Paul In Ephesus

"While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and came to Ephesus.  There he found some disciples whom he asked, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?'  They answered, 'We have not even heard that anyone may receive the Holy Spirit.'  Paul then asked, 'What kind of baptism have you received?'  And they answered, 'The baptism of John.'

Paul then explained, 'John's baptism was for conversion, but he himself said they should believe in the one who was to come, and that one is JESUS.'  Upon hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the LORD JESUS.  Then Paul laid his hands on them and the Holy Spirit came down upon them; and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.  There were about twelve of them in all.

Paul went into the synagogue and for three months he preached and discussed there boldly, trying to convince them about the Kingdom of GOD." - Acts 19:1-8 

(For three years, Paul wanted to evangelize Ephesus.  Ephesus was one of the most beautiful and largest cities in the empire.

Luke wanted to relate the baptism of these twelve disciples of John the Baptist. As we have just said they knew something of JESUS' teaching, but as for being his disciples, they lacked what was most important: they had not received the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit came down upon them.  We must not forget that in the beginning, the Christian language was limited.  We know that the Holy Spirit is much more than the manifestations that follow the laying on of hands.  So, we have such statements as: we have not heard that there is the Holy Spirit, while other texts state: that the Holy Spirit be received.  The laying on of hands is meant to confirm the change worked at baptism through the experience of the gifts of the Spirit [1 Corinthians 12:7].  Many Christians would be surprised today if they have never had this tangible experience of GOD.  Let us not say that these gifts are no longer useful or that such things do not happen today.  What is important, surely, is to believe and live one's faith rather than to feel it.  Such an experience, however, is often the shock that gives rise to a re-blossoming of our faith: it shows us that GOD is near, and HE is master of our inner self.   Perhaps our rationalist temperament and our Church life, mistrustful of all that is a personal expression, serves as a dampener of the gifts of the Spirit; perhaps it is rather the poverty of our commitment to JESUS.

They were baptized in the name of the LORD JESUS.  Are we to presume that in the beginning baptism was in the name of JESUS and not in the name of the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT?  It is not certain.

In the name of signifies: by the power of; maybe the baptism in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the Holy Spirit was called the baptism in the name of JESUS to distinguish it from the baptism of John and the baptisms of other religions.  It is also possible that at the moment of receiving the water in the name of the Holy Trinity, the person baptized had to make a personal invocation in the Name of JESUS.  Possibly also in early times, baptism was given "in the Name of JESUS" and later the Church modified the formula in order to distinguish itself from groups that believed in JESUS but without recognizing HIM as Son of GOD, born of the FATHER.  There would be nothing to astonish us in such a change: the Church of the apostles had given the first formula; the same Church gave the second formula attributed to JESUS in Matthew 28:19.)

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GOD Has Put All Things Under The Feet Of CHRIST

"May the GOD of CHRIST JESUS our LORD, the FATHER of glory, reveal HIMSELF to you, and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know HIM.

May HE enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by GOD.

May you know how great the inheritance is, the glory, GOD sets apart for HIS saints; may you understand, with what extraordinary power, HE acts in favor of us who believe.

HE revealed HIS almighty power in CHRIST when HE raised HIM from the dead, and had HIM sit at HIS right hand in heaven, far above all rule, power, authority, dominion, or any other supernatural force that could be named, not only in this world, but in the world to come as well.

Thus has GOD put all things under the feet of CHRIST and set HIM above all things, as head of the church, which is HIS body, the fullness of HIM, who fills all in all." - Ephesians 1:17-23  

(Far above all power.  In Paul's days, neither Jews nor Christians doubted that the world was governed by supernatural powers, "angels."  They called them: Rulers, Powers, Authorities, Dominion, and Paul was saying to them: all these Powers are inferior to CHRIST.  In our days we express ourselves differently.  Nevertheless, we see the universe subject to the laws of nature, to the forces of matter and of life.  It is also subject to obscure forces: collective prejudices, vice and fanaticism.  These ruled the world, preventing the emergence of humanity, until the coming of CHRIST: see Galatians 3:23.

GOD has put all things under the feet of CHRIST.  This means the same as the words of our creed: "JESUS is seated at the right hand of GOD."  It means that in rising, CHRIST, the GOD-Human became the First in the universe.  All things under HIS feet except humankind.

Paul adds: "HE made HIM head of the Church".  CHRIST acts differently in two areas: in the world, where HE is the invisible center in charge; in the Church, of which HE is the head, where HE can show the riches of HIS Spirit.)

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You Will Ask In MY Name

"When that day comes to you will not ask ME anything.  Truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the FATHER in MY name, HE will give you.  So far you have not asked for anything in MY name; ask, and receive, that your joy may be full.

I have taught you all these things in veiled language, but the time is coming when I shall no longer speak in veiled language, but will speak to you plainly about the FATHER.

