Chapter 13
1. Every missionary must be born again, he must have trusted in the Son of God. More than that, he should understand how he was saved.
2. A missionary must be indoctrinated. This indoctrination means learning Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is the basis for true motivation in missions.
3. A missionary must be guided. He may be burdened for one country but ends up in another country. This often happens because God must guide where there is positive volition and where there will be a harvest.
4. A missionary must be separated. That is, he must be separated in his soul, which comes through Bible doctrine. He must avoid apostasy and be true to Bible doctrine.
5. A missionary must be adjusted to all the circumstances of his field—weather, food, smells, sights, language, living conditions. He must train converts to go out and reach others.
Verse 1 – “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch.” Antioch is now headquarters due to Jerusalem losing out through legalism. “There were” is
imperfect active indicative of the absolute status quo verb e)imi, and this verb means that this condition continued, kept on going. It was a stabilised condition. The imperfect tense means linear aktionsart in past time. In other words, this became a stabilised situation from which missions were launched. Missions have to be launched from a stabilised local church. Legalism neutralises the effectiveness of the Jerusalem church which is finished and washed up as far as the Lord’s service is concerned. The local church must operate on the principle of grace, and this principle of grace must be oriented to Bible doctrine.
1. Antioch had an obscure foundation—Acts 11:20. It was founded by men of Cyprus and Cyrene and there were no apostles involved.
2. The first man who can be construed as a church leader who went to them was Barnabas. Acts 11:22-23. So their first great leader was a grace man.
3. Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch. Acts 11:25-26. Barnabas had the gift of prophecy but technically he was not a pastor and teacher. He was smart enough to realise it. In this way the Antioch church had what every local church must have: someone who has the gift of teaching. The thing that sustains a church and makes it grow is the communication of Bible doctrine.
4. The Antioch church actually sent money to Jerusalem to help destitute believers. Legalism finally drags a church down, and many of the persecutions that came to Jerusalem were self-induced misery types based upon legalism. Legalism sponsors mental attitude sins. Antioch, the grace church, actually sustained the Jerusalem church in their time of need, which demonstrates something of how they were oriented to grace. Acts 11:29-30.
5. Antioch was taught grace from the start. Acts 11:23.
6. Antioch was prospered of the Lord by rapid growth and expansion. Acts 11:24.
7. The Antioch church was interested in doctrine. Acts 11:26. This interest in doctrine stabilised the situation and made it possible for the great missionary movement of the first century.
“certain prophets and teachers” – these are the leaders of the local church. Remember that they meet in various places in Antioch. Antioch was the third
largest city in the Roman empire. The gift of prophecy was more of the preaching ministry. It involved some eschatology but the primary concept of a prophet is that he has a message for the people of his own day. The gift of teaching is the gift of pastor and teacher.
There are three men mentioned in this verse who had the gift of prophecy. The first is Barnabas. His name is Joses and is from the island of Cyprus, according to Acts 4:36, and as an unbeliever he was a very wealthy man. The second one is “Simeon that was called Niger,” a Negro from North Africa. Remember that this church was founded by men from Cyrene and these are businessmen from North Africa. Niger is mentioned in Acts 11:20. The word “Niger” is the Latin word for black. Then there is Lucius of Cyrene.
The next two men have the gift of teaching. The first, Manaean, was an aristocrat. This is actually Menahem, a very famous person who was well known in the Roman empire. He was the foster brother of Archelaus and Antipas the Fox, sons of Herod the Great. Even though his two step brothers rejected Christ he personally became a believer, and eventually a teacher and one of the original leaders of the Antioch church. The fifth man is Saul of Tarsus.
Verse 2 – the selection of the first two missionaries. One is to be taken from each group—from the prophet group, Barnabas; from the teaching group, Saul of Tarsus. This is the beginning of missionary activity. “As they [all five] ministered,” is a present active participle. They were faithful in their ministry; they fulfilled their ministry daily before the Lord. The word “minister” is leitourgew, an Attic word which was used for an orator, but an orator at his own expense, a man who was willing apart from pay to take over the responsibilities of running the government. This is a very unique word for the leadership of these men. They had charge of everything in Antioch. They also fasted, but this doesn’t mean to go without food. They took time in Bible study and prayer so that they were prepared to minister. All fasting means is to take time devoted to legitimate and normal things and to spend that time in study.
“the Holy Spirit said” – He indicated that two of them were to be separated for missions; “separate me” – the word for separate is a)forizw [a)po = preposition of ultimate source; orizw = the word horizon, from which it means to set out a boundary], meaning from the ultimate source of God a boundary is set up. In other words, a person is marked out. There were five leaders and two of them were marked out—Barnabas and Saul. This means put a circle around them because they are going to be removed from the leadership of the church and they are going out on a missionary activity. God must be the ultimate source for sending out or picking out the person who goes to the mission field. Barnabas is the one who has the gift of prophecy and he has proved himself on the home front first. He is a leader. Missionaries must know doctrine, they must be oriented to grace, they must have leadership gifts.
1. Missionaries must be taken from the leadership gifts, and they must qualify on the basis of maximum knowledge of doctrine.
2. Only two of the five leaders were actually chosen. Someone has to stay behind and keep the home fires burning. There must be stability at home base for missionaries in the field.
