Acts 13:49

Act_13:49

And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Gospel missions

We feel persuaded that all of you are of one mind in this matter, that it is the duty as well as the privilege of the Church to proclaim the gospel to the world. But we have not been successful to the extent we might have expected. What is the reason of this? Perhaps we may think we find that reason in the sovereignty of God. But still we must look at home for the cause. When Zion travails, she brings forth children; when Zion is in earnest, God is in earnest about His work. We must not, therefore, arbitrarily look for the cause of our failure in the will of God, but we must see what it is that renders our success so trifling in comparison with the tremendous results of apostolic preaching.

I. We have few apostolic men. Here and there we may have one or two. We had a Williams, we had a Knibb, but they have entered into rest. We have one or two still remaining. We say, God bless such men as Moffatt! But cast your eyes around, and where can we find many such men? They are all good men; they are better than we; but we must still say of them that they differ from the mighty apostles in many respects. I am not speaking of missionaries only, but of ministers too. We have not men with--

1. Apostolic zeal. Converted in a most singular way, by a direct interposition from heaven, Paul, from that time forward, became an earnest man. He had always been earnest, in his sin and in his persecutions; but after he had received the mighty office of an apostle you can scarcely conceive the awful earnestness which he manifested. His zeal was so burning, that he could not (as we unfortunately do) restrain himself within a little sphere; but he preached the Word everywhere. Where are the men like that man? We have no eyes now like the eyes of the Saviour, which could weep over Jerusalem. If ministers were more hearty in their work of preaching, then we might expect great success; but we cannot expect it while we go about our work in a half-hearted way.

2. Apostolic faith. What did Paul do? He went to Philippi; did he know a soul there? No. He had his Masters truth, and he believed in the power of it. He was devoid of pomp, or show, or parade; he did not go to a pulpit with a nice cushion in it to address a respectable congregation, but he walked through the streets and began to preach to the people. He went to Corinth, to Athens, alone, single-handed, to tell the people the gospel of the blessed God. Why? Because he had faith in the gospel and believed it would save souls, and throw down idols from their thrones. But nowadays we have not faith in the gospel we preach. How many there are who preach a gospel which they are afraid wont save souls; they insert little bits of their own to it in order, as they think, to win men to Christ! When I have faith in my doctrines, those doctrines will prevail, for confidence is the winner of the palm. He who hath courage enough to grasp the standard, and hold it up, will be sure enough to find followers. We want a deeper faith in our gospel; we want to be quite sure of what we preach

3. Apostolic self-denial. We are mere carpet knights and Hyde-park warriors. But I hear some whispering, You ought to make a little allowance. I make all allowance. I am not finding fault with those brethren; they are a good sort of people; but I will only say, that in comparison with Paul, we are little insignificant Lilliputian creatures, who can hardly be seen in comparison with those gigantic men of old.

II. We do not go about our work in an apostolic style.

1. There is not enough preaching by ministers and missionaries. They sit down interpreting, establishing schools, and doing this, that, and the other. It is the tendency of the times to decry preaching, but it is the foolishness of preaching which is to change the world.

2. A great mistake has been made in not affirming the divinity of our mission, always holding out this, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. The gospel is lowered by controversy. How did Mahommed come to have so strong a religion? He said, I have received a revelation from heaven. It was a lie, but he persuaded men to believe it. Did he prove what he said? Not he. You must, he said, believe what I say, or there is no Paradise for you. There is a power in that kind of thing.

3. We have not enough of the Divine method of itinerancy. Paul was a great itinerant; he preached in one place, and there were twelve converted there; he made a church at once; he did not stop till he had five hundred; but when be had twelve, he went off to another place. We, nowadays, go and settle in a place, make a station of it, and work around it by little and little, and think that is the way to succeed. No, no! ravage a continent; attempt great things, and great things shall be done. There should be fixed ministers and pastors, but those who are like apostles should itinerate far more than they do.

III. We have not apostolic churches.

1. Where is our prayerfulness compared with theirs?

2. We have not the apostolic mode of liberality. In the apostles days they gave all their substance. It was not demanded of them then, and it is not now; still we have run to the other extreme, and many give nothing at all.

