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Again the Holy Spirit is the initiator of the new step (13:1-3). The Spirit had led Philip to the Ethiopian and Peter to Cornelius; now Paul is led to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit also has available for use a church open to God through its worship and discipline (v.2), which is diligently seeking God’s guidance through prayer and fasting (v.3).
The mission to Cyprus appears to have been solely among Jews (13:5), and the outcome was Jewish opposition, which brought the Christians before the Roman authorities (vv.6-12). A Jew named Elymas appears to have been responsible for the summons Saul and Barnabas receive to appear at a hearing before Paulus. (The use of technical language clearly indicates that Saul was summoned officially to a formal hearing). There is no substantial evidence that Paulus became a Christian. His “belief,” therefore, merely represents a favorable outcome of the hearing for Paul and Barnabas. Surely, had Paulus become a Christian, much would have been made of this.
Paulus’s response, however, seems to have convinced Paul of the possibility of outreach to Gentiles outside the Jewish community. This conviction, shared with his companions, may have been the cause of John Mark’s abrupt departure (v.13). The term for left appears again only at 15:39, the breach between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark. His departure here appears to be a breach and perhaps explains how Jerusalem came to know that Gentiles were being evangelized through the Antioch mission of Paul (15:1).