“for the work” should be translated “because of the work for which I have called them.” They were to be sent out because of the work. Missions is a divine
work. “I have called” means “I have called them face to face.” So just as the Holy Spirit is responsible for appointing spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit is responsible for the placement of personnel on the mission field. Missionaries are chosen by the Holy Spirit, not by the church. The church supports them; the Holy Spirit chooses them.
Verse 3 – the ordination. In the ordination service the church merely recognises the sovereign decision of the Holy Spirit. “And when they had fasted” means that when they had devoted more time to Bible study and prayer; “and prayed, and laid their hands on them” – an ordination of identification, a recognition principle. The loxcal church recognised that these men had been appointed by the Spirit and that this was their responsibility; “they sent them away” – the word in the Greek indicates a dereliction: a)poluw, sent from the ultimate source. They were sent from the ultimate source of the church at Antioch. The church at Antioch made one mistake which later changed the headquarters from Antioch to Ephesus. Antioch failed to support financially its missionaries, and this eventually phased them out of the picture. Philippi was the first church that actually woke up and realised the importance of supporting missionaries financially. Cf. Philippians 4:15.
Verse 4 – “departed unto Seleucia,” the port of Antioch; “and from thence they sailed to Cyprus,” a Mediterranean island 140 miles long and 60 miles wide at its broadest point.
Verse 5 – Paul’s ministry in Cyprus. “Salamis” is the eastern seaport.
“they preached” – the Greek word used here for preach is kataggellw [kata = norm or standard; aggellw = to announce] which means to make an announcement according to an absolute norm. This means to give Bible doctrine. (Notice verse 12—“astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”) God’s power is found in God’s Word. This is in the imperfect tense in the Greek, which means they kept on announcing according to an absolute standard. The word really means to communicate dogmatically, to have an absolute and to communicate it as an absolute. This means that Paul and Barnabas had Bible doctrine in their souls.
“in the synagogues” – this is the first place they went to preach. This is a large city and it probably had more than one synagogue but they went to the Jews first, and the imperfect active indicative indicates they kept right at it; this was their job.
“and they had also John to their minister” – John Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark.
Verse 6 – “they found a certain sorcerer.” The word for sorcerer, magoj, means a wise man and sometimes it means a demon-possessed man. This is a demon-possessed man; “a false prophet” – he is a Satanic preacher; “a Jew, whose name Bar-Jesus [son of Joshua].” The word “bar” is Aramaic and it means “son.” Here is a man who has a great deal of influence on the ruler of the island, therefore we have the principle of Daniel 10:13, 20 where demon-possessed persons influence rulers. Sometimes the ruler himself can actually be demon possessed.
Verse 7 – “Which was with the deputy.” “Was with” is imperfect linear aktionsart, which means he is with him all the time. He is his advisor. Here is a demon possessed man advising the proconsul. His name is “Sergius Paulus, a prudent man,” i.e. a man of intelligence.
“who called for Barnabas and Saul” – Saul’s true name was Saul Paulus, just as this man’s name was Sergius Paulus; “desired to hear the word of God” – apparently he had heard their message, they had been on the island for some time now. The word for desire is very important because it indicates to some extent that this man, Sergius Paulus, some years ago reached the point of God-consciousness. God is responsible to give him the gospel, and he is going to hear the gospel and positive volition at the point of God-consciousness will become positive volition at the point of gospel hearing.
Verse 8 – “But Elymas [his Arabic name, meaning wise man] the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them” – “withstood” means to resist. In other words, he heckled them.
“seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith” – here is Satan’s man in the court.
Verse 9 – “Then Saul, (who is also called Paul) filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him.” Paul stopped speaking and glared at him.
Verse 10 – “And said, O full of subtilty and mischief.” The Greek is very sharp. The word “subtilty” means trickster, deceiver or rat.
“thou child [son] of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert” is not what he said. He said, “you will stop perverting the right ways of the Lord now.” Before the gospel can be made clear to Sergius Paulus the false teaching and the false teacher must be exposed and condemned through divine authority.
Verse 11 – “the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.” This scintillating person is suddenly running around like a buffoon, he can’t see and he is trying to get someone to guide him. This man is blinded immediately because there is a soul for whom Christ died who has positive volition, and that soul is going to be reached right then and there. A demon possessed man is now blind and the demons can’t steer him.
Verse 12 – what impressed the proconsul? The man being struck blind? No. “Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” It is the Word of God which is alive and powerful, not the miracle of blindness. Miracles are performed every day but the people do not believe. The thing that brought this man around was information. Doctrine simply means information—Bible information. The power of the gospel is not in miracles, the power of the gospel is in the Word itself. Therefore it was the message which reached this man.
Verse 13 – in their first missionary journey they are now leaving the island of Cyprus and are moving to the mainland. “Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos.” “Loosed” means they set sail.
“they came to Perga in Pamphilia” – it was this which frightened John Mark. Perga was in the area of a pirate-ridden coast, but slightly inland, and was more or less a pirate hang-out. The word that really causes John Mark to leave is the word “Pamphilia.” It is a coastal region of southern Asia Minor where there were some of the wildest men of that day. It was a place where very few travellers went unless well escorted by an army. Alexander the Great said that in all of his campaigns throughout the world the fiercest people that he encountered and the greatest difficulties he had were in the area of Pamphilia. The reason for this was that the people who lived on the coast were pirates and the people who lived up in the mountains were wild fighting men. John Mark didn’t have enough doctrine at the time to handle the situation.
