Acts 13:1. Beginning of Saul's first Missionary journey. He visits Cyprus 1. _Now there were in the church that was at Antioch_ Rather, "Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there." We now come to the history of those three great journeys which the Apostle of the Gentiles undertook in... [ Continue Reading ]
_As they ministered to the Lord_ The word is the one usually employed by the LXX. for the ministerial services in the Temple, as it is also Hebrews 10:11, but the parallelism with the next verse, where the service here mentioned is described as "fasting and _prayer_," shews us that we are not to att... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse implies a solemn dedication service at the end of the ministration and fasting with which the devotions of the Church had commenced.... [ Continue Reading ]
_sent forth by the Holy Ghost_ A repetition which marks the solemn character which St Luke and also his informant attached to this new form of the Christian work. _unto Seleucia_ which was the seaport of Antioch at the mouth of the Orontes. See _Dictionary of the Bible_. _and from thence they saile... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when they were at Salamis_ Salamis was the nearest port of Cyprus for voyagers from Seleucia. It is at the eastern end of the island in the bay which is now called Famagousta. _in the synagogues of the Jews_ who were living in Salamis in sufficient numbers to need several synagogues. _they had... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos_ Probably teaching at other places in the same way as they had done in Salamis. Paphos was the capital of Cyprus, and therefore the residence of the Roman governor. It was the more modern city, not the old city of Paphos, to which Paul and Barnaba... [ Continue Reading ]
_which was with the deputy of the country_[PROCONSUL], _Sergius Paulus_ Under Augustus the Roman provinces were divided into two classes, one class of which (needing the presence of troops for their government, and the possession of which gave the Emperor the control of the army) was called imperato... [ Continue Reading ]
_seeking to turn away_[ASIDE] _the deputy_[PROCONSUL] _from the faith_ Sergius had not yet accepted the doctrine of the Apostles, though we may presume that both he and Elymas had heard much about their teaching since their landing at Salamis. Report going before had roused the proconsul's curiosity... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then_[BUT] _Saul, who also is called Paul_ The proconsul had been determined in his purpose, and Saul had come before him. At this point we first meet the name by which the great Apostle is best known throughout the Christian Church, and many reasons have been given why he assumed this name, and wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_enemy of all righteousness_ We may judge from this expression that St Paul recognized an earnest zeal for truth in the enquiries of the proconsul, and that his wrath against Elymas was not only for what he was doing at the present time, but for his long-continued leading astray of those who were de... [ Continue Reading ]
_the hand of the Lord_ Of the Jehovah whose ways he had perverted, for it could only have been after the Jewish faith that Sergius Paulus had made his enquiries of Elymas, who instead of teaching him to know the Lord, seduced him by his own pretensions. For the expression cp. Exodus 9:3 and Judges 2... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the deputy_[PROCONSUL], _when he saw what was done, believed_ He was convinced by the miracle and by the words with which it was accompanied, that the Apostles were teachers of the way of the Lord after which he had been seeking in vain from Elymas. We are not told that Sergius was baptized, b... [ Continue Reading ]
The Apostles visit Pamphylia and Pisidia. Mark returns to Jerusalem 13. _Now when Paul and his company_ Literally, "those around Paul." Henceforth the Apostle of the Gentiles becomes the central figure in nearly every scene of the Acts. _loosed_[SAILED] _from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphyli... [ Continue Reading ]
_But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia_ Better, "But they having PASSED THROUGH from Perga, came," &c. Pisidia lay inland to the N. of Pamphylia, and Antioch was in its extreme northern part, so that the verb "passed through" is very correct, for they crossed the whole d... [ Continue Reading ]
_And after the reading of the law and the prophets_ For the better understanding of what was here done, and also at the time when our Lord "stood up for to read" in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16), it seems worth while to give a somewhat detailed account of the manner in which the Law and the... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul's speech at Antioch 16. _beckoning with his hand_ Cp. Acts 12:17, where it is explained that the gesture is to procure silence. _Men of Israel, and ye that fear God_ The audience consisted of born Jews and proselytes as well as perhaps some Gentiles. See Acts 13:42. When the audience and the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers_ He commends his words to their hearing by dwelling on the historic facts of their national life as God's chosen people.... [ Continue Reading ]
_suffered he their manners in the wilderness_ This expression has the highest MSS. support. Yet the change of one letter in the Greek verb (reading ἐτροφοφόρησεν for ἐτροποφόρησεν) introduces a sense so much more beautiful, and at the same time so thoroughly in accord with the O. T. history and lang... [ Continue Reading ]
_seven nations_ They are enumerated (Deuteronomy 7:1) before the people went over the Jordan, viz. the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. In the latter part of this verse and in the next the oldest authorities read, "He gave thei... [ Continue Reading ]
_Saul …, a man of the tribe of Benjamin_ And to the speaker himself the same words applied. The forty years duration of Saul's reign is only to be gathered indirectly from Holy Writ, but Josephus (_Antiq_. vi. 14. 9) expressly states that time as the length of his reign, and as Ishbosheth, Saul's so... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have found David_, &c. This sentence is a combination and adaptation from two separate verses out of the O. Test. First, "I have found David my servant," Psalms 89:20, and "The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people," 1 Samuel... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus_ The word "his" has no place in the Greek text, and the oldest MSS. for "raised" read "brought." The promise alluded to here is preserved for us in Psalms 132:11, "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy... [ Continue Reading ]
_the baptism of repentance_ Cp. Mark 1:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whom think ye that I am?_ The oldest MSS. give "_What_think ye that I am?" For John's words, see John 1:20; John 1:27; Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Men and brethren_ Read "Brethren," see Acts 1:16, note. _to you is the word of this salvation sent_[forth] The oldest MSS. read "to us, &c.," and this is quite in accord with the language of Acts 13:17, "God chose _our_fathers." The Apostle through the whole address avoids, as far as may be, wound... [ Continue Reading ]
