Finally in Rome
(1) In this last lap of the journey, Paul traveled through Syracuse (east coast of Sicily), Reggio di Calabria (in the toe of Italy) and Pozzuoli (in the Bay of Naples) to Rome. It’s been a long journey since Jerusalem — from 12 days (24:11) to two years in Caesarea (24:27), from one ship to another (27:5-6), and another 14 days of stormy seas (27:33) to being stranded in Malta for 3 months — now they arrived in Rome, ending not only the “we” section, but Paul’s roving ministry as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Now he reached the center of the then Gentile universe where he would die a martyr’s death. We have no idea why Luke did not mention his death, but it’s in here that he wrote his last letter. Read 2 Timothy 4:7-8 which sums up his feelings in Rome. Can you perhaps understand why Paul appeared to be willing to do anything in order to get to Rome?
(2) Paul did not plant the church in Rome, and yet many believers, even from as far as 30-40 miles away, came to welcome Paul, and Luke said, “Paul…was encouraged.” In what sense might he be encouraged?
(3) At this point of your life (or ministry), do you need encouragement? What might be the greatest encouragement you need?
(4) Paul expected that the Jews would send representatives to Rome to give testimony to support the charges laid against him, so he wished to have an informal defense before the Jewish leaders. What were the main points of his defense? What might be the most important of these main points?
(5) To his surprise, the Jews in Jerusalem had not arrived (yet), perhaps due to the same reasons why it took so long for Paul to arrive in Rome. But they remarked that, “people everywhere are talking against this sect.” This pretty well sums up the first 30 years of Christianity since the Great Commission was given in Acts 1:8. Would you call this first 30 years a success? Why or why not?
(6) How are “people everywhere…talking” about Christianity today, especially in your society?
(7) What is the main message to you today?
我們繼續研讀使徒行傳。請慢慢細心讀每天指定的經文至少兩遍，然後反復思考問題 。
終於到達羅馬
(1) 在保羅這最後的行程，他經過西西里的東岸(敘拉古)，意大利的南尖端(利基翁)，及那不勒斯港(部丟利)，然後到達羅馬。這由耶路撒冷開始的旅程，由12天(24:11)變為兩年(24:27)，由一條船轉到另一條(27:5-6)，由經歷14天風暴的海程(27:33)到滯留米利都三個月，現在終於到達羅馬—結束了路加以「我們」第一身的敍述，更結束了保羅為福音流浪的生涯。他終於到達了當時文明世界的首府，也是他殉道之地。我們不曉得路加為何不以保羅殉道為結束，但我們曉得，保羅在此寫他最後的書信。請用點時間細讀提摩太後書4:7-8，細思保羅當時的心情，或許你可以較深的領會保羅為何定意要到羅馬。你能領會保羅要到羅馬的決心嗎？
(2) 羅馬教會並非保羅所建立，但信徒卻從老遠三十至四十哩以外來迎接他。路加說：保羅就「放心壯膽」。這是什麼意思？是否意味著保羅起先不大「放心壯膽」？為什麼？
(3) 以你現在所處的景況，你需要「放心壯膽」嗎？你如何能做得到呢？
(4) 保羅以為耶路撒冷的領袖定必先到達準備作證控訴他，故此希望能非正式的先向當地的猶太領袖申辯。他這申辯的主要內容包括什麼？你以為他申辯最重要的一點是什麼？
(5) 誰知耶路撒冷的領袖尚未來到(他們當然不會冒冬天旅程之險) 。但當地的領袖卻說：「因為這教門，我們曉得是到處被毀謗的。」這句話給福音在這首三十年的傳播作了個恰當的寫照。既是這樣，你認為信徒在那三十年遵行使徒行傳1:8的大使命是成功還是失敗呢？為什麼？
(6) 今天世人「到處」是怎樣論基督教呢？
(7) 今日給你主要的提醒是什麼？你會怎樣應用在你的生命中？
As we come the final chapter of the Book of Acts, may I invite you to meditate on the lyrics of the following hymn by Heber, who wrote not so much as a bystander, but as someone who gave his life, like the apostles, to fulfill the Great Commission. In his case, he died as a missionary in India at the age of forty three.
