I really should try to sleep like everyone else, but I can't. I might as well write in my diary. Well, this evening I finally learned how Barnabas became a follower of the Way—what many people apparently call Jesus-followers.[1] I was telling him and Paul at supper how surprised I was at the respectful way they spoke to the Lycaonian crowd and the priest of Zeus, who all were preparing to worship them as gods. That's when Barnabas told us more of his story—how meeting Jesus had changed the way he looked at people of other nations, even ones with questionable beliefs and practices. I was expecting Paul to speak first, since he seemed the more hyper of the two. But I've noticed that he still tries to defer to Barnabas, like he would to an older brother.

‘Last night I told you how I got to Jerusalem,’ Barnabas began, ‘but not what was happening there when I arrived.’ There seemed to be an undercurrent of tension and fear, except at the home of his mother and his sister's family.[2] There, everyone seemed positively bubbly. But when they learned of the death of his wife and baby son, there were also a lot of hugs and tears, listening ears and food. After he learned more about his father's last days, Barnabas asked them about the strange mood he had encountered in the city. That's when he first heard about Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth who his Jerusalem family and their friends all claimed was the long-awaited Messiah. Because of his teaching and his miraculous works, this man was the talk of the town, both in Galilee and in Judea. But the elders and the religious leaders in Jerusalem opposed him and turned him over to the Romans to execute him. Yet three days later his tomb was found to be empty. The official story was that Jesus' disciples had broken into the grave, paid off the guards and stole his body.[3] But Barnabas' mother, his sister and her son all insisted that they and many other Jesus-followers had seen him alive on several occasions. They'd talked with him, touched him, even eaten meals with him. But then, after appearing and disappearing over a period of several weeks, he'd simply left—by rising upward and disappearing into some clouds.[4] Barnabas' nephew said he'd had actually been there and saw it happen. Wow, how weird is that!

Barnabas said he didn't know what to think. If Jesus really was the Messiah, why did he submit to a Roman execution? And if he had truly risen from the dead, why did he only show himself to his followers? And why didn't he stay and establish his kingdom on earth as had been prophesied? What happened the following Sunday, though, not only changed his life, but also the way he thought about his own identity as both a Cyprian and a Jew.

As the Feast of Pentecost began, over a hundred Jesus-followers crowded into his mother's home.[5] Most were Galileans, but a few local Judeans were there as well. Some brought the first fruits of different kinds of grain or sacrificial animals for the dedication of the harvest in the Temple.[6] Just before they left to go there, they all sang a psalm together. Barnabas interrupted his story to sing it for us because of its significance to his story, he said. He really has a nice voice. Here are the words of the Psalm, since I asked him later to write them down for me.

Barnabas then told us that they had barely finished singing when, seemingly out of nowhere, a violent driving wind swept through the room. And a large mass of fire appeared overhead, before dividing into small flames that fell and rested on each person in the room[8]—except on Barnabas. As they all continued singing and shouting praise to God, the wind then seemed to blow everyone out the door and down the street in the direction of a public square. Of course, all the noise and commotion drew a big crowd.

Barnabas then told how he suddenly became aware that the woman next to him was reciting the opening lines of another psalm. Yet not in the Greek of ‘the Scriptures’ that Barnabas was used to reciting in the synagogue, but in the colloquial Cyprian dialect he'd grown up speaking. He did a quick double take. It wasn't one of his Cyprian relatives, but one of the Galilean Jesus-followers. And from the looks on the faces of many in the gathered crowd, he got the impression that they too were hearing the Jesus-followers singing or shouting in their native languages or dialects as well.[9] For his Jerusalem family lived in a neighborhood with a lot of foreign Jews like her own family. Hmm. I wonder if anyone was there who heard anything in my own Lycaonian dialect.

Then Barnabas broke into song again, singing the lines of this psalm for us, but in Septuagint Greek. And these are the words, for I asked him later to write them out for me too.

It was at that moment, Barnabas said, that something shifted in his heart, and he too began singing praises to God, though he had no idea what language was coming out of his mouth.[11] But what he was sure of now was that this Jesus must indeed be God's promised Messiah. Also, that there was a place in God's heart for both his Jewish and his Cyprian identities—for both the Greek language of the Scriptures and the local dialect he had grown up with in Cyprus. Indeed, there seemed to be a place in God's heart for every nation and ethnic group—every language and every local dialect. And several hours later, he told us, he was right up front in the huge crowd of people wanting to confess their faith in Jesus and get baptized as new Jesus-followers.[12]

Barnabas paused and nodded to Paul, but my mother interrupted before he could begin to tell his story. She had been just as transfixed as I was, but she remained as practical as ever. ‘It's late, Paul,’ she said. ‘Your story must wait till tomorrow. Now Timothy and the rest of us need to get some sleep.’ At that, Grandma, who had earlier fallen asleep, stood up slowly and led the way as we all headed for bed.  

Wow! Another eventful day. I just got home to an empty house. I guess we'll have a late supper tonight. So I might as well write in my journal, now that I've had a bit of bread and fruit to keep me going till then. First, what I remember from the story Paul told us this morning, about how he met Jesus and about how this encounter radically changed his life. And also, about how all this changed the way he thinks about his different ethnic identities.

After four years in Tarsus, Paul returned to Jerusalem. At first, he stayed with his sister and her family,[13] but he spent most of his time with the family of Leah, the young woman he hoped to marry. It was mainly from them that he initially heard about Jesus and his followers, the so-called ‘Nazarene sect’.[14] All negative, because Leah's father strongly opposed the movement. A Pharisee like Paul and his parents, her father shared the same zeal for the Law and the ancestral traditions.[15] So Paul fit right in, and he and Leah were soon married.[16] By the end of his second year back in Jerusalem, and with his father-in-law's influence, he was indeed elected to the Sanhedrin.[17] He thought he'd finally made it as a Judean Jew, in the city where he most felt at home. Yet ‘while appearance may be everything, Timothy’ he said, ‘not everything is as it appears’. For his father-in-law, he soon discovered, had a political motive for promoting his appointment to the Sanhedrin.

 Paul said that at this stage of his life he was a real ‘pleaser’,[18] because he desperately wanted to be accepted as a good Judean. For he knew that Judeans could just as easily classify him as a ‘foreign Jew’, based on where he was born. Or even as a ‘Roman’. So, like his father-in-law, he began opposing the “corrupting” influence of the Nazarene sect in the city—whose leaders were not only “uneducated Galileans”,[19], but now also included several “foreign” (Greek-speaking) Jews, even one “unclean proselyte”.[20]

Before long, however, Paul had blood on his hands. What started out as a heated debate in one of the “foreign” synagogues in the city,[21] with one of these new “foreign” sect leaders, soon ended with Paul supporting the public stoning of this man.[22] And from then on, Paul said, he became even more vehement than his father-in-law, and sometimes more violent.[23] Like when most of the foreign Jews in the sect fled the city.[24] He decided to chase them down and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and punishment.[25] His first planned stop would be the Syrian city of Damascus.

But on the way, he was stopped in his tracks by a very bright light that literally blinded him. Then he heard a voice, addressing him by his Hebrew name and speaking to him in the Aramaic dialect of Jerusalem. The voice identified itself as Jesus, who said he took personally what Paul was doing to his followers.[26] Paul was afraid, yet when he asked Jesus what he should do next, Jesus just said he had a job for him, and to go on into Damascus. There he'd learn more about it.[27]

After three days of fasting, a local Jesus-follower[28] came and prayed for him to recover his sight and to receive the Holy Spirit. Paul's eyes shone as he described this experience. It was like he'd been filled up on the inside, he said, and that God himself was embracing him as a long lost son.[29] And he spoke of his amazement that God was doing all this for him without saying anything more about all the terrible things Paul had been doing in Jerusalem. Then, as he was being baptized in a river just outside the city[30] he felt washed clean and forgiven for all his past sins, like he had been buried with Jesus and then been raised up a whole new man as he came up out of the water.[31]

After that, Paul stayed in Damascus for a while, first with some relatives who like his parents had immigrated from Tarsus to Jerusalem. There they had become ‘followers of the Way’ but had recently come to Damascus to escape the persecution instigated by Paul. He couldn't get over how welcoming and forgiving they were towards him. His time with them was cut short when they left for Tarsus, their native city, as ‘apostles’ of Jesus.[32] Paul wondered how they'd be received by his parents. And what would his mom and dad think of the radical turn his own life had taken?

