A Great Harvest in a New City
Acts 14:1-3
When they left Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas moved southeastward along one of the principal roads in the empire, extending all the way from Ephesus on the western side of Asia Minor to the River Euphrates in Mesopotamia far to the east.1 The portion running through Antioch (near modern Yalvaç2), as we noted earlier, was called Via Sebaste. The name was a tribute to its builder, Caesar Augustus, who in Greek was known as Sebasto.3 The apostles walked about ninety miles through hilly country,4 with scenic glimpses first of a broad lake on the right (Beyşehir Gölü) and later of a imposing peak on the left (Ala Dağ), before they came to Iconium (modern Konya5), another city in Phrygian Galatia on the high plateau of central Asia Minor.6 The native language was Phrygian.7
The residents of Iconium, itself poised at an elevation of about 3400 feet, enjoyed a spectacle of grandeur whenever they went outside, for in every direction, especially in the west, they saw rugged peaks, some rising to 6000 feet.9
Iconium was another city where the population was a mixture of Jews and gentiles. It was a Roman colony, but unlike Antioch, the prevailing culture was Greek rather than Roman.10 In its political structure it was modeled after a Greek city-state ruled by an assembly of citizens, known as the Demos.11 Strabo, the ancient geographer, complained that the surrounding region was cold and dry and bare of trees, although he conceded that Iconium itself was less forbidding,12 but modern scholars who have explored the region insist that ancient Iconium must have been pleasant and verdant, with plenty of water. William Ramsay observed that a stream flows "right into the city, making the land around into a great garden, green with trees, rich in produce."13
Following their customary practice, the apostles made the synagogue the base of their ministry. The ruler of the synagogue here, as elsewhere, gave them permission to speak during the Sabbath service. So, for many weeks, they declared Christ to the Jews and God-fearers who gathered for worship. Their preaching was hugely successful, apparently with greater fruit than they had seen in other places. The number who believed among both Jews and gentiles was a great multitude.
But no work of God proceeds very long without opposition. Some of the Jews resented the new teaching and angrily rejected it. In their daily interaction with gentiles, they slandered Paul and Barnabas, causing many citizens of the city to view the newcomers with a dislike quickly descending into scorn. What the unbelieving Jews said to turn their neighbors against Paul and Barnabas, we do not know. It was certainly not fair or reasonable.
Getting Practical
Opposition as a test of our work for God
Anyone in Christian service who never meets opposition should examine himself. If the devil is not continually throwing roadblocks in his way, the only possible reason is that the devil sees him as no threat to the kingdom of darkness. He has fallen into debilitating sin or compromise, although the sin might be only a fearful refusal to leave the safe confines of his routine, his small circle of friends, and his sequestered church property in order to engage a lost world.
The moving force behind the opposition to Paul and Barnabas was Satan, who is a liar. Some years later, he provoked enemies of the church to say that the wine of the Lord's Supper was really the blood of babies sacrificed to the Christian God.14 This scurrilous accusation was widely believed and led to ruthless persecution. The lies told in Iconium were doubtless less far-fetched. The hostile reaction of the gentiles suggests that these lies painted the preachers of Jesus as followers of a rebel against Rome.
Yet Paul and Barnabas did not let the opposition scare them into silence. They remained in the city a long time and kept on preaching whenever they had an opportunity. It is unclear whether they were still welcome in the synagogue, but if not, they found other venues. Their main subject was always the divine grace available to all who would receive the gospel. Here was the secret of their success. They never exalted themselves, or groomed themselves to be objects of admiration. Instead, in every word they exalted God. God therefore confirmed the truth of their message by granting them the power to perform signs and wonders.
An Evil Plot
Acts 14:4-7
The success of Paul and Barnabas fanned to greater intensity the flames of opposition. Everyone in the community felt under pressure to take sides, either with the apostles or with their enemies. As in Antioch, the opposing faction enjoyed the support of powerful men, including both Jewish and gentile rulers, who in their angry deliberations resolved to take strong action against the preachers of Christ. They decided that first they would "use them despitefully" (v. 5). In other words, they would discredit them with insults and accusations. Then they would create a pretext to execute them by stoning. The plan to use stoning shows that the Jewish leaders were spearheading the plot and intending to condemn Paul and Barnabas under Jewish law, for neither the Greeks nor the Romans used this method to execute people.
But the plotters failed to maintain secrecy. Someone sympathetic to the apostles overheard the plan and tipped them off. Since the apostles had no means of defending themselves from the local authorities, they fled from the city.
