Bible Commentaries
Acts 13

Verses 1-12

17 The death of James and the escape of Peter mark a crisis in the history of the kingdom proclamation. The power in Jerusalem passes out of the hands of the apostles into the hands of James, the Lord's brother. Note that Peter does not ask them to report to the rest of the apostles, but to James and the brethren. Henceforth these have the controlling voice in Jerusalem. The death of James broke the ranks of the apostles. Now there were only eleven. Peter was compelled to flee and John does not seem to have taken an active part.

It is most significant that the leadership now falls upon one who was never commissioned by the Lord, but held his place and wielded his influence on the ground of a close physical relationship to the Lord. While He was yet on earth none of his brothers or sisters believed in

Him. Our Lord made light of such physical ties. To those who told Him that His mother and brothers wished to speak to Him He said "My mother and My brethren are these who are hearing the word of God and doing it" ( Luk_8:21 ). But the believers in Jerusalem have drifted away from spiritual realities and give the Lord's own brother the place which He gave to the apostles. James early had a high place among the Jerusalem saints. Paul makes special mention of him when he went up to Jerusalem ( Gal_1:19 ). This is in marked contrast to the course of Paul, which is characterized by the gradual elimination of the physical and a strong tendency toward the spiritual.

20 Josephus' account of Herod's death agrees with this in all its main features, though he does not seem to know of the reason for the flattery, nor does he ascribe the disease to a messenger of the Lord. In accepting divine honors Herod becomes a type of the great dictator of the end time, who will set himself up, saying that he is God, and will be slain by the Lord Himself.

24 The death of Herod seems to have stopped the persecution of the apostles.

25 Barnabas and Saul were commissioned to bring succor to the poor ( Act_11:30 ). The manuscripts vary greatly as to whether they return out of , or from , or into Jerusalem, or into

Antioch.

2 The severance of Barnabas and Saul by the spirit is the prelude to an entirely new departure in the book of Acts. The commission entrusted to the twelve apostles has been attempted and their testimony rejected. They went to the limits of the land of Israel. Beyond this they dld not venture. Jerusalem, in Judea, now gives place to Antioch, outside the land. The message now goes to the dispersion among the nations and to the proselytes and even to the nations themselves, and continues until it becomes manifest that the Jews outside the land refuse the Messiah, even as those in the land have done. This ministry is carried on by an entirely new set of apostles. The twelve have no part in it. Saul, or Paul, as he is now called, takes the place of Peter in this new apostolic group.

2 The choice of Barnabas and Saul by the spirit is in marked contrast with the choice of James, the brother of our Lord, by the flesh . He leads the apostasy of the pentecostal believers, who insisted on circumcision and law keeping. He was the author of decrees, which were concerned only with the flesh. This new departure takes us in the opposite direction. Saul was chosen by the spirit and led by the spirit until, at length, in his epistles, he gives the flesh no place at all.

6 Sergius Paul was the first individual among the nations who heard the evangel, without first becoming a proselyte of Judaism. Hence his case is typical. Bar-Jesus stands for the Jewish dispersion, who always resisted every attempt to proclaim the evangel to the nations. Seldom, indeed, do we find Paul performing any judgment miracle, but here he blinds the sorcerer for a season. This is the judgment which has befallen Israel during the present administration of God's grace. Israel, in part, has become calloused until the full complement of the nations may be entering ( Rom_11:25 ). Throughout Paul's missionary journeys, when he turned from the unbelieving Jews to the nations, the Jews became jealous and sought to turn the gentiles against him. They became blind spiritually, as Bar-Jesus became physically.

The spiritual tendency we have observed is emphasized by the change of Saul's name to Paul. The name Saul suggested the first king in Israel, who was chosen by the people because of his physical superiority, well suited to Paul before he was called by Christ, and in accord with the trend of affairs in Jerusalem, but not at all in harmony with his present ministry. It is usually derived from the Latin, meaning little , but it may also be derived from the root pau , in Greek, which means an interval , the ending, of course taking the masculine form rather than the feminine of the ordinary Greek term. Saul is Hebrew; Paul is Greek.. This change of name coincides with his new commission. This signification is most appropriate to his special ministries, which fill in the interval during which Israel is thrust aside. It is brought in for the first time at the precise point when this doom is pronounced on Bar-Jesus. It marks the beginning of God's new departure, which brings blessing to the nations through Israel's apostasy. It was given when the first real gentile believed, for all before Sergius Paul were proselytes of Judaism, like Cornelius. And it is the more remarkable that the first convert under these new conditions was also named Paul, because he inaugurates that new form of God's activities which is well pictured there by the blessed believing gentile and a blinded unbelieving Jew. Before Saul's severance, blessing could not flow except through a Jew. Samaria could not receive the spirit except through Peter and John ( Act_8:14 ), and the proselyte Cornelius needed the mediacy of the chief of the apostles ere he was blessed with this gift. But now an alien, having no connection with Judaism, believes and is blessed, while a Jew, a son of the covenant, is blinded. This new principle now governs God's dealings, introducing a new dispensation, and gathers force until it is fulfilled at the close of the book.

Verses 13-32

13 John, doubtless, was at fault in thus deserting the apostles. But there seems to be a deeper reason for his defection. Being from Jerusalem, and a nephew of Barnabas, he represented the weakness of the flesh and its inability to channel blessing to the nations, so was not spiritually qualified.

