Comfortable Words in Corinth | Disruptive Presence 95

In which John and David explore the divine vision that anchors Paul amidst opposition, and marvel at how the Holy Spirit's guidance offers both freedom and precise direction. There's a whisper of comfort that finds its way through the ages— "do not be afraid” — an enduring message, a divine fingerprint, across Scripture, and we delve into its significance, recognizing how these familiar words can shape us.

We hope this episode is an invitation to walk alongside Paul in his journey of confidence and conviction, encouraging you to lean into the security that comes from trusting in God's word.

Episode 150 of the Two Texts Podcast | Disruptive Presence 95

If you want to get in touch about something in the podcast you can reach out on podcast@twotexts.com or by liking and following the Two Texts podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you enjoy the podcast, we’d love it if you left a review or comment where you’re listening from – and if you really enjoyed it, why not share it with a friend?

Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021
________
Help us keep Two Texts free for everyone by becoming a supporter of the show 

John and David want to ensure that Two Texts always remains free content for everyone. We don't want to create a paywall or have premium content that would exclude others. 

However, Two Texts costs us around £60 per month (US$75; CAD$100) to make. If you'd like to support the show with even just a small monthly donation it would help ensure we can continue to produce the content that you love. 

Thank you so much.

Transcript

David Harvey: 0:05

Hi and welcome to the Two Texts podcast. I'm here with my co-host, John Andrews, and my name is David Harvey. This is a podcast of two friends from two different countries meeting every two weeks to talk about the Bible. Each week, we pick one text to talk about, which invariably leads us to talking about two texts and often many more. This season we're taking a long, slow journey through the book of Acts to explore how the first Christians encountered the disruptive presence of the Holy Spirit. Well, John, we are. I always feel like offering a disclaimer at the start of our episodes, because nobody hears the conversations that we have before we start recording. And, like two weeks ago, before we were recording Acts 18, 1 through 11, we thought, yeah, we can get through 1 to 11 in one episode. And here we are about to take our third attempt to get through 1 to 11, where today we're just going to narrow it down to read verses 9, 10 and 11 of Acts 18.

John Andrews: 1:11

Indeed, indeed, and I hope our listeners are used to that anyway. So what is lovely about two texts is that because we've no, there's no driving agenda other than, hey, let's hang around the text, and because of that, then you know, I feel a lovely liberty of if this moment requires a bit more than we thought it was going to require. And, of course, sometimes what happens for us, which our listeners may also be picking up on, is that genuinely we get surprised by a couple of things. Sometimes we're popping into stuff and something jumps out. We go, oh hold on, I didn't, I didn't quite see it like that. Or it booms a bit harder than maybe I or you originally thought.

John Andrews: 1:56

When we're putting our reflection notes together in preparation and and it is worthwhile reminding our listeners we like none of this is planned. We, you, do a little bit of prep work, I do a little bit of prep work. We sort of turn the recording on and then we just start talking. So anything can happen, and most times does. So. Yeah, it's a real joy and an absolute delight to hang around in such beautiful parts of the scripture, so for me it's wonderful.

David Harvey: 2:23

Maybe the real surprise is we've been doing it nearly three years and we still have immense hope that we can get through 11 verses in 30 minutes.

John Andrews: 2:32

Yes, we live in constant delusion, which is maybe says something about us. Yeah, absolutely so. Shall I read verses nine to seven and we'll jump in? This is a gorgeous little, almost tipping point moment in the passage, really, and it says this one night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent, for I am with you and no one is going to attack and harm you, Because I have many people in this city. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching them the word of God.

David Harvey: 3:21

It's a fun little conclusion to what has been quite a traumatic opening section, hasn't it? If we recap really briefly, you know, paul has gone to the synagogue in Corinth and he's been arguing as is his custom. He's basically decided that he's not going to do this custom anymore, he's not going to argue in the synagogue, but he's encountered some level of success in that at Christmas the synagogue official has become a believer. He's beginning to sort of make some headways in Corinth. And then he gets this incredible vision from God which seems to tie in well, because he's just had this difficult moment where I'm no longer going to strategize the way I used to. Does that seem like a fair recap of the last two episodes?

