And as they went out they begged that these words might be spoken to them the ensuing sabbath.
Paul has just finished preaching in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, and his hearers want more — they ask to hear the same message again next Sabbath. Who made that request is one of the best-known translation puzzles in Acts, and the answer shapes the whole scene that follows.
Older English versions say the Jews left and the Gentiles then made the request. Commentators differ over that wording, though most here read it as one crowd asking on the way out.
Verse 42 is better translated in Darby's version: "And as they went out they begged that these words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath." Of course it would be Jews and converts to the Jewish faith in the synagogue. Gentiles would not know what Paul had said, but they would surely hear about it before the next Sabbath.
Why would anyone ask to hear the same sermon twice? Kelly points to what the message had done to those who heard it.
Souls struck by the truth might well beg to hear "these things" again — words so blessed yet so startling, so weighty yet so solemn. That is easy to understand, and it is the plain sense of the true text.
The request is a verdict on the sermon. Paul had traced the acts of God through his hearers' own history.
God had chosen their fathers. God had raised them high in Egypt, and had brought them out by His mighty power... Then He appeared as a Giver. He gave them judges and prophets... A Giver, a Raiser-up, a Fulfiller of His promises — what an announcement they heard that day! If God is like that, everyone can and should rest on His word. No wonder such an address touched and gripped the audience, both Jews and converts to the Jewish faith. No wonder they wanted to hear such words again. We should read verse 42, "As they went out, they begged that these words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath"... So far Luke has not mentioned any Gentiles in the synagogue.
One line in Paul's message could not stay inside the synagogue walls. Stuart quotes verse 39 here from an older translation.
"From which you could not be justified by the law of Moses" concerned the Jews, and told them of a blessing they could never gain through the law. "By Him all who believe are justified from all things" showed that the grace of justification was within reach of the Gentile just as much as the Jew. Everyone who believed could share in it. No wonder that on "the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of the Lord."
Pollock follows the older reading, and sees a first for Paul in it.
The Gentiles now come forward, and beg the evangelists that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day. This is an intensely important moment in the history of Paul, and of Christianity at large. Until now Paul had gone to the synagogues and spoken to his fellow countrymen. Now the Gentiles for the first time hold out beseeching hands, and ask that they may hear the story of redeeming love.
The crowd that came the next Sabbath stirred a reaction that followed Paul everywhere after this.
This stirred up the Jews: it was something new, and it kindled their jealousy at once... But a new feature comes out here. The Spirit of God lets us see it from now on in all the journeys and work of the apostle Paul: the hatred the unbelieving Jews felt at the preaching of the truth to the Gentiles... The scene now lay outside, among the nations they despised. If the gospel was a lie, why feel it so sharply?
Kelly also notes that nothing was cut short here: the meeting had finished, and the following Sabbath was simply the natural time to speak again.
And as they were going out (for the service was over, not interrupted as some have singularly imagined), the hearers begged that they might have these words spoken to them the next sabbath, the great occasion for such a discourse.
- Word. Paul preached God as Giver, Raiser-up, and Fulfiller of His promises. If God is like that, His word is worth resting on.
- Request. The plain reading is that the hearers, on their way out, begged to hear the same words again. Commentators differ over whether Gentiles are named here.
- Reach. The law could never give this blessing. All who believe are justified — Gentile as much as Jew.
- Result. A week later almost the whole city crowded into that synagogue. On one reading, Gentiles were now holding out their hands for the message.
- Reaction. The same truth that drew the crowd kindled jealousy. That opposition followed Paul from here on.
And the congregation of the synagogue having broken up, many of the Jews and of the worshipping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
The sermon at Antioch in Pisidia ends, and a group of hearers walks out after the preachers instead of going home. What Paul and Barnabas tell them is not new: stay where grace has put you.
The verse names two groups. The second were not Jews by birth: they came from other nations and joined themselves to Israel's faith and worship.
The name given to anyone from among the nations who embraced Judaism. Acts 2:10; Acts 6:5; Acts 13:43. It comes from a Greek word meaning "to come to." The Greek Old Testament uses it where the Hebrew has "the stranger" who lives among you.
One word in the verse marks a type of person Acts names again and again.
In Acts we often find the participle of a verb that means "who serves God." We point out this expression because it marks a class of people who were not Jews. They avoided the emptiness and the defilements of paganism, and they took part in Jewish worship. See Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:4, 17; 18:7, 13.
The service was over, and these listeners did not stop at listening. They followed the two men out, where the preachers could speak more freely than the synagogue allowed.
Later the gathering broke up. Many of the Jews and the converts to Judaism, drawn and impressed beyond the rest, followed Paul and Barnabas. (From now on, at least away from Palestine, Paul takes the lead.) The two men, for their part, spoke more freely to them than the synagogue could permit, and urged them to stay in the grace of God.
Could the encouraging have run the other way, from the new converts to the missionaries? Calvin raised that question, and the answer is no.
