Page 275 - Demo

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 
131* Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on
them and sent them o .
First Mission Begins in Cyprus. 4* So they, sent forth by the holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. 5When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They had John* also as their assistant. 6When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a magician named Bar-Jesus who was a Jewish false prophet.* 7He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who had summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas the magician (for that is what his name means) opposed them in an attempt to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9But Saul, also known as Paul,* lled with the holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, full of every sort of deceit and fraud. Will you not stop twisting the straight paths of [the] Lord? 11Even now the hand of the Lord is upon
you. You will be blind, and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12When the proconsul
saw what had happened, he came to believe, for he was astonished by the teaching about the Lord.
Paul’s Arrival at Antioch in Pisidia. 13From Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail and arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem.a 14They continued on from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the sabbath they entered [into] the synagogue and took their seats. 15After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue o cials sent word to them, “My brothers, if one of you has a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.” Paul’s Address in the Synagogue. 16* So Paul got up, motioned with his hand, and said, “Fellow Israelites and you others who are God- fearing,* listen. 17The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and exalted the people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt.b With uplifted arm he led them out of it 18and for about forty years he put
13:4
The rst mission of Barnabas and Paul was to bring relief to the Christians in Judea who were su ering the results of a famine (12:28-29). Having completed that mission, they receive another, but this time, their task is to preach the Gospel, in ful llment of Jesus’ words: “Repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).
* [13:1–3] The impulse for the rst missionary e ort in Asia Minor is ascribed to the prophets of the Antiochene community, under the inspiration of the holy Spirit. Just as the Jerusalem community had earlier been the center of missionary activity, so too Antioch becomes the center from which the missionaries Barnabas and Saul are sent out.
* [13:4–14:27] The key event in Luke’s account of the rst missionary journey is the experience of Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14–52). The Christian kerygma proclaimed by Paul in the synagogue was favorably received. Some Jews and “God-fearers” (see note on Acts 8:26–40) became interested and invited the missionaries to speak again on the following sabbath (Acts 13:42). By that time, however, the appearance of a large number of Gentiles from the city had so disconcerted the Jews that they became hostile toward the apostles (Acts 13:44–50). This hostility of theirs appears in all three accounts of Paul’s missionary journeys in Acts, the Jews of Iconium (Acts 14:1–2) and Beroea (Acts 17:11) being notable exceptions.
* [13:5] John: that is, John Mark (see Acts 12:12, 25).
* [13:6] A magician named Bar-Jesus who was a Jewish false prophet: that is, he posed as a prophet. Again Luke takes the opportunity to dissociate Christianity from the magical acts
of the time (Acts 13:7–11); see also Acts 8:18–24.
* [13:9] Saul, also known as Paul: there is no reason to believe that his name was changed from Saul to Paul upon his conversion. The use of a double name, one Semitic (Saul), the other Greco-Roman (Paul), is well attested (cf. Acts 1:23,
Joseph Justus; Acts 12:12, 25, John Mark).
* [13:16–41] This is the rst of several speeches of Paul to
Jews proclaiming that the Christian church is the logical development of Pharisaic Judaism (see also Acts 24:10–21; 26:2–23).
* [13:16] Who are God-fearing: see note on Acts 8:26–40. * [13:18] Put up with: some manuscripts read “sustained.”
a. [13:13] 15:38.
b. [13:17] Ex 6:1, 6; 12:51.
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