Acts 13:14 - Meaning and Application

Perga in Pamphylia was a well-known place, especially because a temple to the goddess Diana stood there. Yet nothing is said about what Paul and Barnabas did there, only that they came to it (Acts 13:13) and then left it (Acts 13:14). The story of the apostles’ travels, like the story of Christ’s life, leaves out many things worth recording. If everything had been written, the world could not have held the books.

The next place we find them is another Antioch, in Pisidia, so it would not be confused with Antioch in Syria, the place from which they had been sent out. Pisidia was a province in Asia Minor, bordering Pamphylia, and this Antioch was likely its main city. Many Jews lived there, and the gospel was to be preached to them first. Paul’s sermon here is probably much like what the apostles preached to Jews in other places, because the right way to speak with them was to show how the New Testament agreed with the Old Testament, which they already accepted and valued deeply.

Paul and Barnabas appeared in a Jewish religious meeting at Antioch. Even though they had just had success with a Roman governor, they did not look for the leading official when they came to Antioch. They went to the Jews, which shows their sincere love for them and their desire for their good. They also kept the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day, when they met with them. The first day of the week was their own Christian Sabbath, but when they wanted to meet Jews, they sometimes joined them on the seventh day. The moral duty of the fourth commandment had passed to the Christian Sabbath, but it was still fitting at that time to worship with the Jews on their Sabbath.

They met in the synagogue, the Jewish place of worship. Sabbath days should be kept holy by gathering for public worship, because they are meant especially for that. Paul and Barnabas were strangers, but wherever we go, we should seek out God’s faithful worshipers and join with them, as these apostles did. Though they were strangers, they were allowed to sit in the synagogue. Public worship should also make room for strangers, even the poor, because we know this about them, that they have precious souls and deserve our care.

After the Scriptures had been read, the rulers of the synagogue invited them to speak. The law and the prophets were read, one part from each, as the lessons for the day. When we come together to worship God, we should do more than pray and sing. We should also read and hear God’s word, because that gives him the honor due to him as our Lord and lawgiver. When that reading was finished, the synagogue leaders sent a messenger with this respectful message: “Men and brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” It is likely they had already spoken with Paul and Barnabas in private, and though they may not yet have believed the gospel, they were at least interested in hearing Paul preach.

This shows that simply reading Scripture in public is not enough. It should also be explained, and the people should be urged from it. That is how the net is spread, and how people are helped to make the word useful by applying it to themselves. Those who lead public worship should see that a word of exhortation is given whenever the people gather. Sometimes an exhortation from a visiting minister can do great good, if he is well approved.

Paul gladly took the chance to preach Christ to his own countrymen, the Jews. He did not refuse because he was a stranger, and he did not hold back because preaching Christ among Jews might bring him trouble. He stood up, ready to speak, and motioned with his hand to gain their attention and calm them. He likely used the gesture as an orator would, both to ask for silence and to stir their hearts. Whether there was some unrest in the synagogue or not, he gently sought to quiet them and asked for a fair hearing.

He addressed both “men of Israel,” that is, Jews by birth, and those who feared God, meaning Gentile converts to Judaism. He asked them to listen carefully because he had something to say that concerned their eternal peace. This sermon is preserved to show that those who preached the gospel to the Gentiles first did all they could to persuade the Jews to receive it too. It also shows that they had no hatred for the Jewish nation and no wish for their ruin, but rather desired that they would turn and live.

Paul’s sermon includes everything that could help convince the Jews’ minds or win their hearts so they would receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. He first acknowledged them as God’s special people, whom God had taken into a close relationship with himself and for whom he had done great things. The Jews of the dispersion, those living in other lands, were likely more concerned than others to keep clear marks of their special calling, since they were more in danger of blending in with the nations around them. So Paul was careful to honor that truth before them.

He reminds them that the God of the whole earth was, in a special way, the God of Israel. God was in covenant with them, and he had given them his will and mind in a way he had not given to any other nation. That made them different from, and honored above, all their neighbors, because they had special commands to follow and special promises to trust.

