Then they passed through Pisid'ia, and came to Pamphyl'ia. And
when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attali'a; and from
there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God
for the work which they had now fulfilled. And after their arrival, they
gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and
how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little
time with the disciples.
In a Nutshell
Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps back to Antioch.
Questions
Think about the path followed by Paul and Barnabas. Look again at Hints 52 and try to think how they would understand the work they had just completed.
There are many unbiblical ideas around about spreading the gospel. At times it seems that evangelism, telling others about God's salvation in Jesus Christ, is simply a mechanical process, something like a sausage machine. You put the meat in, grind away and out come all the sausages, all wrapped and neat and tidy at the other end. Evangelism in this view is a bit like a standard Big Mac Burger. All over the world, apparently, or so McDonald's tell us, it is possible to buy the same identical burger. And so it is with the assembly line idea of "making Christians". But it is a silly idea and one we need to try to avoid.
The church in Antioch came about after Hellenistic believers from Jerusalem reached there in their flight from persecution. It seems likely that many of those who had to flee the persecution had come to faith as a result of the witness of those dispersed Jews who had been converted when God's Spirit was poured on the day of Pentecost. And it is also possible that Saul and Barnabas had been sent into Cilicia, Cyprus, Pisidia, Pamphylia, to pick up the trail of fleeing believers, encouraging them to hold the faith and maintain their hope. Paul and Barnabas were also sent out by the church at Antioch to express the common bond which all believers have to each other. As they did so they had contact with an ever-increasing circle of new believers and other contacts. And then they returned to Antioch to tell the church about their travels, what they had discovered and how God's Spirit continued to be with them.
When these first missionaries made direct contact with Gentiles, they had to find a way to preach the gospel outside the liturgy and teaching programme of the synagogue. Luke has taken great care to tell us how Paul developed his Gentile teaching programme. He did not, in the first place, begin with Abraham as he did when teaching in the synagogue. Outside that context, Paul taught Gentiles about God's Creation and their place in it. The God who had raised Jesus from the dead did so in order that men and women everywhere might fulfil their God-given tasks in His creation. This was liberation for any and all bowed under a yoke of idolatry.