Pondering a Question
Was it not cowardly for Paul and Barnabas to flee? Was it not better for them to continue in the work and trust in God's protection?
To remain in the lion's mouth sounds like the most spiritual option. But Jesus Himself counseled otherwise. He told His disciples, "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another" (Matt. 10:23). In spiritual warfare as in the clash of human armies, there is a proper time for retreat. We must certainly be prepared to die for Christ if we find no honorable way of escape, but we should not scorn any escape that God provides. There is no merit in throwing our lives away foolishly, thus ending our usefulness to God. The wisdom in the flight of Paul and Barnabas is evident later in the story, for after a time they were able to return to Iconium and continue the work of building a church in that city (v. 21).
Delving Still Deeper
Meaning of the title apostle
Previously in Acts, Luke has not called either Paul or Barnabas an apostle. But now in verse 4, he speaks of them collectively as apostles when they are standing together against fierce opposition. The term apostle means "one sent," referring to someone like a messenger, ambassador, or missionary.15 It is used in the New Testament to name the role of many prominent figures: not only Paul and Barnabas, but also the original twelve disciples (Luke 22:14), Matthias, who was Judas’s replacement (Acts 1:26), James the Lord’s brother (Gal. 1:19), and several of Paul’s helpers, including Titus and others unnamed ("messengers" in 2 Cor. 8:23), Silas and Timothy (1 Thess. 2:6 pointing to 1 Thess. 1:1), and Epaphroditus ("messenger" in Phil. 2:25).
The apostles then went to preach the gospel in the region of Lycaonia, also in the province of Galatia.16
Unwanted Acclaim
Acts 14:8-13
Still following the Via Sebaste, Paul and Barnabas soon came to Lystra, a Roman military colony about twenty miles south-southwest of Iconium.17 Lystra was quite different from previous stops because much of its population was a mix of retired Roman soldiers, who served as civic leaders, and a somewhat impoverished group from a local tribe who spoke their own language, Lycaonian.18 Strabo remembered this tribe as originally a wild people. In the days before the Romans gained control of the mountainous areas in Lycaonia, many of the natives were robbers living in caves.19 But the founding of Lystra as a Roman military colony, probably by Augustus in 25 BC, helped to establish law and order. The land of the colony was apportioned to veterans of two legions, who became the chief inhabitants of a new city. In Paul’s day, this city was growing and prosperous, with spillover from the main settlement radiating along incoming roads.20 Within Lystra itself resided some Greeks and a few Jews (Acts 16:1–3).21
Probably because they failed to find a synagogue, the apostles resorted to street preaching. One who heard was a man lame from birth as a result of a disorder in his feet. In all his years he had never walked. What he knew of a normal life was only by observing others. His own life was a daily cause of frustration and sorrow. The narrative does not say that he was a beggar, like the lame man that Peter healed as he went into the Temple (Acts 3:1–10). But doubtless this man in Lystra was no less a familiar sight to his fellow citizens.
As Paul preached, the man listened with rapt attention. Paul looked at him intently in order to evaluate his spiritual condition. The apostle knew that before God would work a miracle for this man’s benefit, the man himself must have faith. After being satisfied that faith had indeed taken root in the man's heart, Paul commanded him in a loud voice to stand. Without hesitation, the man obeyed. Just as the other lame man had done, he obeyed with enthusiasm, not as though he was unsure whether he could do it, but as though he had no doubt. He did not simply rise in a slow, dignified manner. He leaped to his feet in an outburst of pure joy. Again, we see the touch of realism here. Anyone healed of this kind of affliction would surely feel a rush of complete delight.
Getting Practical
Spiritual lameness
Few of us are crippled like the man Paul healed. Yet though we might not be crippled in our feet, we might be crippled in our souls, with sin perhaps, or with fears, or with doubts. These moral afflictions immobilize us spiritually. When we should be having communion with God and meditating upon His Word, we let our minds be prisoners of harmful thoughts. So, we sink deeper into our disability. When we should be out doing God's work, we languish in unhealthy self-preoccupation. So, we stay at home in our little Christian enclave and do nothing.
The Bible says that they who carry the good news of salvation have beautiful feet (Rom. 10:15). But the things that cripple our souls make our feet useless to God.
How do we escape from spiritual lameness? In the same way the man in Lystra escaped from bodily lameness. Faith is the remedy. Let us grow in faith by nourishing thoughts of praise and love until faith brings healing to our souls.