John Andrews: 4:23

Yeah, definitely. And also, you know, if you're looking at the previous patterns, normally when Paul starts to experience a bit of persecution, that usually results in him having to move on relatively quickly, either because of the threat of persecution or because of the actual physical impact of the persecution. So we've seen this pattern. My mum used to say he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day, sort of thing. And we've seen this pattern. Look, if it gets too difficult for us, we will up and go, move to the next place and maybe be able to return to that place later. You almost get the sense that the pattern is about to repeat itself again and then you get this gorgeous intervention from the Lord. So without this intervention, we suspect Paul may have gone. Hey, do you know what? We'll see how it plays out in the next couple of days, but if it starts to get a bit edgy, we'll, we'll get out and and let the heat die down a little bit.

John Andrews: 5:27

But this intervention completely changes paul's response to what happens next. And we'll get to what happens next probably in the next podcast, but but it's certainly um, it changes it. That's why I described it as a little bit of a tipping point. It feels like it's speaking backwards and forwards in the same story. So it's almost like the Lord speaking is a way of saying to Paul don't panic about the opposition from the synagogue, hold steady. And of course, as we're about to discover, he's also going to get now some opposition going forward. And the Lord essentially says to him don't worry about either of those two things, but focus because I'm with you. So it is worth paying attention to because it is. It does feel a little bit. Oh, that's that's unusual in in the lord speaking into that moment, whereas these guys normally made their own decision and on what to do next it's fascinating, actually, as an observation that it's.

David Harvey: 6:40

It's interesting how things that we think about Acts and I wonder how many people sort of pick this up, even in the course of this long series that we're teaching on Acts that Holy Spirit's present all the time with people, but a couple of things that we actually assume are supposed to be regular in the life of the charismatic Christian, irregular in the life of the charismatic Christian and I don't mean that term denominationally, I mean in terms of you know somebody who encounters God in his spirit. We assume that God will say a lot audibly and he actually doesn't right. The other thing I've been reflecting on is how? So these two things we don't see a lot of. We don't see a lot of this, what we just have got happening here in this story, and we also don't see a lot of sort of God, god directing people to specific places.

David Harvey: 7:33

You know we have this kind of Macedonian vision and I wonder if this is interesting in that you know we saw the Macedonian vision. It's an exception. Most of the time they just seek to be tracking their way along Roman roads and looking for opportunities. Most of the time they just have a confidence in God. They don't actually hear God speaking in visions. Those are the rarities, and yet so often the perception of a charismatic life is that this sort of thing is happening all the time, and I wonder if that's an interesting little observation that you've raised for us there, that this is actually quite rare.

John Andrews: 8:10

Yeah, well, it is, and I think it's a recognition. So if we think about Barnabas and Saul way back in X13, that set all of this off. It seems that they are given a broad mandate to go and they go, and a lot of the time it feels like, or looks like, they are deciding where they're going to, and then the only time that tends to change is if they're going somewhere that either the lord doesn't want them to go to or there's been some form of opposition. That makes it a bit more difficult. But what seems to be the pattern for me, david, is that they keep going to where they're supposed to be going unless the Lord corrects that or changes that, and they keep doing what they're supposed to be doing until the Lord says otherwise. So there's almost this gorgeous combination between human awareness and wisdom of the heart and plan of God and, for example, in this context, being aware of there may be the possibility of persecution. Let's not be stupid about this. Let's not put families or people under risk when we don't need to. If it's easier for us to move on and allow the heat to die down to protect the Christian community, then let's do that, and that seems to be a sort of a pattern that they've followed, but of course they're also open to these interventions and I think it's a great way to live. It's almost if I can put it this way, it's like you're living in the power of a God designed yes until he or circumstances says no, and you're living in a directional trajectory that you feel the Holy Spirit has set for you, either as an individual or as a church community or as a Christian community in general, and we simply pursue that trajectory because we know it's the will of God, until the Lord again intervenes, either to speak, help or even change those things that we are going in. It doesn't ultimately change the mission, it just changes behavior in certain elements of the mission and I think that helps us.

