Come Follow Me LDS- Acts 16-21 Part 2

'Apollos, Scribes & Servants'
- The Bible- 'as far as it is translated correctly'
- Paul vs Diana
- Paul and King Benjamin

 

 

Come Follow Me

LDS Mormon New Testament Acts Bible

 

this episode is on Apollo's scribes

and servants here we go alright so as

you recall in the last episode we ended

with Paul's second mission he had

started in Antioch travelled about 3,000

miles throughout Greece and Asia Minor

or Turkey today and ended up in Antioch

again he's now back out around on his

mission but we get this introduction of

another character named Apollo's this is

in verse 24 of chapter 18 and Apollo's

is an Alexandrian Jew this is no

coincidence

Alexandria is a hub maybe the hub of

scholarship and knowledge in the Middle

East and we learned something about

Apollo's here it says he was born in

Alexandria an eloquent man and mighty in

the scriptures and he came to a thesis

so we're now centered back in a thesis

which is in Asia Minor in Turkey this

man was instructed in the way of the

Lord so someone had gone out to

Alexandria as a missionary and had

taught him maybe not a fullness of

everything but he had gotten some

information from some in Palestine at

least about John the Baptist this is

what it tells us here and I think it's

important that this is placed in here

because again it brings us back to that

baptism of Christ where of Jesus where

he is baptized of John the Baptist and

as we've talked about here we get that

real focus on the higher in the lower

law and as we see that picture of Jesus

being baptized by John the Baptist what

we might see there instead of just a

Baptists

of Christ is the higher in the lower

laws and the ironic and the Melchizedek

Priesthood that's what I envision

there when I see those two characters

there in the river Jordan this is what

it tells us here

he'd been instructed in the way of the

Lord this is Apollo's and being fervent

in the spirit he spake and taught

diligently the things of the Lord

knowing only the baptism of John so

there's a lot of things that this could

be if I come back and I use the

interpreter of the higher in the lower

law and I understand the two priesthoods

and we don't know exactly how developed

all of this was at the time but

certainly some of this knowledge was

there but if we understand those two

priests as we understand that the

baptism of John is the Aaronic

priesthood and when they say the baptism

they may mean some additional doctrine

and different things that went along

with that but they're also talking I

think about priesthoods here and so this

would be the Aaronic priesthood verse 26

and he began to speak boldly in the

synagogue whom when Aquila and Priscilla

had heard they took him unto them and

expounded unto Him the way of God more

perfectly so again we have that higher

in the lower laws here this is a

beautiful example of this being inserted

by Luke and so Apollo's who is trained

in the ways of the Lord so he is

teaching in the synagogue's with the

Jews as a missionary he is a missionary

coming from Alexandria at least

originally from Alexandria and he is

teaching the Jews about the ways of the

Lord and maybe a lot of what was taught

about faith and repentance

the first steps that you would find in

the lower law that are tied to the

ironic priesthood but he may not have

had a full understanding about the

higher law and about the atoning

sacrifice of Jesus Christ and of the

Melchizedek priesthood so he's brought in

and taught more perfectly so we can

think of that term more perfectly as the

higher law

and maybe the milk ascetic priesthood in

the atonement of Jesus Christ His grace

the gray side of things and so he's

taught more perfectly and then he goes

off into Greece and starts teaching in

Greece and he goes into the synagogue

there and here's something interesting

that we learned this is again a very

important concept that carries on from

the Gospels it says here in verse 28 for

he mightily convinced the Jews and that

publicly shooing by the scriptures that

Jesus was the Christ so it's something

that's already in place so you can

imagine he's going around to these

synagogues and they've got the Torah

there and the whole Tanakh enough all of the

law and the prophets they're now what

they typically would have especially in

areas like Greece here is they're going

to have the Septuagint what is the

Septuagint it's the Greek version of the

Hebrew scriptures this was translated by

Jews in about somewhere between maybe

250 to 150 BC and at the time it was

hailed as an incredible accomplishment

that god's hand was completely involved

with the Septuagint and that the message

the narrative everything about this

translation was God-given and it had

gone out to all of the Jews everywhere

pretty much at this point it had been

around for a couple hundred years a few

hundred years and it was Greek and so it

