Paul’s Early Ministry

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AStudying God’s Word

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Studying God’s Word

Introduction

You may wish to use the Map Pronunciation Guide for help pronouncing the names of the places Paul visited.

Last week we looked at the earliest of the canonical epistles. James wrote to Jews who had been scattered through persecution. He gave them much practical advice regarding Christian living.

• What did James teach that some have misunderstood as contradicting other passages, especially Paul’s writings? James taught that faith without works is dead and that Abraham and Rahab were justified by their works.
• How would you answer someone who thought James was contradicting the doctrine of salvation by faith? Discuss answers. Paul was speaking of those good works that an unsaved person tries to do in order to win God’s favor or work his way to heaven. James was referring to those good works that a saved person performs, which gives evidence of a real, living, saving faith.
• What is the relationship between grace, faith, and works? Discuss answers. It is by grace through faith that we are saved—apart from works—but works give evidence of our faith.

  Today, we will be heading back to the book of Acts as we continue to understand how God used various people and situations to spread the gospel and grow the church in the Mediterranean world. The principle person we will be looking at is Saul. We have already seen how Saul was involved in persecuting the church until his encounter with Jesus. At some point after his conversion from a blasphemous persecutor of Jesus, Saul the Jew began to be known as Paul the Christian, adopting the Roman form of his name (likely because his missionary journeys took him all over the Roman empire). He is referred to as Paul from Acts 13:9 onward (with the exception of his own testimony in Acts 22:7 and 26:14) and in all his epistles, so we will refer to him as Paul from now on.

  As the Christians were spreading out from Jerusalem as a result of the persecution there, many people came to know Jesus as Savior. Luke recorded the details of the journeys that Paul and his companions took in an effort to spread the gospel. We will be looking at each of these journeys and how various people responded to the message of the gospel—both Jews and Gentiles. Today we will focus on his first missionary journey, which began around the same time James wrote his letter.

  Refer to the New Testament History timeline to set the timing of the events.

  We will be picking up in Acts 13, but we haven’t heard anything from Paul since he left Jerusalem in Acts 9. Saul’s conversion happened in about AD 35, and the first journey happened approximately 12 years afterward based on clues about the timing described by Paul in Galatians 1:15–2:2. (The 14 years mentioned in Galatians 2:1 is likely the time period from his first visit to Jerusalem to the Jerusalem council of Acts 15.)

First Missionary Journey Activity

Today we are going to walk through the first missionary journey of Paul described in Acts 13–14 before we zoom in on two of the cities he visited. Open up your Bibles to Acts 13.

In your Student Guide you will find the First Missionary Journey activity. We are going to move through the passage quickly with the goal of getting the big picture of the entire journey. Have students trace Paul’s path on the First Journey Map worksheet as they work through the activity, and encourage them to keep it as a reference. Choose one of the options below for completing the activity, depending on the maturity of your class.

Option 1: Have students work in small groups to work through the passages and complete the activity. If time is short, distribute the cities among teams and have them share their answers when you review as a class.

Option 2: Work through the passages as a class, guiding the students through each city. Use the provided answers to keep the activity moving. If time is short, move through this activity by providing the basic answers for the students and encourage them to go back and read the entire passage later.

Connect to the Truth

Use the answers provided and refer to the first journey on the Paul’s Journeys poster as you walk through each account below.

Actions: Saul and Barnabas were commissioned by the church at Antioch under the direction of the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel. John Mark also accompanied them.

Actions: They preached in the Jewish synagogue, but no response is recorded.

Actions: Preached to Sergius Paulus (the Roman governor) and cursed a false prophet with blindness.

Positive Response: Sergius Paulus believed after hearing the teaching and seeing the miracle.

Negative Response: Elymas (Bar-Jesus) the sorcerer resisted the preaching and tried to turn Sergius Paulus away from the faith.

Actions: Attended the synagogue and then proclaimed the gospel.

Positive Response: The Gentiles received the word, and many believed, and the word of the Lord spread throughout the region.

Negative Response: The Jews of Antioch persecuted Paul and Barnabas and kicked them out of the city.

Actions: Preached in the synagogue and elsewhere, doing signs and wonders in God’s power.

Positive Response: A great multitude of the Jews and Greeks believed the gospel.

Negative Response: The unbelieving Jews stirred up the city and attempted to stone Paul and Barnabas.

Actions: They preached to the crowds, and Paul healed a crippled man.

Positive Response: The crippled man believed.

Negative Response: The crowds attempted to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods, but the Jews from Iconium and Antioch persuaded the people to stone Paul, leaving him for dead outside the city.

