Reflections on Acts 13

Acts 13 (Contemporary English Version)


1. The church at Antioch had several prophets and teachers. They were Barnabas, Simeon, also called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who was Herod's close friend, and Saul.
   
2. While they were worshiping the Lord and going without eating, the Holy Spirit told them, "Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do the work for which I have chosen them."
   
3. Everyone prayed and went without eating for a while longer. Next, they placed their hands on Barnabas and Saul to show that they had been appointed to do this work. Then everyone sent them on their way.
   
4. After Barnabas and Saul had been sent by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus.
   
5. They arrived at Salamis and began to preach God's message in the Jewish meeting places. They also had John as a helper.
   
6. Barnabas and Saul went all the way to the city of Paphos on the other end of the island, where they met a Jewish man named Bar-Jesus. He practiced witchcraft and was a false prophet.
   
7. He also worked for Sergius Paulus, who was very smart and was the governor of the island. Sergius Paulus wanted to hear God's message, and he sent for Barnabas and Saul.
   
8. But Bar-Jesus, whose other name was Elymas, was against them. He even tried to keep the governor from having faith in the Lord.
   
9. Then Saul, better known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked straight at Elymas
   
10. and said, "You son of the devil! You are a liar, a crook, and an enemy of everything that is right. When will you stop speaking against the true ways of the Lord?
    
11. The Lord is going to punish you by making you completely blind for a while." Suddenly the man's eyes were covered by a dark mist, and he went around trying to get someone to lead him by the hand.
    
12. When the governor saw what had happened, he was amazed at this teaching about the Lord. So he put his faith in the Lord.
    
13. Paul and the others left Paphos and sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and went back to Jerusalem.
    
14. The rest of them went on from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia. Then on the Sabbath they went to the Jewish meeting place and sat down.
    
15. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders sent someone over to tell Paul and Barnabas, "Friends, if you have anything to say that will help the people, please say it."
    
16. Paul got up. He motioned with his hand and said: People of Israel, and everyone else who worships God, listen!
    
17. The God of Israel chose our ancestors, and he let our people prosper while they were living in Egypt. Then with his mighty power he led them out,
    
18. and for about forty years he took care of them in the desert.
    
19. He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave their land to our people.
    
20. All this happened in about 450 years. Then God gave our people judges until the time of the prophet Samuel,
    
21. but the people demanded a king. So for forty years God gave them King Saul, the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin.
    
22. Later, God removed Saul and let David rule in his place. God said about him, "David the son of Jesse is the kind of person who pleases me most! He does everything I want him to do."
    
23. God promised that someone from David's family would come to save the people of Israel, and that one is Jesus.
    
24. But before Jesus came, John was telling everyone in Israel to turn back to God and be baptized.
    
25. Then, when John's work was almost done, he said, "Who do you people think I am? Do you think I am the Promised One? He will come later, and I am not good enough to untie his sandals."
    
26. Now listen, you descendants of Abraham! Pay attention, all of you Gentiles who are here to worship God! Listen to this message about how to be saved, because it is for everyone.
    
27. The people of Jerusalem and their leaders didn't realize who Jesus was. And they didn't understand the words of the prophets that they read each Sabbath. So they condemned Jesus just as the prophets had said.
    
28. They did exactly what the Scriptures said they would. Even though they couldn't find any reason to put Jesus to death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed. After Jesus had been put to death, he was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb.
    
29. (SEE 13:28)
    
30. But God raised him from death!
    
31. Then for many days Jesus appeared to his followers who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. Now they are telling our people about him.
    
32. God made a promise to our ancestors. And we are here to tell you the good news
    
33. that he has kept this promise to us. It is just as the second Psalm says about Jesus, "You are my son because today I have become your Father."
    
34. God raised Jesus from death and will never let his body decay. It is just as God said, "I will make to you the same holy promise that I made to David."
    
35. And in another psalm it says, "God will never let the body of his Holy One decay."
    
36. When David was alive, he obeyed God. Then after he died, he was buried in the family grave, and his body decayed.
    
37. But God raised Jesus from death, and his body did not decay.
    
38. My friends, the message is that Jesus can forgive your sins! The Law of Moses could not set you free from all your sins.
    
39. But everyone who has faith in Jesus is set free.
    
40. Make sure that what the prophets have said doesn't happen to you. They said,
    
41. "Look, you people who make fun of God! Be amazed and disappear. I will do something today that you won't believe, even if someone tells you about it!"
    
