Sermon Tone Analysis

Completing and commencing the mission

, After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.

At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.

But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.

At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.

But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.

He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

What does the Bible say about strength?

The word strength and its derivatives are mentioned over 360 times in the Bible, almost one for every day of the year; applying to both natural and supernatural strength.

The Greek word katei means “power, strength, might.”

In the Bible, strength is often linked to God’s power.

We as believers are to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” ().

The unlimited power of Christ is the source of strength for those who belong to Him.

According to the Bible, the strength we have is not our own.

It ultimately comes from God. “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength . . .

but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord” ().

No matter how strong we think we are, “ our flesh is weak” ().

It we are left to our own devices, we will always fall into temptation and we will always fail in any worthy endeavor.

The weakness inherent in our human nature is why the Bible commends us to the strength of the Lord.

Because Christ’s “power is made perfect in our weakness” ().

As we learn to rely on God’s strength instead of our own, we gain new heights, new levels of trusting in through His glory:

“The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights” (

The Lord gives His children strength to minister to others (; ), strength to face persecution (), and strength to overcome death ().

Strength to strength if all His disciples.

God’s strength in the Bible is readily seen in many of His works.

He created the world and all that is in it with the power of His word.

He parted the Red Sea, caused the sun to stand still, raised the dead, and performed many other great and glorious deeds.

“Praise him for his acts of power” ().

The one “who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (), because the God of all power needs no rest.

The Bible places an emphasis on God’s strength in our salvation.

We cannot way save ourselves.

Only God can save.

Paul makes this abundantly clear: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” ().

These two verses are the most forceful summary of the dynamics of salvation found anywhere in the Bible.

They help us to understand the contrast between man’s total helplessness and God’s insuperable strength.

“God alone . . .

has the power to save or to destroy” (, NLT).

The Bible illustrates God’s strength to save in the story of Gideon.

The Israelites were facing a Midianite army described as “thick as locusts” with “camels as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore” ().

Gideon mustered his troops, and they numbered 32,000.

God said that was too many, and Gideon reduced them to 10,000 ().

Still too many, God said, and He reduced Gideon’s forces to a mere 300 men (verses 7–8).

God had stated His purpose in paring the Israelite army down to almost nothing in verse 2: “You have too many men.

I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’”

In the end, the Midianites are routed, God is glorified, and Israel is saved.

The salvation came not through human strength but solely through the strength of the Lord working through men of faith.

Our strength is found in Christ—in our having a vibrant, dynamic relationship with Him.

It is Christ who empowers us to do whatever is necessary to accomplish God’s will: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” ().

There is no other source that gives man the strength to overcome the world with its trials and temptations.

The Bible says that our strength is, paradoxically, related to surrender: “Submit yourselves, then, to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” ().

We align ourselves with the strength of God through our total submission to Him; then we are able to withstand the wiles of the evil one.

“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” ().

Those who rely on God’s strength from day to day will find in Him a never-ending spring of energy: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you. . . .

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion” (, ).

As God’s children, we are strengthened by His grace (), by our time spent in prayer (), and by the promise that God will reward our efforts ().

Many around us may grow weary and faint, but “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” ().

Let’s us pray...

18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer… (‘a number of days’; cf.

9:23, 43; 27:7), implying a short stay in addition to the eighteen months mentioned in v. 11.

Paul was not forced out of Corinth, but he left the believers when he was ready.

The verse goes on to say, …and them took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, with him Priscilla and Aquila.

Silas and Timothy were perhaps left behind to minister to the Corinthians, since Priscilla and Aquila now appear as Paul’s primary travel companions.

They sailed from Cenchreae, which was the eastern seaport of Corinth ( indicates that there was a church there) and a natural place to embark for a journey to Syria.

Before they sailed, 18c states… At Cenchreae he had cut his hair for he was under a vow.

The reason for making the vow could be related to the Lord’s promise of protection from danger and Paul’s determination to stay in the city and keep preaching (vv.

9–11).

It was not unusual for Jews made vows to God either in thankfulness for past blessings (such as Paul’s safekeeping in Corinth) or as part of a petition for future blessings (such as safekeeping on Paul’s intending journey).

Paul appears to have taken a temporary Nazirite vow, which involved abstinence from alcohol and not cutting his hair until the period of the vow was completed at Cenchreae.

Paul was later urged to participate in the completion of another Nazirite vow with four others men.

, Do therefore what we tell you.

We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads.

Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

Being under a vow meant those men would under a Nazirite vow would abstain from wine, strong drink, grape juice, grapes, or raisins; would avoid any contact that would defile them (such as contact with a dead body); and would not cut their hair (cf.

).

When the time of the vow was over (often 30 days), they would cut their hair and present an offering in the temple (cf.

Mishnah, Nazir 6.3).

If Paul went with them and personally paid for the cost of their offering, it would show that he did not object to Jewish converts following OT customs voluntarily, so long as those same customs were not required of Gentile believers.

As for the Gentiles believers, The Jerusalem elders reminded Paul of the requirements for Gentile Christians agreed upon in the Jerusalem council (15:28–29).

This was to assure Paul that they wanted to avoid giving unnecessary offense to either believers or unbelievers among the Jews.

They were not asking Paul’s Gentile converts to embrace the Jewish laws beyond those minimal requirements, nor were they requiring Jewish believers to observe OT ceremonial laws.

In he purified himself.

and voluntarily went along with the suggestion from James and the elders.