was using the lingua franca right and

that's probably what Apollo's is

teaching from and that's what most of

the Old Testament references are in the

New Testament they're from the

Septuagint but here's what's interesting

the Scriptures are in place already and

yet Apollo's has to teach the Jews and

dispute with them convince them that

Jesus is the Christ well there's two

things that have to be going

on here we have to break this down a

little bit more what would he really be

doing first of all he would be teaching

about what the Messiah is because

remember the Jews believe in a political

Messiah they do not believe in a savior

a servant I use this term a lot but a

suffering servant from Isaiah that is

the King and would take on the sins of

the world would be born into mortality

that he would be Jehovah that all has to

be brought out so he has to go in into

the Septuagint into the Jews own

scriptures and show through what they

have there what the Messiah really is

first he would have to do that and then

secondly he would show from the life and

from the sacrifice and the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

that he is Christ that he is HaMashiach

or the Messiah and not just the

political Messiah but that he is the

Messiah that a Polish would be

describing to them it brings to bear the

idea of control of the scriptures

because the Septuagint at this time

being used is older than the current

text we have even in Hebrew for the Old

Testament in other words again we've

talked about the knee whore principle

where Christ has been removed or

diminished or the definition has been

changed in the past there have been

great disruptions in the temple and in

theology and by the correcting scribes

through error and intention and so we

can go back to the time of Isaiah where

that we had this problem with a loss of

Christ we can go to the time of Lehi

where Jerusalem is falling apart and the

Deuteronomists have taken over the

theology and probably the political

arena in Jerusalem and we don't have any

examples of the scriptures from that

period of time that are dated back to

that time we have a few little examples

of maybe a scripture here or a scripture

there that are available that we have

found

archaeologically but we have no scrolls

we have no tablets we have nothing from

that period of time and so you have what

is more than likely a rather large

change in scripture I say rather large

it doesn't have to be massive just a

little things here and there that would

change around the time of the Exile to

Babylon in Babylon from the Jews so this

would be the time of Lehi there would

have been little changes that would have

been happening then and then they come

down and now they produce the Septuagint

in about 250 to 150 BC and that's what's

being used here during the time of the

New Testament but what happens well the

Jews get rid of the Septuagint later on

why because of the rival between

Christianity and Judaism there are still

too many references in the Septuagint

that are too Christian and so they get

rid of it and then over time over

hundreds of years perhaps we end up with

the Masoretic text and the earliest

samples of that text that we have of the

of the Old Testament that we use today

in the King James Version the oldest

examples that we have of that are from

about eight hundred years after the time

of Paul more or less so you've got 800

years where you've got this rivalry

between Christianity and Judaism

they're both sourcing the same

scriptures primarily at this point the

Septuagint and then the Christians would

have had other scriptures that they use

that were not included in the Canon in

the New Testament but they're both

sourcing the new scriptures so the

Septuagint is gone chews get rid of it

and they use eventually the Masoretic

text and this is what ends up being used

for the translations that we have today

in the Bible so we talked about the

correcting scribes and in and a lot of

the changes that happened in the Old

Testament we don't know exactly what we

have ended up with and not that there

are drastic changes but little tiny

changes words hear words they're things

that don't make any sense now where the

Hebrew is all garbled up and you end up

with something that's just a little bit

different from what would have

originally been in place from the

prophets when they wrote them that's why

it's so important that we have a direct

line that is line item doubt a an

authorship pedigree charge of the Book

of Mormon we know specifically that it

goes from Lehi Nephi and to Jacob and

and then to his son and then his son and

then on and on and we get the line item

going down here until we end up with

Mormon who pulls from all of this and

puts in his words his translations and

then direct excerpts from the

plates and we get the Book of Mormon and

then Moroni adds to that and then Moroni