Actions: They preached the gospel to the city.

Positive Response: Many became disciples.

Actions: They returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch to strengthen the believers and appoint elders in each city.

Actions: They preached the word in Perga and sailed from Attalia.

Actions: They returned to the sending church and shared all God had done through them.

All these events cover the span of up to two years. It took a long time to travel in those days, and they also spent unspecified amounts of time in each city. In all of this, the gospel was being spread widely and influencing the regions of Galatia, Pamphylia, Syria, and Cyprus (part of Cilicia). Despite the opposition they faced, Paul and Barnabas continued to preach the gospel, shaking the dust off of their feet as they moved to the next town where there were many who desperately needed to hear the good news of salvation in Christ.

• Antioch in Syria (12:25–13:3)
• Seleucia (13:4) They sailed from this port to Cyprus.
• Salamis (13:4–5)
• Paphos (13:6–12)
• Perga (13:13) They sailed from Cyprus to this port, and John Mark left them.
• Antioch in Pisidia (13:14–51)
• Iconium (13:51–14:6)
• Lystra (14:6–20)
• Derbe (14:20–21)
• Lystra/Iconium/Antioch (14:21–23)
• Perga/Attalia (14:24–25)
• Antioch in Syria (14:26–28)
• What patterns did you notice in this passage? Paul typically went to the synagogue first and then preached to the rest of the people. The Jews who did not believe stirred up others and sought to kill Paul and Barnabas to stop the message.

Paul Goes to Iconium

Throughout the lesson, refer to the Paul’s Journeys poster or the First Journey Map worksheet completed during the activity to help students follow the movements of Paul and Barnabas.

Now that we have a big-picture view of this first missionary journey, let’s read Acts 14:1–7 together and look at how Paul and Barnabas were used to spread the gospel. Have someone read the passage aloud.

• What city is referenced? Iconium.
• Whom does “they” refer to? Paul and Barnabas are the missionaries (13:50).
• Where did they go first in Iconium? They went to the Jewish synagogue.
• Whom did they speak to at the synagogue? They spoke to both Jews and Greeks.
• What was the result? A great number of Jews and Greeks believed the message.
• What did they say to the people? It is not specifically recorded, but we can be sure it was a presentation of the gospel. It may have been similar to the message proclaimed in Antioch described in 13:16–41. Encourage the students to read this passage later to see Paul’s proclamation of the gospel and use of Old Testament texts.
• Did everyone respond positively? No.
• Who rejected the message? Some of the Jews did not believe.
• What did the unbelieving Jews do in response to the message and the positive response of so many? They stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned them against the brothers.
• Did this opposition stop the message being spread and taught? No.
• How long did they stay in Iconium? They stayed there a long time, but the exact period is not known. It was likely many months based on other clues and similar language in Acts.
• How did the opposition influence the preaching? Paul and Barnabas continued to preach boldly.
• How was God involved in the preaching? God was bearing witness to the words by granting signs and wonders through the hands of Paul and Barnabas.
• What were these “signs and wonders”? While they are not specifically identified here, we can assume from the context of the book of Acts that these were healings and casting out of demons. Remind the students that we must interpret Scripture with Scripture and in context. See Acts 4:30 and 5:12 for examples.
• What was the purpose of these signs and wonders? They authenticated the message being preached and the grace of God in the message.
• How did the people of the city respond to all of this? Some sided with the unbelieving Jews, and some sided with Paul and Barnabas.
• How are Paul and Barnabas described in verse 4? As apostles.
• What does the word “apostle” mean? An apostle is someone who is sent to proclaim a message under someone’s authority.
• In what sense were Paul and Barnabas both apostles? We don’t typically think of Barnabas as an apostle, but both of these men were sent out by the church at Antioch to proclaim the gospel under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.
• What situation made Paul and Barnabas leave? Eventually the leaders of the Jews and Gentiles threatened violence against them, so they chose to leave.
• What word is used to describe their departure? They fled.
• What does this word imply? It implies they left quickly and in fear for their lives.
• Where did they flee to? To the region of Lycaonia—the cities of Lystra and then Derbe.
• What did they do when they got there? They preached the gospel.
• How does this series of events in Iconium compare to the previous events in Antioch in Pisidia? The series are almost identical: preaching in the synagogue, some believed, some Jews stirred up the people, the apostles left under threat.