He then told us about the refugee family from North Africa he stayed with next. These Jesus-followers also had fled Jerusalem with their two boys because of Paul. Yet in spite of all they had to leave behind,[33] these too welcomed Paul. The boys' mother even became like a second mother to Paul during his time with them.[34] And when her husband gave his own personal account of Jesus' crucifixion, Paul couldn't stop crying. Not only had he been present that day, but the Roman soldiers had forced him to carry Jesus' cross—since Jesus had been so weakened by all the whipping and loss of blood that preceded this brutal form of Roman execution.[35]

Damascus was also the place where Jesus began teaching Paul personally. I didn't quite understand how he knew that it was Jesus teaching him, though he said something about being reminded of many Scripture texts about the promised Messiah that pointed to Jesus.[36] Before long, Paul was speaking in local synagogues about how Jesus had fulfilled these texts. He laughed as he recalled the astonishment and confusion on many faces, since most of the Jews in Damascus had come to know of his reputation as a leading persecutor of the Nazarene sect in Jerusalem.[37]

After a while, he felt the Spirit of Jesus prompting him to leave the city. Not to return home to Jerusalem, but to travel south into Arabia. In Petra, the capital city of the Nabateaens, he supported himself for a time by helping a fellow Jew make tents.[38] But he soon felt led to travel further south in the footsteps of the prophet Elijah to Mount Sinai[39]— where God had spoken to Moses and had given the Torah to Israel.

On the way there and back again, Jesus continued to teach Paul many things. Like what? I asked. Well, Paul said, like how Jesus had fulfilled the Law of Moses through his obedient faith in God—both during his life and in the way he died.[40] For Jesus had not just come to redeem Israel, but all humanity as well. And through him, God was actually creating a new kind of kingdom for all languages and nations[41]—one that was not only for Paul as an Aramaic-speaking Judean but also as a Diaspora-born Jew; for him as a Greek-speaking ‘Tarsian’[42] and even as a ‘Roman’![43]

Paul then headed back to Damascus. On his way through the Nabatean kingdom,[44] he began speaking to Arabs about how the Good News of Jesus the Messiah was also for them. There, and back in Damascus, he told people how God was now calling everyone, including Jews, to turn back to him and live a life worthy of repentance.[45] In saying these things, though, he upset a lot of people—influential Jews in the city and even the Nabataean king.[46] Also his wife, Leah, who had come to spend time with him in Damascus. After she returned to Jerusalem, some Damascus Jews hatched a plot to kill Paul—guarding all the gates from inside the city while Nabataean soldiers waited outside the gates to arrest him should he try to leave. But he eluded them all one night when some Jesus-followers lowered him in a basket, out through of a small opening in the city wall.[47] Wow! How cool was that!

This time he sensed it was okay to return to Jerusalem, the city he'd always thought of as home. Yet he had trouble finding a place to stay. Leah was now living with her parents, and he wasn't welcome there. His sister's husband wouldn't let him stay with them for more than a few days. And many former friends and acquaintances shunned him because of the shame of his being removed from the Sanhedrin. Even Jesus-followers in the city avoided him—out of fear or because they doubted the genuineness of his conversion. ‘But not this man’ Paul said, nodding toward Barnabas. We all looked toward Barnabas, who then told us how he had sought Paul out and introduced him to the two main leaders in the movement—telling them how Jesus had appeared to him and how fearlessly he'd spoken about Jesus publicly in Damascus.[48] One of these leaders then opened his home to Paul; and as a result, all the Jesus-followers began to warm up to him.[49]

Paul then told us of his final encounter with Leah. She'd given him an ultimatum: either stop proselytizing publicly for the Nazarene sect or she would end the marriage. Paul paused and wiped his eyes. He still loved her, he said, but had to tell her that he loved Jesus more. I could see that letting her go had been painful.[50] But in spite of his personal sadness, he continued to speak boldly about Jesus whenever he could. Shunned even by his old mentor, Gamaliel, he now began attending the Greek-speaking synagogues of the Diaspora Jews in the city. Yet unknown to him, some of these began forming a plan to kill him.[51] Jesus then appeared to him again, this time while he was praying in the Temple. He told Paul to leave Jerusalem immediately, For he was sending him far away to other nations.[52]

That same day, some Jesus-followers caught wind of the assassination plot and accompanied him to the coastal city of Caesarea, staying close to him until he could board a ship for Tarsus.[53] But his troubles weren't over yet, he said. His ship only made it halfway to that city before it was torn apart in a storm. He and the other voyagers survived, but only by clinging to pieces of wreckage for a whole night and day until they were rescued by a passing ship.[54] I asked if he'd been afraid of drowning during all those hours in the open sea. ‘Not really’, he said with a smile. ‘Jesus had just sent me on a mission, so I knew he wasn't about to let me drown right at the outset.’

Paul paused for a moment, as if listening. I couldn't wait to hear more. Instead, though, he said that after yesterday he felt he should go check on how Fortunatus was doing. He was pretty sure there would be quite a few curious people at his workplace. Either to see if Deiotarus was still walking, or perhaps to see what he and Barnabas might do next. Well, that made me curious too, so I asked Paul if I could go with him. In that case, Mom said, she wanted to go too, but not before we all had some lunch. And she asked Grandma and me to help prepare something.

While we were eating, Grandma asked Paul if he did get back to Tarsus after being rescued. He nodded but didn’t say anything. So I asked how his parents responded to him becoming a Jesus-follower. He said that was a long story and would need more time to tell, since he ended up spending the next ten years back in Tarsus. That is, until Barnabas came to find him, he said with a smile toward his friend. ‘Maybe tonight or tomorrow’, he went on, with a wink in my direction. When Mom and I got up to leave with Paul, Grandma said she wanted to stay home and rest, and Barnabas said that sounded like a good idea to him too.

Wait, someone just came in. I’ll write more about what happened this afternoon after supper.

Paul and Barnabas left early this morning before it was light. I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I got up, I found Mom setting out some bread and olives for my breakfast. I asked where Paul and Barnabas had gone. She told me that they'd been invited by some of those baptized yesterday to come visit their villages and talk more about Jesus, also with their neighbors.[70] While praying about this invitation, Paul and Barnabas sensed that one or more of those plotting against them in Iconium might have come to Lystra looking for them. For this reason, they had left very early and didn't tell Mom which villages they were going to visit. Before they left, she said, they asked her to tell me that they planned to spend more time with us tomorrow.

Think I'll go to the sport club today and work out on the track.

No sign yet of our two visitors. I stopped by Fortunatus' workshop on my way to the track. He seemed genuinely glad to see me. Deiotarus wasn't there, though. Seems he'd gone with Paul and Barnabas, but also hadn't said where they were going. Fortunatus said he himself didn't know their plans for today, since he had left the river right after the baptisms. And he was glad, because a man he recognized from the Iconium synagogue had stopped by, asking if he knew where Paul was. He only told him that Paul had left the city. Which was sort of true.

At the track, several of my sport buddies were also curious about the two men visiting us. But like Fortunatus, I tried to say as little as possible since one of them seemed a little too interested in where Paul and Barnabas might have gone today. I guess you can't be too careful sometimes.

On my way home, I kept my eyes open to see if there were any strangers hanging around in our neighborhood, but only saw familiar faces. Mom said the same thing when I told her what Fortunatus and I had both experienced. She also said that she and Grandma had been praying, asking God in the name of Jesus to keep Paul and Barnabas safe. Hmm.

