Barnabas and Saul Commissioned

Acts 13

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Y’all must set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Then, after they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them off.

At Cyprus

So being sent out by the Holy Spirit they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they reached Salamis, they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant. When they had traversed the entire island and come to Paphos, they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is his name translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul (also called Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, a child of the devil, an enemy of all that is right. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now, look, the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, not seeing the sun for a time!”

Immediately mist and darkness came over him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what happened, he believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

In Pisidian Antioch

Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left from them and returned to Jerusalem. From Perga, they journeyed on to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if y’all have any word of exhortation for the people, y’all can speak.”

Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and said, “Men of Israel and those who fear God, y’all listen. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors. Hᴇ made them prosper during their stay as foreigners in the land of Egypt, and ʜᴇ led them out of it and with an uplifted arm. For a period of about forty years he endured their habits in the wilderness, and after ʜᴇ had destroyed seven ethnic groups in the land of Canaan, ʜᴇ gave them their land for an inheritance. This all took about 450 years. After this, ʜᴇ gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. After removing him, ʜᴇ raised up David to be their king. God testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.’ From this man’s descendants, God has brought the Savior Jesus to Israel, just as he promised. Before Jesus’s public entrance, John preached the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. As John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do y’all suppose that I am? I am not the one. But one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’

“Siblings, children of Abraham’s family, and those among y’all who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to y’all. For the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers didn’t know him, and by condemning him they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had completed all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are his witnesses to the people.

“We proclaim to y’all the good news of the promise made to our ancestors, that God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm,

‘You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.’+Psa 2:7

“And regarding that ʜᴇ raised him from the dead, never to return to decay, ʜᴇ has said: ‘I will give y’all the holy and sure blessings of David.’+Isa 55:3 Therefore ʜᴇ also says in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’+Psa 16:10 When David had served the purpose of God in his own generation, he fell asleep, was laid with his fathers, and experienced decay. But the one whom God raised up did not see decay. Therefore, let it be known to y’all, siblings, that the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to y’all through this man. Through him everyone who believes is justified from all the things that y’all could not be justified from through the law of Moses. Therefore, y’all must watch out that what is spoken in the prophets does not happen:

‘Look, y’all scoffers! Marvel and perish, for I am doing a work in y’all’s day, a work which y’all will never believe, even if someone declares it to y’all.’”+Hab 1:5

As they were leaving the synagogue, the people urged them to speak more about these things on the next Sabbath. When the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who spoke with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

The next Sabbath, almost the entire city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict the things Paul was saying and they vilified him.

Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to y’all first. Since indeed y’all reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the ethnic groups. For this is what the Lord commanded us,

‘I have set you as a light for the ethnic groups, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’” +Isa 49:6

When the ethnic groups heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed to eternal life believed. The word of the Lord was spread throughout the entire region. But the Jews incited the prominent God-fearing women and the prominent men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region. But Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust of their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.