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Acts 9:32-43

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

With Paul waiting in the wings, Peter now returns to the limelight. We last heard of him in 8:25, and this section picks up the thread of that narrative. No doubt the apostles made frequent journeys “throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria” visiting the Christian communities. The next two chapters tell of one journey in particular, which had far-reaching consequences. There is no way of telling when...

2. Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The idyllic picture of the church presented in 4:32–37 had to be qualified. The church must soon have made the painful discovery that sin could enter into its fellowship, and because it suited his theme, and was a matter of particular interest to him, Luke chose to mention what was probably an early and notorious instance of sin in connection with the common fund. Ehrhardt sees the story of Anania...

3. Arrival at Rome

Acts 28:11-16

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

28:11 According to the elder Pliny, the winter season when the seas were closed to navigation ended on 7 or 8 February. We may suppose, then, that the travelers’ three-month stay on Malta ended about then. The ship in which they resumed their journey was another Alexandrian vessel, very likely a grain ship, perhaps driven to the island by the same storm that had brought Paul and the others to its ...

4. Ashore on Malta

Acts 28:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

28:1 The island of Malta on which the travelers now found themselves is about sixty miles south of Sicily. The island itself is about eighteen miles long and eight wide. On the southwestern side, the cliffs descend abruptly to the sea, but on the northeastern coast, there are many inlets and bays. The largest harbor is the site of the present city of Valetta. Saint Paul’s Bay is about eight miles ...

5. Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

Acts 13:1-3

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Chapter 13 marks a most significant point in the history. Hitherto, Jerusalem and Judea have been the scene of the believers’ activities and Peter the most prominent figure. But now the base of operation moves (at least for Luke’s purposes, ignoring, perhaps, other spheres of activity) to Antioch in Syria, and Paul becomes the center of attention. The very phrase by which Luke refers to the church...

6. Before the Sanhedrin

Acts 22:30--23:11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The Roman commander treated Paul’s case as a routine matter. It belonged to the jurisdiction of the local authority, the Sanhedrin, and so to that authority he referred it. But then we have the extraordinary spectacle of such violence erupting in the Sanhedrin that Paul’s life was again in jeopardy and he had to be rescued. This was in some measure due to Paul himself, who showed neither tact nor ...

7. Cornelius Calls for Peter

Acts 10:1-8

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The importance that Luke ascribed to the story of Peter and Cornelius can be measured by the space that he gave to it. The story is told in detail in chapter 10, retold in chapter 11, and touched on again in chapter 15. The issue it raised was a critical one. To date the gospel had been well established in Jerusalem and was extending throughout the Jewish territory (9:31). It was only a matter of ...

8. Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas

Acts 15:36-41

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The outcome of the council naturally gave added impetus to the spread of the gospel. Paul and Barnabas would have had no doubts that their earlier decision to go to the Gentiles had been the right one, but to have the approval now of the other apostles and the elders of the church in Jerusalem must have been as encouraging for them as for their converts. A “second missionary journey” was therefore...

9. Eutychus Raised from the Dead at Troas

Acts 20:7-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

There is a marked contrast between the meager information of the previous section and the detail that characterizes the remainder of the journey now that the “we passages” have resumed. It includes in this section a description of a “church service” in Troas. 20:7 On the eve of the delegates’ departure from Troas, they met with the local Christians for a “service.” Luke allows us a glimpse of what...

10. Festus Consults King Agrippa

Acts 25:13-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

A state visit to Caesarea by Herod Agrippa II enabled Festus to canvass his opinion of Paul’s case. Agrippa expressed an interest in hearing Paul, and so it was that Paul made yet another defense. That the story has a historical basis we need not doubt—“The picture of the puzzled Roman official, bewildered by a doctrine of the Resurrection, and seeking advice from a Palestinian princelet, is so na...

11. Final Greetings

2 Thessalonians 3:16-18

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The letter ends with two short wish-prayers (see disc. on 1 Thess. 3:6–13) that the peace of the Lord of peace might be with them and that the Lord himself might be with them also. In effect, Paul signs the letter by drawing attention to his own hand in the final verses (see Introduction on The Sequence of the Letters) and closes with a benediction of grace, as he does in one form or another in al...

12. Final Instructions

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Generally speaking, the report brought by Timothy concerning the church in Thessalonica was most heartening, and when Paul heard it, he offered thanks to God for their faith and love, for their hard work and hope. But in some respects there was room for improvement. Of particular concern was the relationship between the leaders of the church and the other members. Due perhaps to a restlessness pro...

13. Herod’s Death

Acts 12:19b-25

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Verses 19b to 23 are a kind of footnote to the previous section, adding nothing to the main thrust of the narrative, but giving a point of reference to secular history (cf. Luke 3:1f.). They do, however, contain the salutary warning that God is on the throne to judge as well as to save. The section ends with a note on the progress of the gospel and the return of Barnabas and Paul to Antioch. 12:19...