_they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not_ Cp. the very similar language of St Peter at the Temple gate (Acts 3:17), "I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your rulers.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they found no cause of death in him_ These words are a part of the declaration of Pilate (Luke 23:22).... [ Continue Reading ]
_all that was written of him_ The Greek is rather more full, "all the things which were written of him," meaning the various prophecies which received their fulfilment in the betrayal, harsh treatment, and the other circumstances that attended on the death of Jesus.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But God raised him from the dead_ This was the proof that God had now fulfilled the promise made unto Abraham and to David, that of their seed should one come, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed, even as St Paul says below, by being justified from all things, from which they cou... [ Continue Reading ]
_them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem_ The Apostles, and the body of Christ's followers, were drawn from Galilee, insomuch that, before the Crucifixion, Galilæans was a name by which they were known (Mark 14:70). _who are his witnesses unto the people_ The oldest MSS. read "who now... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we declare unto you glad tidings_ While the first companions of Jesus are His witnesses, we are His Evangelists, the bringers of good news. _how that the promise_, &c. Better, "of the promise," making this the direct object of the preceding verb.... [ Continue Reading ]
_God hath fulfilled the same_ Better, "how that God hath," &c. The "glad tidings" are concerning the promise, and the precise message which is the cause for gladness is contained in the announcement that the promise has been fulfilled. _hath fulfilled_ The verb in the original is a strengthened for... [ Continue Reading ]
_he said on this wise_ Better, "He [i.e. God] hath spoken on this wise." The words are from Isaiah 55:3. _I will give you the sure mercies of David_ Rather, "I will give you the holy and faithful (_mercies_) of David." There is no word for "mercies" in the original; but the word rendered "holy" is o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore he saith_ Better, " BECAUSE he saith." These words of Psalms 16 which David was inspired to utter cannot refer to David, and this St Paul proceeds to shew. Cp. Acts 2:29-31 notes.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep_ It is possible to render the Greek, "For David, after that in his own generation he had served the will of God, fell on sleep," but the A. V. seems better. For it must be borne in mind that the contrast which most... [ Continue Reading ]
_the forgiveness of sins_ Just as Jesus in His lifetime on earth declared that His miracles were only signs that "the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," so the Apostles preach concerning the Resurrection. Cp. Acts 10:43, the conclusion of St Peter's speech in the house of Cornelius.... [ Continue Reading ]
_lest that come upon you_ viz. a moral and spiritual overthrow as great as the destruction which the Chaldæans and Nebuchadnezzar wrought upon the land and people at the time of the Babylonish captivity to which the prophecy (Habakkuk 1:5) quoted in the next verse refers.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold ye despisers_ This is the rendering of the LXX. and some other versions. The Hebrew text gives, as A. V., "Behold, ye among the heathen." The LXX. either had, or thought they had, a different text. _a work which you shall in no wise believe_ It is the result of long-continued evil-doing tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Further preaching both to Jews and Gentiles. Jealousy of the Jews, and expulsion of the Apostles from Antioch 42. _And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought_, &c. The oldest MSS. give, "And as they were going out of the synagogue they besought, &c." The desire was expr... [ Continue Reading ]
_religious_(devout) _proselytes_ Perhaps applied to the proselytes of righteousness as distinguished from the proselytes of the gate. _persuaded them to continue in the grace of God_ as Barnabas in like circumstances had urged on the converts at Antioch in Syria (Acts 11:23). Here, though we have n... [ Continue Reading ]
_almost the whole city_ Shewing that the Apostles must have been diligently labouring both among Jews and Heathen during the intervening days, and giving additional probability to the explanation suggested above on Acts 13:42.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they were filled with envy_(jealousy)] The exclusive spirit, which was so engrafted in the Jewish race, asserted itself as soon as they saw the Gentiles gathered to hear the Apostles. The teaching of men who would admit all mankind to the same privileges, was abhorrent to them. For themselves and f... [ Continue Reading ]
_It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you_ That, as Christ came first unto His own, so His messengers should declare their glad tidings first unto Jews, but if they received not the word, then it was to be proclaimed to all who would receive it. _judge yourselves u... [ Continue Reading ]
_so hath the Lord commanded us_ And the Lord's command which the Apostle quotes is from Isaiah 49:6, which shews that from the prophetic times the reception of the Gentiles was made manifest in the counsels of God. Whether the words of Isaiah are referred to himself or to Christ it is clear that, al... [ Continue Reading ]
_and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed_ In the controversies on predestination and election this sentence has constantly been brought forward. But it is manifestly unfair to take a sentence out of its context, and interpret it as if it stood alone. In Acts 13:46 we are told that the... [ Continue Reading ]
_the devout and honourable women_ The conjunction is omitted in the best texts. Read, "the devout women of honourable estate." We read that in Damascus, and we may suppose that it was likely to be the case in other large towns and cities in which Jews abounded, the wives of the men in high position... [ Continue Reading ]
_shook off the dust of their feet against them_ This significant action, like that of the "shaking of the raiment" (Acts 18:6), implied that those against whom it was done were henceforth left to go their own way. Cp. Nehemiah 5:13; Matthew 10:14. _Iconium_ a city in Pisidia to the east of Antioch.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the disciples were filled with joy_ Rejoicing in accordance with the Lord's exhortation (Matthew 5:12) when men reviled and persecuted them, which was the very treatment which they had received in Antioch. ON THE JEWISH MANNER OF READING THE SCRIPTURES The Jewish division of the Scriptures is (1)... [ Continue Reading ]