3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

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τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῖν, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God (Acts 20:27); τριετίαν νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν οὐκ ἐπαυσάμην μετὰ δακρύων νουθετῶν ἕνα ἕκαστον, for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears (Acts 20:31). The lengthy three year ministry (cf. Acts 20:31) in Ephesus illustrates another objective: using the already established churches at home base preach the Gospel in the surrounding regions with evangelizing actiions: τοῦτο δὲ ἐγένετο ἐπὶ ἔτη δύο, ὥστε πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀκοῦσαι τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου, Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας, This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:10). The central focus was the Gospel: διαμαρτυρόμενος Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ Ἕλλησιν τὴν εἰς θεὸν μετάνοιαν καὶ πίστιν εἰς τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν, as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus (Acts 20:21). Paul believed this message of God’s grace had the ability to transform life here and now, as well as to prepare us to live eternally in the presence of God: Καὶ τὰ νῦν παρατίθεμαι ὑμᾶς τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, τῷ δυναμένῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν κληρονομίαν ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις πᾶσιν, And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified (Acts 20:32). All of these activities Paul understood as τὴν διακονίαν ἣν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus (Acts 20:24). It was built around giving witness to God’s grace: διαμαρτύρασθαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ, to testify to the good news of God’s grace (Acts 20:24). This ministry was a gift from God to Paul (Acts 20:24). And it also was an Olympic race to be run with accountability before God: ὡς τελειῶσαι τὸν δρόμον μου, if only I may finish my course (Acts 20:24). The accountability included faithful proclamation to all people: διότι μαρτύρομαι ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ σήμερον ἡμέρᾳ ὅτι καθαρός εἰμι ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος πάντων, Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you (Acts 20:26). The key to this ministry was integrity, and an integrity that not only was faithful to proclaim the Gospel, but equally faithful to live it daily before the people: ἀπὸ πρώτης ἡμέρας ἀφʼ ἧς ἐπέβην εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, πῶς μεθʼ ὑμῶν τὸν πάντα χρόνον ἐγενόμην, δουλεύων τῷ κυρίῳ μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ δακρύων καὶ πειρασμῶν τῶν συμβάντων μοι ἐν ταῖς ἐπιβουλαῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. (Acts 20:18-19). His personal life became an example for these Ephesian leaders to imitate in their ministry: ἀργυρίου ἢ χρυσίου ἢ ἱματισμοῦ οὐδενὸς ἐπεθύμησα· αὐτοὶ γινώσκετε ὅτι ταῖς χρείαις μου καὶ τοῖς οὖσιν μετʼ ἐμοῦ ὑπηρέτησαν αἱ χεῖρες αὗται. πάντα ὑπέδειξα ὑμῖν ὅτι οὕτως κοπιῶντας δεῖ ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι τῶν ἀσθενούντων, I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak (Acts 20:33-35). And this compassionate care of people came out of the teaching of Jesus: μνημονεύειν τε τῶν λόγων τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπεν· μακάριόν ἐστιν μᾶλλον διδόναι ἢ λαμβάνειν, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35). This is a powerful portrayal of ministry given by Luke about Paul. It is one that challenges every believer to yield his or her life completely to God for service and ministry. What comes as a secondary emphasis throughout both Luke’s account and with more emphasis in Paul’s account is the similar perspectives and commitments in ministry on the part of the associates who traveled with Paul on this trip. Timothy and Titus are the two who receive the most prominent emphasis, but others surface from time to time as well such as Luke who injects himself into the picture in the ‘we’ sections of the text. All of them shared a common commitment to preach and to live the Gospel faithfully. Consequently, Paul felt completely at ease in given them specific assignments on various occasions that put them on their own so to speak in ministry responsibility. When one works together with others in Christian ministry, realization of the critical importance of this trust and confidence in others comes rapidly. When one turns to Paul’s own account a complementary picture to that of Luke emerges. In Paul’s own writings, two levels of assessment become necessary. First, the overall content of the letters composed during this period of ministry play some role in filling out the details of the picture. But more importantly, the autobiographical references of Paul to ministry in the cities and provinces of his ministry during this period of time play the major role in forming the picture of ministry. The three sources of primary information are First and Second Corinthians and Romans. First Corinthians was written from Ephesus a little over half way through the three year ministry in the city. Second Corinthians was written from Macedonia after Paul had left Ephesus and in advance of his trip to Corinth. Romans was written during the three month stay in the city of Corinth. These writings date from around 53 to 57 AD. Two ad- Page 484
ditional letters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians are lost and thus not contained in the New Testament. The overall perspective of these three letters provides general insight into the pastoral writing ministry of the apostle. First Corinthians as Paul’s response to two sets of reports and questions provided to him first by members of Chloe’s household (chapters one through seven) and second by a delegation that traveled to Ephesus from Corinth (chapters eight through sixteen) reveal a church struggling with many very serious spiritual issues. These ranged from rank immorality by church members to serious theological issues around whether Jesus was raised from the dead or not. Systematically, the apostle covers each of the problems one by one addressing each issue both with theological principle, sometimes based on Old Testament teaching and with practical admonitions about how to behave oneself as a believer. His words are firm and direct, but come out of deep pastoral concern for the church. Second Corinthians follows a somewhat similar and yet has a distinctively different tone. Paul’s source of understanding about the church at Corinth comes from the report of Titus who met up with the apostle in an unnamed city in the province of Macedonia. Three general themes unfold in the body proper of this letter: chapters 1-6, Paul’s understanding of ministry both as he experienced it and understood it