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Acts

Acts

Chapter 13

Red Words of Jesus
Blue God the Father
Purple Holy Spirit direct
Orange Spirit-filled human speech
Gold Marked wisdom
โœ Margin note

1Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Verse 1: Five names. Manaen is the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch โ€” the same Herod who killed John the Baptist. A man raised in the palace of the prophet-killer is now in the church. Luke records it without comment. The reach of grace is noted, not explained.

2As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them."

Verse 2: The Holy Spirit speaks directly โ€” first person, specific names, specific task. "For me" โ€” not relaying instruction but commissioning them for the Spirit's own work. One of the clearest instances of the Spirit speaking as a distinct person in the NT. This is the verse that kept drawing you back to Acts.

3Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 4So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed God's word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their attendant.

Verse 5 โ€” John: John Mark. Mentioned almost as an afterthought. His quiet departure in verse 13 will be conspicuous precisely because Luke established his presence so casually here.

6When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar Jesus, 7who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.

Bar Jesus: "Son of Jesus/Joshua." A false prophet whose name means "son of the savior" working to prevent someone from coming to faith. The enemy counterfeits proximity to the name. The proconsul is a man of understanding seeking the Word โ€” power is not the obstacle, it is the audience. The false prophet is the obstacle.

8But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him 10and said, "You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!"

Verses 9-11: Paul speaks โ€” but filled with the Holy Spirit. This is Spirit-filled human speech: not the Spirit speaking directly (V2 purple), but a yielded human vessel at a different authority level than normal speech. The blindness curse works. Note: Paul himself was struck blind on the Damascus road. He knows exactly what he is pronouncing โ€” and what mercy can follow it. Satan entered Judas to betray. The Spirit filled Paul to confront. Same mechanism, opposite direction.

Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Verse 12: He believed because of the teaching, not the miracle. The miracle cleared the room. Faith came through hearing โ€” as Paul will later write in Romans 10.

13Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.

Verse 13: John Mark just left. No explanation given. Luke records it without commentary. This becomes the sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:37-39. Paul later writes Mark is "useful to me for ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). The story is not over for people who leave early.

14But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak."

Verse 15: They are handed the floor. What follows is Paul's first recorded sermon โ€” V16 through V41 โ€” a sustained argument from the Hebrew scriptures that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant promises. The Spirit who commissioned them in V2 now has them standing in front of the people with an open invitation.

16Paul stood up, and gesturing with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. 17The God of this people chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as aliens in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm, he led them out of it. 18For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance for about four hundred fifty years. 20After these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.' 23From this man's offspring, God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise, 24before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel. 25As John was fulfilling his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'

V16-25: Paul opens his sermon with Israel's history โ€” the same history he would have learned as a Pharisee. He is meeting them where they are, using their own story to lead them to the conclusion. This is Acts 17 methodology before Acts 17.

26"Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you. 27For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn't know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed. 29When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead, 31and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. 32We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33that God has fulfilled this to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm,

'You are my Son.
Today I have become your father.' Ps 2:7

34"Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' Isa 55:3 35Therefore he says also in another psalm, 'You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.' Ps 16:10 36For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, was laid with his fathers, and saw decay. 37But he whom God raised up saw no decay. 38Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins; 39and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets:

41'Behold, you scoffers!
Wonder and perish,
for I work a work in your days,
a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.' " Hab 1:5
V38-41: The hinge of the sermon. Justification by faith, not law โ€” this is Romans compressed into a synagogue address. Paul quotes Habakkuk as a warning: what God is doing right now is so unexpected that even the announcement of it will not be believed. He is describing his own sermon as it is happening.

42So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

Verse 42-43: The first response is not from the expected audience. The Gentiles ask for more. The outsiders hear the invitation before the insiders are done deliberating. This pattern repeats throughout Acts.

44The next Sabbath, almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God. 45But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.

Verse 45: The opposition arrives when the audience gets large. This is also a pattern throughout Acts โ€” and throughout every movement that starts to work.

46Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, "It was necessary that God's word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from yourselves, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47For so has the Lord commanded us, saying,

'I have set you as a light for the Gentiles,
that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.' Isa 49:6
V46-47: Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6 โ€” originally addressed to Israel as a nation โ€” and applies it to himself and Barnabas as their commission. This is a staggering interpretive move. The servant song about Israel becomes the mandate for Gentile mission. The Spirit-filled sermon is still operating.

48As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49The Lord's word was spread abroad throughout all the region. 50But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders. 51But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. 52The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Verse 52: The chapter ends where it began โ€” with the Holy Spirit. V2: the Spirit commissions. V52: the Spirit fills the disciples who remain after Paul and Barnabas are expelled. The mission being interrupted does not interrupt what the Spirit is doing. The joy is not despite the expulsion. It is present inside it.
โ† Acts 12 โ†‘ Acts Acts 14 โ†’
World English Bible โ€” Public Domain ยท worldenglish.bible