5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was
occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And
when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them,
“Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the
Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius
Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8
Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his
entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were
baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid,
but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will
attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And
he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts
18:5-11 (ESV)
Paul’s work among the
Jews was perhaps becoming too successful by the
time Silas and Timothy arrive
from Macedonia, (Thessalonica). Paul is very occupied in testifying to the Jews
that the Christ was Jesus. But since he has converted many to Christianity
through his preaching, those who are still Jews begin to oppose him and revile
him. Paul moves his work then Titius Justus, it would seem a gentile, a Roman
who lived close to the synagogue. His house will become a center of Christian
worship in this town. Corinth was
basically a colony of Roman soldiers who were given land in retirement. And
Titius was probably one of these himself. There is now discussion of some of
those who believed. It had to be a severe blow to the moral of the Jews that
even the ruler of the synagogue is converted. You can imagine how bad the reviling
had to be, but then the Lord tells Paul, not to be afraid. To not be silent but
to keep speaking because he is with him, and no one will attack him for there
are many in the city that belong to him. One can only imagine the comfort that
brought to him. I’m sure he was a bit tired by now of being attacked and
beaten.
We can’t always be certain that we won’t be attacked for the
faith we confess. This sort of thing happens in this world. We can be thankful
for those God puts in place to protect us. Sometimes “his people” are the last
people you would expect. But no matter what, we can know that he is with us,
and it may not always look like it, but he is blessing our work.
No comments:
Post a Comment