What can one think of a man like Calvin, wondering whether it was these young converts who urged Paul and Barnabas not to lose heart but to stand firm in the grace of God! He does not, however, lean far enough toward that reading to choose it over the common and only correct view. The gracious words and the strengthening call came from the apostles to those on whose hearts God's grace had just dawned.
Grace is not only something to receive once. Staying in it is how a conscience keeps its peace.
Souls were won for Christ that day. The company of believers on earth grew, and it now suited them to continue in the grace they had heard. What the law could not do for them, grace had provided. They could enjoy peace with God — an effect of justification — for continuing in the grace made known was the way to have settled peace of conscience.
Persuading people was Paul's way of working, and it cost him a struggle.
Paul preached at Thessalonica "with much conflict" — "with much earnest striving" the New Translation renders it. He speaks of how "we persuade others," and with Barnabas he persuaded certain converts "to continue in the grace of God."
Grace has a rival, and it looks respectable.
The apostle knew that the heart and conscience of those made alive by the grace of God would answer the truth he set out. That held true even though legalism had buried that truth for the moment. How earnestly and constantly do real Christians need to be "persuaded to continue in the grace of God." Legalism presents itself in such an attractive form — moral, charitable, or religious — that it seems hard to name it as the great disturber and troubler.
What is lost when a believer drifts is not God's hold on him but his own grip on where God has set him.
Yet Paul rebuked the Galatians for not continuing in the grace of Christ. He told them to stand firm in the freedom Christ has given them, and he told them plainly that they had "fallen away from grace" if they carried on the way they were going. God held them securely in the place where He had set them. Yet in their own thoughts and inner awareness they might fall from that place.
- Grace heard. What the law could not do for these hearers, grace had provided.
- Grace followed. When the meeting ended, Jews and converts from other nations followed the preachers out.
- Grace spoken. Away from the synagogue the two men spoke more freely. The urging ran from the apostles to the new hearers, not the other way.
- Grace urged. They persuaded, with the same earnest striving Paul showed at Thessalonica.
- Grace kept. Continuing in grace keeps the conscience at peace. Legalism looks moral and religious, yet it troubles the soul it captures.
And on the coming sabbath almost all the city was gathered together to hear the word of God.
A week earlier Paul had preached in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia to Jews and to proselytes — non-Jews who had joined the Jewish faith. Seven days later the doors could not hold the town. This verse marks the moment the gospel stops being a synagogue matter and becomes a city-wide event. What drew such a crowd? And what does a crowd like that prove?
Paul and Barnabas did not organise this gathering. It grew out of the first sermon, and out of a report that spread through the town that week.
This was the sermon with which the great apostle to the Gentiles opened his missionary work in Pisidian Antioch. The result was encouraging. As the people were going out (the service was over, not interrupted, as some have imagined), the hearers begged Paul to speak these words to them again the next sabbath, the great day for such a talk... So far no Gentiles had heard, apart from the proselytes. But the next sabbath the report drew them in crowds. The effect on them was as marked for good as it was on many Jews for evil, as we shall see.
The pull was one line from Paul's sermon: Christ justifies everyone who believes, from all the things the law of Moses could not. That promise reached past the Jews. The wording quoted below follows an older translation of Acts 13:39.
The words "from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses" concerned the Jews, of course. They told the Jews of a blessing the law could never give them. But the words "by Him all who believe are justified from all things" showed that the grace of justification was within reach of the Gentile just as much as the Jew. All who believed could share in it. God had a message for men who had sinned, and He inclined that large company to attend, and to hear it.
Look at who made up the difference in numbers.
Previously there had been just Jews and proselytes together; now a large mix of Gentiles appeared — natives, many of them, no doubt, of the place. Very probably most of them had never set foot inside those walls before. On this occasion it was clear they could not stay away. They had come to hear the word of God. Though they were Gentiles, many of them were thirsting for truth. Judaism could not supply that truth, but these strangers could give it.
Such interest does not rise by itself. The people best placed to recognise the work of God in it read it as competition instead.
The power of God was clearly behind this awakened interest, as the Jews should have discerned. Yet when they saw the crowds, envy filled them. They did not share the same concern to learn the truth of God. This selfish party spirit among the Jews blinded their minds to how precious the grace of God is. Without realising it, they sentenced themselves to be left with nothing. Selfishness always defeats its own ends.
A packed synagogue is a real result, but it settles nothing about the hearers.
But the poor Jews, moved with jealousy, cannot bear to be outdone in religious influence, or that a religion other than theirs should work on the Gentiles. Oh, poor human heart, always stronger in religious people! The truth it already believes does not put the heart to the test. It believes that truth because many others received it — people who were themselves unconverted — and because professing it does them honour. But truth is always truth, even when the many do not receive it. It does put the heart to the test, and we must receive it only because God gives it.
The message Paul preached stayed God's word even where the hearers threw it back at him.
