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• Acts 16:6-40

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 Acts 16:6-40

The book of Acts holds a special position among the books referred to the age of
grace, as it is concerned with the practical side of many things later found in the epistles.
Moreover, it also shows the way those men of God as Paul, Peter, etc. walked with Him,
thus giving us their practical example. Such an example is recorded in Acts 16, a chapter
devoted to the visit of Paul to Philippi. It is this chapter that will be the subject of our
article.

1. The decision for the visit

Starting our excursion in Acts 16:6-8, we read:

Acts 16:6-8
«Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, being forbidden by
the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, they came against Mysia and were attempting
to go to Bithynia but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came
down to Troas.»
(Interlinear Bible-NKJV)

If you consult a map, you will see that what is described in four lines here was a
really long journey. Galatia, Phrygia and Asia (Minor) were three regions that succeeded
each other. Paul and those that accompanied him, passed the first two (Phrygia and
Galatia) and came to the third one: Asia Minor. However, as the text says, God, the Holy
Spirit, forbade them to preach the Word there, and thus they went north towards Mysia.
Nevertheless, when they tried to move from there to Bithynia, God forbade them again.
As a result, they passed by Mysia and went to Troas, on the Aegean sea.
As it may be obvious from the above, Philippi was not a place to which Paul and Silas
were planning to go from the beginning. In fact they tried twice to go to other places, but
God forbade them. The reason He forbade them is not because He didn't desire His Word
to be preached in those areas. Actually, Paul went to Asia Minor some time later and as
Acts 19:10 tells us: «All who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews
and Greeks.» Nevertheless, we all know that it is not possible to be in two different
places at the same time. In other words, the Word was impossible to be preached
simultaneously by the same man in Asia or Bithynia and in Philippi. Something
necessarily had to come first and something second. As it seems, from God's point of
view, Philippi and Greece had time priority over Asia and Bithynia. From these we can
conclude that God is not interested in just the preaching of the Word, but in the
preaching of the Word where HE wants, as HE wants and when HE wants. As Ephesians
5:23 tells us:

«Christ is the head of the church.»

And as I Corinthians 11:3 adds:

«The head of Christ is God.»

The church really has a boss, someone that should be consulted for the things
relative to it. This is neither you nor I, nor any other mortal man, but Christ, whose boss
is God. Regarding our case, what the Boss really wanted is recorded in verses 9-10:

Acts 16:9-10
«And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with
him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision,
immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, assuredly gathering THAT THE LORD
HAD CALLED US TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THEM.»
(KJV-NKJV)

God hadn't called them that specific time, to preach the Word in Asia and
Bithynia. Instead He had called them to preach the Word in Macedonia and finally in all
the eastern mainland of Greece. How did they know it? GOD COMMUNICATED IT TO
THEM through a vision. In fact, He communicated it to them in such a way that they
ASSUREDLY gathered that the Lord had led them to go there. However, do you believe
that God would have done this if they weren't ready to move where He wanted them to
move? I don't think so. God will not compel anyone to work in His field. However, if
someone wants to work for Him - which is exactly what He expects from us1 - he
should not make up his own way about how, when and where he is going to move,
but he should consult the Master who is ultimately responsible to decide on these.

2. The visit to Phillipi and its results.

Having Gods clear command to sail to Macedonia, Paul and those that
accompanied him left immediately. Verses 11-12 tells us:

Acts 16:11-12
«Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran with a straight course to Samothrace, and the next
day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part
of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some day».

God had told them to go to Macedonia. So they didn't stop to preach the word in
Samothrace, but went directly to Phillipi, the foremost city of that part of Macedonia.
There, several things happened that we will see below.

