Acts 13:42-45

42As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath.

43When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

45When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

The People's Reaction

Initially, the response to Paul's sermon in the Antioch synagogue was all he could have desired. The people were eager to hear the message they delivered again, even the Jews urged them to continue on with their message.

The following Sabbath it says that the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord from Paul & Barnabas. Wow, can you imagine what an influence they must have had to draw such a crowd? It seems like that would be a good thing, however the Jews were jealous. You see the Jews were evangelistic too (Mat. 23:15) but they had never been able to get the whole city excited about hearing the law of Moses.

When nearly the whole city assembled to hear Paul & Barnabas the Jews were filled with envy, so they opposed the Word. It has been suggested that another reason for the Jews unhappiness was that there were Gentiles sitting in the seats that they normally sat in.