Transition
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 20 August 2023
The story of Acts has proven to us to be a study in transitions, from Judaism to Jesus. Acts, written by Luke, describes the early years of transitions in the church after its beginning, as the church begins to form itself and sever itself from Judaism. The old things of Judaism faded out slowly, and the new gradually phased in. Now, Hebrews gives us the theology of this transition.
All those characters of Judaism have been replaced by Jesus. All the laws, ceremonies and the rituals of the Old Testament have given way to a whole grace kind of life. And no longer are you ruled by externals but you’re ruled by the Spirit within. And God’s people, Israel, have given way to God’s people, the church. And multiple sacrifices has given way to the one final sacrifice.
And we saw the viewpoint of the New Covenant as it means the old is set aside. And even Hebrews says, “The old decays and fades away.” And Acts gives us the history of Judaism to Jesus. It shows us the flow and the transition of the period of years as the church emerges as an identity all its own. Acts gives us many insights into the depth of Judaism, as we see people receiving Jesus as Savior.
Many Jews are introduced to the church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation, identifying with the church in every way but still hanging on to features of Judaism. We see Jews who see Christ, who in their minds believe it but aren’t willing to leave Judaism and come all the way to Christ. So Acts is not a base for systematic theology because the church is in a state of flux.
When you study Acts, you’re studying history. Now, the transition isn’t easy for a Jew, because Judaism is not just a religion. It is as much a nationalism; it is as much a culture and a race. It’s a way of life. It’s a heritage. The Jewish people are in love with Judaism, and rightly so. It was ordained by God. It’s a point of pride, a divine institution, and it doesn’t go away easily.
Now the church is a separate identity from Israel. And “The Lord added to the church.” But look in Acts 3:1, “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” The church had already been established. And yet they were still going to the temple at the prescribed Jewish prayer hours, where the veil had already been torn in two to show access to God.
This indicates the difficulty in a Jew’s mind of seeing Christianity as a unit all its own composed of Jews and Gentiles. Many Jews saw it as an extension of Judaism, because Jesus was their Messiah. He was the fulfillment of Judaism. In Acts 15, the Judaizers wanted everybody to be a Jew first and then believe in Jesus. They said, “Except you be circumcised, you can’t be saved.”
That problem was solved in Acts 15, as the Jerusalem counsel came on with a strong statement that Gentiles were saved by faith. Many of these Jewish people who are coming to Christ are finding it hard to get all the way over to the features of Christianity. Not only because of Judaism, but secondly, because all of the features of Christianity hadn’t been revealed yet.
Another thing is the fact that when the church was born, the church was born in the synagogue. Whenever Paul went to a town, the first place he went was the synagogue. Now, once there was a group of people saved, they didn’t move out of the synagogue. Paul in Acts 19:8, when he comes to Ephesus, he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months.
It’s interesting that Aquila and Priscilla were Christians when Paul came to Corinth. Likely, they met him at the synagogue, so there were Christians still attending the synagogue. It’s even more interesting that later on we find in Acts 18:24 that Apollos came to Ephesus. And he began to speak at the synagogue and Aquila and Priscilla heard him. So in Ephesus, Christians went to the synagogue.
Now, there were times when the transition happened quicker. When the Jews really got angry, sometimes the church got thrown out of a synagogue. In Corinth in Acts 18:6, the people opposed them. Paul shook out his coat and said, “Your blood be on your heads. From now on, I’m going to the Gentiles.” And he went out and started his church in a Gentile house next door.
The Holy Spirit was doing unique things, initiating things that are not to be the norm for the Christian’s life. So we should accept Romans as the doctrine and Acts as the special work of God for the history of a changing church. Now, let’s look at three persons and groups in transition. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit stops here in Acts 18 and says, “Now there’s something you ought to know.”
One, Paul; two, Apollos, and three, the twelve disciples of John the Baptist. And all three of them are pictured in transition from Judaism to Jesus. Each of these three, Paul, Apollos, the twelve disciples of John the Baptist, all had some connection with John the Baptist. And John the Baptist represented the last stand of the Old Covenant. He was the last Old Testament prophet.
John said, “I must decrease, and Christ must increase.” What he was saying was, “You must let go of the Old Testament, and you must cling to Jesus Christ.” That doesn’t mean we minimize the Old Testament. That means we adopt Christianity fully. And the principles, morals, standards and truths of the Old Testament are timeless, but the ceremonies and rituals went away in Hebrews.
Let’s look first at the first person in transition, Paul. It just comes out of nowhere in verses 18 to 23. Verse 18, “After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.” What kind of vow was it?” We’re going to see Paul in transition.
Paul was a Jew at the limit of Judaism’s capacities. And yet, he became a Christian. Well, when he became a Christian, even though the man’s heart was changed, he was a new creation, the transformation of his person took time. All that has happened is God has redeemed his soul. Now, the work of the Spirit begins to make the transformation obvious on the outside.
But the transition takes time and old features of Judaism died slowly even in Paul’s life. He says in Philippians 3:7, “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.” And from now on, I’m not interested in ceremonies and rituals. I only know one thing. I want to know Him. He said to the Colossians, “I want the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.”
