Biblical Commentary

Book of Acts Chapter 26 - Christogenea Internet Radio 01-10-2014

Discussing Acts chapter 25, we saw that upon the assumption to the office of procurator in Judaea by Porcius Festus, he reviewed the case of Paul of Tarsus whom Felix had left bound. Festus then admitted that Paul had done nothing worthy of death or bonds, but would not release him since he did not want to show the Judaeans any disfavor. Paul was therefore compelled to appeal to Caesar, since Festus only offered him a trial in Jerusalem which Paul, being a Roman citizen, could not be compelled to accept. Ostensibly, Paul was destined to go to Rome, as we had been informed by the account in Acts. But if Paul had submitted to the Judaeans then by no means would he have escaped with his life, since the Judaeans were desiring to kill him unlawfully if they could not have their way with him otherwise.

When Herod Agrippa II arrived in Caesareia, evidently to see the new procurator, Festus told Agrippa of Paul, and Agrippa is portrayed as having exclaimed that he had been wanting to hear Paul speak. Certainly, accounts of the episodes related to Paul's arrest and of his defenses before the Hebrews and before Felix must have been heard by Agrippa in Jerusalem. With Agrippa wanting to hear Paul, and with Festus being in need of an account of the charges against Paul so that he could write to Nero explaining why Paul had been sent to him, Paul is therefore given an opportunity to address not only Agrippa, but “the commanders and eminent men of the city”. Since Caesareia was a large city there must have been a considerable crowd present in addition to those whom Luke mentioned specifically. Further evidence of this is seen in Acts 25:23, where Luke says that Agrippa, who being the king of a neighboring country is actually a visiting dignitary, along with his sister (or perhaps his sister-wife) Bernika, had entered into the auditorium “with much fanfare”, as Luke described the event.

Book of Acts Chapter 25 - Christogenea Internet Radio 01-03-2013

In Acts chapter 24 we saw that Paul was imprisoned in Caesareia for two years following his arrest in Jerusalem. The Roman procurator, Felix, was a man of noble Greek birth who was married to a Jewess not even half of his age, and he was a very corrupt man according to three historical witnesses: the Roman historian Tacitus, the Judaean historian Josephus, and Luke himself here in the Book of Acts. Felix's corrupt ways eventually cost him his long-held post as the procurator of Judaea, where he was succeeded by Porcius Festus. This Festus was procurator until 62 AD, when he died in office.

Porcius Festus, being of the Roman gens Porcia, was descended from a notable family. He was related to Marcus Porcius Cato, a plebeian farmer born about 234 BC, who became the Roman statesman commonly known as Cato the Elder, and his great-grandson, Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis who was born circa 95 BC, and became the Roman statesman commonly known as Cato the Younger. Cato the Younger's son, also named Marcus Porcius Cato, was a supporter of Brutus and Cassius, and he was one of Caesar's assassins. There were other politicians in the family.

Book of Acts Chapter 24 - 12-27-2013

As we saw last week in Acts chapter 23, after a plot against Paul's life was revealed to the Roman military tribune, Paul is sent under arms and cloak of night to the residence of the Roman procurator in Caesareia. Upon his arrival there the procurator accepted Paul as his prisoner, when he declared that he would hear his case. This is in spite of the fact that Paul had not violated any Roman laws, but as the Roman commander had written to the governor, he found the Judaeans “accusing him concerning inquires of their law, and having not one accusation worthy of death or of bonds.”

XXIV 1 And after five [A has “some”] days the high priest Hananias came down with some [the MT wants “some”] of the elders and a certain orator Tertullos, who appeared to the governor against Paul. 2 And upon his [B wants “his”] being called, Tertullos began to accuse him, saying: “Having obtained much peace on account of you, and reforms coming to this nation by your foresight, 3 in every way and in every place we approve, noble Phelix, with all gratitude.

Rather than reforms the Majority Text has accomplishments; or worthy deeds in the King James Version. The text of the Christogenea New Testament is in agreement with the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B) and Laudianus (E).

My Yamaha studio headset must have a short in the microphone cable. I had to scramble to find a replacement headset minutes before the program, and the inexpensive Logitech I found produced a much narrower band and a much lower volume level. The recording was terriblly low, and Audacity was used to enhance it as best as I thought possible.