The miracle led to results that Paul and Barnabas never anticipated. Paul performed it in a public place, so within a short time, everybody in Lystra knew what he had done. A wave of religious hysteria swept over the city. The people flocked to Paul and Barnabas and began shouting with frenzied voices that the gods had come to them in human form. Probably under the influence of a local tradition that the gods Jupiter and Mercury had once visited their forefathers, the people gave these names to the apostles in the belief that the same high deities were visiting them again.
The translators give us the Roman names of these gods in place of their Greek names, employed in the original text.22 In Greek, Jupiter was known as Zeus and Mercury as Hermes. Jupiter was chief of the gods and supposedly reigned from his throne on Mt. Olympus in Greece. His messenger and spokesman was Mercury. We see a great deal of tact in Luke's remark that they identified Paul as Mercury because "he was the chief speaker." No doubt that was the main reason. But we know too that Paul was not much to look at (2 Cor. 10:10). The pagans in Lystra would not have easily believed that splendid Jupiter appeared to them in the form of homely Paul. Barnabas must have been rather more good-looking.
Delving Deeper
Evidence for this tradition
The tradition underlying the reaction of the Lystran townspeople to Paul's miracle is preserved in a story told by Ovid, the Roman poet.23 He says that Jupiter and Mercury visited "the Phrygian hill-country" in disguise as ordinary men who sorely needed food and lodging, but nowhere, not even at a thousand doors, did they find a helping hand until they came to the poor cottage of Philemon and Baucis, an old couple with little food to spare. Yet the two aged ones of humble means hosted the two gods, treating them to a much finer meal than they could afford. Afterward, the gods destroyed the homes of all who turned them away, and transformed the cottage of Philemon and Baucis into a splendid temple, where the two mortals served as priest and priestess until, instead of dying, they became beautiful trees.
The account strongly suggests that when Paul and Barnabas saw people running to the scene and heard them shouting back and forth, they did not perceive what was happening. The likely reason is that the people were again, as in their first reaction to the miracle (v. 11), using their native tongue, Lycaonian, which the apostles did not understand.
When the excited chatter about the newcomers reached the local priest of Jupiter, he received it as wonderful news, for it seemed that the object of his devotion had put in a personal appearance. Imagine how excited he was—how his heart must have fluttered at the thought of seeing the very Jupiter who ruled the sky with his mighty lightning and thunder. He quickly gathered the best gift he could for two gods and hurried to the scene, his joy somewhat diminished by fear that the gods might find fault with him or his offering. As portrayed in Greek myths, the gods were hard to please, and their hair-trigger wrath was capricious. The gift he brought was a few wreathed oxen to be slaughtered in honor of the Hebrew preachers mistaken for gods. Evidently without any effort to speak with Paul and Barnabas, he started to lead the people away toward the temple, where he intended to preside over sacrifices at "the gates"; that is, the temple gates.24
Getting Practical
Proper gifts for our God
What cheap, lackluster gifts if Paul and Barnabas had truly been divine! Yet they are like the trifles we are inclined to give the real God—a dollar here, an hour there. No, He wants our whole being (Matt. 22:36–38).
Delving Deeper
Local deities
Several archaeological finds confirm that Zeus and Hermes were worshiped in Lycaonia. The clearest evidence comes from three inscriptions. Of the two found at Sedasa near Lystra, one speaks of a statue of Hermes being dedicated to Zeus.25 The other refers to priests of Zeus.26 An inscription on a stone altar near Lystra affirms that it was dedicated to these same gods: Zeus (called "Hearer of Prayer") and Hermes.27
Delving Deeper
Another touch of realism
In a minor, outlying city like Lystra, it is probable that the local temple was a small building just beyond the city gate and that the attendant was a single priest.28 "Priest . . . before their city" (v. 13) can be translated "priest . . . in front of [outside] their city."29 The limited resources at his disposal explain why his gift to the presumed gods was so humble.
A Sermon to Superstitious Gentiles
Acts 14:14-18
In awe of their divine visitors, the people of the city must have been standing away from Paul and Barnabas. As a result, the apostles did not immediately perceive that the crowd was preparing to worship them. When they realized that a priest had arrived with oxen for sacrifice, they were appalled. They rent their clothes as a sign of their distress and ran into the crowd, pleading with them to stop. They protested that they were just ordinary men, not gods in disguise.
The account does not tell us which of the two apostles spoke the words recorded here, but it was likely Paul, who by now was accustomed to take the lead. He told the people that he and Barnabas had come to teach them about the true God, the God who made heaven and earth.
