Andy and Wes discuss the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas, and some events that happened during their time in Antioch.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to two journeys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is Episode 24 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled Paul and Barnabas and the First Missionary Journey where we’ll discuss Acts 13:1-12. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, we’ve really come to a hinge in the Book of Acts. From Acts 13 on pretty much exclusively we’re going to focus on the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, with the Jerusalem Council on circumcision being a mild exception because he factors into that as well. But we’re going to zero in on Paul. And here in the first missionary journey his partner is Barnabas. And we’re going to see the beginning of the aggressive outreaching of the Holy Spirit through the church to the gentile world, and that’s going to be very exciting. I think primary here we always want to focus on Paul, and he’s a great man, but we’re going to see especially the work of the Holy Spirit in doing the gospel advance. The Spirit’s going to factor very prominently in these verses, so I’m looking forward to that.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 1-12 in Acts 13.
Now, there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
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. 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 pro consul, 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. 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. Then the pro consul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Andy, what do we learn about the church at Antioch in verses 1-3?
Andy
Well, it was a richly blessed church, spiritual gifts aplenty. And the Holy Spirit gifts churches with gifted men and women who have spiritual gifts, a variety of spiritual gifts that make that ministry powerful. And this church at Antioch was a leading church in the entire Christian world at that point, which was very narrowly geographically focused on what we would call the ancient Near East, that part of the world near Israel. But this church at Antioch, we’ve already seen the history of how it got planted, and they have a lot of gifted men and specifically gifted teachers. And it’s fascinating because Barnabas and Paul, who we’re going to zero in on this, are tremendous leaders and teachers and the Holy Spirit separates them from their healthy local church, takes them from a fruitful ministry and sends them off. And they really never settle in at Antioch or minister there again. They visit, but the time at Antioch has ended. And so that’s a local church giving of its best to world missions. I learn a lot from it that way. So, this is a very healthy, fruitful church. And the church was willing to give their leaders Barnabas and Paul up for the work of the gospel.
Wes
Now what do we learn in verses 2-4 about the Holy Spirit?
Andy
there is an initiative and an intelligence and a purpose behind the Holy Spirit’s working in the life of missionaries, sending them out to the exact setting where he wants them to serve.
Well, the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity. He has an intention and a purpose here. He communicates and he speaks, “Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” And he has a will in this matter. He is powerful. And it is also his work to make Christ famous throughout the world. It is his work to take the finished work of Christ, the blood of the cross, and paint it on the doorposts and lintels of human hearts all over the world. It is his job to advance the gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. And we see him at that work here, and it’s going to say it twice the Holy Spirit speaks set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. And then it says the two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down and went on the ship. So, the Holy Spirit is very active in this missionary call. So, I think what it would say to me is specifically when it comes to missions, there is an initiative and an intelligence and a purpose behind the Holy Spirit’s working in the life of missionaries, sending them out to the exact setting where he wants them to serve.
Wes
In verse 2, it says that they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. And then again in verse 3 it says, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Why is fasting and prayer emphasized and then reemphasized in verse 3, and what other sending actions are done in these first verses?
Andy
Oh, those are great questions. So, the question on fasting is an interesting one. Jesus of course restricts fasting in his Sermon on the Mount in reference to people doing it in a very showy, outward way where everyone can kind of honor them and celebrate their piety. Don’t do that. When you’re fasting don’t let anyone know that you’re fasting. But put oil in your head and wash your face and no one will know. But it’s very clear that he wanted the church fasting. In another place they asked Jesus why he and his disciples did not fast, and he said, how can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he’s with them, or actually said mourn in Matthew’s gospel? He said mourn. And so fasting is a form of mourning for sin, but here I don’t sense any mourning. I think fasting also functions as a focus time.
It’s like we are so focused in on what we are praying about that we don’t want to eat. We want to do nothing but pray and seek the face of the Lord. So, fasting gives a sense of intensity and purpose in prayer. It’s not a sense of mourning or brokenness over sin here, but we really want to find out what God has for us to do. So, they’re fasting and praying, and it’s emphasized a couple of times here. And so, I think this is part of a healthy, pious, or godly life whereby we’re not focused on the world’s things, we’re not looking for great meals and all that. It says in Philippians 3:19, their god is their stomach. It’s pretty clear Barnabas and Saul and that church in Antioch, their god was not their stomach. They wanted to focus on the Holy Spirit.
Wes
What other sending actions are done at the end of verse 3?
Andy
Alright, so this is a working and initiative of the Holy Spirit, but it’s also very clearly working through the church as well. And so, we may need to ask, how do you think the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul?” Was there an audible voice? Maybe. Holy Spirit can do that, but more likely, I think in 1 Corinthians 14 we have the ministry of prophets. And it says right away here in verse 1, in the church at Antioch, there were prophets, and I think that’s how he did it.
The Holy Spirit spoke by the prophets telling the church what to do, but the prophets disappear. They’re not the point. The point is it’s the Holy Spirit that’s saying this. And so, a really gifted individual, a prophet could be a man or a woman because there were female prophets. Doesn’t say either way, but when the prophets were doing their work by the power of the Holy Spirit, it was as though they disappeared, and God Almighty was speaking directly through those individuals. That is a mark of Old Testament prophets, thus says the Lord, or this is the word of the living God, this kind of thing.