Book of Acts Chapter 23 - Christogenea Internet Radio 12-20-2013

In our presentation of Acts chapter 21, we illustrated just how politically volatile the Judaean population was at this time, which is 57 AD, and how prone they were to riot, especially in defense of their religious exclusivity. The Judaeans had been pressured by the Romans on several occasions over the decades from Tiberius to Nero, to add elements of Roman paganism and emperor-worship to their temple and religious life, and they had thus far avoided doing so, either by political means or by civil disobedience and threats of insurrection. From the pages of Josephus, we saw how not long before this very time of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem, ten thousand Judaeans were killed on a feast day in a tumult which was sparked by a single act of profanity on the part of one Roman soldier, an act which was seen by the masses as an insult to their nation and their religion. It is illustrative of the tensions which existed between the Judaeans and the Romans. Flavius Josephus later saw this as the signal event building up to the revolt against Rome and the beginning of the end for Jerusalem. Little did he know that it was long ago prophesied in the Hebrew scriptures that such a thing would happen, but for a different reason: it was truly the result of the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah of Israel. Yahweh God is indeed the author of history, although He uses means by which to accomplish His will that are not often perceived by men.

Book of Acts Chapter 22 - Christogenea Internet Radio 12-6-2013

With Acts chapter 21, we left Paul in Jerusalem after having seen the apostle James, and undergoing a purification ritual in the Temple. Spotted in the Temple by certain Judaeans who knew Paul from his ministry in Asia, upon their having accused him of defiling the Temple Paul was arrested in the ensuing commotion. Given the violent climate in Judaea at the time, as we exhibited in the last segment of this presentation from the pages of Josephus, Paul's arrest more than likely saved his life. Here, upon his arrest, Paul is about to be brought into the Roman military encampment, under the custody of the commander, who is a chiliarch - a sort of lieutenant commander of a legion whom the Romans called a military tribune, as we would transliterate the title into English. We will begin with the last paragraph of Acts chapter 21, which we reserved for this presentation since it better fits the context of Acts 22.

Book of Acts Chapter 21 - Christogenea Internet Radio 11-22-2013

Presenting these last three chapters of Acts, chapters 18 through 20, we discussed where Paul had written each of the seven of those of his surviving epistles which were written while he was a free man. The first epistle to the Thessalonians was, no doubt, the earliest of Paul's surviving epistles and was written in Corinth (Acts 18, 1 Thessalonians 3:6). The second epistle to the Thessalonians followed the first in short time and was very likely also written from Corinth during Paul's long sojourn there. The epistle to the Galatians was written during Paul's stay in Antioch which is described in Acts 18:22-23, where he also had his final meeting with Peter described in Galatians chapter 2. It could not have been written before that time. Paul visited the Galatians soon thereafter, and his epistle reflects an anticipation to visit them in its fourth chapter (4:18, 20). The epistle which we know as 1 Corinthians was written from Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8, 19), during the three-year period that Paul stayed in Ephesus described in Acts chapter 19. The second epistle to the Corinthians was written as Paul journeyed from Makedonia to visit Achaia for the last time, and before he reached Corinth for his final visit there. This was fully elucidated last week as we discussed the circumstances of Paul's travels in relation both to the circumstances of his ministry and to the things which he wrote to them in that epistle. The first epistle to Timothy was written from Greece around this same time, as the circumstances indicate in conjunction with Paul's own comment at 1 Timothy 1:3. Finally, the epistle to the Romans was written from the Troad, during Paul's stay there described at the beginning of Acts chapter 20, which is evident from both the lists of men who were with Paul provided in Acts 20 and Romans 16, and also from Paul's comments concerning his ministry and his plans to visit Rome which were made in Romans chapter 15 (15:22-28).

Book of Acts Chapter 20 - 11-15-2013

In Acts chapter 19 we saw that Paul of Tarsus had spent nearly three years in Ephesus, which was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia. Paul was the founder of the Christian assemblies in Asia, where we saw in both Acts chapters 18 and 19 that there were only adherents to the teachings of John the Baptist who preceded him at Ephesus. That also helps to establish that, like many other prophecies of Scripture, in some respects the prophecy concerning John also fulfilled itself as a process, over considerable time, and not only during the years of John's baptism ministry. As we have seen with both Apollos and with the men of Ephesus, the ministry of John was still paving the way for Christ, well over thirty years after his death.