who finished it and buried it shows it

to Joseph Smith and a prophet then

translates it and so very big

differences here and that's why we have

in our articles of faith as far as the

Bible is translated correctly we believe

in that now currently I'm going a little

too long on this but even in LDS

scholarship today we can notice a little

bit of a change that we have in

interpreting the Old Testament and what

I mean by that is that whole loss of

Christ and the correcting scribes that

happened well in academia today right

everywhere worldwide in academia today

in biblical scholarship you have a

pushback against an interpretation of

in the Old Testament you just do and so

as we bring in these scholars and these

scholars that are doing an incredible

job I mean really amazing stuff right

now that's coming out there they're

there with their methods and their

additional training and information that

they have their knowledge they're

producing some great great things

probably better than we've ever ever had

in any period of time in scholarship in

the church but one thing they bring with

them also and you're going to notice

this is that there's a little bit of

that pushback from an interpretation of

Christ in the Old Testament it's just

just in the last five to ten years I've

read it more than with newer books than

I've seen previously and yet what do we

have here when that comes up and you

read that if you read those types of

books

just remember Apollo's here he's using

the Old Testament here and he has to

teach them an interpretation about Jesus

Christ right he's going to I guarantee

you he's going back to Isaiah he's going

to Moses he's going to Zechariah he's

going to Malachi he's going back and he

is showing that these things are

prophecies about Jesus Christ they're

not just interpretations of a political

Messiah or of a current king or

anything like that so just keep that in

mind and so Apollo sends up in Corinth

and then Paul goes to Ephesus and this

is the place where Paul eventually

writes the letter to the Ephesians we

get a lot of good references out of that

epistle but he's in a thesis and he

asks something similar here Luke follows

right up with this John's baptism and

the baptism of Jesus Christ here with

Paul asking the disciples here in a

thesis have you received the Holy Ghost

since he believed this is chapter 19

verse 2 and they said unto Him we have

not so much as heard whether there be

any Holy Ghost

again so Luke is pulling this in here

and showing the distinction here between

the two priesthoods

and the higher in the lower laws and

that there's got to be both and so Paul

obviously has the Mississippi priesthood

and so in verse three says and he said

unto them unto what then were ye

baptized and they said unto John's

baptism then said Paul john verily

baptized with the baptism of repentance

remember that's part of the lower law

that's attached to the Aaronic

priesthood saying unto the people that

they should believe on him which should

come after him that is on Jesus Christ

so he's showing that again that bringing

together of john the Baptist and Jesus

Christ that john was a looking forward

and that the lower law and repentance

and the baptism of john is all part of a

looking forward to Jesus Christ to grace

to the Melchizedek Priesthood into

spiritual things and it says then that

in verse 6 and when Paul had laid his

hands upon them the Holy Ghost came on

them and they spake with tongues and

prophesied and so against spiritual

things being brought upon they're being

baptized by the spirit so to speak and

it says something really interesting

here that I really like in verse 8 and

he went into the synagogue this is Paul

and spake boldly for the space of three

months disputing and persuading the

things concerning the kingdom of God the

kingdom of God I talked about that

that's part of the higher law so this is

an environment in these synagogues where

he's able to go out and persuade and

dispute I missed that a little bit I

wish we had a little bit of that I know

we kind of in the church we kind of

shy away from that right we want the

spirit at our meetings we certainly

don't want arguments or too much

persuasion or disputation in gospel

doctrine class but we need more

knowledge you know we need to meet these

things out I think a little bit more and

I wish we had more of an environment a

place at least where our a time

something where we

we're able to get together more and talk

a little bit more about these things and

build each other's testimonies up and

infuse each other with faith but talk

these things out a little just my two

cents

and so here in a thesis Paul preaches in

the synagogues and eventually he finds a

few disciples but eventually people are

pushing him back and so he ends up

leaving after a few months and he goes

out for two years and it says that all

they which dwelt in Asia heard the word

