Acts 16


Acts 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the start of the second missionary journey of Paul, together with Silas and Timothy. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 40 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
;In Greek
;In Latin
  • Codex Laudianus
  • León palimpsest

    New Testament references

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    Locations

This chapter mentions the following places :
The second missionary journey of Paul started around AD 49.

Timothy joins the group (16:1–5)

One of Paul's most trusted and well-known co-workers, Timothy is mentioned in the epistles to the churches in Rome and Corinth, to the Hebrews and cited as co-author of the letters to Philippi, Thessalonica, Philemon, and Colossae.

Verse 1

  • "Timothy" or "Timotheus" is the son of Eunice, a Jewish woman whose name is mentioned in 2 Timothy 1:5.

    Verse 4

The apostolic decree from the Council of Jerusalem is mentioned for the last time. The decree itself was addressed to "the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia", but Luke also considered it relevant to the churches in this wider area.

Journey from Phrygia to Troas (16:6–8)

This section records the journey out of Paul's previous mission area in the center and southern part of Anatolia, approaching the north-west corner of Asia Minor following ancient trade routes, one of which reached north of Antioch, leading "westwards down the Lycus Valley towards Ephesus". The Roman roads north of Antioch in Pisidia were built in a later period. At two points, the direction of the travel was determined by the Holy Spirit ; the term is "clearly interchangeable" with "the Spirit of Jesus" : firstly, not to take the road that could lead westward to Smyrna, and secondly not to take the other road leading northwards to Bithynia and Pontus, but to follow the road towards Troas.
The absence of a preaching account along this part of the journey indicates that they were continually waiting for guidance, which finally came to Paul when they arrived in the port city of Troas, in a vision of a call for help from the man of Macedonia.

The man of Macedonia (16:9–10)

Verse 9 records a vision in which the Paul is said to have seen a 'man of Macedonia' pleading with him to "come over to Macedonia and help" them. Although it came at night, Paul is said to have a "vision", not a dream. The passage reports that Paul and his companions responded immediately to the invitation. It is considered to echo in which the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua saying "... come up to us quickly, save us and help us". The first seal of Massachusetts Bay Colony had an American Indian with a scroll coming out over his mouth with the words "Come over and help us", also said to echo the words of the man of Macedonia.

Verse 9

  • "Macedonia": probably the same region as later applied to the Roman province, which included the ancient Macedonia, Illyricum, Epirus, and Thessaly. This was the door for Paul to bring the faith of Christ from Asia to Europe, and the cry, "Come over and help us," could be considered by Paul as a call from the whole western world.

    Journey from Troas to Philippi (16:11-15)

The details of sea travel include the specific jargon of seafaring and every port of call. From Neapolis, the journey is by land along Via Egnatia, the Roman road connecting the northern Aegean cities to the ports at Adriatic Sea.

Verse 12

Philippi was a Roman colony, originally settled by Roman army veterans with Roman magistrates and laws.
  • "Foremost": translated from Greek πρώτη, , which also means "first".

    Verse 13

  • "Place of prayer": translated from Greek: προσευχή, , also meaning "prayer", which may indicate a synagogue, but if the Jewish community there was not large enough to establish a synagogue, it may mean a 'less formal meeting-place' of prayer. Evidence from first-century writings indicates that Jewish communities usually meet 'close to running water'.

    Verse 14

The independent status of Lydia as a trader and householder was not unusual for women among the 'traveling merchants and artisans' in most Greek cities of the ancient world and such women often became 'patron and benefactor to Jewish and other immigrant communities'.

The woman of Philippi and the spirit of divination (16:16–24)

Verses 16 to 18

The passage refers of woman who was possessed by a spirit of divination, whose nature remains unclear. Paul ordered to the spirit to come out of her and this happened in the Name of Jesus Christ, like apostles were called to do against demons. Nevertheless, the spirit of divination affirmed for some days that Paul and Silas were servants of the Most High God.

The saving of the jailer in Philippi (16:25—34)

The dramatic scenes of Paul's imprisonment and escape in Philippi mirrors Peter's experience in Jerusalem. The singing hymn in prison is similar to the act of the philosopher Socrates and the rescue by divine intervention because of faithfulness to God is like that of the prophet Daniel and his friends. Instead of escaping during earthquake, Paul honorably stayed inside so he could prevent the jailer to commit a shame-induced suicide and brought change in this person's life: treating his prisoners with honor, washing their wounds and inquiring them about salvation. Paul's 'shameful experience of prison' was turned into a successful mission, even in the middle of the night, that the jailer 'with his entire household' became a 'paradigmatic convert', baptized, 'sharing table-fellowship', and 'rejoicing'.

Verse 31

The shaming of the magistrates (16:35-40)

When the 'police' came to order the jailer to release him, Paul chose this time to reveal his Roman citizenship, which higher standards of legal treatment than other people in the empire should prevent him and his companion to be publicly humiliated, and the violation of this could result in severe punishment for the magistrates. A complete role-reversal then happened with the magistrates coming to 'apologize' to Paul, vindicating Paul's faithfulness to God who can turn around potentially humiliating situations into honor.