Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 13:13
Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
13 15. The Apostles visit Pamphylia and Pisidia. Mark returns to Jerusalem
13. Now when Paul and his company ] Literally, “those around Paul.” Henceforth the Apostle of the Gentiles becomes the central figure in nearly every scene of the Acts.
loosed [ sailed ] from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia ] They would sail to the north-west. Pamphylia was about the middle part of the southern seaboard of Asia Minor, and Perga was its capital. We are not told of any missionary labours in Perga at this time either because there was no opening for their commencement, or it may be that the Apostles were troubled at the departure of Mark. They did preach in Perga on their return visit (Act 14:25).
and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem ] There is no reason given for his departure either here or elsewhere, but the cause assigned had clearly not been one which satisfied St Paul (Act 15:38). John Mark, most probably the same person as the writer of the second Gospel, afterwards was an earnest labourer for Christ, and St Paul (Col 4:10) speaks of him with affection. If St Luke knew the cause of his present withdrawal, the remembrance of his subsequent zeal sealed his lips on the subject. Cp. Act 10:48, note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Paul and his company – Those with him – Barnabas and John – and perhaps others who had been converted at Paphos; for it was common for many of the converts to Christianity to attend on the apostles in their travels. See Act 9:3 O.
Loosed from Paphos – Departed from Paphos. See the notes on Act 13:6.
They came to Perga in Pamphylia – Pamphylia was a province of Asia Minor, lying over against Cyprus, having Cilicia east, Lycia west, Pisidia north, and the Mediterranean south. Perga was the metropolis of Pamphylia, and was situated, not on the seacoast, but on the river Cestus, at some distance from its mouth. There was on a mountain near it a celebrated temple of Diana.
And John departing from them … – Why he departed from them is unknown. It might have been from fear of danger; or from alarm in traveling so far into unknown regions. But it is plain from Act 15:38, that it was from some cause which was deemed blameworthy, and that his conduct now was such as to make Paul unwilling again to have him as a companion.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 13:13-52
Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia.
Perga in Pamphylia
Because Perga was little known Pamphylia is subjoined. It was an ancient city on the river Cestrus, about seven miles from its mouth. The stay in it was very short, and there seems to have been no preaching till the return journey (Act 14:25). Some of the perils from robbers and rivers (2Co 11:16) may have been encountered at this time. (Bp. Jacobson.)
And John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.—
The defection of Mark
We are not to suppose that this implied a rejection of Christianity. A soldier who has wavered in one battle may live to win a glorious victory. Mark was afterwards not unwilling to accompany the apostles, and actually did accompany Barnabas again to Cyprus (Act 15:37-39). Nor did Paul always retain his unfavourable judgment of him (Col 4:10; 2Ti 4:11). Yet if we consider all the circumstances of his life, we shall not find it difficult to blame his conduct, and to see good reasons why Paul should distrust his steadiness of character. The child of a religious mother, who had sheltered in her house the Christian disciples, he had been a close spectator of the wonderful power of the religion of Christ, and had been a minister of the apostles in their successful enterprise; and now he forsook them when they were about to proceed through greater difficulties to more glorious success. We are not left in doubt as to the real character of his departure. He was drawn from the work of God by the attraction of an earthly home. Either he did not like the work, or he wanted to go and see his mother (M. Henry). (J. S. Howson, D. D.)
The departure of Mark and the continuance of the apostles
1. Any one who turns back from Gods work does himself an injury.
2. The work will go on, no matter who turns back.
3. Those in the work should seek every fit opportunity to proclaim the Word.
4. Those in the work should seek the regular and appointed channels for proclaiming the Word.
5. Those who seek for opportunities for work will have opportunities given them.
6. Those in the work should make use of all their tact to make the Word acceptable.
7. Those who are earnest and persistent in the work, guided by the Spirit, will be successful. (S. S. Times.)
John Mark
I. Consider, first, his–what shall I call it? Well, if I may use the word which Paul himself designates it by, in its correct signification, we may call it his apostasy. It was not a departure from Christ, but it was a departure from very plain duty. He was quite ready for missionary work as long as it was easy work; quite ready to do it as long as he was moving upon known ground and there was no great call upon his heroism, or his indolence; does not wait to test the difficulties, but is frightened by the imagination of them; does not throw himself into the work and see how he gets on with it; but before he has gone a mile into the land, or made any real experience of the perils and hardships, has had quite enough of it, and goes away back to his mother in Jerusalem, Yes! and we find exactly the same thing in all courses of honourable life. Many begin to run, but one after another, as lap after lap of the race course is got over, has had enough of it, and drops on one side; a hundred started, and at the end the field is reduced to three or four. And so, in regard of every career which has in it anything of honour and of effort, let this man teach us the lesson not swiftly to begin and inconsiderately to venture upon a course, but once begun let nothing discourage. Nor bate one jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward. Some of you need the word of exhortation and earnest beseeching, to contrast the sluggishness, the indolence of your present, with the brightness and the fervour of your past. And I beseech you, do not let your Christian life be like snow–when it first lights upon the earth, radiant and white, but day by day more covered with a veil of sooty blackness until it becomes dark and foul.
II. Look, next, in the development of this little bit of biography, to marks eclipse. Paul and Barnabas differed about how to treat the renegade. Which of them was right? Would it have been better to have put him back in his old post, and given him another chance, and said nothing about the failure; or was it better to do what the sterner wisdom of Paul did, and declare that a man who had once so forgotten himself and abandoned his work was not the man to put in the same place again? Barnabas made a mistake. It would have been the cruellest thing that could have been done to his relative to have put him back again without acknowledgment, without repentance, without riding quarantine for a bit, and holding his tongue for a while. He would not then have known his fault as he ought to have known it, and so there would never have been the chance of his conquering it. God treats His renegades as Paul treated Mark, and not as Barnabas would have treated him. Ready, and infinitely ready, to forgive and to restore, but needing to see the consciousness of the sin first, and needing, before large tasks are committed to hands that once have dropped them, to have some kind of evidence that the hands are stronger and the heart purified from its cowardice and its selfishness. Let us learn the difference between a weak charity which loves too foolishly, and therefore too selfishly, to let a man inherit the fruit of his doings, and the large mercy which knows how to take the bitterness out of the chastisement, and yet knows how to chastise. Marks eclipse may teach us another lesson, viz., that the punishment for shirking work is to be denied work. You have been asked to work–I speak now to professing Christians–duties have been pressed upon you, fields of service have opened plainly before you, and you have not had the heart to go into them. And so you stand idle all the day now, and the work goes to other people that can do it. And God honours them, and passes you by. Mark goes away to Cyprus, he does not go back to Jerusalem; he and Barnabas try to get up some little schismatic sort of mission of their own. Nothing comes of it; nothing ought to have come of it. He drops out of the story; he has no share in the joyful conflicts and sacrifices and successes of the apostle. The punishment of indolence is absolute idleness. Beware! all of you professing Christians, lest to you should come the fate of the slothful servant with his one buried talent, to whom the punishment of burying it unused was to lose it altogether; according to that solemn word fulfilled in the temporal sphere of this story, on which I am commenting. To him that hath shall be given, etc.
III. Again, consider the process of recovery. Concerning it we read nothing indeed in Scripture; but concerning it we know enough to be able at least to determine what its outline must have been. There is only one road, with well-marked stages, by which a backsliding or apostate Christian can return to his Master. And that road has three halting places upon it, through which our heart must pass if it have wandered from its early faith, and falsified its first professions. The first of them is the consciousness of the fall; the second is the resort to the Master for forgiveness; and the last is the deepened consecration to Him. No man that wanders into the wilderness but comes back to the Kings highway, if he comes back at all.
IV. And so, lastly, notice the reinstatement of the penitent renegade. Notwithstanding the failure, notwithstanding the wise refusal of Paul to have nothing to do with him years before, he is reinstated in his old office, and the aged apostle before he dies would like to have the comfort of his presence once more at his side. Is not the lesson out of that, this eternal gospel, that even early failures, recognised and repented of, may make a man better fitted for the tasks which once he fled from? Just as they tell us–I do not know whether it is true or not, it will do for an illustration–just as they tell us that a broken bone renewed is stronger at the point of fracture than it ever was before, so the very sin that we commit, when once we know it for a sin, and have brought it to Christ for forgiveness, may minister to our future efficiency and strength. The sin which we have learned to know for a sin and to hate, teaches us humility, dependence, shows us where the weak places are; sin which is forgiven knits us to Christ with deeper and more fervid love, and results in a larger consecration. Think of the two ends of this mans life–flying like a frightened hare from the very first suspicion of danger or of difficulty, sulking in his solitude, apart from all the joyful stir of consecration and of service; and at the end of it made an evangelist to proclaim to the whole world the story of the gospel of the servant. God works with broken reeds, and through them breathes His sweetest music. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Abandonment of missionary work
Felix Carey, a nephew of the great Dr. Carey, the Indian missionary, was, like his uncle, devoted to missionary life. He abandoned his sacred calling, however, to become an ambassador to the court of Burmah. Speaking of the change, Dr. Carey said, Felix was a missionary, but he is now shrivelled up to an ambassador. (W. Walters.)
They came to Antioch in Pisidia.—
Antioch in Pisidia
Seleucus Nicanor is said to have built nine cities to which he gave his own name, Seleucia, and sixteen which he called after his father Antiochus. Amongst these are the Syrian and the Pisidian Antioch. Six others were called Laodicea, after his mother, and at least one after Apamea, his wife. This recurrence of the same name is a cause of some confusion when considering either the geography or history of this part of Asia. Antioch in Pisidia is situated on a table land of a ridge of hills on the confines of Pisidia and Phrygia, to which latter province it is sometimes, but inaccurately, reckoned to belong. It lies north of Perga, and east of Apollonia, and the roads which radiated from it in every direction made it a port of considerable importance, commercial as well as military. The city was originally founded by Magnetes, and subsequently refounded by Seleucus. It was, however, of little importance until Augustus made it a Colonia, and a free city with the Jus Italicum, from which circumstance it is sometimes called Antiochea Caesarea. Until that time it was distinguished for the worship of the moon, as a male deity, and large numbers of priests were supported by the rich endowments belonging to the temple at this place. The population was a very mixed one, with a larger amount of the Latin element than was usual in the cities of Asia Minor. The Jews were probably not numerous, as we only read of the synagogue, not, as at Salamis and other places, in the plural. It is referred to in the New Testament, in Act 13:14; Act 14:19-21; 2Ti 3:11. Many of the inscriptions and coins belonging to the Pisidian Antioch are for this reason in Latin. This city is now entirely deserted, and its site, having been long unknown, has only been rediscovered in modern times. (W. Denton, M. A.)
The continental mission
I. The Word accepted.
1. Giving up the work. The return of Mark very much displeased Paul. In his eyes a deserter was worse than an enemy; no man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, was fit ever again to be taken into such service. Hence, when Barnabas would have given him another trial, Paul would not consent. But Barnabas was right. His kindly nature was better than the stern, uncompromising disposition of Paul. Barnabas was a good man, his goodness leading him to lean toward the erring. Under his training and influence Mark recovered the character he had lost, so that at last Paul himself said, He is useful to me for the ministering. In his dealing with Mark, Barnabas again proved his right to the title, Son of Consolation.
2. Going on with the work. It was a small force, numerically, that moved upon the intrenched idolatrous hosts of Asia Minor. By the desertion of Mark, the army of three had been reduced one-third. But the soldiers of Christ are not to be estimated by their numbers, but by the personality in and back of them–the Holy Spirit.
3. The opportunity for work. They followed the course pursued by their Master before them. They reverenced the Sabbath, and had regard for its institutions. They so commended themselves by this, and by their devout behaviour, as to receive from the rulers the invitation, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation, say on. The result was a surprise to those who gave it. A word of exhortation was given, the like of which they never had heard before. What they heard was to them a revelation.
(1) Paul declared that God, who had done such great things for His chosen people of old time, had now, according to promise, completed His work of grace by giving unto Israel a Saviour (verses 17-23).
(2) Paul went on to prove the truth of this assertion by showing–
(a) That Jesus advent was prophetically preannounced by John, His forerunner (verses 24, 25).
(b) That Jesus rose from the dead (verses 26-37). After reciting how the Messiah was slain, Paul proved His resurrection, first, by the fact that He was seen of chosen witnesses; second, by quotations from the Psalms, which showed that this resurrection was nothing more than a fulfilment of the promise made unto the fathers.
(3) Paul declared that through this Man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins.
(4) Paul warned his hearers of the fatal consequences of despising this offer of salvation.
4. The fruit of the work. The address of Paul–
(1) Aroused a general interest (verse42). It is a good sign when there is a general desire to have a sermon repeated.
(2) Secured many converts (verse 43). These had become so obedient to the truth, that the apostles needed only to urge them to continue in the grace of God.
(3) Bitter opposition was aroused (verse 45). Jealousy has been the secret of the opposition to many a new religious movement. The Jews here were jealous of their new leaders, and of the hold they and their doctrines were getting.
II. The Word rejected.
1. The bold word (verse 46). They were not cowed by the opposition. They had within them a moral courage, born of the Spirit and of a conviction of right, that made them more than a match for their opponents. Bold words, uttered under such circumstances, make revolutions in opinions.
2. The spoken word. The Divine order was Jews first, then Gentiles. The Jews were the natural sons of the household, and therefore had the first right to the Fathers proclamation of a new inheritance for all of His children.
3. The word thrust away. Note–
(1) That those who reject the gospel judge themselves to be unworthy of eternal life. The choice that a man makes determines his personal worth. God demands no more worthiness in men than that they shall accept the offer of salvation.
(2) That when men demonstrate that they are unworthy of eternal life, it is the duty of Christian workers to turn to others. There is no use in labouring in a barren field, when a rich harvest can be reaped near by. Better save ten, than work on unavailingly with one.
4. The word of command (verse 47). The redemption of the Gentiles was no new addition to the plan of salvation. From the beginning God intended that those who sat in darkness should see a great light. His eye was fixed upon the uttermost part of the earth, as well as upon the land of the covenant.
5. The word glorified (verse 48). They proved themselves to be worthy of eternal life, for many believed, and the Word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all the region.
III. The Word persecuted. Note–
1. The unbelieving Jews. They demonstrated that they were unworthy of eternal life by conducting themselves as though inspired by the evil one.
2. The believing disciples. The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost. The persecutors, on the contrary, were filled with jealousy and with hate. They succeeded in driving away Paul and Barnabas, but the apostles left behind them a peace and joy that could not be banished. The missionaries were expelled, but the gospel had come to stay. (M. C. Hazard.)
And went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.—
Paul at Antioch
In these verses there are many inferential lessons: e.g., verse 26. We are not to cast our pearls before swine; it was to those who feared God that Paul spoke of the great salvation. To him that hath shall be given; those who fear God shall be led to the knowledge of His truth. Verse 27. Ignorance is a frequent cause of crime; hence the importance of educational effort. It is possible for us to misunderstand the things with which we are most familiar. How little we know of the tendencies of our actions; they may actually accomplish the very opposite of what we intended. Verse 28. A blameless life will not necessarily exempt from hatred and persecution. Hatred is irrational; let us be on our guard against its perverting influences. Verse 29. There is a limit to all that men can do to us, and it is soon reached. Verse 34. The men of the greatest influence and activity soon reach the end of their course and pass away; only Christ remains the same efficient power in all generations. Note here–
I. Pauls method of preaching the gospel to the Jews. He urged them to accept it because–
1. In Christ were fulfilled the promises made to their fathers. This Paul used to establish by copious quotations from the Old Testament, his object being always to prove that Jesus was not the founder of a new religion, but the Messiah of whom the prophets had spoken.
2. The ignorance and wickedness of the Jewish rulers had led to the accomplishment of predictions that could not otherwise have been fulfilled.
3. By the resurrection of Christ God had completely reversed this condemnation by men.
4. Christ confers on them who believe on Him greater blessings than could be obtained from the Mosaic law.
II. Lessons to be learned from this method.
1. Let us endeavour to conciliate those whom we seek to convert.
2. Let us make Christ the central theme of our teaching.
3. In our presentation of Christ and all truth, let us adapt ourselves to our hearers. What a contrast between this address and that on Mars Hill!
4. Yet no fear of offending the prejudices of our hearers must lead us to keep back any portion of the truth.
5. While always maintaining the spirit of love, let us not hesitate, if need be, to persuade our hearers by the terrors of the Lord. (R. A. Bertram.)
Paul at Antioch
I. He brought a great message. It was not an ingenious development of a trivial theme. No doubt the account of the sermon is only the merest outline, but it calls to a living interest in the few great themes of the gospel. A true religious knowledge is not an infinite number of anatomical bits of information about the Bible. He whose heart and mind are filled with the thoughts of Gods sovereignty, and Christs redemption and the resurrection life, has a true knowledge of the revelation. Other things are important only as they throw light on these.
II. He reinforced his message by the power of his own intense conviction. He was not half persuaded merely of the truth he preached. It was a message to the utterance of which he had given his life, upon the truth of which he had staked his own destiny.
III. The gospel message thus brought to Antioch revealed the hearts of her citizens.
1. The Jews Were narrow, unteachable, holding what truth they had in unrighteousness: they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life.
2. The Gentiles awakened to a transient interest in a new religion, in their sudden excitement betokened their lack of thought and earnestness in receiving the grace of God. They were the stony-ground hearers.
3. The devout women of honourable estate were able to influence the municipal authorities, and to stir up persecution against the apostles. In so doing, they passed judgment upon themselves, separating themselves from the greater number of honourable women, who elsewhere greatly aided the apostles in their labours.
4. The Roman authorities, tolerant of the Jewish religion because careless about all religion; deprecating excitements, solicitous for peace; easily persuaded, for the sake of quiet, to banish the disturbers–their irreligious nature is disclosed to us. Thus the gospel revealed the hearts of all. It compelled all to take sides. And so now men cannot come into the full light of the gospel without showing what manner of men they are.
IV. The message not only revealed character–it formed character. Gods Word does not leave men as it finds them. The gospel has power to quicken the conscience; but when the clearer voice of conscience is disobeyed, estrangement from God is deepened. More evident and remarkable was its transforming power upon those that believed. They were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.
V. The opposition of the Jews to the message suggests that there is a limit to responsibility for the proclamation of the gospel at given times and places. Having clearly set before the Jews the claims of the gospel, Paul had discharged his obligation (verse 46). Every man who has learned from the gospel what the state of the natural heart is, and what the power is by which God renews the heart, and what the channel is through which Divine grace comes to men, has learned enough to be fully accountable for his own salvation. To him the Church has performed her mission and discharged her obligation. When she has set before you the gift of God, which ix eternal life, you must judge yourself worthy or unworthy of it.
VI. The gospel brings abiding and increasing blessings to those who receive it (verse 52). The persecution of Paul and Barnabas did not shake their faith. By the presence of the Holy Ghost they were freed from shame and fear, and filled with joyous hope. (W. G. Sperry.)
Pauls first, recorded speech
1. Paul and Barnabas did not violently separate themselves from old traditions and religious companionships. The Christian is not the enemy of the Jew; he owes everything precious in his civilisation and in his hope to the Jew. There was a custom in the synagogue which we have not in the church. The rulers of the synagogue, noticing distinguished persons in the audience, would invite them to address the assembly. In the olden time they believed that the Word was its own defence, that the fire of the Lord would disinfect whatever it touched, and that to be in the synagogue was to be deeply religious, and loyal to the spirit of the house. These things have all changed. Men can be in the Christian church in an unchristian spirit. The mere verbalist, yes, and even the mocker, may find his way into the church, and be only too glad to have an opportunity to contradict what he did not understand. The usual challenge having been given, Paul stood up. That was an event in history. In that brief sentence you have the beginning of a battle which was concluded with these words–I have fought a good fight, etc. Paul did not stand up by himself. Men are lifted up. Every action of the loyal life is an action of inspiration. The good man lays no plans, and makes no arrangements which can exclude the sudden and incalculable inspiration of God.
2. This is Pauls first recorded speech. I like to be present at beginnings. There is a subtle, tender mysterious joy about planting roots and sowing seed, covering it up and leaving it in the darkness; then what a surprise it is to come back in due time and find the green lancet puncturing the soil and coming up to look at the light it has been groping for all the while! Sometimes our first speeches were very poor because they were our own. We made them, wrote them out, graved them upon the unwilling memory, and they were like something put on, not growing out; and so we begged our friends, who were unhappy enough to be able to quote some portions of them, to forget them if they could! But the first speeches of the Christian defender were incapable of improvement. They were as complete as the fiat of God which said–Let there be light: and there was light.
3. Paul based his apology on the model of Stephen. We cannot tell of what elements our life is made up. It is no one shower of rain that makes the summer green. We are gathering from every point all day long. Paul was no student of rhetoric when he listened to Stephen; but Stephens speech, like all vital speech, got into the man, and became part of his intellectual and spiritual life. Paul began as Stephen did, with a narrative of Jewish history. To their credit be it spoken, the Jews were never tired of hearing their own history. Are we patient under the citation of the facts which make up our history? We cannot live in sentiment. You cannot build a castle in the air that you can live in; it must be founded upon rock, however high up into the air you may carry it. This was the great law of Jewish eloquence and Jewish appeal, basing the whole argument upon the rock of undisputed history. Do not some of us occasionally say, Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and His love?–therein we are partly Jewish–that is our story! As the Jews began from the formation of themselves as a people, we begin at Bethlehem, and in proportion as we are in the right spirit and temper, we are never tired of hearing the old, old story.
4. Notice in this speech what we may call Pauls grip of God. I know not any speech of the same length in which the sacred word occurs so frequently. The factor we have omitted from our sermons is only–God! We are afraid or ashamed of His name; we pronounce it hesitatingly, mincingly, timidly. Paul did not use it so; he hurled it like a thunderbolt; he measured everything by that grand standard. All through history he saw a Figure after the similitude of God. You can dislodge a man from any position but that.
5. As we find Stephens character in Stephens apology, so we may find Pauls character in Pauls exposition. Mark his courtesy. He was no rough intruder, but a gentleman born, and indestructible all through and through, polite, refined, courteous, gentlemanly. His tact is most wonderful; he notices how the assembly is made up–he is a poor speaker who takes no note of his hearers. Paul saw not only the Jews, but the Greeks and proselytes, who, wearied with the absurdities of polytheism, had come to believe there was one God, a spiritual, invisible, eternal God! So Paul accosted both classes, Men of Israel–always distinguishable, never to be confounded with others–and ye that fear God–converted from mythology to true spirituality of thought–give audience. How delicately he puts the case in verse 27!
6. How wondrously Paul introduced the right way of quoting Scripture! There is hardly a quotation which he makes here which is not a double or a treble quotation turned into one: e.g., verse 22 cannot be found in the Old Testament; it is at least three passages made into one. It is all in the Bible, but is in no one place in the Scripture. He does not quote the Bible who quotes mere texts. The Bible is larger than any one text that is in it. There is a spirit of collocation and a spirit of quotation, a Bible spirit that can bring from east, west, north, and south lines that shall focalise in one intense and dazzling glory.
7. Pauls voice surely had a quiver in it which no reporter could catch–for in reports we do not get the tonic colour and force of speech–when he said, God gave unto them Saul, etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Pauls first reported sermon
Note three great facts which he was anxious to impress on their attention.
I. That their Scriptures, which exhibited Gods special kindness to them as a people, contained the promise of a Messiah. After reminding them of certain striking facts in their history, showing how wondrously kind God had been to them as a people, extending from verses 17 to 21, he directs them at once to the great prophetic truth that there was, according to their Scriptures to, come a Messiah. He states–
1. That David was to be the progenitor of that Messiah (verses 22, 23).
2. That John the Baptist, one of the greatest prophets of their age, was to be His forerunner (verses 24, 25). This fact, namely, that their Scriptures pointed to a Messiah, they would be prepared, of course, readily to admit. Hence he proceeds to another fact arising out of this which would not be so easily admitted.
