Acts 13:44Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

You have seen Paul's wise discernment. To bind the Gentiles to himself and dispose them favorably, and also not to scatter their attention by giving them everything at once, he first uttered several hints and left them unresolved. By this he awakened in the Gentiles a desire to hear him another time. He said that forgiveness of sins was being proclaimed to them, but he did not explain how this forgiveness would be accomplished. He did not baptize them at once, because it was not the proper time. "On the next Sabbath" means "on the coming Sabbath," as is clear below.

The report of the new gospel teaching spread throughout the whole city before the following Sabbath. Gentiles, in a great crowd, rushed to the synagogue, as did the Jews.

This sight alone was enough to arouse anger in the Jews. They were filled with a high opinion of themselves as the chosen people, and they nourished contempt for everything Gentile.

Therefore this present preaching was not received with the same goodwill and calm as the first. Paul was interrupted by contradictions and mockery.

In response, he observed that since they did not wish to receive the proclaimed salvation and were turning away from it of themselves, the preachers were free to turn to the Gentiles, who showed greater disposition toward the Gospel.

From Paphos Paul and his companions sailed to the peninsula of Asia Minor and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John Mark returned from there to Jerusalem, while Paul, with his other companions, continued the journey and went deeper into the interior regions of Asia Minor. He came to Antioch of Pisidia.

Here the preaching of the Apostle Paul concerning Christ made a powerful impression on the inhabitants of the city and turned 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).

On the following Sabbath the synagogue could no longer contain all who wished to hear the wondrous preaching, for "almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of God."

"On the following Sabbath" (cf. v. 42): it is self-evident that during that week the apostles did not remain silent, but privately preached Christ to the inhabitants of the city.

It is also beyond doubt that they preached there not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, judging from the purpose of their present missionary journey. This alone explains why, on the following Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of God from the mouths of Paul and Barnabas.

That is, the Gentile population of the city also gathered. Their attention had most likely been stirred by the apostles’ private conversations with the inhabitants.

"Gathered to hear": the Jews were probably in the synagogue, and the Gentiles around it, where they could hear the apostles’ speech.

The apostles’ preaching in Antioch of Pisidia on the following Sabbath did not take place in the synagogue. So great a multitude had gathered to hear them that the rulers of the synagogue were stirred to such envy against them that they contradicted the apostles in everything, especially Paul. They even fell into abuse and blasphemous slander.

"O shamelessness!" Saint John Chrysostom exclaims about this. "They contradict what they ought to have agreed with."

"So great is the intolerance of envy! Many are utterly exhausted and die because they see others in honor. Such people are able to resist not only man, but even the will of God."