Ephesus would later be the home of the apostle John, after he was released from captivity on the isle of Patmos, and according to many early Christian writers it was the place from where he penned both his Gospel and the Revelation. However John's time in Ephesus follows Paul's sojourn there by nearly 40 years. In the Revelation, in the message to the assembly at Ephesus, Paul's ministry was given approbation by Christ Himself, since only that Gospel professed by Paul could have been the “first love” of the Ephesians, and by John's time they had gone astray.

Book of Acts Chapter 19 - Christogenea Internet Radio 11-8-2013

XIX 1 And it came to pass, with Apollos being in Korinth, Paul had passed through the highlands to come down into Ephesos and finding certain students 2 then said to them “So believing have you received the Holy Spirit?”

The Codex Sinaiticus (א) has Apelles here rather than Apollos, as it alsoreads at 18:24. The phrase τὰ ἀνωτερικὰ μέρη is from ἀνωτερικός (510), “upper, inland” and μέρος (3313) “a part, share” (Liddell & Scott) and in the plural here it is “the highlands”, but literally either “the upper parts” or “the inland parts”, since in the Greek view of geography to go inland from the sea was to go up. The Codex Vaticanus (B) and the Majority Text want the word for “down”.

The Codex Bezae (D) has many readings not only in Acts, but throughout the New Testament, which diverge sharply from the other ancient manuscripts even if the differences are usually not very significant in their actual meanings. However evidently it was not alone. The papyrus P38, found in Cairo Egypt where it was purchased by the University of Michigan in 1924, is esteemed to date from about 300 AD and in it is preserved only small portions of Acts chapters 18 and 19. This papyrus has readings very similar to the Codex Bezae, and it agrees with the Codex Bezae here where they read verse 1 thus: “And Paul wishing by his own will to go into Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit said to him ‘Return to Asia’, and passing through the highlands he came into Ephesos...” However this papyrus does not always agree with the Codex Bezae. They immediately diverge, where the Codex Bezae continues 2 with “and upon finding certain students” (as the Codex Laudianus and the Majority Text also have that clause) and then going into verse has “he said to them” (as the other manuscripts generally agree), after the word for Ephesos P38 has instead only “and” to finish verse 1, and then “he said to the students” to begin verse 2.

Book of Acts Chapter 18 - Christogenea Internet Radio 11-1-2013

The end of Acts chapter 17 leaves off with Paul in Athens after his speech on the Hill of Ares. His words were mocked by many of the Athenians, but did not fall on entirely deaf ears, since Luke tells us that “some men joining themselves to him believed”, one of them being a jurist of the Areopagos, which was the famous court held on Ares' Hill, who must therefore have been an influential man.

Two elements of Paul's address to the Athenians are important enough to mention once again. The first is that the Athenians, mocking Paul for talking about a resurrection of the dead, were actually also denying many of their own most ancient beliefs, reflected in the early poetry and literature of Athens down through the Tragic Poets and the writings of men such as Apollodorus of Athens, who lived only two centuries before Paul.

More importantly is the substance of Paul's address to the Athenians. These men were Ionian Greeks, descended from the Japhethites of Scripture, the sons of Javan mentioned in Genesis chapter 10. The identification is certain when the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Persian inscriptions mentioning the Yavana, or Ionian Greeks, and the ancient historical records are all compared.

Book of Acts Chapter 17 - 10-18-2013

As a youth, it is fully evident that Paul of Tarsus had a solid education in Scripture, or at least as good an education as could be obtained in first century Judaea, as he himself professed that he was educated “at the feet of Gamaliel”. However what is not explicitly confessed in his own words, but which is certainly manifest throughout his epistles, is that Paul also had a solid education in the profane writings of the Classical world. Paul quoted writers such as Aratus and Epimenides, and possibly also Euripides and Heraclitus, and he drew analogies from Homer and from Xenophon. However this education in the Classical literature did not merely assist his rhetorical skill or his writing ability.

More importantly, Paul understood the origins of the nations of Europe in a way that only those who have deeply studied both Scripture and the Classical literature can understand. A study of the Book of Acts and Paul's epistles demonstrates as much, but one can only see it if one has also studied the things which Paul had studied. While not all of the writings which Paul had available are also available to us, many of them are indeed, and with them, we find the proofs of the Christian Identity message. Here in Acts chapter 17, and in Paul's message to the Athenians, we shall see a good part of those proofs.

