Well, friends, here we are another week, another
episode of the semi seminarian. We're continuing
a Bible study series that we're calling the Bible
for grownups. And we have been in this series
looking at the acts of the apostles through 11
parts. This is part 11, the last two chapters
of the acts of the apostles, which finds Paul
shipwrecked and eventually just as he had hoped
in Rome preaching. but instead chained to a guard,
the implications of which we still deal with
today. I'll see you on the other side. We're
going to be looking at Acts 27 and 28 tonight.
Those are the final two chapters of Acts. Just
to kind of catch us up from where we were last
time, Paul has been arrested in Jerusalem. He's
been kind of bounced around to various courts.
We talked about four of those courts last time,
and in each one of those, Paul's argument goes
from a Christological argument or a theological
argument to actually a political argument or
a civil argument. Last session together in these
four instances where he is trying to clear his
name of wrongdoing, he's indicating to the...
of whatever court, King Agrippa or whomever,
that Christianity is not a threat to the Roman
Empire power status quo. However, fearing that
he would be turned over to the Jewish authorities
again, the Sanhedrin, and out of fear that they
in fact might kill him, he as a Roman citizen
was able to exercise his right to plead his case
before the tribunal in Rome. So to Caesar, you
shall go, if we recall that line from the last
time. So this is where we're at now. Now it's
time for Paul to be sent by the Roman authorities
in Judea to Rome. And so not 27 and 28, that's
the story of that travel. But as we read this
and as we get to the conclusion, as we get to
the end of this 28 -chapter book, this very long
story of books, let me remind us where we began.
We began at Acts chapter 1 in that period between
the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The day of Pentecost comes in chapter 2. Chapter
1 opens up with it being in this period where
Jesus is still appearing to his believers and
he's prophesying about what is to come in the
years ahead. Namely, that they, the people that
he has made his appearance to, are to take the
message, the gospel message, the life and death
and resurrection of Christ, to the ends of the
earth. And when we start the book of Acts, that's
the assumption that we're under. That the writer
of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke, who also writes...
the gospel account according to Luke. And these
two, if you recall, were really meant to be part
one and part two of the same book, if you will.
That Luke is writing this argument, or writing
this book as an argument for the fulfillment
of Christ's prophecy of the spreading of Christianity
to the Jew and Gentile alike. And that indeed
happens. But I want to suppose that maybe, what
if, This whole story of Acts, with Paul really
as its main character, what if this book really
wasn't about Paul? And I want to leave that for
the very end when we get to the end. So let's
go ahead and begin with chapter 27. Just read
our way through these two chapters. I'll get
to parts where I have found something interesting,
so I'll stop and kind of explain something. This
is really a travelogue. There's not really a
lot of theology that happens in these two chapters.
There's not a lot that I need to refer you back
to Hebrew scripture for a particular prophecy
or something that Jesus may have said in one
of the gospel accounts. There's not a lot of
that that happens here. This is really a story.
Luke is writing a story about their travels.
And if you notice on your maps there, beginning
with Jerusalem, they work their way from right
to left all the way to Rome. And this is basically
Luke telling the story. Now, if you recall that
Luke, whenever he writes and he writes about
them being together on ships, he uses the term
we. And so that indicates that there is a ship
travel coming up, if you recall. And so verse
1 of chapter 27 starts right off with a reference
to the we. When it was decided that we, Luke
says, would sail for Italy, Paul and some other
prisoners were handed over to a centurion named
Julius who belonged to the imperial regiment.
