Issachar_Acts13 - The Visual Bible Explorer Series

Chapter 13 Acts 13

Barnabas and Saul Are Set Apart (vv. 1-3)

In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (called the Black ^a), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (who had been brought up with Governor Herod ^b), and Saul. ² While they were serving ^c the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, ^d “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the work to which I have called them.”
³ They fasted and prayed, placed their hands ^e on them, and sent them off.

Interesting Stuff:

^a ‘Simeon’ suggests Jewish background; other versions translate his name as ‘Niger’ (Latin for ‘black’) which may indicate his dark complexion.

^b It could be that Manaen, being the foster brother of Herod, was Luke’s source of information for material about Herod Antipas which is not found in the other Gospels (see Lk 9:7-9).

^c Some versions translate this word as ‘worshipping’ the Lord. The verb ‘worshipping’ means serving God, and is a Greek word originally used for doing public service at one’s own expense and was then applied to the service of the priests in the Temple. The thought here is that the church serves God when it gathers together, and since elsewhere fasting is associated with prayer, it was most likely that they were praying and waiting on the Lord, concentrating on serving Him and receiving His guidance.

^d To a church waiting on the Lord, His word came through His Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who appoints leaders in the church (cf. 20:28) and guides the church at crucial points. Most likely, He spoke through one of the prophets in the church. Note that Paul’s first missionary journey did not come about as a result of a planning session. It was initiated by the Spirit as the leaders worshipped.

^e Before they left, the church had a time to fast and pray for them, probably to intercede for their future missionary work. They were then commissioned by the church by their placing their hands on them before sending them off.

Questions:

Name some of the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch (v. 1).

Why were Barnabas and Saul set apart by the church in Antioch-of-Syria (v. 2)?

2. What did the church do after that (v. 3)?

Summary of Section:

In the church at Antioch, there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called the Black, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod, and Saul.
While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to them. He told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work to which He had called them.
The church fasted and prayed, placed their hands on them, and sent them off.

Nuggets of Wisdom

This is an important turning point in Luke’s story. In keeping with Jesus’ prophecy, the gospel had already been shared ‘in Jerusalem’ and ‘in all Judea and Samaria’. But nobody had as yet caught the vision of taking
the Good News to the nations overseas. Now the momentous step would be taken at the initiative of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13-14 contains the account of the first period of missionary activity carried on by Paul along with Barnabas. His general policy was to remain in one place until he had established the firm foundation of a
Christian community, or until he was forced to move by circumstances beyond his control.
In this section we see that this ‘missions trip’ was carried out by representatives of a particular church, rather than by solitary individuals (like in the cases of Peter and Philip). And it was begun by a deliberate church
decision inspired by the Holy Spirit, rather than as a result of persecution. Luke thus describes how the missionaries were appointed at a church meeting under the direction of the Spirit.
The laying on of hands was not to impart gifts or authority to Barnabas and Saul but it was the means by which the church of Antioch, through its leaders, expressed its fellowship with them and recognised them as its
‘apostles’. They were sent out by the whole church and it was to the whole church that they made their report when they returned to them later (14:26-27).

Barnabas and Saul at Paphos (vv. 4-12)

⁴ Having been sent by the Holy Spirit, ^f Barnabas and Saul went to Seleucia ^g and sailed from there to the island of Cyprus. ^{h 5} When they arrived at Salamis, ⁱ they preached the word of God in the synagogues. ^j They had John Mark with them to help them in the work.
⁶ They went all the way across the island to Paphos, ^k where they met a certain magician ^l named Bar-Jesus, ^m a Jew who claimed to be a prophet. ⁷ He was a friend of the governor ⁿ of the island, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor called Barnabas and Saul before him because he wanted to hear the word of God. ⁸ But they were opposed by the magician Elymas ^o (that is his name in Greek), who tried to turn the governor away from the faith. ⁹ Then Saul – also known as Paul ^p – was filled with the Holy Spirit; he looked straight at the magician ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the Devil! You are the enemy of everything that is good. You are full of all kinds of evil tricks, and you always keep trying to turn the Lord’s truths into lies! ¹¹ The Lord’s hand will come down on you now; you will be blind and will not see the light of day for a time.”
At once Elymas felt a dark mist cover his eyes, and he walked around trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the governor saw what had happened, he believed; for

Interesting Stuff:

^f Luke emphasises again that it was under the direction of the Holy Spirit that the missionaries set out.