He was mounting a frontal attack on the beliefs of his audience. From pagan mythology, they, like all gentiles in the Graeco–Roman world, had learned a bizarre story of beginnings. Jupiter, the chief god, was not the creator of anything. Rather, he himself was a created being who rose to supremacy long ago when he emerged victorious from a struggle against his own father, a god named Cronus. Cronus was the offspring of earth and sky personified as Gaia and Uranus. Uranus was Gaia’s son, and Gaia emerged originally from a universal dark emptiness called Chaos.30 Thus, not only did the Greeks and Romans give highest rank to a deity who was less than the creator of all; they denied that the creator of all was a personal God.
Delving Deeper
Roots of evolutionary theory
Notice that the modern theory of evolution is simply a revival of ancient paganism. Like the pagan worldview, this theory imagines that the ultimate source of everything was nothing. Nothing, according to modern science, is an inventor of such skill that it can bring into existence wonderful things although it has no mind guiding its work to a preconceived outcome.
By identifying his God as the Creator, Paul was showing them a God far superior to any they worshiped, and he was offering them a religion far loftier in its concepts than Greek mythology.
Paul told them that the real God had never been remote from them. He had always been the source of every good thing in their lives. From Him came refreshing rain and bountiful harvests and satisfying food. From Him also came joy and gladness. Until now He had suffered the nations to walk according to their own desires and to invent their own religions. But now He was sending out His spokesmen to demand that all men turn from their superstitions and worship Him.
Delving Deeper
Natural revelation
Even without God's self-revelation in His Word, the pagan peoples of the world had no excuse for failing to recognize and worship the true God. They had traditions, although garbled, telling about His workings in man's early history. Some had distant awareness of His workings centered on the descendants of Abraham. All, without exception, saw in His colossal feat of creation the undeniable proof of His existence. And all learned of His moral character through the testimony of their own consciences (Rom. 2:14–15). Thus, in God's eyes, they were "without excuse" (Rom. 1:20).
The truth evident in the world of nature is known as general revelation, or natural revelation.
Getting Practical
The right approach to pagans
Paul's strategy in Lystra was the same that he employed when he later appeared before philosophers in Athens. On both occasions, he addressed people with little or no prior exposure to Jewish religion. Therefore, in his opening arguments he said nothing about the gospel. Rather, he built a foundation of ideas essential to understanding it.
Modern missionaries in regions dominated by animistic or Eastern religions should follow Paul's example. They should first provide a thorough grounding in the concepts they will use in their gospel appeal. For example, before they say much about the God who came to this world as a man, they should teach creation, so that their hearers will have an exalted conception of God. Before they invite anyone to be saved, they should teach the Fall, so that their hearers will see their need for salvation.
The words of Paul hardly made an impression on the people. The miracle he performed had convinced them that he was a god, and with their pagan worldview they could not see any other way of explaining it. Paul's words made no sense. What god did he mean when he spoke of the "living God" (v. 15)? At the very moment when they were full of ardor for Jupiter, thinking he had come to see them, they were hardly interested in hearing about another god. At last, though, it became obvious that Paul and Barnabas refused to be worshiped, and the people backed down. They all finally went home, greatly puzzled by what happened. Who were these men, and how did they work a miracle?
The Fickleness of Public Opinion
Acts 14:19-20
In the days following, the apostles no doubt kept preaching in the city. The writer says nothing about the results of their work, but apparently some received the gospel. Later in the same missionary journey, the apostles returned to Lystra to teach and strengthen the disciples who were the fruit of their first visit.
After a while, enemies of Paul and Barnabas arrived from Antioch and Iconium. These were Jews whose hatred of the apostles was so bitter that they followed them to Lystra and sought to turn public opinion against them. We do not know what lies they told to vilify the apostles, but the people accepted the lies as truth. Soon the same mob that had been ready to worship Paul and Barnabas were ready to kill them.
Getting Practical
Swings in popularity
The apostles’ experience in Lystra illustrates perfectly the changeableness of man's esteem. Soon after their arrival, Paul and Barnabas were gods in the eyes of the people. Not long afterward, the people saw them as base criminals deserving of death. Was there any adequate reason, any real justification, for the turnaround? None at all. The last prevailing view of the apostles was as foolish as the first. Paul and Barnabas were neither gods nor villains. Like people everywhere, the Lystrans were fickle. In response to mere shadows of solid information, they scurried from one baseless opinion to another.
