There are sermons that summarize the gospel and sermons that also set a course. Paul’s message in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch does both. He announces that Jesus is the promised Son of David, proves His identity from Scripture and by His resurrection, and offers forgiveness and justification to everyone who believes, a freedom the Law could never grant (Acts 13:38–39). When many in the synagogue resist and jealousy rises, he and Barnabas declare that they will now turn to the Gentiles, not because God’s promises to Israel have failed, but because the Servant’s light was always meant to reach the ends of the earth (Acts 13:45–47; Isaiah 49:6).
The scene is a hinge in Acts. The gospel has moved from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria; now it runs along Roman roads toward the nations, yet it continues to address the Jew first and then the Gentile, because the same Messiah stands at the center for both (Romans 1:16). Reading this sermon in its setting helps us honor the order of God’s plan, receive the offer of grace with urgency, and carry the message with the confidence that the risen Lord Himself opens hearts and directs the mission (Acts 13:30–31; Acts 16:14).
Words:2851 / Time to read: 15 minutes / Audio Podcast: 32 Minutes
Historical and Cultural Background
Paul and Barnabas arrived in Pisidian Antioch during the first missionary journey after sailing from Cyprus and traveling inland through the highlands of Asia Minor. Luke notes that John Mark departed and returned to Jerusalem, a detail that underlines the costliness of the road even as the mission presses forward under the Spirit’s direction (Acts 13:13). Pisidian Antioch was a Roman colony, a strategic city with veterans, administrators, and merchants gathered under Rome’s peace, yet it held a Jewish community and a synagogue where Scripture was read each Sabbath (Acts 13:14–15).
As was Paul’s custom, he began in the synagogue, because the promises of God had been entrusted to Israel and because the Messiah promised to the fathers had come in the fullness of time (Acts 17:2; Romans 3:1–2; Galatians 4:4–5). After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers invited exhortation, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak,” which opened the door for Paul to stand and speak to “men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God,” a mixed audience that included proselytes and “God-fearers” already drawn to Israel’s Scriptures (Acts 13:15–16, Acts 13:26). The setting was ideal for a message that would walk through Israel’s history to David and then point to David’s greater Son, for the synagogue gathered those who knew the promises yet needed to see their fulfillment.
The backdrop also includes the covenant hope centered on the Davidic throne. God had pledged to raise up a descendant of David whose kingdom would endure forever, a promise sung in psalms and echoed by prophets through seasons of judgment and hope (2 Samuel 7:12–16; Psalm 89:3–4; Isaiah 55:3). In the synagogue, this hope was read “every Sabbath,” yet many did not see how the resurrection of Jesus sealed these mercies and set Him beyond the reach of decay (Acts 13:27; Psalm 16:10).
Biblical Narrative
Paul’s sermon begins with God’s initiative in Israel’s story. He reminds his hearers that “the God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country,” bore with them in the wilderness about forty years, overthrew seven nations in Canaan, and gave them the land as their inheritance (Acts 13:17–19). He recounts the period of judges until Samuel the prophet, the people’s request for a king, Saul’s forty-year reign, and then God’s raising up of David, “a man after my own heart,” through whom He promised a Savior (Acts 13:20–23; 1 Samuel 13:14).
From this history Paul moves directly to Jesus. “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised,” he says, anchoring the gospel not in a novelty but in covenant fulfillment (Acts 13:23). He cites John the Baptist as the forerunner who denied being the Messiah, pointed beyond himself, and called Israel to a baptism of repentance, thereby preparing the way for the Lord (Acts 13:24–25; John 1:20–23). Then Paul names the tragedy and the fulfillment that occurred in Jerusalem: “The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath” (Acts 13:27). Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed; when they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb, “but God raised him from the dead,” and He appeared for many days to witnesses who are now proclaiming the good news (Acts 13:28–31; Luke 24:44–48).
Paul then expounds the resurrection from Scripture. He declares that what God promised to the fathers He has fulfilled by raising Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm, “You are my son; today I have become your father” (Acts 13:32–33; Psalm 2:7). He connects the resurrection to the “holy and sure blessings promised to David,” echoing Isaiah’s covenant language and signaling that the risen Christ inherits and dispenses the enduring mercies of the Davidic covenant (Acts 13:34; Isaiah 55:3). He cites Psalm 16:10, “You will not let your holy one see decay,” and contrasts David—who served God’s purpose in his generation and then fell asleep and saw decay—with Jesus, whom God raised, who did not see decay, and who therefore stands as the living Lord (Acts 13:35–37; Psalm 16:10).
