Acts 14

CHAPTER 14

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium (14:1-7)

1-2 The city of Iconium was situated about eighty miles west of Pisidian Antioch. The same thing happened in Iconium that had happened in Pisidian Antioch. First, Paul and Barnabas, through the power of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed the Gospel with such effectiveness that many people, both Jews and Gentiles, believed in Christ. But then the Jews of Iconium who refused to believe began to stir up opposition to the brothers, Paul and Barnabas.

3-4 In spite of opposition, Paul and Barnabas continued speaking boldly for the Lord (verse 3). For a considerable time they preached and taught the people; and the Lord performed miracles through them, which confirmed their message.

Gradually the city became divided into two groups: those who accepted the apostles’ word, and those who did not.

In verses 4 and 14, both Paul and Barnabas together are called apostles. According to the New Testament, apostles are those who have received a special appointment to preach the Gospel and to establish churches (see 1 Corinthians 15:5,7; 1 Thes-salonians 2:6).

5-7 Finally the opponents of Paul and Barnabas laid a plot to stone them. But the apostles learned about the plot and were able to escape to the nearby cities of Lystra and Derbe⁶² (see Matthew 10:23). But once there, instead of hiding, they kept on preaching.

The cities mentioned so far—Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe—were all located in Galatia, a province of the Roman Empire in the central part of present-day Turkey. The New Testament letter to the Galatians was written by Paul to the new churches in these cities, which had been established by Paul and Barnabas on this first missionary journey.

In Lystra and Derbe (14:8-20)

8-10 Just as Peter had healed the crippled beggar at the temple gate (Acts 3:110), so Paul healed a man of Lystra who had been crippled from birth. Paul saw that the man had faith to be healed (verse 9). Usually in the New Testament, one must have faith in order to be healed. True, even without faith on our part, God is able to heal us; but usually He waits for us to turn to Him in dependency and faith.

11 When the crowd saw how the crippled man was healed, they began to call Paul and Barnabas gods. But because they said this in their own language, Paul and Barnabas couldn’t understand what they were saying at first.

12 In the religion of the Greeks there were many gods, the chief among them being Zeus. Hermes, another god, was the spokesman for the gods. Thus the crowd called Paul “Hermes,” because he spoke more than Barnabas did.

13 Thinking Paul and Barnabas to be gods, the people tried to of fer sacrifices to them. What mistaken thoughts men have! When Christ, the true God, came to earth, men didn’t of fer sacrifices to Him; instead, they turned Him—God—into a sacrifice by killing Him! Now these people of Lystra were trying to of fer to ordinary men sacrifices that should have been offered only to God.

14 Finally Paul and Barnabas realized what the people were about to do. In horror, the apostles tore their clothes.⁶³ They refused to accept any honor or praise for themselves. Rather, they sought to give all honor to Christ. They hadn’t forgotten what had happened to Herod! (see Acts 12:21-23).

15 “We are not gods!” cried Paul. “We are ordinary men who have been sent by the living God to bring you the good news of salvation. We have come to tell you to turn from worthless gods like Zeus and Hermes. There is only one true God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them” (Exodus 20:11; Psalm 146:6).

In his preaching, Paul emphasized certain things when the listeners were Gentiles, and other things when the listeners were Jews. His approach was different for the two groups. The reason was that the Jews already knew the one true God. But the Gentiles did not. They worshiped many gods, such as Zeus and Hermes. Therefore, the first thing Paul had to tell the Gentiles was that they should turn to the one true God. The true God was a living God, not a dead idol.

16 Here Paul tells the Gentiles of Lystra that up until that time God had shown great patience toward the Gentiles. Paul says: “In the past, [God] let all nations go their own way.”

17 “But,” says Paul, “even though God has not revealed Himself fully to the Gentiles, He has not left himself without testimony.” Even though the Gentiles did not have the Jewish law and the prophets (the Old Testament) to teach them about God, they could have learned about God simply by looking at the natural creation around them. They should have been able to recognize the true God. Because it was the true God who sent them rain and gave them crops—not Zeus and Hermes! Therefore, even though God had been patient with the Gentiles up till that time, they were still guilty because they had not recognized Him (see Romans 1:18-21 and comment).

Therefore, although in the past God let all nations go their own way, now the time had come when the Gentiles must repent and put their trust in Him (Acts 17:30). God would no longer overlook their guilt.

18 Even after saying these words, Paul and Barnabas had difficulty preventing the crowd from of fering sacrifices to them.

19 Then Jews came from Pisidian An-tioch and Iconium to oppose Paul. So great was their anger against him that they had walked one hundred miles from Antioch to oppose his teaching. These Jews won the crowd over and persuaded them to stone Paul. How fickle and double-minded men are! One moment the people were worshiping Paul; the next moment they were stoning him. One moment they were treating him like a god; the next moment like a dog!

Paul later wrote about that day’s experience in two of his New Testament letters (see 2 Corinthians 11:25; Galatians 6:17).

20 After the stoning, the people left Paul for dead. But when the disciples, the new believers, gathered around him, Paul quickly recovered. Perhaps he had been temporarily knocked unconscious by a stone. Or perhaps God had miraculously brought him back from the dead. Whatever the case, as soon as Paul had gotten up, he went right back into the city. He had no fear of stones!

The next day Paul and Barnabas went to the nearby city of Derbe and preached the good news there.

The Return to Antioch in Syria (14:21-28)

21-22 Paul and Barnabas made disciples in every city. When it came time for them to return home to Antioch in Syria, they traveled back by the same route they had come, and thus were able to visit all the newly made disciples. Even though Paul and Barnabas had recently been expelled from Pi-sidian Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, they again entered those same cities in order to encourage the new disciples.

It is not enough to preach the Gospel in a place only once. It is necessary also to teach the new believers and to establish them in their faith. And this is what Paul and Barnabas did. They warned the new disciples that to enter the kingdom of God they would have to endure many hardships. If they wanted to be fellow heirs with Christ, they would have to suffer for Him (see Romans 8:17; 2 Timothy 2:12; 3:12 and comments).

23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them (the new believers) in each church. These elders were themselves new believers! But in a recently established church there are of ten no older Christians to be leaders; everyone is a new Christian. Therefore, Paul and Barnabas had to trust that the Holy Spirit would guide and strengthen these new elders. And with prayer and fasting, Paul and Barnabas committed them to the Lord.

These “elders” were not chosen by the vote of the church members. They were appointed by the apostles. In the New Testament, this is the most frequently mentioned method of selecting leaders for the church (see Acts 6:3-6; Titus 1:5; General Article: Church Government).

24-26 The apostles returned to Perga (Acts 13:13), and then they went to the port city of Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch.

27-28 Paul and Barnabas had been sent out by the Antioch church. They had been away for a year on their missionary journey. Now it was time for them to give a report of their activities to their home church. They reported not what they themselves had done; rather they reported all that God had done through them (verse 27). God can work without preachers, but preachers can’t do anything for God unless God works through them. The Christians at Antioch had certainly been praying for their missionaries. The work of Paul and Barnabas was their work too. Without the prayers of the church, this first missionary journey would have been a failure.