God the Holy Spirit was speaking through human agency. Then once the church identifies that this is an accurate word from the Holy Spirit because it says in other places, test every spirit and see if the spirit is from God. Is this something that the Spirit is saying, or could this be a deception of the devil? No, no, this is coming from God, the Holy Spirit. So, the church then got around it, they celebrated it, they embraced it. And so they fasted more and prayed more and laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them off. And they’re saying, we’re in on this too. We are sending you; we are a church that is involved and engaged in the mission that you’re doing. Now there’s a famous story many, many centuries later about the great Protestant missionary William Carey. And he was talking to his sending agency and the churches that supported the sending agency and all the Christians that knew what he was about to do, which is to go to this very dark pagan place, India and preach the gospel. And he said to them, the sending churches and the sending agency, I will go down into the dark hole of Heathenism, but you must hold the rope for me.
And so, the holding of the rope is a local church caring very much about Paul and Barnabas and the work they’re doing and praying for them and sending them off maybe with some finances, some other things. So, this was a human agency, but behind it all was the work of the Holy Spirit.
Wes
It’s a powerful picture and really a model for local churches today to follow in praying for, sending out, and staying connected with those who go out to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. What happens after Barnabas and Saul are sent off and why do they choose to go to Cyprus first?
Andy
Well, they go down to Cyprus because I think that’s Barnabas’ home area. Joseph a Levite from Cyprus, it says -that’s how we first met him. We don’t even know that his name is Barnabas first. We know that his name is Joseph, and he’s from Cyprus. So, my guess he has family, he has friends, he has some connections there, and he also knows of the spiritual needs of that island. Also, it’s the first main or significant island off the coast, the Mediterranean coast. It’s not a long voyage from Palestine or from Antioch. So, they go on to Seleucia and they’re on their way to Cyprus. So that’s my guess. They go there because Joseph/Barnabas knows that island pretty well.
Wes
Why did they begin at the Jewish synagogue in Salamis and what else do we learn from verse 5?
Andy
Alright, so it’s the regular pattern, and it’s stated in Romans 1, “To the Jew first and also to the Gentiles.” So, there’s this sense of Paul did this again and again. If there was a Jewish synagogue in a place, and there wasn’t always, but if there was, he’s going to go there first. And the idea there is he wants to proclaim the good news of Jesus as the Messiah to his brother Jews. And also, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He wants to recruit laborers for the harvest field. They’re going to be individuals who will believe it, and they will follow and do the work of the gospel. So, he goes there first. We also learned that John is with them as their helper. And we know from a fuller reading of the Book of Acts we’re talking about John Mark, who we learn also from church history and from tradition was the author of the Gospel of Mark. So, John is there, he’s going to help them, but he’s also going to be a bone of contention between Paul and Barnabas right before the second missionary journey. So, we’ll get to that in due time.
Wes
Interestingly, Luke skips over their ministry throughout the whole island of Cyprus. The text merely says that they traveled through the whole island as far as Pathos. What do we learn about Bar-Jesus, or Elymas, and Sergius Paulus in verses 6-8?
Andy
Alright, so we are introduced to this man Bar-Jesus, and he’s called a Jewish sorcerer in my translation, I don’t know what yours says there in verse 6, false prophet, false prophet. But before that, Jewish magician. So, I think the same thing with Simon in Acts 8, and again the Pharaoh’s magicians who are able to do supernatural work. So, I think there are individuals that have in some very scary way harnessed demonic powers.
And so, this guy I think is one of them. He has the ability to tap into demonic power and to do some amazing things. And so, there are more things in this world in this universe than we know of. We in the western world tend to denigrate the middle realm of angels and demons and don’t think much about it. But I think that this man had some supernatural abilities; he’s also a false prophet. But in any case, he’s an evil man, he’s an enemy and we’re going to see that in this account. So, they come to this place Pathos, and they meet up with Bar-Jesus and he’s an attendant or connected with the proconsul, the Roman ruler of the island of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus.
Wes
Why is Luke careful to tell us that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke so sharply against Elymas and condemned him to blindness? What does this teach us about the Holy Spirit?
Andy
Yeah, it’s very, very important. Again, the Spirit is mentioned here. He’s filled with the Holy Spirit and he’s going to say some things that ordinarily we would think are unloving. Nice Christians don’t say things like that, it’s like, wow. I think there is a time and a place for, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath (Matthew 3:7)?” Or “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, you hypocrites, you are like whitewashed tombs,” Jesus said Matthew 23:27. Here we’ve got another example of very sharp rebuking speech, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right,” very strong, sharp word spoken and by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a consuming fire. The Holy Spirit is powerful.
Also in Acts 4, when Peter and John are very bold with the enemies of the gospel, he said, “He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.” Again, the Holy Spirit doesn’t cause individuals to be weak or wimpy, nice doormats not at all. The Holy Spirit is a consuming fire. The Holy Spirit is powerful. Now, we shouldn’t therefore give permission to ourselves to use this type of a very strong speech. It’s very rare that we would find an unconverted person that we think it best to give this kind of leveling rebuke. But there’s special circumstances here. Sergius Paulus wasn’t a believer, and they don’t level him, but this man was aggressively actively opposing the gospel and the Holy Spirit causes Paul to rise up boldly and strongly to confront him clearly.
