Acts 13:1 - Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch,
So, Barnabas and Paul and John Mark made their trek back to Antioch after delivering the goods because of the famine that was there.
They are back at Antioch and there were certain prophets and teachers. A prophet in the New Testament was one who spoke the word of God. In fact, the word prophet means spokesperson and teachers.
Now according to the Greek text, these are broken up. We are given five names. The first three apparently are prophets, and the last two are teachers.
The first three are Barnabas, Simeon that was called Niger, as in Nigerian, and Lucius or Luke of Cyrene. And Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
So, this Manaen grew up and was childhood buddies with Herod, but he has since received Christ, and he is part of the faith. But notice the last person that's mentioned. It is Saul. Barnabas is mentioned first. He appears to be the lead pastor in Antioch. And Saul was listed last.
Acts 13:6 - And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
In Aramaic, Bar means son. And of course, Jesus both means Jesus and represents Joshua. So, he called himself the son of Jesus.
Acts 13:10 - And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
The word "right" is the word straight, the straight ways of the Lord. So, he's accused of perverting the straight ways, putting curves and whatever in the highway making it harder for people to come to the things of Christ.
Acts 14:23 - And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
The word "commended" is actually a banking term. It means to make a deposit in the bank. And the term "believed" is a Perfect Tense, speaking of the Lord upon whom they have believed.
So, they have been believers for quite some time. And what they were doing was they were saying we appointed elders. Now you are ready to have leaders in your church. You been walking with the Lord for a while now.
And they deposited, (those who had believed in the Lord, those who had trusted in the Lord), they deposited to the Lord and basically said "We're leaving, and we are committing you to Him.
Acts 15:1 - And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Verse 1 tells us that certain men came down from Judaea. That little phrase "from Judaea" tells us that these people came into town and presented themselves as officials, representatives of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is in Judaea. They were Jewish. They were legalists. And they come into town up in Antioch.
And secondly, they taught. But in the Greek text, it is an Imperfect Tense which means they were continuously teaching. This was a "campaign." It was a campaign where Judaizers came into Antioch, and they were continuously teaching one message.
And they were teaching the brethren, and they said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. That's what they were spreading. "You can believe in Jesus as Messiah all you want to, but if you're not circumcised"
And there's even some that went as far to say to keep the law, and you have to become a Jew. You have to become a Jew in order to be saved. You cannot be saved unless you're circumcised. That's what they were saying.
Thanks, brother, as we see through the New Testament Peter and James butting heads with Paul as we see in Acts 15, Paul even circumcised Timothy but he had a Jewish mother. We see before this when Peter came back and told the leaders in Jerusalem about how Cornelius and his family received the Holy Spirit, and he ate with them and they scorned him.
In Acts 15:19-21 James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, made the final decision on whether the Gentiles should be circumcised. The word sentence is Greek krino which means judge by making a judgment. This verdict applied only to these Gentile believers, and the Gentiles could go to the synagogues to hear the word read. This verdict did not apply to the Jews who were followers of Jesus not to say salvation is by works but is only by grace are we saved through faith, it is the gift of God: not of works, Ephesians 2:8-9.
I know this is a deep subject, but I do not see where the Jews who were believers in Jesus were to stop being Jews same as the Gentiles were not to become Jews. Any thoughts on this?
You did not come across as saying a Jew had to stop being a Jew or a Gentile had to become a Jew. I guess I was not clear on this, At Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent as promised it was only the Jews who first received it and the beginning of the Church was all Jewish. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek, Romans 1:16. Being Jewish after they accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah and received the Holy Spirit, they continued in Jewish ways keeping the feasts and the Sabbaths and worship at the temple, even Paul after Jesus called him.
After Jesus called Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles there were contentions as we see in Galatians 2 between Peter, James, and Paul and it continued. Maybe I am looking too deep but I do not hear this discussed, is this part of making the Jews jealous, Romans 11:11. I feel some things are overlooked that could help when talking to a Jewish person about Jesus.