We boarded a ship at Dromedium about to sail
for ports along the coast of the province of
Asia. and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian
from Thessalonica, was with us. The next day,
we landed at Sidon, and Julius, in kindness to
Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so that
they might provide for his needs. Ships in this
time were designed to carry cargo. with transport
for passengers on these vessels being something
that was just incidental. Passengers therefore
brought their own food and they slept on the
deck. Roman officers, however, could requisition
supplies and transport at no cost. Paul's custody
arrangements are light. Friends were not always
allowed to accompany a prisoner on their travels
somewhere. Verse 4, from there we put out to
sea again and passed to the lee of Cyprus because
the winds were against us. When we had sailed
across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia
and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. This
would have been estimated by historians to have
taken about 50 days, which is... Probably a really
good indicator of this being descriptive of an
actual event because that's about the time that
this travel should have taken. The details of
this journey fit the weather conditions and the
geography so precisely that this account surely
reflects an actual voyage under the conditions
which it was described. Verse 6, there the centurion
found an Alexandrian or an Egyptian ship. sailing
for Italy and put us, Luke says, on board. We
made slow headway for many days and had difficulty
arriving off of Snidius. When the wind did not
allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the
Lee of Crete opposite Salmone. We moved along
the coast with difficulty and came to a place
called Fair Havens near the town of La Cie. Much
time had been lost, Scripture says, and sailing
had already become dangerous because by now it
was after the Day of Atonement, which we are
actually until nightfall in right now. It's a
Jewish celebration called Yom Kippur. That's
today, the Day of Atonement. So Paul warned them,
Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be
disastrous. I bring great loss to ship and cargo
and to our lives also. The most dangerous and
least sailed season ran roughly from November
10th through early March, but dangers were possible
in the Adriatic Sea at this time as early as
mid -September. Some scholars estimate that 20
% of long voyages encountered serious dangers.
The known remains, just the known remains of
over a thousand wrecked ships from antiquity
testify to how dangerous. these travels were
and how frequently ships were lost at sea. Verse
11, but the centurion, instead of listening to
what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot
and the owner of the ship since the harbor was
unsuitable to winter in. The majority decided
that we should sail on hoping to reach Phoenix
and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete
facing both southwest and northwest. Verse 13,
when a gentle south wind began to blow, they
saw their opportunity. So they weighed anchor
and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very
long, a wind of hurricane force called a nor
'easter swept down from the island. Unfortunately,
mountains immediately north of Fairhavens, where
they had stopped. obscured the visibility of
oncoming storms from the northeast. They couldn't
see them coming because of the mountains. And
in this region, a south wind can suddenly shift
to a nor 'easter. But even if they would have
seen the approaching storm, once they reached
the Bay of Messara, they did not know local conditions.
And they're sandwiched between these two mountain
ranges, the Platonist Valley, on one side, which
could concentrate wind speeds and then hurl the
ship into open sea. So what they've done is they've
found themselves in a place between two ranges
where the winds can actually cycle down and through
and push them away from land out into the open
sea. This is the danger in which they're in in
this time. The ship was caught by the storm and
could not head into the wind. So, Luke says,
we gave way to it. And we're just driven along.
As we passed to the lee of a small island called
Calda, we were able to make the lifeboat secure,
so the men hoisted it aboard. Ominously, this
place, Calda, was the southernmost of the Greek
islands. The course farther southwest was even
more dangerous. The east -northeast side of the
island they were passing offered no harbors.
There were no place that they could put in for
the storm. But it did block some of the wind's
force long enough for them to salvage their lifeboat
or dinghy. Often the lifeboat wasn't carried
actually on the ship, but it was carried by a
rope behind it. And if it wasn't brought on board
during a storm like this, it would have been
lost to sea. Then they passed ropes under the
ship itself to hold it together because they
were afraid that they would run aground on the
sandbars of citrus. They lowered the sea anchor
and let the ship be driven along. We, Luke says,
took such a violent battering from the storm
that the next day they began to throw the cargo
overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's
tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither
sun nor stars appeared for many days and the
storm continued to rage, Luke says we finally
gave up all hope of being saved. Without stars,
sailors couldn't determine their position or
their course. In addition to the horrors of grounding,
ancient beliefs increased their despair because
those who died at sea normally couldn't obtain
burial. And the Greek tradition denied the unburied
a place in the netherworld. So in their belief,
the ghost of someone who drowned might actually
just hover over the site of their death. Verse
21. After they had gone a long time without food,
Paul stood up before them and said, Men, you
should have taken my advice not to sail from
Crete. Then you'd have spared yourselves this
damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up
your courage, because not one of you will be
lost. Only the ship will be destroyed. I'm sure
the captain of the ship wasn't too pleased to
hear that. Late last night, an angel of God to
whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
and said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand
trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given
you the lives of all who sail with you. So keep
up your courage, men. Paul says, for I have faith
in God that it will happen just as he told me.
Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.
Gentiles believed gods would sometimes rescue
ships for the sake of a particularly devout person
on board or sink them because someone on board
may have been very wicked. Paul's comportment
and his confidence contrast starkly, if you think
about it, with the behavior of someone like Jonah.