Wes
Andy let’s lean into that just a little more. I think that’s helpful. Sometimes we can read something like this and think, oh, this gives me permission to, in the Spirit speak this way to certain people. How can we reconcile Paul’s strong words to Elymas with the Spirit-filled life that we’re called to as followers of Jesus?
Andy
Right? I want to start with this. Fundamentally, we need to get rid of as best we can, get rid of all fear of man when we do evangelism, and that’s a worthy goal. We should not be afraid of anyone. But that doesn’t mean that we should be this kind of sharp or rebuking to anyone or everyone. It’s just not the norm. Generally, we’re going to deal with people in kindness and gentleness and love, but we also need to realize from time to time there is an opportunity or a need to speak like this. So, I think you just need to know yourself. I know people, personalities that jump on these kinds of things and they throw their weight around almost as if they are prophets and they can just level people left and right. I think that as you said, giving yourself permission to be like that is a very great mistake.
But fundamentally as we look at the work of the prophets in the Old Testament, they are commanded to not be afraid of the people they’re going with. Ezekiel is a very good example. Do not be afraid. The Lord says to him, though, you are surrounded by briers and thorns and those scorpions are against you. Do not fear them. Do not be afraid of their words or anything about them. Be bold, be strong and be courageous. So, I think what I want to do is fundamentally get rid of fear of man. Clearly preach the gospel to individuals, love them, be kind to them, be gentle when we can. But if they start rising up or if they start opposing, then there’s some more courage that we may need.
And then ultimately Jesus said, “Do not give dogs what a sacred, do not cast your pearls before pigs. If they do, if you do, they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6). So, I think there’s time not necessarily for sharply rebuking and vigorously opposing an enemy of the gospel, but saying, look, I’m just not going to preach to such a hostile person. So, there’s a whole array of responses here, but to sum up, I think we need to be very careful giving ourselves permission for this kind of bold speech to unconverted people.
Wes
Now, verse 9 also has an important fact in it that we don’t want to move too quickly past. Does this verse mention a name change? I know this is a question that’s probably pressing on many of our listeners’ minds, and as we study through this. Pastor, we say, oh, there it is, verse 9- Paul, Saul, help us understand what we’re seeing here.
Andy
Yeah, it’s in verse 9 of chapter 13. It’s not in Acts 9 and it’s not in Acts 22, and it’s not in Acts 26 of three conversion stories. So, I have no sympathy for Saul becomes Paul stories. Saul didn’t become Paul. Saul, I think always was Paul. He worked. He moved in two, broadly speaking, two realms, a Jewish realm and a gentile realm. And I think now that we’re moving so vigorously into the gentile realm, we’re going to have him more and more being called Paul. Now we need to understand he had long been converted by the time that the Holy Spirit said at the beginning of this very chapter that we’re studying, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I’ve called him.” So much for the Saul became Paul’s story.
Why do we hear that so much though then Saul one day became Paul, how about Paul became converted? How about that? Paul became a Christian. It’s jarring, and I will say we don’t see the name Paul before that. But I will say again, he’s working in Jewish circles, he’s doing just nothing but Jewish ministry there with the Sanhedrin and all that. So, I just think it sticks that basically when he was with the predominantly Jewish people, he was known as Saul, but with the Gentiles, Paul, and pretty much from now on in the Book of Acts, he’s going to be known as Paul. I think it’s going to pop up again here and there, but generally we just know him as Paul. So, I think Acts 13:9 and then earlier Acts 13:2, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul,” should really laid to rest any Saul became Paul story.
Wes
Yeah,
Andy
Thank you for asking.
Wes
Glad to do it. So, this is just what Paul was referred to in the various circles in which he lived his life in a world that was made up of very different groups of people.
Andy
I would just say in general, this is an example of something. Test everything by scripture. Does the scripture teach that it was Saul became Paul? And it really doesn’t.
Wes
What’s the significance of the expression that we mentioned briefly, son of the devil in verse 10?
Andy
Yeah, this is a vital theme. We need to understand this because Jesus used the exact same terminology in John 8. You are of your father, the devil. And I think it’s also related to Barnabas’ nickname. Barnabas literally means son of encouragement. So, the idea there would be a son of encouragement means you’re characterized by the tendency to encourage. People just get encouraged, strengthened in their hearts when they were around Barnabas. So, what a great nickname, Barnabas, the son of encouragement.
But to be a son of the devil means you’re characterized by evil; you’re characterized by opposition to God, you’re characterized by opposition to the gospel because you see what he’s doing. Elymas the sorcerer opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. That’s what he’s doing. He’s an enemy of what is going on here. And so really, it’s the Holy Spirit, not so much Paul that’s saying this, “You are a son of the devil or a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right.” So, he’s calling him out. And it’s just true what is going on here. So fundamentally it means to be characterized by Satan, but I also think it means that he owns him. He is one of Satan’s possessions that he guards in his house like the strong man. And so, he is owned by Satan. Satan is his king, his tyrant, his dominator, his master. So, all of the above.
Wes
What was the result? What happened after Paul spoke these sharp words?
Andy
Yeah, I mean, so he calls him out, he says, you’re a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You’re full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, that’s lies. “Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” He gets to the doctrine there, and then he says this, “Now the hand of the Lord is against you.” Now that’s terrifying. You think about the hand of Almighty God, the omnipotent God opposes the proud gives grace to the humble. Imagine having God against you. The hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind and for a time you’ll be unable to see the light of the sun. And immediately it says mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Now this is an amazing thing, especially given who it is that is the human instrument of this occurring, namely Paul, because the exact same thing had happened to him in his conversion, but not in this way.