of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks

so he goes out throughout Asia

this is Turkey more or less and it

preaches to everybody you just see him

again it's probably his goal I'm going

to all of Asia here and I'm going to hit

every door and everybody is going to

hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and

about the gospel and of course as it

says here at the end of verse 10 he's

teaching both Jews and Greeks so again

remember that he has two different

approaches that he has to make one is to

the Jews who already have the scriptures

remember they're using the same

scriptures it's just the Old Testament

basically and they have certain concepts

that they both follow there are all Jews

Paul's a Jew but he has to teach them

new things he has to teach them about

what the Messiah really is for example

like Apollo's and then he has to go to

the Greeks and in with the Greeks he has

to teach them everything right what

is the Messiah who is Moses

it's a completely different thing you

that's a tough deal because usually when

you're teaching two different groups

like that it's like having people that

are more advanced in a classroom saying

in high school and some that are way way

behind you usually end up falling to the

lowest common denominator to be able to

try and cover everybody but remember

again I think this is a crucial point

that Paul and Apollo's and those the

original apostles in the Gospels they

are not teaching about Jesus Christ from

the New Testament they

teaching about Jesus Christ from the Old

Testament they are using Isaiah and

Moses and all the prophets to talk about

Christ

so then Paul comes across what Luke

calls vagabond Jews and they're

exorcists and says that they took upon

them to call over them which had evil

spirits the name of the Lord Jesus and

they said they said we adjure you by

Jesus this would be a common magical

phrase that would have been used back

then whom Paul preaches and there were

seven sons of one sceva a Jew and chief

of the priests which did so and the evil

spirit answered and said Jesus I know

and Paul I know but who are ye so again

we're getting Luke's again bringing us

the idea of priesthood and authority so

Paul has the priesthood Jesus obviously

has the authority but who are you this

is reminiscent of Simon Magus right and

these vagabond Jews tried to try to

exorcise the spirits here out of a

specific man and they leave and they

overcome so to speak these exorcists

after they have said that Paul and Jesus

have the authority only and this kind of

goes around and gets known everywhere

among all the Jews and all the Greeks

here in a thesis and there's many that

believe and confess and repent and

become a part of the church and then in

verse 21 and we get an interesting point

here this is very Pauline says after

these things were ended Paul purposed in

the spirit when he had passed through

Macedonia and aquella that's Greece to

go to Jerusalem saying after I have been

there I must also see Rome so he still

has to get back to Jerusalem he wants to

get there for Pentecost but we get his

goal and his goal is you go right to the

heart of the beast so speak right of

course it is this is Paul where else

would he want to go to he's gonna want

to go to Rome and preach the gospel to

the Heavy's but here in a thesis the

majority that people are a little

concerned about what's going on here

with Paul now that there's been this

stirring of the pot Ephesus is a center

of the worship of Diana right Diana the

goddess this is the Roman goddess who

was the Greek Artemis right and they

have a massive massive temple in a

thesis and in fact this is one of the

seven wonders of the world we've heard

of those this is one of the seven

wonders of the world right here in a

thesis this is what auntie Potter of

Sidon said about this when he traveled

there he said I have set eyes on the

wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road

for chariots and the Statue of Zeus by

the Alpheus and the Hanging Gardens and

the colossus of the sun and the huge

labor of the high pyramids and the vast

tomb of muscle as' and but when I saw

the House of Artemis this is Diana the

Temple of Diana that mounted to the

clouds those other marvels lost their

brilliancy and I said low apart from

Olympus the Sun never looked on ought so

grand so this is a big deal because this

is what the community here is invested

in they are invested in Artemis or Diana

and the temple here and in fact as with

any temple think about the temple at the

time of Christ what he goes in and he

cleans out the temple right there is an

economy here this is where the economy

starts it is where all the pilgrims come

in from now the people there were

abusing it right he called it a den of

thieves I actually think the thieves

were the high priests but and that's me

what he may have been referring to but

