[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
Acts XIII : 42-52
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[43] And when the synagogue was broken up, many of the Jews, and of the strangers who served God, followed Paul and Barnabas: who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
[44] But the next sabbath day, the whole city almost came together, to hear the word of God.
[45] And the Jews seeing the multitudes, were filled with envy, and contradicted those things which were said by Paul, blaspheming.
[46] Then Paul and Barnabas said boldly: To you it behoved us first to speak the word of God: but because you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles.
[47] For so the Lord hath commanded us: I have set thee to be the light of the Gentiles; that thou mayest be for salvation unto the utmost part of the earth.
[48] And the Gentiles hearing it, were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to life everlasting, believed.
[49] And the word of the Lord was published throughout the whole country.
[50] But the Jews stirred up religious and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas: and cast them out of their coasts.
[51] But they, shaking off the dust of their feet against them, came to Iconium.
[52] And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.
[42] Exeuntibus autem illis rogabant ut sequenti sabbato loquerentur sibi verba haec. [43] Cumque dimissa esset synagoga, secuti sunt multi Judaeorum, et colentium advenarum, Paulum et Barnabam : qui loquentes suadebant eis ut permanerent in gratia Dei. [44] Sequenti vero sabbato pene universa civitas convenit audire verbum Dei. [45] Videntes autem turbas Judaei, repleti sunt zelo, et contradicebant his quae a Paulo dicebantur, blasphemantes.
[46] Tunc constanter Paulus et Barnabas dixerunt : Vobis oportebat primum loqui verbum Dei : sed quoniam repellitis illud, et indignos vos judicatis aeternae vitae, ecce convertimur ad gentes. [47] Sic enim praecepit nobis Dominus : Posui te in lucem gentium, ut sis in salutem usque ad extremum terrae. [48] Audientes autem gentes gavisae sunt, et glorificabant verbum Domini : et crediderunt quotquot erant praeordinati ad vitam aeternam. [49] Disseminabatur autem verbum Domini per universam regionem. [50] Judaei autem concitaverunt mulieres religiosas, et honestas, et primos civitatis, et excitaverunt persecutionem in Paulum et Barnabam : et ejecerunt eos de finibus suis.
[51] At illi excusso pulvere pedum in eos, venerunt Iconium. [52] Discipuli quoque replebantur gaudio, et Spiritu Sancto.
Notes
42. they went out, — i.e. as St Paul and Barnabas were preparing to depart from the synagogue.
they desired them, etc. The audience, both Jews and proselytes, made this request probably through the ruler. The Greek word (μεταξυ) here rendered “next” generally signifies “in the interval,” but here it is used in the sense of “ the one following,” a usage which has the support of classical writers. Hence this rendering is far preferable to the marginal note of the A.V. “in the week between,” which some commentators prefer.
Discussion was permitted in the synagogues after the sermon, when the hearers often questioned the speaker, but on this occasion it seems to have been omitted.
43. synagogue was broken up, — i.e. when the assembly was dismissed. The word “ synagogue ” signifies literally “ a congregation ” (συναγωγη. Heb. kneseth).
Jews and of the strangers. Israelites and proselytes.
followed. “Do you observe the eagerness, how great it is? They followed them, it says. Why did they not baptize them immediately ? It was not the proper time : there was need to persuade them in order to their steadfast abiding therein” (St Jn. Chrys., Hom., xxx.).
and Barnabas. Although St Paul took precedence, Barnabas had his share in the work of evangelizing ; the “son of consolation or exhortation ” was zealous in persuading the people to continue in the grace of God, as at Antioch, in Syria, he had exhorted all the disciples with purpose of heart to continue in the Lord (supra, xi. 23).
persuaded them. Better, “urged them” (ἐγειθον). The use of the imperfect tense shews that they persuaded them, not only on this occasion, but at other times. The whole week was spent in teaching and exhorting, and, in this ministry, doubtless, all St Paul’s companions had their share.
continue in the grace of God, — i.e. to persevere in professing the Gospel of Christ, which, by a figure of speech, is here called “ the grace of God,” as also in other passages of the Scriptures, Cf. Beseeching and testifying that this is the true grace of God, wherein you stand (1 Pet. v. 12).
44. the whole city almost. This would include three distinct classes, — Jews, proselytes, and Phrygians (who were heathens). Such a vast number could not have obtained access to the synagogue, hence it is possible that St Paul spoke in the open air.
to hear the word of God. Codex D reads “ to hear Paul.”
45. the Jews seeing the multitudes. The presence of these multitudes proves that the Christian missionaries had laboured energetically and successfully during the week.
The Jews looked on this result with “ envy,” because they could not bring themselves to accept the truth taught by the apostle concerning the equality of Jews and Gentiles before God. It ran counter to their deeply-rooted prejudices and teaching.
contradicted. The Jews would naturally reject the application of certain Messianic psalms which St Paul quoted as fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. They contradicted, therefore, the ministers of the Gospel, and blasphemed against their doctrine.
46. said boldly. Lit. “having testified boldly ” (παρρησιασαμενοι). (See Annot. on ii. 29.)
To you it behoved, etc. In obedience to the command of their Divine Master. (See Acts i. 8, iii. 26 ; St Luke xxiv. 47.)
you reject it. God did not reject His people, but they cast off His yoke.
we turn to the Gentiles. Thus they obeyed the commad to preach the Gospel to all men, but, at the same time, there was no systematic rejection of Israel. St Paul still pursued his plan of addressing them first. (See xvii. 2, xviii. 5, 6, 19.)
