:
1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. 6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: 7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 13 Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. 14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. 16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. 18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. 19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. 20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. 23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: 24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. 26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. 28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30 But God raised him from the dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. 42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. 50 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. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
[AD 300] Ammonius of Alexandria on Acts 13:1
“And Manaean, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.” Behold the customs of each of them: not even the fact of being brought up together saves them both. See how absolutely evil Herod was, for he did not want to be converted. But his foster brother Manaean certainly changed a great deal, because he was considered worthy of the gift of prophecy.

[AD 300] Ammonius of Alexandria on Acts 13:2
It must be noticed that the Holy Spirit does not speak to those who happen to be there by chance but to those who serve him and observe fasting. And it must be noticed again that they did not lay hands on the deacons at random but on those who were previously fasting and praying.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:2
Separate for me Barnabas and Saul for the work, to which I have called them. It seems that Saul, according to the order of history, in the thirteenth year after the passion of the Lord, received the apostleship with Barnabas and the name of Paul. But in the fourteenth year, according to the agreement of James, Cephas, and John, he set out to teach the Gentiles. Nor does the ecclesiastical history contradict, saying that the apostles were commanded to preach in Judea for twelve years.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:2
The Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Paul for the work to which I have called them. This seems to have happened after the death of Herod, who died in the third year of the reign of Claudius, which, according to the chronicles, is the thirteenth year after the passion of the Lord. Since it is clear that Paul, along with Barnabas, was set apart for the apostleship after so much time had passed since the Lord's passion, it becomes evident that those who wrote or accepted the book we mentioned above about the death of Saint Mary are greatly mistaken. For it is written in that same fabrication, as we have often said, that in the second year after the Lord's ascension, when that most blessed Mother of God was about to die, the apostles, who had already been dispersed throughout the world to preach, suddenly came together in a cloud to visit her; among them was Paul, recently converted to the faith, and immediately made an apostle to the Gentiles with Barnabas. But it happened very differently: that is, he was not ordained an apostle in the second year after the Lord's passion, but in the thirteenth. Anyone who believes blessed Luke understands this; and thus the aforementioned book about the death of blessed Mary, being obviously mistaken in its timing, also proves to be of dubious faith in other respects.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:3
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” What does “worshiping” mean? It means preaching. “Set apart Barnabas and Saul.” What does “set apart for me” mean? It means for the work, for the apostleship. Remember who ordained him? Lucius the Cyrenean and Manaen, or rather, one should say, the Spirit. For the more lowly the personages involved, the more palpable the grace of God. Paul is ordained henceforth to apostleship, to preach with authority. How is it then that he himself says, “Not from men nor by men”? Because it was not humankind that called him or brought him over. This is what “or by men” means. For this reason he says that he was not sent by this man but by the Spirit.

[AD 9999] Pseudo-Basil on Acts 13:3
The Lord, upon appearing to Paul from heaven, said, “Go to Damascus, and you shall be told that you are my chosen vessel,” because [the Lord] had established him as the herald of the gospel to all the world. Then Ananias said to him, when he arrived in Damascus, “Brother Saul, see once more: the God of the fathers has preordained you.”8 And lest you think this word [i.e., God] refers to Christ, he adds, “to do his will and to know his just one Jesus.” [Paul], making this calling and preordaining a title, says, “Paul a slave of Jesus Christ, called apostle.”10 Then he says something else regarding this calling, “Set aside for the gospel of God.” The Acts of the Apostles taught that the Spirit directed the setting aside, for it says, “While the apostles were fasting and praying, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set aside for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them.’ ” If the Lord, the God of the fathers, chose him whom he had preordained, while the Son called him forth, and the Spirit, using the operation of [the divine] nature, set the same one aside, how is there a difference of nature in the Trinity in which an identity of operation is found?

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:4
As soon as they were ordained they went forth and hastened to Cyprus, seeing that no plot was being hatched against them there and the Word had already been sown. In Antioch there were enough [teachers]. As to Phoenice, it was near Palestine, but not so Cyprus. However, do not ask why, when it is the Spirit that directs their movements. For they were not only ordained by the Spirit but also sent forth by him.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:4-15
"So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister."

As soon as they were ordained they went forth, and hasted to Cyprus, that being a place where was no ill-design hatching against them, and where moreover the Word had been sown already. In Antioch there were (teachers) enough, and Phœnice too was near to Palestine; but Cyprus not so. However, you are not to make a question of the why and wherefore, when it is the Spirit that directs their movements: for they were not only ordained by the Spirit, but sent forth by Him likewise. "And when they had come to Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews." Do you mark how they make a point of preaching the word to them first, not to make them more contentious? The persons mentioned before "spoke to none but to Jews only" [Acts 11:19], and so here they betook them to the synagogues. "And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith." [Acts 13:6-8] Again a Jew sorcerer, as was Simon. And observe this man, how, while they preached to the others, he did not take it much amiss, but only when they approached the proconsul. And then in respect of the proconsul the wonder is, that although prepossessed by the man's sorcery, he was nevertheless willing to hear the Apostles. So it was with the Samaritans: and from the competition (συγκρίσεως) the victory appears, the sorcery being worsted. Everywhere, vainglory and love of power are a (fruitful) source of evils! "But Saul, who is also Paul,"— [Acts 13:9] here his name is changed at the same time that he is ordained, as it was in Peter's case, — "filled with the Holy Ghost, looked upon him, and said, O full of all guile and all villany, thou child of the devil:" [Acts 13:10] and observe, this is not abuse, but accusation: for so ought forward, impudent people to be rebuked "thou enemy of all righteousness;" here he lays bare what was in the thoughts of the man, while under pretext of saving he was ruining the proconsul: "will you not cease," he says, "to pervert the ways of the Lord?" (He says it) both confidently (αξιοπίστως), It is not with us you are warring, nor are you fighting (with us), but "the ways of the Lord" you are perverting, and with praise (of these, he adds) "the right" ways. "And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind." [Acts 13:11] It was the sign by which he was himself converted, and by this he would fain convert this man. As also that expression, "for a season," puts it not as an act of punishing, but as meant for his conversion: had it been for punishment, he would have made him lastingly blind, but now it is not so, but "for a season" (and this), that he may gain the proconsul. For, as he was prepossessed by the sorcery, it was well to teach him a lesson by this infliction (and the sorcerer also), in the same way as the magicians (in Egypt) were taught by the boils. [Exodus 9:11] "And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness: and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord." [Acts 13:12] But observe, how they do not linger there, as (they might have been tempted to do) now that the proconsul was a believer, nor are enervated by being courted and honored, but immediately keep on with their work, and set out for the country on the opposite coast. "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down." (v. 13, 14.) And here again they entered the synagogues, in the character of Jews, that they might not be treated as enemies, and be driven away: and in this way they carried the whole matter successfully. "And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, You men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." [Acts 13:15] From this point, we learn the history of Paul's doings, as in what was said above we have learned not a little about Peter. But let us review what has been said.

(Recapitulation.) "And when they had come to Salamis," the metropolis of Cyprus, "they preached the word of God." [Acts 13:5] They had spent a year in Antioch: it behooved that they should go hither also (to Cyprus) and not sit permanently where they were (the converts in Cyprus): needed greater teachers. See too how they remain no time in Seleucia, knowing that (the people there) might have reaped much benefit from the neighboring city (of Antioch): but they hasten on to the more pressing duties. When they came to the metropolis of the island, they were earnest to disabuse (διορθωσαι) the proconsul. But that it is no flattery that (the writer) says, "he was with the proconsul, a prudent man" [Acts 13:7], you may learn from the facts; for he needed not many discourses, and himself wished to hear them. And he mentions also the names. * * * Observe, how he said nothing to the sorcerer, until he gave him an occasion: but they only "preached the word of the Lord." Since (though Elymas) saw the rest attending to them, he looked only to this one object, that the proconsul might not be won over. Why did not (Paul) perform some other miracle? Because there was none equal to this, the taking the enemy captive. And observe, he first impeaches, and then punishes, him. He shows how justly the man deserved to suffer, by his saying, "O full of all deceit" [Acts 13:10]: ("full of all,") he says: nothing wanting to the full measure: and he well says, of all "deceit," for the man was playing the part of a hypocrite. — "Child of the devil," because he was doing his work: "enemy of all righteousness," since this (which they preached) was the whole of righteousness (though at the same time): I suppose in these words he reproves his manner of life. His words were not prompted by anger, and to show this, the writer premises, "filled with the Holy Ghost," that is, with His operation. "And now behold the hand of the Lord is upon you." [Acts 13:11] It was not vengeance then, but healing: for it is as though he said: "It is not I that do it, but the hand of God." Mark how unassuming! No "light," as in the case of Paul, "shone round about him." [Acts 9:3] "You shall be blind," he says, "not seeing the sun for a season," that he may give him opportunity for repentance: for we nowhere find them wishing to be made conspicuous by the more stern (exercise of their authority), even though it was against enemies that this was put forth: in respect of those of their own body (they used severity), and with good reason, but in dealing with those without, not so; that (the obedience of faith) might not seem to be matter of compulsion and fear. It is a proof of his blindness, his "seeking some to lead him by the hand." [Acts 5:1 ff. And the proconsul sees the blindness inflicted, "and when he saw what was done, he believed:" and both alone believed not merely this, but, "being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord" [Acts 13:12]: he saw that these things were not mere words, nor trickery. Mark how he loved to receive instruction from his teachers, though he was in a station of so high authority. And (Paul) said not to the sorcerer, "Will you not cease to pervert" the proconsul? What may be the reason of John's going back from them? For "John," it says, "departing from them returned to Jerusalem" [Acts 13:13]: (he does it) because they are undertaking a still longer journey: and yet he was their attendant, and as for the danger, they incurred it (not he).— Again, when they had come to Perga, they hastily passed by the other cities, for they were in haste to the metropolis, Antioch. And observe how concise the historian is. "They sat down in the synagogue," he says, and, "on the sabbath day" (v. 14, 15): that they might prepare the way beforehand for the Word. And they do not speak first, but when invited: since as strangers, they called upon them to do so. Had they not waited, there would have been no discourse. Here for the first time we have Paul preaching. And observe his prudence: where the word was already sown, he passes on: but where there was none (to preach), he makes a stay: as he himself writes: "Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named." [Romans 15:20] Great courage this also. Truly, from the very outset, a wonderful man! crucified, ready for all encounters (παρατεταγμένος), he knew how great grace he had obtained, and he brought to it zeal equivalent. He was not angry with John: for this was not for him: but he kept to the work, he quailed not, he was unappalled, when shut up in the midst of a host. Observe how wisely it is ordered that Paul should not preach at Jerusalem: the very hearing that he has become a believer, this of itself is enough for them; for him to preach, they never would have endured, such was their hatred of him: so he departs far away, where he was not known. But it is well done, that "they entered the synagogue on the sabbath day" when all were collected together. "And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, You men and brethren, if you have any word or exhortation for the people, say on." [Acts 13:15] Behold how they do this without grudging, but no longer after this. If you did wish this (really), there was more need to exhort.

He first convicted the sorcerer (and showed), what he was; and that he was such, the sign showed: "you shall be blind, not seeing the sun" this was a sign of the blindness of his soul: "for a season" [Acts 13:11]: he says, to bring him to repentance. But, oh that love of rule! Oh, that lust of vainglory! How it does overturn and ruin everything; makes people stand up against their own, against each other's salvation; renders them blind indeed, and dark, insomuch that they have even to seek for some to lead them by the hand! Oh that they did even this, oh that they did seek were it but some to lead them by the hand! But no, they no longer endure this, they take the whole matter into their own hands. (This vice) will let no man see: like a mist and thick darkness it spreads itself over them, not letting any see through it. What pleas shall we have to offer, we who for one evil affection, overcome another evil affection (supra p. 176), but not for the fear of God! For example, many who are both lewd and covetous, have for their niggardliness put a bridle upon their lust, while other such, on the contrary, have for pleasure's sake, despised riches. Again, those who are both the one and the other, have by the lust of vainglory overcome both, lavishing their money unsparingly, and practising temperance to no (good) purpose; others again, who are exceedingly vainglorious, have despised that evil affection, submitting to many vile disgraces for the sake of their amours, or for the sake of their money: others again, that they may satiate their anger, have chosen to suffer losses without end, and care for none of them, provided only they may work their own will. And yet, what passion can do with us, the fear of God is impotent to effect! Why speak I of passion? What shame before men can do with us, the fear of God has not the strength to effect! Many are the things we do right and wrong, from a feeling of shame before men; but God we fear not. How many have been shamed by regard to the opinions of men into flinging away money! How many have mistakenly made it a point of honor to give themselves up to the service of their friends (only), to their hurt! How many from respect for their friendships have been shamed into numberless wrong acts! Since then both passion and regard for the opinion of men are able to put us upon doing wrong things and right, it is idle to say, "we cannot:" we can, if we have the mind: and we ought to have the mind. Why can you not overcome the love of glory, when others do overcome it, having the same soul as thou, and the same body; bearing the same form, and living the same life? Think of God, think of the glory that is from above: weigh against that the things present, and you will quickly recoil from this worldly glory. If at all events thou covet glory, covet that which is glory, indeed. What kind of glory is it, when it begets infamy? What kind of glory, when it compels one to desire the honor of those who are inferior, and stands in need of that? Real honor is the gaining the esteem of those who are greater than one's self. If at all events you are enamoured of glory, be thou rather enamoured of that which comes from God. If enamoured of that glory you despise this world's glory, you shall see how ignoble this is: but so long as you see not that glory, neither will you be able to see this, how foul it is, how ridiculous. For as those who are under the spell of some wicked, hideously ugly woman, so long as they are in love with her, cannot see her ill-favoredness, because their passion spreads a darkness over their judgment: so is it here also: so long as we are possessed with the passion, we cannot perceive what a thing it is. How then might we be rid of it? Think of those who (for the sake of glory) have spent countless sums, and now are none the better for it: think of the dead, what glory they got, and (now) this glory is nowhere abiding, but all perished and come to naught: bethink you how it is only a name, and has nothing real in it. For say, what is glory? Give me some definition. "The being admired by all," you will say. With justice, or also not with justice? For if it be not with justice, this is not admiration, but crimination (κατηγορία), and flattery, and misrepresentation (διαβολή). But if you say, With justice, why that is impossible: for in the populace there are no right judgments; those that minister to their lusts, those are the persons they admire. And if you would (see the proof of this), mark those who give away their substance to the harlots, to the charioteers, to the dancers. But you will say, we do not mean these, but those who are just and upright, and able to do great and noble good acts. Would that they wished it, and they soon would do good: but as things are, they do nothing of the kind. Who, I ask you, now praises the just and upright man? Nay, it is just the contrary. Could anything be more preposterous than for a just man, when doing any such good act, to seek glory of the many — as if an artist of consummate skill, employed upon an Emperor's portrait, should wish to have the praises of the ignorant! Moreover, a man who looks for honor from men, will soon enough desist from the acts which virtue enjoins. If he will needs be gaping for their praises, he will do just what they wish, not what himself wishes. What then would I advise you? You must look only to God, to the praise that is from Him, perform all things which are pleasing to Him, and go after the good things (that are with Him), not be gaping for anything that is of man: for this mars both fasting and prayer and almsgiving, and makes all our good deeds void. Which that it be not our case, let us flee this passion. To one thing alone let us look, to the praise which is from God, to the being accepted of Him, to the commendation from our common Master; that, having passed through our present life virtuously, we may obtain the promised blessings together with them that love Him, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might, honor, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