Book of Acts Chapter 16, Part 2 - Christogenea Internet Radio 10-18-2013

In the first part of Acts chapter 16, we saw that Paul of Tarsus departed from Antioch with his new companion Silas to embark on what would be his second recorded missionary journey. Ostensibly, however, it is really his third missionary journey, since when he departed from Jerusalem for Tarsus after the dispute with the Hellenists as it is recorded in Acts chapter 9, it is made manifest later that he had spent at least some portion of that time proselytizing in Tarsus and other places in Kilikia. This is made evident at Acts 15:41, where embarking on this journey with Silas it says there that “...they passed through Suria and Kilikia reinforcing the assemblies.” The beginning of Acts chapter 16 brought Paul and his company once again through Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Then, being prevented by the Holy Spirit to enter either Asia Minor or Pamphylia, they traveled into the Troad and crossed into Makedonia. Here they are found in Philippi, which was a Roman colony.

Book of Acts Chapter 16, Part 1 - Christogenea Internet Radio 10-11-2013

After the events recorded in Acts chapter 15, Paul of Tarsus is the central figure throughout the balance of the narrative of the book. This is not because the other apostles did not do anything, but rather simply, it is evident at this point that the lives and missions of the apostles diverged completely, and Luke may well have had no records concerning the others before finishing his work as we have it. In the rest of Acts, we have only one other appearance by the apostle James, where Paul meets with him in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 21.

[I had originally expressed the thought that perhaps the apostle Philip may have been the Philip mentioned in Acts chapter 21:8, however this cannot be the case. There the Philip mentioned is called “one of the seven, and therefore must be the Philip of Acts 6:5, not the apostle. I must apologize for the oversight. (WRF, 11-20-2013)]

In his epistle to the Galatians, we see that by the time that he wrote that letter, Paul had come to consider it hypocrisy for Judaean Christians to remain bound to the laws of Moses, especially those which forbid them from having communion with the uncircumcised Christians of the Nations. However two things are entirely evident. The first is that Paul, circumcising Timothy here, could not yet have challenged Peter on his following James in that respect, as we see that Paul records in Galatians chapter 2. The second is that Paul, circumcising Timothy “om account of the Judaeans”, could not yet have come to that understanding himself, or he too would have been guilty of the same hypocrisy of which he later accuses the other apostles.

Book of Acts Chapter 15, Part 2 - Christogenea Internet Radio 10-04-2013

In the first part of our presentation of Acts chapter 15, we saw that there was a dispute at Antioch between Paul and Barnabas, primarily, on the one side, and certain Judaizers who had come from Jerusalem on the other, who insisted that those who were turned to Christianity should be circumcised and instructed to keep the Mosaic Law. Disputing these things, Paul and Barnabas then agreed to bring their case before the elder apostles in Jerusalem for a decision concerning these matters.

Later, in Jerusalem, upon hearing their arguments the apostle Peter spoke, professing that the people of the Nations received the gift of the Holy Spirit apart from any rituals whatsoever, and therefore it was not necessary for those turned to Christianity to perform such things. For this reason, Peter's conclusion was that the Nations should not be compelled to submit to the yoke of the Mosaic Law, where he said “Therefore now why tempt Yahweh to place a yoke upon the necks of the students which neither our fathers nor us have been able to bear? ” While later in his epistles Paul gives even greater Scriptural reasons for the passing of the Mosaic Law, we can see that the Book of Acts records a religious transition, and Peter's conclusion is justified, since upon investigation it is indeed supported by the Law and the prophets.

Book of Acts Chapter 15 - Christogenea Internet Radio 09-27-2013

The end of Acts chapter 14 leaves us with Paul and Barnabas in Antioch in Syria after having returned from their first Christian missionary journey in Anatolia. On their first journey they did not venture far, travelling through the island of Cyprus and the Anatolian provinces of Pamphylia, Pisidia and Lycaonia. Western and Central Anatolia at this time was ruled by Romans, predominately settled by Greeks, and also contained populations of Phrygians, Phoenicians, Lydians, Galatians, and other White but non-Greek peoples.

Luke, the author of Acts, is said by the earliest Christian writers to have been a Greek from Antioch, which certainly seems to be true. Therefore he may have been with Paul on his first missionary journey, since the point of departure for that journey was Antioch, however it cannot be told from the accounts provided. It is even more likely that Luke was an actual eyewitness to the events described here in Acts chapter 15, since with all certainty Luke is in the company of Paul in Acts chapter 16, where he writes in the first person in Acts 16:10. That account describes Paul's second missionary journey, for which Antioch was the point of departure once again.