II. That the Messiah predicted by their Scriptures had actually appeared on the earth (verse 26). He states facts that occurred in the history of the Messiah while here.
1. That He was crucified and buried according to their Scriptures (verses 27-29). In their Scriptures they would find an account of just the treatment He actually met with on the earth.
2. That God actually raised Him from the dead, also, according to their Scriptures (verse 31). He states that His resurrection formed the glad tidings which they had to declare unto them (verse 32). He states that His resurrection was a fulfilment of their Scriptures (verses 33-35). In quoting these passages he seemed to anticipate that some of his audience would say that they referred to David; but this he declares is impossible, as that David was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. The other great fact we discover in this sermon is–
III. That this Messiah is the Mediator through whom the world is to be saved. He states–
1. That faith in Him will secure the forgiveness of all sins (verse 38). That the rejection of Him is of all crimes the most to be deprecated (verses 40, 41).
(1) That sometimes the Divine judgments following the rejection of Gods Word have been foretold. It is the principle of the Divine government that punishment shall ever follow unbelief. Numerous instances in the Bible might be cited. The apostle quotes a case here where such punishment had been predicted (Hab 1:5). The original design of the prediction was to proclaim the ruin that would come upon the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans. The reason why that ruin came on them from God was their unbelief.
(2) That the judgments that have followed unbelief in past times should be taken as types and warnings of those that will follow the rejection of Gods Word in Jesus Christ. Thus the apostle uses Divine judgment here. The passage which he quotes from the Septuagint, not by any means with literal accuracy, he cites to show, not that this particular prophecy will be fulfilled in the experience of the rejecters of Christ, but that something as terrible. From the language we may infer–
(a) That the judgment, when it comes, will fill the victim with amazement–Behold, ye despisers, and wonder. What wild amazement seized the antediluvians, the men of Sodom, etc., when the judgment came.
(b) That the judgment, when it comes, will effect utter destruction–perish.
(c) That the judgment that is to come is incredibly tremendous. It is a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Paul in his introductory discourse already a complete Paul
1. The profound interpreter of Scripture (verses 17, 33).
2. The large-hearted Apostle of the Gentiles (verses 16, 26).
3. The truly evangelical preacher of the faith (verses 38, 39).
4. The undaunted witness of the truth (verses 40, 41). (K. Gerok.)
I will make you fishers of men
The apostles, in obedience to this saying, have–
1. Cast their net in many places (verse 13).
2. Suffered not themselves to be hindered in their work, though some went back (verse 13).
3. Regarded every time of work as opportune (verse 14).
4. Taken advantage of every place (verse 14).
5. Disregarded no request in order to testify of the grace of God in Christ Jesus (verse 16). (Lisco.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Paul and his company loosed from Paphos] They sailed away from this island, leaving, it may be presumed, Elymas a sincere and deeply humbled penitent; and Sergius Paul, a thorough and happy believer in the doctrine of Christ.
Previously to this time, St. Luke always mentions Barnabas before Paul; but after this he mentions Paul always first; probably after seeing how God had distinguished him in the late proceedings at Cyprus; as much of the Holy Spirit now rested upon him.
They came to Perga in Pamphylia] As Perga was not a maritime town, it is conjectured that the apostles sailed up the river Cestrus, in order to come to this place, which, according to Strabo, was situated about sixty leagues up this river, and near to which was a famous temple dedicated to Diana. For Pamphylia, see Ac 2:10.
And John departing from them] Why John Mark left his brethren at this place we are not informed; probably he went to visit his pious mother Mary at Jerusalem, and to see Peter, to whom he is supposed to have been much attached. It certainly was not with the approbation of Paul that he left them at this place, as we learn from Ac 15:38; yet his departure does not seem to have merited the displeasure of Barnabas; for John Mark having met these apostles at Antioch, when Paul purposed to revisit the various places where they had planted the word of God, Barnabas was willing to take him with them; but Paul would not consent, because he had departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work, Ac 15:35-39, and this occasioned a separation between Barnabas and Paul. It does not appear that John Mark was under any obligation to accompany them any longer or any farther than he pleased. He seems to have been little else than their servant, and certainly was not divinely appointed to this work, as they were; and consequently might leave them innocently, though not kindly, if they could not readily supply his place. In this respect John Mark might be to blame; but Barnabas, whose nephew he was, could look over this fault more easily than Paul, who could not find those motives to pass by what was reprehensible in his conduct which natural affection might furnish to his brother apostle.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Perga, a city in Pamphylia: not that there were any other cities of that name; but because this region was more commonly known, it being a country in the Lesser Asia, bordering on Cilicia. The departure of John (of whom before, Act 13:5, and Act 12:25) was blameworthy, as Act 15:38. Some think he shunned that labour and suffering which he saw attended the gospel; others suppose that he returned to Jerusalem out of too fond an affection for his mother, who lived there; and it may be that he, retaining a great aversion from the Gentiles, might abhor to go amongst them: however, let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. they came to Perga inPamphyliaThe distance from Paphos to Attalia, on the Gulf ofPamphylia (see on Ac 14:25),sailing in a northwest direction, is not much greater than fromSeleucia to Salamis on the east. Perga was the metropolis ofPamphylia, on the river Cestrus, and about seven miles inland fromAttalia.
and John departing from themreturned to JerusalemAs Paul afterwards peremptorily refusedto take Mark with him on his second missionary journey, because he”had departed [or ‘fallen off’] from them and had not gone withthem to the work” (Ac 15:38),there can be no doubt that he had either wearied of it or beendeterred by the prospect of the dangers which lay before him. (Butsee on Ac 15:37, &c.).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos,…. Which was upon the sea coast: so Jerom y says, that Paphos was “urbs maritima”, a city on the sea coast of the island of Cyprus; it was on the western part of the island, to the west of which lay the sea of Pamphylia, over which the apostle, and his company, sailed to the place next mentioned, which was in Pamphylia; and so Apollonius Tyaneus z, having got a ship at Seleucia, is said to sail to Paphos in Cyprus; and from hence the apostle, and those that were with him, set sail; and as the Syriac version renders it, “went by sea”, or “through the sea”; that is, of Pamphylia; of which mention is made in Ac 27:5.
They came to Perga in Pamphylia which country was before called Mopsopia; [See comments on Ac 2:10] which now, with Cilicia, is called Caramania; and among the cities and towns in it, both Pliny a and Ptolomy b make mention of Perga; where was a famous temple of Diana, whence she was sometimes called Pergea c; and every year a great feast was kept here in honour of her: it was the birth place of Apollonius, a very famous geometrician, who wrote eight books of conic sections, four of which are now extant d; and who, from his native place, is called Apollonius Pergaeus e. It was situated between two great rivers, Oestros and Catarctes f; and since , “Parag”, in the eastern languages, signifies “to delight”, perhaps it might be so called from its delightful situation. Hilleras g observes, Pargi (or rather Perage), as is the word in the Syriac version of Mt 23:37 with the Syrians signifies the young of birds, as of hens and doves; and so do Pargiia, Pargiot, and Perigin, with the Jewish Rabbins h; which writer seems to suggest, that this place was so called from the multitude of fowls that were about it.
And John departing from them returned to Jerusalem; that is, John Mark, whom Paul and Barnabas took with them, and who was a minister to them: but what was the reason of his departure, whether for the sake of seeing his mother at Jerusalem; or because he did not like, but grew weary of the travels, labours, and fatigues of the apostle, and his company; or did not choose to go among the Gentiles, is not certain: however, his departure was resented by Paul; and it laid a foundation for a sharp contention between him and Barnabas, who was uncle to this John Mark, Ac 15:38 from whence it appears that it was not at Paphos in Cyprus, but at Perga in Pamphilia, that he left them, by which the mistake of some interpreters on this text must be corrected.
y De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. F. z Philostrat. Vit. Apollon. l. 3. c. 16. a Nat. Hist, l. 5. c. 27. b Geograph. l. 5. c. 5. c Pompon. Mela, l. 1. c. 14. d Vid. Fabricii Bibliothec. Graec. l. 3. c. 22. sect. 17, 18, 19. e Vitruvius de Architectura, l. 1. c. 1. f Mela, ut supra. (Pompon. Mela, l. 1. c. 14.) g Onomasticum Sacrum, p. 906. h T. Bab Beracot, fol. 39. 1. & Bava Metzia, fol. 24. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 17, fol. 14. 2. Midrash Echa Rabbati, fol. 43. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Paul and his company ( ). Neat Greek idiom as in Plato, Cratylus 440 C H. On this idiom see Gildersleeve, Syntax, p. 264. It means a man and his followers, “those around Paul.” Now Paul ranks first always in Acts save in Acts 14:2; Acts 15:12; Acts 15:25 for special reasons. Heretofore Saul (Paul) held a secondary position (Acts 9:27; Acts 11:30; Acts 13:1). “In nothing is the greatness of Barnabas more manifest than in his recognition of the superiority of Paul and acceptance of a secondary position for himself” (Furneaux).
Set sail (). First aorist passive participle of . Thirteen times in the Acts and Lu 8:22 which see. They sailed up to sea and came down (, ) to land. So it looks.
Departed from them ( ‘ ). First aorist active participle of , old verb to withdraw, go away from. In the N.T. only here and Matt 7:23; Luke 9:39. He is called John there as in verse 5 and Mark in 15:39, though John Mark in Acts 12:12; Acts 12:25. This may be accidental or on purpose (Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 317). Luke is silent on John’s reasons for leaving Paul and Barnabas. He was the cousin of Barnabas and may not have relished the change in leadership. There may have been change in plans also now that Paul is in command. Barnabas had chosen Cyprus and Paul has led them to Perga in Pamphylia and means to go on into the highlands to Antioch in Pisidia. There were perils of many sorts around them and ahead (2Co 11:26), perils to which John Mark was unwilling to be exposed. Paul will specifically charge him at Antioch with desertion of his post (Ac 15:39). It is possible, as Ramsay suggests, that the mosquitoes at Perga gave John malaria. If so, they bit Paul and Barnabas also. He may not have liked Paul’s aggressive attitude towards the heathen. At any rate he went home to Jerusalem instead of to Antioch, zu seiner Mutter (Holtzmann). It was a serious breach in the work, but Paul and Barnabas stuck to the work.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Loosed [] . See on Luk 8:22.
Paul and his company [ ] . Lit., those around Paul. In later writers, used to denote the principal person alone, as Joh 11:19, came to Mary and Martha; where the Greek literally reads, came to the women around Mary and Martha. Paul, and not Barnabas, now appears as the principal person.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos,” (anachthentes de apo tes paphou hoi peri Paulon) “Then Paul and those around him (accompanying) setting sail from Paphos;” The company consisted of Paul, Barnabas, John Mark and perhaps certain other missionary helpers, named from time to time as accompanying Paul for a short period of time, sailed from Paphos in Cyprus to the next seaport on the coast of Pamphylia.
2) “They came to Perga in Pamphylia: (elthon eis pergen tes Pamphulias) “Came to or arrived at Perga of Pamphylia,” where Paul took charge of leadership, direction, and supervision in the work to which God had called and sent him in a very special way, as they began their inland travels in Asia Minor.
3) “And John departing from them,” (loannes de apochoresas ap’ auton) “Then John (Mark) parting from them went not with them to the work,” the field of labors (missions) before them, among the Gentiles in the territory of Asia Minor, eastward, Act 15:38.
4) “Returned to Jerusalem,” (hupestrepsen eis lerosoluma) “Turned back (returned) into Jerusalem,” to his home and perhaps that of his mother, from where he had come with Paul and Barnabas, when they delivered alms to the Judean and Jerusalem brethren for the Antioch church, Act 12:12; Act 12:25. Paul later protested taking John Mark on the second missionary tour perhaps lest he turn back again and dishearten the workers, Luk 9:62; Act 15:36-41. John was his Jewish and Mark his Gentile name.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. Here is set down another of Paul’s stations; for, being departed from Paphos, when he came to Antioch of Pisidia, he made there a worthy (791) sermon, which Luke will recite, together with the success; but before he come to that, he doth by the way speak of the departure of John, because it was afterwards a cause of doleful disagreement. When he saith, Paul’s companions loosed from Paphos, he doth, in the first place, mean Paul himself; secondly, the other, one excepted. So that by noting his softness, he praiseth others which followed Paul with great (792) constancy.
(791) “ Memorabilem,” memorable.
(792) “ Indefatigabili,” indefatigable.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act. 13:13. Paul and his company.Note the two changesfirst of Sauls name, which is henceforth Paul, and next of Pauls position in the mission as leader rather than as follower, as principal rather than as subordinate. (compare , Textus Receptus). The phrase perhaps hints that Paul had other unnamed companions besides Barnabas and John. Instead of loosed from read having set sail from; and for departing from them, having withdrawn from them. For the reasons which caused John Mark to return to Jerusalem, see Homiletical Analysis.
Act. 13:14. They now signifies Paul and Barnabas without John. Antioch of Pisidia.So named by Strabo. The chief city of inner Pisidia, a Roman colony, a strong fortress, the centre of military and civil administration in the southern parts of the vast province called by the Romans Galatia (Ramsay).
Act. 13:15. The law and the prophets.The higher critics say this should have been the prophets and the law. Christ agrees with Luke (Mat. 22:40). Men and Brethren, Brethren (R.V.), Gentlemen, Brethren (Ramsay).
Act. 13:16. Then Paul stood up.Dr. Murphy thinks Paul found the occasion for his chronological exordium in the lessons which he heard read in the synagogue, and that these werethe Parasha, Exo. 10:13-16; Exo. 12:40-41; Exo. 13:3-16; and the Haphtara, Jer. 46:13-28 (see The Homiletical Quarterly, Oct. 1877, pp. 490, 491). Others (Farrar, Plumptre, Ramsay), think the passages read were Deuteronomy 1 and Isaiah 1 Baur (Paul, His Life and Works, i., pp. 104 ff) objects to the credibility of this speech on the grounds
(1) of its resemblance to the speeches of Peter, and
(2) of its lack of a truly Pauline character. But
(1) why should Paul not have been as well acquainted with the history of his people as Peterboth being Jews? and
(2) how can the speech be un-Pauline when on Baurs own admission it contains the doctrine of justification by faith? (Act. 13:38-39).
Act. 13:18. Suffered He their manners in the wilderness., the reading of the best MSS., though some ancient authorities read , meaning carried them as a nursei.e., sustained them and cared for them. Both readings occur in the LXX. rendering of Deu. 1:31, to which passage reference is evidently made here. But there can be no reason for questioning the genuineness of the reading of the text (Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, ii., Appendix, 94, 95).
Act. 13:19. The seven nations are named in Deu. 7:1. Divided their land to them by lot should according to the best MSS. be gave them their land for an inheritance, the verb being substituted for . The former verb occurs only here, and is a translation of Deu. 3:28 (see Jos. 14:1-5).
Act. 13:20. After that, or these things, signifies after the conquest and occupation. About the space of four hundred and fifty years.This undoubtedly implies that the interval of the Judges was 450 years, which agrees with the chronology of Josephus (Ant., VIII. ii. 1, X. viii. 5), who gives 592 years as the time that elapsed between the Exodus and the building of Solomons temple. Deducting 4 years of Solomons own reign, 40 of Davids, 40 of Sauls, 25 for the leadership of Joshua, and 40 in the wildernessi.e., 4 + 40 + 40 + 25 + 40 = 149, the remainder is 443 (592149), sufficiently close an approximation for Paul to put 450 years as the period of the Judges. This, however, does not harmonise with the statement (1 Kings 8.) that the building of the Temple began in the 480th year after the Exodus, which would give only 480149331 years for the era of the Judgesa discrepancy which cannot easily be removed. A better reading, which connects about four hundred and fifty years with the preceding verse (R.V.), appears to obviate the difficulty by making the number 450 signify the space of time between the giving of the land for an inheritance and the occupation of the land at the conquestwhich space is thus made upfrom the birth of Isaac, when it may be assumed the promise was given, to the birth of Jacob, 60 years; from Jacobs birth to his descent into Egypt, 130 years; the sojourn in Egypt, 215 years; from the Exodus to the settlement in Canaan, 47 years = in all 452 years. If this reading (Westcott and Hort) be adopted, the next clause will read, And after these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
Act. 13:21. A man of the tribe of Benjamin, to which Paul also belonged (Php. 3:5). Forty years.The duration of Sauls reign is not mentioned in the Old Testament, which only states that Ishbosheth, his youngest son (1Ch. 8:33), was forty years at the time of Sauls death (1Sa. 2:10), and that Saul himself was a young man when he ascended the throne (2Sa. 9:2). Josephus (Ant., VI. xiv. 9) speaks of Saul as having reigned eighteen years before and twenty-two years after Samuels death.
Act. 13:22. I have found David the son of Jesse a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil, or who shall do, all My will, or wills.The first clause is cited from Psa. 89:20, which has My servant, and omits the son of Jesse; the second is taken from 1Sa. 13:14, where David in comparison with Saul is described as one who was faithful to Jehovahs commandments and ordinances. The third clause found in Isa. 44:28, with reference to Cyrus, may be held as included in the words My servant, spoken of David. Alford thinks these citations form a strong presumption that we have Pauls speeches verbatim as delivered by him, and no subsequent general statement of what he said, in which case the citations would have been corrected by the sacred text; though Plumptre arrives at the opposite conclusion, that it is possible we have, as it were, but the prcis of a fuller statement. Schwanbeck speaks of an old biography of Barnabas, Olshausen of a special missionary report drawn up by Barnabas and Saul, Bleek of an independent document, Zckler of an old separate account by an unknown author as the original source of Lukes information.
Act. 13:23-24. The promise was made not to David only, but to the fathers (Act. 13:32). The names of Jesus and John were widely known among the Jews of the Dispersion. His coming meant His entrance upon His public ministry.
Act. 13:25. Fulfilled should be was fulfilling. Whom think ye that I am?Better, what suppose ye me to be? The question, not found in the gospel accounts of Johns ministry, is yet virtually implied in Mat. 3:11; Joh. 1:20-21. The rendering, He whom ye suppose me to be I am not (Calvin, Luther, Grotius, Kuinoel, Holtzmann), is not so good. But behold, etc. are Johns words in Luk. 3:16.
Act. 13:27. Because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets.The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their rulers failed to recognise who Christ was because they misunderstood their own prophetic Scriptures.
Act. 13:28. No cause of death in Him.The Sanhedrim pronounced Jesus guilty of blasphemy, which involved a capital sentence (Mat. 26:66), but they were unable to establish the accusation except by extorting a declaration from His own lips (Mat. 26:60). In all other respects His judges were constrained to acknowledge His innocence (Mat. 27:24; Luk. 23:22).
Act. 13:29. They laid Him in a tomb.His disciplesin particular Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (Joh. 19:30)did. Paul did not deem it needful to discriminate the individuals by whom the interment of Christ was carried out; yet the statement is literally accurate, since Nicodemus and Joseph were both rulers.
Act. 13:31. Them which came up with Him from Galilee were the apostles.
Act. 13:33. The second psalm is the preferable reading, the first psalm, found in Western MSS., having been probably inserted as a correction by a Western scribe who had been accustomed to read the first and second psalms as one (Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, ii. 95, Appendix), or who regarded the first psalm merely as an introduction to the rest. The allusion in the psalm is (here as in Heb. 1:51) not to the incarnation, but to the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus (compare Rom. 1:4).
Act. 13:34-37. The sure mercies of David should be the holy things of David, the surei.e., I will give to you the holy things of David (which have been promised, Isa. 55:3, and) which are sure; one of which holy and sure things was the promise that Gods Holy One should not see corruption, a promise which could not apply to David, who, after having served his own generation by the will of God, or after having in his own generation served the will of God, fell on sleep, or by the will of God fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathersan expression generally distinguished from burial, and implying the existence of the soul in a future state (Gen. 25:8; Gen. 35:29; 2Ki. 22:20)and saw corruption. Christ who had been raised from the dead saw no corruption (compare Act. 2:25-33).
Act. 13:41. Behold, ye despisers, etc.Taken from Hab. 1:5, where it is used with reference to an approaching Chaldean invasion, this citation follows very closely the LXX., but agrees essentially with the Hebrew. For among the nations in Hebrew the LXX. read despisers, and for wonder marvellously, wonder and perish. Paul followed the Septuagint, either because it was best known, or because it was sufficiently accurate for his purpose, or, because he believed it to correctly render the spirit of the ancient prediction.
Act. 13:42. The more correct reading of this verse is given in the R.V: And as they, Paul and Barnabas (Hackett, Lechler) rather than the congregation (Alford), went or were going, out, they, the rulers probably (Hackett and Lechler), rather than the congregation (Alford), besought that these words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath day , not during the middle of the week, but on (lit. unto, as the limit) the Sabbath between the days, as Act. 13:44 shows.
Act. 13:43. For congregation read synagogue. The Jews and religions proselytes represented two distinct classes.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.Act. 13:13-43
A Sabbath Day in Pisidian Antioch; or, Pauls Sermon in the Synagogue
I. The missionaries in the city.
1. Their journey thither. It is apparent from the narrative that Paul and Barnabas did not make a prolonged stay in any of the places which they visited on this journey. Having completed their visit to Cyprus, which probably extended over two months, and having set sail from Paphos, they landed at Perga in Pamphylia, situated on the Cestrus about seven miles from its moutha city, the ruins of which survive to this day in the shape of walls and towers, columns and cornices, a theatre and a stadium, a broken aqueduct encrusted with the calcareous deposit of the Pamphylian streams, and tombs scattered on both sides of the site of the town (Conybeare and Howson, i. 153). In Perga they did not linger many daysnot longer than to settle the dissension caused by the proposal to cross the Taurus (Ramsay). The natural beauty of the city and its celebrated temple of Artemis (Diana) possessed for them no attractions. Accordingly they hastened on to Antioch in Pisidia, perhaps because the season of the year rendered it expedient to prosecute their journey into the interior then rather than at a later period. Earlier in the spring the passes would have been filled with snow. In the heat of summer the weather would have been less favourable for the journey. In the autumn the disadvantages would have been still greater from the approaching difficulties of winter. Besides, at the beginning of the hot season people move up from the plains to the cool basinlike hollows on the mountains; and if Paul was at Perga in May, he would find the inhabitants deserting its hot and silent streets (Conybeare and Howson, i. 156, 157). Ramsay (The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 62, 63) suggests that Paul caught fever in Perga, and was obliged, for healths sake, to proceed into the more elevated region of the interior (see Hints on Act. 13:13), selecting Antioch as their destination because of its commercial importance and numerous Jewish population (Ibid., p. 19; compare St. Paul the Traveller, etc., pp. 89 ff).
2. What occurred upon the way. John Mark, departing from them at Perga, returned to Jerusalem. The reasons, not stated and not approved by Paul (Act. 15:38), were probably mixed.
(1) Mark was young and not inured to hardship, and may, have shrunk from the perils of the enterprise (Grotius, Holtzmann, Zckler).
(2) His natural temperament may have been somewhat unsteady (Alford).
(3) He may have resented the growing ascendency of Paul, which was thrusting Barnabas, his uncle, into a second place.
(4) He may have been doubtful of the liberal theology which Paul was everywhere preaching.
(5) He may have grown somewhat apprehensive about the safety of his mother, whom he had left behind at Jerusalem: either he did not like the work or he wanted to go and see his mother (Henry).
(6) He may have regarded the proposal to cross the Taurus as an unwarranted deviation from the original plan (Ramsay).
