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We follow the footsteps of the apostle from Athens to Corinth, from Corinth to
Ephesus, on to Troas and finally private witness at Jerusalem, and on seven more
occasions the Scriptures record his faithful "reasoning" and "disputing".
"He reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the
Greeks" (Acts 18: 4).
"And he came to Ephesus . . . . . entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the
Jews" (Acts 18: 19).
"And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months,
disputing (reasoning) and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God . . . . . he
separated the disciples, disputing (reasoning) daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And
this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the
word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19: 8, 9, 10).
"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached (reasoned) unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his
speech until midnight . . . . . and as Paul was long preaching . . . . ." (Acts 20: 7, 9).
"And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix
trembled" (Acts 24: 25).
There are one or two features of special importance that must not be overlooked in this
record. The apostle's "reasoning" at Ephesus was so helpful that the Jews desired him to
tarry longer, but although he had to leave them he promised to return. This he did, and
for the space of another three months he "disputed" or "reasoned" with them. The goal
of this disputing was their "persuasion", the subject of their persuasion was "the kingdom
of God", while the persuasion itself was an act of faith, peitho being allied with pistis
"faith". When separation became necessary, the disciples were removed from the
synagogue and the little company met in a school, and this witness continued for two
years, and as a result of this two years "disputing" all that dwelt in Asia heard the word of
the Lord Jesus. Here we have the seal of God upon this sanctified exercise of reason,
confirmed by signs and wonders wrought by the hands of Paul. In Acts 20: 7 and 9
dialegomai is actually translated "preach" in the A.V. which the R.V. changes to
"discourse". A very little while after this, the apostle summed up his ministry saying that
he had kept back nothing that was profitable, but that he had showed, and taught, in
public and private, testifying repentance and faith, and that as a consequence he was
"pure from the blood of all men".
Finally, when Paul had the opportunity of preaching the gospel to a Roman Governor,
we are told that he "reasoned" of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come.
These nine passages that reveal Paul's accustomed manner of preaching are given us as a
"pattern", and we should be very suspicious of that form of teaching that says, because
man has fallen and his faculties have become warped by sin, that we should exclude
"reason" and simply accept upon the authority of anyone who cares to lord it over our
faith any doctrine that may be brought forward.
The Bereans were well pleasing to the Lord for the very opposite quality. They did
not "accept" without previous examination, they search the Scriptures daily, to discover
whether the things taught by Paul were "so". In the next article of this series we will
devote all our available space to the examination of Paul's epistles in order to discover
his use of what we call "the logical particles" of discourse. While we must never be