The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (137 page)

Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisid
'
ia [
Map
]

13
 Now Paul and his company set sail from Pa'phos, and
came to Perga
in Pamphyl'ia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem;
¹⁴
but they passed on from Perga and came to
Antioch of Pisid'ia
. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
¹⁵
After the reading of
the law and the prophets
, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it."
¹⁶
So
Paul stood up
, and motioning with his hand said: 
*

"Men of Israel, and
you that fear God
, listen.
¹⁷
The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.
¹⁸
And for about forty years he bore with
^m
them in the wilderness.
¹⁹
And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years.
²⁰
And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
²¹
Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
²²
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king; of whom he testified and said, 'I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'
²³
Of this man's posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
²⁴
Before his coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
²⁵
And as John was finishing his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'

26
 "Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.
²⁷
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him.
²⁸
Though they could charge him with nothing deserving death, yet they asked Pilate to have him killed.
²⁹
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.
³⁰
But God raised him from the dead;
³¹
and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
³²
And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,
³³
this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in
the second psalm
,

  
'You are my Son,

  
today I have begotten you.'

³⁴
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption,
he spoke in this way
,

  
'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'

³⁵
Therefore he says also in another psalm,

  
'You will not let your Holy One see corruption.'

³⁶
For David, after he had served the counsel of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption;
³⁷
but he whom God raised up saw no corruption.
³⁸
Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
³⁹
and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be
freed
by the law of Moses.
⁴⁰
Beware, therefore, lest there come upon you what is said in the prophets:

⁴¹
'
Behold, you scoffers
, and wonder, and perish;

  
for I do a deed in your days,

  
a deed you will never believe, if one declares it to you.'
 
"

42
 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next sabbath.
⁴³
And when the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44
 The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God.
⁴⁵
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul, and reviled him.
⁴⁶
And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken
first to you
. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
⁴⁷
For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

  
'
I have set you
to be a light for the Gentiles,

  
that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.'
 
"

48
 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
⁴⁹
And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region.
⁵⁰
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
⁵¹
But they
shook off the dust
from their feet against them, and went to Ico'nium.
⁵²
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium

14
  
Now at
Ico'nium
they entered together into the Jewish synagogue, and so spoke that a great company believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.
²
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.
³
So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting
signs and wonders
to be done by their hands.
⁴
But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with
the apostles
.
⁵
When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to molest them and to stone them,
⁶
they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Der'be, cities of Lycao'nia, and to the surrounding country;
⁷
and there they preached the gospel.

Paul and Barnabas in Lystra and Derbe

8
 Now at
Lystra
there was a man sitting, who could not use his feet; he was a cripple from birth, who had never walked.
⁹
He listened to Paul speaking; and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,
¹⁰
said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and walked.
¹¹
And when
the crowds
saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying
in Lycao'nian
, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"
¹²
Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, because he was the chief speaker, they called Hermes.
¹³
And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the people.
¹⁴
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they
tore their garments
and rushed out among the multitude, crying,
¹⁵
"Men, why are you doing this?
We also are men
, of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
¹⁶
In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways;
¹⁷
yet he did not leave himself without
witness
, for he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
¹⁸
With these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

19
 But Jews came there from Antioch and Ico'nium; and having persuaded the people,
they stoned Paul
and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
²⁰
But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city; and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to
Derbe
.
²¹
When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Ico'nium and to Antioch,
²²
strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through
many tribulations
we must enter the kingdom of God.
²³
And when they had
appointed
elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.

The Return to Antioch in Syria

24
 Then they passed through Pisid'ia, and came to Pamphyl'ia.
²⁵
And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attali'a;
²⁶
and from there they
sailed to Antioch
, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
²⁷
And when they arrived, they gathered the Church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
²⁸
And they remained no little time with the disciples.

The Council at Jerusalem

15
  
But
some men
came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses,
you cannot be saved
."
²
And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were
appointed to go up
to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.
³
So, being sent on their way by the Church, they passed through both Phoeni'cia and Samar'ia, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles, and they gave great joy to all the brethren.
⁴
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.
⁵
But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up, and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep
the law of Moses
."

6
 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
⁷
And after there had been much debate,
Peter rose and said to them
, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
⁸
And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us;
⁹
and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith.
¹⁰
Now therefore why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
¹¹
But
we believe
that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."

12
 And all the assembly kept silence; and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
¹³
After they finished speaking,
James
replied, "Brethren, listen to me.
¹⁴
Symeon
has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
¹⁵
And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written,