No sign of them yet. Some of their things are still in my room, so Mom and Grandma are pretty sure they'll be back. I hope so. I really feel drawn to Paul as a person, and I want to hear more of his story. Yet I'm still not sure what to think about Jesus. I have been impressed by the impact Paul's message about him has had on Mom and Grandma. And on others like Deiotarus and Fortunatus. But honestly, I'm troubled by all the controversy getting stirred up around them and their message. Even a bit afraid.

Paul and Barnabas came back last night around midnight. I woke up briefly, but they signed to me to go back to sleep, whispering that we could talk in the morning. I think I heard Mom get up. But she must have gone right back to bed too since I quickly fell back asleep. I didn't wake up again until it was light. Everyone else was up already.

At breakfast they told us that they'd visited several farms south and east of here, and that about thirty more people were baptized in the river flowing into a small nearby lake.[71] On their way back they'd stayed with their host Crescens[72] and his family until well after dark. That's why they returned so late.

Paul's gone out again this afternoon. And since Barnabas wanted to stay behind and rest in my room, Mom decided to go with Paul. I stayed behind too because I wanted to write down as much as I could remember from all that Paul told us this morning. Mainly about his ten years back in Tarsus—in response to several questions I'd asked him. Like, did his becoming a Jesus-follower stir up controversy with his family in Tarsus? Or in the Jewish community there, like in Iconium? And did it affect his Tarsian citizenship, or his Roman citizenship in any way?

‘Not right away’, he said. His family and the synagogue leaders in Tarsus already knew a bit about the new Nazarene sect. Yet there was openness for discussions about Jesus, since the few Jesus-followers they knew had remained loyal members of the Jewish community, like the relatives Paul had stayed with in Damascus.[73] His parents weren't enthusiastic about his joining the new sect, but they'd listened thoughtfully to all that had happened to him in Jerusalem and in Damascus. When they heard about the attempts on his life in both cities, and about the shipwreck, they just seemed glad to have their son back safely. They didn't ask many questions, only about his visit to Mount Sinai in Arabia.[74] Paul did not tell them about all the things Jesus taught him on that journey, nor about Jesus' new plans for him involving people of other nations.

Since Jesus' commission had also included talking about him with fellow Jews,[75] Paul felt he needed to start there—by living like a Jew in Tarsus so that he could win as many of them as possible to Jesus,[76] including members of his own family. So during his first few years, he served his father in the family business; and he spent as much time as possible in the synagogue studying the Scriptures. Both places gave him many opportunities to talk about Jesus. Especially in the synagogue where others were also studying the Scriptures.[77] As a result, he began seeing more texts that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, and the number of Jesus-followers in the Jewish community, also among his relatives, began to slowly increase.[78]

At this point, Grandma interrupted and asked Paul what the new texts were that he was discovering—the ones he hadn't previously thought were about the Messiah, during his studies in Jerusalem. First, he told us about the texts in the Prophets that pointed to Jesus' unjust trials before the Sanhedrin and the Roman authorities. And to his shameful death by crucifixion.[79] His rabbinical training had taught him that the Messiah would have divine power like Moses to free Israel from Roman rule.[80] But now he saw how the Messiah, by his death, would become both an atoning sin-offering and a kind of new Passover lamb to redeem people from every kind of evil power.[81] He also now saw how Jesus' death and resurrection were actually part of God's strategy for creating the new worldwide kingdom foretold in the Scriptures.[82] And that this had had everything to do with God being our Father before any of us had human fathers.[83]

I don't remember all he said about this, because my mind drifted off to thinking about my own dad. But I came to suddenly when I heard him refer to a text about God being a ‘Father to the fatherless’. That got my attention. He was talking about how this Psalm also pointed to Jesus. Not only to his death and resurrection but also to his ascension to heaven and the coming of the Spirit.[84] When he paused for a moment, I decided to ask a question myself, since he didn't seem to be put off by Grandma's question. If all this was written in the Scriptures, I asked, why hadn't he heard these things from his Bible teachers in Jerusalem?

‘Good question, Timothy’, Paul said. From what Jesus had taught him in Arabia, he learned that God had actually kept part of what he planned to do through the Messiah hidden. So even those who studied the Scriptures wouldn't automatically see these things without a revelation by the Spirit.[85] Paul then asked if I was familiar with the Greek word huiothesia.

I knew this word because the other guys at the sport club talked about it a lot. For it refers to the moment when a son is no longer treated as a child but as an adult.[86] I also told Paul how the Greek kids there envied the adult freedom that the Roman kids already enjoyed at age-seventeen, some even from as early as fourteen. The Greek guys usually have to wait till they're eighteen.[87] Immediately Paul noticed how I looked down after saying this and asked why. So I told him, how my dad—being a Roman as well as Greek—had planned to declare me his adult heir when I turned seventeen. But then he had died just days before my birthday.

Paul put his hand on my shoulder. ‘I'm so sorry about your dad’, he said. ‘But I think you will be interested in what Jesus taught me next.’ Paul looked over at Grandma and said that this was another new thing he had learned because he was now reading the Scriptures mostly in Greek.[88] And it had surprised him to hear Jesus speaking to him now through this translation. For at the school in Jerusalem, he'd only used the Hebrew text. And he'd left with a prejudice that God could really only speak to people through his Word in its pure original form. Not anymore, he said.   

Then turning to me again, he spoke about the huiothesia that our Father God, had preplanned for all human beings even before he created us—a ‘placement as sons’ of greater significance than any earthly coming of age ritual![89] At the creation, God had first placed all human beings under social guardians—a system that involved both human rulers and angelic beings. So even though he gave people authority to rule over all earth and all its animals, they would only later come to rule over all things as his adult sons and daughters.[90] And this future destiny, according to David, was connected to ‘the son of man’ that God would one day ‘visit’ with his favor.[91] Paul's face seemed to glow with excitement as he also linked this text with another one where the prophet Daniel had a vision—of ‘a son of man’ coming before God and receiving from him authority over a kingdom that would never be destroyed, one that would grow until it included all nations and languages.[92]

Paul then asked me if I was familiar with another Greek word—paidagogos. I told him that it referred to the household slave who acted as a tutor to an underage child until he came of age as an adult. Some of my Greek friends complained about their childhood tutors and how unreasonably strict they were.[93] What Paul saw now in the Torah and the Prophets was that God had been instructing Israel as an under-age child[94] by giving us his Law—as a paidagogos—until the coming of the Messiah.[95] What about people in other nations? I asked. Likewise, Paul went on, God had placed god-like guardians over all the other nations.[96] The difference was that Israel's guardian, God's Law, was always good.[97]Though even in Israel, rulers and religious leaders often misused his Law by mixing it with human ideas and traditions that were often unjust and oppressive.[98]

Paul suddenly raised his hands and shouted ‘Hallelujah’. Then he went on to explain how God's planned huiothesia has finally come—when he gave the fullness of his Spirit to Jesus and then to all who believe in him. By doing this, God shows that he wants to start relating to human beings now as his heirs.[99] All men and women who are joined to Jesus by baptism and filled with the Spirit now have full access to God as their Father, as his adult sons and daughters. Whatever nation or social class they come from, they no longer need either a guardian or a childhood tutor.[100]

‘But…’ Paul said, holding up his hand and pausing for effect, ‘there's more’. While in Tarsus, Jesus began to show him from the Scriptures that being ‘anointed’ with the Spirit is only the first part of our huiothesia, sort of like an invisible deposit on the full inheritance that comes later. For our visible, public ‘coming of age’ will only take place when our bodies are also redeemed.[101] Paul said that from childhood he already believed in a future bodily resurrection.[102] But Jesus was now teaching him from the Scriptures that the eventual transformation of our mortal bodies was something that God had also planned for us from the beginning.

