CHAPTER 13

(A.D. 45)

FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY

¹Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch certain Prophets and Teachers (the Holy Spirit, as we shall see, shifts the emphasis from Jerusalem to this Syrian city); as Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

²As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted (refers to worship), the Holy Spirit said (the Holy Spirit still speaks, at least to all who have the right type of relationship, and anyone can who so desires), Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them (expresses a strong Command; in other words, it is not a suggestion; the Lord does the calling, not man).

CYPRUS

³And when they had fasted and prayed (the Early Church was a praying Church; it is a shame that the same cannot be said for the modern Church), and laid their hands on them (it signified the Blessings of the Church upon Paul and Barnabas), they sent them away (represents, as far as is known, the very first Missionary trip to new places for the express purpose of planting new Churches).

⁴So they, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit (presents the Spirit not only calling them, but sending them as well; due to the Cross, the Holy Spirit now has far greater latitude to work within our lives), departing unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus (represented a journey of approximately one hundred miles; as well, Cyprus was the boyhood home of Barnabas, where he no doubt still had many friends [Acts 4:36]).

⁵And when they were at Salamis (one of the principal cities on the Island of Cyprus), they preached the Word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews (upon arriving in a new city, Paul would normally first go to the Synagogue and minister; it was the Jew first, and then the Gentile): and they had also John to their minister (speaks of John Mark, who wrote one of the Four Gospels which bears his name; he was their helper).

⁶And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos (the Capitol of Cyprus), they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus (this man claimed to be of God, but in reality was of Satan):

⁷Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man (he had this sorcerer with him; being a pagan, he did not know the difference between sorcery and that which was legitimately of God); who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God (the news of these men had got around).

⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them (he saw a threat in Paul and Barnabas), seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith (means that the Governor was believing the Message of Jesus Christ, as presented by Paul and Barnabas).

⁹Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) (presents here the change of name; he will be referred to as Paul from now on; Paul is the Roman derivative of the Hebrew Saul), filled with the Holy Spirit (not only speaks of an ongoing state, but seems to imply a special new Anointing), set his eyes on him (did so according to the leading of the Holy Spirit),

¹⁰And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all Righteousness (this was the Gift of Discerning of spirits [I Cor. 12:10]), will you not cease to pervert the Right Ways of the Lord? (This glaringly proclaims that this sorcerer who claimed to be of God was not of God at all, but rather of Satan.)

¹¹And now, behold, the Hand of the Lord is upon you (would have been better translated, is against you), and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season (there is indication that there was opportunity for Repentance; in other words, it was a remedial chastisement). And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness (was used by the Holy Spirit to teach this man that his message was darkness); and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand (indicates that he now has no followers due to the fact that he has been shown up for what he truly is, an imposter!).

¹²Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed (he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour), being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord (speaks to the fact that this Doctrine was not mere rhetoric, but was accompanied by Power as well).

¹³Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia (presents them going back to the mainland from the Island of Cyprus): and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem (speaks of Mark who wrote the Gospel which bears his name; even though the Holy Spirit is silent regarding why Mark did this, we do know that his departure caused hardship on this Missionary Team [Acts 15:37-39]).

PISIDIA

¹⁴But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia (proclaims an Antioch other than the Antioch of Syria, where the home Church was located [Acts 13:1]), and went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and sat down (has reference to special seats, thus intimating that they were willing to speak if invited, as was the custom in the Synagogue).

¹⁵And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue sent unto them (proclaims the custom), saying, You men and Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on (as stated, this was generally the manner in which Paul began his Evangelism in any given area; he would first go to the Jewish Synagogue, and then to the Gentiles).

SALVATION BY FAITH

¹⁶Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and you who fear God (Gentiles who attended Jewish Synagogues were given a particular place to sit, and were called God-fearers), give audience (the gist of Pauls Message is given here, but doesnt go into much detail in the record of later sermons).

¹⁷The God of this people of Israel chose our Fathers (presents Paul beginning his Message much as Steven had years before), and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought He them out of it.

¹⁸And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness (bad manners).

¹⁹And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan (referred to the Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Havites, Perizzites, and Jebusites), He divided their land to them by lot (speaks of the Urim and Thummim; gave different portions to different Tribes).

²⁰And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the Prophet (Samuel was the last Judge, and the first man to stand in the Office of the Prophet).

²¹And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the Tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years (meaning that he ruled for forty years).

²²And when He (God) had removed him (removed Saul), He raised up unto them David to be their king (David was meant to be the first king of Israel, but the people jumped the gun, so to speak; they demanded a king and got Saul, which proved to be a disaster); to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My Will.

²³Of this mans seed (Davids seed) has God according to His Promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus (proclaims the Apostle now introducing the One Who is the Cause and Reason for everything; He is the only Saviour):

²⁴When John had first preached before His coming the Baptism of Repentance to all the people of Israel (the Ministry of John the Baptist).

²⁵And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not He. But, behold, there comes One after me, Whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy to loose (John bluntly announces the fact that he is not the Messiah, but rather Jesus).

²⁶Men and Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham (the Jews), and whosoever among you fear God (the Gentiles), to you is the word of this Salvation sent (presents Paul, without apology, including the Gentiles in this great Plan of Salvation).

²⁷For they who dwell at Jerusalem, and their Rulers (pinpoints the murderers of Christ), because they knew Him not (implies a willful ignorance that brought about a willful blindness), nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath Day (the Prophets told them of Christ, but they would not believe), they have fulfilled them in condemning Him(Isa., Chpt. 53).

²⁸And though they found no cause of death in Him(they opposed Him from the very beginning; they heard Him with closed minds, and as a result closed their ears), yet desired they Pilate that He should be slain.

