Acts 13:1-13
2 3 15
Review of Acts 12
• Herod Agrippa I executed James the brother of John
Zebedee and imprisoned Peter
• An Angel helps Peter escape from prison
• Peter arrives at the house of Mary, the mother of John
Mark and he instructs them to tell James what
happened and that he was leaving Jerusalem
• Herod Agrippa I has the guards killed, goes to his palace
at Caesarea, sits on his throne while the people of Tyre
and Sidon proclaim him a god resulting in an Angel
killing him
• Barnabas and Saul depart Jerusalem for Antioch
Early Christian Time Line
• 0-6 AD Birth of Jesus the Christ
• 1-5 Saul’s birth
• 30-33 Christ is crucified, raised and ascends into
Heaven
• 33 Pentecost
• 33 Stephen is martyred
• 33-34 Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus
• 34-36 Saul’s sojourn in Arabia
• 36-37 Saul’s return journey to Jerusalem
• 37-42 Saul in Tarsus
Early Christian Time Line (Cont)
• 41-44 Herod Agrippa I reigns
• 42 Paul in Antioch
• 44 Famine in Jerusalem
• 45-49 Paul’s 1st missionary journey
• 50 Council of Jerusalem
• 49-52 Paul’s 2nd missionary journey
Acts 13
• Acts 13:1-2 “Now in the church at Antioch there were
prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Symeon who was
called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of
the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they
were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit
said, ‘set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work
to which I have called them.’”
• We can see the zeal of the faith of these leaders as Luke
points out that it was under the constant guidance of the
Holy Spirit who is speaking here in the first person
• The Greek word for worship here is leitourgeo from which we
get the word “liturgy” and was found in the Septuagint to
refer to priestly ministry in the temple (Ex 28:35)
Antioch
• Was the third largest city of the Roman Empire (after Rome
and Alexandria [Egypt]) with over ½ million inhabitants
• Most beautiful city of the East
• Seen as the Paris of the Orient with many city lights at night
• Marked the boarder line between two worlds (East and
West)
• Was a very wicked city
• The population consisted of four groups (Haughty Romans;
Sensual Greeks; degenerate native Syrians; the proud Jews)
• After Jerusalem it became the second “mother of the Infant
Church” (later the center moves to Rome)
• Paul called it his home and headquarters for 20 years
Acts 13 (Cont)
• Acts 13:3-4 “Then after fasting and praying they laid hands
on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy
Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed
to Cyprus.”
• Highlight this as the beginning of Paul’s 1st Missionary Journey (45 –
49 A.D.)
• It seems from reading Acts that this was a very brief little journey, but
in fact it may have taken approximately 5 years to complete
• It is very important to understand the historical and geographical
context in order for us to understand from where Paul wrote his
Epistles
• Paul’s 1st Missionary Journey begins at Antioch, and continues as he
and Barnabas go through Cyprus
A more detailed itinerary
• 42 (Spring) Barnabas brings Saul from Tarsus to
Antioch
• 43 (Spring) ends one year for the two friends in
Antioch
• Famine predicted – the two go to Jerusalem
• 44 Herod Antiochus I dies and Barnabas and Saul
return to Antioch
• 45 (Spring) Barnabas and Saul called to start the 1st
missionary journey beginning in Cyprus
Acts 13 (Cont)
• After responding to this directive with additional fasting and prayer,
the leaders of the church lay their hands on Paul and Barnabas to
express the community’s setting them apart and commending the
to God for this mission
• So here we see these men being sent on this missionary journey
with the expectation that at its completion they will report back to
the community (Acts 17:26-27)
• Paul and Barnabas are good friends and when they discussed
where to go they thought they might start in Asia Minor, but
Barnabas may have suggested that they start in Cyprus because he
was from there and most likely had family and friends on the Island
so they sail from Seleucia
• They arrive in Salamis and cross the Island to Paphos
Acts 13 (Cont)
• Acts 13:5 “When they arrived at Salamis, they
proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the
Jews.”
