[00:00:00] Hello listeners, welcome to my podcast. We will continue from yesterday, Acts, a commentary by E. M Blaiklock. Acts 13, 1-3. Acts 10, verse 33X. The AV is a little austere. Translate, it was good of you to come.
[00:00:21] Acts 10, verse 34. Truly, says Peter, I am laying hold of the truth that God is no respecter of persons. The verb is a strong one. It is used in John 1, verse 5. The darkness did not lay hold of it. Romans 9, verse 30. Have laid hold on righteousness.
[00:00:44] Philippians 3, verse 12. If I may but lay hold, the Lord laid hold of me. Acts 11, verse 18. An inferential particle used in the concluding sentence points to the surprised realization of something which has been true but unrecognized for some time.
[00:01:06] Philippians 3, verse 13. Then to the Gentiles also has God granted repentance unto life. Acts 11, verse 28. See above on Acts 9, verse 35 for the expression throughout the whole world. Romans 9, verse 34.
[00:01:29] It is historical fact that the Principate of Claudius saw widespread shortages throughout the Roman world. In fact, nature in the whole Mediterranean area was beginning to hit back. For too many centuries, men had mined the soil, saving forest covering. Crises of infertility era rising and notable encroachments of the desert on the zone.
[00:01:58] Acts 12, verse 15. It was the Jewish belief that each individual was under the care of a guardian angel. C.F. Matthew 23, verse 10. Hebrews 1, verse 14. The statement in Tobit, verse 21, which promises that a good angel should accompany the hero's pilgrimage, is, according to Rackham, the first reference to this belief.
[00:02:25] 7. The first journey. Acts 13, verses 1 to 14. A. Antioch. Acts 13, verses 1 to 3. The concluding paragraph of chapter 11 was designed to prepare the way for the narrative of Paul's first missionary journey. The world ministry, which thus began, was destined to change the history of Europe and the world.
[00:02:53] Its record begins with the curiously simple and matter-of-fact words of Acts 13, verses 1 to 3. Antioch was the second great metropolis of the church and the mother of Gentile Christianity. It was an important city, the Roman headquarters of Syria and Cilicia, the location of the imperial mint and the cosmopolitan meeting place of Jew, Greek, Roman and Syrian.
[00:03:25] Here, Christianity first encountered the full broad stream of the empire's varied life. Here, the faith first attracted pagan attention. The Antiochians were notorious for their dubbing of nicknames, and it was among them that the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 11, verse 26. Since the name was a Latin formation, it may have been an invention of the official archivist.
[00:03:53] It reoccurs twice at Acts 26, verse 28 and 1 Peter 4, verse 16. It is implied in Acts 11, verses 22 and 23, that the Jerusalem church was conscious of its seniority. It is interesting to note its spiritual awareness of events in Antioch, and its wisdom in choosing the tactful and broad-minded Barnabas for an official visit and a report.
[00:04:23] It is possible that this great and choice spirit had first conceived the idea of using for Christ the vast abilities of the converted Pharisee, and it was a wise plan of the Antioch congregation to associate Saul with the delegate from Jerusalem in the task of carrying thither the contribution for poor relief. Acts 11, verse 30.
[00:04:48] It is implied that Barnabas was responsible for the transference of Saul from Tarsus to Antioch, and the visit to Jerusalem was a necessary prelude to the wider usefulness which Barnabas and far-seeing leaders in Antioch had planned for him. It is not to be supposed that Saul was unknown in Antioch before Barnabas sought him in Tarsus. Acts 11, verse 25.
[00:05:16] Twelve years at least of the future apostles' activity are unaccounted for in Luke's narrative. It is probable that a glimpse is given of the labors of this period in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 24-28. Note the detail. 1. On five occasions he was condemned by Jewish courts. One of these punishments was presumably at Damascus.
[00:05:44] The rest, if not all, took place during the unrecorded period, and each experience of hostility and rejection was no doubt the usual climax to a long endeavour to bring Christ to the synagogue. 2. On three occasions he was scourged by Romans. Of these, Philippi accounts for only one. 3. On three occasions Paul was shipwrecked, and this does not include Malta.
[00:06:12] A very full programme of coastal voyaging in the eastern Mediterranean seems to be demanded. 4. Acts 11, verse 26. Acts 26. Says Paul remained at Antioch a whole year. A remark which suggests something unusual in so long a stay. Tomorrow we will follow Paul and Barnabas, a Cypriot himself, to Cyprus. It's all about the struggle. It's all about the disaster. There's a story.