Bible Study Lesson for Acts 13:13-52: Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch

(Note: When I taught my Bible study on the Book of Acts I used a flannel map as a visual aid. In my lecture notes you will find reference to this flannel map. The primary commentary I used was Compton's Interactive Bible, a software CD; I sometimes refer to this as my Interactive Bible CD.)

Read Acts 13:13. Perga is the capital of the province of Pamphylia (a coastal province between Lycia and Cilicia.) { Point out Perga on flannel map & put departing John Mark symbol down.} It is not known exactly why John Mark left at this point. There are theories that he was homesick and had expected to return to Jerusalem after evangelizing Cyprus; he may have been fearful about traveling through the dangerous regions of Asia Minor; he may also have been dissatisfied with the change in leadership roles as Paul took over as leader from his cousin Barnabas. (If you remember back in Acts 13:7 we read "Barnabas and Saul", but later on we will see "Paul and Barnabas" or "Paul and his companions.) Whatever the reason, he leaves them now and as we will read later, Paul is not at all happy with him. Read Acts 15:37-39.

Read Acts 13:14. As I mentioned earlier, it is possible that one of the reasons Paul and Barnabas went to Pisidian Antioch was at the request of Sergius Paulus, since his family had property there. My commentary provides some more good information about this verse:

Pisidian Antioch was 110 miles from Perga and was at the hub of good roads and trade. The city had a large Jewish population. It was a Roman colony, which meant that a contingent of retired military men was settled there. They were given free land and were made citizens of the city of Rome, with all the accompanying privileges. synagogue. Paul's regular practice was to begin his preaching in the synagogue as long as the Jews would allow it . His reason for doing so was grounded in his understanding of God's redemptive plan [salvation for the Jews, then the Gentiles]. He was not neglecting his Gentile mission, for the God-fearers (Gentiles committed to worshiping the one true God) were part of the audience. Moreover, the synagogue provided a ready-made preaching situation with a building, regularly scheduled meetings and a people who knew the OT Scriptures. It was customary to invite visitors, and especially visiting rabbis (such as Paul), to address the gathering.

{ Put Antioch symbol on flannel map }

Read Acts 13:15. It sounds like it may have been traditional during services in the synagogue to read from the Old Testament, followed by some preaching and exhortation. The rulers of the synagogue had a role similar to our pastors today, they were responsible for organizing and calling on readers and preachers in the synagogue, arranging the service and maintaining order. It was customary to invite visiting rabbis to address the congregation, in this case Paul. They are going to get more than they bargained for, as my study Bible points out. J Paul will now deliver his longest recorded sermon; the following week virtually the whole city will turn out to hear him, causing great jealousy among the other Jews. Read Acts 13:44-45.

Read Acts 13:16. Here we see that yes, Gentile God-fearers were in the audience at the synagogue. Clearly they, too, were welcome to attend services.

Read Acts 13:17-20. Paul's audience would have been knowledgeable of the Old Testament, so he could summarize centuries of history with only a few sentences and know they would understand.

Read Acts 13:21-22. The purpose of Paul's history lesson was to lead up to a man that they would have all admired, King David. One of the most important aspects of David was not so much that he was king but that God called him "a man after my own heart." This is the kind of person, Paul is implying, that we should all be. "he will do everything I want him to do."

Read Acts 13:23. And from David Paul can now move smoothly into the main focus of his sermon, Jesus himself. His audience would know that the Messiah was promised to come from the line of David. Specifically they should have been familiar with Isaiah 11:1-5. Paul makes the claim that Jesus was the Messiah promised.

Read Acts 13:24-25. Paul's audience would have also understood that before the Messiah could come there was to be a forerunner, the prophet who would prepare the way for the Messiah's coming. Read Isaiah 40:3-5, Malachi 3:1, 4:5-6. They would have also know about John the Baptist, even where they were in Pisidian Antioch. As a Jewish community news would have traveled back and forth from Jerusalem. Paul, then, is saying "look, John the Baptist was the prophet promised and after him came Jesus, the Messiah..." He is carefully setting out his case in a logical, eloquent manner, fitting it to his audience's background.

Read Acts 13:26. Again Paul makes it clear that salvation is both for the Jew and the Gentile. He would have expected his audience to be familiar with such passages in Isaiah as Isaiah 66:18-21.

Read Acts 13:27-29. Several phrases jumped out at me from these verses "fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath" and "they had carried out all that was written about him." I was surprised that my interactive commentary didn't give any notes about this passage because these are such broad statements. Once again we can only assume that Paul expected his audience to know what he was talking about. Let's review a little more about what Isaiah said about the Messiah. Read Isaiah 53:3-12. These verses made it clear that the Messiah had to suffer and that he would be rejected and terribly mistreated, even unto death.

