Saul the Missionary
The First Missionary Journey
Acts 13:3-13 KJV 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their
hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So they, being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to
Cyprus. 5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God
in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.
6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a
certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 7
Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man;
who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood
them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9 Then Saul, (who
also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10 And
said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou
enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and
thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there
fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead
him by the hand. 12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done,
believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 13 Now when Paul
and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia:
and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
Introduction
The church at Antioch, Syria, fasted and prayed concerning the call that the Holy Spirit had laid upon Barnabas and Saul. It is difficult to determine what year that Barnabas and Saul were going into in their service with the Antioch Church. Going into the second year, they were sent to Jerusalem 54
with the material help for the Saints in Judea. When they returned to Antioch, they had John Mark, Barnabas’ nephew with them. He would accompany them on their first missionary journey.
The famine that fell upon Judea and the surrounding region, according to secular history and Acts 11:28, was around 44 to 45 AD. It is believed that Barnabas and Saul left on their first missionary journey around 45 AD.
According to these dates, they did not remain very long in Jerusalem and Judea. They seemed to have planned their arrival in Jerusalem to coordinate with the Passover that fell on April 1, 44 AD. This placed them in Jerusalem when Herod killed James and imprisoned Peter.1
1 Farrar, F.W., Life and Works of Paul, publisher unknown, date unknown, Footnote #1, pp. 319, 320
The First Missionary Journey
(NOTE: When working with dates from historians, secular or Biblical, it is impossible at our point in time to be dogmatic about the certainty of them. We should always keep in mind that the dates might not have the exactness that we desire. JFR)
After the confirmation of the Antioch Church of the call of Barnabas and Saul, the missionary team departed Antioch with John Mark as part of their entourage. The beginning year of this journey seems to be 45 AD.
The first stop after their departure from Antioch, Syria, is the port city of Seleucia, Syria. It was also known as the Port of Antioch. It is entirely reasonable that the missionary team would first go to Seleucia.
Near the mouth of the Orontes, was practically the seaport
of Antioch. The distance between the two towns was about
16 miles. St. Paul, with Barnabas, sailed from Seleucia, at the beginning of his first missionary circuit. Act 13:4. This strong fortress and convenient seaport was constructed by the first Seleucus, and here, he was buried. It retained its importance in Roman times, and in St. Paul's day, it had the
privileges of a free city. The remains are numerous.
55
THE CHIEF
https://biblebento.com/maps/BL1045.html
quoting
from
Smith’s Bible
Dictionary or International Standard Bible Encyclopedia From the Port of Antioch, the team sailed for the island of Cyprus. Upon their arrival at Salamis, their first stop was at the Synagogues. (Dr. Albert Garner in his writing on verse five of Acts thirteen states that the modern city of Salamis is known as Famagusta, which is now in the modern nation of Turkey.)
https://www.bibleplaces.com/salamis-cyprus/
Salamis, Cyprus
The ancient city of Salamis stood on the eastern shore of Cyprus, at the mouth of the Pediaios River. It was the island’s most important port city, with ships stopping here
from the Middle East and from Europe (particularly the Aegean) in antiquity. During the Roman period, Salamis was
the largest city on the island, surpassing even Paphos, the administrative capital of Cyprus. The city ran along the shore for about a mile (2 km) and reached about half a mile inland
(1 km).
Salamis holds the distinction of being the first stop on Paul’s first missionary journey: “When they arrived at Salamis,
[Paul and Barnabas] proclaimed the word of God in the 56
Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper”
(Acts 13:5, NIV). Both the book of Acts, which refers to plural synagogues, and Josephus indicate that there was a significant Jewish population there. After preaching in Salamis, the missionaries traveled the length of the island on foot,
until
they
reached
https://www.bibleplaces.com/salamis-cyprus/
Dr. Albert Garner writes in his commentary on Acts 13:4, concerning the island of Cyprus,
And then (from there) sailed away into Cyprus," an Island some sixty miles from the coast of Syria, in the
Mediterranean Sea. It is a large island some 140 miles long
and fifty miles wide, fertile and beautiful, a part of the province of Cilicia in New Testament times. It was also the
family estate and home-land of Barnabas and his kinsmen,
Ac 4:36,37; 11:19,20. Paul and Barnabas later parted in contention over whether or not John Mark, who "split,"
deserted them, on their first missionary journey, should be
permitted to accompany them as an helper on their second
journey. When the parting came Barnabas took John Mark,
his nephew, and sailed from Antioch back to Cyprus, their
native country, Ac 15:36-39; Col 4:10. Power BibleCD 5.7, Garner’s commentary on Acts 13:4
Scripture does not record anything of significance happening at Salamis.
This did, however, establish a pattern that Paul and his colleagues would use in their visits to the many cities during their missionary journeys. Upon arrival at any city on their journeys, they would go to the Jewish Synagogue first and attempt to preach. In these Synagogues they would be treated as guest speakers, teachers, or prophets in the foreign land synagogues. They would be welcome until they began to preach and teach about Jesus being crucified and risen again.
