After establishing a community of believers in Derbe, Paul and Barnabas had to decide the next leg of their journey. Surely they discussed the possibility of heading south to Tarsus and catching a ship back to Antioch in Syria. After having been stoned and left for dead, however, Paul likely worried about the fate of those churches they had established in Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch. They made the hard choice of retracing their steps to assure their brothers and sisters were well and to bring them the encouragement they surely needed.
After being chased from the city of Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas fled to Iconium and followed their pattern of first visiting the Jewish synagogue of the city. There they met with similar results as in Pisidian Antioch, with one important difference.
The first few verses of Acts 13 provide us a rare glimpse into the early church of Antioch. The first is that it had two official offices, namely teachers (pastors) and prophets. There is no indication that deacons or elders were yet appointed.
At the start of Acts 12 we are given a few details of the death of James, son of Zebedee. As the apostle John’s older brother he was one only three to witness Jesus’ transfiguration on the mount. James was one of the first disciples called by Jesus and the first to be martyred (Stephen was a deacon, and while he was a follower of Jesus was not one of the 12). His mother and father were people with means and owned a few fishing vessels. This is likely one reason Jesus asked John to care for his mother shortly before his death.
When the crowds witnessed Paul healing the lame man (Acts 14.10), they immediately assumed Paul and Barnabas were the Greek/Roman gods Zeus and Hermes. Someone immediately ran to the temple of Zeus just outside the city and told him everything that had happened. The temple priest prepared sacrifices and gifts for the two “gods” and brought them to the city so they could honor their gods.
Acts 13.4 begins Saul’s, soon to be called Paul for the rest of the book, first of three missionary journeys. Why the name change? As we saw yesterday with John Mark, it is not unusual in the New Testament era for people to go by two names, one Hebrew the other Greek. Paul is the Greek equivalent of Saul. He and Barnabas are accompanied by John Mark to the island of Cyprus.
With Peter running from the law, Luke turns to the reaction of the authorities to Peter’s escape, and it’s not a pleasant one. The soldiers guarding Peter’s cell were the first to notice his absence. When word reached Herod he ordered a careful search for Peter and, when not found, ordered the execution of the guards. Four men died that day instead of Peter. Dismayed that his public spectacle could not proceed, Herod left town to reside at the palace in Caesarea-Maritima.
The events recorded in Acts 11.27-.30 is one of the most historically attested passages in the New Testament. There were many famines that rolled across the Roman Empire between 45 to 48 AD during the reign of Emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus (known by all as simply "Claudius"). The famine referred to here was in the earlier part of that time frame and was mentioned by Josephus in his book Antiquities XX.
Running for their lives, in Acts 14.8 we catch up with Barnabas and Paul in Lystra. Rather than going underground and covertly escaping their pursuers, once in the city they continued in their usual manner and boldly proclaimed the good news of Jesus the Messiah.
Acts 13.4 begins Saul’s, soon to be called Paul for the rest of the book, first of three missionary journeys. Why the name change? As we saw yesterday with John Mark, it is not unusual in the New Testament era for people to go by two names, one Hebrew the other Greek. Paul is the Greek equivalent of Saul. He and Barnabas are accompanied by John Mark to the island of Cyprus.
Once Peter realized his escape was for real he fled to the home of a friend, John Mark. Perhaps he fled there because it was close (most likely), or because he was aware of the prayer meeting happening there, either way it was a place of safety which he desperately needed.
Due to the persecution that broke out over Stephen’s execution (chapter 7) many Jesus-following Jews left Jerusalem for friendlier shores. Some of those friendly shores included Phoenicia (a region north of Israel), Cyprus (a large island off the coast of Israel) and even as far north as Antioch in Syria.