Always nice to hear from you! I would be happy to share my thoughts on this. My understanding is that if a Jew decided to leave Judaism to follow Christ, he would still be considered a Jew. The same would be true for a Gentile. If a Gentile decided to convert to Judaism, he would still be a Gentile. I hope that I didn't come across as saying that a Jew had to stop being a Jew or that a Gentile had to become a Jew. That was not the message I was sharing. I was presenting the fact that the Judaizers were coming in and spreading false teaching and telling the believers that they had to become a Jew and follow Jewish law in order to be saved. According to these legalist Judaizers, faith in Christ alone was not sufficient for salvation. They said you had to be circumcised (fleshly) and follow Jewish law to be saved. But no, I definitely did not say that a Jew who was a believer had to stop being a Jew or that a Gentile had to become a Jew. However, for a Jew to follow Christ, they had to renounce Judaism. A person cannot continue to be a strict follower of Jewish law and also follow Christ. The two do not mix!
Thanks again for following along in these studies. May we all continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through a continuous study of His word.
Acts 14:12 - And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius. Except in the Greek text, it is literally "They called Barnabas ZEUS, and they called Paul HERMES."
In Greek mythology, Zeus is the supreme deity. He is the god over all the gods in Greek mythology. He's the head!
Hermes is the god of speech, or messenger. And Hermes would be the messenger for Zeus. Hermes would do all the talking. And Zeus was the supreme deity. In Greek mythology it says that at one point in history that both Zeus and Hermes visited the Greek people in human form.
And so, since Barnabas is the quiet one, and probably the bigger one because the word Paul means small, but when they saw Barnabas standing there and not saying anything, and Paul doing all the talking and miracles, they said "Zeus and Hermes have come back!"
And they called Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Of course!
Acts 14:14 - Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
They didn't go down and rent clothes. The term is an expression of anguish. They began to tear their clothes as an outward sign. That would get somebody's attention in church, wouldn't it? You know, if the pastor started ripping his clothes because he was so angry!
So, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
Acts 14:22 - Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
The word tribulation is the word THLIPSIS which means stress. As you serve the Lord, and follow Him, and represent Him, and even maybe preach the gospel, people are going to pursue you. They are going to cause affliction or stress.
Acts 14:2 - But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
But the unbelieving Jews. A very fascinating statement. The word unbelieving in our text, the "ing" on the end tells us that it is a Present Participle. But the word belief is the word persuasion.
The un-persuaded Jews, or to put it literally, the Jews who were continually unwilling to be persuaded, they stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
Acts 14:3 - Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
I want to share this with you because it becomes a very important element in our day. In the early church, God gave them the power to do signs and wonders. It was a sign to them!
In the book of Hebrews, it says "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers (or various) miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will."
God bearing witness! We are also told by Paul in his presentation in 2 Corinthians 12:12, he says "Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds."
God had told them that signs and wonders would accompany them in order to establish for those that were listening that what they are hearing is the word of God. Once God's word has been established, and that's all it was for, no more signs and wonders, at least in this way!
Acts 14:9 - The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Isn't that amazing? They looked at this man and perceived that God had given him faith to be healed. And the word healed is the word SODZO for salvation!
Acts 13:16 - Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
In this first section in Verse 16, Paul is the one that stood up. And he beckoned with his hand and said, Men of Israel, and you that fear God, and as I mentioned earlier, this is the term "God fearers."
It is a technical term for Gentiles who are worshipping with Jews, also known as proselytes of the gate from a Jerusalem standpoint. These "God fearers," they are not Jewish, but they worship as a Jew. They keep the Sabbath days and the festivals.
The difference is that they are not circumcised for whatever personal reasons they have. Nor have they experienced "Mikveh," baptism required to convert to Judaism. So, they are Gentiles, worshipping with the Jews, as a Jew. But they are not Jewish!
Acts 13:41 - Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise, and that's a "double negative" in the Greek. You will never believe, though a man declares it unto you.
In other words, today you have fulfilled that scripture. I've detailed it all for you, laid it all out how God provided for our nation from the beginning to the end.
And at the end God even provided for us a Savior, and that this Savior is the recipient of all the promises that God has given to our father David.
But now he warns them. He warns them and he says beware lest that come upon you, which was spoken (prophesied in Habakkuk 1:5), that you will never believe though a man declares it unto you.
In other words, pay attention lest that scripture is fulfilled in your life if you don't repent. If you don't receive this Jesus, then Habakkuk 1:5 was written about you.