but he had to clear it out because of

the money the financial economy that

is disrupting the spiritual economy

there so think of the financial economy

here in a thesis right there are people

that create here idols right images it's

a big big business you have just like

you would at Jerusalem you have pilgrims

they come from all over the Roman world

to come to worship at the temple of

Diana it's big money people need places

to stay they need animals they need food

and they need idols and so this is a

very big deal this is what happens says

here in verse 24 for a certain man named

Demetrius a silversmith which made

silver shrines for Diana brought no

small gain unto the cut craftsmen whom

he called together with the workmen of

like occupation and said sirs you know

that by this craft we have our wealth

right so there is an economy here and

this is going to be an issue and we're

gonna see this later on and talk about

this a little bit more when we get to

the Epistle of the Ephesians will bring

you back Diana into this a little bit

Diana has something to say here and so

the people grab a couple of companions

of Paul couple of his disciples that

he's with they bring him into a theater

this would be a very common place and

probably an open theater you can you've

seen these before in open theatres where

they would have talked about this and

what they're going to do and allow the

people to gather together and get all

mad a little mob here and they start

yelling out over and over again great is

Diana of the Ephesians great as Diana of

the Ephesians

hour after hour talking about this and

yelling this and so they finally

disperse saying that okay he's not

actually talking against Diana in these

things he's just talking about something

else and they disperse the crowd

eventually and then Paul gives us kind

of a farewell speech to everyone that

he's been working with and others and

before he heads off to Jerusalem to be

there for Pentecost and this is an

interesting speech this to me is very

similar it does it's it sounds almost

like King Benjamin's speech in many ways

think about King Benjamin's speech right

where he's talking about being a servant

to others and then he talks about very

possibly is some type of a day of

atonement ritual and he's

talking about the blood being him being

purified and his garments being white

and the blood is not upon him of the

people that he doesn't have that

responsibility because he has done his

best think about ritual this is some

type of ritual that's going on with King

Benjamin it's not just a speech

something is happening here that would

be a ritual at say a coronation or an

annual gathering at a festival about the

king like it would be with the Feast of

Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement

remember this is where Mosiah gets

coordinated - and it's very similar to

what happens to Moses on Mount Sinai

where he acts as a advocate as the atone

ER for the people of Israel and it's

very similar to the suffering servant of

Isaiah so he says a few things here that

I think are pretty interesting he starts

in verse 18 here kind of with this we

might call it a farewell address he says

and when they were come to him he said

unto them you know from the first day

that I came into Asia after what manner

I have been with you at all seasons so

he's talking about how hard he's worked

serving the Lord with all humility of

mind and with many tears and temptations

which befell me by the lying in wait of

the Jews and how I kept back nothing

that was profitable unto you but have

shewed you and have taught you publicly

from house to house so he's so he's kind

of giving his bona fides here right and

he says in verse 21 testifying both to

the Jews and also to the Greeks

repentance toward God and faith toward

our Lord Jesus Christ there's the two

sides right repentance and faith in the

in the Lord and then this is similar to

to King Benjamin's speech he says but

none of these things move me neither

count I my life dear unto myself so say

he's not boasting it's not for himself

right so that I might finish my course

with joy and the Ministry which I have

received the Lord Jesus to testify the

gospel of the grace of God and in verse

26 right here wherefore I take you to

record this day that I am sure

from the blood of all men so he's asking

him to write it down that is ritual and

then he kind of gives a foreshadow to

them about the struggles that they're

going to face and we know that this is

exactly what happens the church never

really gels right it never really pulls

together from all these different cities

these different areas he says for I know

this that after my departing shall

Grievous wolves enter in among you not

sparing the flock remember the words in

the Gospels of wolves in sheep's

clothing and in verse 30 also of your

own selves shall men arise speaking

perverse things to draw away disciples