^g Seleucia was the seaport of Antioch-of-Syria, some 26 km (16 miles) west of Antioch and 8 km (4-5 miles) upstream from the mouth of the Orontes River.

^h Cyprus was an island of great importance from very early times, being situated on the shipping lanes between Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece. In 57 B.C. it was taken over by Rome from Egypt and in 55 B.C. it became part of the province of Cilicia. Many Jews lived there and the gospel had already been preached there (see 11:19-20).

ⁱ Salamis was on the eastern coast of Cyprus, about 209 km (130 miles) from Seleucia. Salamis was the most important city of the island and the administrative centre for its eastern half. The capital was Paphos on the western part.

^j The population of Cyprus was predominantly Greek, but many Jews lived there as well. Thus Barnabas and Saul began their mission in the synagogues of the city, and John Mark was with them as their helper.

^k Paphos was at the western end of Cyprus, nearly 160 km (100 miles) from Salamis. It was the headquarters for Roman rule.

^l While sorcery and magic were officially banned in Judaism, there were still Jews who practised it.

^m ‘Bar’ is Aramaic for ‘son of’; ‘Jesus’ is derived from the Greek for ‘Joshua’.

ⁿ Since Cyprus was a Roman province, a proconsul or governor was assigned to it.

^o ‘Elymas’ means sorcerer, magician or wise man.

^p The names ‘Saul’ or ‘Paul’ mean ‘asked (of God)’ and ‘little’ respectively. Saul was his Hebrew name. As a Roman citizen, Saul was given an additional name called Paul (Roman name). His description of himself as ‘a Hebrew born of Hebrews’ (Php 3:5) shows that although his parents were not living in Jerusalem (they were Jews of the Diaspora – refer to ‘The Diaspora’, p. xxxi), they still strictly observed the Jewish Law. Since he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, his parents might have named him Saul, after the most important member of that tribe, Israel’s first king.

At this point in his narrative, Luke introduces Saul’s non-Jewish name because hereafter he would be moving and ministering to a predominantly Gentile population. After this, Luke refers to him only by the name Paul.

The order in which they are mentioned now changes from ‘Barnabas and Saul’ to ‘Paul and Barnabas’. It is significant that from this point on Luke always emphasises Paul’s leadership by listing him first when naming the missionaries. The exceptions were the few situations where Barnabas was more prominent, e.g., when they returned to Jerusalem (see 15:12).

Questions:

Describe where Barnabas and Saul went before they ended up in Paphos and what they did during their travels (vv. 4-5).

2. Give an account of the visit of Barnabas and Saul to Paphos on their first missionary journey (vv. 6-12).

3. Mention two incidents in which the apostles demonstrated their power over sorcery (8:9-13; 16:16-18).

Describe briefly another incident when Jewish exorcists were defeated in their efforts to imitate the power of the apostles. What effect did this have on the people of the city where it took place (19:13-20)?

Summary of Section:

Having been sent by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went to Seleucia and then to the island of Cyprus.
When they arrived at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues. John Mark was helping them with the work.
They went all the way across the island to Paphos. They met a Jewish magician named BarJesus, who claimed to be a prophet. His Greek name was Elymas.
Elymas was a friend of the governor of the island Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man.
The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.
Elymas opposed them by trying to turn the governor away from the faith.
Saul, also called Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit and looked straight at Elymas.
He accused him of being a son of the Devil, the enemy of everything good. Paul accused him of being full of all kinds of evil tricks and always trying to turn the Lord’s truths into lies.
Paul then told him that the Lord’s hand would come down on him and blind him for a period of time.
Immediately Elymas felt a dark mist cover his eyes and he had to fin someone to lead him by the hand.
When the governor saw what happened,

Nuggets of Wisdom

Luke emphasises once again that it was under the direction of the Holy Spirit that the missionaries set out.
There had already been some evangelism done in Cyprus (see 11:19), Barnabas himself having come from there. There was a substantial Jewish population there as indicated by the comment that they preached
in the synagogues.
Barnabas and Paul began their missions work by preaching in the synagogues. This was the pattern that was to be frequently followed wherever they went: they would preach to the Jews first.
The story shows that the Roman governing class were sympathetic to the gospel. In this instance, the superiority of the power of the gospel over that of pagan magic led the governor to believe in the gospel.
For the first time, Luke calls Saul by his other name of Paul. From now on, Luke would always use the name ‘Paul’. He also shows how Paul came to assume the leading position in the mission. It would seem that
despite the excellence of Barnabas’ gifts, he recognised that Paul possessed in an unusual measure the gifts of an evangelist. After this incident, Paul’s name would appear first before Barnabas.
The first major outreach of the gospel from Antioch by Barnabas and Saul encountered the false prophet and magician Bar-Jesus in Cyprus, just as the first major outreach from Jerusalem by Philip met up with
Simon the sorcerer in Samaria (8:9-25). But in both cases, the superior power of the gospel was demonstrated.

Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia (vv. 13-52)

¹³ Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, ^q a city in Pamphylia, ^r where John Mark left them ^s and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They went on from Perga and arrived in Antioch ^t in Pisidia ^u, and on the Sabbath they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After the reading from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the prophets, the officials ^v of the synagogue sent them a message: “Brothers, we want you to speak to the people ^w if you have a message of encouragement for them.” ¹⁶ Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak:
“Fellow Israelites and all Gentiles here who worship God: hear me! ¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors and made the people a great nation during the time they lived as foreigners in Egypt. God brought them out of Egypt by his great power, ¹⁸ and for forty years he endured them in the desert. ¹⁹ He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and made his people the owners of the land. ²⁰ All of this took about 450 years. ^x“After this he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. ²¹ And when they asked for a king, God gave them Saul son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, to be their king for forty years. ²² After removing him, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found that David son of Jesse is the kind of man I like, a man who will do all I want him to do.’ ²³ It was Jesus, a descendant of David, whom God made the Saviour of the people of Israel, as he had promised. ²⁴ Before Jesus began his work, John preached to all the people of Israel that they should turn from their sins and be baptised. ²⁵ And as John was about to finish his mission, he said to the people, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one you are waiting for. But listen! He is coming after me, and I am not good enough to take his sandals off his feet.’
²⁶ “My fellow Israelites, descendants of Abraham, and all Gentiles here who worship God: it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent! ²⁷ For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not know that he is the Saviour, nor did they understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Yet they made the prophets’ words come true by condemning Jesus. ²⁸ And even though they could find no reason to pass the death sentence on him, they asked Pilate to have him put to death. ²⁹ And after they had done everything that the Scriptures say about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from death, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now witnesses for him to the people of Israel. ^32-33 And we are here to bring the Good News to you: what God promised our ancestors he would do, he has now done for us, who are their descendants, by raising Jesus to life. As it is written in the second Psalm, ^y

‘You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.’
³⁴ And this is what God said about raising him from
death, never to rot away in the grave: ^z
‘I will give you the sacred and sure blessings
that I promised to David.’
³⁵ As indeed he says in another passage, ^a’
‘You will not allow your devoted servant to
rot in the grave.’

³⁶ For David served God’s purposes in his own time, and then he died, was buried with his ancestors, and his body rotted in the grave. ³⁷ But this did not happen to the one whom God raised from death. ^38-39 All of you, my fellow Israelites, are to know for sure that it is through Jesus that the message about forgiveness of sins is preached to you; you are to know that everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free. ⁴⁰ Take care, then, so that what the prophets said may not happen to you: ^b’

⁴¹ ‘Look, you scoffers! Be astonished and die!
For what I am doing today
is something that you will not believe,
even when someone explains it to you!’ ”

⁴² As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to come back the next Sabbath and tell them more about these things. ⁴³ After the people had left the meeting, Paul and Barnabas were
followed by many Jews and by many Gentiles who had been converted to Judaism. The apostles ^c’ spoke to them and encouraged them to keep on living in the grace of God.

⁴⁴ The next Sabbath nearly everyone in the town came to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; they disputed what Paul was saying and insulted him. ⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas spoke out even more boldly: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we will leave you and go to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For this is the commandment that the Lord has given us: d’

‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
so that all the world may be saved.’ ”

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the Lord’s message; and those who had been chosen for eternal life became believers.
⁴⁹ The word of the Lord spread everywhere in that region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up the leading men of the city and the Gentile women of high social standing who worshipped God. They started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of their region. ⁵¹ The apostles shook the dust off their feet ^e’ in protest against them and went on to Iconium. ^f’ ⁵² The believers in Antioch were full of joy and the Holy Spirit.