²⁹And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him (pertained to that which the Prophets had predicted), they took Him down from the tree (speaks of the Cross; if it is to be noticed, both Paul and Peter used the term tree regarding the Cross; it is derived from Deut. 21:23), and laid Him in a sepulchre.

³⁰But God raised Him from the dead (as Paul proclaimed the Crucifixion of Jesus, he now proclaims His Resurrection):

³¹And He was seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem (concerns a number of appearances over a time span of some forty days), who are His witnesses unto the people (Paul is making the case that there were too many appearances for His Resurrection to be denied).

³²And we declare unto you Glad Tidings (speaks of the Good News of the Gospel, all wrapped up in Christ), how that the Promise which was made unto the Fathers (had its beginnings in Gen. 3:15, and spanned the entirety of Old Testament history),

³³God has fulfilled the same unto us their children (means simply that the Lord did exactly what He had Promised), in that He has raised up Jesus again (the Resurrection); as it is also written in the Second Psalm, You are My Son, this day have I begotten You (refers to the Incarnation when the Second Person of the Divine Trinity took a perfect human body, in order that it would be offered up as Sacrifice to Redeem humanity [Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Phil. 2:5-11]).

³⁴And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption (this phrase proclaims the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead in greater form than when He went into the abode of death; He died with a regular, although Perfect, human Body, but was raised with a Glorified Body), He said on this wise, I will give You the sure mercies of David (actually refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who embodies all of these great Mercies [Isa. 55:3]).

³⁵Wherefore He said also in another Psalm, You shall not suffer Your Holy One to see corruption (refers to Ps. 16:10; this passage, as many others, shoots down the Jesus died Spiritually Doctrine; if Jesus had gone to the burning side of Hell when He died, and suffered there for three days and nights as some claim, He would definitely have seen corruption; but this He did not do).

³⁶For David, after he had served his own generation by the Will of God, fell on sleep (refers to Davids death), and was laid unto his Fathers, and saw corruption (this shows that the great Davidic Covenant pertained to the greater son of David, and not David himself):

³⁷But He, Whom God raised again, saw no corruption (Pauls Message here is very similar to that of Peter in Acts, Chpt. 2).

³⁸Be it known unto you therefore, men and Brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins (presents Jesus as having paid the price for mans Redemption, and through Him Alone can be forgiveness of sins):

³⁹And by Him (what He did at the Cross) all who believe (place our Faith in what He did at the Cross) are justified from all things (the Scripture here plainly says, all things, not just some things), from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses (dogmatically and without apology sets aside the Law of Moses as being empty of any ability to justify one with God).

⁴⁰Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the Prophets (speaks of the Judgment of God, and plainly says that it will come upon rejecters of Truth);

⁴¹Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish ([Hab. 1:5] spoke of Israel which rejected Christ, and holds true for all Christ Rejecters, whomever and wherever they might be): for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you (predicts the unbelief of mankind respecting Jesus Christ as the source of all Salvation).

⁴²And when the Jews were gone out of the Synagogue (indicates that some had got angry at Pauls statements), the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath (speaks of those Gentiles referred to as God-fearers, who were in the Synagogue and heard Pauls Message).

⁴³Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes (Gentiles who had accepted Judaism) followed Paul and Barnabas (wanted to hear more): who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the Grace of God (not only must they accept Christ, they must also continue in Christ).

OPPOSITION

⁴⁴And the next Sabbath Day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God (during the intervening week, it seems the new converts quickly spread the Message of Grace through Jesus Christ; consequently, there is a great crowd on this particular Sabbath Day to hear the Gospel).

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy (they did not expect this large a crowd), and spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming (the Synagogue leaders were trying to contradict Paul, and blaspheming Christ as well).

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold (this boldness was given to them by the Holy Spirit), and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you (should be first given to the Jews): but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of Everlasting Life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles (proclaims a statement of far-reaching magnitude; one might say this was the beginning of Western Civilization).

⁴⁷For so has the Lord Commanded us (speaks not only of His Personal Call, but of the Prophecy given by Isaiah as well), saying, I have set you to be a Light of the Gentiles (is taken from Isa. 49:6, and refers to the Messiah), that you should be for Salvation unto the ends of the earth (the Salvation afforded by Christ is intended for the entirety of the world).

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord (they knew this meant them, and it brought great joy, even as it should): and as many as were ordained to Eternal Life believed (means that God has appointed and provided Eternal Life for all who will believe [Jn. 3:15-20; Rom. 1:16; 10:9-10; I Tim. 2:4; II Pet. 3:9; Rev. 22:17]).

⁴⁹And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region (it didnt say the Church, or some religious institution, etc., but the Word of the Lord; this shows us where the emphasis must be).

⁵⁰But the Jews (those who opposed the Gospel) stirred up the devout and Honourable women (seems to indicate female Gentile Proselytes), and the Chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas (means that these individuals believed the lies they were told about these two), and expelled them out of their coasts (they were not merely requested to leave, but forcibly ejected; there is no evidence of physical violence, but definite evidence that physical violence was threatened).

⁵¹But they shook off the dust of their feet against them (presents that which Jesus Commanded His Disciples to do under these circumstances [Mat. 10:14; Mk. 6:11; Lk. 9:5; 10:11]), and came unto Iconium (a city in the southern part of the Roman Province of Galatia).

⁵²And the Disciples were filled with joy (proclaims the fact that the Holy Spirit informed them that the problem in Antioch was not their fault; this brings them great joy), and with the Holy Spirit (means that the Spirit of God was the Author of this joy).