On that foundation Paul proclaims the heart of the gospel. “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,” he says. “Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38–39). The Law revealed sin and restrained it, but it could not justify sinners; Jesus justifies everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile alike, because He bore sin and rose to give life (Romans 3:20–26; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Paul closes with a warning from Habakkuk to beware of unbelief that scoffs at God’s work even when it stands before the eyes: “Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you” (Acts 13:40–41; Habakkuk 1:5).
The immediate response is hunger and hardness side by side. Many beg to hear more the next Sabbath; many Jews and devout converts follow Paul and Barnabas, who urge them to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:42–43). The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathers to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews see the crowds, they are filled with jealousy, contradict Paul, and heap abuse on him, and at that collision the mission’s hinge turns (Acts 13:44–45). Paul and Barnabas speak boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles,” for this is what the Lord has commanded, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:46–47; Isaiah 49:6). The Gentiles rejoice and honor the word of the Lord, and “all who were appointed for eternal life believed,” while the word of the Lord spreads through the whole region (Acts 13:48–49). Opposition follows as leading citizens stir up persecution and expel the missionaries, but Paul and Barnabas shake the dust from their feet and move on, and the disciples are left “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:50–52; Matthew 10:14).
Theological Significance
At the core of Paul’s message stands the risen Christ and a newness that is as old as God’s promises. The resurrection does not create a different gospel than the prophets preached; it completes the one they anticipated. By raising Jesus, God confirmed His Sonship declared in Psalm 2, extended the sure mercies of David of Isaiah 55, and fulfilled the hope of Psalm 16 that the Holy One would not see decay (Acts 13:33–35; Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 55:3; Psalm 16:10). The tomb becomes the turning key: if Jesus is alive, then He is Lord; if He is Lord, then forgiveness and justification flow from Him to all who believe, apart from works of the Law, because His obedience unto death and His life after death are enough (Acts 13:38–39; Romans 5:18–19; Galatians 2:16).
Paul’s declaration about justification is both liberating and leveling. “Everyone who believes is set free from every sin,” language that places no category of guilt outside the reach of Christ’s work and no category of person above the need for it (Acts 13:39). The Law could reveal sin, multiply transgression, and point toward sacrifice, but it could not provide the perfect sacrifice nor grant the righteous status that God requires. Christ does what the Law could not do, so that boasting is excluded and faith becomes the hand that receives what grace gives (Romans 3:27–28; Romans 8:3–4). This is why Paul warns with Habakkuk: to scoff at such a work is to refuse the only door God opens, and to refuse it in the name of zeal for the Law is to miss the very goal to which the Law was always pointing (Acts 13:41; Romans 10:3–4).
The turning to the Gentiles is not a rejection of Israel but an outworking of the Servant’s mission. Paul does not invent a new charter; he quotes the Lord’s command in Isaiah that the Servant will be “a light for the Gentiles” to bring salvation to the ends of the earth (Acts 13:47; Isaiah 49:6). In this light the pattern “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile” is not a slogan but a road map, honored in synagogue after synagogue across Acts, even as the gospel increasingly takes root among the nations (Romans 1:16; Acts 14:1; Acts 17:1–4). Dispensationally, Israel’s national rejection brings a widening of mercy to the Gentiles in the present age, yet the promises to Israel stand firm and await their fulfillment when the nation turns to its Messiah and the times of restoration arrive (Romans 11:11–12, 25–29; Acts 3:19–21). The Church is not Israel; the Church is the one new man in Christ formed by the Spirit from Jew and Gentile together, while Israel’s covenant future remains intact by the faithfulness of God (Ephesians 2:14–22; Romans 11:29).
Sovereignty and responsibility meet in the varied responses. Luke can say that those “appointed for eternal life” believed, while also recording jealousy, contradiction, and rejection that bring real accountability before God (Acts 13:48; Acts 13:45–46). The gospel is a fragrance of life to some and of death to others, yet the preacher’s task is the same: to announce Christ from the Scriptures, to urge hearers to continue in grace, and to entrust results to God (2 Corinthians 2:15–16; Acts 13:43). Joy and the Holy Spirit sustain the Church whether the city welcomes or expels, because the Lord who sends also keeps (Acts 13:52; Matthew 28:20).
