Bible Commentaries
Acts 13

Verses 1-52

XIII-XXVIII The Spread of the Gospel throughout the Gentile World. The Preaching and Journeys of St Paul, A.D.45-63.

XIII-XIV The First Missionary Journey, A.D. 45-9 — St Paul now becomes the central figure. The first twelve chapters have prepared the way. He was chosen like the other Apostles by our Lord himself and given a special mission to the Gentiles 9:15 note. He is still constantly guided by him and by the Holy Sit. The great vision of 2 Corinthians 12:1-6 occurred at this period. The conquest of the Roman world begins, and this first journey leads to the foundation of Gentile churches in Cyprus and S. Galatia.

XIII 1-3 The Sending of Barnabas and Saul —1. On the church at Antioch see § 834a, d. ’God has set in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors’, 1 Corinthians 12:28. There were no Apostles, since they were founders of churches, and were itinerant. The first three names seem, according to the Gk, to be those of the prophets, the last two, those of the teachers of the faith. Manahen, probably a courtier of Herod Antipas, must have been one of our Lord’s disciples, Luke 8:3. The church at Antioch had its own hierarchy.

2. ’And while they were worshipping the Lord’. The Gk is the word from which ’liturgy’ is derived; the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets in the assembly. The community was filled with a zeal which-the Holy Spirit now directed to the momentous work of converting the Gentile world.

3. The fasting was to obtain the light of the Holy Spirit. Was the laying on of hands episcopal consecration? Barnabas and Saul, though called apostles for the first time, 14:4, 13, already had full powers, 11:22, 25, and were members of the body which is claimed to have consecrated them. It seems preferable to regard the rite as a mandate from the Church for the new mission, and it is described in 14:25 as such a commending to the grace of God.

4-12 Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus —4. They sail from the port of Antioch. On St Paul’s plan of campaign, see F. Prat, St Paul, ch 2. Cyprus lay on the route to Asia and the Roman world, converts had already been made there, 11:19, and Barnabas was going to his homeland. 5. Salamis was the eastern and Paphos the western port. At the synagogues, besides Jews, there would be proselytes, glad to receive the Gospel, without having to observe the Law or circumcision. ’And they had John (Mark) to help them’. He had not been sent by the Spirit, 4, as events would show.

6. It must have taken many months, allowing for the preaching, to reach Paphos. Elymas was not a mere charlatan, as his presence at the court of such a man as this proconsul shows.

7. But being a ’false prophet’ he evidently practised the occult sciences, cf. 8:9. 7. As a senatorial province, Cyprus was governed by a proconsul. An inscription of Sergius Paulus has been found in the island. ’An intelligent man’, with a desire to reach the truth, as is gathered too from Pliny the Elder, cf. J. B. Lightfoot, Essays on Supernatural Religion, 294, London, 1889.

8. Bar-jesu had taken the name of Elymas, which is translated ’magician’. As a Jew he would be familiar with many of Saul’s arguments.

9. This is the last use of ’Saul’, and the first of ’Paul’. Like many Jews he had a Jewish and a Roman name. He was Saulus Paulus. He uses the Roman name, on entering into relations with the Gentile world, where, as a Roman citizen by birth, he was a man of position, and could exert an influence not open to a Jew. The use of it may not be unconnected with his meeting Sergius Paulus. Much more important, he is filled with the Holy Spirit, the real source of his influence, and of the miraculous powers he now exercises.

10. Elymas ’twists the straight ways of the Lord’, by trying to poison the proconsul’s mind.

11. His punishment was sent to induce him to cease sinning against the light.

12. The proconsul was astonished at the truth so miraculously established. St Luke implies that he became a Christian.

13-15 To Pisidian Antioch —13. The phrasing shows that St Paul now becomes the leader of the party, for the apostolate of the Gentiles is beginning in earnest, and he takes precedence of Barnabas except during the Council at Jerusalem, 15:12, In Asia Minor, now divided into Roman provinces, Gk was everywhere understood, even among nations which preserved their own language. At Perge, the capital of Pamphylia, St Paul made clear his decision to cross the Taurus range, and preach in Phrygia and Lycaonia, regions incorporated in the southern part of the province of Galatia. John Mark did not feel bound to face the perils involved; see on 15:38-39.

14. The 100-mile mountain journey was made along a mule track infested by brigands (cf.2 Corinthians 11:26) to Pisidian Antioch. It and Lystra belonged to a group of colonies peopled under Augustus by veterans, and intended as a bulwark of the Roman power. Jews had lived and traded here since the time of the Seleucids. St Paul, as always, went first to the Jews. 15. St Luke describes the synagogue service, at which it was the custom to invite. distinguished visitors to speak; cf.Luke 4:16.

16-41 St Paul’s Speech in the Synagogue —This is given as the type of St Paul’s exposition to Jews. To Gentiles he gives elementary theodicy, 14:14. Here he outlines the history of Salvation, and shows the conformity of the new teaching with the Scriptures. The three parts of the great discourse are clearly marked by the apostrophe ’Men brethren’, 16, 26, 38. The first part runs parallel to the speech of St Stephen, the second and third to the early speeches of St Peter, but the whole is thoroughly Pauline in doctrine and style, cf.§ 816b. The conclusion is that justification comes through Jesus.