“and John departing from them” – aorist active participle. The word a)poxorew [xorew = to desert; a)po = preposition of ultimate source], which means he deserted from the ultimate source of his own thinking. His human viewpoint thought too much of his life and not enough of the plan of God. He was guilty of mental attitude sins. In his case it was fear. He deserted from the ultimate source of his own thinking; he was frightened. It is impossible to live the Christian life and to carry around in the mind fear of anything, worry and anxiety about anything, or any of the other mental attitude sins. They completely disorient a believer as far as the plan of God is concerned. All of the ancient historians describe this area as one of the most dangerous of the ancient world. John Mark’s failure could have destroyed him except for one thing: his rebound and how again he goes out in the Lord’s service. Pamphilia is described in 2 Corinthians 11:26 by the phrase “perils of robber.”
“returned to Jerusalem” – this means to turn under subjection to something. The Greek word for return is u(postrefw [strefw = to turn; u(po = to be under the command or influence of something]. He was under the influence of human viewpoint as manifest by fear producing self-induced misery. It was a most miserable young man who went back to Jerusalem as a complete and total failure.
Verse 14 – “But when they departed from Perga [the port from which John Mark deserted], they came to Antioch in Pisidia.” Antioch of Pisidia is over the mountains. This is not the same Antioch from which they came. Paul and Barnabas went over these mountains in safety without any comment. They go through one of the most dangerous areas of the ancient world. Here is the Lord’s grace protection.
“and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down” – and now we see something of God’s purpose for their lives.
Verse 15 – the open door of opportunity. “And after the reading of the law and the prophets.” This was the custom in the synagogue. The word for reading here means more than reading, it means to read a passage and to comment on it, to explain what it means. It is not a verb here, it is a noun and therefore has great emphasis. We would say, “After analysing a portion of the Old Testament.”
“the rulers of the synagogue” – the leaders; “sent unto them, saying.” Seeing some strangers in the midst it was customary after some exegesis the people stayed in order to meet any of the visitors. The formal part of the service is now concluded and it was customary for one of the leaders to stand up and top recognise any of the visitors before they departed.
“Ye men and brethren [recognising they were Jews], if [1st class condition] ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on” – talk to us. The words “word of exhortation” actually means any kind of a message; “for the people” in the Greek means face to face with the people; “say on” – the Greek form for a polite invitation. It is an idiom which means, “you have the floor.”
Verse 16 – Paul is speaking to Jews, and since they have been studying a portion of the Old Testament scriptures, probably dealing with the history of Israel, he now uses this as his background for a gospel message.
“Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said” – he wasn’t raising his hand for silence, he was simply following a Jewish custom. He simply went through the normal procedure which a Jew would use when giving a public message. The fact that Paul uses Jewish procedure is to get his audience to relax. This is not simply a gesture for silence, but it is a means for establishing rapport.
“Men of Israel” – the formal way in which a Jew would address his own people. Then he puts in a phrase which indicates that he knows that this is part of God’s plan: “and ye that fear God.” This is Paul’s way of recognising that in Antioch of Pisidia there are definitely those who are ready to be saved, those who have gone on positive volition at the point of God-consciousness. This expresses itself in a desire to know God. All God-consciousness is achieved by human thinking and there is no such thing as a normal member of the human race who cannot reach God-consciousness. Paul was aware that there were men in that area who were ready to be saved; “give audience” simply means listen carefully.
Verses 17-23, the presentation of the gospel to these Jews.
Verse 17 – Christ is going to be presented as the God of Israel. Here we have God’s grace to the patriarchs. “The God of this people,” and while they are not aware of it yet “the God of this people” whom they know as Jehovah is Jesus Christ. Paul takes something which is familiar to these people and uses it as a way of presenting the gospel.
“chose our fathers” – aorist middle indicative. The aorist tense refers to a point of time in which they believed. The middle voice is reflexive which indicates that when they believed, when anyone believed in Christ in the Old Testament, God had a plan. The indicative mood is the fact that in the Old Testament there were millions of Jews who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was revealed to them as Jehovah. When it says He “chose our fathers” it simply means that God had a plan for born again people. The word for “choose”, which is election, simply is a way of describing the plan of God. In eternity past the omniscience of God knew that Abraham would believe but Nahor would not; Isaac would believe but Ishmael would not; Jacob would believe but Esau would not. Knowing this, God had a plan which in the Old Testament called for the progeny of these three to be the custodians of the Word of God. The “God of this people” is Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ Himself chose our fathers—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were born again. Israel was founded on regeneration, therefore it was obvious that God wanted every Jew in Antioch to believe in Christ. This is the true heritage of Israel. It is not the Mosaic law. The true heritage of Israel is the four unconditional covenants which are designed for born again believers only.
“and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt” – the fact that God had a purpose for Israel is quite obvious. For 400 years the 75 progeny of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in bondage. At the end of it some 2-million adults departed in the exodus. Slavery generally destroys a people, but there is an exception—only one, and that is on the operation of the grace of God. The principle is that they had their promises from God. They had their Bible doctrine and it was passed on from generation to generation. God gave them doctrine and promises, and in every generation there were maximum believers who moved into phase two with the faith-rest technique. They claimed doctrine and applied it, they believed the promises of God, and they lived normal lives under abnormal circumstances. They demonstrated that if you have Bible doctrine, whether you have the details of life or not is inconsequential. Their happiness was Bible doctrine in the soul, claiming and using and living by the Word of God.