3. How they acted on arrival. They doubtless made themselves acquainted with the aspect of the city and the character of its inhabitants; Antioch was a flourishing commercial city, which lay about a weeks journey north of Perga, up the valley of the Cestrus, on the central table-land of Asia Minor, on the confines of Pisidia and Phrygia. It had been built by Seleucus I., the founder of the Syrian Antioch, and was then an important emporium for the trade of Asia Minor in wood, oil, skins, goats-hair, and Angoa wool, besides being a Roman colony. Its true position, at a place now called Yalobatch, was discovered by Mr. Arundell in 1833, its identity having been rendered certain by coins and inscriptions. On the Sabbath they visited the synagogue, which appears to have been the only one, and must therefore have been large.
II. Sabbath worship in the synagogue.
1. The day. It said a good deal for the missionaries that they remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and more for their good sense that they devoted its hours to worship. The Sabbath was meant by its Lord for the double purpose of resting mans body from the toils of the other six days, and refreshing mans soul through communion with heaven. To neglect either of these endsto devote the entire day to physical repose but not to worship, or to worship in such a fashion as to fatigue the bodyis to violate the day and misapprehend its use. To give it neither to worship nor to rest, but wholly to labour in business or in pleasure, is to turn it to the worst possible account.
2. The synagogue.A low, square, unadorned building, differing from Gentile places of worship by its total absence of interior sculpture; on one side a lattice-work partition, behind which sat a crowd of veiled and silent women; in front of these the readers desk, and in its immediate neighbourhood, facing the rest of the congregation, those chief seats which Rabbis and Pharisees were so eager to secure (Farrar, The Life and Work of St. Paul, i. 365, 366).
3. The worship. Each as he entered covered his head with the Tallth, and the prayers began. They were read by the Shelach, or angel of the synagogue, who stood among the standing congregation. After the prayers followed the first lesson, or Parashah, which was read in Hebrew, but translated or paraphrased by the interpreter. The Chazzn, or clerk of the synagogue, then took the Torah roll from the Ark and handed it to the reader. After the Parashah, was read the Haphtarah, or the second lesson, from the prophets, the translation being given at the end of every three verses. After this followed the Midrash, or sermon, which was not delivered by one set minister, but might be given by any distinguished stranger who might happen to be present (Farrar, i. 366, 367). (See an excellent account of synagogue worship in Stapfers Palestine in the Time of Christ, pp. 338343.)
4. The invitation. In accordance with this custom Paul and Barnabas, who had doubtless not selected the chief seats in the synagogue (Mat. 23:6), but sat among the ordinary worshippers (1Co. 14:16; 1Co. 14:23-24; Jas. 2:2-4), were asked if they had any word of exhortation for the people, in which case they might say on. Possibly some rumour had reached the synagogue that they were preachers; but whether or not, Paul and not Barnabas responded to the invitation.
III. Pauls sermon to the congregation.
1. The exordium. In manner respectfulhe stood up, and serioushe beckoned with his hand; in matter, brief, consisting solely of a request for attention: three characteristics which improve all sermons in which they are found.
2. The contents. There were three main divisions in his discourse.
(1) The goodness of God to Israel, which culminated in sending them a Saviour according to His promisea kind of captatio benevolent (Holtzmann) (Act. 13:16-25). Beginning with their earliest history, he rehearsed Jehovahs gracious acts towards themten in number: the choice of their fathers; their exaltation in Egypt, meaning thereby their multiplication into a numerous and powerful people (Act. 13:17); their deliverance from bondage by His own right hand (Act. 13:17); their preservation in the wilderness, notwithstanding much unbelief and disobedience (Act. 13:18); their settlement in Canaan after destroying seven nations therein (Act. 13:19); their government by judges for a space of four hundred and fifty years (Act. 13:20); their reception from God of a king in answer to their request (Act. 13:21); the removal of Saul and the establishment of the throne in David and his seed (Act. 13:22); the appearance of Christ as a descendant of David, and in fulfilment of ancient promise (Act. 13:23), when the Baptist, His distinguished forerunner, had closed his career, or was fulfilling his course (Act. 13:24). Thus the history of Israel in its three chief momentsthe formation of the covenant, the settlement in the land, and the institution of the theocracywas depicted as a preparation for the appearance of Christ.
(2) Jesus of Nazareth proved to be the Saviour by His death and resurrection (Act. 13:26-37). The condemnation of Jesus by the Jewish leaders had been a literal fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy (Act. 13:27). Besides dying an innocent death, He was actually laid in a sepulchre (Act. 13:29). Taken down from the tree, He was buried, not by the rulers, it is true, but by Joseph of Arimathea (Joh. 19:30), Paul not deeming it necessary to discriminate as to the agents, though his statement was literally accurate (see Critical Remarks). Yet God raised up Jesus from the dead, and showed Him alive to His disciples, in particular to those of them who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem and who then were His witnesses to the people. This resurrection had been foretold in the second psalm (Psa 2:33), in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah (Isa. 55:34), and again in the sixteenth psalm (Psa 16:35), which could not possibly refer to David, as he had died and seen corruption, whereas He whom God raised again saw no corruption (Act. 13:37).
(3) The proclamation of free forgiveness or of justification by faith through Jesus Christ (Act. 13:38-39), a blessing which had not been attainable through the law of Moses.
3. The application. In the form of a solemn warning drawn from words used by Habbakuk, he cautioned them to beware of rejecting the gospel and so involving then selves first in the guilt and then in the doom of those who persistently refused to see the hand of God in the events which were taking place around them (Act. 13:40-41).
4. The result.
(1) As they, Paul and Barnabas, were leaving the synagogue, the rulers, perhaps interpreting the wish of the congregation, requested them to repeat their preaching on the following Sabbath (see Critical Remarks).
(2) When the synagogue was dispersed, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, no doubt expressing their desire to hear more of the good tidings to which they had listened.
(3) Speaking to them Paul and Barnabas urged them to continue in the grace of God.
Learn.
1. That no man having put his hand to the plough in connection with Christs kingdom should, like John Mark, draw or even look back.
2. That Christs disciples, like Paul and Barnabas, should honour the Sabbath and the sanctuary.
3. That ministers of the gospel, like Paul and Barnabas, should embrace every opportunity that opens to them of publishing their good news of salvation.
4. That the gospel when frankly, fully, and fearlessly preached will seldom fail to make a good impression.
5. That a chief point in the gospel is the doctrine of free forgiveness, or of justification by faith.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act. 13:13. The Incident at Perga; or, John Marks Departure. A Sermon on Weariness in Well-doing (but see Homiletical Analysis). Weariness in well-doing.
I. A common occurrence.Seldom justified by good and sufficient reasons. Plausible excuses often offered; but men never give the right reason for doing a wrong thing.
II. An unfortunate example.Discouraging to fellow-workers, deterrent to those who might become workers, hurtful to the individual worker himself. Bad examples much more contagious and much more easily set than good ones.
III. An irremediable mistake.Men who lay down a good work cannot always take it up again at the point where they laid it down or at the time when they wish. Mark found this to be so with himself.
IV. An irreparable loss.Those who grow weary in well-doing miss the reward which is promised to and laid up for them who labour on and faint not.
Act. 13:14. Passing through Perga; or, Pauls Supposed Illness at Perga.Every one who has travelled in Pamphylia knows how relaxing and enervating the climate is. In these low-lying plains fever is endemic; the land is so moist as to be extraordinarily fertile, and most dangerous to strangers. Confined by the vast ridges of Taurus, five thousand to nine thousand feet high, the atmosphere is like the steam of a kettle, hot, moist, and swept by no west winds. Coming down in July 1890 from the north side of Taurus for a few days to the coast of Pamphylia, I seemed to feel my physical and mental powers melting rapidly away. I might spend a page in quoting examples, but the following fact bears so closely on our present purpose that it must be mentioned. In August 1890 I met on the Cilician coast an English officer on his way home from three years duty in Cyprus; previously he had spent some years in Eastern service. He said that the climate of the Cilician coast (which is very similar to that of Pamphylia, and has not any worse reputation for unhealthiness) reminded him of Singapore or Hong-Kong, while that of Cyprus was infinitely fresher and more invigorating. We suppose then that Paul caught fever on reaching Perga (the Rev. Mr. Daniell, who travelled with Spratt and Forbes, the author states in a footnoot, died of fever at Attalia, a few miles from Perga). Here it may be objected that Paul was used to the climate of Cilicia and Syria; why should he suffer in Pamphylia? In the first place, no one can count on immunity from fever, which attacks people in the most capricious way. In the second place, it was precisely after fatigue and hardship, travelling on foot through Cyprus amid great excitement and mental strain, that one was peculiarly liable to be affected by the sudden plunge into the enervating atmosphere of Pamphylia. The circumstances implied in Gal. 4:13 are therefore in perfect keeping with the narrative in the Acts; each of the authorities lends additional emphasis and meaning to the other (Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 62, 63). Professor Ramsay not only assigns this malarial fever as the cause of Pauls passing through Perga, but afterwards uses it as a confirmatory argument in support of his thesis that the Galatian Churches which Paul subsequently visited, and to which he wrote the Epistle to the Galatians, were not in North but in Southern Galatiawere, in fact, the Churches of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (see on Act. 16:6). He also maintains that this malarial fever became chronic and was regarded by Paul as his stake in the flesh (St. Paul the Traveller, etc. p. 94).
Act. 13:17-19. The Story of Israel; a Type of the Churchs History.
I. Chosen.As Jehovah selected Abrahams descendants to be a people for Himself (Exo. 19:5-6; Deu. 7:6; Isa. 44:1; Psa. 33:12), so did Christ elect His apostles the representatives of His Church (Joh. 15:16), and so were Christians chosen by Divine grace (Eph. 1:4).
II. Exalted.As Jehovah looked upon the low estate of His people and exalted their horn when in Egypt (Psa. 148:14), so has He exalted or lifted up His believing people from their sin and misery because of His grace and mercy (Luk. 1:52; Eph. 2:6).
III. Emancipated.As Israel was led forth from Egypt by the mighty hand of God (Exo. 15:13; Isa. 63:12), so has the Church of Christ been redeemed from the bondage of sin and death (Joh. 3:16-17; Gal. 3:13).
IV. Borne.As Israel was carried and upheld during the wilderness wanderings (Deu. 1:31; Deu. 32:10-12; Isa. 46:3), so has the Church of Christ and so have individual believers been supported during their earthly pilgrimage (Mat. 16:18; Luk. 21:18; 2Th. 3:3).
V. Endured.Exactly as Jehovah had to exercise much long-suffering in dealing with Israel in the wilderness (Psa. 106:43-46), so has He still to bear with Christians as individuals and with the Church as a whole (Rom. 2:4; 2Pe. 3:9; 2Pe. 3:15).
VI. Protected.As Israels enemies were destroyed (Deu. 7:1), so have been and will be the Churchs and the saints foes (1Pe. 3:13).
VII. Settled.As Israel was established in the earthly (Jos. 23:4), so will the whole body of believers be in the heavenly Canaan (Joh. 17:24).
Act. 13:20; Act. 13:22. Judges and Kings.
I. All forms of government are legitimatei.e., are of God.
II. No form of government is enitled to count on permanency.What suits one age may not be adapted to another.
III. Jehovah is superior to all governments, and may establish or remove them at pleasure.
IV. The government that does Gods will will last longest.The people that refuse to serve Him will be destroyed.
Act. 13:21. Old Testament Prophets.These were
I. Religious seers.
II. Foretellers of the future.
III. Political statesmen.
IV. Social reformers.
Act. 13:23. The Saviour Jesus.
I. Promised to the fathers (Act. 13:32).
II. Heralded by John (Act. 13:24).
III. Manifested to the Jews (Act. 13:27).
IV. Crucified under Pilate (Act. 13:28).
V. Raised from the dead (Act. 13:30).
VI. Received up into glory (Act. 13:31).
VII. Preached unto the world (Act. 13:26; Act. 13:32).
VIII. Believed on by the Gentiles (Act. 13:48).
Act. 13:26. This Salvation.
I. What it is.
1. Forgiveness.
2. Eternal life.
II. Whence it comes.From God, its sole author.
III. Through whom procured.Jesus.
IV. To whom offered.
1. To the Jews first.
2. Also to the Gentiles.
V. On what condition.As a free gift.
Act. 13:27. The Criminality of the Jewish Rulers.
I. In being ignorant of their own sacred books.
II. In not recognising Christ when He appeared.
III. In condemning Him when no cause of death had been found in Him.
IV. In rejecting Him after He had risen from the dead.Show how far the criminality of the Jewish rulers may be reproduced in Christendom to-day.
The Voices of the Prophets.
I. An important question.Upon what grounds are we to rest the authority with which the prophets spokean authority which still breathes in their writings?
II. A provisional reply.With one consent they would say that the thoughts which arose in their hearts and the words which arose to their lips were put there by God.
III. A requisite interrogation.What guarantees have we that they were not mistaken? How do we know that they are not projecting their own thoughts outside of themselves, and ascribing them to an external cause?
IV. A decisive answer.We believe it on the strength
(1) of the glimpses which the prophets give us into their own consciousness on the subject;
(2) of the universal belief of their contemporaries;
(3) of the extraordinary unanimity of their testimony;
(4) of the difficulty of accounting for it in any other way; and
(5) of the character of the teaching in which this Divine prompting and suggestion resultsa character which is not only not unworthy, but most worthy of its source (Sanday, Inspiration, pp. 145147).
Act. 13:33. The Witness of the Second Psalm to Christ.
I. A proclamation of the Divine Sonship of Christ.Neither
1. Physical, with special reference to His miraculous or supernatural birth (the Nazarenes, Socinus, Beyschlag). Nor
2. Ethical, as marking the exceptional perfection of His moral nature (Theodorus, Paul of Samosata, Strauss, Baur, Ewald). Nor
3. Official, signalising the theanthropos or God-man as the theanthropic king by pre-eminence, the Messiah (Weiss). But, without denying that the phrase may sometimes appear to bear one or more of these significations,
4. Metaphysical, as descriptive of the essential relationship subsisting between Christs higher pre-existent nature and the deity (Gess, Godet, Luthardt, Calvin, and others).
II. A demonstration of the Divine Sonship of Christ.This day have I begotten Thee. Probably signifying the same thing as, Thou art My Son, these words may, nevertheless, be understood as having received illustration and confirmation in
1. The incarnation (Heb. 1:5, which some interpreters regard as alluding to the birth in Bethlehem).
2. The resurrection, as in the text.
3. The exaltation (Heb. 5:5). (See Whitelaws, How is the Divinity of Jesus depicted? pp. 66. 67.)
Act. 13:34. The Blessings of David
I. Promised.
II. Gracious.
III. Great.
IV. Holy.
V. Sure.
VI. Divine.
Act. 13:35. Gods Holy One.See on Act. 2:27.
Act. 13:36. The Life, Death, and Burial of David.
I. His life.
1. Useful. He served his own generation.
2. Pious. He served the counsel of God (to adopt the reading of R.V.).
3. Planned and determined for him by God. He served his generation by the will of God, or in accordance with the Divine purpose or plan.
4. Measured. He served his generation, and then passed away.
II. His death.
1. Appointed. He fell on sleep by the will or counsel of God, according to a third reading.
2. Timely. He fell on sleep after he had served his generationi.e., after, not before, his work was done.
3. Peaceful. He fell on sleep.
III. His burial.
1. His body was deposited in the tomb and saw corruption.
2. His spirit was gathered to his fathers, and continued to exist in a future state (see Critical Remarks).
Act. 13:36. Our Day.
I. The words suggest the thought, that a mans earthly history is a very limited period.His own generation. We are accustomed, almost reconciled, to the brevity of our earthly career, but perhaps this attribute of it is more remarkable than we commonly feel it to be. The large portion of past human history which a man must needs miss when he only comes into it in the course of its seventh millennium,this would still have left him much if then it had been possible for him to abide in the midst of human history until its consummation. The period of earthly life is in many ways an inadequate periodscanty, even to unnaturalness, from the merely terrestrial point of view. Fifty years of work in this world, thenthat is the utmost we can reasonably look for, after we are equipped and before we are weary unto death. There is not much time to lose; our own generation is a quantity that is frugal of opportunity, so far as opportunity consists in continuance. Yet it is one great opportunity from first to last, and its very brevity accentuates its greatness. To live and work in a world like ours, after such a manner as grace can empower us to do; to bear and battle our way through it, with any credit and any success, ere we look back upon it out of a higher existence; to stand for God and righteousness, with the sterling bravery of a good conscience, that is an opportunity which must be in many ways unique, and has elements in it of heroism, with touches of tragic significance, which gather upon us the interest of multitudes of invisible well-wishers. Perhaps the opportunity is long enough if it be strenuously employed; for then, with all its wondrous cheer, it is not a little arduous.
II. The words suggest the thought, that a man has a lasting personal relation to the time upon which his earthly history is cast. His own generation. All generations of mankind, it is true, belong to the man who has given himself to God, and such a man belongs to all the generations. But the period of the worlds history upon which our relations centre themselves, and to which they stand for ever intimate, shall be the period in whose history we ourselves took part. It was that generation which most of all put its impress upon us, and it was that generation which most of all bore away the marks of whatever influence our own personality exerted upon men and things beneath the sky. Many steamers cross the Atlantic, and many trains wheel their way across the American continent; let a man cross the one or the other but once onlythen, as long as he lives, that steamer, that train, by which he himself travelled, with its passengers and its incidents, is his own steamer, his own train; and it is still this upon the lips of his children after he is gone. So our experience of world-life and world-history, brief as it is, and passing rapidly from successor to successor again, is for ever bound up with the circumstances of our own one journey, and has abidingly gathered into it the memories, the complexion, and to some extent the type, which those circumstances determined. All this takes on a firmer emphasis according as we let in the consideration of duty and privilege, both of them having their ultimate source in Jesus Christ, the Sovereign of the human ages. The true man is the Christian man. It is he alone who is the genuine unit in world-life, the authentic link in the continuity of true world-history within his limits. The Christian man lives his lifemore wisely indeed for himself than any unchristian man, yet straight in the line of liberating his whole feeling and action from the dominion of self-seeking. He lives his life for God in Christ; he lives it for other men in Christs name. He keeps himselfin spirit, in mind, in bodyand finds he has a goodly task on hand in so doing; but it is not for himself that he keeps himself; it is for Christ, and for the will of Christ. The will of Christ is the weal of menmy own weal, and the weal of all around me. My own generationthe set of things which touches me on all sides, and is touched by me at many pointsis the element within which I may, I must, directly fulfil the will of Christ as a will for this world in which He lived and died.
III. The words suggest the thought, that a man is called to note and to know the peculiar character of his own time.His own generation. There is a certain individuality about every generation. It has its own disposition, temperament, moods, capabilities, opportunities, not all of which are shared in the same measure by any other generation. Each generation has something in it of every generation that has been; but it has also somewhat in it which is original enough to give a special tone to itself and to its effect upon the generations following. Intelligence about the past is mostly of value according as it helps us to be intelligent about the present. He will not fail to note, that his generation is one of unwonted activityactivity intense, ingenious, adventurous, daringactivity of hand, of tongue, of pen, of thought; yet a generation of special thinking rather than of general thoughtfulness, and eager rather than earnesthaving much of the tug and bustle of strain, which has need to soothe itself into a more settled and self-controlling energy. He will scarcely overlook that His generation, more distinctly still, is one of scientific progress and material advancementof rapid secular civilisation. If now our youthful observer, all but ready to step forth into the arena of his generation, turn his eye more intently upon its moral and religious aspects, he may still find much that ought to stir his interest. He will note, that Christian truth, as truth which holds the supernatural, and at its centre the great Biography which means all that is supernatural, is emerging from trials that have been severeemerging from them, and with only new clearness in her eye and new stability in her bearing. He will mark, nevertheless, that Christian truth is not past all her trials. On the other hand, he will be free to mark, that in the face of all this his generation displays not a little of evangelic force and evangelistic fervour, and even some willingness to devise methods for overtaking the multitudes among us who are virtually beyond the contacts of Christendom.
IV. The words suggest the concluding thought, that a man is summoned to do the best for his own time.There is no young man with the right spirit in him, and with the most ordinary preparation for his world-career, who will fail to recognise that this generation of his is waiting for him, and gives some occasion for his best work on its behalf. As he is getting him ready to step forth into the thick of his time, he will be resolving to look beyond the legitimate interests of self and of family, and onwards to the wider interests of truth, of Church, of country, of race. It may look more of a paradox than it is, if we say, that in order to be anything worth while for our generation, we must conserve our own individuality, and must confirm the personal independence of our own conscience and will. Among the forces of the time we must get in good measure to be masters of ourselves, and must refuse to let any of them be handling us very much without our consent. More than this: we shall do most for our time by developing all that is worthy of development in our own type of character, whether moral or intellectual, social or religious; so that it shall still be our very selves, and more of our very selves, with all the advantage of natural confluence of power, who are at work upon the materials of the time. And among the multifarious claims of a complicated time like ours, it seems in place to say that it were not well to scatter our energies by attempting too many things, but rather to make our energies tell by bringing their weight to bear upon one or two selected points. Your selection will be determined by circumstances, by capabilities, by temperamentthat is, by providence, more or less fixed and cordially accepted. To some of us will fall a larger share of contest and demolition, to others of us a larger share of cherishing and construction: in the issue, none the less, it is all of it construction still. But we cannot, perhaps, look abroad upon our own generation, in the light of the past, without a feeling that combat with untruth and evil, hand to hand and weapon to weapon, is more and more evidently inadequate, and that something other and further must be endeavoured than to smite uprising error in the face, or to meet wrong-going with confronting argument and point-blank effort which ought to compel it into rightness. The real strength of all wrong things is not in their front, but in their flank and rear: their fronts are only the special facing, ever varying and ever new, which are evolved out of one or two principles, steady and old, that are lurking strong and vital behind the fighting-line. It is these that we ought above all to spend our lives in striving to reach and to enfeeble. It is ours to root around us as we can the living love of God in Christ. It is ours to take the strength out of the admiration of what is material by promoting a sense of what is spiritual. It is ours to throw our energies upon making the Church more ready of heart and hand for all her duty, and upon ridding her from the hesitancy and feebleness and reservation of human sympathy, which still so greatly limit her power.J. A. Kerr Bain, M.A.
A Model of Life.There is a biography in this brief epitaph. It is a Life flashed into vividness by a lightning sketch. The text conducts us to the master-secret of a great career. There is no time wasted over events and details. We are introduced at once to the purpose, the method, the spirit of the man commemorated. This is essentially the mans life. All other mattersthe time and place of his birth, the character of his education, his social environment, his plans and difficulties, his conflicts and achievementsare but incidents and episodes, the arena on which he pursues his purpose, the instruments by which he accomplishes his will. Our text gives us the right estimate. It is not the pious fraud of a charitable epitaph-writer. It is essentially just when, passing over exceptional episodes and penetrating to the normal mood of the life, it depicts this man as one who served his God and his generation. But our text is of more than historical interest. While it embalms a memory, it indicates an ideal. It is a philosophy as well as a biography. It presents life and death in their higher aspects; one as an unselfish yet self-rewarding energy, the other as in no sense an accident or disaster, but an ordered and gracious dispensation. It links the character of a mans death to the character of his life, and both to the righteous dominion of God.