1
From Greenland's icy mountains, from India's coral strand;
Where Afric's sunny fountains roll down their golden sand:From many an ancient river, from many a palmy plain,
They call us to deliver their land from error's chain.2
What though the spicy breezes blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle;
Though every prospect pleases, and only man is vile?In vain with lavish kindness the gifts of God are strown;
The heathen in his blindness bows down to wood and stone.3
Shall we, whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high,
Shall we to those benighted the lamp of life deny?Salvation! O salvation! The joyful sound proclaim,
Till earth's remotest nation has learned Messiah's Name.4
Waft, waft, ye winds, His story, and you, ye waters, roll
Till, like a sea of glory, it spreads from pole to pole:Till o'er our ransomed nature the Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator, in bliss returns to reign.
Reginald Heber (1783-1826)
讀到使徒行傳這最後一章時，我邀請大家一同來思想「福音要遍傳」這首詩歌的歌詞。作者Heber不單是以寫詩歌著稱，他更是一位委身的宣教士，在印度被主接去時才年僅四十三歲。
1. 從格陵蘭冰雪山，至印度珊瑚岸， 從非洲金色沙漠，滾滾清泉流過， 到廣闊河流之地，沃野平原無際， 萬邦人群正呼籲，解除他們罪鎖。
2. 和風雖吹送花香，飄到錫蘭島上， 風光雖美麗動人，人卻被罪所困。 天父豐盛的恩惠，都成枉然浪費， 世人仍蒙昧心盲，竟拜木石偶像。
3. 我們已得福音光，天上智慧照亮， 為何不到黑暗地傳遞生命之光？ 救恩，寶貴的救恩，遍傳各城各鄉， 直到普天下萬民認識基督為王。
4. 願主恩被風吹送，主愛海中遠盪， 直到福音如汪洋，榮耀遍及四方， 直到造物主君王─贖罪被殺羔羊， 榮耀再臨掌王權，統治萬世無彊。
Reginald Heber (1783-1826)
The End of the first phase of the Great Commission
(1) Paul, as a prisoner, was not be able to go into the local synagogues as was his practice, but he was able to have a considerable crowd come to him and hear the gospel. From morning to evening, he must have had a captive audience and been able to expound thoroughly from the OT without any interruptions. As usual, the audience was divided. Why then would he end with such a stern warning from Isaiah 6:9-10?
(2) The Isaiah quote emphasizes that it was the people who chose not to hear and see, because they, not the Lord, feared that if they undersood, then they would turn and be healed. Why would people “fear” that they would be healed? Do not all people want healing?
(3) As we come to the end of this letter or book written by Luke to Theophilus, the last three verses indicate that the apostles and the first Christians have accomplished their call in response to Acts 1:8. Do you agree? Why?
Luke’s emphases in the last two verses of his book appear to include:
- Paul had relative freedom as a prisoner
- This relative freedom lasted for a good two years
- Many had come to hear the gospel
- No one hindered the preaching of the gospel
- Paul was preaching boldly
Look up Philippians 1:12-14. What insight can you gain during these two years of Paul’s imprisonment?
(5) But Luke does not tell us whether Paul after the two years was released briefly or whether he faced death immediately. It was as if it was not important. Hence, if what happened to Paul is not the most important, what is?
(6) Use some time to reflect on what you have read in the Book of Acts. Can you highlight three lessons that have meant the most to you?
(7) What is the main message to you today?
