But they, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia; and entering into the synagogue on the sabbath day they sat down.
Two travellers leave the coast and head inland. They reach a strange city. On the Sabbath they walk into the local Jewish meeting place and sit down. One short verse, and yet it raises a large question. Why did messengers sent to all the nations start among the Jews?
They left Perga without preaching there. One writer traces their route and what waited at the end of it.
From Paphos they sailed to Perga, the chief city of Pamphylia, on the river Cestus, about seven miles from the sea. Luke records nothing worth noting about Perga, except that Mark left them there and returned to Jerusalem. "He did not go with them to the work," Luke said some time afterwards (Acts 15:38). So they pushed on north to Antioch in Pisidia. The time to preach the gospel in Perga had clearly not yet come. They reached that city, the capital of the province, and there was a synagogue of the Jews there.
Another writer sets out what such travel cost.
The apostle covered hundreds and thousands of miles by sea, on foot, on an animal or by carriage. Mountain passes were impossible to cross for weeks at a time. The roads at best were poor, often only narrow tracks, or missing altogether. The country was full of robbers and bandits, who thought nothing of taking a life.
In the verse just before this one, Luke writes of "Paul and his company." One writer links that phrase to Saul's new name.
From this point in the story Luke gives Saul his new name of Paul, which means Little. At the same time we see the Spirit pushing him into the leading position in service and ministry. So in verse 13 the phrase used is "Paul and his company." There is a designed connection, we think, between the change of name and the change of position. He who is Little becomes the Leader.
Why begin in the synagogue? One writer points to a principle found in Paul's own words, and to the only religious setting where such liberty existed.
We may notice the practice of the apostle. It matched the principle so familiar in his inspired words, "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." At Salamis they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. It was indeed the only place of a religious sort where any such liberty existed. This was also God's order until Jerusalem was destroyed… Until then the door stood open. Those with a Jewish standing were free to read or explain the Scriptures there.
The two men took a seat like everyone else and let the service run its normal course. What happened next came as an invitation.
Back on the mainland they come to Antioch in Pisidia, in what is now Turkey. It is not really that far north of Antioch in Syria. Visiting the local synagogue on the Sabbath day, they sit down. The regular custom of reading in the law and the prophets began the service. The rulers of the synagogue saw that Paul and Barnabas were Jews and men of clear ability. So they invited them to speak. Certainly this was the Lord's opening of the way for them.
The synagogue rulers gave the floor to total strangers. One writer turns that into an uncomfortable question for the church.
It is remarkable how much liberty they had… Can there be a more painful contrast with the habits of the Christian world? Surely we might expect more liberty where grace rules than among people raised under the restrictions of the law. Yet who ever hears of such an invitation nowadays? … In this case the visitors were only strangers. No one seems to have known them, except as serious, godly-looking Jews.
The day here is the Jewish Sabbath, not the Lord's day. One writer keeps the two firmly apart.
These Scriptures prove that the Lord's day holds a place quite unique, quite heavenly, quite divine. But they just as fully prove that the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord's day are two entirely distinct days. The New Testament speaks of the two days as distinctly as we speak of Saturday and Sunday.
- Road — The gospel travelled on foot. They passed Perga by, Mark turned back, and the two pushed north to the provincial capital. A synagogue was waiting there.
- Leader — "Paul and his company" marks the change. Saul's new name means Little, and the Spirit now puts him in front.
- Door — They went where the door already stood open. Any qualified Jew could read and explain the Scriptures in a synagogue, and "to the Jew first" was God's own order.
- Seat — They sat down and waited. The rulers of the synagogue invited them to speak. That was the Lord opening the way.
- Liberty — The rulers asked strangers to speak. One writer holds that up as a rebuke. Where grace rules today we often find less freedom than these people had under law.
And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation to the people, speak.
Paul and Barnabas sit down in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia on the sabbath. The rulers of that synagogue then hand them the platform, and a verse of ordinary religious routine becomes the door into Paul's preaching to the wider world.
The synagogue service ran to a fixed pattern, and Scripture came first. Where the ESV has a "word of encouragement," the older translations these writers use say a "word of exhortation."
We know that a portion of the law and of the prophets was read every Sabbath. Acts 13:15 makes it clear that anyone present who had a "word of exhortation for the people" received the opportunity to deliver it.
The men who sent the message held a recognised office. The same Greek title appears wherever the New Testament speaks of these officials, though English versions have not always rendered it the same way.
ἀρχισυνάγωγος, ruler of the synagogue. Mark 5:22, 35, 36, 38; Luke 8:49; Luke 13:14; Acts 13:15; Acts 18:8, 17. In the last two passages the Authorised Version has "chief ruler," but the Greek is the same.
One writer sees more than local courtesy in what they did next.
The rulers of the synagogue recognised Paul and Barnabas as Jews and men of evident ability. They invited them to speak. Certainly this was the Lord's opening of the way for them.
One writer turns this freedom into a rebuke of later religious practice.
It is remarkable how much liberty they enjoyed. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue-rulers sent them a message: speak, if you have any word of exhortation for the people. Can there be a more painful contrast with the habits of the Christian world? Surely Scripture leads us to expect more liberty where grace rules than among people born and raised under the restrictions of the law. Yet who ever hears of such an invitation nowadays? The church has so completely lost the enjoyment of that holy liberty which marks the Spirit of the Lord. Here too the visitors were only strangers, unknown to anyone, it seems, except as serious, godly-looking Jews. In modern times routine governs solemn public occasions, however well known the strangers may be for their gifts, their work and their life.
The rulers offered Paul a slot for exhortation. He used it for something else.