This time it was Mom who interrupted him, ‘Wait a minute. Didn't Adam and Eve lose immortality when they ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree?’ Paul's answer was ‘no’. Adam and Eve had only been given mortal bodies, like the animals. Yet their bodies could gradually be transformed into immortal ones by eating the fruit of the other tree that God put in the center of the garden—the Tree of Life.[103]  It was only when they disobeyed God that death came to human beings because they lost access to this tree.[104]  Yet what Paul saw now were texts that point to how God would defeat death by redeeming people from the grave, indeed people of all nations—doing so through an Eldest Brother who had been raised from the dead.[105]  So when Jesus showed himself after his resurrection, it was in an immortal body like the one we will receive when he returns.[106] 

Further, Paul saw another text that spoke of two phases in our Father's original plan for human beings. According to Paul, Jesus has gone through both phases as a human being on our behalf—as a child under the Law and as an adult son after receiving the Spirit in full measure.[107]  And now that he is seated at God's right hand, above all earthly and celestial powers, all who die with him in baptism can already enter into eternal life by the Spirit.[108]  For in effect, they've already been raised-together and seated-together in him, in his new place of authority over all guardian powers.[109] 

Paul then looked at me and finally answered my initial question. Namely, that as a Jesus follower, he is now an adult son of God because he has received the Holy Spirit. And he no longer needs to please the guardian powers that still govern the different societies he is part of, as a Judean a Tarsian and Roman. For in the new eternal kingdom that the Father is creating in Jesus, he can belong to all three people groups, whether the guardian powers over each nation or ethnic group like it or not.[110]  Wow! If I understand him right, that's mind-boggling. So if I become a Jesus-follower too, I no longer need worry about people who say I must choose whether I am a Greek or a Jew. I can be both, like Paul. Or like Barnabas who sees himself as both a Jew and a Cyprian.

Yet at the same time, what Paul told us next gave me pause. During his final years in Tarsus things soon got complicated and even very painful for him. For Jesus now led him to stop baptizing new non-Jewish believers in secret. And when it became more obvious to his fellow Jews that he wasn't requiring the men of other nations to also be circumcised, the synagogue leaders called him in. They demanded that he stop publicly disregarding the Law of Moses and undermining Israel's historic role as a holy and separate people.[111]  When he refused, many members of the synagogue community began shunning both him and other Jews in the Nazarene sect. Paul's own father, now asked him to set up his own workplace. His mother, however, secretly visited him when he was alone at the home of his relatives, where he had already been living for some time. What were their names again? He mentions them a lot. Oh yeah, Andronicus and Junias.[112] 

Then, a prominent synagogue member brought a case against Paul for violating the Law by eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols.[113]  Because Paul wanted to keep identifying with the people of his own nation, he appeared before the local synagogue council to defend himself, denying the charge.[114]  Nevertheless, the synagogue leaders decided against him[115] and sentenced him to five of the thirty-nine-lashes as discipline. Paul then stood up and showed us how they tied his hands to a post, and how he had to bow down in front of the community to receive the sentence.[116]  Over the next five years this happened three more times. Once for the charge of healing a person on the Sabbath,[117]  then for enticing the son of one official to ‘do evil’ by eating in the home of ‘uncircumcised men’,[118]  and finally for celebrating the Passover meal with ‘uncircumcised men’.[119]  Each time the number of lashes increased.

I couldn't understand why Paul kept on submitting to such horrible punishments. Why didn’t he just leave the synagogue community, I blurted out. Paul smiled at me and again said, ‘Good question, Timothy.’ On each of these occasions, he went on, he had experienced the presence of Jesus with him in such a powerful way that he knew he was sharing in the Messiah's suffering.[120]  He also saw how counterproductive these measures were for the synagogue authorities. Instead of intimidating Paul and others, their acts of violence merely exposed how weak and morally bankrupt they were in comparison to the obvious power and authority of God's Spirit in his life.[121]  The same thing happened when he was beaten with rods by the Roman authorities in a nearby city.[122]  He'd been arrested there for disturbing the peace after baptizing the son of a prominent official. And on another occasion, he was jailed for a week in Tarsus, along with Andronicus and Junias, on the same charge.[123] Yet the result was that more people began to follow Jesus than before. Not only in Tarsus but throughout Cilicia.[124] But the worst was yet to come.

During his tenth year in Tarsus, Paul was brought before the synagogue a fifth time. The charge was blaspheming the name of God by continuing to speak of Jesus as the ‘Son of God’ and as ‘Lord’, and for ‘enticing’ many Jewish young people to do the same.[125] Though this charge carried the death penalty, the synagogue leaders were aware that the Roman authorities wouldn't allow them to stone someone they knew to be a Roman citizen. So instead, they ordered Paul to receive the full thirty-nine lashes. He barely survived. Andronicus and Junias spent weeks at his bedside nursing him until the scar tissue finally closed over his wounded back. When he could finally get up, he was unable to walk without a limp. A doctor told him that some muscles and tendons in his right hip had been permanently damaged.

Not wanting to just accept the doctor’s diagnosis, he began to ask God to heal his hip. Also because of the vision he had received just before he was called into the synagogue. In the vision, Jesus had showed him some incredible things. Mostly things he wasn't allowed to talk about, he said.[126] But in the vision, Jesus had reaffirmed his calling to take the message of Jesus to many nations.[127] Jesus also told him that he would soon be leaving Tarsus. Hoping he didn't have to do all this with a painful limp, he prayed three more times, but nothing seemed to happen. Then Jesus finally answered him, but not by healing his hip. He just said that he would know more and more of God's power but not through physical strength. Only through his weaknesses.[128] So, Paul told us, he'd learned to endure all sorts of persecutions and other difficulties, because each time he'd experienced God's grace and strength in new ways.[129]

Suddenly Barnabas interrupted him. ‘When I came to Tarsus to see you, I think that experience might have made you more humble too.’ Paul laughed and said he hoped that was true. ‘But’ Paul went on, fixing his eyes on his friend, ‘I'll never forget how grateful I was when you suddenly showed up with an offer I couldn't refuse.’ Barnabas then told how several years after he'd first met Paul in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem church leaders had sent him to Antioch, because so many Greeks were joining the Nazarene sect there. Eventually, he'd heard about the good things happening in Tarsus and Cilicia and Paul's part in it. And one day the Spirit directed him to go invite Paul to come join him in Syria.[130] Only when he got to Tarsus did Barnabas learn about all that Paul had suffered. Their ‘partnership in the Gospel’, as he calls it, is now in its fourth year. 

Maybe Paul will share more with us tonight, since I just heard Mom come home.

Wait a minute, she's calling for Barnabas in a loud panicky voice. Something's not right.

Barnabas just rushed out the door to go meet Paul. Mom isn't saying much, only that Paul almost died. Some of the believers are bringing him to the house, she said, to make sure he gets here safely. She'll tell me more later, but right now she wants Grandma to help her get some food and bandaging cloths ready for Paul when he arrives. What on earth happened?

8. Lystra: Sunday midnight, 14-15 May [47 CE]

[1] Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22.

[2] See footnote [47] to section #6 (Part I) concerning Barnabas’ sister Mary and her son Mark, also known as John (Acts 12:12).  Their Jerusalem home was probably large enough as a meeting place for Jesus-followers, since Barnabas' family was wealthy enough to own other property in the ara as well (A. 4:36-37).

[3] Matthew 27:12-15.

[4] Acts 1:3-11; Mark 16:19a. Since Mark seems to identify himself as the young man present at the time of Jesus' arrest in Jerusalem (at Gethsemene, Mark 14:51-52), I'm imagining also that he too was present at Jesus' ascension. If the traditional birthdate given for him (12 CE) is accurate, Mark would then have been about 18 years old [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist]

[5] Acts 2:1-4 gives a description of the scene in this house that day.

[6] Leviticus 23:15-21, Numbers 28:26-31. See also footnote [48] (Part I) about Pentecost as one of the three great feasts.

[7] Psalm 67:1-7, adapted from the Septuagint version (Psalm 66 LXX) and put to music by the author (©1983).

[8] Acts 2:2 refers to this happening in a ‘house’.

[9] To Judeans, Galileans like Simon Peter had their own distinct accent. See Luke 22:59 and Matthew 26:73.

