Read or listen The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 13 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

The Call to Mission – Acts 13:1-3

From Antioch in Syria, a new development began that revolutionized the entire known world at that time. The mission to the Gentiles really began when Paul and Barnabas were sent from Antioch to the surrounding nations.

Verse 1 lists five men. A skilled biblical scholar sometimes gets a lot of information from various lists of names. This time, it is worth noting first "Simeon, who was called 'Niger'", who was dark-skinned. Most likely, he had converted to Judaism at some point, and later to Christianity.
Another interesting figure is Menahem, who was a member of the king's court. So from the beginning, the Christian church also included well-off, upper-class members of society.
The third name that has puzzled scholars is Lucius, who some believe is actually Luke, the author of the book.

The leaders of the church in Antioch were therefore from different parts of the eastern Mediterranean: North Africa, Galilee, Cyprus, and Cilicia - the area of ​​present-day Turkey.

However, the Gentile mission did not begin by the will of these church leaders, but by the will of the Holy Spirit. How the Holy Spirit expressed His will remains unclear, but we see that the assembled church was certain of what God wanted them to do. Perhaps one of the prophets received a revelation and message from God.

The setting apart for missionary work probably took place during the congregation's service, as it was the center of church life. The description of the moment of departure of the Gentile mission also resembles in other respects the current blessing of missionaries for their work.

Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus – Acts 13:4-12

From Antioch in Syria, Paul and Barnabas set out (perhaps in 47 AD) for the port city of Antioch, Seleucia, which was 25 km west of Antioch. From the coast, in good weather, one could see the mountain peaks of Cyprus, as the island is only less than a hundred km from the coast. From Seleucia, it was easy to find a cargo ship bound for Cyprus. At that time, there were no passenger ships, but travelers bought their places on the decks of cargo ships.

The decision to travel specifically to Cyprus was understandable, since Barnabas was from there. Cyprus was famous for its copper mines.

Paul and Barnabas landed at Salamis, which was located a little north of the present-day city of Famagusta. Paul and Barnabas were not the first proclaimers of the Christian message on the island, but Christians had already arrived on the island a little over ten years earlier (Acts 11:19) - during the persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen. Apparently, however, these earlier proclaimers had not been successful, and no congregations had been established on the island.

So Paul and Barnabas also began their work in the synagogues of the Jews (verse 5). Cyprus had a particularly large Jewish population, as the Jewish historian Josephus and the philosopher Philo report in their works. Luke does not tell us anything about the events in Salamis, but moves directly to the events in the Roman administrative city of the island, Paphos. Cyprus had been a Roman province since 22 AD, and Rome was represented on the island by a proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who held the office at the time.

Sergius Paulus had a Jewish magician in his court, Barjesus - also known as Elymas (the name comes from the Arabic word for "wise"). At that time, it was not at all uncommon to consult magicians before making important decisions. It was even considered normal, careful consideration of matters.

It is clear that Barjesus did not like Sergius Paulus listening to the new preachers. Paul tolerated Barjesus' opposition for a while, but eventually his measure was fulfilled. Paul stated that the man was not the son of the same Jesus (or Joshua) that Barnabas and Paul preached, but rather the followers of his opponent, "the offspring of the Devil." As Paul had predicted, Barjesus also lost his sight (compare: Paul on the road to Damascus, Acts 9:8-18).

From the blinding of the magician, Sergius Paulus understood who to listen to and whom to believe. Whether Sergius Paulus was baptized and whether a Christian congregation was born in Paphos remains unclear.

This incident seems to have meant a lot to Luke, because from then on he does not speak of "Barnabas and Saul" but of "Paul and his companions" (compare verse 13). From now on, Paul is the absolute leading figure in Christian missionary work among the Gentiles.

Apparently, Paul already had two names before he became a Christian: the Hebrew Saul and the Greco-Roman Paulus. Paulus means "small", "little", "of small stature".

Parting ways – Acts 13:13

As the group moved from Cyprus back to the mainland - the southern coast of present-day Turkey - John Mark separated from Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem. The reason for this separation is uncertain. Some suggest that it was simply homesickness on the part of the young John Mark.

Others believe that John Mark did not want to go and preach the gospel to real Gentile areas. Some have even thought that John Mark was worried about the activities of Paul and Barnabas and that he went to Jerusalem to tell what had been done and to ask if it was right to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles without requiring them to be circumcised. John Mark would therefore have been in a way responsible for the events of Acts 15 and the meeting of the apostles.