14. In Athens

Acts 17:16-34

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The great interest of this section lies in Paul’s speech to the council of Areopagus. It provides us with a paradigm of his preaching to pagans, where, rather than “beginning with Moses and all the prophets” (Luke 24:27), that is, with the “revealed theology,” his approach was by way of “natural theology.” An earlier example of this method was seen in 14:15–17. But Paul was here facing a very diff...

15. In Berea

Acts 17:10-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

17:10 Under cover of darkness, perhaps for fear of further violence should they be seen, the missionaries were sent off by “the brothers” to Berea, some forty-five miles southwest of Thessalonica. There is no mention of Timothy; he may have stayed in Thessalonica only to catch up with Paul again in Athens (see disc. on v. 16). Berea, which lay at the eastern slopes of Mount Vermion, had been found...

16. In Corinth

Acts 18:1-17

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Corinth was the most important city to which Paul had come since leaving Syrian Antioch, and he stayed there longer than in any other city (as far as we know). Luke tells us of the establishment of the church in Corinth, but nothing of its life. For this we must turn to Paul’s letters. So little does Luke say of this church that he has opened himself to the charge of being less interested in Corin...

17. In Iconium

Acts 14:1-7

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The pattern of ministry exemplified in the previous section is repeated in this. The story is told only briefly, since the course of events in Iconium was much as it had been in Pisidian Antioch, the one significant difference being that, despite persecution, Paul and Barnabas remained in the city until their very lives were in danger. Luke has expressed this somewhat awkwardly (see vv. 2 and 3)—a...

18. In Lystra and Derbe

Acts 14:8-20

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

It would appear that there was no synagogue in Lystra. The fact, then, that Paul and Barnabas preached in this city, even if they had not gone there expressly for this purpose, marks yet another important departure for the church. Moreover, since there was no audience prepared for their message (see note on 13:14), a new approach in its presentation was called for. Something of what this was is ev...

19. In Pisidian Antioch

Acts 13:13-52

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The missionaries cross to Asia Minor, where Paul’s first recorded sermon is preached in Antioch. The speech is given at length, so that on other occasions Luke needed only to say that Paul “proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues” (13:5; 14:1; etc.) without feeling obliged to give the content of the preaching each time. And like the speech, the response was also a paradigm, with some J...

20. In Thessalonica (Acts 17:1–9)

Acts 17:1-9

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

From Philippi, Paul and his companions traveled to Thessalonica. Here they followed their usual pattern of ministry wherever a synagogue could be found. They would preach there, and from the synagogue would come their first converts. But from the synagogue also came their fiercest opponents, and in Thessalonica the Jews again succeeded in having the missionaries effectively banished (cf. 13:50). T...

21. Jesus Taken Up into Heaven

Acts 1:1-11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Acts and the Third Gospel clearly come from the same hand. Not only their common dedication, but their common interests and their unity of language and style leave this beyond doubt. Moreover, the way in which they are introduced—the Gospel with its relatively detailed preface, Acts with its shorter introduction echoing the other’s language—points us to the fact that these are not simply two books...

22. Living to Please God

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The first three chapters of this letter are largely personal and historical in character, the last two practical and doctrinal. They are joined in the Greek by the conjunction oun, which sometimes expresses a logical connection, as in Romans 12:1 where the exhortation arises out of the doctrinal exposition (cf. also Eph. 4:1; Col. 3:5). But not here. The oun is simply transitional. In his report, ...

23. Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

Acts 16:11-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The story that begins here and runs through to 21:16 covers the greatest years of Paul’s life—years that saw the foundation of the churches of Macedonia, Achaia (Greece), and Asia and the writing of some of his most important epistles. The story is told by means of a few typical pictures (see disc. on 3:1–10) by which Luke is able to show both the power of the gospel and the effect of its meeting ...

24. Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Acts 1:12-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The period between the ascension and Pentecost was one of waiting, but not of inactivity. Chiefly, for the disciples, it was a time of prayer, but it also saw them finding a replacement for Judas. In this connection, we have the first speech in Acts. Like most of the speeches in this book, it is probably only a summary of what Peter said. Nevertheless, behind Luke’s report we can still catch the o...

25. On Cyprus

Acts 13:4-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The end result of the “first missionary journey” was a giant step forward for the church, though in terms of the actual distance covered it was a more modest achievement. It took Barnabas and Paul to Cyprus and then through parts of Asia Minor. Luke has sometimes been accused of inventing the itinerary set out in this narrative, but this seems highly unlikely. First, it is hard to believe that he ...

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