14 Paul's sermon and course in Pisidian Antioch is doubtless a specimen case. He usually went first of all into the synagogue and preached the evangel of the kingdom to the Jews of the dispersion and to the gentile proselytes who attended the synagogue services. His sermons included all that Peter preached concerning Messiah as the Son of David, yet went further in order to reach the proselytes. The three classes to whom Paul preached should always be distinguished. There were the men of Israel, his brethren, who were under the law and to whom the covenants and promises pertained. But the synagogues amongst the nations were largely attended by proselytes, who are called "fearers of God," "devout," or "reverent," and usually included a company of women. The proselytes, as a class, accepted Paul's message, but the Jews rejected it, with many notable exceptions. Outside of these were the gentiles proper, the idolators who had no leanings toward Judaism. Among these it was that Paul found the greatest response, but it must be remembered that this account does not lay much stress on this part of his ministry. For instance, it is evident from his epistles that the Thessalonian converts were mostly idolators, yet no hint of this is found in Acts, which speaks only of the Jews and proselytes ( Act_17:1-4 ). Neither are we informed of all that the apostle preached, but only that which concerned the fate of the earthly kingdom. The doctrine contained in his epistles is none of it in Acts, but all is distinct from and above the highest point reached in this treatise. To the Jews Paul spoke of Christ as proclaimed by John the Baptist, and His life before His death and resurrection and ascension, before he knew Him. Paul's epistles, however, are entirely on resurrection ground. Christ was not seen outside the land of Israel until he was seen by Saul on the Damascus road. Let us never mix the testimony in Acts with the truth in Paul's epistles, but let us rather note the great contrast between them. Contrast Peter's first sermon and Paul's. Both quote from David. Peter to prove that Jesus is David's exalted Son ( Act_2:30-31 ). Paul shows by his first quotation ( Act_13:33 ) that Jesus is the Son of God.

Verses 33-52

33 The rendering first psalm in place of second psalm demands some explanation. Our three great witnesses all read second, and we would have so rendered it, but for the confusion which would result when we come to issue the book of Psalms. There is no longer any question that the first and second psalms of our collection are in reality only one, and this quotation occurs in the first not the second psalm. Some ancient manuscripts preserve this reading. But it was generally changed to conform to the condition of the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures. In the Hebrew text of the psalms the text reads right on without any break to indicate the division into psalms except the headings and subscriptions. Consequently it has been discovered that each psalm is thus indicated, and those psalms which have no heading or subscription to separate them are fragments of adjoining psalms. Thus the second psalm, socalled, is not an independent composition, but the conclusion of the first psalm.

38 Here we have the first intimation of the great doctrine of justification or acquittal. But how far below the lofty teaching revealed in the epistle to the Romans! There justification is apart from the law: here it is associated with the law. True to the kingdom he has just announced, Paul proclaims the pardon of sins. But pardon or forgiveness is but a temporary respite which may be forfeited or withdrawn ( Mat_18:23-35 ). Those Pentecostal believers who had been forgiven like the ten thousand talent debtor, yet refused to extend this blessing to the gentiles, who owed much less, had their pardon revoked. Now, however, the apostle offers them more than pardon. Those who were pardoned still tried to keep the law of Moses ( Act_21:20 ). He promises an acquittal from their infractions of the law, on the ground of faith. Pardon takes guilt for granted. Justification or acquittal denies guilt. They mingle here for a moment, but in Paul's epistles those who are justified are beyond the necessity of any pardon, for they are pronounced not guilty. The contrast between Moses and Christ is made first by Paul, and in connection with the preaching of justification.

44 This is the first time we have the evangel preached to the nations directly except the single case of Sergius Paul. Never before this have we any intimation that the word was spoken to any except Jews, Samaritans, or proselytes. Now that the whole city came to hear the word, the Jews, following the example of Bar-Jesus, oppose Paul and Barnabas. Not till then do we hear the memorable words, "lo! we are turning to the nations."

48 It would be of greatest interest to us to know what Paul preached to the gentiles on this occasion, but there is no record of his words. The reason doubtless is that he went beyond the kingdom proclamation and announced, for the first time, the grand foundation on which God's favor to the nations is based, the doctrine of justification. His previous proclamation was hampered by the fact that his hearers were under the law. Now he is able to set it forth fully and freely as he does in his epistle to the Romans, for his audience Is not seeking any justification under law. He announces a divine righteousness, apart from the law. While there can be little doubt that the apostle preached justification on this occasion in some of the fullness to which his epistles testify, yet it is of the utmost importance for us to note that the account in Acts never attains to the truth taught in his epistles. It leads us up to some of it, but never makes actual contact with it. It prepares for it but does not proclaim it. Not one single doctrine for the present secret economy is found in the book of Acts, though all was made known and committed to writing during this period. We are continually led up to, but never enter into the grace which is ours in Christ Jesus. Acts is not a record of the beginning of the present, but a treatise on the end of the previous dispensation. Most of the ecclesiastical confusion which prevails would vanish if this record of the kingdom apostasy were left where it belongs, and all truth for the present based on Paul's written revelation, which deals with the same period of time, but deals with it from an entirely distinct standpoint. God's program is, some Jews, some gentiles; then Jews and gentiles alike.