Between Two Covenants

Rev. Mark C. Alvis, Union Congregational Church — Easter IV, April 29, 2007

Click here for PDF Format

Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God's will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John's baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all (Acts 18:18—19:7 NIV).

I want to begin this morning by explaining why I give a lot of history in my sermons. I know at times it may frustrate you and even bore you; but I do so because I am trying to help you understand the original context and meaning of the passage of Scripture from which I am preaching. This is important because when God gave us the Bible He used real people such as Moses, David, and Paul who were inspired of God to write truth and then present that truth to people with whom they rubbed shoulders. For example, the original people who heard from Moses were meant to understand his message and be helped by it.

Here is an important principle to remember: There is one original meaning to every text of Scripture, and then many legitimate applications. The closer our circumstances match the circumstances of the original hearers, the easier it will be for us to make application to ourselves.

Here is a danger: Often people today read the Bible as if it were written directly to them and so they say to themselves, “What does this passage mean to me?” That is an important question, but the more important question is, “What did this passage mean to the people who first received it?” Another way to say that is, “What did this passage of Scripture mean before I came along?” The better we answer that question, the better we can apply the truths and principles of the text to our lives.

Unquestionably, the Bible is intended for all people of all times in all cultures. Nevertheless, God sovereignly chose to write the Old Testament in Hebrew and Aramaic to Jewish people who lived thousands of years ago. He also chose to write the New Testament in Greek to people who lived over 1900 years ago. God did not choose to write the Bible in English to people living in the United States today. We must respect that. What this means is that when I read Paul’s letter to the Philippians I must endeavor to go to Philippi in my thinking and understand what it meant to the original hearers. If we do not consider the original setting and context of a passage, we can make horrible mistakes in applying it to ourselves. It is pretty clearly documented that cults are notorious for taking passages of Scripture out of context.

I believe that our text for this morning will reinforce the importance of keeping the original setting of Scripture passages in mind. Let’s read Acts 18:18-22:

Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time [about 18 months]. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea [an eastern harbor at Corinth] because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church [at Jerusalem] and then went down to Antioch.

A lifetime friendship developed between Paul, Aquila and Priscilla. I am sure that when they made tents together at Corinth and later at Ephesus they talked for hours about the truths of God’s Word, the glories of the New Covenant and the kingdom of God — which they labored to spread to all the nations. Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the importance of the kingdom of God in Paul’s teaching. In Acts 28:23, Luke explains that Paul met with the Jews at Rome and “from morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God .” How many Christians today can do that? Most of us are quite ignorant about God’s kingdom.

What is going on in verse 18, when Luke tells us that Paul cut off his hair because of a vow? In the Bible, vows (promises) were made to God when people faced enormous challenges and wanted to demonstrate how dependant they were upon God’s help. Most commentaries believe that Paul entered into a Nazarite vow described in Numbers 6. A Nazarite vow began with the shaving of one’s head and was completed in the same way. The normal length of this vow was thirty days. To finish a Nazarite vow required a person to present the following offerings at the temple in Jerusalem: a year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb as a sin offering, a ram for a fellowship offering, together with grain offerings and drink offerings. The hair which had been growing for a month was then cut off at the entrance of the temple and put into the fire of the fellowship offering.

Here is the hundred dollar question: How could the Apostle Paul offer animal sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem when he knew that Christ was the once for all time perfect sacrifice for sin? To be fair, the text does not specifically say that Paul entered into a Nazarite vow; and even if he did, it may have been a modified vow which did not include animal sacrifices. But here are some facts that we must acknowledge: The vow Paul took required him to cut off his hair. That strongly points to a Nazarite vow. We also notice that Paul would not stay at Ephesus when asked to do so, but instead journeyed to Jerusalem, which would be consistent if he was completing a Nazarite vow. But what about animal sacrifices? Paul certainly would not do that — would he? In Acts 21:23-26, there is clear indication that Paul did exactly that, along with four other Jewish Christian men.

To understand why Paul would do this, we must take ourselves back to his day and remember that Paul was living at the very beginning of the New Covenant Age and during the last days of the Old Covenant Age. Paul lived in a unique, transition period of time.

