About Jesus    Steve Sweetman

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Chapter 13

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ch. 13:1-3    ch. 13:4-12    ch. 13:13-52

Barnabas And Saul Sent Off  (ch. 13:1 - 3)

Acts 13 begins a new era in church history.  From chapter 13 to the end of the book covers the time period from around 45 AD to around 62 AD. The emphasis on these chapters are the missionary trips that Paul took throughout the Roman Empire .  We no longer see Peter with such frequency as we did before this chapter.

From chapter 13 to 21:16 we see Paul the free man, and from there on out we see Paul as a prisoner for the gospel.  Yet whether free or in chains, Paul’s primary motivation is to preach the good news of Jesus to anyone who will listen, whether they be kings or poppers.

Luke says that “in the church at Antioch were prophets and teachers”.  Luke mentions 6 men who would fit into this group, including Barnabas and Saul. 

This would make Saul, either a prophet or a teacher. As yet he was not an apostle.  We need to note that Paul first came to Jesus on the road to Damascus in 35 AD.  Here in chapter 13 it is 49 AD.  It is most likely that 5 or 6 years had already passed since Barnabas and Saul delivered the financial support to Jerusalem.   It is thus clear that about 14 years had passed from Paul’s conversion to this point of time in Luke’s account. During this time, the best we can know is that Saul was a teacher or prophet in Antioch , possibly making tents to support himself.

In verse 2 we see the apostolic calling of Barnabas and Saul.  The 5 teachers and prophets were fasting and worshipping the Lord when the Holy Spirit spoke to them.  How the Spirit spoke to them is not clearly stated.  In my thinking, since there were prophets among them, one or more of these prophets spoke a word of prophecy that witnessed to each man’s spirit. 

The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”. The Holy Spirit was telling these men to separate Barnabas and Saul from the rest of the other three men, as well as from the rest of the church in Antioch to serve Jesus. 

Jesus was calling these 2 men to a new mission.  Of course Barnabas and Saul were already doing the work of the Lord, but now the direction of that work would change.

After hearing this word, at some point, we don’t know when, the other 3 and possibly more, fasted some more and laid hands on Barnabas and Saul “and sent them off”.  We see that “the laying on of hands” is something that the early church practiced.  It was Jesus who called these two men to their new jobs.  It was men in the local church who laid their hands on them and actually sent them off. 

I said earlier that Paul was most likely a teacher, but not an apostle as yet.  It was here that he actually became an apostle.  Some might suggest that Paul was called to be an apostle in Acts 9 when he first met Jesus.  That might be so, but the confirmation of that calling seemed to have taken place here.  

In Ephesians 4:11 we see the four "gifts of Christ", as they are usually named.  They are, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastor/teachers.  We often separate these ministries into separate and distinct callings of God, but I think this passage clearly suggests that the lines are blurred somewhat between these ministries.  There seems to be much overlapping in these ministries.  Paul is seen here as a prophet, a teacher, and an apostle.  Part of being an apostle is teaching and speaking the Word of God prophetically.  This might suggest that we should be careful in how we promote certain ministries.  They're all somewhat similar with slight variations.    

On Cyprus (ch. 13:4 - 12)

Verse 4 tells us that the “Holy Spirit “ sent them on their way towards Cyprus, and when they got there they went to preach the gospel in the Jewish synagogue”.  This would turn out to be Paul’s way of doing things, at least for a while.  When entering a new city , he would first go to the synagogue to preach to the Jews.  It could be very possible that even Paul, at this time in his life believed the Jews had first priority to the gospel. 

On the other hand, it would be normal for Saul and Barnabas to preach in the synagogue, since the Jews had somewhat of a foundation to start with, meaning the knowledge of the Old Testament.  These Jews also, since they lived outside of Jerusalem had Gentile neighbours they could relate the gospel to. Whatever the case, this became the pattern of preaching for Saul.

Luke notes that John Mark came with them to help out.  Mark would later become a source of difficulty between Barnabas and Saul.