[10] Psalm 105:1-3 as translated in the Septuagint (Ps.104 LXX). Like Psalm 67 (Ps.66 LXX) it also uses the Greek word for ‘nations’ or ethnic groups [ethne]. These diaspora Jews of ‘every nation [ethnous] under heaven’ (Acts 2:5) heard of the ‘wonders of God’ in their own ‘languages’ [Gr. glossais] (2:11), even in the local ‘dialect’ [Gr. dialekto] of ‘each one’ (2:6,8).

[11] Open hearts seeking the Lord sometimes receive the Holy Spirit even before they have the opportunity to confess their sins and get baptized (see Acts 10:44-48).

[12] Acts 2:37-41.

9. Lystra: Monday evening, 15 May [47 CE]

[13] See footnote [47] in Part I.

[14] In first-century Jerusalem, ‘the followers of the Way’ (Acts 24:14), according to Luke, were referred to as a ‘sect’ [Gr. haireseos] (Acts 24:5), as were the Pharisees (Acts 15:5; 26:5) and the Sadducees (Acts 5:17).

[15] Galatians 1:14b; Acts 26:5; Philippians 3:5b-6. According to Bruce, a text in one of Paul’s letters (Gal.5:3) suggests that he had been of the Shammai Pharisees, who advocated strict observance of ‘the whole Law’ [Bruce 1992: 51-52].  

[16] When Paul speaks of being ‘unmarried’ to the Corinthians, he is addressing both the ‘unmarried’ and ‘widows’, ie. those no-longer married (1 Corinthians 7:8a). Also, he later speaks of ‘unmarried’ women and ‘virgins’ as separate categories (7:34) and tells a woman who leaves her husband to remain ‘unmarried’ (7:11). So when Paul identifies himself as being ‘unmarried’, it cannot mean that he was never married. And some of his words in this letter may actually describe his own personal experience in marriage to an ‘unbelieving’ woman who leaves him (7:15)

[17] As a teacher of Torah and a married man, young 25-year-old Saul now meets the main requirements for appointment to the Sanhedrin (see footnote [59], Part I). Thus, when Paul speaks of ‘voting’ to put followers of the Way ‘in Jerusalem’ to death (Acts 26:10), he could be refering to doing this as a member of the Sanhedrin [Drane 1986: 249].

[18] In one of his letters, Paul reveals how he only stopped being a ‘pleaser’ after he met Jesus (Galatians 1:10,13-14).

[19] Acts 4:13b; John 7:47-52. Many Judeans looked down on Galilean Jews as too easily becoming ‘conformed to the nations’ [Gr. ethnikoi; Matthew 6:7; 3 John 7; Gal.2:14], because of all the foreigners from other nations [Gr. ethne] living in Galilee (Mat.4:12-16), possibly even outnumbering the Jewish residents [Drane 1986: 49].

[20] The Greek-speaking Diaspora Jews increasing in number in the movement, and seven were even being given ‘ministry’ or leadership roles, including a ‘proselyte’ (Acts 6:1-6; Note how all have Greek names). Many Pharisees ‘regarded the proselyte himself as still impure’. This view toward a convert who was originally of ‘the Gentiles’ by birth ‘dominated Judaism in the time of the apostles’ [de Ridder 1971: 100]. The Greek word in the New Testament usually translated as ‘Gentiles’ [ethne] is merely the ordinary word for ‘nations.

[21] The debate with Stephen took place in ‘the synagogue called “Libertines” [Latin for ‘free people’}, which was associated ‘Cyrenians and Alexandrians’ (Acts 6:9a)—people from North Africa (where today in the ‘Berber’ languages people still call themselves "Imazighen", “free people”). Ancient sources speak of a ‘synagogue of the Alexandrians’ in Jerusalem and a ‘synagogue of the Babylonians’ in Tiberias [De Ridder 1971: 79]. Since those who joined in disputing with Stephen came from ‘the (Roman) provinces of Cilicia and Asia’ (Acts 6:9b-10), Paul could have been one of them.

[22] Acts 6:12; 7:55-8:1a; 22:20. Scholars disagree as to whether the Sanhedrin under the Romans still had power to impose capital punishment without the approval of the Roman proconsul. This seems to be the case with Stephen, in contrast to the case against Jesus (John 18:31-32). Spontaneous stoning by a mob was still sometimes attempted though not always with success (John 8:1-8; Acts 21:27-32) [https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/5558/in-the-time-of-jesus-were-the-jewish-authorities-allowed-to-execute].

[23] Acts 8:3; 22:4,19; 26:9-11a; Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:13

[24] Acts 8:1b,4-5; 11:19-20. Since the apostles, all Galileans, remained in Jerusalem in spite of the persecution launched by Saul, many scholars take these texts as an indication that it was mainly Diaspora Jewish followers of the Way who were targeted by this persecution [Wagner 2000: 166-167].

[25] Acts 22:5; 9:1-2; 26:11b-12.

[26] Acts 26:13-16a; 9:3-5; 22:6-8

[27] Acts 26:16; 9:6; 22:9-10.

[28] Acts 9:9-18a; 22:12-15. In the second text, Paul speaks of Ananias as a ‘devout’ [Gr. eulabees] man with a ‘good witness’ among ‘all the Jews’. Luke speaks of both the Roman officer, Cornelius and one of his soldiers in the same way, using the same Greek word (Acts 10:2,7), while referring to Cornelius' good reputation with ‘the whole Jewish nation’ [Gr. ethnous] (Acts 10:22). So Ananias may also have been a Jewish convert (proselyte) from a non-Jewish background like Cornelius.

[29] Galatians 1:15-16; 4:6; Colossians 1:11-14; 2:9-10a; Romans 8:14-16 (see also Luke 15:20b). With his knowledge of the Scriptures, Paul would have already had some idea that God was, or at least wanted to be a Father to the people of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:6 [Mellis 2016e]; 14:1; Isaiah 63:16; Jeremiah 3:19b; 31:9) [Mellis 2016f].

[30] Acts 9:18b; 22:16. The Abana River (mentioned in 2 Kings 5:12), now called the Barada, flows toward Damascus from its source north-west of the city.  

[31] Acts 22:16; 9:18b (Jeremiah 3:33-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; 37:14); Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:3-7.

[32] Andronicus and Junias, probably a couple since Junias is a woman’s name (Romans 16:7; Barclay 1975b: 212).

[33] Simon and his family, originally from Cyrene, had a farm outside Jerusalem (Luke 23:26); and their two boys were named Rufus and Alexander (Mark 15:21).

[34] Paul mentions this mother of Rufus, as being also a mother to him in Romans 16:13 [Barclay 1975b: 214-216].

[35] Matthew 27:26-32.

[36] Acts 9:20,22b. Paul probably used texts from the Prophets (2 Samuel 7:4-5,11b-14a) and the Writings (1 Chronicles 17:10b-14; 22:10; Psalm 89:20,24-29) to identify Jesus with the descendant of David who God would ‘anoint’ and partner with as a ‘Son’ to establish an eternal, worldwide kingdom. ‘Messiah’ means ‘Anointed One’ in Hebrew.)[Mellis 2016g]

[37] Acts 9:21-22a.

[38] Burnett [2020] describes how ‘Jews and Nabataeans interacted positively and negatively during the 2nd Temple Period’.

[39] 1 Kings 19:3-18. In the Torah, Horeb is the region where God first spoke to Moses out of the bush near the ‘mountain of God’ (Exodus 3:1), where the Israelites first heard the voice of God (Deuteronomy 4:10-15; Ex. 20:18) and received God's Law (Malachi 4:4) while camped next to the mountain usually called ‘Mount Sinai’ (Ex.19:18; Galatians 4:25), but also sometimes called ‘Mount Horeb’ (1 Kings 19:8; Ex.33:6).

[40] Galatians 1:12; Matthew 5:17; Philippians 2:8; (see also Hebrews 5:8-9).

