Commentary on Acts 14:23-28

By Bob Myhan

²³So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

The Lord has made it crystal clear that the preaching of the gospel and the edification of the saved are to be under the oversight of elders whenever there are a plurality of men qualified to serve as such. This being specifically authorized, every overseen collective of human origin is excluded as far as preaching the gospel and edifying the saved are concerned.

²⁴And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

Pamphylia is where they were when Mark turned and went back to Jerusalem (13:13).

²⁵Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

On their first pass through this area Luke did not say whether they did any preaching but he does report that they preached the gospel during this pass-through. Apparently, there was not much success.

²⁶From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.

Attalia was the port city. It was from there that they sailed back to Antioch of Syria. The phrase, “where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed,” simply means that was their home base. No indication that they stopped in Cyprus—home of Barnabas—on the way back.

²⁷Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

 The church at Antioch having sent them out by the direction of the Holy Spirit, there was a natural interest in the success of the preaching of the two. The journey was probably about three years long and the church had probably heard no news since the return of Mark. McGarvey observes,

The apostles had now completed their missionary tour, and there could but be great anxiety in the congregation who had sent them forth, to know the result of their labors. It was the first mission ever sent to the heathen world. The missionaries were as eager to report the success with which their sufferings and toil had been crowned, as the congregation were to hear it. He who returns from a hard-fought field bearing good tidings, pants beneath the burden of his untold story. (A Commentary on Acts of Apostles, with a Revised Version of the Text, page 180)

²⁸So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

The Jerusalem conference of the next chapter is dated by Paul, in Gal. 2:1, as occurring about fourteen years after his conversion, which is usually dated around A.D. 35. Thus, the conference occurs in about A.D. 49 or 50. If the missionary journey had begun around ten years after Paul’s conversion, we are left with a respite of one or two years between the end of that journey and the conference.

(To be continued)

Thus what one believes to be right is the moral standard by which his conscience judges his actions. However, what one believes to be right may or may not be right; therefore, one’s conscience should not be followed as an infallible guide.

Paul, for example, had lived his life “in all good conscience” even during the time he was persecuting Christians (Acts 23:1). He thought it was right so his conscience did not bother him (Acts 26:9).

(To be continued)

A Study of the Holy Spirit (Part 20)

By Bob Myhan 

To be "in Christ Jesus" is to be in a right relationship with Him. One is in a right relationship with Him to the extent that he walks "according to the Spirit." To "walk according to the Spirit" is to "live according to the Spirit." To "live according to the Spirit" is to be "spiritually minded." To be "spiritually minded" is to be "in the Spirit." You are "in the Spirit" if "the Spirit of God dwells in you." If "the Spirit of God dwells in you," you "have the Spirit of Christ." If you "have the Spirit of Christ," "Christ is in you." "Christ is in you" because "by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body." This is all the result of being "led by the Spirit of God." If we allow ourselves to be "led by the Spirit of God … the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." How is it that "the Spirit ... bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God"? He does so by "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."

Some seem to think that “in” is always literal when speaking of the indwelling of the Spirit. But the Father and Son are "in" one another (John 17:20-21). Is this literal? (See also: John 5:19; 12:49-50) The Corinthians were "in" the hearts of Paul and Timothy (2 Cor. 7:2-3). Were they literally in the hearts of Paul and Timothy?

To "be filled with the Spirit" is equivalent to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Eph. 5:18-19; Col. 3:16). Does this mean that you have to swallow a Bible? Of course not. The word of Christ dwells in you richly if and to the extent that it has been stored up in your heart, which is the intellectual, emotional, ethical and volitional center of an individual. Thus, the word of Christ dwells in you richly if and to the extent that you know it, love it and allow it to inform your ethical judgments and volitional actions. The Holy Spirit dwells in us by means of the fruit that He produces in our lives (Gal. 5:22-25). He dwells in us if and to the extent that we are "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4-11). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is "in" the heart of a Christian if and to the extent that the Christian is following the principles that the Holy Spirit Himself revealed.

The Spirit's indwelling is evidence that one is "not in the flesh but in the Spirit" (Rom. 8:9). This shows Paul is speaking of something that we can perceive by the senses - application of God's word to our lives. The phrase, "not in the flesh" is certainly not intended as a literal expression because we are all literally "in the flesh" until the day that we die. It is a figurative expression. Therefore, the phrase, "in the Spirit" is also a figurative not a literal expression. 

(To be continued)