He also chose their fathers to be his friends, his prophets, and the ones who held his covenant with the church. Abraham was called the friend of God. Paul points this out to show them that God favored their nation, even though they did not deserve it, because he stayed faithful to the choice he had made of their fathers (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). They were loved for the fathers' sake (Romans 11:28).

He had also raised up that people and given them great honor. He brought them from nothing when they lived as strangers in Egypt, with nothing in them to earn his favor. They should remember that God was under no debt to them, because their place in his favor came from his own free choice, not because they had earned it. That favor could be taken away if he pleased, and if he later removed their special place, he would do them no wrong. Still, they owed him their obedience and should welcome whatever further truth he gave his church.

He brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand, where they had been not only strangers but slaves. He delivered them through many miracles, both mercy for them and judgment on their oppressors, as Deuteronomy 4:34 says. Many lives were lost in the process, including all the firstborn of Egypt, Pharaoh, and his army in the Red Sea. God says, "I gave Egypt for your ransom, and Cush and Seba in your place" (Isaiah 43:3-4).

He also bore with them for forty years in the wilderness (Acts 13:18). Some read the word as meaning that he "carried them as a nursing father," because the Septuagint uses that thought in Deuteronomy 1:31. Both ideas fit here. God provided for them all those years, and miracles were their daily food, so they lacked nothing. He also showed great patience with them. They were stubborn, complaining, and unbelieving, yet he did not deal with them as they deserved. Many times he turned away his anger through Moses' prayer and intercession.

We should each think about our own lives in the same way. However long we have lived, we must admit that God has been like a tender father to us. He has supplied our needs and fed us all our life long to this day. He has been patient with us, a God who forgives, as he was with Israel (Nehemiah 9:17), and he has not been harsh in keeping account of our sins. We have tested his patience, yet we have not exhausted it. So the Jews should not press too hard on the privileges of their special status, because they have forfeited those privileges many times over.

He also gave them the land of Canaan (Acts 13:19). He destroyed seven nations there, nations that were doomed to be removed to make room for Israel, and then divided their land among them by lot. This was a clear favor from God, and the apostle does not lessen its honor in any way.

After that, he raised up men from heaven's strength to deliver them from those who attacked and oppressed them after they settled in Canaan (Acts 13:20-21). He gave them judges, men fitted for public duty and called to it by God as each need arose. Even though they were a sinful and provoking people, and their troubles often came because of their own sin, God still raised up a deliverer when they cried out.

Some scholars find it hard to fit the four hundred and fifty years into this account. One way of reading it is from the deliverance out of Egypt to David's capture of Zion, which finished the driving out of the heathen nations. That span was four hundred and fifty years, and most of it was under the judges. Another way is to count the years of the judges, from Joshua's death to Eli's death, as three hundred and thirty-nine years, and then add the one hundred and eleven years of the servitudes to various oppressing nations. Those servitude years are described in the biblical history as though they were separate, even though they were included within the larger period. Together they make four hundred and fifty years.

He then governed them through a prophet, Samuel, a man inspired by God to lead their affairs. After that, at their request, God set a king over them, Saul son of Kish. Samuel's rule and Saul's rule together lasted forty years, a kind of bridge from direct divine rule to monarchy.

At last, God made David their king (Acts 13:22). When God removed Saul because of his bad rule, he raised up David to be king and made a covenant of kingship with him and his descendants. When one king was removed, God did not leave them like sheep without a shepherd. He soon raised another, and he raised him from a low and ordinary place to a high one (2 Samuel 23:1).

Paul then quotes God’s own testimony about David. First, David’s choice was from God: "I have found David" (Psalm 89:20). God himself chose him. To say he was "found" suggests searching, as if God had looked through all the families of Israel for the right man, and David was the one. Second, David’s character was from God: he was "a man after my own heart," a man God approved and delighted in, because God’s own image was seen in him. This was said of David before he was first anointed (1 Samuel 13:14). Third, David’s conduct was under God’s direction: "He will do everything I want." He would desire to do God’s will, try to do it, be enabled to do it, be used in doing it, and complete it.

