A Study in Acts Week 13

Acts Chapter 13

Verses 1-3 – Some leaders of the church in Antioch, Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen and Saul, were worshiping when the Holy Spirit told them to separate out Barnabas and Saul to do something special.

Verses 4-12 – The Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul to Salamis, on that island’s east coast. It was an important city for trade. Many Jews lived there. So, Barnabas and Saul usually preached to the Jews first when they came to a new place.

Paphos was the capital of Cyprus. People there worshiped Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and sex. The city was famous because the people there were so wicked. The ruler of Cyprus, had a private magician, a Jew. God had said that people must not do magic (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). But Bar-Jesus (Elymas) did magic. If his master became a Christian, Elymas would lose his job as magician. Therefore, he opposed the Barnabas and Saul. He tried to persuade his master not to believe the Christian faith.

Often, Jews had their Jewish name and a Roman name, too. Luke begins to call Saul, Paul, suitable because Paul had become a missionary to Gentile countries.

Because Bar-Jesus tried to keep the gospel message from his boss and others, God struck him with blindness. Both he and Simon the magician (Acts 8:9-13) had a certain power, but God’s power was, and is, greater.

Verses 13-15 – Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. Then they went to Pisidian Antioch, one of several towns referred to as “Antioch.”

Here they went to the synagogue to read from the Old Testament, the books of the Law and the books of the prophets. Paul’s first public speech was about the meaning of  these books and how they pointed to God’s New Covenant.

Verses 16-25 – Paul addressed the Jews and the spiritually minded people in the synagogue. He went over their history, good and bad. He reminded them of God’s patience with Israel. He also  reminded them that God had promised to give them a Savior.

Verses 26-41 – The second part of Paul’s speech is all about Jesus. In the end, Jesus is the only message of the Bible. From Genesis to the Book of the Revelation, Jesus is its cornerstone and Jesus’ gospel is its reason for being.

Paul covers Jesus life, His trials, His death, and His resurrection. He showed the Jews how their leaders should have known Jesus when He arrived, but how they did not understand the meaning of the Scriptures they read.

A majority of people, including theologians, Bible “scholars,” pastors and lay people still do not understand what they are reading when they read the Bible. Paul spoke of being freed from the penalty of sin through Christ.

Verses 42-52 – As usual, the Jews did not like the message brought by Paul and Barnabas. Paul declared that he had to tell the good news whether they liked it or not.

Paul told them: “We had to tell God’s message to you (the Jews) before we told everyone else. But you rejected it! Therefore we shall go to the Gentiles. This is what the Lord ordered us to do. He said this: “I have put you here to be a light for the Gentiles.

In the end, we are to tell all people the good news of Jesus, regardless of their national origin, their culture, the color of their skin, their world view and/or their redicule. We tell the story, and we leave the results up to the movement of the Holy Spirit.