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Acts 13:44–47
“Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth”’” (vv. 46–47).
Synagogue attendees in Pisidian Antioch were the first to hear the gospel from Paul and Barnabas. Many of those hearers believed in Jesus immediately after Paul’s initial sermon, but others asked him to come back on the Sabbath a week later to give more teaching (Acts 13:13–43).
Luke does not tell us explicitly what Paul and Barnabas did during the week after their first Sabbath proclamation in Pisidian Antioch, but we may reasonably assume that they continued to tell others about Jesus. Luke jumps immediately to the next Sabbath, telling us in Acts 13:44 that “almost the whole city gathered” to hear Paul teach more about Jesus. This time, the Apostle faced opposition from “the Jews,” most likely not the entire Jewish community but the Jewish religious leaders and some Jewish laity who followed them. These Jews reviled Paul and sought to contradict his message, being motivated by jealousy (v. 45). The Jewish leaders were losing their disciples to Jesus, and they could not abide the loss of prestige.
Paul and Barnabas responded with a rebuke of the Jewish opposition for rejecting the gospel. In God’s economy, the gospel had to go first to the Jews because they had been the first to receive God’s promises of salvation (v. 46; see Rom. 9:1–5). But they did not take advantage of this privilege by believing the gospel, thereby judging themselves “unworthy of eternal life” (Acts 13:46). This phrasing may seem strange, for all sinners are unworthy of eternal life. Yet sinners can make themselves even less worthy of eternal life by rejecting it when it is freely offered to them. Matthew Henry comments, “In one sense we must all judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life, for there is nothing in us, nor done by us, by which we can pretend to merit it, and we must be made sensible of this.” But here the Jews who opposed Paul and Barnabas are said to be unworthy because they “throw away all [their] claims and give up [their] pretensions to it; since [they] will not take it from [Christ’s] hands, into whose hand the Father has given it.”
The Jews’ rejection of the gospel in Pisidian Antioch resulted in a decisive turn on Paul’s part to minister the gospel to the gentiles, in fulfillment of Isaiah 49:6 (Acts 13:46–47). Paul would not ignore the Jews entirely, for he would continue to go first to the synagogue whenever he came to a city that had one. Nevertheless, his turning to the gentiles was an indictment on the unbelieving Jews.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
No sinner can merit eternal life because no sinner can do what is required by God to secure eternal life. In that sense, all people, except for Jesus, are unworthy of eternal life. Yet those who hear the gospel and reject it make themselves more unworthy, for they have consciously said no to the gracious initiative of God toward the undeserving. Consequently, they will be more harshly judged than those who never hear the gospel at all.
For further study
- Matthew 8:5–13
- Acts 28:28
The bible in a year
- Ezra 9–10
- Acts 1
- Nehemiah 1–5
- Acts 2:1–41