When that day comes, you will ask in MY name; and it will not be necessary for ME to ask the FATHER for you, for the FATHER HIMSELF loves you, because you have loved ME, and you believed that I came from the FATHER.  As I came from the FATHER, and have come into the world, so I AM leaving the world, and going to the FATHER." - John 16:23-28  

(I will speak to you plainly...  The naïve response of the apostles in verse 29 underlines by contrast what JESUS expressed in verse 25.  JESUS did not mean that HE would return in visible form to teach, not in parables, but more clearly; JESUS referred rather to the spiritual knowledge of HIMSELF and HIS words that the disciples were to receive from the Spirit.

You will ask in MY name.  Through a spiritual knowledge of JESUS, the believers will know what they should ask of HIM and HE will give it to them.  In the same manner, they will know the things that GOD does not want to give, and because of that they will neither desire nor ask for them.)

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Paul Had Made A Vow

"One night, in a vision, the LORD said to Paul, 'Do not be afraid, but continue speaking and do not be silent, for many people in this city are MINE.  I AM with you, so no one will harm you.'  So, Paul stayed a year and a half in that place, teaching the word of GOD among them.

When Gallio was governor of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the court.  And they accused him, 'This man tries to persuade us to worship GOD in ways that are against the Law.'

Paul was about to speak in his own defense when Gallio said to the Jews, 'If it were a matter of a misdeed or vicious crime, I would have to consider your complaint.  But since this is a quarrel about teachings and divine names that are proper to your own law, see to it yourselves: I refuse to judge such matters.'  And he sent them out of the court.

Then the people seized Sosthenes, a leading man of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio paid no attention to it.

Paul stayed on with the disciples in Corinth for many days; he then left them and sailed off with Priscilla and Aquila for Syria.  And as he was no longer under a vow he had taken; he shaved his head before sailing from Cenchreae." - Acts 18:9-18  

(A vision: there are not many in this book.  Perhaps Paul was wondering whether it would not be better for him to retire for a time as he had already done and as JESUS had advised in case of persecution [Matthew 10:23].   The devil increases the opposition when someone sets foot on his field: in this center of corruption, grace would triumph.

The Jews brought him before the court.  Here we have a new example of the problems Paul met in the great Roman centers.  Different peoples co-exist, and many conflicts are settled within communities according to their proper laws and customs.  Gallio, the Roman governor, has no wish to be dragged into the jungle of traditions and disputes, especially with the Jews who enjoyed religious privileges within the Roman Empire.

The Jews are furious in seeing the success of Paul that relies on the Word of GOD, that is, on their own sacred books.  They fear that the boldness of the Christians might stir a reaction from the pagans, in which case they, too, would be the victims.

They seized Sosthenes - and beat him.  A sure bet would be that this Sosthenes, a Jew, is the one mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:1.  Even if he already acted as a prominent member of the Christian group, it is doubtful whether the Jews would have attacked him before the authorities: most probably it was a group of bystanders falling on a well-known Jew.

Paul had made a vow.  He shaved his head as it was said in Numbers 6:5. All that Paul had written to turn converted pagans away from the Jewish Law did not prevent him, a Jew, from feeling at ease with the traditional forms of Jewish piety.  He knew that faith alone saves, but it was his wish to mark with a vow some secret agreement he had made with the LORD.)

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"This Is MY Commandment: Love One Another As I Have Loved You!"

"As the FATHER has loved ME, so I have loved you.  Remain in MY love!  You will remain in MY love if you keep MY commandments, just as I have kept MY FATHER's commandments and remain in HIS love.

I have told you all this, that MY own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.  This is MY commandment: Love one another as I have loved you!  There is no greater love than this, to give one's life for one's friends; and you are MY friends, if you do what I command you.

I shall not call you servants anymore, because servants do not know what their master is about.  Instead, I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learned from MY FATHER.

You did not choose ME; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.  And everything you ask the FATHER in MY name, HE will give you.

This is MY command, that you love one another." - John 15:9-17 

(After making it clear that we depend totally on HIM, JESUS repeats HIS commandment of love.  There is a necessary order in building the Christian life.

If from the start we say: We should love our neighbor because this is the only commandment, we will achieve nothing; because each one understands love in his own way, while not having as yet interiorized the thinking of CHRIST.  Moreover, we need to receive from the source of all love the ability to love selflessly.  CHRIST asks us to first share HIS thinking: that is what the expression, keep MY commandments means.  Thus, we become HIS friends, knowing HIM as a person who loves us and acts in us.  Later we will produce the authentic fruit of love, whose source is CHRIST.)

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Paul In Corinth

"After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, following a decree of the Emperor Claudius which ordered all Jews to leave Rome.  Paul went to visit them and then stayed and worked with them because they shared the same trade of tentmaking.  Every Sabbath he held discussions in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was able to give himself wholly to preaching and proving to the Jews that JESUS was the Messiah.  One day when they opposed him and insulted him, he shook the dust from his clothes in protest, saying, 'Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent.  I am not to blame if from now on I go to the non-Jews."