[41] Gal.6:15-16; Ephesians 2:13-16; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippines 2:9-11 (see Isaiah 45:9-12,20-23; 43:19)

[42] On his last recorded visit to Jerusalem, Paul identifies himself to the Jewish crowd by his use of language—'the Hebrew dialect’’ [Gr. Hebraidi dialekto], Aramaic—and by calling himself a Judean man raised in Jerusalem yet born in the Diaspora (Acts 22:2-3a). Right before this he identifies himself to the Roman officer by using 'Greek’ [Gr. Helleenisti] —and by identifying himself as a ‘Jewish Tarsian of Cilicia’ [Gr. Ioudaios Tarseus tees Kilikias] (21:37-39a). Earlier, in his narrative Luke had identified him by his Jewish name, ‘Saul’ and had referred to him as a ‘Tarsian’ [Gr. Tarsea] (9:11)[Mellis 2016d].

[43] With Roman authorities in Jerusalem (Acts 22:25,28b), Paul identifies himself as a ‘Roman’ [Gr. Romaion] by birth. Only the Roman commander identifies the word ‘Roman’ (22:26-27) with ‘citizenship’ [Gr. politeian] (22:28a). In a similar incident in Philippi, Paul and Silas identify themselves as ‘Romans’ [Gr. Romaious] (16:38,16). Interestingly, Paul, writing later to the Philippian church, emphasizes that ‘our citizenship’ [Gr. politeuma] is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). With Jewish leaders in Rome, Paul identifies the ones who arrested him as ‘Romans’ but only speaks to them indirectly of his own status as a Roman, by referring to his ability to ‘appeal to Caesar’ (Acts 28:17-19).

[44] Galatians 1:17b.

[45] Acts 26:22-23. Paul probably upset these Jews by saying that they needed to repent of their sins because they were just as blind and living in darkness under the power of Satan as were the ‘goyim’, a Hebrew word for the people of other ‘nations’ (Acts 26:17b-20). See also how Paul challenges this Jewish sense of superiority in one of his letters (Romans 2:17-24)

[46] From his capital city, Petra, King Aretas IV of the Nabateans ruled a kingdom (from 9 BCE to 40 CE) that extended almost up to the very walls of Damascus’ (Wagner 2000: 205) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretas_IV_Philopatris]).

[47] Acts 9:23-25; 2 Corinthians 11:32-33.

[48] Acts 9:26-27.

[49] Acts 9:28a; Galatians 1:18-19. I imagine that it was during these fifteen days that Paul heard Peter tell some of his experiences of walking with Jesus for three years (2 Corinthians 12:12; Acts 20:35; 1 Corinthians 9:5; 15:5-8)—perhaps also what Peter or his brother Andrew (John 1:40-41) had heard John the Baptist say about Jesus (Acts 13:24-25; Mark 1:4-7).

[50] In 1 Corinthians 7:15, Paul may have been speaking out of personal experience (see also Philippians 3:8a). See footnote [16].

[51] Acts 9:28b-29a.

[52] This appearance by Jesus and his words to Paul can be reconstructed from two texts (Acts 22:17-21; 26:16b-18)—an event that most likely occurred during the fifteen days he spent in Jerusalem before leaving for Tarsus (Gal. 1:18b-21).

[53] Acts 9:29b-30. Galatians 1:18b

[54] The sea journey from Caesarea to Tarsus was followed by seven other recorded times that Paul traveled by ship (Acts 13:4,13; 14:26; 16:11; 18:18,21 and 2 Cor.1:15-16)—before he wrote (from Macedonia, Acts 20:1) about surviving three shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11:25b). Because this journey was his first after becoming a believer, and one of the only times he sailed alone, I think it highly likely that the most severe of these shipwrecks occurred on this occasion. Especially, since Tarsus was about to be the launching point for his broader mission to the nations that Jesus had just reaffirmed.

[55] Acts 14:15b; 17:26; Gen.1:27 (see footnote [83]).

[56] Acts 14:16.

[57] Exodus 9:16; 19:4-6; Psalm 96:3; Isaiah 49:3,6. God had revealed himself as a Father to Israel (see footnote [29]).

[58] Deuteronomy 32:16-20; 2 Kings 17:7-8,15-17.

[59] Acts 13:22-23,33b (1 Chronicles 17:3-4,11-14 and Psalm 2:4b,7-8; Isaiah 49:6).

[60] Galatians 4:4b; Philippians 2:7 (Isaiah 53:1-2). Paul knew that Jesus grew up in Nazareth (Acts 22:8; 26:9).

[61] Romans 1:3b,4a; 1 Timothy 3:16a; Acts 10:38 (Paul could have learned this general summary of Jesus' ministry while staying with Peter for ‘fifteen days’ in Jerusalem [Gal.1:18, footnote 46]; see also Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:16-17).

[62] Galatians 3:1; Acts 13:27-29; 3:14.

[63] Acts 13:30-31,37; 1 Corinthians 15:4; Romans 1:3a,4b; 6:9.

[64] Acts 13:38-39,46; Romans 4:25; 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4,20,42-55; Galatians 3:8,13-14.

[65] Acts 13:24; Romans 6:1-4.

[66] One map of ancient Lystra shows the Taurus mountains to the south and wst of the town, and one reference speaks of two rivers passing the mound on which the town stood [https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Lystra].

[67] Acts 14:8-4.

[68] Galatians 3:2-5,27.

[69] 1 Corinthians 1:14.

10. Lystra: Tuesday morning 16 May [47 CE]

[70] Luke says twice that the ministry of Paul and Barnabas extended to the regions beyond each city (Acts 13:49; 14:6-7)

11. Lystra: Wednesday afternoon, 17 May [47 CE]

[71] In the early church, baptisms often took place ‘near flowing water...outdoors in the sea or a river.’ [Kreider 2016: 182].

[72] The Crescens that Paul mentions in a later letter (2 Timothy 4:10), may have come originally from Galatia.

[73] See diary entry 9 (Monday evening, 15 May) and footnote [32].

[74] Galatians 4:25.

[75] Acts 9:15.

[76] 1 Corinthians 9:19-20.

[77] Wright [2018: 71]. Luke speaks of the Scriptures being discussed (Acts 17:2) or studied (Acts 17:11) in diaspora synagogues.

[78] Paul mentions the names of several relatives in one of his letters: Andronicus and Junias (see footnote [32]), Herodion (see also Part III, section 18: Lystra, Friday evening, 2 June [47 CD]), Lucius, Jason and Sosipater—in his letter to the church in Rome (Romans 16:7,11a,21b).

[79] Galatians 3:13 (Deuteronomy 21:23).

[80] Common Jewish expectations for the Messiah (based on the Scriptures) involved him being established as a David-like prophet-king in Jerusalem (see footnote [36]) over an eternal Israel-centered kingdom (Mark 11:1-11 and Luke 19:11,28-38 [Zechariah 9:9-17]; John 6:14-15; 12:32-34; Acts 1:6 [Deuteronomy 18:15; Daniel 2:31-45]), through whom God would powerfully redeem Israel from the power of her enemies (Luke 1:68-71; 24:17-21 [Isaiah 59:15b-63:6; Psalm 132:17-18]).

[81] A sacrificial ‘lamb’ (Isaiah 53:7) who by his blood is both an atoning sin-offering (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25 [Leviticus 5:5-10; Isaiah 53:8b,10-11,12b], see also John 1:29) and a new Passover lamb that redeems from slavery and evil powers (1 Cor.5:7; 11:25 [Exodus 6:6; 12:3-7,21-23], see also Luke 22:14-15,20 and Revelation 5:5-12). Paul seems to refer to both the redeeming and the atoning aspects of Jesus’ death in Ephesians 1:7-8.

