1268, 1273, 1546-47, 1591). The ministerial priesthood, however, is a different matter for a very sound theological reason.

34 women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. 
Paul may be referring to Jewish ritual law or halakha. The Sinai Covenant limited the priesthood to men who were the descendants of Aaron (Ex 28:1; 40:11-15), and women were forbidden from participation in the rituals of worship in the Temple even if they could claim Aaronic descent. They were also separated from men, limited to the Court of the Women, and they could only approach the altar in the inner court if they came to offer a sacrifice. However, in the synagogues, women occupied the same space, but they sat on one side of the assembly room and men on the other. 

In the New Covenant order, while women sit with men, Paul wants the community to understand that not everything has changed concerning the separate role of men and women in the liturgy of worship. He writes in verse 36: he should recognize that what I am writing to you is a commandment of the Lord. The ministerial priesthood still belongs to men according to what Christ established as the governing authority of the Church through the men who stand before the assembly of the faithful as His personal representatives to the people. 

According to Paul, women should not take part in the charismatic activity of speaking in tongues in the assembly (verses 14 and 34; 1 Tim 2:11-12), nor can they exercise authority over the congregation in the role of the ministerial priesthood. Their conduct should reflect the role as their husbands' supportive partners in life (Gen 2:18; 1 Tim 2:13) and as members of the congregation. With their husbands, they support the ministry of the priest who represents Christ the Bridegroom and High Priest of the sacred assembly who calls His spotless Bride to a sacred union with Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Women are equal members with men in the priesthood of believers as the Bride of Christ that is the community of the faithful. However, it is the ordained priest of the ministerial priesthood who stands in Persona Christi (in the Person of Christ) before the people. Paul's warning concerning women preaching is also probably formed by the knowledge of the role of women in pagan worship where female goddess and the priestesses were prevalent. Such a role for Christian women would upset the necessary symbolic imagery of Christ the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride. It is the fulfillment of the imagery St. John witnesses in Christ's return to collect His Bride the Church inRevelation Chapter 19.

In conformity with his views in 1 Corinthians, Paul will write St. Timothy, A woman must receive instruction silently and under complete control. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. Further, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed. But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control (1 Tim 2:11-15). His point is that woman's primary role is to act as God's partner in perpetuating generations of believers until Christ returns. It is in saying "yes" to that partnership with God that she advances the cause of her salvation. 

Also, keep in mind that in Paul's time the vast majority of women did not receive an education and could not read or write. The Catholic Church was the first institution to actively promote the education of women. Paul had a high regard for women. He mentions them in his letters and had women on his missionary teams. Most of the faith communities were in the homes of women like Chloe whose "household" send Paul the letter outlining problems at Corinth. In Paul's letter to the Romans, he names his friend Priscilla, who he affectionately calls Prisca, before her husband, and in his conclusion to the letter he names ten women, including Phoebe to whom Paul entrusted with the delivery of his letter.