A person in the Bible who shared a similar kind of experience was David. If you remember, David was anointed by the prophet Samuel as Israel’s new king because God had rejected Saul as king due to his ongoing unfaithfulness. Nevertheless, after David was anointed king, Saul continued as the acting king of Israel. How did David handle the transition time between Saul’s rule and his rule? David honored king Saul. He did this even though continually Saul tried to kill him. David determined in his heart to respect Saul’s rulership until God Himself took Saul off the throne. God did this when He put Saul to death.

In the same way, Paul determined to honor the temple at Jerusalem, even though the New Covenant temple, the Church of Jesus Christ, had already been established and anointed with power in Acts 2. Paul understood that God Himself would dismantle that stone temple at Jerusalem in just a matter of years. Until God did so, Paul respected what God had ordained and used for hundreds of years.

Let me quickly add however, if the Jews had told Paul that he had to offer animal sacrifices at Jerusalem in order to be saved then Paul would have absolutely refused. Bottom line: we will never understand Paul’s actions unless we remember that Paul lived in a unique, overlap period between the Old and New Covenants. The Nazarite vow that Paul took is no longer possible. There is no stone temple nor are there animal sacrifices.

Our passage of Scripture this morning goes on to tell us about another unique phenomenon that only transpired during this overlap period of time. Please follow as I read verses 23-26:

After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there [this is the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey] and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

Apollos was tremendously knowledgeable of the Old Testament Scriptures because he understood they pointed to Christ. He was also enormously skilled in public speaking and debate. But let me tell you what made Apollos truly great. Along with his education and eloquence, he was teachable. That is a rare combination. When Aquila and Priscilla, a Jewish couple who made tents for a living, explained the way of God more completely to Apollos, he humbly received the truths they shared. It is good that he did because those two tent makers had been discipled by the Apostle Paul.

What does Luke mean when he writes that Apollos was only acquainted with John’s baptism? We will get additional help on this as we read Acts 18:27–19:7,

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples [of Christ] and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

John the Baptist was probably the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. His ministry was to prepare people to believe in and follow Christ. As great as John was, we must remember that he died before the Holy Spirit came in fullness at Pentecost. John’s baptism signified a person’s repentance from sin and anticipation of the Christ. When the Apostles baptized people after the day of Pentecost, it signified belief in Christ, union with Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, and cleansing from sin.

Here is an important fact to remember: A genuine believer in Christ today always has the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:9 we read, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Apollos and the other disciples Paul met at Ephesus all lived before Christ died on the cross and after Christ died on the cross. That is not true for any of us in this room. These men lived in a unique period of history. They had received truths about Christ that John the Baptist taught, but had not heard all the truth. They had not been instructed about the coming of the Holy Spirit arranged by the ascended Lord Jesus. Nor had they been taught the meaning of Christian baptism. I hope you also noticed that both Apollos and the other group of disciples immediately received further truth when they heard it. Their hearts were right with God. If they had rejected the additional truth they were told, it would have indicated their faith in Christ was not genuine.

A while back, Ida Dunham gave me an article from the Chicago Tribune about a group of people living in Iraq and Iran called Mandaeans. They look to John the Baptist and not Christ as their teacher and guide. Why would people want to follow John the Baptist, rather than Christ? After all, in Matthew 3:11 John himself testified, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry.”

The articles goes on to say that the Mandaeans have descended from one of the early gnostic groups, which claimed to be Christians but were not. Gnostics have always felt free to change or disregard Scriptures which do not agree with their enlightened thinking. Sounds like some of our mainline denominations today.

Let me ask you a question: What do you do if you come to a passage of Scripture that strikes you as harsh or unfair? If it happens to me, I know I have one of two problems. I either do not properly understand the passage, or I have an attitude adjustment to make so that my values line up with God’s values.

If Apollos lived today, he would be shocked at the doctrines of the Mandaeans who have wandered far from the teachings of John the Baptist. John’s whole purpose in life was to point people to Christ; and Christians, that is also our purpose.

If we are going to properly handle the Word of Truth today, we must endeavor to understand the original meaning of each passage we study. Then we must humbly apply those truths to our own lives and circumstances. We are totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit, who alone can enable us to do this. Let’s pray.

Sermon text ©2007 Mark C. Alvis
Bible text © as applicable