Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

GREEN 'She and her household were baptized' 83

Paul and Silas are taken to the agora (ayopcx; 16.19);

• Roman officials appear repeatedly (apxovTSs; 16.19; OTpaTT|yoi;
  16.20,22, 35, 36, 38; pa(35ouxoi; 16.35, 38), as do concerns with
  Roman legal proceedings (e.g. 16.37 [aKaTcxKpioTOs]);^30 and


• Paul refers to his and Silas's Roman citizenship (16.37-38).

Moreover, in 16.20-21 Paul and Silas are said to be charged specifically as

persons 'disturbing our city', 'Jews', who 'are advocating customs that are

not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or to observe'. This contributes to the

overall portrait Luke is painting by emphasizing the degree to which Paul

and Silas have entered alien territory. The first charge reflects the well-

known Roman concern with peace and public order. The second and third

derive not from an outright ban on Jewish religion or practices but more

probably from the sort of 'judeophobia' that is well-documented in the

ancient world—in Alexandria and Rome, as well as more broadly.^31

Jeffrey Staley has suggested other elements of this narrative sequence

that mark Philippi as 'foreign territory' for the Pauline mission in Acts.

These include (1) Paul's vision (16.9-10) followed by an exorcism (16.16-

18), signifying a territorial gain for the kingdom of God; (2) the impor-

tance of the introduction of first-person plural narration at this juncture,

positing for Paul and his companions and for Luke's readers a group

identity ('we') over against the Macedonians ('they'); (3) the designation

79 (269); Richard S. Ascough, 'Civic Pride at Philippi: The Text-Critical Problem of

Acts 16.12', NTS 44 (1998), pp. 93-103; and for the text-critical question also, C.K.

Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (2 vols.;

ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994, 1998), II, pp. 778-80.

30. Brian Rapske examines a number of elements regarding legal processes and
    imprisonment in this episode, and especially underscores both how disorderly the
    Roman process has advanced in this instance and how concerned Luke's narration is
    with issues of honor and shame (Paul in Roman Custody [AICS, 3; Grand Rapids:
    Eerdmans, 1994], pp. 299-307).


31. See Peter Schafer, Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient
    World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997). Cf. also Whittacker, Jews
    and Christians—for Alexandria (pp. 99-103) and Rome (pp. 103-104). The legal issues
    are helpfully discussed in A.N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the
    New Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker
    Book House, 1978), pp. 78-83. Bede notes, 'The Romans had already decreed that no
    god was to be accepted unless approved by the senate' (Commentary on the Acts of the
    Apostles [ed. Lawrence T. Martin; CSS, 117; Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian, 1989], p. 137;
    cf. Cicero, De legibus 2.8.19); however, from a perspective within the Lukan narrative,
    Paul and his companions proclaim nothing other than the authentic faith of Israel.