Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 13:50

"But the Jews urged on the devout women of honorable estate, and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out of their borders." — Acts 13:50 (ASV)

Unable to confine the ministry of Paul and Barnabas to the synagogue, the Jews stirred up trouble against them and brought pressure on the city’s magistrates through their “God-fearing” wives. Since Luke speaks of the persecution as expulsion rather than mob action, it probably took the form of a charge that Christianity, being disowned by the local Jewish community, was not a religio licita in Rome’s eyes and therefore must be considered a disturbance to the Pax Romana. Later in Acts, Luke will show how the agitation against the Gospel usually arose from within the Jewish community, not from the Roman authorities, and that the charge was that Paul was preaching an illegal religion (cf. 16:20–21; 17:7; 18:13)—a charge Luke insists was unfounded. This is part of the fabric of why he wrote Acts (see Introduction: Luke’s Purposes in Writing Acts).