Acts 13:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

NIV: From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.

NASB: But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

CSB: They continued their journey from Perga and reached Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

NLT: But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services.

KJV: But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.

NKJV: But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

With John Mark returning to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas make their way north from the port town of Perga to Pisidian Antioch near central modern-day Asia Minor. Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus (Acts 13:7), was from Antioch and may have suggested Paul and Barnabas go there next. Pisidian Antioch is one of five cities named Antioch; the other significant Antioch is Paul and Barnabas' base of operations in Syria.

Jesus chose Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15), yet in every city large enough to have one, Paul goes first to the synagogue (Acts 9:20; 14:1; 17:1, 10; 18:4; 19:8). He does this in part because he desperately wants Jews to be saved (Romans 9:1–5). But God's plan has always been that the Jews would reveal Him to the Gentiles (Genesis 12:3). In honor of that covenant, Jesus and His first followers are Jewish, and Paul offers salvation through Jesus to the Jews first. Some individual Jews will accept Paul's message, but the larger community of Jews as represented by the synagogues will not, so he will take his message directly to the Gentiles (Acts 13:45–47).

Paul's description of being in danger from rivers and robbers (2 Corinthians 11:26) may have come from his journey from Perga in Pamphylia to Pisidian Antioch. The rivers there are prone to flash floods, but the criminals were so prolific even Alexander the Great had trouble passing through. Not far from Perga is the rough western half of Cilicia. East Cilicia hosted Tarsus, a sophisticated academic city and Paul's place of birth. But in the western half were the home ports of thousands of pirates who had 1,000 ships and captured 400 towns. They so disrupted the grain trade that farmers quit planting and the inhabitants of Rome went hungry. Finally, the Roman council commissioned and equipped Pompey to act. He reportedly cleared out the pirates in eighty days, killing about ten thousand and settling the rest in under-populated areas where the people needed manual laborers. Though this had happened nearly a hundred years prior to Paul and Barnabas' travels, it's easy to imagine the area was still home to land-based brigands.

Acts 13 transitions Luke's account (Acts 1:1) fully into a record of Paul's ministry to spread the news about Jesus. The Holy Spirit calls Paul and Barnabas for their first missionary journey. They teach about Jesus' offer of forgiveness of sins on the island of Cyprus and in the district of Pisidia in modern-day south-central Asia Minor. Along the way, they face opposition, desertion, and persecution: themes that will follow Paul throughout his life. But they also experience the joy of watching the people they'd least expect come to a saving faith in Jesus.

The first chapters of Acts, save for a quick account of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:1–31), cover the ministry of the apostles, particularly Peter. Those passages also detail the spread of the news about Jesus from His followers. That message goes to the Jews of Jerusalem (Acts 2—7) and Judea (Acts 8:26–40; 9:32–43), the Samaritans (Acts 8:4–25), and God-fearing Gentiles (Acts 10—11). Now, Paul's contribution to the ''end of the earth'' portion of Jesus' commission in Acts 1:8 begins, as he and Barnabas start their first missionary journey. Luke will record two more of Paul's journeys (Acts 15:36—18:22 and 18:23—20:38) before settling in on his return to Jerusalem, arrest, and sea voyage to Rome (Acts 21—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''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 ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.