In verse 18 we have “forty years” mentioned. This explains the chronology of the wilderness wanderings. In verse 20 we have “four hundred and fifty years.” In verse 21 we have again, “forty years.” The rulership of David is mentioned in verse 22. All of this adds up to the fact that we have a chronology given in Acts 13 which is entirely different from the chronology which is given in the Old Testament. Here we have the problem which we face before beginning the analysis of this section.
1 Kings 6:1 tells us that from the exodus through the third year of the reign of Solomon we have a period of some 480 years. However Acts 13:17-22, taking the actual years just mentioned, plus the implication of David’s reign of forty years, gives us a different story; we have 573 years. This leads to an apparent contradiction. In Acts 13 is a summary: 40 years in the desert (v.18), 450 years, the period of the judges, 40 years for king Saul, 40 years for David; and using 1 Kings 6:1 as the key we have three years into the reign of Solomon. That adds up to 573 years, as over against the statement of 1 Kings 6:1 where we have 480 years.
Actually, the explanation of this is very simple. When Paul is preaching he takes cognisance of the fact that the Jews were in apostasy during certain periods of the judges. On the principle of Isaiah 43:25 & 44:22 we have this principle: God says, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” This is the same principle that we find in 1 John 1:9. God blots out sin when it is confessed and when it is named. In Acts 13 Paul was addressing himself in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia to Jews who are in apostasy, and in doing so he included the apostate years in which God punished the Jews. These are actually periods in Judges where God spanked the Jews and gave them very definite discipline. This is included in Paul’s chronology in Acts 13 but excluded in 1 Kings 6:1 on the basis of the fact that God had actually blotted out the tremendous apostasy which had occurred. God had forgiven the apostasy and therefore the divine viewpoint is given in 1 Kings 6:1. In the passage in Acts 13 Paul recognises apostate Jews and therefore he includes the apostasy in his chronology. The actual case where they were judged for their apostasy: Judges 3:8, eight years of discipline; 3:14, eighteen years of discipline; 4:3, twenty years of discipline; 6:1, seven years;
13:1, forty years. This adds up to 93 years, and when you subtract 93 from 573 you get 480, which explains the difference in the two chronologies. So there is a wonderful lesson to be learned just from the use of the chronology which we find here: God blots out and forgets the sins which are against us when we confess our sins. The Apostle Paul, dealing with apostate Jews, includes their apostasy in his chronology, but God in speaking of the period of Israel’s history chronologically in the Old Testament recognises that their periods of apostasy had been forgiven, and therefore they are excluded from the divine chronology which is mentioned in 1 Kings 6:1.
Verse 18 – the word for suffering manners here is a compound verb, tropoforew [tropw = taken from a word which means to turn, to have a manner of habit; forew = to put up with, to bear], which means to put up with bad manners. God put up with the bad manners of the Jews for forty years. This is a statement of His marvellous grace. It demonstrates His capacity to love.
Verse 19 – God’s love demonstrated to the next generation. This is Joshua’s generation. The word “divided” means He distributed to them their inheritance. Verse 20 – Samuel the prophet was the last of the judges and the first of a new type of minister called the prophet who often had the gift of prophecy though
not necessarily the office of prophet. During this period there was great apostasy when God raised up judges [rulers, dictators, and the word is sometimes used in the Hebrew for a king] in order to carry them over this period. In a time of apostasy God had to raise up special men to hold the situation together, the people could not do it.
Verse 21 – God’s grace in the reign of Saul. “And afterward they desired a king.” Up to this point they were a theocracy, the Lord Jesus Christ personally administered to their country. 1 Samuel 8:5-9 describes the details of how they received a king: “so that we can be like other nations.” Israel was unique, the recipient of God’s love which had been expressed for centuries now. Yet the Jews rejected God’s love. When they expressed their desire to be like other nations they indicated their lack of capacity for love, their lack of ability to respond to the love of God, their disorientation to grace and to the plan of God. The plan of God called for Jesus Christ to rule the nation and at this point the Jews made a decision which postponed the reign of Jesus Christ over the nation until we get to the Millennium. Samuel was very upset about this matter because he understood the true issue.
“and God gave unto them Saul” – this really means that God acquiesced to their desires. They chose Saul; God permitted it.
Verse 22 – the story of Saul and David is the story of the contrast between a believer with Bible doctrine and a believer minus Bible doctrine. “And when he [God] has removed him [Saul]” – this has to do with the sin unto death. Saul is a perfect illustration of a believer without doctrine, and as a believer without doctrine he failed to understand and utilise the principle of rebound. At some point Saul got out of fellowship and from then on he was under divine discipline. He failed to understand God’s grace because he was ignorant of doctrine. Cf. 1 Chronicles 10:13, 14. It was impossible for him to live under the Word of God since he was ignorant of it.