16-25 The Preparation for the Messias —16. St Paul addresses not only the Jews, but the many proselytes present ’that fear God’; cf. 10:2.

17. He begins in a way that can only please his audience. ’With an uplifted arm’, a Hebrew metaphor for the power of God.

19-20. ’Whose lands he gave them for an inheritance, for about 450 years’, i.e. from the time Canaan was promised to the Patriarchs till Josue.

22. God can reject those he has chosen. Psalms 88:21 and 1 Kg 13:14 are quoted.

23. Eventually God sent the Messias, according to his promise, i.e. as the prophecies generally had foretold; cf.Galatians 3:29.24-25. St Paul comes on to the last of the prophets, held in honour among Jews, including those of the Dispersion, 18:25; 19:3. The Baptist preached before our Lord’s ’coming’ or Public Ministry. As he was ’finishing his life’s course’ he explained about the Messias, Luke 3:16.

26-37 Jesus is the Messias —For he died and rose again, according to the Scriptures. 26. The better reading is ’To us the word . . . is sent’, not to unbelieving Jews, but to Christians, and Jews and proselytes of the Dispersion; cf.Ephesians 1:13.

27. The Jews of Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him, nor the words of the prophets . . . have fulfilled them’. The prophecies of the Suffering Servant, etc., should have been clear enough, 3:17.

28. ’Although they found no cause of death in him, they asked Pilate to have him killed’.29. cf.Luke 18:31; Luke 22:37.32-33. St Paul and Barnabas make known the good news of the promise’, to the fathers ’which God has fulfilled to us their children’. This promise was made in various texts, now quoted. Many of the Fathers take 33 as referring to the Incarnation, like 3:22, 26, and 7:37, and 34 to the Resurrection, but even if the whole passage is referred to the latter, it is quite clear from St Paul’s epistles that he never thought our Lord became Son of God only at the Resurrection. That was the great manifestation of his Sonship, Romans 1:4.34-35. St Paul, as always, uses the OT, ’with the respectful freedom of the son of the house, master of the inheritance of his ancestors’ ( J. Bonsirven, EREP, 338). His very condensed argument is: God, acc. to Isaiah 55:3, will grant the holy privileges he has promised to David. One of these, as God says in Psalms 15:10, is that he will be preserved from corruption.

36. ’But David, after he had served the will of God in his own generation’ died and saw corruption.

37. Whereas he whom God raised from the dead, saw no corruption. The argument is that of St Peter 2:27-31.

38-41 The Necessity of Faith in Jesus —38-39. Through him now shown to be the Messias, ’forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you’. He is the source of forgiveness and justification, an implicit assertion of his Godhead. St Paul’s doctrine of justification for all, by faith in Christ without the works of the Law, is thus early stated. Cf. ’The word of his grace’, 14:3. 40-41. Habakkuk 1:5. The Israelites were threatened with the invasion of the Chaldeans, but turned a deaf ear to the prophet. Jerusalem was captured, and the Jews punished with exile. The parallel is clear, and St Paul brings it forward when he sees the resistance to his doctrine.

42-43 Effect of the Speech —The people wished to have the teaching repeated. Many Jews and worshipping proselytes followed Paul These proselytes seem to be the same as those who fear God, 16; cf. note on 5. All these became disciples, without waiting till the following Sabbath, and received the ’grace’ of God. This is the first use of the word in its Pauline sense of a gift of God for our justification.

44-48 The Apostles turn to the Gentiles —44. During the week, the Gentiles had come to hear of the new doctrine of salvation for all, without the Law. 45. The Jews were furious at seeing the synagogue filled with Gentiles, offered equal terms with them. They blasphemed our Lord. 46. In God’s plan, the Gospel was to be preached first to the Jews, Matthew 10:6; Acts 2:39; Acts 10:42; Romans 1:16; and chh 9-11. St Paul’s universalism always aroused their bitter hostility, and the scene in the synagogue was often re-enacted, cf. 18:6. 47.

The call of the Gentiles is in accord with the prophecy which foretold that the Servant would be their light and salvation, Isaiah 49:6. Jesus is that Servant, and the preachers of the Gospel the instruments by which the prophecy is fulfilled; cf. 9:15; Luke 2:32.48. Gentiles are converted in large numbers, and thus a church comes into being, which is composed from the start predominantly of pagan converts. The Gentiles were ordained by God for eternal life, but not the Jews, who refused to believe; cf.Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:5. The context and the Gk show that it was because they accepted the new teaching, that the Gentiles were put in the ranks of those enjoying eternal life. This is the ’life’ of sanctifying grace, eternal life already begun, for grace is the beginning of glory, but a ’life’ which can still be forfeited.

49-52 End of the Stay at Pisidian Antioch —49. St Luke does not say how long the Apostles remained. It must have taken some months to preach through the region.

50. The Jews stirred up ’women of position, who were worshippers’, i.e. proselytes, on whom they had influence, and the magistrates, who were perhaps their husbands.

51. cf.Luke 9:552. The church that had been founded at Antioch was full of joy, due to the Holy Spirit present in souls by grace and manifesting his presence by charismata; cf.Galatians 5:22.