John Andrews: 10:36

I'm a card-carrying Pentecostal, so it helps me as a Pentecostal. So some of my Pentecostal friends seem to hear God speak to them and the Holy Spirit speak to them every five minutes or so. My experience generally is that I believe there are certain moments in my life God has spoken directionally, visionally and vocationally as well in my world. I don't need to keep hearing words on that, I just need to get on with that. On that, I just need to get on with that. And so every day I get on with the directional, spiritual, vocational type stuff that the Holy Spirit has given me, unless you know, he says something else. So, like this morning, I got up and I didn't go right, what's my direction today? I know my direction today. What's my vocation today? I know that so. So I'm going to continue doing that until the holy spirit changes that, corrects that, stops that or redirects that. Does that make sense as a way of interpreting these sorts of moments of intervention?

David Harvey: 11:36

I think that I was just. I was pondering the, the, the Greek tenses in God's actual vision to Paul, and it's interesting that and it's an imperative there, but speak. It says in the New Revised Standard Version which I was looking at, you were reading from the, you're reading from the New International Version and notice that the New International is is. My side comment would be here. This is why we should always look at one or two versions if we're reading in an English text. So the new international version says keep on speaking. And the new revised standard version has but speak. So it is an imperative.

David Harvey: 12:21

An imperative is generally an instructive action like that, but the Greek imperative has nuances to it that are hard to do in one word in English. And actually I think the NIV is the better translation here, because the present imperative has a notion of continuousness to it. Has a notion of continuousness to it, so perhaps a listener will understand it clearer if I say it clearer, which is that but speak could sound like God's giving you an instruction to go over there and speak once. But the present continuous imperative, I think, which is better reflected in NIV here, is keep on speaking. So it's not an instruction from God to go over there and speak. It's instruction to just keep on speaking, and so I think that that is.

David Harvey: 13:14

You know, you don't want to hang all your theology on grammar, but the grammar of this vision from God speaks to the point that you're making, john. If I've tracked you well, that if you hear it as a punctiliar speak right, then the problem is now, tomorrow, the question is do I speak today, lord? And the day after, the question is and what do I speak today? Whereas what God is telling Paul is keep on speaking. So I think that makes exactly the point that you're making, which is that just assume you're working with a yes now, paul, and does that help?

John Andrews: 13:50

It does really help Absolutely. I think it fits beautifully with that whole thing. I think it fits beautifully with that whole thing and you know, obviously there's. The slight change here is that the Lord is telling Paul to stay put in the context but keep doing while staying put, and I do love that sort of he's helping Paul. Paul's normal pattern in a moment like this might be okay. If it gets too hot we will move to the next town or city, but of course this word helps Paul to rethink that strategy, while continuing to do the original thing the Lord told him to do, which was speak and teach and go.

John Andrews: 14:36

So there's a lovely, I think, in the way this is presented in the context of the story of Corinth. I think there's a lovely marrying of the tension between the moments in our lives when we have the freedom to make certain choices because we have been given broadly the direction, the trajectory, the sort of impetus from the Holy Spirit to go and do so. A local church is given an impetus from the Holy Spirit to go and do certain things right. We don't need to keep praying about that. That's just what we've been told to do, but of course then alongside me and you getting up and continuously speaking, for example, the Holy Spirit is also saying here and stay put. So you get this lovely little extra of it's a reminder of what you're supposed to be doing, but it's also a new piece of information. In what you're supposed to be doing there's a practical help with previous stuff that Paul would know. Paul has already been told go out and speak and teach. He's got that. There's a reminder of that in this word, but there's also new information saying yeah, but don't move, don't leave, stay put, stay here and work this through.

John Andrews: 15:57

So I love that combination, david. I love the sense that even in the way the Lord is speaking to Paul, both ideas are being held in tension Carry on doing what you've already been told to do, but new piece of information, don't leave. And I think that gorgeous. And it's also the confidence, david, in me. I have more confidence today in the providential, loving kindness of the Lord than I've ever had in my life.