“he raised up unto them” – the Greek says literally, “he raised up unto them the David for a king.” Aorist tense: at a point of time. It was a point of time which more or less describes Israel at its lowest period. The exodus period was an illustration of 2-million born again believers in a period of forty years, failing the Lord. They failed to use the faith-rest technique. Then we have the period of the judges, a period of great apostasy except for some believers. Both the period of the exodus and the period of the judges were periods of minus doctrine. The last of the judges was Samuel, and at this point was the beginning of the kings. The first king was Saul and his was a period of minus doctrine, a period of forty years of misery and apostasy. There were a lot of Jews who were believers but a minimum numbers of Jews actually getting with Bible doctrine. The words “he raised up” is a constative aorist tense which takes up a series of points of time. From the time that David was a little boy, somewhere he believed in Christ. He made the same decision that king Saul had made, and when he did he became interested in doctrine. We know from the psalms that he studied the word three times a day: morning, noon and evening. So by the time that David approached the throne he could be described as the antithesis of king Saul. He was plus doctrine whereas king Saul was minus doctrine. God raised up David. There was a series of points of time in which doctrine was constantly taken in. In raising David up there is the preparation: the orientation to the plan of God, the orientation to the grace of God through Bible doctrine. The words “unto them” is dative of advantage. It was to the advantage of the Jews to have some refreshment after so many difficult years of apostasy. It was David who brought home to the Jewish nation the impact of Bible doctrine and provided for them a marvellous and wonderful period in their history.
“to whom [David] also he [God] gave testimony” – God evaluates the life of David; “and said, I have found,” aorist active indicative. This aorist goes with the previous aorist, “I have raised up.” In other words, every time that David studied God’s Word and learned a point of doctrine is gathered together into a single whole, which we simply call plus doctrine. He was a prepared man. He was oriented to the grace of God. With the exception of Moses and the apostle Paul David had a greater understanding of the grace of God than any man who ever lived. He understood that everything depended on who and what God was and that nothing depended on who and what David was. He was oriented to the plan of God.
“I have found . . . a man” – the ordinary Greek word for “man” is a)nqrwpoj, but there is another word for man which is a)ndra, and it means man in the noble sense. In this case it means a believer with doctrine in his soul, a believer who is prepared for the plan of God, a believer who is oriented to the plan of God.
“after mine own heart” – the word “after” is the preposition kata and it refers to a norm or a standard or criterion. David is the standard of what a man ought to be with doctrine in the soul. God’s nobility can be described as doctrine—doctrine learned, doctrine understood. The word “heart” refers to the thinking of God—Bible doctrine. David did the will of God through doctrine.
“which shall fulfil all my will” – the Greek says “he shall do all my will.” There are some believers who do God’s will sometimes. David did the will of God all of the time. When he sinned he wasn’t doing the will of God, but when he rebounded he was. No one can do all of the will of God apart from rebound, apart from doctrine resident in the soul through its persistent intake.
Verse 23 – “Of this man’s seed.” This introduces the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the seed of David and Paul uses this expression to show the relationship between the Davidic covenant and its fulfilment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 89:20-37; 2 Samuel 7:8-16; “hath [the] God [the Father] according to his promise raised unto Israel” – the word to raise here means to bring to Israel. Brought to Israel is the Lord Jesus Christ in fulfilment of the divine promise; “a Saviour, Jesus,” His human title emphasising His humanity which died on the cross.
Verses 24-25, a reference to John the Baptist who was the herald of the King at the first advent.
Verse 24 – “when he had first preached” means to announce beforehand. To first preach in the Greek is simply a title for a herald announcing the coming of a king, and he did this before the Lord Jesus Christ appeared on the scene; “the baptism of repentance” is literally, “the baptism characterised by repentance.” It refers to a change of mental attitude. The character of this baptism was repentance. In other words, John only baptised those people who had changed their attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 25 – “And as John fulfilled his course.” This refers to operation phase two of God’s plan for John the Baptist. “Course” simply means a race, an athletic event. It is also used for Paul in 2 Timothy 4, “ . . . I have finished my course.” Every believer has a course in this life which terminates at the point of death or at the point of resurrection/the Rapture. It refers to the time spent on earth as a believer. Every believer is under the plan of God and every believer therefore has a course. The word “fulfilled” here is imperfect linear aktionsart, which means he kept on fulfilling the purpose for which he remained in this life.
“Whom think ye that I am?” John was a person who was the subject of a great deal of discussion. He was famous in his own day. He had to constantly emphasise the fact that he was not Messiah. So great was his ministry that many thought he was the fulfilment of the messianic passages. “I am not [the Messiah].” John was always oriented to the grace of God.
Verse 26 – now we go from the herald who was occupied with Christ to the object of his occupation. [vv. 26-37, Paul’s dissertation on the incarnation].
“Men and brethren” – he has now come to the main body of his message. Everything up to now has been introduction. Now he recognises his audience in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia. The word “men” refers to Gentiles. There were perhaps hundreds of Gentiles in the synagogue at Antioch, the reason being that they were seeking God. What Judaism has to say makes them realise that they are closer to God through Judaism than through heathenism. So we have here the principle of positive volition at the point of God-consciousness, as well as a delineation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. “Brethren” refers here to racial Jews. There were no believers when Paul walked into this synagogue.
“children of the stock of Abraham” – those who are descended from Abraham; “and whosoever among you feareth God” – a reference to the Gentiles, and the word “feareth” is used to indicate that he recognises that Gentiles present had positive volition at the point of God consciousness. This word “fear” is used a number of ways in the Scripture. Sometimes it is used in the sense of awe or occupation with Christ. Sometimes it is used in its literal sense of being frightened of something. Here it is used in the sense of positive volition at the point of God-consciousness. This is a present middle participle. The present tense indicates that when these Gentiles reached God-consciousness they immediately went on positive signals. The positive signals are described by the Greek word fobew which is translated “fear.” So far their positive signals had brought them into the synagogue. They had not reached the truth yet, they were still in the seeking stage. The middle voice: the subject acts upon itself, sometimes to benefit and sometimes to disadvantage. Here the subject is benefited by the action of the verb, and they are benefited by being positive at the point of God-consciousness.