42. As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the meeting, the people begged them to say more about these same things on the next Sabbath.
    
43. After the service, many Jews and a lot of Gentiles who worshiped God went with them. Paul and Barnabas begged them all to remain faithful to God, who had been so kind to them.
    
44. The next Sabbath almost everyone in town came to hear the message about the Lord.
    
45. When the Jewish people saw the crowds, they were very jealous. They insulted Paul and spoke against everything he said.
    
46. But Paul and Barnabas bravely said: We had to tell God's message to you before we told it to anyone else. But you rejected the message! This proves that you don't deserve eternal life. Now we are going to the Gentiles.
    
47. The Lord has given us this command, "I have placed you here as a light for the Gentiles. You are to take the saving power of God to people everywhere on earth."
    
48. This message made the Gentiles glad, and they praised what they had heard about the Lord. Everyone who had been chosen for eternal life then put their faith in the Lord.
    
49. The message about the Lord spread all over that region.
    
50. But the Jewish leaders went to some of the important men in the town and to some respected women who were religious. They turned them against Paul and Barnabas and started making trouble for them. They even chased them out of that part of the country.
    
51. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust from that place off their feet and went on to the city of Iconium.
    
52. But the Lord's followers in Antioch were very happy and were filled with the Holy Spirit.

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To this point, in the accounts of Acts, the doors were gradually closing in taking the gospel message to the Jews, and were opening more and more to the Gentiles. This does not mean there were no longer any Jews responding to the gospel, only that those in authority were increasingly putting up barriers to its proclamation. The setting apart of Barnabas and Saul seen in the first verses of this chapter was a pivotal point in the forward thrust of the gospel. No longer was Judea the leading edge of the gospel thrust but at this point it became Asia Minor. And, the church sending out the 'missionaries' on this occasion was the new church in Antioch instead of the Jerusalem church. Two of this church's finest, Barnabas and Saul, were the ones set apart for this new mission. The mission was not defined other than it was the work God had called them to. As followers and servants of Christ, it is important that we understand we are called to serve Him wherever and in whatever manner that may be. The assignment will vary but the calling to serve remains constant.

After the leaders of the church had "fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off." From Antioch Barnabas and Saul set out accompanied also by John Mark who was a cousin of Barnabas. Their circuit on this first journey can be seen in the accompanying map. Their journey took them from Antioch to Seleucia, on the coast, from where they sailed to the island of Cyprus and their first stop in the city of Salamis. There they established the pattern of preaching first in the Jewish synagogues. They kept on the move, though, crossing the island and came to the city of Paphos. Their experience there further highlighted the temporary closing of doors to the gospel by the Jews and opening of doors among the Gentiles.

In Paphos they encountered a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus, also known as Elymas. When the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, summoned Barnabas and Saul to tell him of God's message, Elymas "opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith." Because of this, Saul/Paul caused temporary blindness to come on the man. Many commentators see this encounter as symbolic of the temporary blindness to the gospel that also came on the Jews. Seeing what happened was enough for the proconsul to believe, also seen as symbolic of the acceptance of the gospel by the Gentiles. Following this encounter the team left the island of Cyprus and sailed to Perga. It was at this point that John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Reaching port at Perga they continued their journey to Antioch. There they went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and were invited to give a "message of encouragement for the people." At this time Saul was first called Paul, a transition from his Jewish name to his Roman and Gentile name, and it appears that he had taken the lead in the team. It was Paul who spoke for them to the crowd. Paul used this opportunity to connect their anticipation of a coming Messiah to Jesus as the fulfillment of that expectation. His message was enthusiastically received and he was invited to speak again on the following Sabbath. Verse 44 says that "almost the whole town assembled" on the following Sabbath to hear "the message of the Lord." But the gathering of such a large crowd posed a threat to the Jewish leaders and "filled with jealousy" they began to oppose Paul's message. This opposition signaled to Paul and Barnabas that it was time to leave the Jews and take God's message to the Gentiles. This, after all, was what God had commanded them to do. Paul's announcement of this shift had enthusiastic reception among the Gentiles which led to further opposition from the Jews who eventually "expelled them from their district." Paul and Barnabas then shook "the dust off their feet against them" and proceeded to Iconium.