Vision of Macedonia
The
Passage: Acts 16:6-10
Structure:
a. 16:6-8, Holy Spirit prevents preaching in Asia
[Minor]
b. 16:9, Vision
of Macedonia
a’. 16:10,
God call to proclaim the Good News
Historical
and geographical context: The second missionary journey began straight after Jerusalem council.
Paul and Silas (not Barnabas) visit the cities of South Galatia (Debre, Lystra,
and Iconium, end of the last lesson). Then they go to Phrygia (center/in-land
part of modern Turkey). Luke has an interesting remark that they were prevented
to “speak the Word” (see below). They also attempted to go to Bithynia –
northern territories of Asia Minor. The Spirit prevented them from going there
too. Interesting fact, later Nicaea (city in Bithynia) will gain its fame for
hosting the First and the Seventh Ecumenical Councils.
Getting the
vision they move to Troas – a city on the West coast of Mysia to take a boat to
Macedonia (Northeast part of modern Greece).
Theology:
The Holy
Spirit prevents them from speaking the Word (Logos). There are two ways to
understand this phrase. First, as ESV suggests, the Holy Spirit prevented them
from speaking the Word in the areas of Phrygia and Galatia. Theoretically, it
is possible to read it this way, but then vv. 1-5 do not make sense – Debre,
Lystra, and Iconium are important cities of those territories. Second, they
went through Phrygia and Galatia – visiting the congregations established
during the previous deployment. Where should they go next? First option:
thought mainland of Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, Thyatira, Pergamos
etc. – see Lenski, Acts, p. 644. (Yet, Lenski doesn’t make a connection
with Churches of Revelation, cp. 2 – 3).
Driven by a night
vision (dream). The question of Pauline visions is discussed below (Other
themes). Here we need to touch on the general understanding of the dreams and
visions in the Bible. Abram had dreams (Gen. 15:12), Jacob had dreams (Gen.
28:10-17), Joseph [the patriarch] had dreams (Gen. 37:5-11). Elihu teaches
about dreams (Job 33:14-28). Joseph had dreams (Mt. 1:18-21; Mt. 2:13-15). So,
it should not surprise a Biblical student that in the rare cases God reaches to
godly people. When the Word was incomplete – God used many means to deliver His
will to His servants. Nowadays, we have Scripture – holy, written, inerrant,
and complete Word of God. It is possible to apply Elihu’s matrix to Pauline
experience – Holy Spirit told them twice (forbidding to go through Asia Minor
and Bithynia), then and only then Paul sees a dream.
Verse 10
ends with the decision “to evangelize them”, where evangelize is a verb. ESV
uses “to preach the gospel.” What’s the difference? Insertion of the verb “to
preach” assumes that it can be done only by saying (writing) something – usage
of the verbal methods only. Yet, the Bible doesn’t limit the evangelism to
preaching, blogging, or sharing Bible tracts. Bible speaks of wholistic
attitude toward Evangelism – how one hears the Word, what one says and how it’s
done, and – very important – how the message that was preached relates to one’s
personal daily life (are there any double standards?).
Other
themes:
Was St. Paul
a visionary or a dogmatision? The short answer is “yes.” But it needs further
explanation. On one hand, he left us with 14 letters (Hebrews included). These
letters are full of dogmas/teaching and settings for the moral boundaries for
Christian conduct. Most of the times he based this teaching on the OT
Scriptures read by NT eyes – through the lenses of the Incarnation of Christ
and embodiment of the Body of Christ in the Church.
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