God’s Word for You
Acts 16:6-7 Turkey Sub
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, September 21, 2020
6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
The eyes of some readers may glaze over at verses like these, but Luke is making an important point. Just as Joshua records many geographical details that do not have much bearing on our understanding of God’s Word, so also this sort of itinerary could be labeled, “Places where we did not go.”
First, we should know something about ancient Turkey (the Bible’s “Asia Minor”). You might think of it as a 12-inch sub sandwich. You don’t want to cut it in half, though. You want to cut it into thirds. So each third of the sandwich has a top and a bottom, and those are the regions of Luke’s Asia Minor. To the far right (east), Cilicia was the bottom half (where Paul and Silas entered through the mountain pass), and to the north, the top half was Cappadocia. Cappadocia is only mentioned twice in the Bible. There were people from there at Pentecost (Acts 2:9), and they were included in a letter written by Peter (1 Peter 1:1).
The middle of the sandwich was Pisidia below, with a couple of small chunks on the bottom like pickles stuck to the bread (Pamphylia and Lycia). The top of the middle portion was Galatia. (Way up north, above Galatia and Cappadocia, were the narrow strips of land known as Bithynia and Pontus up on the Black Sea. Don’t worry about them, or think of them as the sandwich’s wrapper).
The left end of the sandwich had Asia below (with a narrow strip of territory called Phrygia separating Asia from Pisidia) and Mysia above, but Asia was much larger. In fact, Asia, Galatia and Cappadocia together accounted for about 75% of the whole region. There. That’s your ‘Turkey Sandwich.’
Now then, when Paul and Silas found themselves right in the middle of all this, in the towns of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe that formed the border between the middle top (Galatia) and the middle bottom (Pisidia), they could not go west into Phrygia or through it into Asia, and so they had to go north. But heading that way they assumed that they might get to enter into Bithynia on the northern coastline, but even that way was blocked by the Spirit of Jesus.
The “Spirit of Jesus” here could well be the Holy Spirit. He is sometimes called “The Spirit of Christ” (1 Peter 1:10) and “The Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:19). But there could be another answer (see below). Since the Holy Spirit normally works through the means of grace (the Gospel in Word and Sacrament), in what way did he “prevent” them from going in Asia and “not allow” the push north into Bithynia? We might wonder if whether there was a storm or war or some other catastrophe, but Luke is more concerned with who prevented than how, and so Luther’s quick guess, “either the wind of the Spirit did not permit it” (LW 44:337) is correct. I think that there was a vision that Luke doesn’t mention because he is giving travel details at this point.
I think (and this is only my opinion based on the text) that the Holy Spirit, in a vision to one of the travelers (Paul, Silas or Timothy) kept them from going west into Asia. Then, in another vision as they headed north, the spirit of Jesus (that is, a vision of the risen Christ) communicated that they were not to go to Bithynia at this time. A third vision (Acts 16:9-10) would communicate where they should go.
The reason would be brought out later, but there’s no reason not to be thrilled already by what God had in mind. He was planning to let the people of Asia Minor continue with their own ministry and he was getting ready the send the Gospel to a new continent. Africa (Acts 8:27) and Asia (all the rest of Acts up to this point) knew Jesus, but now it was Europe’s turn. In the prophets, especially Isaiah, there are prophetic messages about “the islands” coming to faith in God: “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them” (Isaiah 42:10 ). The “islands” are a reference to the many islands of the Mediterranean Sea in Greece and around Italy. This is where Paul and his companions were heading, to fulfill the promise of the Lord.
A whole new land was going to be shown the light of Christ! Paul and his companions could well pray: “God grant us your grace to preach the gospel faithfully, to plant the seeds of faith in hearts wherever we turn, and grant those who will hear the grace to believe it and be saved. Amen!”
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.