After learning about the region last week, we engage with the group as the visit the region on what is known as “Paul’s first missionary journey”, but there is a lot more than what we might relate to a “mission trip”
The apostle Paul went on three pioneering missionary journeys, followed by a trip to Rome. His first missionary journey, most likely in the years AD 47 through 48, started in Syria and took him to Cyprus and Asia Minor, commonly referred to as Galatia.
Summary outline that we will review on this first journey is as follows:
- At Antioch in Pisidia, Paul preaches in the synagogue.
- People plot to stone Paul and Barnabas in Iconium. They flee the city.
- Paul heals a lame man in Lystra.
- Outside Lystra, Paul is stoned and left for dead
- Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch
Barnabas and Paul were sent out of the Antioch church to share and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Included along on the journey was Barnabas’ cousin, John, who we learn is John Mark and later known as the Apostle Mark. They began by going to the homeland of Barnabas, the island of Cyprus. Cyprus had already be introduced to the Gospel (11:19-20), but it was not well established. The Jews were open to the thoughts and ideas, but there was not much confidence or strength in the churches established there.
When Barnabas, Saul and John Mark traveled across the island, the reception was decent, and good work was done. There was an incident in Paphos where they were confronted with some opposition.
They preached in the synagogue there and traveled the whole island, apparently without seeing much fruit, until they arrived at the city of Paphos in the southwest. The island’s Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus, summoned the missionaries to listen to their message. Unfortunately, the proconsul’s associate, Bar-Jesus (aka Elymas), was a magician and Jewish false prophet who contradicted the gospel message and tried to keep Sergius Paulus from converting. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Saul made Bar-Jesus go blind, and Sergius Paulus believed in Christ (Acts 13:4–12).
It was from this moment going forward that the author of Acts, Luke, begins to reference Saul by his Roman name, Paul. There was not any big ceremony or event regarding the conversion of his name, but evident that the movement on Paul’s life at this point is significant. Paul is never referred to Saul again and the leadership of the journey changes.
Paul, Barnabas, and John-Mark sailed from Paphos to Perga in the region of Pamphylia in south-central Asia Minor. For reasons the Bible does not detail, John Mark left the other two missionaries and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). It might be the shift of leadership from Barnabas to Paul or the intensity of the confrontation shook the younger companion.
Paul steps forward
It doesn’t seem Paul and Barnabas spent much time in Perga but headed north to Pisidian Antioch and preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath. In his sermon, Paul, a credentialed Pharisee, gave a synopsis of the Israelites’ exile in Egypt, the judges, Kings Saul and David, and John the Baptist. He showed the Jews in Antioch how only Jesus, who died and rose again, fulfilled the Jewish prophecies.
READ -> Acts 13:17-41
The way this speech is given is not how we talk or share history with people. What makes this message so different?
The speech was the first recorded of Paul, but it definitely was not his first. The speech itself can be thought of as revolving around the themes of displacement of people and choice. The audience was both Jew and Gentiles, referenced as “God-fearers”.
There was still a difficult concept for the Jews to grasp, the need for baptism. Many thought that baptism was a ceremony for non-Jews to be converted and accepted into Judaism. This takes them back to when John the Baptist called all to be baptized. It is reasonable to believe that many people in this region actually knew more about John the Baptist, than Jesus.
Many believed Paul’s speech, and they asked Paul and Barnabas to return the next Sabbath. The next week, almost the entire city showed up. But it was not all calm and peaceful.
44The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said. – Acts 13:44-45
Only after trouble arose there did they begin work among the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas pointed out that the Jews had had their chance and had rejected Jesus, so Jesus’ message was going to be brought to the Gentiles. The gospel spread through the whole region, but, eventually, despite the new converts’ enthusiasm, the Jews in Pisidian Antioch stirred up persecution of the missionaries, and Paul and Barnabas traveled east to Iconium in Galatia (Acts 13:14–52).
Now the chosen people, Jews, now had themselves to choose or perhaps be displaced.
Paul and Barnabas stayed quite a while in the city of Iconium, preaching boldly and performing miracles. Many Jews and Greeks believed, but many didn’t. The missionaries caught word that the unbelieving Jews, Gentiles, and city leadership were planning on stoning them, so they fled to the nearby cities of Lystra and Derbe in Lycia (Acts 14:1–7).
While Paul was preaching at the gates of Lystra, he noticed a lame man listening intently. He healed the man, and the crowd declared that Barnabas must be Zeus and Paul Hermes, as Hermes was the messenger and chief spokesman of the gods. The priests of the temple of Zeus joined the crowds and attempted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas—sacrifices that were barely prevented by Paul and Barnabas’s insistence that they were just men.
As a counterpoint to honoring Paul and Barnabas, the unbelieving Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived at Lystra and stirred up the crowds against the gospel. The resulting mob stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city. When the disciples gathered around his lifeless body, Paul stood up, completely well, and went back into the city (Acts 14:8–20).
The next day, Paul and Barnabas went east to Derbe, situated across the mountain range from Tarsus, and made many disciples. It was in the region of Lystra and Derbe that young Timothy heard the gospel from Paul and was saved. From Derbe, Paul and Barnabas backtracked through Asia Minor, visiting Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch and strengthening the young churches and appointing elders (Acts 14:21–23).
Paul and Barnabas returned to the seaport city of Perga to preach, and then they hopped over to Attalia, a few miles west, and preached there, as well (Acts 14:24–26). They then sailed back to Syrian Antioch. “On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (verse 27).
After this summary for the first missionary journey, what have you learned about the region known as Galatia?
How would you characterize the region after Paul and Barnabas depart the region and head back to Antioch?