[82] Jesus’ death (Acts 13:28-29) paved the way for the worldwide kingdom (Ephesians 2:11-18; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8; Isaiah 52:14-15a; Psalm 22:16b-18,23-24,27-28). Likewise, Paul sees Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 13:32-33a,34-37) fulfilling God’s faithful love promised to David (citing Ps16:9-10 and Isa.55:3-5—the second of which links to Psalm 89:20,24-29)

[83] In Ephesians 3:14b-15, Paul seems to be referring to the connection between two texts in the Torah. The first speaks of God creating each man and woman in his own ‘image’ [Heb. tselem] and ‘likeness’ [Heb. demuth] (Genesis1:26-27). The Torah then compares God’s relationship to men and women in this way with how the first man Adam ‘fathered’ a son in his ‘likeness’ [Heb. demuth] and ‘image’ [Heb. tselem] and ‘fathered other sons and daughters’ as (Gen.5:1-4 HCSB). Hence, all human fatherhood [Gr. patria] derives from God being our original Father, for he ‘made’ all human beings (Isaiah 64:8; Malachi 2:10a) [Mellis 2016e] and all nations as well (Deut.26:19; Psalm 86:9) [Mellis 2016f], including Israel (see footnote [29]). In the Greek translation of the Torah, the word patria refers to the ‘ancestral houses’ [Gr. oikous patrion] within Israel's ‘clans’ (‘kinship groups’) [Gr. sungeneias] (Num.1:2; see also Ex.6:15,17,19 NRSV). Paul sees God as ‘the Father’ behind us being redeemed from the power of darkness (Colossians 1:12-14).Perhaps he also now saw how God ‘family-redeemed’ [Heb. gaal] Israel out of bondage in Egypt (Exodus 6:6; Isaiah 63:9) as both Israel's ‘Father’ and ‘Family-Redeemer’ [Heb. goël] (Isa.63:16). For the family connotation of these Hebrew words in the Scriptures (See Leviticus 25:25,47-48 and Ruth 2:20; 3:12-13 [Mellis 2016h footnote [iv]]).

[84] Psalm 68:5. Verse 4 speaks of God riding on the clouds; verse 8 of the earth shaking. Verse 12 speaks of him as Savior bearing our burdens daily, after verse 11 of a multitude of women proclaiming good news. Verse 18 then tells of him ascending on high leading captives and of gifts being received among people (Eph.4:7-12) [Mellis 2016h]

[85] Paul refers to these previously hidden divine plans ‘the mystery’. See Ephesians 3:2-5,9; Romans 16:25-26; Colossians 1:25-27; 2:2 and 1 Timothy 3:16. Also Rom.11:25,33-35 (Isaiah 40:13; Job 41:11); 1 Corinthians 2:7-10 (Isa.64:3-4); 1 Cor.2:16 (Isaiah 40:13); Rom.10:16 (Isa.52:15b-53:1; see also Isa.42:9,18-20; 43:18-19).

[86] Paul is the only New Testament author to use this word, and he uses it five times. See Harrison’s commentary on Paul’s use of it in Ephesians 1:5 as referring to an underage son coming of age (Harrison 1962: 726).

[87] In his commentary on Paul’s use of huiothesia in Galatians 4:1-7, Barclay notes how Roman kids—in contrast to Greek kids—experienced this rite of passage ‘sometime between the ages of fourteen and seventeen’ (Barclay 1976a: 34).

[88] Though the synagogue may have owned a copy of the Torah in Hebrew, the Scriptures Paul read and studied there most likely would have been the Greek translation [Drane 1986: 247-248] (See footnote 17 in the Introduction to Part I).

[89] Ephesians 1:2-6 (compare to 2 Timothy 1:9-10a); Galatians 4:1,2b (the ‘planned-in-advance-placing [Gk. pro-thesmias] by the father’) [Mellis 2016i].

[90] Galatians 4:1-3,5b (Psalm 8:4-6, Genesis 1:26; see also footnote [83] and Hebrews 2:6-8a,10a).

[91] Psalm 8:5b LXX—God will ‘visit’ [Gk. episkeptee] him with his favor like he ‘visited’ Sarah so that she might conceive Isaac (Genesis 21:1 LXX); or like he ‘visited’ Israel as the ‘son’ he was about to rescue from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 4:22,31 LXX). Note how Paul applies Ps.8:6b to Jesus’ resurrection in two of his letters (Ephesians 1:22 and 1 Corinthians 15:27). The author of Hebrews also applies this Psalm not only to Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, but also to his incarnation (Heb.2:5-9), as does Paul (Galatians 4:4).

[92] Daniel 7:13-14. Paul probably already knew that Jesus had frequently used the title ‘Son of Man’—having been told this either by Jewish disciples who had walked with Jesus, or by Jesus himself. See also Dan.2:31-35,44-45.

[93] 1 Corinthians 4:15 [Thayers 1977: 472].

[94] In Galatians 4:1-3. The underage ‘heir’ in this text is still a ‘child’ [Gr. neepios], as once ‘we’ Jews ‘underage children’ [Gr. neepioi][Mellis 2016i]—an idea suggested by Israel being called a ‘lad’ [Heb. nor] (Hosea 11:1) when God called them out of Egypt , and its people being like ‘underage  ‘children’ [Gr. tekna] (Hosea 11:1 LXX; Deut.14:1).

[95] Galatians 3:24. The Greek translation of the Torah speaks of God ‘instructing’ [Gk. paiduo] Israel after bringing them out of Egypt, much like fathers were commanded to ‘instruct’ their underage children (Deuteronomy 4:35-37 and 8:5 LXX). Also in the Writings, the noun form [paidia] is used to refer to God’s ‘instruction’ of Israel through the Law (Proverbs 6:23 and Psalm 49:17 LXX, or 50:17 in most Bibles). Also in the Prophets (Jeremiah 17:21-23; 39:32-33*; 42:13* LXX; [*i.e. Jer.32:33-33 & 35:13 in most Bibles]). The verb for instructing, correcting or disciplining an underage son can also be seen in Proverbs (19:18; 29:17 LXX), as well as the noun for the instruction, correction and discipline (1:2,3,8; 3:11; 23:22-23 LXX) of a minor ‘child’ [Gr. neepios](23:13 LXX) or ‘children’ [Gr. paides] (4:1 LXX).

[96] Galatians 4:8-9; Colossians 2:15; 1:16; Acts 17:26 (Psalm 86:9a; Deuteronomy 32:8 LXX, see NRSV & JB). I reference these two English translations since Paul seems to follow the Septuagint (LXX, and the Dead Sea Scrolls) in placing celestial beings (‘sons of God’, ‘gods’ or ‘angels’) over each nation that God made, apart from Israel (Dt.32:9; 4:34; 6:13-14). Paul (Col.1:16) sees these ‘rulers [Gr. arkee] and authorities’ operating in both heavenly (invisible) and earthly (visible) realms (See Genesis 6:1-4; Psalm 86:1,8 [Mellis 2016j, section 6.1] ; see also Jude 6 concerning ‘angels’ who sinned by abandoning their arkee— alluding to a text from 'The Watchers' 6-11 in the Book of Enoch (from around 3^rd century BCE) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Enoch#The_Book_of_the_Watchers], a writing that Paul may also have known [Newbigin 1989: 203; Berkhof 1978:20]

[97] Romans 7:12.

[98] Colossians 2:8,20-23 (Psalm 82:2-4; see also Luke 12:11 and 20:20; Matthew 15:3-6).

[99] Galatians 4:1-6; Romans 8:14-17a (see also Luke 3:21-23 and John 1:32-34)

[100] Galatians 3:26-29; Ephesians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 6:18.The coming of age [Gr. huiothesia] brought by the Messiah and the Spirit represents: both a new ‘fullness’ of life in our relationship to God as Father (Galatians 4:5-7; also John 3:33-36), as well as a release from ‘slavery’ to the guardianship of the ‘elemental powers’ [Gr. stoikheia]—including the Law as a ‘childhood tutor’ [Gr. paidagogos] (Gal.3:25)—for both ‘we’ Jews as well as ‘YOU’ of other nations (Galatians 4:3,9-11 [Mellis 2016j]; Colossians 2:9-10,15-17,20) [Mellis 2016k]; Newbigin 1989: 205-206; Berkhof 1978:34])

[101] Romans 8:18-23; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:4-5; Ephesians 1:13-14.