2.1 Lydia: the first believer in Europe

Starting in verses 13-15 we read:

Acts 16:13-15
«And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was
customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a
certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who revered
God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, to heed the things spoken by Paul. And
when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, If you have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house, and stay. And she constrained us».
(Interlinear Bible - NKJV)

1See Luke 10:2

Did Lydia revere God? Yes, that's what the passage says. However, was she saved? NO,
for she didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, she was like Cornelius: he was a devout
man, who feared God with all his household and gave alms generously. He prayed to
God always (Acts 10:2). Yet he needed Peter to come to his home and tell him words by
which, as the angel told him, he and his household would be saved (Acts 11:14).
Similarly, Lydia revered God. Yet, she needed someone to come and tell her about Jesus
Christ, to believe and be saved. And that's exactly what happened: God had Paul come
all the way from Cilicia to speak the Word to her. She believed it and was made the first
recorded believer in mainland Europe. However, this was but the beginning.

2.2 The devil-possessed girl

Verses 16-18 tell us:

Acts 16: 16-18

«And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, that a certain damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl
followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the most high
God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days.»

This girl was obviously possessed with a devil spirit that through her, seemed to
advertise Paul and his mission there. At a first glance, it may appear that what we have
here is the paradox of the devil supporting the work of the Lord!! However, would it ever
be possible that something like this could happen? I don't think so. As Paul said to
Elymas, another devil-possessed man:

Acts 13:9-10
«Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the holy spirit, looked intently at him and
said, O full of all DECEIT AND ALL FRAUD, YOU SON OF THE DEVIL, YOU
ENEMY OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS, WILL YOU NOT CEASE PERVERTING THE
STRAIGHT WAYS OF THE LORD?»
 What the devil is continuously seeking (he never ceases from this) is: TO
PERVERT THE RIGHT WAYS OF THE LORD. Hence, the only reason he seemed to
proclaim the same things as Paul, was exactly because he wanted to PERVERT the right
ways of the Lord. It is not really difficult to understand how he planned to do this. Just
imagine how much the Word that Paul was preaching was degraded by its outward
agreement with the proclamations of this devil-possessed girl. To the locals she was but
a spokesperson of the ancient Greek god Apollo. We know this for the ancient text does
not say that the girl was possessed with a spirit of divination, but that she had «a spirit, a
Python». As Zodhiates tells us2:

«Python was the Greek name given to the mythological serpent or dragon that lived at
Pytho beneath Mount Parnassus and guarded the Delphic Oracle. The name then became
the surname of Apollo, the god of divination in Greek mythology, and hence applied to
all oracular and divinatory spirits.»

Obviously, this girl was considered by the locals as one through whom Apollo
spoke. That's why the text says that she had a spirit, a Python. Moreover, her «most high
God», and the one that those locals perceived as such, was not the one true God, the
Father of the Lord Jesus Christ3, but ...... Zeus. It is now easy to understand what
perversion she brought to Paul's preaching and that what the adversary wanted to do
through her, was not to proclaim but to «PERVERT the right ways of the Lord.»
Fortunately, he didn't succeed in his purposes.

Really, Acts 16:18 tells us:

Acts 16:18
«But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of
Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour».

2 See Spiros Zodhiates, The complete word study dictionary, AMG publishers, 1992, p.1253
3 Until then no one had spoken to the locals about Him.
 Paul knew through the operation of discerning of spirits (I Corinthians 12:7-10)
that what spoke through this girl was a devil spirit. That's why he addressed it so directly,
casting it out «that very hour».

2.3 The late night prison fellowship

Unfortunately, the deliverance given to this girl didn't make everyone happy. Her
masters earned a lot of money from the deceitful works of the devil spirit and when they
saw that «the hope of their gains» was gone:

Acts 16:19-24
«They seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers. And
they brought them to the magistrates and said, These men, being Jews, exceedingly
trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to
receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates
tore off their clothes, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had
laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep
them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison, and
fastened their feet in the stocks.»

After such tribulation, many of us would have started complaining to God,

blaming Him for what had happened. Yet, murmuring is not what the Word tells us to do
on similar occasions. Really, as I Peter 4:16 says:

I Peter 4:16
«If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, BUT LET HIM GLORIFY
GOD IN THIS MATTER».