I. A good model of life.He served his own generation by the will of God.
1. Now, in analysing this account of a great career, three prominent characteristics immediately arrest our attention. The first is that it was a life of service. It was not one of idleness, whether ornamental or fussy; not one of ease, either cultured or coarsely luxurious. It was an active life of service whose zeal was as broadly unselfish as it was intelligent and incessant. The full significance of that fact is only perceived when we remember that this serving-man was a king. Girt with the authority of power, gifted with the self-delighting resources of genius, housed amid the wealth and luxury incident to regal station, this man served. That is a noteworthy point. It emphasises a truth not always clearly perceived, that whatever be a mans station or resource he does not escape the common obligation of service. To whom much is given, from him much shall be required. The king owes, because he can render, a larger loyalty to the subject than the subject owes to the king. The master is greater debtor to the servant than the servant to the master. Among rich and poor alike it is a common sentiment that the higher a man climbs in the social scale the further he gets from the thrall and burden of work. Gods law expresses and exacts the very opposite conclusion. God looks for the broadest and best servants of humanity not among the necessitous at the bottom, but among the free and favoured at the top. This Divine distribution of debt finds recognition, theoretically at least, even poetically, it may be said, in our English titles of distinction. Etymologically, the king is the able kinsman of his brethren, called to loftiest station because most fit to serve. The duke, as the word indicates, is the leader, the man who can see furthest ahead, with courage enough to stand at the front, capable not only of showing the way, but of giving and taking the first blows in the battle of progress, The earl is the elderman or alderman, the man of funded experience and accumulated wisdom, as eminent in grace as in vigour, the counsellor and shield of the people. The highest official in our Executive Government we call Prime Minister, which means head servant. The doctrine of Christ admits of no doubt on this subject. It denies to any man, whether rich or poor, the right to be an idler amid the ceaseless tasks of humanity. It aims at sweeping away parasites and excrescences of all kinds and degrees. But in doing this it is careful to distinguish itself from a mere gospel of industry. It is more than a law of labour. It is a law of service. Labour may be, and often is, utterly selfish. It is careful of its own products. It aims at its own aggrandisement. What we do for our own bread and comfort is labour. Service is the unselfish expenditure of talent in behalf of others. And Christs gospel is one of service, which means that it is one of human brotherhood. In nothing, perhaps, does the practical beneficence of our Christian gospel shine so luminously as in the victory it has won for this nobler philosophy of life. Men are beginning, as never before, to see that nothing in life is held in absolute ownership, that time and talent are possessed under a stewardship whose obligations are broad and ceaseless.
2. A second essential of noble living, as indicated in the example we are considering, is the element of contemporaneousnessthe ability to see and seize the opportunities of the day. David not only served; he served his own generation. He discovered, that is to say, in the circumstances and claims of life around him, an ample field for all his energies, a primary and sacred call upon his various resource. Therein lay the secret of his greatness. The sign of all true wisdom and heroism is the ability to take occasion by the hand and translate it into beneficent achievement; to see what needs doing, and right zealously to do it. That is what our fathers used to call judicial wisdom, the highest because the lowliest wisdom, the wisdom most profound because most perceptive and most practical. To be, in any adequate sense, a leader or teacher of the time, one must be a student of all timespast, present, future. No man can read the lesson of to-day who did not learn his alphabet amid the events of yesterday. He will make sad mistakes in his handling of current opportunities who casts no prescient glance towards the indications of to-morrow. The combined genius of history and of prophecy can alone interpret and guide the spirit of the time. It is as true of humanity as it is of the physical universe; it is a grand and vital unit, not a kaleidoscope of broken fragments. And to understand where we are and whither we ought to tend we must know whence we have come and to what goal the growing indications point. A pitiable spectacle of noisy incompetence is the man who imagines that to serve his own generation he must cut himself adrift from all consideration and reverence of the past. Of no use to his age is the fussy experimenter, the declared opportunist, who boasts that he never looks more than a fortnight ahead in his manipulation of affairs. The crown of all true wisdom is service, and to serve the age a man must be alive to its evils and possibilities, to its laughter and its tears. The danger of judicial blindness, however, the failure to see and do the duty of the day, does not beset the leaders alone, but very palpably surrounds and afflicts the humbler occupants of the ranks. In one man it takes the form of regretful and debilitating reminiscence. His heart is in the good old days. Life was worth living then. There was something to be done, and room to do it. Things are different now. Life is too crowded, too vulgar, too complex. Poetry is gone. Chivalry is out of date. Heroism is impossible. This man is blinded by memory. Another is blinded by forecast. He believes there is work to be done, somewhere; he believes he is the man to do it, some time; but he waits his opportunity. His dream of great deeds fills him with enthusiasm, but he must bide his time. Thus, from one cause or another, men are apt to overlook or underrate the present task. They are dreamers, idlers, pessimists, in some cases pietists who despise the worlds problems even while they live by the worlds problem-making labour.
3. The third element in a truly noble life is the feature of Divine inspiration and submission. David not only servedhe not only served his own generationbut he served it according to the will of God. That means, in a word, that while he served his own age he did not serve at its bidding, by its direction, for its reward. He stood above its prejudices and passions, above its noisy voices and its alleged interests. While in the world he was not of it. He was Gods servant, working out in Gods name and by His direction the sacred tasks of the day. That feature of his life suggests two important remarks. In the first place, it helps us to distinguish between a time-server and one who serves his time. Do not think, then, that in order to serve your own generation you must needs bow down to all its demands and favour all its schemes. Not the age, but God, is your Master; only as you make Him your Inspiration and Guide can you win liberty for yourself and success for your work. But another point is brought into prominence by this association of Gods and mans service. It is clearly indicated that the true service of God is the true service of man. This identification of work and worship as twin elements of piety is suggested by the curiously balanced grammatical construction of the text. In the A.V. the text reads, After he had served his own generation by the will of God; but it places in the margin an alternative reading, After he had in his own age served the will of God. The R.V. gives us, with a slight verbal alteration, both these translations, only it places the text of the A.V. in its margin, and the marginal reading in its text. The sentence can be construed with equal accuracy either way, and so can its sense. For when we ask, What is the substantial difference between serving our generation by the will of God and serving the will of God in our generation? we cannot discover it. We can only see variously accentuated expressions of the same thought. Do not mistake me. I am not saying God has no delight in our songs, our prayers, our orderly and regular occasions of praise. He is pleased with them, and makes them means of grace to us. They are properly described as Divine service. But should I not be right If I called them occasions of self-service as well as of Divine praise? We get a great deal more than we give when we enter the sanctuary. We get a vision of God; a renewal of grace. I will tell you when the real Divine service beginswhen the preacher has ceased to speak, and the organ has finished its noble notes, and the lights are put out, and the doors of the sanctuary are closed, and you are out yonder in the street, and you turn about to find an outlet for the inspiration of the house of prayer in the feeding of the poor, in the succouring of the helpless, in the attacking of some gaunt wrong, in the advocacy of justice, sobriety, truth. That is Gods service, Divine service, and it makes for the peace and joy of His kingdom! Such is the model life set before us in the text.
II. A fine conception of death.He fell on sleep.
1. The death of the godly man is an ordered and gracious dispensation. For it was after David had served that he fell on sleep; not before nor during his submissive fulfilment of the work God gave him to do.
2. The death of the godly man is a peaceful sinking into rest. What a beautiful phrase is that, He fell on sleep! There is nothing repulsive or fearsome about sleep.C. A. Berry, D.D.
Act. 13:38. A Sermon on Forgiveness.
I. The burden of the gospel message.
II. The result of a Divine act of justification.
III. A blessing secured for man through the work of Jesus Christ.
IV. Attainable by all on condition of believing on Christ.
Act. 13:43. Continuing in the Grace of God.
I. The best evidence of conversion.
II. The requisite condition of salvation.
III. The essence of Christian duty.
Act. 13:39. Pauls Doctrine of Justification.
I. The meaning attached by Paul to the term justification.
1. Etymologically considered, the English word justification signifies to make just; but the Greek word, being strictly a forensic term, does not mean to make just, or infuse righteousness into any one, but to declare one to be just or righteous, to absolve one from any charge or claim which the law might have against him.
2. Legally viewed, justification is the exact opposite of condemnation, which also is a purely forensic term, and does not make or render any one brought before it guilty, but simply declares or pronounces such a one to be guilty, if so be the evidence supplied has established his guilt.
3. Theologically regarded, justification is a declaration or pronouncement on the part of God, not that the sinner is thenceforward personally innocent, holy, blameless, but that, so far as the Divine law is concerned, the sinner is acquitted, freed from liability to punishment, and contemplated as having met all the laws just and necessary demands upon him.
II. The ground upon which, according to Paul, this sentence of justification proceeds.
1. Not the original righteousness or faultlessness of the so-called sinner, who has been impeached, but wrongly, at heavens bar. Pauls doctrine of justification rests upon the antecedent doctrine of the universal guiltiness and actual condemnation of the race in its totality and in every separate member (Rom. 3:9-22).
2. Not the acquired righteousness of the individual sinner, who by personal merit has undertaken to wipe out his original and actual unrighteousness. The Jews, and especially the Pharisees, imagined that this could be done by observance of the law of Moses. Men in general conceive the same thing attainable through good works. But Paul repudiated and repudiates all sort of personal merit based upon the individuals own performances as a basis for the Divine sentence of justification (Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8; Tit. 3:5).
3. But the imputed rigteousness of Jesus Christ, who, according to the view taken by Him of Christs person and work, occupied the room of sinful men (2Co. 5:21), and in their stead fulfilled the laws requirements by His obedience unto death (Php. 2:8), which obedience unto death, having been provided by Gods free grace, constituted His righteousness (Rom. 3:25), which He wrought out for man by Jesus Christ, and manifested and set forth and still manifests and sets forth as an adequate and all-sufficient ground, yea, as the only ground upon which He either will or can justify the ungodly (Rom. 3:19-31).
III. The condition upon which, according to Paul, this real act of justification proceeds.
1. Not works, inasmuch as these have been already excluded (Gal. 2:11), and if again admitted would not only tend to impair the all-sufficiency of Christs righteousness (2Co. 5:21), but would inevitably introduce thoughts of personal merit into the individuals mind (Rom. 3:27), and so far would militate against the true character of justification as a judicial act of acquittal pronounced upon those who are themselves absolutely without righteousness or merit of their own (Rom. 4:5).
2. But faith, and faith alone, without works (Rom. 3:28), without merit, without righteousness (Eph. 2:9; Gal. 2:16), simply by believing in Jesus Christ, and on Him who for Jesus sake justifies the ungodly (Rom. 10:4-11; Gal. 3:8; Php. 3:9).
IV. The extent to which, according to Paul, this justification prevails.All things from which a man could not (and cannot) be justified by the law of Moses, whether moral or ceremonial.
1. It discharges the sinner who believes from all responsibility for his sins, past, present, and to come. It relieves him of the sentence of condemnation which previously overhung him (Rom. 8:1). It blots out the handwriting which stood recorded against him (Col. 2:14). It places him in a state of reconciliation towards God (2Co. 5:18). It sets him in a condition of peace before God (Rom. 5:1). It practically pardons him fully, freely, and for ever.
2. It furnishes the sinner who believes with a righteousness that can perfectly satisfy the laws demands for obedience. It not only releases him from the laws penalty, but it accepts him as righteous in its sight, not on account of any righteousness infused into him, but on account of Christs righteousness imputed to him (Rom. 4:22-25; Rom. 10:4). While Christs sacrificial death discharges him from the guilt of his sin, Christs perfect obedience constitutes his title to eternal life.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
5.
IN PERGA. Act. 13:13.
13
Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.
Act. 13:13 Paul now steps into the lead in the cause of Christ. When Paphos was entered Luke stated: and when they had gone through the whole island unto Paphos . . . now upon leaving the city the historian says Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos . . . A great change had taken place. God had been leading Paul to this very moment. He had waited and worked patiently until God prompted him to take this position.
The town of Perga is located some few miles up from the coast of Asia Minor in the province of Pamphylia. From this place we find John Mark leaving. He sailed from here back to his home in Jerusalem. This incident displeased Paul intensely and formed the basis for a disagreement between him and Barnabas at a later time. (Act. 15:37-40). Why John Mark left is a subject of quite some discussion. The ideas vary from homesickness to divine unction. It does seem that since Paul says: He would not go with us to the work that the reason lay in some objection to the work to be done. Whether it was a faint heart in consideration of the trials ahead we have no way of knowing, but we are disposed to this view. We must not leave the work of Mark here for he was later accepted back into the favor of Paul as a man to be received and heeded. (Col. 4:10; 2Ti. 4:11). He also labored in the gospel with Barnabas (Act. 15:40) and wrote our second gospel which bears his name.
430.
What great change is noted in the description of Luke relative to the approach and leaving of Paphos?
431.
Tell three facts concerning the departure of John Mark from Perga.
432.
Why do you think he left?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(13) Paul and his company.Literally, those about Paul. The new description is obviously chosen as indicating the new position which from this time the Apostle began to occupy as the leader of the mission.
Perga.The city was at this time the capital of Pamphylia, situated on the river Cestrus, about seven miles from its mouth. The absence of any record of evangelising work there is probably due to the fact that there were no synagogues, and that the Apostles in this mission adhered to the plan of preaching in the first instance to the Jews, and making the synagogue, as it were, their base of operations.
John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.We are left to conjecture the motives of this departure. He may have shrunk from the perils and hardships of the journey into the interior of the country. He may have been drawn by affection for his mother, who lived at Jerusalem. It is clear, in any case, from St. Pauls subsequent conduct (Act. 15:38), that he looked on the reason as insufficient, while Barnabas saw, at least, enough to admit the plea of extenuating circumstances. The pressure of the famine at Jerusalem may have seemed to him to excuse the desire of the son to minister to the mothers wants.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch Address and Results , Act 13:14-43 .
13. Paul and his company At once Luke uses language which implies that Paul has become chief, and the rest, including Barnabas, are sunk to the position of subordinates. The Greek phrase is literally, those about Paul, an idiom frequently used in Greek. Those about Proserpine (Thucydides) means Proserpine and her attendant maidens. Those about Socrates means Socrates and his scholars. Those about Xenophon means Xenophon and his soldiers. Those about Paul must mean Paul and his retinue. Of this change of Paul’s position, the change of his name, when the Holy Ghost empowered him to rebuke Elymas with anathema and blindness, is the palpable crisis. He was an apostle elect when first called by Jesus: he rose to the fulness of his apostolic power and position when then filled with the Holy Ghost.
Loosed Set sail. The only marked success which Luke mentions in their entire tour through Cyprus is the conversion of the proconsul. Why their movements were so rapid and their stop at each place so brief, we are unable to conjecture; but the whole life of Paul was of that same arduous and rapid strain. He was one of those rare mortals who seem so charged with an intensity of nature that rest is impossible, and they are impelled by the sense that their mission requires the utmost tension of nerve, through every instant, for its fulfilment. What rebukes are the lives of such men, when devoted to the sublimest of all ideas, to the levity of the vast numbers who make our solemn life an easy time, a play-spell, a series of trifles!
Came Pamphylia Trace their course from Paphos, cutting the Mediterranean with their keel, in what would now be considered a light row-boat with sail superadded, in a slant line northwest-ward into the gulf, and up to the continental shore of Pamphylia in Asia Minor. Very probably the reason why Paul chose this missionary field was because Pamphylia bordered on his native Cilicia. as Cyprus was the native home of Barnabas, and as he had already, while residing at Tarsus, planted Churches in Cilicia, he had reasons for believing that he could extend the work into Pamphylia. Dwellers in Pamphylia (Act 2:10) had shared the pentecostal outpouring, and had carried, probably, an ardent but not fully instructed Christianity into that province. Yet it needed an apostle to found Christianity amid the wild population of Pamphylia.
John (See note on Act 13:5 and Act 12:12.) Their young servitor, Mark, may with unquestionable truth be said to have deserted them and the work. Nobly did the young minister, however, subsequently redeem his reputation, regain the high regards of Paul, and record a Gospel of Jesus, which, though said to be drawn from the narrations of Peter, possesses much of the nerve and fire of the mighty Paul. The obvious conclusion is, that the highlands of Pamphylia, familiar as they were to Cilician Paul, loomed so darkly before the inexperienced eye of Mark that he longed for his quiet Jerusalem home and returned. For it was amid the fastnesses of Pamphylia and Pisidia that Paul encountered his “perils by robbers” and “perils by rivers.” The very name, Pamphylia, signifies All-tribes-land, from its heterogeneous races and dialects. Here was the meeting of the oriental and occidental populations, Greek predominating in numbers, Latin in power, underlaid with intermingled Phenicians, Syrians, and Jews. Robber chiefs often held the fastnesses, and even Alexander the Great encountered some of the worst dangers of his wars in passing from Perga to Phrygia.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.’
As explained above, once they had crossed the sea and arrived at Pamphylia, John Mark left the party at Perga (of Pamphylia) and returned to Jerusalem. In some ways for a young man closely related to the leader of the expedition he had been put in an impossible position when the leadership changed. No one will deny Paul’s godliness, but he was both forthright and a genius, and such men need a Barnabas to understand and cope with them until they have attained such status that their full worth is recognised on its own. Mark may have resented Paul. Also involved might have been dissatisfaction with the future plans to go to Pisidian Antioch, which he may have felt would have kept them away too long, and it is even possible that he was unhappy with Paul’s direct approach to Gentiles who were not linked with Judaism. Things were still a little unsettled in that regard. But whatever it was he felt it better to leave.
Paul was not intending to remain in Perga and Pamphylia. We have suggested a possible reason above. But there may have been other reasons. Plans would be formulating in Paul’s head, probably in advance of any that Barnabas had considered, and he may well have decided that they must go straight for the leading city in the province of South Galatia. Leading cities meant large numbers and wide influence, and large numbers and wide influence were what he wanted to effect. Pisidian Antioch was a Roman colony and would have been a good place to plant a strong church, for the Via Sebaste, the Roman road that ran from Ephesus to the Euphrates River, passed through it.
This overall control by Paul was possibly another thing that the young Mark did not like. He too had a quality of mind which had to be nurtured, something Barnabas was excellent at while Paul at this stage may not have been. Left to Paul he well might have simply ended up a frustrated man instead of a recorder of the life of Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Paul And His Company Preach in Pisidian Antioch. (13:13-52).
Paul ‘and his company’ (thus there were at least one or two others besides Mark) left Paphos and sailed across to Perga in Pamphylia. It will be noted that an interesting change has taken place. Paul is now depicted as being in overall charge, and from now on it will be ‘Paul and Barnabas’. This may have been because once they had left Cyprus, and Barnabas’ familiar territory, it was agreed that as they were now in territory that Paul was more familiar with he was the best one to lead the party (Perga was on the same coastline some considerable distance west of Tarsus). Or it may simply have been at Barnabas’ instigation because he felt that Paul’s leadership would add to the effectiveness of the mission, or by general consensus. It will have been noted that Paul has previously been chief spokesman. Barnabas was one of those treasures among men who had no thought for his own importance and was quite ready to submit to his former assistant’s guidance and leadership. ‘It takes more grace than I can tell, to play the second fiddle well,’ but Barnabas was well up to it, and played the second fiddle beautifully, until again required to become first fiddle, when he did that beautifully as well (Act 15:39).
It may also be this that unsettled Mark. He was not yet up to his cousin’s humility. Geniuses like Paul are hard to cope with. They must either be given rein, or they are unable to operate. Barnabas recognised this and encouraged him until he was ready to take over, with the result that a star was born. Mark, still immature, possibly did not have the same grace, and it may be that hurt and angry for his cousin’s sake he refused to go on with them. He had come along because he trusted and leaned on Barnabas and wanted to serve his expedition, and now (from his viewpoint) Barnabas had been ousted. He may have felt that he could not cope with Paul, (especially a sick Paul), and did not want to.
Or it may be that he thought it foolish to seek to cross the Taurus mountains when Paul was so ill (see below), or that he saw the journey becoming a much more extensive one than he had planned for, and he thus wanted to return home while it would not be too difficult to do so. Cyprus and Pamphylia were one thing. They were within easy sail of Palestine. But going on to the Taurus mountains and Pisidian Antioch quite another. Once there it would be a long way back.
So possibly he did not like the travel plans that Paul laid before them. These involved crossing the Taurus range of mountains by one of the hardest and most difficult roads in Asia Minor, a road which as well as being tough, was also notorious for its robbers and brigands, and finishing up in the large provincial city of Pisidian Antioch. Whatever the way of it Mark left the party and returned to Jerusalem (later he would have learned to appreciate Paul, and Paul to appreciate that perhaps some of the fault lay in himself).
There are three exceptions to this new alteration to the order of the names of Paul and Barnabas. They are in Act 14:14; Act 15:12; and Act 15:25. The first arose because Barnabas, probably as the older man, had been called Jupiter, and was therefore being seen as the leader. The other two examples were at the Jerusalem assembly where the well known and highly esteemed Barnabas was naturally given the position that he held in their eyes as their directly appointed and senior representative. There is much to be said for the suggestion that few men could have done what Barnabas did in making the most of the genius of Paul, a genius which he recognised from the start, knowing when to accept the lead himself, when to exercise his esteemed position, and when to make it subsidiary to the wishes of Paul. Paul appreciated it too. Humanly speaking, without Barnabas he might still have been a provincial preacher.
It would appear that at this time Paul became very ill. It may well have been with lowland malaria. In Gal 4:13 he says, “You know that it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first”. So when he came to Pisidian Antioch in Galatia he was already a sick man. As we know Paul had a ‘thorn’ or ‘stake’ in the flesh which in spite of much prayer remained with him (2Co 12:7-8). Many suggestions have been made as to what that ‘thorn’ or ‘stake’ was. Early tradition suggested that Paul suffered from blinding headaches, and that might suggest that he was the victim of the virulent recurring malaria fever which haunted the low coastal strip of Asia Minor. One traveller informs us that the headache characteristic of this malaria was like a red-hot bar thrust through the forehead. This malaria may well have attacked Paul in the low-lying and enervating Pamphylia resulting in him recognising the need to seek the plateau country in order to shake it off (having lived for many years on a similar coastline he may have seen much of the illness).
Thus they left the low lying Pamphylia and made for Pisidian Antioch which stood on a lake dotted plateau 3,600 feet above sea-level and was a hundered miles away. To reach it Paul and Barnabas would have to cross the Taurus range of mountains by one of the hardest roads in Asia Minor, a road which was also notorious for bandits and thieves.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Paul and Barnabas at Antioch of Pisidia Act 13:13-52 gives us the account of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch of Pisidia.
Act 13:13 Comments – Perhaps John (Mark) returned because the Holy Ghost only sent Saul and Barnabas (verse 2), that is, John was not called on this particular journey.
Act 13:22 “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart” Comments – After the Lord took the kingdom from Saul, He looked for a man after His own heart. This qualification was found in David. Note:
1Sa 13:14, “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.”
How was David a man after God’s own heart? Throughout the history of the nation of Israel, God progressively revealed His many names to certain individuals. Each name revealed a new aspect of His holy, divine character. Each time He revealed His name, it was to meet a need in someone’s life, it was to encourage someone to look to Him as the Lord over every situation and over all the enemies. King David knew the character of God more intimate than any man before him. For example, David calls him “Father” for the first time in the Scriptures.
Psa 68:5, “ A father of the fatherless , and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”
Psa 89:26, “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father , my God, and the rock of my salvation.”
Psa 103:13, “ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.”
It was Jesus Christ who revealed God to us in the Gospels as our Heavenly Father in order to show us His tender love for His children. Few individuals in history before Jesus came to earth knew God as intimately as did King David; for David was a true worshipper of God, and this worship ushered him into the presence of God, where God revealed Himself to David as a Father.
Act 13:43 Comments What began as “Barnabas and Saul” in Act 13:2; Act 13:7 developed into “Paul and Barnabas” (Act 13:43; Act 13:46; Act 13:50; Act 14:1; Act 14:23; Act 15:2; Act 15:12; Act 15:22; Act 15:35-36) Barnabas had mentored Paul for many years, standing beside him as he grew from a new believer to a man called by God. Now, God was using Paul in a mighty way that placed him in the foreground of their relationship and Barnabas in the background. However, Barnabas still shown on occasions bright (Act 14:12; Act 14:14; Act 15:25).
