Week 37 Acts 8
Right away after Stephen was executed chapter 8 opened with this: on that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land (the other versions I checked all said “all” and all said “except”).
So there are two facts.
1. all the believers in Jerusalem left town
2. the 12 apostles stayed in town.
The explanation for the exodus of the believers was persecution.
By contrast there’s no explanation about why the 12 apostles stayed-put.
The problem with non-explanations is that I’m left wondering ‘why?’ Why did the 12 stay? I start thinking about what the answer could be. I might develop a principle or a theory about it – maybe… Leadership Mobility Decisions During Times of Adversity.
There are a couple things I can do when faced with no explanation:
1. I can just read what’s in the text and decide to disregard speculative questions like ‘why did the 12 stay?’
2. I can try filling-in my own answers or explanations.
Readers do both. With #1 I think I’m on pretty solid ground – The Text. With #2 I have to keep in mind that Filling-In is a conjectural exercise and that what I end up with is: The Text + My Addition to The Text.
It’s worth remembering that The Text is The Text. My Addition to The Text isn’t.
Note: quote from Acts 8:2 (CSB)