Category: Biblical People

Ananias (3) is a high priest and part of the religious Council, the Sanhedrin. This is at a time when the Jewish religious leaders are doing their best to get rid of Paul, trying to silence him forever or at least remove his influence on their community.

Paul, a prisoner for his beliefs and for telling others about Jesus, is brought before the Council. Paul looks at them and declares, “I’ve been faithful to God and have a clear conscience, up to this very day.”

At that moment Ananias orders someone near Paul to hit him in the mouth. We don’t know if this is a mere slap or a punch.

Regardless, Paul reacts. “You hypocrite! You claim to judge me according to the law, but you violate it by commanding someone to strike me.”

The people standing next to Paul inform him that he just insulted God’s high priest. 

Paul apologizes.

cWithout justification, he ordered that Paul be punished. 

Being high priest doesn’t give him the right to do that, but his position does give him the power, whether it’s okay or not. And the people support him in this.

Despite whatever good qualities Ananias may have, he’s a corrupt leader who uses his power to advance his personal agenda, opposing God’s plan in the process.

Whether we have little power or much, do we abuse what power we have or use it to honor God in all things?

[Discover more about Ananias in Acts 23:1–5 and Acts 24:1.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

After the riot in Ephesus, Paul travels to Macedonia. Luke lists the team who goes with Paul, or at least part of the team: Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus.

We’ve already covered Timothy, Aristarchus, and Gaius. We know nothing about Sopater because this is the only verse he appears in, and we know little about Trophimus.

That leaves Tychicus. 

Tychicus makes an appearance in five Bible verses. The first is in Acts, and the other four are in Paul’s letters. From these we learn that Tychicus is a trusted member of Paul’s team, someone Paul often dispatches as his representative.

Paul tells the church in Ephesus that Tychicus is a dear brother and faithful servant of God. Paul plans to send Tychicus to them to give a personal update with information that isn’t in his letter.

When Paul writes to his protégé Timothy, he confirms that he sent Tychicus to Ephesus. However, in Paul’s letter to his protégé Titus, he writes of his plan to send Tychicus (or Artemas) to fill in for Titus so he can come to visit Paul.

Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful missionary, and servant of God, helps Paul be more effective in ministry, serving as his ambassador and messenger.

These roles aren’t big, but they are important.

Regardless of the size of our assignment, are we a faithful servant of God?

[Discover more about Tychicus in Acts 20:4, Ephesians 6:21, Colossians 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:12, and Titus 3:12.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Aristarchus isn’t a leading player in the early church, but his name comes up on five occasions. From these we see a man committed to advancing the cause of Jesus.

We first encounter Aristarchus in Ephesus, during the riot caused by Demetrius (1) and his followers. Unable to locate Paul, the mob grabs Gaius and Aristarchus simply because they’re part of Paul’s team. Aristarchus and Gaius escape harm, but surely it must be a couple of tense hours as they wonder what will happen to them.

We see these two men a bit later when Paul travels through Macedonia. Not only are Aristarchus and Gaius part of his squad, so too are Sopater, Secundus, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus.

When Paul writes to his friend Philemon, Aristarchus is present and sends his greeting to Philemon. In this correspondence, Paul calls Aristarchus one of his “fellow workers,” along with Mark, Demas, and Luke.

Much later in Paul’s life, as a prisoner, he boards a ship headed for Rome. Aristarchus is with him. We don’t know if Aristarchus is also a prisoner or merely there to support Paul. However, when Paul writes to the church in Colossae, he does refer to Aristarchus as a fellow prisoner.

Though we don’t know much about him, Aristarchus is part of Paul’s missionary team, is esteemed as a fellow missionary, and suffers in prison for the work he has done.

Like Aristarchus, are we content to play a supporting role in a greater ministry?

[Discover more about Aristarchus in Acts 19:29, Acts 20:4, Acts 27:2, Colossians 4:10, and Philemon 1:24.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

John writes a letter to his dear friend Gaius. It’s recorded for us in the Bible. This is likely the same Gaius grabbed by the riotous crowd in Ephesus. 

He, along with Aristarchus, goes with Paul, traveling to tell others about Jesus. This makes Gaius a missionary.

John’s letter to Gaius is a short message. It’s a warm letter, full of encouragement and affirmation. John also reinforces some teaching with Gaius. Then John tacks on a short testimony about Demetrius (2).

It seems Gaius knows Demetrius, or John anticipates the two of them will interact. John simply writes that everyone speaks well of Demetrius. It’s important to John that Gaius knows this.

We get one more insight into Gaius as Paul wraps up his book to the Romans. He notes that Gaius sends greetings to the Roman followers of Jesus, making mention of Gaius’s hospitality.

Paul has enjoyed Gaius’s hospitable nature and so has the whole church. We don’t know where this church is, but his hospitality is well-known in the area.

