Paul's First Missionary Journey

["Click here for scripure"]

The Call of Barnabas and Paul

["Click here for Acts 13:1-3"]

Our first lesson in Chapter 13, verses 1 thru 3, deals with the call to Barnabas and Paul to be missionaries. Notice how well God had ministered to the Church at Antioch. He had sent 5 very capable men, prophets, and teachers, to minister to that church. The first was Barnabas, and we are acquainted with him. The second one was Symeon (Simeon - Simon) often called "Simon the Black" because of the color of his hair. The third was a man by the name of Lucius of Cyrene, who many believe was the same "Luke" who wrote this book and the Gospel that bears his name. the forth was a man by the name of Manaen, who oddly enough, was a friend and companion of Herod Agrippa I, the one who had just died in shame. Manaen might well have had a high place in the court of Herod had he not chosen to follow Christ. The last of the five was Paul. These five men ministered to the people at Antioch.

Now it would appear that Simon, Lucius and Manaen were ministers of different congregations in Antioch and that they had met for a time of prayer and fasting and during that time, they were led of the Spirit to "set apart" or ordain Barnabas and Paul for missionary work. They both had been called into the ministry, but now the Lord had a special work for them to do.

So they called Barnabas and Paul in and told them of their instructions and after praying and the laying on of hands, they set them apart for the ministry to the Gentiles.

Cyprus

Our next 6 lessons deal with Paul's first missionary journey. Chapter 13, verses 4 thru 12, deals with Paul at Cyprus. Here we see Barnabas, Paul and John Mark leave Antioch and go on foot to the Mediterranean Sea to the town of Seleucia, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit. At Seleucia, they take a boat to the Isle of Cyprus. Barnabas, who at this time leads the group, probably steered that group there because it was his native country.

They dock at the town of Salamis where they preached the word of God in their synagogues. Now these two had been called to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, but here, they immediately go to the synagogues of the Jews. Why? They did not want the Jews to think that they were excluding them from their ministry. Rather they sought them out first that they might receive Christ and then aid them in their efforts with the Gentiles.

It would appear that they were not very successful in their efforts with the Jews, however, there were some who believed. To these, Barnabas and Paul left John Mark to minister. Marks duties were various. He went ahead of Barnabas and Paul and made arrangements for shelter and set up speaking engagements. Then he was to stay behind and assist those who had accepted Christ. He worked as a councilor to those who had questions about Christ. This was the kind of assistance that Mark gave Barnabas and Paul. As you can see he was very busy.

When they came to the town of Paphos, they encountered a man by the name of Bar-Jesus who is described as a Jewish false prophet. His name meant El'ymas which meant magician, sorcerer, son of Joshua, son of Salvation, son of pride and Fortuneteller. He was considered by the Jews to have some divine connection and to be able to prophesy, tell fortunes and find things that were lost.

He had many powers like the magicians in Egypt and here he attempted to demonstrate that he had the same powers as Barnabas and Paul, as the Egyptian magicians did with Moses. He had attached himself to the Proconsul of the Island, a man by the name of Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus was a Gentile, a governor of the island which was under Roman control. He had heard of the teachings of Barnabas and Paul and how the Jews were rejecting it and he became curious. He sent for them to come as he was interested in hearing their message.

Bar-Jesus had set himself up as a messenger from Heaven and outwardly denied that Barnabas and Paul had any connections with God. He attempted to keep the Governor from hearing the Gospel and when that failed, he tried to persuade the Governor from believing. Barnabas tried to be patient but Paul, who for the first is called Paul, shows his righteous indignation. Some believe that the Governor whose name was Paulus conveyed upon Saul the name of Paul as an honor for having led him to Christ.

But Paul got angry at Bar-Jesus. He also got filled with the Holy Spirit and Luke says that he looked "intently" at Bar-Jesus, the King James version says that he "set his eyes upon him", one commentary says "He had a burning Spirit", another says, "He had a Spirit of judgment", and still another, "His eyes were like a sharp sword". From these I believe you can get the message. Paul looked directly into the eyes of Bar-Jesus and called him an "agent for Hell".

Strange isn't it, a man with a name like Bar-Jesus which literally meant, Son of Jesus, actually was a child of the Devil. There were two characteristics of this man that made Paul believe that he was from the Devil. One, his craftiness. The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. Though this man lacked the knowledge of God, he was full of the deception of the Devil. Secondly, he was full of malice and mischief, using the wiles of Satan to try to defeat the doctrine of Christ.

Bar-Jesus did all this under the pretence of being "Godly". Matthew Henry says about this, "Those who are enemies of the doctrine of Jesus Christ, are enemies of all righteousness."

