In verse two of
chapter thirteen of Acts we read “While they were serving the Lord and fasting,
the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which
I have called them.’” (13:2) With this being presented as the direct
command of the Holy Spirit, and with knowledge that it is the Gentile mission
to which Paul has been called (as indicated by the directive by which the Lord
Jesus, after speaking to Saul on the road to Damascus, instructs a man named
Ananias in regards to Saul, saying “Go, because this man is My chosen
instrument to carry My name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel”
– 9:15) and which will receive the great bulk of his attention, we should not
be surprised to find mention of the Holy Spirit being quite frequent in the
story of Paul’s ministry.
It seems that Luke
wants to make it abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit, which he has Jesus
mentioning at the close of Luke and the opening of Acts, as that which Jesus
has promised and which will be the means by which His followers will be able to
function as His witnesses, is the one that is sending Paul out to the
Gentiles. Accordingly, in verse four of the same chapter we read “So
Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit” (13:4a), with this quickly
followed by mention of Selucia, Cyprus, Salamis, and Paphos (13:4-6).
Even though “they began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues”
(13:5b), the Gospel message would not be long restricted to this
environment.
A few verses
later, we again hear of the Holy Spirit in an encounter with a man first
introduced as “Bar-Jesus,” who is later known as “Elymas,” when we read that
“Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at
him” (13:9a) and spoke words of rebuke. Shortly, we find Paul in the
synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, speaking to the “Men of Israel and… Gentiles who
fear God” (13:16b). In his speech to these people, Paul tells them the
story of Israel, which implies that this has value for a Gentile audience as
well (as they are being included in the family of Abraham---God’s family of
redemption). The story of Israel begins with the Egyptian exodus,
climaxes in the Resurrection of Jesus, and leads to talk of justification for
all of his audience.
Paul’s talk of
justification, within his Holy Spirit directed mission, has him saying “by this
one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of
Moses could not justify you” (13:39), which, when we take into consideration
that his speech began with talk of Israel in bondage to Egypt (exile), seems to
be an indicator that his audience is in an exile of their own, in need of the
experience of exodus. Their justification (covenant inclusion, salvation)
will be their exodus, as Moses, most importantly, is linked to the event of
exodus, God’s establishment of a covenant people to serve His purposes, and a
symbol of that justification. With Moses, that symbol was the law.
With the new Moses (Jesus), that symbol is trust in the Gospel (Jesus is Lord),
which is a trust like that first demonstrated by Abraham.
It is here that Paul
meets with opposition to his message, presumably because it so freely incorporates
Gentiles, without restriction or any need to undergo long-standing rites of
qualification (no need to adopt the then current covenant markers of
circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, food laws). Thus, the next time Paul has
the opportunity to speak to the assembly, “the Jews… began to contradict what
Paul was saying” (13:45), which eventually prompts the declaration of “turning
to the Gentiles” (13:46b), with all of this occurring under the auspices of the
activity of the Holy Spirit. Paul even adds, quoting Isaiah, that “this
is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the
Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (13:47) Paul
grasps on to the words of the prophet to make the point that God’s covenant
plan had always included Gentiles, and that it was His intention for His
covenant people to take His salvation out to the peoples of the world, rather
than forcing those peoples to come to them.
Consequently, “When
the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord,
and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed” (13:48).
Listening to the forty-eighth verse in its immediate context and in its
narrative context, as well as alongside the soteriological context provided by
Paul’s thoughts about justification as expressed in Romans and elsewhere, we
are not allowed to hear this as a selective statement about some that had been
pre-destined to believe, while others were pre-destined not to believe.
Rather, we hear it as a reference to Gentiles, as it had always been God’s plan
for Gentiles to believe, as they too, as divine image-bearers, had been
appointed to participate in the life of the age to come, doing so right alongside
Israel. As this particular portion of the narrative is brought to a
close, Luke reminds us of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, which first
occurred at Pentecost and sparked a highly determinative message from Peter and
set the stage for what would come in the story he would be telling in this
book, by writing about the Gentiles who were hearing and rejoicing at the words
of Paul concerning Jesus, that “the disciples were filled with joy and with the
Holy Spirit” (13:52).
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