22 EKOBEE

“Nu [Jɛhova] Gbī Alu Edoo”

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Pɔɔl bee kpɛ̄naloo edoo nu Bari gbī, nyɔɔwo a bee kii Jerusalɛm

Dɛɛa nyɔɔ Doonu 21:1-17

1-4. Ena anua Pɔɔl aa kii Jerusalɛm a, e ena esira ye loo bie lo kɛ̄ a?

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“Sɔ̄ I Elua Mmsī Saiprɔs” (Doonu 21:1-3)

5. Mɛ kɛ̄ na Pɔɔl le pya a bee ye le loo bee tɛ̄ma kii Taia a?

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6. (a) Ena anua mɛm bee yiiloo Pɔɔl sɔ̄ a bee muɛ Saiprɔs a? (b) Sɔ̄ o kɛɛrɛbu loo kɛ̄ Jɛhova eyerebah a nɛ sa a nɛ leelee doo, amunu pah na a a ɛrɛ nyɔɔ a?

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I Gbī “Pya A Wee Nyɔɔnɛ Jizɔs Muɛ” (Doonu 21:4-9)

7. Ena pya a bee le dee kiā ama doo sɔ̄ ba ina Taia a?

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8. Ena ue a le bu kpa Doonu 21:4 kura a?

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9, 10. (a) Mɛ dua kɛ̄tɔɔ̄ Pɔɔl ebee tɛɛ̄ bu na a bee ye nyɛŋiabu sɔ̄ pya nɛɛ Taia bee ye bara kɔ aa kii Jerusalɛm a? (b) Amunu ekɛɛrɛ na a bokɛ̄ anii’ee a, e bu mɛ sīdee na alu kiiyasī loo pya ue Jizɔs a?

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Following Jesus requires a self-sacrificing spirit

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11. Bu mɛ sīdee na pya a wee nyɔɔnɛ dumɛ Jizɔs a le Taia wereloo sa yerekpotɛ̄ Pɔɔl a?

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12, 13. (a) Amunu le edoba na Filip sere a? (b) Amunu le edoba na Filip serekɛ̄ nɛ pya tɛ alu Nɛɛ Kraist anii’ee a?

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14. Ena a bee sira sɔ̄ Pɔɔl bee siloo pya ye wuga bu yira a, e bu mɛ sīdee na i wa dap nɔ anii’ee a?

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CAESAREA—ROMAN PROVINCIAL CAPITAL OF JUDEA

During the period covered by Acts, Caesarea was the provincial capital of the Roman province of Judea, the seat of its governor and the headquarters of its military contingent. Herod the Great built the city and named it in honor of Caesar Augustus. Caesarea contained all the elements common to pagan Hellenistic cities of the day—a temple dedicated to the “divine” Caesar, a theater, a hippodrome, and an amphitheater. The population was predominantly Gentile.

Caesarea was a fortified port city. Herod’s ambition was that his new harbor complex called Sebastos (Greek for Augustus), equipped with a huge breakwater on a coast otherwise inhospitable to shipping, would rival Alexandria as the emporium of the eastern Mediterranean. Although it never surpassed Alexandria, Caesarea did achieve international importance because of its strategic position on major trade routes.

The evangelizer Philip preached the good news in Caesarea, and it seems that he raised his family there. (Acts 8:40; 21:8, 9) It was the city where the Roman centurion Cornelius was stationed and was the scene of his conversion.—Acts 10:1.

The apostle Paul visited Caesarea a number of times. Shortly after his conversion, when enemies plotted to kill him, the disciples hurried their new brother the 55 miles (90 km) from Jerusalem to Caesarea in order to send him off by boat to Tarsus. Paul passed through Caesarea’s port when heading for Jerusalem at the end of his second and his third missionary journeys. (Acts 9:28-30; 18:21, 22; 21:7, 8) He was held for two years in Herod’s palace in Caesarea. Paul there conversed with Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, and from there he finally sailed to Rome.—Acts 23:33-35; 24:27–25:4; 27:1.

COULD WOMEN BE CHRISTIAN MINISTERS?

What was the role of women in the first-century Christian congregation? Could women be ministers?

Jesus instructed his followers to preach the good news of the Kingdom and to make disciples. (Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8) This commission to be ministers of the good news applies to all Christians, whether men, women, boys, or girls. That this is so can be seen from the prophecy found at Joel 2:28, 29, which the apostle Peter showed had a fulfillment at Pentecost 33 C.E.: “‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out some of my spirit on every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy . . . and even on my male slaves and on my female slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’” (Acts 2:17, 18) As we have noted, the evangelizer Philip had four daughters who prophesied.—Acts 21:8, 9.

When it came to teaching within the congregation, however, God’s Word limited the appointment of Christian overseers and ministerial servants to men. (1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9) Paul, in fact, stated: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but she is to remain silent.”—1 Tim. 2:12.