[AD 532] Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on Acts 13:5
There is, besides, another John mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, with the surname Mark, whom Barnabas and Paul attached to themselves as companion, and of whom again it is said: "And they had also John to their minister."
[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:5
They preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. Due to ignorance of the places, I believed it should be noted once: Wherever you see a synagogue of the Jews, know that occurrences in the city are described.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 13:6
Both he and that other magician, who was with Sergius Paulus, (since he began opposing himself to the same apostles) was mulcted with loss of eyes. The same fate, I believe, would astrologers, too, have met, if any had fallen in the way of the apostles.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 13:6
Smitten were both Ananias and Elymas -Ananias with death, Elymas with blindness-in order that by this very fact it might be proved that Christ had had the power of doing even such (miracles).

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:6
Whose name was Bar-Jesus. It is incorrectly read as Barjesus, when it should be read as Bar-Jew, that is, sorcerer, or in evil. I believe that the name Jesus is written with the same letters but with a mark above. For it is not fitting for a wicked man and sorcerer to be called the son of Jesus, that is, the Savior, whom conversely Paul calls the son of the devil.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:6
They found a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, whose name was Barjesus. In Greek it adds more: Which is interpreted as Elimas.

[AD 420] Jerome on Acts 13:7
As Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, was the first to believe in his preaching, he took his name from him because he had subdued him to faith in Christ.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 13:8
Many attempts were also wrought against the apostles by the sorcerers Simon and Elymas, but the blindness which struck (them) was no enchanter's trick.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:8
However, Elymas the magician (for so his name is interpreted) withstood them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. And this too is more in the Greek: Because he was gladly listening to them.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Acts 13:9
The apostle Paul, who was previously called Saul, had no other reason, it seems to me, for choosing this name but to point out his own smallness as the least of the apostles. Hence, in order to praise this grace of God, he frequently fought courageously and vigorously against the proud and the arrogant and those who relied on their own works. After all, the grace of God was really seen more clearly and more obviously in him.

[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Acts 13:9
"Then Saul, otherwise Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, said. "This continues what started above. While Sergius the proconsul and Paulus the prudent man listened, the apostle Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, vigorously reproved Bar-jesu the false prophet; and to show that his invective had been for the love of the Lord, he said to him: "Thou shalt be blind, and shalt not see the sun at all for a time." Then a dark mist coming upon him shut up his natural sight in such a way that he sought someone else's hands to help him leave. The performance of this miracle being ascertained, the judges who saw it were converted, believing that a doctrine proven to be displayed by such miracles was truly that of the supreme God.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:9
Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit. From Sergius Paulus the proconsul, because he subjugated him to the faith of Christ, he took the name of Paul. And the subsequent sections of this account deal with the miracles of Paul. For it was fitting that he should give the completion to apostolic acts, whom the Lord had long chosen despite him kicking against the goads.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:9
But Saul, who is also Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, and so on. Just as Barnabas' name was changed immediately after his renunciation, so that instead of Joseph he was called Barnabas, which is, instead of "increased," "son of consolation." For after he was increased and added to the number of the elect, he immediately deserved to be both called and to be "son of παράκλησις," that is, "of consolation" through the received grace of the Spirit; so Saul, after receiving the rank of apostleship, was named Paul. Because he had become humble from being proud, he was rightly called Paul instead of Saul: for Saul was named after the impious and persecutor king Saul, but Paul is named from humble and small spirit. For Paul means "small." Hence, interpreting his own name in a certain way, he himself would say: For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God (I Cor. XV).

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:10
Why didn’t Paul perform another miracle? Because there was none equal to this—the capture of the enemy. And notice how he first makes his indictment and shows that the man suffers justly by saying, “O full of all deceit.” Nothing [Paul] said was lacking, and he said it well. “Of all deceit,” because the man was playing the part of a hypocrite. “Son of the devil,” because he was doing his work. “Enemy of righteousness,” because this [which they preached] was the whole of righteousness. It seems to me that he is also reproving his manner of life. It was not out of anger that he spoke, and to show this, the writer begins with, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” that is, with his operation.“And now behold the hand of the Lord is upon you.” It was not vengeance, then, but healing. For it is as though he had said, “It is not I but the hand of God.” Look how unassuming it is! No “light,” as in the case of Paul, “shone round about him.” “Thou shall be blind,” he says, “not seeing the sun for a season,” so that he may give him a chance for repentance. Never did they wish to become conspicuous by their sternness, even in the case of enemies. But in respect to their own people, they were stern; in the case of others, no, lest [the obedience of faith] be thought a matter of compulsion and fear.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:11
“And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind.” It was the sign by which [Paul] was himself converted, and by this he wished to convert this man. And the words “for a season” were spoken by one who seeks not to punish but to convert. For if he had wanted to punish, he would have made him blind forever. This is not what happens here, but only “for a season,” so that he may gain the proconsul. For the man was prepossessed by sorcery, and he had to teach him a lesson by this punishment, just as the magicians [in Egypt] were taught by the boils.

[AD 450] Isidore of Pelusium on Acts 13:11
Be reasonable now. What happened to the magician through the intervention of the apostle is not contrary to the divine commandment that commands us to love our enemies. But since that man distorted the ways of preaching and drove the proconsul away from the faith through which the entire multitude could easily have been admitted to salvation, Paul punished that blasphemer on the basis of his own way of working things out. After he was warned by being blinded he was then led to knowledge. Indeed he was taught through Paul to cure his infidelity with a remedy, just as Paul cured the contradictions of the law. After he set the limit “until the right time” for judgment so that it might cause in itself the recuperation of the man, he changed his ways for the better.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:11
Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind. The Apostle, mindful of his own example, knew that it was possible to rise from the darkness of the eyes of the mind to light. For he did not deserve to have the eyes of the flesh, who labored to take away the eyes of the mind from others.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:11
And immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him. The name of darkness in Greek is placed in the singular number σκότος, which the Latin interpreter did not follow, because this name does not have a singular number in Latin as we have similarly taught above.

[AD 532] Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on Acts 13:13
But the writer says: "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem."
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Acts 13:13
"Now when Paul and they that were with him had sailed from Paphos," etc. When Paul and Barnabas had sailed from Paphos with the rest who had come with them, they came to Perge in Pamphilia, and passed through it. John, departing from them at Perge, returned to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas, walking through Perge, came to Antioch in Pisidia. Entering the synagogue there, they listened to a reading of the prophets and the law. The rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying that, if any one of them had a word of exhortation, he should speak, just as they did in other cities, where the truth they spoke was believed. Then Paul, having obtained silence with a gesture of his hand, preached the Lord Christ's doctrine to the people, explaining what was said with the testimonies of the prophets in order to bring the people to the fullest faith by revealing the truth; assuring them that the Lord Christ was the only one who justified the severity of the law by the gift of his grace; telling them they should be careful, as the Scripture warns, not to refuse to believe what the truth itself was known to tell them.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:14
“They sat down in the synagogue,” he says, “and on the sabbath day,” to prepare the way beforehand for the Word. And they did not speak first but when invited, seeing that they summoned them as strangers. Had they not waited, there would have been no discourse. Here for the first time we have Paul preaching. And notice his wisdom: where the word was already sown, he passes on; but where there was none, he makes a stay. It is as he himself writes, “Yes, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named.” Great courage was also embodied in this. Truly from the very outset a wonderful man! Crucified, drawn up in the line of battle, he knew how great was the grace he obtained, and he brought in an equal zeal.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:14
They came to Antioch in Pisidia. There are two cities named Antioch: one in Coele-Syria, founded by King Seleucus, which was formerly called Reblata, which they say has the nearby spring of Daphne, and enjoys its abundant waters, in which the disciples were first named Christians; but the other Antioch, of which there is now mention, is in the province of Pisidia.