How could anyone preach the voice of God by His Spirit to the soul? (Acts 13:5, 44) Was it not still the Word of God, even if not one soul heard God's voice in it by the Spirit — even though the people who first heard it contradicted it and blasphemed? (v. 46)
- Word sown. One sermon on justification through Christ did the work. The hearers themselves asked to hear it again.
- Word spread. The report travelled through Antioch for a week, and God inclined that large company to come and hear.
- Word widened. Gentiles who had never entered those walls filled them. The grace of justification was within their reach too.
- Word tested. The crowd was God's power at work, but envy read it as rivalry, and those who should have welcomed it opposed it.
- Word stands. Truth is truth whether the many receive it or blaspheme it. Receive it because God gives it, not because a crowd approves it.
But the Jews, seeing the crowds, were filled with envy, and contradicted the things said by Paul, [contradicting and] speaking injuriously.
A crowd came to hear the word, far larger than the synagogue had ever drawn. That crowd, not Paul's teaching, set off the reaction. One writer notes what the Jews should have read in the scene, and what they read instead.
The power of God was clearly behind this awakened interest, as the Jews should have discerned. Yet, when they saw the crowds present, envy filled them instead of the same concern to learn the truth of God. This selfish sectarianism blinded their minds to how precious the grace of God is... They opposed what Paul was speaking. They did not only contradict him; they blasphemed (verse 45). That shows their contempt for God Himself. They were that intent on holding on to their sectarian pride.
Opposition to the message was not new. What appears here is a different grievance. The strength of the feeling shows what lay behind it.
But a new feature comes out here. From now on the Spirit of God lets us see it in all the journeys and labours of the apostle Paul. It is the hatred which the unbelieving Jews felt at the preaching of the truth to the Gentiles. The scene now lay outside among the nations whom they despised. If the gospel were a lie, why feel it so strongly? It was not love or respect for Gentiles. But Satan stirred up, not now simply their religious pride but their envy.
A message that reached everyone alike cost them the standing they had held over their neighbours.
A Jonah would rather see Nineveh destroyed than see the vast city spared when it repented. That way he keeps up his reputation as a prophet. These Jews would rather keep the Gentiles ignorant of the gospel, and so keep up their prestige among them. They could not bear to see these preachers drawing crowds of Gentiles to hear the word of grace. That word put everyone on a common level. It announced that the blessings God was now giving out were equally within reach of all, and that all could share in them.
Jonah was a prophet sent to the great city of Nineveh, who resented it when God spared the city.
Another writer names the feeling plainly, and shows what it could not stop.
How low, as well as evil and malicious, jealousy is — religious jealousy above all, as here! Had the gospel been powerless, the Jews would have kept their composure. The long preaching of Moses had never worked like this. The gospel won such wide attention at once, and that was intolerable to them. But the hatred of grace, though it ruins those guilty of it, only enlarges the field of work. It also frees the messengers from waiting too carefully on the men of tradition and their narrow channels. Blasphemies did not shock Paul and Barnabas into silence. They grew bold instead.
The warning does not stay in the first century. One writer turns the verse on the reader. He points to Paul's own experience of rivals preaching while he was in prison.
This filled the Jews with envy, such is the smallness of fallen human nature. The Jews refused the message, and they would not let the Gentiles have it... Do we not see it sometimes even in Christian circles? In prison, Paul had the unhappy experience of knowing that some brothers were preaching the gospel out of envy and strife. They meant to add trouble to the chains of this devoted servant of Christ. And we have known servants of the Lord, jealous of a younger man with more gift, seeking to hinder him in his work.
Envy is hardest to spot when it borrows the language of faithfulness:
As with pride, so it is with envy. Its most horrible and deadly form hides itself under a cover of zeal for the Lord. Under this or some other religious excuse, it seeks the harm of another.
- Crowd — God's power packed the synagogue, and the Jews should have seen it. Instead of joining the interest, they envied it.
- Envy — they could not stand a gospel that worked. A powerless message would have left them calm.
- Contempt — envy did not stop at contradiction. It went on to blasphemy, and blasphemy shows contempt for God Himself.
- Level ground — grace put everyone on a common level. The blessing they had held as prestige was now within reach of all. That was the real offence.
- Enlargement — hatred of grace ruins those who hold it, but it only widens the work. It freed the preachers from narrow channels, and they grew bold instead of silent.
And Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken to you; but, since ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the nations;
Paul had preached at Antioch in Pisidia, and the crowds he drew turned the synagogue against him. His reply is one of the great turning points in Acts. He defends God's order, names the sentence they passed on themselves, and opens a door to the nations.
Paul does not apologise for going to the synagogue first. Writers point out that he always began there, and that the synagogue gave him his one open door.
We may notice the apostle's practice. 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 religious place where any such liberty existed. And such was God's order until Jerusalem fell — or at least until the letter to the Hebrews was written. Then the "no difference" which the gospel declares found a still clearer and final application.