It was not an act of judgment. It was an opportunity for him to focus on Jesus Christ and on the call of the gospel. But here, this is definitely a blindness that comes as a judgment, and I think a major shot across the bow. He could have just struck him dead. I mean God Almighty could have just struck him dead. Remember in the very last chapter, Herod was struck down immediately because he didn’t give glory to God and was eaten by worms and died. Nothing like that happened to Sergius Paulus. But he gets blinded, and so God is against him. He’s going to be blind and for a time unable to see the light of the sun. And so, this is an incredible blindness. I mean, keep in mind that God has this kind of power. He can do this kind of thing anytime to anybody.
Wes
After discussing the sharpness of this encounter between Paul and Elymas, what does this encounter teach us about dealing with open enemies of the gospel?
Andy
Well, there’s some people like I think John Wimber and Vineyard and all that, that talk about power encounters, and not necessarily putting a stamp of approval on him or that ministry, but I think it’s an interesting and important idea. Power encounters. It’s like basically an open contest between God and the devil. And you see this a lot of times in third world settings where there’s a strong sense of spiritism or the spirits or demons. There’s a lot of polytheism, animism, ancestor worship, a lot of these things going on. And so, at that point, the demons, and that’s what’s going on, the demons are the ones that kind of enact Satan’s power in villages. And in certain places are being driven back by the powerful word of the gospel. And so, we have an example here of a power encounter where it’s a head-to-head contest between the messengers of the gospel and demonic powers. And here God Almighty enables this godly man, Paul, and Barnabas to affect this kind of judgment. And it has a tremendous impact on Sergius Paulus and an impact on Cyprus. So, this was a miracle of judgment used to spread the gospel and bring life to others.
Wes
You mentioned the powerful impact that the gospel message has in the life of this proconsul. What benefits would come as a result of a Christian proconsul? And what does verse 12 teach us about the power of the gospel message?
Andy
Right. So fundamentally we’re going to see this again. We’re going to see it as the first missionary journey unfolds. God uses miracles to gather a crowd and give a hearing and give credibility to the messenger, but not to save anybody. Nobody gets saved by these miracles. But what they do get saved by is by the teaching about the Lord, which is what it says in verse 12, “When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed for, he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” So that’s a beautiful writing there by Luke and by the Holy Spirit. We know that what really converted him was the doctrine of Jesus, but there is a connection with the miracle. So, the proconsul saw this incredible miracle. And it was amazing, but it seems like verse 12 is written in such a way that he’s even more amazed at the teaching about the Lord and he should be. The teaching about the Lord, namely the gospel message of Jesus’ life, his sinlessness, his miracles, his atoning death, his bodily resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, his seating being seated at the right hand of God, the second coming.
All of these things. We have to imagine that Paul, the thorough teacher, taught him the whole gospel. He was amazed at that and that his sins could be forgiven, and he believed. Now the second part of your question is what benefit would there be to a Christian Roman official? Now we are on route, now we’re on route to the conversion of Constantine, the emperor of Rome.
Now it’s not going to happen for three centuries, but that’s a relatively short amount of time because things move very slowly back then. And so little by little by little, the gospel makes inroads in the Roman Empire. So much so that whether Constantine really genuinely believed in Jesus or not, we’ll find out when we get to heaven. I sure hope he did. He deferred baptism, water baptism till his deathbed interestingly, but he was baptized in a white robe right before he died. And so, I think there was a genuineness to his faith. I hope so, but it doesn’t matter for my point. The point is that’s how widespread and influential and powerful Christianity had become in the Roman Empire. So, this is kind of the first major step in that direction. Pontius Pilate had his chance too at the greatest evangelist in history, Jesus himself testified to the truth and he wouldn’t listen.
But here, Sergius Paulus did listen. So, what happens after that? We don’t know. But could it be that he would give edicts and rulings that would be favorable to the spread of the gospel? As a Baptist, I wouldn’t want him to require people to believe the gospel like Nebuchadnezzar said, “I hereby decree that everyone must fear and reverence the God of Daniel,” or something like that. Darius did the same thing. So, it’s like, yeah, I wouldn’t go that far. That’s not what we want. But perhaps he used his influence to help spread the gospel in some way, which would be great.
Wes
Andy, any final thoughts for us on this passage that we’ve looked at today?
