Acts 13:4-12 | Head-to-HeadSample

Head-to-Head from Within

Before Paul and Barnabas reach Paphos, they land in Salamis and go straight into the synagogues where they teach Christ and proclaim the word of God. This is a pattern we’ll find again and again. Despite the fact that we think of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles, his first order of business and base of operations typically starts in Jewish synagogues.

Acts doesn’t tell us why, but it’s easy to infer from the rest of the Bible. These are Paul’s people. They share a culture and common belief system. They share the same scriptures. They practice hospitality with one another. They get each other. And these are people we’d think would be most primed and ready for the gospel of Jesus. They know the stories of God’s work. They know about the hoped-for messiah, the promise of God, and his covenant. Like Paul, they’re looking forward to the age to come. These are the people you’d think most likely to receive Paul. To receive Jesus! And to assist Paul in his missionary efforts.

Acts 13 is silent on how the synagogues in Salamis respond to Paul and Barnabas. What we’ll find in the rest of Acts is that while some respond to the gospel from the synagogues, it’s also the place where Paul will face the most ardent opposition.

The sad irony is that the people who should have been most receptive to the gospel often end up being those who vehemently oppose it. Opposing God had been Israel’s story again and again. In the Old Testament it often took the form of idolatry along with all its pagan ways. In the New Testament we see it come from a spoken devotion to a perceived image of God that didn’t match God-in-the-flesh. A rejection of King Jesus and unwitting rebellion against the very God who came to rescue them.

Paul wrestles with why in several of his New Testament letters. One conclusion he comes to stems out of what we talked about in yesterday’s reading on Day 2. The dark powers seek to enslave the people of God, too. Often this is more subtle, by blinding them to the reality of what God is doing or through all kinds of deceit, trickery, and distortions of the truth. Too often those who claim to be God’s people don’t know whose spell they are under.

We see that in Acts 13. The opposition Paul and Barnabas face comes from a man who is said to be Jewish. And not just Jewish, but a Jewish sorcerer. How can that be?!? It’s an oxymoron since the Jewish way forbade any kind of association with or practice of the dark ways. What we see, however, is that people rarely line up with what they claim to believe. Luke tells us this Jewish sorcerer was also called Elymas. It’s an Arabic term that means “crafty” or “skilled one.” Maybe because of his ability with the subtle dark arts. Maybe because of his ability to twist words to manipulate people towards his own end.

Elymas was blind, blinded by the one Paul will call “the god of this age.” So through the power of God, Paul blinds him. Paul is no stranger to blinding. He was once blind too, and then blinded by the power of Christ (read Acts 9). And maybe Paul’s hope here is the same: to witness to the undeniable power of God and shake Elymas into repentance. Or maybe it was just to keep the powers of darkness at bay. Acts 13 doesn’t say. But what it does say is that the result is that another lost pagan, this time a Roman ruler under the influence of a Jewish sorcerer, came to be saved.

An interesting trend starts around Acts 6 that begins to take root after Acts 10 and that we see hints of in Acts 13. Typically we think of opposition coming from outside our group. More often it comes from within. Living by the gospel means you’ll sometimes come head-to-head with your own people. The challenge in those times will be, as NT Wright once put it, to shift from thinking “we must obey God rather than the authorities” to “we must obey God rather than the special interest groups” (Challenge of Acts, 62).