Verse 27, on the 14th night, We were still being
driven across the Adriatic Sea. When about midnight,
the sailors sensed that they were approaching
land. They took soundings, the dropping of ropes
off the side. They took soundings and found that
the water was 120 feet deep. Sailors took soundings
by lowering lead weights smeared with grease
on a hollow underside to pick up samples from
the seafloor 120 feet deep. This probably would
indicate that they were probably within a quarter
of a mile of Cora, an island east of Malta, and
they may have passed actually within about 1
,500 feet of that island during the storm. A
short time later, they took soundings again and
found that it was 90 feet deep. About a half
hour later, 90 feet. The rapid decrease in depth
means that they were moving swiftly towards being
grounded, very possibly on rocks. just beneath
the sea's surface. This grounding could rupture
the hull of the ship. Fearing that they would
be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four
anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.
Usually, ships drop their anchors from the bow,
the front of the ship. But here, sailors dropped
them from the stern, the back of the ship. Scholars
sometimes suggest that they did so to prevent
the stern from being driven into the rocks or
because they were hoping that they would be able
to resume their course in the morning. Verse
30, in an attempt to escape from the ship, the
sailors let down the lifeboat into the sea, pretending
that they were going to lower some anchors from
the bow. So the sailors have kind of come up
with this plan where they're going to need to
lower, to do some other work, they're going to
need to lower the lifeboat into the sea. But
Paul said to the centurions and the soldiers,
unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot
be saved. So the soldiers cut the ropes that
held the lifeboat and let it drift away. Like,
sailors, you're not going to run out on us. We're
all in this together. 33, just before dawn, Paul
urged them all to eat. For the last 14 days,
he said, you have been in constant suspense and
have gone without food. You've eaten nothing.
Haven't eaten anything. Now I urge you to take
some food. You need it to survive. Not one of
you will lose a single hair from his head. After
he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks
to God in front of them all. Then he broke it
and began to eat. They were all encouraged and
ate some food themselves. Altogether, there were
276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much
as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing
the grain that they were carrying into the sea.
In an effort to lighten the ship and keep it
above subsurface rocks as long as possible, they
discarded most of the cargo, which consisted
especially sacks of wheat. And this would have
been done by forming a chain that would pass
the heavy sacks in the hold compartments from
one person to another until someone on the edge
of the deck could then throw them overboard.
Now they couldn't have removed all of these tons
of wheat that would have been on board, but it
was important for them to do what they could.
Once wet, because once wet, the wheat below the
decks could expand and even double in size, and
it would then rupture a leaking hull. When daylight
came, they did not recognize the land, but they
saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided
to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting
loose the anchors, they left them in the sea
and at the same time untied the ropes that held
the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to
the wind and made for the beach, but the ship
struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck
fast and wouldn't move, and the stern was broke
to pieces by the pounding of the surf. The soldiers
planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any
of them from swimming away and escaping, but
the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life. and
kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered
those who could swim to jump overboard first
and get to land. The rest were to get there on
planks or other pieces of the ship. In this way,
everyone reached land safely. In these circumstances,
no one would expect the survival of all, barring
divine intervention. With regard to the planks,
some suggest that the planks were boards used
to separate the grain and the hold below, and
incoming waves near the shore would help propel
those planks towards the shore, both swimmers
and the planks. Verse 28, once safely on shore,
we found out, Luke says, we found out that the
island was called Malta. The islanders showed
us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed
us all because it was raining and cold. The temperature
on Malta at this time of year averages about
60 degrees Fahrenheit, but as we all can attest
to, it can be much colder after a rain. Paul
gathered a pile of brushwood, and as he put it
on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat,
fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders
saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said
to each other, this man must be a murderer. For
though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice
has not allowed him to live. Local and Roman
culture personified Justice. People often attributed
survival at sea to divine favor and hence virtue.
One who escapes a shipwreck only to die another
way would have been thought cursed by the gods
to die one way or the other. But Paul shook the
snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
The people expected him to swell up or suddenly
fall dead, but after waiting a long time and
seeing nothing unusual happening to him, they
changed their mind and said he was a god. Both
Jews and Gentiles thought that persons who were
exceptionally close to God or gods might experience
special protection. Gentiles sometimes venerated
such people as partly divine. The Gentile practice
of Treating some humans as divine is an issue
elsewhere in Acts. I'll just read it to you.