[AD 251] Alexander of Jerusalem on Acts 13:15
Such was the case at Laranda, where Evelpis was thus exhorted by Neon; and at I conium, Paulinus was thus exhorted by Celsus; and at Synada, Theodorus also by Atticus, our blessed brethren. And it is probable that this is done in other places also, although we know not the fact.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:16
Behold Barnabas giving place to Paul--how should it be otherwise?--to him whom he brought from Tarsus; just as we find John on all occasions giving way to Peter: and yet Barnabas was more looked up to than Paul: true, but they had an eye only to the common advantage. "Then Paul stood up," it says;--this was a custom of the Jews--"and beckoned with his hand." And see how he prepares the way beforehand for his discourse: having first praised them, and showed his great regard for them in the words, "ye that fear God," he so begins his discourse. And he says not, Ye proselytes, since it was a term of disadvantage. "The God of this people chose our fathers: and the people"--See, he calls God Himself their God peculiarly, Who is the common God of men; and shows how great from the first were His benefits, just as Stephen does. This they do to teach them, that now also God has acted after the same custom, in sending His own Son; (Luke 20:13): as (Christ) Himself (does) in the parable of the vineyard--"And the people," he says, "He exalted when it sojourned in the land of Egypt"--and yet the contrary was the case: true, but they increased in numbers; moreover, the miracles were wrought on their account: "and with an high arm brought He them out of it." Of these things (the wonders) which were done in Egypt, the prophets are continually making mention. And observe, how he passes over the times of their calamities, and nowhere brings forward their faults, but only God's kindness, leaving those for themselves to think over. "And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness." (v. 18.) Then the settlement. "And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot." (v. 19.) And the time was long; four hundred and fifty years. "And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet." (v. 20.) Here he shows that God varied His dispensations towards them (at divers times). "And afterward they desired a king:" and (still) not a word of their ingratitude, but throughout he speaks of the kindness of God. "And God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years." (v. 21.) "And when he had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king: to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will. Of this man's seed hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus." (v. 22, 23.) This was no small thing that Christ should be from David. Then John bears witness to this: "When John had first preached before His coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not He. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy to loose." (v. 24, 25.) And John too not merely bears witness (to the fact), but (does it in such sort that) when men were bringing the glory to him, he declines it: for it is one thing (not to affect) an honor which nobody thinks of offering; and another, to reject it when all men are ready to give it, and not only to reject it, but to do so with such humility. "Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be slain." (v. 26-28.) On all occasions we find them making a great point of showing this, that the blessing is peculiarly theirs, that they may not flee (from Christ), as thinking they had nothing to do with Him, because they had crucified Him. "Because they knew Him not," he says: so that the sin was one of ignorance. See how he gently makes an apology even on behalf of those (crucifiers). And not only this: but he adds also, that thus it must needs be. And how so? "By condemning Him, they fulfilled the voices of the prophets." Then again from the Scriptures. "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead. And He was seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people--"(v. 29-31) that He rose again. "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another Psalm, Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: but He, Whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (v. 32-39.) Observe how Paul here is more vehement in his discourse: we nowhere find Peter saying this. Then too he adds the terrifying words: "Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." (v. 40, 41.)(a) Observe how he twines (the thread of) his discourse (alternately) from things present, from the prophets. Thus, "from (this man's) seed according to the promise"--(v. 23): (c) the name of David was dear to them; well then, is it not (a thing to be desired) that a son of his, he says, should be their king?--(b) then he adduces John: then again the prophets, where he says, "By condemning they fulfilled," and again, "All that was written:" then the Apostles as witnesses of the Resurrection: then David bearing witness. For neither the Old Testament proofs seemed so cogent when taken by themselves as they are in this way, nor yet the latter testimonies apart from the former: wherefore he makes them mutually confirm each other. "Men and brethren," etc. (v. 26.) For since they were possessed by fear, as having slain Him, and conscience made them aliens (the Apostles), discourse not with them as unto Christicides, neither as putting into their hands a good which was not theirs, but one peculiarly their own. (d) "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers:" as much as to say, not ye, but they: and again, apologizing even for those, "Because they knew Him not, and the voices of the Prophets which are read every sabbath day, in condemning Him, they fulfilled them." A great charge it is against them that they continually hearing heeded not. But no marvel: for what was said above concerning Egypt and the wilderness, was enough to show their ingratitude. And observe how this Apostle also, as one moved by the Spirit Himself, continually preaches the Passion, the Burial. (g) "Having taken Him down from the tree." Observe, what a great point they make of this. He speaks of the manner of His death. Moreover they bring Pilate (conspicuously) forward, that (the fact of) the Passion may be proved by the mention of the tribunal (by which he was condemned), but at the same time, for the greater impeachment of those (His crucifiers), seeing they delivered Him up to an alien. And he does not say, They made a complaint (against Him), (enetuchon, al. entunchanei) but, "They desired, though having found no cause of death" (in Him), "that He should be slain. (e) Who appeared," he says, "for many days to them that came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem." (Romans 11:2.) Instead of ** he says, "Who are His witnesses unto the people," to wit, "The men which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem." Then he produces David and Esaias bearing witness. "The faithful (mercies)," the abiding (mercies), those which never perish. (h) Paul loved them exceedingly. And observe, he does not enlarge on the ingratitude of the fathers, but puts before them what they must fear. For Stephen indeed with good reason does this, seeing he was about to be put to death, not teaching them; and showing them, that the Law is even now on the point of being abolished: (ch. vii.) but not so Paul; he does but threaten and put them in fear. (f) And he does not dwell long on these, as taking it for granted that the word is of course believed; nor enlarge upon the greatness of their punishment, and assail that which they affectionately love, by showing the Law about to be cast out: but dwells upon that which is for their good (telling them), that great shall be the blessings for them being obedient, and great the evils being disobedient.But let us look over again what has been said. "Ye men of Israel," etc. (v. 16-21.) The Promise then, he says, the fathers received; ye, the reality. (j) And observe, he nowhere mentions right deeds of theirs, but (only) benefits on God's part: "He chose: Exalted: Suffered their manners:" these are no matters of praise to them: "They asked, He gave." But David he does praise (and him) only, because from him the Christ was to come. "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will." (v. 22.) (i) Observe also; it is with praise (that he says of him), "David after that he had served the will of God:" just as Peter--seeing it was then the beginning of the Gospel--making mention of him, said, "Let it be permitted me to speak freely of the patriarch David." (ch. ii. 29.) Also, he does not say, Died, but, "was added to his fathers. (k) Of this man's seed," etc. "When John," he says, "had first preached before His entry"--by entry he means the Incarnation--"the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel." (v. 23-25.) Thus also John, writing his Gospel, continually has recourse to him: for his name was much thought of in all parts of the world. And observe, he does not say it "Of this man's seed," etc. from himself, but brings John's testimony."Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham"--he also calls them after their father--"unto you was the word of this salvation sent." (v. 26.) Here the expression, "Unto you," does not mean, Unto (you) Jews, but it gives them a right to sever themselves from those who dared that murder. And what he adds, shows this plainly. "For," he says, "they that dwell at Jerusalem, because they know Him not." (v. 27.) And how, you will say, could they be ignorant, with John to tell them? What marvel, seeing they were so, with the prophets continually crying aloud to them? Then follows another charge: "And having found no cause of death in Him:" in which ignorance had nothing to do. For let us put the case, that they did not hold Him to be the Christ: why did they also kill Him? And "they desired of Pilate, he says, that He should be slain." (v. 28.) "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him." (v. 29.) Observe what a point he makes of showing that the (whole) thing was a (Divine) Dispensation. See, by saying what did they persuade men? (By telling them) that He was crucified? Why, what could be less persuasive than this? That He was buried--by them to whom it was promised that He should be salvation? that He who was buried forgives sins, yea, more than the Law (has power to do)? And (observe), he does not say, From which ye would not but, "from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses." (v. 39.) "Every one," he says: be who he may. For those (ordinances) are of no use, unless there be some benefit (accruing therefrom.) This is why he brings in forgiveness later: and shows it to be greater, when, the thing being (otherwise) impossible, yet this is effected. "Who are His witnesses," he says, "unto the people"--the people that slew Him. Who would never have been so, were they not strengthened by a Divine Power: for they would never have borne such witness to blood-thirsty men, to the very persons that killed Him. But, "He hath raised up Jesus again: This day," he says, "I have begotten thee." (v. 33.) Aye, upon this the rest follows of course. Why did he not allege some text by which they would be persuaded that forgiveness of sins is by Him? Because the great point with them was to show, in the first place, that He was risen: this being acknowledged, the other was unquestionable. "Through this man," nay more, by Him, "is remission of sins." (v. 38.) And besides, he wished to bring them to a longing desire of this great thing. Well then, His death was not dereliction, but fulfilling of Prophecy.--For the rest, he puts them in mind of historical facts, wherein they through ignorance suffered evils without number. And this he hints in the conclusion, saying, "Look, ye despisers, and behold." And observe how, this being harsh, he cuts it short. Let not that, he says, come upon you, which was spoken for the others, that "I work a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though one declare it unto you." (v. 41.) Marvel not that it seems incredible: this very thing was foretold from the first--(that it would not be believed). "Behold, ye despisers," as regards those who disbelieve in the Resurrection.This too might with reason be said to us: "Behold ye despisers." For the Church indeed is in very evil case, although ye think her affairs to be in peace. For the mischief of it is, that while we labor under so many evils, we do not even know that we have any. "What sayest thou? We are in possession of our Churches, our Church property, and all the rest, the services are held, the congregation comes to Church every day." True, but one is not to judge of the state of a Church from these things. From what then? Whether there be piety, whether we return home with profit each day, whether reaping some fruit, be it much or little, whether we do it not merely of routine and for the formal acquittance of a duty (aphosioumenoi). Who has become a better man by attending (daily) service for a whole month? That is the point: otherwise the very thing which seems to bespeak a flourishing condition (of the Church,) does in fact bespeak an ill condition, when all this is done, and nothing comes of it. Would to God (that were all), that nothing comes of it: but indeed, as things are, it turns out even for the worse. What fruit do ye get from your services? Surely if you were getting any profit by them, ye ought to have been long leading the life of true wisdom (thes philosophias), with so many Prophets twice in every week discoursing to you, so many Apostles, and Evangelists, all setting forth the doctrines of salvation, and placing before you with much exactness that which can form the character aright. The soldier by going to his drill, becomes more perfect in his tactics: the wrestler by frequenting the gymnastic ground becomes more skilful in wrestling: the physician by attending on his teacher becomes more accurate, and knows more, and learns more: and thou--what hast thou gained? I speak not to those who have been members of the Church only a year, but to those who from their earliest age have been attending the services. Think you that to be religious is to be constant in Church-going (paraballein the sunaxei)? This is nothing, unless we reap some fruit for ourselves: if (from the gathering together in Church) we do not gather (sunagomen) something for ourselves, it were better to remain at home. For our forefathers built the Churches for us, not just to bring us together from our private houses and show us one to another: since this could have been done also in a market-place, and in baths, and in a public procession:--but to bring together learners and teachers, and make the one better by means of the other. With us it has all become mere customary routine, and formal discharge of a duty: a thing we are used to; that is all. Easter comes, and then great the stir, great the hubbub, and crowding of--I had rather not call them human beings, for their behavior is not commonly human. Easter goes, the tumult abates, but then the quiet which succeeds is again fruitless of good. "Vigils, and holy hymn-singing."--And what is got by these? Nay, it is all the worse. Many do so merely out of vanity. Think how sick at heart it must make me, to see it all like (so much water) poured into a cask with holes in it! But ye will assuredly say to me, We know the Scriptures. And what of that? If ye exemplify the Scriptures by your works, that is the gain, that the profit. The Church is a dyer's vat: if time after time perpetually ye go hence without receiving any dye, what is the use of coming here continually? Why, the mischief is all the greater. Who (of you) has added ought to the customary practices he received from his fathers? For example: such an one has a custom of observing the memorial of his mother, or his wife, or his child: this he does whether he be told or whether he be not told by us, drawn to it by force of habit and conscience. Does this displease thee, you ask? God forbid: on the contrary, I am glad of it with all my heart: only, I would wish that he had gained some fruit also from our discoursing, and that the effect which habit has, were also the effect as regards us (your teachers)--the superinducing of another habit. Else why do I weary myself in vain, and talk uselessly, if ye are to remain in the same state, if the Church services work no good in you? Nay, you will say, we pray. And what of that? "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21.) Many a time have I determined to hold my peace, seeing no benefit accruing to you from my words; or perhaps there does accrue some, but I, through insatiableness and strong desire, am affected in the same way as those that are mad after riches. For just as they, however much they may get, think they have nothing; so I, because I ardently desire your salvation, until I see you to have made good progress, think nothing done, because of my exceeding eager desire that you should arrive at the very summit. I would that this were the case, and that my eagerness were in fault, not your sloth: but I fear I conjecture but too rightly. For ye must needs be persuaded, that if any benefit had arisen in all this length of time, we ought ere now to have done speaking. In such case, there were no need to you of words, since both in those already spoken there had been enough said for you, and you would be yourselves able to correct others. But the fact, that there is still a necessity of our discoursing to you, only shows, that matters with you are not in a state of high perfection. Then what would we have to be brought about? for one must not merely find fault. I beseech and entreat you not to think it enough to have invaded the Church, but that ye also withdraw hence, having taken somewhat, some medicine, for the curing of your own maladies: and, if not from us, at any rate from the Scriptures, ye have the remedies suitable for each. For instance, is any passionate? Let him attend to the Scripture-readings, and he will of a surety find such either in history or exhortation. In exhortation, when it is said, "The sway of his fury is his destruction" (Ecclus. i. 22); and, "A passionate man is not seemly" (Proverbs 11:25); and such like: and again, "A man full of words shall not prosper" (Psalm 140.11); and Christ again, "He that is angry with his brother without a cause" (Matthew 5:22); and again the Prophet, "Be ye angry, and sin not" (Psalm 4:4); and, "Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce." (Genesis 49:7.) And in histories, as when thou hearest of Pharaoh filled with much wrath, and the Assyrian. Again, is any one taken captive by love of money? let him hear, that "There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man: for this man setteth even his own soul for sale" (Ecclus. ix. 9); and how Christ saith, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24); and the Apostle, that "the love of money is a root of all evils" (1 Timothy 6:10); and the Prophet, "If riches flow in, set not your heart upon them" (Psalm 62:10); and many other like sayings. And from the histories thou hearest of Gehazi, Judas, the chief scribes, and that "gifts blind the eyes of the wise." (Exodus 23:8 and Deuteronomy 16:19.) Is another proud? Let him hear that "God resisteth the proud" (James 4:6); and, "Pride is the beginning of sin" (Ecclus. x. 14) and, "Every one that hath a high heart, is impure before the Lord." (Proverbs 16:5.) And in the histories, the devil, and all the rest. In a word, since it is impossible to recount all, let each choose out from the Divine Scriptures the remedies for his own hurts.So wash out, if not the whole at once, a part at any rate, part today, and part tomorrow, and then the whole. And with regard to repentance too, and confession, and almsgiving, and justice also, and temperance, and all other things, thou wilt find many examples. "For all these things," says the Apostle, "were written for our admonition." (1 Corinthians 10:11.) If then Scripture in all its discoursing is for our admonition, let us attend to it as we ought. Why do we deceive ourselves in vain? I fear it may be said of us also, that "our days have fallen short in vanity, and our years with haste." (Psalm 77:33.) Who from hearing us has given up the theatres? Who has given up his covetousness? Who has become more ready for almsgiving? I would wish to know this, not for the sake of vainglory, but that I may be inspirited to more zeal, seeing the fruit of my labors to be clearly evident. But as things now are, how shall I put my hand to the work, when I see that for all the rain of doctrine pouring down upon you shower after shower, still our crops remain at the same measure, and the plants have waxed none the higher? Anon the time of threshing is at hand (and) He with the fan. I fear me, lest it be all stubble: I fear, lest we be all cast into the furnace. The summer is past, the winter is come: we sit, both young and old, taken captive by our own evil passions. Tell not me, I do not commit fornication: for what art thou the better, if though thou be no fornicator thou art covetous? It matters not to the sparrow caught in the snare that he is not held tight in every part, but only by the foot: he is a lost bird for all that; in the snare he is, and it profits him not that he has his wings free, so long as his foot is held tight. Just so, thou art caught, not by fornication, but by love of money: but caught thou art nevertheless; and the point is, not how thou art caught, but that thou art caught. Let not the young man say, I am no money-lover: well, but perchance thou art a fornicator: and then again what art thou the better? For the fact is, it is not possible for all the passions to set upon us at one and the same time of life: they are divided and marked off, and that, through the mercy of God, that they may not by assailing us all at once become insuperable, and so our wrestling with them be made more difficult. What wretched inertness it shows, not to be able to conquer our passions even when taken one by one, but to be defeated at each several period of our life, and to take credit to ourselves for those which (let us alone) not in consequence of our own hearty endeavors, but merely because, by reason of the time of life, they are dormant? Look at the chariot-drivers, do you not see how exceedingly careful and strict they are with themselves in their training-practice, their labors, their diet, and all the rest, that they may not be thrown down from their chariots, and dragged along (by the reins)?--See what a thing art is. Often even a strong man cannot master a single horse: but a mere boy who has learnt the art shall often take the pair in hand, and with ease lead them and drive them where he will. Nay, in India it is said that a huge monster of an elephant shall yield to a stripling of fifteen, who manages him with the utmost ease. To what purpose have I said all this? To show that, if by dint of study and practice we can throttle into submission (anchomen) even elephants and wild horses, much more the passions within us. Whence is it that throughout life we continually fail (in every encounter)? We have never practised this art: never in a time of leisure when there is no contest, talked over with ourselves what shall be useful for us. We are never to be seen in our place on the chariot, until the time for the contest is actually come. Hence the ridiculous figure we make there. Have I not often said, Let us practise ourselves upon those of our own family before the time of trial? With our servants (phaidas) at home we are often exasperated, let us there quell our anger, that in our intercourse with our friends we may come to have it easily under control. And so, in the case of all the other passions, if we practised ourselves beforehand, we should not make a ridiculous figure in the contests themselves. But now we have our implements and our exercises and our trainings for other things, for arts and feats of the pal?stra, but for virtue nothing of the sort. The husbandman would not venture to meddle with a vine, unless he had first been practised in the culture of it: nor the pilot to sit by the helm, unless he had first practised himself well at it: but we, in all respects unpractised, wish for the first prizes! It were good to be silent, good to have no communication with any man in act or word, until we were able to charm (katepadein) the wild beast that is within us. The wild beast, I:say: for indeed is it not worse than the attack of any wild beast, when wrath and lust make war upon us? Beware of invading the market-place (Me embales eis agoran) with these beasts, until thou have got the muzzle well upon their mouths, until thou have tamed and made them tractable. Those who lead about their tame lions in the market-place, do you not see what a gain they make of it, what admiration they get, because in the irrational beast they have succeeded in producing such tameness--but, should the lion suddenly take a savage fit, how he scares all the people out of the market-place, and then both the man that leads him about is himself in danger, and if there be loss of life to others, it is his doing? Well then do thou also first tame thy lion, and so lead him about, not for the purpose of receiving money, but that thou mayest acquire a gain, to which there is none equal. For there is nothing equal to gentleness, which both to those that possess it, and to those who are its objects, is exceeding useful. This then let us follow after, that having kept in the way of virtue, and with all diligence finished our course therein, we may be enabled to attain unto the good things eternal, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost together be glory, might, honor, now and ever, world without end. Amen.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:16
Look how Barnabas gives way to Paul—how should it be otherwise?—to him whom he brought from Tarsus, just as John gives way to Peter on all occasions, even though he commands more respect. Indeed, it was to the common advantage that they both looked.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:16-41
"Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and you that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought He them out of it."