IV. We have not the Holy Spirit in that measure which attended the apostles. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 13:49-52. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all that region — Paul and Barnabas, it seems, during their stay at Antioch, made excursions into the neighbouring country, for the sake of preaching to the idolatrous Gentiles; or the people who came from the country to Antioch, and believed the doctrine preached by Paul and Barnabas, carried the glad tidings of salvation home with them. From this time forth it appears in all the Gentile countries. Paul, after preaching to the Jews, constantly offered salvation to the Gentiles, and by so doing fulfilled the commission which he had received from Christ, when he made him his apostle to the Gentiles. But the Jews stirred up the devout, &c. — The unbelieving Jews in Antioch, greatly enraged at the success with which Paul and Barnabas preached to the Gentiles, stirred up some women of considerable rank, who, having been proselyted to their religion, were peculiarly zealous for it; and the chief men of the city — Also, who probably were the husbands of these proselyted women; raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas — Representing them, doubtless, as exciters of sedition, and innovators in religion, who might occasion danger to the state; and expelled them out of their coasts — Out of the territory belonging to Antioch. But they shook off the dust of their feet — For a testimony against them; as Christ had commanded his apostles to do, in token of the certain ruin which should befall such despisers of his gospel. See on Mat 10:14. And came unto Iconium — Where they renewed the proclamation of those glad tidings, which many of the inhabitants of Antioch had so ungratefully rejected. This place lay on the western border of Lycaonia, and on the confines of Pisidia, Galatia, and Phrygia; to the latter of which it seems once to have belonged. See Raphelius. And the disciples — Who remained at Antioch; were filled with joy — That so blessed a message as that which Paul and Barnabas had brought them, had reached their ears, and been received by them; and with the Holy Ghost — With his enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting influences, and probably also with, at least, some of his extraordinary gifts; confirming them in the faith which they had newly embraced; and likewise qualifying them for carrying on the cause of Christ in that place, when the first planters of their church could no longer continue to cultivate and water it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 13:49 . διεφέρετο ; divulgabatur , “was spread abroad,” R.V.; not only by the preaching of the Apostles themselves, but by small knots of Christians in other towns, see Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 105, and so Blass, in loco ; only here in N.T. in this sense, so in ( Wis 18:10 ) Plut.; Lucian; imperfect, a certain lapse of time is implied, see Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 105. ὅλης τῆς χώρας : the phrase, “the whole Region ,” indicates that Antioch was the centre of a Region , a notice which introduces us to an important fact of Roman imperial administration. Antioch, as a Roman colony, would be the natural military and administrative centre of a certain Regio , and there is evidence that in Southern Galatia there were also other distinct Regiones , χῶραι , Ramsay, St. Paul , pp. 102 104, 109, 110 112.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region--implying some stay in Antioch and missionary activity in its vicinity.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 49. The word of the Lord was published, c.] Those who had come from different parts, and were converted, carried the glad tidings to their respective neighbourhoods and thus the doctrine was published throughout all the region of Pisidia, where they then were. See Clarke on Ac 13:44.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

49. The word of the Lord was spread abroad. Luke doth in this place declare the proceeding of the gospel; wherein appeareth how true the parable of Christ is, when he saith that it is like to leaven, (Luke 13:21.) We heard before that there was great concourse of people, so that the seed of true doctrine was sown throughout the whole city. Luke saith now that it was spread farther, to wit, throughout the whole country.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(49) Throughout all the region.—This clearly involves a considerable period of active working. It was not in Antioch only, but in the “region” round about, the border district of the three provinces of Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Galatia, that the new faith was planted. Each town and village in that region presented the spectacle of at least some few men and women who no longer sacrificed to their country’s gods, who were no longer content even to worship in the synagogue of the relligio licita of the Jews, but met in small companies here and there, as the disciples of a new Master.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the disciples were filled with joy,.... Meaning either the "apostles", as the Ethiopic version renders it, Paul and Barnabas; who rejoiced, both at the success they had met with, and because they were counted worthy to suffer reproach and persecution for the sake of Christ and his Gospel: or rather the disciples at Antioch, and other parts of Pisidia, the new converts; who were filled with joy at the Gospel being preached unto them, and at the constancy and courage of the apostles in suffering for it:

and with the Holy Ghost; which, with the former, designs the same thing as spiritual joy, or joy in the Holy Ghost; or else the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which they had both for their own comfort, and the advantage of others.

Next: Acts Chapter 14

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Ver. 49. And the word of the Lord] It ran and was glorified, as the apostle hath it. So fitly is it compared to leaven, for its spreading property, Mat 13:33. {See Trapp on "Mat 13:33"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The word of the Lord, concerning salvation to be found only by Christ, and the Gentiles to be admitted to partake of that salvation.

Was published throughout all the region; like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened, Mat 13:33.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

49. Word… published… all the region—This Romanized city of Antioch applied the old pagan Latin language, with all possible flexibility, to uses it had never known before, to thoughts of faith, and joy, and love new to the Roman soul.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Spread abroad for published, A.V. As the persecution after the death of Stephen led to the preaching of the Word in Judaea and Samaria and beyond, so here the contradiction and opposition of the Jews led to the free preaching of the gospel for the first time among the heathen population of Pisidia.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

49-52. The animosity of the Jews, excited by the success of the apostles, finally resulted in their expulsion from the city. The account is given in brief terms: (49) " And the word of the Lord was published throughout the whole region. (50) But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their borders. (51) And they, shaking off the dust of their feet against them, went into Iconium. (52) But the disciples were full of joy and the Holy Spirit. " The means by which this persecution was brought about serves to illustrate the relation which the Jews who were settled in Gentile cities sustained to the surrounding society. They had no political power in their own hands, and dared not lay violent hands upon the apostles. But certain "honorable women," wives of the "chief men of the city," had come under their influence by attending the synagogue worship, and through them they gained access to their unbelieving husbands so as to induce them to expel Paul and Barnabas. It is a suggestive fact, that the women who were made instruments of a transaction so discreditable are styled " devout women." It shows that devotion in the worship of God, like zeal when not according to knowledge, may be made to do the devil's own work. The more devout one's feelings, while his mind is corrupted by false conceptions of duty, the greater mischief he is likely to do; so far is it from being true, that to make the heart right is to make the whole man right. No man is safe without a proper understanding of his duty, derived from the word of God.

Paul and Barnabas were not without indignation when they were thus ignominiously expelled from the city; but the only exhibition which they made of it was that which the Savior had directed; "they shook off the dust of their feet against them." This was not a mere idle or childish mark of resentment, as it would be in an uninspired teacher; but was designed as "a testimony against them," a solemn warning of the righteous judgment of God, whom they had rejected in rejecting his chosen messengers.

We would imagine that the young disciples, from whom their religious teachers were thus violently driven away, would have been overwhelmed with grief and fear. But we are told, as quoted above, that they were "filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." The full assurance given by the gospel of that everlasting life which they had "determined for," and the belief that the Spirit of God dwelt in their mortal bodies, supplied them with a joy which was no longer dependent on human agency, and of which human power could not deprive them.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.