Dr. John Hartmann

• Paul and Barnabas preach the Gospel in the island of Cyprus

Sent out by the church and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-4a), Paul and Barnabas go first to the island of Cyprus, where they preach the gospel in the synagogues of the Jews, traversing from east to west until they come to Paphos, the seat of provincial administration.

• The Word of God reaches the seat of power.

The apostles are invited to speak to the proconsul of the island, a man of intelligence, who desires to hear what they have to say about things Divine.

•  Opposition to the Word of God.

The apostles are opposed by a certain Bar-Jesus, a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet who seeks to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Paul’s apostolic authority in the Gospel of Christ is here manifest in a unique way. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he confronts this enemy of the gospel, not in word but in power. Right there before the eyes of the proconsul, he declares the disciplinary judgment of God that would come upon Bar-Jesus, whom he names as fraudulent and a co-worker with Satan. The hand of the Lord comes upon him and strikes him with blindness from that moment on. This must be regarded as one of the marks of a true apostle: miracles, signs, and wonders (2 Cor 12:12). The proconsul believes as he witnesses his miracle, which functions not only as a wonder that could only have taken place as a manifestation of the power of God, but as a sign that confirms the message of truth being spoken to him by Barnabas and Paul.

Application: pray for the full manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the power of signs and wonders to be manifest in the preaching of the Gospel (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1; Rom 15:19; Acts 4:29-31).

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• The Story of the Gentile Mission begins in Acts 11:19-26:  Paul and Barnabas joined as co-laborers in Antioch
• Visit of Agabus and other prophets from Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-30): prophecy of famine during the reign of Claudius, which corroborates with the witness of secular historians
• Relief sent from Antioch to Jerusalem in the hand of Paul and Barnabas in 46 A.D. (Acts 11:30; 12:25). What happened during this visit is expounded in Galatians 2:1-10. Four important things:

o       None of the Jerusalem apostles require Titus to be circumcised

o       The pillars in Jerusalem (James, Peter, John) add nothing to Paul in terms of the  basic gospel he preaches among the Gentiles

o       The Jerusalem pillars recognize the grace God had given to Paul and Barnabas to take the gospel to the Gentiles and offer the right hand of fellowship to them, agreeing that each should go to their respective fields of labor in accordance with the grace given to them

o       Paul agrees to “keep on remembering the poor”, i.e. the poor brethren in Judea, which he then does in the “collection for the saints” that continues to take place over the next 10 years as he preaches the gospel among the Gentiles.

• Remembering the Poor

o       God’s Word teaches that we should deliberately perform Acts of Righteousness; cf. Matt 6:1-18; Acts 10:1-4; 1 John 3:1-18

Paul’s Collection for the Poor in his Gentile mission cf. Rom 15:22-30; 1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Cor 8-9; Gal 2:10; Eph 4:28; Phil 4:10-20; 1 Thess 4:9-12; 2 Thess 3; 1 Tim 6:17-19; Titus 3:8-14.

• The Story of the Gentile Mission begins in Acts 11:19-26:  Paul and Barnabas joined as co-laborers in Antioch
• Visit of Agabus and other prophets from Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-30): prophecy of famine during the reign of Claudius, which corroborates with the witness of secular historians
• Relief sent from Antioch to Jerusalem in the hand of Paul and Barnabas in 46 A.D. (Acts 11:30; 12:25). What happened during this visit is expounded in Galatians 2:1-10. Four important things:

o       None of the Jerusalem apostles require Titus to be circumcised

o       The pillars in Jerusalem (James, Peter, John) add nothing to Paul in terms of the  basic gospel he preaches among the Gentiles

o       The Jerusalem pillars recognize the grace God had given to Paul and Barnabas to take the gospel to the Gentiles and offer the right hand of fellowship to them, agreeing that each should go to their respective fields of labor in accordance with the grace given to them

o       Paul agrees to “keep on remembering the poor”, i.e. the poor brethren in Judea, which he then does in the “collection for the saints” that continues to take place over the next 10 years as he preaches the gospel among the Gentiles.

• Remembering the Poor

o       God’s Word teaches that we should deliberately perform Acts of Righteousness; cf. Matt 6:1-18; Acts 10:1-4; 1 John 3:1-18

Paul’s Collection for the Poor in his Gentile mission cf. Rom 15:22-30; 1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Cor 8-9; Gal 2:10; Eph 4:28; Phil 4:10-20; 1 Thess 4:9-12; 2 Thess 3; 1 Tim 6:17-19; Titus 3:8-14.

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In this study our teacher traces evidence from the witness of the NT concerning John Mark, an important figure in the history of the early church:

• John Mark’s mother and her house
• John Mark’s involvement with Jesus during His earthly ministry
• John Mark’s involvement with events in the early church
• John Mark accompanies Paul and Barnabas on first missionary journey
• John Mark with Barnabas in Cyprus
• John Mark’s later usefulness for ministry according to Paul
• John Mark with Peter in Rome: author of the Gospel of Mark
• John Mark as founder of the church in Alexandria

Application: God is gracious, and can use even failure as a part of that process by which He prepares us for greatness.

