1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon who was named Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, a relation of Herod the king, and Saul.
2 And while they were doing the Lord's work, and going without food, the Holy Spirit said, Let Barnabas and Saul be given to me for the special work for which they have been marked out by me.
3 Then, after prayer and going without food they put their hands on them, and sent them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they went by ship to Cyprus.
5 And at Salamis they were preaching the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews: and John was with them, helping them.
6 And when they had gone through all the island to Paphos, they came across a certain wonder-worker and false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus;
7 Who was with the ruler, Sergius Paulus, an able man. This man sent for Barnabas and Saul, desiring to have knowledge of the word of God.
8 But Elymas, the wonder-worker (for that is the sense of his name), put himself against them, with the purpose of turning the ruler from the faith.
9 But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said,
10 O you, who are full of false tricks and evil ways, a son of the Evil One, hating all righteousness, will you for ever be turning people from the right ways of the Lord?
11 And now, see, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind and not able to see the sun for a time. And straight away a dark mist came down on him; and he went about looking for a guide.
12 Then the ruler, when he saw what was done, had faith, being full of wonder at the teaching of the Lord.
13 Then Paul and those who were with him went by ship from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia: and there John went away from them and came back to Jerusalem.
14 But they, going through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia; and they went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and were seated.
15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the Synagogue sent to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a word of comfort for the people, say on.
16 And Paul, getting up and making a sign with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and you who have the fear of God, give ear.
17 The God of this people Israel made selection of our fathers, lifting the people up from their low condition when they were living in the land of Egypt, and with a strong arm took them out of it.
18 And for about forty years he put up with their ways in the waste land.
19 And having put to destruction seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them the land for their heritage for about four hundred and fifty years.
20 And after these things he gave them judges, till the time of Samuel the prophet.
21 Then at their request for a king, God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the family of Benjamin, who was their king for forty years.
22 And having put him on one side, he made David their king, to whom he gave witness, saying, I have taken David, the son of Jesse, a man dear to my heart, who will do all my pleasure.
23 From this man's seed has God given to Israel a Saviour, even Jesus, as he gave his word;
24 For whose coming John made ready the way by preaching to all the people of Israel the baptism which goes with a change of heart.
25 And when John was completing his work, he said, What do I seem to you to be? I am not he; but one is coming after me, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo.
26 My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those among you who have the fear of God, to us the word of this salvation is sent.
27 For the men of Jerusalem and their rulers, having no knowledge of him, or of the sayings of the prophets which come to their ears every Sabbath day, gave effect to them by judging him.
28 And though no cause of death was seen in him, they made a request to Pilate that he might be put to death.
29 And when they had done all the things said in the Writings about him, they took him down from the tree, and put him in the place of the dead.
30 But God gave him back from the dead:
31 And for a number of days he was seen by those who came with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses before the people.
32 And we are giving you the good news of the undertaking made to the fathers,
33 Which God has now put into effect for our children, by sending Jesus; as it says in the second Psalm, You are my Son; this day I have given you being.
34 And about his coming back from the dead, never again to go to destruction, he has said these words, I will give you the holy and certain mercies of David.
35 Because he says in another Psalm, You will not let your Holy One see destruction.
36 Now David, having done God's work for his generation, went to sleep, and was put with his fathers, and his body came to destruction:
37 But he, who was lifted up by God, did not see destruction.
38 And so, let it be clear to you, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is offered to you:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 13
Commentary on Acts 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
We have not yet met with any things concerning the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles which bears any proportion to the largeness of that commission, "Go, and disciple all nations.' The door was opened in the baptizing of Cornelius and his friends; but since then we had the gospel preached to the Jews only, ch. 11:19. It should seem as if the light which began to shine upon the Gentile world had withdrawn itself. But here in this chapter that work, that great good work, is revived in the midst of the years; and though the Jews shall still have the first offer of the gospel made to them, yet, upon their refusal, the Gentiles shall have their share of the offer of it. Here is,
Act 13:1-3
We have here a divine warrant and commission to Barnabas and Saul to go and preach the gospel among the Gentiles, and their ordination to that service by the imposition of hands, with fasting and prayer.
Act 13:4-13
In these verses we have,
Act 13:14-41
Perga in Pamphylia was a noted place, especially for a temple there erected to the goddess Diana, yet nothing at all is related of what Paul and Barnabas did there, only that thither they came (v. 13), and thence they departed, v. 14. But the history of the apostles' travels, as that of Christ's, passes by many things worthy to have been recorded, because, if all had been written, the world could not have contained the books. But the next place we find them in is another Antioch, said to be in Pisidia, to distinguish it from that Antioch in Syria from which they were sent out. Pisidia was a province of the Lesser Asia, bordering upon Pamphylia; this Antioch, it is likely, was the metropolis of it. Abundance of Jews lived there, and to them the gospel was to be first preached; and Paul's sermon to them is what we have in these verses, which, it is likely, is the substance of what was preached by the apostles generally to the Jews in all places; for in dealing with them the proper way was to show them how the New Testament, which they would have them to receive, exactly agreed with the Old Testament, which they not only received, but were zealous for. We have here,
Act 13:42-52
The design of this story being to vindicate the apostles, especially Paul (as he doth himself at large, Rom. 11), from the reflections of the Jews upon him for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, it is here observed that he proceeded therein with all the caution imaginable, and upon due consideration, of which we have here an instance.