Act 13:45 “when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy” Scripture Reference:
Rom 11:14
Act 13:51-52 “But they shook off the dust of their feet against them….joy” – Comments – The disciples did as Jesus had commanded in these verses (Luk 9:5). Joy comes by doing God’s Word.
Luk 9:5, “And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
At Antioch, in Pisidia.
The journey and the arrival:
v. 13. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.
v. 14. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went in to the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down.
v. 15. And after the reading of the Law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye Men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Sometime after the events related by Luke in the first verses of this Chapter, Paul and his companions left Paphos, sailing thence in a northwesterly direction a distance of some 170 miles to the bay of Attalia. They did not land in Attalia, however, but went up the river Cestrus to the city of Perga, the capital of Pamphylia, a little more than seven miles from the sea. It is probable that Paul intended to push on from here immediately into the interior of the country, which was then infested with lawless bands, concerning whose robberies and murders many tales were circulating. John Mark, therefore, did not prove equal to the occasion, but left the two missionaries for some carnal reason and returned to his home at Jerusalem. It often takes not only natural fortitude and strength, but especially the courage and power from on high to brave the difficulties and dangers of bringing the Gospel-message to foreign shores, and the absence of accustomed luxuries and even comforts must be endured cheerfully for the sake of the cause. The defection of Mark, however, did not interfere with the plans of Paul, for he and Barnabas left Perga and pushed on through the wild and lawless country of the Pisidian highlands to the valleys beyond until they reached the city of Antioch, about a hundred miles from the Mediterranean. It was situated in a strategic position, on a low plateau, which at the present time presents a desolate waste. It had been a Roman colony since 25 B. C. , and, although situated in the district of Pisidia, was at that time considered a city of the Roman province of Galatia, the Romans having embodied a part of ancient Phrygia and all of Lycaonia and Pisidia in this larger province for administrative purposes. Thus Pisidian Antioch was geographically and partly also linguistically Phrygian, but politically Galatian. It was in the late summer, probably in August of the year 46, that Paul and Barnabas reached Pisidian Antioch. With characteristic energy they went to work. They went into the one synagogue of the city on the Sabbath and sat down. The usual order of services was followed. A section of the Law was read, then one from the prophets; then came exhortations based upon the passages read. It was the custom of the synagogues to invite a visiting rabbi to address the assembly at this point, and therefore the rulers of the synagogue, who occupied raised seats before the congregation, sent word to Paul and Barnabas by the servant, the invitation: Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation, of counsel, for the people, say it. Whether Paul and Barnabas had previously introduced themselves to the rulers of the synagogue or not, is of little importance, but the kind request fitted in altogether with their purpose.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Act 13:13. Now when Paul and his company It is observable, that from this period St. Luke generally mentions Paul before Barnabas, whereas he had hitherto always mentioned him last: nay, in reckoning up the five, who were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch, he put Barnabas the first, and Saul last; because very probably Barnabas was one of the oldest, andSaul the youngest convert among them: but now, when he became so eminent an apostle, as not to come a whit behind the chief of the apostles, he is mentioned the first, as the principal person of the history, and the most honoured of them all. Loosing with the rest of his company from Paphos, they sailed, most probably, up the river Cestrus, to Perga, a town of Pamphylia, not far from the coast of Asia Minor, near to which was a temple dedicated to Diana. There seems to have been neither a Jewish synagogue, nor proseucha in that town; for we read nothing of their attempting to preach the gospel there at this time. But there it was that John Mark left them, and went back to Jerusalem; as supposing perhaps that St. Peter, in whose company he seems to have delighted most, might be returned thither; especially as king Herod was dead, who had made such an attempt upon the life of that apostle. Whether Mark made any scruple of receiving the idolatrous Gentiles into the Christian church, or was discouraged by the dangers and difficulties of such an attempt; or was prevailed upon to return merely out of his extraordinary regard and affection for St. Peter, cannot now be determined with any certainty.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 13:13-15 . Having put to (the open) sea again from Paphos ( , as Act 16:11 , and frequently; also with Greek writers, comp. Luk 8:22 ), they came in a northerly direction to Perga , the capital of Pamphylia with its famous temple of Diana (on the ruins, see Fellows’ Travels in Asia Minor , p. 142 ff.), where John Mark parted from them [7] and returned to Jerusalem ( for what reason , is not certain, apparently from want of courage and boldness, see Act 15:38 ). But they, without their former companion ( ), journeyed inland to the north until they came to Antioch in Pisidia (built by Seleucus Nicanor, and made by Augustus a Roman colony; on its ruins, see Hamilton’s Travels in Asia Minor , I. p. 431 ff.), where they visited the synagogue on the Sabbath (comp. Act 13:5 ). Their apostleship to the Gentiles had not cancelled their obligation, wherever there were Jews, to turn first to these; and to Paul, especially, it could not appear as cancelled in the light of the divine order: , Rom 1:16 , clearly known to him, of his ardent love to his people, Rom 9:1 ff., of his assurance that God had not cast them off (Rom 11 ), as well as of his insight into the blessing which would arise to the Gentile world even from the rejection of the gospel by the Jews (Rom 11:11 ff.). Hence, although apostle of the Gentiles, he never excludes the Jews from his mission (comp. on the contrary, , Rom 11:13 ), but expressly includes them (1Co 9:20 ), and is wont to begin his labours with them. This we remark against the opinion, which is maintained especially by Baur and Zeller, that in the Book of Acts the representation of Paul’s missionary procedure is unhistorically modified in the interest of Judaism. See, in opposition to it also, Kling in the Stud. u. Krit . 1837, p. 302 ff.; Lekebusch, p. 322 ff.
] denotes the person and his companions, the company of Paul . See on Joh 11:19 , and Valckenaer, p. 499 f. Now Paul, and no longer Barnabas, appears as the principal person. The conspicuous agency of the Gentile apostle at once in the conversion of Sergius, and in the humiliation of the sorcerer, has decided his superiority.
.] chorographic genitive; Krger, 47. 5. 5. For other designations of this situation of the city, see Bornemann.
] on the seats of the Rabbins, as Wolf, Wetstein, Kuinoel, think. Possibly; but it is possible also, that they had already, before the commencement of the Sabbath, immediately on their arrival, announced themselves as teachers, and that this occasioned the request of the president to the strange Rabbins.
. . .] namely, in the Parasha and Haphthara for that Sabbath. See on Luk 4:17 . That, as Bengel thinks and Kuinoel and Baumgarten approve (comp. also Trip, Paulus , p. 194), the Parasha, Deu 1 (because Paul, in Act 13:18 , hints at Deu 1:31 ), and the corresponding Haphthara, Isa 1 , were in the order of the reading, is uncertain, even apart from the fact that the modern Parshioth and Haphtharoth were fixed only at a later period (Zunz, gottesdienstl. Vortr. d. Juden. p. 6; comp. Hupfeld in the Stud. u. Krit. 1837, p. 843 f.).
.] i.e. the college of rulers, consisting of the ( ), and the elders associated with him.
] in animis vestris.
. ] a discourse of exhortation , whose contents are an encouragement to the observance and application of the law and the prophets. For: “opus fuit expositoribus, qui corda eorum afficerent.” Gloss, in Babyl. Schabb. f. 30, 2. Comp. Zunz, p. 332 f.
] On , see Lobeck, Paral. p. 504.
[7] Ewald, p. 456, conjectures that now Titus (Gal 2:1 ) had appeared as an apostolic companion. But how natural it would have been for Luke at least here to mention Titus, who is never named by him!
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
C.the journey continued; acts and sufferings in the pisidian city of antioch
Act 13:13-52
The journey through Pamphylia to Antioch; and Pauls missionary address in that city
Act 13:13-41
13Now [But] when Paul and his company [and they who were about him] loosed [had sailed] from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and [but] John de parting from them returned to Jerusalem. 14But when they departed [continued their journey] from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15And [But] after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any [a6] word of exhortation for the people, say on [then speak!]. 16Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, [Ye] Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience [hearken]. 17The God of this people of Israel [om. of Israel]7 chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers [were sojourners] in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it. 18And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners [he bore and cherished them]8 in the wilderness. 19And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan [Canaan], he divided their land to [among] them by lot [as an inheritance]9. 20And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21And afterward [thenceforth] they desired [asked for] a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of [during] forty years. 22And when he had removed him [And after he had set him aside], he raised up unto them David to be [as] their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own [my] heart, which shall fulfil [who will do] all my will. 23Of this mans seed hath God, according to his promise, raised [brought]10 unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: 24When John had first [previously] preached [,] before his coming [his entrance (on his office),] the baptism of [unto] repentance to all the [the whole] people of Israel. 25And as [But when] John fulfilled [finished] his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am [do ye deem me to be]? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one [he cometh] after me, whose shoes of his feet [whose sandals] I am not worthy to loose.
26[Ye] Men and brethren, children [sons] of the stock [race] of Abraham, and who soever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.11 27For they that dwell at [the inhabitants of] Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him [rulers did not recognize him, and by their sentence, fulfilled the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath]. 28And though they found no cause of death in him [And without finding in him any guilt worthy of death], yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain [desired of Pilate that he might be executed]. 29And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree [wood], and laid him in a sepulchre [grave]. 30But God [has] raised him from the dead: 31And he was seen [appeared] many days of [to] them which [who] came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are [now]12 his witnesses unto the people. 32And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the [you the tidings of the] promise which was made unto the [our] fathers, 33[That] God hath fulfilled the same unto us their13 children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again [om. again]; as it is also written in the second [first14] psalm, Thou art my Son, this day [to-day] have I begotten thee. 34And as concerning that [But thereof, that] he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise [thus], I will give you the sure mercies [the faithful holy things]15 of David. 35Wherefore he saith also in another psalm [place], Thou shalt [wilt] not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God [after he had, in his time, served the counsel of God]16, fell on sleep [fell asleep], and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37But he, whom God raised again, saw no [raised, did not see] corruption. 38Be it known unto you therefore, [ye] men and brethren, that through this man [this one] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by [that in] him all that believe are [everyone that believeth is] justified from all things, from which [wherein] ye could not be justified by [in] the law of Moses. 40Beware [See to it] therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of [said] in the prophets; 41Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work [do] a work in your days, a work which17 ye shall in no wise [ye could not] believe, though a man [if any one should] declare it unto you.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act 13:13. Paul and Barnabas continued their journey by sea; after leaving Paphos, they proceeded, in a north-westerly direction, to Pamphylia, a province of Asia Minor extending along the shores of the Mediterranean, and then visited Perga. This city lay on the river Cestus, about seven miles above its mouth. It appears that at this point John (Mark) withdrew from them, for the purpose of returning to Jerusalem. The language employed in Act 15:37-39, indicates that this separation did not occur altogether in a pacific manner, but was occasioned by a motive which was reprehensible in a moral point of view; even afterwards, Paul continued to be dissatisfied with Mark on account of it, insomuch that Barnabas himself, who was a relative of the latter (Col 4:10), was induced to separate from Paul. It is not now possible to explain the nature of the difficulty. Baumgarten assumes that Mark had been incapable of submitting to the self-denial which was needed in the work of establishing an independent congregation consisting of those who had originally been pagans, and had, on that account, returned to Jerusalem. But the cause of the difficulty may as easily be traced to a certain want of firmness of character, in consequence of which Mark was not willing to submit any longer to the privations and labors which were connected with that missionary journey. [Mark was afterwards not unwilling to accompany the Apostles on a second missionary journey, and actually did accompany Barnabas again to Cyprus (Act 15:39). Nor did St. Paul always retain his unfavorable judgment of him, but long afterwards, in his Roman imprisonment, commended him to the Colossians, as one who was a fellow-worker unto the kingdom of God, and a comfort to himself (Col 4:10): and, in his latest letter, just before his death, he speaks of him again as one profitable to him for the ministry (2Ti 4:11). (Con. and H.: Life, etc. of St. Paul, I. 174.)Tr.].The phrase , distinctly exhibits Paul, according to its classic usage, as the principal person, the central point and soul of the company.
Act 13:14-15. a. But when they, etc.Paul and Barnabas proceeded alone to the interior of the country, on leaving Perga, and came to the populous city of Antioch, about one hundred and fifteen miles distant from the former, in a northerly direction. It was situated in the central region of Asia Minor, and, according as dynastic races and their respective territories underwent changes, belonged, at one time to Phrygia, at another, to Pamphylia, and, again, to Pisidia. The designation here employed, . , assumes, in Strabo (XII. 12), the form: . . Luke describes with great fulness the labors and experiences of the missionaries in this city.
b. Went into the synagogue on the sabbath day.Here, too, as in the island of Cyprus, they met with many Israelites, who also possessed a synagogue in the city. Paul and Barnabas visited it on the sabbath, and listened to the customary reading of a section of the Torah or Law (Paraschah), and of one of the Prophets (Haphtarah); they were then requested by the rulers of the synagogue (the , together with the elders, as assessors) to speak, in case that they had a discourse or exhortation in their mind ( ). Wetstein and Kuinoel suppose that the two men were requested to speak, in consequence of having taken their places on the seat occupied by the rabbins (). But this latter word certainly does not involve such a sense; it simply implies that they seated themselves in order to listen. As this incident, however, scarcely occurred as early as the first day of their abode in the city, it is probable that they had previously shown themselves, in many private conversations, to be men who were well acquainted with religious truth, and learned in the Scriptures, and that the request was addressed to them in consequence of this fact.As the words , , , which are employed by Paul in his discourse, seldom occur in the Bible (the first in Isai. Acts 1, the second and third in Deut. Acts 1.), Bengel has, by an ingenious combination, drawn the inference, that, on the sabbath in question, precisely these two chapters, which, even now constitute the Paraschah and the Haphtarah of the same sabbath, were read in the synagogue, that is, in the Greek version [LXX.], and that Paul had taken these two sections as the foundation of his discourse. The analogy, however, between the two chapters and the discourse of Paul, is too slight to authorize any conclusion founded on those few words. [The modern Paraschioth and Haphtaroth are of a later date, so that the conjecture of Bengel, to which Kuinoel and Baumgarten assent, is not well supported. See Zunz: Gottesd. Vortr. d. Juden, p. 6; Hupfeld: Stud. u. Krit. 1837. p. 843. (Meyer, and de Wette).Tr.]
Act 13:16-17. Then Paul stood up.He commenced to speak, after making a gesture indicating his wish to be heard in silence, and addressed partly the Israelites themselves, and, partly, the numerous proselytes who were also present. Act 13:42-43. In Act 13:26, he again addresses, in addition to the descendants of Abraham, the proselytes before him, that is, Gentiles or pagans who were not yet incorporated by circumcision with the people of Israel, but who had acquired a knowledge of the true God, and learned to worship Him, in common with the Jews.After a brief but significant review of the history of Israel, from the age of the patriarchs to that of David, the discourse refers to the history of Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins through Him. The words: , referring directly to the Israelites who were present, are very distinctly addressed to such hearers as were not Jews by birth. But the main theme is obviously the following:God chose the founders of the nation (Abraham, etc.)the nation is indebted for the position which it held, not to itself, but to Gods free election (to be his peculiar people). [The leading thought of this introduction of the address (Act 13:17-22), is not the free grace of God (Lechler), which, in that case, would have been prominently mentioned, but, in general, the divine Messianic guidance of the people, previously to the actual appearance of the Messiah. Meyer: Com. who refers, not to this passage, but to one in an earlier work, viz., Lechlers Apost. u. Nachap. Zeital. 2d. ed. p. 150. n.Tr.]. So, too, the exaltation of the people during their sojourn in Egypt (), that is, their increase, until they became a numerous and powerful people, and also their deliverance from Egypt with a high arm, (that is, accomplished by an irresistible, miraculous power,) were operations solely and exclusively of Gods grace. It is not accurate to interpret as also referring to the glory gained by the deliverance from Egypt (Meyer), since this is represented as having occurred during the sojourn in that country, and is distinguished, in the narrative, from the fact that the people were brought out of it. [Meyer fully adopts this view in his last edition, and now interprets as referring partly to the increase of the numbers of the people, and partly to the miraculous works wrought through Moses previously to the Exodus.Tr.]
Act 13:18-19. And about the time of forty years.The speaker now assigns a prominent position to the truth that the people of Israel were indebted to God, and to Him only, both for the faithful, cherishing, provident, and protecting care enjoyed during forty years in the wilderness (comp. Deu 1:31, as a man doth bear his son [see above, note 3. b. appended to the text, Tr.]), and also for the possession of the land of Canaan; for it was God who destroyed or extirpated the seven nations of Canaan (Deu 7:1).
Act 13:20-22. And after that, he gave unto them judges, etc.Paul proceeds to mention the rulers of the people until David, referring, throughout the whole statement, to the fact that it was God who alike appointed and deposed them at his will. After the seizure and division of the territory, God gave the people judges during a period of about 450 years, until Samuel. The number of years which Paul here assigns to the period of the Judges, is the result of a computation which cannot be reconciled with 1Ki 6:1. We are there informed that there was an interval of 480 years between the Exodus, and the fourth year of Solomons reign, which would leave 331 years for the period of the Judges. [This latter number is obtained by deducting from 480, the sum of the following periods, or 149 years, namely 40 years in the wilderness, 25 for the administration of Joshua [Ant. v. 1. 29, not stated in the Old Test.), 40 for Sauls reign (see Act 13:21), 40 for Davids, and 4 under Solomon (1Ki 6:1). (Meyer and Hackett).Tr.]. But Pauls statement very nearly agrees with that of Josephus (Ant. viii. 3. 1), according to whom 592 years intervened between the Exodus and the building of the temple, leaving 443 years for the period of the Judges [by again deducting the 149 years just mentioned; the difference of 7 years in the two statements of Paul and Josephus is readily explained by , about the space of.Tr.]. Comp. Meyer: Com. [where the different attempts already made to remove the difficulty, are examined and pronounced to be unsatisfactory, and the following view is expressed, to which Hackett assents: Paul here conforms to a certain computation which differs entirely from the one recognized in 1Ki 6:1, but which Josephus also has adopted.Tr.]. We are therefore obliged to assume that Paul has, in this case, received a chronological system which was generally adopted by the learned Jews of his day.[, and from that time. This is the only passage in the N. T. in which refers to time, but even here time is viewed as an extension of space. (Meyer).Tr.]. And from that time, i.e., from the time of Samuel the Judge, the Israelites asked for a king, and it was God who gave them Saul as their king, for 40 years. The words . plainly state the duration of the reign of Saul, and not of that of Samuel and Saul conjoined (Beza, Bengel, and others). The length of the reign of Saul is nowhere specified in the Old Testament; Josephus (Ant. vi. 14. 9) assigns to it 18 years during Samuels lifetime, and 22 additional years after the death of the latter, and we have thus another evidence that Paul follows in his chronological statements an extra-biblical tradition.When he refers to the rejection of Saul and the elevation of David to the throne, he employs expressions (Act 13:22) which give prominence specially to the uncontrolled and free action of God: , he set him aside. This term does not refer to the death of Saul (Meyer), but to his deposition by the sentence of God. The circumstance that his reign actually continued even afterwards, until 40 years were completed (Act 13:21), is not here taken into consideration.The pronoun depends, without doubt, on , and not on .When Paul adduces the divine declaration, he transmutes and fuses together certain words which Samuel had addressed to Saul (1Sa 13:14), and others which had been pronounced in reference to David (Psa 89:20), and the whole appears as a single address of God directed to David. It is the main object of this testimony to show that the sentiments of David were acceptable to God, and that he would certainly obey the divine commands, whatever their nature might be. [Plural, , voluntates, multas, pro negotiorum varietate. (Bengel).Tr.]
Act 13:23-25. Of this mans seed.After giving this comprehensive view of the history of Israel, and reaching the age of David, Paul speaks of Christ, as the descendant of David according to the promise. God brought Jesus as a Saviour to the Jews, () [in place of the reading of the text. rec.; see note 5 above, appended to the text.Tr.], like , Isa 48:15. To this there is a correspondence in the term (Act 13:24): , that is, his solemn entrance as the , as well as in the word , which represents John as a herald who goes before, and announces aloud Him who is to come. [ , a Hebraism (, Rob. Lex. p. 854 f., equivalent to before (in front of).Tr.]. The course (race) which John was on the point of completing (imp. ), is, precisely, his course or race as a herald hastening on in advance. is not equivalent to the relative , but is an interrogative pronoun, so that must be followed by a note of interrogation; the whole of the language of John here indicates animation or excited feeling, and is, therefore, uttered in short sentences. ; the predicate, according to the context isthe Messiah. [, as an interrogative, Engl. vers., de Wette, Mey., Alf. Alex., Hack.; as a relative, Vulg. Luth. Calv. Grot. Kuin. Buttm. Winer (Gram. 25) says that the former punctuation is admissible, but that the latter ( for ) cannot be rejected as inaccurate.Tr.]
Act 13:26-31. Men and brethren.Here Paul makes a still more direct appeal to his hearers, and offers to them the grace of God in Jesus Christ; he explains, at the same time, and establishes the truth that salvation is to be sought by them in and through Christ, the Crucified and Risen One. He begins again, as it were, and addresses his Israelitic hearers in terms still more affectionate (brethren) than those which he had at first employed, Act 13:16; the word of this salvationhe says,is sent specially to them by God, through the two missionaries before them. This direct application is subsequently repeated with increased earnestness, Act 13:32; Act 13:38; Act 13:40 ff. Paul primarily unfolds the nature of the , by adducing the following considerations, Act 13:27-29 :The inhabitants of Jerusalem condemned, crucified, and buried Jesus, whom they did not recognize, although, at the same time, the prophecies were thus fulfilled. He proceeds to say, Act 13:30 ff.:God, however, raised him from the dead, and his disciples saw him after his resurrection. Meyer refers , Act 13:27, to a supposed distinction made between Pauls present hearers (, Act 13:26) and the inhabitants and rulers in Jerusalem, as if the sense of the apostles words were the following:The latter rejected the Saviour, and therefore the message of salvation is sent, not to them, but, in their stead, to foreign Jewsto the Jews of the dispersion (diaspora), such as ye are. Now it is certain that Paul cannot have intended to say that the message of salvation should now be withheld from the Jews dwelling in Jerusalem, and yet, such a thought would essentially constitute the distinction which Meyer represents as being here made. There is undoubtedly a distinction here assumed as existing between the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Antiochian hearers of Paul, but it consists simply in the circumstance that the former alone, and not the latter, had personally contributed their share to the sufferings of Jesus; the apostle by no means intends to assert that salvation would be offered solely to his hearers, and no longer to the people of Jerusalem. refers, on the contrary, principally to . ., which is in the process of being explained; it is, hence, not causal, but explicative [not: to you, for it (the word of this salvation) is no longer sent to them, but, it is now sent to you with reason, for the sufferings, death and resurrection, being a fulfilment of the prophecies, demonstrate that he is indeed the true and long-expected Messiah.Tr.]. The people of Jerusalem and their rulersPaul continuesdid not recognize Jesus, and therefore also () pronounced sentence on him, by which course they fulfilled, in opposition to their own intentions, the voices of the prophets, although these are read to them on every Sabbath. [Both the Engl. and the German (Luthers) vers. interpret , Act 13:27, as being governed, like , by , and Calv. Grot. Kuin. Alex. Hack. concur. Lechler, in his translation above, regards as governed by , and this is also the opinion of Beza, de Wette and Meyer. Alford, who concurs with the latter, accordingly translates: in their ignorance of Him (not only rejected His salvation, but) by judging Him, fulfilled the voices of the prophets, etc.Tr.].The word , Act 13:28, implies that they had made every effort, but had failed to find a cause worthy of death in him. In Act 13:29, the act of removing the body from the cross, and that of depositing it in the grave, are both ascribed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their rulers. Although these acts were not, like the condemnation, etc., those of enemies, but rather those of friends of Jesus, the language is, nevertheless, appropriate, since both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus belonged to the order of the , and the latter, moreover, was an inhabitant of Jerusalem. [Mar 15:43; Joh 3:1].Paul contrasts, in Act 13:30, the acts of God with those of men; He raised Jesus from the dead, whereof the disciples who came from Galilee, Act 13:31, and who saw the Lord after his resurrection, were eye-witnesses. By employing this language, Paul unequivocally excludes himself and Barnabas from the number of the original disciples and eye-witnesses.
