May 20, 2015 (Wednesday)
After coming to a clear understanding with the elders of the church at Jerusalem that Gentiles can be saved without the works of the law (Galatians 2), Barnabas and Saul, along with John Mark, returned to the church in Antioch of Syria. What happened next is described in Acts 13:1-3 NIV, “Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”
Their first stop on this trip was at the island of Cyprus. They went ashore a Salamis on the east coast and walked the length of the country (110 miles) to the western coast and the city of Paphos, where the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus, sent for them. He had come under the influence of a Jewish sorcerer named Elymas, who opposed Paul and Barnabas and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Luke uses the phrase, “Saul, who is also called Paul,” in describing Paul’s actions. This was the first use of the name, Paul, given to Saul at birth in addition to his Hebrew name, because he was born a Roman citizen. Paul “said to Elymas, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.’ Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord” (Acts 13:9b-12 NIV).
(A hint of what lies ahead): From that experience, Paul and Barnabas sailed to Perga, in Pamphyllia, where their attendant, John Mark, left them and went back home to Jerusalem. But greater adventures lay ahead for Paul and Barnabas as they continued their mission work in Antioch of Pisidia. It was there they met Luke, a Gentile physician, who became a Christian and who later would travel with them, becoming a missionary himself, and still later would write of their experiences in what we call the book of Acts. He would also write what we have come to know as the Gospel of Luke.