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At Antioch occurs the separation of Barnabas and Paul, and several features of this opening ministry
foreshadow the close of the Acts. For example, Paul's first miracle contrasts with Peter's first miracle. Peter heals a
Jew; Paul blinds a Jew. This Jew withstands the truth, and a Gentile, who bears the same name as the apostle,
believes. Resulting from the opposition of the Jews at Antioch, there is a local turning from the Jew to the Gentile
and Paul utters that word of warning which anticipates the dreadful quotation of Isaiah 6, with which the Jew was set
aside in Acts 28. At the close of chapter 13 we read:
`And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region' (Acts 13:49).
and at the close of chapter 14 we read:
`And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with
them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles' (Acts 14:27).
There is a very remarkable contrast found in Acts 13 and Acts 28:
`But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution
against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts' (Acts 13:50).
In contrast with this action of the devout, the honourable, and the chief men, let us read Acts 28:
`And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one,
because of the present rain, and because of the cold ... In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of
the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously' (Acts 28:2 and 7).
It is encouraging to observe the record of the Holy Spirit in these matters; the names of the `devout' the
`honourable' and the `chief' who expelled Paul, have gone down into oblivion, but wherever the Scriptures are read,
the name of Publius is recorded with gratitude.
The ministry commencing at Antioch finds its sequel in the conflict concerning the status of the uncircumcised
believing Gentile and the imposition of the decrees. This, as we shall see, constituted the middle wall of partition
between the two parties in the early church. The next section commences at Acts 15:40. Except to call attention to
the fact that the synagogue was the centre of this witness, we have given no details of these chapters. In them comes
the vision of the man of Macedonia and the consequent preaching of the gospel in Europe for the first time. Here
also is the record of Paul's visit to and testimony at Athens, and the beginning of the fellowship between Paul and
Aquila and Priscilla. Acts 19:21 evidently constitutes a fresh section, for the words `after these things were ended',
seem to imply a new movement. It is precisely here that the narrative records the fact that the synagogue was visited
for the last time (19:8), and that the disciples were separated, and met subsequently in the school of Tyrannus. Thus
another link with Jerusalem and the Jew was snapped. Here, such is the evident comparison intended between the
uproar caused at the Ephesian Temple and the uproar caused at the Temple at Jerusalem, that we give a few details.
The relation of these two sections is, moreover, strengthened when we observe that it was `the Jews which were
of Asia' (Acts 21:27) that stirred up the people, and that the uproar arose over, `Trophimus an Ephesian' (Acts
21:29). While the Temple of Diana at Ephesus was the shrine of an idol, and the Temple at Jerusalem was the
Temple of the Lord, yet the inspired narrative seems to place them over against one another, as much as to say that,
in spirit, there was now little to choose between them. The action of the Town Clerk, the Roman Captain, and other
parallels, will speak for themselves.
For the time being we have left the central section, 20:1 to 21:26, undeveloped. In it are recorded journeys made
from Macedonia to Jerusalem, and also that, at Miletus, the apostle made known that a new ministry, associated with
prison, awaited him (Acts 20:17-38). Most significant, also, is the fact, that at the opening of this division, Paul
expressed the desire to `see Rome' (Acts 19:21); and at the close, at Jerusalem, the Lord stood by the apostle and
said:
`Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome'
(Acts 23:11).
The third sub-division B 23:23 to 28:16, is concerned with the various trials of the apostle under Felix, Festus
and Agrippa, and ends with the shipwreck at Melita, and the eventual arrival at Rome.