All of this shows, not only God’s special favor toward Israel, which the apostle gladly acknowledges, but also the greater blessings he intended for them. Those further blessings were now being offered to them through the preaching of the gospel. Their deliverance from Egypt and their settlement in Canaan were patterns and pictures of better things to come.

The changes in their government showed that the law could not make anything fully right. So it had to give way to the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, which was now being established. If they would accept and submit to it, it would be the glory of the people of Israel. Therefore, they had no reason to be jealous of the preaching of the gospel, as if it in any way harmed the true honor of the Jewish church.

He then gives a full account of our Lord Jesus, moving from David to David’s Son, and shows that this Jesus is the promised descendant of David (Acts 13:23). “From this man’s descendants, from that root of Jesse, from that man after God’s own heart, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,” and his very name means salvation. How welcome the preaching of Christ should have been to the Jews. It brought them the news of a Savior who would deliver them from their enemies, as the judges of old had done. Those judges were called saviors, but this Savior would do what they could not, save his people from their sins, their worst enemies.

He was a Savior raised up by God, so he came with a heavenly commission. He was raised up as a Savior to Israel first, so the gospel was not sent to gather them in and cast them off. He was raised up from the line of David, that old royal family in which Israel took such pride, though at that time it was hidden in obscurity, to the shame of the nation. It should have been a great comfort to them that God had raised up this horn of salvation for them in the house of his servant David (Luke 1:69). He was raised up according to God’s promise, the promise to David (Psalm 132:11), and the promise to the later Old Testament church: “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch” (Jeremiah 23:5). This was the promise the twelve tribes hoped to receive (Acts 26:7). So why should they now receive it so coldly, when it was brought to them?

About this Jesus, Paul says that John the Baptist was his messenger and forerunner, that great man whom everyone admitted was a prophet. So no one could say the Messiah’s coming had taken them by surprise, or that they needed more time to decide whether to receive him. John had already warned them before Christ came (Acts 13:24). He did two things. First, he prepared the way for Christ by preaching the baptism of repentance, not to a few special followers, but to all Israel. He exposed their sins, warned them of the wrath to come, called them to repentance, and told them to bring forth the fruit of repentance. By this he prepared a people ready for the Lord Jesus, whose grace would be welcomed by those who had come to know themselves. Second, John gave notice of Christ’s coming (Acts 13:25). As he was finishing his work, with strong success and a settled influence, he asked his hearers, “What do you think I am? What do you expect from me?” They may have thought he was the Messiah, but he told them they were wrong. “I am not he” (see John 1:20). “He is near. One is coming after me who is so much greater than I am that I am not worthy to do the lowest service for him, not even to untie his sandals. You can judge who that must be.”

Paul also says that the Jewish rulers and people, who should have welcomed Jesus and obeyed him freely and gladly, became his persecutors and murderers. When the apostles preach Christ as Savior, they do not hide his shameful death or cover it over. They always preach Christ crucified, and they also say, though it made his suffering even more dishonorable, that he was crucified by his own people, those who lived in Jerusalem, the holy city, and by their rulers (Acts 13:27). Their sin was this: though they could find no reason to sentence him to death, and could prove neither guilt nor even suspicion of any crime, they still asked Pilate to have him killed (Acts 13:28). The judge himself, after hearing all their accusations, said he found no fault in him. Yet they pushed Pilate so hard that they forced him to crucify Jesus, against his own wishes and against his conscience, even though they could not convict Jesus of the least sin.

Paul could not lay this charge on his present hearers as Peter did on the crowd at Jerusalem (Acts 2:23), because they were far enough away from the event. But he does lay it on the Jews in Jerusalem and on the rulers, to show how little reason these Jews from the dispersion had to be so proud and jealous for the honor of their nation. That nation had brought on itself so heavy a stain of guilt, and yet the Messiah was still offered to them. Even after this, the gospel was to begin at Jerusalem. The reason they acted this way was that they did not know him (Acts 13:27). They did not know who he was or why he had come into the world. If they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Christ himself said something like this in their defense, “They do not know what they are doing,” and Peter said the same, “You acted in ignorance” (Acts 3:17).