Behold Barnabas giving place to Paul— how should it be otherwise?— to him whom he brought from Tarsus; just as we find John on all occasions giving way to Peter: and yet Barnabas was more looked up to than Paul: true, but they had an eye only to the common advantage. "Then Paul stood up," it says — this was a custom of the Jews— "and beckoned with his hand." And see how he prepares the way beforehand for his discourse: having first praised them, and showed his great regard for them in the words, "you that fear God," he so begins his discourse. And he says not, You proselytes, since it was a term of disadvantage. "The God of this people chose our fathers: and the people" — See, he calls God Himself their God peculiarly, Who is the common God of men; and shows how great from the first were His benefits, just as Stephen does. This they do to teach them, that now also God has acted after the same custom, in sending His own Son; [Luke 20:13]: as (Christ) Himself (does) in the parable of the vineyard — "And the people," he says, "He exalted when it sojourned in the land of Egypt"— and yet the contrary was the case: true, but they increased in numbers; moreover, the miracles were wrought on their account: "and with an high arm brought He them out of it." Of these things (the wonders) which were done in Egypt, the prophets are continually making mention. And observe, how he passes over the times of their calamities, and nowhere brings forward their faults, but only God's kindness, leaving those for themselves to think over. "And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness." [Acts 13:18] Then the settlement. "And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot." [Acts 13:19] And the time was long; four hundred and fifty years. "And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet." [Acts 13:20] Here he shows that God varied His dispensations towards them (at various times). "And afterward they desired a king:" and (still) not a word of their ingratitude, but throughout he speaks of the kindness of God. "And God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years." [Acts 13:21] "And when he had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king: to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, which shall fulfil all My will. Of this man's seed has God according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus." (v. 22, 23.) This was no small thing that Christ should be from David. Then John bears witness to this: "When John had first preached before His coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom do you think that I am? I am not He. But, behold, there comes one after me, whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy to loose." (v. 24, 25.) And John too not merely bears witness (to the fact), but (does it in such sort that) when men were bringing the glory to him, he declines it: for it is one thing (not to affect) an honor which nobody thinks of offering; and another, to reject it when all men are ready to give it, and not only to reject it, but to do so with such humility. "Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fears God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be slain." [Acts 13:26-28] On all occasions we find them making a great point of showing this, that the blessing is peculiarly theirs, that they may not flee (from Christ), as thinking they had nothing to do with Him, because they had crucified Him. "Because they knew Him not," he says: so that the sin was one of ignorance. See how he gently makes an apology even on behalf of those (crucifiers). And not only this: but he adds also, that thus it must needs be. And how so? "By condemning Him, they fulfilled the voices of the prophets." Then again from the Scriptures. "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead. And He was seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people — " [Acts 13:29-31] that He rose again. "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, You are My Son, this day have I begotten You. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he says also in another Psalm, You shall not allow Your Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: but He, Whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." [Acts 13:32-39] Observe how Paul here is more vehement in his discourse: we nowhere find Peter saying this. Then too he adds the terrifying words: "Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." (v. 40, 41.)

(a) Observe how he twines (the thread of) his discourse (alternately) from things present, from the prophets. Thus, "from (this man's) seed according to the promise" — [Acts 13:23]: (c) the name of David was dear to them; well then, is it not (a thing to be desired) that a son of his, he says, should be their king?— (b) then he adduces John: then again the prophets, where he says, "By condemning they fulfilled," and again, "All that was written:" then the Apostles as witnesses of the Resurrection: then David bearing witness. For neither the Old Testament proofs seemed so cogent when taken by themselves as they are in this way, nor yet the latter testimonies apart from the former: wherefore he makes them mutually confirm each other. "Men and brethren," etc. [Acts 13:26] For since they were possessed by fear, as having slain Him, and conscience made them aliens (the Apostles), discourse not with them as unto Christicides, neither as putting into their hands a good which was not theirs, but one peculiarly their own. (d) "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers:" as much as to say, not you, but they: and again, apologizing even for those, "Because they knew Him not, and the voices of the Prophets which are read every sabbath day, in condemning Him, they fulfilled them." A great charge it is against them that they continually hearing heeded not. But no marvel: for what was said above concerning Egypt and the wilderness, was enough to show their ingratitude. And observe how this Apostle also, as one moved by the Spirit Himself, continually preaches the Passion, the Burial. (g) "Having taken Him down from the tree." Observe, what a great point they make of this. He speaks of the manner of His death. Moreover they bring Pilate (conspicuously) forward, that (the fact of) the Passion may be proved by the mention of the tribunal (by which he was condemned), but at the same time, for the greater impeachment of those (His crucifiers), seeing they delivered Him up to an alien. And he does not say, They made a complaint (against Him), (ἐ νέτυχον, al. ἐ ντυγχάνει) but, "They desired, though having found no cause of death" (in Him), "that He should be slain. (e) Who appeared," he says, "for many days to them that came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem." [Romans 11:2] Instead of ** he says, "Who are His witnesses unto the people," to wit, "The men which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem." Then he produces David and Esaias bearing witness. "The faithful (mercies)," the abiding (mercies), those which never perish. (h) Paul loved them exceedingly. And observe, he does not enlarge on the ingratitude of the fathers, but puts before them what they must fear. For Stephen indeed with good reason does this, seeing he was about to be put to death, not teaching them; and showing them, that the Law is even now on the point of being abolished: [Acts 7] but not so Paul; he does but threaten and put them in fear. (f) And he does not dwell long on these, as taking it for granted that the word is of course believed; nor enlarge upon the greatness of their punishment, and assail that which they affectionately love, by showing the Law about to be cast out: but dwells upon that which is for their good (telling them), that great shall be the blessings for them being obedient, and great the evils being disobedient.

But let us look over again what has been said. "You men of Israel," etc. [Acts 13:16-21] The Promise then, he says, the fathers received; you, the reality. (j) And observe, he nowhere mentions right deeds of theirs, but (only) benefits on God's part: "He chose: Exalted: Suffered their manners:" these are no matters of praise to them: "They asked, He gave." But David he does praise (and him) only, because from him the Christ was to come. "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, which shall fulfil all My will." [Acts 13:22] (i) Observe also; it is with praise (that he says of him), "David after that he had served the will of God:" just as Peter — seeing it was then the beginning of the Gospel— making mention of him, said, "Let it be permitted me to speak freely of the patriarch David." [Acts 2:29] Also, he does not say, Died, but, "was added to his fathers. (k) Of this man's seed," etc. "When John," he says, "had first preached before His entry" — by entry he means the Incarnation — "the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel." [Acts 13:23-25] Thus also John, writing his Gospel, continually has recourse to him: for his name was much thought of in all parts of the world. And observe, he does not say it "Of this man's seed," etc. from himself, but brings John's testimony.

"Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham"— he also calls them after their father — "unto you was the word of this salvation sent." [Acts 13:26] Here the expression, "Unto you," does not mean, Unto (you) Jews, but it gives them a right to sever themselves from those who dared that murder. And what he adds, shows this plainly. "For," he says, "they that dwell at Jerusalem, because they know Him not." [Acts 13:27] And how, you will say, could they be ignorant, with John to tell them? What marvel, seeing they were so, with the prophets continually crying aloud to them? Then follows another charge: "And having found no cause of death in Him:" in which ignorance had nothing to do. For let us put the case, that they did not hold Him to be the Christ: why did they also kill Him? And "they desired of Pilate, he says, that He should be slain." [Acts 13:28] "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him." [Acts 13:29] Observe what a point he makes of showing that the (whole) thing was a (Divine) Dispensation. See, by saying what did they persuade men? (By telling them) that He was crucified? Why, what could be less persuasive than this? That He was buried — by them to whom it was promised that He should be salvation? That He who was buried forgives sins, yea, more than the Law (has power to do)? And (observe), he does not say, From which you would not but, "from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses." [Acts 13:39] "Every one," he says: be who he may. For those (ordinances) are of no use, unless there be some benefit (accruing therefrom.) This is why he brings in forgiveness later: and shows it to be greater, when, the thing being (otherwise) impossible, yet this is effected. "Who are His witnesses," he says, "unto the people" — the people that slew Him. Who would never have been so, were they not strengthened by a Divine Power: for they would never have borne such witness to bloodthirsty men, to the very persons that killed Him. But, "He has raised up Jesus again: This day," he says, "I have begotten you." [Acts 13:33] Aye, upon this the rest follows of course. Why did he not allege some text by which they would be persuaded that forgiveness of sins is by Him? Because the great point with them was to show, in the first place, that He was risen: this being acknowledged, the other was unquestionable. "Through this man," nay more, by Him, "is remission of sins." [Acts 13:38] And besides, he wished to bring them to a longing desire of this great thing. Well then, His death was not dereliction, but fulfilling of Prophecy.— For the rest, he puts them in mind of historical facts, wherein they through ignorance suffered evils without number. And this he hints in the conclusion, saying, "Look, you despisers, and behold." And observe how, this being harsh, he cuts it short. Let not that, he says, come upon you, which was spoken for the others, that "I work a work which you shall in no wise believe, though one declare it unto you." [Acts 13:41] Marvel not that it seems incredible: this very thing was foretold from the first — (that it would not be believed). "Behold, you despisers," as regards those who disbelieve in the Resurrection.

