27 For the men of Jerusalem and their rulers, having no knowledge of him, or of the sayings of the prophets which come to their ears every Sabbath day, gave effect to them by judging him.
And now, my brothers, I am conscious that you did this, as did your rulers, without knowledge.
But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.
And so, by God's help, I am here today, witnessing to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come about; That the Christ would go through pain, and being the first to come back from the dead, would give light to the people and to the Gentiles.
For Moses, from times long past, has his preachers in every town, reading his law in the Synagogues every Sabbath.
And how the chief priests and our rulers gave him up to be put to death on the cross.
But they, going through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia; and they went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and were seated. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the Synagogue sent to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a word of comfort for the people, say on.
Though I had said violent words against God, and done cruel acts, causing great trouble: but I was given mercy, because I did it without knowledge, not having faith;
Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them.
For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in;
As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day. And David says, Let their table be made a net for taking them, and a stone in their way, and a punishment: Let their eyes be made dark so that they may not see, and let their back be bent down at all times.
As for you, it was in your mind to do me evil, but God has given a happy outcome, the salvation of numbers of people, as you see today.
These things came about so that the Writings might be true, No bone of his body will be broken. And again another verse says, They will see him who was wounded by their spears.
After this, being conscious that all things had now been done so that the Writings might come true, Jesus said, Give me water. Now there was a vessel ready, full of bitter wine, and they put a sponge full of it on a stick and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had taken the wine he said, All is done. And with his head bent he gave up his spirit.
They will do these things to you because they have not had knowledge of the Father or of me.
They will do all this to you because of my name--because they have no knowledge of him who sent me.
And he said to them, These are the words which I said to you when I was still with you, how it was necessary for all the things which are in the writings of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms about me, to be put into effect. Then he made the holy Writings clear to their minds.
And some of those who were with us went to the place, and saw that it was as the women had said, but him they did not see. And he said, O foolish men! how slow you are to give belief to what the prophets have said. Was it not necessary for the Christ to go through these things, and to come into his glory? And he made clear to them all the things in the Writings, from Moses and from all the prophets, which had to do with himself.
But how then would the Writings come true, which say that so it has to be? In that hour Jesus said to the people, Have you come out as against a thief with swords and sticks to take me? I was teaching every day in the Temple and you took me not. But all this has taken place so that the writings of the prophets might come true. Then all his disciples went from him in flight.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 13
Commentary on Acts 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
We have not yet met with any things concerning the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles which bears any proportion to the largeness of that commission, "Go, and disciple all nations.' The door was opened in the baptizing of Cornelius and his friends; but since then we had the gospel preached to the Jews only, ch. 11:19. It should seem as if the light which began to shine upon the Gentile world had withdrawn itself. But here in this chapter that work, that great good work, is revived in the midst of the years; and though the Jews shall still have the first offer of the gospel made to them, yet, upon their refusal, the Gentiles shall have their share of the offer of it. Here is,
Act 13:1-3
We have here a divine warrant and commission to Barnabas and Saul to go and preach the gospel among the Gentiles, and their ordination to that service by the imposition of hands, with fasting and prayer.
Act 13:4-13
In these verses we have,
Act 13:14-41
Perga in Pamphylia was a noted place, especially for a temple there erected to the goddess Diana, yet nothing at all is related of what Paul and Barnabas did there, only that thither they came (v. 13), and thence they departed, v. 14. But the history of the apostles' travels, as that of Christ's, passes by many things worthy to have been recorded, because, if all had been written, the world could not have contained the books. But the next place we find them in is another Antioch, said to be in Pisidia, to distinguish it from that Antioch in Syria from which they were sent out. Pisidia was a province of the Lesser Asia, bordering upon Pamphylia; this Antioch, it is likely, was the metropolis of it. Abundance of Jews lived there, and to them the gospel was to be first preached; and Paul's sermon to them is what we have in these verses, which, it is likely, is the substance of what was preached by the apostles generally to the Jews in all places; for in dealing with them the proper way was to show them how the New Testament, which they would have them to receive, exactly agreed with the Old Testament, which they not only received, but were zealous for. We have here,
Act 13:42-52
The design of this story being to vindicate the apostles, especially Paul (as he doth himself at large, Rom. 11), from the reflections of the Jews upon him for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, it is here observed that he proceeded therein with all the caution imaginable, and upon due consideration, of which we have here an instance.