Andy
What an exciting beginning of this first missionary journey. I can’t wait to look at the other details as Paul and Barnabas go on. But seeing the power of the Holy Spirit makes me here at our church, and it should make all of our hearers in their churches say, what is the work that the Holy Spirit wants us to do in our own community and even to the ends of the earth? Could it be that there are some really gifted teachers in our church that the Lord is setting apart through the Holy Spirit to go even to the ends of the earth as missionaries? That’s the kind of thing that healthy churches do. They send out their best and their brightest to go to the ends of the earth. And even if they don’t leave the community, just knowing the Holy Spirit’s at work in that local church to spread the gospel, that’s the work that he’s doing. And then seeing the power encounter, the power of the Holy Spirit to confront demonic forces. It’s encouraging. So, what a great story.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 24 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 25, entitled Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch, where we’ll discuss Acts 13:13-43. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to two journeys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is Episode 24 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled Paul and Barnabas and the First Missionary Journey where we’ll discuss Acts 13:1-12. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, we’ve really come to a hinge in the Book of Acts. From Acts 13 on pretty much exclusively we’re going to focus on the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, with the Jerusalem Council on circumcision being a mild exception because he factors into that as well. But we’re going to zero in on Paul. And here in the first missionary journey his partner is Barnabas. And we’re going to see the beginning of the aggressive outreaching of the Holy Spirit through the church to the gentile world, and that’s going to be very exciting. I think primary here we always want to focus on Paul, and he’s a great man, but we’re going to see especially the work of the Holy Spirit in doing the gospel advance. The Spirit’s going to factor very prominently in these verses, so I’m looking forward to that.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 1-12 in Acts 13.
Now, there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
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. 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 pro consul, 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. 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. Then the pro consul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Andy, what do we learn about the church at Antioch in verses 1-3?
Andy
Well, it was a richly blessed church, spiritual gifts aplenty. And the Holy Spirit gifts churches with gifted men and women who have spiritual gifts, a variety of spiritual gifts that make that ministry powerful. And this church at Antioch was a leading church in the entire Christian world at that point, which was very narrowly geographically focused on what we would call the ancient Near East, that part of the world near Israel. But this church at Antioch, we’ve already seen the history of how it got planted, and they have a lot of gifted men and specifically gifted teachers. And it’s fascinating because Barnabas and Paul, who we’re going to zero in on this, are tremendous leaders and teachers and the Holy Spirit separates them from their healthy local church, takes them from a fruitful ministry and sends them off. And they really never settle in at Antioch or minister there again. They visit, but the time at Antioch has ended. And so that’s a local church giving of its best to world missions. I learn a lot from it that way. So, this is a very healthy, fruitful church. And the church was willing to give their leaders Barnabas and Paul up for the work of the gospel.
Wes
Now what do we learn in verses 2-4 about the Holy Spirit?
Andy
there is an initiative and an intelligence and a purpose behind the Holy Spirit’s working in the life of missionaries, sending them out to the exact setting where he wants them to serve.
Well, the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity. He has an intention and a purpose here. He communicates and he speaks, “Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” And he has a will in this matter. He is powerful. And it is also his work to make Christ famous throughout the world. It is his work to take the finished work of Christ, the blood of the cross, and paint it on the doorposts and lintels of human hearts all over the world. It is his job to advance the gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. And we see him at that work here, and it’s going to say it twice the Holy Spirit speaks set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. And then it says the two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down and went on the ship. So, the Holy Spirit is very active in this missionary call. So, I think what it would say to me is specifically when it comes to missions, there is an initiative and an intelligence and a purpose behind the Holy Spirit’s working in the life of missionaries, sending them out to the exact setting where he wants them to serve.
Wes
In verse 2, it says that they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. And then again in verse 3 it says, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Why is fasting and prayer emphasized and then reemphasized in verse 3, and what other sending actions are done in these first verses?
Andy
Oh, those are great questions. So, the question on fasting is an interesting one. Jesus of course restricts fasting in his Sermon on the Mount in reference to people doing it in a very showy, outward way where everyone can kind of honor them and celebrate their piety. Don’t do that. When you’re fasting don’t let anyone know that you’re fasting. But put oil in your head and wash your face and no one will know. But it’s very clear that he wanted the church fasting. In another place they asked Jesus why he and his disciples did not fast, and he said, how can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he’s with them, or actually said mourn in Matthew’s gospel? He said mourn. And so fasting is a form of mourning for sin, but here I don’t sense any mourning. I think fasting also functions as a focus time.
It’s like we are so focused in on what we are praying about that we don’t want to eat. We want to do nothing but pray and seek the face of the Lord. So, fasting gives a sense of intensity and purpose in prayer. It’s not a sense of mourning or brokenness over sin here, but we really want to find out what God has for us to do. So, they’re fasting and praying, and it’s emphasized a couple of times here. And so, I think this is part of a healthy, pious, or godly life whereby we’re not focused on the world’s things, we’re not looking for great meals and all that. It says in Philippians 3:19, their god is their stomach. It’s pretty clear Barnabas and Saul and that church in Antioch, their god was not their stomach. They wanted to focus on the Holy Spirit.
Wes
What other sending actions are done at the end of verse 3?
Andy
Alright, so this is a working and initiative of the Holy Spirit, but it’s also very clearly working through the church as well. And so, we may need to ask, how do you think the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul?” Was there an audible voice? Maybe. Holy Spirit can do that, but more likely, I think in 1 Corinthians 14 we have the ministry of prophets. And it says right away here in verse 1, in the church at Antioch, there were prophets, and I think that’s how he did it.
The Holy Spirit spoke by the prophets telling the church what to do, but the prophets disappear. They’re not the point. The point is it’s the Holy Spirit that’s saying this. And so, a really gifted individual, a prophet could be a man or a woman because there were female prophets. Doesn’t say either way, but when the prophets were doing their work by the power of the Holy Spirit, it was as though they disappeared, and God Almighty was speaking directly through those individuals. That is a mark of Old Testament prophets, thus says the Lord, or this is the word of the living God, this kind of thing.