“to you is the word of this salvation sent” – the word of salvation is always sent to any individual who at the point of God-consciousness goes on positive signals, regardless of geographical or linguistic barriers. This is an aorist passive indicative. The word to send is a triple compound verb, e)capostellw [e)k = out from; a)po = preposition of ultimate source; stellw – to send], to send from the ultimate source from something else. It means to send a perfect message from an ultimate source. The aorist tense refers to the point of time when Paul is fulfilling this point in the doctrine of heathenism. The passive voice means grace because no one ever earns or deserves this fantastic principle. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that when people go on positive signals at the point of God-consciousness God will provide information for those people.
Verse 27 – negative volition at the point of God-consciousness. Paul now tries to warn Jews in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia not to follow in the footsteps of religious Jews in Jerusalem during the time of our Lord.
“because they knew him not” is negative volition. They rejected Him; “nor yet the voices of the prophets” refers to the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is thoroughly revealed in the Old Testament. The OT revelation of Christ is different but is just as real as in the New Testament.
“which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them [the prophets] in condemning him” – this is a very dramatic illustration and is a special warning to the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia, some of whom are about to do the same thing.
Verse 28 – maximum expression of negative volition as a part of the illustration. We have negative volition again in the phrase “they desired,” or literally, “they demanded.” They demanded Pilate that he should be slain. This is an aorist middle indicative: the point of time when this occurred historically; they were not benefited by what they did; and the reality of the fact that as religious people they not only personally rejected Christ but they personally wanted Him removed.
Verse 29 – “And when they had fulfilled all that was written.” The Old Testament prophets wrote many things about His rejection.
Verse 30 – even though they did everything to eliminate Messiah from the scene God the Father has a plan, and God’s plan goes on in spite of the negative volition of mankind. “But [the] God [the Father] raised him from the dead” – the plan of God calls for Jesus Christ to be glorified. To be glorified He has to be seated at the right hand of the Father. To be seated at the right hand of the Father He has to ascend; to ascend He has to be resurrected. So the resurrection is a great demonstration of the principle that the plan of God goes on in spite of Satan, in spite of negative volition on the part of man, in spite of religion, in spite of everything that would seek to neutralise the grace of God. Nothing can stop it. “From the dead” indicates that this was a physical resurrection, not a spiritual resurrection.
Verse 31 – “And he was seen many days.” There are eleven times recorded in the Bible where Jesus Christ was seen. Acts chapter one tells us that Jesus Christ lived on the earth for forty days after the resurrection; “of them” or literally, “by them.”
Verse 32 – “And we declare unto you glad tidings.” The word to declare here does not mean to declare as we understand the word today, it is the Greek word which means to give a happy message: e)uaggelizw. This is sometimes called preaching the gospel. Gospel is simply good news.
“how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled” – the promise became, came into existence. The promise refers to every time that Jesus Christ was declared in His salvation role in the Old Testament. He was clearly revealed in Old Testament times.
Verse 33 – “God hath fulfilled,” perfect tense. It happened in the past with results that are secure forever. It means to completely accomplish a task, a mission or a plan. God completely fulfilled the plan which began in eternity past; “unto us” is dative of advantage. It is to our advantage to be in the plan of God from eternity past. This advantage means that as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ God has a plan for your life.
“in that he has raised up” means brought on the scene. The verb a)nisthmi means to bring someone onto the scene, to bring someone into the picture who wasn’t actually here historically. So it is used for the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, He was actually brought on to the scene; “Jesus” refers to the humanity of Christ. Jesus Christ as God has always existed, but Jesus Christ as humanity is brought on the scene in a point of time. The word “again” is not found in the original.
Then we have actual documentation from Psalm 2:7—“as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son.” This is a reference to the deity of Christ. The verb “Thou art” is the verb of absolute status quo, e)imi, and the present tense means that He always was; “my Son” indicates that Jesus Christ always existed with the Father; “this day” is the day of the incarnation; “have I begotten thee” – the word “begotten” is in the perfect tense, indicating the humanity of Christ coming into the picture.
Verse 34 – the resurrection. “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead.” Here we have the word a)nisthmi again, but this time the word “again” actually occurs, and the word “dead” occurs, indicating resurrection. So this means to be brought on the scene again from the dead; “no more to return to corruption” – in other words, the body of Jesus Christ is no longer subject to physical death.
“he said on this wise” – we have a quotation from Isaiah 55:3, “I will give you the sure mercies of David.” The sure mercies of David actually refers to all of the doctrine and all of the promises that were given to David during his life time. David’s life was a pattern of grace. David was given the Davidic covenant in which God promises David that he will have a son who will reign forever. The “sure mercies” means the “certain grace” of David—“the holy and trustworthy things of David” is what the passage actually says, and these refer to Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine was what sustained David and what made him great. It was the factor that overcame every failure on the part of David. The word “mercy” is simply grace in action, and therefore the “sure mercies of David” refers to Bible doctrine forming the principle of the grace life. The word “you” tells us that what was available to David in his day, was available in Paul’s day to the people of Antioch, is available today for any person who will believe in Jesus Christ and have positive volition toward Bible doctrine.