Interesting Stuff:

^q Perga was the capital of Pamphylia, a coastal province of Asia Minor between the provinces of Lycia and Cilicia. Asia Minor refers to the peninsula that forms the western half of modern Turkey. It must be distinguished from the ‘Asia’ of the NT which normally refers to the Roman province in its western part (refer to ‘Map of Regions Around the Mediterranean Sea’, p. xxxv).

^r Pamphylia was a geographically small and economically poor province on the southern coast of Asia Minor. It contained a mixed population and seemed to have been as open to the gospel as any other province. Luke, however, gives us no account of the evangelisation in Perga or its surroundings at this time.

^s It is not known why John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem. Paul was not happy and his dissatisfaction with John Mark’s departure is shown later (15:37-39).

^t Antioch in Pisidia was 177 km (110 miles) from Perga and was the leading city in that region. It was at the hub of good roads and trade. It was a Roman colony with a large Jewish population. As was his practice, Paul sought to preach in the synagogue as long as the Jews would allow him for he understood from the OT that God’s redemptive plan was for the Jews first (see v. 46). Moreover, the synagogue provided a ready-made preaching situation with a building, regularly scheduled meetings and a people who knew the OT.

^u Pisidia was a district north of Pamphylia which was located on the southern coast of Asia Minor.

^v These were also called rulers and were leaders responsible for calling readers and preachers, arranging the service and maintaining order.

^w It was customary to invite visitors, and especially visiting rabbis, such as Paul, to address the gathering.

^x This refers to the 400 years in Egypt, followed by the wilderness wanderings (40 years) and the occupation of the land (10 years).

^y This is taken from Ps 2:7, a psalm that describes the opposition of the nations and their rulers to the Lord’s anointed, i.e., the ruler of His people. This psalm was recognised as applying to the Messiah and the early Christians applied it to Jesus.

^z This is taken from Isa 55:3. It is the promise of preservation from death given to the promised offspring of David and applies not to David but to the Messiah.

^a’ This is taken from Ps 16:10 and is taken to refer to the Messiah, the descendant of David and not David himself as explained further by Paul in vv. 36-37.

^b’ This is taken from Hab 1:5. In its original context, the prophecy refers to the Israelites’ failure to recognise the Babylonian invasion as a divine judgment. Here Paul was warning of the danger of failing to recognise what was happening as truly being an act of God.

^c’ The term ‘apostles’ used here does not refer to the Twelve but refers in the broader sense to messengers of the gospel, in this case, Paul and Barnabas.

^d’ This is taken from Isa 49:6, one of the passages which talked about Israel being God’s Servant who is to act as a light to the nations and to be a means of salvation throughout the world. In v. 47, the Servant is identified as having a mission to Israel and must therefore be identified as a person or group of persons within Israel. The early Christians saw the fulfilment of the prophecy in Jesus. Here Paul is saying that the mission of the Servant is also the task of the followers of Jesus. Thus the task of Israel which she failed to carry out has passed to Jesus and then to his people as the new Israel: it is the task of bringing the light of revelation
and salvation to all the peoples.

^e’ It was customary for Jews to shake off the dust of a pagan town from their feet when they returned to their own land as a symbol of cleansing themselves from the impurity of sinners who did not worship God. For Jews to do this to their own fellow Jews was equivalent to regarding them as no better than unbelieving Gentiles.

^f’ Iconium, modern Konya, lay on the Roman road about 145 km (90 miles) east of Antioch in the same area of the province of Galatia. It was an important crossroad for trade and the agricultural centre
in the central plain of the province of Galatia.

Questions:

What happened to John Mark when Paul and his companions arrived in Perga (v. 13)?

2. What did Paul and his friends do when they arrived in Antioch in Pisidia (v. 14)?

3. What happened at the synagogue (vv. 15-16)?

4. Summarise briefly what Paul preached and show how his preaching was suited to the group of people there (vv. 16-41).

5. How did the people respond to his message (vv. 42-44)?

6. What was the reaction of the Jews to the crowds turning up at the next Sabbath (v. 45)?

7. How did Paul answer them (vv. 46-47)?

8. What was the response of the Gentiles to what Paul said (v. 48)?

9. Describe what happened as a result of all that was going on (vv. 49-52).

Summary of Section:

Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem.
They then went to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath, they went into a synagogue and sat down.
After the readings from the OT Scriptures, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, inviting them to speak if they had a message of encouragement for the people.
Paul stood up to speak and addressed the Israelites and Gentiles who worshipped God. He spoke about the following things:
i) God had chosen their ancestors to be His people and made them a nation, bringing them out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan.
ii) He gave them judges and later their first king, Saul. Saul was later replaced by David.
iii) Through King David who loved God and obeyed Him, God had promised a Saviour for the people of Israel.
iv) This was Jesus whom John the Baptist had foretold would come after him, whose sandals he was unworthy to untie.
v) The leaders and people in Jerusalem did not recognise him as the one foretold by the prophets. They asked Pilate to put him to death.
vi) They did everything to Jesus as foretold by the Scriptures. But God raised Jesus from death and he appeared to those who had followed him from Galilee who were now his witnesses.
vii) Jesus is the one through whom forgiveness of sins is preached to them. Everyone who believes in him is set free from their sins, something which the Law of Moses could not do.
viii) They were warned to take heed so that what the prophets foretold about their rejecting God’s message would not happen to them.
As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to come back the next Sabbath to tell them more.
Many Jews and Gentiles who were converted to Judaism followed them. They spoke to them and encouraged them to keep on living in the grace of God.
The next Sabbath nearly everyone in the town came to hear the word of God.
When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They disputed what Paul was saying and insulted him.
Paul and Barnabas spoke even more boldly and told them that it was necessary to speak God’s word to them first. However, since they rejected it, they would be going to the Gentiles because this was the
Lord’s commandment to them that they were to be a light to the Gentiles just as he was.
The Gentiles heard this and were glad and praised the Lord’s message. Those who had been chosen for eternal life became believers.
The word of the Lord spread everywhere in the region. But the Jews stirred up the leading men of the city and the Gentile women of high social standing who worshipped God. They started persecuting Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of the region.
The apostles shook the dust off their feet in protest and went on to Iconium.
The believers in Antioch were full of joy and the Holy Spirit.

Nuggets of Wisdom

The conversion of Sergius Paulus was, in fact, a turning point in Paul’s whole ministry. Earlier Cornelius had been converted apart from any prior commitment to Judaism, and the Jerusalem church had accepted his conversion to Christ. But the Jerusalem church never took Cornelius’ conversion as a precedent for reaching out to the Gentiles. Paul, however, saw in the conversion of Sergius Paulus further aspects of what a mission to Gentiles involved and was prepared to take this conversion as a precedent to begin his mission to them.
It is significant that from this point on (except for situations where Barnabas was more prominent), Luke always emphasises Paul’s leadership by listing him first when naming the missionaries.
No reasons were given as to why John Mark left. In any case, Paul’s strong opposition to him in 15:37-39 suggests that Paul was not happy with his departure from this first missionary journey.
At Pisidian Antioch, the typical pattern of Paul’s ministry was established: an initial proclamation in the synagogue to Jews and Gentile God-fearers and then, when refused an audience in the synagogue, a direct ministry to Gentiles. This pattern is reproduced in every city visited by Paul which had a sizable Jewish population except in the city of Athens.
Three missionary sermons of Paul are presented in Acts: the first here before the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, the second to Lystrans assembled outside the city gates (14:15-17), and the third before the Areopagus at Athens (17:22-31). There is enough in each account to suggest that whereas Paul preached the same gospel wherever he went, he altered the form of his message and adapted his message according to the audience he was speaking to.
His sermon here was essentially to a Jewish audience. He declared what God had promised in Scripture and how that had now been fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. He ended by proclaiming to them the offer of forgiveness of sins and the consequences if they reject that offer.
Here Luke introduces us to a pattern of events which was to be reproduced in one place after another to which the gospel was brought. Most times, the majority of the local Jews refused to accept the gospel (though in every place there were some who did believe) and it was accordingly proclaimed to Gentiles who embraced it in large numbers. It was regularly the God-fearing Gentiles who attended the synagogue that formed the nucleus of Paul’s ‘churches of the Gentiles’.
The Jewish leaders could not prevent the Gentiles from accepting the gospel but they could make the place too hot to hold the missionaries. They did this by prejudicing the authorities against them. The wives of many of these authorities, like well-to-do women in many other cities of the Roman world, were attracted to the Jewish religion and were found among the God-fearing Gentiles who frequented the synagogues. And it was through them that their husbands were influenced to the disadvantage of Paul and Barnabas.