Acts of the Apostles 3

1
Acts of the Apostles 3

• Paul with a foot in each world

2
Pauls Roman identity

• Chapter 16 begins the we account of Pauls
  adventures.
• Paul is accused, obviously falsely, of
  contravening Roman customs, laws.
• And is arrested and beaten contrary to law for
  Roman citizens.
• Paul refuses to take advantage of the liberating
  earthquake.
• Saves the jailer, then refuses freedom and
  presses the issue of the beating.
• Revealing that he is a Roman citizen!
• (In his actual letters, Paul never says anything
  about this.)
• This Roman identity of Paul becomes increasingly
  important in Acts.

3
New directions

• From this point we hear more and more about
  friction and failures in Pauls preaching in the
  synagogues.
• In the Areopagus of Athens, Paul reaches toward
  Greek philosophical/religious world.
• Attempting a synchronism with Greek intellectual
  language.
• And expresses a new universalism of religious
  experience.
• At 18 6, he makes the momentous decision to
  abandon the synagogues and go only to the
  Gentiles.
• Gallio plays a Pilate-like role vis à vis Paul.
  But without serious consequences yet for Paul.
• At Ephesus Paul finds a community of followers of
  John the Baptist (19 1-7), who are easily
  incorporated into the new belief.
• But this suggests an interesting historical
  situation followers of John the Baptist still
  active in mid-first cent.
• And again, he leaves the synagogue and goes to a
  gentile location, the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
  
• At 19 21 Paul seems to conclude his work in
  Greece, vows to return to Jerusalem, then on to
  Rome.

4
Paul in Ephesus

• Acts reports a two-year sojourn in the most
  important city of Asia Minor (ch.19).
• Performs a Christ-like role in the healing that
  comes of his garments or handkerchiefs.
• But the power is non-transferable.
• Rather comic conclusion to the attempted theft of
  Pauls healing power (1916)?
• And the economic cost of turning Christian in the
  magic books that are burnt.

5
Great is Artemis of the Ephesians

• An illustration of the clash of cultures? Part
  of the adventures of Paul?
• Or maybe the real reason Paul had to leave
  Ephesus?
• Suggests a great clash between Greek fertility
  goddess and emerging Christian belief and the
  economic implications.
• This Artemis a fusion of the Phrygian Cybele, a
  mother goddess, and/or the Phoenician Astarte.
• But the real point, for author of Acts, seems to
  be the role of Roman law in relation to Pauls
  mission.
• Speech of the town clerk (mayor?) emphasizes
  the role of law in adjudicating the complaint
  again Paul and his companions.
• Heres Artemis

6
Artemis of the Ephesians
7
Prolepsis? Another death in Jerusalem?

• Pauls speech to the Ephesians in Miletus seems
  to foreshadow his death 2022.
• As a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to
  Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me
  there.
• And none of them will see him again.
• Much weeping and grief 37-38).
• Then in ch. 21 We again.
• More apprehension of danger disciples in Tyre
  tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem (214).
• Agabus encounter more anticipation of danger in
  Jerusalem (21 10ff).
• I am ready not only to be bound, but to die in
  Jerusalem (21 13)
• And in fact, the possibility of death does seem
  to await him.

8
Jew or gentile? In Jerusalem the danger of
double identity.

• Danger from believers among the Jews.
• The plan is to show that Paul is a good Jew.
• But it doesnt finally work.
• Another commotion in the Temple.
• And another death threatened (2131).
• BUT rescued and arrested by Romans.
• Speaks Greek to the tribune, Hebrew (Aramaic)
  to the Jews (21 37-40).
• And tells his story of his conversion (2nd time
  this narrative occurs, 22 6-16).
• Mention of gentiles (22 21) again causes
  violence.
• The turning point? The Lord appears
  presumably Jesus -- and predicts Pauls witness
  in Rome, as in Jerusalem (23 11).