(Acts Part 31):
Acts 13:1 - Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch,
So, Barnabas and Paul and John Mark made their trek back to Antioch after delivering the goods because of the famine that was there.
They are back at Antioch and there were certain prophets and teachers. A prophet in the New Testament was one who spoke the word of God. In fact, the word prophet means spokesperson and teachers.
Now according to the Greek text, these are broken up. We are given five names. The first three apparently are prophets, and the last two are teachers.
The first three are Barnabas, Simeon that was called Niger, as in Nigerian, and Lucius or Luke of Cyrene. And Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
So, this Manaen grew up and was childhood buddies with Herod, but he has since received Christ, and he is part of the faith. But notice the last person that's mentioned. It is Saul. Barnabas is mentioned first. He appears to be the lead pastor in Antioch. And Saul was listed last.
Acts 13:6 - And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
In Aramaic, Bar means son. And of course, Jesus both means Jesus and represents Joshua. So, he called himself the son of Jesus.
Acts 13:10 - And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
The word "right" is the word straight, the straight ways of the Lord. So, he's accused of perverting the straight ways, putting curves and whatever in the highway making it harder for people to come to the things of Christ.
Acts 14:23 - And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
The word "commended" is actually a banking term. It means to make a deposit in the bank. And the term "believed" is a Perfect Tense, speaking of the Lord upon whom they have believed.
So, they have been believers for quite some time. And what they were doing was they were saying we appointed elders. Now you are ready to have leaders in your church. You been walking with the Lord for a while now.
And they deposited, (those who had believed in the Lord, those who had trusted in the Lord), they deposited to the Lord and basically said "We're leaving, and we are committing you to Him.
Acts 15:1 - And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Verse 1 tells us that certain men came down from Judaea. That little phrase "from Judaea" tells us that these people came into town and presented themselves as officials, representatives of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is in Judaea. They were Jewish. They were legalists. And they come into town up in Antioch.
And secondly, they taught. But in the Greek text, it is an Imperfect Tense which means they were continuously teaching. This was a "campaign." It was a campaign where Judaizers came into Antioch, and they were continuously teaching one message.
And they were teaching the brethren, and they said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. That's what they were spreading. "You can believe in Jesus as Messiah all you want to, but if you're not circumcised"
And there's even some that went as far to say to keep the law, and you have to become a Jew. You have to become a Jew in order to be saved. You cannot be saved unless you're circumcised. That's what they were saying.
Thanks, brother, as we see through the New Testament Peter and James butting heads with Paul as we see in Acts 15, Paul even circumcised Timothy but he had a Jewish mother. We see before this when Peter came back and told the leaders in Jerusalem about how Cornelius and his family received the Holy Spirit, and he ate with them and they scorned him.
In Acts 15:19-21 James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, made the final decision on whether the Gentiles should be circumcised. The word sentence is Greek krino which means judge by making a judgment. This verdict applied only to these Gentile believers, and the Gentiles could go to the synagogues to hear the word read. This verdict did not apply to the Jews who were followers of Jesus not to say salvation is by works but is only by grace are we saved through faith, it is the gift of God: not of works, Ephesians 2:8-9.
I know this is a deep subject, but I do not see where the Jews who were believers in Jesus were to stop being Jews same as the Gentiles were not to become Jews. Any thoughts on this?
God bless,
RLW
You did not come across as saying a Jew had to stop being a Jew or a Gentile had to become a Jew. I guess I was not clear on this, At Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent as promised it was only the Jews who first received it and the beginning of the Church was all Jewish. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek, Romans 1:16. Being Jewish after they accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah and received the Holy Spirit, they continued in Jewish ways keeping the feasts and the Sabbaths and worship at the temple, even Paul after Jesus called him.
After Jesus called Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles there were contentions as we see in Galatians 2 between Peter, James, and Paul and it continued. Maybe I am looking too deep but I do not hear this discussed, is this part of making the Jews jealous, Romans 11:11. I feel some things are overlooked that could help when talking to a Jewish person about Jesus.
I hope this makes sense.
