Acts 16 - Acts 16

Acts 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the second missionary journey of Paul, together with Silas and Timothy. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.

Text

The original text is written in Koine Greek and is divided into 40 verses. Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:

• Codex Vaticanus (AD 325-350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330-360)
• Codex Bezae (c. 400)
• Codex Alexandrinus (c. 400-440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. 450; extant: verses 1-36)
• Papyrus 127 (5th century; extant: verses 1-4, 13-40)
• Codex Laudianus (c. 550)

Location

This chapter mentions the following places (in order of appearance):

Timeline

The second missionary journey of Paul took place in c. AD 49.

Structure

This chapter can be grouped:

• Acts 16:1-5 = Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
• Acts 16:6-10 = The Macedonian Call
• Acts 16:11-15 = Lydia Baptized at Philippi
• Acts 16:16-24 = Paul and Silas Imprisoned
• Acts 16:25-34 = The Philippian Jailer Saved
• Acts 16:35-40 = Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly

The Man of Macedonia

Verses 9-10 record a vision in which the Paul is said to have seen a 'man of Macedonia' pleading with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us”. The passage reports that Paul and his companions responded immediately to the invitation. The passage is considered to echo Joshua 10:6 in which the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua saying " ... come up to us quickly, save us and help us". The first seal of Massachusetts Bay Colony had an American Indian with a scroll coming out over his mouth with the words "Come over and help us", also said to echo the words of the man of Macedonia.

Verse 1

Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.

• "Timothy" or "Timotheus" is the son of Eunice, a Jewish woman whose name is mentioned in 2 Timothy 1:5.

Verse 31

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”