The Apostle Paul was God’s chosen instrument to tell the non-Jewish people throughout the world that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for their sins (Acts 9:15). Initially, Paul was sent out by the Holy Spirit to the Island of Cyprus with Barnabus, a native of the island (Acts 4:36; 13:4-5). Later, Paul and Barnabus went to Antioch in Pisidia where Paul was asked to speak in the Jewish synagogue (Acts 13:14-15). Paul’s intent was to share a word of encouragement with his fellow Jews, “but when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him” (Acts 13:45-46).

The Jews’ attitude toward Paul caused him to leave Pisidia and travel farther into Asia on what is now thought of as his first missionary journey. Before he left Antioch, Paul preached the gospel to almost the whole city and we are told in Acts 13:48 that of the Gentiles, “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Paul’s success with the Gentile converts in Antioch of Pisidia was due to the word of encouragement that he shared with them from Isaiah 49:6. Paul told them:

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 13:47)

The fact that God wanted everyone to receive salvation (2 Peter 3:9) was a well-kept secret that the Jews didn’t want to get out (Romans 16:25). As long as Paul focused his good news on the Jews’ favored position with God (Acts 13:17-43), the Jewish people in Antioch were interested in hearing what he had to say. However, when Paul shifted his attention to the Gentiles and the world at large, the Jews “stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabus and drove them out of their district” (Acts 13:50).

Paul’s word of encouragement, which was meant for the Jews, but ended up turning them against him, was rooted in God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to raise them from the dead (Acts 26:6-8). Paul explained that God raising the dead was possible because through Christ, people were freed from the penalty of sin (Acts 13:39). The Greek word that is translated freed in Acts 13:39, dikaioo (dik-ah-yoˊ-o) is “spoken especially of the justification bestowed by God on men through Christ, in which he is said to regard and treat them as righteous, i.e. to absolve from the consequences of sin and admit to the enjoyment of the divine favor (Romans 3:26, 30; 4:5; 8:30, 33; Galatians 3:8)” (G1344).

Paul used what was likely a familiar passage from the prophecy of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:5) to jar the Jews into thinking about the word of encouragement that he was presenting to them. Paul reasoned with them, stating, “Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you” (Acts 13:41). Habakkuk’s prophecy went on to declare that the Chaldeans, “guilty men, whose own might is their God!,” (Habakkuk 1:11) were about to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. This message conveyed the fact that God didn’t need to save the Jews, he could give his gift of salvation to anyone he wanted to, even to the most undeserving among the godless Gentiles.