57
THE CHIEF
They traveled on foot the length of the island to the city of Paphos. Today the city is known as Baffa. The way the Scripture reads, And when they had
gone through the isle… seems to indicate that they were busy preaching and teaching while on their way. We must note that Scripture indicates that there were New Testament Churches on the island of Cyprus already. This island was the birthplace of Barnabas and possibly of John Mark also. The church at Antioch, Syria, was established by men who had the island as their original home. Could it have been possible that this missionary team visited some of these churches on their trek to Paphos?
Paphos, Cyprus
It is an unassuming stump of marble standing amidst a complex archaeological site. Visit the ruins of the early Christian Basilica Chrysopolitissa in Pafos and you’ll find it: the adjacent sign identifies the time-worn column as St.
Paul’s Pillar. The Apostle Paul visited Pafos during the first of his four journeys within the Roman empire. Pafos was the
capital of the island, and Paul set out to convert its leader, proconsul Sergius Paulus, to Christianity. According to the
Acts of the Apostles, Paul was summoned for an audience
with the proconsul. Accompanying the proconsul, though, was a magician, a man described in the Bible as a Jewish false prophet called Bar-Jesus, or Elymas. When the
58
magician tried to turn the proconsul away from the Christian
faith, Paul summoned the will of God and blinded Elymas.
The proconsul was so impressed by the miracle that he accepted Christianity—and became the first prominent
Roman to do so. Local legend has it that before he met the
proconsul, Paul was captured by the people of Pafos, tied to
the pillar, and flogged thirty-nine times. There is no historical evidence to support the legend, though Paul mentions in a letter that he was flogged like this on five occasions in his lifetime. Nevertheless, the pillar points to the important role that Pafos played in the early spread of Christianity. The archaeological site, with its complex layering of Christian structures built and destroyed over the centuries, is a good place to contemplate that legacy.
https://www.annabelle.com.cy/news-press-the-story-of-st-pauls-pillar Biblical Paphos, also called “Nea Paphos” or “New Paphos,”
was founded around 320 BC by Nikokles, the city’s last Greek king. Paphos served as the island’s capital until the
Byzantine period, when it was moved to Salamis. During the Ptolemaic period (ca. 300-58 BC) New Paphos was a
significant port city. The Romans seized control of Cyprus
in 58 BC and incorporated it into the province of Cilicia. In 30 BC, it was made a separate Roman province ruled by a
Roman military governor, and in 22 BC, it became a
senatorial province ruled by a proconsul. The proconsul of
the island when Paul visited (about AD 47*) was a man named Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:7).
“When [Barnabas and Paul] had gone through the whole
island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician,
a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who
summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word
of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of
59
his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away
from the faith…Then the proconsul believed, when he saw
what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of
the Lord. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos
and came to Perga in Pamphylia” (Acts 13:6–8, 12-13,
ESV**). https://www.bibleplaces.com/paphos-cyprus/
(NOTE: *I believe the correct date to be 45 AD, based upon prior documentation. **When I am writing my own text, I use only the King James Version but when I am quoting someone else who uses a different version, I do not change it but leave it like it is because it is a quote.
JFR)
When the team arrived in Paphos, Barnabas and Saul were summoned to the Deputy of the Country, Sergius Paulus, because he desired to hear the
“Word of God.” Apparently, the work of the team had arrived ahead of the team, and he wanted to find out for himself.
When the team came into the presence of the Deputy, there was someone undesired with him. A sorcerer by the of Bar-Jesus accompanied the Deputy. Bar-Jesus was a Jew, a false prophet as well as a sorcerer. It seems from Scripture that Bar-Jesus was also called Elymas the sorcerer. Verse eight adds the parenthetical phrase, (for so is his name by interpretation).
There are some that think Barnabas and Saul were contending with two different men who were sorcerers, however, my conclusion is that they are one and the same.
When those members of the team began to preach the gospel to Sergius Paulus, they were interrupted by Elymas. He attempted to stand against them so that the Deputy would not hear and be saved. He did not get very far before Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit stopped him. We should note that here Saul begins to be known by his Greek name, Paul. Paul blasted him by saying that Elymas was full of deceit and fraud, a child of the devil, and an enemy of all righteousness. Paul challenged him by saying, “You will stop, cease, and desist, from continually, repeatedly perverting and distorting, 60
misrepresenting, and maligning the ways of the Lord. You are opposing very vehemently!”
Paul declares that the hand of the Lord is on Elymas and that he will become blind for a time, known only to God Who caused the blindness. Immediately on Elymas fell a mist and darkness so that he was utterly blind. He had to reach out for help to be able to get around.
When the Deputy saw all that had transpired along with the gospel being given to him, believed and he was saved. We are not told of any “follow-up” being done by Paul’s team, but probably there would not need to be any because of the existence of churches already established on Cyprus.
Conclusion
Acts 13:13 relates to us that when the events with the Deputy and the sorcerer were over, they resume their journey on the sea once again. We will start with their voyage in the next part.
61
