Acts 18 - Paul

Acts 18:9-11:

^.9But the Lord said to Paul in (the) night by means of a seen-object, "You must not be fearful but you must utter-forth and let you not be silent ^.10for-this-reason-that I am with you, and not-one-person will put-himself-on you to treat you badly for-this-reason-that there is much people for me in this city." ^.11And he sat-down a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

The Lord Jesus Christ had not forgotten about Paul – he wanted Paul to know something from his point of view, and therefore Paul wouldn't become confused or anything else regarding what he was supposed to do next. The Lord spoke to Paul during the night through a seen-object; God's Word does not say that it was a dream. Paul was awake at this time and the Lord presented an object to be seen by him so that he would see and perceive and know what the Lord intended to communicate and make-known to him.

The Lord told Paul:

·         "You must not be fearful (afraid),

·         but on the contrary you must speak and let you not be silent (not keep silence, not stop speaking; the usages of ‘let you’ is a polite command or a very strong suggestion advising Paul not be silent, plus he used a figure of speech ‘speak – not be silent’ to emphasize what he is telling Paul because when Paul would speak then he would not be silent)

·         for this reason (on account of the fact) that emphatically I am (in Greek there is a definite word for ‘I’ plus the verb meaning ‘I am’ giving emphasis – I myself am)

o   in company and association with you,

·         and no-one will put himself (place, set, lay a hand) on you for the purpose of treating you badly (to inflict and affect you with badness)

·         for this reason (on account of the fact) that there is much (a lot of) people for me in this city (Corinth)."

As a result of what the Lord Jesus Christ told Paul, Paul sat down (stayed, settled temporarily) in Corinth for a year and six months more teaching the Word of God among the people. He spent this time instructing the people regarding the word of God (the spoken-account of God's inner thoughts which contain individual words constituting what He speaks to/for mankind - God's Word regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ which is the good-message).

Also, it was during his period of time in Corinth that Paul wrote his letters which we call "I Thessalonians" and "II Thessalonians," and perhaps the Book of "Hebrews".

[Reference: Acts 9:3-6, 16:9, 22:17-21, 23:11; II Thessalonians 3:2.]
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Ephesians 4:1-3

^4:1Therefore I encourage you, I, the prisoner in (the) Lord, to walk worthily of the calling of-which you were called, ^.2with all humbleness-of-mind and meekness, with patience, holding-yourselves-up-with one-another in love¹, ^.3being earnestly-diligent to keep the oneness of the spirit in the bonding-together of the peace –

Paul continues teaching the people being holy and believing in Christ Jesus. He writes: Following-on logically from what is already written (in this letter)…

·         I encourage you (exhort you, call you beside me as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms in order to help them to do what is right)

o   emphatically I,

o   the prisoner in the Lord (the bound-person within the sphere of action of the Master, who is Christ Jesus; refer to Ephesians 3:1),

…to walk (the verb “walk” literally means: to move the feet around, go on foot; and figuratively it means: to walk around during the everyday living life, to behave or conduct yourselves)…

·         worthily (in a manner that is of equal-value, of like-worth, as being correctly weighed on a scales and thus deserving)

o   of the calling of-which you were called (the invitation that you were invited with, it was issued to you to/for salvation in Christ, and you accepted it when you believed what God says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you received the gift of holy spirit; refer to Ephesians 1:13, 2:18 and 22),

·         with all humbleness-of-mind (in company and association with all/every humility, lowliness of your mind's thoughts, in the position of having humble thinking with respect to what God says and the things of God)

·         and meekness (tender receptiveness or receptivity towards God and the things of God),

·         with patience (in company and association with long-suffering, long-forbearance towards or with others, long-temperedness),

·         holding yourselves in an upright-position with one-another (putting up with and enduring, sustaining yourselves with each other)

o   in love¹ (the word "love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love – within the sphere of action of Godly-love, which all holy-people received from God via the Christ when we received the gift of holy spirit; refer to Ephesians 1:4 and 3:17),

·         being earnestly-diligent (having speedy application or performance, assiduity, endeavoring with earnestness)

o   to keep (keep an eye on, have in safekeeping, and therefore not neglecting or violating but able to watch-over, take-care-of, maintain, and be observant of)

o   the oneness of the spirit (the unity of the holy spirit-life within all holy-people; refer to Ephesians 1:13, 2:18 and 22)

§  in the bonding-together (within the sphere of action of that-which binds together with a band or fetter as making prisoner, that-which causes things to be bound in conjunction with one-another as making a bundle, the binding-togetherness)

§  which is consisting of the peace (the tranquil harmony that you and I and all holy-people have, the tranquility, peaceful wholeness, the quality and state of all holy-people being without any strife or disagreement with God in the spirit category).