47. For so the Lord hath commanded us. Thus they justified their conduct and claimed to be commissioned by God.
I have set thee, etc. The quotation is from the Septuagint (Is. xlix, 6), and it refers primarily to the Messias, to Him who is “ tlie Light of the world ” ; but it has also a secondary application to His ministers and disciples, since Christ has declared them also to be the “ the light of the world” (St Matt. v. 14), — each in his own sphere, and according to the grace bestowed upon him.
48. as many as were ordained to life everlasting. Lit. “ as many as were set in order for life everlasting ” (ὁσοι ἡσαν τεταγμενοι εἰς ζωην αἰωνιον). St Paul here employs a technical military term, which, though passive in form, is middle in meaning (i.e. equivalent to our reflexive verb), as in ch. XX. 13. (For so he had appointed, διατεταγμενος.) It is used of marshalling troops in line of battle. The Jews refused to fall into rank with those who accepted the Gospel, and deliberately rejected it.
The Calvinists, who hold the doctrine of predestination, cite this passage in support of their teaching ; but, as Rackham remarks on this subject, “ As the Jews at Corinth ‘ set themselves in array ’ against the apostles, so, from the human point of view, these Galatians had marshalled themselves on the side of, or rather with a view to capture, eternal life. But it is the general who marshals the troops, and in this case the general is God. As He had chosen Israel, and foreordained Paul and the Twelve for the apostolate, so He had marshalled these Galatians in order to attain eternal life, and to that end had guided the course of history. Thus we are brought back to the ultimate ground of the divine will. It was the will of God that the Galatians should be saved. But this will, with all the guiding of circumstances and the prevenient grace given, did not take away the power of man to reject, as is shewn by the disobedient Jews, who had also received the call to eternal life ” (Acts of the Apostles, p. 221).
49. throughout the whole country. The apostle did not confine bis activity to Antioch in Pisidia. He and his companions evangelized in the districts of Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Galatia ; and as the first voyage of St Paul occupied from three to four years at the least, he must have stayed some months in these particular districts.
50. stirred up. Better, “urged on” (παρωτρυναν ). This proves that the Jewish colonists were a powerful body in Antioch, as elsewhere in Asia Minor.
“ What they could not accomplish by violence and calumny, they succeeded in effecting by a pious intrigue. ”
“ religious and honourable women.” In religion, woman’s influence has always been very great, particularly in the East. Strabo (vii., iii. 4) speaks of their being most powerful in leading their husbands to adopt the rites which they themselves preferred. These religious proselytes urged on their husbands to take aggressive measures against St Paul and his companions.
In general, the women mentioned in the gospels, Acts, and epistles, used their Influence in favour of Christianity.
the chief men. The Roman magistrates who governed the colonia of Antiochia Cæsarea.
“ As the Jews in Jerusalem had appealed to Pilate and the Roman power to carry out their wishes at the Crucifixion, so the Jews in Antioch excite the heathen authorities against Paul and Barnabas ” (Lumby).
cast them out. Probably, by exciting a tumult among the people, rather than by a formal banishment, since they returned to Antioch on their way back (see xiv. 20). St Paul refers to this opposition and other trials in his second epistle to Timothy : Persecutions, afflictions, such as came upon me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra (hi. 11).
“Luke passes very lightly over Paul's sufferings ; from 2 Tim. iii. 11, we see that he must have endured much. He was three times beaten with the rods of lictors before A.D. 66 (2 Cor. xi. 25). Now, since the Roman governors whom he met were favourable to him, these beatings must have taken place in ‘ colonies,’ whose magistrates were attended by lictors. It is probable that the persecution which is mentioned in Antioch, and hinted at in Lystra, included heating by lictors. It is noteworthy that the magistrates of these two cities are not expressly mentioned, and therefore there was no opportunity for describing their action. The third beating by lictors was in Philippi, also a colony. Similarly, it can hardly be doubted that some of the five occasions on which Paul received stripes from the Jews were in the Galatian cities, where some Jews were so active against him ” (Ramsay, St Paut the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, ch. v. sec. 4).
coasts, — i.e. boundaries, not necessarily sea-shores.
51. Shaking off the dust. Thus our Lord had bidden them act : And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet (St Matt. x. 14). To shake off the dust from the sandals was a sign of renunciation and abandonment.
The Jews esteemed the dust of a heathen land as a source of defilement. Hence when a Jewish pilgrim was about to enter the Holy Land he carefully cleansed his sandals before crossing the frontier.
Iconium. This was a celebrated city, according to Pliny (His. Nat, V. 27). It lay about sixty miles south-east of Antioch in Pisidia, between the range of Taurus and the desert of Axylon. Several Roman roads converged on this town, hence it was an excellent centre whence the glad tidings of the Gospel might be propagated.
In the Middle Ages, Iconium was the capital of the Seljukian Sultans. When St Paul and Barnabas visited it, the town was governed by a tetrarch. In the modern town of Konieh, a few ancient Roman and Greek inscriptions and sculptures built into the Turkish walls are all that remain of the ancient city of Iconium. The journey from Antioch to Iconium took about five days.
52. filled with joy, etc. The persecution did not discourage the disciples of Christ, who practised to the letter the divine precept: Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven (St Matt. v. 11-12). Another effect of the persecution was to spread the knowledge of the Gospel, just as the persecution in Jerusalem led to the conversion of the Samaritans.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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