A Study of Acts: Paul Turns to the Gentiles
Acts 13:44-52; Isaiah 49:6 - We are to be the light of the world to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
“The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ ”
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13:44-52 NASB1995
A week after Paul and Barnabas preached in the synagogue, nearly the whole city has assembled to hear the word of the Lord. The Jews, who appeared to be receptive to the message when it was directed specifically at them, are now filled with jealousy when they see the crowds. They began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and they were blaspheming. Enduring Word has superb commentary about this passage:
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God: The scene is easy to picture. The whole city was ready to hear the gospel from Paul on the next Sabbath.
“In our day, people are overwhelmed with information. We have radio, television, newspapers, magazines. People did not have any of this in that day. So when somebody came through from another city, the person was a source of precious information and people naturally thronged about him. The missionaries were proclaiming something new.” (James Montgomery Boice)
Yet there was not merely the power of novelty; there was more notably the power of the word of God. This was the primary power that attracted people, and Luke emphasized it in his account.
The whole city came together to hear the word of God (Acts 13:44).
Paul and Barnabas spoke the word of God to them first (Acts 13:46).
The Gentiles responded to the word of the Lord (Acts 13:48).
The word of the Lord spread through the region (Acts 13:49).
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy: The dramatic response made the leaders of the synagogue envious. This is inevitable for those who are more concerned about being popular than serving God. When someone else is more popular, they become filled with envy. We can’t all be popular to the same degree, but we can all serve and please God to the same degree in Jesus Christ.
Contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul: Suddenly, Paul’s preaching was opposed as if he were conducting a debate, with his opponents contradicting him and blaspheming God.
The blasphemy mentioned probably has to do with abusive and degrading language directed towards Jesus, whom Paul preached.
They opposed the things spoken by Paul: It seems strange that these religious people who waited so long for their Messiah would now reject Him when Jesus was presented to them. One great reason was they wanted to keep the division between Jew and Gentile, and if Jesus was to be the Messiah of all men, they wanted no part of Him.
“They simply could not accept a teaching that opened such floodgates. For themselves and their adherents they could accept a message as God-sent and tolerate some change in their teaching and practice, but they could not endure that the Gentiles should be made equal with God’s ancient people.” (David J. Williams)
“The Jews could not endure that the Gentiles should be equal to them, being as much concerned against the Gentiles being exalted, as against their own being depressed.” (Matthew Poole)
Some people end up rejecting Jesus because of the way He changes our relationship with other people. Some would rather hold on to their bitterness and animosity towards others than turn to Jesus and be reconciled.
James Montgomery Boice, cited in this commentary, passed away in 2000, so he did not live to see how truly overwhelming “information” is now, with smart phones, constant computer access, mass media, social media and multitudes of blogs and websites and now the creeping insidiousness of AI (Artificial Intelligence). Thinking logically and rationally and filtering through the noise to see a fundamental truth is becoming increasingly difficult. People are locked in echo chambers, tend to favor conspiracies over simple explanations for events, and often forego reason in their perpetual rage. Our 21st century culture is built on cultivating envy, then establishing self-absorption and “self care” as priorities, and, finally, encouraging idol worship.
Precept Austin has a long list of quotes about the destructive effects of envy and jealousy in their commentary for this passage. Here are a few of those quotes; I think my favorite is the one by Martin Luther:
Envy eats nothing but its own heart. Anon.
Envy provides the mud that failure throws at success. Anon.
If envy were a fever, all the world would be ill. Anon.
Jealousy is the raw material of murder. Anon.
Many lovely things pass out of life when jealousy comes in. Anon.
As rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man. Antisthenes
If there is any sin more deadly than envy, it is being pleased at being envied. Richard Armour
Love looks through a telescope, envy through a microscope. John Billings
Envy is a denial of providence. Stephen Charnock
Envy is the sign of a nature that is altogether evil. Demosthenes
Envy is the greatest of all diseases among men. Euripides
Envy is its own punishment. William Jenkyn
Too many Christians envy the sinners their pleasure and the saints their joy because they don’t have either one. Martin Luther
Envy is a rebellion against God himself, and the liberty and pleasure of his dispensations. Thomas Manton
There are two sins which were Christ’s sorest enemies, covetousness and envy. Covetousness sold Christ and envy delivered him. Thomas Manton
There is no worse passion than envy. William S. Plumer
The cure for envy lies in living under a constant sense of the divine presence, worshipping God and communing with him all the day long, however long the day may seem. C. H. Spurgeon
Back to the passage: To have nearly the whole city present meant that the word spread rapidly from the sermon done by Paul a week earlier and some of the Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism were likely the reason. I could not find an estimate of the population in that area around that time in history, but this was a decent-sized Roman outpost. But now those Jews are jealous - they do not want to share a Messiah with the Gentiles, so they decide to reject the message. They cannot believe that God sees the Gentiles as equal to them, the chosen people.
Paul and Barnabas speak out boldly. They tell the Jews that it was necessary to preach this message to them first, but since they have repudiated it, the Jews judge themselves unworthy of eternal life! Paul and Barnabas will turn to the Gentiles and they quote from Isaiah 49:
“He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””
Isaiah 49:6 NASB1995
The Gentiles hear this and rejoice and glorify God! This part of the passage then has an intriguing comment that some would say points to the doctrine of pre-election: and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. This is, of course, controversial to many believers as the doctrine of pre-election clashes with other dogmas, where human free will takes dominance. However, you would have to blind not to see passages like this and ponder the deep and mysterious meanings associated with verses like this one in Acts (and there are many others in Romans, Ephesians, John, etc). I have excerpted below some key paragraphs from Gotquestions.org about who are the elect of God (the article is quite lengthy but definitely worth reading):
Simply put, the “elect of God” are those whom God has predestined to salvation. They are called the “elect” because that word denotes “determining beforehand,” “ordaining,” “deciding ahead of time.” Every four years in the U.S., we “elect” a President—i.e., we choose who will serve in that office. The same goes for God and those who will be saved; God chooses those who will be saved. These are the elect of God.
As it stands, the concept of God electing those who will be saved (predestination) isn’t controversial. It is a biblical truth (John 6:44, Romans 8:28-30, Ephesians 1:4-5). What is controversial is how and in what manner God chooses those who will be saved. Throughout church history, there have been two main views on the doctrine of election. One view, which we will call the prescient or foreknowledge view, teaches that God, through His omniscience, knows those who will in the course of time choose of their own free will to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. On the basis of this divine foreknowledge, God elects these individuals “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).
The second main view is the Augustinian view, which essentially teaches that God not only divinely elects those who will have faith in Jesus Christ, but also divinely elects to grant to these individuals the faith to believe in Christ. In other words, God’s election unto salvation is not based on a foreknowledge of an individual’s faith, but is based on the free, sovereign grace of Almighty God.…
Throughout Romans 9, Paul systematically shows that God’s sovereign election has been in force from the very beginning. He begins with a crucial statement: “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Romans 9:6). This means that not all people of ethnic Israel (that is, those descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) belong to true Israel (the elect of God). Reviewing the history of Israel, Paul shows that God chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau. Just in case anyone thinks that God was choosing these individuals based on the faith or good works they would do in the future, he adds, “Though they [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls” (Romans 9:11).
…
Ephesians 1:5 tells us that God “predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” According to this verse, the basis of our being predestined is not something that we do or will do, but is based solely on God. This predetermination is based on His sovereignty, unchanging character (Malachi 3:6), foreknowledge (Romans 8:29, 11:2), love (Ephesians 1:4-5), and plan and pleasure (Ephesians 1:5). God’s desire is that all would be saved and come to repentance (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9). He offers salvation to everyone (Titus 2:11) and has made Himself plain to everyone so that everyone is without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).
Both predestination and personal responsibility are true—God is completely in control, and humanity makes choices and is completely accountable for those choices. The Bible does not present these as irreconcilable truths (as theological traditions sometimes do). We learn that, if God elected those He foreknew, He both knows His creation before it exists and He determines important things about His creation. If God is great enough to be the Creator of all, then He is not stumped by the mutual existence of His sovereignty and human volition, choice, and responsibility.
