ACC ~ Acts 13 v49 - 52

OVERVIEW:

Here, Ammonius sees in these rich women a seduction of women akin to the devil’s seduction of Eve and thus a closing of the doors of life, the doors of salvation, the doors of paradise through those who should be doors to life, salvation and paradise. As women are seen as holding a place in the service of a male-defined world, they are not the source of evil but its instrument: Paul’s opponents are using their women to cut themselves off from life and their inheritance. To symbolize their response to those in Pisidian Antioch to those who rejected the labor of Paul and Barnabas, the latter shook the dust, out of which humankind is made, from their feet. Here, as the Fathers point out, the preachers are obeying a gospel injunction. This difficulty, however, does not curtail their joy in the Spirit (BEDE).

13:50 | Driven Out of the District

CLOSING PARADISE. AMMONIUS: “Honest rich women,” the text says, “and pious,” but not faithful. They certainly were Greek-Jewish women. In fact they, being most evil and imitators of the archevil demon and transgressor, endeavor through women to close to men the way of salvation, just as that one closed paradise to men through Eve until the proper time. But the divine Jesus opens it again for those who believe in his name and also allowed them to enter there, the first of whom entered with him as a thief. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.50.

13:51 | Shaking the Dust from Their Feet

NO HURT TO THE DISCIPLES. CHRYSOSTOM: “But they shook off the dust from their feet against them,” he says, “and went to Iconium.” Here they used that terrible sign, which Christ enjoined, “If any do not receive you, shake off the dust from your feet.” But these did not do it lightly but because they were driven away by them. In no way did this hurt the disciples; on the contrary, all the more did they continue in the word, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” For the suffering of the teacher does not check his boldness but makes the disciple more courageous. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 30.

DUST OF THEIR FEET. BEDE: According to the commandment in the Gospel, dust was shaken off from their feet in testimony of their labor, because they entered into their city, and the apostolic preaching reached all the way to them [the Antiochenes]. Alternatively, the dust was shaken off so that they would take nothing, not even a thing so basic to life, from those who had rejected the gospel. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.51.

13:52 | The Disciples Filled with Joy

FILLED WITH JOY AND WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. BEDE: The Greek has, “But the disciples,” so that we may understand that although the Jews persecuted the faith, the disciples on the contrary were endowed with spiritual joy. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13.52.