Verse 35 – “Wherefore he saith in another psalm.” This is a quotation from Psalm 16:10, “Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Psalm 16 in part deals with the Lord Jesus Christ; it is a messianic promise concerning the resurrection of Christ.
Verse 36 – a comparison is made with David. “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God.” Notice that the life of David was one of service, and this does not refer to the fact that he was the king of Israel, it refers to the fact that he was a believer with Bible doctrine in his soul. Because David knew Bible doctrine he was able to serve his generation and to fulfil the will of God. The will of God is the plan of God. This plan can only be understood by means of Bible doctrine. The more doctrine you know, the more you understand the plan of God for your life. The more you understand the plan of God for your life, the more you can do the will of God.
“fell on sleep” – sleep in the description of the physical death of the believer, and it is used to indicate that just as you go to sleep and wake up, so waking up is the resurrection body. Even though the physical body of David is in the grave the plan of God for David goes right on. David is absent from the body and face to face with the Lord, and therefore David’s life continues to be meaningful in phase three. There is no end to the plan of God, only a beginning. This brief interval of life on this earth is only a small part of the plan of God.
Verse 37 – “But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.” The contrast between David who does not have a resurrection body as yet, and the Lord Jesus Christ who has His resurrection body. 1 Corinthians 15:20ff, Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of them that slept, He is the first one to have a resurrection body.
Verses 38-39, Paul concludes his message with a presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 38 – “Be it known” means to keep on understanding this. The important factor in communicating the gospel is simply getting knowledge into the mentality of the soul.
“that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” – the word “forgiveness” should be “remission” or “payment” of sins. “Through this man we are preaching to you, sins are paid for.” In other words, sin is no longer an issue. The phrase “is preached” is present linear aktionsart, which means that Paul is going to keep on preaching this message wherever he goes.
Verse 39 – “And by him all that believe are justified.” Coming to the actual presentation of salvation there is only one word in the mechanics of it: “all believe.” This is a present active participle of the verb to believe which is a non-meritorious system of perception. The word “justified” means to be vindicated, and this is a present passive indicative which means to receive vindication. There are two kinds of vindication is the Scripture: the Romans type vindication which is salvation—vindication by faith; and then the phase two kind of vindication found in the book of James which is vindication by works—phase two, production of divine good. Divine good can only be produced in the plan of God by the power and assets of God.
“from all things” – the preposition of ultimate source, a)po, and the ultimate source of all things is the other aspect of the cross. The sins of the world are poured out on the cross and judged. The human good of the old sin nature is rejected. A)po has to do with human good. So we are delivered, not only from the sins of the old sin nature but from the human good of the old sin nature. There is no place in the plan of God for human good.
“from which you could not be justified [vindicated] by the law of Moses” – the only things the Mosaic law could produce is human good. The rich young ruler was full of human good. He was also full of personal sins, but he emphasised the fact that he was keeping the law. By keeping the Mosaic law he was producing human good and human good does not vindicate man in the sight of God.
Verse 40 – the closing admonition. “Beware therefore” – a warning now, because some of them will not respond to the gospel; “lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.”
In verse 41 is a quotation from Habakkuk 1:5 which tells us what Paul means here. It deals with the 5th cycle of discipline to the Jews. The Jews were going under the 5th cycle of discipline primarily because they were taking the Mosaic law and turning it into a system of salvation, which it was not. Salvation is by grace. The Jews were picking up the Mosaic law and trying to be saved, and therefore they were going into the 5th cycle of discipline. This brought on legalism. While the word “prophets” is in the plural it refers to a section of Scripture, the second section of the Old Testament canon. The word “despisers” refers to those who go on negative volition with regard to salvation.
“wonder and perish” – the word “wonder” means to be shocked. It is an aorist active imperative. The 5th cycle of discipline would be a tremendous shock to them; “perish” is an aorist passive imperative—“receive death.”
“for I work” – this has to do with the 5th cycle of discipline; “a work in your day” – the administration of the 5th cycle of discipline; “a work through which you shall in no wise believe” – when it comes they will be just too shocked to believe it; “though a man declare it” – meaning to communicate it in detail. The people of Habakkuk’s generation did not believe the warning of the 5th cycle of discipline, therefore they were shocked. The same thing, Paul says, is going to happen again and their only hope is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the only way that cursing can be turned into blessing is by means of regeneration. Paul warns these Jews not to fall into the trap of the Habakkuk generation.
Verse 42 – “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue.” The word “Jews” is “they,” and it refers to both Jews and Gentiles. It should be translated, “And when they were going out of the synagogue.” The present tense here means they were in the process of going out; “besought” – they kept on begging; “that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.”
Verse 43 – “who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God” – these people had already received Christ as saviour during the time of the message. The word “persuaded” is imperfect linear aktionsart and it indicates they are now learning basic Bible doctrine. They kept on persuading, following him right out of the synagogue, wanting to hear more. They were new believers and desirous of the Word of God. During the entire week, not just that afternoon, they came together for Bible classes because the word “persuaded” is in the imperfect tense, which means a continual, habitual activity. “Continue in the grace of God” indicates that as they received these basic doctrines during that week they began to apply them. This is just a way of saying that Paul continued to teach them Bible doctrine, which they began to apply to experience with the result that they began to live the Christian life. It was obviously the changes wrought by Bible doctrine that caused the jealousy which is described later in the passage.