Because of our shared experience wandering in the wilderness and then being approached by God, Steve and I admit to being intrigued with the concept of divine election. God worked hard to dig away at our skepticism and disbelief and replacing it with repentance and faith; the whispers of the Holy Spirit were there even at our worst times of apostasy. This does not mean we are Calvinists and it also doesn’t (in any way, shape or form) excuse believers from preaching the Gospel to anyone who will hear it because we obviously don’t know who is among the elect. There will be those, however, who choose to walk away and not be receptive to the message, no matter how many times it is repeated. The author of Precept Austin shared this story, which I’m sure is not uncommon:
Recall that Jesus had instructed His followers to turn away from rejecters (Lk 10:10-16). This principle still hold for us, beloved. As the Spirit leads there are those to whom we are to cease sharing the Gospel after being rejected so often and so vociferously or even violently. I had an uncle who was almost like a father to me, a man I loved dearly and when I came to Christ at age 39, I began to share the Gospel with him over and over. Then one day (and 30+ years later I remember this day as if it was yesterday), my uncle's face and voice turned angry and he told me that if I ever tried to tell him again about "my Jesus," I just needed to stay away from his home. So I stopped sharing. My family continued to visit over the years, but I never mentioned the Gospel again. To this day my heart is broken over his rejection for I fear that he died and entered a Christ-less eternity (he died suddenly and no one was around). Many of you can probably identify with my story.
Although the word was being preached widely in Pisidian Antioch, setting the cornerstones of a new church, once again the Jews incited the prominent men and devout women of the city to instigate persecution against Paul and Barnabas. They drove them from the city. Paul and Barnabas shake the dust of their sandals in protest against this persecution and move on to the town of Iconium (see map above, found on Precept Austin). They are filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Acts 14 will describe this part of the missionary journey in more detail.
One more commentary to end this devotional from Enduring Word:
And the word of the Lord was being spread: It was being spread through the efforts of Paul and Barnabas, but especially through the lives of these people being brought to Jesus Christ.
It’s remarkable to think that this church was born in a little more than a week. On one Sabbath Paul and Barnabas preached in the synagogue and there was a wonderful response. The following Sabbath there was a mixed response, some very hostile and some very receptive. They took the receptive ones and started a church that has lasted for hundreds of years and through that church, the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region (Acts 13:49).
Sometimes remarkable works of God happen quite quickly. We should be happy for such seasons of rapid progress in God’s work.
But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region: Wherever there is revival, the second group to be revived is the Devil. Jewish opposition was strong enough to force Paul and Barnabas to leave the area.
But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
But they shook off the dust from their feet against them: In doing this, Paul and Barnabas treated the city as if it were a God-rejecting Gentile city.
If Jewish people had to go in or through a Gentile city, when leaving the city they shook the dust off their feet as a gesture saying, “We don’t want to take anything from this Gentile city with us.” In this sense, Paul said “I don’t want to take anything with me from you Jesus-rejecting religionists.”
This rejection did not make Paul and Barnabas think there was anything wrong with themselves. They knew the problem is with their opposition, not themselves.
And came to Iconium: They carried on the work, going next to Iconium. All too often, rejection and opposition for the sake of the gospel makes us want to give up. But Paul and Barnabas responded with appropriate determination.
Filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit: Being filled with joy and being filled with the Holy Spirit go together. Paul and Barnabas had joy that contradicted their circumstances.
Paul is a great example of his own command to be constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
“The happiness of a genuine Christian lies far beyond the reach of earthly disturbances, and is not affected by the changes and chances to which mortal things are exposed. The martyrs were more happy in the flames than their persecutors could be on their beds of down.” (Adam Clarke)
Opposition to the Gospel makes Christians (including me) want to hide away from the world, but we commanded to be salt and light.
My next devotional examines Acts 14:1-7 - Acceptance and opposition near Iconium.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I thank You humbly for Your grace and love and persistence in bringing two apostates back to the fold. May we be filled with Your Holy Spirit and joy! Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Precept Austin was accessed on 11/4/2024 to review commentary for Acts 13:44-52.
Gotquestions.org was accessed to 11/4/2024 to answer the question, “Who is the elect?”.