Preparing for Suffering

Marc Minter

FBC Diana

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago • Presented 2 years ago

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Main Point: Christians will suffer in this world, and all we face is according to God’s will; therefore, we ought to look for and appreciate the benefits of suffering.

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Introduction

When you think of suffering, does the idea of benefit ever enter your mind? If you’re like me, then benefit is probably nowhere near the top of the list of the thoughts you have about suffering.

Today we are going to continue our study of the book of Acts, and we are well into Luke’s section of the book where he focuses in on the Apostle Paul’s last years of life. Paul was the missionary extraordinaire, he was the Apostle who led the charge of Gentile evangelism and church planting, and he wrote most of the letters we have in the New Testament.

But our passage today does not highlight Paul’s successes or contributions to the establishment of the early church. Rather, Luke highlights in Acts 21 Paul’s suffering… and I think Luke is lifting Paul up as an exemplary Christian sufferer… one who followed well the path Jesus Christ walked before him.

Talking about suffering is never fun, but my aim today is to observe how suffering is talked about in our passage (and in the broader New Testament) and how God seems to use suffering to shape and form His people.

Let’s pick up the storyline of Paul’s traveling itinerary, reading from Acts 21:1-16…

Acts 21:1–16 (ESV)

1 And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

3 When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days.

And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed 6 and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 8 On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

12 When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” 15 After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

Main Idea:

Christians will suffer in this world, and all we face is according to God’s will; therefore, we ought to look for and appreciate the benefits of suffering.

Sermon

1. Following Jesus

It was about a month ago, when we were studying the end of Acts 19, that I pointed out how Luke seemed to be intentionally describing Paul’s “resolve” to “go to Jerusalem” and then to “Rome” (Acts 19:21) as a sort of echo of Jesus’s own resolution to “go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). In Luke’s Gospel, he recorded the increasing opposition against Jesus from the Jewish people, Jesus’s teaching about His impending death, and Jesus’s emphasis on the cost of discipleship. In Luke 9:23, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Then, in Luke 9:51, he wrote, “When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” And, of course, it was in Jerusalem where Jesus was betrayed, condemned, and then crucified. This bigger picture of the story makes Jesus’s words all the more stunning… Jesus knew He was about to “take up his cross” literally, by way of Roman crucifixion, and He called “anyone” who “would come after” him to do the same (Lk. 9:23).

It’s no surprise, then, that Luke is holding up the Apostle Paul as a model follower of Jesus as he now faces his own brutal death at the hands of Jewish opposition and Roman executioners. Paul was on his own way to Jerusalem, like Jesus before him, and Paul was also “resolved” to finish his course (Acts 19:21). In fact, Luke has told us no less than three times in two chapters that the Holy Spirit had clearly “testified” or “declared” or “warned” that Paul would soon be “imprisoned” or “chained” or “fettered” and “afflicted” or suffer “tribulation” (Acts 20:23). And yet Paul repeatedly affirmed his intention to “testify to the gospel of the grace of God” whatever the cost might be (Acts 20:24).

I’d like to note three quick things for us to keep in mind as we study through this passage today: (1) Jesus is the unique Savior, (2) Paul was uniquely called to his ministry of suffering, and yet (3) the pattern of Christian discipleship is a life of suffering to one degree or another.

First, Jesus is the unique Savior. Only Jesus, as the unique God-man, could live and die in the place of sinners. His suffering definitely sets an example for Christians to follow, but only after we understand that His suffering cannot be repeated. Others may die more gruesomely and even more painfully than Jesus, but no one has ever or will ever suffer the penalty of God’s justice as the perfectly righteous one in the place of those who are guilty. Jesus is the unique Savior of sinners, and we can never do what He did… We must first trust in or believe in Jesus as the Savior, and only then may we aim to live as His disciples.

…If you want to talk more about what it means to trust in Jesus as Savior or what it means to live as His disciple, then let’s talk more after the service.

Second, Paul was uniquely called to a ministry of suffering. As I pointed out last week, Paul was an Apostle “untimely born” (1 Cor. 15:8), and his conversion to Christ included a divine call to be an Apostle “before the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15). When Paul met the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, Jesus not only commissioned Paul as an Apostle but He also told Paul “how much he must suffer for the sake of [Christ’s] name” (Acts 9:16). Clearly, right from the beginning, Paul was set apart as a special witness or “instrument” of Christ who would uniquely “suffer” during his distinct apostolic ministry (Acts 9:15-16).