after them why well because that's the

natural process that's how it always

happens except we're told this time

around and then finally in verse 35 he

says I have shewed you all things how

that's a laboring so serving ought to

support the weak and to remember the

words of the Lord Jesus how he said it

is more blessed to give than to receive

so very similar to King Benjamin and

then finally verse 38 sorrowing most of

all for the words which he spake that

they should see his face no more and

they accompanied him unto the ship so

sent him off and bon voyage and they're

very sad to see him go and then finally

in chapter 21 we see that Luke seems to

be a part of the party here again the

traveling party he keeps using in we

putting in we after we were gotten from

them we came with straight course we

went aboard now when we had discovered

Cyprus so it sounds like Luke here again

is perhaps say a first-hand witness and

they make a stop in Caesarea which is

where Philip is remember Philip Philip

is the one of the seven that were

called when the Apostles needed some

help and first at first it was because

the widows there were so many widows

that needed help and nobody was helping

them out but they went out and they

helped with a church camp early

and they preached as well remember

Stephen was one of those seven Stephen

was stoned to death but Phillip is one

that remember went off and he preached

to the eunuch of the queen of Ethiopia

and baptized him and here they are at

his house in Caesarea and there's a

certain prophet that comes in named

Agabus

and Agabus says basically he takes

Paul's girdle and he binds himself

with it and he says just as this girdle

is binding me you're going to be bound

if you go to Jerusalem sort of was

telling Paul you can't go to Jerusalem

Paul wants to go he wants to go for

Pentecost here everyone's telling him

you can't go too many problems just like

they told Christ before he went and was

crucified but Paul responds and says in

verse 13 for I am ready not to be bound

only but also to die at Jerusalem for

the name of the Lord Jesus so he's ready

to give all think of everything he's

already gone through and you know he

being put into prison or bound is not

maybe such a big deal to him at this

point and so he goes to Jerusalem the

church there in Jerusalem welcomes Paul

James is right there remember James the

brother of Jesus James the just is kind

of like the bishop or the head of the

church in Jerusalem it says in the day

following Paul went in with us unto

James and all the elders were present

and when he had saluted them he declared

particularly what things God had wrought

among the Gentiles by his ministry this

is kind of like you know he proceeded

Kimbo going off to England and being

there for a long period of time and then

coming back and reporting to the

Brethren to everybody to Joseph Smith

back here in the States obviously no

cell phones no internet so they're

getting a first-hand account here for

the first time of what's been going on

with Paul for quite some time and Paul

is warned that hey everybody here knows

that you've been teaching against Moses

and what does that mean it says here

that thou teaches all the Jews which are

among the Gentiles to forsake Moses

saying that they ought not to circumcise

their children neither to walk after the

custom so he's a heretic right he's an

apostate to the Jews and this is

blasphemy that he's teaching and yet

here he is coming into the lion's den

right into Jerusalem and so Paul ends up

at the temple and there's a bunch of

Jews that are there that are from Asia

so they know exactly who Paul is he's

been there teaching for years it says

here in verse 27 the Jews which were of

Asia when they saw him in the temple

stirred up all the people and laid hands

on him crying out men of Israel help

this is the man that teaches all men

everywhere against the people and the

law against this place so Jerusalem in

the temple and further brought Greeks

also into the temple which he may not

have done and hath polluted this holy

place and so in verse 30 and all the

city was moved and the people ran

together and they took Paul and drew him

out of the temple and for with the doors

were shut and so the Jews that have him

there beating him and they're gonna beat

him to death but when the Romans there

find out what's going on and that

there's all this raucous going on they

send troops in and then the juice after

dispersed and they stop from beating him

so the Romans here saved Paul's life and

the Romans shackle him and take him away

and that's where our episode ends and so

Paul The Fearless who goes into every

major city in Greece and in Asia and

back here to Jerusalem kicking the

hornet's nest every time is undeterred

he is going to get his message out there

and by the time he's done Rome itself

will hear about Jesus Christ

I'll talk to you next time