What set them off was not the teaching but the size of the crowd. The attack did not silence Paul.
How base, evil and spiteful is jealousy — religious jealousy above all, as here! ... But "the crowds" were too much for religious prejudice. It had lain asleep until now, and it woke with the most spiteful feelings of hatred and abuse. This is what flesh does in the presence of grace and truth, when it sees hearts attracted and consciences touched. Had the gospel been powerless, the Jews would have kept their composure. The long preaching of Moses had never worked like this, and the gospel's immediate success in winning such wide attention was unbearable to them. But the hatred of grace, ruinous to those guilty of it, only enlarges the field of work. ... Paul and Barnabas grew bold, instead of being shocked into silence by Jewish blasphemies.
Paul does not say God had judged them unworthy. He says they passed the sentence themselves.
"Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life" — how solemn to judge oneself unworthy of eternal life, as every unbeliever does!
The same writer turns that verdict on the reader. He traces the refusal back to what the heart is still holding on to:
God is now in Christ, begging and pleading with you to be reconciled to Him. The ground is His acceptance of the One who was made sin. Your rejecting Him proves that you are not willing to be saved. He is ready to save you, to pardon here and now. But you have some secret reserve, something you are keeping back from Him. Either you wish to serve sin a little longer, or you do not believe that God is as good as He is. You prove that you judge yourself unworthy of eternal life.
The move outward looks like a reaction to failure. It was nothing of the kind.
Turning to Gentiles, when the Jews should judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life, was no afterthought in the mind of God. The Gentiles who now heard it were glad. The Scriptures given to Israel contained this announcement about them. Would the Jews boast of a divine written revelation given only to them? That very revelation, it was now shown, had foretold mercy to Gentiles.
Paul then takes words spoken about the Messiah and applies them to himself.
Paul's use of Isaiah 49:6 in the next verse is both striking and full of instruction. The prophet is speaking of the Messiah rejected by Israel. God grants Him this comfort: His humiliation opens the door to wider glory. The slighted servants of Christ take this to themselves. In the same circumstances, infinite grace gives men of faith that right: what was said of Christ is no less true of the Christian. "For so the Lord has commanded us." ... The spirit of obedience, we may add, finds a command where no other eye could see one.
The words were few. One writer sees in them the start of everything that followed.
"Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46) was a challenge of a new kind. It was destined to turn the tide away from Jerusalem, the land of Israel, the synagogue, the law and that whole system. It was to be the beginning of the evangelisation of the world, whatever a person's country or background. It was indeed the beginning of the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, written over five and a half centuries earlier.
- Order. The word had to come to Israel first; Paul kept that order everywhere, and only opposition moved him past it.
- Envy. The crowds, not the teaching, provoked the attack; religious jealousy is the basest kind of all.
- Self-sentence. God did not shut them out. They judged themselves unworthy, and every refusal of Christ says the same thing.
- Purpose. The turn outward was no emergency plan. Israel's own Scriptures had foretold mercy for the Gentiles.
- Overflow. Their rejection did not shrink the work but widened it, and the gospel went out to the whole world.
for thus has the Lord enjoined us I have set thee for a light of the nations, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth.
The synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia had pushed Paul's message away, so he and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles. Paul gives his reason from Isaiah — words God spoke to the Messiah, not to a missionary, which raises a question: how can a servant act on a promise made to Another?
The "you" in the quotation is Christ. Paul applies it to himself and Barnabas as well. One commentator raises that difficulty and answers it:
"For so," he says, "the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles." What had this to do with Paul and Barnabas? Everything. There is no doubt that the prophet has Christ directly in view. Some might want to limit the words to Christ alone. But the Holy Spirit does not; He extends their reach to Paul and Barnabas. Did not Paul afterwards write, "to me to live is Christ"? Christ was everything to them. Christian faith takes to itself what was said to Him.
Paul does not say "so it is written." He says the Lord commanded us. A word about the future became a direction for the next step:
In Acts 13:47 you have a quotation from Isaiah. He calls that a commandment, though it was a word of prophecy; but the moment they understood it, it was a commandment. If they had words which gave them the knowledge of God's will, they really are commandments.
Not everyone would have read Isaiah that way. The same writer notes that this does not weaken the certainty of those who did:
We should notice this last point: the energy in action that spiritual understanding gives. Prophetic declarations turn into light and authority for action when the Spirit of God gives the true practical meaning — the application. Someone else might not understand it; but the spiritual man has full assurance in his own conscience from the word he has understood. He leaves the rest to God.
The words Paul quotes come from a passage where God's work meets refusal. His answer to that refusal is not a smaller plan but a wider one:
The original thought was to gather Israel, but Israel would not be gathered. Then God says, That is too small a thing; I will save the nations also. But Christ is first given as a light to the Gentiles. It is going out rather than gathering in. At any rate, that is the turn given to the passage now, under the gospel. While Israel is not yet gathered, Christ becomes a light to the Gentiles.