You don't have to turn to it. But you may recall
from the 14th chapter of Acts, beginning with
verse 8, in Lystra, there sat a man who was lame.
He had been that way from birth and he had never
walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking.
Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had
faith to be healed, and called out, Stand upon
your feet. At that, the man jumped up and began
to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done,
They shouted in the Lycanian language, the gods
have come down to us in human form. Barnabas
they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes
because he was the chief speaker. The priest
of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city,
brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because
he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to
them. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul
heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed
into the crowd shouting, friends, why are you
doing this? We too are only human like you. We're
bringing you the good news, telling you to turn
from these worthless things that we are doing
and turn towards God. The God who made the heavens
and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
In the past, he let all nations go their own
way, yet he has not left himself without testimony.
He's shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven
and crops in their seasons. He provided you with
plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.
Even with these words, the Lyconians had difficulty,
I'm sorry, Paul and Barnabas had difficulty in
keeping the Lyconians from sacrificing to them.
Verse 7 of chapter 28, back in 28 now, there
was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius,
the chief official of the island. He welcomed
us to his home and he showed us generous hospitality
for three days. His father was sick in bed, suffering
from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see
him, and after prayer, placed his hand on him
and healed him. When this happened, the rest
of the sick on the island came, and they were
cured. They honored us in many ways, and when
we were ready to sail, they furnished us with
the supplies that we needed. After three months,
we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered
on the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with
the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.
We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three
days. From there, we set sail and arrived at
Regim. The next day, the south wind came up,
and the following day, we reached Potoli. There,
we found some brothers and sisters who invited
us to spend a week with them. So, we came to
Rome. The inland journey from Potoli to Rome
would have covered well over 100 miles and certainly
would have taken a week. At Capua, after traveling
about 20 miles, they would have walked the rest
of the way towards Rome on the famous Appian
Way. Verse 15, the brothers and sisters there
had heard that we were coming, and they had traveled
as far as the Forum of Appius and the three taverns
to meet us. At the sight of these people, Paul
thanked God and was encouraged. When we got to
Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself. with
a soldier to guard him. Although being unguarded
completely would have been the lightest form
of custody, Paul's custody is still fairly light.
Being chained only to one soldier and living
on his own shows that Paul was being treated
as a high status person. who posed no danger.
Presumably, the supervisor over his custody would
have taken the verdict that we found in chapter
26, verse 31. That's King Agrippa telling everyone
that he didn't think Paul had done anything wrong.
Obviously, the supervisor had taken this verdict
into account. Paul's guard was likely also assigned
from the Praetorian Guard, which is the elite
unit of the Roman military in Italy. Three days
later, he called together the local Jewish leaders.
When they had assembled, Paul said to them, my
brothers, although I've done nothing against
our people or against the custom of our ancestors,
I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to
the Romans. They examined me. They wanted to
release me because I was not guilty of any crime
deserving death. The Jews objected, so I was
compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly
didn't intend to bring any charges against my
own people. The Jewish community in Rome had
suffered from scandals in earlier decades, so
Paul's assurance to them that he's not going
to bring any charges against the Jewish people
is important. For this reason, I've asked to
see you and to talk with you. It's because of
the hope of Israel that I am bound to this chain.
Remember, he's chained to a guard. They replied,
we have not received any letters from Judea concerning
you. And none of our people who have come from
there have reported or said anything bad about
you. So he shows up expecting to be met with
trial eventually. The Jewish people don't even
know what's going on. But they know who Paul
is, right? That's important for us to remember.
Paul's ship had arrived earlier in the new sailing
season. Perhaps even before any mail could arrive,
letters were carried by travelers from one place
to the other. If his accusers give up their case,
however, the case would eventually be thrown
out. Verse 22, but we want to hear what your
views are, the Jewish people say. For we know
that people everywhere are talking against this
sect. Now pay attention to this part right here.
Because the Jesus movement in Rome at this time
would have been large. And within probably five
years, Nero would be martyring hundreds of Christians
in Rome. Yet the synagogue leaders had little
contact with the Jewish people, had little contact
with Jesus followers to this point. Although
Jewish believers... that had been expelled could
have returned after Claudius' death in 54, this
present scene is somewhere between 59 and 60.