John Andrews: 16:27

And it's the confidence to know if I, as a lover of Jesus, as a person with a good heart, seeking to do the will of God and seeking to live obediently, I'm about to step out of line. There is a confidence in me that my heavenly father can go John, john, don't leave, john don't move, john stay. Still Now I have that confidence, and verses like this reinforce that confidence, because here he's doing it. We've seen this already in X16, sort of pre-Philippi, but now we're seeing it reinforced again that where the Holy Spirit needs to intervene, he intervenes. If he doesn't intervene, carry on as normal, keep doing what you are normally doing. I find that, in terms of my everyday following and intervention, as well as practical application from my point on things God has already said that combination I find profoundly helpful, and it seems to me that Paul is deeply comfortable with that sort of approach to making decisions.

David Harvey: 17:58

Yes, I think about this a lot through Acts, about how there's some fascinating insights into there, into places that we've perhaps turned sort of incidental ideas into huge models for Christian ministry. And then there's models in acts that we've almost completely ignored and I was completely not paid attention to, and I think what you've said there about paul's structure would have helped. Like I think about my early days in ministry. I think you would have taken the pressure down from about 11 to two if I could have thought about, well, that might be how God actually interacts with us. And yeah, I think that's beautiful, john. I honestly I don't even want to muddy that by adding anything else to that because I agree, I think that's just a really, really good way to think about it and I think we see Paul doing that. So maybe I'll just throw in an extra grammatical point, which may then actually muddy the waters. No, no, go for it.

David Harvey: 19:08

But it's interesting to your point about. You know, keep on speaking is what Paul hears from the Lord and do not be silent. So I made the point just a minute ago that keep on speaking is it, is this imperative that has continuous notion. What I think is lovely is that it's a different tense that's used for do not be silent, and it's the aorist. Yeah, aorist tense is like is like just a single point, right? So it's lovely that he keeps on speaking, right, and almost don't even stop for a moment. In that sense, now I have some thoughts on sometimes us as Christians talking too much. But I think and the irony of me saying this in a podcast isn't lost, but I think you know this is paul being told to just be endlessly talking, but in the face of what he's called to do, don't feel that you're not. I think I love that. Almost god's saying to him no, you're there to announce the gospel, so don't, don't ever not announce the gospel, yeah no, so good.

John Andrews: 20:13

No, and I think because it you know in a weird way in english, like well, isn't that the same thing? Keep on speaking and don't be silent. But actually of course there are two different instructions, said in different way, to reinforce a singular idea. Paul, being from a Hebraic background, would really, I mean he would really get that sort of double triple emphasis, the sort of play on those ideas that seem to be playfully but powerfully, prophetically repetitive in that context.

John Andrews: 20:48

And of course I love the opening phrase of it David, you know the Lord comes and do not be afraid. David, you know the Lord comes and says do not be afraid. And of course you hear do not be afraid. And you are hearing gazillions of echoes from all over the scriptural narrative. I mean, the sort of intertextuality on this phrase alone would keep us busy in about nine million podcasts. Yeah, I'm sure you did. I didn't bother because I thought there are gazillions of them, but isn't it beautiful. Can I say this before you bring your wonderful insights and reflections? What I love about this is the magnificent otherness and familiarity of this statement. So again in Do Not Be Afraid.

John Andrews: 21:42

When I hear Do Not Be Afraid in Acts 18, the familiarity of it is so comforting to me because I have heard that from the mouth of the Lord in the scriptural narrative over and over and over and over and over again, and the Lord says it in the most magnificent way. And this sense of look I know you're afraid, I know you're anxious, which of course it implies. It implies that Paul is a bit nervous about what's kicking off and about what might happen in Corinth. So we mustn't ignore that the Lord speaks to his fear. So we may want to come back to that, but actually it's this awe, you know that sounds like my father. You know, I mean my dad's now in heaven, right. But if my dad came on the phone I knew instantly that's my dad. I just know his voice, his turn of phrase. In fact, one or two people have said to me you know the way you said that's just like your daddy, right, and actually I knew my father's voice. There were certain things he would say in a certain way which always made me smile because it was his way of saying it.

