Book of Acts Lesson 25

Acts 13:4-12

I. Seven Themes

God the Father orchestrates (Acts 5:38-39)

Through Christ, who lives and rules

Through the empowering Spirit

Causing the word to multiply

Bringing salvation to all

Forming the church which

Witnesses to the ends of the earth

II. Forming the Church

The People of God

The First Mover

God’s Plan

Through His Son

By the power of the Spirit

Church is built upon God’s will and his word, the message of salvation

God acts in and through his people.

Stage 1: Restoring Israel (1-7)

Stage 2: Assembling Outcasts (8-12)

Stage 3: Welcoming Gentiles (13-28)

Welcome Gentiles (13-28)

Cyprus (13:4-12): island

Isaiah 49:1 “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.”

The island dwellers are welcome: the high and low society/ the educated and uneducated

Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:7 “He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.” )

governing authority / a man of high status

man of intelligence

Lystra: Rustic Town

Rustic town / mountain dwellers

Lame man: Acts 14:8–10 “Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.”

Response of the Crowd: Acts 14:11 “And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!””

True identity of Paul and Barnabas and Jesus: Acts 14:15 ““Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”

Philippi: Roman Colony

Roman Colony: Acts 16:12 “and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.”

Magistrates: Acts 16:20 “And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.”

Police: Acts 16:35 “But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.””

Lydia

Jailer

Athens: Intellectual Elite

Philosophic Crowd

Paul quotes their own poets and alludes to their traditions.

Christian movement is the superior philosophy.

Challenging them according to the resurrection of Jesus: Acts 17:31–32 “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.””

A church is birthed: Acts 17:32–34 “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.”

Ephesus: Center of Idolatry

Magical practices and the Artemis cult

Aprons used in healing: Acts 19:11–12 “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”

Evil Spirits: Acts 19:13-20

Acts 19:13–20 (ESV) Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Defeat of Magic by the name of Jesus: “magic has become obsolete … the books are emblems of a defeated regime.” (Susan Garrett)

Acts 19:20 “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”

Rome: The Heart of the Empire

Seat of Power

Testifies to kings and governors

The message of Jesus is available to all.

I. Sent by the Holy Spirit (v. 4–5)

Acts 13:4–5 “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.”

A. Paul and Barnabas are sent out from Antioch by the Holy Spirit.

Ralph Winters, “Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Mission”

New Testament Church / Modality /

Missionary Band / Sodality / Evangelistic Body

completely equal and separate partner in apostolic work of God

Paul’s sodality was created by the Spirit through the affirmation of the modality of the church in Antioch.

The use of apoluo in both verses to describe the actions of the church and the Spirit shows a co-agency in the sending of Paul and Barnabas.

Would it not be true to say both that the Spirit sent them out, by instructing the church to do so, and that he church sent them out, having been directed by the Spirit to do so? This balance will be healthy corrective to the opposite extremes. The first is the tendency to individualism, by which a Christian claims direct personal guidance by the Spirit without any reference to the church. The second is the tendency to institutionalize, by which all decision-making is done by the church without any reference to the Spirit. Although we have no liberty to deny the validly of personal choice, it is safe and healthy only in relation to the Spirit and the church.

Acts 14:27 “And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

Healthy parachurch ministry (Sodality) needs transparent and honest relationships with evangelical churches and should invite critique from those churches. Parachurch organizations are not above reproach. Defensive postures on the part of parachurch ministries are indications of illness. Parachurch organizations would gain much from submitting, as an organization, to the leaders of healthy gospel-centered churches.

B. They travel to Seleucia and then sail to Cyprus

Cyprus was the home of Barnabas

Barnabas was a senior partner in this journey.

C. Ministry begins in Salamis, preaching in the Jewish synagogues

Salamis and Paphos / new Paphos was the capital city.

Senatorial Province with a proconsul

These provinces were considered peaceful, secure, and well-established—there were no active rebellions or significant military threats. They did not require a standing Roman army, and therefore, were not under direct control of the emperor (who was also commander-in-chief of the Roman military). Instead, they were administered by the Roman Senate, hence the name senatorial provinces

Imperial Province: These were often border regions or unstable areas requiring military presence. Governed by legates (legati) or procurators, appointed directly by the emperor. The governors of imperial provinces had military authority and often commanded Roman legions.

A close reading of Paul’s letters suggests that it was his primary strategy to focus on the major cities in the Empire, the capitals and the Roman colonies in particular.

The strategy utilized was to go first to the synagogues. (13:14, 14:1, 17:1, 17:10, 17:17, 18:4, 18:19, 19:8)

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Synagogues - large Jewish community

D. John Mark accompanies them as their assistant

Acts 12:12 “When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.” Acts 12:25 “And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.”

Assistant / Acts 26:16 “But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,”

Acts 13:13 “Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,” Acts 15:39 “And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,”

2 Timothy 4:11 “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.”

II. Encountering Opposition in Paphos (v. 6–8)

Acts 13:6–8 “When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.”

A. They travel across the island to Paphos

B. Meet Sergius Paulus, a Roman proconsul—an intelligent man seeking to hear the word of God

Paul and Barnabas would have appeared to be traveling philosophers or rhetors, because they offered public teaching.

C. Elymas (Bar-Jesus), a magician and false prophet, opposes them

a magician

False prophet

Jewish

Syncretism in the Jewish faith in the 1st century / Acts 8:9 “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.”

D. Elymas seeks to turn Sergius Paulus away from the faith

A Consultant to the proconsul

Competition between Christianity and magicians

It sought to take advantage of this curiosity, and it offered to pagans a religion that did not require certain rituals (such as circumcision or the keeping of food laws) that would have immediately alienated them in obvious observable ways from their fellow Gentiles. It did not require temples, costly animal sacrifices, priests—the very essence of much of ancient religion. It could meet in homes, and its rituals were flexible. It is not surprising that in the course of the next two centuries it came to be seen by pagans as a much more appealing religious option than Judaism, ordinary magic, or various other forms of traditional and popular religion that existed in the Empire.

Elymas interceded because he feared he might be out of work if the proconsul accepted the word from the two missionaries. We are told he opposed them and tried to turn Sergius Paulus away from “the faith.

III. Paul’s Bold Confrontation (v. 9–11)

Acts 13:9–11 “But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.”

A. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, confronts Elymas

It is probably right to say that Luke has introduced the name at this juncture because now Paul will be dealing with Gentiles and will accordingly want to use his Roman name in doing so

looked intently at him

B. Calls him a "son of the devil" and "enemy of all righteousness"

Bar Satan

Poles: Bar-Satan and Paul

C. Declares God’s judgment: Elymas will be struck blind for a time

D. Immediately, darkness falls over Elymas, and he gropes for someone to lead him

The parallels with the experience of Saul himself are striking: (1) both strongly opposed God’s word, (2) both were struck blind for a time, (3) both were said to need being led by the hand thereafter

IV. The Proconsul Believes (v. 12)

Acts 13:12 “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.”

A. Sergius Paulus witnesses the power of God

B. He believes, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord

Luke 4:32 “and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.”

Luke intends with Paul, as with Peter previously, to show how they follow closely in the footsteps of their Lord in their teachings and actions and lives, and receive similar response.