Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: ACTS #23 - 13:42-52)
D. 13:42-52 REACTION TO A SPIRIT-LED SERMON
1. 13:42-43 REACTION OF BELIEVERS
a. 13:42 And as they went out, they requested that these :words be spoken to them the next sabbath.
E-xiONton de auTON, pa-reKAlouneis to me-taXU SABba-ton la-leTHEnai auTOIS ta 'REma-taTAUta.
b. 13:43 JEW AND PROSELYTE CONVERTS URGED TO PERSEVERE
luTHEIses [3089]de tes su-na-goGES, e-koLOUthe-san [190]polLOI ton IouDAIon
Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews
kai ton se-boMEnon [4576]pro-seLUton [4339]to PAUlokai to BarNAba:
and of the devout proselytes followed :Paul and :Barnabas:
HOIti-nes, pros-laLOUNtes auTOIS, Epei-thon [3982]auTOUS prosMEnein [4357]teCHAri-ti tou TheOU.
who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of :God.
2. 13:44-52 RESULT OF PERSECUTION: GOSPEL SPREADS
a. 13:44 And the coming sabbath almost the whole city was gathered to hear the word of :God.
Tode er-choMEnosabBAtoscheDON [4975]PAsa hePOlis suNECHthe[4863]aKOUsai to LOgon tou TheOU.
b. 13:45 GOSPEL SUCCESS LEADS JEWS TO CONFRONT
iDONtes de hoi IouDAIoi tous OCHlous ePLESthe-san [4130]ZElou [2205],
But seeing the crowds the Jews were filled with jealousy,
kai anTEle-gon [48] tois huPO PAUlou la-louMEnois, blas-pheMOUNtes [987].
and contradicted the thingsspoken by Paul, andblasphemed.
c. 13:46a THE MISSIONARIES EXPLAIN: JEWS FIRST - THEN GENTILES
par-re-si-aSAmeNOI [3955]te ho PAUlos kai ho BarNAbas, EIpan,
And :Paul and :Barnabas spoke out boldly, andsaid,
HuMIN en a-nagKAIon [316] PROton la-leTHEnai ton LOgon tou TheOU.
It was necessary that the word of :God should first be spoken to you.
d. 13:46b TURNING FROM JEWS TO GENTILES
e-peiDEa-poTHEISthe [683]auTON, kai ouk aXIous [514]KRIne-te [2919]he-auTOUS tes ai-oNIou [166]zo-ES,
But since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal :life,
iDOU, strePHOme-na [4762] eis ta ETHne [1484].
lo, we turn to the nations.
e. 13:47 MISSIONARIES SENT BY GOD FOR THE NATIONS
HOUtogar enTEtal-tai [1781]heMIN ho KUri-os, TEtheiKA [5067]se eis phos [5457]ethNON,
For so has the Lord commanded us, I have set you for a light of nations,
tou EI-NAI se eis so-teRIan [4991]HEos esCHAtou [2078]tes ges.
That you be for salvation unto the uttermost of the earth.
f. 13:48 A CHALLENGING VERSE!
aKOUon-ta de ta ETHne, Echai-ron [5463], kai eDOxa-zon [1392]ton LOgon tou TheOU:
And as the nations heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of :God:
kai ePIsteu-sen [4100] HOsoi Esan te-tagMEnoi [5021]eis zo-EN [2222]aiOni-on.
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
g. 13:49 And the word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout the whole country.
di-ePHEre-to [1308]de ho LOgos tou KuRIou di' HOles tes CHOras [5561].
h. 13:50 PERSECUTION PLANNED AND EXECUTED
hoi de IouDAIoi paROtru-nan [3951] tas se-boMEnas [4576] guNAIkas tas euSCHEmo-nas [2158]
But the Jews urged on the devout :honorable women
kai tous PROtous [4413] tes POle-os,
and the first menof the city,
kai ePEgei-ran [1892] di-ogMON [1375] ePI PAUlon kai ton BarNAban,
and stirred up a persecution against :Paul and Barnabas,
kai eXEba-lon [1544] auTOUS aPO ton hoRIon [3725] auTON.
and cast them out of their :borders.
i. 13:51 But THEY shook off the dust of theirfeet against them, andcame unto Iconium.
hoi de ek-ti-naXAme-noi [1621]ton ko-ni-orTON [2868]ton poDON [4228]ep' auTOUS, ELthon eis I-KOni-on.
j. 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
HOI te matheTAI e-pleROUNto [4137]chaRAS [5479]kai PNEUma-tos HaGIou.
NOTE: Once again, these 11 verses above are a compact unit. The Holy Spirit through Luke wants us to understand this transitional passage before we enter into the ongoing of the Gospel of the Kingdom in Iconium.
13:42-43 - The initial response to the Gospel is not always an indication of the final one! See the wise and encouraging words of Paul and Barnabas to both Jews and devout proselytes.
13:44-52 - God in Wisdom is overseeing all progress of the Gospel: both blessing and persecution. He - makes all things work together for good, our Triune God. Perhaps at this point I should enter a word of wisdom concerning the nature of the Godhead, a subject that has caused confusion in the church for the last 2000 years.
#95 - “The Father - the Divine overmen; the Son - the Divine formen; the Spirit - the Divine inmen.
#96 - “As long as He was God of the Jews only, Jehovah was content to be known only as the One Who Is, Jehovah the one God. The Jews were not metaphysicians, and raised no silly questions. But when He becomes also the God of the Greeks, He condescends to make Himself known as God Triune. The Greeks were metaphysicians. His Unity is God's revelation of Himself to man simple, natural. His Trinity is God's condescension to man complex, artificial, God's long-suffering with man even when raising silly questions.
#97 - “When put under a tree to enjoy its shade and shelter, to eat its fruit, and gather in for winter comfort its shed leaves, and chop up its withered branches both for heat and exercise, and draw off sap when flowing, and munch its bark when I have a cold - I will not fritter away my time with speculations as to the exact metaphysical relation between the root, the trunk and the branches: whether the three are one, or the one is three; or whether each separately is thetree, or all together. I leave this “discussion” to such folk as enjoy this sort of a thing. To me, it is unattractive, because I think it mere trifling, even if I did not know that the “discussion” is sure to end in spoiling for me my beloved and useful tree . . .
“When my head and a post are in collision, it is a delicate metaphysical question whether I hit the post or the post hit me. But the discussion thereof immediately after the hitting would mark me for the Asylum. I fail to see why the discussion in the abstract should not land one there as effectually as in the concrete.
“Now the discussion of the Trinity as a mere piece of arithmetic strikes me as on par with the rest.”
See 13:48 - Ministerial students argue over this ad infinitum, never reaching a united solution, but never tiring of continuing this controversy. At the ordination examination of one of these students, this verse was set before him to comment upon. It flooredhim! Whole church movements separate because of verses such as this.
In 1949 in a church history class, the Norwegian professor was setting this verse in its proper context. One student piped up in challenge - “Dr. ... “ you are teaching two theologies!” The professor responded, “Two Teologies, my brudder? Two Teologies? Two sides of the same coin!” What a joy to sit under such a spiritual professor. At my ordination in 1951, I had him preach my ordination sermon!
See the unusual response of Paul and Barnabas when ejected from Perga of Pamphylia - they shook offthe dust of their feet against them. Thisis the very thing Jesus instructed disciples to do! But they left the truedisciples there full of joy and the Holy Spirit. J.A.W.
(#95 - #97 come from “The Writings of Ivan Panin”, The Book Society of Canada”, 1918, reprinted 1972.)