3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

in Paul’s mind and will that he was to travel to Jerusalem. Of course, the delivery of the relief offering became
the tangible expression of that divine leading. But Paul did not know how the trip would unfold. And he certainly
had no clear understanding of what the trip would mean personally in his own life. But Luke cleverly places the
conviction of the Spirit and the lack of understanding the details on either side of the core statement, I am going to
Jerusalem. Following God’s leadership is indeed a step into the dark for God seldom ever charts out the details of
His plan to us in advance. Why? Fundamentally, following Him is foremost a step of faith, of unconditional surrender
of our lives and destiny into His hands with full confidence that He will lead us and give us all the information
that we need to know when we need to know it. 240
Third, the one exception to this lack of understanding was a growing conviction that whatever it would
be, it was not going to be good: πλὴν ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον κατὰ πόλιν διαμαρτύρεταί μοι λέγον ὅτι δεσμὰ καὶ
θλίψεις με μένουσιν, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting
for me. This conviction was present as early as his time in Corinth for it hints at the same thing in his words to
the Romans in his letter to them: Rom. 15:30-31: ἵνα ῥυσθῶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπειθούντων ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, that I may be
rescued from the unbelievers in Judea. Subsequently to his statement at Miletus, this signaling of danger in Jerusalem
would continue to be affirmed at Tire (Acts 21:4) and at Caesarea (Acts 21:10-11), not just to Paul but about
him to other believers as well. Ultimately this became the full realization of what the Lord had indicated to him at
conversion on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:16 through Ananias: ἐγὼ γὰρ ὑποδείξω αὐτῷ ὅσα δεῖ αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ
τοῦ ὀνόματός μου παθεῖν, I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.
Paul’s response defining his commitment to make the trip is expressed dramatically: 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. With
challenging but picturesque language, 241 Paul indicates that his own life is not the important matter here. 242 What
is of central importance is finishing his calling from God faithfully: ὡς τελειῶσαι τὸν δρόμον μου καὶ τὴν διακονίαν
ἣν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, as to complete my race and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus. 243
240A personal note about this. When Claire and I got toward the end of the two year commitment to pastor the International
Baptist Church in Cologne Germany in the early summer of 2010, we began sensing that God had something else for us in ministry
elsewhere. We had no earthly idea of what it might be. But with intense prayer and searching for His leadership, a door opened quite
suddenly and unexpectedly to move from Germany to Costa Rica. Again, the contours and direction of ministry at the time of the move
were not understood. All we knew with certainty was that this move was of God alone, and not from any human prompting. Little could
we have realized that the Lord was getting us ready for the most rewarding and fulfilling period of ministry of our entire lives. And I
had been in the Gospel ministry at that point for over 52 years! My constant prayer of thanksgiving to God is that what He had planned
for us has had a very different direction than what lay ahead for Paul when he was speaking to the Ephesian leaders at Miletus. But both
directions represent the will of God, which is to be embraced joyously and thankfully no matter where it takes us.
241 26 “The text and the construction of the opening clause are alike obscure. The text of NA , οὐδενὸς λόγου ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν
τιμίαν ἐμαυτῷ, is read by P
Page 464
41 א* B C 1175 pc ( gig syp ). There are several ways in which it may be construed.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical
and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 971.]
242 “The first part of this verse is rather awkward in Greek, so that two possibilities of translation result. One may understand the
Greek to mean ‘but I reckon my life of no value, as though it were precious to me,’ and so translate as the TEV has done: but I reckon
my own life to be worth nothing to me. On the other hand, it is possible to understand ‘reckon to be of no value’ as meaning ‘not worth
speaking of,’ and so translate as the JB has done: ‘but life to me is not a thing to waste words on’ (see also Zurich and Luther). These
two different renderings, however, amount essentially to the same thing. In many languages it is impossible to speak of one’s ‘life’ being
‘worth anything.’ One may, however, say ‘it is not important to me whether I live or die.’ This may then be followed by a clause stating
‘it is, however, important that I complete my mission ….’ ” [Barclay Moon Newman and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Acts
of the Apostles, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1972), 391.]
243 41 74vid 2 “The next two words are marked by further textual and linguistic problems. ὡς is read by P P א* A B* C Ψ M but א B2
vg have ἕως; E 33 323 614 945 1739 2495 al have ὥστε; D gig Lucifer have τοῦ (quam). τελειῶσαι is read by P41vid A (C) D E Ψ M gig
Lucifer, but א B pc vg have τελειώσω. Among these variants ἕως may be discounted as an easy complement to τελειώσω. ὥστε, with, on
the whole, late attestation, should probably be regarded as an easy companion to the infinitive τελειῶσαι though Blass (220) points out
that it would be easy for τε to drop out before τελειῶσαι. The comparative contained in the Western text (… than completing …) is again
a relatively easy reading. We are left with ὡς τελειῶσαι and ὡς τελειώσω. Each is unusual, but neither is impossible. If ὡς τελειώσω
is read it is, according to M. 3:105, the only final ὡς in the NT. Turner adds that it is rare also in the Koine. [He refers also to a variant
ὅπως, but I do not know where this is to be found.] ὡς may also however be read with the infinitive, again in the final sense, and this
is presumably intended by NA26 . There is a parallel in Lk. 9:52, where ὡς ἑτοιμάσαι is read by P45 P75 א* B, but ὥστε ἑτ. by all other
MSS. See BDR § 369, n. 1; § 391:1, n. 2; BA 1793 (s.v. ὡς, IV 3). The meaning, whether τελειώσω or τελειῶσαι is read, is, My purpose
in discounting the value of my life is that I may …” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles,
International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 971-72.]