COMPANIONS OF PAUL
A. P. Grant
Acts 13: 13; 19: 29; 20: 4, 5; 2 Timothy 4: 11
I was impressed with these references to Paul and those who accompanied him. In chapter 13
it is Paul and his company, and in chapter 19, fellow-travellers of Paul, and those who accompanied him in chapter 20. It is a company in which we would want to be included. Paul was a distinctive servant of the Lord, and in this book it is remarkable how there is a clear heavenly line. There had been an earthly centre in Jerusalem, but the Lord Jesus had been received up into heaven; it says He was “taken up from you into heaven”, Acts 1: 11. In chapter 2 the Holy Spirit came out of heaven. It is clear that is the line Paul is on; Christ, the heavenly Man, and the assembly too, a suited answer to the heavenly Man. That is the burden of Paul’s ministry. I was thinking of Stephen, too, who said, “Lo, I behold the heavens opened”, Acts 7: 56. In chapter 9 it is a light out of heaven. It was a distinctive light that Paul saw, and he had a word from the Lord Himself, an appearing. He says in 1 Corinthians 15, “and last of all ... he appeared to me also” (1 Corinthians 15: 8). How humble he was as to himself, “who am not fit to be called apostle” (v.9), but what affection he had for the Lord. I think the first mark of those who would be in Paul’s company would be affection for Christ.
In Acts 10 Peter had a vision of a certain vessel as a great sheet coming down from heaven. There is a clear line of what is heavenly in this book and it colours the whole dispensation. There is not much in Christendom at that level, because what Paul represents is not appreciated. It is an exercise with us to be maintained at the level of the distinctive character of Christianity, so that it might be shining brightly in our hearts. It means much to the Lord. Paul is thinking of securing an answer for the Lord’s heart. What was first with the Lord would be first with Paul, and is to be so with us.
In Acts 13: 1 we read of Paul and his company, not that that would make anything of Paul himself. In the previous section his name is changed from Saul to Paul, meaning ‘little’. How little he was in his own eyes. He said he was the greatest sinner but the least of all saints.
What a privilege it is to have a part with Paul in the testimony! But at this point we read that “John separated from them and returned to Jerusalem”. This refers to John Mark, who had been an attendant; Jerusalem was an earthly centre and he was attracted to that. He had lost for the moment the sense of the heavenly testimony and the brightness of it. The Jewish influence would have been strong with him; and earthly things can attract us. They may be different from what John Mark knew, but earthly things can still occupy us and draw us away from the distinctive light of Christianity. Mark returned to Jerusalem, but heaven was now the centre. The Lord was seeking to attract the saints away from the earthly centre to see the glory of Christ in heaven. It is remarkable in these chapters how much opposition the enemy would arouse to hinder Paul’s progress. He was taking the glad tidings westwards and was being prospered in the Spirit’s power; but on the other side in almost every place to which he went there was opposition to the glad tidings, to hinder the heavenly glad tidings especially.
In Acts 19: 28, 29 there was violent opposition, the enemy seeking to prevent this testimony. These two men, Gaius and Aristarchus, are called “fellow-travellers of Paul”. It was not an easy pathway and this is still the case, the enemy still seeking to hinder this line of ministry.
There was much suffering; it was not an attractive pathway to the flesh or to nature, but they were described as fellow-travellers of Paul. I was impressed by that expression. The testimony was in movement, requiring constant exercise. Paul refers elsewhere to those who sought him out diligently; it requires diligent exercise to be among Paul’s fellow-travellers. He says in chapter 20, “not knowing what things shall happen to me” (Acts 20: 22). What an exercise it would be to be with one like that, not sure what was to happen at the next step. It would keep us dependent and close to the Lord, and in exercise as to the Spirit’s movements. How sensitive Paul was to the word of the Spirit and the guidance of the Spirit.
In Acts 20 there is a remarkable list of names given, men of value, who were with Paul. Luke himself is here; although he is the writer of this book, he keeps himself out of sight, but other names are mentioned, those of Berea, of Thessalonica, of Derbe and of Asia. The Bereans would suggest those who searched out of the scriptures for confirmation, “daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”, Acts 17: 11. What a remarkable place the Thessalonians had in Paul’s affections. The notable thing about the saints there was that they were looking for the Lord’s coming, which should burn brightly in our hearts also. It says that they “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens”, 1 Thessalonians 1: 9, 10. That was a very strong feature of the Thessalonians. It would be a feature that marked those who were with Paul. The scripture also speaks of Gaius and Timotheus; what a support Timothy was to Paul, one who was of genuine feeling, like-minded, a child of Paul, who was available to serve. Tychicus is referred to in Paul’s epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians as one who would encourage the saints, build up the saints, a beloved brother. These are all features that would mark those who were with Paul. It is an exercise for us in our time to be marked by these features.
In 2 Timothy, near the end of Paul’s pathway, he speaks of Luke and Mark, both writers of gospels. It is Mark who had separated himself from Paul but had now been brought back, fully recovered. These two men have such an appreciation of Christ and are used by the Spirit to write gospels. What a service to the saints! I think it would be right to say that these gospels are coloured by the heavenly testimony as the writers had been with Paul; Mark especially as being recovered and being of value to Paul, “for he is serviceable to me for ministry”. Even although he had separated himself earlier, he is useful to Paul as recovered.
He would be marked by the freshness of one who had been recovered in his affections for Christ, and in the appreciation of what Paul spoke of as to Christ and the assembly. I think too that Mark would have the glad tidings before him; he commences his gospel, “Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God”. What a place Christ had in his heart! We see in Luke’s gospel how persons are secured for the assembly. Being with Paul coloured everything these men did and coloured their ministry. I thought that these companions of Paul would be an encouragement for us to be maintained in this heavenly testimony, in the superiority of Christianity to all that had gone previously, as marked by Christ in heaven and the Spirit here indwelling the assembly. May we be encouraged by these thoughts.
Word in meeting for ministry, Dundee
8 January 2002