07/14/2025 – Day 358 – Acts – Chapter 27 & 28 // Commentary attached – (3) different sources
Acts 27: 27 – 38 – “Hoping for the Day” / Commentary from “The Daily Study Bible Series – The Acts of the Apostles” by William Barclay:
“… It was then that Paul took the action of a commander. The sailors planned to sail away in the dinghy, which would have been quite useless for two hundred and seventy-six people; but Paul frustrated their plan. The ship’s company must sink or swim together. Next comes a most human and suggestive episode. Paul insisted that they should eat. He was a visionary man; but he was also an intensely practical man. He had not the slightest doubt that God would do his part but he also knew that thy must do theirs. Paul was not one of those people who ‘were so heavenly men that they were of no earthly use.’ He knew that hungry men are not efficient men; and so he gathered the ship’s company around him and made them eat.
As we read the narrative, into the tempest there seems to come a strange calm. The man of God has somehow made others sure that God is in charge of things. The most useful people in the world are those who, being themselves calm, bring to others the secret of confidence. Paul was like that; and every follower of Jesus ought to be steadfast when others are in turmoil.”
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Acts 28:23 – “Using the Law in Evangelism” by John MacArthur / Source – The Evidence Bible – NKJV , pg. # 1602.
“Notice that Paul used both prophecy and the Law of Moses in his evangelism. Prophecy appeals to a man’s intellect and creates faith in the Word of God. As he realizes that the Bible is no ordinary book – that it contains numerous indisputable prophecies that prove its supernatural origin – he begins to give Scripture credibility. However, the Law of Moses appeals to a man’s conscience and brings conviction of sin. A ‘decision’ for Jesus purely in the realm of the intellect – with no biblical knowledge of sin, which comes only by the Law (Romans 7:7) – will almost certainly produce a false convert. See Romans 2:21 comment
The Law’s part in transformation is to make a person aware of his sin and of his need for divine forgiveness and redemption and to set the standard of acceptable morality.
Until a person acknowledges his basic sinfulness and inability to perfectly fulfill the demands of God’s Law, he will not come repentantly to seek salvation. Until he despairs of himself and his own sinfulness, he will not come in humble faith to be filled with Christ’s righteousness. A person who says he wants salvation but refuses to recognize and repent of his sin deceives himself.
Grace mean’s nothing to a person who does not know he is sinful and that such sinfulness means he is separated from God and damned. It is therefore pointless to preach grace until the impossible demands of the Law and the reality of guilt before God are preached.”
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Three verse references – Source: “The Apologetics Study Bible”
“Acts 28:16 – “… While in Roman custody, Paul appears to have been staying on his own and at his own expense (vv 23,30), guarded only by a common soldier. This may reflect the fact that Paul’s case was already at this stage – perhaps because of the description of the case provided by Festus – considered of little importance, and Paul of little danger. We know nothing more of Paul’s contact with the Roman government or the disposition of his case from the book of Acts.
Acts 28: 25-28 Paul’s citation of Isaiah 6: 9 -10 aroused disagreement among some of his listeners because it implied that the coming Jesus Christ was foretold in the Old Testament and that He would be rejected by His own people. Paul’s conclusion from the Old Testament passage was that God’s saving word had been extended to Gentiles, who would listen and understand.
Acts 28: 30 -31 Acts ends with Paul still a prisoner after two years of captivity, during which time he lived at his own expense and was allowed to have visitors , to whom he proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts ends at this point , and it may be that he was convicted and died in Rom at this time. There is testimony from other early church writers, however, that Paul was released, presumably because his case was either dismissed or found to be without merit, and that he engaged in active ministry for another several years before he was re-arrested and sent to Rome,, where he died under the persecution of Nero.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
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Thoughts? Reflections? Questions? Prayer.
Questions for fellowship generation, the lifelong sanctification process:
- What does the text reveal about God’s character?
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us?
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study?
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)?
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point?
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere.
- What did you find convicting and inspiring at the same time? Share with us how the Spirit of God is working within you as a messenger, both within and outside of our fellowship group.
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times.