This article is part of our weekly series, “The Book of Acts and the Church Today.” You can see all articles in the series here.
On their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas were deployed from the beachhead of Antioch in Syria. After clashing with a Jewish magician and witnessing the conversion of a Roman proconsul, they entered a city in central Turkey also called Antioch.
As usual, they entered a Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath day, where “the Law and the Prophets” were read. Synagogue leaders then invited Paul to expound the reading with a “word of encouragement” (Acts 13:15). Since the “Law and the Prophets” testify to Christ (Luke 24:44), Paul encouraged the listeners to follow Jesus.
Luke’s report in Acts 13:13–52 moves from Paul’s doctrine, to his demand, to the split decision of the hearers.
The Doctrine
Here’s Paul’s theme: Despite human unfaithfulness, God has fulfilled his promise to bless his children with salvation.
From Scripture’s first promise (Gen. 3:15), the faithful looked for a single deliverer to give them true peace. Later, God gave to an insignificant people a good land despite their treachery. God used special leaders to bless his children and keep alive the promise of deliverance and warnings against unfaithfulness. The last of these messengers “proclaimed a baptism of repentance” (Acts 13:24). Imagine a conquering king sending an ambassador ahead of his troops to offer an opportunity to surrender before the bloodbath. John the Baptist was that emissary. The one who came after John was so different from all of God’s previous rescuers that John wasn’t worthy to untie his sandals.
By both his affliction and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled all of God’s promises. Isaiah powerfully foretold of how the innocent one would be executed with wicked men and buried with the rich (Isa. 53:9; cf. Acts 13:28). But he would not stay dead. The prophet David wrote that God would not abandon Christ’s soul to Sheol or let God’s holy one see corruption (Ps. 16:10; cf. Acts 2:29; 13:35). After Jesus died, “God raised him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). He never decayed. The resurrected Savior showed himself to the disciples and many others “who are now witnesses to the people” (Acts 13:31), just as Scripture is God’s witness to us. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, the true seed of the woman, in whom all God’s promises of rescue are fulfilled (2 Cor. 1:20).
The Demand
You can hear the transition to application in verse 38: “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” Paul does not belabor the point that those who hear him are sinners. Sinfulness is felt. Everyone is looking for some way of salvation. But there is no other way than Jesus. No amount of faithfulness can make you good enough to stand before a holy God. The law tells you what to do but, because you don’t do it, it actually reveals your bondage to sin. Only faith in Jesus can free you from sin and justify you, reckoning you righteous in God’s sight because of Jesus’s righteousness.
But there is a dark side to gospel proclamation. The law and the prophets both proclaim the glory of Christ and pronounce a curse on disbelievers. “Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: ‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you’” (Acts 13:40–41). God offers his Son as pardon for sinners; those who refuse him refuse eternal life and choose to perish as under the force of an advancing army (see Hab. 1:5). God sets before us life and death, blessing and curse. He warns against death and calls us to choose life (Deut. 30:19).
In the chapter’s closing verses, Luke illustrates the answers to this choice.
The Decision
The message was initially popular. People begged for another sermon on the following Sabbath. The believers followed Paul and Barnabas, listening to how they might continue in God’s grace. “The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:44). People’s early reception to the gospel shows its goodness; it is obviously good news!
Tragically, out of envy, the Jewish leaders fulfilled the warning of Habakkuk 1:5—though they were told the message of God’s work, they didn’t believe it. Instead, they “began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him” (Acts 13:45). Later, they used political influence to “[stir] up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and [drive] them out of their district” (Acts 13:50). Their choice was disastrous: following God’s revealed trajectory, the apostles would turn away from the Jewish people. There is a day of salvation, but that day always comes to an end for those who aren’t interested.
That doesn’t have to happen to you. The gospel is a sincere offer of grace and the best news to all who trust it; those who believed “began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord … the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:48, 52). God’s grace is amazing! Despite human resistance to the gospel, “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). God’s promise is sure: follow Jesus and you too will be gathered in with the elect at the last trumpet call (Matt. 24:31).