Book of Acts Chapter 14 - 09-20-2013

XIV 1 And it happened in Ikonion that upon them entering into the assembly hall of the Judaeans and speaking thusly, that a great multitude of both the Judaeans and the Greeks were believing.

Ikonion, or Iconium as it is popularly spelled in modern times, is the principle city of Lycaonia (Lukaonia). Diodorus Siculus says little concerning the Lukaonians, as does Strabo, who only says that they are “barbarians” (non-Greeks) and he tells us that neither they nor their country are mentioned by Homer (Geography 12.3.27 and 14.5.27). The name Lukaon from which it is apparently derived belonged to several early heroes of Greek writing, including a son of the Trojan King Priam, and the district may have been named for one of them. There is no mention of Lycaonia in Herodotus. The city of Iconium itself was a Greek city-state which was said in legend to be founded by Perseus, an early mythological figure of the Danaan Greeks who was also said to have vanquished the former population. However Xenophon, writing in the early 4th century BC, calls Iconium “the last city of Phrygia” in his Anabasis (1.2.19). In more ancient times, the land apparently belonged to the Phrygians, who were related in the ancient Greeks poets to the Lydians. The Lydians are mentioned as Lud, the son of Shem, in Genesis chapter 10, and again in Isaiah 66:19 as one of the places to which Yahweh would send the dispersed of the children of Israel. By the end of the 7th century BC, most of Phrygia had been destroyed by the Kimmerians, who were indeed a group of the dispersion of Israel. At the end of the 3rd century BC the area was settled by the Galatae, and Galatia was to its north. These were also descended from the dispersions of Israel, and Galatae was in early times a general name given to the Germans and Gauls by the Greeks. Trojans, Phrygians and Galatians would all have been considered as barbarians to Strabo, however the principle residents of the city itself appear to have been Greeks. Strabo calls Iconium “a town that is well settled and has a more prosperous territory than the” plateaus of the Lycaonians. We shall see later in this chapter that some of these “Barbarians” are found in Lystra, another city in which Paul preaches.

Book of Acts Chapter 13, Part 2 - 09-13-2013

Last week presenting part one of Acts chapter 13, due to its great length we were impelled to leave off in the middle of Paul's address to an assembly of Judaeans in Pisidian Antioch. This address began in verse 16 of the chapter, and in it Paul's primary task was to explain that the ministry, death by crucifixion, and subsequent resurrection of Yahshua Christ was indeed the fulfillment of the scriptural promises of a Savior and King to the children of Israel. Presenting the beginning of Paul's discourse last week, we read from 2 Samuel, Jeremiah chapter 30, Hosea chapter 3, and Isaiah chapter 53 in order to show just some of the many scriptures which support Paul's assertions. Part of Paul's challenge was to convince the Judaeans dispersed throughout the oikoumene that this is true, that Yahshua Christ was indeed the fulfillment of these promises found in Scripture, and in every place which he visits, he uses the local assembly-halls of the Judaeans in order to introduce himself to the Judaeans and to the people.

Book of Acts Chapter 13 - Christogenea Internet Radio 09-06-2013

It has been nearly a month since we presented Acts Chapter 12 here. In that chapter we saw the murder of the elder James, the son of Zebedee, and the arrest and miraculous escape of the apostle Peter. Both the murder of James and the arrest of Peter were on account of the political motives of Herod Agrippa. Upon the escape of Peter, we are also introduced to the apostle Mark. Towards the end of the chapter we see the death of Herod Agrippa, who did not deny himself when the people extolled him as a god, and the cause of his death as recorded here in Acts we also saw corroborated by the Judaean historian, Flavius Josephus.

XIII 1 And there were throughout the assembly which was in Antiocheia prophets and teachers, namely Barnabas and Sumeon who is called “Niger” and Loukios the Kurenaian, and Manaen a childhood companion of Herodas the tetrarch, and Saulos.

The Codex Laudianus (E) and the Majority Text have “certain prophets and teachers”; the Bezae (D) has “prophets and teachers among them”; the text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), and Vaticanus (B). Antioch was 300 miles north of Jerusalem. It was on the Orontes river and about 20 miles upriver from the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria. It was not far from the sites of ancient cities such as Arpad, Qarqar, Hamath and Carchemish. However it seems to have been a new city founded by Seleucus Nicator, a Greek king of the early Hellenic period, around 300 BC.

