Acts 13:48-52 48And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as believed were classified for eternal life. 49And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51But shaking off the dust from their feet against them, they went to Iconium. 52And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Paul and Barnabas received two different responses to their visit to Antioch and preaching of the gospel. Verses 48-49 give the positive response of the Gentiles, who received the word of the Lord with joy and faith. They recognized the power in the preached word and honored it by accepting its truth. The last part of verse 48 has been variously interpreted, as evidenced by the differences in translations. Many contemporary English translations put the verb believed at the end of the sentence, which implies a strong predestination: “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” The question becomes what the main verb is, because there are two options. Believed (episteusan) is an aorist tense verb and comes first in this clause, as my translation indicates. As many as (hosoi) is the subject. After this word comes a perfect periphrastic construction with the verb “to be” followed by a perfect participle “were classified.” The participle tetahmenoi can mean appointed, determined, fixed, or something that fits into a certain classification.
What this all could mean is that those Gentiles who believed in the gospel became part of the special group of people known as “Christians” and received eternal life. The statement does not necessarily need to mean that only those who were predetermined by God actually were the ones to believe. In other words, this verse does not need to be forced to fit a doctrine of predestination. The Gentiles who received eternal life did so because they believed. Human choice is always the necessary response to God’s gracious offer of salvation. What is also clear from the context is that these Gentiles had already received God’s grace through the preached message. God was working in their hearts and minds, drawing them to the point of faith. As a result of the seed of faith in those who believed, the gospel message spread (verse 49). The new believers could not remain silent but shared what happened to them. Verse 49 compresses an unknown amount of time into a short statement.
The Jews gave an opposite response and convinced the power players of the city to persecute Paul and Barnabas. Who the women of high standing and the leading men were is not given in detail but they had enough influence to cause Paul and Barnabas problems. How the Jews had this much influence over the social elites is not stated. As verse 45 hints, the Jews were contradicting what Paul preached. If Paul spoke the truth, the Jews spoke lies. One of the lies was likely that Paul and Barnabas were troublemakers. As in many other places in Acts, when the gospel is spoken, opposition soon responds by causing trouble for the Lord’s followers. As a result, Paul and Barnabas did what Jesus instructed in Luke 10:11 and shook the dust off their feet as a form of symbolic rejection of the Jews and those aligned with them. They departed for another place, having planted the seeds of the gospel. Although some did not believe, others did. The new disciples in Antioch were filled with joy because of their new hope, and they had the presence of the Holy Spirit with them. A new church was started in a short time, possibly in only a few weeks. Not everyone will believe the message of Jesus, but those who do will experience joy, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.