Read Acts 13:30-31. But it doesn't end there - Jesus is raised from the dead! (Jesus was seen on earth for forty days by the believers before returning to heaven.) This was very important and necessary because now there were a large number of people who could testify that he really has risen, that it was the same man, and that it was not a hoax.

Read Acts 13:32-33. Paul is quoting here from Psalm 2:7-9. Later in his letter to the Romans he will use very similar words and logic when talking about Jesus' resurrection. Read Romans 1:1-4. It may not be as clear to us here in Acts 13 what Paul is saying: that the fact that Jesus was resurrected from the dead is proof that Jesus is God's Son.

Read Acts 13:34-37. Paul is quoting from Isaiah 55:3 and Psalm 16:10. His audience all knew that yes, David died, so this promise of someone "not seeing decay" (that is, staying dead) had to be for someone else, someone raised from the dead. This someone had to be the "Holy One" the "Son of God". And as Paul just demonstrated in his earlier statements, there were witnesses that Jesus, had indeed, raised from the dead, ergo He had to be the Messiah, Holy One, Son of God.

OK, so Jesus rose from the dead and is the Messiah... what does this mean? Paul's next statements move from passively describing what has happened in the past to calling his audience into action. Read Acts 13:38-39. Jesus' death and resurrection is important only in that it now offers salvation for those who believe. His audience undoubtedly understands that it is impossible to be completely clean under the law of Moses - they are always falling short, there is never enough time in the day or enough sacrifices to cover all their sins. You just can't do it on your own. You need a mediator, a one time sacrifice for all. That is Jesus.

Paul wraps up his sermon with a stern warning, again quoting from the Old Testament. Read Acts 13:40-41. This time Paul quotes from Habakkuk, though the context is when the prophet is warning of the coming invasion of the Babylonians. (Read Habakkuk 1:5-6.) During Habakkuk's time people didn't believe him, though his prophecy was true. Paul is saying "don't be like your ancestors who also scoffed and perished when someone came and told them the truth."

Here is the end of the sermon and you have to agree Paul is a dynamite speaker, laying out his argument very logically, eloquently, and using proofs his audience would have respected, the Old Testament prophets.

How did Paul's audience respond? Read Acts 13:42-43. Clearly his audience was very impressed, so much so that Paul and Barnabas were invited to come back next week, while others followed after them in order to talk with them further.

Read Acts 13:44. Now the whole city, clearly, would not all be Jews or God-fearing Gentiles. Word of Paul's sermon must have spread like wildfire throughout the city that such a large population would want to come to the synagogue to hear him speak.

Read Acts 13:45. Now here, I admit, I wish Luke had been a bit more specific. All he says are that "the Jews" became jealous and spoke abusively about Paul's words. From the previous verses it would appear that many of the Jews had been open to what Paul had said and not at all jealous. However, it only takes a few to cause dissension and ill will. Perhaps some of the synagogue leaders were upset that a stranger to their city could attract such a large crowd, when they had been leading Jewish worship in their city for years, if not decades.

Read Acts 13:46-47. Paul felt he had to speak to the Jews first because salvation had come through a Jew - Jesus - and probably because he, himself, was a Jew and felt a great compassion for his people. Read Romans 9:1-5, 10:1-3. But some of the Jews, clearly, reject the good news of Jesus, so Paul turns and offers it to the Gentiles, as promised in Isaiah 49:6.

Read Acts 13:48. Many of the Gentiles accept Christ as a result. What exactly is Luke getting at with "and all who were appointed for eternal life believed"? I'm not really sure - all my commentary says is that eternal life is dependent not only on human belief, but also on divine appointment.

Read Acts 13:49-50. My sense is that the Jewish leaders, who continued to be jealous of Paul and Barnabas' success and fame, went to the Gentile leaders of the city and spread lies about what the Christians were doing. Luke mentions "God-fearing women of high standing" which I think means devout Gentile women (aka the church ladies) and "leading men of the city" which were also probably Gentiles. These people undoubtedly thought that they were doing the right thing to protect their fellow city residents by kicking the "troublemakers" out. They would have been acting out of ignorance, not knowing all the facts, or understanding what exactly Paul was preaching.

Read Acts 13:51. The term "shook the dust from their feet" means that they give up any responsibility for what may happen to those who have rejected their message. Jesus, when he sent out the disciples in groups of two, told them to treat towns in this manner if they are rejected. Read Luke 9:4-5. They had done their job and are no longer accountable to what happens to those that refuse to hear. { Put Iconium symbol on flannel map }

Read Acts 13:52. Even though they had been rejected and chased out of Pisidian Antioch, because the Holy Spirit is with them Paul and Barnabas actually feel joy. I think this was in part because they knew that the Lord was pleased with them for being obedient, even to the point of persecution.

Blessings!

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version