There is perhaps no example of this more remarkable than that which Paul
does with regard to Timothy. He uses circumcision in all liberty to set
aside Jewish prejudice. It is very doubtful whether, according to the law,
he ought to have been circumcised. Ezra and Nehemiah shew us the strange
wives sent away; but here, the mother being a Jewess, Paul causes the child
of this mixed marriage to follow the rule of the Jews and submit to that
rite. Liberty fully recognises the law in its place, although itself exempt
from it, and distinctly states, for the assurance of the Gentiles, the
absence of all pretension, on the part of the Judaean Christians, to impose
the law upon Gentiles. Paul circumcises Timothy, and does not give
subjection for an hour to those who would have compelled Titus to be
circumcised. He would become a Jew to the Jews from love; but the Jews
themselves must renounce all pretension to impose the law on others. The
decrees given at Jerusalem are left with the churches-a plain answer to
every Jew who desired to subject the Gentiles to Judaism. The decrees, we
may remark, were those of the apostles and the elders.
It is the Holy Ghost alone who directs the apostle. He forbids him to
preach in Asia (the province), and will not suffer him to go into Bithynia.
By a vision in the night they are called to go into Macedonia. Here the
historian meets them. It is the Lord who calls them into Macedonia. It is
well to note here that, while the gospel is sent under Paul's ministry to
the whole creation under heaven, yet there is specific direction as to
where we are to go.
Here the apostle goes first to the Jews, even when it was only a few women
who came together by the river side-a place, as it appears, usually chosen
where there was no synagogue. A Greek woman, who worshipped the God of
Israel, is converted by grace. Thus the door is opened, and others also
believe (v. 40). Here Satan tries to tamper with the work by bearing a
testimony to the ministers of the word. Not that this spirit acknowledged
Jesus-he would not then have been an evil spirit, he would not have thus
possessed the damsel. He speaks of the agents, in order to have a share of
the glory, and of the most high God-compelled perhaps by the presence of
the Spirit to speak, as had been the case with others by the presence of
Jesus, when His power was before their eyes. The testimony of Satan could
not go so far as to own Him Lord; and if Paul had not been faithful, it
would have mixed up the work of the enemy with that of the Lord. But it was
not a testimony to Paul that Paul sought, nor a testimony rendered by an
evil spirit, whatever might be the appearance of its testimony. The proof
which the evil spirit had to give that the power of God was present, was to
submit to it by being driven away. It could not be a support to the work of
God. We see in this circumstance the disinterestedness of the apostle, his
spiritual discernment, the power of God with him, and the faith which will
have no other support than that of God. It would have been useful to have a
testimony rendered to his ministry: the reasonings of the flesh might have
said, 'I did not seek it.' Persecution would have been avoided. But God
will have no other testimony than that which He bears to Himself. No other
can be a testimony from Him, for He reveals Himself where He is not known;
faith waits only on Him to render it. Paul went on without troubling
himself about this malicious attempt of the enemy's, and possibly in wisdom
avoiding conflict where there was no fruit for the Lord, until by its
persistency the apostle was forced to attend to it. The Spirit of God does
not tolerate the presence of an evil spirit when it makes itself actively
manifest before Him. He does not lend Himself to its devices by giving it
importance through a voluntary interposition; for He has His own work, and
He does not turn away from it to occupy Himself about the enemy. He is
occupied, in love, about souls. But if Satan comes in His way, so as to
perplex these souls, the Spirit reveals Himself in His energy, and the
enemy flees before Him.
But Satan is not without resources. The power which he cannot exercise in a
direct way, he employs in exciting the passions and lusts of men in
opposition to that power against which he cannot himself stand, and which
will neither unite itself to him nor recognise him. Even as the Gadarenes
desired Jesus to depart, when He had healed Legion, so the Philippians rise
up tumultuously against Paul and his companions at the instigation of the
men who had lost their dishonest gains. But God makes use of all this to
direct the progress of His own work, and give it the form He pleases. There
is the gaoler to be converted, and the magistrates themselves are to
confess their wrong with respect to the messengers of God. The assembly is
gathered out, a flock (as the epistle addressed to them bears witness) full
of love and affection. The apostle goes to labour elsewhere. We see a more
active, a more energetic, testimony here than in the similar case that
happened to Peter. The intervention of God is more striking in Peter's
case. It is the old Jerusalem, worn out in everything except hatred, and
God faithful to the one who trusted in Him. The hatred is disappointed.
Paul and Silas sing, instead of quietly sleeping; the doors burst suddenly
open; and the gaoler himself is converted, and his family. The magistrates
are obliged to come as supplicants to Paul. Such is the result of the
tumult. The enemy was mistaken here. If he stopped their work at Philippi,
he sent the apostles to preach elsewhere according to the will of God.
We must not pass over in silence this energy which embraced whole houses,
and subdued them to the christian faith. We only see it, however, when it
is a question of bringing in the Gentiles. [see note #24]
But Cornelius, Lydia, the gaoler of Philippi, are all witnesses to this power.