The verse works on two levels. Its full scope is still ahead, but Paul used it at once:
During the time of Christ's rejection by the Jews — while Israel is still scattered among the nations — God will give Christ as a light to the Gentiles, so that He may become God's salvation to the ends of the earth. No doubt the prophecy looks on to the Millennial blessing of the world for its complete fulfilment. But in the meantime the Spirit of God, through the Apostle Paul, gives these beautiful words an application to the present time.
Light and salvation are not two separate gifts here. The light is how salvation comes:
God brings Himself before the eyes of men in this Person. If we do not believe in Christ as the revelation of God we must stay in our natural darkness; we can never know Him. There is no other light. Jesus is the true light… And all this light is so that our souls may be saved. Jesus is set to be a light for the Gentiles, that He may be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Salvation is found in the knowledge of God; it cannot be known any other way.
Anyone who meets a closed door can reason the same way:
Paul and Barnabas say, Christ is our life. If it is true of Christ, it is true of us. If Christ, rejected by Israel, turns to the Gentiles, so should we. If one casts us out, let us take it meekly and turn to another. Where there is humble love, you turn from those who reject you, and you go where the door is open.
- Rejection: Israel would not be gathered. God called that work "too small a thing," and the refusal opened the way to a wider purpose.
- Light: God gave a Person, not a plan. There is no other light, and salvation comes by knowing God as Christ shows Him.
- Shared: God spoke the words to Christ, yet faith takes them for itself — so the two preachers could say the Lord commanded us.
- Command: A line of prophecy became an order the moment they understood it. Once you know God's will, you must obey it.
- Reach: The light reaches to the ends of the earth. Paul applied that in Antioch, its full scope is still to come, and every rejected servant copies it by going where the door is open.
And [those of] the nations, hearing it, rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord, and believed, as many as were ordained to eternal life.
The synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia pushed Paul's message away. So Paul and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles welcomed the news with joy. Then comes the line people have argued over ever since: those appointed to eternal life were the ones who believed. Older translations say "ordained" where the ESV says "appointed," and the writers below use that older word.
The move to the Gentiles was not an emergency measure after Jewish rejection. One writer notes that Israel's own Scriptures had already announced it.
The turn to the Gentiles, when the Jews would judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, was no afterthought in God's mind. The Gentiles who now heard that were glad. The Scriptures given to Israel held this announcement about them. Would the Jews boast that God gave His written revelation to them alone? In that revelation, it was now shown, mercy to Gentiles was foretold.
The joy here comes from people who were shut out for a long time. The same sentence also marks how far the offer reaches and who receives it.
For a long time the nations were both hidden and shut out. Now they are brought into view. They are the direct object not of law, as Israel once was, but of God's mercy in the gospel. God's righteousness is toward all, though it takes effect only on all who believe.
The same message reached everyone there, yet only some believed. One writer traces that difference to God's power working with the words spoken.
Such was free grace, poured out on all, leaving the strict limits of Judaism and directing itself to the whole world. But still the grace of God, mingled with faith, was necessary to make the truth enter the heart, so that it might be born of God. This is what happens here. The power of God accompanied the word and "as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."
Some readers flip the sentence around, so that believing comes first and appointing follows. One writer holds both halves together: Paul preached to everyone alike, and those appointed to eternal life were the ones who believed.
Why should we take one of these truths, and not the other? Or why should we seek to alter either? Some would say, Do not preach the gospel to all, only to the elect. Paul preached it to all alike, and declared that all who believe are justified. Others would change the second one, and say, As many as believe are then ordained to eternal life. But it is not so; "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Surely we have no right to alter God's word to suit human opinions.
No one could have picked out the future believers in that crowd beforehand. God's appointing comes first, but we see it last.
Many Gentiles did believe, and by that it became clear that they had been ordained to eternal life. We do not know who are ordained to eternal life, so we cannot foretell who will believe. When we find anyone really believing, we know at once that they are ordained to eternal life.
Some stretch this verse into a matching decree running the other way: that God marks others out beforehand for ruin. One writer answers that Scripture never says this.
Another error has caused trouble about election. Some hold that since certain people are ordained to eternal life, God must also have foreordained others to destruction. They call this "reprobation." But Scripture does not teach it. God desires that all men should be saved, 1 Timothy 2:4, and His election to life ensures that some will be.
Does this doctrine belong in a preacher's message to the lost? One writer draws a sharp line.
But then some may feel inclined to ask, "Do you want to set aside the doctrine of election?" God forbid. We only want to see it in its right place. We want it as a landmark, not as a stumbling block. We believe the evangelist has no business to preach election. Paul never preached election. He taught election, but he preached Christ. This makes all the difference.
- Refused. The synagogue judged itself unworthy of eternal life, so the preachers turned to the nations. Israel's own Scriptures had already foretold that turn.
- Offered. The gospel went out to everyone there. God's righteousness is toward all, but it takes effect only on those who believe.