This too might with reason be said to us: "Behold you despisers." For the Church indeed is in very evil case, although you think her affairs to be in peace. For the mischief of it is, that while we labor under so many evils, we do not even know that we have any. "What do you say? We are in possession of our Churches, our Church property, and all the rest, the services are held, the congregation comes to Church every day." True, but one is not to judge of the state of a Church from these things. From what then? Whether there be piety, whether we return home with profit each day, whether reaping some fruit, be it much or little, whether we do it not merely of routine and for the formal acquittance of a duty (ἀ φοσιούμενοι). Who has become a better man by attending (daily) service for a whole month? That is the point: otherwise the very thing which seems to bespeak a flourishing condition (of the Church,) does in fact bespeak an ill condition, when all this is done, and nothing comes of it. Would to God (that were all), that nothing comes of it: but indeed, as things are, it turns out even for the worse. What fruit do you get from your services? Surely if you were getting any profit by them, you ought to have been long leading the life of true wisdom (τἥς φιλοσοφίας), with so many Prophets twice in every week discoursing to you, so many Apostles, and Evangelists, all setting forth the doctrines of salvation, and placing before you with much exactness that which can form the character aright. The soldier by going to his drill, becomes more perfect in his tactics: the wrestler by frequenting the gymnastic ground becomes more skilful in wrestling: the physician by attending on his teacher becomes more accurate, and knows more, and learns more: and thou — what have you gained? I speak not to those who have been members of the Church only a year, but to those who from their earliest age have been attending the services. Think you that to be religious is to be constant in Church-going (παραβάλλειν τᾕ συνάξει)? This is nothing, unless we reap some fruit for ourselves: if (from the gathering together in Church) we do not gather (συνάγωμεν) something for ourselves, it were better to remain at home. For our forefathers built the Churches for us, not just to bring us together from our private houses and show us one to another: since this could have been done also in a market-place, and in baths, and in a public procession:— but to bring together learners and teachers, and make the one better by means of the other. With us it has all become mere customary routine, and formal discharge of a duty: a thing we are used to; that is all. Easter comes, and then great the stir, great the hubbub, and crowding of — I had rather not call them human beings, for their behavior is not commonly human. Easter goes, the tumult abates, but then the quiet which succeeds is again fruitless of good. "Vigils, and holy hymn-singing." — And what is got by these? Nay, it is all the worse. Many do so merely out of vanity. Think how sick at heart it must make me, to see it all like (so much water) poured into a cask with holes in it! But you will assuredly say to me, We know the Scriptures. And what of that? If you exemplify the Scriptures by your works, that is the gain, that the profit. The Church is a dyer's vat: if time after time perpetually ye go hence without receiving any dye, what is the use of coming here continually? Why, the mischief is all the greater. Who (of you) has added ought to the customary practices he received from his fathers? For example: such an one has a custom of observing the memorial of his mother, or his wife, or his child: this he does whether he be told or whether he be not told by us, drawn to it by force of habit and conscience. Does this displease you, you ask? God forbid: on the contrary, I am glad of it with all my heart: only, I would wish that he had gained some fruit also from our discoursing, and that the effect which habit has, were also the effect as regards us (your teachers)— the superinducing of another habit. Else why do I weary myself in vain, and talk uselessly, if you are to remain in the same state, if the Church services work no good in you? Nay, you will say, we pray. And what of that? "Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven." [Matthew 7:21] Many a time have I determined to hold my peace, seeing no benefit accruing to you from my words; or perhaps there does accrue some, but I, through insatiableness and strong desire, am affected in the same way as those that are mad after riches. For just as they, however much they may get, think they have nothing; so I, because I ardently desire your salvation, until I see you to have made good progress, think nothing done, because of my exceeding eager desire that you should arrive at the very summit. I would that this were the case, and that my eagerness were in fault, not your sloth: but I fear I conjecture but too rightly. For you must needs be persuaded, that if any benefit had arisen in all this length of time, we ought ere now to have done speaking. In such case, there were no need to you of words, since both in those already spoken there had been enough said for you, and you would be yourselves able to correct others. But the fact, that there is still a necessity of our discoursing to you, only shows, that matters with you are not in a state of high perfection. Then what would we have to be brought about? For one must not merely find fault. I beseech and entreat you not to think it enough to have invaded the Church, but that you also withdraw hence, having taken somewhat, some medicine, for the curing of your own maladies: and, if not from us, at any rate from the Scriptures, you have the remedies suitable for each. For instance, is any passionate? Let him attend to the Scripture-readings, and he will of a surety find such either in history or exhortation. In exhortation, when it is said, "The sway of his fury is his destruction" [Sirach 1:22]; and, "A passionate man is not seemly" [Proverbs 11:25]; and such like: and again, "A man full of words shall not prosper" [Psalm 140:11]; and Christ again, "He that is angry with his brother without a cause" [Matthew 5:22]; and again the Prophet, "Be angry, and sin not" [Psalm 4:4]; and, "Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce." [Genesis 49:7] And in histories, as when you hear of Pharaoh filled with much wrath, and the Assyrian. Again, is any one taken captive by love of money? Let him hear, that "There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man: for this man sets even his own soul for sale" [Sirach 9:9]; and how Christ says, "You cannot serve God and mammon" [Matthew 6:24]; and the Apostle, that "the love of money is a root of all evils" [1 Timothy 6:10]; and the Prophet, "If riches flow in, set not your heart upon them" [Psalm 62:10]; and many other like sayings. And from the histories you hear of Gehazi, Judas, the chief scribes, and that "gifts blind the eyes of the wise." [Deuteronomy 16:19] Is another proud? Let him hear that "God resists the proud" [James 4:6]; and, "Pride is the beginning of sin" [Sirach 10:14] and, "Every one that has a high heart, is impure before the Lord." [Proverbs 16:5] And in the histories, the devil, and all the rest. In a word, since it is impossible to recount all, let each choose out from the Divine Scriptures the remedies for his own hurts.

So wash out, if not the whole at once, a part at any rate, part today, and part tomorrow, and then the whole. And with regard to repentance too, and confession, and almsgiving, and justice also, and temperance, and all other things, you will find many examples. "For all these things," says the Apostle, "were written for our admonition." [1 Corinthians 10:11] If then Scripture in all its discoursing is for our admonition, let us attend to it as we ought. Why do we deceive ourselves in vain? I fear it may be said of us also, that "our days have fallen short in vanity, and our years with haste." [Psalm 77:33] Who from hearing us has given up the theatres? Who has given up his covetousness? Who has become more ready for almsgiving? I would wish to know this, not for the sake of vainglory, but that I may be inspirited to more zeal, seeing the fruit of my labors to be clearly evident. But as things now are, how shall I put my hand to the work, when I see that for all the rain of doctrine pouring down upon you shower after shower, still our crops remain at the same measure, and the plants have waxed none the higher? Anon the time of threshing is at hand (and) He with the fan. I fear me, lest it be all stubble: I fear, lest we be all cast into the furnace. The summer is past, the winter has come: we sit, both young and old, taken captive by our own evil passions. Tell not me, I do not commit fornication: for what are you the better, if though thou be no fornicator you are covetous? It matters not to the sparrow caught in the snare that he is not held tight in every part, but only by the foot: he is a lost bird for all that; in the snare he is, and it profits him not that he has his wings free, so long as his foot is held tight. Just so, you are caught, not by fornication, but by love of money: but caught you are nevertheless; and the point is, not how you are caught, but that you are caught. Let not the young man say, I am no money-lover: well, but perchance you are a fornicator: and then again what are you the better? For the fact is, it is not possible for all the passions to set upon us at one and the same time of life: they are divided and marked off, and that, through the mercy of God, that they may not by assailing us all at once become insuperable, and so our wrestling with them be made more difficult. What wretched inertness it shows, not to be able to conquer our passions even when taken one by one, but to be defeated at each several period of our life, and to take credit to ourselves for those which (let us alone) not in consequence of our own hearty endeavors, but merely because, by reason of the time of life, they are dormant? Look at the chariot-drivers, do you not see how exceedingly careful and strict they are with themselves in their training-practice, their labors, their diet, and all the rest, that they may not be thrown down from their chariots, and dragged along (by the reins)?— See what a thing art is. Often even a strong man cannot master a single horse: but a mere boy who has learned the art shall often take the pair in hand, and with ease lead them and drive them where he will. Nay, in India it is said that a huge monster of an elephant shall yield to a stripling of fifteen, who manages him with the utmost ease. To what purpose have I said all this? To show that, if by dint of study and practice we can throttle into submission (ἄ γχομεν) even elephants and wild horses, much more the passions within us. Whence is it that throughout life we continually fail (in every encounter)? We have never practised this art: never in a time of leisure when there is no contest, talked over with ourselves what shall be useful for us. We are never to be seen in our place on the chariot, until the time for the contest is actually come. Hence the ridiculous figure we make there. Have I not often said, Let us practise ourselves upon those of our own family before the time of trial? With our servants (παἵδας) at home we are often exasperated, let us there quell our anger, that in our intercourse with our friends we may come to have it easily under control. And so, in the case of all the other passions, if we practised ourselves beforehand, we should not make a ridiculous figure in the contests themselves. But now we have our implements and our exercises and our trainings for other things, for arts and feats of the palæstra, but for virtue nothing of the sort. The husbandman would not venture to meddle with a vine, unless he had first been practised in the culture of it: nor the pilot to sit by the helm, unless he had first practised himself well at it: but we, in all respects unpractised, wish for the first prizes! It were good to be silent, good to have no communication with any man in act or word, until we were able to charm (κατεπᾴδειν) the wild beast that is within us. The wild beast, I say: for indeed is it not worse than the attack of any wild beast, when wrath and lust make war upon us? Beware of invading the market-place (Μὴ ἐμβάλῃς εἰς ἀγοράν) with these beasts, until thou have got the muzzle well upon their mouths, until thou have tamed and made them tractable. Those who lead about their tame lions in the market-place, do you not see what a gain they make of it, what admiration they get, because in the irrational beast they have succeeded in producing such tameness — but, should the lion suddenly take a savage fit, how he scares all the people out of the market-place, and then both the man that leads him about is himself in danger, and if there be loss of life to others, it is his doing? Well then do thou also first tame your lion, and so lead him about, not for the purpose of receiving money, but that you may acquire a gain, to which there is none equal. For there is nothing equal to gentleness, which both to those that possess it, and to those who are its objects, is exceeding useful. This then let us follow after, that having kept in the way of virtue, and with all diligence finished our course therein, we may be enabled to attain unto the good things eternal, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost together be glory, might, honor, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 13:17
But what is the "people" which was ignorant of God, but ours, who in days bygone knew not God? and who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to Him, but we, who, forsaking idols, have been converted to God? For Israel-who had been known to God, and who had by Him been "upraised" in Egypt, and was transported through the Red Sea, and who in the desert, fed forty years with manna, was wrought to the semblance of eternity, and not contaminated with human passions, or fed on this world's meats, but fed on "angel's loaves" -the manna-and sufficiently bound to God by His benefits-forgot his Lord and God, saying to Aaron: "Make us gods, to go before us: for that Moses, who ejected us from the land of Egypt, hath quite forsaken us; and what hath befallen him we know not.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:18
And notice how he passes over the times of their misfortunes and nowhere brings forward their faults but only God’s kindness, leaving the rest for them to think over.… “And afterward they desired a king.” Again [Paul] does not speak of their ingratitude but always the kindness of God.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:19
He distributed their land to them by lot, as it were after four hundred and fifty years. God had said to Abraham that his seed would be a stranger in a foreign land for four hundred years. And again he said: "In Isaac shall your seed be called." From the birth of the seed until the exodus of Israel from Egypt, there were (as Exodus writes) four hundred and five years. Add to these the forty years in the desert, and five in the land of Canaan, during which it seems that the land rested from battles, and the lot was cast, and you will find four hundred and fifty years.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:19-20
And destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, He allotted their land to them by lot, as after four hundred and fifty years, and after this He gave them judges. How this number can be understood, we said in the preceding book of our exposition. But it should be known that in the Greek it is written differently: And destroying the nations in the land of Canaan, seven, He allotted their land to them by lot. And after this, about four hundred and fifty years, He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. How this agrees with the statement which is contained in the book of Kings, that from the exodus of Israel from Egypt until the building of the temple, there were four hundred and ninety years, is not within our capacity to explain, unless perhaps he followed the popular saying in speaking, which is proven that blessed Stephen did in the discourse held with the Jews about the burial of the twelve patriarchs.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:21
And God gave them Saul for forty years. I believe, because the Book of Kings does not explicitly state how many years Saul reigned, that the Apostle, speaking popularly, wished to say what common rumor held. But searching more diligently there, as the books of Chronicles also testify, we found that Samuel and Saul governed Israel for forty years. For it says, "In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of Egypt, Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD, in the fourth year of his reign." When you add to the three hundred and ninety-six years, during which the judges ruled, as indicated in their book, the forty years of David and the four of Solomon, forty remain, of which, as Josephus testifies, Samuel spent twenty and Saul spent the other twenty in governance.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:21
And God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And in this place concerning the kingdom of Saul, the apostle seems to have followed popular opinion, as we have already said in the previous book; but what I said there, because Eusebius, following Josephus, assigned forty years to the rule of Samuel and Saul, divided equally between them, subsequently, upon more diligent inspection of the histories of Josephus, I saw that he did not write those forty years of that age but assigned twelve only to Samuel and twenty years to Saul. But also, having more carefully reread the books of Chronicles, I noticed why Eusebius did not want to follow the authority of Josephus in this place, just as he did not in the years of Joshua, to whom Josephus attributes twenty-six years, while he thought it better to annotate twenty-seven. This, therefore, was the reason: because if he followed him, he could by no means have the prescribed number of four hundred and eighty years from the exodus of Israel from Egypt until the temple began to be built, but would find in his codices ten years less of the same age. This he endured because, following the Septuagint interpreters, he neglected to place Ahialon the judge, who ruled the people for ten years after Abessa, in his Chronicles. But realizing that ten years of the prescribed calculation were missing in the sacred history according to the Edition he followed, he took care to add these from his own where it seemed convenient and less contrary to the sacred history. Thus, he adds one year to the times of Joshua, eight to the times of Samuel and Saul, and to complete the tenth number, he includes the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in which the temple began to be built: which whoever follows the Hebrew truth finds should not be done. And what I wrote in the preceding book, that the judges ruled the people from Moses to Samuel for three hundred and ninety-six years, I followed the authority of the Chronicles, not yet noticing that it does not agree with the Hebrew truth.

[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Acts 13:22
It is plain that he could not endure to be under David's government, of whom God spake: "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my commands."

