Acts 14

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.

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.