Paul circumcises Timothy. This appears to be a contradiction. Paul had just established at the Jerusalem Conference the importance of not imposing circumcision upon the Gentile converts. He even had the decrees of the council at Jerusalem with him. Yet he circumcised Timothy. Possibly Paul thought that if Timothy remained uncircumcised he would be considered unclean by the Jews to which he would minister and that they might be prejudiced against him and his message. Paul was using circumcision in Timothy’s case, not as necessary to salvation, but conducive to the building up of the church. Timothy was to be Paul’s assistant and constant companion and might not be accepted if he were uncircumcised. (“to the Jews he became as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews”)

The slave girl in today’s passages was inhabited by a spirit. Paul commanded the spirit to leave the girl. Even though the things she was saying were true, they were not from God. Testimony about Jesus was to come from Believers and not from demonic spirits. This is an example of Satan’s deceit and craftiness. He will tell just a little bit of truth so that some will believe and be drawn to a particular person or group. That’s the hook. Then he will be able to teach falsehoods and so deceive people. He tells just enough truth so that people are easily fooled.

The owners of the slave girl were angry that Paul and Silas had stopped their intake of money from the girl fortune teller. That’s why they had Paul seized claiming he and Silas were advocating unlawful customs. The magistrate ordered them to be stripped and beaten. KJV says the magistrates rent off their clothes, ordering the lectors to tear them off, expressing the roughness done to prisoners, preparatory to whipping.

They were severely flogged and then placed in prison in stocks. This was the inner prison (pestilential cells) damp, dark, and cold where chains often  rusted on the prisoners. During the time of Paul’s journeys, many died from flogging. Many died from the stocks.

The stocks were instruments of torture, made of wood bound with iron, with holes for the feet, which were stretched apart according to the severity of the punishment or torture. Yet the response to this persecution??? Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God. The Greek words here mean “as they prayed they kept singing praises unto God”. The word for hymn is the one used for the Paschal hymn (Psalm 113 - 118) which might have been the hymn sung by Jesus and the disciples after their last supper together.

The prisoners kept listening to Paul and Silas instead of sleeping. They were awake and listening. A violent earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, the prison doors opened; all the prisoner’s chains were loosed. But no one escaped. What a great witness to the jailer! It was so great a witness that later the jailer and his whole household were saved because they all became believers in Jesus. When the magistrates sent for their release, Paul responded with. “No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” WAY TO GO PAUL!!!

Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s house and encouraged the brothers. Interestingly it was Paul and Silas, the ones who were tortured and imprisoned that encouraged the brothers, not the other way around.

In Athens the people had many gods and objects of worship, even an altar “To An Unknown God” just in case they had missed one. KJV says the city was wholly given to idolatry (covered with idols).  Paul said they were very religious (not a good thing).  They were performing the acts of many particular religions.

Epicureans were a well-known school of atheistic materialists, who maintained that the universe is the product of chance, and that pleasure was the chief end of human existence. Sounds a bit like humanism among other false religions today.

The philosophers asked Paul what this new teaching was.  For them, they knew little about the prophecies of the Old Testament being fulfilled in Jesus.  To the Jews this was not a new teaching, They had heard all along about a Messiah to come.

When they called Paul a babbler they were insulting him. It was a general term of contempt for any pretend teacher.

When Paul came to Corinth he devoted himself exclusively to preaching to the Jews. After Paul left the synagogue he left the Jews and went to the Gentiles. Has Paul finally realized that his mission is to the Gentiles and not to the Jews?  Then the Lord spoke to him in a vision. He was told to stay in the area and to continue speaking and that he would be protected. “So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” It’s as if God were giving Paul a much needed time of rest, relief, and rejuvenation. Preaching vs. teaching. Preaching is hard work - trying to convince people who may be resistant. Paul was preaching to the perishing, teaching to the believers.  Quite a different framework.