Commentary - Acts 13:13-43

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, we have the record of Paul's first formal sermon, delivered in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch. This is a pivotal moment in the book of Acts. The missionary journeys have begun in earnest, and Luke gives us a paradigmatic example of how the apostle to the Gentiles went about his business. And his business was to begin with the Jews. The gospel is to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. This sermon is a masterful summary of redemptive history, showing how all the Old Testament signposts were pointing to one destination: the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul lays out God's faithfulness to His covenant promises, from the patriarchs to David, and then demonstrates that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the greatest promise of all, the promised Savior from David's line. The sermon culminates in a declaration of justification by faith in Christ, a truth that the Law of Moses could point to but never accomplish. The response is electric and divided, setting the stage for the gospel's explosive advance into the Gentile world.

The structure is straightforward. Paul gets an invitation to speak, and he takes it. He walks his hearers down the grand central aisle of their own history, showing them what it was all for. He shows them the promises made and the promises kept. He presents Jesus as the climax of it all, validated by John the Baptist, executed by ignorant rulers, and vindicated by God in the resurrection. The application is sharp and clear: forgiveness and justification are available now, through this Jesus. And a solemn warning is issued to those who might be tempted to scoff. The immediate aftermath shows a great hunger for this message, alongside the beginnings of the jealousy and opposition that would follow the apostles everywhere.

Outline

Context In Acts

This passage marks the beginning of the main thrust of Paul's first missionary journey. Sent out by the church in Syrian Antioch (Acts 13:1-3), Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark had first ministered on the island of Cyprus. There, they saw the conversion of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, and confronted the sorcerer Elymas. Now, they have crossed over to the mainland of Asia Minor. The departure of John Mark is a significant detail, one that will later cause a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:37-39). But for now, the mission presses on to Pisidian Antioch, a key Roman colony. Paul's sermon here is the longest and most detailed of his recorded sermons in Acts. It serves as a template for his ministry, demonstrating his strategy of reasoning from the Scriptures to proclaim Christ as the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel. This event is a crucial turning point, as the positive response from the Gentiles and the hostile reaction from many Jews will lead Paul to declare his intention to turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46).

Verse by Verse Commentary

v. 13 Paul and his team move on from Cyprus, landing at Perga. This is a standard part of missionary travel. But the significant event here is that John Mark bails on them. Luke doesn't give us the reason, but we know from later events that Paul considered it a desertion. Ministry is not a vacation; it is warfare. And in warfare, some men turn back. This is a reminder that even in the apostolic age, ministry had its profound difficulties and disappointments, not just with opponents on the outside, but with companions on the inside.

v. 14 They press on from the coastal region of Perga inland to the higher elevation of Pisidian Antioch. True to form, on the Sabbath, they go right to where the God-fearing people are gathered: the synagogue. This was Paul's consistent pattern. The gospel is for the Jew first. He didn't see the synagogue as a hostile entity to be avoided, but as the natural starting point for announcing that Israel's Messiah had come. They went in and sat down, not seeking to disrupt, but to participate as visiting Jews.

v. 15 After the customary reading from the Torah and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue extend an invitation. This was a common courtesy offered to learned visitors. "Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it." God's providence is on full display here. Paul didn't have to fight for the floor. The door was opened for him by the very men who ran the place. When God has a message to deliver, He knows how to secure a platform.

v. 16 Paul accepts the invitation. He stands up and gestures for attention, a typical posture for a public speaker. He addresses his audience in two distinct groups: "Men of Israel," his fellow Jews, and "you who fear God," the Gentile proselytes and adherents who were a regular feature in synagogues throughout the empire. He has a message for both.

v. 17-19 Paul begins not with a controversial claim, but with a recitation of their shared history, their common ground. He starts with God's sovereign choice. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers. Everything flows from God's electing grace. He recounts the story: the sojourn in Egypt, the mighty exodus, the patient endurance of Israel's rebellion in the wilderness for forty years, and the conquest of Canaan. This is all God's doing. Paul is establishing that he stands squarely within the historic faith of Israel. The 450 years mentioned likely covers the period from the affliction in Egypt to the distribution of the land.

v. 20-22 The historical survey continues, moving from the conquest to the period of the judges, which lasted until Samuel. Then comes the people's sinful demand for a king. God grants their request, giving them Saul for forty years. But Saul was man's choice, and God removed him. Then God raised up His choice: David. And here Paul quotes Scripture, combining phrases from Psalm 89 and 1 Samuel 13, to make a crucial point. God testified of David, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all My will." This sets the stage for the introduction of David's greater Son.

v. 23 This is the pivot of the sermon. "From the seed of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus." All that history was heading somewhere. It wasn't just a series of disconnected events. It was a story with a plot, and the plot was the promise of a Savior. Paul declares that this promise has now been fulfilled in the person of Jesus, a direct descendant of David.

v. 24-25 Before introducing Jesus' ministry, Paul wisely brings in the testimony of a witness they all respected: John the Baptist. John's ministry was not an end in itself but was entirely preparatory. He preached a baptism of repentance to get Israel ready for the main event. And John was crystal clear about his own identity. He constantly deflected attention from himself, pointing to the one coming after him, whose sandals he was unworthy to untie. John knew his place, which was to decrease so that Christ might increase.