“The peace” is not referring to some signed document between two governments agreeing not to attack each other, nor is it two religious groups making a pact to join together to accomplish some so-called “good deed”!

Christ Jesus is “the peace” – he is binding us together with one-another, with himself, and with God our Father, as detailed in Ephesians 2:14-18.

[Reference: Acts 20:19; I Corinthians 6:17, 12:13; Ephesians 1:18, 2:14-18, 3:1; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 3:12-15; I Thessalonians 2:12.]http://www.createspace.com/3352372

Believe God and Jesus Christ also

^14:1"Your heart must not be disturbed - you must believe into God and you must believe into me.

In John chapter 14 Jesus continues to talk with the remaining learning-disciples before they end the meal which began in John chapter 13. He says:

·         "Your heart must not be disturbed (the word "heart" literally means: the organ which keeps the fleshy body alive by circulating the blood; but figuratively in this context it means: the center or core of your being, the seat of your whole personal selves and living as one group or body of people having one heart - it is imperative that your heart is not caused to be stirred up, agitated, just like a normally calm pool of water is agitated and moves when something else is thrown into it breaking through its surface and causing a rippling effect over the whole pool) -

o    you must believe into God (it is imperative that you have faith-in, trust into, directed-to, or regarding God whereby He is the object of your belief; the usage of the name "God" emphasizes the truth that God is the First, Superior or Ultimate One, the One Who has power, executes judgment, and emanates what He is, His power and light)

o    and you must believe into me (also it is imperative that you have faith-in, trust into, directed-to, or regarding me whereby I am the object of your believing, you must trust what I say and do).

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Luke chapter 6

Verses 12-16:

^.12But it came-to-pass in these days (for) him to go-out into the mountain to pray, and he used-to-be through-the-night in the prayer of God; ^.13and when day came-to-pass he uttered-sounds-towards his learning-disciples, and having selected-for-himself twelve from them - whom also he named apostles:

^.14Simon whom also he named Peter and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, ^.15and Matthew and Thomas, and James of Alphaeus and Simon the (person) being called Zealot, ^.16and Judas of James and Judas Iscariot who became a betrayer -

It came-to-pass (became, happened, occurred) during these days for Jesus to go (come) out into the mountain to pray (the mount or hill to communicate to/with God, to speak generally towards God).

During that past time he was continuing to be throughout the night (all night) in the prayer of God (God's prayer; in the sense that Jesus was praying in agreement with God's intention and in God's sight and presence, and he was receiving the response to his prayer from God, a two-way communication).

At the time that it became day (daylight) Jesus uttered-sounds-towards his learning-disciples (he spoke sounds calling to his students), and after he selected (chose, picked-out) for himself 12 from his many learning-disciples at that time, in addition he named those 12 men “apostles.”

A name is a word or phrase given to a person, etc, to be called and known-by, in order to designate and describe the distinguishing and distinctive constitution, character, quality, workings, etc. Jesus gave them the name of “apostles” which means: people who are sent forth/away from someone on a specific mission or assignment to a person or people; this word places emphasis on being sent.

·         Simon whom also he named Peter (in the Greek language this word is petros, which is translated into English as the name Peter, meaning a stone, a part/piece of rock currently detached from the main rock – Simon Peter, son of Jona, native of Bethsaida) and

·         Andrew his brother (Simon Peter's brother, of Bethsaida), and

·         James (a son of Zebedee, Boanerges, brother of John) and

·         John (a son of Zebedee, Boanerges, brother of James), and

·         Philip (of Bethsaida) and

·         Bartholomew, and

·         Matthew (he may also be called Levi as Luke 5:27; the tax-collector or publican, son of Alphaeus) and

·         Thomas (also known as Didymus), and

·         James the son of Alphaeus and

·         Simon the person being called Zealot (he was boiling with very-eager and vehement passion and in this context refers to the fact that he had been a member of a Judean sect which publicly resisted the Romans refusing to pay tribute or taxes claiming that doing so would be against God; he was also known as the Canaanite), and

·         Judas of James (this Judas/Jude was also known as Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus) and

·         Judas Iscariot who became a betrayer (this Judas/Jude was from the city of Kerioth; he became a traitor; the verb "became" indicates that Judas was not a traitor at the time when Jesus named him as an apostle but he became a traitor at a later time; he is the one who gave Jesus along into the hands of the religious leaders who wanted to kill Jesus, plus he was the only one of these twelve apostles not from the area of Galilee).

[Reference: Mark 3:13-19. Other references to these apostles are Matthew 10:2-4, John 11:16, and Acts 1:13]