[AD 400] Pseudo-Clement on Acts 13:22
Does not the case of David instruct you, whom God "found a man after His heart," one faithful, faultless, pious, true? This same man saw the beauty of a woman— I mean of Bathsheba — when he saw her as she was cleansing herself and washing unclothed. This woman the holy man saw, and was thoroughly captivated with desire by the sight of her. See, then, what evils he committed because of a woman, and how this righteous man sinned, and gave command that the husband of this woman should be killed in battle. You have seen what wicked schemes he laid and executed, and how, because of his passion for a woman, he perpetrated a murder— he, David, who was called "the anointed of the Lord." Be admonished, O man: for, if such men as these have been brought to ruin through women, what is your righteousness, or what are you among the holy, that you consort with women and with maidens day and night, with much silliness, without fear of God? Not thus, my brethren, not thus let us conduct ourselves; but let us be mindful of that word which is spoken concerning a woman: "Her hands lay snares, and her heart spreads nets; but the just shall escape from her, while the wicked falls into her hands." [Ecclesiastes 7:26] Therefore let us, who are consecrated, be careful not to live in the same house with females who have taken the vow. For such conduct as this is not becoming nor right for the servants of God.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:23
Notice how [Paul] weaves his discourse from things present and from the prophets. Thus he says, “from [this man’s] seed according to the promise,” and then adduces John again, saying, “By condemning they fulfilled all that was written.” Both the apostles as witnesses of the resurrection, and David bearing witness. For neither do the Old Testament proofs seem so cogent when taken by themselves, nor the later testimonies apart from the former. Therefore it is through both that he makes his discourse trustworthy.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Acts 13:24
It must be said, on the one hand, that the Old [Testament] is not a Gospel since it did not show “the one coming” but announced him beforehand, and on the other that the entire New [Testament] is the gospel, speaking not just in a way similar to the beginning of the Gospel, “Behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,” but encompassing manifold praises and teachings of the one on whose account the Gospel is the gospel.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Acts 13:25
If the passage about the sandals has a mystic meaning we should not reject an investigation of it. Now I consider that the full humanization, when the Son of God assumes flesh and bones, is seen in one of his shoes. The other humbling is the descent to Hades, whatever that Hades might be, and the journey with the Spirit to the prison. As to the descent into Hades, we read in the sixteenth psalm, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades.” As for the journey in prison with the Spirit, we read in Peter in his Catholic epistle, “Put to death,” he says, “in the flesh but quickened in the Spirit, in which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, which at one time were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God once waited in the days of Noah while the ark was in preparation.” He, then, who is able worthily to set forth the meaning of these two journeys is able to untie the strap of the sandals of Jesus. Such a one is whoever bends down in his mind and goes with Jesus as he goes down into hades, and whoever descends from heaven and the mysteries of Christ’s divinity to the advent that he had to spend with us when he took on humanity (as his sandals). Now he who put on humanity also put on the dead, since “for this end Jesus both died and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.” This is why he put on both the living and the dead, that is, the inhabitants of the earth and those of hades, that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. Who, then, is able to stoop down and untie the latchet of such sandals, and having untied them not to let them drop, but by the second faculty he has received to take them up and bear them, by bearing the meaning of them in his memory?

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:25
He said: "Whom you think me to be, I am not." In Greek it is more fully said: "I am not the Christ."

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:26
Here the words “to you” do not mean “to the Jews,” and he himself gave them a right to separate themselves from those who committed the murder. What follows makes this clear, “for those who live in Jerusalem,” he says, “because they did not recognize him.”

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:26
"Men, brothers, sons of the lineage of Abraham, and those among you who fear God." In Greek it adds: "Listen."

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Acts 13:28
But since also they frame an account concerning the action of the zodiacal signs, to which they say the creatures that are procreated are assimilated, neither shall we omit this: as, for instance, that one born in Leo will be brave; and that one born in Virgo will have long straight hair, be of a fair complexion, childless, modest. These statements, however, and others similar to them, are rather deserving of laughter than serious consideration. For, according to them, it is possible for no Aethiopian to be born in Virgo; otherwise he would allow that such a one is white, with long straight hair and the rest. But I am rather of opinion, that the ancients imposed the names of received animals upon certain specified stars, for the purpose of knowing them better, not from any similarity of nature; for what have the seven stars, distant one from another, in common with a bear, or the five stars with the head of a dragon?

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Acts 13:30
So it is clear to them that pay attention that at the raising of the body the Son is said by Paul to have been raised from the dead, for he refers what concerns the body to the Son’s person. Similarly when he says “the Father gave life to the Son,” it must be understood that the life [the Father gave the Son] was given to the flesh. For if he himself is life, how can the life receive life?

[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on Acts 13:30
Do not be troubled by the fact that Jesus is said to have been raised by God. Indeed, if Jesus is none other than the incarnate Word, he is also the power of the Father through whom everything occurs. This is according to the words, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” He himself will be considered to have raised himself while he is also said to have been raised by the Father to whom all things are referred as the eternal source and cause. Christ himself, in fact, says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Acts 13:31
By comparing what the prophetic Scriptures tell us of Jesus with what his history tells us, we find nothing dissolute about him recorded. For even those who conspired against him and looked for false witnesses to aid them did not find any plausible grounds for advancing a false charge of licentiousness against him. His death was indeed the result of a conspiracy and bore no resemblance to the death of Asclepius by lightning. And what is venerable about the madman Dionysus, clothed in female garments, that he should be worshiped as a god? If those who defend such beings resort to allegorical interpretations, we must examine each individual allegory to ascertain whether it is well founded and whether those beings who were torn down by the Titans10 and cast from their heavenly throne can have a real existence and deserve respect and worship. But when our Jesus “appeared to the members of his own troop”—for I will take the word that Celsus employs—he really did appear. But Celsus makes a false accusation against the gospel, saying that what appeared was a shadow. Let their histories and that of Jesus be carefully compared. Will Celsus hold that the former are true, but the latter are inventions, even though the histories of Jesus were recorded by eyewitnesses who showed that they clearly understood the nature of what they had seen by their actions and who manifested their state of mind by what they cheerfully underwent for the sake of his gospel? Now who, desiring to act in conformity with right reason, would yield assent at random to what is related in their histories and without examination refuse to believe what is recorded of Jesus?
Again, when it is said of Asclepius that a great multitude both of Greeks and Barbarians acknowledge that they have frequently seen and still see no mere phantom but Asclepius himself healing and doing good and foretelling the future, Celsus expects us to believe this; and he finds no fault with believers in Jesus, when they express their belief in such stories. But when we give our assent to the disciples who were eyewitnesses of the miracles of Jesus and who clearly manifested the honesty of their convictions (because we see their guilelessness, as far as it is possible to see the conscience revealed in writing), we are called by him a set of “silly” individuals.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Acts 13:32
Let Celsus, and those who agree with him, tell us whether it is at all like “an ass’s shadow” that the Jewish prophets predicted the birth place of him who became the ruler of those who had lived righteous lives and are called the “heritage” of God, that Emmanuel was conceived by a virgin, that such signs and wonders were performed by him who was the subject of prophecy, that his word spread so speedily that the voice of his apostles went forth into all the earth, that he suffered after his condemnation by the Jews, and that he rose again from the dead. For was it by chance that the prophets made these announcements with no conviction of the truth in their minds, moving them not only to speak but to believe their announcements should be committed to writing? And did so great a nation as that of the Jews, who had long ago received a country of their own to dwell in, recognize certain men as prophets and reject others as false prophets, without any conviction of the soundness of the distinction? And was there no motive that induced them to class the words of those persons who were later deemed to be prophets with the books of Moses, which were held as sacred? And can those who charge the Jews and Christians with folly show us how the Jewish nation could have continued to exist had there not been among them a promise of the knowledge of future events? And how, while each of the surrounding nations believed in agreement with their ancient institutions that they received oracles and predictions from those whom they accounted gods, this people alone—who were taught to view with contempt all those who were considered gods by the heathen as not being gods, but demons, according to the declaration of the prophets, “For all the gods of the nations are demons”—had among them no one who professed to be a prophet and who could dissuade those with a desire to know the future from deserting to the demons of other nations? Judge, then, whether it was necessary that the whole nation that had been taught to despise the deities of other lands should have an abundance of prophets, who made known events that were of far greater importance in themselves and that surpassed the oracles of all other countries.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:32-33
"And we declare to you the promise made to our fathers, that God has fulfilled this to our children." In Greek it reads more consistently: "That God has fulfilled this to their children." It follows:

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:33
But let us look back to what was said. The promise then, he says, was what the fathers received, but you the reality.… And notice how nowhere does he mention their right deeds but only benefits on God’s part: “he chose, he exalted, he bore with them.” These words are not praises of them. “They asked, he gave.” But David he does praise, and him alone, because it is from him that Christ was to come.

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Acts 13:33
The only one who knows the Father and who is only known by the Father as his Wisdom and Word and as “the Angel of great counsel” according to the prophet, perfectly explains to us the mystery of the incarnation. Since he was Son by nature and by truth and had shone forth from the very essence of God the Father, he was made flesh, that is, man, according to John. He desired to be called the brother of those who are in the world and to be born according to flesh like us. However, he was before time and sat with his parent even though he was made flesh. The Father knew him also as Son and said to him, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” Observe the explicit confession, nay rather, the proclamation! Indeed, he said, “you are” in order to point out that he existed before time. Actually, he was never in time but was always the same, to be sure, the Son. And he added, “today I have begotten you,” in order to indicate his final generation according to the flesh that he voluntarily underwent in the womb of the holy Virgin so that he was also called “begotten of God.”

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:33
Because God fulfilled this promise to your children by raising Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm: “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” It should not be thought that this example from the psalm pertains to the resurrection of Christ, which he has just mentioned, but to his very incarnation, about which he spoke earlier. For the following verse clearly testifies about the resurrection. Since he was speaking earlier about his incarnation, passion, and resurrection, he wanted to confirm both with testimonies from the psalm. Therefore, he says, "You who are eternal, Son before the ages, now appear born in time." Some codices have: "As it is written in the first psalm," which is thus explained, the first and second psalms being considered as one work, which begins in blessedness and ends in blessedness.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:33
"Raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm." The holy Father Hilary thus remembers this place: "But what is now in the psalm: 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you' (Psalm II), does not pertain to the birth from the Virgin, nor to the regeneration of the bath, but to the Firstborn from the dead, according to apostolic authority. For in the book of the Acts of the Apostles it is said thus: 'We announce to you the good news of the promise made to our fathers; God has fulfilled this to our children, raising our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written in the psalm: You are my Son; today I have begotten you, when he raised him from the dead, no longer to return to decay' (Acts XII). Therefore, this voice of God the Father according to the Apostle is heard on the day of resurrection." And shortly after, recalling the opinion of the Apostle, where he says about him: "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" (Philippians II), and so on: "And in the glory of God the Father, today he is born begotten, that is, in the enduring form of God previously, the assumption of the form of a servant is honored by the reward of death, and a new but not unusual nativity happens under time, since to resume the glory of God the Father, who was found in the form of a servant from the form of God, the firstborn from the dead was born."

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:34
Because I will give you the holy and faithful promises of David, that is, whatever I promised David, I will surely and faithfully fulfill to you, namely, that Christ would be born from his lineage. For Isaiah, tasting the mysteries of the New Testament in this way, says: “And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the holy and sure blessings of David” (Isaiah 55:3). This is read in the Hebrew truth: “And I will make with you an eternal covenant, the faithful mercies of David.”

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Acts 13:34
I will give you the holy: These are the words of the prophet Isaias, 55. 3. According to the Septuagint, the sense is: I will faithfully fulfil the promises I made to David.
[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on Acts 13:35
From [the tomb] Christ was raised for us and rose as the true lord of incorruptibility, so that we also, by rising up from our tombs to the anticipated resurrection, may run toward heaven and to the clouds in which he returns in his divine glory.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:38
Look what they said to persuade people—“he was crucified.” What could be less persuasive than this? That he was buried by those to whom it was promised that he should be the salvation, that he who was buried forgives sins, even more than the law? And he does not say, “from which you would not,” but “from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” “Everyone,” that is, whoever he is. For those [ordinances] are of no use, unless some benefit comes from them. This is why he brings in forgiveness later and shows it to be greater, when that which is impossible comes about. “Who are his witnesses,” he says, “to the people”—the people that killed him. They would not have been his witnesses had they not been strengthened by a divine power. They would not have borne such witness to bloodthirsty people, the very people who killed him. “Today I have begotten you,” he said. It is on this that the rest follows. Why didn’t [Paul] adduce some text, through which they would be persuaded that forgiveness of sins is through him? Because this was what he was trying to do: first to show he was risen; when this is acknowledged, the other becomes indisputable. And indeed “by him” is the remission of sins. Moreover, he wanted to make them yearn after this great thing.

[AD 300] Ammonius of Alexandria on Acts 13:39
It should be noticed that those who believe in Christ are justified and obtain absolution from their sin. In fact, the law of Moses was not unjust. Rather, it was difficult and able to justify only those who had followed the entire law perfectly. Therefore it was clearly incapable of correcting people because the one who had fallen into a single crime was made guilty of all. Thus the law was not able to justify. And, since the law itself was incapable of justifying anyone, its inability to correct made people incapable of being justified by the precepts of the law.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:40
And he does not spend a long time on these [ingratitudes of the ancestors], taking it for granted that the word is of course believed. But he expands on the punishment and goes after that which they love, showing that the law is being cast out, and he dwells on what is for their good, [telling them] that great shall be the blessings for those who obey and great the evils for those who do not.… Paul loved them exceedingly. And notice how he does not dwell on the ingratitude of the fathers but puts before them what they must fear. For Stephen indeed does this with good reason, seeing that he was about to be put to death, and was not teaching them but showing them that the law is even now on the point of being abolished. But not so Paul; he only threatens and puts fear in them.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:41
"Look, despisers, and be amazed, and perish." In Greek it is written thus: "Listen, despisers, and be amazed; look, and perish."

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:42-52
"And as they were going out (text rec. 'from the syn. of the Jews,') they besought (the Gentiles) that these words might be spoken unto them on the following sabbath."