We all have tasted the disappointment of people turning against us. When abused by wild swings in popularity, we can take comfort in the character of God. He is constant in His love (Jer. 31:3), dependable in His grace (John 1:16-17), and reliable in His Word (Psa. 119:160).
The account says simply that after the outside agitators won the people to their side, they stoned Paul. Exactly who murdered him? Literally, Luke says, "Thither came . . . Jews, and having persuaded the crowds, and having stoned Paul, drew [him] outside the city."31 We conclude that the stoning was done not by the Lystrans, but by the agitators themselves. Apparently they had come to carry out the execution that the leaders of Iconium authorized before Paul escaped from their grasp. After stoning Paul, the assailants dragged his body outside the city, thinking he was dead.
The disciples he had won to Christ during his ministry at Lystra gathered around him and mourned. If his executioners thought he was dead, his friends too must have thought he was dead. But suddenly he came to life, stood, and assured them that he was all right. Doubtless with great joy, but also with a measure of secrecy, they returned to the city, where Paul hid overnight. The next day, he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Pondering a Question
What really happened to Paul when he was stoned? How badly was he hurt? Was he killed?
The injuries Paul suffered must have been serious indeed. He was not just knocked down by a stone thrown by someone lying in wait. His enemies evidently took him into custody first. Thus, they were able to throw as many stones as they felt necessary to kill him. Afterward, they had complete possession of his body, and without opposition, they dragged it outside the city. They left it there, having no doubt that Paul was dead.
These were men who doubtless knew from experience how to do stoning. Moreover, stoning was extremely deadly. The victim was generally pushed into a pit, and then actual rocks, not little stones, were cast down upon him. The procedure at Lystra may have been more spontaneous. Yet the assailants were plural in number, and they did their work without hindrance from defenders. Thus, as in any stoning serving as capital punishment, Paul must have sustained direct strikes on the head delivered at close range. Normally one was sufficient as a deathblow. Before taking away Paul's body, his executioners must have examined it and satisfied themselves that there was no sign of life. In light of these considerations, is there any chance that Paul survived the stoning, that he was only knocked unconscious for a short time? Hardly any.
As Paul's friends were grieving beside his body, he awoke and stood up unaided. A man with a severe head injury does not regain his feet so quickly. Then he walked back into town and set off on a journey the next morning. Again, this is not the behavior of a man reduced to near death by stoning. Clearly, God healed Paul as he lay on the ground. His recovery was miraculous. The question is, how great was the miracle? Did stoning leave him dead or barely alive?
In the tradition of Adam Clarke,32 yet also in line with quite a few other commentators,33 I think it probable that God raised Paul from the dead. If indeed he died, his subsequent recovery from death is the second recorded in Acts. The first was when Peter restored Dorcas to life (Acts 9:36–42).
Delving Deeper
Luke's noncommittal wording
Some commentators have come to very different conclusions on the basis of Luke's comment that Paul's persecutors "drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead" (Acts 14:19). They argue from Luke's usage elsewhere of the Greek word translated "supposing" ("suppose," "supposed," or "supposing" in Luke 2:44; 3:23; Acts 7:25; 16:27; 21:29; "think" or "thought" in Acts 8:20: 17:2934) that he never employed it except for an erroneous way of thinking. They conclude that the stoning did not kill Paul.
Yet the Greek word in question, nomizo, is nearly the exact counterpart of the English word "suppose.35" An English speaker might favor use of "suppose" for false suppositions, yet occasionally choose it for suppositions that prove correct. Paul illustrates such use of nomizo in First Corinthians 7:26.36
Yet we dare not be simplistic in our reading of Acts 14:19. Luke may indeed be accusing Paul's killers of a false idea. They thought he was dead in the sense that he would stay dead—that they had achieved good riddance—but after a brief time he was alive again and ready to continue his ministry. After some delay, he even resumed his ministry in Lystra, the place of his stoning.
Delving Still Deeper
Paul's translation to Paradise
Most who believe that Paul died at Lystra also believe that he is remembering his experience there when he speaks in Second Corinthians of a man caught up to heaven (2 Cor. 12:1–7). He does not identify the man, but the context makes it clear that he is none other than Paul himself. Paul’s reference to this unnamed man comes in the midst of his own life story (2 Cor. 11:16–12:10).