Third… though Jesus is the unique suffering Savior and though Paul was called to a unique ministry of suffering, still, both Jesus and Paul establish a pattern that we see play out in both example and teaching throughout the New Testament. It’s hard to read any of the New Testament without seeing either an example of a suffering Christian or a teaching on how Christians ought to suffer well.

Paul himself seems to have made this teaching part of his message when he left churches in Lystra, in Iconium, and in Antioch. Luke said that Paul and Barnabas “had appointed elders for them in every church,” and they “encouraged them to continue in the faith… saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22-23).

Martin Luther called this theologia crucis or the “theology of the cross.” Luther said, “He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glow to the cross, strength to weakness, [and] wisdom to folly…”[1] But seeing the climax of God’s wisdom and strength and glory in the suffering of Christ upon the cross flips all of this upside-down… and the Christian gains a new perspective of suffering.

It's interesting to me that Luther cited Paul’s words from Acts 14 in the last two statements of his 95 theses, saying, “94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their head, through penalties, death, and hell; 95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace [Acts 14:22].”[2] Indeed, we regularly need to be reminded and exhorted to follow Christ into suffering and to enter the heavenly kingdom through tribulations, because we are prone to avoid such things.

Brothers and sisters, I think we all might do well to see the Apostle Paul in this passage as a model disciple of Christ who faced suffering on every side and who even committed himself to go toward the suffering… in order that he might be a faithful witness for Christ, and because he knew that whatever he faced was according to God’s plan.

Friends, we are not Paul, but we would all do well to follow his example.

2. According to Plan

I just said something that may have slipped past some of you, and some of us may even have a hard time accepting that it’s true. I just said Paul knew that whatever he faced – both the good and the bad – was ultimately according to God’s plan. And this is manifestly true from the entirety of Paul’s ministry, but it’s especially prominent in our passage today, which is why I’m focusing on it.

We already considered that Jesus explicitly told Paul that “suffering” would be a major feature of his ministry (Acts 9:15-16), but let’s note in our passage how God is repeatedly mentioned as the one who is both warning of the suffering to come and also “willing” that Paul endure it (v14).

The warning and willing actually begin just before our passage, in Acts 20:22. You might remember from last week that Paul met with the elders from the church in Ephesus, and he urged them to “pay careful attention” to themselves and “to all the flock” or “church of God” (v28). But Paul’s commission of those men to faithful pastoral ministry was spurred on by Paul’s understanding that he was “constrained by the Spirit” to “go to Jerusalem” (v22). And the Holy Spirit “testified” to Paul that he was sure to face “imprisonment and afflictions” (v23). In these two verses, we see (1) that God warned Paul of the suffering that was coming and (2) that Paul’s suffering was according to God’s will… God was in some sense “constraining” or “compelling” Paul to go toward suffering (v22).

The next two warnings and willing show up in our passage, at the end of v4 and in v10-14. In v4, Luke briefly mentioned that “through” or “by” or “because of” the “Spirit” the “disciples” were “telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem.” The way the English translation comes across, we might be tempted to think that “the Spirit” was the one moving or compelling “the disciples” to “tell Paul not to go” (v4). But this would mean that the Spirit of God was in conflict with Himself… saying both that Paul must go, and that Paul must not go… and that doesn’t make sense.

It seems more likely that Luke is saying that “the disciples” had also come to know what “the Spirit” warned about Paul’s visit to Jerusalem and that it was “because of the Spirit’s” revelation or “through the Spirit’s” warning that “the disciples” made their own desires known to Paul, which was that Paul “not… go to Jerusalem” (v4). In other words, the Spirit warned of suffering, and the disciples wanted Paul to avoid it… but the Holy Spirit intended or willed that Paul go toward the suffering.

This interpretation becomes clearer, I think, in v10-14…

In v10-11, Luke recounts a visible and verbal prophecy from “a prophet named Agabus.” Luke says that Agabus “took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him in the hands of the Gentiles’’” (v11). Then, in v12, Luke includes himself among those who “urged [Paul] not to go up to Jerusalem.”

Can you imagine?! Paul is hanging out at the “house of Philip the evangelist” with the rest of his entourage (v8). He’s traveled all the way back to this port city just West of Jerusalem in order to be in Jerusalem by Pentecost if possible, and his whole band of traveling missionaries and other disciples he’d pickup up along the way have come along with him. Then, after breakfast (that’s speculation on my part) Agabus comes in and gives a word from the Lord along with a visual illustration… And then, Luke and everybody else plead with Paul (with tears) to turn around and get as far away from Jerusalem as possible.