v. 26 Paul now makes the message intensely personal. He again addresses the "sons of Abraham's family" and the God-fearing Gentiles among them. He says, "to us the word of this salvation was sent." This isn't an abstract historical lecture. This is a delivery of urgent good news, a message of salvation, and it has arrived at their doorstep in Pisidian Antioch.

v. 27-28 Paul has to account for the crucifixion. If Jesus is the promised Messiah, why was he rejected and killed by the leaders in Jerusalem? Paul's explanation is that their ignorance fulfilled prophecy. The rulers in Jerusalem, the very center of Jewish life, failed to recognize their own Messiah. And in their ignorance of Him, they also demonstrated their ignorance of the prophets that were read in their synagogues every single Sabbath. In a profound irony, by condemning Jesus, they were fulfilling the very words of those prophets. They found no legal basis for a death sentence, yet they still demanded his execution from Pilate. This was a gross miscarriage of justice, but it was all within the sovereign plan of God.

v. 29-31 They carried out everything that the Scriptures had predicted concerning His suffering and death. They took Him down from the cross and buried Him. And if that were the end of the story, Paul would have nothing to preach. But that is not the end of the story. "But God raised Him from the dead." This is the hinge of history. Man did his worst, and God responded with His absolute best. The resurrection is not a theory; it is a historical fact, attested to by numerous eyewitnesses. Jesus appeared for many days to those who had been with Him from the beginning, and they are now His witnesses.

v. 32-33 Paul and Barnabas now identify themselves with those witnesses. "And we proclaim to you the good news." What is this good news? It is that the promise made to the fathers has now been fulfilled for their children. God is a promise-keeping God. The specific fulfillment Paul highlights is the resurrection of Jesus, which he connects to a quotation from the second Psalm: "You are My Son; today I have begotten You." This is not speaking of the eternal generation of the Son, but of His official installation as the Messianic King, vindicated and declared to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection from the dead.

v. 34-37 Paul presses the point about the resurrection, emphasizing its nature. Jesus was not just resuscitated to die again. He was raised "no longer to return to corruption." To prove this, he brings in two more texts. First, from Isaiah 55, "I will give you the holy and faithful lovingkindnesses of David." These sure mercies promised to David can only be guaranteed by an eternal king. A dead king cannot dispense eternal blessings. Second, from Psalm 16, "You will not give Your Holy One over to see corruption." Paul argues compellingly that this could not refer to David himself. David, after serving God's purpose in his generation, died, was buried, and his body decayed just like any other man's. But Jesus, the one whom God raised, did not see corruption. The resurrection is the ultimate proof of His unique identity as God's Holy One.

v. 38-39 Here is the application, the "therefore" of the sermon. "Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you." This is the first great benefit of the gospel. But there is more. Verse 39 is a thunderclap of reformation truth. "And that in Him, everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from through the Law of Moses." The Law was good, but it could not justify. It could diagnose the disease of sin, but it could not provide the cure. Justification, a right standing before God, is available only in Christ, and it is received by faith alone. This is a radical declaration to make in a synagogue, and it cuts to the heart of the gospel.

v. 40-41 Paul concludes with a solemn warning, quoting from Habakkuk. He urges them to watch out, lest they become the scoffers the prophet spoke of. God is doing a mighty work in their day, the work of salvation through the crucified and risen Christ. But it is a work that will seem incredible, unbelievable, to those whose hearts are hard. The warning is clear: do not be found among those who marvel and then perish in their unbelief. The gospel is not something to be trifled with. It demands a response.

v. 42-43 The initial response is overwhelmingly positive. As Paul and Barnabas are leaving, the people are begging them to come back the next Sabbath and say more. The sermon has struck a chord. After the service officially breaks up, a crowd of Jews and devout Gentile converts follows them, wanting to continue the conversation. Paul and Barnabas seize the opportunity, urging them "to continue in the grace of God." This is a crucial exhortation. It is by grace you are saved, and it is in grace that you must continue. The Christian life is not a matter of getting saved by grace and then switching to a works-based system for sanctification. We begin, continue, and end in grace.

Application

Paul's sermon in Antioch is a model for all gospel proclamation. It is rooted in the Scriptures, centered on the person and work of Christ, and aimed at a clear response. We must learn to tell the whole story of the Bible as one coherent narrative that climaxes in Jesus. Our history, our traditions, our very lives only make sense in light of Him.

The central declaration here is justification by faith alone. This is the truth that sets men free. The law, and all other systems of human achievement, can only condemn. They can tell you what you ought to do, but they cannot give you the power to do it, nor can they remove the guilt of your failures. Only Christ can do that. Forgiveness and a perfect righteous standing before God are gifts, received through faith in Him. We must never tire of proclaiming this, and we must never allow it to be compromised.

Finally, we see the necessity of perseverance. Those who responded were urged to "continue in the grace of God." Salvation is not a one-time decision that has no bearing on how we live. It is the beginning of a new life, a life lived in dependence on the same grace that saved us. We must constantly fight the temptation to revert to a performance-based religion, and instead rest in the finished work of Christ and the ongoing work of His Spirit in us. The gospel is not just the diving board into the Christian life; it is the pool itself.