How Did Paul Support Himself?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts Chapter 18, and we will pick right up with verse 1. “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome) and came unto them.And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought:(for by their occupation they were tentmakers.)And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” Up to you, Dave.

Dave:

Well, Tom, it’s very interesting, we get some insights into Paul.He didn’t come flying in, in his own Jet, like some of the televangelists today.He trudged along, or rode on a donkey or something, it wasn’t even a prancing horse, you know.

Tom:

I think he had a lot of prayer time, Dave, and, you know, one of the wonderful things I love to read from Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as he prayed for everybody, he prayed unceasingly.He was always praying, what a great encouragement.

Dave:

Yeah, amazing! Anyway, he comes into town, he comes into Corinth.It’s a very idolatrous place, a wicked place, and how does he set up shop?He’s a tent maker, why didn’t he put up a tent and start preaching in a tent?Well, there’snothing wrong with that but that wasn’t the way he did it.He got a job and he starts making tents.He’s working with Priscilla and Aquila, he stays with them, they hire him, apparently, and he’s working away, working with his hands.In another place he says:You remember that I supported myself, and the team that was with me.So, Paul’s a hard worker, he wasn’t on the gravy train.And Tom, I couldn’t say that I’ve been in really hard places.I stayed in a kind of a log cabin in Russian on a dirt, mud street.I’ve been in some places that weren’t too pleasant, but every time if I think, this is kind of tough, I just think of Paul.He’s on the gravy train here, this is better than most times.A couple of chapters back he’s been beaten, scourged, his back is bleeding, he’s lying on his back in the muck and dirt with his feet in the stocks in the inner prison in Philippi.But anyway,so what does he do?I thought he was a full time evangelist.You mean the guy gets a job, too?Well, I have preached in a few churches where the pastor had a job, because there not enough coming in to support him, but he kept up his full time work as a pastor as well.Paul is a full time evangelist, so what’s he going to do?Well, he goes in the synagogue, like a good Jew—and that brings up some other things, Tom.He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.Now, I’m just doing the Q and A, Tom, for January and I’m answering a—well, a complaint from a lady, who says she appreciates our ministry but too much of this anti-Calvinism, get off of that.Tom, you can’t read the Bible except it comes up.He reasoned in the synagogue and persuaded—Wait a minute!You can’t reason with unsaved people, the Calvinist says, they have to be born again.

Tom:

Well, re-generated.

Dave:

They have to be regenerated before God can give them the faith, and anyway, it’s irresistible grace, and they can’t come unless the Father draws them.And by that the Calvinist means, I still am on my feet walking, and that’s in John 6, and Jesus said, Except you eat the flesh, this is the bread of God that came down from heaven, which if a man eat thereof—Now, I don’t think God shoves it in our mouths and chews it for us and shoves it down in our stomachs.You can’t escape it.There is responsibility, I have to do something.

Tom:

Dave, let me back up and just explore this for a minute.

Dave:

All right.

Tom:

Most Calvinists, and sometimes we get into trouble here because they would say, Well, it’s 5-point Calvinist, but there’s 7-point Calvinist, there’s 24-point Calvinist, there’s 3 1/2-point Calvinist, there’s 1-point Calvinist, and so on, but generally speaking they all believe that you need to be regenerated before you can receive anything.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

You’re dead in your trespasses and sins, which is the Scripture they like to quote.

Dave:

Well, Tom, we are dead, but it doesn’t mean we can’t think.Paul is reasoning and persuading unsaved, dead sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins.

Tom:

According to most Calvinists I know they would not accept the fact that you can receive anything.You are dead, anything spiritual, you are dead in your trespasses and sins.As a matter of fact, they don’t know with regard to anybody whether they are potentially one of the elect.

Dave:

Of course.

Tom:

But still, here’s the problem.How can you, as you’ve been pointing out, not getting into the detail of it, how can you reason with somebody who is spiritually dead?How can you persuade them if they are spiritually dead, meaning they can’t even reason or think or receive anything that is from the Lord without being regenerated first?

Dave:

So, all I’m saying is, here’s another verse that does not fit Calvinism, and they are everywhere.Let me just mention, in connection with this, it doesn’t mean that because you reason with someone and you persuade them, a man persuaded against his will is of the same opinion still.It doesn’t mean that they are all going to believe.Paul laid out the facts right after his conversion in Acts 9.He proved from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, and they went about to kill Him.And this Chapter 18 ends with Apollos—it says:He mightily convinced the Jews, publicly proving by the Scriptures Jesus was the Christ, and that doesn’t mean that everybody believed, okay.But we are supposed to persuade people.But Tom, you can’t get around it, everywhere I look I find that verses just say Calvinism isn’t true, and if I couple this with Isaiah 5, where God says, He asked the question:What more could I have done that I haven’t done for Israel?I’ve done everything I could to persuade them, to plead with them.I sent my prophets, and still this vineyard brings forth wild grapes.So, Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath.He persuades the Jews and the Greeks.That’s what we have to do.He says in 2 Corinthians Chapter 5:Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.Hey, guys, we don’t want you to go and end up in the lake of fire.We’re doing our best to tell you the facts, tell you the truth, to warn you.So, we get some insights into Paul.He’s working, he’s got a job, he’s earning his keep—

Tom:

There’s persecution going on in Rome, the Jews had to flee there under the Emperor Claudius.

Dave:

And he’s in the synagogue because the gospel is to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.There’s not another gospel for Jews, another gospel for Gentiles.No, it’s the same gospel, Romans:1:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
See All..., “I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believe, to the Jew first, and also to the Greeks.”So, Jews get saved by the gospel, so the Greeks are non Jews, and he is doing his best.And Tom, let’s go back to the chapter before.How does he reason?It says, He reasoned in the synagogue from the Scriptures.So he’s going to their own Scriptures—Look what your prophets have said about the Messiah—you cannot deny it, it was all fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, He is the Messiah!

Tom:

And, as we noted in Chapter 17, the Jews in the Greek city of Berea listened to what he had to say, but then they searched the Scriptures daily to see if what he was saying was true or not.

Dave:

And that’s where we get the name of this program, and the scriptures they were searching were the Old Testament Scriptures.And he preached the gospel as a fulfillment of what the Old Testament said.And I believe that’s what we ought to be doing, and it’s kind of a missing element in the church today.

Tom:

Dave, we’ve got about a minute left, but let me look at Verse 5, for next week.“And when Silas and Timothius were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

Dave:

So apparently, Tom, he wasn’t just bluntly saying it but he was laying out the facts—Hey, how many candidates do you have for Messiah?He’s got to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, He’s got to be hailed as this Messiah, and then rejected and crucified, and now he says:Hey, guys, I’ve been telling you, this is Jesus of Nazareth.

Tom:

And of course, he’s pressed in the spirit so we expect good things, don’t we?We’ll find out next week.