But v14 tells us they all came to understand that this warning from the Holy Spirit was not to discourage Paul from going, but rather to prepare him to suffer well according to the “will of the Lord” (v14). Paul, for his part, reaffirmed his readiness to suffer “for the name of the Lord Jesus” (v13), and when all his friends realized that “he would not be persuaded,” they stopped trying and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done” (v14).

This passage makes it clear that it was indeed the “will of the Lord” for Paul to suffer at the hands of injustice. Paul’s suffering was not accidental; it was on purpose. The Jewish leaders and the Gentile officials all had their purpose, and it was malicious. But so too did God have His purpose for Paul’s suffering… and we can know that because Paul’s suffering was according to God’s plan.

Friends, do you have a category for perceiving that any suffering or affliction is ever God’s will for you? Suffering was certainly God’s will for Paul, so we cannot deny that it is at least sometimes God’s will for His people to suffer. But I’m arguing more than that this morning. I’m arguing that God – not just sometimes but regularly – wills or intends or purposefully brings about suffering in the lives of His people.

The repeated teaching of the New Testament is not just that suffering happens to Christians, but that all the good and all the bad that happens to us is under the sovereign hand of our good heavenly Father. The Apostle Peter wrote, “if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed… for it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil” (1 Pet. 3:14, 17). And, “let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Pet. 4:19). And who can forget that famous verse in Romans 8?! “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). It does not say that “all things are good,” but that “all things work together for good” for God’s people, since God Himself is working in all things – both good and bad – to bring about His good purposes… and this leads me to point 3…

3. Suffering is Not Good

With all this talk about suffering, you might be tempted to accuse me of celebrating it or glorifying it. I definitely don’t want to give off that impression, so let me be clear in saying that suffering is not good. I’d even like to take this opportunity to clarify that just because God’s purposes are worked out in and through bad people and bad events and bad experiences does not mean that somehow any of those bad things become good.

No! Bad people and events and experiences are bad! To give a popular biblical example: God was perfectly sovereign over the Pharaoh in Egypt who refused to release the people of Israel, and God was perfectly just and righteous to condemn that same Pharaoh for sinfully refusing to release the people of Israel. That God is sovereign over all things does not in any way eliminate our culpability for our sinful thoughts, words, or deeds. The Bible never explains the mechanics of how this works, but it affirms both of these truths (often side-by-side) repeatedly.

If you are having trouble understanding how God can be totally sovereign and people can be truly responsible for their decisions, then (1) welcome to the club, (2) you’ve discovered an interesting 1,700-year-old Christian discussion, and (3) you are welcome to come talk with me after the service… I’d be happy to recommend some Scripture and books on the subject.

For now, let’s look right here in Acts 21. At no point does Luke say or even imply that Paul’s suffering was or is good. On the contrary, throughout this whole passage, Luke is continually pointing out how bad suffering is and how so many people wanted Paul to avoid it if possible!

In v4, “the disciples… were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem.” And when Paul did leave the city of “Tyre,” the whole church, “wives and children” and all, “accompanied” Paul and his traveling companions “until [they] were outside the city” (v5). This is a heavy-hearted farewell because they were so sad to see Paul go, since they knew that Paul’s departure would lead to his suffering.

In v12 also, the whole company of Paul’s friends “urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.” The whole scene even pulled on Paul’s heartstrings… he answered them, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?” (v13). This is no celebration of suffering! Everyone in this passage knows that suffering is bad.

It’s also interesting to me that there is not complete agreement among the Christians in our passage about how best to respond to the threat of suffering or persecution. Paul received special revelation from the Holy Spirit that he was supposed to endure the suffering that was in store for him, but Luke and the rest were not on the same page with Paul until they realized that this suffering was indeed “the will of the Lord” (v14).

Brothers and sisters, Christians don’t have to pretend that suffering is good. Suffering is not good, and we can say so. If we suffer injustice for speaking the truth of God’s word, if we are slandered for trying to live faithful Christian lives, if we are persecuted for not abandoning the faith once for all delivered to the saints, then we are not obligated to say that such afflictions are good.