Linking this passage with Paul's stoning is, however, disallowed by a correct dating of events. Paul says that the man's passage to heaven took place fourteen years earlier; that is, before the time when he was setting down his words to the Corinthian church. Known dates for key events in the Book of Acts, taken along with information Luke provides on the duration of certain stages in Paul's ministry, allow us to determine roughly when every important development in the early church took place (see Appendix 1). As rough estimates, the year we can assign Paul's first visit to Lystra is 47 or 48, and our best choice of a year for the writing of Second Corinthians is 56. The time span between these events was therefore not fourteen years, but eight or nine years.
More decisive, however, is Paul's comment in Galatians that fourteen years after his conversion, he visited Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1). We have argued that this was his visit to bring famine relief. If we place no more than a year between this visit and his stoning at Lystra, and if we assume that in both measures of fourteen he used inclusive reckoning, we compute 27 years between his conversion and his writing of Second Corinthians. If we very unrealistically push Paul's conversion all the way back to the year of Christ's death, in AD 33, we conclude that Second Corinthians dates from AD 60. Yet there is overwhelming evidence that Festus succeeded Felix no later than AD 60.37
So, we have come to contradictions beyond dismissal. Paul in Second Corinthians must be referring to an experience he had many years before his first missionary journey.
Getting Practical
Inescapable justice
We dare not fail to see that Paul’s stoning was the just penalty for his murder of Christians while he was still Saul the persecutor. His repentance when he later turned to Christ delivered him from the eternal punishment due him as a sinner against divine law, but not from the punishment he deserved in this life as a capital offender against criminal law, as ordained by God (Gen. 9:5–6). Although he had official backing for his attacks upon the church, the killings he perpetrated or assisted were no less than murder.
We can be sure that Paul always carried some guilt about the terrible crimes he once committed. The capital punishment he suffered was, therefore, in some degree a stroke of divine mercy as well as divine justice. It was mercy because getting what he deserved helped to salve his conscience.
In dealing with criminals who have come to Christ, we must not encourage them to hope that God will spare them from the consequences of the evil they have committed. God may substitute His chastening for the world’s, but never will He sidestep the principle that we must reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7). Although Zacchaeus the rich publican responded with faith when Jesus came to his home, he still had to make restitution for all his ill-gotten gain (Luke 19:1–10). When the thief on the cross confessed Jesus as Lord, Jesus granted him eternal life, but did not spare him from finishing the capital punishment he deserved as a criminal (Luke 23:39–43).
Before recounting the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, Luke revealed that their intention when entering Lycaonia was to reach not only Lystra and Derbe, but also "the region that lieth round about" (v. 6). It is therefore likely that as the apostles traveled down the Via Sebaste to Derbe, they stopped and preached at all the significant towns along their route: Dalisandos, Kodylessos, Posala, and perhaps also Laranda.38
Revisiting the Churches
Acts 14:21-23
Derbe, a city of Lycaonia probably still within the province of Galatia but bordering the kingdom of Commagne,39 lay about sixty miles southeast of Lystra.40 Compared with the other cities the apostles had visited recently, Derbe was smaller, and its culture was largely indigenous rather than Roman or Greek.41 Its people apparently gave Paul and Barnabas a very different reception than they had received elsewhere in the region. The account implies that they conducted their ministry in peace, without savage opposition from any faction in the city. Also, no enemies from Antioch and Iconium arrived to disrupt and quash preaching of the gospel, because, thinking Paul was dead, they had given up their pursuit. So, in Derbe the ministry of the apostles prospered. They saw many turn to Christ, and doubtless they stayed long enough to give converts a good grounding in Christian faith and practice.
Afterward, Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps through the cities where they had already established churches. No mention of further opposition suggests that they entered each city unnoticed and stayed only a short while. Yet they stayed long enough to accomplish several key objectives.
- They "confirmed" (strengthened) the souls of the new believers. Their method was probably to teach them sound doctrine, giving their faith a broader and deeper foundation in the Word of God.
Getting Practical
Importance of follow-up
In the Bible, firsts are often important. This account of the first missionary outreach shows that Paul and Barnabas did not neglect follow-up. Before leaving the field, they went back to the churches they started and made sure that these new outposts of Christian faith could survive on their own. Their work to strengthen recent converts is obviously meant as an example for all church planters.
- They exhorted them to continue in the faith. They may have told them that converts who forsake the church generally lack the experience of being truly born again in Christ.
- They warned them that the only path to the kingdom of God leads through many troubles. What child of God would not agree? But since His kingdom will be a place of glorious unending life, we must not let troubles stop us from pressing on.
- They ordained elders for every church. That is, they chose men who could serve as pastor-teachers.
