Acts 13:6-13
Last week we looked at some of the offices that were being setup in the early church as models for things we do today. This week we will be following Paul and Barnabas as they leave on their first missionary journey.
A careful student of the English text will notice a minor problem in these verses. In Acts 13:3 the text says, “they [the church leaders] sent them away”, but in Acts 13:4 it says, “being sent out by the Holy Spirit.” So who sent them out? We do not have to guess to figure this out, since what appears here to be a very minor conflict is only a conflict with our English translations. This is a place where knowing Greek the words makes it clear what is going on. In Acts 13:3 the Greek text reads that the church “released them for service”, an in Acts 13:4 that the Holy Spirit “sent them.”
This minor conflict does help us to see a model for how the Church should work. God does the calling, and the Church recognizes the calling, and does what it can to assist the calling. Then in Acts 13:3 the church ordains for ministry the men that God called to do the ministry and as we will see in our future studies supports them as they go.
Paul and Barnabas leave Antioch and head to Cyprus for their first stop in what will become known as their first missionary journey. Some scholars consider this to be Paul’s second journey, with his first happening during the ten years which we loose track of Paul in Acts, but the this is his first journey that we have recorded for us in any detail. The first stop in this missionary journey is Cyprus. Acts 4:36 records that Barnabas is from Cyprus so it makes a good first stop for the new missionary team. Barnabas would know the people, the land, the customs and other things that would make the trip easier.
They land in Salamis, which is a major seaport for the island. As a major seaport it is easy to guess that a lot of transient traffic must have flow through the city, which makes it a great place to start spreading a message about a new religious movement. From there they will travel to the other end of the island to Paphos, the capital of Cyprus.
The missionary team starts by going to the Jew’s in Salamis. This would become Paul’s normal pattern of ministry for the rest of his life. While it is not true of every single stop, it is true of his normal pattern. Paul travels to the major cities in a given area, and when he arrives in those cities he first looks for gatherings of Jews. He then presents the gospel to the Jews who for the most part reject him, and then he goes to the gentiles of that city. He then gets a church started, and is either run out of town or moves on to the next major city. The local people of that area, and not foreign missionaries, then evangelize the areas around the cities.
In my opinion, this is the preferred way to bring the Gospel to an area. We should not be focused on reaching every tiny little hamlet in unreached land, instead we should plant churches in the major population centers for a given area. Then we should train up the new Christians in that city to reach their own people in the surrounding areas. That is the model Paul used effectively in Acts, and I think it is a great model for today.
When Paul and Barnabas reach the capital, which is roughly one hundred miles from the harbor they landed at, the leader of Cyprus calls them in for an audience. Historians tell us that this Sergius Paulus, ruled Cyprus in A.D. 47 and 48. They also tell us that he was somewhat liberal minded for his day and often sought wisdom from many different sources, which aggress with what we find in our text, and once again confirms that Luke, the author of Acts, was an excellent historian himself.
When Paul and Barnabas arrive in Sergius Paulus’ court a sorcerer comes quickly to oppose them. This Bar-Jesus most likely figured out that if Sergius Paulus decided to follow Paul’s teaching he could lose his position of influence. We do not know much about this Bar-Jesus, as this is the only place he is mentioned, but the text does say he was a Jewish false prophet, and Paul will accuse him of making crooked the straight ways of the Lord. The text also tells us that Bar-Jesus was trying to turn Sergius Paulus away from the Lord.
At first Paul must have tolerated him, but at some point Paul has had enough, and then Paul exposes Bar-Jesus for what he really is. Paul, being filled with the Holy Spirit calls him the “son of the devil” and a fraud (Acts 13:9-10). Then God strikes Bar-Jesus blind, so that the man that tried to spiritually blind others is now physically blind. We do know this blindness was temporary, but we do not know for how long or what happens to Bar-Jesus after this scene, only that he was defeated here and not heard from again.
The next phrase in the text, Acts 13:12, is a very interesting verse. It says that Sergius Paulus having seen this interplay between Paul and Bar-Jesus converts to Christianity. At a fast glance it may appear that it was the striking of Bar-Jesus that cause his conversion but a more careful reading shows that it was the preaching of Paul that caused the conversion. As with all miracles in the Bible the striking of Bar-Jesus blind was to validate the message, and the messenger, for it is by the hearing of the Word that one is saved (Rom 10:17).
After this scene history records for us that not only was Sergius Paulus converted, but so was his daughter, and his grandson who later became a Roman Senator[1]. So we can rest assured this was a real conversion that bore fruit for at least couple generations. We can also see that once again our Biblical text is a reliable history of the times and events it records.
This section of scripture closes with an almost after thought to mention that John Mark leaves missionary team. Later in Acts 15:36-40 we will see a bit more on this desertion, but other then that we do not know why he left. Much later in Paul’s life there will be reconciliation between Paul and John Mark, but for now they will be at odds.
From this account we can take many lessons, but the one I think is most cirtical for most of my readership is what happens when Paul is leading Sergius Paulus to Christ. As God is moving in the Roman leader’s heart, the enemy is moving in his own troops to counter the move. In the conflict between Bar-Jesus and Paul we see played out a very real spiritual battle that happens every time we share our faith with anyone. We must realize that there is a war on, and that when we begin to share our faith with others we are on the front lines.
Practically this means several things. First that we must always been prepared for battle. Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us to put on the full armor of God, and nowhere in scripture does it tell us to take off this armor. Every day and every night we are at war. Sometimes it is more apparent then others, but whether we know it or not, the war rages on. God’s enemy wants to cause internal division (as seen with John Marks’ desertion here) and corrupt anything of God’s (as seen with Bar-Jesus here) that he can. We must don the full armor of God so that we can stand in this battle and let the light of truth shine through us in to this dark and cursed world. People’s eternal souls depend on this.
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[1] John MacArthur, Jr., Acts 13-28 (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1996), 11.