今天我們會讀完使徒行傳。按照「五年靈修計劃」的讀經編排，明天開始研讀約書亞記。
請慢慢細心讀每天指定的經文至少兩遍，然後反復思考問題。
大使命完成的第一階段
(1) 雖然身為囚犯的保羅不能自如的到當地的會堂傳講福音，但他卻能召集了眾多的猶太領袖來聽他講論，「從早到晚，對他們講論這事，證明神國﹝的道﹞，引摩西的律法和先知的書，以耶穌的事，勸勉他們」。結果，有信的，也有不信的。既是這樣，為何他引用以賽亞書6:9-10作為講論的結語呢？
(2) 以賽亞書這幾句話的重點是指出，是百姓(不是神)恐怕自己會回轉、得醫治，而不願明白、不願曉得。何故？為何他們不願得醫治？
(3) 路加寫給提阿非羅的信(1:1)到此以最後三節作為結束。你認為這結束語如何回應1:8之大使命？
(4) 路加在最後的兩節刻畫了：
a. 保羅雖被囚，卻有一定的自由；
b. 這傳道的自由有兩年之久；
c. 不少人來見他得聽福音；
d. 沒有人來禁止；
e. 保羅放膽的講道
請參看腓立比書1:12-14，看看你對保羅這兩年的被囚有什麼了解。
(5) 路加說明保羅這樣被囚了兩年，但卻刻意的不提這兩年後的事(即保羅是否立即殉道，或暫得假釋)，似乎對他要寫「使徒行傳」的原因不是最重要的。如果連保羅的終局也不是最重要的，那麼什麼才是呢？
(6) 讀完了「使徒行傳」，請用點時間重溫你對這書卷感受，並寫下對你最重要的三個信息。
(7) 今日給你主要的提醒是什麼？你會怎樣應用在你的生命中？
As we have considered at the beginning of our study of the Book of Acts, this book occupies a very important place in the Canon of the New Testament in that it provides the bridge between the Four Gospels and the rest of the books in NT. It not only allows us to have a glimpse of the life of the NT churches, it also helps us interpret the various epistles, especially those by Paul himself. Acts gives us a context within which to understand the teachings in them.
Perhaps, the most important role it plays is in passing the baton of the Great Commission to us: “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The apostles had stayed true to their commission and their heavenly vision. In spite of slowness in understanding the will of God, internal division, and fierce oppositions—first from the Jews and finally spread to the Gentiles—they had accomplished the charge given to them by Jesus Christ.
The most remarkable account so honestly retold by Luke is how slow the breakthrough of their racial bias against Gentiles had been. But that was eventually resolved through the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit and through the Apostle Paul.
The gospel has indeed reached beyond Jerusalem at last, and to Judea and Samaria. In the final chapter of Acts, we all wish that Luke would let us know what happened to Paul, but Luke’s focus is only on the gospel being spread to Rome, “the center of the universe” at the time. As important as Paul was as an apostle, the Great Commission, not men, is the center of the Book of Acts.
As most commentators agree that Luke and Acts are essentially one book, with Luke being Part I and Acts as Part II, the kind of “open-ended” conclusion of Acts signifies that the Great Commission is yet to be finished. We, who have benefited from the obedience, labor and blood of the first disciples, are now charged with writing Part III of the same work—the witnessing of the gospel to the ends of the earth. May God find us faithful as the first apostles were faithful.
在開始研讀使徒行傳時，我提到這卷書在新約聖經中所扮演的重要角色：它是四福音和其他新約書信的橋樑，讓我們一窺初期教會的生活，更提供了新約各書信，特別是保羅書信的背景資料。
或許更重要的是，使徒行傳成為傳遞大使命給我們的媒介：「……要在耶路撒冷、猶太全地，和撒瑪利亞，直到地極，作我的見證。」(徒1:8)
基督耶穌的使徒都已忠於所托，沒有違背主的使命。雖然他們滿有軟弱—對明白神旨意的遲鈍、有不同心的時刻、更有內從猶太人、外從外邦政權的逼迫—但他們終於完成主的托付。
對，路加同時誠實的告訴我們，初期的教會對外邦人的歧視是經歷了不少爭執和掙扎，在聖靈的干預和使徒保羅的力辯之下，才得到解決。
福音終於傳越耶路撒冷，達到猶太全地和撒瑪利亞。讀到使徒行傳完結時，我們期待路加把保羅的最後遭遇告訴我們。奇怪的是，路加不提保羅的殉道，單單把焦點放在福音終於傳到羅馬—羅馬帝國的核心。是的，偉大如使徒保羅，也不是這聖經書卷的中心，惟有大使命才是！
大部份的聖經學者都同意使徒行傳是路加福音的續集。但使徒行傳在結束時，明顯的缺乏一般書卷或書信的結語，叫讀者意味到這故事、這大使命尚待完成。我們這些因初期信徒所付出的辛勞、忠心和性命，得到福音的好處的，現在是要承接他們，用生命寫出使徒行傳的續集—為主作見證到地極。願神幫助我們，使祂來的時候，能稱我們為良善忠心的僕人。