While crossing the island the three men met up with a “Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus”.  Bar-Jesus was also called Elymas.  He was an “attendant to Sergius Paulus, the proconsul.  Luke tells us the Sergius was an intelligent man and wanted to hear the “Word of God” from Paul.

It appears that Sergius was near to believing because Bar-Jesus “opposed” Barnabas and Saul, and then “tried to turn Sergius from the faith”.

In verse 9 we read, “then Saul who was also called Paul…”  Saul had two names.  Saul  was his Jewish name, probably named after King Saul of Old Testament fame.  Paul was his Roman name.  Paul was a Jew by birth and a Roman by virtue of the fact he was born in Tarsus , a Roman city

To date we have known Saul as Saul, but now we know him as Paul.  This change is most likely due to the fact that he is now ministering in Roman territory and therefore his Roman name might be more acceptable.  We do know that Paul tried to be all things to all people so that he could win as many people to the Lord as possible. (1 Cor. 9:22)  When I say this, I do need to say that in the becoming of all things to all people, he did not compromise the gospel.  He did draw the line at that.  

Luke tells us that Paul was filled with the Spirit when he confronted Bar-Jesus.  Paul tells him that he, among other things, is “a child of the devil”.  Paul told him that “the hand of the Lord is against him” and that he would be blind for a period of time.  Paul clearly ministers in the power of God, which he claims is a sign or mark of a true apostle in 2 Corinthians 12:12. 

Verse 11 says that “immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking for someone to lead him by the hand”. 

When the proconsul saw this demonstration of power by Paul, he believed.  Luke, in verse 12 says that “he was amazed by the teaching of the Lord”.  Of course the teaching was not in word alone, but could be seen in this miraculous sign.  In the last verse of the gospel of Mark Jesus said that His followers would go out and preach the gospel and He would confirm their preaching with miraculous signs.  This was working in Paul's life.   

In Pisidian Antioch  (ch. 13:13 - 52)

Verse 13 says, “from Paphos, Paul and his company sailed…”  We note a change in relationship here between Barnabas and Saul.  They are no longer called Barnabas and Saul, but Paul and Barnabas, or as it is in this case, Paul and his company.  Paul now becomes the predominant one. 

We also note in verse 13 that at this point John Mark left Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem for some reason.  This event will cause a division between Paul and Barnabas as we will see later.

Mark left these men at Perga.  From their Paul and his company went to Antioch of Pisidian.  This is not Antioch in Syria where we have seen Paul and Barnabas earlier.  This Antioch was well inland, north of the Mediterranean Sea.

On the Sabbath, most likely the first Sabbath they were there, they went to the local synagogue.  After the reading from “the  Law and Prophets” Paul was invited up to speak words of encouragement.   The synagogue rulers invited Paul to speak and called him their brother, that is their brother in Judaism.

Verse 16 begins Paul’s first message that is recorded for us.  He speaks to both Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism.  Paul is a good speaker.  He always preaches the gospel in a way that will be understood by his listeners.  Since his listeners are Jewish he relates to them some of their history.

Paul begins with the Children of Israel while they were being blessed in Egypt .  He mentions that God led them out of Egypt and “endured their conduct for about forty years”. He goes on to remind his listeners that God overthrew seven nations in order for His people to receive their inherited land.  Paul says that all this took about 450 years. 

These 450 years consisted roughly of 400 years in Egypt , 40 in the desert, and about 10 trying to conquer the land.

Once Israel had their own nation God gave them judges to rule over them, until the time came when they wanted a king like other nations.  God then gave them Saul.  After Saul, came David, “a man after God’s own heart”.  It was for this reason that David became king.

One thing we should note, and I will not go into detail here, is that even though Israel became a nation, they never got all the land that was promised them by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They will get all the land when Jesus returns to earth at the end of this age and hands it over to them. 

Paul begins to link Jewish history with the gospel in verse  23 when he says, “from this man’s descendents God has brought to Israel the Saviour Jesus”.  Paul clearly states that Jesus is the Saviour, the long waited for Messiah of Israel.  Yet before Jesus came, Paul says that John came preaching repentance and baptized many.  Paul tells how John felt about Jesus.  John knew that he himself was not the Messiah but was pointing the way to the Messiah Jesus.