Discover the Truth

As we think about this passage, we can see a clear example of how God uses people to accomplish his plans. The Holy Spirit had called Paul and Barnabas to go to these places and proclaim the glories of Jesus Christ. They were sent out as messengers from the God who created and sustains the universe—they had his authority to proclaim the message. To authenticate the message, God was pleased to do signs and wonders through them. The Spirit was at work in the hearts of the hearers to convict them of sin and call them to repentance and faith in Jesus. And as they heard the message, Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

• How is God’s wisdom demonstrated in sending these men to preach the gospel? God sent these men, filled with the Holy Spirit, to interact with various people in various cultures. Although this may seem foolish to us, it was the way God chose to carry out the delivery of the gospel message. God is pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to use people to preach the gospel.

  Despite the negative response from some, the gospel was received with joy by many Jews and Greeks in Iconium. God used the words spoken by Paul and Barnabas and the miracles performed through them to draw many to himself. We have a good model to follow in these two men who preached the gospel boldly to all people.

Paul Goes to Lystra

Let’s move on to what happened in the city of Lystra in Acts 14:8–20 after they fled the threats in Iconium. Have someone read the passage aloud, beginning in 14:5 to pick up the context.

• What were Paul and Barnabas doing in Lystra? They were preaching the gospel.
• What is the setting of Paul’s preaching in Lystra? He was in some public forum (marketplace or town center), but it may have been the area near the city gates based on verse 13.
• How is the man whom Paul healed described? He was crippled from birth; he could not walk.
• What was the man doing? He was listening to Paul preach.
• What did Paul notice about him? He saw he had faith to be healed.
• How did Paul “see” the man’s faith? He may have noticed a change in the man’s countenance that indicated the change happening in his heart. We cannot “see” faith, but we can see the effects of faith producing change in a person. Consider asking the students if they have ever experienced a similar thing as they shared the gospel with others.
• How did Paul heal the man? He said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.”
• How did the man respond? He sprang up and began walking.
• Who was ultimately responsible for the healing? God performed the miracle through Paul.
• What did the people of Lystra think about Paul and Barnabas because of the miracle? They believed the gods had come down to earth.
• Who did they believe Paul and Barnabas were? Paul was supposed to be Hermes and Barnabas, Zeus.
• Did Paul and Barnabas understand what they were saying? No, since they were speaking in Lycaonian.
• What was the priest of Zeus preparing to do? He was bringing oxen and other things to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.
• What did Paul and Barnabas do once they realized what was happening? They tore their clothes and tried to persuade them that they were just men, not gods.
• What did the tearing of the clothes represent? This was a sign of deep remorse. We see this sign throughout the Old Testament.
• What were the main points of Paul’s message to them? He acknowledged that he and Barnabas were men just like the people of Lystra, that they should turn from their useless idol worship, they should worship the Creator God, and that God gives a witness to himself in creation.
• Why did Paul talk about the common benefits of God rather than quoting Old Testament passages (as he did in the synagogue in Antioch)? He knew that these people did not have a background in the Old Testament truths, so he used the experience of God’s common blessings to all men as a point of connection.
• How did Paul distinguish God from the other gods the people knew? He referred to God as the Creator of everything and the sustainer of all life on earth. This passage sounds very much like the message in Romans 1:18–20.
• Did this explanation immediately persuade the crowds? No.
• What happened next? Jews from Antioch and Iconium appeared on the scene. This seems to be an awkward turn in the narrative, and there is probably some transition between these two scenes that Luke did not record for us.
• Why were these Jews following Paul and Barnabas? They were the same Jews who ran them out of town, and now they were seeking to frustrate their efforts in Lystra.
• What did the Jews persuade the crowds in Lystra to do? They persuaded them to stone Paul to death.
• What type of change happened in the thinking of the crowds in Lystra? They had gone from thinking Paul was Hermes, one of the gods they worshipped, to trying to kill him on the word of these Jews from another city.
• What did they do with Paul after they stoned him? They dragged him out of the city.
• What did they believe about Paul after the stoning? They thought he was dead.
• Was Paul really dead? No. (Some suggest that he had his vision of heaven described in 2 Corinthians 12:2 at this time, but the timing does not align with the 14 years between the vision and the writing to the Corinthians. This journey is only about 10 years before the letter was penned.)
• Who gathered around Paul after his stoning? The disciples in Lystra who had believed in Paul’s message.
• What happened to Paul after the stoning? He rose up and went back into the city.
• Who is responsible for preserving Paul’s life? God.
• When did Paul leave Lystra? He left the following day with Barnabas.
• Where did they go next? To Derbe.

Discover the Truth

Stop and think for a minute about what Paul and Barnabas faced for the sake of sharing the gospel. They had been run out of town multiple times, yet they persevered in sharing the message they had been sent to proclaim. God had given them the authority to proclaim the gospel, and he had also given them the power to affirm that message through the healing of the lame man.