Pondering a Question
Since all the new churches had no members except new Christians, how did Paul find qualified people to serve as elders?
Each new church no doubt included some Jewish men who had known the Scriptures from their youth. They were well-acquainted with the mind of God in many matters. Even before learning about Christ, they had been devout in serving the God of Israel and faithful in obeying His will already revealed to them. Therefore, they had a spiritual maturity far beyond what we would normally expect in new converts. It was likely from these men that Paul and Barnabas chose pastors.
- They gave time to prayer, and for the sake of single-minded concentration on prayer, they fasted also. We may suppose that the theme of prayers lifted upward was a petitioning for God’s blessing upon His work. Also, we may suppose that the apostles asked God specifically to pour out His grace on the new believers so that they would continue in the faith, grow in spiritual understanding, and attain holiness of life.
Delving Still Deeper
A distortion to to fit a changing church
In verse 23, CT with strong backing from Alexandrian manuscripts changes "having appointed for them elders in every church" to "having appointed for them in every church elders."42 Attaching the modifying phrase "in the church" to "having appointed" rather than to "elders" brings a subtle shift in meaning. Whereas the original clearly states that the apostles left each church with multiple elders (a precedent distasteful to some church leaders after the church had become highly verticalized), the altered version leaves open the possibility that in every city the apostles appointed elders who would go out individually to start new churches in the neighboring district.
In their return journey, Paul and Barnabas wended their way through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—all the cities without exception where they had planted churches. It is evident from their willingness to go back to places where mobs had to sought to kill them that their motive for leaving these places earlier was not cowardice. Rather, it was merely to avoid untimely deaths that would irrevocably halt their productive ministry of saving souls.
Returning Home
Acts 14:24-28
From Antioch, Paul and Barnabas began the trek back home. They had to descend through the mountainous region of Pisidia before reaching the coastal region of Pamphylia, but at last they came to Perga, the first city they visited after disembarking in Asia Minor. They apparently had not done much preaching then, but now they corrected the omission. Before setting sail from the nearby port of Attalia, they stopped long enough in Perga to present the gospel to willing hearers, perhaps in a local synagogue. Luke does not disclose the results, but we may assume that Spirit-filled preaching normally leads to souls saved.
Finally the apostles reached their destination, Antioch of Syria. How much time had passed since their departure from this city is uncertain. A common estimate is that the first missionary journey of Paul lasted about one year.
The brothers who had sent out the apostles with much love and prayer no doubt gave them a warm welcome. Without delay, Paul and Barnabas summoned the whole church and told them everything that happened. They rehearsed in detail all their successes and failures, sufferings and joys, dangers and deliverances. It must have been evident to all that their missionary expedition had produced a major advance of the gospel. God had displayed His supernatural power by starting, within a short time, several strong churches in the heart of Asia Minor. From these the gospel would spread throughout the whole region.
Luke does not record the reaction of the church, perhaps thinking it unnecessary to state the obvious, for the church must have rejoiced greatly at the news of what God had done.
Getting Practical
Returning to a sending church
The return of Paul and Barnabas after their missionary journey is another first. It was the first time missionaries went back to a sending church. What they did upon returning sets another example. The missionaries recognized their obligation to give the sending church a full account of their sorties into enemy territory.
After coming home, Paul and Barnabas lingered for a while in Antioch, helping the work of God in that city and recouping their strength before attempting another grueling work for God.
Here in the sequence of events we should probably place an incident remembered by Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. 2:11–14). While Paul and Barnabas were resident in Antioch, Peter came to visit the church. He apparently found upon his arrival that all social barriers dividing Jew and gentile had broken down, to the extent that Jewish believers had no scruple against eating with their uncircumcised brethren. Since he had learned from the Lord Himself that the distinction between clean and unclean was obsolete (Acts 10:9–16), he readily joined in the meals shared by the whole congregation (Gal. 2:12).
But during his visit, some men associated with James, evidently on a mission that James authorized, came to Antioch from Jerusalem. Upon their arrival, Peter stopped eating with gentiles. Perhaps he feared that if they saw him crossing the ancient line between gentile and Jew, they would report his behavior to the church in Jerusalem, and many there would react with disapproval. They might even condemn the church in Antioch for drawing fellow Jews away from Mosaic standards of separation. One possible result of tragic proportions that Peter certainly wished to prevent was a severing of all ties between the two churches. So, whatever his reasons, he decided to pretend that he still lived according to tradition. He restricted himself to fellowship with Jews only, and some other Jews, including even Barnabas, followed his example.