Gaius first travels as a missionary and later opens his home to other missionaries as they travel.

Are we known for our hospitality? If not, what should we do about it?

[Discover more about Gaius in Acts 19:29, Romans 16:23, and 3 John 1:1.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Paul travels to Ephesus to help the believers there and spread the word about Jesus. Paul stays there for a couple years. First, he preaches with boldness in the synagogue, and later he leads discussions in a lecture hall. Under God’s power, Paul performs some amazing miracles.

As Paul prepares to leave Ephesus, a tradesman named Demetrius sparks some serious opposition. He’s a silversmith who specializes in making silver shrines for Artemis, a local deity whose temple is in the city.

Demetrius opposes Paul, not because of theological disagreement (not really) but because of financial threat. Demetrius and the other craftsmen earn their living making things for the worship of Artemis. He fears that as people turn to Jesus, they’ll stop buying Artemis-related products. 

He gathers his fellow tradesmen together and makes a passionate plea for them to act. Even though he has a profit motive, he argues that Jesus’s followers are discrediting Artemis and robbing her of her divinity. He stirs them into a riotous fervor. 

The mob rampages, shouting, “Hail Artemis, god of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city is in an uproar.

They grab some of Paul’s ministry team, Gaius and Aristarchus, when they can’t find Paul. Then they push Alexander forward to talk, but when he starts speaking, they realize he’s a Jew and shout him down.

The tumult continues for two hours.

Eventually the city clerk quiets the crowd. He appeases them by affirming Artemis’s greatness, but he also confirms that Paul and the other believers haven’t wronged Artemis.

He tells Demetrius and his crew that if they have a grievance, they must address it through proper channels. Then he chastises the crowd for their riotous behavior and sends everyone home.

The Bible tells us nothing more about Demetrius’s opposition to Jesus’s followers, so we can assume this is where the story ends. 

Demetrius masked his personal agenda in religious terms. How often do we do the same?

[Discover more about Demetrius in Acts 19:23–41.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Apollos is a Jew from the city of Alexandria, but he later moved to Ephesus. Well-educated, Apollos has a deep knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures. He knows about God’s ways, is a charismatic speaker, and teaches others. Though what he says is correct, he doesn’t know the whole story. He only knows about John’s baptism. 

When Priscilla and Aquila hear Apollos speak, they’re impressed. They invite him into their home to tell them Jesus’s story, for whom John prepared the way. 

Armed with this knowledge, Apollos wants to go to Acacia. The church in Ephesus encourages him to go. They write letters of introduction for him. When he arrives, he helps the believers there. He engages in public debate with Jewish opponents, using the Scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Messiah.

This is the last we hear directly about Apollos’s work. However, in some of Paul’s letters we get glimpses of how powerful and effective he is at spreading the good news of Jesus.

When Paul writes to the church in Corinth, he implies that Apollos’s teaching is equal to his own and Peter’s. The only problem is that people are aligning themselves with one of these three teachers—human, fallible leaders. Then Paul adds, “I plant the seed, Apollos waters it, but God makes it grow.”

When God calls us to a task, are we ready to acknowledge his role in the outcome?

[Discover more about Apollos in Acts 18:23–28, 1 Corinthians 1:12, 1 Corinthians 3:4–6, 1 Corinthians 3:21–23, 1 Corinthians 4:6–7, 1 Corinthians 16:12, and Titus 3:13.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Exiled from Rome, Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, are missionaries who work with local churches and help other missionaries. Tentmakers, like Paul, they first meet him in Corinth where they work together. Later they travel to Syria and then to Ephesus.

While Paul goes on, Priscilla and Aquila stay in Ephesus to help that church grow. 

In Ephesus they meet Apollos. An educated man, he tells others about God with much zeal, but he only knows about the baptism of John. Priscilla and Aquila explain the full story of Jesus to him. Then Apollos goes out on his own to tell others about Jesus.

In his letters, Paul calls Priscilla and Aquila his coworkers, confirms they risked their lives for him, and affirms the church’s appreciation for their work.

Later Priscilla and Aquila are back in Rome when Paul writes to that church, and they are with Timothy when Paul sends his second letter to the young preacher.

However, when Paul writes again to the church in Corinth, Priscilla and Aquila are with him. At some point they start a house church, but the Bible doesn’t tell us where.

The Bible always mentions Priscilla and Aquila together, never as individuals. They work as a team. That’s how they can best help the church of Jesus grow.

What’s interesting is that contrary to the cultural norm of listing the husband, Aquila, first and the wife second, Luke and Paul usually name Priscilla first and then Aquila.

While we could assume this means Priscilla takes a lead role in their work, another understanding is that they are equal partners, with both Luke and Paul often mentioning Priscilla first to show her equality in ministry. 

If we serve God with our spouse, do we work as equal partners, or does one lead and receive all the credit?

