[1] From this point onwards, except for the Council held in Jerusalem (Acts 15), Luke's narrative focusses on Paul, his ministry, and the events of his life.

[7] This section opens the account of Paul's first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-14:28) which starts with a deliberate and prayerful step of the church in Antioch, a young congregation established by those who had been scattered from persecution in Jerusalem (Acts 11:20–26) and has grown into an active missionary church.

[3] Paul's mission was not his own initiative, but was undertaken at the command of the Holy Spirit (verses 2, 4), with the framework of prayer and fasting forming an inclusio at the end of this first journey (Acts 14:26).

[9] Heinrich Meyer observes that:The order of the persons named is, without doubt, such as it stood in the original document: hence Barnabas and Saul are separated; indeed, Barnabas is placed first (the arrangement appears to have been made according to seniority) and Saul last; it was only by his missionary labours now commencing that the latter acquired in point of fact his superiority.

A 'Sergius Paulus' is mentioned in a Roman inscription as a holder of an office in Rome under Claudius (at about the same period)[3] and his family also seems to have a tie to Pisidia.

Paul's sermon in a synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia (13:16—41) serves as the centerpiece of a long and tightly constructed travel-and-mission account, moving into new places (13:13-14, 51; 14:6-7), then successively going back retracing each stage of the journey (14:21, 24–26).