Paul, upset with Peter’s hypocrisy, publicly rebuked him, asking, "If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (Gal. 2:14). We infer that to make a good impression on the associates of James, Peter had gone so far as to preach that gentile converts must obey the law of Moses. Whether circumcision was an issue, we do not know. Probably not, because the believers in Antioch must have heard what happened when the gentile Titus, a man apparently from their church, went to Jerusalem just a year or two earlier (Acts 11:27–30; Gal. 2:1). Peter and James evidently accepted Paul’s judgment that Titus should be exempt from this requirement (Gal. 2:2–9). Perhaps what Peter later sought to impose on the gentiles in Antioch was a prohibition of unclean foods.
Pondering a Question
Why was the church in Jerusalem so inconsistent in its stand on eating with gentiles?
This church decided that Peter had done no wrong when he entered the house of Cornelius, a gentile, and eaten with gentiles (Acts 11:1–18). Why Peter and Barnabas later shrank from eating gentile food in Antioch lest they offend men sent by James is therefore something of a mystery.
The most plausible explanation is that in the passage of about ten years since Peter’s visit to Cornelius, the church in Jerusalem had grown more legalistic. A faction unsympathetic to his radical departure from tradition had become much stronger, and its members included the men that James sent to Antioch. It seems that after a few more years, the same faction reached the point of dominance. When Paul made his last visit to Jerusalem, James was accommodating "thousands" when he asked Paul to engage in rituals proving that he did not teach "all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs" (Acts 21:21).
Delving Deeper
Timing of Peter's visit
The incident when Paul rebuked Peter bears marks setting it at a time prior to the Jerusalem Council.43 The Council, which we will study in the next chapter, was convened to resolve the controversy that flared up when Jewish teachers from Jerusalem descended on the church in Antioch and aggressively argued that male gentile believers must be circumcised.
- During his visit to Antioch, Peter was still wishy-washy on the question of whether gentiles should keep the Mosaic law, but at the Council he publicly affirmed in the strongest terms that they should be excused from it (Acts 15:10, in response to the Pharisees’ contention in v. 5), and he supported the verdict of the Council limiting their obligation to the four rules proposed by James (Acts 15:23, providing the equivalent of Peter’s signature).
- Paul would certainly have referred to the verdict of the Council if his rebuke of Peter came some time afterward.
The incident also bears marks distinguishing it from events in Antioch just preceding the Council.
- During Peter’s visit, Barnabas masqueraded as a traditionalist, whereas in the controversy that erupted when Judaizers came to Antioch, he stood firmly with Paul as an advocate of gentile freedom (Acts 15:2).
- Luke’s record of this controversy omits any mention of Peter. If he had been present, it is inconceivable that he would have taken no part that Luke thought worthy of mention. Indeed, the church decided that to end the controversy, they would seek guidance from the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 15:2), the implication being that all were absent from Antioch.
- During Peter’s visit, his about-face followed the arrival of Jews said to come from James. These could not have been the same Jews who disputed with Paul and Barnabas about circumcision of gentiles, for in the letter that the Council issued, the apostles and elders including James repudiated the legalistic doctrine promoted by these teachers and seemed to disclaim any connection with them (Acts 15:24).
We conclude that Galatians 2:11–14 refers to an earlier incident, perhaps not long after Paul and Barnabas returned from their first missionary journey.
Getting Practical
Natural beauty all around
In his writings Paul seems indifferent to the glories of God's creation. He makes scarcely any reference to the natural world.8 He alludes frequently to warfare, athletics, farming, and the world of business, but never does he point to the beauty of the flowers, as Jesus does (Matt. 6:28–29), or to the wonder of a star-filled night, as James does (Jas. 1:17). May we then suppose that as Paul and Barnabas traveled the Roman road past lake and mountain, they were blind to their surroundings? Certainly not. The Holy Spirit guiding their steps would surely have alerted them to the kind testimony of friendly breeze, warm sunshine, and green expanse that theirs was a loving God of unlimited power, who was always at work to provide the best for His people. Surely they responded to the Spirit by looking around, and their hard exertions were relieved by joyful gazing at the beauty of nature, exhibiting the same mighty hand of God that was using them as tools to build His church.
Likewise you should never let your eyes stay rigidly on the hard path ahead. Look around at the work of the Creator. The soaring ingenuity and unstoppable implementation of His plan for the natural world will refresh your confidence in His plan for you.