Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 13:1-12, Sent from Antioch: the proconsul and the magician
The church at Antioch fasts, prays and sends out Barnabas and Saul. On Cyprus the Roman proconsul believes after Paul confronts the Jewish magician in his entourage.
Acts 13:1-12, in every translation this tool compares.
Antioch's church is led by a varied group of prophets and teachers, including Barnabas, Saul, an African called Simeon and a man raised alongside Herod Antipas. During worship and fasting the Spirit marks out Barnabas and Saul for a mission, and the church commissions them. On Cyprus the Roman governor Sergius Paulus wants to hear them, but a Jewish sorcerer in his household tries to block it. Paul, as Luke now calls him, pronounces temporary blindness on the man, and the governor comes to faith, struck by the teaching.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/fasting\/","n":"Fasting","s":"Going without food, and often washing and oil, as a sign of mourning, penitence and longing. The law required one fast a year; the devout kept many more.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/laying-on-of-hands\/","n":"Laying on of hands","s":"Hands laid on a person to bless, to heal, or to set someone apart for a task, the way Moses laid hands on Joshua. In the early church it went with prayer, the gift of the Spirit and sending people out.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/rome-in-charge\/","n":"Rome in charge","s":"Rome ruled through client princes, local elites and governors. It kept the power to execute, and its soldiers, coins and taxes were everywhere.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/magic-and-sorcery\/","n":"Magic and sorcery","s":"Spells, charms and incantations were sold and used across the ancient world, by Jews as well as pagans, and many feared the evil eye. People told a sorcerer, who worked in secret and for pay, from a holy man who acted openly.","r":""}
Since the Spirit was known above all as the Spirit of prophecy, the Spirit speaking probably means a prophet spoke (Keener). From Seleucia, Antioch's port, they crossed about eighty miles to Salamis and took the island's main road to Paphos, the governor's seat (Wright; the Zondervan atlas; the cultural backgrounds notes). Proconsul is the right title: Cyprus was a senatorial province from 22 BC, and inscriptions answered scholars who once doubted Luke here (Price and House). Sergius Paulus was proconsul about AD 45-46; whether he belongs to the family known from Pisidian Antioch is uncertain (Keener; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles), and Price and House call the link speculative, though Wright treats Antioch as the family's home. Jewish magicians were reputed among the best in the empire (Keener and his notes), and Arnold, noting that officials often consulted astrologers and diviners, guesses that Elymas had a say in the proconsul's government. Roman citizens had three names, and Paul is a Roman cognomen that sounded like his Jewish name (Keener and his notes); Wright adds that the Greek Saulos described an effeminate walk, "not a word that would help people to forget the messenger".
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 13:1, 13:6, 13:7 and 13:9
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 13:1, 13:2-3, 13:6, 13:7-8 and 13:9
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Acts 13:6, 13:7 and 13:9
- CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 13:7
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Acts 13:1-12
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 5, Cyprus and Galatia
- J. Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, Acts 13:7 Sergius Paulus
- Carl G. Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Journeys of Paul, Paul's First Missionary Journey
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 1, Magic and Divination, section A Jewish Magician and False Prophet: Acts 13