Paul had stayed in Corinth awhile. You remember how difficult it was when he got there? He was sick. He was in fear. He was weak. He’d been hassled all over the place from Philippi through Thessalonica, down to Berea, and to Athens and finally to Corinth. And he looks at the city, and that even just makes it worse. They’re so bad that he doesn’t know whether God can do anything.
But God overrules it all, and a fantastic thing happens in Corinth. A church gets started. Not only that, Paul, who’s been chased all over everywhere finally gets to stay somewhere, and God works it out so he can stay a year and a half. At the end of that, the Jews are so furious that they get Gallio, the governor on his throne and say, “Look, we have to get rid of this guy.”
But Gallio says, “Get out of here. I will not judge him either. That’s your own problem.” And Paul in verse 18, “Got to stay a good while longer.” God absolutely just put His arms around Paul and said, “I want you here for a while, so stay here. I will take care of all circumstances.” But after this, it says he took his leave of the brethren and sailed from there toward Syria.
And then this little note, “He took with him Priscilla and Aquila.” Now, there’s only one way that Paul is going to take those two people. They take the responsibility of pastoring that people too, right? For that year and a half Paul raised up spiritual leaders for the city of Corinth. And when it was time to leave, they didn’t need him anymore. And they didn’t even need Aquila and Priscilla anymore.
Now it says that when he got to Cenchrea, he shaves his head. It was something that had some significance, for it says, “He made a vow.” Now, what is going on? So let me tell you what a vow was. In the Old Testament, there was a certain kind of vow that had to do with your hair. It was called a Nazirite vow. Nazirite come from a Hebrew root nazir, which means literally, a consecrated one.
Paul would let his hair grow. You can study it in Numbers 6. Verse 3, “he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.” Why? Because wine always symbolized festivity. Verse 5, “You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration.” So Paul had to let his hair grow all this time as a reminder, as an outward sign.
We don’t need to take a Nazirite vow today, because we’re to be separated from the moment we’re saved till the moment we meet Jesus, right? Well, how long did those vows last?” Well, the Bible doesn’t say. But I’ll give you an idea. The Talmud, the Jewish rules and regulations, prescribed that a Nazirite vow could be 30 days, 60 days or 100 days. It’s likely that Paul’s took a 30-day vow.
Why did he make this vow?” Usually it was made in gratitude to God for a special blessing, okay? Now, did Paul have special deliverance in Corinth? Yes. Did he have a special blessing? Absolutely. God worked, and he could disciple people and raise up some saints and see them and the church growing up in sin city. Paul wanted to thank God in the most extreme way a Jew could.
You’re looking at Paul in transition. He still thinks in Jewish patterns. By the time he got to Cenchrea, the 30 days were up. He followed the Jewish pattern, and cut that hair. Now he’s got a handful of hair and he’s got to take his hair on a 1,500-mile trip. And we see that he does it. In addition to a 30, 60, 100-day Nazirite vow, there was such a thing as being a Nazirite for life, Samson, see Judges 13:5 - 7.
There were only three people in the Bible, who were Nazirites from birth. One was Samson. Two was Samuel. Three was John the Baptist. All three of those lifetime vows were made between God and the parents before the child was ever born. In the New Testament, the principle is where Paul says, “All things are lawful, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
Verse 19, “When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.” He dropped off Priscilla and Aquila. Working for him was quite an experience. Here they were placed really in the service of Christ. They stayed there apparently for 5 years. Paul writes back to the Corinthians, and says, “The church has been established in their house.”
Paul himself entered the synagogue to reason with the Jews. Verse 20-21, “When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined, 21 but he said farewell and added, I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. This time, they want him to stay, and he left. Where is he going? Well, he’s got that hair in his hand for one thing. And secondly he’s got to get to the feast.
Now, there’s a debate about whether it was the feast of Pentecost or the feast of Passover. Who cares? But, anyway, he’s landing in Ephesus and he leaves them. And the work begins in Ephesus and we can praise God for what happened there, can’t we? It becomes just a great location of God’s work in years to come. What a city it was, it was called the Treasury of Asia, the marketplace of Asia Minor.
Ephesus was a commercial center and a center of Roman pageantry. It was the seat of the Panionian Games, like the Olympics. There was a huge temple, the Temple of Diana, which was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, 60 feet high, and had 127 pillars, each pillar given by a king, and 36 of them were inlaid with gold. The Temple of Diana was also an asylum for criminals, all were given sanctuary.
Well, Paul left. Verse 22, “On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.” Caesarea is the seaport right opposite Jerusalem. It says he went up and greeted the church and went down to Antioch. What else did he do? Paul burned his hair and took care of that final part of his vow, though it’s not stated here. It says in verse 23, “And spending some time there.”
That is in Antioch. He just got home from one missionary tour. And remember, he was the pastor of Antioch’s church, and co-pastor with Barnabas. He stays there a little while, and then he departs. He was a traveling pastor. He went over all the country of Galatia in order to strengthen all the disciples. He went off on his third journey. You know where he went on the third journey?
The same place he went on the second missionary journey. You know where he went on the second journey? The same places he went on the first journey. You get an idea of his pattern of evangelism. You strengthen the converts and let them do the work, right? Paul went back to the same group three times. So we see Paul in transition. Well next time, we’ll see Apollos in transition and then some others. Let’s pray.