theologically; chapters 8-9, the relief offering for the Judean believers; chapters 10-13, a vigorous defense of his apostleship against lingering criticism of Paul at Corinth. Permeating the entire letter is a profound sense of the blessing of serving Christ, even though at times it is hard and enormously difficult. Romans was letter as a letter of introduction by the apostle in anticipation of a future visit to the church. He had never been to Rome, but did know many leaders in the church through contracts in other places. Very carefully crafted, this letter puts on the table the essence of Paul’s preaching of the Gospel of Christ around the central theme of the righteousness of God. The first eleven chapters stress that theme in terms of its theological meaning, while chapters twelve through fifteen underscore it in terms of how the righteousness of God impacts the daily life of believers individually and corporately. Linguistically and literarily it is far and away the best crafted letter of all those linked to the apostle Paul. Part of the credit for this goes to the superior writing skills of Tertitus who did the actual writing of the letter (Rom. 16:22), and also the different nature of this letter from all the others in the Pauline collection of the New Testament. The major emphasis on ministry activity during this missionary trip centers on the relief offering that Paul was receiving from the churches to help the Jewish Christian churches in Judea and Jerusalem: 1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8-9; Rom. 15:25-27. This was a massive undertaking that involved the collection of a very large sum of money from the churches in the provinces of Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia for the relief of the suffering of fellow Christians in the churches of Judea. The logistics of collecting and guarding this money took substantial time and effort. But Paul and those associates traveling with him throughout the trip were assisted by representatives appointed in every city from the individual churches to assist in the delivery of this offering. By the time the group left Corinth on the journey to Jerusalem the delegation was made up of quite a large number of individuals. The manner and the delivery of this gift to believers back in Jerusalem followed customary patterns typically used by Diaspora Jews to deliver the annual temple tax to the temple leadership in Jerusalem. The sums of money involved here reached astounding levels annually of what today would be valued as being in the hundreds of millions of dollars. What was collected by Paul did not reached those levels but none the less amounted to a substantial sum of money. The apostle was willing to devote so much time and energy to this project because it represented a symbolic expression of the outpouring of God’s harvest blessings from the Gentile churches to the Jewish Christian communities in Judea. Thus delivery was made to the leaders in Jerusalem during the Jewish festival of Pentecost in 57 AD. But beyond the symbolic value of the offering, it represented a real effort of bonding and authentic Christian ministry of believers to other believers standing in great need of help. It helped cross the racial barriers between Jew and Gentile at a time of heightened racial tensions in Palestine. Paul’s understanding of ministry as summarized by Luke in the farewell address to the Ephesian leaders at Miletus (Acts 20:17-35) is complemented by Paul’s depiction of ministry in 2 Corinthians 1-6. He anticipates much of this in the letter Proem of 1:3-11, and especially with the foundational prayer of thanksgiving in 1:3, Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation. Much of his discussion centers on facing the difficult challenges of doing ministry in Asia and Macedonia during that period of time, and even up to that point in time. The persecution, the emotional burdens posed by the churches often with all their problems, his concern for the welfare of his associates such as Titus whom he mentions prominently here, -- all of these and more presented the apostle with real tests of his commitment to Page 485
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The Apostle Paul, Servant of Christ
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coming out of the lengthy earlier s
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cause the borders of the province s
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to Christian communities at Ephesus
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What I find most encouraging here i
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Paul’s lengthy ministry at Ephesu
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καὶ ἐπροφήτευον, Wh
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It is important to note the way in
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the Gospel in the Jewish synagogue
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terminating their ministry in the s
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Gospel upon the lives of thousands
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Luke has an interesting depiction o
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is not the language that authentic
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a real power existed in the name of
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But the major thrust of the term τ
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μηδενὸς αἰτίου ὑπ
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Paphos. 86 Given previous patterns
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ἱκανὸν ὄχλον λέγω
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At Ephesus, more than in other plac
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4 Hence, as to the eating of food o
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ger: γενόμενοι πλήρε
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The imperfect form of this verb ε
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Upon recognizing Alexander as a des
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Δημήτριος καὶ οἱ σ
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7.1.2.2.5 Snapshot glimpses of Paul
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conversion (33 AD) on to the writin
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make the trip at this moment. Paul
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cally and emotionally. His experien
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ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῷ πν
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after a lengthy ministry of 18 mont
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did not find my brother Titus there
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3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

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