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| Chapter 13 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 4 ¶ So they, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had also John in their ministry. 6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9 Then Saul (who also is called Paul) filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him 10 and said, "O, full of all guile and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11 And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 13 Now when Paul and his company cast loose from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. 14 ¶ But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15 And after the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, "Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." 16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said: "Men of Israel and ye that fear God, give hearing! 17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm He brought them out of it. 18 And for about forty years, He suffered their ways in the wilderness. 19 And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land among them by lot. 20 And after that, He gave unto them judges for about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21 And afterward they desired a king, and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for the space of forty years. 22 And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ’I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, who shall fulfill all My will.’ 23 Of this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. 24 John had first preached before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was fulfilling his course, he said, ’Whom think ye that I am? I am not He. But behold, there cometh One after me, the shoes of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’ 26 "Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet understood the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. 28 And though they found no cause for death in Him, yet they asked Pilate that He should be slain. 29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulcher. 30 But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and He was seen many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people. 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings of the promise which was made unto the fathers: 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ’Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.’ 34 And concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said thus: ’I will give you the sure mercies of David.’ 35 Wherefore He saith also in another Psalm: ’Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.’ 36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption. 37 But He whom God raised again saw no corruption. 38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the Prophets: 41 ’Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work your days, a work in which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.’" 42 ¶ And when the Jews had gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy, and spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, ’I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest bring salvation unto the ends of the earth.’" 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49 And the Word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their borders. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. |
Luke had concentrated mainly on the outreach in and around Jerusalem during the earlier records in Acts, now the record moves out into other area’s, mainly centered upon Antioch in Syria. Luke starts with a list of five men who are involved in the ministry in the Antioch church. They were serving as prophets and teachers. Barnabas, who was known earlier, Acts 4:36-37; Acts 9:27; Acts 11:22-26. Simeon, who may have been from Africa as he was also called "Black." Lucius from Cyrene Acts 11:20 who may have been one of the those who started the church. Manaen, who was a close friend or relative of Herod the Tetrarch (Antipas). The one who killed John the Baptist, Mark 6:20-28. Last in the list, Saul, later to become Paul. v2-3 The Holy Spirit sends a message to these church ministers to separate Barnabas and Saul for the work God wants them to do. Paul had already been called by God Acts 9:15, now He tells Barnabas to join in the work with Saul. The church now prays and confirms their support in the calling to the work. Barnabas and Saul also take John Mark when they departed for Seleucia. Acts 12:25. Mark was the cousin of Barnabas Col 4:10. v4-7 Barnabas comes from Cyprus Acts 4:36 so it was obvious that Cyprus would be their first area of the ministry. They started at Salamis on the eastern end of the island, then moved onto Paphos, the capital, at the western end where they meet a problem for their ministry. An unusual situation, a Jewish false prophet and sorcerer who was called Bar-Jesus (Translated "Son of Jesus, Joshua) Elymas means "wise man" or "sorcerer"). v7 The Roman deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, wants to hear of the new faith and Word of God but Bar-Jesus tries to stop the message. Saul, or Paul as he is later to be called, recognize Elymas as a child of the devil, using the power of the Holy Spirit, Saul makes him blind for a time as a judgement for his changing and rejection of God’s Word. This miracle was also evidence to the Roman deputy, Sergius Paulus that Saul and Barnabas were true messengers from God and believed the message of salvation. Mark’s Failure. v13 After leaving Paphos the three missionaries sail for Pergia in Pamphylia (Southern Turkey). There John Mark leaves the team to return to Jerusalem. We are not told why Mark did this, Mark was a very devout Jew so he may have found it difficult to deal with Gentiles, or he had a disagreement with Saul or possibly homesick. All we are told is that Saul(Paul) did not want to have Mark with him on a later missionary journey. Acts 15:36-41. Luke now uses the name of Paul not Saul. v14-25 After the departure of Mark, Paul and Barnabas travel onto Antioch. On the Sabbath day they joined the Jews and possible Gentiles who were God fearing, in the synagogue. As was the normal, a visitor to the synagogue were often asked to give a word during the service. Paul takes full advantage, starting back at the Jew’s time in Egypt Paul goes through their history highlighting the possibility of a coming Messiah, God was preparing the way for the Messiah. Finally he reminds them of John the Baptist and his preaching "behold, there cometh One after me." v26-30 Paul now tells them that the Messiah came but was rejected by the Jewish religious leaders, they did not recognize Him because they did not understand the teaching of the Prophets. Yet though they found no reason to do it, they put Him to death. But then God raised Him from the dead. Many saw Him and give witness to His resurrection. v32 Paul up to now had been saying "they," now starts to use "you," Paul now tells them "we now tell you of this Gospel" using the Old testament Paul now tries to show them that Jesus was the Messiah, Paul tries to give them the Good News. v33 Psalms 2:7; is quoted, see also Heb 1:5 , this verse is talking about the resurrection of Christ. v34 Isaiah 55:3 is quoted. In 2 Samuel 7:12-17 David was promised that the Messiah would be a descendent of David, and that the Messiah would be for ever, 2 Sam 7:13,16. Therefore if Jesus had remained dead He could not have been the Messiah, Jesus had to be resurrected to be an eternal Messiah. v35 The third quotation was from Psalm 16:10, this Psalm must be referring to the Messiah not David, who in now dead, buried and the body gone to dust. Peter also used this quotation at Pentecost Acts 2:24-28. v38-41 Paul now tells the people in the synagogue to make a decision. Belief in Jesus, as the Messiah, would give them two blessings. 1) The Law cannot give, forgiveness of sin. Gal 2:16; Rom 3:19-20. 2) The Law cannot make a person right with God. But belief in Jesus could make them "justified" before God. "Justification" is an act by God who has stated that "a person who believes in His Son is made right when they stand before God. Rom 4:1-8. v40 Paul tells them that they make sure they do not make the same mistake and ignore the Prophets. v41 Habakkuk 1:5. v42 at the end of the service, as they left the synagogue, the Gentiles in the meeting wanted to hear more on the next Sabbath. v43 Later many of the Jews and those Gentiles who had taken on the Jewish faith followed Paul and Barnabas wanting them to continue their preaching. v44,45 During the week those who had heard the message had spread the message, the whole city came to hear the message, probably most were Gentiles. This makes the Jews envious and angry, so they try to stop the message. v46 Paul tells the Jews that they had been given the message of salvation first, Acts 3:26; Rom 1:16 but they rejected it and so "judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life." Now the message is going to the Gentiles. v47 Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6 to prove his point. See also Luke 2:29-32. v48,49 The divine side of evangelization, God knows which people will choose to follow Him, for God these people are the "Elect." Eph 1:4,5 but this needs someone go with the message so that they can make the decision, "Word of the Lord was spread abroad." v50-52 Envy shows amongst the Jews, the unbelieving argue with Paul and Barnabas and then using the city leaders and legal action threw them out of the city. But this did not disappoint the two missionaries, they " Shook of the dust of the city " Luke 9:5; Luke 10:10,11 and moved on to Iconium with the joy of the Holy Spirit. |
Easy English Translation
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