Do you mark Paul's wisdom? He not only gained admiration at the time, but put into them a longing desire for a second hearing, while in what he said he dropped some seeds (εἰπών τινα σπέρματα) as it were, and forbore to solve (the questions raised), or to follow out the subject to its conclusion, his plan being to interest them and engage their good-will to himself, and not make (people) listless and indifferent by casting all at once into the minds of those (who first heard him). He told them the fact, that "through this Man is remission of sins announced unto you," but the how, he did not declare. "And when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and worshipping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas"— after this point he puts Paul first — "who, speaking unto them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God." [Acts 13:43] Do you observe the eagerness, how great it is? They "followed" them, it says. Why did they not baptize them immediately? It was not the proper time: there was need to persuade them in order to their steadfast abiding therein. "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." [Acts 13:44] "But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and contradicted the things spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." [Acts 13:45] See malice wounded in wounding others: this made the Apostles more conspicuous — the contradiction which those offered. In the first instance then they of their own accord besought them to speak (and now they opposed them): "contradicting," it says, "and blaspheming." O recklessness! "Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." [Acts 13:46] Do you mark how by their contentious behavior they the more extended the preaching, and (how the Apostles here) gave themselves the more to the Gentiles, having (by this very thing) pleaded their justification, and made themselves clear of all blame with their own people (at Jerusalem)? (c) See how by their "envy" they bring about great things, other (than they looked for): they brought it about that the Apostles spoke out boldly, and came to the Gentiles! For this is why he says, "And speaking out boldly, Paul and Barnabas said." They were to go out to the Gentiles: but observe the boldness coming with measure: for if Peter pleaded in his justification, much more these needed a plea, none having called them there. [Acts 11:4] But by saying "To you first," he showed that to those also it was their duty (to preach), and in saying "Necessary," he showed that it was necessary to be preached to them also. "But since you turn away from it"— he does not say, "Woe unto you," and "You are punished," but "We turn unto the Gentiles." With great gentleness is the boldness fraught! (a) Also he does not say, "You are unworthy," but "Have judged yourselves unworthy. Lo, we turn unto the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have sent you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." [Acts 13:47] For that the Gentiles might not be hurt at hearing this, as if the case were so that, had the Jews been in earnest, they themselves would not have obtained the blessings, therefore he brings in the prophecy, saying, "A light of the Gentiles," and, "for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And hearing" (this) "the Gentiles" [Acts 13:48]— this, while it was more cheering to them, seeing the case was this, that whereas those were of right to hear first, they themselves enjoy the blessing, was at the same time more stinging to those — "and the Gentiles," it says, "hearing" (this) "were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and believed, as many as were ordained unto eternal life": i.e., set apart for God. Observe how he shows the speediness of the benefit: "And the word of the Lord was borne through all the region," [Acts 13:49] διεφέρετο, instead of διεκομίζετο, "was carried or conveyed through (it)." (d) "But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable 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] "The devout women," (b) instead of the proselyte-women. They did not stop at "envy," but added deeds also. (e) Do you see what they effected by their opposing the preaching? To what dishonor they brought these ("honorable women")? "But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium." [Acts 13:51] Here now they used that terrible sign which Christ enjoined, "If any receive you not, shake off the dust from your feet" [Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11]; but these did it upon no light ground, but because they were driven away by them. This was no hurt to the disciples; on the contrary, they the more continued in the word: "And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost" [Acts 13:52] for the suffering of the teacher does not check his boldness, but makes the disciple more courageous.

"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews." [Acts 14:1] Again they entered into the synagogues. See how far they were from becoming more timid! Having said, "We turn unto the Gentiles," nevertheless (by going into the synagogues) they superabundantly fortify their own justification (with their Jewish brethren). "So that," it says, "a great multitude both of Jews and Greeks believed." For it is likely they discoursed as to Greeks also. "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren." [Acts 14:2] Together (with themselves) now they took to stirring up the Gentiles too, as not being themselves sufficient. Then why did the Apostles not go forth thence? Why, they were not driven away, only attacked. "Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." [Acts 14:3] This caused their boldness; or rather, of their boldness indeed their own hearty good-will was the cause— therefore it is that for a long while they work no signs — while the conversion of the hearers was (the effect) of the signs, though their boldness also contributed somewhat. "But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the Apostles." [Acts 14:4] No small matter this dividing. And this was what the Lord said, "I am not come to bring peace, but a sword." [Matthew 10:34] "And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were aware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lies round about: and there they preached the Gospel." [Acts 14:5-7] Again, as if they purposely wished to extend the preaching after it was increased, they once more sent them out. See on all occasions the persecutions working great good, and defeating the persecutors, and making the persecuted illustrious. For having come to Lystra, he works a great miracle, by raising the lame man. "And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: the same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice" — why with a loud voice? That the multitude should believe— "Stand upright on your feet." (v. 8, 9.) But observe, he gave heed, it says, to the things spoken by Paul. Do you mark the elevation of the man's mind (φιλοσοφίαν)? He was nothing defeated (παρεβλάβη) by his lameness for earnestness of hearing. "Who fixing his eyes upon him, and perceiving," it says, "that he had faith to be made whole." He was already predisposed in purpose of mind. And yet in the case of the others, it was the reverse: for first receiving healing in their bodies, they were then taken in hand for cure of their souls, but this man not so. It seems to me, that Paul saw into his soul. "And he leaped," it says, "and walked." [Acts 14:10] It was a proof of his perfect cure, the leaping. "And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people." [Acts 14:11-13] But this purpose was not yet manifest, for they spoke in their own tongue, saying, "The gods in the likeness of men have come down to us:" therefore the Apostle said nothing to them as yet. But when they saw the garlands, then they went out, and rent their garments, "Which when the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you." (v. 14, 15.) See how on all occasions they are clean from the lust of glory, not only not coveting, but even repudiating it when offered: just as Peter also said, "Why gaze ye on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made him to walk" [Acts 3:12]? So these also say the same. And Joseph also said of the dreams, "Is not their interpretation of God?" [Genesis 60:8] And Daniel in like manner, "And to me also, not through the wisdom that is in me was it revealed." [Daniel 2:30] And Paul everywhere says this, as when he says, "And for these things who is sufficient? Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think (anything) as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." [2 Corinthians 2:16; 3:5 But let us look over again what has been said.

(Recapitulation.) "And when they had gone out," etc. [Acts 13:42]. Not merely were the multitudes drawn to them, but how? They besought to have the same words spoken to them again, and by their actions they showed their earnestness. "Now when the congregation," etc. [Acts 13:43] See the Apostles on all occasions exhorting, not merely accepting men, nor courting them, but, "speaking unto them," it says, "they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. But when the Jews," etc. [Acts 13:45] Why did they not contradict before this? Do you observe who on all occasions they were moved by passion? And they not only contradicted, but blasphemed also. For indeed malice stops at nothing. But see what boldness of speech! "It was necessary," he says, "that the word should have been spoken first to you, but since you put it from you,"— [Acts 13:46] it is not put as affronting (though) it is in fact what they did in the case of the prophets: "Talk not to us," said they, "with talk" — [Isaiah 30:10]: "but since you put it from you"— it, he says, not us: for the affront on your part is not to us. For that none may take it as an expression of their piety (that he says,) "You judge not yourselves worthy," therefore he first says, "You put it from you," and then, "We turn unto the Gentiles." The expression is full of gentleness. He does not say, We abandon you, but so that it is possible — he would say — that we may also turn hither again: and this too is not the consequence of the affront from you, "for so has (the Lord) commanded us."— [Acts 13:47] "Then why have ye not done this?" It was indeed needful that the Gentiles should hear, and this not before you: it is your own doing, the "before you." "For so has the Lord commanded us: I have set you for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation," i.e. for knowledge which is unto salvation, and not merely of the Gentiles, but of all men, "unto the ends of the earth — As many as were ordained unto eternal life" [Acts 13:48]: this is also a proof, that their having received these Gentiles was agreeable with the mind of God. But "ordained," not in regard of necessity: "whom He foreknew," says the Apostle, "He did predestinate." [Romans 8:29] "And the word of the Lord," etc. [Acts 13:49] No longer in the city (only) were (their doctrines) disseminated, but also in the (whole) region. For when they of the Gentiles had heard it, they also after a little while came over. "But the Jews stirred up the devout women, and raised persecution"— observe even of what is done by the women, they are the authors — "and cast them," it says, "out of their coasts" [Acts 13:50], not from the city merely. Then, what is more terrible, "they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. But the disciples, it says, were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." (v. 51, 52.) The teachers were suffering persecution, and the disciples rejoiced.

"And so spoke, that a great multitude," etc. [Acts 14:1] Do you mark the nature of the Gospel, the great virtue it has? "Made their minds evil-affected," it says, "against the brethren:" [Acts 14:2] i.e. slandered the Apostles, raised numberless accusations against them: (these people, being simple, they "made evil-affected," disposed them to act a malignant part. And see how on all occasions he refers all to God. "Long time," he says, "abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace." [Acts 14:3] Think not this (expression, "Gave testimony,") has anything derogatory (to the Lord's Divine Majesty): "Who witnessed," it is said, "before Pontius Pilate." [1 Timothy 6:13] Then the boldness — "and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." Here he speaks it as concerning their own nation. "And the multitude of the city," etc. (v. 4, 5.) Accordingly they did not wait for it, but saw the intention of attacking them, and fled, on no occasion kindling their wrath, "to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the adjacent region." [Acts 14:6] They went away into the country, not into the cities only.— Observe both the simplicity of the Gentiles, and the malignity of the Jews. By their actions they showed that they were worthy to hear: they so honored them from the miracles only. The one sort honored them as gods, the other persecuted them as pestilent fellows: and (those) not only did not take offense at the preaching, but what say they? "The gods, in the likeness of men, have come down to us;" but the Jews were offended. "And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius." (v. 11, 12.) I suppose Barnabas was a man of dignified appearance also. Here was a new sort of trial, from immoderate zeal, and no small one: but hence also is shown the virtue of the Apostles, (and) how on all occasions they ascribe all to God.

