What does Acts 13:49 mean?

In Acts 1:8, right before Jesus ascended into heaven, He commissioned the apostles, saying, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The apostles and other disciples did receive the Holy Spirit soon after, on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4), and the message about Jesus and His offer of salvation has been spreading ever since.

Paul and Barnabas have taken that message to Pisidian Antioch in modern-day Asia Minor. They started in the Jewish synagogue where some Jews and many God-fearing Gentiles put their faith in Jesus. Throughout the next week, these new believers told so many people that when Paul and Barnabas came to speak again, "almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord" (Acts 13:44). When the leaders of the Jewish synagogue saw the crowds and grew jealous, they spoke out against Jesus' message, leading Paul to tell them that the story of the Jewish Messiah was going to the Gentiles (Acts 13:45–47).

Now, these Gentiles are spreading the news even farther. Pisidia is an unstably bordered area slightly southwest of the center of the peninsula. It seems to have been home to a hard people who were only finally subjugated when Caesar Augustus established a military colony there. Within decades of Paul's visit, the district was split up and absorbed into larger territories. Christianity didn't become firmly established in Pisidian Antioch until Constantine made Christianity the state religion in the 4th Century.

So, it's fitting that Christianity is opposed when it is first introduced. The jealous Jewish leaders convince the high-ranking women and leading men that this new religion is a threat, and together they drive Paul and Barnabas out (Acts 13:50–51). The disciples they leave, however, will be "filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 13:52).