That's exactly what Paul and Silas did:

Acts 16:25
«But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
prisoners were listening to them.»

Apart from the fact that those two badly tortured guys, were praying and singing
to God, see also that all the prisoners were listening to them. The word «listening» in this
passage, is a translation of the Greek verb επακρόωµαι (epakroomai) that does not
simply mean to «listen», but «to listen PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO
WHAT IS SAID4». See then what happened:

Acts 16:26
«And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were loosed».

To understand the importance of the above event let's for a minute put ourself in
the position of one of those prisoners. So, let's suppose that you are in prison listening
with particular attention to two badly tortured guys that glorify God and suddenly an
earthquake happens that ......loosens YOUR chains and opens ALL the doors of the
prison. Wouldn't you be reminded of this phenomenon all your life? Would this not be
enough to make you call upon Paul's and Silas' God? I think so. In fact, let us see the
immediate reaction of one of the guys that was there that night:

Acts 16:27-30
«And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep, and seeing the prison doors open,
supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul
cried with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called
for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them
out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?»

4See: Dimitrakos: Lexicon of all the Greek language, p. 2,688 (in Greek)
 How was this guy sure that Paul and Silas were able to give him the right answer
to such a critical question? The answer is because he heard them praising God and saw
how God replied through the earthquake and what followed. He was therefore persuaded
these two truly represented God. That's why he asked them so straightforwardly. Let's
now see Paul's and Silas' reply:

Acts 16:31
«And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your
household.»

Really, I don't know how many people today would be so straightforward about
salvation as Paul and Silas were. «BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND
YOU WILL BE SAVED.» That's really it. You believe you are saved. You don't
believe you don't get saved. As Romans 10:9 also tells us:

Romans 10:9
«That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in you heart that God
raised him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED».

How simple it is! Returning to the record of the prison keeper, after Paul and Silas
gave him the answer he needed, they continued teaching him further:

Acts 16:32-33
«And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he
took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes; and immediately he and
all his family were baptized. And when he had brought them into his house, he set food
before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household».

Note the time that all this happened. It happened AFTER midnight, for it was already
midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God (verse 25). After
midnight therefore, Paul, Silas, the prison keeper and his household had a wonderful
fellowship in which many souls were saved and rejoiced in the Lord!! Who could really
imagine that this could happen? And yet here it is in the Scripture. However, would this
have occurred if Paul and Silas instead of glorifying God they were murmuring to Him?
NO. They glorified God in their troubles, teaching, through their praises and prayers, the
Word to the other prisoners. God backed His Word with a great sign that certainly had
tremendous impact on all. In fact, the prison keeper with all his family, believed that very
night and had a great fellowship with Paul and Silas well after midnight!! Really what a
blessing it is to read such events. And what a blessing and healing this would have been
for Paul and Silas, after the torture they suffered. However, the blessings didn't stop
there. The next day:

Acts 16:35-40
«The magistrates sent the officers, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the
prison reported these words to Paul, saying The magistrates have sent to let you go: Now
therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly
uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now do they put us out
secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out. And the officers told
these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid, when they heard that they were
Romans. And they came and PLEADED WITH THEM, and brought them out, and asked
them to depart from the city. So they went out of the prison, and entered the house of
Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they encourage them and departed».

At the end of the day, it was the magistrates that were humiliated and not Paul and
Silas. In fact, they PLEADED with Paul and Silas to depart from their city. However,
they had already managed to set up a church there. This church would have never been
created, as many other churches in Greece, if Paul and his company hadn't obeyed God's
will to go to Macedonia, but acted according to their own wishes. Nevertheless, the fact
that they obeyed God's will, it did not mean that they didn't suffer persecution. Yet,
God even turned persecution to good and through it many souls were saved, increasing
the church in that place and giving great deliverance and encouragement to His people.

Anastasios Kioulachoglou
Proof reading by Karen Heckler (Los Angeles, USA) is gratefully acknowledged. All the
remaining errors are mine.