Let us imitate them: let us think nothing our own, seeing even faith itself is not our own, but more God's (than ours). "For by grace are you saved through faith; and this," says he, "not of ourselves; it is the gift of God." [Ephesians 2:8] Then let us not think great things of ourselves, nor be puffed up, being as we are, men, dust and ashes, smoke and shadow. For say, Why do you think great things of yourself? Have you given alms, and lavished your substance? And what of that? Think, what if God had chosen not to make you rich? Think of them that are impoverished, or rather, think how many have given (not their substance only, but) their bodies moreover, and after their numberless sacrifices, have felt still that they were miserable creatures! You gave for yourself, Christ (not for Himself, but) for you: you did but pay a debt, Christ owed you not.— See the uncertainty of the future, and "be not high-minded, but fear" [Romans 11:20]; do not lessen your virtue by boastfulness. Would you do something truly great? Never let a surmise of your attainments as great enter your mind. But you are a virgin? So were those in (the Gospel) virgins, but they got no benefit from their virginity, because of their cruelty and inhumanity. [Matthew 25:12] Nothing like humility: this is mother, and root, and nurse,and foundation, and bond of all good things: without this we are abominable, and execrable, and polluted. For say — let there be some man raising the dead, and healing the lame, and cleansing the lepers, but with proud self-complacency: than this there can be nothing more execrable, nothing more impious, nothing more detestable. Account nothing to be of yourself. Have you utterance and grace of teaching? Do not for this account yourself to have anything more than other men. For this cause especially you ought to be humbled, because you have been vouchsafed more abundant gifts. For he to whom more was forgiven, will love more [Luke 7:47]: if so, then ought thou to be humbled also, for that God having passed by others, took notice of you. Fear thou because of this: for often this is a cause of destruction to you, if you be not watchful. Why do you think great things of yourself? Because you teach by words? But this is easy, to philosophize in words: teach me by your life: that is the best teaching. Do you say that it is right to be moderate, and do you make a long speech about this thing, and play the orator, pouring forth your eloquence without a check? But "better than thou is he" shall one say to you, "who teaches me this by his deeds"— for not so much are those lessons wont to be fixed in the mind which consist in words, as those which teach by things: since if you have not the deed, thou not only hast not profited him by your words, but hast even hurt him the more — "better thou were silent." Wherefore? "Because the thing you propose to me is impossible: for I consider, that if you who hast so much to say about it, succeedest not in this, much more am I excusable." For this cause the Prophet says, "But unto the sinner said God. Why do you declare My statutes?" [Psalm 60:16] For this is a worse mischief, when one who teaches well in words, impugns the teaching by his deeds. This has been the cause of many evils in the Churches. Wherefore pardon me, I beseech you, that my discourse dwells long on this evil affection (πάθει). Many take a deal of pains to be able to stand up in public, and make a long speech: and if they get applause from the multitude, it is to them as if they gained the very kingdom (of heaven): but if silence follows the close of their speech, it is worse than hell itself, the dejection that falls upon their spirits from the silence! This has turned the Churches upside down, because both you desire not to hear a discourse calculated to lead you to compunction, but one that may delight you from the sound and composition of the words, as though you were listening to singers and minstrels (κιθαρῳδὥν καὶ κιθαριστὣν, supra p. 68): and we too act a preposterous and pitiable part in being led by your lusts, when we ought to root them out. And so it is just as if the father of a poor cold-blooded child (already, more delicate than it ought to be), should, although it is so feeble, give it cake and cold (drink) and whatever only pleases the child, and take no account of what might do it good; and then, being reproved by the physicians, should excuse himself by saying, "What can I do? I cannot bear to see the child crying." Thou poor, wretched creature, thou betrayer! For I cannot call such a one a father: how much better were it for you, by paining him for a short time, to restore him to health forever, than to make this short-lived pleasure the foundation of a lasting sorrow? Just such is our case, when we idly busy ourselves about beautiful expressions, and the composition and harmony of our sentences, in order that we may please, not profit: (when) we make it our aim to be admired, not to instruct; to delight, not prick to the heart; to be applauded and depart with praise, not to correct men's manners! Believe me, I speak not other than I feel — when as I discourse I hear myself applauded, at the moment indeed I feel it as a man (for why should I not own the truth?): I am delighted, and give way to the pleasurable feeling: but when I get home, and bethink me that those who applauded received no benefit from my discourse, but that whatever benefit they ought to have got, they lost it while applauding and praising, I am in pain, and groan, and weep, and feel as if I had spoken all in vain. I say to myself: "What profit comes to me from my labors, while the hearers do not choose to benefit by what they hear from us?" Nay, often have I thought to make a rule which should prevent all applauding, and persuade you to listen with silence and becoming orderliness. But bear with me, I beseech you, and be persuaded by me, and, if it seem good to you, let us even now establish this rule, that no hearer be permitted to applaud in the midst of any person's discourse, but if he will needs admire, let him admire in silence: there is none to prevent him: and let all his study and eager desire be set upon the receiving the things spoken.— What means that noise again? I am laying down a rule against this very thing, and you have not the forbearance even to hear me!— Many will be the good effects of this regulation: it will be a discipline of philosophy. Even the heathen philosophers— we hear of their discoursing, and nowhere do we find that noisy applause accompanied their words: we hear of the Apostles, making public speeches, and yet nowhere do the accounts add, that in the midst of their speeches the hearers interrupted the speakers with loud expressions of approbation. A great gain will this be to us. But let us establish this rule: in quiet let us all hear, and speak the whole (of what we have to say). For if indeed it were the case that we departed retaining what we had heard, what I insist upon is, that even so the praise is not beneficial — but not to go too much into particulars (on this point); let none tax me with rudeness — but since nothing is gained by it, nay, it is even mischievous, let us loose the hindrance, let us put a stop to the boundings, let us retrench the gambollings of the soul. Christ spoke publicly on the Mount: yet no one said anything, until He had finished His discourse. I do not rob those who wish to be applauded: on the contrary, I make them to be more admired. It is far better that one's hearer, having listened in silence, should by his memory throughout all time applaud, both at home and abroad, than that having lost all he should return home empty, not possessed of that which was the subject of his applauses. For how shall the hearer be otherwise than ridiculous? Nay, he will be deemed a flatterer, and his praises no better than irony, when he declares that the teacher spoke beautifully, but what he said, this he cannot tell. This has all the appearance of adulation. For when indeed one has been hearing minstrels and players, it is no wonder if such be the case with him, seeing he knows not how to utter the strain in the same manner: but where the matter is not an exhibition of song or of voice, but the drift and purport of thoughts and wise reflection (φιλοσοφίας), and it is easy for every one to tell and report what was said, how can he but deserve the accusation, who cannot tell what the matter was for which he praised the speaker? Nothing so becomes a Church as silence and good order. Noise belongs to theatres, and baths, and public processions, and market-places: but where doctrines, and such doctrines, are the subject of teaching, there should be stillness, and quiet, and calm reflection, and a haven of much repose (φιλοσοφία καὶ πολὺς ὁ λιμήν). These things I beseech and entreat: for I go about in quest of ways by which I shall be enabled to profit your souls. And no small way I take this to be: it will profit not you only, but us also. So shall we not be carried away with pride (ἐ κτραχηλίζεσθαί), not be tempted to love praises and honor, not be led to speak those things which delight, but those which profit: so shall we lay the whole stress of our time and diligence not upon arts of composition and beauties of expression, but upon the matter and meaning of the thoughts. Go into a painter's study, and you will observe how silent all is there. Then so ought it to be here: for here too we are employed in painting portraits, royal portraits (every one of them), none of any private man, by means of the colors of virtue— How now? Applauding again? This is a reform not easy, but (only) by reason of long habit, to be effected.— The pencil moreover is the tongue, and the Artist the Holy Spirit. Say, during the celebration of the Mysteries, is there any noise? Any disturbance? When we are baptizing (βαπτιζώμεθα), when we are doing all the other acts? Is not all Nature decked (as it were) with stillness and silence? Over all the face of heaven is scattered this charm (of repose).— On this account are we evil spoken of even among the Gentiles, as though we did all for display and ostentation. But if this be prevented, the love of the chief seats also will be extinguished. It is sufficient, if any one be enamoured of praise, that he should obtain it after having been heard, when all is gathered in. Yea, I beseech you, let us establish this rule, that doing all things according to God's will, we may be found worthy of the mercy which is from Him, through the grace and compassion of His only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:42
Did you notice Paul’s wisdom? Not only did he win admiration at the time, but also put in them a second longing for listening, sowing as it were seeds in his speech and not resolving the issues at hand or following the subject to its conclusion, so as to ready them and accustom them to himself and not to make them flaccid by hurtling everything at their souls at once. He said, “Through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,” but he did not reveal how. After this point, he puts Paul first. Do you see their great eagerness? “They followed them,” he says. Why didn’t he baptize them immediately? It was not the proper time; there was need to persuade them so that they might remain steadfast.

[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Acts 13:42
"And as they went out, they desired them, that on the next sabbath, they would speak unto them the words of God." As Paul and Barnabas went out of the synagogue, a crowd of Jews begged them to speak their words about the Lord Christ again on the following sabbath. On the next sabbath, as the people had very eagerly come together to hear them, some of the Jews, moved with great envy, tried to contradict them. Paul and Barnabas replied to them: "It indeed behoved us first to speak the word of God to you; but because you have rejected it, we turn to the Gentiles as we have been commanded." At these words, the Gentiles rejoiced and received the Christian doctrine most readily. But the disappointed contradictors stirred up honorable women and the chief men of the city, and expelled Barnabas and Paul from their territory. Barnabas and Paul, coming to Iconium, converted many people to the Lord; and an uproar arose against them again, stirred up by their adversaries; but it was immediately calmed with the help of the Lord. It came to pass under these circumstances that some people sided with the apostles while others sided at all costs with the Jews.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:43-44
They were speaking, urging them to remain in the grace of God. Hence in the Greek follows a verse, which our Codices do not have: But the word was spread throughout the whole city, and then what we have is added: On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of God.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:43
Many Jews and devout converts followed them. It is better read: "And worshipers of God," as we have seen in the Greek. This means those who were Gentiles by nature but Jews by religion, whom the Greeks call proselytes.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:45
Do you see how by their contentious behavior they extended the preaching further and [how the apostles] gave themselves the more to the Gentiles, having made their defense and cleared themselves of indictments from their own people?… Through their jealousy they brought it about that the apostles spoke out boldly and went to the Gentiles. For this is why he said, “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.’ ” They were about to go out to the Gentiles. But notice how the boldness is accompanied with measure. For if Peter defended himself, much more are these in need of a defense, since no one had called them there. And by saying “first,” he showed that to those as well it was their duty [to preach], and by saying “necessary,” he showed that it was necessary to preach to them as well. “Since you turn away,” he does not say, “woe to you” and “you are punished,” but “we turn to the Gentiles.” The boldness is full of much gentleness.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 13:46
Therefore Paul and the apostles themselves, mindful of the precept of the Lord, bear this solemn testimony before Israel, which they had now filled with their doctrine-saying, "It was necessary that the word of God should have been first delivered to you; but seeing ye have rejected it, and have not thought yourselves worthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." And from that time they turned their steps away, as those who went before them had laid it down, and departed into the way of the Gentiles, and entered into the cities of the Samaritans; so that, in very deed, their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

[AD 258] Cyprian on Acts 13:46
That the Gentiles should rather believe in Christ. In Genesis: "And the Lord God said unto Abraham, Go out from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, and go into that land which I shall show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and I will magnify thy name; and thou shalt be blessed: and I will bless him that blesseth thee, and I will curse him that curseth thee. and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed." On this same point in Genesis: "And Isaac blessed Jacob. Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field which the Lord hath blessed: and God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fertility of the earth, abundance of corn, and wine, and oil: and peoples shall obey thee, and princes shall worship thee: and thou shalt be lord over thy brother, and the sons of thy father shall worship thee; and he that curseth thee shall be cursed, and he that blesseth thee shall be blessed." On this matter too in Genesis: "But when Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it seemed displeasing to him: and Joseph laid hold of his father's hand, to lift it from the head of Ephraim on to the head of Manasseh. Moreover, Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: this is my first-born; place thy right hand upon his head. But he would not, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: and he also shall be a people, and he shall be exalted; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." Moreover in Genesis: "Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee: thine hand shall be upon the back of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the slender twig, my son, thou hast ascended: thou layedst down and sleepedst as a lion, and as a lion's whelp. Who shall stir him up? There shalt not fail a prince from Judah, and a leader from his loins, until those things entrusted to him shall come; and he is the hope of the nations: binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the branch of the vine; he shall wash his garments in wine, and his clothing in the blood of the grape: terrible are his eyes with wine, and his teeth are whiter than milky," Hence in Numbers it is written concerning our people: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion-like people." In Deuteronomy: "Ye Gentiles shall be for the head; but this unbelieving people shall be for the tail." Also in Jeremiah: "Hear the sound of the trumpet. And they said, We will not hear: for this cause the nations shall hear, and they who shall feed their cattle among them." In the seventeenth Psalm: "Thou shalt establish me the head of the nations: a people whom I have not known have served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me." Concerning this very thing the Lord says in Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou wentest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee, and established thee as a prophet among the nations." Also in Isaiah: "Behold, I have manifested him for a witness to the nations, a prince and a commander to the peoples." Also in the same: "Nations which have not known Thee shall call upon Thee; and peoples which were ignorant of Thee shall flee to Thee." In the same, moreover: "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall rise to rule in all the nations; in Him shall the Gentiles hope: and His rest shall be honour." In the same again: "The land of Zebulon, and the land of Nephtalim, by the way of the sea, and ye others who inhabit the maritime places, and beyond Jordan of the nations. People that walk in darkness, behold yea great light; ye who dwell in the region of the shadow of death, the light shall shine upon you." Also in the same: "Thus saith the Lord God to Christ my Lord, whose right hand I hold, that the nations may hear Him; and I will break asunder the strength of kings, I will open before Him gates; and cities shall not be shut." Also in the same: "I come to gather together all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will send out over them a standard, and I will send those that are preserved among them to the nations which are afar off, which have not heard my name nor seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory to the nations." Also in the same: "And in all these things they are not converted; therefore He shall lift up a standard to the nations which are afar, and He will draw them from the end of the earth." Also in the same: "Those who had not been told of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand." Also in the same: "I have been made manifest to those who seek me not: I have been formal of those who asked not after me. I said, Lo, here am I, to a nation that has not called upon my! name." Of this same thing, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul says: "It was necessary that the word of God should first be shown to you; but since ye put it from you, and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles: for thus said the Lord by the Scriptures, Behold, I have set Thee a light among the nations, that Thou shouldest be for salvation even to the ends of the earth."

[AD 300] Ammonius of Alexandria on Acts 13:46
Therefore God declares that nothing is unworthy of salvation or of entering the kingdom, nor, on the contrary, does he judge that humankind deserves damnation. Rather, we judge ourselves, through our freely committed malice, to be unworthy of eternal life and worthy of eternal damnation. Therefore the judgment is in ourselves as well as the lot of our future state.

[AD 220] Tertullian on Acts 13:47
Now who was it that said; "Let there be light? " And who was it that said to Christ concerning giving light to the world: "I have set Thee as a light to the Gentiles" -to them, that is, "who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death? " (None else, surely, than He), to whom the Spirit in the Psalm answers, in His foresight of the future, saying, "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, hath been displayed upon us.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:47
“It was necessary,” he says, “that the word should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you.” Not an affront, but the same thing they had also done in the case of the prophets, “Speak not to us,” said they, “with talk.” “Since you thrust it from you,” he says, not “us.” For the affront from you was not against us. To prevent anyone from thinking “you judge yourselves unworthy” was an expression of their piety, [Paul] says first, “you thrust it from you,” and then “we turn to the Gentiles.” Full of great gentleness are these words. He did not say, “we abandon you,” but so that it is possible, he says, that we may turn to here again. And this was not the result of your affront, “for so the Lord has commanded us.” Then why have you not done this? There was indeed need that the Gentiles should hear. But the “before you” came about not from us but from you. “For so the Lord has commanded us. ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation.’ ” That is, to be the knowledge to salvation. And not only for the Gentiles but for all who were ordained to eternal life. This is also a proof that it was in accordance with the mind of God that they received the Gentiles.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:47
For the Lord has commanded us: I have set you as a light to the Gentiles. What was specifically said to the Lord Christ, the apostles now consider said to themselves, remembering that they are his members, just as he himself, because of the unity of the same body, said: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4).

[AD 108] Ignatius of Antioch on Acts 13:48
Who were ordained to eternal life
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:49
διεφέρετο, instead of διεκομίζετο, was carried or conveyed through (it). (d) But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
[AD 300] Ammonius of Alexandria on Acts 13:50
“Honest rich women,” the text says, “and pious,” but not faithful. They certainly were Greek-Jewish women. In fact they, being most evil and imitators of the archevil demon and transgressor, endeavor through women to close to men the way of salvation, just as that one closed paradise to men through Eve until the proper time. But the divine Jesus opens it again for those who believe in his name and also allowed them to enter there, the first of whom entered with him as a thief.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Acts 13:51
“But they shook off the dust from their feet against them,” he says, “and went to Iconium.” Here they used that terrible sign, which Christ enjoined, “If any do not receive you, shake off the dust from your feet.” But these did not do it lightly but because they were driven away by them. In no way did this hurt the disciples; on the contrary, all the more did they continue in the word, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” For the suffering of the teacher does not check his boldness but makes the disciple more courageous.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:51
But shaking the dust off their feet against them, they went to Iconium. The dust is shaken off the feet according to the precept of the Gospel as a testimony of their labor, that they entered their city and that the apostolic preaching reached them; or the dust is shaken off so that they take nothing from them, not even what is necessary for sustenance, who have rejected the Gospel.

[AD 735] Bede on Acts 13:52
And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. In the Greek it is: "But the disciples," so that we may understand, while the Jews were persecuting the faith, the disciples were enriched in contrast with spiritual joy.