[Discover more about Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18:1–3, 18:18–19, 18:24–26, Romans 16:3–4, 1 Corinthians 16:19, and 2 Timothy 4:19.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

After Paul and Silas’s encounter with Lydia, the fortune-teller, and the jailer, they leave Philippi and head for Thessalonica. As is Paul’s practice, he heads to the local synagogue. For three Sabbaths, he tells the Jews about Jesus. Some decide to follow Jesus, including some God-fearing Greeks and women of influence.

But as is the case during a time of spiritual revival, not everyone is happy. Other Jews grow jealous of Paul and Silas’s success in getting people to turn to Jesus. Instead of seeing God at work, they see this as opposition to their religious status quo. They must stop Paul and Silas before they lose any more of their followers and any more of their influence.

So what do they do? 

They hire some slackers to form a mob and start a riot. Then the frenzied horde rushes into Jason’s house looking for Paul and Silas. It’s likely the local followers of Jesus were meeting in Jason’s home, and the mob assumed Paul and Silas would be there.

Nonetheless, when the rioters can’t find Paul or Silas, they grab Jason and the other believers who are there. They drag them before the authorities. There they make accusations against Team Jesus and condemn Jason for opening his home to them. They also charge the believers for opposing Roman rule by serving a different king—Jesus.

The city officials and the crowd freak out when they hear this, so they make Jason and the believers post bail before letting them go. Then, as soon as it gets dark, Paul and Silas sneak out of town. 

Much later, as Paul wraps up his letter to the church in Rome, he adds greetings from Timothy, Lucius, Sosipater, and Jason. Assuming this is the same Jason, we see that despite his ordeal in Thessalonica, he continues to help Paul in his ministry.

Sometimes there’s a risk for following Jesus. Are we willing to take those risks?

[Discover more about Jason in Acts 17:5–9 and Romans 16:21.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

After casting the fortune-telling spirit out of the slave girl, freeing her from possession in the spiritual realm and exploitation in the physical realm, Paul and Silas end up in trouble.

Though this is Paul’s doing—when he commanded the spirit to come out of the fortune-teller—Silas is guilty by association. Dragged before the authorities, Paul and Silas are stripped, flogged, and thrown into prison.

Instead of feeling sorry for their predicament, they spend their time in jail praying and singing about God. They have a captive audience. All the other prisoners hear their impromptu concert.

This goes on until midnight. I wonder if the prisoners are inspired by the praise music or angry about having their sleep interrupted.

Suddenly an earthquake shakes the prison, the doors fly open, and everyone’s chains fall off. They’re free! 

The jailer awakes and assumes all his prisoners have escaped. He prepares to kill himself because he faces an even worse fate from his Roman boss. But Paul intervenes, “Wait, don’t do it! We’re still here.”

The jailer calls for a torch, rushes to Paul and Silas, and falls before them, shaking in fear. He asks, “How can I get right with God?” Paul and Silas explain Jesus to him.

After he treats their wounds, Paul and Silas baptize him and his family. Then, full of joy, he brings them into his home, and they share a meal.

The Philippian jailer made a wrong assumption and almost killed himself. Fortunately, he didn’t, and was able to receive the saving goodness of Jesus.

Do we ever jump to the wrong conclusions and get in the way of what Jesus is trying to do?

[Discover more about the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:22–40.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Paul mentors many leaders in the church, and Timothy is one of them. Timothy later becomes a pastor, and Paul writes two letters of encouragement and instruction to him.

But we first encounter Timothy in the city of Lystra. He is a disciple of Jesus. And he has a mixed heritage. His mother, a Jew, is also a believer, but his father is Greek.

Paul affirms Timothy’s sincere faith, which started with his grandma Lois, moved to his mother Eunice, and now lives in him. What a godly legacy. The church in Lystra also speaks well of him. 

Paul develops a real affinity for Timothy, referring to him as “a true son in the faith.” Since there’s nothing to indicate that Timothy’s Greek father shares his faith, it’s not surprising that Paul emerges as a father figure for the young man.

Throughout the book of Acts, we often see Timothy working in a key role as part of Paul’s ministry. Paul calls him a coworker. Sometimes Timothy travels with Paul and other times Paul sends Timothy on special missions.

Timothy’s name also pops up in Paul’s two letters to the churches in Corinth and Thessalonica, as well as his letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

Timothy’s inclusion in each of these letters confirm his role in helping the church grow and advance the cause of Jesus.

Is there someone we can mentor, just like Paul mentored Timothy?

[Discover more about Timothy in Acts 16:1–2, Acts 17:14–15, Acts 18:5, Acts 19:22, Romans 16:21, 1 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Timothy 1:1–5, and 2 Timothy 1:5.]

Read more about other biblical characters in The Friends and Foes of Jesus, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.