Then Paul charged him with mis-representing the ways of the Lord and down grading the teachings of Christ. He fed upon prejudices, Jew against Gentile. He suggested that the doctrine of Christ was uncertain and shaky, at best because it was unreasonable and impractical. He said that service was unpleasant, not realistic in "today's" world.

But Paul saw his problem and denounced his "hardened heart". Those who continue to deny the Lord after they have been "enlightened" by the Holy Spirit, harden their hearts to the extent that even when the most persuading of evidence is set before them, they cannot or will not see it.

Then Paul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, pronounced judgment upon Bar-Jesus, "Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you and you shall be blond, for a time." This was done for two reasons. Sense Bar-Jesus had shut his spiritual eyes by the hardness of his heart, it was fitting that God should punish him by shutting his physical eyes. Also this was undeniable proof to all of the association that this man had with the Devil and the position of Paul before the Lord. Actually, this was a very moderate punishment compared to his crime, he might very well have been struck dead. Certainly Paul was aware of this judgment for he had been struck blond for three days at his conversion, but Bar-Jesus was blinded for a season.

This, of course, was done to give him a chance to repent, and when his sight was restored, give God the glory. It does not appear that it happened that way, rather it appears that he remained blind and went around seeking people to lead him. His skills to lead others were gone, he could no longer even lead himself. Notice this judgment was described by Luke as a "mist" and "darkness". This judgment was used two other times in the bible, once on the sodomites when they persecuted Lot and a second time on the Syrians when they persecuted Elisha. It created more than just blindness, it created confusion and self-examination.

But the story did have a happy ending, verse 12 says, "the Proconsul believed", and two reasons are given. One, he saw what happened to Bar-Jesus and two, he was astonished at the teaching of Paul as he taught them the words of the Lord. It is interesting to note that the Roman Church made this Proconsul, Sergius Paulus, Bishop of Narbon in France, where Paul was supposed to have left him on his journey to Spain. However, very little evidence of this journey is found.

Antioch of Pisidia

This ends the events on Cyprus as Barnabas and Paul continue on their first missionary journey. From the Isle of Cyprus they sail to the mainland. They land at Attalia and go on to Perga in the country of Pamphylia, in southern Asia Minor. Something of note appeared to have happened here before they departed Perga to go to Antioch in the country of Pisidia. Here, it appears, John Mark leaves the company of Barnabas and Paul and returns to Jerusalem. He had been so useful on Cyprus and we are not told why he left and returned to his mother's home, but later we will see that Paul considered it a mark of immaturity and lack of dedication.

In Antioch, Barnabas and Paul seek out the Jewish Synagogue and on the Sabbath Day, met with the Jews. The usual service was had, the Rabbi read from two passages of scripture, one from the Law and the other from the Prophets. Then he turned to the visiting strangers, as was the custom, and asked if they had any words of wisdom to share with them. Paul had not as yet established his reputation and was not known but as we will see later, will become well known and as the result is not always asked to speak and even sometimes asked not to speak.

We see in First Thessalonians that his preaching often caused much "contention". However, this time they were asked to speak and that was all the invitation that Paul needed so he "beckoned" with his hand not only to achieve silence and get their attention but also to show his respect and interest in them.

He assumed that there were two types of people there. Orthodox Jews that he called "Men of Israel", and Jewish Proselytes, which he called "You that fear God". To this mixed group, he asks for attention. Notice he touches upon everything that might help these Jews to receive Christ as the promised Messiah.

He makes five very important points:

1. He reminder them that God had chosen them to be His favorite people and that He had delivered them and brought them out of the land of Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. God then gave them leaders, judges and kings who led them to defeat their enemies and made them a great nation. Notice the Jews accepted this point with open approval.
2. Then he went back to David and showed how Jesus was the "Promised Seed" of Jesse, the man after God's own heart, the Savior of Israel., and how they could not say that His coming was a surprise because John the Baptist had warned them and how the rulers of the people should have welcomed Him but instead they had Him crucified. He reminded them that on the third day, He arose from the dead and that they were witnesses of the resurrection.
3. Then he reminded them that the resurrection was a promise made to the "men of old" and had been fulfilled in their lifetime. This Jesus, he told them, was the Promised Messiah through whom all people of the earth would be blessed.
4. Then he pointed out to them that the resurrection proved that Jesus was the Son of God.
5. He reminded them that the resurrected body of Christ showed no corruption. This also proved that He was the Promised Messiah.