9
But saved by the Romans

• Jesus was flogged now Paul is almost flogged.
• And Paul claims his Roman citizenship in fact
  hes more Roman than the tribune.
• But in answering the high priest, also insists
  hes a loyal Jew 23 5.
• In face of conspiracy, Paul is hustled out of
  Jerusalem again saved by Romans.
• Luke writes some Roman speeches (23 26-30,
  24 2-8, Pauls speech, 24 10-21).
• Paul appeals to emperors tribunal Rome.
• Felix gt Porcius Festus gt Agrippa and Bernice.
• (Festus procurator of Judea from around 60 to
  62.)
• Paul gives a very Hellenistic/Roman speech to
  Agrippa, telling the conversion story (3rd time),
  becoming more Roman by the minute!
• And makes a little joke at the end? (26 29).

10
The voyage to Rome

• Now the narrative becomes a stirring sea story a
  Hellenistic genre. Luke becomes a salty sea
  dog!
• We again.
• With lots of seafaring terminology (sea anchors,
  tackle, lowering boats, etc.) and a close
  itinerary of the voyage.
• Its a large grain ship (27 37).
• Surprisingly (!), the centurion pays more
  attention to what the ships captain and the
  owner say about sailing than to Paul 27 10.)
• But Paul is right, even about sailing.
• Undergirding the ship 27 17.
• Shipwreck rather exactly described.
• And everyone survives, even Paul when a viper
  attaches itself.
• And Malta is touched by the power of the Spirit.

11
Then finally to Rome

• The Twin Brothers out of Alexandria the
  Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, an Egyptian cult.
• Across to Sicily (Syracuse, modern Siracusa),
  then to Reggio Calabria, and up to Bay of Naples
  (Puteoli, modern Pozzuoli).
• Where they find brethren (adelphoi, Christian
  believers).
• Then overland to two towns just south of Rome.
  More brethren . . .
• . . . and sistren?)
• Then to house arrest in Rome.

12
The end of Pauls story?

• Doesnt really tell the end
• Which was, according to second-century tradition,
  execution in Rome.
• The narrative ends around 61 or 62 (Nero is
  emperor), but was presumably written some 20
  years later.
• Perhaps Luke intended to write a third volume,
  but wasnt able to?
• Or tradition about Pauls execution may not be
  right (its late 2nd century)?
• And theres another tradition that Paul went on
  to Spain.
• So finally, a mystery.

13
But thematically, not really the end?

• The Jerusalem/Rome theme remains prominent in
  speech to Roman Jews.
• Paul continues to preach Jesus in terms of law
  of Moses and all the prophets.
• Some converted, some not.
• And the prophecy of Isaiah, used in Luke 810,
  now used to signal the transfer of the Spirit to
  the gentiles.
• And a concluding statement, that doesnt really
  conclude.
• A George Lucas sort of ending -- an opening for a
  sequel?

14
Some conclusions about Acts

• As Jesus ascends in the opening, the Spirit
  descends.
• And becomes the hidden protagonist?
• Active in Peter first, then Paul.
• And negotiates the cultural divide from Judaism
  to gentiles.
• The continued relevance of Israel, the Hebrew
  Scriptures, even as gentiles predominate.
• Several key turns, the final Pauls treatment in
  Jerusalem and his rescue by the Roman
  authorities.
• The error of Pontius Pilate is undone by Festus
  and Felix?
• The innocent man is not condemned, is not
  executed.
• And in the last sentence Jesus is proclaimed as
  messiah in Rome.

15
Luke/Acts as narrative

• The message to the gentiles the Way begins in
  Israel, in the Hebrew Scriptures.
• Jerusalem, though destroyed and superceded, was
  the site where the Way begins.
• And so both Hebrew Scriptures and Jerusalem (a
  literary version?) retain presence, authority.
• The message to the Jews the Way has become
  Hellenized, Romanized.
• Protected both from Hellenistic cult (at Ephesus)
  and the threat of Jewish violence (in Jerusalem)
  by Roman law.
• And it survives hardship and danger as it
  traverses the Mediterranean world.
• And perhaps the ending is that it doesnt end,
  but leaves itself open?