Whatever the reasons for the separation, Paul did not want to take John Mark on another missionary journey, unlike Barnabas, and so Paul and Barnabas later parted ways (Acts 15:37-41).

Paul's sermon in Pisidian Antioch - Acts 13:14-41

Luke does not report the events in Perga, but moves directly to Antioch in Pisidia, 160 miles (100 miles) to the north. Here too, Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue. There they reached not only Jews but also God-fearing Gentiles (verse 26).

Jewish worship included a text from both the Law (i.e., the Books of Moses) and the Prophets. The latter could be interpreted by any adult Jewish male. So it was not surprising that visitors to the city were invited to speak in the synagogue.

Paul's speech can be divided into four main parts:

1. The history of Israel, verses 16-25
2. Jesus - the Savior of mankind, verses 26-31
3. Old Testament evidence for Jesus' Messiahship, verses 32-37
4. An exhortation and warning to the hearers, verses 38-41.

In his speech, Paul only went through the history of Israel up to David, from where he moved on to the last figure of the Old Covenant, John the Baptist. The 450 years mentioned by Paul (in verse 20) are obtained by adding the 40 years of the wilderness journey and the 10 years of the conquest of Canaan to the time of the Egyptian exodus (400 years).

The history of Israel was familiar to the Jews in the synagogue, but even to them Paul's next claim was new: Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.

Paul based his argument on the statements of witnesses to Jesus' resurrection and on three passages from the Old Testament: Psalm 2:7 (verse 33), Isaiah 55:3 (verse 34), and Psalm 16:10 (verse 35).

Paul concluded his speech with an exhortation to accept Jesus as Savior and a warning about what would follow if the message of the Risen One was not accepted (verse 41 is based on a similar warning in Hab 1:5).

Luke seems to have a style of recounting the early events of a new period in more detail than the rest of his narrative. This is understandable, since those situations were of particular importance. Accordingly, Luke has also recounted the speeches related to these events in more detail than the other speeches of the apostles that he quotes in his book.

On the other hand, we can also consider this speech given by Paul in Antioch of Pisidia as a kind of model or example speech for the speeches given by Paul during his missionary work. Paul must have spoken in the same style in many other cities and synagogues. Luke could not have included all of Paul's speeches that he knew in the Acts of the Apostles, so he has chosen the speeches that he considered most important.

Delighting and angering - Acts 13:42-49

Some of Paul's listeners wanted to hear more, and so the discussion continued outside the synagogue.

Luke does not say clearly who invited the apostles to speak in the synagogue on the following Sabbath. Perhaps the inviters were the elders of the synagogue, who hoped that they would thus have a week's time to think. But it may be that by this point the Jewish leaders had already rejected the apostles' message and the call was made by the crowd.

The next Sabbath, almost the entire city gathered in the synagogue to hear the apostles. However, the Jewish leaders were not at all impressed. Apparently, they were not only jealous of the apostles’ success, but also concerned about their message, which they felt did not sufficiently address the Old Testament law. Apparently, Paul was not allowed into the synagogue at all, but the debate (verse 45) took place outside the synagogue.

At the end of the argument, Paul made a far-reaching conclusion: since the gospel was not acceptable to the Jews, the apostles would turn to the Gentiles in the future. This solution certainly made the Jewish mission difficult, but it opened the door to the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles.

Once again, we see the effectiveness of Paul's missionary strategy: the church that arose in the city spread the gospel to the surrounding countryside (verse 49).

The journey continues – Acts 13:50-52

Luke does not say how long Paul and Barnabas were allowed to work in Pisidian Antioch. Eventually, however, the Jews decided that the apostles’ work had to be stopped. Denying the apostles access to the synagogue had not stopped the proclamation of the gospel and the growth of the Christian congregation, so some other solution had to be found. Later, in the Acts of the Apostles, we see many times how skillful the Jews were in persuading Roman officials to fulfill their wishes.

Not all the God-fearing Gentiles had left the synagogue. The Jewish leaders now used them to persuade the city authorities to expel the apostles. The Roman high officials generally remained outside the religions for political reasons, but their wives participated in the religions.

The Jews succeeded in their goal and the apostles were expelled from the city. Following Jesus' instructions, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust of the city off their clothes (Matthew 10:14-15). This act symbolized that the apostles would have nothing in common with their opponents in the city - not even at the Last Judgment.

But even the expulsion of the apostles did not stop the gospel from spreading. A church had been born in the city, continuing the work begun by the apostles.

Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, 140 km away, but the events there belong to the next chapter.