As crowds from the predominantly Gentile city gather at the synagogue the following week, a righteous zeal for God and his Law flares from the Jewish leaders. They turn against the two apostles, precipitating a bold redirection of their ministry. It’s a pattern we see repeated in Acts: the gospel largely rejected by Jewish communities yet embraced by Gentiles. 

In expressing their decision to turn from ministry among God’s people to those deemed pagans, Paul and Barnabas embody the answer to a prayer of the fledgling church (4:29). What is it that enables them to pivot so boldly in the face of rejection? First, there’s the scriptural support of Isaiah 49, indicating that God’s anointed won’t just restore the tribes of Israel but will reach the ends of the earth with salvation (v 47). Then there’s the way Paul and Barnabas appropriate these verses, the Messiah’s ministry, for themselves. Do we think of ourselves as fulfilling the work that Jesus started? Not least, there’s the undeniable evidence of God’s hand in it all: he is at work in those who are his (v 48) and his Word is at work in the world (v 49). Trusting in these truths we, like the disciples, can tread onwards with Spirit-filled joy.