[For context, read Acts 13:13-52]

Having preached the gospel across the island of Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas set out for Perga in Pamphylia. At this point, for unspecified reasons, John Mark leaves the group and returns to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). This seemingly minor detail will be important later, as it will lead to a major rift between Paul and Barnabas. From Perga, the missionary effort focuses on Antioch in Pisidia.

This section is notable because it gives us a glimpse of Paul’s sermon content. Luke offers details that read like the account of an eyewitness. For example, he notes that Paul motions with his hands as he speaks (13:16). We might be reading too much into this, but this leads many scholars to believe that Luke joined with the missionary team at some point prior to this moment.

Paul’s sermon demonstrates his adept ability to interpret the Old Testament scriptures with an eye toward the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah. Preaching in the synagogue, Paul begins with God, with the story of Israel in the Exodus. That’s interesting. I might think he would begin with Abraham, the one who was justified by faith hundreds of years before the Law of Moses. But Paul begins with the Exodus, with slavery. From the exodus through the judges to the period of the kings, Paul deftly narrates Hebrew history as a movement from slavery to exalted status to yet another form of slavery. But the promise is that there is a King who emerges, One who follows in the footsteps of David as “a man after God’s own heart.” David is a proxy, a placeholder in our minds until this King — the True King — arrives.

And this is Paul’s bold thesis: Acts 13:23, Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

With this, Paul finally mentions Abraham (13:26). God’s message of salvation has come to Abraham’s family, even though the leaders in Jerusalem could not recognize Him, nor the words of the prophets about Him. Another interesting detail: when Paul mentions the death of Jesus, he doesn’t say anything about the forgiveness of sin. This point will come out clearly in his later writings, but that doesn’t seem to be the focus of this particular sermon; Paul only mentions it briefly in v38. Instead, Paul stresses the faithfulness of God. In Jesus, God is doing what He had always promised to do, that which was always promised in texts like Psalm 2, Isaiah 55, and Psalm 16 (Paul’s references here).

13:38-39 shows why Paul begins his sermon with Exodus instead of Abraham: “Through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” Jesus liberates us, leading a New Exodus. This is what the original Exodus had been pointing toward all along.

Jesus is greater than David by the testimony of the resurrection. For all his greatness, David’s death ends in decay. By point of contrast, Christ’s death ends in glorious resurrection. How much greater, then, is the Kingdom of the One who defeated death? How much greater the One who frees us from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses (13:39)! Justification through faith in Christ is at the heart of this early gospel proclamation.

Paul closes with a warning: don’t be like those scoffers in the day of Habakkuk who would not believe what God was doing even if someone explained it to them!

Jesus is the focal point of Paul’s preaching because Jesus is also the demonstration of God’s covenant faithfulness throughout the story.

When some of the Jews begin refuting their message the next week, Paul and Barnabas take up the charge given to Israel in Isaiah 49:6 to be a light to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles receive this word joyfully, understanding this to be the way to eternal life. But the Jews are hellbent on driving Paul and Barnabas away. In the words of Jesus, Paul and Barnabas simply shake the dust off their feet and move on.