Author: Administrador

This passages stands as one of the classic battlegrounds for debates over baptism: whether people should be re-baptized, whether water baptism is enough or if the baptism of the Holy Spirit is required as well, or whether prophecy and/or speaking in tongues are necessary elements of what it takes to be a true believer. Those … Continue reading “Acts 19:1-7 Commentary by Frank L. Crouch”

How can you tell if someone is a Jesus-follower? It’s not that easy to spot, especially at a glance. After a few minutes of conversation, however, you can usually tell; their speech gives them away. In Act 19:1-7, Paul encounters a dozen men in Ephesus who claim to believe in Jesus. When asked if they … Continue reading “Acts 19:1-7 Commentary by Jacob Myers”

The Curious Power of God Together, the readings from Acts and 1 Corinthians offer a sense of Paul’s mission through various phases. In these readings, we follow Paul from his entry into a town, through his work to establish a congregation, to his renewed preaching after he has left the community and questions or problems … Continue reading “Acts 18:1-17 and 1 Cor 1:10-18  Commentary by Mary Hinkle Shore”

Acts 18 follows Paul as he continues on his missionary journey. From Thessalonica, he went to Beroea, Athens, and now arrives at Corinth. The full account of the Corinthian mission (which lasts a year and a half) is narrated in 18:1-17, but our reading is only the opening of the story. In it Luke describes … Continue reading “Acts 18:1-4 Commentary by O. Wesley Allen Jr.”

Preacher and congregation should consider this text within the framework from which the lectionary has extracted it. A resolutely monotheistic Jew, Paul is incensed (paroxyneto) by the idols proliferating in Athens (Acts 17:16). In synagogue and marketplace he has been making his case for the gospel, in discussion with Epicureans and Stoics (v. 17). Judging … Continue reading “Acts 17:22-31 Commentary by C. Clifton Black”

The gospel sounds different everyplace it is told. That’s because the gospel does not exist in some unadulterated form in isolation from human language, culture, or presuppositions. It’s always enfleshed in some way–linguistically, culturally, personally. How would we understand it, or recognize it as good news for us, if it weren’t? Then we’d all be … Continue reading “Acts 17:22-31 Commentary by Matt Skinner”

Paul was the chosen instrument to carry Christ’s name to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). Yet only twice in Acts is Paul’s missionary preaching aimed at an exclusively Gentile audience: in Paul’s address to the residents at Lystra (Acts 14:15-17) and in Paul’s Areopagus speech delivered in Athens (17:22-31). To understand the rhetorical and cultural strategies … Continue reading “Acts 17:22-31 Commentary by Mikeal C. Parsons”

Arriving in Athens, Paul becomes distressed over the many idols adorning the city. He decides not to wait for the arrival of his colleagues, Silas and Timothy (17:15) in order to share God’s good news with the Athenians. As has been his custom, Paul first visits the synagogues where he dialogues and debates with Jewish … Continue reading “Acts 17:16-31 Commentary by Mitzi J. Smith”

On his second missionary journey, Paul sets out again from Antioch to travel through Syria and Cilicia. Having parted ways with Barnabas, Paul chooses Silas to join him on this journey (15:36-41). At Lystra they are also joined by Timothy (16:1-2). Guided by a vision of a “man of Macedonia,” Paul and his companions set … Continue reading “Acts 17:1-9 and 1 Thess 1:1-10  Commentary by Elisabeth Johnson”

Much has happened in the narrative world of Acts in between last week’s reading in the Narrative Lectionary and this week’s reading. The mission of the church has now spread beyond Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (Acts 1:8). With that outward movement, the narrative focus has now been placed squarely on Paul. Paul (that is, Saul) … Continue reading “Acts 17:1-9 Commentary by O. Wesley Allen Jr.”