- Given. Faith was not self-produced. The power of God went with the word, and grace made the truth enter the heart.
- Shown. God's appointing came first; their believing revealed it. We cannot read the list, so we know the appointed only when we find them believing.
- Guarded. The verse decrees no ruin for the rest. Election is a landmark for believers, not a hurdle in front of those still seeking.
And the word of the Lord was carried through the whole country.
At Antioch in Pisidia the synagogue pushed the message away, so Paul and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles. The result was not a smaller work but a larger one: the word ran across a whole district, and then stirred up fierce opposition.
Until now the message had gone to Jews and converts to Judaism who came to the synagogue. Then it broke past that boundary.
Jews and converts to Judaism had received blessing on the first Sabbath. On this second Sabbath the Gentiles shared in it too. And further, Luke writes, the Word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all that region. Like a river in flood overflowing its banks, the living waters were no longer held inside the synagogue and its congregation. They forced their way outside, beyond the limits of Judaism. A river in flood often destroys and spreads dismay. The preaching of the Gospel did the opposite: it found ready access to hearts, and brought everlasting blessing and boundless joy.
The turn to the Gentiles was not an impulse. The preachers backed it from the Old Testament.
These two messengers of the Holy Spirit quote the testimony of the Old Testament about God's purpose towards the Gentiles, of whom Christ was to be the light. They carried that purpose out by His power, and according to the understanding of it that the Spirit gave them. The passage is in Isaiah 49. There the opposition of Israel made the testimony of Christ useless to themselves. That gave God occasion to declare that this work was but a small thing, and that Christ should be a light to the Gentiles, and great even to the ends of the earth.
"the whole region" was not a quiet backwater. Antioch in Pisidia stood at a crossroads, which helps explain how far a message preached in one city could travel.
In those days Antioch in Pisidia had a strategic position. It lay in the heart of what we call Asia Minor, at that time the gateway between the Land of Israel and the great countries of Greece, Italy, and so on. In this region conquering armies, trading caravans, Persians, Romans, Turks, had travelled for centuries. It was a fit place for the Apostle to lift up his eyes, and look out on the Gentile fields, "white already to harvest."
This raises a question of credit. One writer answers it by dividing what man brings from what God gives.
The evil and the ruin are man's. All the good is of God's grace alone, and the believer enjoys it in His sovereign mercy. So the word of the Lord was carried abroad through all the country. And this roused the Jews, as usual, to a more systematic effort of opposition.
The spread of the word provoked a reaction. It came through respectable people, not the rough end of town.
The gospel went out through the whole region. This was too much for the enemy. So the Jews stirred up "devout and honourable women and the chief men of the city," and so raised persecution against these servants of the Lord, and drove them out of the district. In such matters the Devil does not always rely on the rabble of the slums. He does use them, but the most powerful opposition comes from people of high position and religious devotees, who do not know the grace of God in their hearts.
Losing your teachers soon after believing sounds like a disaster. Here it produced the opposite.
The prosperity of the work stirred up such a persecution that Paul and Barnabas had to depart. We might have considered it disastrous that these new disciples should get persecution and lose the preachers. But the work in their souls was so solid that, instead of being discouraged, they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Without a doubt disciples are more often damaged by prosperity than by persecution.
- Refused — the synagogue pushed the message away, and that rejection became the reason to turn outward.
- Released — no longer held inside one building, the word overflowed like a river past its banks into the whole district.
- Reasoned — the turn was not improvised; Isaiah 49 gave the preachers their authority to carry light to the Gentiles.
- Received — ruin is man's contribution; all the good belongs to God's grace alone.
- Resisted — the wider the word spread, the harder the opposition. It came from respectable and religious people, not the rabble. Yet the new believers stayed full of joy.
But the Jews excited the women of the upper classes who were worshippers, and the first people of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out of their coasts.
Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Antioch, and their success met no argument — only organised pressure. Here that pressure works through the city's most respected people, and ends with the preachers driven out.
The opposition did not begin with the women or the officials. It began with those who had already refused the message. One writer puts their logic in a single line.
Opposition is now stirred up, and it follows the apostles through all their work in these parts. People who will not receive the truth themselves will not let others receive it, if they can help it. And the Jews have enough influence with the Gentiles to turn them against the very men they hate for bringing blessing to the Gentiles!
Another writer asks the obvious question, then names what really drove them.
They despised the Gentiles. So why were they not glad that Gentiles were receiving what they thought was poisonous teaching? But they were moved by blind, unreasoning hatred toward the name of Jesus. That name was a challenge to their national pride. It was a cunning move: they stirred up devout and respected women, not the lower classes. Women are more easily stirred where religion is concerned, and they have influence over men. The chief men of the city were the main target of that influence.
The word translated "devout" has a set meaning in Acts. One writer explains who these people were.
In Acts we often find a form of the Greek verb that means "one who serves God." We point out this expression because it shows a class of people who were not Jews. They kept away from the emptiness and the filth of paganism, and they took part in the Jewish worship.