John Andrews: 22:58

When I hear the words do not be afraid, I hear my father. I don't mean my earthly father, I mean I hear father God, I hear the shepherd, I hear the heart of heaven. So there's a gorgeous familiarity in there for me which is just irresistible. And also the other side of it, david, is that there is a magnificent otherness here. You know, only the Lord could say with absolute confidence do not be afraid. You know, if I said to Paul, don't be afraid, paul said well, yeah, it's all right for you to say that, but when the Lord says it, it's because he is other, he is transcendent, he is above and beyond and therefore he's able to actually say to Paul it's okay, I've got you, so don't be afraid, because to not be afraid you need confidence that the person saying it has got it and you get this gorgeous otherness and familiarity which you know. To me, that is magnificent and I love the beauty of the lord just speaking to the heart of paul stunning.

David Harvey: 24:05

It's stunning, it's, it's fun. It's funny actually how I was thinking this doesn't really relate to it doesn't really relate to exactly the point we're making, but one of the things that always makes me laugh about conversations with, like my own father is my wife. So you know, I, I'm a scotsman married to an english lady living in north america. Right, my wife, my wife, always knows when I'm on the phone to my dad and because here's the thing, so I'm like you I could recognize my dad's voice as soon as he's, you know, in range of the phone, sort of thing. But my wife says to me, get this for a thought. My wife says to me she can tell when I'm on the phone to my dad because I sound different and I actually I've thought about that sometimes, about I think that's what prayer is supposed to do.

David Harvey: 24:51

You know, the more we talk to our heavenly father, the more we start to sound like our heavenly father and that it draws something elemental out of us to be. Oh, this is who we're supposed to be and I didn't know. When I say I looked up all of the, do not be afraid, that's actually true. I looked up all of the Lucan.

David Harvey: 25:11

Do not be afraid, because that was what interests me Because I assume many people have encountered this, but there is hundreds of do not be afraid in scripture. But what struck me and it really just makes the point that you made, john, but I love it anyway is that, exactly to your point, this is what Jesus sounds like, but this is also what God's messages sound like as well. So you've got Luke 12, 7, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not be afraid, you're worth more than many sparrows. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do not more.

David Harvey: 25:52

But the one that struck me that I really, I really loved actually was the angel in Luke, chapter 2. And you know, the angel says to the shepherds do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. And what it drew out in me was this notion of what God is saying to Paul is what the angel said to the shepherds at some level, like there's good news is coming right. And so in the Greek you've got this messenger saying don't be afraid, because I'm bringing good news. And now you have another messenger being told by the Lord don't be afraid, keep bringing the good news, keep doing what those shepherds were promised.

David Harvey: 26:38

All those I mean, and it's just a little, a little quirky link at some level, but it just it. It really warms my heart to think in, in luke's grand narrative across these two books, what was said to these unimportant shepherds on the hillside now being said to another mess. Well, I mean, I was thinking about this somewhere along the line. Forgive me if this is too humanized. The Lord has said to an angel go to those shepherds on the hill and tell them don't be afraid, good news is coming. And now here we are in Corinth, hundreds and hundreds of kilometers away, and the Lord is saying to Paul the same thing as he said, as he said to the angel. I mean, it just warmed my heart.

John Andrews: 27:21

It's gorgeous, it's absolutely gorgeous. And, of course, the gorgeous link as well from Luke into Acts is that the shepherds are told it's good news for all people. Exactly, yes, it's not just good news for one type of person. And here's Paul. He's literally flipped from the synagogue into the house next door and actually you literally are seeing this crossover moment to you know, we've already seen it to some extent in Acts, but this crossover moment to all people that there is literally an all people dynamic in this 18 story story, so so that that's a another gorgeous, beautiful connection in this. Good tidings to all people, where paul is literally practicing that, and and and we shouldn't I don't think, david, we should rush past the fact that you know, we, we just we do tend to think of paul if we're not careful, is this like fearless go getter yeah just drop seven or a plane parachute on special forces.

