God’s Word for You
Acts 16:19-21 stirring up trouble
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, September 29, 2020
19 When her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them to the chief magistrates and said, “These men are stirring up trouble in our city. They are Jews 21 who advocate customs that are unlawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”
The slave owners who owned shares in the possessed girl were enraged that Paul exorcised (drove out) her demon. Their argument was similar to arguments made by slaveowners during the American Civil War, that Paul had damaged their property. But she was a human being who was a slave not only to men, but to the devil. Paul had set her free from the devil. The Bible doesn’t tell us whether she remained a slave to these men.
There are two titles of officials here. “Authorities” (Greek archons) means any official and is frequently used of Jewish officials in Israel (Luke 8:41; John 3:1). Here it means a pagan authority. In the marketplace, they happened to find the “chief magistrates” of the city. Their Greek title was strategos, a word used throughout Macedonia to commemorate Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. His title had been Strategos (general), and the Greeks of Macedonia kept the title for the highest rank of city officials, equivalent to Praetor in Roman cities. Why Philippi would have had more than one such official is unclear, unless one or more were retired from office but still called by the honorable title (as with the chief priests in the Gospels who retained their title after retiring from service, Luke 3:2; John 18:24; Acts 4:6).
Paul and Silas were picked out because they were actually Jews. Timothy was only half-Jewish, and Luke was a Gentile. Verses 20-21 seem to introduce an atmosphere of anti-Semitism. This was possible and even likely in the Greek and Roman world. Jews were seen as outsiders by pagan peoples, and they were criticized for observing the laws of Moses. One writer (Manetho) sneered that the Jews were nothing but expelled Egyptian lepers who had been taught by Moses not to adore the gods. The Philippian slave owners exclaim: “They advocate customs that are unlawful for us to accept.” That was true, since the ‘customs’ were the Ten Commandments. The first commandment forbids worship of any gods but the True God, and this set the Jews (and the Christians) apart.
When we are faithful to our confession of faith in Christ, we’re going to be looked at in pretty much the same way. We live in a culture that wants us to conform to its standards. And more and more, that means that Christians are expected to behave like non-Christians. When we do that, the world loves it, and sitting there in the back of the room is the devil, laughing at us because he got us again. What the devil really wants us to do is to act like the Jews who picked up stones to kill Jesus (John 8:59) and did the same with Stephen (Acts 7:57-58). Praise God that Jesus had not yet finished his ministry but slipped away for a little while until they crucified him. Stephen gave up the ghost then and there when they stoned him. But it was the devil’s work in both cases. He wants to kill Christians, and especially to kill our souls by raking us into the coals of hell that pave his floor. The devil loves it when preachers urge their people not to worry about doctrine and then proceed to preach nothing but false doctrine. “False doctrine and false fellowship with those who teach it, be it much or little, is always damaging to the soul.” By remaining true to orthodox, right doctrine, we preserve not only our own souls but the souls of our children and families. Solomon has the brothers say of their dear little sister: “If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her; if she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar” (Song of Solomon 8:9). We want to protect and preserve one another’s faith. The Psalmist also says: “Walk around Zion, go around her, count her towers” (Psalm 48:11). Why bother counting except to note the protections God has placed around his people, especially through the blessing of his Holy Word and correct preaching and teaching? This is how “he will be our guide even to the end” (Psalm 48:14).
Keep confessing your faith. Keep living to be true to Jesus. It may seem like you’re “stirring up trouble,” but you will strengthen your own faith and you will strengthen the faith and guide the Christian living of the people you love.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.