Act 13:32-37. And we declare unto you, etc.The apostle furnishes the proof in these verses that the promises made to David, were fulfilled when Jesus appeared on earth, and when he rose from the grave. The words distinguish the two missionaries from , and assign them, not to the class of eye-witnesses, but to that of Evangelists. The words are interpreted by de Wette, Meyer, Baumgarten [Schott, Stier, Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Lange, Hackett, etc.Tr.], after the example of Luther and other earlier interpreters, as referring to the resurrection. They are in error, for the context shows that these verses, (Act 13:32 ff.), are by no means to be restricted to the resurrection of Jesus, but exhibit both the mission of Christ in general and also his resurrection in the light of a promise and its fulfillment [, according to this view, being equivalent to prodire jubens. exhibens, comp. Act 3:22; Act 7:37. (Meyer),Tr.]. Further, although the same word [participle, and verb] occurs both in Act 13:33 and Act 13:34, its meaning in the latter, as its connection with shows, is not identically the same as in the former verse. , in Act 13:34, undeniably indicates the resurrection, whereas , in Act 13:33, without this addition, might possibly be understood of the resurrection, but can, when the context is consulted, mean only prsentem exhibere. This explanation has very justly been preferred by Calvin, Beza, Grotius, [Calovius] and also Bengel (to whom Meyer now, 3d edition, assigns his true position), and, among more recent commentators, by Kuinoel, Olshausen, Hoffmann, [Heinrichs, Alexander (incarnation). etc. Alford, who adopts the former, says: The meaning having raised him from the dead is absolutely required by the context: both because the word is repeated with , (Act 13:34), and because the apostles emphasis throughout the passage is on the Resurrection (Act 13:30) as the final fulfilment () of Gods promises regarding Jesus.Tr.]. The passage in Psa 2:7, ff., which speaks of the theocratic Ruler, whom God has made his Son, is here explained as referring to the Sonship of Jesus, as the perfect King; and only in this way is that declaration of God fulfilled. It also seems more natural to take this view, than to suppose that the resurrection of Jesus is meant. It is now only (Act 13:34-37) that Paul proceeds to speak of the promises of God which were fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus, by virtue of which the whole power of death and corruption ceases forever in his case. He appeals to two prophecies: (a) Isa 55:3, where he quotes from the Alexandrian [LXX.] version; here he presents . as the translation of . [See crit. note 10, appended to the text, above.Tr.]. The sense is the following:God has promised sure, or trustworthy holy things of David, that is, gracious gifts of permanent value; that immortality, on which this perpetuity of grace depends, as its essential condition, is the resurrection-life of Christ.(b) Act 13:35; see Psa 16:10, where David in his prayer, triumphantly expresses the hope which his experience inspired. , Act 13:35, may easily be referred to David, who had just been named, but cannot possibly refer to God (Meyer) for it is to Him that this supplication, which expresses so much confidence, is addressed. As an evidence that this prophecy was fulfilled solely in Jesus, Paul reminds his hearers of the fact that David had died, after having, during his own age, been obedient to the counsel of God, comp. Act 13:22. [see crit. note 11, appended to the text, above.Tr.] cannot, with Meyer, be taken as Dat. comm., since a dative, . , already presents itself; neither is it by any means feeble and superfluous [terms employed by Meyer.Tr.], if the following be assumed as the sense:David was not appointed to be an eternal servant of God; he was required to serve God only in his own day, as he also did, with uprightness of heart.Davids death is described as a falling asleep, in consequence of which he was laid unto his fathers, and his body was subjected to decay. But He, on the contrary, whom God raised from death, Act 13:37, was not subjected to decay. These statements, Act 13:34-37, forcibly remind us of Peters course of argument in Act 2:24-31, where the same words of the Psalm are exhibited as a prophecy of the resurrection of Jesus. The only difference which is found, is occasioned by the fact that, in the two cases, the points of view were different. Peter designs to demonstrate that, on account of the prophecy, Jesus could not have been holden of death, or, in other words, that Jesus must have (necessarily) risen from the grave. But Paul shows that the promises of God were really fulfilled in Jesus, and especially the promise which referred to life and to the abiding grace of God. [That one discourse is not compiled or copied from the other, is sufficiently apparent from the difference of form, Paul quoting a single verse, and that only in part, of the four which Peter had made use of, and connecting that one with a passage in Isaiah, not alluded to by Peter, while he passes by the latters kindred argument derived from Psalms 110. All this goes to show the independence of the two Apostles and their two discourses, but at the same time their exact agreement in the exposition of a Messianic prophecy. (Alexander).Tr.]
Act 13:38-41, a. Be it known unto you therefore.Paul now draws the inference which the foregoing statements furnish, and applies the whole subject to his hearers in a very earnest and impressive manner. He announces to them that forgiveness of sins is offered in Christ, the Crucified and Risen One ( . ); every one, he adds, that believeth is justified (and absolved) in Him (Christ [ ]), from all that, from which ye could not be justified (and absolved) in the Mosaic law; see below, Doctr. etc. No. 4.The hearers are, lastly, warned, and urged to be on their guard lest the prophetic threatening of God come upon them, namely, an amazing and annihilating humiliation; for they would see a work of God, the tidings of which, (without the personal knowledge and experience of it) would have been deemed incredible. ( . i.e., in the Book of the prophets). The quotation (Hab 1:5) is from the LXX. [In place of of the present Hebrew text, among the heathen, the Seventy probably read , treacherous dealers, Rob. Lex. p. 111, as they render the word by , which Paul accordingly employs, (de Wette; Meyer).Tr.]
b. This discourse, the first of any extent which the apostle Paul delivered and Luke has preserved, has been the subject of very unfavorable critical remarks. It has, for instance, been said that its characteristic features are not those which might be expected in an original Pauline discourse, but that it is rather a mere echo of those of Stephen and Peter: and, again, that it is merely a production of the author of the book before us (Schneckenburger, Zweck d. Apgsch., p. 130; Baur: Paulus, p. 101.). Some writers, who could not perceive the object of the historical portion of the discourse, especially Act 13:17-22, have conjectured either that Paul merely desired to exhibit his knowledge of the Old Testatament (Roos: Abh. verm. Inh. 1804, p. 421), or that this portion was intended to attract the attention, and gain the confidence of the hearers (Neander); it has even been asserted that the whole was an unmeaning enumeration of Jewish historical records (Schrader: Paulus. V. 546). But it is very obviously Pauls purpose, in that historical portion, to exhibit the free grace of God, and His unmerited election, by which Israel was made His people, and David His servant and a king, as contradistinguished from the rejection of those who resisted His will. Further, the language employed by Paul respecting Jesus, bears a peculiar impress, in so far as he connects every circumstance with David. Thus, his review of the Old Testament history is continued to the age of David; Christ is introduced as a descendant of David; king David is represented as a highly significant type, all the promises connected with him having been fulfilled when Christ appeared. The doctrinal intimation, moreover, respecting the justification in Christ of those who believe in Him, as distinguished from the insufficiency of the Law, bears the genuine Pauline impress, and nothing that is analogous to it occurs in any of the previous discourses. And, lastly, when this address is compared with the Epistles of the same apostle, it should not be forgotten that the former is a missionary address, not intended to be a profound discussion suited in form and matter to persons who were already converted. When all these circumstances are duly considered, we can discover no reason for doubting the genuineness and historical originality of this discourse.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The election of the patriarchs, the elevation of their descendants to the rank of the people of God, the deliverance of the latter from Egyptian bondage, and their establishment in Canaan, as the land of their possession, the appointment of judges and kings of the peoplewere all acts of God alone, depending solely on his uncontrolled purpose and election of grace [Rom 11:5], and not on human merit or coperation. Indeed, the original introduction or foundation of such honors and dignities, depends entirely on the course taken by the divine action. The first sketch of the doctrine of Gods free election of grace (afterwards more fully developed and established by the apostle Paul), is presented in this place, and, indeed, chiefly in reference to the Israelites who were among the apostles hearers. Human pride and vain conceptions of merit produce a disposition to advance claims, which, in reference to God, are altogether unfounded and false, and which unfit the soul for the acceptance of grace. The Mosaic law, with its promises and its threatenings, viewed as an economy of retribution, could easily produce such sentiments. And there is, indeed, in every human heart, a certain tendency to advance such claims on God. But the grace of God in Christ requires a different soil, if it is to thrive and bear the fruits of righteousness unto the praise of God. The soil in which the grace of redemption can take root and bear fruit, is humility. Such views now guide the apostle, whose own self-righteousness had been crushed by the Redeemer, and who was then first guided by the light of grace, and enabled to understand Gods election of grace in the old economy. In novo Testamento vetus patet. In thy light shall we see light. Psa 36:9.
2. While Gods election of grace is thus recognized as unconditional, and as the foundation of all that is great and good, the freedom of the will and mans personal accountability are by no means denied. Saul was not rejected and set aside (, Act 13:22) by any divine caprice, after having been actually placed on the throne, but simply on account of his disobedience, as it distinctly appears from 1Sa 13:14, (which passage Paul, by a change of form, connects with David). And David himself is described, first, as a man after Gods heart, and then, as one who fulfilled His will, Act 13:22. These two expressions are not identical: first of all, let the tree be good, and then the fruit will be good: let the state of the heart and its sentiments be sound, and good deeds, performed in the obedience of faith, will follow. Hence the apostle appeals, in his discourse, with ardent and winning love, to the hearts of his hearers (Act 13:16; Act 13:26; Act 13:32 ff.), in order to guide their will to an obedient reception of the word, and to sincere repentance, Act 13:40 ff.
3. The more we accustom ourselves to consider the history of revelation in its internal connection, and as a whole, the more distinctly will Christ appear to us as the central point of all revelation; and the more fully the heart learns to know Jesus as a Saviour, the more clearly will we understand sacred history and its internal connection.
4. Justification by faith in Christ. A proposition is, first of all, introduced in Act 13:38 ff., which is not as peculiarly and exclusively Pauline in its character, as many others, viz.: The forgiveness of sins through Christ is announced to you. The had been previously promised by Peter also, to those who repented and received baptism (Act 2:38; Act 3:19.). It is only the immediate and close connection of the forgiveness of sins with the Person of Jesus Christ, as the medium of forgiveness, that is prominently set forth in the Pauline discourse, in a different manner from that which Peter adopts. But as it is at present the apostles purpose merely to bear witness in general to the fact, without entering into a full and complete discussion of the doctrine, the mode and the means ( ) by which Christ became the organ and mediator of the forgiveness of sins, are not explained. The most obvious thought is, that His resurrection is the essential fact on which that mediation depends, since that fact had been specially considered in the verses which immediately precede. There is, at least, no other and more distinct reference made here to the death of Jesus on the cross, as the foundation of the atonement and the remission of sins. Still, we have no reason to assume that this discourse represents the resurrection exclusively, and not also the death of Christ on the cross, as the main ground on which forgiveness through Him depends.But, on the other hand, all that now follows: , is, as was intimated above (Exeg. etc. Act 13:38-41. a.), decidedly new, both in thought and in expression. The words contain a negative and a positive declaration; the negative is: the law is insufficient with respect to our justification; the positive: in Christ, every one that believeth is justified. In both declarations the main conception involved in the predicate is expressed by the one word . This word necessarily must (on account of its connection with the proposition that precedes, viz.: , as well as on account of the words ), refer both to a deliverance from sins, and to a release from guilt and punishment; it includes, however, also, in accordance with its root (), the idea of integrity, or, of acceptableness in the sight of God. All men need forgiveness, the blotting out of sins, a release from guilt and punishment; the Israelite seeks these in the law of Moses; the apostle offers these in Christ. But he says, in one part of the statement, that these were in vain sought in the Mosaic lawit is impossible ( ) to obtain forgiveness and justification in the law. [ for , Win. Gram. 50. 7.] , etc.; these words do not mean (Schwegler: Nachap. Zeitalt. II. 96 f.) that forgiveness in Christ could be obtained also with respect to those sins, as to which justification was not attainable in the law, that is to say, that in the law a real, although only partial, but in Christ a complete justification could be found. This interpretation is not suggested by the context, nor by the Pauline doctrine elsewhere, nor, in general, by scriptural truth, all of which set forth the opposite view. Paul implies here only in indirect, but still in unmistakable terms, that the Mosaic law and the observance of it could furnish absolutely no means for obtaining in truth and reality the forgiveness of sins and justification.Consequently, the apostle here bears witness to the following truths:1. Justification is not merely a negative, but also a positive benefit; 2. Jesus Christ is the only mediator of justification; 3. Christianity is universal in its design, or, specially, justifying grace in Christ is accessible to all in common ( .); 4. Faith is the sole condition of justification on the part of man (); 5. the conflicting opinion is distinctly rejectedthe law is not able to secure mans justification. All these are truths which became clear to the mind of the apostle Paul, in consequence of the peculiar manner in which he was guided to the Redeemer; and this is the first occasion on which they are publicly set forth.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act 13:13. And John, departing from them.No man having put his hand to the plough, etc. Luk 9:62.The Scriptures do not pass over the errors of the saints in silence; it affords us consolation to learn that none of them finished their course, without making the confession: My foot slippeth; (but) thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. Psa 94:18. (Besser).
Act 13:14. They departed [continued their journey]. If any one who labored with us in the service of the Lord, should forsake us, we should not be discouraged, but continue the work. (Quesnel).
Act 13:15. If ye have any word of exhortation, say on.When we preach as strangers in a congregation, on suitable occasions, we act in the spirit of the apostles; we practically bear witness to our agreement in doctrine, and we encourage the hearers, who desire to hear such sermons; the manifold gifts of the Spirit are exhibited to them. But no teacher should intrude with his sermons; he should wait for an invitation to deliver them. (Starke).The apostles could easily preach ex tempore, for they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and their hearts derived life and warmth from the Gospel. (Ap. Past.).
Act 13:16. Then Paul stood up, etc.This is the first discourse delivered by a man of learning, which the book of the Acts furnishes. It is a model, showing how true grace can sanctify all the gifts and powers of nature, as well as all knowledge and learning, and employ them in the service of Jesus Christ; it teaches us how to prepare sermons that are both profound and also edifying, or, rather, that may convince the mind, and penetrate the heart. (Ap. Past.).
Act 13:17-24. The God of this people chose our fathers, etc.The apostle endeavors to exhibit the course of sacred history in such a light, that the undeserved mercy of God, the free election of grace, the long-suffering and patience of the Lord, even though the Israelites were continually disobedient, may deeply move the hearts of his hearers. Hence, before he speaks of the divine threatenings and punishments, he lays an evangelical foundation, in order that the patient love of God may melt their hard hearts. (Ap. Past.).Paul exhibits to the Jews the divinely appointed times and seasons which prominently appear in the history of their fathers. He has a twofold object: he shows, first of all, that God acted with undivided authority, and regulated all things according to His own wisdom; he then explains that, after the lapse of the appointed years, the period of the new covenant had arrived. (Ap. Past.).After that, he gave unto them judges.Every form of government is of God, as well an aristocracy as a monarchy [Rom 13:1]. (Starke).And when he had removed [set Saul aside].It is possible that God may choose a man for his service, and yet afterwards set him aside. It is very sad when a man who had been a chosen instrument of God, afterwards, like Judas or Demas, again loves this present world. (Ap. Past.).I have found David a man after mine own heart, who shall fulfil all my will.He alone is a man after Gods heart, who does His will in all things. (Quesn.).John preached the baptism of repentance.Johns preaching in the wilderness was, in its whole character and tendency, a preaching of repentance. He placed the people again, as it were, by his peculiar mode of action, on the road to Canaan; he showed them that they, with their kings and prophets, were still in the wilderness, and not yet within the bounds of the promised land. The time had now arrived, in which they were to be conducted in the right way out of the wilderness. (Williger).
Act 13:25. I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, etc.The pastors office requires him to bear witness of Christ, to whom alone, and not to himself, he should direct the attention of men. (Starke).When Paul designs to magnify Jesus before the people of Israel, he calls their attention away from all the distinguished men of former ages, so that they may fix their eyes on the Saviour alone. Hence he turns away from the patriarchs, from David, and from John, and points to Jesus alone. All these holy men were only servants of God in their respective ages. Jesus is, and continues eternally to be, the Saviour, to whom alone the eyes and hearts of men should be directed. How blessed are the labors of a teacher, who rightly exercises the gift of exhibiting Jesus alone to the souls of his hearers. (Ap. Past.).
Act 13:26. Men and brethren and whosoever among you feareth God.The pagans who feared God, are specially addressed. They, too, belong to the covenant which God made with Abraham. (Williger).The word of this salvation.Receive this word into thy heart, that Christ has sent to thee the gospel message of salvation, and therein giveth thee redemption and the victory over sin, death, the grave, corruption, hell, and the devil. When, therefore, Paul glorifies the preaching of the word concerning Christ, which he here terms the word of salvation, he exalts it more highly, than if he had described to his hearers all the power, the treasures, and the glory on earth or in heaven. For what aid could all these afford me, if I had not received this word of salvation and eternal life? For when I feel the burden of my sins, or when I am in danger of death, I am still compelled to say: Depart from me, all ye treasures and joys of this world, so that I may hear and retain nothing but this preaching and word of salvation which Christ has sent. (Luther).
Act 13:27-29.For they that dwell at Jerusalem laid him in a sepulcher.Paul well knew that the death of Jesus on the cross, was a grievous offence to the Jews. He therefore endeavors to obviate their prejudices by reminding them, first, that the innocence of Jesus was evident, and had been publicly established, and, secondly, that all that had been written of him, had been fulfilled in his death. These two considerations are sufficient to remove the whole offence occasioned by the death of Jesus. (Ap. Past.).There is a council of higher rank than that to which the rulers in Jerusalem belonged, namely, the council of the holy prophets; to the latter the apostle appeals, when he is obliged to tell his brethren in Antioch that Jerusalem had not recognized the Saviour of Israel. Thus he covers the shame which Jesus suffered, with the shield of the prophetic word. Let no one take offence at a Saviour to whom Jerusalem could give nothing better than the accursed tree, and a grave which the civil authorities sealed. Thus it is written, and thus it must needs be. [Act 17:3]. (Besser).
Act 13:30-37. But God raised him he saw no corruption.Paul preaches not only the cross, but also the resurrection of Jesus. The two belong together, if we desire to obtain full and complete righteousness in Christ. [Rom 4:25].The resurrection is proved by the testimony of the apostles (Act 13:31), and the predictions of the prophets (Act 13:32). Both are here adduced by Paul.To the former he adds his own. What a blessing it is, when our own experience enables us joyfully to unite with the cloud of witnesses of Jesus!The apostle selects three passages, when he designs to prove the resurrection from the writings of the prophets. The first [Psa 2:7 ff.] establishes the truth respecting the eternal generation of the Son, and his office as the Saviour of the world; the second [Isa 55:3] declares that the promises of grace are inviolable, and shall be fulfilled; and the third [Psa 16:10] distinctly sets forth that the Messiah shall not be subject to corruption. Thus the truth respecting the resurrection of Jesus is demonstrated by the eternal decree of God, by the inviolability of his covenantal grace, and by an express promise. (Ap. Past.).After David had served his own generation [after he had, in his day, served, etc.; see note 11, appended to the text, above.Tr.].David obeyed the will of God in his own day. It was an evil time, and yet this servant of the Lord continued to obey the will of God. Our own times, too, are controlled by God, and our task is assigned to us by Him. Our times may be unfavorable, and evil-minded men may surround us: still, the great object of our life must ever be the performance of the will of God. (ib.).When those who survive, can declare with truth, after the death of an individual, that, although the days of his pilgrimage may have been few and evil, he had always fulfilled the will of God as far as his ability extended, they could not inscribe a more honorable epitaph on his tomb-stone, or pay a nobler tribute to his memory. (Starke).
Act 13:38-41. Be it known unto you, therefore though a man should declare it unto you.Paul had thus furnished full explanations; he now proceeds to make a direct and animated application; the two belong together.The strict law of Moses was designed to awaken and maintain a desire for a Saviour. It is, therefore, well, when a pastor, under the new covenant, frequently institutes a comparison between free grace in Jesus and that ancient yoke of bondage [Gal 5:1]. Thus Jesus becomes still more precious to the heart.The teacher who desires to glorify the exceeding riches of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, will very diligently show that the blood and merits of Jesus are of far greater efficacy than nature, morality, and Law, since Jesus delivers sinners from that uncleanness and that misery which no other means can remove.To those Jews who were attracted by the preaching of Paul, and who sought further intercourse with him (Act 13:43), he more fully unfolded the leading theme of revealed religion, namely, justification by faith. We now possess these explanations in his Epistles, which are, in truth, only full statements of the doctrine of which he gave merely a general sketch towards the close of his first discourse. (Besser).The apostle deems it wise to append a legal pondus to his evangelical testimony, so that he might, by a stern warning, inspire those who despised the grace of Jesus, with a salutary fear. The free Gospel of Christ, in its widest extent, does not render the law useless. (Ap. Past.). (Compare the sharp rebuke with which Stephens discourse closes, Act 7:51 ff.).Thus Paul completes his task; he has demonstrated that, to receive Jesus as Christ, as David, as the King, and, to be the people of God, are one and the same thing. (Williger).
ON THE WHOLE SECTION.(Act 13:13-25).I will make you fishers of men, [Mat 4:19], Act 13:13-15. The apostles, in obedience to this saying, I. Cast the net in different places, Act 13:13; II. Were not discouraged in their labors, even when others forsook them, Act 13:13; III. Regarded every season as suitable for labor, Act 13:14; IV. Found every place adapted for it, Act 13:14; V. Neglected no opportunity which was presented for testifying to the grace of God in Christ Jesus, Act 13:16 ff. (Lisco).That every work which is of God, will advance, even when individual laborers withdraw from it: I. This truth set forth; II. The course of conduct which it teaches us to pursue. (Lisco). The history of Israel, an encouraging illustration of the dealings of divine Providence with the human race: I. The dealings of Providence, as manifested (a) in the history of Israel; (b) in the history of the kingdom of God in general. II. The influence which our assurance that Providence thus deals with men, should exercise upon us: (a) to convince us that the issue will always be most happy; (b) to urge us to perform our part, so that the divine plan of salvation may be the more completely carried into execution (ib.).The hours of the clock of the world: I. Slowly advancing, as hours (a) of the eternal God, with whom a thousand years are as one day; (b) of the long-suffering God, who patiently bore with a perverse world, even as he had patience with Israel during forty years in the wilderness. But, II. They are also hours that are uninterruptedly advancing, until the divinely appointed time arrives, (a) of the redemption of the world; (b) of the judgment of the world.
