NLT Illustrated Study Bible - Book of Acts - Flipbook - Page 50
A cts 1 6 : 8
2006
but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow
them to go there. 8 So instead, they went on
through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.
9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from
Maced
onia in northern Greece was stand
ing there, pleading with him, “Come over to
Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we* decided
to leave for Macedonia at once, having con
cluded that God was calling us to preach the
Good News there.
oman colony. And we stayed there several
R
days.
Lydia of Philippi Believes in Jesus
13 On the Sabbath we went a little way out
side the city to a riverbank, where we thought
people would be meeting for prayer, and we
sat down to speak with some women who had
gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from
Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth,
who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the
Journey to Philippi
Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what
11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed
Paul was saying. 15 She and her household were
straight across to the island of Samothrace, x baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If
and the next day we landed at Neapolis. you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,”
12 From there we reached Philippi, a major
she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she
city of that district of Macedonia and a urged us until we agreed.
16:8
2 Cor 2:12
2 Tim 4:13
16:9
Rom 15:26
16:11
2 Cor 2:12
16:12
Phil 1:1
1 Thes 2:2
16:14
Rev 1:11; 2:18, 24
16:15
x baptizo- (0907)
Acts
19:3
16:10 Luke, the writer of this book, here joined Paul and accompanied him on his journey.
PROFILE
LUKE Beloved Doctor and Historian
Acts 16:10
Luke 1:3
Acts 1:1
Col 4:14
2 Tim 4:11
Phlm 1:24
Luke, a Gentile medical doctor who became a convert and trusted assistant of Paul in his
missionary work, wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the A
postles—one-quarter
of the NT.
Though we know very little about Luke’s background, he seems to have first encountered
Paul and his preaching in western Asia Minor, where he became a convert. Leaving his home,
he devoted his life to the service of Christ and the Good News as a dedicated assistant of
Paul. Paul speaks of him warmly as “the beloved doctor” and one of his faithful “co-workers”
(Col 4:14; Phlm 1:24). Luke is the only Christian who faithfully remained with Paul when
Paul was awaiting execution in Rome (2 Tim 4:11). He is the only Gentile to have his writings
included in the NT.
Accompanying Paul on his last trip to Jerusalem, Luke probably acquired the information
for his Gospel and the early part of the book of Acts from people he interviewed in Judea
when Paul was imprisoned there for two years. Having talked extensively with people who
heard and saw Jesus, and having carefully studied what others had written about him, Luke
then wrote his own careful account of Jesus’ life and teachings (see Luke 1:14).
When Paul was sent by ship to Rome to have his case tried there, Luke accompanied
him. While Paul was under house arrest, awaiting his trial, Luke might have used the time
to write the book of Acts. The first fifteen chapters provide a chronological account of
the earliest missionary work as told to him by the early followers of Christ and by Paul
16:8 Troas, a major port on the Aegean
Sea, was one of the more significant
cities in the Roman empire. Paul’s strat
egy was often to visit principal places
such as Troas, Athens, Corinth, and
Ephesus. When the Christian faith had
been planted in major centers, local
Christian workers could carry it into
outlying areas (e.g., Epaphras took the
message from Ephesus to Colosse, Col
1:7; 4:1213).
16:910 a vision: See “Visions,” 10:916.
16:10 we: The most natural interpreta
tion of the shift from “they” to “we” is
that Luke accompanied Paul from Troas
to Philippi (16:1017). Later Luke joined
Paul again at Philippi and sailed with
him to Troas, then to Miletus (20:515),
T H E P E N TAT E U C H
then from Miletus to Jerusalem
(21:118). After Paul’s two-year impris
onment in Caesarea, Luke traveled with
him to Rome (27:1–28:16).
16:11 Samothrace is a small mountain
ous island lying west-northwest of the
Hellespont about twenty miles (32 km)
from the coast of Thrace. • Neapolis
(modern Kavala) was the seaport for
Philippi and the eastern terminus of the
famous Via Egnatia (the Egnatian Way),
which ran from Rome to Asia.
16:12 At Philippi, about ten miles
(17 km) inland from Neapolis, Paul
began his missionary labors in Europe.
16:1336 Luke gives his readers
cameos of three lives touched by the
Good News in Philippi: a wealthy
ISRAEL’S HISTORY
woman (16:1415), an exploited slave
girl (16:1621), and a middle-class
officer (16:2336).
16:13 The Jewish community at Philippi
was too small to have a synagogue,
which required ten adult males. Instead,
Jews met for prayer in an open space by
the Gangites (now called Angista) River
that afforded privacy, quiet, and water
for Jewish purification rites.
16:1415 The first person changed by
Christ in Philippi was Lydia, a successful
businesswoman from Thyatira (modern
Akhisar), a city of western Asia Minor
famous for its woolen fabrics, weavers,
and linens. Lydia responded to the mes
sage and she and her household were
baptized (cp. 16:3233). • One of Lydia’s
first acts as a true believer in the Lord
POETRY & WISDOM
