Acts 13:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The name of David was especially beloved by the Jews. Therefore it is said that a king from his lineage comes to reign.

Paul's sermon in this synagogue gives us the first example of the Apostle's wisdom and skill in acting upon the hearts of his hearers. Wishing to gain their attention and trust, he first points to how God chose them as a people set apart for Himself. Then he briefly reviews all that God did for His people until David, from whose seed the Messiah was to come in fulfillment of the promises. After this preparation, the Apostle turns to the chief purpose of his speech. He speaks of the appearance of the Messiah and of what He accomplished for the salvation of the human race. Paul now said, addressing the Jews and proselytes present, that this preaching of salvation was appointed for them.

From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to the peninsula of Asia Minor and came to Perga in Pamphylia. From there John Mark returned to Jerusalem. Paul, with his other companions, continued the journey and advanced into the inland regions of Asia Minor. He came to Antioch of Pisidia. There the Apostle Paul's preaching about Christ made a powerful impression on the city's inhabitants. It converted many Jews and Gentiles to Christ. Yet the majority of the Jews remained deaf to the apostles' preaching. They even stirred up a disturbance against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of the city. Therefore the apostles went on farther, shaking off the dust from their feet against them, according to Christ's commandment (Mt 10:14).

From his seed, and so forth. From David the Apostle quickly turns to preaching about Christ, as the goal of the whole history of Israel guided by God. According to the promise. In the Apostle's speech this is an essential point for awakening faith in his preaching, both among native Jews and proselytes. Neither group could be persuaded of the messianic dignity of Jesus of Nazareth without showing His descent from David, according to the promises and prophecies; see the note on Mt 1:1 and parallels. God raised up a Savior: in the same sense as Acts 2:30 and parallels; see the note.

Having quickly passed to the account of Jesus Christ as David's descendant, the Apostle Paul refers to John the Forerunner's testimony concerning Him. He reproduces John's words rather freely (cf. Jn 1:20). He says that John preached the baptism of repentance. That is, the Jews were to repent and, as a sign of readiness to receive cleansing, be immersed in the waters of the Jordan. The Apostle calls the time when Jesus Christ appeared the end of John's course, because his work was finished, though not all at once. Saint John Chrysostom gives special attention to this: "John does not bear witness simply, but thrusts away from himself the honor that all were giving him. It is not the same thing to refuse honor when no one offers it, and when many are rendering it."