In verse 26 Paul says, “brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles..”  Paul is re-addressing his message to these people for the sake of emphases.  The point that he wants to make very clear is that “ it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent”.  By using the word “us”, he is referring to himself and the Jews.  The gospel message and its reality was for the Jews. It had been prophesied about throughout the Old Testament.  That being said, after the message was preached to the Jews, the gospel would be opened up to the rest of the world.  

The next few verses seem to be words taken almost from the mouth of Peter on the day of Pentecost.  Paul says, “the people of Jerusalem did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath”.  Like Peter, and probably like all first generation Christians, Paul stressed the point that the Jews, and especially their leaders rejected Jesus and condemned Him to death.  Obviously many would take acception to this. But even though the Jewish leaders were behind this condemnation, Paul points out that this was prophesied centuries ago, and that this was the will of God. This is one reason why I believe, though the Jews and certain Gentiles were used in the death of Jesus, it was God Himself who actually was ultimately behind the death of Jesus.

In verse 29 Paul says that ‘when they carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb”.  Paul, a scholar of the Old Testament was doing his best to link Jesus with the prophecies of old.  This was his technique  when speaking to a Jewish audience. 

Paul continues by saying, “but God raised Him from the dead”.  We have seen these very words used by Peter as well in his messages.  Jewish people, with the help of certain Gentiles killed Jesus, but God raised Him from the dead.  The resurrection is a very important part of the gospel.  You cannot preach the gospel without speaking of the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul goes on to say that many people saw the risen Jesus and they are now His witnesses to the fact that He did indeed rise from the dead.  Once again, there is no difference in the  gospel message that we see Paul preaching and the gospel message that we have seen Peter preach. 

In verse 32 Paul calls this “the good news”, and that “what God has promised, He has fulfilled for us … by raising Jesus” from the dead.  Paul gives 3 Old Testament quotes to prove the fact that Jesus was in fact God’s son ,and that He did rise from the dead. 

These Scriptures are similar to the Scriptures that Peter used on the day of Pentecost to prove the resurrection.  Paul goes on to say, like Peter did, that when David spoke of his body not seeing “decay”, he was not talking about himself.  The words were prophetic.  They were meant to be interpreted in a Messianic way.   Paul says “that the one God rose from the dead did not fall asleep”. 

Verse 38 says, “therefore my brother, through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses”.  This is the first time we see the word justification used in the book of Acts.  Paul goes into great detail regarding this word in his letter to the Romans.

Justification is the process by which we are forgiven, even to the degree that God no longer sees our sin when it comes to our salvation.  I believe God is not blind.  I believe He still sees our sin, even as Christians, but He does not count those sins against us, because we have accepted His provision, that is the blood of Jesus.   God declares those who trust Jesus as being righteous.  Even though God sees our sins, He has wiped them out of his record book, never to be counted against us in future judgment.

Another way to describe justification is to say that God the Judge has acquitted  us, or taken away the punishment due to us for our sin.  As Supreme Judge He sees us as “guilt free”, not needing any punishment.

This is the first mention, and it is from Paul’s lips, that the Law cannot justify us.  What Paul is saying, is that when you stand before God the Judge, if you are planning on using the Law for your defense, you will lose your case.  The good news is that we have no defense.  Jesus has and will defend us according to what He has done for us.

Paul warns his listeners not to be scoffers, but to believe his words as being the Word of God.  Paul quotes from Hab. 1:5 to point out his concern.  The prophet warns his audience that someday the Lord would do something very special that would be hard to believe.  This special thing is salvation that comes only through trusting in Jesus. 

After Paul had finished speaking, he and Barnabas left the synagogue and were invited to come back the next Sabbath.  Note that Paul never gave an alter call. He didn’t appear to invite people to come and get saved.  He only preached the gospel to them.