• It is important for us to see that when they arrive in a city the
first thing they do is to ask if there are any Jews living there
• Then they find one of the local Jews and ask how many Jews
are in the city and if they have a synagogue
• Next, they wait until the next Sabbath when all the Jews are
gathered at the local synagogue
• This is exactly what Jesus did (Mk 1:21)
• Then they show up and preach the “gospel” to them
• They always started out by presenting the “good news” to the
Jews and once they were rejected, they would go out into the
marketplace and preach to the Gentiles
Acts 13: (Cont)
•Eventually they would move on to the next town
• It is very important to understand that this was the typical order of
operations for Paul and whoever was travelling with him
• This will help us understand Paul’s Epistles and their applicability
for apologetics
• It is also important to see how this follows the model that Jesus
often used as he proclaimed the Gospel throughout Galilee and
Judah (Mk 1:21)
• It most likely took several week for them to stop at all the little
towns spread across the island before they arrived at Paphos
• We find John Mark joining them from the beginning of this journey
Acts 13 (Cont)
• Acts 13:6 “When they had gone through the whole island
as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a
Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus.”
• “Bar” means “son of” in Aramaic
• Remember that the name “Jesus” was very common in the first
century as was “Simon” and “Mary”
• If you went to a playground in Jerusalem half the boys would be
named Simon and the other half, Jesus
• Remember that the name “Jesus” is the same name as “Joshua” in
Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin
• Only in our English culture did we develop a tradition of having two
different pronunciations
Acts 13 (Cont)
• So Bar-Jesus means son of Jesus, but not the Jesus of
Nazareth
• This Bar-Jesus is a false prophet and magician (similar to
the magician discussed in Acts 8:9) in contrast to the true
prophets sent by the Holy Spirit in by Paul and Barnabas
• This individual is also called Elymas in the next verse
Acts 13 (Cont)
• Acts 13:7 “He was with the proconsul, Sergius
Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned
Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of
God.”
• The Roman governor Sergius Paulus is depicted by Luke
as being a man of intelligence perhaps because he
summons Barnabas and Saul to preach the word to him
• This leads to the missionaries first proclamation of the
gospel to a Gentile (a Roman)
• See how the leadership of the team shifts from the
native Barnabas to the Roman citizen Paul who will
speak to the proconsul
Acts 13 (Cont)
• Acts 13: 8-12 “But Elymas the magician (for that is the
meaning of his name) withstood them, seeking to turn
away the proconsul from the faith….But Saul, who is also
called Paul…Then the proconsul believed, when he saw
what had occurred, for he was astonished at the
teaching of the Lord.”
• Remember that there is no relationship between the baptism
of Saul and the name change from Saul to Paul as he has both a
Jewish name (Saul) and a Roman name (Paul)
• Often a person would take a name that sounds like their
original name in their native language
• Paulus and Saul are close enough
• Saul means “chosen” while Paul means “short” in Latin
Acts 13 (Cont)
• We have no idea why Luke introduces this “Paul” here
• It may be that Luke was introducing the other name
“Paul” for us because from here on we will see Paul
moving into the Gentile world
• Since he does not want to go back and forth with his
name, Luke will usually use his Latin name “Paul” from
here on out
• This debate with the false prophet reflects back to the
many Old Testament debates between true and false
prophets such as Elijah and the false prophets of Baal (1
Kings 18:19-40)
Acts 13 (Cont)
• Acts 13:13 “Now Paul and his company set sail from
Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John (John
Mark) left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they passed
on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia.”
• This is the Antioch in Asia Minor not the Antioch in Syria
• We will see Paul going through this Antioch of Pisidia several times
• Do not confuse these two cities since Luke sometimes only refers to
them as Antioch
• It is like the fact that there seems to be a Springfield in every state
• Also note the John Mark leaves them at this point and returns to
Jerusalem
• This becomes a matter of contention with Paul later in his journeys as Paul
sees this departure as an abandonment of the mission by Mark
A more detailed itinerary (Cont)
• 45 (Autumn) the two missionaries travel to Antioch
in Pisidia
• 46 (Autumn) the two missionaries leave for Iconium
• 49 Paul and Barnabas end their 1st Missionary
journey back in Antioch (in Syria)
• 50 They go to Jerusalem for the Council