3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

epeated efforts to convince Paul not to travel on to Jerusalem.
Paul’s response to these folks in Caesarea was essentially the same as what he had said to others earlier.
Here Paul said to the folks at Caesarea: τότε ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Παῦλος· τί ποιεῖτε κλαίοντες καὶ συνθρύπτοντές
μου τὴν καρδίαν; ἐγὼ γὰρ οὐ μόνον δεθῆναι ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποθανεῖν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἑτοίμως ἔχω ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος
τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, 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.” At Miletus just a few weeks earlier he had
told the Ephesian leaders (Acts 20:24): ἀλλʼ οὐδενὸς λόγου ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν ἐμαυτῷ ὡς τελειῶσαι τὸν
δρόμον μου καὶ τὴν διακονίαν ἣν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, διαμαρτύρασθαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς χάριτος
τοῦ θεοῦ, But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received
from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace. What we see here at Caesarea is a Christian leader
so committed to doing the will of God, that he doesn’t flinch back from it even in the face of impending arrest
and possible death. He appreciated deeply the concern and fears of these believers who loved him dearly and
were very concerned for his safety, but on this occasion, unlike a few times previously, their advice was not to be
heeded. 286 It was clearly against the will of God in his understanding of it for that moment. Real spiritual wisdom
comes in knowing when and when not to pay attention to sincere advice coming from other Christians. 287
To their credit, both the delegation and the Caesarean believers accepted Paul’s decision: μὴ πειθομένου
δὲ αὐτοῦ ἡσυχάσαμεν εἰπόντες· τοῦ κυρίου τὸ θέλημα γινέσθω, Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent
except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.” 288 The ‘we’ here most likely includes both groups, unlike in v. 12 where
the ‘we’ is distinguished as the traveling group and from the Caesarean believers. 289 The bottom line was that
everyone, including Paul, wanted God’s will to be done. And the group had to trust Paul’s judgment on what that
meant for the apostle’s ministry.
What may be easily overlooked here is the ancient Christian way of sensing God’s leadership in one’s
life. All through Paul’s ministry as a Christian, fellow believers offered advice and urged certain decisions be
made by the apostle. It began with the ministry of Ananias bringing Christ’s word to Paul in Damascus after his
encounter with the risen Christ outside the city: Acts 9:10-19. When the first plot to kill Paul by Jewish leaders
was discovered in Damascus, it was fellow believers in the city who helped him escape and guided his exodus
from the city (Acts 9:23-25). Again on that first visit as a Christian to Jerusalem it was the advice and help of fellow
Christians in Jerusalem that enabled Paul to escape this second plot to kill him (Acts 9:30). It was the appeal
of Barnabas made to Paul while in Tarsus that prompted him to go to Antioch to help establish the church there
(Acts 11: 25-26). It was by the request of the church at Antioch that Paul went with Barnabas to Jerusalem to
deliver the relief offering (Acts 11:30). God spoke through leaders in the church at Antioch for them to set aside
Paul and Barnabas as their missionaries (Acts 13:1-3), which Paul accepted as the will of God for him. The newly
converted disciples at Lystra played an important role in reviving Paul after being stoned (Acts 14:20). It was
the church in Antioch that commissioned Paul and Silas for the second missionary journey (Acts 15:40), which
286 “τότε ἀπεκρίθη is more forceful and solemn than the variants; Then answered Paul … It was a memorable saying, expressing
with special clarity Paul’s devotion to the Lord and to his service. The text of NA
Page 480
26 is τότε ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Παῦλος, B (* om. ὁ) C (* + δέ)
36 pc bo. The variants are
ἀπεκρίθη δὲ (τε m) ὁ Π., Ψ m syh ἀπεκρίθη δὲ ὁ Π. καὶ εἶπεν, (373) 945 1739 1891 pc
εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ Π., D (gig)
τότε ἀπεκρίθη ὁ (om. P74 ) Π. καὶ εἶπεν, P74 א A E (33) pc vg syp sa boms
“It has been suggested with plausibility that the origin of this confusion was the mistake of attaching τότε to the end of the
preceding sentence. Fortunately the meaning is unchanged whichever reading is adopted.”
[C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh:
T&T Clark, 2004), 996.]
287 “Ultimately individuals are left to themselves to determine God’s purposes for them. On the other hand, the understanding of
others is significant input in seeking to determine those purposes for oneself. The present incident provides an excellent example of that
sort of interchange within the Christian community between conflicting understandings of God’s will. See F. Bovon, “Le Saint-Espirit,
l’Eglise et les relations humaines selon Actes 20, 36–21, 16,” Les Actes, ed. J. Kremer, 339–58.” [[John B. Polhill, vol. 26, Acts, The
New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 435.]
288 “If this was God’s will for Paul, then they prayed ‘the Lord’s will be done.’ It was much like Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.
He too did not relish facing the human agony of the cross but nonetheless committed himself wholly to God’s purpose for him—’not my
will, but yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). It is not without reason that many refer to this scene as ‘Paul’s Gethsemane’.” [John B. Polhill,
vol. 26, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 436.]
289 “‘We’, Paul’s travelling companions, continue to be the main subordinate actors, but are here joined by οἱ ἐντόπιοι, the local
(Christian) residents.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary
(Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 996.]