God the Holy Spirit was speaking through human agency. Then once the church identifies that this is an accurate word from the Holy Spirit because it says in other places, test every spirit and see if the spirit is from God. Is this something that the Spirit is saying, or could this be a deception of the devil? No, no, this is coming from God, the Holy Spirit. So, the church then got around it, they celebrated it, they embraced it. And so they fasted more and prayed more and laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them off. And they’re saying, we’re in on this too. We are sending you; we are a church that is involved and engaged in the mission that you’re doing. Now there’s a famous story many, many centuries later about the great Protestant missionary William Carey. And he was talking to his sending agency and the churches that supported the sending agency and all the Christians that knew what he was about to do, which is to go to this very dark pagan place, India and preach the gospel. And he said to them, the sending churches and the sending agency, I will go down into the dark hole of Heathenism, but you must hold the rope for me.
And so, the holding of the rope is a local church caring very much about Paul and Barnabas and the work they’re doing and praying for them and sending them off maybe with some finances, some other things. So, this was a human agency, but behind it all was the work of the Holy Spirit.
Wes
It’s a powerful picture and really a model for local churches today to follow in praying for, sending out, and staying connected with those who go out to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. What happens after Barnabas and Saul are sent off and why do they choose to go to Cyprus first?
Andy
Well, they go down to Cyprus because I think that’s Barnabas’ home area. Joseph a Levite from Cyprus, it says -that’s how we first met him. We don’t even know that his name is Barnabas first. We know that his name is Joseph, and he’s from Cyprus. So, my guess he has family, he has friends, he has some connections there, and he also knows of the spiritual needs of that island. Also, it’s the first main or significant island off the coast, the Mediterranean coast. It’s not a long voyage from Palestine or from Antioch. So, they go on to Seleucia and they’re on their way to Cyprus. So that’s my guess. They go there because Joseph/Barnabas knows that island pretty well.
Wes
Why did they begin at the Jewish synagogue in Salamis and what else do we learn from verse 5?
Andy
Alright, so it’s the regular pattern, and it’s stated in Romans 1, “To the Jew first and also to the Gentiles.” So, there’s this sense of Paul did this again and again. If there was a Jewish synagogue in a place, and there wasn’t always, but if there was, he’s going to go there first. And the idea there is he wants to proclaim the good news of Jesus as the Messiah to his brother Jews. And also, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He wants to recruit laborers for the harvest field. They’re going to be individuals who will believe it, and they will follow and do the work of the gospel. So, he goes there first. We also learned that John is with them as their helper. And we know from a fuller reading of the Book of Acts we’re talking about John Mark, who we learn also from church history and from tradition was the author of the Gospel of Mark. So, John is there, he’s going to help them, but he’s also going to be a bone of contention between Paul and Barnabas right before the second missionary journey. So, we’ll get to that in due time.
Wes
Interestingly, Luke skips over their ministry throughout the whole island of Cyprus. The text merely says that they traveled through the whole island as far as Pathos. What do we learn about Bar-Jesus, or Elymas, and Sergius Paulus in verses 6-8?
Andy
Alright, so we are introduced to this man Bar-Jesus, and he’s called a Jewish sorcerer in my translation, I don’t know what yours says there in verse 6, false prophet, false prophet. But before that, Jewish magician. So, I think the same thing with Simon in Acts 8, and again the Pharaoh’s magicians who are able to do supernatural work. So, I think there are individuals that have in some very scary way harnessed demonic powers.
And so, this guy I think is one of them. He has the ability to tap into demonic power and to do some amazing things. And so, there are more things in this world in this universe than we know of. We in the western world tend to denigrate the middle realm of angels and demons and don’t think much about it. But I think that this man had some supernatural abilities; he’s also a false prophet. But in any case, he’s an evil man, he’s an enemy and we’re going to see that in this account. So, they come to this place Pathos, and they meet up with Bar-Jesus and he’s an attendant or connected with the proconsul, the Roman ruler of the island of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus.
Wes
Why is Luke careful to tell us that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke so sharply against Elymas and condemned him to blindness? What does this teach us about the Holy Spirit?
Andy
Yeah, it’s very, very important. Again, the Spirit is mentioned here. He’s filled with the Holy Spirit and he’s going to say some things that ordinarily we would think are unloving. Nice Christians don’t say things like that, it’s like, wow. I think there is a time and a place for, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath (Matthew 3:7)?” Or “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, you hypocrites, you are like whitewashed tombs,” Jesus said Matthew 23:27. Here we’ve got another example of very sharp rebuking speech, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right,” very strong, sharp word spoken and by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a consuming fire. The Holy Spirit is powerful.
Also in Acts 4, when Peter and John are very bold with the enemies of the gospel, he said, “He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.” Again, the Holy Spirit doesn’t cause individuals to be weak or wimpy, nice doormats not at all. The Holy Spirit is a consuming fire. The Holy Spirit is powerful. Now, we shouldn’t therefore give permission to ourselves to use this type of a very strong speech. It’s very rare that we would find an unconverted person that we think it best to give this kind of leveling rebuke. But there’s special circumstances here. Sergius Paulus wasn’t a believer, and they don’t level him, but this man was aggressively actively opposing the gospel and the Holy Spirit causes Paul to rise up boldly and strongly to confront him clearly.