(Act 13:26-41.) Jesus Christ, the subject of all the prophecies (Act 13:26-37): especially, I. As the Crucified One; II. As the Risen One. (Lisco).Eternal salvation in Christ Jesus alone: I. In Him, salvationthe forgiveness of sins; justification by faith, Act 13:38-39; II. Without Him, not salvation, but judgment, Act 13:40-41. (ib.).Christ, the Saviour of the world: I. Promised in the Old Testament, Act 13:16-25; II. Rejected by his people, Act 13:26-29; III. Preached as the Saviour of believers, Act 13:30-41. (ib.).How the goodness of God should lead thee to repentance [Rom 2:4]: I. Consider what the Lord has done for thee. (The gracious dealings of the Lord with his chosen people, from the days of the patriarchs to the mission of Christ, Act 17:25; the application to the manifestations of Gods love to us). II. Consider the return which thou hast made to God. (Israels ingratitude, Act 13:24-29, and our own). III. Accept the grace which he still offers thee. (There is yet time: the crucified Lord is risen. Sin is now no insurmountable obstacle in the way of salvation. Even the murderers of Christ were unconsciously employed as agents, when His redeeming work was performed. But delay not! Unbelief will ultimately be judged and condemned!) (ib.).To you is the word of this salvation sent (Act 13:26)! It urges you, I. To consider devoutly the wonderful ways of God, when he prepared this salvation, Act 13:17-26; II. To receive with faith this salvation in Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen One, Act 13:27-39; III. To guard conscientiously against that spirit of ingratitude which rejects the grace of God, Act 13:40-41.
(Act 13:27-41.) It is a triumph of the divine government of the world, that even those who resist God, are nevertheless employed in executing his decrees, Act 13:27-29; I. Illustrated at the cross of Jesus; II. Confirmed in the history of the world; III. Applied to the heart and life.Saul chosen, but afterwards set aside (Act 13:21-22)a warning to men, not to finish in the flesh, after having begun in the Spirit [Gal 3:3].Christ, the Son of David, but more than David: I. In spiritual strength; David, a man after Gods own heart, fulfilling all his will, Act 13:22Christ, the beloved Son of God, in perfect obedience, completing the Fathers work. II. In His experience; David raised from obscurity and distress to a royal throneChrist humbled, even unto the death of the cross, exalted to the right hand of the Father, Act 13:27-37. III. In his work; David, as the king of Israel, the protector of his people, the terror of his foesChrist, as the Saviour of the world, an everlasting Prince of peace unto his people, an awful Judge of those who despise him, Act 13:38-41.The way of salvation: I. Slowly and painfully prepared; (a) slowlyduring the preparatory period of the old covenant (Act 13:17-25); (b) painfullyby the sufferings and death of Jesus (Act 13:27-29); nevertheless, II. Short and easy: (a) shortfaith conducts at once to the cross of Jesus, (Act 13:39); (b) easyfor, the remission of sins, life and salvation, are found in it (Act 13:38-39).Pauls introductory sermon at Antioch, a type of his whole subsequent personal history: it exhibits him, I. As a profound interpreter of the Scriptures, Act 13:17 ff.; cts Act 13:33 ff. II. As the noble-minded apostle of the Gentiles, Act 13:16; Act 13:26. III. As a truly evangelical preacher of the faith, Act 13:38-39. IV. As a fearless witness of the truth, Act 13:40-41.[Pauls discourse at Antioch; I. The circumstances under which it was delivered; (a) by a man properly qualified and commissioned; (b) and directed to his field of labor by Providence, Act 13:2. II. The character of the hearers; (a) Jews by birth, educated to worship the true God; (b) Pagans by birth, originally total strangers to God, (Eph 4:18)
Act 13:26; Act 13:43. III. The choice of the topics, (a) determined by the great Gospel theme of Justification by faith alone, and (b) by the spiritual wants of the hearers. IV. The impressions which it made; (a) many were deeply affected, Act 13:43; (b) others were hardened, Act 13:45.Tr.]
Footnotes:
[6]Act 13:15. [ before , is omitted in the text. rec. in accordance with D (corrected). E. G. H., but is found in A. B. C. D (orig.)., Cod. Sin., Syr., Vulg. It is dropped by Alf., but adopted by Lach. Tisch. and Born.Meyer, who receives it, remarks that it could easily have been omitted, as it occurs between two words each of which begins with E.Tr.]
[7]Act 13:17. , without , is probably the original reading. [ is introduced in the text. rec. in accordance with A. B. C. D. Vulg., and occurs also in Cod. Sin.; it is adopted by Lach. and Born., but is omitted in E. G. H. and by Tisch. and Alf. De Wette regards it as an ancient gloss.Tr.]
[8] Act 13:18. [a. The margin of the Engl. Bible presents the following critical note on the words in the text: suffered he:Gr. , perhaps for , bore, or, fed them, as a nurse beareth or feedeth her child; Deu 1:31, according to the LXX.; and so Chrysostom. (Wiclif, Tynd., Cranmer, and Geneva exhibit: suffered he their manners.Tr.]
b. The authorities are decidedly in favor of . rather than of the reading of text. rec., which is ; the former is also supported by Deu 1:31, which passage the apostle no doubt had in view, and in which, according to the probable reading, the LXX. also had . [In Deu 1:31, the reading of Cod. Alex., and edit. Aldina of 1518, is ; that of the Compl. Polygl. of 1517, with Origen, is . The MSS. vary.In Act 13:18, A. C (orig.). E. Syr. read . which is adopted by Lach. Scholz, and Alf., while B (e sil)., C (corrected). D. G. H. Cod. Sin. Vulg. (moves sustinuit) read ., and so Tisch. and Born.. i. e., (2Ma 7:27, where the. word refers to a mother). The authorities and also the sense, which corresponds to the Hebrew (in Deu 1:31), decide in favor of . (de Wette).Meyer remarks that, as the image in Deut. is taken front a man (as a man), the word is derived from (not ) (comp. 1Th 2:7), and that erroneous views subsequently led to the adoption of another word, by changing a single letter, as if from .Tr.]
[9]Act 13:19. [The text. rec. reads , on the authority of many minuscules, but is found in A. B. C. D. E G. H. Cod. Sin. and many minuscules, and has accordingly been generally adopted by recent editors. Both words are alike defined, by Wahl and Robinson: to distribute by lot. The latter word, now generally recognized as the correct reading, is used by Greek writers only in the sense: to inherit from an ancestor, but it occurs in a transitive sense (i. e., to bestow an inheritance) in the LXX. in Num 34:18, Deu 3:28.Tr.]
[10]Act 13:23. [adopted by Lach. Tisch. and Alf.] is far better supported [by A. B. E. G. H. Cod. Sin. Vulg.] than [of text. rec.], which is found in but few MSS. [C. D.], and seemed [to copyists] to be an easier and more appropriate reading.
[11]Act 13:26. Recent critics have, on account of the greater weight of evidence, preferred to the simple and more usual form , of the text. rec. [The former, in A. B.C. D. Cod Sin.: the latter in E. G. H.Tr.]
[12]Act 13:31. [after ] is wanting, it is true, in the greater number of the uncial MSS. [B (e sil), E. G. H., and is dropped by text. rec.], but seems to have been omitted simply because the apostles had long before been witnesses, and had not now only become such. It is to be retained as genuine. [Found in A. C. and Cod. Sin., Syr. Vulg. (usque nunc), and inserted by Lach. Tisch. and Alf.Tr.]
[13]Act 13:33. a. Many copyists did not understand [after ], and hence changed the second word to , omitting altogether. Both are genuine. [A. B. C (orig.). D. and Cod. Sin. Vulg. read simply , and so Lach.; C (second correction). E. G. H. read ; the latter is adopted by Alf.Tr.]
[14]Act 13:33. b. Griesbach, Lachmann and Tischendorf, have very properly preferred [to of text. rec.; Scholz also reads , on the authority of A. B. C. E. G. H. Cod. Sin. Vulg. (secundo)]. is supported by Cod. D., but principally by church fathers, such as Origen, Hilary, and others (some of whom expressly speak of this singular mode of stating the number of the Psalm. [Alf. who also adopts , regards, with Meyer and others, the reading of the text. rec. as an alteration to suit the ordinary arrangement of the Psalms. Bengel, Kuinoel, and others, suppose that both numeral words are later additions, and that the reading was simply , and this view is supported by the different position of in different manuscripts.Even admitting it () to be the true text, it is not a lapse of memory, but a relic of the old opinion that the first Psalm is a preface to the whole collection. (Alex.). The present first and second Psalms are still found written together in some manuscripts, as if the two constituted, the first Psalm. (Meyer.)Tr.]
[15]Act 13:34. [The English version furnishes the following critical note in the margin:Mercies: Gr. , holy, or, just things; which word the LXX. both in the place of Isa 55:3, and in many others, use for that which is in the Hebrew, mercies. is the LXX. rendering of , Isa 55:3, which in 2Ch 6:42 (and in Psa 89:2, mercy, ver, 49, loving-kindnesses, Psa 107:43 loving-kindness,), they have translated . The word holy should have been preserved in the Engl. version, as answering to below (Act 13:35): the mercies of David, holy and sure, or, my holy promises which I made sure unto David, (Alf.).(Geneva: holy mercies; Rheims: holy things.Tr.]
[16]Act 13:36. [The margin of the Engl. Bible here offers the following:After he of God; or, after he had in his own age served the will of God. admits of a twofold translation; may depend on : having served his own generation (been useful to it), according to the purpose of God (dative of norm or rule). Our English translators, Calvin, Doddridge, Robinson, and others (Alex.), adopt this construction. Olshausen, Kuinoel, de Wette, Meyer, and others, refer to the participle: having in his own generation (dative of time), or for it (dat. comm.) served the purpose, plan of God, i. e., as an instrument for the execution of his designs; comp. Act 13:22. , if connected with the participle, secures to it a personal object, and in that way forms a much easier expression than with the participle. (Hackett). , casus sextus, construendus cum , postquam sua generatione ministravit. Davidis partes non extendunt se ultra modulum tatis vulgaris, 2Sa 7:12. Huic brevi tempori opponitur perpetuitas Messi, c. Act 8:33. (Bengel).(Tynd. and Cranmer: in his time.)Tr.]
[17]Act 13:41. [before ] is to be preferred, on account of numerous authorities, to the reading [of text. rec.] which is found in no uncial MS. [but in many minuscules], and this second [inserted in the text. rec.] should be retained. [The second is omitted m D. E. G. Syr., some fathers and versions, but is inserted in A. B. C. The reading is sustained by A. B. C. D. E. G.: Cod. Sin. reads , and this lection is adopted by Lach. Tisch. and Alf.In Hab 1:5, the reading of the Sept. is without , which is another reason, as Meyer thinks, on account of which the latter word was omitted by some copyists.Tr.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. (14) But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. (15) And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. (16) Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. (17) The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it. (18) And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. (19) And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. (20) And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. (21) And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. (22) And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. (23) Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus: (24) When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. (25) And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.
The Reader is perhaps aware, that it was the custom in the Synagogue, after the reading of the law, and the Prophets; for holy men to expound to the people, as they felt their minds disposed, the word of God. And as Barnabas and Paul had the reputation of being sacred characters, the chief ruler of the Synagogue invited them to speak, if they had anything particularly to say. No doubt the Lord overruled the occasion. And we of this hour, find cause to bless the Lord for it, in the delightful discourse here recorded. But, I do not think it necessary to comment upon it. The whole is short, and so fully explained by Scripture, that it can require no further illustration.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13 Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
Ver. 13. John departing from ] Being weary of the work, he showed them a slippery trick. Many will do something for God that will suffer little or nothing for him. The king of Navarre told Beza he would launch no further into the sea than he would be sure to return safe to the haven. a Though he showed some countenance to religion, yet he would be sure to save himself.
a Pelago non ita commissurus esset, quin quando liberet, pedem referre posset.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13. . ] Is there not a trace of the narrator being among them, in this expression?
Henceforward Paul is the principal person , and Barnabas is thrown into the background.
. . ] Perga lies on the Cestrus, which flows into the bay of Attaleia. It is sixty stadia from the mouth ( , , Strabo, xiv. p. 667), “between and upon the sides of two hills, with an extensive valley in front, watered by the river Cestrus, and backed by the mountains of the Taurus.” (C. and H. vol. i. p. 195, from Sir C. Fellows’s Asia Minor.) The remains are almost entirely Greek, with few traces of later inhabitants (p. 194 and note).
The inhabitants of Pamphylia were nearly allied in character to those of Cilicia ( , , Srabo, xii. 7): and it may have been Paul’s design, having already preached in his own province, to extend the Gospel of Christ to this neighbouring people.
John probably took the opportunity of some ship sailing from Perga. His reason for returning does not appear, but may be presumed from ch. Act 15:38 to have been, unsteadiness of character, and unwillingness to face the dangers abounding in this rough district (see below). He afterwards, having been the subject of dissension between Paul and Barnabas, ch. Act 15:37-40 , accompanied the latter again to Cyprus; and we find him at a much later period spoken of by Paul, together with Aristarchus and Jesus called Justus, as having been a comfort to him ( Col 4:10-11 ): and again in 2Ti 4:11 , as profitable to him for the ministry .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 13:13 . , “set sail,” R.V. So in classical use, here in its technical nautical sense so too, in opposite sense, . In this sense thirteen times in Acts, and once in Luke’s Gospel, Act 8:22 , but not in the other Gospels at all; it is only used once, in another sense, by St. Matthew among the Evangelists, cf. Act 4:1 . and its compounds with , , , are characteristic of Luke’s writings, Friedrich, p. 7. .: Paul now taking the first place as the leader of the company, see Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 84, the order henceforth is Paul and Barnabas, with two significant exceptions, Act 15:12 ; Act 15:25 , and Act 14:12 , see in loco. . : Ramsay refers St. Mark’s withdrawal to the above circumstances, inasmuch as he disapproved of St. Paul’s change of place, which he regarded as an abandonment of the work. But the withdrawal on the part of Mark is still more difficult to understand, if we are to suppose that he withdrew because Paul and Barnabas made, as it were, a trip to Antioch for the recovery of the former; and Act 15:38 seems to imply something different from this. Various reasons may have contributed to the desertion of Mark, perhaps the fact that his cousin Barnabas was no longer the leader, or Paul’s preaching to the Gentiles may have been too liberal for him, or lack of courage to face the dangers of the mountain passes and missionary work inland, or affection for his home at Jerusalem and anxiety for the coming famine (he withdrew, says Holtzmann, “zu seinem Mutter”). See Deissmann’s striking note, Bibelstudien , p. 185, on the fact that here, where John Mark leaves Paul for Jerusalem, he is simply “John,” his Jewish name; in Act 15:39 he goes with Barnabas to Cyprus, and on that occasion only he is described by his Gentile name “Mark” alone. On the “perils of rivers, and perils of robbers,” see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire , p. 23, and in connection with the above, pp. 62, 65, also C. and H. (smaller edition), p. 129, Hausrath, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte , iii., 133.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Acts
TO THE REGIONS BEYOND
JOHN MARK
Act 13:13
The few brief notices of John Mark in Scripture are sufficient to give us an outline of his life, and some inkling of his character. He was the son of a well-to-do Christian woman in Jerusalem, whose house appears to have been the resort of the brethren as early as the period of Peter’s miraculous deliverance from prison. As the cousin of Barnabas he was naturally selected to be the attendant and secular factotum of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. For some reason, faint-heartedness, lack of interest, levity of disposition, or whatever it may have been, he very quickly abandoned that office and returned to his home. His kindly-natured and indulgent relative sought to reinstate him in his former position on the second journey of Paul and himself. Paul’s kinder severity refused to comply with the wish of his colleague Barnabas, and so they part, and Barnabas and Mark sail away to Cyprus, and drop out of the Acts of the Apostles. We hear no more about him until near the end of the Apostle Paul’s life, when the Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon show him as again the companion of Paul in his captivity. He seems to have left him in Rome, to have gone to Asia Minor for a space, to have returned to the Apostle during his last imprisonment and immediately prior to his death, and then to have attached himself to the Apostle Peter, and under his direction and instruction to have written his Gospel.
Now these are the bones of his story; can we put flesh and blood upon them: and can we get any lessons out of them? I think we may; at any rate I am going to try.
I. Consider then, first, his-what shall I call it? well, if I may use the word which Paul himself designates it by, in its correct signification, we may call it his-apostasy.
Yes, and we find exactly the same thing in all kinds of strenuous life. Many begin to run, but one after another, as ‘lap’ after ‘lap’ of the racecourse is got over, has had enough of it, and drops on one side; a hundred started, and at the end the field is reduced to three or four. All you men that have grey hairs on your heads can remember many of your companions that set out in the course with you, ‘did run well’ for a little while: what has become of them? This thing hindered one, the other thing hindered another; the swiftly formed resolution died down as fast as it blazed up; and there are perhaps some three or four that, ‘by patient continuance in well-doing,’ have been tolerably faithful to their juvenile ideal; and to use the homely word of the homely Abraham Lincoln, kept ‘pegging away’ at what they knew to be the task that was laid upon them.
This is very ‘threadbare’ morality, very very familiar and old-fashioned teaching; but I am accustomed to believe that no teaching is threadbare until it is practised; and that however well-worn the platitudes may be, you and I want them once again unless we have obeyed them, and done all which they enjoin. And so in regard to every career which has in it anything of honour and of effort, let John Mark teach us the lesson not swiftly to begin and inconsiderately to venture upon a course, but once begun to let nothing discourage, ‘nor bate one jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward.’
And still further and more solemnly still, how like this story is to the experience of hundreds and thousands of young Christians! Any man who has held such an office as I hold, for as many years as I have filled it, will have his memory full-and, may I say, his eyes not empty-of men and women who began like this man, earnest, fervid, full of zeal, and who, like him, have slackened in their work; who were Sunday-school teachers, workers amongst the poor, I know not what, when they were young men and women, and who now are idle and unprofitable servants.
Some of you, dear brethren, need the word of exhortation and earnest beseeching to contrast the sluggishness, the indolence of your present, with the brightness and the fervour of your past. And I beseech you, do not let your Christian life be like that snow that is on the ground about us to-day-when it first lights upon the earth, radiant and white, but day by day gets more covered with a veil of sooty blackness until it becomes dark and foul.
Many of us have to acknowledge that the fervour of early days has died down into coldness. The river that leapt from its source rejoicing, and bickered amongst the hills in such swift and musical descent, creeps sluggish and almost stagnant amongst the flats of later life, or has been lost and swallowed up altogether in the thirsty and encroaching sands of a barren worldliness. Oh! my friends, let us all ponder this lesson, and see to it that no repetition of the apostasy of this man darken our Christian lives and sadden our Christian conscience.
II. And now let me ask you to look next, in the development of this little piece of biography, to Mark’s eclipse.
The Church manifestly sympathised with Paul, and thought that he took the right view; for the contrast is very significant between the unsympathising silence which the narrative records as attending the departure of Barnabas and Mark-’Barnabas took Mark, and sailed away to Cyprus’-and the emphasis with which it tells us that the other partner in the dispute, Paul, ‘took Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren to the grace of God.’
The people at Antioch had no doubt who was right, and I think they were right in so deciding. So let us learn that God treats His renegades as Paul treated Mark, and not as Barnabas would have treated him, He is ready, even infinitely ready, to forgive and to restore, but desires to see the consciousness of the sin first, and desires, before large tasks are re-committed to hands that once have dropped them, to have some kind of evidence that the hands have grown stronger and the heart purified from its cowardice and its selfishness. Forgiveness does not mean impunity. The infinite mercy of God is not mere weak indulgence which so deals with a man’s failures and sins as to convey the impression that these are of no moment whatsoever. And Paul’s severity which said: ‘No, such work is not fit for such hands until the heart has been “broken and healed,”‘ is of a piece with God’s severity which is love. ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.’ Let us learn the difference between a weak charity which loves too foolishly, and therefore too selfishly, to let a man inherit the fruit of his doings, and the large mercy which knows how to take the bitterness out of the chastisement, and yet knows how to chastise.
And still further, this which I have called Mark’s eclipse may teach us another lesson, viz., that the punishment for shirking work is to be denied work, just as the converse is true, that in God’s administration of the world and of His Church, the reward for faithful work is to get more to do, and the filling a narrower sphere is the sure way to have a wider sphere to fill. So if a man abandons plain duties, then he will get no work to do. And that is why so many Christian men and women are idle in this world; and stand in the market-place, saying, with a certain degree of truth, ‘No man hath hired us.’ No; because so often in the past tasks have been presented to you, forced upon you, almost pressed into your unwilling hands, that you have refused to take; and you are not going to get any more. You have been asked to work,-I speak now to professing Christians- duties have been pressed upon you, fields of service have opened plainly before you, and you have not had the heart to go into them. And so you stand idle all the day now, and the work goes to other people that will do it. Thus God honours them, and passes you by.
Mark sails away to Cyprus, he does not go back to Jerusalem; he and Barnabas try to get up some little schismatic sort of mission of their own. Nothing comes of it; nothing ought to have come of it. He drops out of the story; he has no share in the joyful conflicts and sacrifices and successes of the Apostle. When he heard how Paul, by God’s help, was flaming like a meteor from East to West, do you not think he wished that he had not been such a coward? When the Lord was opening doors, and he saw how the work was prospering in the hands of ancient companions, and Silas filled the place that he might have filled, if he had been faithful to God, do you not think the bitter thought occupied his mind, of how he had flung away what never could come back to him now? The punishment of indolence is absolute idleness.
So, my friends, let us learn this lesson, that the largest reward that God can give to him that has been faithful in a few things, is to give him many things to be faithful over. Beware, all of you professing Christians, lest to you should come the fate of the slothful servant with his one burled talent, to whom the punishment of burying it unused was to lose it altogether; according to that solemn word which was fulfilled in the temporal sphere in this story on which I am commenting: ‘To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away.’
III. Again consider the process of recovery.
The patriarch Abraham, in a momentary lapse from faith to sense, thought himself compelled to leave the land to which God had sent him, because a famine threatened; and when he came back from Egypt, as the narrative tells us with deep significance, he went to the ‘place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning; to the altar which lie had reared at the first.’ Yes, my friends, we must begin over again, tread all the old path, enter by the old wicket-gate, once more take the place of the penitent, once more make acquaintance with the pardoning Christ, once more devote ourselves in renewed consecration to His service. No man that wanders into the wilderness but comes back by the King’s highway, if he comes back at all.
IV. And so lastly, notice the reinstatement of the penitent renegade.
And then in Paul’s final Epistle, and in almost the last words of it, we read his request to Timothy. ‘Take Mark, and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.’ The first notice of him was: ‘They had John to their minister’; the last word about him is: ‘he is profitable for the ministry.’ The Greek words in the original are not identical, but their meaning is substantially the same. So notwithstanding the failure, notwithstanding the wise refusal of Paul years before to have anything more to do with him, he is now reinstated in his old office, and the aged Apostle, before he dies, would like to have the comfort of his presence once more at his side. Is not the lesson out of that, this eternal Gospel that even early failures, recognised and repented of, may make a man better fitted for the tasks from which once he fled? Just as they tell us-I do not know whether it is true or not, it will do for an illustration-just as they tell us that a broken bone renewed is stronger at the point of fracture than it ever was before, so the very sin that we commit, when once we know it for a sin, and have brought it to Christ for forgiveness, may minister to our future efficiency and strength. The Israelites fought twice upon one battlefield. On the first occasion they were shamefully defeated; on the second, on the same ground, and against the same enemies, they victoriously emerged from the conflict, and reared the stone which said, ‘Ebenezer!’ ‘Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.’