In the synagogue service, after the reading of the law and of the prophets, there was room for exhortation (Acts 13:15). Its aim was to press home on the hearts of those present the lessons drawn from the Scriptures. But it became clear that more than this was needed. The number of God's children can only grow by the action of the divine Word on the soul, and some from among the Gentiles were to become children together with some from among the Jews. So a ministry was needed that could first convert, and then build up the converts. Paul at Antioch understood this well. Invited to exhort the congregation, he preached the gospel of the grace of God instead.
Stuart weighs what Paul announced against the setting he announced it in.
"Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man" — that is, Christ — "forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses." What an announcement to make in a synagogue of the Jews! And that right after the reading of the law and of the prophets.
Older translations, like the one Stuart quotes, read "justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."
Stuart sets that announcement against Israel's own position.
But the law pointed out to Israel what they ought to do. The prophets brought God's ministry to a people who had failed... with predictions of future blessings under the personal reign of David their King, the Messiah. But He had not appeared in power. Their place among the scattered people, and their home in Pisidia, was a standing witness that the nation had failed in the past, and that the Messiah's appearance in power was still to be desired.
- Custom — Every sabbath the synagogue read a portion of the Law and the Prophets aloud. Then anyone present with a word for the people could speak.
- Invitation — The rulers of that synagogue invited two complete strangers to speak. One writer sees the Lord opening the way for Paul's work in a new region.
- Liberty — Such freedom among people bound by law rebukes later religion, where routine rules and no one hears such an invitation.
- Substitution — Asked to exhort the congregation, Paul preached the gospel of the grace of God instead. The moment needed a ministry that could convert as well as build up.
- Contrast — The law had just told them what they ought to do. Paul announced forgiveness through Christ, and freedom from everything the law of Moses could never free them from.
And Paul, rising up and making a sign with the hand, said, Israelites, and ye that fear God, hearken.
Paul and Barnabas are strangers in Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they sit in the synagogue, and its rulers invite them to speak. What Paul does next repays attention: his gesture, the two groups he names, and the God he preaches.
The invitation itself is striking. The two visitors were strangers to everyone there. One commentator contrasts that freedom with church practice today.
After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent them a message: if they had any word of encouragement for the people, let them speak. From Scripture you would expect more liberty where grace rules than among people born and raised under the restrictions of the law. Yet who ever hears of such an invitation nowadays? In this case too the visitors were only strangers, unknown to anyone, it seems, except as serious, godly-looking Jews.
Up to this point Barnabas is named first. The man who stands up here is the one whose name has just changed, and the new order is not an accident.
Almost at once the places of Barnabas and Saul changed. Up to this moment Barnabas is always named first. Then came the conflict with "a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus," who tried to turn Sergius Paulus from the faith. Through Saul the Spirit's power was strikingly displayed, for Saul is here said to be filled with the Holy Spirit. After that, God gave Saul the lead in service. From now on it is Paul and Barnabas. Whatever the devotion, faith and grace of Barnabas, Paul was the Lord's chosen vessel.
Paul's gesture here is not the same as the one he made later, when he stood in chains.
It is well to avoid confusing the apostle's act here with what he did in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:16). That was "beckoning with the hand", quite different in character and aim from stretching it out, here too with a chain.
The opening word translated "men" is also more than a head-count of who was in the room.
The word is not the general anthrōpoi but the precise andres, which means men as distinguished from women. The truth however is that andres is the regular word in public addresses, because it is more respectful. It is used even when women are present (compare Acts 1:16; Acts 2:14; Acts 3:12). Here it has that sense only.
The second group he names were Gentiles who had left idols for the Jewish synagogue. One writer explains why the phrase is the name of a class of people, not a description of anyone devout.
In the Acts the word "worshipper", sebomenos, often occurs. It is the name of a large class of Gentiles who saw that Gentile idolatry was empty and hated its disorders. They attended the Jewish worship, looking there for a refuge in their moral distress. Despite the unfaithfulness of the Jews they found one, though it was not enough. So mighty is the truth of God! "Proselytes" is another word, although these "worshippers" may also have been such. We might have translated the word, as others do, "fearing God". That would describe a state of soul. In the Acts it is instead the title of a class of men who, though Gentiles by birth, attended the Jewish worship.
That Paul names these hearers at all, right at the start, is new:
Here in the apostle's address, the place given to Gentile proselytes is clearly marked for the first time.
Paul does not begin with himself or with his hearers' feelings. He begins with God's actions in their national history and traces them forward.
He dwelt mainly on truth outside of man, not on inner experience. He spoke of God, and of His ways, full and varied as they were. God had chosen their fathers. God had exalted them in Egypt, and had brought them out with an uplifted arm... Then He appeared as a Giver. He gave them judges and prophets. He gave them Saul as king too. After that He was known as a Raiser-up: first of David, then of David's offspring — Jesus, born into the world — and last in raising Him up in resurrection. A Giver, a Raiser-up, a Fulfiller of His promises — what an announcement was heard that day! If God is such, all can and should rest on His word.
- Door. The synagogue rulers gave the floor to two unknown visitors. Kelly asks who ever hears such an invitation today.
- Man. The one who stands is no longer "Saul" following Barnabas; after the clash with Bar-Jesus, God gives Paul the lead as the Lord's chosen vessel.
- Gesture. Paul beckons with his hand. That is not the hand he later stretched out in chains. The word "men" is the respectful public form, used even when women are present.
- Two audiences. "You who fear God" names a recognised class of Gentiles who had left idolatry for the synagogue. Here, for the first time, the apostle gives them a place in his address.
- Message. What follows is God's history, not the speaker's: a Giver, a Raiser-up, a Fulfiller of promises, ending in Jesus raised from the dead.