Acts 13:16-28, The Gospel of God’s Grace (A)

John 3:16 has two promises: whosoever believes shall not perish and shall have eternal life.  The “gospel of God’s grace tells us how these promises are fulfilled.

Today’s passage is Paul’s first recorded sermon.  It was preached at the synagogue in “Antioch in Pisidia” (i.e. not Antioch on the east coast of the Mediterranean, in what was Syrian territory, but Antioch in what is today Turkey).  It was preached when Paul was invited to do so by the synagogue rulers.  Since they knew the OT, that’s where Paul began to lay the foundation of the gospel.

“The Beginnings of Salvation” (Ac. 13:16-25)

v16: Paul’s message was for Jews and Gentiles (the God-fearers).

v17: God’s grace was revealed in history, real life involving the fathers of Israel.

v17: In Egypt they learned that God could deliver.

v18: In the wilderness they learned God would judge, literally.

v19: When God gave them the land they learned God would keep His word.

v20: In the time of the Judges they learned their own inability to obey God.

v21: Under Saul they learned there was no other answer to sin but God’s answer.

v22-23: David, the man after God’s heart, was God’s man through whom the Savior would come (2 Sam. 7:15-16).  That Savior was/is JESUS!

v24-25: These Jews could know about this because of the ministry of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist.

These “beginnings” anticipated the need for salvation.  People were dying, and needed a solution whereby they would not perish but could have eternal life.  Therefore, Paul preached to them “The Word of This Salvation” (13:26-37).  This is the record of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

1)    13:27-28: Jesus died.  Paul says this happened, and that it was the fulfillment of the “voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath.”  You will note that Paul did not refer to any of those prophecies.  There no mention of Gen. 3:15 (in Eden, “the seed of the woman”), or Gen. 22 (Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah), or Psalm 22 (the description of the Savior being crucified before crucifixion was a means of execution), or Isa. 53 (the suffering Servant who died in our place).  The reason he did not specify these was because they were read regularly in the synagogue.  They knew all these.  This was the Savior they were anticipating.  This was the Savior that many Gentiles longed for, bringing them to be around the synagogue, designated as “God-fearers.”  Unlike today, no one was foolish enough to deny the problem of sin.  And it was common knowledge that salvation had to do with the sacrifice of a “qualified” savior.  This was religion from the time of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4).  What was new was that the “qualified” savior was Jesus.