Keep that in mind. That's important. 59 and 60.
So they welcome Paul. Remember, he's a Sanhedrin.
He's a Pharisee. They welcome him as an educated
person of their own class who can explain about
the movement. So Paul shows up in about 60 A
.D. in Rome talking about Christianity and there's
already a large Jesus movement in Rome. Verse
23 continues. They arranged to meet Paul on a
certain day and came in even larger numbers to
the place where he would stay. He witnessed to
them from morning till evening, explaining about
the kingdom of God, about the law of Moses and
the prophets, and he tried to persuade them about
Jesus. Verse 25, they disagreed amongst themselves
and began to leave after Paul made his final
statement. The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to
your ancestors when he said, through Isaiah the
prophet, he's giving Isaiah, prophecy of Isaiah
here, go to this people and say you will be ever
hearing but never understanding. You will be
ever seeing but never perceiving. From this people's
heart has become callous. They hardly hear with
their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear
with their ears, understand with their hearts,
and turn, and turn, and I would heal them. Therefore,
I want you to know that God's salvation has been
sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen. Right?
For two whole years. Remember, 64, 62. Paul stayed
there in his own rented house and welcomed all
who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom
of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ
with all boldness and without hindrance. And
that's where Acts ends, with Paul preaching in
Rome. Early tradition says that Paul was released
but was arrested again once Nero began killing
Christians in 64 AD. As a Roman citizen, Paul
was beheaded. Peter was reportedly crucified
upside down because he denied being crucified
in the way that Jesus had been. The Greek term
here for rented house simply means rented quarters.
There's nothing to indicate a jail cell of any
type. In fact, most of Rome's regular residents
lived in tenement apartments, and Paul apparently
just stayed in his own apartment. Rome tracked
its cases carefully, so if no accusers eventually
arrive, For his trial, Paul would eventually
be released. Many ancient works like this end
abruptly. Acts ends positively, showing how the
expansion of the good news, repeatedly emphasized
earlier in the book, continues even into the
heart of the empire. In doing so, Acts presumably
points to how the good news can continue to spread
to the ends of the earth. But like I had begun
to ask at the beginning tonight, rather, what
if Acts isn't about Paul? No, it's about something
going on at the time. If these acts, pardon the
pun, end in 62, and there's no mention of the
fall of Jerusalem, there's no mention of Paul's
death, there's no mention of Peter's death, I
argue, along with a minority, it needs to be
said, a minority of biblical scholars, that the
Acts of the Apostles was probably written somewhere
in between. Probably about 65, 66. And I posed
the question, why was the Acts written? And to
whom was the Acts of the Apostles written? If,
in fact, 65 and 66 is a good date, For the writing
of the Acts of the Apostles, essentially what
we have is Luke writing down an account of Christianity
very, very soon after the events which they were
described. We also need to remember that in 64,
Nero begins a persecution of the Christians.
We all know Nero because he famously did something.
What did he do? He fiddled while Rome burned.
All right, so let me tell you that story real
quick, 64, 65 AD. Nero loved to build things.
And there was a particular part of Rome that
he wanted to build in, and the people who owned
property in that part of Rome did not want to
sell to the empire. So he had it set on fire
so that it could be burned to the ground, cleared
out, and he could build what he wanted there.
To get away with it, guess who he blamed? The
Christians, which led to this incredible persecution
of Christians in Rome, all kind of started because
Nero had started a fire and blamed it on them.
So I'm arguing that if in 64, 65, 66, Luke is
writing this argument, he's writing it to the
Roman people saying, look, Christianity ain't
that bad. Let me actually explain to you what's
going on within Christianity. Remember, In 62,
when this is being written, the Jewish people
in the synagogues, if Luke's account is to be
trusted, and it might as well be if we've spent
11 sessions together trying to figure out whether
it's worthy of our attention or not. Obviously
it is. If Luke is to be trusted, remember that
there are people in 62, just a few years earlier,
that are completely aware of this Jesus cult
running around Rome. but don't really know anything
about it. And so what Luke is doing is saying,
forget the propaganda. Let me tell you a story
about how it got here. Because it's not what
you think. And I think that's absolutely what
he's building up to because these two chapters
are put right upon a case where Luke takes four
different times. where Paul is taken before Roman
officials, and in each case he's shown not to
have violated the law. Ultimately, Luke is saying
to the Roman reader, my hypothesis is there's
nothing to fear about Christianity. Its intent
is not to overthrow the Roman government. Christianity
is not the boogeyman. And ultimately, so can
it be? A piece of explanatory work written by
Luke to people in the first century AD? Absolutely.
