Questions on Acts 15 to 28
1. Why was the meeting of Acts 15 convened? What issues were it to resolve? What was the final outcome? Answer
2. When did Paul meet Timothy? How old were the men when they met (Acts 16)? Answer
3. What forbidden evangelistic preaching did Paul want to undertake (Acts 16)? Answer
4. What was one of the primary reasons the Jews opposed the Apostle Paul (Acts 17)? Answer
5. What motivated Paul to preach the gospel in Athens (Acts 17:16)? Answer
6. What evangelistic milestone did Paul achieve during his first stay in Corinth (Acts 18)? Answer
7. What was the vow Paul took in Acts 18:18? Answer
8. Who were the seven sons of Sceva and why did they fail (Acts 19:14 - 16)? Answer
9. What or who caused trouble for Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19)? Answer
10. Other than the miracle itself, what was unique about bringing life back to Eutychus (Acts 20:9 - 11)? Answer
11. Who was Agabus (Acts 21:10)? Answer
12. How was a riot caused at Jerusalem's temple (Acts 21)? Answer
13. What caused the Jews at the temple to stop listening to Paul (Acts 22)? Answer
14. How did Paul avoid being severely beaten by the Romans (Acts 22)? Answer
15. How did Paul disrupt his first meeting before the Sanhedrin in order to avoid their judgment against him (Acts 23)? Answer
16. How did Paul escape a plot by a group of forty fanatical Jews to kill him (Acts 23:12 - 15)? Answer
17. Why was Paul kept in a Caesarea prison for two years even after a Roman governor heard his case (Acts 24)? Answer
18. Why didn't Paul want to be tried by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (Acts 25)? Answer
19. When did Paul, as a prisoner, begin his journey on a ship to sail to Rome (Acts 27)? Answer
20. What island was Paul's ship "to be cast upon" in order to save all 276 people on board (Acts 27:26, 37)? Answer
21. What prophecy did Paul's survival of a snake bite fulfill (Acts 28)? Answer
22. What was extra special about Paul's miracles performed on the island of Malta (Acts 28)? Answer
Answers on Acts
1. The meeting of Acts 15, called the Jerusalem conference, was held in late summer of 49 A.D. It was a gathering of brethren and church elders to decide whether or not Gentiles needed to also be circumcised in order to receive salvation (Acts 15:1, 5).
[First Century Church Divisions]
There is also a strong hint that those who were formerly Pharisees wanted Gentiles to also keep the Pharisaic traditional interpretation of God's law (Acts 15:5).
The final decision of the conference was NOT to tell Gentiles that did not have to keep God's law. It was that they didn't need to be circumcised to be saved.
2. Apostle Paul arrived in Lystra, where he met Timothy, around the early part of 50 A.D. Paul was born around 2 A.D. while one church tradition places Timothy's birth around 17 A.D. This means the men met when Paul was 48 and Timothy 33.
[Paul's Second Missionary Journey Map]
3. Paul, along with Silas and Timothy who were with him, were traveling through the western portion of Galatia. Paul then wanted to preach the gospel in Asia but was forbidden by God from doing so (Acts 16:6).
[Why Did God Forbid Paul to Preach?]
The group then travels to a region known as Mysia. At Mysia Paul wants to travel north to preach in Bithynia but is forbidden from even entering the province (Acts 16:7)!
Perplexed, the group journeys to the port of Troas where God, through a night vision, directs Paul toward Macedonia (Acts 16:8 - 10). These redirections make Apostle Paul the first recorded person to preach the gospel on the European continent!
4. Much of the persecution the Apostle Paul received, especially from the Jews, was motivated by an envy of his success (Acts 13:45, 17:5)!
5. Paul was stirred to preach the gospel in Athens due to the city's obsession with idolatry (Acts 17:16, 22 - 23). One Roman satirist is noted as stating it was "easier to find a God at Athens than a man."
6. Paul's initial stay in Corinth lasted roughly 1 1/2 years, from late summer 50 to spring 52 A.D. In 50 A.D. he writes 1Thessalonians, his first Biblical book. The next year he writes 2Thessalonians, his second book included in Scripture.
[In What Roman Province was Corinth?]
[Corinth and the Apostle Paul]
7. The vow Paul took was likely related to the Nazarite vow found in Numbers 6:1 - 21. Those who wished to dedicate themselves as a Nazarite could do so for any period of time. God's law permitted both men and women to take on this pledge (Numbers 6:2).
Among the requirements of a Nazarite vow was that a person could not shave any hair on their head (e.g. beard, mustache, eyebrows - Numbers 6:5). When the vow was completed, a person would shave their head and burn the hairs, after which they were allowed to return to a normal life.
8. Sceva was a Jewish chief priest (or, at least, claimed to be so). His seven sons were traveling Jews who pretended to be exorcists, using various charms, incantations and so on to pretend to heal people and cast out demons.