They also did not know the voice of the prophets, even though they heard them read every Sabbath day. They did not understand, or did not consider, that the prophets had foretold that the Messiah would suffer. If they had understood that, they would never have taken part in his suffering. Many people read the prophets but do not know their voice. They do not understand the meaning of Scripture. They hear the sound of the gospel in their ears, but its sense does not reach their minds, and its sweetness does not reach their hearts. People do not know Christ, or how to act toward him, because they do not know the voice of the prophets, who testified in advance about Christ.

Still, God overruled their actions to carry out the prophecies of the Old Testament. Because they did not know the voice of the prophets, which warned them not to touch God’s Anointed One, they fulfilled those prophecies by condemning him. It was written that Messiah the prince would be cut off, but not for himself. So it is possible for people to fulfill Scripture’s prophecies even while breaking Scripture’s commands, especially in the persecution of the church, as happened in the persecution of Christ.

This also explains a reason sometimes given for why Bible prophecies can be hard to understand. If they were too clear, people might try to stop them from happening. Paul says here, “Because they did not know the voice of the prophets, they fulfilled them.” That means if they had understood the prophecies, they would not have done what they did.

All that was foretold about the Messiah’s sufferings was fulfilled in Christ (Acts 13:29). After they had done all the other things written about him, even giving him vinegar to drink when he was thirsty, they fulfilled the prophecy about his burial. They took him down from the tree, that is, from the cross, and laid him in a tomb. Luke mentions this because it makes Christ’s resurrection shine even more brightly.

Christ was separated from this world. Those who are buried have no more part in this world, and the world has no more part in them. In the same way, our full turning away from sin is pictured by our being buried with Christ. A good Christian should be ready to be, in a sense, buried alive with Christ. They laid him in a tomb and thought they had secured him.

The next great truth is that he rose from the dead and saw no decay. This was the main message to be preached, because it is the chief support of the whole gospel. So Paul spends a lot of time on it. First, Christ rose with God’s approval. When he was held in the grave for our debt, he did not break out illegally. He received a proper and lawful release from the arrest under which he had been held (Acts 13:30).

God raised him from the dead. God sent an angel to roll away the stone from the prison door, returned to him the spirit he had committed into his Father’s hands at death, and made him alive by the Holy Spirit. His enemies put him in the tomb intending that he should stay there forever. But God said no, and it soon became clear whose plan would stand, theirs or his.

Second, there was enough proof that he had risen (Acts 13:31). He was seen for many days, in many places, and on many occasions by those who knew him best. They had come with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, had been with him constantly, and now they were his witnesses to the people. They had been chosen for that task, had testified many times, and were ready to testify again, even if it meant death. Paul does not mention his own seeing Christ, though it was more convincing to him than it could be to anyone else.

Third, Christ’s resurrection fulfilled the promise made to the patriarchs, the early fathers of Israel. This was not only true news, but glad news too (Acts 13:32-33). It should have been especially welcome to the Jews. Paul is saying, in effect, that the message he preached did not dishonor them or harm them. If they understood it rightly, it brought them the greatest honor and joy, because in Christ’s resurrection the promise made to their fathers was fulfilled for them.

Paul admits that it was a special honor for the Jewish people that the promises belonged to them (Romans 9:4). They were heirs of the promise because they were children of the patriarchs to whom those promises were first given. The great Old Testament promise was the Messiah, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed, not just the family of Abraham. It was a special honor to that family that the Messiah would come from them, but it was for the good of all families that he would be given to them.

God has raised up Jesus and exalted him. The phrase can mean both that he was raised up from death and that he was lifted up in honor. God raised Jesus up to be a prophet at his baptism, a priest to make atonement at his death, and a king at his ascension. His rising from the dead confirmed and approved all these offices, showing that God had appointed him to them.

This is the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers, including the promise to send the Messiah and all the blessings that come with him and through him. Paul is saying, “This is the one who was to come, and in him you have everything God promised in the Messiah, even if you do not get everything you expected.” He places himself among the Jews by saying, “to us their children.” If the gospel preachers brought them these glad tidings, then they should not treat them as enemies of the nation, but as their best friends, and receive their message with full confidence. If the Jews valued the promise so highly, they should value the fulfillment even more.

