“How Does the Story End?”

Sunday, December 01, 2024

In The Acts of the Apostles, Luke introduces the reader to a great many individuals whose stories are only known from his book. The early converts to Christianity are particularly meaningful to Christians today. We’re well acquainted with Jesus and his Apostles from reading the Gospels and Acts, but it’s tough for us to relate to these people who function as main characters in the Bible, because their gifts, their accomplishments, their status, and (in some cases) their sins appear far greater than ours. As relative nobodies, we can identify more easily with those who pop into the story briefly, and then are left to go about a fairly boring life, in comparison to the exploits of Jesus, Peter, or Paul.

Simon the Magician

Jesus had told his Apostles to spread his gospel far and wide, “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Ac 1.8). When the time came to evangelize Samaria, Philip had great success before any of the Twelve arrived. One new convert was a magician named Simon (8.9, 13). It’s likely that his magic took the form of cheap parlor tricks, because that’s mostly what’s available to the would-be sorcerer; but while today’s so-called magic readily admits to being clever illusion with the appearance of supernatural power, most such trickery in the past was used to support bogus claims of actual supernatural power. Simon became a Christian largely because he could tell the miracles being done were real.

Ethiopian Eunuch

Philip also taught the gospel to this man, as he traveled back home from worshiping in Jerusalem (8.27-28). Considering the fuss made over the conversion of Cornelius a few chapters later, it is clear that the Ethiopian was a Jew—likely a proselyte. Philip joined him in his chariot and explained how the Servant section of Isaiah (chs 41-53) predicted the Messiah, and was fulfilled by Jesus. He believed and was baptized along the side of the road, then went on his journey. We’d love to know what he did once he got back to Queen Candace’s court, but Luke leaves his story there, and we’re left speculating.

Aeneas

We don’t read of Aeneas’ conversion directly, but he was a man of the town of Lydda who was severely crippled, then healed by Peter in the name of Jesus (9.33-34). The result was that “all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord” (v35). It’s reasonable to assume that “all” is not meant in its strictest sense here; but also that Aeneas is among this staggering number of converts, being the one person who knew most certainly that he’d been healed, and in whose name. Aeneas is never mentioned again, and we’re left to imagine what he would have done in those circumstances.

Cornelius

Cornelius was already briefly introduced above. Although a gentile, he “feared God with all his household” and recognized the Jews as God’s people (10.2). God chose Cornelius to be the first gentile granted salvation through Jesus, partly because it was so plain that he was a friend of the Jews. The Apostles and elders in Jerusalem still had a hard time accepting that Cornelius and his family and friends were now their brothers and sisters! He, like the others on this list, is never mentioned again in the Bible. Can you imagine quietly going about a life of service to Jesus, while authorities in the church debate—in your absence—whether you can be saved from your sins in the first place?

Sergius Paulus

The only convert named in the course of Paul’s first missionary journey (Ac 13-14) is Sergius Paulus, the governor of Cyprus. Luke calls him “a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God” (13.7). Despite the efforts of his unbelieving advisor, Sergius “believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord” (v12). That’s the last we read of this man in the Bible; but it’s worth noting that Barnabas made at least least one more trip to Cyprus, within the next few years. Perhaps he found Sergius Paulus among a small but thriving church at Paphos.

Lydia

Paul encountered Lydia during his second missionary journey (Ac 16-18) in the town of Philippi. She was evidently a gentile, and as there was no synagogue in the city, she assembled with Jews and other God-fearing gentiles by the river to pray on the Sabbath. In most of the previous cases on this list, Luke records something blatantly miraculous that influenced the hearer to believe in the gospel; but that’s not the case, for Lydia! “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (16.14b). She and her household were soon baptized into Christ, and she immediately insisted on hosting Paul and his helpers while they stayed in Philippi. Paul was soon sent away by the civil authorities, but before he left town he made sure to stop and bid farewell to Lydia (v40). That’s the last we read of her.

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Many more names fit on this list, but these few help to demonstrate that the worldwide church mostly does not consist of Pauls and Peters. There are far more little people, whose names and stories are forgotten within a few years of their deaths; but they all are just as valuable in God’s eyes. We don’t even know whether any of these early converts stayed the course for the remainder of their lives. You don’t know all that remains of your story, either. How disappointed would you be, to learn that Simon, or Aeneas, or Lydia fell away from grace? Don’t let your story end with that disappointment. Instead, “stand firm thus in the Lord” (Php 4.1).

Jeremy Nettles

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