Luke says that many of the Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas and talked further of these things. Paul tells these people to “stay in the grace of God”.  This is interesting.  By using the words “stay in the grace of God”, that means that these people were in the grace of God. That implies that at some point in Paul’s message it seems they might have come to believe, thus Paul could say, “stay in the grace of God’.  We have no word of Paul praying for these people to receive the Holy Spirit.  

Paul came back the next Sabbath.  Luke says that “almost the whole city” came out to hear Paul this time.  He had surely made an impression on them. Thus came the problem with the Jewish leadership.  As before with Peter in Jerusalem the Jewish leaders were jealous.  Paul was getting bigger crowds than them.  As a result they opposed everything Paul said.

Answering the Jewish opposition Paul basically tells them that they had to preach the gospel to the Jews first.  That was Paul’s way of doing things.  More than that, I believe Paul understood that to be God’s way of doing things. But since the Jews were rejecting the good news, Paul told them that they would now turn to the Gentiles to preach.  A matter of fact Paul says that this was what the Lord had told him to do in the first place.  How did Paul know this?  The Old Testament said that the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles. Paul quotes from Isa.  49:6, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles…”

You can see from all the Scriptures Paul uses that he feels the Scriptures are of utmost importance.  He clearly points out here that one way in which he hears from the Lord is through the Bible, which was the Old Testament in his case.

Paul turned to the Gentiles out of frustration.  The Lord told Paul years ago, at his conversion, that he would witness to the Gentiles, but it might not have been until this point that he really understood this call to ministry.  This understanding, and change of direction in Paul’s ministry came out of frustration.  This tells me that the Lord can use frustration in our lives as a way to speak to us and bring change in directions to our lives as well.  

When the Gentiles heard that Paul was giving himself to preach the gospel to them, they  “were glad and honoured the Word of the Lord”. (ch. 13:48)  What angered the Jews delighted the Gentiles. 

In Paul’s letter to the Romans (chapter 9 through 11) we see his ideas on the relationship between the Jew and the Gentile.  He pictures the people of God as a tree.  It once was a Jewish tree, and now some Jewish branches have been cut off, while some new Gentile branches have been grafted in.  Paul now begins his ministry to help graft in these  new Gentile branches, since some Jews have disqualified themselves from being part of this tree.  That being said, we have to realize that this is still a Jewish tree.

In verse 48 Luke writes an interesting statement.  He says, “all who were appointed to eternal life believed”.  Calvinists would use this verse to prove their point concerning predestination, that is God predetermines those who will be saved, and the rest of mankind is lost.  I do not believe in this form of predestination.  I believe for many reasons that God has predetermined that all mankind be saved, but all of mankind is not saved because they do not want to receive salvation.  Even so, God can direct the steps of men, and lead them to a place of salvation where they make their choices.  Certain Gentiles, who found themselves in the synagogue during Paul’s preaching were appointed, or led to be there.  They chose to believe, thus inheriting eternal life.

As in other regions the Jews stirred up trouble for Paul and Barnabas.  “They incited” both men and women, meaning they convinced certain Jewish men and women to oppose Paul and his friends.  This opposition was so great that they were “expelled” from the region and went elsewhere.

As a result of their expulsion, they “shook the dust off their feet in protest”, (ch. 13:51) something that you might remember Jesus suggested His disciples to do when they were not accepted by a particular group of people. (Matt. 10:14)  The shaking of dust off one's feet in disgust was a long standing tradition among Jews that went back centuries.

Paul and Barnabas therefore went to Iconium.  Though Paul and Barnabas left many Christians behind, Luke tells us that these people “were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”.  I am sure Paul was not happy leaving these people, but He understood the power of the Holy Spirit to look after these people.  I think Paul leaned heavily on the Holy Spirit to keep his converts in the faith.  He could not be with them all of the time.  He seldom ever saw them again.  Unlike in today’s world, when we have so many means to communicate over large distances to help out new converts, Paul had no such ability.  I think today that we too often depend on our own human reasoning and modern technology to maintain the faith of people.  The Holy Spirit must be allowed to work in the lives of God’s people to have any success in maintaining their faith.