Furthermore, we ought not condemn fellow Christians for the way they react to suffering or opposition or persecution. I bet that Luke could have listed a number of good reasons why he would have preferred that Paul avoid the suffering he was about to face in Jerusalem. And Paul also had his reasons for maintaining course. In their case, God Himself gave special revelation about what He wanted Paul to do, but God doesn’t normally do that in our day.

Today, in the western world, Christians usually don’t suffer much overt persecution or opposition. There are constant social pressures, and sometimes Christians are excluded from a job or some other opportunity, but it is rare that Christians suffer direct hostility from a boss, a police officer, a judge, or a government agent of some kind. But if you do, or if a Christian you know does, the best Christian response may not be crystal clear. And these are exactly the sorts of conversations that church members should be having with one another. God has designed the local church to be a support and accountability structure for us, so that we may help each other stay faithful even through the midst of suffering.

4. Suffering Calibrates Christians

Many of you will know far better than me what it means to calibrate something. When you measure stuff to cut or connect or tune, the standard by which you measure must be calibrated, so that it will give you the right measurement. To calibrate an instrument, then, is to make sure that the tool you’re using is accurate in its measurements.

So too, we as Christians need our measuring apparatus calibrated. We get offered a job promotion, we get a bad doctor’s report, someone speaks well of us, or we run into tons of opposition. But how do we measure each of these? Is a promotion always awesome? Does illness always turn out to be a net loss? Does a compliment always mean that someone is our friend? Does opposition always mean that what we’re doing is wrong?

No! Each of these occasions need to be measured by a well-calibrated tool… one that will help us to make sense of things as they truly are. Ultimately, the Bible is our standard measurement, and we should be regularly learning from Scripture about how to think, how to speak, and how to act. But even if we are regularly reading and learning from Scripture, we soon forget what we’ve learned.

Suffering is one of the main ways God seems to refocus or recalibrate us, so that we will see things more clearly and measure things rightly. The first and most significant adjustment to our measurements, as Christians, is learning to believe and to act like this world is not our home. But this is so hard to do, since this world is where we live, it’s where we get married, raise our children, buy our land, build our careers, vote our politics, and defend what’s ours.

However, the Bible urges us to be good stewards of all these things – marriage, children, resources, societal and political structures – but never to think or live like any of these are truly ours. Instead, Christians are to eagerly look forward to the day when Christ shall put away all that has gone before and remake the whole of creation in perfect harmony and glory. And suffering in this present world helps us more eagerly anticipate the next.

John Calvin wrote on this so well, I think. He said, “our minds being dazzled with the glare of wealth, power, and honors… can [often] see no farther. The heart also, [captivated] with [greed], ambition, and lust, is weighed down and cannot rise above them. In short, the whole soul, ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth.”[3] Can anyone relate, or am I the only one?

Calvin went on, “To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries.”[4] Here, Calvin was not speaking of persecution, but simply of the daily pains we endure. And after listing several of the common miseries of this life, Calvin said, “We duly profit by the discipline of the cross, when we learn that this life, estimated in itself, is restless, troubled, [and] in [many] ways wretched… [and] what are estimated its blessings are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and [spoiled] by a great [mixture] of evil.”[5]

“From this,” he says, “we conclude, that all we have to seek or hope for here is contest; that when we think of the crown we must raise our eyes to heaven. For we must hold, that our mind never rises seriously to desire and aspire after the future, until it has learned to despise the present life.”[6]

Brothers and sisters, when we suffer in this life, it’s like God is applying a powerful “Goo Gone” or adhesive remover to our sticky grip on this present world. We love it less, we cling to it less, and our eagerness to leave it behind grows.

I don’t know about you, but I hate suffering. I don’t like pain, I don’t enjoy going through hard times, and I despise the sort of suffering that gets in the way of my routine. But suffering has a way of exposing my idolatry, it rips and tears at my self-centeredness, and it helps me see what really is important and worthwhile.

In our passage this morning, we can see a few ways that the knowledge of impending suffering affected Paul and his fellow-Christians… and I’d like us to consider these as we close our time together.

First, suffering provokes desperate prayer; second, it hardens personal resolve to live (and die, if necessary) for Christ; and third, it promotes Christian unity. Let’s look at how each of these are displayed in our passage.