John Andrews: 28:22

Yeah, let me, let me do the job for you. But but the man you know, he's all up to this point. He's already had a few beatings. He's already been stoned, either to death and been resurrected, or being stoned to the point where he looked like he was dead. He's already got scars and bruises, physical and possibly psychological and emotional. And he's just been in a synagogue with his Jewish friends and he feels like he's on the run again.

John Andrews: 28:57

And you can't move past the fact that there could be in this wonderful man of God a foreboding again that he's sitting there going oh no, not again. I thought we'd sort of landed here on something good, but here he is feeling a sense of foreboding, but the Lord comes to him and says now, don't be afraid, you're going to be okay, I've got this and I love, I love. And can I say this as well, david, you know the Lord speaks in moments like this because we actually need to hear him speak. You know, there are some moments where the word of the Lord we've got it in our hearts and it's enough, and in our moments we're actually to hear him in some supernatural or dynamic way, say to us John, I've got this, you're okay, don't be afraid. It's so reassuring.

John Andrews: 29:48

So you know, for our listeners, some of whom may be in situations where, in serving Jesus, there is a worry and a fear because to serve Jesus there may be a cost in following Jesus, wherever they are, then the Lord would want to come to each of us and say do not be afraid. Within that, but again specifically of course, he's saying don't be afraid, because the Lord wants them to do certain things in the context of that. Not just not be afraid, it's not be afraid and do something of that, not just not be afraid, it's not be afraid and do something. So again, there are those little nuances within it that it's not just not being afraid, it's not being afraid in the context of the mission that he's on and the things that the Lord wants him to do. So I think we do need to make that little qualification as well within the do not be afraid yeah, I love that.

David Harvey: 30:41

I love that. I also think I I don't want to, I don't want to miss this, yeah, as we sort of round out this episode. But this line I have many people in this city, yeah, is is quite, it's quite a stunning and an intriguing little line actually, isn't it? Because as far as we're concerned, it feels like Paul's just sort of arrived there and is lonely, and I love this notion that God's reminding Paul on one sense. I mean, everything we've said in this episode, I think, is building. Don't be afraid, keep on speaking, don't be silent. I am with you. I mean that's a gorgeous, a gorgeous reminder as well of Jesus, these words that he said to the disciples before Paul was even around there. My goodness, no one is going to attack and harm you. Because I have many people in this city.

David Harvey: 31:36

I was thinking about how often the stories of Old Testament prophets, of Elijah and Elisha, you know, of finding out there's prophets in caves, there's angels on hillsides. You know what I mean. There's resonances here that, paul, you might think that your current headcount in Corinth is Crispus and Titius, justice and a few other folks you've rounded together, but God's constantly reminding Paul of his economy, that actually, there's people here that you don't know about. Even Jesus said this to his disciples, didn't he? Like you're not the whole story, don't get caught up in that.

John Andrews: 32:18

Yeah, I love that. I love that and it certainly feels like a powerful statement, prophetically, even to Paul, about the Lord's intent for this great city. And you know, this is a huge city, this is a port city, this is a cosmopolitan city, this is an influential place, cosmopolitan city. This is an influential place and it's like the Lord is just marking it and saying, okay, I've many people here Now. Whether we read that in literally, I've got many people right now. Or there's a sense in which those many people are coming and will come to faith because of the establishment of this particular local community in the name of the Lord.

John Andrews: 33:04

But I love the idea that the Lord is making a clear statement that in such a significantly influential city in the world, the known world of that time, he has many people in this city. We are not alone. And I love the double emphasis here. You know one, one that's very Lord oriented at one that's very emotionally oriented I am with you. So you know the Lord saying to him you are not alone because I'm with you, but also I have many people in this city.

