Chapter Thirteen –
First Journey of Paul
ACTS 13:30-41:
In our previous lessons, we began the first journey of Paul. It began in
Antioch
of Syria and from there; Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark went down to
Seleucia.
From Seleucia, they caught a ship to
Cyprus
and landed at
Salamis.
They would share the Gospel of Jesus as Christ in the synagogues of the
Jews.
As Barnabas
and Saul came to
Paphos,
they crossed paths with the proconsul and a sorcerer who had been acting as
his advisor. As the proconsul wanted to hear from Barnabas and Saul, the
sorcerer withstood them.
Saul, who
will now be called from this point forward, Paul; openly denounced the
sorcerer and struck him blind by the power of the Lord. This would give
cause for the proconsul to believe the words concerning the teaching of the
Lord.
Paul and
Barnabas left Cyprus and came to
Perga
in
Pamphylia
where John Mark would leave them and return to Jerusalem for unknown
reasons. From Perga they would travel north inland to
Antioch
in
Pisidia,
where they would go into the synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath. As the
invitation is given to speak, Paul is going to preach the Gospel and this
becomes Paul’s first recorded sermon, as Luke reveals it to us. We will look
at this sermon in detail in these lessons; please use this outline:
Outline:
16-22
– Introduction (History of Israel introduced).
23-25
– Jesus Proclaimed the Savior (Savior - “Participle”; in this case, not a
title, but a verb describing just what He will do!).
26-29
– Fulfilling prophecy.
30-37
– God vindicating His claim to be the Messiah by raising Him from the dead.
38-39
– Through Him, the remission of sins is preached.
40-41
– Summary warning issued.
Please use the map provided:
http://www.plvcc.org/articles_live_by_faith/acts_13_map.html
Part 2
Text #1:
Acts 13:30-37
-
God vindicating His claim to be the Messiah by raising Him from the dead.
“But
God raised Him from the dead.
31
He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to
Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people.
32
And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the
fathers.
33
God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up
Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’
–
Psalms 2:7
34
And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He
has spoken thus:
‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’
–
Isaiah 55:3
35
Therefore He also says in another Psalm:
‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’
–
Psalms 16:10
36
“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell
asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; 37 but
He whom God raised up saw no corruption.”
God’s
Testimony:
All the
while that the Lord was among His people and His people rejected Him, and
His claims (John
1:11); God was preparing to vindicate Him. This can be seen here
in Paul’s sermon by the testimony of the resurrection by eyewitnesses and by
God Himself long before it would transpire. Let’s take a look at the forms
of testimony in order to develop a true appreciation:
Eye
Witnesses –
Later in
the history of the Body of Christ (the church), Paul would write to
Christians in Corinth. In this letter Paul would spend a chapter speaking to
Christians among these Corinthians who do not believe in the resurrection;
not just of Jesus, but any resurrection. This should not surprise us as we
know that the Sadducees (a sect of the Jews) did not believe in the
resurrection (see:
Luke
20:27-40;
Acts
23:8); since there was a large synagogue in Corinth, it is not
even a stretch to think that many of the Jews there had been influenced by
this sect of the Jews.
As Paul
speaks to these non-believers, he first establishes something that even the
Jews would have to recognize –
“By the mouth of two
or three witnesses the matter shall be established”
Deuteronomy 19:15; note:
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received and in which you stand,
2
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to
you—unless you believed in vain.
3
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to
the Scriptures,
5
and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7
After that He was seen by James,
then by all the apostles.
8
Then last of all He was seen by me also,
as by one born out of due time.
Paul speaks
to a vast amount of eye witnesses to the resurrection of the Lord which
would occur for the forty days prior to His ascension (Acts
1:3). Eye witness testimony is the very method that we in our
society determine guilt or innocence and is vital to comprehend that our
faith in the resurrection of the Lord is not blind, but predicated on
evidence-
Hebrews 11:1.
Prophecy
– God Himself would actually testify of the resurrection of the Lord and the
vindication in a way that only He could be credited with; prophecy. Of all
the Christian evidences that we substantiate our faith by, prophecy should
speak volumes to the trust that we should have in God and His word.
Here Paul
speaks to two Messianic Psalms of David (Psalms
2:7;
16:10), and makes sure these hearing know, in the same way that
Peter did (Acts
2:29), that David by the Spirit (Matthew
22:43-44) is not talking of himself (Vs.
36), but of the Messiah of God.
He
additionally ads a prophecy from
Isaiah 55:3; which is part of the last of the four Great Servant
songs, speaking to the suffering victorious work of the Messiah (and it is
extended to all who come to God through Him, which is also verified in the
Gospel of Jesus the Christ –
1
Corinthians 15:20;
Hebrews 2:10-16). This in turn, verifies that David was not
speaking of himself, but of the Messiah of God.
Text #2:
Acts 13:38-39
-
Through Him, the remission of sins is preached.
“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through
this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins;
39
and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
This
portion of Paul’s sermon also coincides with Peter’s, note:
Acts 2:36-38
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this
Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to
Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we
do?”
38
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Text #3:
Acts 13:40-41 -
Summary warning issued.
“Beware
therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:
41
‘Behold, you despisers,
Marvel and perish!
For I work a work in your days,
A work which you will by no means believe,
Though one were to declare it to you.’”
–
Habakkuk 1:5
Peter would
state to the Jews that he and the other Apostles preached to on the Day of
Pentecost;
“Be saved from this
perverse generation” –
Acts
2:40; and in the second sermon;
“Every soul who will
not hear that Prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people”
–
Acts
3:23. Here Paul likewise warns these who would have been the
benefactors of God’s testimony from the
Psalms and the
prophets that they also had
better come to God through His Messiah, or perish!