First, suffering provokes desperate prayer. In v3-6, Luke tells us about a seven-day stop in the city of “Tyre.” Again, as we saw already, “the disciples” there “were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem” (v4), but Paul and his friends “departed” anyway (v5). At their departure, Luke says “they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed” (v5). This scene is not unlike the one with Paul and the Ephesian elders in Miletus. When Paul left those guys, they all “knelt down and prayed” (Acts 20:36).

Friends, when Christians face the difficulty of suffering, they pray. Christians know that God is the sovereign and ruler of all things, and they know that God can either deliver them or preserve them through whatever difficulties they face. When we suffer, or when we believe suffering is where we’re headed, then we should pray. We should pray that God will preserve us from the worst, that He will right the wrongs, and that He will cause His people to triumph over those who would seek to do us harm. And we should also pray that God will help us persevere, that He will keep us from falling, and that He will help us live as faithful witnesses for Christ through the midst of our suffering.

With the psalmist, let’s pray, “1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me… [and] 4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (Psalm 25:1-5).

Second, suffering hardens personal resolve to live for Christ… even if that means greater suffering and death. Look at v13 with me. When Paul’s friends are all crying and pleading with him to turn away from suffering, Paul responds, “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (v13). Paul here provides for us a wonderful Christian example when we might face two basic options: “Live for Christ, or suffer for Him.”

Brothers and sisters, throughout Christian history, we have a cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, suffering well as faithful men and women who loved Christ more than luxury, more than liberty, and more than life itself.

I’ve been reading a good bit of Reformation history recently, and there are many good examples of Christian faithfulness there. One example is William Tyndale. On October 6, 1536, William Tyndale was condemned to death by the emperor's decree for the crime of translating the Greek and Hebrew of the Bible into the common English tongue. He wanted all English men and women to be able to read the Scriptures for themselves, and he worked tirelessly to make that a reality. The King James translation of the Bible was word-for-word from Tyndale in as much as one-third of its text, and it is certain that Tyndale's translation work influenced it and other English translations far more.

On the day of his execution, Tyndale was led outside and tied to a stake. First, he was strangled to death by the hangman, and then his body was set on fire. Just before he died, Tyndale cried out, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes!" He prayed that the king would stop fighting against free access to the Bible, and God did answer Tyndale’s prayer… but not in his own lifetime.

Friends, when we suffer for Christ’s sake, everything in life seems to gain a crystal clarity. When all the illusions of this life are stripped away, and all we have before us is the choice to suffer well for Christ or deny or disobey Him, it can have the effect of hardening our resolve to serve Him well… whatever the cost.

May God help us…

Third, suffering promotes Christian unity. Look now at v14-16. See there that Paul’s personal resolve translated into boldness for the rest of Paul’s friends and also some of the Christians from Caesarea. Luke says that when they all saw that Paul “would not be persuaded, we ceased [pleading with him] and said, ‘Let the will of the Lord be done” (v14). And then Luke says, “After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem” (v15). But not only Paul’s friends, also “some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us” (v16).

Brothers and sisters, suffering has a way of uniting Christians. The Scripture teaches us that especially among a local church, we are members of the one body together, such that we have a great “care for one another” (1 Cor. 12:25). And when “one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor. 12:26). This is not merely because Christians are all targets, but because the love Christians share with one another is so great that the suffering of a brother or a sister is something that pains us as well, even if we aren’t personally enduring the suffering ourselves.

Conclusion

Friends, we’ve seen in our passage today that the New Testament presents a pattern of Christian suffering. Jesus was the suffering servant, Paul endured suffering as a faithful Christian, and all Christians are repeatedly called to follow Christ through suffering.

We’ve also seen that God works in and through our suffering to bring about His good purposes in our lives and in the lives of others. We’ve seen that there are actually numerous benefits or positive results to suffering.

I’ve tried to be clear that suffering is not in itself a good thing, but I’m also calling all of us to look for and to appreciate the benefits of suffering.

May God help us to suffer well, may He grant us faithfulness through whatever we endure, and may He grant us comfort in the fellowship of the saints as well as in the nearness of His own presence through the midst of suffering.

Endnotes

[1] Timothy Lull. Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings, Kindle Edition (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012). 22. [2] Ibid. 13. [3] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997). [4] Ibid [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th Edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

Biblical Studies Press. The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.

Calvin, John. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Edited by Henry Beveridge. Translated by Christopher Fetherstone. Vol. 2. 2 vols. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997.

Lull, Timothy and William Russell, eds. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Third Edition. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

Peterson, David. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2009.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. 2015 Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.