Having given them the full account of the Old Testament prophesy and showed them how this was fulfilled in Jesus, He told them that it was up to them if this Word was the promised salvation. If it is not the "word of salvation" for them, it will be because they rejected it. "Beware, therefore, do not become scoffers and perish." "God has sent His Son, the Promised Messiah, and as it was prophesied, Some of you will never believe even if one declares it to you."

Matthew Henry says of this, "Those who had the honor and advantage to have this work of salvation wrought in their time, did not have the Grace to believe it." History records for us yet another opinion from an outsider, "The dissolving of the Jewish nation and the taking of the Kingdom of God from them and giving it to the Gentiles, plus the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem and the dispersion of their people, was work that one would not have believed would ever have occurred considering how much they had been favored by Heaven." "All the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the enemy could have entered the gates of Jerusalem as they did." "This was the punishment given to the workers of iniquity especially to those that despised Christ."

Now verse 42 says more in the Greek than is here indicated in English. It would appear that some of the Jews became so angry at the preaching of Paul that they left the synagogue while Paul was still speaking.

Now the Gentiles were different than the Jews, they asked Paul if he would come back on the next Sabbath and preach again. It is not clear who these Gentiles were and what they were doing at the synagogue. They do not appear to be Jewish proselytes and up till now, Paul does not seem to take notice of their presence. So now that the Jews have left, apparently turning their backs on the Gospel, Paul is now free to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Now when the next Sabbath arrives, we see that not all the Jews had turned against the Gospel for verse 43 says many Jews and devout Jewish converts followed Paul and Barnabas and they were urged to continue in the Grace of God. Not only did the Jews show in force but the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God. Obviously, Barnabas and Paul had been very busy that week and word had gotten around.

Notice some came out of curiosity, some just to hear something new. Others, came just to see the reaction of the Jews to this new doctrine. Still others were led of the Spirit and were genuinely seeking the truth. Now, what about the Jews that had walked out of the last meeting? Well verse 45 says that when they saw all the people, they were filled with jealousy and tried to contradict all that Paul said. This was the same reaction that the Pharisees had when they saw the popularity of Jesus. When the Kingdom of Heaven was opened they not only would not go in themselves but they were angry because others did.

Barnabas and Paul seeing the reaction of these Jews, spoke out boldly against them. "We thought it necessary that the Word of God be spoken to you first, but sense you refused, we took it to the Gentiles. They both believed that the Gospel should be taken to the Jew first for Christ had come to save the "lost sheep" of the House of Israel and he had charged His Disciples to begin at Jerusalem, but now that the Jews had rejected them, they would go to the Gentiles.

Notice the result. Verse 48 says that when the Gentiles heard the Word they were glad and glorified the Word of God. It was good news to them. Most probably knew that the Jews worshipped the one true and living God and now, through the Gospel, they had access to Him, becoming a part of the "covenant community". So, many believed as the result of the preaching of Paul and were ordained to eternal life.

Notice what these new believers did. They spread the Word of the Lord throughout the entire region. Only the Gentiles would have gone to the "hodge podge" of humanity that lived around Antioch. There were Greeks, Romans, Siserians, Babylonians, even some Germans, Slavs and Russians from the north. The Jews were a proud and "separated" people, never would they have gone and witnessed to this mass of humanity, but the Gentiles did.

Well we have not heard the end of those who walked out on Paul on that first Sabbath. The Jews were a traditionally elite race of people and maintained a high position even in areas where they were not particularly liked. So what did they do to try to counteract what Paul was doing? They went to some devout women of high standing as well as leading men of the city.

These devout women were rich ladies who had been invited to become Jewish Proselytes and allowed to worship inside the gate of the synagogue, therefore they were called "devout". They were proud of their new found position and did not want anything allowed in Antioch that might jeopardize it. The leading men of the city, the judges, political and social leaders, enjoyed a financial arrangement with the Jews and they didn't want that disturbed either.

Notice the method that was used to get Barnabas and Paul out of the area. The judges had them banished form their jurisdictions, one at a time. Matthew Henry believed that this was the method that God used to keep these Apostles from staying to long in one place. So Barnabas and Paul leave Antioch and go on to Ico'nium. In leaving Antioch, they "shook the dust from their feet", which was a visible sign to their persecutors that they would have no more to do with them.

You might think with the expulsion of Barnabas and Paul with a warning that if they did return, they would be put to death, that these new converts might have given up, but it was very much to the contrary. Their courage and joy was all the more added as the result of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them, and Barnabas and Paul go on toward the east to the city of Ico'nium.

Previous Chapter

Return to Outline

Ask Questions

Next Chapter