Spiritual Lessons and Application
Paul’s sermon teaches believers to preach a Person from a story, not merely principles from a page. He begins with God’s acts in Israel’s past, shows how those acts aim toward David’s line, and then reveals Jesus as the fulfillment who dies, is buried, and is raised according to the Scriptures (Acts 13:17–23, 30–33; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4). In a world that loves novelty, we speak ancient promises fulfilled with present power. In communities shaped by the Bible, we honor what is read “every Sabbath” and plead for eyes to see the Christ those readings anticipate (Acts 13:27; Luke 24:27). In secular settings, we can still trace the same arc—creation, promise, fulfillment, resurrection, and response—because the risen Lord remains the hinge of every human story (Acts 17:31; Acts 26:22–23).
The offer of justification summons hearts today with the same clarity. Forgiveness is proclaimed through Jesus, and everyone who believes is justified from everything the Law could not clear (Acts 13:38–39). That means tender consciences can rest, not because sin is small, but because Christ is sufficient. That means religious pride must bow, not because zeal is useless, but because zeal without knowledge misses the One whom the Scriptures exalt (Romans 10:2–4). The right response is not delay but faith and continued grace, for postponement hardens while mercy invites now (Acts 13:43; 2 Corinthians 6:2).
Paul and Barnabas also model courage without rancor. When contradicted and slandered, they speak boldly, state the order of God’s plan, cite the Lord’s command, and move forward when forced out, shaking the dust from their feet without shaking loose their joy (Acts 13:45–47, 51–52). Churches can learn to hold both backbone and blessing—to speak the truth plainly, to refuse to be baited into bitterness, and to leave a town with joy and the Spirit’s fullness when doors close. That posture springs from conviction that the word of the Lord runs and is glorified whether in a synagogue packed to the doors or in a small house on the edge of town (2 Thessalonians 3:1; Acts 16:13–15).
The turning toward the Gentiles calls for missionary imagination that still honors the “to the Jew first” pattern. Paul never despised his kinsmen; he grieved over them and longed for their salvation even as he took the gospel to the nations with urgency (Romans 9:1–3; Romans 11:13–14). The Church can do the same—supporting Jewish evangelism with love and integrity while also laboring among the unreached peoples to whom the Servant’s light must go. The promise that “all who were appointed for eternal life” will believe does not breed passivity; it fuels perseverance, because God has many people in the cities we have yet to enter (Acts 13:48; Acts 18:9–10).
Finally, the joy that marks the disciples in Pisidian Antioch is not mood but miracle. They had just seen opposition rise and leaders use their influence to expel faithful witnesses, yet “the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:50–52). Such joy flows from the risen Christ who reigns, the Spirit who indwells, and the Word that cannot be chained. It is the same joy that steadies pastors who preach Christ week after week, parents who open Scripture at the table, and saints who bear witness in workplaces where contradiction is common. It is the joy of people who know that the Holy One did not see decay and that, in Him, their labor is not in vain (Psalm 16:10; 1 Corinthians 15:58).
Conclusion
Pisidian Antioch shows the gospel standing in a synagogue and then striding into the streets of a Roman colony, the same message unashamed to address Jew and Gentile because the same Lord saves both. Paul proclaims Scripture fulfilled and a Savior raised, announces forgiveness and justification by faith, warns against unbelief, and then obeys the Lord’s command to carry the light to the nations when resistance hardens (Acts 13:33–41, 46–47). The hinge turns, but the promises do not break. Israel’s unbelief brings riches to the Gentiles, and God’s gifts and call remain irrevocable; a day is coming when the nation will look upon the One they pierced, and times of refreshing will arrive from the Lord (Romans 11:11–12, 29; Zechariah 12:10; Acts 3:19–21).
Until that day, the Church walks in Paul’s path with Scripture open and Christ exalted. We preach the resurrection, offer justification to everyone who believes, honor the order of God’s plan, and keep our joy when doors open or close, because the Servant’s light was always meant for the ends of the earth (Acts 13:30–39, 47). The same grace that reached a synagogue in a Roman colony reaches hearts now. The invitation still stands, and the Savior still saves.
“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:38–39)
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