ACTS 13 (PART 2)
Read Acts 13:13-52
The two evangelists continued their journey into Galatia and the regional capital, Pisidian Antioch. Saul was now known as Paul (v9), perhaps to make him more acceptable to the Gentiles he was preaching to. Saul was a very Jewish name (the first king of Israel was named Saul) whereas Paul was a much more common name among non-Jews.
Luke now gives us a summary of one of Paul’s sermons for the first time. Paul started by giving a brief overview of the history of Israel bringing out God’s initiative and grace; “God chose our fathers” and “with mighty power he led them out of that country” (Egypt), and then mentioned John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ (v24). Then Paul spoke of the life and ministry of Jesus. Like Peter in the earlier chapters of Acts, Paul concentrated on the death and resurrection of Jesus. He pointed out that these were the fulfilment of scripture.
Having brought together history and scripture, Paul now came to the crunch point in vv38-41. “Through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you”. And then he said how; “Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses” (v39). What this means, and Paul would go on to explain this more in his letters, is that you cannot be saved by the law. The law can tell you where you have gone wrong but you will go wrong, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The way to be saved is to believe in Jesus.
This is the message that the world in which we live needs to hear. Most people in our secular society, if they think about such things at all, think they are alright with God because they are good people, they haven’t killed anyone, they give to charity and generally their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds. There is no concept of sin and the need for repentance. People are also reluctant to believe to believe in the grace of God with salvation being a free gift. They want to contribute to their own salvation somehow. A common question in the New Testament is, “What must I do to be saved?”. People didn’t understand grace then, and they don’t now.
Paul evidently grabbed the attention of his audience in Pisidian Antioch. Having preached once, we are told that “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (v44) on the following Sabbath. Some of them believed almost immediately and urged Paul and Barnabas “to continue in the grace of God” (v43). But while there was enthusiasm for the two evangelists, as ever, there was opposition. Some were filled with jealousy and resentment and contradicted what Paul was saying. All throughout history there has been opposition to the gospel. The gospel is challenging. The gospel is counter-cultural and people are often not willing to embrace it and change their ways. The chapter ends with the gospel spreading, but also, persecution increasing.