On to little Antioch (Antioch of Pisidia)

 Second Wednesday after thr Epiphany

I'm running this week a day behind the normal blog schedule because of the Martin Luther King holiday. Chapel Hill garbage collection is running a day behind for the same reason. Please make no connerction between these last two sentences. 

Today we return to our Acts Bible Study. Please read Acts 13:13-16.

Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark leave Cyprus and sail to the mainland coastal village of Perga in Anatolia, what is now inland Turkey. Paul will be continually traveling for the next eleven chapters. Most Bibles that have maps in the back include a map of Paul's travels. Mark that place in your Bible. You will have frequent need to refer to it. 

John Mark leaves them at this point and returns to his home in Jerusalem. Luke does not here give us a reason for John Mark's leaving. In Acts 15:37-38, however, Paul and Barnabas have a heated argument about John Mark. Paul regards John Mark's leaving them as an abandonment. 

Let me note a significant difference between Luke and Paul borne out by Paul's letters. Luke minimizes conflicts between Christians. He will show sharp conflicts between Christians and Jews or Romans but little among Christians. For example the controversy over the food distribution among Hebrew and Hellenist widows in Acts 6 is amicably resolved in four verses. Paul's perspective is radically different from Luke's. Paul thrives on conflict, not only with Jews and Romans, but also with other Christians. At times his invective can be virulent, as when he tells in Galatians 5 the Christians who insist on circumcision of male converts that he wishes such Christians would castrate themselves. Ironic, but virulent. 

From Perga on the coast Paul and Barnabas travel inland to Antioch of Pisidia. Its location is in the dead center of modern day Turkey. It is not a particularly significant town, nothing like Antioch in Syria, which appears to be Paul's real home base. We don't know why Paul and Barnabas chose this town to go to, but we have a good guess. Sergius Paulus, prefect of Cyprus, had befriended Paul and Barnabas there. We know from other sources that Sergius Paulus had connections, likely familial, in Antioch of Pisidia. Perhaps he suggested that Paul and Barnabas go there. Perhaps he wrote for them a letter of reference.

When they arrive, Paul goes about his normal missionary order of things. He first goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. The standard synagogue Sabbath practice is that scriptures from the Torah and the Prophets are read, very likely in a lectionary order. Then any man is allowed to speak. We saw this practice with Jesus reading and speaking in the Capernaum synagogue in Luke 4:16-20. Paul as a guest is invited to speak. 

We'll look at Paul's speech in our next Bible Study. Tomorrow will be more on High Church--Low Church.

Faithfully,

Christian