And so the temptations which have been sorest may be overcome, the sins into which we most naturally fall we may put our foot upon; the past is no specimen of what the future may be. The page that is yet to be written need have none of the blots of the page that we have turned over shining through it. Sin which we have learned to know for sin and to hate, teaches us humility, dependence, shows us where our weak places are. Sin which is forgiven knits us to Christ with deeper and more fervid love, and results in a larger consecration. Think of the two ends of this man’s life-flying like a frightened hare from the very first suspicion of danger or of difficulty, sulking in his solitude, apart from all the joyful stir of consecration and of service; and at last made an evangelist to proclaim to the whole world the story of the Gospel of the Servant. God works with broken reeds, and through them breathes His sweetest music.
So, dear brethren, ‘Take with you words, and return unto the Lord; say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously,’ and the answer will surely be:-’I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely; I will be as the dew unto Israel.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 13:13-16 a
13Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” 16Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said,
Act 13:13 “Paul and his companions” Obviously the leadership has changed. From now on in the book of Acts Paul’s name will be listed first.
“Perga in Pamphylia” Perga was the largest city of the small Roman coastal province of Pamphylia (mid-southern Turkey). It was located several miles inland to discourage attacks by sea-faring raiders.
Apparently Paul did not preach here at this time, but did so later (cf. Act 14:25). There is no historical evidence of a Christian group in this area for several hundred years. He merely passed through this coastal region.
“John left them and returned to Jerusalem” Luke records this event, but gives no clue as to why (nor does any other NT author). See Introduction to Acts 16, he returned to the Lord’s service!
Act 13:14 “Pisidian Antioch” This literally means “Antioch towards Pisidia” because it was located in the ethnic area of Phrygia the Roman Province of Galatia. This was a distinct ethnic group, probably from Europe.
“on the Sabbath day” This would denote from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. The Jews counted time from evening to evening, following Genesis 1.
“sat down” This may be an idiom denoting someone who was to speak in the synagogue. Rabbis always taught while seated (cf. Mat 5:1; Luk 4:20). The synagogues regularly allowed itinerant visitors to speak if they wished (cf. Act 13:15).
Act 13:15 “the reading of the Law and the Prophets” This was the part of the typical order of service in a synagogue in Jesus’ day. Originally only the Law of Moses was read, but Antiochus IV Epiphanes forbade this in 163 B.C. The Jews then substituted the reading of the Prophets. During the Maccabeen revolt, Judaism was restored and both the Law and the Prophets were continued to be read together as a basic format of synagogue services (cf. Act 13:27). See Special Topic following.
SPECIAL TOPIC: HEBREW CANON
“the synagogue officials” These were the men in charge of building maintenance and the order of worship (cf. Luk 8:41; Luk 8:49). They often invited guests to speak.
“if you have any word of exhortation” This is a first class conditional sentence, assumed to be true from the perspective of the author of for his literary purposes. This was a normal aspect of synagogue worship. Paul took full advantage of the opportunity.
Act 13:16 “Paul stood up” Usually Jewish teachers sit when they teach; however, it was the Greco-Roman custom to stand while teaching. Paul modified his manner and presentation to the audience.
“motioning with his hand” Paul gestured for quiet. Luke mentions this eyewitness detail often (cf. Act 12:17; Act 13:16; Act 19:33; Act 21:40).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Paul and his company. Literally Those about (Greek. per.) Paul. A Greek idiom.
loosed = weighed (anchor). Greek. anago. Used in this sense once in Luke (Act 8:22), and thirteen times in Acts (Act 16:11; Act 18:21, &c).
Perga. The capital of Pamphylia. A few miles up the Cestrus, which flows into the bay of Attalia. Now a ruin. John’s departure may have been due to some difference as to the change of plan, and the proceeding from the lowlands of Pamphylia to the high ground of Antioch may have been on account of Paul’s illness, to which he refers in Gal 1:4, Gal 1:13.
in = of.
departing = having withdrawn. Greek. apochoreo. Only here, Mat 7:23. Luk 9:39.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13. .] Is there not a trace of the narrator being among them, in this expression?
Henceforward Paul is the principal person, and Barnabas is thrown into the background.
. .] Perga lies on the Cestrus, which flows into the bay of Attaleia. It is sixty stadia from the mouth ( , , Strabo, xiv. p. 667), between and upon the sides of two hills, with an extensive valley in front, watered by the river Cestrus, and backed by the mountains of the Taurus. (C. and H. vol. i. p. 195, from Sir C. Fellowss Asia Minor.) The remains are almost entirely Greek, with few traces of later inhabitants (p. 194 and note).
The inhabitants of Pamphylia were nearly allied in character to those of Cilicia ( , , Srabo, xii. 7): and it may have been Pauls design, having already preached in his own province, to extend the Gospel of Christ to this neighbouring people.
John probably took the opportunity of some ship sailing from Perga. His reason for returning does not appear, but may be presumed from ch. Act 15:38 to have been, unsteadiness of character, and unwillingness to face the dangers abounding in this rough district (see below). He afterwards, having been the subject of dissension between Paul and Barnabas, ch. Act 15:37-40, accompanied the latter again to Cyprus; and we find him at a much later period spoken of by Paul, together with Aristarchus and Jesus called Justus, as having been a comfort to him (Col 4:10-11): and again in 2Ti 4:11, as profitable to him for the ministry.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 13:13-14. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.
They would be noticed as strangers who had come thither. The synagogue did not generally contain a very large assembly, and the Jews of the place would be well known to one another, and they would notice that two or three men had come in whom they had not been accustomed to see in their company.
Act 13:15-17. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, 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.
They always liked to hear the story of their race, it was sure to win their attention. Notice how expressly Paul puts it that, though they were a favored people, it was by the election of divine grace that they were such: The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers. The Lord chooseth whom he will, and he chose the fathers of the house of Israel: and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt. God took care of them when they were aliens and foreigners under a cruel power in the land of Egypt: and with an high arm brought he them out of it. This was the glory of Israel; the Jews always delighted to hear of Egypt, and of the Exodus, and of the great things that God did for them in the day of their redemption when, by the sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb, they were protected from the sword of the destroying angel.
Act 13:18. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
It is a continuous history that Paul gives to these people at Antioch, and it brings to their minds the sins of their fathers as well as the grace of their God. These are two things that you and I need always to keep in mind, Gods grace and our own sin. Truly, I fear that God has had much provocation from us during our forty years, even as he had with his ancient people. There is much meaning packed away in that sentence, Forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
Act 13:19. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
The Lord did not run back from his covenant. He promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and he gave it to them, even though seven nations had to be destroyed to make room for them. This verse reminds us of that passage in Isaiah: since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. He gave seven nations of Canaan for this one nation of Israel.
Act 13:20-21. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king:
This was another piece of wantonness on the Israelites part. God was their King, yet they must have a visible king, like the other nations by which they were surrounded. They were faithfully warned by the prophet Samuel of the evil consequences that would follow their choice, but they would not be content with their God as their only Ruler: afterward they desired a king.
Act 13:21-23. And God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this mans seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
No matter where the apostle begins, he comes to Jesus Christ before long. No matter what the preachers text may be, he must never close a sermon without having set forth the claims of Jesus. This should be the invariable rule of our ministry, that Christ is the top and bottom, the sum and substance of all our preaching. Paul could truly say, We preach Christ crucified.
Act 13:24-26. When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
This is plain preaching, pointed preaching, bold preaching. Paul did not conceal the truth, though he well knew how objectionable it would be to his hearers, yet he put it before them in the plainest possible terms: To you is the word of this salvation sent.
Act 13:27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
It was strange that they should fulfill the prophecies which they had often read, no doubt, with fear and trembling. They became the guilty agents by which the prophecies were fulfilled. Pauls preaching agrees with what Peter said on the day of Pentecost: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Act 13:28-30. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead:
Now the apostle has reached the very heart of his judgment, now he has come to the great corner-stone of the Christian faith. Notice that there are no embellishments here; there is not even an anecdote, or a story, by which he may illustrate the truth he sets forth, but just a plain declaration of the great facts of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are the backbone of the gospel; and the more we dwell upon these facts, the better. Let us preach the doctrines that grow out of these facts, for the facts are stubborn things, and if they be backed by the Spirit of God, they will carry all before them.
Act 13:31-33. And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee.
Writing to the Hebrews, Paul quotes this passage from the Psalms to prove Christs Godhead and everlasting filiation, so that he evidently saw more than one meaning in this portion of divine teaching, and we do not err when we believe that no Scripture is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of Gods garden bloom, not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.
Act 13:34-35. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Christ did die, but his precious body was not allowed to see corruption.
Act 13:36-41. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
This is a noble sermon, but again I remark, how simple it is! Like the sermon of Peter, on the day of Pentecost, it is free from that continual calling out of Believe, believe, believe, which is the habit of some preachers, who never tell the people what they have to believe. Exhortation is well enough in its place; but you must not have all powder in your gun, there must be some shot also. The apostle has solid facts here which he drives home to the heart and conscience of his hearers; he does not forget that the weight and forge of a sermon must lie in the distinct truth which is taught in it.
Act 13:42. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
They would like to hear the same message; so they said to Paul This sermon was to the Jews. Will you not preach to us Gentiles? We have come in here, and heard what you have said; but you did not speak specially to Jesus; will you do so next Sabbath?
Act 13:43-44. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
There is something attractive about the gospel. I do not think they sent out a trumpeter; the preaching of the gospel is all the trumpet that is needed to gather the people together. If we will but preach it in the power and plenitude of the Spirit of God, it will soon attract a congregation, as it did in this instance.
Act 13:45-49. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold; and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
God send us days like that, for Jesus Christs sake! Amen.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Act 13:13. , Paul and those who were with him) Already more regard is had to Paul than to Barnabas [Paul has the chief prominence given to him].- , Perga in Pamphylia) The name of the region is added, because Perga was less known of itself.-, having departed) either because he could not bear the fatigues of the journey, or because he hesitated to go and have to do with Gentiles. He lost a glorious opportunity.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Act 13:13-14
PAUL AND BARNABAS IN PERGA
AND ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA
Act 13:13-14
13 Now Paul and his company-Up to this point Luke has Barnabas and Saul, but from now on it is Paul and Barnabas; frequently the events cluster around just Paul. Paul is mentioned first with three exceptions (Act 14:12 Act 15:12 Act 15:25); so completely does Paul get the attention from Luke that Barnabas and Mark are called his company. They set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. Paphos was on the west end of Cyprus, and they sailed in a northwestern direction to Perga, a town on the mainland. Perga was about one hundred fifty miles from Paphos. Mark, for some cause, left Paul and Barnabas at Perga and returned to Jerusalem. So far Paul and Barnabas have visited Cyprus, the native land of Barnabas, and close to Cilicia, the homeland of Paul.
14 But they, passing through from Perga,-Paul and Barn- bas did not remain long in Perga; Luke does not record that they even preached the gospel in Perga on this visit, yet Perga was the capital of Pamphylia. Leaving Perga they traveled north about a hundred miles to Antioch of Pisidia. Modern scholars have placed this Antioch in Phrygia, but Luke locates it in Pisidia. This Antioch was at the foot of the Taurus Mountains; it was reached by a difficult road over the mountains infested by robbers; here they found a synagogue and attended services there on the Sabbath. The Jews who had not become Christians still met in their synagogues on the Sabbath. When Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue they sat down as any worshiper would. It would seem that there was but one synagogue of the Jews in Antioch, as they went into the synagogue on the sabbath.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Savior according to Promise
Act 13:13-24
It was very natural that the missionary party should sail for Cyprus, partly because it was the first and nearest outpost of the great heathen world that lay to the west, and partly because Barnabas was a native of the island and had owned land there, which he had sold for the benefit of his poorer brethren in the church, Act 4:36.
In visiting a new city, it was the custom of the Apostles to go first to the Jewish synagogue, where such was to be found. To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, was the divine order, Rom 2:10. The journey from Cyprus to the mainland was easily made; but the journey up to this inland city of Antioch was very perilous, 2Co 11:26.
Act 13:16 gives us the Apostles favorite attitude, Act 21:40; Act 26:1. Ye that fear God, referred to the Gentile proselytes. This first address contained the seed-thoughts of the Apostles ministry. He loved to show that the gospel was the white flower that grew on the ancient stock of Judaism. Whatever his starting point, he was sure to come, by a direct path, to Jesus Christ. Observe throughout how Paul attributes all of the great events and movements of history to the direction and agency of God. God chose the fathers; God gave Saul; God brought unto Israel a Savior.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
loosed: Act 13:6, Act 27:13
Perga: Act 2:10, Act 14:24, Act 14:25, Act 27:5
John: Act 13:5, Act 15:38, Col 4:10, 2Ti 4:11
Reciprocal: Dan 11:35 – some Act 9:18 – and was Act 12:12 – John Act 12:25 – took Act 15:36 – in every Act 15:37 – John Phi 2:21 – all 2Ti 4:10 – hath Phm 1:24 – Marcus
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
Act 13:13. Pamphylia was in Asia Minor, and was a province of the Roman Empire. We are not told why John (Mark) deserted them, but the act was so distasteful to Paul that it later caused a serious dispute between him and Barnabas (chapter 15:37-40).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 13:13. Paul and his company. Paul now was evidently the leading person of the mission; he and Barnabas had exchanged places; the disputation before Sergius Paulus, and the miracle of punishment worked on the Magian, placed Paul in a new position. The ungrudging spirit of Barnabas seems at once to have conceded the first place to his more gifted fellow-worker.
Perga in Pamphylia. Perga was a large and flourishing city, almost as famous for the worship of the goddess Diana as was Ephesus. For some reasons not known to us, the apostles stayed but a very short time in Perga; on their return, we read in Act 14:25 how they preached the word there.
The flourishing inland cities of Asia Minor, such as Antioch and Iconium, were the home of many Jews; these, at a distance from Jerusalem and its stern exclusive spirit, appear to have drawn into their synagogues many proselytes and hearers. Mixed marriages between these Jews and the Gentile natives of the country appear not to have been uncommon (see Act 16:1-3). Paul, whose home was in the not distant Cilician Tarsus, and who had recently spent two or more years there, was of course acquainted with these mixed Jewish and Gentile congregations, and considered that among them the preaching of Jesus as Messiah would receive a welcome.
And John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. It is not told us why the nephew of Barnabas abandoned the work here. Some suggest as a reason for his desertion, his dislike to Pauls evident intention to found a great Gentile Church; his Jerusalem training and associations preventing him from sympathising with a policy which would place the Gentile on an equality with the Jew in the kingdom of God. But the more probable reason for his desertion was, that he shrank from the dangers and hardships of the mission. See for a detailed account of the life and work of this John Mark, note on chap. Act 15:39.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here we have an account of another journey which Paul and Barnabas took to preach, plant, and propagate the gospel: Namely to Perga, in Pamphylia; and from thence to Antioch in Pisidia, so called, to distinguish it from the other Antioch in Syria, from whence they were sent forth, Act 13:1-3, where their colleague and companion John Mark withdrew from them and went no further with them to the work.
This Paul took very ill, as he might, if he left them because of the difficulties and dangers, which he saw did accompany and attend them in the planting and propagating of the gospel; for he that putteth his hand to that plough, and then draweth back, justly deserveth censure and reproof. However, such was the zeal of the two apostles, that they travel on to Antioch without their companion, where entering into one of the synagogues of the Jews on the sabbath day; after the reading some sections in the law and the prophets, as their manner was, the rulers of the synagogues desired a word of exhortation from them.
Where note, How wonderfully God over-ruled the hearts of these rulers of the synagogues, not only to suffer, but to desire the apostles to preach the gospel to them. Hereupon the apostle St. Paul stands up, and makes a most excellent sermon to them in the following verses.
Where note, How readily the blessed apostle embraces an opportunity to preach the gospel: the rulers need not ask him twice: Little importunity will serve to persuade an holy heart to undertake the work of God. The faithful ministers of Christ are forward for, as well as zealous in, their Master’s work. No sooner did the rulers of the synagogue request a word of exhortation from the apostle, but immediately, though not unpreparedly, he stands up, and preaches to the people.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Proclaiming the Gospel in Antioch of Pisidia
Ash says they would have landed at the port of Attalia and then gone on the short distance to Perga. For some reason, John Mark decided to leave “Paul and his company,” as Luke writes, at Perga. They went on to Antioch in Pisidia, which, at that time, was considered to be part of Galatia. The missionary group went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and listened to the reading of the scriptures. The rulers of the synagogue asked if they had some instruction to give them. Paul seized the moment and addressed the men of Israel and God fearers assembled there.
Paul briefly related the story of God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. He told of the forty years of wilderness wandering and how God defeated seven nations so Israel could have a home in Canaan. He reminded those assembled that God had ruled in Israel for 450 years by using judges. When the people asked for a king, God gave them Saul, then, David, after Saul was removed. It was from the seed of David, that God raised up a Savior for his people named Jesus. First, though, he sent John to prepare the way by preaching the baptism of repentance. John had told the people he was not the Messiah, but the One coming was He ( Act 13:13-25 ).
Paul then proclaimed that the message of the salvation brought by the Messiah was being delivered to them. The Jewish leaders and people fulfilled the prophecies about Christ’s death because they did not recognize the Savior nor understand what the prophets had foretold. They crucified the Innocent and fulfilled all the other prophecies concerning his rejection, death and burial. However, God did not abandon Jesus, but raised him up. Many witnesses could tell of their seeing the resurrected Lord. So, Paul and Barnabas were delivering the message of the coming of the Holy One promised by God. The fact that Jesus’ body was raised and did not stay in the tomb set him apart above David as God’s promised Messiah ( Isa 55:3 ; Psa 16:10 ). Through him, then, remission of sins was made available to all who would obey him. The apostle warned them not to fulfill the prophecy of Hab 1:5 which said some would reject the one God had clearly approved by great signs ( Act 13:26-41 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Act 13:13. Note when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos Sailing to the continent of the lesser Asia; they came to Perga A city in Pamphylia Situated on the west side of the river Cestos, about seven miles from the sea. Here there was a celebrated temple of Diana; consequently, many priests and others, whose interest and honour depended upon their maintaining the worship of that idol, and who, no doubt, were not a little displeased with these foreign teachers, for presuming to find fault with the gods of the country, and with the worship that was paid to them. On that occasion, John Mark, who had hitherto accompanied them as their minister, departed from them, and returned to Jerusalem, terrified, perhaps, by the threatening speeches of the priests and bigots, or discouraged by the difficulty and danger of the undertaking. Paul and Barnabas, however, were not discouraged by his deserting them; neither were they moved from their purpose by the little success which they had at Perga: for, after they left that place, they travelled through various countries of the lesser Asia; and, as we shall see immediately, made many converts to Christ, both among the Jews and the Gentiles.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13. Without pausing to give more detailed accounts of the success of the gospel in Cyprus, our historian now hurries us away with the two apostles upon the further prosecution of their tour. (13) “Now those about Paul set sail from Paphos, and went to Perga of Pamphylia. But John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” So completely has Paul now become the central figure on the pages of Luke, that here, instead of following his former phraseology, and saying that “Barnabas and Saul” set sail from Paphos, the whole company are described as “those about Paul.”
Why they chose the regions north of Pamphylia, in Asia Minor, as their next field of labor, we are not informed. Luke is equally silent in reference to the reason why John Mark, at this particular juncture, departed from them, and returned to Jerusalem. He informs us, however, at a later period, that Paul censured him for so doing. It is very plausibly suggested by Mr. Howson, that he was influenced by fear of the dangers which lay in their way, the mountains before them being commonly infested with robbers. He remarks that “No population, through the midst of which he ever traveled, abounded more in those ‘perils of robbers’ of which he himself speaks, than the wild and lawless clans of the Pisidian highlanders.”
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
13. Those about Paul, having embarked from Paphos, came into Perge of Pamphylia. Here we have the first indirect reference to Luke, our historian, who is so modest we have to watch every little hint to even keep a trace of him. Here also John Mark disgraced himself by skedaddling away from the work and returning to Jerusalem. Paul held it to his discount, and refused to take him on the next tour. The critics believe that the robbers, who at that time awfully infested the mountain ranges intervening between the Mediterranean plain and the interior tablelands, on which Perge, the capital, stood, got after them and perhaps treated them very roughly, as they are accustomed to do in the East, thus scaring Mark out of the work.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Act 13:13 f. From Cyprus to Pamphylia and Pisidia.The seaport Attalia at the mouth of the Cestrus is not mentioned. Perga is on the river about eight miles from the sea; it is mentioned because there John-Mark left the party to return to Jerusalem, an act which Paul resented, though Marks uncle, Barnabas, bore him no grudge for it (Act 15:37-39), and Paul himself afterwards reinstated him (Col 4:10, 2Ti 4:11). For speculations as to Marks reasons, cf. Ramsays St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 89ff. Barnabas and Paul go northward from Perga, and cross the great chain of the Taurus, arriving after a journey of 110 miles at Antioch in Pisidia. They are said to have passed through on their journey, not to have preached; Pisidia was infested by robbers, and there was many a ravine and torrent to be crossed. Throughout his travels Paul makes the towns his mark, and towns in which there was a population of Jews. Pauls reason for visiting these towns in the centre of Asia Minor may have been that he knew some members of the Jewish populations, and that he counted on their sympathy. If, as will be suggested later this journey and that of Act 15:36 to Act 16:5 are the same, here told at length, afterwards more briefly, motives of a more far-reaching kind may also have determined him. These towns had been distinguished by Augustus and put on the way to prosperity especially by a new system of roads. Pisidian Antioch was the military centre of the district, and had a large population of Jews from the time of its foundation, about 300 B.C.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 13
And John returned; discouraged, perhaps, by the difficulties and dangers of the enterprise. An unhappy contention arose afterwards, from this circumstance, between Barnabas and Paul. (Acts 15:37-40.)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
13:13 {6} Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
(6) An example in one and the very same group of people both of singular steadfastness, and also of great weakness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The mission to Asia Minor 13:13-14:21a
Having evangelized Barnabas’ homeland the missionaries next moved into southern Asia Minor (modern western Turkey).
"The contact with Sergius Paulus is the key to the subsequent ininerary of the first missionary journey. From Cyprus Paul and Barnabas struck east to the newly founded colony of Pisiddian Antioch, miles away from any Cypriot’s normal route. Modern scholars have invoked Paul’s wish to reach the uplands of Asia and recover from a passing sickness. . . . We know, however, that the family of the Sergii Pauli had a prominent connection with Pisidian Antioch . . . the Sergii Pauli’s local influence was linked with their ownership of a great estate nearby in central Anatolia: it is an old and apt guess that these connections go back to the time of Paul’s governor. They explain very neatly why Paul and Barnabas left the governor’s presence and headed straight for distant Pisidian Antioch. He directed them to the area where his family had land, power and influence. The author of Acts saw only the impulse of the Holy Spirit, but Christianity entered Roman Asia on advice from the highest society." [Note: R. L. Fox, Pagans and Christians, pp. 293-94.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Arrival in Pamphylia 13:13
Pamphylia was a Roman province that lay west of the kingdom of Antiochus, which was west of Cilicia, Paul’s home province. Perga (modern Perge) stood 12 miles inland from the major seaport of Attalia (modern Antalya, cf. Act 14:25-26), but it had an inland harbor on the Cestrus River. In Perga, John Mark left Paul and Barnabas to return to Jerusalem. Paul did not approve of his decision (Act 15:38), but Luke did not record Mark’s motives. The commentators have deduced several reasons including homesickness (cf. Act 12:12), fear of illness (cf. Gal 4:13), and fear of danger in the Taurus Mountains north of Perga. Paul purposed to cross these mountains to get to Antioch of Pisidia. Others have cited the changes that were taking place in the mission’s leadership from Barnabas to Paul. Another probable explanation is disagreement over the validity of a direct approach to and full acceptance of Gentiles. John Mark, of course, had strong ties to the Jerusalem church and could well have resisted this approach as so many other Jews did.