NOTES for Act 18:23-28

Before us is an example of what the Lord wants from us in our relationships with one another. We see a group of people engaged in a certain work (namely, preaching the Gospel) who find themselves with a “rival” (see Acts 18:24-28). But that is the terminology of today's world. In fact, some people are working, and a person appears who does the same work. He longs for the same thing they do—the glorification of God in the hearts of those around him. Yet even despite this, reactions resembling those of a small child are possible: jealousy and possessiveness. A child has, for example, a flute and plays it, bringing joy to those around him. Suddenly it turns out that another boy has a flute too and also brings joy to others by playing his instrument... But the apostles rise above this. They find one another and other people in the joy of Christ, helping them go to Him by a straight path.

Today we read about the ministry of the apostle Paul and his companions in the large port city of Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia. In several episodes described by Luke, we can see events very similar to what happens in our own day.

Then as now, there are people burning in spirit, striving with all their hearts for knowledge of the truth, for awareness of what matters most in life. One such person is Apollos, ready to preach and bring to other people everything he has learned about salvation, and at the same time open to greater knowledge, ready to hear the good news about Christ and the gift of the Spirit from Paul's disciples, Aquila and his wife Priscilla. It is no accident that afterward Apollos becomes one of Paul's closest coworkers and friends, for the combination of readiness to teach and readiness to learn is a great and rare gift.

And this is exactly how the living message about Christ acts and is handed on. If we always thirsted for the deepening of our faith and knowledge of Him, while always being ready to share faith and knowledge with others, we too would be able to help in the work of evangelism.

Today's reading lets us see more clearly another aspect of spiritual life that is extremely important for us. It concerns an incident involving certain Jewish exorcists (Acts 19:13–16). The situation these people found themselves in was, of course, far from ordinary. Yet, as in a drop of water, it reflected what concerns everyone, whether or not they ever have to deal with possessed people. Apparently, the exorcists Luke mentions decided to use the name of “Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” Most likely they had only heard of Paul and Jesus, without knowing either personally. But perhaps they had seen with their own eyes that, in modern terms, the method worked. So, it seems, they decided to reproduce what Paul was doing. According to the evangelist, the result was dismal and apparently unexpected by the experimenters themselves. They probably counted on the mere mention of Jesus' name to work, but evidently nothing of the kind happened. At first sight, this may seem an attempt to use Jesus' name as an entirely ordinary magical incantation. Yet matters were hardly so simple: these were believing Jews, after all, who knew only too well the Torah's prohibition of anything connected with magic and its practices. Perhaps it would be more accurate to see in this incident the practice, fairly widespread among Jews in Gospel times, of casting out demons by invoking God's name. There were also certain prayer formulas believed to make the desired result more likely. Most probably, the exorcists in the account decided that Paul too was using special, secret prayers to cast demons out of the possessed, enabling him to succeed where others failed. Not knowing the essence of Christianity as the teaching of the risen Messiah and the messianic Kingdom entering the world, they seem to have taken it for some new form of exorcism. They were severely put to shame: the possessed were freed from the power of dark forces through Paul's prayers not because those prayers were somehow special, but because he himself lived the life of the Kingdom, in which others came to share through his prayers. Christianity is not a spiritual practice or a method of prayer that gives its adepts special abilities or reveals mysteries of the universe inaccessible to the uninitiated. It is simply life in the Kingdom. A life that one can and must accept and, having accepted it, share with others.

Paul continues preaching in Corinth and Ephesus, and once again the pattern already familiar to us from other cities comes into play: preaching among the Jews, acceptance of the Good News by some of them and rejection by others, followed by preaching to the Gentiles. The Roman authorities' support for the apostles might seem to be a slight change in this pattern, but in essence it changes nothing, nor is it really support: Gallio is guided by the principle of “divide and rule,” so let them fight and weaken one another, provided they do not go too far.

But against the background of violent clashes, quiet yet more important events are taking place: new ascetics are growing within the Church and entering into ministry, among them Aquila and Priscilla. At the beginning of the chapter we see them receiving instruction from Paul; by its end, we see them already capable of correcting the eloquent Apollos, who was well versed in the Scriptures, and he listens to them. Everyone who comes into the Church receives the opportunity to grow spiritually, for the Church is not a caste structure in which everyone has a place rigidly assigned once and for all, but a living organism growing toward the Creator.

Today's reading shows us a model that can and should be followed by those in authority who do not wish to hinder God and those who bear witness to the Kingdom. It concerns an incident in Corinth, where one of the largest Jewish communities in the ancient world existed at the time (vv. 12–16). Apparently, the local Jews, in demanding a trial, expected the local authorities to support the traditional synagogue in its confrontation with the new Christian movement. Yet they seem to have been mistaken: the proconsul refused to intervene in a religious dispute or judge such a case, rightly believing that his intervention could be required only if state law had actually been broken. Admittedly, his nonintervention went too far on this occasion (v. 17), but his position was nevertheless fairly balanced and, in any event, impartial. Of course, the biblical attitude toward secular authority is not straightforward. In Old Testament times, the ideal remained a theocratic society where power belonged to charismatic leaders, usually called judges. The election of the first king, Saul, evoked a decidedly ambivalent response from Samuel, the last judge (1 Sam. 8:4–22). Yet elected secular authority was still a better solution than the anarchy threatening the people. It should be noted that the Torah, the Law of Moses, defines the rights and duties of those in power quite strictly (Deut. 17:14–20); foremost, it seems, is the requirement to observe the norms of God's Law. A society founded on the Torah is possible, however, only if its norms and values are freely accepted by that society itself, or at least by most of it. If society remains predominantly pagan, the best option is for the authorities not to interfere in the lives of religious communities. This is not because they might make a mistake and support the wrong community. It is because nothing about spiritual life can really be understood by looking at it from outside. Representatives of pagan authority are fundamentally unable to help anyone spiritually; any support they give any community is always governed by considerations having nothing to do with spiritual life. Such support, of course, contributes neither to the spread of the Kingdom in the world nor even to society's spiritual formation or development. In such a situation, nonintervention is precisely the best help. Nonintervention that allows God and His witnesses to act freely.

The word "missionary" has now acquired an ambiguous shade of meaning. It is associated either with treacherous European Christians who contributed to the colonization and enslavement of less developed peoples, although many of them truly served God and not people, or with intrusive street agitators inviting you into yet another sect, although street preaching in itself is no worse than other methods.

Today's passage, however, opens to us the spiritual experience of a true missionary and servant of the Gospel, the apostle Paul. He is not an enthusiast; his preaching is not a self-appointed effort. The Spirit whom he received through faith in Christ impels him to ministry; it is his inner necessity. "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:16), he says. And what matters most is that his ministry is not based on his desire or his strength. Paul acts and lives by the presence of Christ, who strengthens him, invisibly or visibly.