These sons saw Apostle Paul casting out demons and thought to do the same on a man who had a wicked spirit. Their mimicking his words like an incantation, however, failed miserably. They failed to grasp that merely using the name of Jesus does not guarantee the ability to access His power! The demon-possessed man, irritated by their attempt, single-handedly severely beat them and left them running away naked (Acts 19:13 - 16).
[Paul's Third Missionary Journey Map]
9. The preaching of the gospel caused many people to abandon their pagan ways and become Christians (Acts 19:20). This meant that those who made a fortune making and selling statues of Diana (a pagan god) were at risk of losing their business (Acts 19:24 - 25, 27).
[Ephesus and the Apostle Paul]
Paul's troubles in Ephesus were primarily caused by greed and financial gain. The loss of wealth motivated a silversmith named Demetrius to organize other idol makers to fight against Paul and the gospel.
10. The bringing back to life of a young man named Eutychus was the only recorded time Paul miraculously resurrected someone. The Apostle Peter also brought one person back to life (Acts 9:36 - 37, 40).
[Timeline of Apostle Paul's Miracles]
Paul's resurrection of Eutychus also marks the last time this awesome miracle is recorded occurring in the early church.
11. Agabus was a New Testament prophet. Previous to his Acts 21 encounter with Paul, he had prophesied, in Syrian Antioch, that a three-year famine would occur (Acts 11:28). His famine prophecy took place in the spring of 42 A.D. while the prophecy regarding Paul's arrest took place in early 58 A.D.
12. Jews from Asia (Acts 21:27) had seen Paul in Jerusalem with Trophimus, a man known to be a Gentile (non-Israelite). When Paul and several others went to the temple several days later, the Jews assumed Paul was also taking Trophimus into the temple.
[How Did Paul Defile the Temple?]
[Where Was the Temple Located?]
In the first century A.D. it was strictly forbidden, by pain of immediate death, for a Gentile to go beyond the temple's Court of the Gentiles. It was firmly believed that Gentiles would defile the temple. The Jews from Asia screamed for help when they thought a Gentile went where he was forbidden, thus leading to a riot.
13. Paul was trying to educate the crowd in Acts 22 concerning the events that led him from opposing Christianity to supporting it. Right after he gets to the point where God told him to preach to the Gentiles, the temple crowd loses their collective minds and begins shouting for his death (Acts 22:22 - 23).
14. Paul is arrested by the Roman army in Jerusalem's temple as they see him as the instigator of a riot. The Romans, after his arrest, then seek to scourge Paul to get information out of him (Acts 22:24).
Paul, not wanting to be beaten, informs a Centurion that he is a Roman citizen. His Roman citizenship gives him the right to not be tortured or whipped (scourged) unless he was guilty of treason. It also gives him the right to a legal trial before a proper court to defend himself.
Paul's asserting of his citizenship spared him the torture of a merciless beating.
15. The Apostle Paul, instead of confronting the Sanhedrin directly, decided to use a clever tactic. He, as a former Pharisee, was aware that they believed in the resurrection of the dead just like he did. He also knew that the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, often fought with the Pharisees over this teaching.
[What Is the First Resurrection?]
Paul, by stating he was a former Pharisee who was being unjustly imprisoned because he believed in the resurrection (Acts 23:6), stirred up the Sanhedrin. The debate between the two religious parties was so great that the Romans had to use force to remove Paul from the proceedings (Acts 23:10)!
16. Paul escaped a death threat against himself when one of his relatives, a young nephew (his sister's son), discovers the plot. The nephew informs Paul of the evil plan, who then has him tell the Roman captain what the Jews were planning to carry out (Acts 23:16 - 21).
The Romans react to the threat by having 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen escort Paul safely to the Roman governor in Caesarea.
17. Roman governor Felix kept Paul for two years in the hope that someone would offer him money to free the apostle. Felix never received any bribe money and was replaced by governor Festus in late summer of 60 A.D. (Acts 24:26 - 27).
[How Long Was Paul in Prison?]
[How Often Was Apostle Paul Arrested?]
18. Paul was well aware that the Jews wanted him dead and would take an opportunity they could to make it happen (Acts 25:3). He was also aware that, should he survive to be tried by the Sanhedrin, he would not get a fair trial.
Paul appealed to having his case heard by the Roman Emperor as he, sadly, would treat him with more impartiality and fairness than the Jews (Acts 25:9 - 11).
19. Paul was put on a ship, guarded by a Roman centurion, in the autumn of 60 A.D.
[Paul's Fourth Missionary Journey Map]
20. Paul's battered boat was shipwrecked near the island of Malta (Melita in the King James).
21. Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake on his hand (Acts 28:3). He survived the bite to the shock and awe of the Malta natives (verses 4 to 6)! Jesus, in the "great commission" he gave to his disciples, promised that those who preached the gospel wouldn't be hurt by snakes (Mark 16:15, 17 - 18).
[Can Any Christian Handle Poisonous Snakes?]
22. Paul's miracles on the island of Malta are the last ones the Bible records were performed by him. His ministry, however, would go on for another seven years until 68 A.D.
[Apostle Paul's Final Missionary Journey Map]