[102] Paul was a Pharisee as were his father and grandfather, as was his teacher Gamaliel, and Pharisees—unlike the Sadducees—believed in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6-8; 26:5; 22:3b; see Psalm 16:8-11; 73:23-24)

[103] 1 Corinthians 15:42b,47a (Genesis 2:7,19a) ); Titus 1:2 (Genesis 2:9).

[104] Romans 5a;12,14,17a (Genesis 2:17; 3:1-6,19b,22-24).

[105] 1 Corinthians 15:22-23,26,54-55 (Hosea 13:14); Colossians 1:18b; Romans 8:29 (‘firstborn’ = Eldest Brother). Hosea speaks of God ‘family-redeeming’ [Heb. gaal] us from the grave, and Job (19:25-26) speaks of bodily meeting his resurrected ‘family-redeemer’ [Heb. goël]. Isaiah (25:7-8) applies this also to people of all nations. In Acts 13:35-37, Paul cites a part of Psalm 16 (verse 10b) because he now sees that it can only point to the resurrection of Jesus. Further, the Septuagint version of the Torah uses the Greek word, metatitheemi, to describe prophetically how God ‘changed’ Enoch so that he didn’t have to experience death (Genesis 5:24 LXX; cited in Hebrews 11:5 using the same Greek word). The Prophets record something similar happening to Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).

[106] Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15a;49-53; 2 Timothy 1:9-10.

[107] Psalm 2:7-8 (cited also in Hebrews 1:5), which Paul cites twice (1 Corinthians 15:24-27; Ephesians 1:22). In Ephesians, Paul shows that he understands that Jesus has fulfilled this Psalm about human destiny (Ps.8:4a) ‘for us’—specifically the 2^nd phase of God’s plan where humanity is ‘crowned with glory and honor’ with ‘all things placed under his feet’ (Ps.8:5b,6b). The 1^st phase of the plan involved humans being ‘made for a little while lower than the angels’ (Ps.8:5a LXX, Hebrews 2:6-8a RSV). In the Psalm, both phases are linked to a ‘son of man’ whom God ‘visits’ (Ps.8:4b, Heb.2:8b-9). This ‘son of man’ is now a final ‘Adam’ who has passed through both phases (Philippians 2:7,9) on behalf of many brothers and sisters(1 Corinthians 15:47-49; Romans 8:29-30 see also Heb.2:10-12 [Ps.22:22]). The blessings promised to David for the Messiah (Psalm 16:10) Paul applies to Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 13:34). And when he cites the messianic promise to David (1 Chronicles 17:12-13a), he applies it to all believers—all the Father’s ‘sons and daughters’ (2 Corinthians 6:18).

[108] Ephesians 1:18-22 (Ps.8:5b); Philippians 2:9-11; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5; Romans 6:4-5,23; 8:11; Titus 3:4b-7.

[109] In Ephesians 2:6, Paul uses again the two Greek words he had used earlier to speak of what God as Father (1:17) did ‘in Christ’ when he ‘raised’[Gk. egeiras] and ‘seated’ [Gk. ekathisen] him at his right hand (Eph.1:20). But this time Paul uses the together-form of these two words to speak of how all believers (‘us’) have been 'raised-together’ [Gk. sun-egeiren] and seated-together’ [Gk. sun-ekathisen] ‘in Christ’. Since the structure of this verse is the same as 3:6, Paul’s emphasis in 2:6 is on how believers of all nations (Jews and non-Jews; 2:11) were simultaneously raised-together and seated-together with each other in Christ, rather than just with Christ. (See also Romans 5:17-18,21; 2 Timothy 2:11-12) [Mellis 2016k].

[110] 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. See also the texts in footnote [96] about the guardian powers and ethnic boundaries, and Ephesians 2:11-19 on how these, because of sin, contributed to inter-ethnic hostility before Christ). Also see Paul’s revelation of ‘the Mystery’ (Eph.3:3) about how all nations and ethnic groups come together in Christ, see Eph.3:6—a better translation of which is: ‘In Christ Jesus and through the Gospel, the nations [Gk. ethne] are heirs-together and of the same body-together, and partakers-together of his promise’ (i.e. to Abraham [Genesis 12:3b; 22:18]; Galatians 3:8,14, 18,26-29). ‘Gentiles’ is merely an Anglicized Latin word for ‘peoples’ borrowed from the Vulgate translation of the Greek word, ethne.

[111] Exodus 19:5-6.

[112] See footnote [32].

[113] Even for many Jewish Jesus-followers this was still an issue (Acts 15:20).

[114] For many Jews, even many Jewish believers in Jerusalem, just entering the home of ‘uncircumcised men’ was against ‘the law’ (Acts 10:28; 11:2-3; Gal.2:12-13), even though the only certain kinds of food were prohibited in the Torah. I picture Paul still choosing to identify both with his own Jewish community—believers and non-believers (See 1 Corinthians 9:21). So at this point, Paul and the others probably declined to eat meat when it was served to them in the homes of non-Jews (see Romans 14:14-21).

[115] This charge combined with a growing number of non-Jewish men joining the Nazarene sect probably alarmed the synagogue council members for political reasons as well (see footnote [38] in Section 4 of Part I).

[116] This punishment, as described in the Torah, is connected to a judgment given in a case involving two parties. The sentence determined by the judge for the guilty party could involve any number of lashes up to an official maximum of forty exceeded (Deut. 25:1-3). To make sure forty lashes was never exceeded, the unofficial maximum was thirty-nine (see 2 Cor.11:24). Thus, on the five occasions that Paul mentions in this text, he may sometimes actually have received less than the maximum number of lashes. See also Jesus’ warning about disciples being ‘flogged’ in synagogues (Matthew 10:17). Barclay provides a picture of this punishment as described in the Mishna [Barclay 1975c: 254]; [Schmidt 1993:215].

[117] Charged, like Jesus, with breaking the fourth commandment (Deuteronomy 5:12; Luke 13:10-14).

[118] See Deut.13:6-14.

[119] See Exodus 12:48-49.

[120] See 2 Corinthians 1:5; Colossians 1:24; Philippians 3:10-16.

[121] With regard to the elemental (social) powers [Gr. stoikheia], including the Jewish ‘Law’, being ‘weak’ according to Paul: see Galatians 4:9; 1 Corinthians 1:25; 2:7-8; 9:22-23 and Rom.8:3a; 35-39. See also Colossians 2:10.

[122] A Cilician city at the foot of the mountains. Like later in Philippi (Acts 16:16-23). Along with Bruce, I think at least one of the other two beatings by Roman authorities—three in total (2 Cor.11:25)—probably took place during this Cilician period, along with most of the synagogue floggings [Bruce 1992: 127-128], but not in Tarsus itself where it most likely know that Paul was held Roman citizenship.

[123] Romans 16:7a

[124] Since 25 BCE, the flat eastern part of Eastern Cilicia that included Tarsus had been linked administratively to the Roman province with Syria [Bruce 1992: 33]. The ‘churches’ in ‘Cilicia’, visited by Paul and Silas as they traveled through Syria and Cilicia, were most likely planted by Paul during his Tarsus year. For the only churches in this region where Barnabas and Paul had ‘preached the word’ together were located in the Roman province of Galatia, northwest of Cilicia (Acts 15:41,36).

[125] Charged with blasphemy against God’s name (Leviticus 24:16), like Jesus was (Matthew 26:64-65); and probably also for criticizing the injustice of those judging him (Exodus 22:28; Acts 23:3-5), perhaps comparing them to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem for their unjust death verdict against Jesus (Acts 13:27-28).

[126] 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.

[127] see Acts 9:15.

[128] 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paul says that this vision, and the ‘thorn in the flesh’ that began afflicting him shortly thereafter, occurred ‘fourteen years’ prior to the time of his writing this letter (12:2a). I agree with Wright that Paul is referring to one of the last of his experiences in Tarsus before Barnabas came and invited to come to Antioch (Acts 11:25-26; [Wright 2018: 69]).

[129] Acts 9:16; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 6:3-10.

[130] Acts 11:19-26.