That background explains why these women were easy to stir up. It also explains how they reached the men who ran the city.
Judaism had drawn these ladies in, and it brought them huge relief from the uncleanness and the degrading follies of paganism. So one can understand how open they would be to influences stirred up against a testimony that left the law in the shade. And they would know how to reach the leading men of the city. Those men were of their own rank, and most likely close to them. So they could get the preachers expelled.
Choosing people of rank did more than get the preachers thrown out. It shaped what the city would think of them.
The aim was to cast a slur on the preachers. Women of position and men of rank in the place joined to drive them away. One can see what a handle this would give. "Poor ignorant people are easily led astray," it might be said. "But see how those who deserve respect treat such people! The intelligent and the influential at Antioch will have none of their teaching. If only we Jews made an uproar, people could blame our religious prejudices. But the honourable people of the town, men and women alike, oppose it — so there must be something wrong in it." The plot was crafty.
We tend to expect hostility from the gutter. Antioch shows the opposite, and it matched Paul's own past.
In such matters the Devil does not always use the rabble of the slums or the rough men of the streets. He does use them. But the strongest opposition comes from people of high position and religious devotees, who do not know the grace of God in their hearts. No opposition is so bitter and fanatical as religious opposition… Paul would understand this. Was he not the chief persecutor himself, when he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees?
Kelly sets the two sides of the conflict side by side:
But the Jews would not give up their envy. The greater the blessing, the more it galled their hearts… Faith looks to God and to the truth. Unbelief runs to influence of one kind or another — women on the one side, great men on the other.
The persecutors got what they wanted. They did not get the last word.
God allowed it, though He still held the reins in His own hand. The devotees of the old religion, and the devout women, with the chief men under their influence, try to cast out the gospel. The apostles shake the dust off their feet. This is a testimony of the justice awaiting those who rejected the grace and salvation of God. "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
- Envy starts it. People who refuse the truth try to stop anyone else from receiving it. The greater the blessing, the more it galled them.
- Devotion is recruited. The "devout" women were not Jews. They had turned from paganism to Jewish worship. That sincerity made them easy to stir against a message that left the law in the shade.
- Rank is the weapon. Reaching women of position meant reaching the leading men. Together the city's respectable people condemned the preachers, to make them look like frauds.
- Faith and unbelief part ways here. Faith looks to God and the truth; unbelief runs to influence — women on one side, great men on the other.
- God holds the reins. The city expelled the apostles, and they shook the dust off their feet. Yet the believers left behind were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Persecution could not take that away.
But they, having shaken off the dust of their feet against them, came to Iconium.
Persecution has just driven Paul and Barnabas out of Antioch in Pisidia. Before they leave for the next city, they shake the dust off their feet. What did that act mean, and did it close the door on the people they left behind?
The act had a settled meaning.
To 'shake the dust off the feet' when leaving a city that had rejected the servants of Christ was to leave that city to judgement. Not even the dust of their city would be carried into the presence of the messengers' Master. Matt. 10:14; Acts 13:51.
Should preachers do the same to a city today?
It was to be a solemn act of separation, giving up all identification with the city that rejected their Lord. Preaching the gospel today does not call for any such action, because the gospel goes to people in an evil world, not to cities.
The two men were not improvising an insult.
But the apostles gave way to the persecution and acted on the Lord's word. They not only fled to another city; they also shook the dust off their feet against those who persecuted them. Meanwhile joy in the Holy Spirit filled the disciples, who were left behind like sheep among wolves.
There was also a point where more preaching would have been wrong.
The Jews in Antioch blasphemed, so Paul and his companions left the city. The same thing happened again in Corinth (Acts 13:45-51; 18:6). They shook the dust off their feet and their clothes against them. This showed that no fellowship of the Spirit was possible at all. If they had gone on preaching the precious gospel of salvation in the face of this fierce refusal, they would have given what is holy to the dogs and thrown their pearls before pigs.
Was this God's final sentence on them? One writer says the sentence came later.
The book of Acts holds back the judicial side until Acts 28. There the sentence is spoken… Here it was still in progress, as the Jews were being put to the final test. One very significant act is recorded at the end of this very chapter — the shaking of the dust off the disciples' feet. It shows that, although no sentence was formally spoken, there was still a loud testimony to it. It was a hint that they had better beware, for their danger was as extreme as their unbelief.
What had Antioch turned down?
The great salvation was announced first to the Jews. If they despised it, and so proved to be despisers, the apostle would turn to the Gentiles… This happened in this same city of Antioch. There the Jews pushed God's salvation in Christ away from them, and so did not judge themselves worthy of eternal life.
The opposition also cost the apostles something:
The Jews now show their true character as enemies of the Lord and of His truth. So Paul and Barnabas shake the dust off their feet against them. The disciples, whatever their difficulties may be, are no hindrance to this. The stand the Jews take here… makes us understand what a source of grief and pain they must have been to the apostles.