Book of Acts Chapter 12 - 08-09-2013

We have said that the Book of Acts is a book of transition, and introducing the book in the first segment of this presentation we described some of the aspects of that transition. One of the things that we said is that it records a transition “from the rituals of the laws of the Old Covenant to a faith in the Word of God in Christ which was promised by the prophets of the Old Covenant, and which was recorded in the Gospel of the New Covenant”. Part of this transition is recorded in Acts chapters 10 and 11, where Peter witnessed and then acknowledged that the members of the household of Kornelios (Cornelius) had received the Holy Spirit upon hearing the Word of God, and ostensibly upon having accepted it, and it was specifically noted that this happened apart from a ritual of water baptism. Another of the things we said in our introduction is that Acts “records a transition of the primary subject of the Word of God from the remnant of Jerusalem to the dispersion of the children of Israel, the 'lost sheep' of the ancient dispersions.” The beginnings of this transition are also recorded in Acts chapters 10 and 11, where through Peter's vision the apostles had discovered that the Nations – which in a historical context refers to the Nations of the Adamic oikoumene – were to receive the Gospel of Christ.

Book of Acts Chapter 11 - Christogenea Internet Radio 08-02-2013

Discussing Acts Chapter 10 over these past few programs, there are several conclusions that I think we can draw with the utmost certainty. First, in spite of Peter's words in his initial reactions, we must interpret Peter's vision by the words of Yahweh God which Peter transmitted to us, and therefore while that vision had included all of the four-footed creatures, creeping things and birds, Peter was only beckoned not to consider profane, or common, the things which Yahweh had cleansed. Examining the words of the prophets in relation to this, we saw that Yahweh intended to cleanse the children of Israel, and only Israel, on the cross of Christ. Therefore Peter's vision can only apply to Israelites. Secondly, and in relation to this same thing, we saw the difference between the words unclean, and common, which is also often rendered as profane. Things deemed unclean by the law of God cannot ever be cleansed. However things which are clean by the law, but which have been soiled or defiled, are considered profane and can be cleansed. While we did not discuss it last week, we did read several prophecies which also told us that even the Name of Yahweh was profaned by the children of Israel in their many sins, but that He would sanctify His Name as well. Therefore, with the Gospel, we can deduct that sheep can indeed be cleansed, being clean under the law. However pigs and dogs can never be cleansed. Finally, we saw that it is the Cross of Christ by which the children of Israel were cleansed, and they sanctify themselves when they receive His Word through the Gospel, as He said in John 15:3: “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” Therefore once it was discovered by Peter that those of the Nations received the Holy Spirit without water baptism, which was the baptism of John, then water was never mentioned in connection with baptism again. In this regard Peter recalled the words of Christ, as we shall see here in Acts chapter 11, and which are also recorded in Acts chapter 1, that “Iohannes immersed in water, but you shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit after not many days hence.”

Book of Acts Chapter 10, Part 2 - 07-26-2013

In the first segment of our presentation of Acts chapter 10, we saw that non-Judaeans, meaning those who had not been circumcised into Judaism regardless of whether they were converts or had been born into it, had not yet been presented with the Gospel message by the apostles. We established this in several ways in our earlier presentation, and it is summarized in Acts chapter 11, at verse 19 where it says: “So then those who were scattered from the tribulation which happened after Stephanos had spread so far as Phoenicia and Kupros and Antiocheia speaking the Word to no one except only to Judaeans.” There is no better proof than this testimony in the Book of Acts itself, that the Ethiopian eunuch and all others to whom the Gospel was brought up to this point were indeed Judaeans dwelling in various places, but who were identified otherwise by citizenship or geography, as we have established from the evidence presented and from reading the accounts in context – rather than lifting a verse or a line or even a single word out of context and using it to support an agenda.

This chapter opens with Peter being at the house of one Simon the Tanner, who was ostensibly a pious Judaean since until this time Peter understood that Judaeans should only keep company with other Judaeans, as we see Peter attest himself at Acts 10:28 that “You know how it is unlawful for a Judaean man to join to or associate with another tribe.” One morning at the house of this Simon, Peter is hungry, and while Simon's servants are preparing his meal he goes up to the rooftop to pray. Knowing that Simon is a pious Judaean, or Peter would not have been staying at his home, it is apparent that Peter should not have been concerned over whether the meal being prepared for him was in accordance with the Scriptural food laws. However Yahweh God purposed to give Peter certain instructions in a vision, and evidently uses Peter's hunger as a device by which those instructions are presented.