Wes
Andy let’s lean into that just a little more. I think that’s helpful. Sometimes we can read something like this and think, oh, this gives me permission to, in the Spirit speak this way to certain people. How can we reconcile Paul’s strong words to Elymas with the Spirit-filled life that we’re called to as followers of Jesus?
Andy
Right? I want to start with this. Fundamentally, we need to get rid of as best we can, get rid of all fear of man when we do evangelism, and that’s a worthy goal. We should not be afraid of anyone. But that doesn’t mean that we should be this kind of sharp or rebuking to anyone or everyone. It’s just not the norm. Generally, we’re going to deal with people in kindness and gentleness and love, but we also need to realize from time to time there is an opportunity or a need to speak like this. So, I think you just need to know yourself. I know people, personalities that jump on these kinds of things and they throw their weight around almost as if they are prophets and they can just level people left and right. I think that as you said, giving yourself permission to be like that is a very great mistake.
But fundamentally as we look at the work of the prophets in the Old Testament, they are commanded to not be afraid of the people they’re going with. Ezekiel is a very good example. Do not be afraid. The Lord says to him, though, you are surrounded by briers and thorns and those scorpions are against you. Do not fear them. Do not be afraid of their words or anything about them. Be bold, be strong and be courageous. So, I think what I want to do is fundamentally get rid of fear of man. Clearly preach the gospel to individuals, love them, be kind to them, be gentle when we can. But if they start rising up or if they start opposing, then there’s some more courage that we may need.
And then ultimately Jesus said, “Do not give dogs what a sacred, do not cast your pearls before pigs. If they do, if you do, they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6). So, I think there’s time not necessarily for sharply rebuking and vigorously opposing an enemy of the gospel, but saying, look, I’m just not going to preach to such a hostile person. So, there’s a whole array of responses here, but to sum up, I think we need to be very careful giving ourselves permission for this kind of bold speech to unconverted people.
Wes
Now, verse 9 also has an important fact in it that we don’t want to move too quickly past. Does this verse mention a name change? I know this is a question that’s probably pressing on many of our listeners’ minds, and as we study through this. Pastor, we say, oh, there it is, verse 9- Paul, Saul, help us understand what we’re seeing here.
Andy
Yeah, it’s in verse 9 of chapter 13. It’s not in Acts 9 and it’s not in Acts 22, and it’s not in Acts 26 of three conversion stories. So, I have no sympathy for Saul becomes Paul stories. Saul didn’t become Paul. Saul, I think always was Paul. He worked. He moved in two, broadly speaking, two realms, a Jewish realm and a gentile realm. And I think now that we’re moving so vigorously into the gentile realm, we’re going to have him more and more being called Paul. Now we need to understand he had long been converted by the time that the Holy Spirit said at the beginning of this very chapter that we’re studying, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I’ve called him.” So much for the Saul became Paul’s story.
Why do we hear that so much though then Saul one day became Paul, how about Paul became converted? How about that? Paul became a Christian. It’s jarring, and I will say we don’t see the name Paul before that. But I will say again, he’s working in Jewish circles, he’s doing just nothing but Jewish ministry there with the Sanhedrin and all that. So, I just think it sticks that basically when he was with the predominantly Jewish people, he was known as Saul, but with the Gentiles, Paul, and pretty much from now on in the Book of Acts, he’s going to be known as Paul. I think it’s going to pop up again here and there, but generally we just know him as Paul. So, I think Acts 13:9 and then earlier Acts 13:2, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul,” should really laid to rest any Saul became Paul story.
Wes
Yeah,
Andy
Thank you for asking.
Wes
Glad to do it. So, this is just what Paul was referred to in the various circles in which he lived his life in a world that was made up of very different groups of people.
Andy
I would just say in general, this is an example of something. Test everything by scripture. Does the scripture teach that it was Saul became Paul? And it really doesn’t.
Wes
What’s the significance of the expression that we mentioned briefly, son of the devil in verse 10?
Andy
Yeah, this is a vital theme. We need to understand this because Jesus used the exact same terminology in John 8. You are of your father, the devil. And I think it’s also related to Barnabas’ nickname. Barnabas literally means son of encouragement. So, the idea there would be a son of encouragement means you’re characterized by the tendency to encourage. People just get encouraged, strengthened in their hearts when they were around Barnabas. So, what a great nickname, Barnabas, the son of encouragement.
But to be a son of the devil means you’re characterized by evil; you’re characterized by opposition to God, you’re characterized by opposition to the gospel because you see what he’s doing. Elymas the sorcerer opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. That’s what he’s doing. He’s an enemy of what is going on here. And so really, it’s the Holy Spirit, not so much Paul that’s saying this, “You are a son of the devil or a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right.” So, he’s calling him out. And it’s just true what is going on here. So fundamentally it means to be characterized by Satan, but I also think it means that he owns him. He is one of Satan’s possessions that he guards in his house like the strong man. And so, he is owned by Satan. Satan is his king, his tyrant, his dominator, his master. So, all of the above.
Wes
What was the result? What happened after Paul spoke these sharp words?
Andy
Yeah, I mean, so he calls him out, he says, you’re a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You’re full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, that’s lies. “Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” He gets to the doctrine there, and then he says this, “Now the hand of the Lord is against you.” Now that’s terrifying. You think about the hand of Almighty God, the omnipotent God opposes the proud gives grace to the humble. Imagine having God against you. The hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind and for a time you’ll be unable to see the light of the sun. And immediately it says mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Now this is an amazing thing, especially given who it is that is the human instrument of this occurring, namely Paul, because the exact same thing had happened to him in his conversion, but not in this way.