Can you imagine this man’s joy as he leapt to his feet and was able to walk? Can you imagine the amazement of the crowds gathered around to hear Paul’s message? They knew something supernatural had happened, but without any background information about the one true God, they assumed it was another god’s power at work. It was a natural conclusion for them, but their worship of creatures—Paul and Barnabas—was not acceptable, and the apostles sought to persuade them to direct their worship to the only one worthy of worship.

And then the crowd decided to stone them! What a radical demonstration of the fickle nature of the human heart—one minute they were bowing down to them in worship and the next they were throwing stones at them with murderous intent. And that is why we all need the gospel to transform our hearts. That is why we need ambassadors to proclaim the only truth that can offer forgiveness of sins and to direct worship to the only God worthy of that worship.

But notice what Paul and Barnabas did after preaching in Derbe. Acts 14:21–28 tells us that once he finished in Derbe, he returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—where he had been rejected, stoned, and run out of town—to strengthen the believers. He retraced his steps, revisiting every city he had been to, encouraging them and appointing elders. He refused to allow the threat of persecution to keep him from proclaiming the gospel and strengthening the churches.

Application

Many people have risked many things for the sake of spreading the gospel, and we can thank God for the record of the faithfulness of Paul and Barnabas. Despite facing what we would consider challenging traveling arrangements and continual oppression from Jews and Gentiles, God used these two men to expand the kingdom of God and the number of those who will be worshipping around the throne of God.

By preaching in the Jewish synagogues, preaching in the markets and palaces of the Gentiles, and affirming the message with signs and wonders, these apostles were able to help many people see their own sinful condition and their need for the Savior. Paul tailored his messages to the audience he was standing before, but he never swerved from preaching about God as the Creator and Savior of all men. Even when this brought a strong reaction, Paul was willing to endure the suffering that came so that Christ would be exalted among the nations.

We can also see the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in emboldening Paul and Barnabas as he sent them from the church in Antioch (Syria) to preach the gospel. They were never alone as they traveled, but the Spirit was with them and in them to guide them as they spoke, to work the miracles, to fill them with joy, and to bring conviction of sin and regenerated hearts to those who believed.

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  As you think about the events of this first missionary journey, what impresses you the most about what Paul and Barnabas were able to accomplish in serving the Lord? Discuss various answers.
• In what way are the experiences of Paul and Barnabas as they preached the gospel a model for us as we do the same? As we preach the gospel to others, we should seek to be faithful to the truths of the Bible, be bold in our proclamation, and expect that some will receive the message while others ignore or seek to suppress the message. We must proclaim the gospel despite the response of others, even expecting to face persecution for the sake of the gospel.
• Do you tend to follow a pattern when you share the gospel with others? What are the benefits of a pattern? What are the dangers? Discuss various answers. Having a basic format to share the gospel can offer personal confidence, but it can also get us stuck in a rut where we wind up approaching every witnessing encounter the same and not interacting with the individual person in front of us.
• Some people think that proclaiming the gospel in marketplaces and parks used to be normal and more acceptable, but it is not a good idea today because of the opposition. How does this claim stand up to the description of Paul’s experience of preaching the gospel in similar environments? The response to the proclamation of the gospel has always been the same: some will respond favorably, and some will respond negatively.
• How were the actions of the church in Syrian Antioch a part of the great commission? How is your church body involved in similar activities? The members of the church at Antioch sent out the two missionaries after laying hands on them. Though it is not mentioned, they likely gave them material support, as well. Discuss how your church body is involved in both local and global efforts to spread the gospel. This is an important aspect of ministry in a local church.
• When Paul was preaching in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, he used many Old Testament passages and directly quoted them. When he was trying to pacify the masses in Lystra, he loosely talked about God’s attributes and common blessings for all people. What does this approach teach us about how to use Scripture in different circumstances? While we should never hold back from proclaiming the truths of God’s Word, it is not necessary to quote verbatim from a passage. We can communicate the truth of a passage without quoting it, but there is certainly benefit in memorizing scriptures and proclaiming them to the lost. Paul used the direct quotes when his audience knew the context of the Old Testament and made the connections in those passages to Jesus. The people of Lystra did not know this context, so Paul used another point of contact to engage them.

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class before you dismiss them.

• Praise God for his wisdom in using broken vessels to spread the gospel.
• Ask God for boldness by his Spirit to proclaim the gospel.
• Thank God for sending ambassadors to share the gospel.