Atos 13
Thomas Constable · Citado em PreceptAustin
Atos 13
Constable has a quote from Levinskaya that "The massive influx of a Jewish population into Asia Minor took place at the end of the third century BC, when Antiochus III settled two thousand Jewish families from Mesopotamia and Babylonia in Lydia and Phrygia, in order to maintain the security of his hold over this region.” (Acts 13 Commentary) They went into the synagogue (sunagoge) - Paul's "modus operandi" when arriving in a town was to first go to the Jewish synagogue. Homer Kent makes an excellent point about first going to the synagogues - “There was, of course, a practical matter involved. If they had begun evangelizing among gentiles first, the synagogue would have been closed to them.” All of Luke's uses of synagogue in Acts - Acts 6:9; Acts 9:2; Acts 9:20; Acts 13:5; Acts 13:14; Acts 13:15; Acts 13:43; Acts 14:1; Acts 15:21; Acts 17:1; Acts 17:10; Acts 17:17; Acts 18:4; Acts 18:7; Acts 18:8; Acts 18:17; Acts 18:19; Acts 18:26; Acts 19:8; Acts 22:19; Acts 24:12; Acts 26:11 And sat down -
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Constable writes that "Antioch of Pisidia was a Roman colony, as were Lystra, Troas, Philippi, and Corinth. Roman colonies stood at strategic places in the empire along frequently travelled roads. As such Antioch would have been a good place to plant a church." (Acts 13 Commentary) Hastings Dictionary description of a Roman Colony - The careful reader of Acts 16:12, the only place in the NT where the term ‘colony’ (κολωνία, a mere transliteration of the Latin original) occurs, sees at once that a Roman colony must have been very different from what we understand by the word ‘colony.’ Colonia (from colonus, ‘settler,’ ‘husbandman,’ from colere, ‘to cultivate’) was a word applied by the Romans to a body (usually 300) of their citizen-soldiers (in earlier days the two terms were convertible), transferred from the city of Rome itself to some outlying part of Italy or (later) to some other land. These men remained Roman citizens after transference, and were collectively, in fact, a portion of Rome itself planted amidst a community not itself possessed of Roman citizenship. The object of the earliest colonies was the holding in subjection to Rome of the particular country in which they were planted. It was not usually a fresh city that was thus founded. The rule was that a community was already resident there, and the body of Roman soldiers was stationed there, thus making the place into a garrison city. The colonies were connected by military roads, beginning at Rome, and troops could be marched along those roads to relieve the colonies in the shortest possible time, supposing a rising (tumultus) should occur, too powerful to be quelled by the local garrison. (A good example is the case of the Lombardy Plain and the Campaigns of Marius.) A Roman colony, then, means a garrison city, and implies the presence of Roman soldier-citizens. This was the Roman colonia in origin and purpose. We find, however, that, after danger from the enemy had ceased, coloniae continued to be planted during the Empire in peaceful districts. This new style of colonia continued to mean a body of Roman citizens, but the military aspect was lost sight of. It was an honour for a provincial city to be made into a colonia, because this was a proof that it was of special importance, specially dear to the Emperor, and worthy to be the residence of Roman citizens, who were the aristocracy of the provincial towns in which they lived. (It was not till AD 212, the time of Caracalla, that all the subjects of the Roman Empire received the Roman citizenship.) A number of towns mentioned in the NT were coloniesat the time the events narrated there took place: Corinth (since 44-43 b.c.), Puteoli (since 194 b.c.), Philippi (42 b.c.), Pisidian Antioch (before 27 b.c.), Syracuse (21 b.c.), Troas (between 27 and 12 b.c.), Lystra (after 12 b.c.),† [Note: Not Iconium till the time of Hadrian.] Ptolemais (before a.d. 47). All these places are mentioned by the writer of Acts, and yet to one only does he attach the epithet ‘colony,’ namely Philippi. The whole manner in which he refers to his place shows personal pride in it, and it is hard to refrain from believing that he had a special connexion with it. The comparatively large proportion of places holding the dignity of colony, which were visited by St. Paul, illustrates very forcibly the plan of his evangelization. He aimed at planting the gospel in the leading centres, knowing that it would spread best from these. Longnecker has an informative note - Pisidian Antioch was in reality not in Pisidia but in Phrygia near Pisidia (cf. Strabo, Geogr. 12.577). To distinguish it from the other Antioch in Phrygia, however, the city was popularly called “Antioch of Pisidia.” It was founded by Seleucus I Nicator about 281 BC as one of the sixteen cities he named in honor of either his father or his son, both of whom bore the name Antiochus. It was situated 100 miles north of Perga on a lake-studded plateau, some 3,600 feet above sea level. The foothills between Perga and Pisidian Antioch largely ruled out any extensive east-west traffic until one reached the plateau area, though following the river valleys one could move northward from the area of Pamphylia. On the plateau Antioch stood astride the Via Sebaste (PICTURE Greek word "Sebaste" = Latin "Augustus"), the Roman road from Ephesus to the Euphrates. The city had been incorporated into the expanded Roman province of Galatia in 25 BC by Augustus, who imported into it some three thousand army veterans and their families from Italy and bestowed on it the title “Colonia Caesarea.” Antioch was the most important city of southern Galatia and included within its population a rich amalgam of Greek, Roman, Oriental, and Phrygian traditions. Acts tells us that it also had a sizable Jewish population. (EBC)
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Constable - It was necessary for the gospel to go to the Jews before the Gentiles not only because Jewish acceptance of Jesus is a prerequisite to the messianic kingdom (cf. 3:26). It was also necessary because Jesus was the Messiah whom God had promised to deliver the Jews. The gospel was good news to the Jews in a larger sense than it was to the Gentiles. Paul consistently preached the gospel to the Jews first in the towns he visited (cf. 13:50–51; 14:2–6; 17:5, 13–15; 18:6; 19:8–9; 28:23–28; Rom. 1:16). The Jews’ rejection of the gospel led him to offer it next to the Gentiles. (Acts 13 Commentary) And said, "It was necessary that the word (logos) of God be spoken to you first - As Paul said in Romans "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Ro 1:16).