John Andrews: 33:37

There's actually going to be a community within this place that you will engage with and be part of, and I love the, I love the sort of the sense, paul, you are not alone. You are not alone. The Lord is with you, and if you will have the courage to stay here and keep doing what I'm telling you to do, you will see the many people in this city that I have, and I love that sort of tenderness as well as prophetic unction. I'm with you, but come on now. There's something here that's bigger than you. There's something here that's bigger than just you Priscilla and Aquila and a few others. There's something going on here.

David Harvey: 34:19

Yeah. And then, just to be a little playful, verse 11, right, yeah. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half. I love the matter of factness of that, but a couple of fun little things.

David Harvey: 34:33

It's a fine translation to say he stayed in Corinth, but the Greek word is kathidzo, to sit right. So it's where we get the notion of kathidzo, is where we get the notion of seat from. It's actually where we get the idea of cathedral from, because the cathedral is a place that has the seat of a bishop, so kathidzo, cathedral. You can hear that connection. So a bishop needs a seat to sit in, and that became known, as you know. So the cathedral is essentially the seat right, but also rabbis sat to talk right. So that was the mechanism of how the teacher positions himself.

David Harvey: 35:13

So I love the fact that Luke has chosen to say that Paul sat in Corinth right, given that he's going to tell them what he was doing that whole time. Is what was he doing that whole time? Exactly what God told him to do speak right. So God tells him to keep on speaking. The text tells us that he stays a year and a half teaching, but I love the fact that Luke uses this rabbinic image of the sitting teacher. Now I'm possibly out to lunch and stretching this far too far, but I also love the notion that that language of sitting in place to teach the gospel becomes the name of the cathedrals of the churches across Europe. Oh, I love that. That's a great thought. It's a bit of fun, isn't it?

John Andrews: 35:56

Oh, it's a great thought. I'd never seen that connection before in terms of you connecting the sitting with the teaching. That's an outstanding thought. That's definitely. I don't think you're stretching that at all. I think that's definitely. If we know Dr Luke the way we're getting to know him, then that looks like the sort of thing Luke would deliberately do and say in a moment like this, especially in the context of 18 months, a year and a half. So there is something significant in the sitting down. This is not just a rushing past. There is a definite intentional commitment to this place.

David Harvey: 36:30

Yeah, and then I wondered. I wondered, just extracting, squeezing, squeezing the juice out of verse 11. So he's sitting for a year and a half. And then the final words of the sentence struck me, teaching to them the word of God Right. And I found myself asking two questions who's them? And and forgive me for what sounds like initially a heretical question and what is the word of God Right? And the reason I asked the question like that is because the I wonder if the them are the many people in the city from the word, because that's the last them to be mentioned.

David Harvey: 37:10

So Paul stays teaching these many people that the Lord reveals that are there, and then we hear the word of the Lord, the word of God, and we immediately think the Bible, and actually that's fine, although the New Testament wasn't written at this stage. But I was looking at this word that Paul gets from the Lord Don't be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent. I am with you. I thought what if that's the emphasis of what Paul teaches as well, of sitting with these people saying don't be afraid, keep being a gospel people? And then, you know, think the last thing Jesus says to his disciples I am with you, and so I mean that definitely. I mean we don't know the content, but I love the notion that that was Paul's word of God for Corinth and I wonder how much that shaped his teaching.

John Andrews: 37:56

Oh, it's a great thought. It's a great thought, and you know, there's no doubt that, if Paul is sitting there and speaking out of that revelation of the word of the Lord to him teach, but seated in supreme confidence of the providential care and protection of the Lord, the language of the text so, so powerful, where the Lord says no one is going to attack you or harm you.

John Andrews: 38:41

No one is going to attack you or harm you. And Paul sits down in confidence, having the word of the Lord, in confidence and security to proclaim that word and in confidence to believe that that word will produce the ultimate harvest that only the word of God can produce.

David Harvey: 39:00

So that's it for this episode. We know that there's always more to explore and we encourage you to dive into the text and do that. If you liked this episode, we'd really appreciate it if you rated, reviewed or shared it. We also appreciate all of our listeners who financially support the show, sharing the weight of producing this podcast. If you'd like to support the show, visit twotextscom. But that is all for now. So until next time from John and I, goodbye.