3. .Speaking the "word" is permitted by the Ultimate Spirit

. . prevented by - Holy Spirit to speak - word in Asia . .not allowed them - Spirit of Jesus

16:6

16:1-16:10

16:1-10 He (Paul) also came down to Derbe and to Lystra. Now there was a certain disciple there who was called Timothy. He was the son of a faithful Jewish woman. But his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to take this man with him on his travels. So, taking him apart he circumcised him because of the Jews in that area. They knew that he (Timothy) had a Greek father. As they went through the cities they urged them (the disciples) to keep to the decrees decided upon by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. The churches were therefore

strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. As they went through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia. On coming opposite Mysia they attempted to go into Bithynia. But the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them. So passing by Mysia they came down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia appeared. He was begging him (Paul) and saying. Cross into Macedonia and help us. So after the vision that he saw we immediately sought to go forth to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.

After all they had been through Paul and Barnabas were still 'human' enough to have a major rift. By this stage there appeared to be a fluidity amongst who was with whom. In the above paragraph someone from Paul's group is directly relating what happened. Was Luke himself there? Also one wonders why the Spirit did not want the word preached to the Asians. Was it because of their lack of contact with both Jews and Greeks at that time? Paul finally did spend time there, at least in near Asia.

Another question concerns the heading of this Section which mentions "multiple voices". A look at the literal text shows the theme of people talking in every way. There are at least 32 different words to describe this (c/f the literal gospel translation in Version Five in Reality Search) Luke appears to be setting a framework in which 'the word' extends beyond a straight proclamation about Jesus being the Christ. Even in his gospel Luke was developing the idea of 'word' as a seed, egg etc and people being like a receptacle. This development continues. It connects in with the 'Living Word'' presented further in John's gospel. In the line of logic presented by Reality Search this 'living word' is a counter to 'the loud voice' .