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Constable on Iconium - Iconium was a Greek city-state in the geographic region of Phrygia. "While Rome chose Antioch of Pisidia and Lystra as bastions of its authority in the area, Iconium remained largely Greek in temper and somewhat resistant to Roman influence, though Hadrian later made it a Roman colony." “Iconium” comes from eikon, the Greek word for “image.” According to Greek mythology, Prometheus and Athena recreated humanity there after a devastating flood by making images of people from mud and breathing life into them (ibid., pp. 431-32). (Longnecker)...In Iconium Paul and Barnabas followed the same method of evangelizing that they had used in Antioch (Acts 13:14). They visited the synagogue first. They also experienced the same results: many conversions among both Jews and Gentiles but also rejection by some of the Jews (cf. Acts 13:43). These unbelieving Jews stirred up unbelieving Gentiles who joined them in opposing the missionaries (Acts 13:50). (Acts 13 Commentary) Merrill Unger says Iconium was “a garden spot, situated in the midst of orchards and farms, but surrounded by deserts....Iconium, too, owed its bustling business activity to its location on the main trade route connecting Ephesus with Syria and the Mesopotamian world, as well as its orchard industries and farm produce.” Related Resource: Wikipedia note on Ancient History of Iconium) Acts 13:52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. KJV Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. were continually filled with joy Acts 2:46; 5:41; Matthew 5:12; Luke 6:22,23; John 16:22,23; Romans 5:3; 14:17; 15:13; 2 Corinthians 8:2; 1 Th 1:6; James 1:2; 1 Peter 1:6-8; 4:13 and with the Holy Spirit Acts 2:4; 4:31; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:18-20 Acts 13 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries DISCIPLES FILLED WITH JOY AND THE SPIRIT And the disciples - These are those who had believed (Acts 13:48). The disciples were believers. They were not a elite or special group which sadly what is sometimes taught (as a young believer this is what I was taught in a Bible church and it left me very confused for a number of years!). No, the Bible teaches that all believers are disciples and all disciples are believers. To say otherwise is to twist the Scriptures and to invent different classes of Christians. Obviously some believers are more spiritually mature than other believers, but both are still disciples in the eyes of God. Both are still "learners" because both will always have more to learn about the infinite God they worship and serve. Some teach there are "carnal"Christians and then there are those who are disciples. This is not what Scripture teaches. Sure, some disciples make act and live fleshly for a time, but that is never their lifestyle or habitual status. In a sense every time we sin we are acting "carnally" and this can and does occur in the lives of even the most mature saints because we still have bodies indwelt by the fallen flesh, the sin nature inherited from Adam. Ray Stedman on were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. - There is no mention of the gift of tongues in connection with the filling of the Holy Spirit, but there is mention of the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22) They were filled with the joy of the Lord and the love of God. This is the great sign of the Spirit of God in the human heart -- it floods the heart with love and joy. If we are Christians our hearts cannot help but be moved at the mercy of God toward us, who deserve nothing at his hands. Yet how much he has given! It would be fitting if we would join together in a prayer of thanksgiving. Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, our hearts are stirred as we think again of the mercy that you show to us, this marvelous justification by which all that has lain heavily upon our hearts and our consciences has been washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. And his life is given to us so that by it we may live on a totally different basis than we ever lived before. How wonderful this is, Lord; teach us never to forget that we have been justified, and that whenever we fail or falter, that justification is there again, ready to wash us and cleanse us, to free us and restore us. How thankful we are for this. If any here have not yet entered into the glory of this relationship we pray that, right now, they will say, "Lord, I want to be justified. Thank you for doing so in the death of Jesus. I believe it. I receive him as my Lord and Savior." We ask in his name, Amen.
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Constable observes "It is interesting that two references to joy (Acts 13:48, 52) bracket the one mention of persecution in this passage (Acts 13:50) suggesting that the missionaries’ joy overrode the discomforts of persecution (cf. Acts 16:24–25)." (Acts 13 Commentary) (Supernatural joy trumps natural tribulations) Rackham comments - We are reminded how once Stephen had been cast out of the gates of Jerusalem and Saul had raised up a persecution against the Nazarenes. As before, however, the effect of the persecution was the contrary to what the persecutors intended. In spite of the departure of the apostles, who were apparently the main objects of the persecution, the disciples continued to be filled with joy and the Holy Ghost. Joy generally followed upon the first reception of the gospel: such we had in verse 48. But as S. Paul taught the Galatians, joy, the true and deepest joy, is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22+); and the mention of the Spirit here adds what was lacking in the sermon (ED: OR AT LEAST NOT RECORDED BY DR LUKE).