Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 13:14-15

"But they, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia; and they went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." — Acts 13:14-15 (ASV)

(14a) Pisidian Antioch was founded by Seleucus I Nicator about 281 B. C. . It was situated a hundred miles north of Perga on a lakestudded plateau some thirty-six hundred feet above sea level. The foothills between Perga and Pisidian Antioch largely ruled out any extensive east-west traffic until one reached the plateau area, but following the river valleys one could move northward from the Pamphylia area. On the plateau Antioch stood astride the Via Sebaste, the Roman road from Ephesus to the Euphrates. The city had been incorporated into the expanded Roman province of Galatia in 25 B. C. by Augustus, who at that time imported into it some three thousand army veterans and their families from Italy and gave it the title of Colonia Caesarea. Antioch was the most important city of southern Galatia and included a rich amalgam of Greek, Roman, Oriental, and Phrygian traditions. Acts tells us that it also had a sizable Jewish population.

(14b–15) Arriving at Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. A typical first-century synagogue service would have included the shema (see comments on Dt 6:4–5), the liturgy of “The Eighteen Benedictions,” a reading from the Law, a reading from one of the prophets, a free address given by any competent Jew in attendance, and a closing blessing. The leader of the synagogue, usually one of the elders of the congregation, took charge of the building and made arrangements for the services (Lk 8:41, 49). This office was sometimes held for life and passed on within a family. Perhaps Paul’s dress proclaimed him a Pharisee and thereby opened the way for an invitation to speak.

Three missionary sermons of Paul are presented in Acts: the first here before the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, the second to Lystrans assembled outside the city gates (14:15–17), and the third before the Council of Ares at Athens (17:22–31). Each sermon as we have it is only a precis of what was said, for the longest in its present form takes no more than three minutes to deliver and the shortest can be read in thirty seconds or less. But there is enough in each account to suggest that whereas Paul preached the same gospel wherever he went, he altered the form of his message according to the circumstances he encountered.