The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, which offended many Jews, did not go against the promise made to them. In fact, the promise itself, that all the families of the earth would be blessed in the Messiah, could not be fulfilled in any other way.

Fourth, Christ’s resurrection was the great proof that he is the Son of God, and it confirms what was written in Psalm 2, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” This was meant to show that Christ was the Son of God in power through the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). When God first raised him from obscurity, he declared from heaven, “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17), which clearly points back to Psalm 2.

There is much meaning packed into those words. They show that Jesus was begotten of the Father before all worlds, the brightness of his glory and the exact image of his being, as a son reflects his father. They show that he is the eternal Word, the Father’s eternal wisdom and thought. They also show that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin’s womb, for on that ground too the holy child was called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). He was God’s agent in creating and ruling the world, and in redeeming it and bringing it back to God. As a faithful Son in his Father’s house, he is heir of all things.

All of this, which was declared at Christ’s baptism and again at his transfiguration, was plainly proved by his resurrection. The ancient decree was then confirmed. The reason death could not hold him was that he was the Son of God, and therefore had life in himself. He could not lay that life down except with the purpose of taking it up again. When people speak of his eternal generation, it is fitting to say, “Today I have begotten you,” because what is from everlasting to everlasting is, with God, as if it were one endless day.

Yet this can also be understood, in a lesser sense, of Christ’s resurrection: “Today I have made it clear that I have begotten you, and today I have begotten all who belong to you.” This fits what is said in (1 Peter 1:3), that God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has “begotten us again to a living hope” through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Fifth, Christ’s rising on the third day, so that he did not see corruption, and his rising to heavenly life so that he would never return to corruption, that is, to the state of death, as others did when raised, further proves that he is the promised Messiah. He rose to die no more, as (Romans 6:9) says. When he was raised from the dead, he would no longer return to the grave, which is called corruption in (Job 17:14). Lazarus came out of the grave still wearing grave clothes, because he would need them again. But Christ, having no further need of them, left them behind.

This fulfills the Scripture in (Isaiah 55:3), “I will give you the sure mercies of David.” The phrase means the holy and faithful promises made to David. In the promise made to David, and in him to Christ, great stress is laid on God’s faithfulness, as seen in (Psalm 89:1, Psalm 89:2, Psalm 89:5, Psalm 89:24, Psalm 89:33), and on the oath God swore by his holiness in (Psalm 89:35). These are truly sure mercies, because the one who is entrusted with giving them has risen to die no more. He always lives to see his own will carried out and the blessings he purchased for us given to us. If Christ had died and not risen, or if he had risen only to die again, we would have missed these sure mercies, or at least could not have been certain of them.

He also rose so soon after death that his body did not see corruption, because the body begins to change only after the third day. This too was promised to David. It was one of the sure mercies of David, for it was said to him in (Psalm 16:10), “You will not let your Holy One see corruption” (Acts 13:35). God had promised David that he would raise up the Messiah from his line. He would therefore be a man, but unlike other men, he would not see decay.

This promise could not have been fulfilled in David himself (Acts 13:36). After David had served his own generation by the will of God, the One who raised him up for his work, he fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption. Here we have a brief account of David’s life, death, and burial, and of how he remained under the power of death. His life was this: before he died, he served his own generation. David was a useful and good man. He did good in the world by the will of God. He made God’s commands his rule. He served his own generation in a way that also served God. He pleased people in a proper way, while still remaining God’s faithful servant. See (Galatians 1:10). He served the good of people, but not their sinful wishes.

Or, by the will of God’s providence, which arranged his place and work, he served his own generation. God made him fit for public service and called him to it. Every creature is to us what God makes it to be. David was a great blessing to the age in which he lived. He was a servant to his generation. Many people are instead a curse, a burden, and a trouble to their generation. Even those in a smaller place and role should remember that they live to serve their generation. Those who want to do good in the world must make themselves servants of all, (1 Corinthians 9:19). We were not born for ourselves, but are members of communities, and we must seek to be useful to them.

Still, David and Christ are different here. David served only the generation in which he lived. So when he had done the work he was given, and written what he was to write, he died, and continued no further.