So, Paul left there and went to the house of a GOD-fearing man named Titus Justus who lived next door to the synagogue.  A leading man of the synagogue, Crispus, along with his whole household, believed in the LORD.  On hearing Paul, many more Corinthians believed and were baptized." - Acts 18:1-8 

 

(Corinth, the main port of Greece and capital of the province of Achaia with 600,000 inhabitants, of whom 400,000 are slaves, is a religious, commercial and cultural center.  It has countless temples with thousands of prostitutes serving in them.  The city is famous for its luxury and its corruption.  Paul goes there and remains eighteen months - until the end of the year 52.  This date is exact: history tells us that Gallio was governor of Achaia during the year 52.

Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, had just arrived in Corinth.  They were perhaps already Christians, but Jewish Christians were not different from others before the decree of the emperor.

Aquila and Priscilla simply place themselves at Paul's service to help him.  They will assist him on other occasions with the natural availability of people who do not feel tied to any city or country.)

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A Miraculous Deliverance

"So, they set the crowd against them; and the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be flogged.  And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely.  Upon receiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to GOD, and the other prisoners were listening.  Suddenly, a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations.  Immediately, all the doors flew open, and the chains of all the prisoners fell off.  The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open.  Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted to him, 'Do not harm yourself!  We are all still here.'

The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas.  After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'  They answered, 'Believe in the LORD JESUS CHRIST and you, and your household, will be saved.'  Then they spoke the word of GOD to him and to all his household.

Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he, and his whole household, were baptized at once.  He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole household his newfound faith in GOD." - Acts 16:22-34  

(In Roman jails there was a main room and in the center of the pavement a grill closed the opening through which the most dangerous prisoners were thrown into an underground cell.  They throw Paul and Silas there.  They are perfectly free in spite of their chains.  Though they have been beaten and are wounded, they feel like praising GOD.  In the silence of the night, the jailers and the other prisoners listen to them praying and singing hymns.

GOD is also listening.  How many similar episodes, wherever a witness of Christian freedom has been at the risk of one's life and liberty!

We who take the time, and rightly so to prepare for Baptism, might be surprised by this very swift Baptism of a whole family.  It could be said that it was a special case: let us stress also that all this happened in a very different world from our own.)

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The SPIRIT Will Come

"From the FATHER, I will send you the Spirit of truth.  When this Helper has come from the FATHER, HE will be MY witness, and you, too, will be MY witnesses for you have been with ME from the beginning.

I tell you all this to keep you from stumbling and falling away.  They will put you out of the Jewish communities.  Still more, the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will claim to be serving GOD; they will do this because they have not known the FATHER or ME.  I tell you all these things now so that when the time comes you may remember that I told you." - John 15:26-16:4   

(The FATHER, the SON and the HOLY SPIRIT.  In making us children of HIS FATHER, JESUS enables us to discover the intimate mystery of GOD.  In GOD there is communion among the three persons: the FATHER, the SON and THEIR common SPIRIT.

We speak of their common Spirit, because JESUS said both: The FATHER will give you another Helper [14:16] and: The Helper which I will send you [15:26].  Now HE says: He will take what is MINE and tell it to you: everything that the FATHER has is also MINE [16:15]. 

"The Spirit" is not a poetic figure: it is Someone.  This has already been commented on [John 7:37; 14:1].

Starting from the day of Pentecost, the Spirit began to act in the Church, thus showing that he was the Spirit of CHRIST.  The unbelieving Jews thought that GOD was with them, but in reality, HIS Spirit did not act among them.  So, it was clear that they had sinned for not believing in CHRIST.) 

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Endure Sufferings As CHRIST Did

"... but bless the LORD CHRIST in your hearts.  Always have an answer ready, when you are called upon, to account for your hope, but give it simply and with respect.  Keep your conscience clear, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your upright, Christian living.  Better to suffer for doing good, if it is GOD's will, than for doing wrong.  

Remember how CHRIST died, once, and for all, for our sins.  HE, the just one, died for the unjust, in order to lead us to GOD.  In the body, HE was put to death, in the spirit, HE was raised to life..." - 1 Peter 3:15-18   

(In the body HE was put to death, in the spirit HE was raised to life.  [The text says, "HE died according to flesh."]  This means that HE died because HE had accepted and really taken on our mortal condition, but HE had to be repossessed by the Spirit of GOD.  It is a reaffirmation of the double nature of CHRIST.  Compare with Romans 1:4.)

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The Hostile World

"If the world hates you, remember that the world hated ME before you.  This would not be so if you belonged to the world, because the world loves its own.  But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you from the world; because of this the world hates you.

Remember what I told you: the servant is not greater than his master; if they persecuted ME, they would also persecute you.  If they kept MY word, they would keep yours as well.  All this they will do to you on account of MY name, because they do not know the One who sent ME." - John 15:18-21 

(In spite of JESUS' having returned to HIS FATHER to initiate a more effective and universal presence among humankind, Satan continues to act with the power he has usurped.  The hatred of those who belong to Satan is directed against the believers and the Church.  Such helpers of Satan are called in John's Gospel: the world.

Believers are destined to be hated by the world.  It often happens that when a person begins to live in a more Christian and responsible way, she meets with opposition and hatred from her own family.  No one knows what has aroused the hatred, but the devil does, who moves everything to discourage us.)

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