Acts 27

Acts 27

Acts 15:22-24 in Latin (left column) and Greek (right column) in Codex Laudianus, written about AD 550.
Book Acts of the Apostles
Bible part New Testament
Order in the Bible part 5
Category Church history

Acts 27 is the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the journey of Paul from Caesarea heading to Rome, but stranded for a time in Malta.[1] 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.[2]

Text

The original text is written in Koine Greek and is divided into 44 verses. Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:

Integrated map of Crete

Location

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

Structure

This chapter can be grouped:

Verse 1

And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment.[3]

Verse 21-26

In verses 21-26 Paul encourages and comforts those men on board, even though they had ignored his advice about sailing that he gave in verse 10.[4]

Calculation of position

The meteorological and nautical evidence demonstrates, and in rather spectacular fashion, that these events must have occurred just as Luke records them. The most important piece of evidence is the exact compass bearing of the gale. This bearing can be established by means of three separate calculations.

These three calculations establish that the direction from which the wind was blowing could not have been more than a point off the designation E.N.E. 1/2 N. As the ship drifted west from Clauda, it would have been pointed due north, because it could not have been pointed directly into the wind without capsizing. In other words, it had to have been pointed north, just off the direction from which the wind was coming. Using this information, with some precision both the direction and rate of the ship’s drift to the west can be calculated.[5]

Ancient records reveal that Egyptian grain ships were the largest vessels of the time, being about the size of an early nineteenth century sailing vessel. This size is implicitly confirmed by Luke’s statement that there were 276 people on board. Since their ship was pointed due north, while the wind was from the northeast, the azimuth, or direction, of the ship’s lateral - or sideways - drift from Clauda would have been approximately west eight degrees north. The island of Malta is not directly west of Clauda. Instead, Malta’s bearing from Clauda is exactly west eight degrees north.[5]

This brings to yet another piece of evidence. Luke states that it took them fourteen days to drift to Malta. The distance from Clauda to the easternmost point of Malta is 476.6 miles. To calculate the westward rate of drift of their ship, it is necessary to know two things: the size of the ship and the force of the gale. As the approximate size of the ship is known, it is possible to establish the mean intensity of the gale. An average rate of drift for Paul’s vessel can then be calculated. This calculation reveals an average westward drift of one and one half miles per hour. Thus it would take Paul’s ship about thirteen days to drift to Malta. Luke records that it took them fourteen days. This nautical and meteorological evidence provides with a confirmation of the historical accuracy of Luke's narrative.[5]

Shipwreck location on Malta

Bob Cornuke and Graham Hutt claim that the location of the shipwreck was at St. Thomas Bay on the southeast of Malta on a sandbar called Muxnar Reef. However the traditional location is called St. Paul's Bay. Four Roman era anchors from this location are in the maritime museum at Valetta.[6] Valetta also hosts a church named Collegiate Parish Church of St Paul's Shipwreck. Yet another theory is that the shipwreck was off Qawra Point and outside Salina Bay. A number of anchor stocks have been found in the area.[7]

Applications

Matthew Henry draws out several points from this chapter to apply to lives of Christians. From verses 1-11 he draws an analogy with those that do not make any headway in life, they fail to take advantage of favourable conditions, even if they resist being driven backwards. Many complain of the great effort just to stay in one place. But then fail to take advantage of good advice to advance in life. Also not all fair havens are safe havens.[4] On verses 12-10 it states that one should not assume the purpose is achieved when starting out. Blessing of the world can turn out to be an unwanted burden, and may have to be discarded, just as things were thrown off the ship in the storm. It is better to make a shipwreck of one's goods than of one's life. But some do the reverse. In the same way that the efforts of the sailors proved useless to saving the ship, and safety only resulted when they gave up, sinners have to give up on saving themselves and rely on the mercy of Jesus.[4] On verses 21-29 Matthew Henry makes the point that those that are interest in God's promises should be ever cheerful, because God is faithful. Hope is an anchor for the soul.[4] On verses 30-38 Matthew Henry's point is that people should take proper safety precautions and not tempt God by failinng to take them, and only trusting in him. It is selfish to only look after our own safety at the expense of others. (Commenting on the sailors trying to get away in the lifeboat by themselves). Salvation is via God's plan, which is repentance, faith, prayer and obedience, and not some other shortcut.[4] On verses 39-44 he comments that a heart stuck to the world will be lost.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
  2. ↑ Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  3. ↑ Acts 27:1
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Acts 27". Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary.
  5. 1 2 3 Paul's Shipwreck on Malta from the "Evidence and Paul's Journeys" (Paperback) by Jefferson White. Publisher: Parsagard Press (January 24, 2001). ISBN 978-0970569509
  6. ↑ "Searching for Paul's Shipwreck on Malta". CBN.com (beta). CBN. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  7. ↑ Franz, Gordon (13 September 2012). "Benedict's Anchor: Was It From the Shipwreck of the Apostle Paul on Malta?". www.biblearchaeology.org.
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