Study Desk

Then he left and went to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue.

So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.

They accused Paul of "persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to our law."

As he left, however, he said, "I will come back later, God willing." Then he set sail from Ephesus.

When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.

Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God.

God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles.

I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

for I didn't shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.

"And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

After greeting them, Paul gave a detailed account of the things God had accomplished among the Gentiles through his ministry.

After hearing this, they praised God. And then they said, "You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously.

Then Paul said, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today.

"Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak.

Gazing intently at the high council, Paul began: "Brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience!"

But Paul said to him, "God will slap you, you corrupt hypocrite! What kind of judge are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that?"

"But I admit that I follow the Way, which they call a cult. I worship the God of our ancestors, and I firmly believe the Jewish law and everything written in the prophets.

I have the same hope in God that these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.

Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people.