The verse ends with movement, not retreat. Iconium would cost them too.
Iconium was a city in Lycaonia, in the centre of Asia Minor. Paul and Barnabas went there after they were driven out of Antioch of Pisidia. Large numbers of Jews and Greeks believed the word of God's grace… They had to flee for their lives, but they returned again. Acts 13:51; Acts 14:1, 19, 21… In 2 Tim. 3:11 Paul speaks of the persecutions he had endured at this city.
And the new believers in Antioch were not left in gloom.
However, they left many new believers behind them. They shook the dust off their feet as a solemn act and left for Iconium. Yet the disciples who stayed there were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Persecution could not take this away.
- Dust as judgement — Shaking it off left the city to judgement. Not even its dust would travel with the messengers to their Master.
- Dust as separation — The act broke every tie with a place that had rejected their Lord. Commentators note that the gospel today goes to people, not to cities, so it calls for no such act now.
- Dust as obedience — Paul and Barnabas gave way to the persecution and acted on the Lord's own word. To keep preaching into that blasphemy would have been throwing pearls before pigs.
- Dust as warning — The formal sentence came later, in Acts 28. This act was still "a loud testimony to it," telling them their danger matched their unbelief.
- Dust shaken, feet still walking — They went on to Iconium, where large numbers believed. Behind them, the new disciples had a joy that persecution could not take away.
And the disciples were filled with joy and [the] Holy Spirit.
Acts 13 ends in a city that has just driven Paul and Barnabas out. The last word, though, is not about their enemies but about the new believers left behind — and that word is joy.
Paul and Barnabas moved on to the next town. Notice what stayed behind them.
They left behind them many new believers. They solemnly shook the dust off their feet as they left for Iconium. The disciples who stayed behind were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Persecution could not take this away.
Losing your teachers and gaining enemies in the same week looks like a setback. One writer sees the opposite.
We might have considered it disastrous that these new disciples should get persecution and lose the preachers. The work in their souls, however, was so solid that instead of being depressed they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Without a doubt disciples are damaged more often by prosperity than by persecution.
Commentators differ on whom the verse describes. Some read it of the converts who stayed in the city; others apply it to the two preachers the city had just expelled.
After they faithfully preached the gospel at Antioch, the city expelled them. This is what the servant of Christ may expect, according to his Master's word. But what was the effect of this persecution upon the minds of these devoted servants? Were they depressed and discouraged? Did they think about giving up and going home? No — they were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. So the night only makes the pillar of fire shine out more brightly.
This verse describes what the believers were. Ephesians turns it into a command. One writer shows the difference in the original wording.
Look at how the believers at Antioch are described (Acts 13:52), and at the exhortation given to God's saints in the letter to the Ephesians (Eph. 5:18). A translation may not show the distinction, but in the original you can see it easily. Of believers we read, "they were being filled" (eplerounto) with the Holy Spirit. To the saints it is said (plerousthe), "be filled" with the Spirit. The first tells us what generally marked those believers. In the second the apostle reminds us what should mark Christians.
Other writers see these fillings in Acts as meeting a moment of need: "He took possession of them with special completeness, so that they could meet the emergency in the full power of God" (F. B. Hole).
Joy stands beside the Spirit in this verse. One writer names what else comes with His presence.
The Spirit's presence is connected with liberty, light, power and joy. So we read, "The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." Doubts, fears, and legal bondage flee away before the precious ministry of the Holy Spirit.
If their joy had depended on their circumstances, the persecution would have ended it. One writer points to its real source — the Lord Himself.
There is nothing like persecution for keeping the saints of God bright and near the Lord, and it is this that fills them with joy. Divine joy is not to be found in our circumstances here, but in the Lord Himself. Although Jesus was a Man of sorrows He knew what joy was. We read, "In that same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit" (Luke 10:21). That was when the seventy returned, and after the cities where He had done His mighty works had rejected Him.
One writer counts where this verse falls in Acts, and finds a warning in it.
It is very significant that the last mention of being filled with the Spirit comes in Acts 13:52, not even half-way through the book. That is a bad sign. It shows how decline sets in when things are left to man's responsibility. For all time we have the exhortation to us all, "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18).
- Filled, not emptied. The city drove the preachers out. The new believers stayed — and the chapter records them as full, not empty. Persecution could not take that away.
- Filled with the Spirit. The wording describes what generally marked them. Ephesians 5:18 turns it into a command: be filled. Other writers see the fillings in Acts as meeting a special moment of need.
- Filled with joy. Liberty, light, power and joy go with the Spirit's presence. Doubts, fears and bondage flee before Him.
- Filled from Christ, not from circumstances. Joy is found in the Lord Himself — the same Lord who rejoiced in the Spirit in an hour of rejection.
- Filled is the test. Joy under pressure shows the work in the soul is real. Prosperity damages believers more often than persecution does.