It was not an act of judgment. It was an opportunity for him to focus on Jesus Christ and on the call of the gospel. But here, this is definitely a blindness that comes as a judgment, and I think a major shot across the bow. He could have just struck him dead. I mean God Almighty could have just struck him dead. Remember in the very last chapter, Herod was struck down immediately because he didn’t give glory to God and was eaten by worms and died. Nothing like that happened to Sergius Paulus. But he gets blinded, and so God is against him. He’s going to be blind and for a time unable to see the light of the sun. And so, this is an incredible blindness. I mean, keep in mind that God has this kind of power. He can do this kind of thing anytime to anybody.
Wes
After discussing the sharpness of this encounter between Paul and Elymas, what does this encounter teach us about dealing with open enemies of the gospel?
Andy
Well, there’s some people like I think John Wimber and Vineyard and all that, that talk about power encounters, and not necessarily putting a stamp of approval on him or that ministry, but I think it’s an interesting and important idea. Power encounters. It’s like basically an open contest between God and the devil. And you see this a lot of times in third world settings where there’s a strong sense of spiritism or the spirits or demons. There’s a lot of polytheism, animism, ancestor worship, a lot of these things going on. And so, at that point, the demons, and that’s what’s going on, the demons are the ones that kind of enact Satan’s power in villages. And in certain places are being driven back by the powerful word of the gospel. And so, we have an example here of a power encounter where it’s a head-to-head contest between the messengers of the gospel and demonic powers. And here God Almighty enables this godly man, Paul, and Barnabas to affect this kind of judgment. And it has a tremendous impact on Sergius Paulus and an impact on Cyprus. So, this was a miracle of judgment used to spread the gospel and bring life to others.
Wes
You mentioned the powerful impact that the gospel message has in the life of this proconsul. What benefits would come as a result of a Christian proconsul? And what does verse 12 teach us about the power of the gospel message?
Andy
Right. So fundamentally we’re going to see this again. We’re going to see it as the first missionary journey unfolds. God uses miracles to gather a crowd and give a hearing and give credibility to the messenger, but not to save anybody. Nobody gets saved by these miracles. But what they do get saved by is by the teaching about the Lord, which is what it says in verse 12, “When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed for, he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” So that’s a beautiful writing there by Luke and by the Holy Spirit. We know that what really converted him was the doctrine of Jesus, but there is a connection with the miracle. So, the proconsul saw this incredible miracle. And it was amazing, but it seems like verse 12 is written in such a way that he’s even more amazed at the teaching about the Lord and he should be. The teaching about the Lord, namely the gospel message of Jesus’ life, his sinlessness, his miracles, his atoning death, his bodily resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, his seating being seated at the right hand of God, the second coming.
All of these things. We have to imagine that Paul, the thorough teacher, taught him the whole gospel. He was amazed at that and that his sins could be forgiven, and he believed. Now the second part of your question is what benefit would there be to a Christian Roman official? Now we are on route, now we’re on route to the conversion of Constantine, the emperor of Rome.
Now it’s not going to happen for three centuries, but that’s a relatively short amount of time because things move very slowly back then. And so little by little by little, the gospel makes inroads in the Roman Empire. So much so that whether Constantine really genuinely believed in Jesus or not, we’ll find out when we get to heaven. I sure hope he did. He deferred baptism, water baptism till his deathbed interestingly, but he was baptized in a white robe right before he died. And so, I think there was a genuineness to his faith. I hope so, but it doesn’t matter for my point. The point is that’s how widespread and influential and powerful Christianity had become in the Roman Empire. So, this is kind of the first major step in that direction. Pontius Pilate had his chance too at the greatest evangelist in history, Jesus himself testified to the truth and he wouldn’t listen.
But here, Sergius Paulus did listen. So, what happens after that? We don’t know. But could it be that he would give edicts and rulings that would be favorable to the spread of the gospel? As a Baptist, I wouldn’t want him to require people to believe the gospel like Nebuchadnezzar said, “I hereby decree that everyone must fear and reverence the God of Daniel,” or something like that. Darius did the same thing. So, it’s like, yeah, I wouldn’t go that far. That’s not what we want. But perhaps he used his influence to help spread the gospel in some way, which would be great.
Wes
Andy, any final thoughts for us on this passage that we’ve looked at today?
Andy
What an exciting beginning of this first missionary journey. I can’t wait to look at the other details as Paul and Barnabas go on. But seeing the power of the Holy Spirit makes me here at our church, and it should make all of our hearers in their churches say, what is the work that the Holy Spirit wants us to do in our own community and even to the ends of the earth? Could it be that there are some really gifted teachers in our church that the Lord is setting apart through the Holy Spirit to go even to the ends of the earth as missionaries? That’s the kind of thing that healthy churches do. They send out their best and their brightest to go to the ends of the earth. And even if they don’t leave the community, just knowing the Holy Spirit’s at work in that local church to spread the gospel, that’s the work that he’s doing. And then seeing the power encounter, the power of the Holy Spirit to confront demonic forces. It’s encouraging. So, what a great story.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 24 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 25, entitled Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch, where we’ll discuss Acts 13:13-43. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