God bless,
RLW
Always nice to hear from you! I would be happy to share my thoughts on this. My understanding is that if a Jew decided to leave Judaism to follow Christ, he would still be considered a Jew. The same would be true for a Gentile. If a Gentile decided to convert to Judaism, he would still be a Gentile. I hope that I didn't come across as saying that a Jew had to stop being a Jew or that a Gentile had to become a Jew. That was not the message I was sharing. I was presenting the fact that the Judaizers were coming in and spreading false teaching and telling the believers that they had to become a Jew and follow Jewish law in order to be saved. According to these legalist Judaizers, faith in Christ alone was not sufficient for salvation. They said you had to be circumcised (fleshly) and follow Jewish law to be saved. But no, I definitely did not say that a Jew who was a believer had to stop being a Jew or that a Gentile had to become a Jew. However, for a Jew to follow Christ, they had to renounce Judaism. A person cannot continue to be a strict follower of Jewish law and also follow Christ. The two do not mix!
Thanks again for following along in these studies. May we all continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through a continuous study of His word.
Blessings!
Acts 14:12 - And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius. Except in the Greek text, it is literally "They called Barnabas ZEUS, and they called Paul HERMES."
In Greek mythology, Zeus is the supreme deity. He is the god over all the gods in Greek mythology. He's the head!
Hermes is the god of speech, or messenger. And Hermes would be the messenger for Zeus. Hermes would do all the talking. And Zeus was the supreme deity. In Greek mythology it says that at one point in history that both Zeus and Hermes visited the Greek people in human form.
And so, since Barnabas is the quiet one, and probably the bigger one because the word Paul means small, but when they saw Barnabas standing there and not saying anything, and Paul doing all the talking and miracles, they said "Zeus and Hermes have come back!"
And they called Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Of course!
Acts 14:14 - Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
They didn't go down and rent clothes. The term is an expression of anguish. They began to tear their clothes as an outward sign. That would get somebody's attention in church, wouldn't it? You know, if the pastor started ripping his clothes because he was so angry!
So, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
Acts 14:22 - Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
The word tribulation is the word THLIPSIS which means stress. As you serve the Lord, and follow Him, and represent Him, and even maybe preach the gospel, people are going to pursue you. They are going to cause affliction or stress.
Acts 14:2 - But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
But the unbelieving Jews. A very fascinating statement. The word unbelieving in our text, the "ing" on the end tells us that it is a Present Participle. But the word belief is the word persuasion.
The un-persuaded Jews, or to put it literally, the Jews who were continually unwilling to be persuaded, they stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
Acts 14:3 - Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
I want to share this with you because it becomes a very important element in our day. In the early church, God gave them the power to do signs and wonders. It was a sign to them!
In the book of Hebrews, it says "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers (or various) miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will."
God bearing witness! We are also told by Paul in his presentation in 2 Corinthians 12:12, he says "Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds."
God had told them that signs and wonders would accompany them in order to establish for those that were listening that what they are hearing is the word of God. Once God's word has been established, and that's all it was for, no more signs and wonders, at least in this way!
Acts 14:9 - The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Isn't that amazing? They looked at this man and perceived that God had given him faith to be healed. And the word healed is the word SODZO for salvation!
Acts 13:16 - Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
In this first section in Verse 16, Paul is the one that stood up. And he beckoned with his hand and said, Men of Israel, and you that fear God, and as I mentioned earlier, this is the term "God fearers."
It is a technical term for Gentiles who are worshipping with Jews, also known as proselytes of the gate from a Jerusalem standpoint. These "God fearers," they are not Jewish, but they worship as a Jew. They keep the Sabbath days and the festivals.
The difference is that they are not circumcised for whatever personal reasons they have. Nor have they experienced "Mikveh," baptism required to convert to Judaism. So, they are Gentiles, worshipping with the Jews, as a Jew. But they are not Jewish!
Acts 13:41 - Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise, and that's a "double negative" in the Greek. You will never believe, though a man declares it unto you.
In other words, today you have fulfilled that scripture. I've detailed it all for you, laid it all out how God provided for our nation from the beginning to the end.
And at the end God even provided for us a Savior, and that this Savior is the recipient of all the promises that God has given to our father David.
But now he warns them. He warns them and he says beware lest that come upon you, which was spoken (prophesied in Habakkuk 1:5), that you will never believe though a man declares it unto you.
In other words, pay attention lest that scripture is fulfilled in your life if you don't repent. If you don't receive this Jesus, then Habakkuk 1:5 was written about you.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Please Sign In or Register to post comments...
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?