Verse 44 – the beginning of indigenous missionary activity. “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” This is the impact of Bible doctrine. In one week’s time a series of Bible classes, the constant teaching of the Word of God, the new believers understanding and orienting to the grace of God, had impact. So we have an entire city coming out to hear the Word of God. It is the communication of the Word that counts. The power is in the Word.
Verse 45 – “But when the Jews saw the multitudes.” These are the Jews who did not accept Christ as saviour. Both Jews and Gentiles had responded but there was a hard core of Jews who had rejected the gospel message. The response to grace in Antioch was so great that the mental attitude sin of envy or jealousy occurred in the minds of certain Jews who had not believed: “they were filled with envy” – aorist passive indicative.
“and spake against” – they criticised, kept on speaking against; “those things” – they started out by knocking Bible doctrine, by rejecting it; “which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” – present linear aktionsart, they kept on doing it. In other words, religion cannot tolerate the truth, cannot tolerate grace. The only protection against religion is Bible doctrine and they refuse it.
Verse 46 – a change of policy as far as Paul is concerned. “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold” – once some religious group starts to bully, immediately they face an issue. Will they knuckle under to this thing? Will they compromise? Or will they stand up against it? The words “waxed bold” means to speak with confidence. The Greek actually says, “they spoke dogmatically with confidence.” The greater the opposition, the greater must be the dogmatism that emanates from Bible doctrine.
“but seeing ye put it from you” – this is the key to everything that we have in the next verse or two: “and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life” – he is speaking to those religious Jews who have rejected the gospel. “Ye put it from you” – this is the verb a)pwqew [a)po = preposition of ultimate source; the verb is e)qew which means to thrust], which means to thrust something from you from the ultimate source of self. It means “you have rejected.” This is from their own free will. What does it mean to “judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life”? The answer does not apply to the human race but it applies to anyone who goes on negative signals. Here it applies to Jews who of their own volition have thrust Christ away. They have refused the gospel. Their own negative volition is their judge. The Jews used their own free will to condemn themselves. All human good is “unworthy” of eternal life, it can never have any part in the plan of God.
“lo, we turn to the Gentiles” – some Jews responded, but apparently the majority of the Jews did not because of this negative volition.
Verse 47 – “For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying.” Now he takes an Old Testament Scripture, Isaiah 49:6, to show that they should and do have a ministry to the Gentiles. This is in the perfect tense, the Lord has commanded this in the past with the result that the command stands forever.
“I have set thee [appointed] to be a light to the Gentiles” – perfect tense, appointed in the past with the result that the appointment stands.
“that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” – salvation means eternal salvation; “unto the ends of the earth” means that there are Gentiles scattered all over the earth, some with positive volition, and Paul’s job was to go get them. The Jews were responsible for taking the gospel to the Gentiles, and because they failed in this the Gentiles came to them with weapons, and that is the explanation of the fifth cycle of discipline and even the fourth cycle of discipline.
Verses 48-49, the results of the second message.
Verse 48 – “And when the Gentiles heard this.” The word “heard” means they kept on listening—present linear aktionsart’ “they were glad” is literally, they kept on rejoicing—imperfect linear aktionsart. Religion cannot stand to see anyone happy unless it is attributed to them. Here are these people from all over the city who are rejoicing. They have inner happiness which comes from Bible doctrine. Hence, they glorified the source—imperfect linear aktionsart, “they kept on glorifying the word of the Lord.”
“and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” – “were ordained” is two verbs. This is called a periphrastic. The word “were” is imperfect active indicative of the verb to be, e)imi, which means that these people kept on being in an absolute status. In other words, when they accepted Christ as saviour their status remained the same forever. The word “ordained” is the real problem here. It is a military word, tassw. There is a better word for this than “ordained” which has been brutalised and destroyed by systems of theology. It is a military term that means to be under orders, and it also means to be assigned to a military organization or to get some kind of a permanent change of station assignment. The word is in the perfect tense: perfect passive participle. The perfect tense means we are assigned in the past. In eternity past God knew that we would go on positive signals in time. This is the omniscience of God which knew which way our free will was going to jump; He knew that we would believe in Christ. So what did He do about it? He set up a plan for them. He set up a plan for every believer who would believe in Christ, and this plan is delineated through Bible doctrine. Therefore we have the concept which is behind this phrase: “as many as were assigned.” God’s plan called for Christ to die. He knew who would go on positive signals and He provided a plan for them. The perfect tense simply goes back to the fact that God knew who would accept Christ as saviour and therefore took care of everything that could ever happen to the believer in time and eternity. The passive voice means that it cannot be earned or deserved, therefore there is no place for human good in the plan of God. It is strictly His plan and His work. The omniscience of God knew in eternity past who would believe in Christ, therefore He gave them an assignment. They were assigned “eternal life.” Eternal life is simply a way of expressing the plan of God. God is eternal; His plan is eternal.
Verse 49 – “And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.” It received saturation so that people could respond and be saved.
Verse 50 – “But the Jews [religious Jews] stirred up the devout [religious] and honourable women, and the chief men of the city” – they used politics; “and raised persecution against Paul and Banabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.”
But even though they were thrown out . . .
Verse 52 – those whom they left behind as believers “were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit.” Inner happiness based on Bible doctrine, and filled with the Spirit, which means they understood the basic techniques of the Christian way of life.