Can it be a story, a narrative of us, to us today
in the 21st century about how the church grew?
Absolutely. Can they be the same thing at the
same time? For sure. It's just that I think sometimes
we put a little bit too much focus on one and
not the other just because we don't take the
time to realize what's going on. when the book
is written, which ties us back to our original
point of this series, which we're calling The
Bible for Grownups. Because when we actually
study the Bible, we realize that the stories
that contain around the Bible are almost as important
as the stories that are contained in the Bible.
And if we have a deeper, better understanding
of the words that are contained in Scripture,
We can have a deeper, better, richer relationship
with them, apply them to our lives in a more
succinct way. Any questions? Okay, so when was
this written? I'm of the minority that say somewhere
between 65 and 66. So after Nero did his thing?
After. Okay, so then why would it end on a positive
note? Why would he have not finished the story
of Nero and Paul? Well, I think that's the thing.
I think if, okay, so he gets, let's say, let's
just play this game and say that Luke is writing,
remember it's two parts in one book. So Luke
starts back at the shepherds saying, you know,
with the angels showing up to the shepherds,
right? And goes all the way to Paul in Rome preaching
here, ending in a positive note. Luke has written
this big long thing to convince people that Christianity
ain't bad, okay? What happens to that work if
he continues that and has a chapter 30, right?
29 that says, oh, and by the way, Nero, he's
a jerk and he blamed that whole thing on us and
we didn't do it. And it's there. The Romans are
the bad guys. What do the Roman authorities do
with something like that? They make sure that
that gets stamped out pretty quick. So that's
why there's very little the Romans are a bunch
of jerks in the Acts of the Apostles. As a matter
of fact, if you go through the Acts of the Apostles,
you find from chapter 1 to the end that Roman
officials are generally treated with a certain
level of... intellect and logic and reason and
even compassion. Like, for example, whenever
the centurion says, you're not going anywhere.
These guys are staying, you're staying too. I
mean, I'm concerned. I've got a job to do to
make sure this guy gets where he's going alive.
And I'm going to make sure this guy gets where
he's going alive. He doesn't have to. Shipwreck.
Is anybody going to hold him to account if Paul
escapes or drowns? Well, what do you expect?
We were beaten upon the rocks outside of Malta.
He drowned. But he doesn't do that. He says,
I'm going to make sure this guy gets where he's
going. But I'm going to also, whenever we're
in the middle of a shipwreck, I'm praying to
any God that will listen. And that guy said that
as long as we're cool and we all stay together,
everybody makes it out alive. And right now,
that's the best game going. So I'm going to subscribe
to what this guy says about his God. So all of
you are staying put. I would probably jump on
that train. Right? Anyway, I think it's something
interesting to look at. It's something because
the relationship between Christianity and Rome
is one that certainly doesn't get solved by 70
AD. It's a conflict that bleeds well into the
6th and 7th centuries at least before we actually
get a marrying of monarchy and papal authority.
But that's an entirely different class. Well,
there you have it. I want to point out that my
position that the writing of Acts is on the early
side, somewhere in the middle of the 60s, is
the minority view amongst current scholarship.
It just seems to make sense to me as I read it
and study it, that Luke is writing the Acts of
the Apostles, not just to explain the beginnings
of the early church, but to explain that not
only is Christianity write in its belief in Jesus
Christ as a risen Savior, as a Messiah, but it
presents no overt threat to the Roman Empire.
It was never designed to be a military or a violent
overthrow of the political status quo. Rather,
it was about the coming of the kingdom of God
to earth in an effort to improve. our relationships
with each other. Anyway, that's open for discussion.
I would love if you happen to listen to that
and disagree. I'd love to hear your comments.
You can comment any way that you want. You can
find me on Twitter or on Facebook. The links
are all there in the show notes. Hey, before
I go, I'd like to ask you one favor. If you like
the semi -seminarian, if you could take a moment.
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see you next time. And until then, my friends,
be blessed and be a blessing.