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• Paul’s Special Stewardship in the Gospel

The apostle Paul was given a special grace to minister the Gospel to the Gentiles and to achieve certain Divinely ordained goals among them. Romans 1:1-5; 11:13; 15:14-21; 1 Cor 9:16-17; 15:10; Gal 2:6-9; 1 Thess 2:3-4

Paul and a group of co-laborers bring the Gospel to Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia Minor in a period of about 10 years (46-56 A.D.).

Paul and Barnabas were sent by the church in Antioch and by the Holy Spirit, Who spoke through one of the church’s prophets concerning what these men had been called to do (Acts 13:1-4).

• The God of the Open Door

God is the God Who opens doors for His servants to labor in the Gospel in accordance with His will. His Son Jesus, exalted to His right hand in the heavenlies, has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), which in turn is foundational to the work He sends us to do in the Great Commission (28:19-20). In other words, the Great Commission is based on Jesus having been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth! Cf. Eph 1:19-23; 1 Pet 3:22; Psalm 110:1, cited in Acts 2:36; 1 Cor 15:24-28; Heb 1:13.

Hence God the Father has given all authority to the Son, Who is now at His right hand as the Second Adam, the Lord of all creation. Jesus therefore has the key of David, and is the One Who opens and none shuts and gives an open door to His servants to labor in the Gospel. See Revelation 3:7-8; 1 Cor 16:8-8; 2 Cor2:12-13;

Prayer and the Open Door: Matthew 9:36-38; Col 4:2-4; 2 Thess 3:1-5

• Stewardship in the Gospel

A steward is one entrusted with responsibility and authority for a task and the achieving of certain ends foreordained by a master. Paul was not “trying to do something for Jesus”. His philosophy of ministry was quite different, for he viewed himself and wanted others to view him as a servant of God who had been entrusted with a stewardship in the mysteries of God that laid the foundation for the church. See 1 Cor 4:1-2; 9:16-17; Eph 3:1-11; Col 1:24-29; 1 Thess 2:3-4; 2 Tim 1:12-16; 2:15

• Ambassador in the Ministry of Reconciliation  2 Cor 5:12-21
• The Lord’s Prisoner (Eph 3:1; 4:1; Phil 1:12-26)

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Acts 13:1-4 tells us how the mission to the Gentiles was launched from the church in Antioch. We here learn that a group of prophets and teachers were gathering together to minister to the Lord, with fasting, during which time the Holy Spirit spoke through one or more of the prophets, indicating that they must set apart Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work He had called them to do. They will take the gospel to new regions, following the pattern laid out in Romans 1:16: to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. The apostles go first to the synagogue, preaching the Gospel to the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles who frequented the synagogue services throughout the Roman world. The gospel recognizes the salvation-historical priority of the Jews, but is ultimately a gospel for all men, without distinction between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, a gospel of grace which proclaims that all, Jew and Gentile alike, are justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, Whom God publicly displayed as a propitiation in His Blood, a sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath and atones for sin, that removes sin from God’s sight and from the sinner’s record, forever, all of this to be received by repentant men and women on one basis alone – through faith. The Cross thus becomes the means by which a holy, righteous and just God forgives sins and shows mercy to sinners, to all who will repent and believe this good news of what He has accomplished for their salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus.

The gospel thus went out to the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles throughout the Roman world. It was a harvest that He had prepared for many centuries, using Empires (Greece and Rome) He had raised up so that the Scriptures might be translated into a common language (Greek) and the roads prepared for His Word to go forth in a way never possible before that point in salvation-history, which Paul refers to as “the fullness of the times” (Gal 4:4).

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Texts for the Study: Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-4; Romans 3:21-4:25

Those scattered because of the persecution associated with Stephen’s testimony and martyrdom brought the Gospel to the city of Antioch Syria at a fairly early stage, probably within 2-3 years after the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. God thus used persecution for the furthering of His purpose (Rom 8:28) to have the Gospel preached in all nations, in accordance with the promise given to Abraham, that “in you and your seed all nations will be blessed” (Gen 12:1-3).

God’s intention, from the beginning of salvation-history, was to have a people in all nations, a family marked by Abraham’s faith in the God Who raises the dead and calls into being what does not exist. In this case it is faith in the God Who raised Jesus, the One Who was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification (Rom 4:13-25). Justification means that we are exonerated of all charges against us in the Divine Court, that we are acquitted of all guilt and put into right standing with God, Who alone can pronounce this favorable verdict, that we are “justified” in His sight, free of any charges that might be brought against us because of our transgressions of His Law. Scripture uses dynamic metaphors to convey the thought that our sins truly are forgiven and forgotten, erased from the record (see Ps 103:12; Micah 7:18-20; Heb 8:10-12).

God’s plan to have a people who are justified by faith is seen in Luke’s version of the Great Commission, in which Jesus commands that repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be preached in His Name in all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. Luke makes clear Christ’s redemptive accomplishment in death and resurrection, and the preaching of this good news in all nations, are both a fulfillment of what was foretold in Holy Scripture (Luke 24:44-49).

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Dr. Hartmann examines the Gospel for all nations.

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Dr. Hartmann explores characteristics of God’s method of choosing and sending His workers.

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Dr. Hartmann delves into the the political environment and personalities of the period surrounding the early church to paint a clear backdrop to the events recorded in Acts 12. The message unfolds with exhortations to persevere in times of persecution or trial.

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Dr. Hartmann continues his exploration of Acts 11.

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